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2016 Already Shows Record Global Temperatures - The New York Times | This year is off to a start for global temperatures. It has been the hottest year to date, with January, February and March each passing marks set in 2015, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March was also the 11th consecutive month to set a record high for temperatures, which agencies started tracking in the 1800s. With the release on Tuesday of its global climate report, NOAA is the third independent agency — along with NASA and the Japan Meteorological Association — to reach similar findings, each using slightly different methods. The reports add a sense of urgency at the United Nations, where world diplomats are gathered this week to sign the climate accord reached late last year in Paris, when 195 nations committed to lower greenhouse gas emissions and to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Since the initial agreement was reached, other global anomalies have been reported that punctuate the threat of climate change, including troubling trends on Arctic sea ice, floods, drought and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Some of these — warm temperatures and heavy rains in particular — can be explained in part by this year’s El Niño phenomenon, which scientists predicted would release large amounts of heat from the Pacific Ocean into the atmosphere, causing irregular weather patterns across the globe. But the effects of the current El Niño have been exacerbated by global warming, a result of emissions of greenhouse gases by humans, said Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist with NOAA and lead author of the report. El Niño is on its way out, and ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific peaked in November, said Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. But the heat the ocean had stored had to go somewhere: “It’s come out and been distributed around the world,” which helps explain record warm temperatures and wildfires in the Southern Hemisphere, Mr. Trenberth said. To get an idea of how much of the record heat is caused by El Niño and how much by global warming, Dr. Blunden said that scientists at NOAA compared this El Niño to the last strong one, in which was also for its warmth. This one has pushed past those records by raising global temperatures an additional 0. 8 degree or so, Dr. Blunden said. The high temperatures in March probably signaled the last gasp of El Niño, and surface temperatures across the globe are likely to begin to fall this year. Often, El Niños are followed by La Niña storm systems, which can usher in cooler periods, Dr. Blunden said. But after more than two hot years — 2014 and 2015 and an extremely warm few months in 2016 — many of the devastating effects of the punch of global warming and El Niño may be inescapable, setting the world on a course for an extended period of rapid global warming, after a period of relatively slow warming that began in 1998 and lasted for about a decade. Dr. Blunden said that the Arctic was seeing some of the most abnormal weather on earth, with temperatures about 6 degrees warmer than the average over all. These highs could lead to record melting of Arctic sea ice this summer the ice cover is at its lowest since measurements began to be taken in the late 1970s. Dr. Trenberth said that these conditions did not represent “a new normal” and that it was difficult to determine the consequences of this El Niño on both global temperatures and Arctic sea ice cover. He is not sure if 2016 will prove to be as warm as 2015 — “I’m betting it’s a tossup,” he said — but added that it’s not the record heat that comes as a shock. The magnitude of the jump “is indeed surprising,” Dr. Trenberth said. A central feature of the Paris climate agreement was to hold the increase in the global average temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3. 6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than preindustrial levels, and to try to limit the increase to about 1. 5 degrees Celsius. As global temperatures are already nearing the 1. threshold, and some months have been about 1 degree or more above average, this goal might be difficult to achieve, Dr. Trenberth said. “I don’t see at all how we’re going to not go through the 1. 5 in the next decade or so,” Dr. Trenberth added. | 0fake |
What’s the Leading Killer of American Adults Under 50? Drug Overdose. | 21st Century Wire says Last April, the UN general assembly met to discuss how the world s nations can combat the global drug problem. It was just the latest non-event in a long line of categorical failures, led by the United States. Ever since US president Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971, the international narcotics trade has grown from strength to strength, in a black global market that is now worth hundreds of billions of dollars per year. After Nixon, other US presidents tried to champion the issue, from Reagan to Clinton, Bush and Obama. Each of them presided over one epic failure after another. However, where long-term data is available, it does point to systematic failures in drug policies. A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2013 found that despite efforts to limit the supply of these drugs, since 1990 prices have fallen while the purity of the drugs has increased. The trends were similar in the US and in Europe. The authors conclusion was clear: These findings suggest that expanding efforts at controlling the global illegal drug market through law enforcement are failing. (The Guardian)As a direct result of the policies of western governments led by the US, and their corrupt accomplices in the international banking, UN and NGO sectors in 2017, cheaper, newer and more deadly drugs continue to ruin families and communities, and millions of lives in the new western underclass and youth population Zero HedgeThe opioid crisis that is ravaging urban and suburban communities across the US claimed an unprecedented 59,000 lives last year, according to preliminary data gathered by the New York Times. If accurate, that s equivalent to a roughly 19% increase over the approximately 52,000 overdose deaths recorded in 2015, the NYT reported last year.Overdoses, made increasingly common by the introduction of fentanyl and other powerful synthetic opioids into the heroin supply, are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. And all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017. One coroner in Western Pennsylvania told a local newspaper that his office is literally running out of room to store the bodies, and that it was recently forced to buy a larger freezer.The initial data points to large increases in these types of deaths in states along the East Coast, particularly Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania and Maine. In Ohio, which filed a lawsuit last week accusing five drug companies of abetting the opioid epidemic, the Times estimated that overdose deaths increased by more than 25 percent in 2016.In some Ohio counties, deaths from heroin have virtually disappeared. Instead, the primary culprit is fentanyl or one of its many analogues. In Montgomery County, home to Dayton, of the 100 drug overdose deaths recorded in January and February, only three people tested positive for heroin; 97 tested positive for fentanyl or another analogue.In some states in the western half of the US, data suggest deaths may have leveled off for the time being or even begun to decline. Experts believe that the heroin supply west of the Mississippi River, traditionally dominated by a variant of the drug known as black tar which is smuggled over the border from Mexico, isn t as easily adulterated with lethal analogues as the powder that s common on the East Coast Continue this story at Zero HedgeREAD MORE WAR ON DRUGS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire War on Drugs FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
MEXICAN ILLEGAL ALIEN DEPORTED 19 Times Arrested For Raping 13 Yr Old Girl In Kansas | BUILD THAT WALL [ ] And when Mexico sends its people, they re not sending their best. They re not sending you. They re not sending you. They re sending people that have lots of problems, and they re bringing those problems with us. They re bringing drugs. They re bringing crime. They re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. ~ Donald Trump June 17th 2015WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Mexican man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus that traveled through Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. another nine times since 2003, records obtained by The Associated Press show.Court filings show Martinez-Maldonado has two misdemeanor convictions for entering without legal permission in cases prosecuted in 2013 and 2015 in U.S. District Court of Arizona, where he was sentenced to serve 60 days and 165 days respectively.For entire story: Conservative Treehouse | 1real |
OBAMA Gives Himself A MAJOR Award Like Only A True Narcissist Would…Twitter Goes Crazy! | THINK ABOUT IT: It s really laughable that Obama just officially declared himself the greatest public servant during his own tenure Secretary Carter awarded his boss with the medal on January 4 during the Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell Review for the President held at Conmy Hall, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia.Carter insisted that the medal was a token of appreciation for Obama s service as commander in chief, the Associated Press reported.After spending the last few weeks throwing roadblocks in the path of President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team, Obama nonetheless claimed in his remarks to the members of the military in attendance that We ve got to make sure that during this transition period that there is a seamless passing of the baton, that there s continuity. White House Correspondent Mark Knoller also marked the ceremony with a Tweet to his followers who immediately went crazy with snarky comments:Via: Breitbart | 1real |
University of Arizona Instructs Students to Say ’Ouch!’ when Offended - Breitbart | The University of Arizona’s College of Humanities is instructing students to say “ouch!” when they are offended by a faculty member or classmate. [The guidelines for how to respond to offensive speech is outlined in a new handbook for faculty, which is entitled “Diversity and Inclusiveness in the Classroom. ” Students are instructed to use “ouch” to indicate that they have been offended. Offenders are instructed to use “oops” to signify their acknowledgment that their words have offended one of their peers. “This document is intended to be a resource for addressing difficult or challenging topics in the classroom. ” Although faculty members are not “required to utilize” the handbook, they are encouraged to utilize it so that they can best “engender the broadest possible perspectives” and “maximize free speech in the classroom,” as the handbook claims. Some criticized the public institution for the expense at which the “ ” initiative has been introduced. Jesus Trevino, the university’s Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence, is paid $214, 000 per year to develop diversity and inclusion themed programming for the community and instructional material for the faculty. Similar programs have been introduced at other institutions around the country. Several schools have licensed a program from the website, ouchthatstereotypehurts. com, which is a $700 program that guides administrators in addressing racial aggressions on campus. Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about education and social justice for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com, | 0fake |
Report: Detroit FGM-Doctor Mutilated Girls Far Worse Than She Admits - Breitbart | The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday that documents obtained by the paper show much more serious mutilation of Dr. Jumana Nagarwala’s alleged victims’ genitals than the doctor admitted. [The arrests of Dr. Nagarwala and two others last week represent the first federal female genital mutilation (FGM) investigation in United States history. FGM is common in the Islamic world, particularly in Africa. According to UNICEF, 98 percent of Somali girls and 87 percent of Egyptians have endured the procedure. FGM involves removing varying amounts of the victim’s — usually a girl — clitoris, labia majoria, and labia minora. In its most extreme form, the victim is “infibulated,” having virtually all her external genitalia removed and being sewn up, leaving her with only a tiny hole from which to urinate and menstruate. Nagarwala’s attorney, Shannon Smith, claimed in her initial court hearing that no cutting of the alleged victims took place and that excess skin was simply scraped off to be buried in a religious ceremony. The Free Press, however, reports that documents they reviewed show the injuries to the two Minnesota girls’ genitals were “much more severe” than Nagarwala is claiming. Previously unheard of in the United States, the criminal complaints against the three suspects in this conspiracy to commit FGM — Nagarwala, Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, and his wife, Farida Attar — describe them as members of a “particular religious and cultural community. ” That community has since been revealed as the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim sect, a branch of Shi’ite Islam popular in India, Pakistan, and East Africa. The worldwide leader of that sect, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, has repeatedly called for the tradition of FGM to continue, describing it, according to a State Department report, as an “act of religious purity” and “a religious obligation for all women and girls. ” According to the complaints, the alleged victims in this case were brought by their parents, in what was described to them as a “special girls trip,” all the way from Minnesota to Dr. Attar’s Burhani Medical Center in Livonia, Michigan. The girls, who are not related, were allegedly told the cutting was needed to “get the germs out” and that they were not to tell anyone about what happened to them. One of the victims told the FBI she screamed in pain as Dr. Nargawala operated between her legs and that she was barely able to walk as she left the clinic. According to the complaint, doctors working with the FBI found that both ’ genitals were “abnormal looking” with “scar tissue” and “small healing lacerations. ” Authorities believe many more than these two girls have been mutilated by this suburban Detroit FGM operation. Evidence suggests girls have been brought to Michigan from around the Midwest to undergo the gruesome operation since at least 2005. According to the complaint, several Michigan girls have complained to authorities that they were mutilated by Dr. Nargawala in Dr. Attar’s clinic. Authorities believe Nargawala came to the Burhani clinic on weekends to perform FGM separately from her weekday job as an emergency room doctor at Detriot’s Henry Ford Hospital. In her interview with the FBI, Farida Attar, the clinic owner’s wife, claimed Nargawala came to their clinic to see six to nine girls a year. The defendants will face up to five years in federal prison for each count of FGM in this first case, in a wider push to eradicate the barbaric Islamic practice from America. | 0fake |
U.S. judge blocks Trump order to restrict funding for 'sanctuary cities' | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities, dealing another legal blow to the administration’s efforts to toughen immigration enforcement. The ruling from U.S. District Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco said Trump’s Jan. 25 order targeted broad categories of federal funding for sanctuary governments and that plaintiffs challenging the order were likely to succeed in proving it unconstitutional. The Republican president’s moves on immigration have galvanized legal advocacy groups, along with Democratic city and state governments, to oppose them in court. The administration suffered an earlier defeat when two federal judges suspended executive orders restricting travel from several Muslim-majority countries. The government has appealed those decisions. Reince Priebus, Trump’s White House chief of staff, told reporters the administration was taking action to appeal the ruling, adding: “The idea that an agency can’t put in some reasonable restrictions on how some of these monies are spent is something that will be overturned eventually.” “It’s the 9th Circuit going bananas,” Priebus said, referring to the West Coast judicial district where the judge ruled. “We’ll win at the Supreme Court level at some point.” A formal White House statement on the ruling was withering in its criticism of Orrick, saying “an unelected judge unilaterally rewrote immigration policy for our nation” and handed “a gift to the criminal gang and cartel element in our country.” “This case is yet one more example of egregious overreach by a single, unelected district judge,” the White House said. The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement it would follow existing federal law with respect to sanctuary jurisdictions, as well as enforce conditions tied to federal grants. Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing “sanctuary” movement. Supporters of the sanctuary policy argue that enlisting police cooperation in rounding up immigrants for removal undermines communities’ trust in local police, particularly among Latinos. The Trump administration contends that local authorities endanger public safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants arrested for crimes. The executive order by Trump, who made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign, directed such funding to be restricted once the Homeland Security Department determines what constitutes a sanctuary city. Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities, sued in February, saying Trump’s order was unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit. The Justice Department threatened last week to cut some funding to California as well as eight cities and counties across the United States. The department singled out Chicago and New York as two cities “crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime,” even though New York City is experiencing its lowest crime levels in decades and experts say Chicago’s recent spike in violent crime has little to do with illegal immigration. Santa Clara County receives about $1.7 billion in federal and federally dependent funds annually, about 35 percent of its total revenues. The county argued it was owed millions of dollars of federal funding every day and that its budgetary planning process had been thrown into disarray by the order. The Justice Department said the counties had taken an overly broad interpretation of the president’s order, which it said would affect only Justice Department and Homeland Security funds, a fraction of the grant money received by the counties. In his ruling, Orrick said the language of the order made it clear it sought to withhold funds beyond law enforcement. “And if there was doubt about the scope of the Order, the President and Attorney General have erased it with their public comments,” Orrick wrote. The judge cited comments from Trump calling the order “a weapon” to use against jurisdictions that disagree with his immigration policies. “Federal funding that bears no meaningful relationship to immigration enforcement cannot be threatened merely because a jurisdiction chooses an immigration enforcement strategy of which the President disapproves,” Orrick wrote. Dave Cortese, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement: “The politics of fear emanating from the Trump White House has just suffered a major setback.” | 0fake |
For the Spotlight? Ryan Lochte Was Ready to Do Anything - The New York Times | RIO DE JANEIRO — In 2008, one of the swimmers poised to foil Michael Phelps’s bid for a record eight Olympic gold medals was his American teammate Ryan Lochte, who was competing against Phelps in the individual medley events. While Phelps adhered to a regimented existence in the athletes’ village in Beijing, Lochte made himself sick gorging on free Big Macs. After finishing a distant third to Phelps in the 400 I. M. their opening event, Lochte did not mind if all the world’s news media knew about his folly, speaking of it openly. His Everyman behavior and his eccentricities, which extended to his 1970s wardrobe and his vocabulary, made Lochte stand out. That personality, such a big part of his commercial appeal, has landed him in trouble with the Brazilian police, who could charge Lochte and another American swimmer, Jimmy Feigen, with providing false testimony about a crime. While not as acclaimed as Phelps, Lochte has been intertwined with him. The story of Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, with 28 medals, including 23 golds, cannot be told without Lochte, the decorated American male Olympian, with 12 medals, including six golds. For over a dozen years, their careers and personalities have been flip sides of an Olympic medal. Lochte is as spontaneous as Phelps is serious, coming across as the cutup to Phelps’s cutthroat competitor. In contrast to Phelps’s stony scowl, Lochte sometimes smiled and revealed grilles. Though roughly 11 months older than Phelps, Lochte, 32, has contented himself with being a follower and with letting Phelps lead. They are separated by slivers of time in the pool, but the gulf between them in their personal lives is yawning. On the night that Lochte chose to go out partying with teammates, Phelps also left the athletes’ village. He spent the night at a hotel with his fiancée, Nicole Johnson, whom he helped with diaper duty for their son, Boomer. Before the Games began, Lochte spoke in wistful tones of wanting to start a family. He sounded like he was on surer footing when he spoke of an imminent move to Los Angeles, a city big enough for his outsize celebrity ambitions. If Phelps’s dreams revolved around surpassing Mark Spitz, Lochte would appear to have set his sights on becoming the next Ryan Seacrest. Though he could seldom match Phelps’s results, Lochte nevertheless has enjoyed a long reign as the public’s champion, providing the ballast with his nature for Phelps’s efficiency. During the years when Phelps dutifully trained every day, including Sunday, Lochte missed time because of injuries sustained riding a motor scooter, and falling off a skateboard. Gregg Troy, the University of Florida men’s and women’s coach who oversaw Lochte’s training through 2012, said five years ago: “I’m dealing with a man who lives on the edge a little bit. If you do anything other than allow him to be himself, he’s not going to be the same athlete. ” Lochte made his Olympic debut in Athens in 2004 shortly after his 20th birthday, competing in the same events that he did in these Rio Games: the freestyle relay and the 200 individual medley. He finished second in the I. M. behind Phelps, a result that would become a template for the next decade. Between 2004 and 2012, as Phelps was establishing his legacy, Lochte luxuriated in the limelight that stretched to include him because he was at once Phelps’s truest competitor and his most consistent foil. They raced in the Olympics in six individual finals, most recently in the 200 I. M. last week, and five times Lochte finished behind Phelps. The exception was the 400 I. M. at the 2012 Olympics, where Lochte captured the gold and Phelps finished fourth. In contrast to Phelps, whose blinkered focus could be Lochte came across as accessible. It was as if the swimming world could be divided into two camps: children who envisioned growing up to be like Phelps, and their parents, who imagined what fun it would be to have a beer (or three) with Lochte. Mark Schubert, then the United States national team director, said in 2007, “I just think Ryan’s whole attitude toward the sport is so healthy. ” As long as there were no ripples, these surface personas of Michael the Machine and Ryan the Reveler shimmered, allowing Lochte to play Robin to Phelps’s Batman. Flawed as individuals, they were perfect as a pair. For all his focus, it is Phelps, not Lochte, who has twice been suspended by U. S. A. Swimming. In 2009, Phelps was suspended for three months after a photo appeared to show him smoking marijuana. In the fall of 2014, Phelps was arrested for the second time on charges of driving under the influence and entered inpatient treatment at a recovery center. He was suspended for six months and removed from the national team that competed in the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia, in the final major tuneup before the Rio Games. Lochte’s with the Brazilian police, also precipitated by heavy alcohol consumption, has caused an international incident that has overshadowed the second week of the Rio Games. He initially denied that anything had happened after he left a party early Sunday morning, only to say later that he and three teammates had been robbed at gunpoint by assailants posing as police officers. But by Thursday, Brazilian investigators said they had video evidence and witness testimony that Lochte’s account of the robbery was fabricated. The incident has given Lochte, who is back in the United States, a degree of fame that he never achieved as a swimming leading man or a reality TV star. After the London Olympics, Lochte lampooned his reputation by appearing on an episode of “30 Rock” as another character’s “sex idiot. ” He also signed on for the E! reality show “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” The show failed to attract a large viewership, resulting in its cancellation in 2013 after one season. But Lochte has unwittingly found a huge audience with his escapades here, as he departed the country and left behind three younger teammates to answer for their actions and millions of Olympic viewers clamoring to know, What did Lochte do? It is not the first time American swimmers have gotten into hot water at an Olympics. At the 1988 Seoul Games, Troy Dalbey and Doug Gjertsen, who each won two gold medals, were sent home after being arrested on charges of stealing a marble lion’s head from a hotel. The United States Olympic Committee, after a meeting of its executive board, ordered the pair dropped from the team and sent home. Dalbey was suspended by U. S. A. Swimming from national and international competition and team training camps for 18 months. Gjertsen was exonerated from any involvement in the theft but was suspended for three months. Unlike some nations’ team officials, U. S. A. Swimming did not set a curfew for swimmers of legal drinking age after the final night of competition. In a statement late Thursday night, the U. S. O. C. said, “The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members. We will further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States. ” After failing to medal in his last event here, the 200 I. M. Lochte was asked if he intended to retire. He sidestepped the question, saying he just needed a mental and physical break from the rigors of training and competition. Given the suspensions that U. S. A. Swimming levied on Dalbey and Gjertsen, and more recently, Phelps, it is hard to imagine that he will not be forced out of the sport for some period of time. In a conversation with his family that was caught on camera during his reality show, Lochte said he envisioned a future in Los Angeles. “I see me being a designer, I see me being a model, I see me being a TV star,” Lochte said. He did corral the spotlight in Rio, just not the way he planned. | 0fake |
U.S. service member killed in Iraq IED blast: Pentagon | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. service member from the coalition fighting Islamic State was killed and another injured in Iraq over the weekend when an improvised explosive device (IED) struck their vehicle, the Pentagon said on Monday. The incident took place on Sunday, Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said, but he did not provide further details. Prior to the incident, a dozen U.S. service members had been killed fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2014, according to Pentagon data. Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, began an offensive on Sept. 21 to dislodge Islamic State from Hawija. Islamic State militants set fire to three oil wells near Hawija, west of the oil city of Kirkuk, one of two areas of Iraq still under their control, military and oil officials said. Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group, has lost control of all the oilfields it once held in the north of Iraq. | 0fake |
ISLAM NOT WELCOME: Obama just got TERRIBLE NEWS – THIS could END his MUSLIM “REFUGEE” Program… FOREVER! | ISLAM NOT WELCOME: Obama just got TERRIBLE NEWS – THIS could END his MUSLIM “REFUGEE” Program… FOREVER! Oct 28, 2016 Previous post
The brilliant lawyers at Judicial Watch just did something that is sending SHOCK WAVES through the Obama White House. They are filling official requests to learn every detail about President Barack Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional plan to import thousands of Muslim Syrian “refugees” into America. And they are already taking Obama to court to force him to turn over this information.
This bold legal action will expose Obama’s corruption to sunlight, and could quickly be the end of the Syrian refugee program. Incredible!
Judicial Watch is suing the Department of State for documents related to President Barack Obama’s Refugee and Resettlement program as part of an investigation into the Obama administration’s plan to admit at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year, the conservative foundation announced Monday.
The suit was filed in Washington, D.C., after the State Department failed to respond to two Freedom of Information Act requests from Judicial Watch in 2015. In May, Judicial Watch sought records related to the State Department’s agreements and interactions with voluntary agencies that help place and assist new refugees. In September, Judicial Watch sought records regarding an August meeting between State Department representatives and a South Carolina non-profit.
“The Obama administration doesn’t want Americans to know about how it places refugees from terrorist states in their local communities,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton says in a statement Monday. “The fact we had to file a federal lawsuit to obtain basic information about Obama’s
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Trump calls for '21st century' Glass-Steagall banking law | (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a “21st century” version of the 1933 Glass-Steagall law that required the separation of commercial and investment banking, a change the Republican Party also supported in its 2016 policy platform. Trump gave no details about his banking plan other than to say he would prioritize “helping African American businesses get the credit they need.” Democrat Hillary Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, signed legislation in 1999 that repealed Glass-Steagall. U.S. banking law was comprehensively revised by the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 as a response to the financial crisis of 2008. | 0fake |
Thomas J. Perkins, Pioneering Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley, Dies at 84 - The New York Times | Thomas J. Perkins, who nurtured Silicon Valley’s venture capital industry into a force that later helped foster the growth of companies like Google and Amazon, died Tuesday night at his home in Marin County, Calif. He was 84. His longtime assistant, Kathy Daly, said Mr. Perkins died after a prolonged illness, which she did not specify. Mr. Perkins the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers in 1972, at a time when parts of Silicon Valley were still fruit orchards. Mr. Perkins and his partners popularized a model of investment that involved putting small amounts of money into promising young in return for a stake in the companies, giving them advice and counsel to spur their growth. Some of the investments turned into gigantic hits. Mr. Perkins had said that his favorite investment was Genentech, a biotechnology company that has since been acquired by Roche. Over time, Kleiner Perkins — and its home on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif. — became a destination for other venture capitalists. Mr. Perkins helped recruit venture capitalists like John Doerr to his firm, leading to investments in a new generation of technology companies, including Netscape, AOL, Amazon and later Google. The firm’s success transformed Silicon Valley and the technology and biotechnology industries, leading to a proliferation of venture firms in the region and creating an ecosystem of investment in that today remains unrivaled in any other part of the world. Later in his life, Mr. Perkins was embroiled in several controversies. In 1996, he was convicted in France of involuntary manslaughter from a yacht collision. In another, he stepped down from the board of in 2006 after he said the company had used illegal methods to obtain his phone records. The allegations led to the resignation of H. P.’s chairwoman and an overhaul of the board. He also publicly broke with Kleiner Perkins in 2014 after writing an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal in which he compared the “progressive war on the American 1 percent” to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. The comments set off a firestorm, and the firm moved to distance itself from Mr. Perkins, who later apologized for his language. David A. Kaplan, who wrote a biography of Mr. Perkins titled “Mine’s Bigger: The Extraordinary Tale of the World’s Greatest Sailboat and the Silicon Valley Tycoon Who Built It” (2007) said in an interview on Thursday that Mr. Perkins’s “legacy won’t be helped by all the excessive things he said in recent years and the grudges he nursed,” though he was a “seminal figure” for Silicon Valley. In a statement on Thursday, two other Kleiner Perkins Brook Byers and Frank Caufield, said Mr. Perkins had “defined what we know of today as entrepreneurial venture capital by going beyond just funding to helping entrepreneurs realize their visions with operating expertise. ” Mr. Perkins was flamboyant with his wealth, though he had said that he was a multimillionaire and not a billionaire, as many believed. At one point he was an avid collector of Bugatti cars at another, he commissioned a clipper yacht called the Maltese Falcon, telling the CBS program “60 Minutes” in a profile that it had cost at least $150 million and less than $300 million. That lifestyle was the backdrop to one of several books he wrote, a novel titled “Sex and the Single Zillionaire” (2006) which featured a yacht on its cover. For the book, Mr. Perkins had guidance from the romance novelist Danielle Steel, whom he married in 1998 the marriage ended in divorce. He dedicated the novel to her. Thomas James Perkins was born on Jan. 7, 1932, and grew up in White Plains in modest circumstances, attending White Plains High School. His father, Harry, worked for an insurance company, and his mother, Elizabeth, was an occasional seamstress. He became interested in technology early. In a 2007 autobiography, “Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins,” he wrote that as a youth he assembled television kits and had planned to be a TV repairman. Accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he studied electrical engineering and computer science, earning his bachelor’s degree in both. He later received an M. B. A. from Harvard Business School. After working for a time for Sperry Gyroscope Company in Great Neck, on Long Island, he moved to California, where he worked in the technology industry for a decade He joined H. P. in the 1960s, working for the company’s founders, David Packard and William Hewlett. In his autobiography, Mr. Perkins wrote that Mr. Packard and Mr. Hewlett “were restless and driven men. ” “Their aspirations always reached beyond the present success,” he added, noting that he had been “fortunate to have come knocking on their door. ” When Mr. Perkins and Eugene Kleiner founded Kleiner Perkins in 1972 (Mr. Byers and Mr. Caufield joined later) Silicon Valley knew little of venture capital, and the men had the field largely to themselves, investing in fledgling companies like Tandem Computers, Applied Materials and Genentech. Mr. Perkins later stepped away from active venture investing and joined several corporate boards over the years, including Compaq Computer and News Corp. Compaq was purchased by H. P. in 2002, and Mr. Perkins joined H. P.’s board in 2005, not long before its chief executive at the time, Carly Fiorina, was fired. Mr. Perkins supported Ms. Fiorina’s recent run for the Republican presidential nomination. Before his marriage to Ms. Steel, Mr. Perkins was married to Gerd a Norwegian whom he had met skiing near Lake Tahoe, until her death in 1994. He is survived by two children from that marriage, a son, Tor, and a daughter, Elizabeth. | 0fake |
Republican congressional candidate in Montana cited with assaulting reporter | MISSOULA, Mont. (Reuters) - Montana Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte was cited for a misdemeanor on Wednesday after a reporter accused him of physical assault on the eve of a special election to fill the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Gallatin County sheriff’s office issued the citation for misdemeanor assault hours after Ben Jacobs, a political correspondent for the U.S. edition of the Guardian newspaper, said in a Twitter post and in a television interview that Gianforte “body slammed” him, breaking his eyeglasses. The incident, which caps a campaign seen as a possible bellwether for next year’s mid-term congressional races, took place at an event in Bozeman, where Jacobs sought to question Gianforte about healthcare, according to an audio tape captured by Jacobs and played on cable television networks MSNBC and CNN. Fox News Channel reporter Alicia Acuna, who said she and her crew were in the room preparing to interview Gianforte, wrote that she saw Gianforte as he “grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him to the ground.” Acuna, her field producer and photographer then “watched in disbelief as Gianforte began punching (Jacobs) as he moved to top of the reporter.” Gianforte’s campaign did not deny Jacobs’ allegation but countered in its own statement that Jacobs instigated an altercation by barging into the candidate’s office, shoved a recording device in his face “and began asking badgering questions.” “After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined,” campaign spokesman Shane Scanlon wrote. “Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.” “It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ,” the statement said. Acuna disputed that Jacobs was the aggressor. “At no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte,” Acuna wrote in her account on the Fox News website. Interviewed later on MSNBC, Jacobs said he retreated to a parking lot after the confrontation to call his editor and the police. He said he was speaking to MSNBC from a hospital where he was getting his elbow X-rayed. The citation was issued after authorities conducted several interviews and investigated the incident, Sheriff Brian Gootkin said in a statement. Gianforte has until June 7 to appear in a county court. He faces a $500 fine and six months in jail if convicted, according to Gootkin. “The nature of the injuries did not meet the statutory elements of felony assault,” Gootkin said. In Jacobs’ audio tape of the incident, Gianforte is heard shouting: “I’m sick and tired of you guys. The last guy who came here, you did the same thing.” After loud scuffling noises are heard, Gianforte repeatedly yells: “Get the hell out of here.” Jacobs is heard saying: “You just body-slammed me and broke my glasses.” According to the tape, the confrontation began as Jacobs tried to ask Gianforte if he supported a Republican healthcare overhaul bill after the Congressional Budget Office found the measure would cost 23 million Americans their medical insurance coverage by 2026. Another reporter, Alexis Levinson of BuzzFeed News, who was just outside the office, said on Twitter she saw Jacobs’ “feet fly in the air as he hit the floor” amid yelling and commotion. Gianforte later huddled behind closed doors with an aide before leaving the event by car, she said. Tech executive Gianforte is running against Democrat Rob Quist, a banjo-playing political novice who hopes to pull off a surprise victory in the Republican-leaning state. A victory for Quist could signal trouble ahead for President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans as they defend their 24-seat House majority in the 2018 mid-term elections. Quist and Gianforte are vying for the seat vacated when Trump, who carried Montana by more than 20 percentage points, named Ryan Zinke as U.S. interior secretary. Republicans have held the seat for two decades and Gianforte was still the favorite. However, both sides say the race was tightening as Quist focused on criticism of Republican efforts to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. | 0fake |
USA TODAY Caught Fabricating Story About Innocent “Dreamer” Being Deported…Here’s The Truth [VIDEO] | More fake news pushing a leftist agenda If you read the USA Today report of Juan Manuel Montes being deported you might believe their headline: First Protected Dreamer Deported Under Trump USA Today reported Tuesday that an illegal immigrant protected by Barack Obama s amnesty was deported in February after spending an evening with his girlfriend. However, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman told The Daily Caller that this story is false because Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez did not receive amnesty and was caught climbing over a border fence when he was detained. Conservative TreehouseThe USA Today story said that Bojorquez, 23, was apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents while he was waiting for a car ride to pick him up.According to the article, he told the officers he left his wallet in his friend s car and, because he didn t have his ID or proof of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, he was deported. Within three hours, he was back in Mexico, becoming the first undocumented immigrant with active DACA status deported by the Trump administration s stepped-up deportation policy, the USA Today reporters wrote.The Trump administration has said it will continue honoring the over 750,000 illegal immigrants who receive DACA, but this incident, if accurate, would have been a departure from that policy. David Lapan, a DHS spokesman, told TheDC, Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez was apprehended by the Calexico Station Border Patrol after illegally entering the U.S. by climbing over the fence in downtown Calexico. He was arrested by BP just minutes after he made his illegal entry and admitted under oath during the arrest interview that he had entered illegally. The spokesman added, His DACA status expired in Aug. 2015 and he was notified at that time. In addition, he has a conviction for theft for which he received probation. Daily CallerFrom USA Today: Federal agents ignored President Trump s pledge to protect from deportation undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children by sending a young man back to his native Mexico, the first such documented case, a USA TODAY examination of the new administration s immigration policies shows.After spending an evening with his girlfriend in Calexico, Calif., on Feb. 17, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who has lived in the U.S. since age 9, grabbed a bite and was waiting for a ride when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer approached and started asking questions.Montes was twice granted deportation protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by President Barack Obama and left intact by President Trump.Montes had left his wallet in a friend s car, so he couldn t produce his ID or proof of his DACA status and was told by agents he couldn t retrieve them. Within three hours, he was back in Mexico, becoming the first undocumented immigrant with active DACA status deported by the Trump administration s stepped-up deportation policy. Some people told me that they were going to deport me; others said nothing would happen, Montes told USA TODAY in his aunt and uncle s home in western Mexico where he s been staying. I thought that if I kept my nose clean nothing would happen. He asked that the exact location of their home be withheld.Yet Trump declined to revoke the DACA protections Obama had granted to more than 750,000 undocumented immigrants, repeatedly saying he had a soft spot for these young people who are leading productive lives and have few, if any, ties to the countries of their birth. They shouldn t be very worried, he told ABC News in January. I do have a big heart. Even so, DACA enrollees are being targeted by immigration authorities.At least 10 are in federal custody, according to United We Dream, an advocacy organization made up of DACA enrollees and other young immigrants.The group s advocacy director, Greisa Martinez, who has DACA protection, said Montes case is proof that people like herself are at risk despite what Trump said.For entire story: USA Today | 1real |
NYPD Official Sick Of Trump’s Costs To City, Wants Him To Vacate Trump Tower (DETAILS) | One of the things that happens when one runs for president is the fact that the United States Secret Service and other intelligence and security agencies begin to protect that person and his or her family. If said family is that of the elected President or Vice-President, that protection becomes the expense of the American taxpayers no matter where those people are. In the case of Donald Trump becoming president-elect, that means that New York City is now paying astronomical amounts of money to protect the Trump family. This is especially expensive, seeing as how the Trumps, prior to The Donald running for and eventually winning the presidential election, lived in a golden glass tower in the middle of New York City s Fifth Avenue, which is one of the busiest streets in the world.Well, one person is sick of Trump being able to milk the taxpayers of New York City a city that in no way voted for him for huge amounts of money and even more inconvenience to protect him and his family and their staff in the Fifth Avenue version of a palace in America. New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence, John Miller, is sick of the Trumps bleeding a city that can t stand the guy and his family and didn t want them in the White House to begin with, and he doesn t want the people of New York City footing the bill on this one. Miller says of the chaos and money Trump is causing the city: We went down to Washington and we described those costs to our congressional delegation from New York. They got it immediately. But Congress has failed to pass a budget again. And to get funding for this, they had a continuing resolution. We asked them to add $35 million to reimburse New York City for [Trump s security]. They came up with a figure of $7 million, which covers a piece of the overtime but not the rest of it. Miller continued on, saying that New York City is obviously disappointed, with the idea of protecting Trump via taxpayer dollars in a city that clearly despises the man. Miller continued: We really won t be able to gauge the long-term costs, John, until we know: Is he coming home every weekend? Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Strike called in Bangladesh over power price rise on day pope arrives | DHAKA (Reuters) - Several small opposition parties in Bangladesh have called for a half-day strike on Thursday against a power tariff increase, which could cause traffic chaos in the congested capital as Pope Francis arrives for a three-day visit. The strike will begin on Thursday morning and end in the early afternoon, after the pope is expected to land in Dhaka following a visit to neighboring Myanmar. Strikes in Bangladesh often involve street protests. The Communist Party of Bangladesh, which is leading the protest against the increase in electricity prices by an average of 5.3 percent from next month, said it had no intention of disrupting the pope s visit but the action was necessary given the burden on the people. But police said there would be no problem. We will be able to control the situation during the strike and there is nothing to worry about, said police spokeswoman Sahely Ferdous. Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with an average traffic speed of just 7 kph (4.3 mph), slightly faster than an average walking speed, according to the World Bank. Congestion in Dhaka eats up 3.2 million working hours per day, it says. (bit.ly/2zkYr6l) Pope Francis visit will include a mass and meetings with a group of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh following violence in Myanmar since late August. [nL8N1NS2HN] | 0fake |
SUNDAY SCREENING: PSYWAR (2010) | 21st Century Wire says Our weekly documentary screening curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE.NOTE: Although this film focuses a lot on the Clinton and Bush presidencies, this same system has continued and taken to an even higher level of dark arts by the Obama Administration, and the both UK s Blair and Cameron governments. This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class. Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Peter Phillips ( Project Censored ), John Stauber ( PR Watch ), Christopher Simpson ( The Science of Coercion ) and others. SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENING HERESupport our work and Become a Member @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Boiler Room #97 – Mermaids and Swamp Life | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at a special time 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 with Stewart Howe, Infidel Pharaoh, FunkS0ul and Randy J for the 97th episode of BOILER ROOM. Water the kids, put the plants to bed and get your favorite mead horn ready so you can drop deep into the Boiler Room with the crew. Tonight the gang is discussing the latest on Trump, immigration, cultural warfare, media psyops, virtual reality, trans humanism, Bundy Ranch trial, Brexit, the nature of Islam and a myriad of news and main stream media shenanigans that have taken place since the last meeting of the ACR brain-trust know as THE BOILER ROOM.Direct Download Episode #97Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links: | 1real |
Israel approves building plans for 31 settler homes in West Bank's Hebron | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Monday approved building plans for 31 settler homes in Hebron in the West Bank, a spokeswoman said, a first such move in the Israeli-occupied area for some 15 years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has felt increased pressure for settlement expansion from the rightist flank of his coalition, though construction is not imminent as a bureaucratic process must still run its course. His government has made numerous announcements of settlement building recently, angering Palestinians seeking a state on land Israel captured in a 1967 war but no longer eliciting serious U.S. criticism with President Donald Trump in the White House. Still, settlement advocates say that despite a string of announcements for construction of thousands of settler homes in the West Bank, only a fraction might be built eventually. Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank with a population of some 216,000. About 1,000 Israeli settlers live in the heart of the city, which for decades has been a focus of religious friction between Muslims and Jews. Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now detailed the project s plans in an area of Hebron where the settlers live and its web site showed a graphic of what the prospective four-storey, stone-clad apartment block would look like. It said that the last time settler homes were built in this area was in 2002. Hadar Horen, a spokeswoman for the Israeli body that runs civilian affairs in the West Bank, could not confirm the details issued by Peace Now and said the planning committee decision would be published later. | 0fake |
President Trump! A nightmare of the Ukrainian politicians! (English subs) | Leave a Reply Click here to get more info on formatting (1) Leave the name field empty if you want to post as Anonymous. It's preferable that you choose a name so it becomes clear who said what. E-mail address is not mandatory either. The website automatically checks for spam. Please refer to our moderation policies for more details. We check to make sure that no comment is mistakenly marked as spam. This takes time and effort, so please be patient until your comment appears. Thanks. (2) 10 replies to a comment are the maximum. (3) Here are formating examples which you can use in your writing:<b>bold text</b> results in bold text <i>italic text</i> results in italic text (You can also combine two formating tags with each other, for example to get bold-italic text.)<em>emphasized text</em> results in emphasized text <strong>strong text</strong> results in strong text <q>a quote text</q> results in a quote text (quotation marks are added automatically) <cite>a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited</cite> results in: a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited <blockquote>a heavier version of quoting a block of text...</blockquote> results in: a heavier version of quoting a block of text that can span several lines. Use these possibilities appropriately. They are meant to help you create and follow the discussions in a better way. They can assist in grasping the content value of a comment more quickly. and last but not least:<a href=''http://link-address.com''>Name of your link</a> results in Name of your link (4) No need to use this special character in between paragraphs: ; You do not need it anymore. Just write as you like and your paragraphs will be separated. The "Live Preview" appears automatically when you start typing below the text area and it will show you how your comment will look like before you send it. (5) If you now think that this is too confusing then just ignore the code above and write as you like. Name: | 1real |
Investor Carl Icahn steps down as adviser to President Trump | (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn ended his role as a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday after facing criticism that policy recommendations he offered could help his own investments. Some Democratic lawmakers and biofuels advocates argued that Icahn’s guidance to the Republican administration created a conflict of interest with his businesses, including oil refining company CVR Energy Inc. Icahn has denied any conflict of interest. Icahn’s departure followed a flurry of changes at the White House. Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, two days after disbanding two high-profile business advisory groups. “I chose to end this arrangement (with your blessing) because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration,” Icahn wrote in a letter to Trump released on his website. The White House declined to comment. A call to Icahn’s office was not immediately returned. The activist investor, who leads Icahn Enterprises LP, was an early and close ally of Trump who was often praised by the Republican for his business acumen. One of Icahn’s first tasks was to vet the future Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and a number of candidates met with the octogenarian investor in his Fifth Avenue office just a few blocks north of Trump Tower in Manhattan. While Icahn stopped managing money for clients years ago, he still has large stakes in companies like Herbalife Ltd , CVR and American International Group Inc , which have faced regulatory issues. Icahn was so sure Trump’s election last year would give a boost to stocks that he left the campaign’s victory party to make a $1 billion bet on the market, he told Reuters last year. The day after the election, stocks leapt. In his letter to Trump, Icahn downplayed his role as an adviser on regulatory matters, saying “I never had access to nonpublic information or profited from my position.” Trump, who came to office promising to roll back regulation, reform the tax code and boost infrastructure spending, never put Icahn on the payroll. But Icahn’s involvement was considerable. He interviewed Scott Pruitt, now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the very agency that would determine regulations about requiring refiners to blend biofuels. His web of financial interests became a lightning rod. “If he was not willing to admit he was a de facto special government employee, and follow the rules, then he had no place serving in government,” said Norman Eisen, co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who served as the chief ethics lawyer for former President Barack Obama. “His short tenure, marred by serious conflicts allegations, was yet another black eye for an administration that has become notorious for violations of ethics and the rule of law.” Icahn has been one of the loudest critics of the federal biofuels program, and he was working at price-crushing reforms of the program at the same time he was betting that credits at the center of the program would fall. Biofuels regulations require refiners either to blend biofuels into gasoline or - in the case of companies like CVR that have no blending facilities - to buy credits from competitors. The regulation, the Renewable Fuel Standard, also allows companies to delay those credit purchases by a year. As an adviser to Trump, Icahn urged the president in February to alter the policy to lift the blending burden from refiners. Yet environmental regulators are preparing to formally reject that proposal, sources told Reuters. Investors have built up a large short position in CVR in the past three months, according to Reuters data, as evidence mounts that the company’s gamble on the biofuels market is going sour. | 0fake |
Fireworks erupt between Trump and Bush, Rubio and Cruz at GOP debate | Sparks flew at the toughest and liveliest GOP primary debate yet Saturday night, as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush clashed over the Middle East and George W. Bush’s legacy, trading insults at a rapid clip – and the two Cuban-American senators in the race accused each other of lying on immigration and even questioned each other’s Spanish-speaking skills.
And just when it seemed Trump and Ted Cruz might steer clear of each other, the two leading Republican candidates entered the ring toward the end of the debate when the Texas senator questioned the billionaire businessman’s pro-life credentials.
“You are the single biggest liar. You’re probably worse than Jeb Bush,” Trump said.
Cruz stood his ground, charging that Trump would “appoint liberals” to the Supreme Court if elected.
The issue of judicial appointments was front and center at the CBS News-hosted debate in Greenville, S.C., in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, with candidates like Cruz saying it underscores the high stakes in this election. Several candidates called for a delay in any high court appointment or confirmation.
But the barbed and often personal exchanges Saturday marked a new phase of the race, as the candidates charge into next week’s critical South Carolina primary. The clashes left Ohio Gov. John Kasich – the affable, second-place finisher in the New Hampshire primary – making an appeal for peace in the GOP field, albeit one unlikely to be heeded.
“I think we’re fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don’t stop this,” Kasich said.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, too, warned about the coming general election and said, “We cannot be tearing each other down.”
The appeals came shortly after Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio accused each other of being soft on illegal immigration. It’s an argument they’ve had before – Cruz faults Rubio for backing a comprehensive immigration reform bill that included a path to legal status, and Rubio says Cruz was on board with that effort – but this time, it became more heated. And after Cruz accused Rubio of saying on Univision he wouldn’t rescind President Obama’s immigration executive orders on day one, Rubio quipped:
“I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish,” Rubio said.
Cruz, then, immediately began debating Rubio in Spanish. Rubio continued, saying Cruz “lies about all sorts of things” and indeed supports legalizing illegal immigrants.
As the Rubio-Cruz battle heated up, so did the long-simmering feud between Trump and Bush.
“This is a man who insults his way to the nomination,” Bush said of Trump.
With Bush attempting a comeback in the race after a fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, Trump faced a feistier debate rival on stage Saturday night than he has before – boosted in part by what seemed to be a sympathetic audience.
The audience often booed Trump when he took on Bush, though Trump once again accused them of representing Bush’s “special interests and lobbyists.”
Their most personal dispute came when Trump accused Bush of promoting a policy that would get the U.S. mired more deeply in the Middle East – and blamed the former Florida governor’s brother for the problems there.
Trump initially took issue with Jeb Bush’s call to confront ISIS while also taking on Syria’s Bashar Assad and sidelining Russia.
“Jeb is so wrong,” Trump said. “You have to knock out ISIS. .... You decide what you have to do after. You can’t fight two wars at one time.”
Bush, though, said Russia is not a U.S. ally, and Assad’s hold on power prevents a resolution in the war. Trump then went on to repeatedly slam the decision under the George W. Bush administration to enter Iraq in the first place, calling it a “big fat mistake” that “destabilized the Middle East.”
“They lied” about WMDs, he said.
“I am sick and tired of him going after my family,” Jeb Bush countered, saying he’s proud of his brother’s efforts to keep the country safe.
Trump then invoked 9/11: “The World Trade Center came down … That’s not keeping us safe.”
Rubio, who has often been at odds with Bush, leapt to his brother’s defense, saying the Bush administration “kept us safe.”
Jeb Bush joked that he was rescinding Trump’s invitation to an upcoming rally with George W. Bush on the campaign trail.
The fireworks flew after the debate started on a somber note, discussing the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Scalia and the impact his death Saturday will have.
Several candidates urged President Obama to refrain from nominating anybody to fill the vacancy, and wait for the next president to make that decision. Trump, though, said he doesn’t expect Obama to wait, and called on Senate Republicans to hold up any nomination.
Kasich urged Obama to put the “country first” and not move forward with a nomination, a plea echoed by Rubio. Obama, though, said minutes before the start of the debate that he indeed plans to nominate a successor.
The GOP candidates, meanwhile, used opening remarks to honor Scalia’s legacy.
Cruz called him a “legal giant” who “changed the arc of American legal history.” He said Scalia’s death also “underscores the stakes of this election.”
“We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion” by states, threaten gun rights and “undermine” religious liberty, Cruz said. He said he would appoint a strict constitutionalist if elected.
Scalia’s death thrusts the issue of judicial appointments into the 2016 race, raising the possibility that the next president immediately will have to fill a high court vacancy. While Obama vowed Saturday to nominate a successor, it’s unclear whether he can get any appointee confirmed in the Republican-led Senate.
While the prospect of a Supreme Court vacancy now looms over the race, the South Carolina primary already was heating up on several fronts in recent days, with the candidates trading accusations on immigration and other issues.
The debate Saturday reflects that tougher tone, in a state notorious for bare-knuckle primary battles. Trump at one point accused Cruz of trying to spread rumors in the state that he’s not running in South Carolina – likening that to his campaign’s actions in Iowa, where representatives spread false rumors that Carson was dropping out.
“Nasty guy, now I know why he doesn’t have one endorsement from any of his colleagues,” Trump said.
Even Kasich struggled to avoid the fray, as Bush criticized him for expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare and said that would create more debt.
“He knows that I’m not for ObamaCare,” Kasich said, before vowing to stay “positive. “
The GOP field is now down to six candidates -- after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina dropped out following low finishes Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary.
A big question Saturday night, and going forward, was whether Rubio could regain his momentum – following last weekend’s lackluster performance. A withering attack by Christie on Rubio, which had the Florida senator repeating himself, appeared to hurt him in the New Hampshire primary. Rubio himself blamed his debate performance in part for his fifth-place finish in the state. He finished behind Trump, Kasich, Cruz and Bush. Christie, though, is no longer on stage or in the race.
Most polling in South Carolina still shows Rubio third, with Trump and Cruz in the top two positions, respectively. | 0fake |
Hawaii’s $205M ObamaCare system on life support, critics fear ‘complete waste’ | Federal taxpayers dumped more than $205 million into Hawaii's ObamaCare insurance exchange, but after a steady downward spiral the once-highly praised Hawaii Health Connector is on life support.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has already restricted grant funds to the Hawaii Health Connector, after telling officials in March it was out of compliance with the Affordable Care Act because of fiscal instability and ongoing IT issues.
With state lawmakers also blocking additional funds, the system is struggling to stay afloat. The governor's office said it is doing what it can to salvage the situation, including approving $30 million to temporarily transition the local portal to the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov -- where residents could continue to enroll over the next year while problems with the local site are addressed.
Laurel Johnston, deputy chief of staff for Gov. David Ige, claimed the state will "negotiate the release of federal grant funds" and ensure compliance with the law.
Whether they will succeed remains to be seen. CMS still has to accept the governor's proposal -- and the exchange reportedly is making contingency plans in case the system has to shut down entirely.
The drama has only hardened critics' concerns that millions of taxpayer dollars are going to waste.
"The $200 million was a complete waste of tax dollars that could have been used for much more productive efforts," said Reg Baker, a well-known CPA in Hawaii who for many years was the chief financial officer for the health insurance plan, HMAA.
The news about the Hawaii Health Connector's troubles went national this week when Hawaii's largest daily, the Star Advertiser, broke a story based on a "leaked" draft of the state's report to CMS, which reportedly said the exchange prepared a contingency plan to shut down local operations and transition to federal government control by Sept. 30. The plan purportedly directed that no new enrollees would be accepted by the local exchange after the end of this week, outreach services would conclude May 31, and a 73-member workforce, including staff and consultants, would be laid off by Feb. 28.
The governor's office maintained that was just a draft report and said "recent news reports based on confidential working draft documents have misrepresented ongoing discussions between the federal government, the state administration and Hawaii Health Connector."
The Connector's executive director Jeff Kissel said the first priority "is to ensure the continuity of coverage for the 37,000 to 40,000 Hawaii residents who are receiving health insurance coverage through Hawaii Health Connector." If CMS does not accept the governor's plan, Hawaii also risks losing $1 billion in matching federal Medicaid funds, according to Ige's office.
Baker told FoxNews.com the state should just abandon plans to keep the local Connector open, and merge with the federal government website. "Piggy-backing on the federal system is the financially smart thing to do," he said.
While many of the state's Democrats praised the ObamaCare exchange when it launched in October 2013, it was riddled with trouble from the start. The web portal never worked properly despite the state spending $74 million on a contract with CGI to build and maintain it. The exchange experienced tremendous staff turnover, with three executive directors appointed in two years. Enrollment reached just over 8,500 in the first year, and as a result, Hawaii was ranked the most costly exchange in the nation at more than $$23,899 per person.
Enrollment never reached the 300,000 number then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, enthusiastically predicted at the opening press conference launching the Connector. The enrollment number also never hit 70,000, the minimum needed to stay financially solvent. At its peak, enrollment reached 37,000, a fraction of the state's 1.4 million people. Hawaii's uninsured population, at 8 percent when the exchange opened, dropped just 2 percent.
"Some folks might suggest that the Connector was 'successful' because of the 30,000 people who signed up, but those numbers are questionable since many already had insurance to begin with, were transferred to the Medicare system or are no longer enrolled, and signups are not as important as the number currently enrolled in the insurance plans offered on the Connector," Baker said, noting each enrollee cost the federal government about $6,666.66.
Millions of dollars went to the failed web portal developed by controversial Montreal-based company, CGI Federal, the same company that developed the botched federal web portal for HealthCare.gov under a $93.7 million contract, but was replaced in January 2014 after numerous enrollees had problems registering.
Besides the fact that Hawaii's web portal did not function properly since the site launched, because it didn't sync with the state Department of Human Services website offering Medicaid, the site had another major technical problem: the Connector's Small Business Health Options Program targeted at small business owners sent garbled data to insurers preventing them from signing up small businesses and their employees.
Hawaii is just the latest state that has struggled to sustain its ObamaCare exchange, at great cost to taxpayers, watchdog group Americans for Tax Reform notes.
Despite the government investing $4.5 billion into state-run exchanges, Oregon, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, New Mexico and Nevada shut down their operations.
"One wonders where these tens of millions of dollars actually go," ATR President Grover Norquist said.
Baker said the system is failing "for the same reason most businesses fail -- the customers did not see the value of the product they were trying to sell." | 0fake |
WHO NEEDS DEMOCRATS? GOP Consultant Says Establishment Needs To “Put a bullet” In Trump’s Head | No wonder we ve had the worst Democrat President in the history of the United States for 7 long years!GOP Consultant Rick Wilson says GOP establishment needs to put a bullet in Trump s head.Wilson has also hurled insults at Trump supporters the past few months.Breitbart reported: On Tuesday evening, establishment Republican consultant Rick Wilson said the GOP establishment donor class must find a way to put a bullet in GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.In an interview with MSNBC s Chris Hayes, Wilson conceded that Trump is still a very powerful force right now because he appeals to part of the of the conservative base that Wilson said was activated by his nativist message. Wilson insisted that the donor class can t just sit back on the sidelines and say, oh well, don t worry, this will all work itself out. They re still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump, Wilson said. And that s a fact. Republican establishment figures who have underestimated Trump since he entered the race are reportedly looking to raise millions to try to derail Trump and knock him out of the race. Wilson added that the Republican establishment must figure out a way to find a candidate who can successfully post up against Hillary Clinton because neither Donald Trump or Ben Carson is ready to go up against the Clinton machine. Wilson claimed that Trump and Carson are obviously not ready for primetime. During a September CNN interview, Wilson told Erin Burnett that Trump could eat a live baby on television and Trump s supporters would think it s the greatest thing in America. He has also demeaned Trump s supporters as low-information rubes and has likened them to post-rational conspiracy theorists.In an interview with CNN s Don Lemon, Wilson said Trump s message doesn t have to make sense for his supporters to back him and compared Trump to someone who is a conspiracy theorist like your cranky uncle at Thanksgiving who always has a theory about the Bilderbergers or the World Bank, or the IMF, or the Trilateral Commission. Today Rick Wilson attacked Ann Coulter for supporting Donald Trump. Via: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Putin Congratulates Trump, Says Russia Is Ready To Restore Relations With The US | 1 Reply
Tyler Durden – Perhaps the most beneficial outcome resulting from last night’s loss of the Clinton Clan, whose “charitable” donations from generous donors such as Saudi Arabia to the Clinton Foundation just ended, is that with Hillary not in charge, the probability of World War III has been taken off the table.
This was confirmed early this morning, When Russian President Vladimir Putin – whose relations with the US and Barack Obama have deteriorated to Cold War levels – congratulated Donald Trump for his election victory on Wednesday, and said he expected relations between the Kremlin and Washington to improve.
The Kremlin announced that Putin had sent a telegram to Trump on Wednesday morning expressing “ his hope they can work together toward the end of the crisis in Russian-American relations, as well address the pressing issues of the international agenda and the search for effective responses to global security challenges .”
Additionally, speaking at the presentation ceremony of foreign ambassadors’ letters of credentials in Moscow, President Putin said that Russia is ready and looks forward to restoring bilateral relations with the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, commenting on the news of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
“We heard Trump’s campaign rhetoric while still a candidate for the US presidency, which was focused on restoring the relations between Russia and the United States.”
He added that “we understand and are aware that it will be a difficult path in the light of the degradation in which, unfortunately, the relationship between Russia and the US are at the moment.”
Speaking about the degraded state of relations between the countries, the Russian president once again stressed that “it is not our fault that Russia-US relations are as you see them.”
Other Russian politicians joined in.
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has also expressed hope that Trump’s victory in the presidential election will help pave the way for a more constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington.
“The current US-Russian relations cannot be called friendly. Hopefully, with the new US president a more constructive dialogue will be possible between our countries,” he said. “The Russian Parliament will welcome and support any steps in this direction,” Volodin added on Wednesday.
Commenting on Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia will judge the new US administration by its actions and take appropriate steps in response. “We are ready to work with any US leader elected by the US people,” the minister said on Wednesday.
“I can’t say that all the previous US leaders were always predictable. This is life, this is politics. I have heard many words but we will judge by actions.”
Sergey Zheleznyak, member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in parliament, hailed Trump’s “deserved victory” in a statement on the party’s website.
“Despite all the intrigues and provocations that the current U.S. government put in front of Trump, people supported his intention to address the serious problems that have accumulated in America, and to move from confrontation to cooperation with Russia and the world, ” Zheleznyak said. “I hope that between now and [his] entry into office as the new president of the United States there will be no tragic events and the new U.S. administration will have enough political will and wisdom for civilized solutions to existing problems.”
Russia’s second biggest party the Communist Party also issued a statement Wednesday morning, expressing hope for more cooperation and calling Trump’s win “astounding” and against the “elite clans” in the United States. The party leader was more lukewarm on the news, noting that U.S. imperialism was unlikely to change.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the right-wing nationalist leader of the Liberal Democratic Party who has previously been nicknamed the Russian Donald Trump, called Clinton a “mindless old woman” and praised U.S. voters for “coming to their senses” after eight years of President Barack Obama, whom he referred to as “the Afro-American.” SF Source Zerohedge | 1real |
Disgraced Hedge Fund Manager Focuses on Aiding Veterans | Disgraced Hedge Fund Manager Focuses on Aiding
BY PAUL SULLIVAN Sitting at the circular table in his office, near an elliptical machine, treadmill and massage table, Steven A. Cohen struggled to find words to describe what motivates his new philanthropic effort. “You know what I think it is, I was looking for something unique, special, something that I could own,” said Mr. Cohen, the billionaire investor, in an interview at his family office, Point72 Asset Management. It is in the same building as his former hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, which in 2013 paid $1.8 billion in fines to federal prosecutors and securities regulators. “I wanted to do something big,” he added. “I wanted to do something that was all mine.” That something is a two-pronged initiative to help veterans who return from combat with post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injuries and a separate nonprofit organization to do research into diagnostic tools and treatments for those conditions.
www.nytimes.com | 1real |
‘Comfort Woman’ Statue Reinstated Near Japan Consulate in South Korea - The New York Times | SEOUL, South Korea — Bowing to public pressure, an official in South Korea’s city said on Friday that activists could put up a statue representing Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II, a year after the two countries said they had put that emotional issue behind them. The bronze, statue, of a girl in traditional Korean dress sitting in a chair, had been raised without permission on Wednesday on a sidewalk near the Japanese Consulate in Busan. The police removed the statue, dispersing activists who tried to stop them, but on Friday an official said it could be reinstated. “I apologize to many citizens,” Park mayor of the ward in Busan where the consulate sits, said at a news conference as he announced the statue’s return. “This is an issue between the two nations, and I realize it’s too much for a local office like mine to handle. ” Activists quickly put the statue back in place. Since the statue’s removal on Wednesday, the ward’s office had been overwhelmed with angry phone calls, and its website temporarily froze because so many people were visiting to leave hostile comments. Some called Mr. Park a “ collaborator,” a grave insult in South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan’s colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century still run deep. The consulate had strongly objected to the presence of the statue, which the activists installed near one of its gates, where diplomats would see it as they left their offices. On Friday, the consulate lodged a protest and request to Busan city to remove the statue. Japan registered complaints with the governments of South Korea and Busan. Shinsuke Sugiyama, Japan’s vice minister for foreign affairs, told the South Korean ambassador in Japan that the statue “went against the spirit of the Korea agreement concluded at the end of last year and is extremely regrettable,” adding that it would have an “unfavorable impact on the relationship between Japan and South Korea, as well as disturb the security of the consulate. ” Mr. Sugiyama said the Japanese government would continue to strongly request that South Korea remove the statue. Dozens of identical statues have been put up in South Korea since 2011, when the first one, placed near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, caused a diplomatic uproar. But the statue in Busan was only the second to be installed near a Japanese diplomatic mission. Wednesday was the first anniversary of a landmark agreement between South Korea and Japan to resolve their dispute over the extent of Tokyo’s responsibility for what happened to the wartime sex slaves, or “comfort women,” as they were euphemistically known. Both sides called that deal — in which Japan apologized and promised $8. 3 million to care for the surviving women, in return for South Korea’s promise not to press any future claims — a “final and irreversible resolution” to the dispute, which had become a serious obstacle in their relations. But the deal fell short of the survivors’ demand that Japan pay formal reparations and accept legal responsibility for what they endured. And it proved to be one of the most unpopular decisions made by President Park whose powers have been suspended since the National Assembly voted for her impeachment this month over a corruption scandal. In the year since the agreement was reached, students have been camping out by the statue near the Japanese Embassy to ensure it is not removed, and five more statues have been installed around the country, with money raised through donations. Opposition parties have long denounced the deal, and since Ms. Park’s powers were suspended, they have increased pressure on the government to reconsider it, along with some of her other key policy decisions. If the Constitutional Court ratifies Ms. Park’s impeachment in the coming months, formally removing her from office, a presidential election will be held. Two leading contenders to succeed her have said that they will seek changes to the deal with Japan if elected. Japan’s defense minister, Tomomi Inada, stirred bitter wartime memories in South Korea on Thursday by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which commemorates Japan’s war dead, including a number of officers convicted of war crimes during World War II. | 0fake |
HILARIOUS! TRUMP SUPPORTER Uses Berkeley Riot To Brilliantly Mock Pepsi’s “Protesting Is Fun” Ad Campaign | Pepsi got hammered by just about everyone for their lame attempt at glamorizing anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter violent protesters in an ad campaign with Kendall Jenner that made protesters look like they popped off the pages of a J. Crew magazine for a party/protest.Here s the Pepsi ad:The marketing team for Pepsi really needs to review the actual footage of these violent Antifa and Soros-funded Democrat thugs, because in reality they are about as far away from the pages of J. Crew as they could possibly be.Here s a picture of the Antifa protesters in Berkeley, CA taken at today s rally. Sorry Pepsi, we re just not seeing the resemblance PRICELESS! This Trump supporter couldn t have done a better a better job of mocking Pepsi with this is perfect shot of a Pepsi can in front of Antifa terrorists in the background: Photo of the day. @bakedalaska handing antifa a @pepsi #TaxMarch #MAGA #Berkeley pic.twitter.com/fzfatMw93D Kambree Kawahine Koa (@KamVTV) April 15, 2017Oh, and next time Pepsi wants to make light of the fun protests that are taking place across a very divided America, they might want to bring the fake blood. The anti-Trump terrorists and the Black Lives Matter thugs don t just threaten anyone who disagrees with them, they leave them bloodied and beaten. Here are just a few of the photos of Trump supporters that were taken today at Berkeley, California after anti-Trump terrorists once again used violence to shut down anyone who disagrees with their political views. Cheers Pepsi Here s what a real protest in a post-Obama world looks like a far cry from Pepsi s glamorized version:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/853376478003826688 | 1real |
5 Things You Need to Know About the Blacked Out Dakota Access Pipeline Protests |
by Nick Bernabe
A small Standing Rock Sioux site in North Dakota called the Sacred Stone Camp has been propelled into the national news narrative following their stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Due in part to independent media coverage of the ongoing standoff, the Sacred Stone camp has grown into a formidable opposition against the $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile long pipeline.
Due to misinformation coming from law-enforcement, political favoritism toward the pipeline builders, and the media’s blatant reluctance to report on the pipeline, it’s hard to tell truth from fiction. Anti-Media , along with our partners in the independent media and our embedded journalist at the opposition encampment, have been covering the unfolding standoff continuously. Here are five things you need to know.
1. Who is opposing the pipeline — and why
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is leading the opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. They have been joined by the largest tribal coalition in over 100 years in their stand against the pipeline. The coalition is also comprised of activists, allies, and environmentalists, collectively known as “water protectors,” at the Sacred Stone Camp, an encampment close to the location where the pipeline is planned to cross the Missouri River in North Dakota. According to the Sacred Stone camp website , they are opposing the pipeline because “[t]he Dakota Access threatens everything from farming and drinking water to entire ecosystems, wildlife and food sources surrounding the Missouri.”
The Standing Rock Sioux also say the pipeline is violating treaty land , Sioux territory that was established many years ago by the federal government. “We will not allow Dakota Access to trespass on our treaty territory and destroy our medicines and our culture.”
The opposition to the pipeline spreads across several states and is not opposed solely by Native Americans. Farmers, ranchers, and landowners are also opposed to the pipeline. Many of them have had their land taken from them against their will and given to the pipeline via eminent domain.
2. The U.S. government and the pipeline corporation are continuing a long tradition of disrespecting Native Americans
The United States has a very bad reputation for treating Native Americans, the original inhabitants of this land, as less than human. In many instances in the past, the land where Native Americans lived was deemed to be of higher value than the Natives’ lives.
Such has been the case in North Dakota — not only now, but in the past as well. According to The Atlantic :
“The land beneath the pipeline was accorded to Sioux peoples by the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. Eleven years later, the U.S. government incited and won the Great Sioux War, and ‘renegotiated’ a new treaty with the Sioux under threat of starvation. In that document, the tribe ceded much of the Laramie land, including the Black Hills of South Dakota, where many whites believed there to be gold.”
After the federal government relegated the Sioux people to the “Great Sioux Reservation” in 1851 , the treaty was re-written and “renegotiated” by force whenever resources were discovered or when the U.S. government wanted land. Essentially, the Sioux people were victims of U.S.-sanctioned murder, and their land was stolen because gold was discovered on it.
Fast forward to 2016 and the Sioux people are once again making a stand on land that was once — and still is , according to the tribe — theirs. How is the government reacting to this stand? By brutally arresting the Native American water protectors for trespassing . If that is not a miscarriage of justice, I don’t know what is.
Further, Energy Transfer Partners, the company pulling the strings behind the DAPL, has deep pockets, and its lobbyists have cozied up to federal, state, and local governments with jurisdiction over the pipeline route. This could explain why the company began its construction of the pipeline on Army Corps of Engineers land without even securing an easement , which is required by law. Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, has also used the strong-arm of government to force farmers and landowners to hand over their land to the pipeline against their will.
3. Violent acts are being carried out in North Dakota, but not by the water protectors
Violence is breaking out at the Dakota Access Protest site, but the protesters have nothing to do with it. Pipeline police, bolstered by the North Dakota National Guard and sheriffs imported from around the country, have turned the standoff into a war zone. Water protectors are regularly pepper sprayed, tear gassed, and violently arrested. Over the weekend, 127 people were detained in the biggest mass arrest to date.
Militarized police at the Dakota Access Pipeline site are decked out in riot gear, armed with military grade weapons, use armored cars or MRAPs with snipers on top of them, and have regularly used LRADs, a type of mass crowd dispersal weapon that uses a high pitched noise to hurt people’s ears — sometimes permanently .
Early reports of protesters being armed and violent have proven to be instances of misinformation spread by law enforcement apparently seeking to demonize the opposition. No credible reports of violence by the protesters have been confirmed or prosecuted. Nearly all arrests stem from trespassing charges or crimes of journalism.
When protesters initially began using civil disobedience to physically shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline site, they were confronted violently by security guards from British mercenary firm G4S. The mercs sicced dogs and used pepper spray on the protesters in an assault that went viral and helped catalyze even more support for the water protectors.
4. Independent media is under attack at the Dakota Access Pipeline — and the corporate media is ignoring it
Independent media’s broadcasts over the Internet are basically the only reason people around the country and the world now know about the struggle at Standing Rock. Unfortunately, journalists are not immune to the police crackdowns in North Dakota. Dozens of journalists have now been arrested, and an arrest warrant was issued for high-profile journalist Amy Goodman. One independent media outlet, Unicorn Riot , saw four of their journalists arrested in one day in North Dakota. One filmmaker is facing up to 45 years in prison for filming acts of civil disobedience against the pipeline.
Anti-Media ’s journalist on the ground, Derrick Broze, was tased by law enforcement while covering the protests on Thursday as this article was being written.
Meanwhile, the national corporate media ignored the battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline as long as they could. For months, despite the DAPL emergence into the national narrative, ABC and NBC refused to air any coverage about it. A woman was arrested for protesting the pipeline on her own farm after Dakota Access LLC gained access to it against her will via eminent domain — yet there was still no corporate media coverage on the incident.
5. How you can help the opposition
Now that you see what water protectors are up against in North Dakota, here’s what you can do to help.
Get yourself to the Sacred Stone Camp. The water protectors need reinforcements as people are regularly arrested. The bigger the stand, the more likely the pipeline’s construction will be halted. Here’s how to get there . Send supplies or donations. Water protectors need your help with supplies and funding. Go to this link to send supplies. Go to this link to donate to the cause. Support independent journalists that risk arrest to bring you the news from the front lines. Follow Sacred Stone Camp on Facebook. Share this article. For 10 more ways to get involved, click here . Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).
Contributed by The Anti-Media of theantimedia.org .
The “Anti” in our name does not mean we are against the media, we are simply against the current mainstream paradigm. The current media, influenced by the industrial complex, is a top-down authoritarian system of distribution—the opposite of what Anti-Media aims to be. At Anti-Media, we want to offer a new paradigm—a bottom-up approach for real and diverse reporting. We seek to establish a space where the people are the journalists and a venue where independent journalism moves forward on a larger and more truthful scale. | 1real |
GRIFTER BILL CLINTON Pockets MILLIONS From Promoters Of Terrorism…Talk About Selling Your Soul To The Devil! | The Clinton Grifters will take money from just about anyone even promoters of terror. The report below should tell you all you need to know about the influence peddlers that REALLY have sold out the American people. Do you want these two in the White House again? Former President Bill Clinton collected $5.6 million in fees from GEMS Education, a Dubai-based company that teaches Sharia Law through its network of more than 100 schools in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.The company s finances strictly adhere to Sharia Finance, which includes giving zakat, a religious tax of which one-eighth of the proceeds is dedicated to funding Islamic jihad.The company also contributed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.The former president served as honorary chairman for GEMS Education from 2011 to 2014, according to federal tax returns he filed with his wife, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.His biggest paycheck from the closely-held company which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands was in 2014 when he pocketed $2.1 million. It is unclear if Bill received income from the Middle Eastern firm in 2015, since Hillary has not yet released her tax return for that year.Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
Reuters-Ipsos Poll: Trump, Bush in Virtual Dead Heat | Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, had the support of 15.8 percent of respondents in the online poll of self-identified Republicans compared to 16.1 percent for Bush, a former Florida governor.
They were followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 9.5 percent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at 8.1 percent, surgeon and author Ben Carson at 7.2 percent and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 5.8 percent.
However, given a choice of three candidates - Bush, Trump or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio - Bush had a comfortable lead at 42 percent among the respondents in the Reuters-Ipsos Republican poll, compared to 28.4 percent for Trump and 20 percent for Rubio.
In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remained in front with the support of 48.3 percent of self-identified Democrats polled, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continuing to inch up, at 22.9 percent, and Vice President Joe Biden, who has not entered the race, at 10.7 percent.
Numerous businesses including NBC Universal, Univision, Macy's, Serta and NASCAR have cut ties with Trump since he accused Mexico, in his June 16 speech announcing his candidacy, of sending rapists and other criminals into the United States. Trump on July 6 added that illegal border-crossers from Mexico are carrying "tremendous infectious disease."
The controversy over Trump's immigration comments has dominated news coverage of the Republican campaign in recent weeks, and he has climbed in the Reuters-Ipsos poll to draw essentially even with Bush. On June 30, the poll had Bush at 16.9 percent and Trump at 12.8 percent.
A hard line against illegal immigration may find a receptive audience in Republican primary voters, with U.S. conservatives often accusing President Barack Obama of doing too little to secure America's border with Mexico.
Trump also has accused Bush of being weak on illegal immigration, bringing Bush's Mexican-born wife into the debate. "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico. I can understand that," Trump said in a CNN interview.
Trump has increasingly come under fire from some of his rivals for the Republican nomination including Bush.
"Everybody has a belief that we should control our borders," Bush said last week. "But to make these extraordinarily kind of ugly comments is not reflective of the Republican Party. Trump is wrong on this."
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll of the Republican race, 404 self-identified Republicans age 18 or over were questioned from July 6-10. The poll had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 5.7 percentage points.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll of the Democratic race, 504 self-identified Democrats age 18 or over were questioned over the same time period, with a credibility interval of 5.1 percentage points. | 0fake |
Guess how leftists, millennials and ‘Black Lives Matter’ morons decided to celebrate the 4th of July? | Guess how leftists, millennials and Black Lives Matter morons decided to celebrate the 4th of July? Do they even know our history? Do they care? The video below is one of the best ever from Paul Joseph Watson 2016: LANGUAGE ALERT!Paul Joseph Watson does a great job of explaining why America is great and how wrong so many leftists are on our history. From racism to genocide, Watson walks us through the misconceptions about America. Great stuff! You re carrying Mexican flags while chanting, Trump is not my President. You know that this is America right? ***Language warning***It s funny that a Brit can know more about how great America is than any American citizen | 1real |
Mr. Trump goes to Washington: The surreal spectacle of a know-nothing GOP frontrunner | On Monday morning, millions of Sarah Palin fans woke up to an epic Facebook rant complaining that she and other Trump endorsers are being blacklisted by Washington insiders. This was apparently based upon some Breitbart News “reporting” which quotes some members of the conservative movement compiling a list of Trumpish apostates who will be denied membership in their club. This was somewhat ironic since the Trump campaign actually is keeping an enemies list of reporters it will not allow into its events. But such is the state of the conservative crack-up. And it perfectly signaled the beginning of a very busy day. Donald Trump went into the belly of the beast, Washington D.C. — and once again dominated the news cycle on the entire day before an election.
Trump started the morning with a trek to the Washington Post for an interview with the editorial board. The first question they asked was about his foreign policy team. Up until now he’s said that he watches “the shows” and would listen to himself because he has “a very good brain.” This time he named some people who are not know to be on the A-list, including a conspiracy theorist and Islamophobe and a former general who was dismissed for covering up Bush administration contracting corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He whined like a tired toddler about how unfairly the Washington Post treats him and chattered excitedly about his new building project for some time. He babbled incoherently about how the country’s debt was a bubble and said we need to charge foreign governments to protect them so we have money to rebuild at home. He was asked about the issues of African Americans and the police and said that the problem was unemployment — he believes that black youth have a 58 percent unemployment rate. When pressed about whether there are racial disparities in law enforcement he affirmed his very, very strong support for the police and suggested they need to do whatever is necessary to prevent violence.
He promised to create economic zones and business incentives in the inner cities (he seems to think he just thought of that concept) but mostly he’s convinced that the answer is to lift people’s “spirit.”
I’m sure his policy of having the cops bring the hammer down as hard as possible will be a great spirit lifter.
They asked him if he had any regrets about getting down in the dirt with all the “hands” business and he went on and on and on about it. This is just a short excerpt of what he had to say on the subject:
But this exchange with the publisher was downright chilling:
That is not a typo or a garbled transcript. (You can listen to the whole interview here.) When Donald Trump was asked whether he would use nuclear weapons against ISIS, he said didn’t want to “start the process of nuclear” then explained that he’s a “counterpuncher,” reminding them how he vanquished his rivals in the presidential primary. Then he noticed some attractive people in the room.
That’s how his mind works. It’s not normal.
But that was just the beginning of Trump’s big day in D.C. After his “hands on” interview with the Post. he headed over to a private meeting with some current and former members of Congress, including Senator Tom Cotton, the audacious Arkansas freshman who wrote the embarrassing “Iran letter,” Senator Jeff Sessions, former Senator Jim DeMint, disgraced former congressmen Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston, Calista Gingrich and a small number of backbench Representatives. No one is quite sure what it was all about, but Trump had a press conference afterwards and seemed to believe it was a very, very impressive group.
That press conference rivaled his notorious Super Tuesday Trump brand infomercial. He talked about the building he’s building for what seemed like hours, even discussing the bathroom fixtures at one point. A woman in the audience asked a question he seemed to like and he brought her up to the podium and promised to hire her on the spot. He said, “I looked at her, gut instinct, she asked a question and it was a positive question and she has a great look and she looks like a great person to me, I have instincts about people.” This is the world famous business acumen he will bring to running the government. He was asked about the violence at his rallies and he reiterated his claim that the protesters are very bad people and explained that the man who hit and punched a protester over the weekend had a wonderful family and was angry at a member of the Ku Klux Klan. (He actually beat a protester who was dressed in red, white and blue. A different protester was wearing a white hood to protest Trump’s association with the Klan.) He downplayed any threats from the GOP establishment to his campaign saying, “I don’t see threats. I see people who are trying to go against me … I think they’re very misguided. I think the people who go against me should embrace me and then I would embrace them very easily … If they don’t embrace me, then it’s a threat… There has never been an event like what we’re going through in the history of politics — people are talking about this all over the world.” He’s right about that, but one suspects he may not fully comprehend the horror with which his campaign is being greeted here and around the globe. With that bizarre public appearance under his belt Trump popped over to CNN’s studios for an interview with Wolf Blitzer as part of their evening special with the “Final Five” candidates. He said the usual stump speech nonsense and was typically unresponsive. He did take the opportunity to thoroughly trash Fox News’s Megyn Kelly, saying that he must “let people know that she’s a third rate talent.” But he assured the nation “nobody respects women more than I do. Nobody will take care of women better than I do,” so that’s a relief. And just hours away from delivering a big speech for which he used a teleprompter, he took a shot at Hillary Clinton for using a teleprompter. That big American Israel Public Affairs Committee speech was heavily anticipated among the political media, mostly because everyone wondered if Trump could give a prepared speech. And yes, there was some curiosity about whether he would go before such a typically hawkish crowd and repeat his claim that he would stay neutral between the Israelis and Palestinians. He did not do that. Instead, his Israel policy, if you can call it that, was pretty much GOP boilerplate. And despite the fact that he delivered it via teleprompter it was just as puerile and self-centered as any interview or stump speech he’s ever given. His most notable line (after his bragging about taking the huge physical risk to be the Grand Marshall of New York City’s Israel Day parade in 2004) was this one: My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. I have been in business a long time. I know deal making. And let me tell you this deal is catastrophic, for America, for Israel and for the whole middle east. We’ve rewarded the world’s leading state sponsor of terror with 150 billion dollars and we received absolutely nothing in return. I’ve studied this issue in great detail. I would say actually greater, by far, than anybody else, believe me. Oh believe me The audience roared with laughter. He may be able to convince some of the people at his rallies that he knows what he’s talking about in foreign affairs, but the AIPAC crowd isn’t fooled about his knowledge of Israel and Iran. Nonetheless, they gave him a polite reception. He didn’t challenge the status quo in any way so it was a successful speech for him. But would it have really mattered if it wasn’t? All in all, Donald’s Big Washington Adventure succeeded in doing what what he set out to do. He had the press corps following him all over town like a bunch of One Direction fans hanging on his every silly boast and ignorant rant. Today he will probably win a bunch more delegates to the Republican convention thus proving once again that it doesn’t matter what he says it only matters that he says it on TV. | 0fake |
Kathryn Steinle’s Family Gets Go-Ahead to Sue Federal Government - Breitbart | The parents of Kathryn Steinle have received the to sue the federal government over Kathryn’s July 2o15 death she was killed by an illegal alien holding a gun issued to a federal agent. [U. S. Magistrate Joseph Spero said Steinle’s parents can sue but stressed that the suit may be dismissed if there is no evidence that the illegal alien — Juan Francisco — stole the gun from a federal agent. The gun in question came from the car of a federal agent — a car from which the gun was stolen. On August 28, 2015, Breitbart News previously reported that the . 40 caliber round that killed Steinle was fired from a Sig Sauer handgun that had been stolen from a Bureau of Land Management agent. However, it appears the case will turn on whether stole the gun himself. On July 7, 2015, told he shot Steinle, but he said it was an accident. He said he found the gun “lying on the ground wrapped in a ” and that it “went off by accident when he picked it up. ” But the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Spero said the Steinle family “can sue the federal government for negligence because a ranger allegedly left the gun used in the shooting in his unlocked car. ” He added, “Leaving a gun loaded makes (its) capability for harm readily accessible in the same way as leaving the key in the ignition of a vehicle. ” Spero dismissed Steinle’s parent’s suit against the City of San Francisco, even as he gave the for the suit against the federal government. He “rejected [her parent’s] claims that the city was legally responsible for releasing without contacting the federal government and that federal immigration officials, who had known the city was holding him, had a duty to pick him up and deport him. ” AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0fake |
Burnt homes and broken promises: the Jungle evicted | [Graphic: Calais street scene by Harriet Paintin of Bow and Brush .] =By= Harriet Paintin and Hannah Kirmes-Daly Editor's Note The news of the destruction of the Calais refugee camp, known as “The Jungle”, has been pointed to by many as part of the hardening of European hearts to the terrible plight of refugees who have made it to their shores. It is relatively easy to make appropriate noises and go on with one’s life, but add a visual component and what remains is much more haunting. This can be particularly true with an artiti’s hand in the mix for his or her feelings and impressions are carried forward and the painting (or sculpture, or sometimes photograph) places us as a surrogate in that place and time. This clearly happens with this article so read at your own risk … and I hope you will. L ast week saw the brutal destruction of the Calais Jungle, Europe’s largest unregulated refugee camp and home to around 10,000 people who have built communities, collective solidarity and even an autonomous economy. The eviction of the camp yet again calls into question Europe’s asylum policy as refugees who have fled war, persecution and destruction once again witnessed their homes and community spaces razed to the ground, this time as part of a “humanitarian effort”. French authorities declared on Wednesday that the camp was empty, but hundreds of people — including unaccompanied minors — remain in an incredibly precarious position, sleeping rough and at risk of arrest. Unlike most refugee camps in Europe where food and facilities are provided by authorities, the Jungle evolved as a relatively autonomous entity, more like a shanty town than a camp. Restaurants, shops, barber shops and community spaces lined the muddy high street, which served not only as small commercial enterprises, but also as spaces of collective solidarity where people would gather, share information and build their community. Without these networks of support, the experience of being a refugee is infinitely more isolating and confusing. The Day Before the Eviction The day before the eviction a tense, uneasy mood settled among the residents of the Jungle, many of whom decided to leave on their own terms. Rather than giving up their autonomy and freedom for a place on one of the state provided buses to “Healthcare and Advice Clinics” (CAOs) and detention centers across the country, they left before they could be forced to leave, traveling to Paris, Marseille, anywhere they might have friends or hope of finding shelter. In one of the few restaurants which remained open, people attempted to keep a brave face as they spent the last day among friends with whom they had spent the last few months, years even. Some were resigned to whatever might happen the next day, throwing out light hearted comments to disguise their apprehension, “we’re not scared of the police! We’re Afghan, the police should be scared of us!” A young married couple had only just heard the news of the eviction; they were frantically trying to work out how they could avoid the risks of separation, of detention, and of becoming locked into the French asylum system which is already crumbling in its own inadequacy to provide aid, security and safety to the vulnerable. Aged just 18 and 20 years old, they had traveled together from Eritrea, fleeing the horrors of dictatorship and indefinite military conscription, in search of safety and a life worth living. “I just want a safe place for my wife. We want to build a life together; we can’t live in camps anymore, relying on the state for tiny handouts and waiting in line for food,” exclaimed the young man. The only reassurance they received from a British volunteer was that, as Eritreans, they face little chance of deportation as Europe has finally recognized that Eritrea is an unsafe country, unlike Afghanistan. A middle-aged Afghani man who had been listening in on the conversation interjected at this point, “who says Afghanistan is safe?! You ask your governments how Afghanistan can be safe, while drones and bombs fall from the sky, who sent them?! While your soldiers patrol our villages, who sent them?! Who is responsible for Al-Qaeda, for the Taliban?! Tell me!” Afghanis comprise a significant proportion of the Jungle’s residents. In light of a recent EU agreement with Afghanistan which means that European aid money is dependent on the Afghani government agreeing to accept 80,000 deportees, Afghanis stand little chance of being granted asylum in Europe. This man highlighted the painful contradiction felt by so many in the Jungle, that the nations responsible for so much of the violence in their country turn them away when they seek protection. So many have already had their asylum cases denied in various European countries and now expect to be deported. Their long journeys of flight and hope will end right back where they started. The high street, once a buzzing center of activity, was deserted; the closed shops, restaurants and barber shops reduced to empty shells with broken windows lining a muddy street. The police perimeter was already firmly in place, a man cycling past with plastic bags of clothes was pulled over and interrogated. “It’s just clothes! Nothing else,” he insisted as the policeman in full riot gear roughly pulled out the contents of the bags, revealing just clothes, nothing else. Misinformation and Confusion French authorities claimed that 7,500 beds had been made available, that a simple registration procedure would see people onto buses to transport them to three CAOs across the country, or possibly detention centers. Three different lines for single men, families, and minors, marked out by pictograms. This registration would take place on October 24 and 25, with the demolishment of the camp scheduled for the 25th. Women’s protest ( Harriet Paintin ) This information had been made available far too late to be translated and transmitted to the many languages and residents of the Jungle, meaning that Monday morning began with an overwhelming sense of chaos, disorganization and misinformation that would come to characterize the following days. Scarce scraps of information were filtered down through various organizations on the ground and painstakingly analyzed by everyone, volunteers and refugees alike, in an attempt to understand what was happening. As Clouchard states, “misinformation is to democracy what propaganda agencies are to totalitarian states”. In the context of this eviction the lack of information felt like not just an organizational slip-up, but a deliberate attempt to misinform and mislead people. In the confusion that ensued, people were unable to take balanced, well-informed and empowered decision about their futures; instead, they were herded onto buses that they didn’t even know the destination of. At one point, volunteers tried to hand out maps, to enable refugees to decide between the three locations that were supposed to be on offer to them. Officials shouted back, “this is not allowed, people don’t have a choice, don’t give them a map!” The Registration Process Calais police registration lines ( Harriet Paintin ) With a heavy media and police presence the mood was subdued and access was restricted to accredited media (500 people) and a handful of volunteer organizations. Inside, people packed up their homes and belongings in the cold, gray morning light and headed towards the police lines for registration. The long line of unaccompanied minors waited for their futures to be determined by one woman peering into their face for about 30 seconds to decide if they were under 18. Inside the Jungle however, far from the complete chaos which everyone had been expecting, there were pockets of relative normality as those who did not want to take the buses busied themselves with their daily lives, cooking lunch for their children, playing guitar. As for the official demolition, the police cordoned off a tiny section of the camp and invited journalists to watch as they carefully dismantled it. When the real demolition began the following day all access to the high look-out point in the camp was restricted to journalists, where they would have been able to see the bulldozers and cranes destroying houses, and countless fires breaking out across the camp. Jungle house on fire ( Harriet Paintin ) One of the most noticeable homes on fire was a beautifully constructed two-story building complete with a terrace. The inhabitants had set the house on fire themselves as a symbol of protest; they did not want their home and their memories to be destroyed at the hands of the police. As the smoke climbed into the sky, they laughed and reminisced about their past years in the Jungle. Only three people of a community of more than twenty were left, everybody else had already left, to Paris, to flats in Calais; not a single one was planning on taking the bus. In the midst of this dehumanizing chaos there were several moments of resistance like this where people, for a brief moment at least, were able to take control of their situation and express discontent. Faced with extreme police repression and no individual rights, these actions were incredibly powerful. Individuals carried flags of their home nations up and down the line of policemen who stood stoic and expressionless in their riot gear. The women of the camp, so infrequently visible that their presence has even at times been doubted, organized themselves and protested against their treatment, calling out for “safety and dignity for all women! Underage, overage, we’re all the same! In [camps in] Paris we sleep on the streets!” The Fire At about 3am on Wednesday morning a huge fire started, burning all the homes and possessions left behind. A fire which quickly spread out of control throughout the camp and razed it to the ground, leaving the high street looking like a devastated ghost town. Later, the registration area quickly descended into chaos as people were told that the last buses were leaving that afternoon. The line for minors closed early and hundreds were told to come back the next day. In the midst of this chaos and confusion the destruction of the camp continued in full force as the bulldozers and cranes moved in. Calais Jungle burning scene ( Harriet Paintin ) “It’s exactly like the scenes we have run away from, it’s just like watching our homes being burnt by the rebel forces” gasped one young man from Sudan as he gazed upon the desolation and destruction before him. After the last buses departed, the French authorities and some media outlets reported that the camp had been cleared and the eviction was a success, ignoring the hundreds left behind. Having been turned away by the authorities for the third day running, children were ordered back into a Jungle which by this time had become an apocalyptic scene of burning buildings, toxic smoke, exploding gas canisters. They had nowhere else to go but the streets, with no information about what options are open to them, if any. This eviction may have been dressed up as a “humanitarian effort” but the blatant contradictions between the official line of events and the reality on the ground reveals gaping fault-lines in Europe’s refugee policies. With unaccompanied minors left sleeping on the street, then by no stretch of the imagination has this been a successful operation. Rather, this is nothing but a complete failure on behalf of the authorities who are responsible for their protection. If the eviction was planned with the best interests of the Jungle residents in mind, then it would have worked out in a different way. There has been a refugee camp in Calais since the early 1990s, and after each eviction people have returned to rebuild. Long term residents of the Jungle believe that there is nothing that the authorities can do to stop people coming and trying to reach the UK; they are confident that before long, small camps will spring up again, but without the facilities and systems of mutual cooperation and aid that people have built in the Jungle their survival will be even more precarious.
Harriet Paintin is a freelance writer and musician, and Hannah Kirmes-Daly is a freelance reportage illustrator. They work together on documenting individual stories through art and music, focusing on refugee stories. Follow them at brushandbow.com.
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Bridgegate testimony could cut Christie's last political lifeline | (Reuters) - Testimony by a former ally of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that the Republican knew about the “Bridgegate” traffic scandal as it was going on could endanger his best chance at a political future: a role in a Trump administration. Christie has denied claims he had been an active participant in the plan to deliberately create massive traffic jams on a key bridge to New York to punish a Democratic mayor’s refusal to endorse his re-election bid. But each piece of evidence that ties Christie closer to the scandal makes him more of a liability for Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, a New York real estate developer who has tapped the governor to head his transition team. “Every revelation increases the odds that Trump will distance himself from Christie, especially as Election Day gets closer,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at New Jersey’s Princeton University. “Christie still serves a value to Trump, who wants to compete in blue states,” he added. “But there will be a point where the revelations overwhelm any sense of loyalty or any perception that he remains valuable to the campaign.” A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 53-year-old governor’s political future is already limited. New Jersey law prevents him from running for a third consecutive term next year, and polls show that Bridgegate has seriously hurt his popularity, explaining in part why Christie, who hoped to be president, quickly tied his fortunes to Trump. Christie on Tuesday repeated that he had not known about the lane-closure plan. “There’s all kinds of stuff going on up in a courtroom in Newark, and I want to be really clear to all of you about something,” Christie told reporters in Trenton. “I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments.” That contradicted the testimony of David Wildstein, a former executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in a federal court in Newark, where two other ex-Christie allies face criminal charges for their role in the scandal. While Bridget Kelly, his former deputy chief of staff and Bill Baroni, a close associate and former executive at the Port Authority, are on trial for their role in the 2013 incident, Christie himself has not been charged criminally. The governor was at the peak of his popularity at the time, having stepped into the national spotlight when he toured Superstorm Sandy-ravaged New Jersey shore with President Barack Obama. With his eye on the White House, he was eager to secure the endorsements of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and other Democratic mayors to show he was a politician able to forge alliances across party lines. The lane closures, which generated massive traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge and national headlines, took a heavy toll on Christie’s image and drew the mockery of the state’s favorite son, rock star Bruce Springsteen. A Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted early this month found that 23 percent of state residents held a favorable view of Christie, down 7 percentage points from a year earlier and one-third of what it was at Christie’s peak of popularity in February 2013. “Bridgegate almost wholly contributed to the downfall that we’ve seen for the governor,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at New Jersey’s Rutgers University. His low popularity makes it highly unlikely he’d be successful in another statewide run, whether it was for governor in 2021 or for another office, she said. After Christie’s bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination failed, he pivoted quickly to endorse Trump, who embraced his support and named him transition chair in May. Christie would be charged with helping build a cabinet for a Trump White House and serve as a liaison with the outgoing Obama team. Christie was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, suggesting the likeliest job in a Trump cabinet would be attorney general. “It’s hard to imagine that he would be able to win Senate confirmation with knowledge of this scheme confirmed,” said Brigid Callahan Harrison, professor of political science and law at New Jersey’s Montclair State University. Trump could also pick Christie for a staff role, she said. Bill Stepien, who managed both of Christie’s gubernatorial runs, is an adviser to the Trump campaign. Harrison added: “From what we know of Trump, he may not be overly cautious about affiliating himself with people that could be damaging.” | 0fake |
WATCH: Joe Scarborough Fears Trump Will Murder Journalists And Political Rivals Like Putin Does | Donald Trump s admiration of Vladimir Putin and the tyrannical way he runs Russia is very worrying to Trump s friend Joe Scarborough.The Morning Joe host strongly advised that Trump to put out a statement condemning the killing of journalists and political opponents. Because if he doesn t, his recent statements in two separate interviews over the course of the last year are even scarier. He s running his country, and at least he s a leader, Trump said in December 2015 when asked about Putin murdering journalists and political rivals. Unlike what we have in this country. But again: He kills journalists that don t agree with him, Scarborough replied.Trump then stunned Scarborough by excusing Putin s crimes. I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe, so, you know. There s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. And that s the way it is. And just as in that interview, Trump basically repeated himself during an interview with Bill O Reilly that aired prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday. There are a lot of killers, Trump said in defense of Putin. You think our country s so innocent? And that makes Joe Scarborough wonder if Trump will start emulating Putin. If Donald Trump keeps being asked to criticize Vladimir Putin for assassinating journalists, and Donald Trump refuses to criticize Vladimir Putin for assassinating journalists, and say, well, we do it, too, in a sense, does that suggest that he thinks that it s OK to assassinate journalists? Does that suggest that it s OK to jail political opponents, to assassinate political opponents? Scarborough then condemned Trump for defending Putin and advised him to issue a statement against killing journalists and political rivals to make it clear that he does not support doing these things. If you don t condemn after being asked repeatedly to condemn these actions, at some point you go back to the he who does not deny admits story, and it suggests that he does. I suggest somebody at the White House get him to write a very strong statement letting the world know that he condemns the assassination of journalists and political rivals, because he suggests in the two interviews with O Reilly and us that he does not How do you compare a country whose leader assassinates journalists, a country s leader who assassinates political rivals we saw one found dead in the street across from the Kremlin a year ago who jails economic rivals, who has an authoritarian regime that has put everybody on notice, he s plundered his country. Many people estimate that Putin is worth $200 billion that he has stolen from the Russian people, and yet this desire to keep preaching moral equivalency continues and it is baffling. It was disturbing enough a year ago, it is baffling now, as president of the United States, that he s still doing this. Here s the video via MSNBC.Donald Trump is a threat to our individual liberties and our lives. His obsession with wanting to be buddies with Putin is frightening and the fact that he is actually defending murder is sickening and un-American.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
U.S. Starts Year With Job Surge, but Pay Gains Are Weak - The New York Times | If the surprisingly strong job gains in January revealed the economy’s resilience, they also exposed some of its stubborn weaknesses. Yes, the government’s report on Friday showed that employers fattened their payrolls by 227, 000 workers last month, an unexpectedly large increase. And yes, public optimism about economic prospects has persuaded a few hundred thousand Americans who had dropped out of the work force to return. But the very fact that so many sidelined workers could be lured back despite meager wage growth is evidence that the labor pool is not as shallow as some have argued. To the labor market bulls, consistently low official jobless rates have suggested that the economy is nearing capacity and that inflation lurks. Initial estimates released last month gave the impression that wages had taken a big step forward at the end of last year, lifting hopes that the momentum would continue, especially with a surge of local increases taking effect across the country. Instead, the Labor Department’s latest figures showed baby steps — slower increases in earnings for December and January, bringing average wage growth back down to its disappointing 2. 5 percent trend. “The increase in participation and drop in wages suggest we’re not at full employment,” James Athey, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, said. Although officials at the Federal Reserve have said they expect to raise the benchmark interest rate three times this year in response to a strengthening economy, they made clear at their session this week that nothing is guaranteed. “This is just what the doves at the Fed wanted to see,” Mr. Athey said, referring to those wary of raising rates and keen to keep the focus on fostering hiring rather than heading off inflation. “All of the numbers point toward it being more difficult to justify another hike in March,” when Fed members next meet. But just because the job market is not yet drum tight does not mean it is not improving. “The labor market started 2017 on the front foot,” said Carl R. Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust. “This is a good, good number. ” President Trump, who previously dismissed the jobs estimates as “phony numbers,” said on Friday that the latest report showed there was a “great spirit in the country right now. ” The averages the government reported mask how fractured the labor market is regarding skills and pay. Employers in many sectors have complained about the difficulty of finding and keeping suitable workers, which has driven up pay in several sectors. “We’re still continuing to see wage pressure as the candidate market continues to shrink,” said Amy Glaser, senior vice president of Adecco Staffing USA, which has 300 branch offices. In addition to the omnipresent hunger for engineers and other workers, demand is strong for people with trade skills like welding that fell into disuse during the recession, and for warehouse and light assembly workers, Ms. Glaser said. “I’m definitely seeing a trend of employers targeting certain pools of workers like the disabled, retirees that may be looking to return to the work force, and moms,” said Ms. Glaser, whose office is in Lexington, Ky. “Employers are getting very creative. Anything to get a competitive edge. ” David Nilssen, chief executive of Guidant Financial, a financier based in Seattle, added 30 employees last year to his work force of 80. He said the trouble he has had recruiting and retaining staff members was echoed in a Guidant survey of about 2, 000 clients, who listed a shortage of qualified workers as their main challenge. Many American workers remain cut off from the competitive bidding that has emerged in the eighth year of the recovery. A mismatch of skills or location, the lack of support like child care and employer discrimination are some of the reasons that high school graduates, factory workers, members of minorities, baby boomers and others have failed to find or regain a comfortable footing in the labor force. However strong (or weak) last month’s figures are ultimately viewed, they are a legacy of the Obama administration, since they are based on surveys before Mr. Trump took office on Jan. 20. Some employers may have made staffing decisions in anticipation of a Republican administration, but this report does not reflect any specific policy changes. (The way the government estimates the jobless rate does not change from one administration to the next.) Still, given the timing, the January job figures are one benchmark against which the new president’s stewardship of the economy will be judged. There are others. Economists at Moody’s Analytics said in a report this week that at least six other measures should be used to determine whether the economy has reached full employment. The list included the proportion of those not in the labor force who want a job, the size of the pool of unemployed and the degree of wage growth. The share of adults who are in the labor force, meaning they have a job or are actively looking for one, has been dragging along at historical lows, but it bumped up to 62. 9 percent in January, from 62. 7 in December, a sign that at least some people have returned and that still more might do so if prospects brighten. That growth in the work force raised the official unemployment rate to 4. 8 percent last month. A broader measure of unemployment, which includes the millions who are working part time but would prefer jobs and those so discouraged by rejections that they have given up searching, also rose, to 9. 4 percent in January from 9. 2 percent in December. Revised estimates from December and November cut 39, 000 jobs from previous totals, although other routine adjustments by the Labor Department showed the overall job creation for 2016 was better than previously reported. Manufacturing jobs, which Mr. Trump has focused on, grew by 5, 000 in January, increases that were countered by a revised estimate that reduced December’s gains. The Department of Labor will issue one more revised estimate for December, and two more for January. At the lower end of the pay scale, state and local increases — ranging from as small as 5 cents an hour in Florida and Alaska to $1. 95 an hour in Arizona — affected about 4. 3 million workers across 19 states in January. The widest impact was felt in Arizona, California and Washington, where more than 1 in 10 workers got a raise. Employees in Oregon, the District of Columbia and Maryland are scheduled to get an increase later this year. The disappointing overall wage growth can be traced in part to the financial industry, which had a 0. 1 percent drop in pay. Analysts, backed by research from the Federal Reserve, have been recalibrating their assessments of what constitutes a strong number of hires, given how far the official unemployment rate has fallen. Economists estimate that it takes 50, 000 to 110, 000 new jobs to absorb growth in the population and keep the jobless rate steady. The current average is 183, 000. Mr. Trump, who ordered an hiring freeze for the federal government last week, has pledged on the White House website to create 25 million jobs — a staggering number that would eclipse the total number of jobs created during Ronald Reagan’s tenure, George Bush’s term and George W. Bush’s eight years combined. | 0fake |
U.S. Navy may raise current 308-ship target for fleet | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy will likely increase its requirement for a 308-ship fleet given the rapidly changing world security situation, including the U.S. battle against Islamic State, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said on Thursday. Richardson said the Navy was reviewing an assessment completed in 2012 and updated in 2014, before Russia’s reemergence as a “global power competitor,” and the start of the U.S.-led campaign to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. “I would bet a paycheck that it’s going to be a number greater than 308 ships, just by virtue of the additive nature of the complexity and the contestants that are confronting us right now,” Richardson told an event hosted by Washington defense consultant Jim McAleese and Credit Suisse. The top U.S. naval officer said the Navy was already increasing its purchases of Virginia-class submarines built by General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., but would also invest in unmanned vessels. The study is due to be completed this summer in time to inform the Navy’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal, according to a Navy official. The Navy’s fleet is currently around 285 ships. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly called for an increase in the size of the Navy’s fleet, arguing that the sheer number of threats around the world requires more ships to help the United States “project power.” Others argue that today’s ships are more capable and advanced than in years past, increasing the power and capability of each ship and making the larger fleets of the 1980s unnecessary. | 0fake |
In the Western World Respect for Law No Longer Exists | In the Western World Respect for Law No Longer Exists
Two of the Most Important Journalists in the World Emphasize the Criminality that Rules in the US, UK, and Sweden
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wdoHXVJPta8&feature=youtu.be
The post In the Western World Respect for Law No Longer Exists appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 1real |
South Korea sees more possible North Korea ballistic missile tests: defense ministry | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s defense ministry said in a parliament hearing on Monday it was still seeing signs that North Korea planned to stage more ballistic missile launches, possibly including an intercontinental ballistic missile. We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, said Chang Kyung-soo, a defense ministry official. The defense ministry was called by parliament on Monday to answer questions about North Korea s sixth and largest nuclear test that was carried out a day earlier. | 0fake |
GOP Rep. Says People Could Use Bales Of Marijuana To Smuggle Nukes Into The Country (VIDEO) | Republicans have been coming up with some pretty ridiculous reasons for why they think we need to ban Muslims and build that stupid wall. Donald Trump and his administration have taken to making up fake terrorist attacks, which is sad enough. But now, we apparently have to worry about people smuggling nuclear weapons into our country hidden inside bales of marijuana, no less.Rep. Trent Franks did an interview with CNN on Wednesday and was trying to explain why we need Trump s border wall. Sadly, he was being completely serious when he made this ridiculous assertion. We sometimes used to make the point that if someone wanted to smuggle a dangerous weapon into America, even a nuclear weapon, how would they do it? he said. The suggestion is, maybe we ll hide it in a bale of marijuana. There are national security implications here for a porous border. As a group of nations, we need to understand that America is the world s flagship of freedom. If we don t have a secure border, that hurts everyone in the long run. As absurd as this idea is, this isn t the first time it has been suggested that someone could sneak in a nuclear weapon by stuffing it inside bales of pot. Earlier this month, Rep. Brad Sherman made the comment that missile defense is OK politically, but remember you can smuggle a nuclear weapon inside a bale of marijuana. As David Kay of the International Atomic Energy Agency explains, the scenario might not be as ridiculous as it sounds on the surface. I ve often said, my preferred method for delivering a nuclear device is, I would hide it in a bale of marijuana, contract it out to the drug lords and move it, he said. Marijuana is a good shielder actually for radiation. The drug lords have a superb record for delivery. They re not Fed Ex, but they re awfully close to it. And contract it out and get it across the border. Even Frank Ciluffo, the director of George Washington University s Homeland Security Policy Institute, floated the idea back in 2014. If you want to smuggle in a tactical nuclear weapon, just put it in a bale of marijuana, Ciluffo said. Because we re not doing that well in terms of some of our drug enforcement. Luckily, we won t have to worry about any of this because Trump is going to build his massive wall and no bad people will ever be able to get into our country again!You can watch Frank s CNN interview, here:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
“We Were Long Overdue A Presidential Assassination Anyway” | We Use Cookies: Our policy [X] “We Were Long Overdue A Presidential Assassination Anyway” November 9, 2016 - BREAKING NEWS Share 0 Add Comment
AMERICANS still coming to terms with the surprising outcome of the 2016 US elections have sought solace in the fact that the country was long overdue a presidential assassination anyway.
“It’s been what, 50 odd years since the last one?” queried disgruntled Florida native Toby Hartford, “I mean Reagan doesn’t count since he survived it”.
Citing the perfect societal conditions for a swell in dissatisfaction and disquiet brought on by divisive rhetoric, isolation and amplified fears to fester, much of the American population was in agreement that ‘yes, an assassination is something that could conceivably happen’.
“I wouldn’t not celebrate it, were it to happen, which is really fucking depressing when I think about it. I thought I was a decent human being, and this was a decent country, but fuck it, this is where we’re at now,” shared New Yorker Bernice Stewart.
“I’m not saying it’s something I want, I abhor murder, but give it a few months and when Trump hasn’t made America great again by placing US Muslims in internment camps, I’ve every faith in him stirring the sorts of emotions in a mentally unstable individual required to break our 53-year streak,” another voter remarked.
Experts in slowly unraveling individuals with access to guns even speculated that the ultimate cause of the assassination may be seemingly insignificant.
“Right now, no one is focused enough to remember Trump said he would release his tax returns, but when he delays that disclosure again and again, someone who never really gave a shit about that might start studying a map of tall buildings surrounding his victory parade route in New York. It could be one of those very people Trump mobilised to vote; working class, jobless and perennially ignored by the political establishment that will pull the trigger, ironic really,” isolated loner expert Condie Matthews explained.
Secret Service personnel, tasked with bodyguarding and protecting the president, resigned en masse this morning stating they ‘don’t get paid enough for this shit’. | 1real |
NBC’s Tur: Is Trump Going Down ’A Dangerous Path’ Because Putin Has Killed Journalists and Trump Criticizes Them? - Breitbart | On Monday’s broadcast of “MSNBC Live,” host Katy Tur asked Senator Deb Fischer ( ) asked if she thought President Trump was heading down “a dangerous path” because Trump has avoided criticizing Vladimir Putin, Putin has killed journalists, and “Donald Trump has made no secret about going after journalists and his distaste for any news that doesn’t agree with him here. ” Tur asked, “Why — what is your sense of why this president is going above and beyond, bending over backwards, if you will, to stay away from criticizing the Russian president? And it’s almost — give him an excuse. As we know, there’s, since 2000, been a couple dozen suspicious deaths of journalists in Russia who came out against the government there. Donald Trump has made no secret about going after journalists and his distaste for any news that doesn’t agree with him here. Do you find that this is a dangerous path he is heading down?” ( NewsBusters) Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 0fake |
Donations to A.C.L.U. and Other Organizations Surge After Trump’s Order - The New York Times | President Trump’s executive order barring millions of refugees and citizens of seven countries from the United States has spurred a surge in donations to humanitarian and rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. The A. C. L. U. has raised more than $24 million in online donations since Saturday, the first full day of the immigration ban, said Stephen Smith, a spokesman for the group. That is nearly seven times as much raised online in 2015, roughly $3. 5 million, he added. Those donations came from at least 356, 306 individual donors, and about of those who gave money were believed to be donors, said its executive director, Anthony D. Romero. “The response from the public has been remarkable,” Mr. Romero said. “It clearly shows that people are exercised over the proposed policies of Donald Trump. ” The A. C. L. U. also gained 150, 000 to 200, 000 new members. It had 400, 000 when Mr. Trump was elected in November, he said. “Clearly, this executive order has hit a live nerve with the American people,” Mr. Romero said. Thousands of protesters flooded airports across the country and took to the streets as word spread that immigrants and refugees were being blocked from entering the country, detained for hours by customs officials or taken off planes during the weekend, after Mr. Trump signed the executive order at 4:42 p. m. on Friday. The order, coming off a campaign promise, suspends the entry of all refugees for 120 days, bars Syrian refugees indefinitely, and prevents citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. Critics noted that the order for “extreme vetting” was in effect a ban on Muslims, and did not target countries in which Mr. Trump has had business interests. The move stunned the global community, drawing criticism from business leaders, European heads of state and Christian leaders, though many Trump fans were unfazed. Besides the A. C. L. U. other groups have seen a rise in donations. The National Immigration Law Center, which joined the A. C. L. U. in a suit on behalf of two Iraqi refugees detained on Saturday, has raised $269, 000 since the Trump order was signed, its executive director, Marielena Hincapie, said. Ms. Hincapie said donations had increased “across the board” and were now larger, more frequent and coming from more individual donors than her group had ever seen. A surge of individual donations after the election in November also boosted the law center’s annual budget to $7. 5 million from $5. 5 million, she added. for her organization was usually “slow and tedious work,” but not anymore, she said. “Trump’s election completely changed that and set us on a new path and has allowed us to be a stronger and more nimble organization,” Ms. Hincapie said. Humanitarian groups have seen a boost in donations, as well. Kal Penn, an actor and a former official in the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Barack Obama, started an online appeal for the International Rescue Committee, which works in conflict and disaster zones around the world. Mr. Penn said the had been inspired by an internet “troll” who told him he didn’t belong in the United States. “To the dude who said I don’t belong in America, I started a page for Syrian refugees in your name,” Mr. Penn wrote on Twitter. That tweet was shared more than 35, 000 times, and by Sunday, the site had raised over $390, 000. The I. R. C. began its own effort on Sunday with the goal of bringing in $5 million to help the organization respond to the needs of refugees in the United States. The group said it was the first time it had launched an appeal for people in the United States. The efforts were promoted by at least one actress during the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night, Sarah Paulson, who urged people to donate to the A. C. L. U. “to protect the rights and liberties of people across this country. ” Many of the winners, including Julia of TV’s “Veep” and Mahershala Ali of the film “Moonlight,” used their acceptance speeches to denounce the policies of Mr. Trump. The A. C. L. U. sees itself as a leader in the opposition to Mr. Trump’s agenda. It lead the charge on Saturday with the lawsuit in New York that resulted in an emergency ruling by a federal judge blocking the deportation of detainees who had already landed here. The court order was the second legal action filed by the group against the Trump administration, which is little more than one week old. Even before Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration, the A. C. L. U. had received more than $47 million from 400, 000 donors, Mr. Romero said. The organization used the money — the largest surge in donations in its 97 year history, he said — to hire 200 staff members, primarily lawyers. “That is the Trump Effect,” Mr. Romero said. “Those 400, 000 people, who donated to us, I did not go after them they came to us. In fact, our website crashed we had so many donations, we could not handle it. ” | 0fake |
Motorcycling Without the Mansplaining - The New York Times | We’re fresh over the Canadian border, in a supermarket on Vancouver Island gathering supplies for our first night on the road. There are three of us, and as we come together at checkout and pile our dinner ingredients onto the conveyor belt, the woman at the register doesn’t seem to know what to make of us. She watches our selections roll toward her: a rotisserie chicken, instant mashed potatoes, spinach, marshmallows, bottled water. We are three young women wearing motorcycle jackets and heavy boots, bandannas knotted around our necks. Lindsay asks her to add a bundle of firewood to the tally, and suddenly our presence here, just down the road from the Bamberton campground, clicks into place for her. “Did you leave your men at the campsite?” she asks. We laugh, not meaning to be rude, but the question strikes us as absurd. “Nope,” Lindsay tells her. “We left the men at home. ” She is confused and intrigued. Another woman comes to bag our purchases, and we chat with them both for a moment about the campground up the road, about our journey and about the fact that our men were not invited. The assumption that there are men waiting for us anywhere at all is a tangle for another day. They are excited for us, are thrilled to learn about our motorcycle adventure — from Seattle to Banff, then back across through Montana, Idaho and Washington. “Have the best time,” they say. We thank them, gather up our bags and head out to the parking lot, scooping up our firewood on the way. In the fading light, we pack up our two motorcycles with the purchases. We stash the bags and a of bottled water in the leg space of the sidecar we have reserved for gear, then secure the firewood under a web of bungee cords. We’re quick about it, because we’re hungry and want to make camp before it gets dark. I get on one of the bikes and back it out of the parking spot. Jenny starts the other one while Lindsay climbs into the sidecar. “Hurry!” I yell over the engines, with mock urgency. “The men are waiting,” we shout together and gun it toward the Highway. And it’s sort of true: There are men waiting. At every gas station and every diner and every campsite. They are waiting to ogle our machines, to quiz us about our trip, to ask us about our experience as motorcycle riders. Women manage uninvited attention from men every day, but there’s something particularly alluring to the male about a woman on a motorcycle. Two days in and we already know their lines of interrogation by heart. It’s not just the questions but the nonquestions that have begun to wear us down: “Let me give you directions [insert directions we don’t need]. ” “ friend rides motorcycles, too [insert random motorcycle story]. ” “Be careful [insert skeptical tone]. ” “I know things about sidecar motorcycles [insert inaccurate history lesson]. ” We take turns speaking with these interlopers, because there are just so many of them. Some are polite and curious and complimentary. Some are less so. As we wait for the ferry off Vancouver Island, a man with a neck tattoo ambles over and asks: “Did your fathers loan you these motorcycles? Or was it your uncles?” Jenny and I widen our eyes at each other in disbelief, and Lindsay tells him exactly what she thinks of his query. But we learn to put ridiculous moments like this behind us as we continue across British Columbia and Alberta. Near Whistler, we picnic on the shore of a lake. Outside Kamloops, we camp at the end of an abandoned dirt road, and in the morning we do doughnuts for so long the dust rises around us like a curtain. On our way to Banff, a tire blows out and, after struggling to change it by the side of the highway, we ride through the frigid, rainy night to make up the time I put on a midnight recital for Lindsay, who is huddled in the sidecar beside me, singing every Dolly Parton song I know. We look out on Banff’s lakes and pass through Calgary, and then, after days of rain, the weather becomes beautiful near the Montana border, where we stop for a field of yellow flowers. Along the way, every time we see a man on an expensive motorcycle, we nudge one another and whisper, “Did your mom loan you that?” After almost two weeks on the road, when we finally say goodbye, all I can think about is where I want to adventure next with these women. | 0fake |
Hannity Claims CIA Framed Trump And Russia While Hacking DNC For Obama And Gets FRIED (TWEETS) | On Thursday, Fox News hack and Donald Trump testicle-buffer Sean Hannity decided to use the new WikiLeaks release to formulate his most ridiculous defense of Trump s connections to Russia yet they don t exist, and the CIA did it all.According to Hannity, Vladimir Putin s goons didn t, as is confirmed by 17 intelligence agencies, hack the DNC and the DNCC in an effort to help Donald Trump win. The CIA did it so they could frame Vladimir Putin and Trump. Is it possible, likely or can you confirm instances where the CIA used Malware to Attribute cyberattacks to other nations? Possibly Russia, Hannity asked WikiLeaks.Is it possible, likely or can you confirm instances where the CIA used Malware to "Attribute" cyberattacks to other nations? Possibly Russia https://t.co/Ay1Ms84TPT Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 9, 2017Hannity s question, presented more as a statement than anything else, was just awful. Effectively, he was asking a group that has shown themselves to be an arm of the Russian government (WikiLeaks) to discredit one of our intelligence agencies on behalf of a hostile foreign power because he has a raging hard-on for Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Naturally, the internet was not very pleased with this rather treasonous-sounding statement:Did @seanhannity actually just ask Wikileaks to discredit the CIA, possibly thru use of stolen classify info? And ON BEHALF of Russia?! https://t.co/EjQENG52gt John Aravosis (@aravosis) March 10, 2017@seanhannity dude, you're defending an attack against your own country. Essential Liberty (@devchelle) March 9, 2017@seanhannity Gone full on traitor, haven't you? Anything to keep power. Sad. You've betrayed your country. Elliott Lusztig (@ezlusztig) March 9, 2017@seanhannity A conservative asking wikileaks if they can pin Russian hacking on the CIA? Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 10, 2017@seanhannity The day hannity went to the defense of Russia. Wow. 2pixel (@2pixelbutt) March 9, 2017@2pixelbutt @seanhannity Hannity proves he's no patriot. What a piece of shit. The Rockin' Donkey ? (@therockindonkey) March 9, 2017The CIA works for the USA. Which country do you work for @seanhannity ? DumboDonaldTrump (@dumbo_donald) March 9, 2017@seanhannity curious, does Russia pay you in Rubles or do they go ahead convert the currency to U.S. dollars for you? Marcus (@mahhcus) March 9, 2017@seanhannity Watching the party of Reagan bend over for Putin is hilarious. Patriotism gone. #K-GOP Hope (@hopeuno) March 9, 2017@seanhannity You've officially reached the point where you're abandoning loyalty to country in favor of your agenda. Andrew Nell (@AndrewJNell) March 9, 2017@seanhannity Are you asking Wikileaks, which is a known front for Russian intelligence, to ATTACK our country again???????? WeAreAmerica?? (@DemocracyValues) March 10, 2017@seanhannity You're either an incredible actor or devoid of fundamental logic. Jesse Springer (@jessespringer) March 9, 2017@seanhannity at what point during this campaign/election did u become a traitor? Does Russia have something on u as well? #Trumprussia Heather Johnson (@Heather07191972) March 10, 2017@seanhannity So the "Deep State" that apparently hates Trump did something to elect him and make it look like Russia did it? Cameron (@cameron_durkin) March 9, 2017Hannity says that the CIA s decision to hack our election to get Trump, whom they (as part of Obama s Deep State) hate, elected so they can blame Russia and Trump is an important thing to expose because now The Donald can purge people he imagines to be part of this ridiculous plot.It's time for the Trump administration to purge the deep state saboteurs from the government hear more at 10pm #Hannity Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 10, 2017Seem stupid? It is, but this is the desperate sh*t the Right has decided to believe in their effort to absolve Trump and his administration of very real crimes. Pathetic.Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Tom Ciccotta Shuts Down Feminist Bucknell Professor for Interrupting Guest Speaker - Breitbart | Breitbart’s Tom Ciccotta shut down a feminist Bucknell University professor after she repeatedly interrupted guest speaker Christina Hoff Sommers during an event in Lewisburg, PA, on Thursday night.[ During the event’s QA, the professor identified herself as a feminist philosophy professor. Throughout the evening, she repeatedly interrupted and shouted down AEI resident scholar Christina Hoff Sommers, who was the guest speaker at the event. “Are you going to keep interrupting our speaker?” asked Ciccotta after the professor repeatedly interrupted. “How many progressive professors are at Bucknell? I think it’s like eighty percent. ” “I could never conduct myself in the classroom the way you’ve conducted yourself tonight,” he continued. When asked for comment, Ciccotta added that, “She came to our event with the intention of making a scene. She had no genuine interest in respectfully engaging with our speaker. She set a poor example for the students in attendance. ” “Considering that the Bucknell classroom is a safe space for progressivism, it’s disappointing that she felt so threatened by a departure from the campus’ political orthodoxy,” he concluded. | 0fake |
Donald Trump Wins The Presidency In Historic Victory | 4 Replies
Jonathan Turley – It appears that that “ basket of deplorables ” was a bit larger than Hillary Clinton expected. I was up to 4 am at Fox participating in the coverage of the election from New York. This was my fourth such presidential election as part a media team and it was fascinating to watch [results] unfold at the campaign headquarters at Fox.
History will judge the decisions of Democrats leaders in this election. As I have previously written, the Democratic National Committee and establishment (including allies in the media) did everything they could to engineer the election of Hillary Clinton. While they had an extremely popular candidate in Bernie Sanders as well as Vice President Joe Biden, they insisted on advancing Clinton despite her being deeply disliked and the ultimate symbol of the establishment that the public was rallying against.
As the close race indicated, the selection of a Sanders or Biden would have likely produced a sweep of both the White House and the Senate for the Democrats. Instead, they lost them both by forcing voters to vote for someone with record negatives.
Voters were clear that they did not want Clinton, but the Democrats assumed that the “lesser of two evils” approach would again prevail. They were wrong. Many people voted for third party candidates and many people on the fence refused to pick the candidate most associated with the establishment and the status quo.
I expect that history will judge the work of figures like Debbie Wasserman-Shultz and Donna Brazile harshly in the roles that they played and more generally in the failure of Democratic leaders to heed the clear demand from voters for a change in leadership. Hillary Clinton was a talented and historic nominee. However, she was also the very symbol of the establishment and heavily laden with the type of associations that the public was clearly reacting against.
The wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania shows precisely how reckless and cynical the DNC strategy proved to be. Clinton won only 18 states and the District of Columbia, though it did earn her 242 electoral votes. Now for the first time in decades, the Democrats have handed a Republican president both houses of Congress. They solved gridlock but not in the way that they had hoped.
I was astonished to see Clinton decline to speak to her supporters who had wait so loyally at their campaign headquarters. While she did concede over the telephone to Trump, I thought it was bad form not to come down to the headquarters and address the nation and her supporters. They worked incredibly hard and the loss was a terrible blow for them. They deserved better in my view and I felt truly sorry for both their disappointment and effective abandonment at that moment.
Looking at the results coming into the headquarters, it was clear that no further “counting” would change the result as Clinton’s telephone call affirmed a short while later. It is the final obligation of a candidate in a presidential campaign to be with your supporters and show the nation that the transition of power would proceed, as it always has, in an orderly fashion. It was highly ironic given the well-founded criticism of the statement of Trump that he might not accept the results of the election — a view driven home by Chris Wallace (who was the gold standard for moderators in these election debates).
The greatest loser in this election was the mainstream media. As I previously discussed , I believe that Trump did bring much of the negative coverage on himself. However, I saw many journalists discard any semblance of neutrality in their coverage, as vividly shown in Wikileaks emails of coordination with the Clinton campaign. The priority for the media should be a serious reexamination of its coverage in this election.
In the end, the public wanted change and they got it. The fact is that many of the public has long felt that they no longer controlled their government and they were right. That is what makes this so revolutionary and transformative for American politics. Whatever a Trump Administration may hold, it will be shock to the system and that is precisely what tens of millions of Americans wanted. SF Source Jonathan Turley | 1real |
Rep. Ron DeSantis: More Threats, Celebrations of Scalise Shooting Pouring In | Rep. Ron DeSantis ( ) talked with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam on Thursday regarding his experience at the GOP baseball practice where Rep. Steve Scalise was shot. [DeSantis said while Rep. Scalise “is fighting for his life, I think he’s going to pull through. ” After describing his interactions with the alleged shooter, DeSantis said, “We received a message expressing approval of what had happened and just hoping that Donald Trump would be next. And another one of my colleagues received an email saying one down, 217 more to go. and other colleagues have received other things. ” DeSantis said he believes the hate being engendered toward President Trump is being directed at Congress because they are more accessible. “This guy went there clearly filled with rage, clearly filled with political ideology that was hostile to the president and Republicans, and he wanted to kill a lot of Republicans. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN: | 0fake |
Trump Takes Credit For Republican ‘Win’ In Georgia, And Gets Brutally Humiliated With Math | You would think that a businessman would understand math. Not Donald Trump.Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff narrowly missed an outright victory in Georgia on Tuesday.As Republicans poured money into the race, Ossoff s anti-Trump campaign soared and nearly cruised to an easy win in a district that is considered a Republican fortress.In other words, Ossoff should not have been able to even get close to winning. But Donald Trump s increasing unpopularity combined with his incompetence gave Democrats a strategy to become competitive in even the most conservative areas.After being upset in Delaware and nearly losing in Kansas, Republicans had much to be worried about on Tuesday as election results flowed in.Even Trump recognized that the race in Georgia represents a backlash against his administration and Republican power in Congress, which is why he attacked Ossoff repeatedly on Twitter.It s a test of what Republicans could expect in 2018 when the midterm election rolls around.Instead of a Republican wave, however, the current party that controls Congress could be swept out of power by a Democratic wave, paving the way for Trump s impeachment and the reversal of the destructive policies he and his Republican friends in Congress have put in place so far.In the end, Ossoff did not secure the 50 percent of the vote needed to win. The election now heads to a runoff in June between Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel.But that didn t stop Trump from declaring that race a victory for Republicans and taking credit for it.Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG R win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2017Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia. Great job Karen Handel! It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2017The problem is that Democrats did not fail. Ossoff captured 48 percent of the vote in a district that should have easily been won by Republicans. Handel only got 19 percent of the vote and Ossoff got more votes than just about every Republican on the ticket combined.Twitter users were more than happy to humiliate Trump s math skills.@realDonaldTrump Dems didn t fail in Georgia. The super liberal Democrat @ossoff got more votes than every single Republican by far. #FactsMatter pic.twitter.com/9ToZdC7Zlq William LeGate (@williamlegate) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump They did but .sweetie Republicans are failing in those districts to win by same margins as they did before YOU came along. Erich McElroy (@erichmcelroy) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump He got 48% of the vote twice as much as Handel. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump By failing you mean how well Ossoff did despite tons of dark money spending by the Reps in Rep territory. Alright. Anirvan Ghosh (@anirvanghosh) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump Just for the record, Ossoff won twice the number of popular votes as Handel. That s called a win . Anirvan Ghosh (@anirvanghosh) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump You should ask Ossoff how it feels to actually win the popular vote. Mark Pygas (@MarkPygas) April 19, 2017@JordanUhl @realDonaldTrump Just gotta love the fact that a reality tv star is whining about Hollywood Patricia Zh. (@ljtost) April 19, 2017@Mike_P_Williams @realDonaldTrump I don t ever remember @BarackObama repeatedly bashing every person that didn t vote for him. Probably because he was a decent person, though Dana Smith (@Brady5thOrBust) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump Are you kidding me? Are you unable to comprehend basic math? Dems have the most votes in GA. What is wrong with you? ? (@VeeVee) April 19, 2017@realdonaldtrump Fail . You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means. pic.twitter.com/iyewM44nC3 Howdy Doody (@DanHowdle) April 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump #Ossoff got a bigger percentage of the vote than you did. Kristina Wong (@mskristinawong) April 19, 2017It s time for Republicans to face reality. Donald Trump is hurting their party and is the reason why they are heading for a major defeat in 2018.Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Russia tells two U.S. news outlets they may be affected by new 'foreign agent' law: agencies | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Justice Ministry has notified Voice of America and a Russian unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that they might be affected by a new foreign agent media law, Russian news agencies cited a ministry source as saying on Wednesday. Russia s lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval earlier on Wednesday to a law giving Moscow the power to designate foreign media operating in Russia as foreign agents required to disclose where they get their funding and how they spend it. A Prague-based spokeswoman for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said she was not aware of any such notification. Voice of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while calls to their office in Moscow went unanswered. The Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | 0fake |
Slovakia's far-right party, ruling leftists lose regional elections | BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - The far-right People s Party-Our Slovakia lost Saturday s regional elections, turning the Central European country against the trend of far-right gains in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic in recent months. Right-wing and anti-immigrant parties have been on the rise across Europe after years of slow economic growth and the arrival of more than a million migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa. Slovakia s economy has boomed and the country has seen little immigration, but rising public anger over graft scandals linked to conventional parties has generated support for fringe parties and protest groups. Regional election four years ago saw a surprising first-time victory of People s Party chairman Marian Kotleba as governor in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, and his party won 8 percent of the vote and its first-ever seats in national parliament last year. Support for the party, which has launched a petition to hold a referendum to exit the EU and NATO, has since risen to about 10 percent, making it the third strongest group after leftist Smer and euroskeptic liberals, according to opinion polls. On Saturday, Kotleba lost the reelection bid to an entrepreneur Jan Lunter, a non-partisan endorsed by all parties except the far-right, near-complete results from the Statistics Office showed on Sunday. Kotleba s right hand, the party s deputy chairman Milan Uhrik also lost the governor s race in the southwestern Nitra region. Kotleba and two other lawmakers are facing extremism charges and prosecutors took steps in May to ban the entire party, saying it posed a threat to Slovakia s democratic system. The party, whose members have organized torch-lit marches wearing black uniforms modeled on a World War Two Nazi puppet state, denies any links to fascism. Last year they started patrolling trains, some carrying legally-held weapons, in regions with a strong Roma population. In another upset, Prime Minister Robert Fico s leftist Smer party only won two reelection bids, losing four regions to center-right opposition candidates, a sign of its weakening grip on power in the euro zone country. General elections last year saw Smer s support shrink to 28.3 percent from 44.4 percent in 2012, but it is still the strongest party with double the support of the euroskeptic liberal Freedom and Solidarity party, whose candidate was elected governor of the capital Bratislava region. | 0fake |
Instead of U.S. midterms, Sanders focuses on smaller races | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders will focus on getting liberal candidates elected to state and local offices ahead of next year’s midterm elections rather than on higher-profile U.S. congressional races, to help build a national progressive movement from the ground up. Sanders said he hoped his emphasis on school boards, city councils and statehouses will help support the next generation of activist progressive candidates and dovetail with the mission of Our Revolution, a nonprofit political group run by former staffers and volunteers for his 2016 presidential campaign. “I look at politics a little bit differently than some of my colleagues in the sense that I believe that we need to build a national grassroots movement,” Sanders told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “So I think my emphasis is going to be more on grassroots politics,” he added. Sanders, an independent in the U.S. Senate, galvanized the Democratic Party’s progressive wing last year with his primary challenge against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton. Sanders, 76, drew huge crowds and won 43 percent of Democratic primary voters with his calls to end the influence of big money in politics, create Medicare-for all healthcare and establish free tuition at public universities. Democrats are arguing over the best way out of a deep electoral rut capped by Clinton’s presidential election defeat by Republican Donald Trump. The party lost nearly 1,000 state legislative seats nationally during former President Barack Obama’s two terms in the White House, and hold the fewest governor’s offices in nearly a century. “There is an absolute need for the development of a new generation of leadership,” said Democratic strategist Erik Smith, adding that current Republican victories are the result of grassroots investment in the 1980s. Sanders said the type of progressive policies he espoused during his campaign are winning support around the country. He traveled to Georgia last month to campaign for Vincent Fort, a state senator running for Atlanta mayor. Sanders called Fort, who supports a $15 per hour minimum wage and the expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor and disabled, a “life-long progressive.” Sanders also pointed to the success of local candidates backed by Our Revolution, including Randall Woodfin, a school board president who triumphed in a crowded field to oust the incumbent Democratic mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, and Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who defeated an incumbent and a state senator to become the Democratic nominee for mayor in Jackson, Mississippi. “Democrats suffer from thin-bench syndrome in so many states,” said Matt Barron, a Massachusetts Democratic strategist focusing on rural issues. Barron pointed out that in Mississippi, just one of eight statewide offices is held by a Democrat and both chambers of the legislature are controlled by Republicans. “There is almost nobody to run,” he said. Sanders said he plans to travel to Somerville, Massachusetts, next week to support a half dozen candidates in city council races. “If you look at cities and town and school boards, what you see all over the country is that we are in fact making progress,” Sanders said. While Sanders frequently exasperated Clinton and her supporters, his policy prescriptions won support from many Democrats and the party has shifted to the left since Clinton’s defeat. Many potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates back Sanders’ Medicare-for-all proposal. Republicans hold 52 seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate, and Democrats and independents will be defending 25 of the 34 seats up for re-election in 2018. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats hold 194 of 435 seats and all are up for re-election next year. | 0fake |
German parties see momentum in coalition talks despite lingering divisions | BERLIN (Reuters) - German parties cited progress on Friday after three weeks of talks about a three-way coalition, with their leaders due to thrash out remaining differences over transport and climate on Sunday. Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, which bled support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Sept. 24 election, are trying to forge a coalition government with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the environmentalist Greens. The chiefs of the parties huddled on Friday evening to review progress in the talks thus far, but planned no statements. They had initially hoped to agree on the outlines of a coalition deal by Friday after the two smaller parties dropped demands this week on tax and climate policy, but later decided to meet again on Sunday before a final push by full delegations for an outline deal next week. Still, the overall tone was more upbeat than at the end of the previous week. We re heading into the home stretch, Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU), told reporters. Seehofer and FDP leader Christian Lindner said they were optimistic that the exploratory talks could be wrapped up next week, paving the way for weeks of detailed negotiations about the exact terms of a coalition contract. But Michael Kellner, a top negotiator for the Greens, demanded more compromises from the other parties. The FDP this week gave ground by agreeing to accept more modest income tax cuts than a campaign pledge of 30-40 billion euros ($35-46 billion) of relief. In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday, Lindner also signaled a readiness to compromise on the euro zone s European Stability Mechanism, moving away from a campaign pledge to shut down the rescue fund. The Greens for their part dropped their insistence on fixed dates for shutting down coal-fired power stations and banning cars with internal combustion engines. But the parties remain divided on whether or not to push for a euro zone budget, on Europe s banking union and on the use of drones in military conflicts, as well as German participation in foreign military missions, according to draft papers seen by Reuters. They must also agree how to meet key targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, how to deal with the pollution caused by diesel cars already on the road, and whether to introduce a law that would ease tax rates for venture capital projects. If the parties fail to reach agreement, Germany could be forced into a new election that could unsettle investors at a time when many in the European Union are looking to Europe s biggest economic power for leadership on issues ranging from euro zone governance to transatlantic relations. Merkel, seeking a fourth term as chancellor, hopes to reach agreement in the exploratory talks by Nov. 16. She plans to take the broad outlines of what is agreed to key conservative party leaders in five meetings the following weekend, the CDU said. | 0fake |
Trump said 'we'll see' when asked whether U.S. would attack North Korea | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said “we’ll see” when asked whether the United States would attack North Korea, as he left a church service. North Korea said it had tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, setting off a manmade earthquake near the test. Earlier Sunday, Trump had said on Twitter, “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!” | 0fake |
Rouhani says Iran will stay in nuclear deal only if it serves interests: TV | ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran harshly reacted to President Donald Trump s decision not to certify its nuclear deal with six major powers, and President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran might walk away if the continuing agreement does not serve the country s national interests. Defying Trump, Rouhani said Tehran will double its efforts to expand the country s defense capabilities, including the country s ballistic missile program despite the U.S. pressure to suspend it. Trump said in an address at the White House that he would not continue to certify the multinational agreement and warned he might ultimately terminate it. No president can revoke an international deal ... Iran will continue to respect it as long as it serves our interests, Rouhani said in a live television address, adding that Trump s speech was full of insults and fake accusations against Iranians. While Trump did not pull the United States out of the agreement, aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, he gave the U.S. Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the pact. That increases tension with Iran as well as putting Washington at odds with other signatories of the accord such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union, who say the U.S. cannot unilaterally cancel the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers . The Iranian nation has not and will never bow to any foreign pressure... Iran s deal cannot be renegotiated, Rouhani said. Trump announced the major shift in U.S. policy in a speech in which he detailed a more confrontational approach to Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its support for extremist groups in the Middle East. Pragmatist Rouhani backed Iran s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), saying the IRGC will continue its fight against regional terrorists. The IRGC has always protected our nation against terrorists ... It will continue to help oppressed nations in the region, Rouhani said. Iran accuses its regional rival Saudi Arabia of fuelling regional tension and the Sunni Muslim kingdom is at odds with Tehran s revolutionary Shi ite leaders in struggles across the Arab world, including Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. The IRGC is Iran s most powerful security entity and wields control over large swathes of Iran s economy as well as considerable influence within its political system. | 0fake |
As Catalan vote looms, jailed leader offers olive branch to Spain | MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - The jailed leader of Catalonia s main pro-independence party has backed away from demands for unilateral secession from Spain, days before a regional election that polls suggest will produce a hung parliament. The independence drive has tipped Spain into its worst political crisis since the return of democracy in the 1970s, dividing opinion in the region, denting an economic rebound and prompting a business exodus to other parts of the country. In reply to written questions from Reuters passed to him in prison where he is being held on allegations of rebellion and sedition, Oriol Junqueras struck a conciliatory tone. He wrote that he would continue to pursue independence if he became Catalonia s next president, but also build bridges and shake hands with representatives of the Spanish state. I can assure you that we are democrats before we are separatists and that the aim (of gaining independence) does not always justify the means, he said in comments that appeared to drop his party s earlier demand for unilateral secession. Junqueras Esquerra Republicana (Republican Left) party is tipped to become the largest separatist force in parliament in Thursday s ballot, but surveys suggest neither the pro-independence nor the pro-unity camp will win a majority. He was deputy leader of the Catalan government that was sacked in October after the regional assembly unilaterally declared independence following a referendum that central authorities had deemed illegal. Madrid also dissolved the assembly and called fresh elections. The Spanish justice system s actions against the region s leaders has since then hamstrung the pro-independence camp and further muddied the electoral waters before Thursday s vote. Catalonia s ex-president Carles Puigdemont is campaigning from self-imposed exile in Brussels and Junqueras doing so from jail along with several other politicians. It is unclear if many of those likely to be elected will be able to attend parliament. At separatist rallies across the capital Barcelona in recent days, many supporters appeared to recognize that forcing independence without Spain s consent was no longer an option. Instead, many favored pressuring Madrid into talks and gaining European Union approval for a negotiated split. We can t continue unilaterally. We might lose more than we would gain, said Carles Ortega, a 58-year-old consultant, at a rally at a sports center in Barcelona s outskirts that Puigdemont addressed via videolink. Final polls for the election expected to attract a record turnout showed Esquerra running neck-and-neck with pro-unity party Ciudadanos (Citizens), with both far short of the 68 seats needed to hold a majority. Esquerra previously formed a coalition government with Puigdemont s own center-right party, which leads the Junts per Catalunya platform (Together for Catalonia) which is seen coming third in the vote. The key for unionist and separatist factions will be winning over the regional offshoot of anti-austerity party Podemos, which supports unity but wants a referendum. Its leader favors a left-wing alliance across parties that both back and reject independence. There is a rising risk that pro-independence parties fall a bit short and need to include Podemos and we get a softer push for independence within the institutions, Peter Ceretti, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said. The movement would rumble on, he said, and press Madrid on long-held demands for it to return more of Catalonia s tax revenue and recognize the region as a nation, rather than a nationality, in the Spanish constitution. Many Catalans worry about how the independence drive has obscured all other social issues and could harm the wealthy region s position as Spain s primary driver of economic growth and a magnet for foreign investment. Junqueras said if he was elected regional president he would pay heed to voters who opposed independence. I would tell them everybody has to be respected and that differences always have to be resolved in a democratic way, he said. | 0fake |
News: Major Headache: The Blue Angels Got Trapped Inside A Costco, And No One Knows How To Get Them Back Outside | Email
Well, this isn’t good.
Most people think of Costco as the place that sells bulk quantities of pretty much everything. But the warehouse superstore is now making headlines for a very different reason, and it could serve to tarnish their brand: The Blue Angels accidentally flew into the Costco in Augusta, GA and are currently stuck flying around inside the discount retailer.
Worst of all, it doesn’t seem like Costco has any idea how to get the airplane stunt squadron to leave.
The Blue Angels were performing at a routine air show in Augusta, GA earlier today when they veered too close to the Costco and zipped through the automatic doors as they slid open for a customer. Before Costco employees could react, the diamond formation of five F/A-18 Hornets had entered the store and began performing death-defying aerial feats right over the shelves of bulk cereals and jumbo-size ketchups.
Customers are trying to ignore the roaring jets overhead, but it’s hard to concentrate on your shopping list when sonic booms keep knocking over pallets of Kirkland-brand dog food. It’s usually a welcome treat to see the Blue Angels conduct synchronized barrel rolls, but inside Costco, the elite pilots are proving to be a serious nuisance.
So far all attempts to evict the Blue Angels have proved unsuccessful. At first, Costco staff just propped the front door open with a bucket, assuming the Blue Angels would find their way back out eventually. After an hour, when choreographed smoke trails continued to plague the store, the manager grabbed a lacrosse stick from a sporting goods display and tried to shoo the planes toward the exit. Unfortunately, that only caused the Blue Angels to accelerate to 700 mph and perform several loop-the-loops in the freezer aisle, where the pilots hit a truly exhilarating 8 G’s.
Your heart just has to break for this poor manager.
With the store set to close in only a few hours, Costco better think up a solution fast, or Blue Angels will be locked in overnight. If that happens, then tomorrow’s customers will be aggravated by more of the same world-class aeronautic showmanship. What an absolute hassle. | 1real |
White House budget envisions massive savings from Dodd-Frank rollback | (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget estimates that the federal government could save $35 billion over the next decade by rolling back regulations governing Wall Street. The White House does not detail how those savings, which are equivalent to the annual economic output of the Democratic Republic of Congo, would be realized. But the administration said an ongoing review of existing financial rules “will likely result in proposals that will provide significant savings to the federal government.” While it is not expected to be passed by Congress, the fiscal 2018 budget unveiled by the White House on Tuesday hews closely to Trump’s view that slashing financial regulations would boost the economy. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is currently conducting a comprehensive review of the impact of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. An initial report recommending policy changes is expected to come at the beginning of June. The White House’s projected savings from easing financial rules exceed estimates offered by the Congressional Budget Office. That policy scorekeeper calculated that $24 billion would be saved over a decade if a broad Dodd-Frank rollback bill currently in the House of Representatives were passed. Most of those savings identified by CBO come from eliminating a Dodd-Frank provision allowing the government to step in and wind down failing financial institutions, and by placing tighter control over the funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was set up to protect consumers from predatory lending. Trump’s budget would give control of funding that agency to Congress, a policy change sought by Republicans eager to rein it in. Currently, the CFPB gets its funding from the Federal Reserve. The White House estimates that moving oversight of the CFPB to Congress would save the federal government $6.8 billion over a decade. However, the budget proposal does not account for any funds appropriated to the CFPB beyond fiscal 2018. The Office of Financial Research, also created by Dodd-Frank to gather data on financial markets, is facing a 28 percent budget cut under the new plan. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would see their budgets hold steady at $250 million and $1.6 billion, respectively, under the new budget. The CFTC is pushing for an additional $31 million in funding in its own budget request. | 0fake |
Deep State Leaks Highly Classified Info to Washington Post to Smear President Trump - Breitbart | Current and former U. S. officials, supposedly concerned that President Trump had shared some “highly classified information” with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador to the U. S. last week, leaked that information to the Washington Post in an article published Monday. [However, the report admits that it is “unlikely” Trump broke any laws. “As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law,” the report said. In addition, his national security adviser, who was at the meeting, told the Post nothing was shared that was not already publicly known. “At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly,” said Army Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster. McMaster later told reporters at the White House, “Two other senior officials who were present, including the secretary of state, remember the meeting the same way and have said so. Their accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources. I was in the room, it didn’t happen. ” “This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced,” added Dina Powell, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy, who also attended the meeting. The current and former officials told the Post that Trump shared information with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak that was obtained by a U. S. partner through an agreement and was so sensitive it was withheld from U. S. allies and restricted within the U. S. government. The officials said Trump’s disclosure risked cooperation from an ally that had access to the inner workings of the Islamic State, which they then shared details of with the Post. The current and former officials told the Post that Trump discussed an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft. They said that senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and National Security Agency after the meeting. The officials bashed the president, portraying him as “reckless. ” A “former senior U. S. official close to current administration officials” said Trump “seems to be very reckless, and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security. And it’s all clouded because of this problem he has with Russia. ” They also claimed that Trump seemed to be “boasting” about his inside knowledge of the threat. The officials said Trump “did not reveal the specific intelligence gathering method, but described how the Islamic State was pursuing elements of a specific plot and how much harm such an attack could cause under varying circumstances. ” “Most alarmingly, officials said, Trump revealed the city in the Islamic State’s territory where the U. S. intelligence partner detected the threat,” it said. The officials then leaked the name of the city to the Post, which decided to withhold most of the plot details under the urging of current officials. The officials said the name of the city would be useful for Russia to help identify the U. S. ally or intelligence capability involved. The Post said the officials declined to identify the ally that collected the information, but said, “It is one that has previously voiced frustration with Washington’s inability to safeguard sensitive information related to Iraq and Syria. ” The officials claimed Trump described measures the U. S. has taken or is contemplating to counter the threat, “including military operations in Iraq and Syria as well as other steps to tighten security,” but did not say what those were. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that was false. “During President Trump’s meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov a broad range of subjects were discussed among which were common efforts and threats regarding . During that exchange the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations,” he said. Michelle Moons contributed to this report. | 0fake |
Robert Reich Just Ruined A Trump Supporter’s Week With Facts | You ve got to love Robert Reich. The former Secretary of Labor under future First Lady and former President Bill Clinton met a Trump supporter at a coffee shop and couldn t resist stopping for a moment to ruin the poor guy s week by introducing him to a concept that is foreign to him: facts. I finally found a Trump supporter this morning when I went to buy coffee. (I noticed a Trump bumper sticker on his car.), Reich writes in a Facebook post that has gone viral since he posted it Monday morning. Then he completely dismantled Trump politely before the guy s very eyes: Hi, I said. Noticed your Trump bumper sticker. Yup, he said, a bit defensively. I hope you don t mind my asking, but I m curious. Why are you supporting him? I know he s a little bit much, said the Trump supporter. But he s a successful businessman. And we need a successful businessman as president. How do you know he s a successful businessman? I asked. Because he s made a fortune. Has he really? I asked. Of course. Forbes magazine says he s worth four and a half billion. That doesn t mean he s been a success, I said. In my book it does, said the Trump supporter. You know, in 1976, when Trump was just starting his career, he said he was worth about $200 million, I said. Most of that was from his father. That just proves my point, said the Trump supporter. He turned that $200 million into four and a half billion. Brilliant man. But if he had just put that $200 million into an index fund and reinvested the dividends, he d be worth twelve billion today, I said.The Trump supporter went silent. And he got about $850 million in tax subsidies, just in New York alone, I said.More silence. He s not a businessman, Reich concluded. He s a con man. Hope you enjoy your coffee. While it s unlikely that Reich managed to change the Trump fan s mind or even reach him on a level that matters he surely left the guy steaming more than a freshly-brewed cup of go-go- juice. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during that conversation!Featured image via Getty Images (Win McNamee)/screengrab | 1real |
WATCH: Ben Carson’s Excuse For Violence Of Trump Campaign STUNS CNN Hosts | When Dr. Ben Carson was in the race for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of accusations against the neurosurgeon, going after him aggressively and even comparing him to a pedophile. That s why many were bewildered when Carson endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the race for the nomination. Yet, not only has Carson endorsed Trump s candidacy, he defends Trump and his vile campaign even at the worst of moments.In the latest of a series of bizarre moves, Carson defended Trump s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski during a CNN interview on Thursday, saying that being charged with assault against a female reporter did not make Lewandowski evil. Carson said, I don t see any reason, quite frankly that we should demonize him. If you can come up with a good reason, I ll listen to it. Co-host John Berman pointed out, Well, look, he s been charged with misdemeanor assault. A lot of people think that is a reason. Carson then went on a bizarre tangent saying, A lot of people have been charged with various things. You ve probably been charged with with something too. Maybe with a misdemeanor or something. It doesn t mean that you are an evil horrible person. The stunned Berman responded, I actually haven t been charged with anything. You have to ask what in the world did Trump offer Carson to make him sell himself in such a manner? We have to keep in mind that Carson is not only defending Trump, who has spewed racism and bigotry throughout his campaign but in this particular case, he s defending someone who committed assault on camera.The adage if you can t beat them then join them is clearly on display here but nothing is worth the price of selling your soul, something Carson has clearly done in this case. Watch video here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwrIcJ9MgAM] Featured image via screencapture | 1real |
Clinton leads Trump 42 to 36 percent as he loses women's support: poll | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton’s lead over Republican rival Donald Trump widened to 6 percentage points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos U.S. presidential tracking poll, released on Friday, showing Trump losing support among women. The Oct. 21-27 opinion poll shows 42 percent of people who either voted already or expect to vote in the Nov. 8 election support Clinton, versus 36 percent for Trump. Clinton’s lead a week ago was 4 points. The polling was conducted before Clinton’s campaign was hit on Friday by the FBI announcement that it was investigating more emails as part of a probe into her use of a private email server while secretary of state. FBI Director James Comey said in a letter to several congressional Republicans that the agency had learned of the existence of emails that appeared to be pertinent to its investigation. However, he said the FBI did not know if the emails were significant and did not provide a time frame for the probe. (GRAPHIC: Race to the White House tmsnrt.rs/298mTyD) Trump, a New York businessman seeking his first elected office, has consistently trailed Clinton in the poll. His level of support has remained below 40 percent among all likely voters since the beginning of September. Clinton leads Trump by 10 points among likely women voters, up from a 4-point lead the previous week. Clinton has led Trump among women over the last two months, though the size of her advantage has varied widely from 1 point to 11 points. In a 2005 video that emerged this month, Trump could be heard bragging in vulgar terms about groping and kissing women. At least a dozen women have since publicly accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Trump denies the allegations. Trump still has an edge among white women, a key source of strength for Republicans. Trump leads Clinton by 2 points with this group, down from a 12-point lead the previous week. Women tend to lean Democratic, but Reuters/Ipsos polling this month shows a majority of women have an unfavorable view of the former U.S. secretary of state and believe she is not honest and truthful. Clinton also led Trump by 6 points in a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that included alternative party candidates. Both polls, conducted online in English in all 50 states, included 1,627 American adults who were considered to be likely voters from their voting history, registration status and stated intention to vote. That sample included 965 likely women voters and 776 likely white women voters. Individual responses were adjusted to reflect the overall U.S. population. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the total sample and 4 percentage points for the women voters. The RealClearPolitics website, which tracks most major polls, shows Clinton leading Trump by an average of 5 percentage points. | 0fake |
U.N. envoy says told to expect Syrian government delegation on Wednesday | GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has received assurances that the Syrian government delegation will attend peace talks in Geneva this week, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Earlier the pro-Damascus Syrian newspaper al-Watan reported that the Syrian government delegation to U.N.-backed peace talks in Geneva this week has not yet left Damascus and may announce on Tuesday whether it will participate. The Government delegation has not yet arrived, the Special Envoy received a message that they are planning to arrive tomorrow, which is the 29th of November, U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a news briefing in Geneva, declining to give details. At least we know that they are coming. | 0fake |
Fresh from budget deal, Illinois awaits fate of credit ratings | CHICAGO (Reuters) - A decision on whether Illinois becomes the first U.S. state whose bond ratings tip into junk was not imminent on Monday as credit rating agencies said they were still reviewing the state’s newly enacted budget and tax package. Analysts at the three major rating agencies, which rate Illinois one or two notches above junk, declined to comment on the timing of their decisions. With the help of some Republican votes, the Democratic-controlled Illinois Legislature last Thursday overrode Republican Governor Bruce Rauner’s vetoes and enacted a $36 billion fiscal 2018 budget and a $5 billion income tax increase. The action ended an unprecedented two-year budget impasse that ballooned the state’s unpaid bill backlog to about $15 billion. Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, a Democrat, on Monday unveiled a five-step plan to avoid a junk rating that included Rauner taking steps to issue up to $6 billion of bonds the legislature authorized to begin paying off bills. He also recommended the governor visit credit rating agencies to assure them he intends to implement the budget package. A junk rating would make future bond sales more difficult and expensive. Eleni Demertzis, Rauner’s spokeswoman, did not answer questions about the borrowing but underscored the governor’s dissatisfaction with the budget. “Even with the tax increase, this budget remains $2 billion out of balance for fiscal year 2018,” she said. “The best thing we can do is to work collaboratively to pass truly balanced budgets that pay down our debt, reform our pension system, and make the changes necessary to drive economic growth in our state.” Moody’s cited the budget’s “substantial implementation risk” when the state’s Baa3 rating was placed on review last week for a possible downgrade to junk. Analyst Ted Hampton said risks include revenue and cost-saving assumptions built in to the budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. Hampton and S&P analyst Gabriel Petek said they expected Rauner to implement the budget as required by law. John Humphrey, co-head of credit research at Gurtin Municipal Bond Management, said optimism that Illinois finally has a budget should be tempered against the state’s strained finances and how much execution risk remains. “I think Moody’s has been pretty clear that they view the state’s political dysfunction combined with continued unaddressed long-term liabilities, and unfavorable baseline revenue performance as casting some degree of skepticism on the state’s ability to manage out of the very fragile financial situation they are in,” he said. | 0fake |
Gingrich Seriously Thinks Trump Could Get More Black Votes ‘Than Any Republican In Modern Times’ | Former House Speaker and Trump supporter Newt Gingrich has gone completely delusional, having somehow convinced himself that Donald Trump could somehow manage to get more of the Africa American vote than any Republican in modern times. (Go ahead and laugh, I ll wait.) Donald Trump is the first Republican I can remember who is explicitly saying to the African-American community, Things can be better, but not with Democrats in charge,' Gingrich said during an interview with Fox News. If [Trump] continues to say it, and if he has the courage to go back to places like Chicago and say it, I think he s going get far more votes from the black community than any Republican in modern times. The GOP nominee has kicked off minority outreach efforts in recent weeks, but by all accounts, this has done him little if any favors. Trump s grand scheme so far has been to say that people of color should vote for him because their lives suck so bad that they don t really have anything to lose anyway, so why not give him a shot and see what happens. Mind you, he has primarily said this to predominately white crowds, which has also drawn criticism.On Saturday, Trump attended a service at a black church in Detroit, which turned out to be as much of a failure as the rest of his attempts to pander to African Americans. The bigoted billionaire s speech was carefully scripted, but judging by the empty church, nobody really wanted to hear his schpeel anyway. However, looking at how many protesters turned out for the event, it is pretty clear that nobody is buying his latest line of bullsh*t.Watch Gingrich lose all touch with reality, here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZK_mNHZqZU]Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Britain agrees to set EU 'Exit Day' in law | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s government said on Thursday it would use legislation to fix the time and date of the country s European Union exit, addressing concerns of Brexiteers who fear slow negotiations and opposition to the divorce could cause delays. The government said it was proposing a change to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill currently making its way through parliament to set the exit for 2300 GMT on March 29, 2019. We ve listened to members of the public and Parliament and have made this change to remove any confusion or concern about what exit day means, Brexit minister David Davis said in a statement. The date has previously been implied by a fixed two-year negotiating period triggered on March 29, 2017, but not explicitly stated in law. Prime Minister Theresa May and her team are battling to keep exit negotiations with the EU moving, amid growing concern that talks have yet to begin on a transitional deal to smooth the exit for businesses or the complex terms of a future trade deal. At home, May s government is facing a rough ride in parliament on the withdrawal bill, which forms the central plank of her Brexit strategy. After losing her parliamentary majority in an ill-judged election in June, May has to unite a Conservative Party deeply split over leaving the EU and rely on the support of a small Northern Irish party to get the bill through without defeats. The decision to define the date of Brexit in law came with a clear statement that the government is prepared to consider other concessions - even those proposed by political opponents. This important step demonstrates our pragmatic approach to this vital piece of legislation, Davis said. Where MPs (Members of Parliament) can improve the Bill, whatever their party, we will work with them. The bill will begin the latest stage of its journey through parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday, when lawmakers will debate and vote on some of the 186 pages of changes that have so far been proposed. The bill is at an early stage, and is expected to take months to make its way through both houses of parliament. | 0fake |
What to Cook This Week - The New York Times | Sam Sifton emails readers of Cooking five days a week to talk about food and suggest recipes. That email also appears here. To receive it in your inbox, register here. Good morning. I have a column in The Times Magazine today about a recipe for roasted potato hash that I’ve been messing around with for years now. It makes a superlative bed for eggs and an excellent side dish for steak. You could eat it with a mess of sautéed greens and be happy without the animal protein. You should make it entirely your own. Perhaps you could make it for lunch? And then for dinner tonight, you could try the recipe for braised chicken legs that I learned from the teachings of the California chef Cal Peternell, and sop up the sauce with Julia Moskin’s recipe for grilled garlic bread. On Monday night, you might go meatless and Balkan, mixing up David Tanis’s recipe for a Greek tomato salad and adding some crumbled feta if you like to make it really sing. Or you could go Brazilian in honor of the Olympic Games, with 10 recipes from that nation’s larder. For sure on Tuesday you could give Martha Rose Shulman’s recipe for shrimp with spicy greens a try. Serve it with Kim Severson’s can’ rice and then settle in to see what the Olympics have to offer. (You’re not, like, in Rio, are you? If you are, or just want to imagine that you are, Florence Fabricant has a fine guide to the city’s best restaurant options.) Wednesday night could be good for a steak seared in a pan and served with a platter of sautéed summer squash with red pepper and onion, along with leftover rice or a baguette and butter. Then on Thursday night just order a pizza and make Melissa’s recipe for eggplant with lamb, tomato and pine nuts while or after you eat it, in advance of serving a really incredible dish — one that benefits from overnight resting — on Friday night, as we head into the weekend. Thus fortified, you can wake up on Saturday morning, head to the market and return home to make jam. Go look around on Cooking to discover other things to cook this week. (This recipe for pork chops puttanesca, for instance.) And, if you like, tell us about what you make. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, where we use and applaud the hashtag #NYTCooking. If you run into problems along the way, don’t hesitate to ask for help: cookingcare@nytimes. com. Or if you have a particular question about food or cooking, kitchens or life in and around them, submit it to foodeditor@nytimes. com. I’ll be collecting the best of them to answer in a forthcoming “Hey, Mr. Food Editor” column for Men’s Style. Now, see if you can’t find an actual print copy of The Times today. In it we have a beautiful special section devoted to an excerpt from Colson Whitehead’s new novel, “The Underground Railroad. ” Or, if you want to stay online only, try this fascinating account of life as a paramedic in the border town of Laredo, Tex. in California Sunday. Watch the trailer for “Little Men. ” Read Tessa Hadley’s new short story, “Dido’s Lament,” in The New Yorker. And watch Melissa cook the “impossible meat” that you may have been hearing about, on Facebook. See you tomorrow. | 0fake |
OBAMA’S CHIEF OF STAFF WARNS AMERICA…He’s Not Going Away Quietly: Promises “Audacious Executive Actions” Including Gun Control | The big question is who, in Congress has the will to stop him? Keep your notepads handy America, and start keeping track of who you will and won t re-elect in 2016.White House chief of staff Denis McDonough pushed back against the notion his president is played out in the wake of his last State of the Union address, promising audacious executive action in Barack Obama s final year in office.During a breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, McDonough responded to the observation that the president s final speech before Congress lacked the usual pledge to go it alone if lawmakers failed to act.Coupled with the feeble executive actions on gun control announced earlier this month, had President Obama rethought the utility of acting unilaterally on issues important to the White House? We ll do audacious executive action over the course of the rest of the year, I m confident of that, said McDonough, explaining that President Obama s decision not to outline specific executive actions was more about a commitment to process than a lack of willpower. Process is your friend, but process also dictates what you can do, McDonough said. And we do want to make sure that the executive actions we undertake are not left hanging out there, subject to Congress undoing them. In addition to gun control, the White House has expressed interest in further unilateral actions on immigration reform, and in working around Congress to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay. But McDonough said the White House is considering executive action on any and all issues, and that the main question President Obama plans to ask himself is Why not? And so that s the spirit through which we ll approach this last year, McDonough said.Via: National Review | 1real |
OBAMA’S GITMO BOARD RELEASES “High Risk” Explosive’s Expert, Al-Qaeda Trainer | While Obama golfs in Martha s Vineyard, yet another decision is made to allow a terrorist to return to his homeland. Way to honor our troops who have lost their lives to these evil men Barry President Barack Obama s multi-agency Periodic Review Board (PRB) has approved an al Qaeda-linked Algerian prisoner for release from the U.S. military detention center in Guant namo Bay, Cuba, conceding that the jihadist presents some level of threat. However, PRB claims that the threat posed by the 43-year-old, Sufiyan Barhoumi, can be adequately mitigated, in part due to his lack of extremist views. At one point, the Pentagon deemed the prisoner to be high risk, linked to key al Qaeda leadership, and accused him of participating in hostilities against the US and coalition forces. Barhoumi was identified by the Pentagon as an explosive s expert and Al-Qaeda trainer.He has been held at Guant namo since mid June 2002 and on Tuesday became the second detainee to be approved for release by the Gitmo board after presenting a letter of support from a former guard, notes the Miami Herald.In a statement announcing its latest decision, Obama s parole board notes:The Board recommends repatriation to Algeria due to the detainees strong family support and Algeria s strong record in prior transfers, with security appropriate security assurances as negotiated by the Special Envoys and agreed by relevant USG [US government] departments and agencies.Algeria has been listed by the U.S. government as a terrorism-linked country.Barhoumi presented PRB with a detailed plan to open a pizza shop near his mom in the Algerian capital of Algiers, reports the Miami Herald.For entire story: Breitbart News | 1real |
Women to plead not guilty in high-profile Kim Jong Nam murder trial | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two women accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea s leader at the Kuala Lumpur international airport are expected to plead not guilty when their trial begins at a Malaysian court on Monday. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, are charged with murdering Kim Jong Nam at the airport on Feb. 13 by smearing his face with VX, a chemical the United Nations describes as a weapon of mass destruction. The pair, however, have told their lawyers they did not know they were participating in a deadly attack and believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV show. They face the death penalty if convicted. They (the women) will maintain their innocence, Hisyam Teh, Huong s lawyer, told Reuters. Monday s much-anticipated trial is expected to run until Nov. 30 at the Shah Alam High Court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. Lead prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad declined to comment on details of the case, but said between 30 and 40 witnesses, including 10 experts, would be called to testify. The prosecution is expected to call expert witnesses such as pathologists and chemists early on, Hisyam said. He declined to comment on the defense s strategy, but said Huong was in good hands. She (Huong) has a good defense and we have the evidence to support it, he said, without elaborating. South Korean and U.S. officials have said that Kim Jong Un s regime was behind the murder. Kim Jong Nam, who was living in exile in Macau, had criticized his family s dynastic rule of North Korea and his brother had issued a standing order for his execution, according to some South Korean lawmakers. Four other people, who have not been apprehended or named, have been charged along with Siti Aisyah and Huong. Four North Koreans, who police named as suspects in the case, left Kuala Lumpur for Pyongyang on the day of the killing. An Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, has been issued for the four, who were caught on airport CCTV cameras observing the murder, police said. Naran Singh, who is also on Huong s defense team, has asked prosecutors to release the names of the four suspects charged with the women. Gooi Soon Seng, Siti Aisyah s lawyer, did not respond to an emailed request for comment. He has previously said the presence of other suspects would change the case completely. We believe the main suspects are the four North Koreans that have left the country. If we were able to arrest them, everything would be as clear as daylight, Gooi told reporters after a pre-trial hearing in July. The once cozy ties between Malaysia and North Korea have been frayed after North Korea questioned Malaysia s handling of the investigation into Kim Jong Nam s murder. The Malaysian government expelled the North Korean ambassador. In response, Pyongyang barred all Malaysians from leaving the country. Malaysia only secured their release in exchange for returning Kim Jong Nam s body to North Korea and safe passage home for three North Korean men wanted for questioning in the case. Malaysia on Thursday banned its citizens from traveling to North Korea, citing security concerns from Pyongyang s nuclear tests. The travel ban follows a visit earlier this month to Washington by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who told U.S. President Donald Trump Malaysia has stopped doing business with North Korea, in line with U.N. sanctions. North Korea is not a member of Interpol, and Pyongyang was unlikely to entertain any request from Malaysia to return the suspects in the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries, said Ahmad Martadha Mohamed, an associate professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia. Indirectly, this will make it very difficult for Malaysia to put any pressure on North Korea to send the suspects back, he said. | 0fake |
Investment Strategist Forecasts Collapse Timeline: ‘The Last Gasp Of This Economic Cycle Will Come In 2018’ | It is no longer a question of whether or not financial markets and the U.S. economy will collapse. That, according to a host of experts, both mainstream and alternative, is a given.
The only question now is “when” that moment will come.
According to Christine Hughes, chief investment strategist at Otterwood Capital , it will be very soon. Basing her assessment on historically dead-on yield curve analysis, Hughes says in her latest update to clients that we’re looking at a maximum breaking point of 2020, but that some time in the next 12 – 15 months is the more likely scenario, which pegs the next crisis right at the beginning of 2018 .
First, the chart, which has been near perfect in its accuracy thus far and shows just how rapidly the yield curve has collapsed in the last 12 months:
Hughes explains what it means for you and why you can expect 2018 to be the year of reckoning:
As the bond market sees a recession slower growth means lower interest rates and it [the yield curve] collapses. So let’s assume we’re like every other time in history and that happens. Then it moves forward to 2018…
So, 2018, according to the yield curve, is pretty much the last gasp we have for this economic cycle. We’re closing in on 2016 now… we basically have a year… maybe a year to 15 months before we have the next crisis on our hands.
So if you are levered personally or corporately… if a lot of your assets are in illiquid stuff… the Canadian housing market comes to mind… You might want to think about existing and liquefying yourself.
Watch the video report:
Wolf Richter of Wolf Street explains why the Treasury Yield Curve is so important:
Since early July, the 30-year US Treasury Bond Price Index has plunged 8.3%. It’s now called “the rout” in longer-dated government bonds. One of the specters is rising inflation at a time of ultra-low yields.
What has become the number one predictor of a bear market in stocks over the past many decades? The US Treasury yield curve. It drives bank lending – which can strangle the economy. But this time, the risks are much higher, and the potential economic consequences steeper.
We know it is only a matter of time at this point.
Greg Mannarino of Traders Choice has made similar warnings, noting that the bond markets are signaling a massive crash ahead. And when that crash finally takes place the fall out after the debt bubble bursts, according to Mannarino, could lead to extremely serious consequences:
So, when the debt bubble bursts we’re going to get a correction in population. It’s a mathematical certainty.
Millions upon millions of people are going to die on a world-wide scale when the debt bubble bursts. And I’m saying when not if…
…
When resources become more and more scarce we’re going to see countries at war with each other. People will be scrambling… in a worst case scenario… doing everything that they can to survive… to provide for their family and for themselves.
There’s no way out of it.
If Mannarino and Hughes are right, you have about a year to get ready for the next leg of the collapse .
Article reposted with permission from SHTF Plan Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here . | 1real |
White House Strengthens DHS’ New Border Security Directives - Breitbart | White House lawyers have strengthened two immigration enforcement memos from the Department of Homeland Security which end President Barack Obama’s border policies. [The comprehensive border security reforms of Obama’s policies were signed by DHS chief Gen. John Kelly on Feb. 17. After a review by White House lawyers, the memos were changed to give officials more leeway in enforcing immigration laws, and more authority to close a “advance parole” amnesty created by Obama. The final memos implement most of President Donald Trump’s popular promises to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, and to accelerate repatriation of criminal illegal immigrants — but are being loudly criticized by amnesty advocates. However, the memos also postpone action on his promise to end Obama’s 2012 for younger illegals, his promise to reform the contract worker program that has now provide work permits for roughly 650, 000 foreign graduates in the United States, and his call for a reduction in the annual inflow of 1 million legal immigrants. The memos direct DHS officials to use an expedited repatriation process for illegals who have been in the United States for up to two years, to return Mexicans home while their appeals for entry are adjudicated, and to prosecute illegal aliens who hire to get their children into the United States. Under Obama, officials were only allowed to use the expedited repatriation process for illegals who arrived within the prior two weeks. Also at Obama’s direction, were released into the United States while border officials considered the appeals for asylum, and border officials were required to partner with the coyotes by delivering their cargo — the foreign youths and children — from the borders to their parents residing throughout the United States. The Kelly memos also revive the 287( g) program, which helps state and local police force work with DHS agents to enforce the nation’s popular immigration laws. Obama shuttered the 287( g) program in 2014. The memos direct officials to hire an additional 15, 500 immigration officers, and to start building the border fence. The first memo, titled “Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest” is six pages long and says that “personnel shall faithfully executive the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens. ” The second memo is focused on immigration enforcement far from the border. The second memo is 13 pages long and is titled “Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Policies. ” Some changes were made to the memos after they were signed by Kelly. For example, the phrase “In my judgment, such [advance parole] authority should be exercised sparingly,” was added to the section in the border security memo that shuts down Obama’s backdoor “advance parole” amnesty process. The enforcement memo adds a section giving officials more authority to enforce the law, saying “the Director of ICE, the Commissioner of CBP, and the Director of USCIS may, as they determine is appropriate, issue further guidance to allocate appropriate resources to prioritize enforcement activities within these example, by prioritizing enforcement activities against removable aliens who are convicted felons or who are involved in gang activity or drug trafficking. ” The annual inflow of legal immigrants and contract workers adds roughly 2 million workers to the labor supply each year, even though 4 million young Americans also begin looking for work each year. In contrast, illegal immigration adds only several hundred thousand workers to the estimated population of at least 11 million illegal aliens each year. The overall inflow of legal and illegal foreign workers transfers roughly $500 billion from employee’s pockets each year to employers and investors. For complete details about the memos, read this. | 0fake |
Hezbollah dismisses U.S. rewards for arrest of its operatives | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s Hezbollah group dismissed multi-million-dollar rewards offered by the United States for the arrest of two of its senior members, saying on Wednesday they would have no impact. Washington has offered up to $7 million for information leading to the detention of Talal Hamiyah, head of Hezbollah s foreign operations, and up to $5 million for Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military operative. The move on Tuesday came as the Trump administration prepared to unveil a strategy to step up pressure on Hezbollah s main backer Iran. Nicholas Rasmussen, the head of the U.S. National CounterTerrorism Center, blamed the group for a series of attacks around the world. These accusations from the American administration against Hezbollah and its mujahideen are rejected and void ... They will not affect the work of the resistance at all, a senior Hezbollah official told Reuters. The official, who declined to be named, said the U.S. threat came as a reaction to Hezbollah s recent gains in the region. Shi ite Hezbollah has played a major role in backing President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year Syrian war. It has sent thousands of its fighters into Syria, helping the Damascus government recover territory from rebels and militants. Hamiyah has been on the U.S. State Department s foreign terrorist list since 2015 and Shukr was added in 2013. Washington named Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. | 0fake |
Wilbur Ross sworn in as secretary of commerce | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross was sworn in as U.S. commerce secretary on Tuesday after helping shape Republican President Donald Trump’s opposition to multilateral trade deals. Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office to Ross, 79, a day after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the corporate turnaround expert’s nomination, with strong support from Democrats. After the swearing in, Ross welcomed the Democratic support and said the vote suggested that “perhaps, finally building America up again may become a bipartisan thing.” Ross is set to become an influential voice in Trump’s economic team and was expected to start work on renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico. While commerce secretaries rarely take the spotlight in Washington, Ross is expected to play an outsize role in pursuing Trump’s campaign pledge to slash U.S. trade deficits and bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Some Democrats criticized Ross as another billionaire in a Trump Cabinet that says it is focused on the working class and for being a “vulture” investor who has eliminated some jobs. Reuters reported last month that Ross’s companies had shipped some 2,700 jobs overseas since 2004. | 0fake |
More Trump Jobs Boom, Home Depot to Add 80,000 Employees - Breitbart | Coming off a jobs report that figured higher than analysts expected, the Trump jobs boom is continuing with retailer Home Depot announcing that it plans to add up to 80, 000 new employees nationwide, perhaps by spring. [After revamping its online application process, the hardware and home improvement supply company announced plans to expand this year, the Staten Island Advance reported. “Applying for a job at the world’s largest home improvement retailer now takes about 15 minutes using any device, thanks to a shorter application and ‘careers’ site at careers. homedepot. com,” Home deport said in a statement. Job openings will include customer service and sales, lot associates, receiving, store support, cashier positions, as well as jobs in the Merchandising Execution Team — those responsible for setting up store displays. The announcement came as part of the company’s new “Behind The Apron” series aimed at telling the stories of employees. We’re hiring! Check out our spring hiring heat map to find job opportunities near you. https: . pic. twitter. — The Home Depot (@HomeDepot) March 2, 2017, The announcement by Home Depot comes on the heels of a higher than expected jobs report as hiring across the country measures in at its highest level in three years. On Wednesday the federal government reported that the number of private payrolls increased by 298, 000 in February, well above the original forecast of 187, 000. January also saw levels of hiring revised upward to 261, 000 jobs created. The country has experienced higher growth since Trump took office. Only a day ago, for instance, President Trump praised Exxon Mobil for its plans to hire up to 45, 000 new employees in facilities in Texas and Louisiana. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0fake |
Lebanese president said Hariri will visit Paris on Saturday: politician | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Thursday that Saad al-Hariri will arrive in Paris on Saturday with his family, where he will remain for a few days before coming to Beirut, a Lebanese politician said in a statement after meeting Aoun. Hariri announced his resignation as Lebanese prime minister in a televised broadcast from Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4 and has not returned to Beirut since. Aoun has said Hariri must return and submit his resignation in person. (This version of the story corrects source in headline) | 0fake |
Sanders: Firms must take 'haircut' in Puerto Rico debt crisis | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wall Street investment banks must take losses amid efforts to fix Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said, adding that policymakers must focus on the island’s people, not financial firms. “These wealthy investors must take a significant haircut. The people in Puerto Rico should not be asked to suffer even more, so that a handful of wealthy investors can become even wealthier,” Sanders said in a statement on Friday. | 0fake |
South Korean 'nut rage' executive remains free after court upholds suspended sentence | SEOUL (Reuters) - A former Korean Air Lines executive who went into a rage on an aircraft over the way she was served nuts in first class avoided jail on Thursday when South Korea s Supreme Court upheld her 10-month suspended sentence. Heather Cho had been charged with, among others, violation of aviation law in 2015 after she took issue with the way she was served nuts and forced the Korean Air Lines plane to return to its gate in a New York airport in December 2014. The incident became a national scandal in South Korea, as Cho is the daughter of the chairman of Hanjin Group, the conglomerate of which Korean Air is an affiliate. Cho stepped down from her role as Korean Air Lines vice president and attempted to apologize to crew members. The Supreme Court upheld an appeals court ruling that said forcing an on-the-ground plane to return to its gate cannot be seen as route deviation, but found Cho guilty of abusive language and actions against cabin crew and forcing a crew member to disembark. Cho was originally sentenced to one year in jail, but has been free from custody since May 2015, when the appeals court suspended her sentence. | 0fake |
WATCH: Conservatives Don’t Punch Nazis, They Give Them Credentials To Attend CPAC | If there is one political ideology that every American should despise, it s Nazism. But conservatives don t seem to mind it one bit.On inauguration day last month, Nazi Richard Spencer got punched in the face by a protester during an interview.Spencer, along with others of his ilk, support Donald Trump and hail his presidency as a new era of white nationalism where fascism and racism flourish.It s no secret, of course. Conservatives have been moving further to the extreme right for decades and the end of that side of the political spectrum is Nazism.Rather than run away from Nazism and people like Spencer who advocate in favor of it, conservatives decided to give Spencer credentials to attend their annual CPAC conference.Spencer attended on Thursday, and he had a lot to say to reporters as supporters flocked to him like moths to a flame.When asked how he feels about being at CPAC, Spencer said he feels welcome. Richard Spencer, at CPAC: I feel very welcome here. Nobody s punching me yet. Travis Waldron (@Travis_Waldron) February 23, 2017Spencer then praised Donald Trump for being a supporter of white nationalist causes.Richard Spencer tells reporters at @CPAC he thinks Trump represents the alt-right more than conservatives #CPAC2017 pic.twitter.com/b5dEtXVmKy Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) February 23, 2017CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp apparently had no problem with Spencer attending the conference despite claiming to disagree with him.Just talked to CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp. Said he didn t endorse Richard Spencer s ideas but won t kick him out of the conference. fake Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) February 23, 2017But then it appears someone felt that Spencer was getting too much adulation at CPAC so they had him escorted out by security.Here s the video via YouTube.Richard Spencer should never have been approved to get credentials to CPAC in the first place, especially if conservatives really don t agree with Nazism.But the fact that Spencer was allowed to attend makes it pretty clear that conservatives are more okay with Nazis than they would like us to believe. And that s an insult to the millions of Americans who fought to stop the Nazis and their evil agenda during World War II.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
Protesters keeping kids away from Cleveland Republican convention | (Reuters) - A Milwaukee-based immigrants rights group canceled plans to take children to demonstrations outside the Republican National Convention, which starts on Monday, citing fears of violence after last week’s shootings in Dallas. Voces de la Frontera (Voices from the Border) typically includes children in its marches, seeking to humanize the debate over immigration policy, but opted against that in Cleveland because “things can escalate,” group member Daniel Gutierrez said. Donald Trump is expected to officially become the Republican candidate for president at the convention, which runs from Monday to Thursday, when myriad protest groups from around the country are expected to converge on Cleveland. Protests at Trump campaign events have turned volatile, and tensions could be heightened by the presence of citizens carrying firearms. Ohio gun laws will allow people to openly carry firearms at the protests, while more innocuous items such as tennis balls, umbrellas with steel points and water guns will be prohibited. Police said the presence of openly carried weapons complicated their job at the Dallas protest shootings, when a former U.S. Army reservist shot dead five police officers, seeking revenge for police killings of black men. About 45 members of Voces de la Frontera plan to participate in a Coalition to Stop Trump rally on Monday, said Gutierrez, adding that he was unafraid that others may bring guns. “If anything comes up that puts our lives at risk, we definitely are not going to stand there. If anything breaks out, just remove ourselves from there. Go to a safe location,” Gutierrez said. Brad Sigal, a spokesman for the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, said his organization was training marshals to keep the group safe, primarily by steering members clear of potential confrontations. About 50 of its members would travel to Cleveland, he said. “There will be a lot of police there, there may be counterprotests, but we’re there to get our message out and that’s what we’re going to do,” Sigal said. “We’re aware of the situation and preparing for it.” Rustbelt Medics, a group of street medics that volunteers first aid at political events, has been conducting medical training in preparation for the convention. Gloria Tavera, a medical student and street medic with the group, says Rustbelt Medics will have trained about 50 people prior to the convention. “Part of the training definitely involves what happens when people get hit by rubber bullets,” Tavera said. | 0fake |
Compromise reached on massive U.S. defense bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A compromise version of a massive U.S. defense policy bill omits controversial provisions such as a clause Democrats said allowed discrimination against homosexuals and a requirement that women register for the draft. The $618.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, will likely come up for a vote in the House of Representatives late this week, and the Senate next week, senior committee staff members told reporters at a background briefing on Tuesday. During months of negotiations, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate and House Armed Services committees agreed to eliminate a “religious freedom” provision Democrats said would have let federal contractors discriminate against workers on the basis of gender or sexual orientation. The amendment, introduced by Republican Representative Steve Russell, would have overridden President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers. The 2017 NDAA also leaves out a requirement that women register for the military draft. Many Republican lawmakers, uneasy with moves toward allowing women in combat, had objected to that provision. Instead, the NDAA requires a study of the entire selective service system. The bill also provides a 2.1 percent increase in military pay, the biggest such raise in five years. The bill could run into problems with Democrats. It includes $3.2 billion more in defense spending than Obama requested, which is not matched by a similar increase in non-defense spending. Obama vetoed last year’s NDAA because of a similar increase for the Pentagon, part of a continuing tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats over spending policy. The NDAA keeps language restricting transfers from the military prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base that was included in previous bills. Those restrictions were one reason Obama vetoed the 2016 NDAA, but he later signed a version of the legislation that included them. Lawmakers also agreed to slash the White House’s National Security Council to no more than 200 positions, from about 400, after Pentagon complaints the NSC was too involved in decision-making. The NDAA expands a program to provide visas to Afghans who worked for the U.S. military and diplomats as interpreters, allowing a further 1,500 visas. It omits protections for the greater sage grouse. House Republicans do not want the bird to be declared an endangered species, arguing it would put too much land in the western United States off limits for military training. | 0fake |
Obama, France's Hollande to meet in Washington on Thursday: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande will meet in Washington on Thursday on the sidelines of a nuclear summit, the White House said on Wednesday. The two leaders will hold a “brief bilateral meeting,” the White House said in a statement. Obama will convene leaders from more than 50 countries in Washington this week for his fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit. | 0fake |
Trump Says Health Law Replacement May Not Be Ready Until Next Year - The New York Times | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump said in an interview that aired on Sunday that a replacement health care law was not likely to be ready until either the end of this year or in 2018, a major shift from promises by both him and Republican leaders to repeal and replace the law as soon as possible. “Maybe it’ll take till sometime into next year, but we’re certainly going to be in the process,” Mr. Trump said during an interview with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, after Mr. O’Reilly asked the president whether Americans could “expect a new health care plan rolled out by the Trump administration this year. ” “It statutorily takes awhile to get,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to be putting it in fairly soon, I think that, yes, I would like to say by the end of the year at least the rudiments but we should have something within the year and the following year. ” Mr. Trump acknowledged that replacing former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act is complicated, though he reiterated his confidence that his administration could devise a plan that would work better than the law — despite having provided few details of how such a plan would work. “You have to remember Obamacare doesn’t work, so we are putting in a wonderful plan,” Mr. Trump said. Speaker Paul D. Ryan has vowed to move legislation for a replacement for the Affordable Care Act by the end of March. But some Republicans are worried about a political backlash if they repeal the law without an adequate replacement — potentially throwing millions of people off their insurance — and have urged a more methodical approach. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, recently proposed repairing parts of the health care law ahead of scrapping the whole package. Mr. Trump said last month that he wanted to present a replacement soon after the Senate confirmed his nominee for secretary of health and human services, Representative Tom Price, Republican of Georgia. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Mr. Price’s confirmation this week. “We’re going to be submitting, as soon as our secretary is approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan,” Mr. Trump said in January. Last month, the president signed an executive order to begin unwinding the Affordable Care Act. It gave the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to ease what it called “unwarranted economic and regulatory burdens” from the existing law. | 0fake |
JUST IN: Why Anchor #MattLauer Was Just Fired After Decades With NBC [Video] | NBC was in cover your ass mode with their longtime anchor Matt Lauer s latest misstep coming to light via numerous news outlets. NBC News Chairman Andy Lack pulled the trigger to fire Lauer late last night after it was revealed that Lauer was going to be outed for sexual misconduct.Page Six reports:Longtime NBC anchor Matt Lauer allegedly sexually assaulted a female NBC staffer during the Rio Olympics. The staffer, who has not been named and wishes to remain anonymous, complained to NBC News bosses yesterday, prompting them to move fast and fire him. An NBC staffer come forward with a claim that Matt sexually assaulted her at the Olympics. There have been rumors about Matt having affairs with subordinates at NBC for years, but those were believed to be consensual. This incident in Rio was not. 2006 CRUEL AND INHUMANE His wife, Annette, famously filed for divorce in 2006, accusing him of cruel and inhumane behavior, but withdrew the filing a month later after they reached a private agreement. They ostensibly live separate lives, she living full time in the Hamptons with their children, while Matt resides in the city during the week.Lauer has been rumored to be a serial adulterer but this case was not consensual. A whole different ball of wax for the notorious cad.Rumors of an affair with Natalie Morales and other co-workers have been out there in the past. Lauer s current co-workers spoke out this morning claiming shock at what just happened:Matt Lauer has been terminated from NBC News. On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. As a result, we ve decided to terminate his employment. pic.twitter.com/1A3UAZpvPb TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 29, 2017The victim wishes to remain anonymous we re wondering how long it will take for her name to be leaked out. | 1real |
Smart Meter Case Testimony Before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission: What No One Wants to Acknowledge About EMF Damage (Part 2 of 4) | By Catherine J. Frompovich
This is the continuation of the testimony I will present before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s Administrative Law Court November 2 and 3, 2016.
Currently, Chairman Representative Godshall is allowing three more opt out bills to become sine die this session, which should amount to an impeachable offense for denying consumers their inherent and indefeasible rights, especially of redress to government, and also according to the Pennsylvania Constitution, I contend.
Probably nothing encapsulates and explains the EMF/RFR controversy or conundrum, if you may, from a scientific viewpoint than the 35-page report “ EUROPAEM EMF Guideline 2016 for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of EMF-related health problems and illnesses ,” which is a Spanish language document and found online at https://listas.um.es/sympa/arc/anuncios/2016-07/msg00069.html This report cites 308 published scientific references, which leaves Frompovich to question why the PA PUC—and PECO in particular—are so daft in proffering that there is no updated science other than the 1940s era ‘safety’ THERMAL science regarding microwave electromagnetic energies based in ‘ancient’ radar studies the microwave industry always trots out as proof of ‘safety’.
Those ‘safety’ studies originated in Germany during World War II; are totally outmoded; but remain the present Federal Communications Commission’s rules regarding safety of cell phones and AMI Smart Meters. It is now 2016! How come 1940s microwave technology science is being applied as the ‘gold standard’ or ‘scientific criterion’ to meters that will become the key intelligence gathering technology for the Internet of Things? Frompovich has to question the credibility factor of both PECO and the PA PUC for depending upon 1940 science in today’s technology world of 2016. Where’s the science later than the 1940s? Please, may I have those studies PECO supplied to the PA PUC?
Frompovich, therefore, respectfully suggests that the PA PUC study the above-aforementioned European reports with medical and EHS health professionals, who are qualified to explain the diagnostics and varied modalities discussed, in order to issue updated regulations affecting AMI Smart Meters and their continuous RFR/EMF health-damaging electromagnetics, plus their fire-and-explosion-prone proclivities and occurrences, which definitely was not the case for all the decades utilities used safe and efficient analog meters.
Children are the most vulnerable to EMF radiation and, therefore, I introduce Exhibit U-1 “Why children absorb more microwave radiation than adults: The Consequences,” and Exhibit U-2 “American Academy of Pediatrics August 29, 2013 letter urging the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, the Federal Communications Commission and others to advise the public about Specific Absorption Rates (SARs) regarding EMF/RF exposures.”
Also, I want to apprise every one of the fact that electromagnetic sensitivity (EHS) is a growing problem and according to recently reported statistics in the peer reviewed journal ECOPSYCHOLOGY, Professor Pamela Reed Gibson states the following: 26% of the USA population; 19% of the Swedish population; 27% of the Danish population; and 32 % of the German population are EHS compromised. See Exhibit V . However, other sources claim that as much as 5% of the entire world’s population is affected.
Just as chemical sensitivities were discredited and denied by medical doctors for years—now referred to as “sick building syndrome” or “Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)—so, too, is EHS now being recognized by many, including the World Health Organization. I introduce Exhibit W “Electrohypersensitivity: a functional impairment due to an inaccessible environment.” Printout available here https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=forums&srcid=MDgxODkwOTk5NjU5OTU4ODQwNTYBMTU3NTIzMDA1MTQxNTY1NzI0NTcBTVRzdGFEOUNBUUFKATAuMQEBdjI
As Exhibit X I introduce a study no one can refute, “A review on Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and the reproductive system,” which outlines science the microwave industry, PECO and all utilities utilizing AMI Smart Meters, plus public utility commissions across the USA need to factor into the inevitable legal liability that they are assuming by committing crimes against humanity by exposing the population to unsafe microwave electromagnetics 24/7/365 from dirty electricity pulsed by AMI SMs onto home wiring and into private residences and all buildings retrofitted with AMI Smart Meters.
Before I include my previously submitted testimony, I find it necessary to impress upon the court that it should not be Frompovich’s obligation to prove the medical consequences beyond a reasonable doubt, especially in light of the ADA Amendments Act as it applies to those receiving federal funding or even that the consequences of medical problems are more probable than not, since the ADAAA provides Frompovich with disability rights and protections, which PECO and the PA PUC must abide by.
Furthermore, it should be the indisputable duty of PECO and all Pennsylvania utility companies – but more specifically that of the PA Public Utility Commission’s stated mission for being – to provide safe and non-radiating innovations in utility technology and appliances with 100% certainty, which AMI Smart Meters fail on numerous levels, especially with their proclivity for “hot sockets,” fires and explosions, EMF/RF constant emissions and dirty electricity pulses as frequent as 9600 times a day!
No medical-scientific testing has proved AMI Smart Meters EMFs safety regarding non-thermal adverse health effects that I know of. Where’s the science?
Therefore, Frompovich should not be forced to allow a proven-fire-prone AMI Smart Meter electric service on her property that would radiate dirty electricity into her residence with high RFR pulses every fifteen seconds.
Just to add more “salt to the wound,” as they would say, there are no assurances that monitoring is not part and parcel of the AMI Smart Meter agenda and an integral surveillance device of the Internet of Things, or that information will be shared with unknown third parties—for whatever reasons—and for which Frompovich does not approve nor give her permission to PECO, the PA PUC or any government agencies or agents.
Therefore, Frompovich feels her privacy, as well as her home and personal physiology, will be subjected to unlawful, unconstitutional and unnecessary interventions at various levels and, specifically, without proper legal processes, e.g., court-issued warrants, in order to surveil her home that automatically will occur from the two-way ZigBee radio transmitter system of AMI SMs and all “smart” appliances which are built to interact with the coming surveillance technology of the Internet of Things. The times Frompovich makes tea in the morning and shuts off her lights for the night are no one’s business but her own.
I’ve been researching consumer health issues and whatsoever affects human health negatively , including technologies, since the late 1970s. During my career, I was considered an expert witness providing testimony before several states’ legislature/legislative hearings on health issues. For numerous years I was ahead of both the popular curve and the allopathic paradigm of medicine regarding the role of diet, nutrition, epigenetics, and lifestyle issues in maintaining optimum health, avoiding disease and regaining health utilizing holistic health principles.
I am in my 78 th year, thank God. Since the early 1970s, when I almost lost my life due to unfortunate medical mistakes and had to remove myself from mainstream allopathic care in order to save my life, I’ve been immersed in what’s called the “holistic lifestyle.” I’ve beaten the odds, including being a breast cancer survivor, using holistic healthcare modalities. For the record, 38.3% of U.S. adults and 11.8% of U.S. children used what’s referred to as CAM in 2007 per NIH statistics[1]. Complementary and Alternative Medicine—CAM as it’s called, is popular throughout the world, while in the U.S. there is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institutes of Health.
However, the allopathic paradigm considers it, quite frankly, a pain in its professional butt since CAM has become the “go to” healthcare system when allopathy fails one.
Therefore, I expect that I probably will educate misinformed individuals on the negative health consequences of electromagnetic frequencies from microwave energy producing technologies like cell phones and towers, Wi-Fi, ‘smart’ gadgets, and, in particular, AMI Smart Meters, which are being bully-forced onto electric, natural gas, and municipal water utility customers. Most state legislators, the media and the public are undeniably ignorant of the damage being done to their health. Fortunately, I am not one of those people, thus my refusing an AMI Smart Meter on my house. But, first I think you ought to know some of my background: I’m a well-informed, plus over 40 years published consumer health researcher, advocate-activist, journalist, and author.
That I should be taken seriously, I offer some of my professional background: retired practicing natural nutritionist; former registered lobbyist with the U.S. Congress for five years representing holistic healthcare issues; executive director for the national Coalition for Alternatives in Nutrition And Healthcare (CANAH) for five years and, as such, presented FDA-solicited expertise input regarding holistic health practices for its 1990 OTA report OTA-H-405 NTIS #PB91-104893[2] “Unconventional Cancer Treatments” [3]; expert nutrition witness before a congressional subcommittee opposing food irradiation; government relations specialist for a consortium of natural nutrition supplement makers before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the first Government Relations specialist for the Life Extension Foundation, who set up LEF’s government relations department; a published journalist; author of numerous books regarding health and lifestyle issues with several books available on Amazon.com and my 2016 book, Eat to Beat Disease, Foods Medicinal Qualities.
Additionally, I wrote and produced two TV shows. One called, “ Turn Off the Violence ” was nominated for a Telly Award. That hour-long show was instrumental in securing the Giraffe Award given to persons, who stick out their necks for the common good. The recipient was George Mason University staff member Connie Kirkland[4], who founded a 24-hour crisis center for rape victims and promoted on-campus non-violence educational campaigns specifically relating to rape and domestic violence. What I’ve shared is much less than half of my background. More would take too much of your time. However, I feel compelled to ask, “How many people can match my qualifications to discuss consumer health issues?”
Furthermore, I want to underscore upfront that IF I were a habitual drug addict, rather than an informed, concerned health-conscious researcher and consumer being harassed for trying to protect and preserve my health, I probably would be welcomed with open arms, plus there would be all types of programs and subsidies available for help. Because I am opposing faulty and health-damaging RF/EMF ‘science’, plus vested-interest snooping, surveillance, and customer data marketing agendas using AMI smart meters, I am harassed and even threatened with termination of electric service even though all my bills are paid in full. That leaves me with no options but to dutifully invoke and defend my state and federal constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t there something radically wrong with such a construct, especially in the USA, if I have to do that?
Attorney Ward Smith’s interrogatory requesting Frompovich’s cancer health records, quite frankly, leaves everyone with whom I’ve shared that fact, totally aghast and amazed! Why? Because Frompovich’s medical records are her personal information protected under HIPPA and I must protect them. Furthermore, since the PUC Administrative Law Court hearing is of public record, Frompovich does not want her personal medical records made public information during any level in these proceedings, as that is her fundamental right.
I respectfully bring to this court’s attention that my breast cancer and medical records are NOT the issue. What’s the issue, problem, and at stake not only for me, but for all Pennsylvanians, is the total callous disregard by utility companies—PECO included, the PA PUC, and the Commonwealth for health hazards, safety, and the wellbeing of all Pennsylvanians, especially those with health issues, compromised immune systems, disabilities, and especially young, growing children—fetuses in particular—whom RF/EMF and dirty electricity produced by AMI Smart Meters affect and impact negatively.
Before presenting into the record additional reams of recent research with documentation and annotations—not 1940s vintage radar safety research—for RFs/EMFs and microwave electromagnetic energies impacts upon cancer and health, I feel it necessary to introduce something no one probably has thought about nor factored into the AMI Smart Meter hidden costs continuum , and that is, healthcare services and ancillary costs stemming from non-ionizing radiation RFs/EMFs Smart Meters impact upon human tissue.
There are mounting underlying, long-term adverse health effects accruing as we speak from PA PUC-PECO forced AMI Smart Meter 24/7/365 RF/EMF electromagnetics, pulses, harmonics and dirty electricity, specifically adverse Non-thermal health effects, impacting children and an ageing PA population, which will generate dire fiscal consequences, plus responsibilities, upon Penna. Medicaid health cost line items in each year’s operating budget for the Commonwealth.
To cement that forewarning, I offer the World Health Organization’s statistic, “Approximately 10% of reported cases of EHS [electromagnetic hypersensitivity] were considered severe,” which means specialized caregiving. That, however, does not include cancer-induced health issues from RFs/EMFs! What kind of budget shortfall will AMI Smart Meters adverse health effects eventually generate for PA’s legislature and governor to haggle about, when we’ve seen what’s been going on recently to get a state budget passed? Has anyone thought about that very real problem?
Continued in Part 3 | 1real |
More Bali flights canceled on forecast of volcanic ash | DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Airlines canceled more flights departing the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on Saturday, citing forecasts of deteriorating flying conditions due to a risk of volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Agung volcano. A Bali airport spokesman said the airport was still operating normally, but airlines such as Jetstar and Virgin Australia had opted to cancel some flights Bali flying conditions expected to be clear throughout the day, but forecast for tonight has deteriorated so several flights have been canceled, Australian budget airline Jetstar said on its Twitter account. The erupting volcano had closed the airport for much of this week, stranding thousands of visitors from Australia, China and other countries, before the winds changed and flights resumed Twenty flights were canceled on Friday evening due to concerns over ash. Some airlines including Malaysia s AirAsia Bhd have said they would only operate out of Bali during the day, as the ash could impair visibility at night and wind conditions in the area were unpredictable. Airlines avoid flying through volcanic ash as it can damage aircraft engines, clogging fuel and cooling systems, hampering pilot visibility and even causing engine failure. There are also concerns over changing weather conditions with a tropical cyclone south of Java island impacting weather and wind in the area, including for Bali, the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics agency said With some airlines continuing to fly normally on Saturday, there was frustration among passengers. Australian couple Justine and Greg Hill were on holiday with their two teenage children and had been due to fly out today but their flight later this evening was canceled. It s more an inconvenience than anything. Don t understand why if other airlines are flying, some others aren t. Obviously there must be safety protocols but there s no detailed explanation, said Greg Hill, 46, who was waiting at the airport. Several foreign consulates have set up booths in the international departures area to assist stranded passengers. Subrata Sarkar, India s vice consul in Bali, told Reuters at the airport s international departure area that they had helped around 500 passengers so far this week. We have advised citizens the volcano may erupt. We never say please don t come . But we have issued travel advisories. If it s urgent business, then ok, but if it s only tourism, then plans should be reconsidered, said Sarkar. For an interactive graphic on Mount Agung volcano, click - tmsnrt.rs/2hYdHiq For a graphic on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," click - tmsnrt.rs/2BjtH6l | 0fake |
DEAD POOL DIVA: Huma Kept Those Hillary Emails FBI Found In A Folder Marked ‘Life Insurance’ | DEAD POOL DIVA: Huma Kept Those Hillary Emails FBI Found In A Folder Marked ‘Life Insurance’ Was Huma Abedin stockpiling emails from Crooked Hillary's illegal private server as a buffer between herself and an untimely death? You decide. by Geoffrey Grider October 30, 2016 Did Huma steal those emails and then save them as life insurance to protect herself from joining the Clinton Dead Pool?
Huma Abedin is no fool. She may be the closest aide to Hillary Clinton, but she also spent the last 20 years watching enemies of the Clinton Crime Family spontaneously commit suicide. So it is with great amusement but virtually no surprise that today we are finding out that the folder Huma kept those incriminating Hillary emails in was called ‘ Life Insurance ‘. So did Huma steal 10,000 emails and saved it on her comp just in case Clinton targeted her?
Hence: “life insurance”
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 30, 2016 Account suspended
Why can you no longer see the tweet below? Because this: “This account has been suspended. Learn more about why Twitter suspends accounts, or return to your timeline.” Guess Twitter is not a fan a free speech. No wonder the FBI went around the DOJ & Loretta Lynch a file called “Life Insurance” can only mean one thing. What is in those emails crazy! pic.twitter.com/5SHBatOXOa
— ⏰0⏰ (@0HOUR1__) October 30, 2016
Was Huma Abedin stockpiling emails from Crooked Hillary’s illegal private server as a buffer between herself and an untimely death? You decide. The Clinton Dead Pool , also known as the Clinton Body Count , is an exclusive club with a sky-high membership fee – your life. Life insurance indeed , Huma may have just saved her own life. SHARE THIS ARTICLE Geoffrey Grider NTEB is run by end times author and editor-in-chief Geoffrey Grider. Geoffrey runs a successful web design company, and is a full-time minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to running NOW THE END BEGINS, he has a dynamic street preaching outreach and tract ministry team in Saint Augustine, FL. NTEB #TRENDING | 1real |
WATCH: TEACHER CAUGHT ON VIDEO Calling Trump T-shirts “Swastika”…DEMANDS Students Turn Them Inside Out | This unhinged high school teacher was caught telling students to turn their Trump t-shirts inside out, because the Make America Great Again slogan is the same thing as a swastika. Come again?Watch:Teacher makes students flip MAGA shirts inside out because it's similar to a swastika & represents nazis! pic.twitter.com/hu0WRvwZ4D USA Association (@USAAssociation) September 4, 2017Example after example of intolerant radical educators threatning students who refuse to tow the liberal line have emerged over the past decade. One of our favorite examples took place less than 2 years ago when multiple professors at Washington State University explicitly told students their grades would suffer if they used terms such as illegal alien, male, and female, or if they failed to defer to non-white students.A Fresno State professor was actually caught on video bullying a student at the college where he teaches because she chalked a pro-life message on the sidewalk (after she received permission from the school to write the pro-life message on the sidewalk).Watch this male professor bully this young female student: | 1real |
BREAKING: LEFTIST GROUP PLANS To Arrest Hillary During Tonight’s Acceptance Speech | The DNC Action Committee announced on Facebook today that it plans to make a citizen s arrest of Hillary Clinton during her acceptance speech at the DNC tonight.The list of charges are election fraud, money laundering through the Clinton Foundation and endangering national security by the exclusive secret use of a private email server for government business during Clinton s tenure as Secretary of State during the first term of the Obama administration:FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDNC Action CommitteeAction in Philadelphia TONIGHTTonight, on the last night of the DNC, we will stand together to perform a Citizens Arrest on Hillary Rodham Clinton. In PA, a felony is required to justify a Citizens Arrest.To this, we accuse Hillary Rodham Clinton of being an accessory to the mass election fraud that took place during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, and collusion with Democratic party officials who sought to undermine Bernie Sanders campaign. This was especially egregious in Philadelphia where the Democratic Party handed out ballot listings that explicitly excluded Bernie Sanders and his supporters.We accuse Hillary Rodham Clinton for being complicit in international money laundering (through the Clinton Foundation).We accuse Hillary Rodham Clinton of being complicit in treason by keeping sensitive state secrets on her private server, thus endangering the lives of undercover agents.To these ends, we will march into the gates of the Wells Fargo center during her speech. Our intent is to non-violently present Hillary Rodham Clinton with a Citizens Arrest. We request that the Philadelphia Police Department, Homeland Security, and all present law enforcement agencies assist us in our Citizens Arrest. Should they choose to prevent us from carrying out the arrest, we are prepared to risk arrest ourselves.We stand in solidarity with other concerned citizens demonstrating in Philadelphia against the criminal actions of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the failure of the Democratic Party to support the needs of the people in this city and around the United States.Read more: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Turkey's Erdogan blames U.S. envoy for diplomatic crisis | ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan blamed the U.S. ambassador to Turkey on Tuesday for a diplomatic crisis between the two countries and said Ankara no longer considered him Washington s envoy. In a blunt and personal attack on outgoing Ambassador John Bass, Erdogan suggested Bass acted unilaterally in suspending visa services in Turkey after the arrest of a U.S. consulate worker, and said agents had infiltrated U.S. missions. The U.S. State Department defended Bass, saying he had the full backing of the U.S. government and his actions were coordinated with the State Department, White House and National Security Council. Our ambassadors tend not to do things unilaterally, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing. We have a very close coordination and cooperation with our ambassadors, she added, saying Bass had done a terrific job in Turkey. The dispute has plunged already fragile relations between the two NATO allies to a new low after months of tension linked to the conflict in Syria, last year s failed military coup in Turkey, and U.S. court cases against Turkish officials. The U.S. embassy said on Sunday night it was suspending visa services while it assessed Turkey s commitment to the safety of its missions and its staff, a message reiterated in a video released by Bass late on Monday. An ambassador in Ankara taking decisions and saying he is doing so in the name of his government is strange, Erdogan said. If our ambassador did this, we wouldn t keep him there even a minute. The embassy said allegations that the arrested employee had links to Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the failed coup against Erdogan last year, were baseless. Nauert said Turkey, which has arrested two local U.S. embassy staff members this year, summoned a third local staff member for questioning over the weekend, a deeply disturbing move. Some of those targeted were responsible for law enforcement coordination between the countries, she said. Being able to have close security cooperation, especially with a NATO partner, is incredibly important, Nauert said. And when they start arresting, detaining our people, our people who are responsible for law enforcement coordination, that is a ... major concern of ours. And so that is why we took these steps. But Erdogan said the arrest, and a police request to question a second consulate employee, showed there is something cooking in the U.S. consulate in Istanbul ... How did these agents infiltrate the U.S. consulate? He said Bass, who is due to leave the country within days to take up a posting in Afghanistan, had been making farewell visits to government offices. But our ministers, parliament speaker and myself did not accept and will not accept his request because we do not see him as a representative of the United States, Erdogan told a televised news conference during a visit to Belgrade. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the visa suspension had punished citizens of both countries, and accused Washington of taking an emotional and inappropriate step against an ally. You are making your citizens and ours pay the price, he said. We call on the United States to be more reasonable. The issue must of course be resolved as soon as possible, he said, describing U.S. behavior as unbecoming of an ally. In a speech in Ankara to ruling AK Party parliamentarians, Yildirim also defended Turkey s decision to retaliate with its own visa suspension after the U.S. embassy announcement. Turkey is not a tribal state, we will retaliate against what has been done in kind, he said. | 0fake |
Is too much 'screen time' hurting your kids' mental growth? | Is too much 'screen time' hurting your kids' mental growth?
Daniel Barker Tags: children , screen time , limits (NaturalNews) In an effort to steer away from its previous one-size-fits-all policy, the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued a new set of guidelines regarding how much time children should spend in front of television and computer screens.Until now, the AAP had recommended no more than two hours of "screen time" for children – regardless of their age, the type of content viewed or which medium was being used.Recognizing that such a blanket approach could not effectively address the issues at hand, the AAP has recently taken steps to broaden its policies.From Gizmodo.com:"In a series of papers published today in the science journal Pediatrics, it's clear that the AAP has significantly revised its thinking on the matter, breaking down media use according to all these criteria. And to support parents with these new recommendations, the AAP has published an interactive, online tool that families can use to create a personalized Family Media Use Plan." AAP's new 'screen time' guidelines The new recommendations are aimed at the unique circumstances of various age groups. For example, the AAP recommends that children under 18 months should avoid screens altogether, except for limited occasions, such as social media sessions with grandparents.Children between the ages of 18 and 24 months may be introduced to digital media, but the content should be "high-quality programming," and watched together with parents.Kids between the ages of 2 and 5 should be limited to one hour of high-quality programming, which also should be watched in the presence of parents.Parents should impose "consistent limits" on the time spent in front of a screen by children 6 and older, especially for entertainment purposes. Children should not be allowed to sleep with their smartphones, tablets, etc., and should have one media-free hour before bedtime.Media-free times such as during meals should be established, and media-free zones in the household should be defined.Making sure kids get an hour of daily exercise and enough sleep at night is also part of the equation, according to the AAP. Parenting in the digital age ain't easy As logical as these recommendations may sound, implementing them may not always be easy. Most parents know that limiting their kids' online time isn't always easy, and many would be forced to admit that digital media can be a helpful tool in managing children :"Parents obviously want to raise healthy children who aren't constantly glued to computer screens, but these devices are a godsend for those moments when a parent needs to make dinner, or when they simply need to go to the bathroom. ..."When it comes to limiting screen time , there's a tradeoff between parental health, and the needs of a child—and that needs to be acknowledged."Let's face it, smartphones play a big part in our children's lives now, for better or for worse. There is also an age when a parent can no longer police a child's online activity without invading his or her privacy.The best thing a parent can do is to set consistent rules for younger children's screen time, and to try to help them learn to use the technology without becoming hopelessly addicted to it.One way to accomplish that is by setting an example. How much time do you spend in front of a TV, computer or smartphone screen yourself in the presence of your children?Many adults are as hopelessly addicted to digital media as their teens or children are. If you expect a child to limit their time online, you must be willing to do the same.You might even try doing something completely out of the ordinary, like reading a book to your child, or having your child read one to you.As crazy as it might sound, there was a time when such practices were common. ... Sources: | 1real |
Hannity Gets His A** Kicked By Newsweek For Lying Constantly And Insulting People With Epilepsy | Sean Hannity is definitely going to blow a gasket about this.In recent weeks, major mainstream media outlets have been slamming the Fox News host for pushing lie after lie after lie in his effort to get Donald Trump elected in November.First, Jon Stewart came out of retirement for one night to slam Hannity so hard for being a hypocrite when it comes to the way he has treated Trump versus the shitty way he has treated President Obama that the conservative host could hardly stammer his way through an angry response to the comedian the next day.And then Hannity threw a hissy fit after Wall Street Journal foreign affairs columnist Bret Stephens called him Fox News dumbest anchor for attacking Republican leaders for not blindly supporting Trump no matter what he does.Then CNN host Brian Stelter took Hannity to the woodshed for helping Trump claim that the election is rigged for Hillary Clinton.And if that weren t enough, the Washington Post also dealt Hannity a major rebuke for lying about Trump rescuing stranded Marines after the Gulf War came to a close.Now Hannity just got his ass handed to him by Newsweek over his constant stream of lies and the fact that he insulted people with epilepsy by questioning Hillary Clinton s health.Kurt Eichenwald absolutely destroyed Hannity in a published column and it s clear that he just smacked Hannity in the face with a gauntlet. HARD.A man who purports to be a dutiful Catholic, Hannity has made a career out of violating the ninth commandment (or eighth in his faith) against lying about others. If Hannity stopped vomiting up falsehoods, his program would be nothing but a test pattern. From him and the others in the Who cares if it s false? conservative media camp, we have heard over the decades that Hillary and Bill Clinton murdered many people, that the Bush administration found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Obama could be on the verge of declaring martial law, and on and on.They are pretend journalists pumping out propaganda to scared, foolish people.Eichenwald then took Hannity to task for telling his audience that Hillary may have had a seizure in a video which shows Clinton Being pulled in different directions by multiple speakers at once, Clinton playfully acted like a bobblehead doll, smiling and then speaking after the joke was over. But Hannity characterized Clinton s playfulness as a serious medical condition, which Eichenwald did NOT appreciate.I know this response to Sean Hannity is a little raw, but as someone with epilepsy, I hope my editors will let this slip through: Fuck you, Sean. Your willingness to deceive your viewers to degrade those of us with epilepsy, to suggest something is a seizure when it looks nothing like one, to leave people dumber about this condition is unforgivable.It is rare for a mainstream journalist to use such strong language, but Hannity certainly deserved it. And that was only the beginning.Eichenwald went on to talk about what a real seizure is, explaining: People do not smile during a seizure while standing upright and then immediately launch into a coherent sentence. There s no smiling because, if for some reason the person experiencing the seizure has not collapsed to the ground in unconsciousness, the moment the body begins to move uncontrollably is terrifying. After a seizure, someone does not instantly jump back into a conversation, making jokes. Eichenwald then delivered the final blow.While I know you almost never apologize for anything you do on the air, this sin requires some penance. It can be done in secret if you don t have the character to make a public pronouncement of regret. Write a check. Make a donation to help those you demeaned and damaged if you are unable to show the backbone to undo the damage you have done, you can understand why I say you purport to be a Catholic. If you really were one, you d be worried about burning in hell for what you ve done.Thus far, Sean Hannity has not responded nor has he thrown a temper tantrum over Eichenwald basically putting him over his knee and giving his an ass-whipping. But you can bet one will probably happen soon as Hannity has a thin skin just like Donald Trump.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
“Unvetted” Illegals Turn Germany Into A Third-World Trash Heap…Sound Familiar? [Video] | Take Notes America! Germany s Angela Merkel has just promised to dial back on immigration but it s really too late now as you can see in this video from Vlad Tepes: Quantifying the Impact of Border Trash:Apprehensions of individuals by the U.S. Border Patrol as a result of illegal immigration vary every year. Current U.S. Border Patrol statistics indicate that in federal fiscal year 2015, which ended on September 30, approximately 63,400 border crossers were apprehended in the Tucson Sector, which doesn t count the many others who get through. The border crossers leave approximately six to eight pounds of trash in the desert during his or her journey. The cost of disposing of this trash is high for local communities. Landfill fees range from $37 to $49 per ton in Southern Arizona. These fees do not include costs for materials, equipment, labor and transportation for the collection and transfer of the trash to the landfill. | 1real |
Extensive Study Contradicts Hillary Clinton Claim ‘Fake News’ Prompted Election Loss | Hillary Clinton’s claim on Wednesday that she lost the 2016 presidential election in part because of the proliferation of “fake news” is contradicted by an extensive study that found fake news didn’t significantly impact the outcome of the election. [That study recently received a positive nod from the Poynter Institute, the group helping Facebook determine whether certain news stories are “disputed. ” Speaking at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Clinton claimed that she lost the election due a plot in which fake news was disseminated on social media in a conspiracy orchestrated by Russian agents and bots. “Here’s what the other side was doing, and they were in a different arena,” she stated, according to a transcript from the event organizers. “Through content farms, through an enormous investment in falsehoods, fake news, call it what you will. ” Without citing evidence, Clinton claimed that “1, 000 Russian agents” were behind the conspiracy to disseminate fake information about her: The other side was using content that was just false, and delivering it in a very personalized way, both sort of above the radar screen and below. And you know, look, I’m not a tech expert by any stretch of the imagination. That really influenced the information that people were relying on. And there have been some studies done since the election that if you look — let’s pick Facebook. If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake. They were connected to, as we now know, the 1, 000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages. Clinton’s claim that voters were influenced by fake news contrasts with a study titled “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,” by economists Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford University and Hunt Allcott of New York University. The research utilized web browsing data, a database of what the authors claimed were fake news stories and a online survey about news trends. The study concluded: Our data suggest that social media were not the most important source of election news, and even the most widely circulated fake news stories were seen by only a small fraction of Americans. For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake news story would need to have convinced about 0. 7 percent of Clinton voters and who saw it to shift their votes to Trump, a persuasion rate equivalent to seeing 36 television campaign ads. Poynter’s Chief Media Writer James Warren reported on the study: In sum, they conclude that the role of social media was overstated, with television remaining by far the primary vehicle for consuming political news. Just 14 percent of Americans deemed social media the primary source of their campaign news, according to their research. In addition, while fake news that favored Trump far exceeded that favoring Clinton, few Americans actually recalled the specifics of the stories and fewer believed them. “For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake article would need to have had the same persuasive effect as 36 television campaign ads,” they conclude. Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. With research by Joshua Klein. | 0fake |
LIBERAL MEDIA GETS HAMMERED At Rally By Trump Supporters Chanting: “Tell The TRUTH!” [Video] | Trump supporters chanted at the press before a Trump rally in Fredericksburg, VA: Tell The Truth! Trump Virginia crowd chanting tell the truth at CNN pic.twitter.com/S42MKnx9e9 Jack Posobiec (@AngryGoTFan) August 21, 2016The crowd then yelled DO YOUR JOB! CNN walks in, crowd boos, chants "Do Your Job" Trump Virginia pic.twitter.com/rInKtm5Nle Jack Posobiec (@AngryGoTFan) August 21, 2016 | 1real |
Trump-installed consumer agency head sets hiring freeze, halts new rules | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fight for control of the U.S. consumer watchdog agency intensified on Monday as Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), imposed a hiring freeze and halted any new regulations. In a partisan showdown over the CFPB, which was created to crack down on predatory financial practices, Mulvaney is being sued by Leandra English, an Obama-era appointee to the agency who argues that she is the consumer bureau’s rightful leader. The conflict began on Friday when Richard Cordray, a Democrat appointed CFPB director by then-President Barack Obama, formally resigned and named English, his chief of staff, as acting director. Hours later, Trump named Mulvaney, the current director of the White House budget office, as temporary head of the CFPB. The Republican president has a right to name a permanent CFPB director, officials agree. There are dueling claims, however, about who gets to lead the agency in the meantime. Both sides presented their arguments during an emergency U.S. District Court hearing in Washington on Monday. Timothy Kelly, a Trump-appointed judge who is presiding over the case, said the issues raised were “extremely important and complicated.” The judge as well as the two sides said they hoped to see the case decided within the next few days. The next step is for the Trump administration to submit its response to English’s suit. The fight to control the 1,600-employee agency lays bare deep divisions between Republicans and Democrats over how to regulate Wall Street and protect consumers, following the 2007-2009 financial crisis that cost taxpayers $700 billion in bailouts. Republicans loathe the CFPB, saying it wields too much power and burdens banks and other lenders with unnecessary red tape. Mulvaney, who sought to dismantle the CFPB when he was a Republican congressman, acknowledged at a news briefing on Monday afternoon that the Trump administration had a “dramatically different” interpretation of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that created the CFPB. He said there would be a 30-day freeze on hiring at the agency and no payments from the CFPB’s civil penalties fund for that amount of time as well, except as required legally. All new regulations would also be frozen, he said. “The president has made it very clear he wants me here. ... I want to be here. I don’t want anything coming out of here that I don’t know about,” Mulvaney said. Earlier on Monday, English welcomed staff back from the Thanksgiving holiday in a morning email and signed off as “acting director.” Around the same time, Mulvaney arrived at Cordray’s former office, bringing doughnuts for the staff. “Please disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as Acting Director,” he wrote in an all-staff email seen by Reuters that he also signed “acting director.” Mulvaney advised staff members to inform the agency’s general counsel if they heard additional communications from English. As Mulvaney was getting settled in, a source told Reuters, CFPB general counsel Mary McLeod sent a memo agreeing with the U.S. Justice Department that Trump had the power to appoint Mulvaney as temporary leader of the watchdog. English went to the CFPB in the morning, according to her lawyer. She then met on Capitol Hill with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who conceived the CFPB. English told reporters that “Mulvaney has no authority” at the agency. Schumer said on the Senate floor that the Dodd-Frank law, which he helped to write, set up a “clear” succession process for the CFPB that made English the acting director. Schumer said Mulvaney was chosen by the Trump administration simply to “rock the agency from the inside.” Trump campaigned for president saying Wall Street “gets away with murder,” but he also promised to defang or abolish the CFPB. Since taking office, Trump has tried to undo a number of his Democratic predecessor’s initiatives, mostly notably the 2010 Affordable Care Act that the Republican-controlled Congress has been unable to repeal and replace. Cordray developed a reputation for drafting aggressive rules curbing products such as payday loans, while issuing multimillion-dollar fines against large financial institutions such as Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N). Stock prices of major U.S. banks are trading near all-time highs. The KBW Bank Index .BKX has more than doubled since July 2011, when the CFPB opened for business. The drama over the CFPB came as the Senate was preparing to consider a bill that would significantly ease rules on some banks for the first time since the financial crisis. Moderate Democrats and Republicans have come out in support of the package, aimed primarily at smaller and mid-sized banks, but analysts warned the CFPB fight could imperil that compromise. The Senate Banking Committee is supposed to take up the bill next week. | 0fake |
Disgraced Hedge Fund Manager Focuses on Aiding Veterans | Disgraced Hedge Fund Manager Focuses on Aiding
BY PAUL SULLIVAN Sitting at the circular table in his office, near an elliptical machine, treadmill and massage table, Steven A. Cohen struggled to find words to describe what motivates his new philanthropic effort. “You know what I think it is, I was looking for something unique, special, something that I could own,” said Mr. Cohen, the billionaire investor, in an interview at his family office, Point72 Asset Management. It is in the same building as his former hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, which in 2013 paid $1.8 billion in fines to federal prosecutors and securities regulators. “I wanted to do something big,” he added. “I wanted to do something that was all mine.” That something is a two-pronged initiative to help veterans who return from combat with post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injuries and a separate nonprofit organization to do research into diagnostic tools and treatments for those conditions.
www.nytimes.com | 1real |
UC Berkeley Administration Won’t Budge On Security Fees For MILO Event - Breitbart | UC Berkeley’s administration has replied to the recent letter sent to them by Berkeley College Republicans regarding the security fee for Breitbart Senior editor MILO’s event at the university on February 1st. [Breitbart reported this week that Berkeley College Republicans drafted a letter to Berkeley College administration relating to the recent $6000 security fee imposed on MILO’s February 1st event at the college. “Dear Chancellor Dirks, on behalf of the Berkeley College Republicans (“BCR”) we write in response to the University’s arbitrary and excessive, estimated $6, 370 security fee demand for the Milo Yiannopoulos event in Pauley Ballroom on February 1st. In effect, the University is restricting BCR’s constitutional rights to free expression on campus by charging fees for unsolicited security that amount to a tax on a “controversial” speaker. We are writing to request that this fee be waived in its entirety. The United States Supreme Court has held that “state colleges and universities are not enclaves immune from the sweep of the First Amendment. ” Healy v. James, 408 U. S. 169, 180 (1972). ” Further excerpts from the letter can be read here. Today Berkeley administration replied to the College Republicans. “Dear Berkeley College Republicans: “This responds to your letter to Chancellor Dirks which was sent by email to him and several other UC Berkeley administrators on January 11, 2017. ” begins the letter, The First Amendment does not immunize event sponsors from the requirement to reimburse the University for the reasonable cost of providing basic event security, so long as security fees charged are not arbitrary or . (See Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U. S. 569, 577 (1941).) It is the regular practice of the University to charge event sponsors such fees based on factors such as the venue, the type of event, the number of anticipated guests, whether tickets are sold, and if the event is open to guests. The University has routinely and neutrally applied this policy to charge sponsors comparable fees for appearance of a wide range of speakers, including Anita Hill, Lewis Farrakhan, Will Farrell, Rand Paul, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the Dalai Lama, and your claim that “Rio the best of BCR’s knowledge” security fees have not been charged for similar events is baseless. Similarly baseless is your contention that the University’s failure to give BCR special favorable treatment with regard to security fees is motivated by a desire to block your event. This charge is especially galling in light of the fact that UCPD and LEAD Center staff have, as you are well aware, dedicated substantial resources and many hours — including during the holidays and personal vacation time — to working with BCR to allow your event to proceed smoothly, while at the same time BCR leadership has frequently abused these efforts by being late for pre arranged meetings and conference calls or entirely unresponsive. You have also expressed concern about BCR’s ability to pay the basic security charge and asked that the normal security fee charged to all other event sponsors be waived for BCR. The University understands that BCR has sold 500 tickets for this event. The University is not in a position to treat BCR more favorably than other event sponsors nor to impose on the campus the out of pocket costs incurred by UCPD to provide basic support to student organizations’ events. The LEAD Center has provided BCR advice about additional revenue sources which may provide options for BCR to find funding. UCPD needs to receive a signed copy of the Police Services Request form promptly in order to approve the event from a security standpoint. If BCR decides that it cannot afford the event and must cancel, the University would appreciate receiving notice of that decision so that it can discontinue expending public resources on the planning process. Berkeley Assistant Dan Mogulof also contacted Breitbart to “stress and reiterate that the security estimates for this event were compiled not by the campus administration, but by sworn officers — law enforcement professionals — — in the University of California Police Department based on neutral, objective criteria. Just like every other event. ” When asked for comment, Troy Worden of Berkeley College Republicans stated, “The University of California, Berkeley makes a mockery of the the ideals of the Free Speech Movement by responding to the Berkeley College Republicans in so and a letter. They belittle our efforts to work with them to provide the security they demand for our event, and then bewail the extra hours they have to put in to systematically snuff out our right to free speech. Let this much be clear: the university is imposing a comically large financial burden on our club for security that we did not request in the first place. ” Worden continued, “It should be the burden of the university to ensure the political speech of all students — including conservatives such as the Berkeley College Republicans — is safeguarded from the mischief and violence of protesters. The lines are clearly drawn: the administration is bowing down to the demands of radical and liberal university professors at UC Berkeley rather than treating all student groups equally. We will unceasingly pursue legal action to secure our rights in this matter. ” MILO’s event is still currently set to take place on February 1st at Berkeley University. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart Tech covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 0fake |
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