title stringlengths 1 456 ⌀ | text stringlengths 1 143k ⌀ | label class label 2
classes |
|---|---|---|
Saudi Arabia says Lebanon declares war, deepening crisis | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon on Monday of declaring war against it because of aggression by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah, a dramatic escalation of a crisis threatening to destabilize the tiny Arab country. Lebanon has been thrust to the center of regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran since the Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister on Saturday, blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech. Saudi Gulf affairs minister Thamer al-Sabhan said the Lebanese government would be dealt with as a government declaring war on Saudi Arabia because of what he described as aggression by Hezbollah. Faulting the Hariri-led administration for failing to take action against Hezbollah during a year in office, Sabhan said there are those who will stop (Hezbollah) and make it return to the caves of South Lebanon , the heartland of the Shi ite community. In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, he added: Lebanese must all know these risks and work to fix matters before they reach the point of no return. He did not spell out what action Saudi Arabia might take against Lebanon, a country with a weak and heavily indebted state that is still rebuilding from its 1975-90 civil war and where one-in-four people is a Syrian refugee. There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese government. Hezbollah is both a military and a political organization that is represented in the Lebanese parliament and in the Hariri-led coalition government formed last year. Its powerful guerrilla army is widely seen as stronger than the Lebanese army, and has played a major role in the war in neighboring Syria, another theater of Saudi-Iranian rivalry where Hezbollah has fought in support of the government. Lebanese authorities said on Monday the country s financial institutions could cope with Hariri s resignation and the stability of the Lebanese pound was not at risk. But the cash price of Lebanon s U.S. dollar-denominated bonds fell, with longer-dated maturities suffering hefty losses as investors took a dim view of the medium- to longer-term outlook for Lebanon. Hariri cited a plot to assassinate him during his unexpected resignation speech broadcast from Saudi Arabia which caught even his aides off guard. He also slammed Hezbollah and Iran, accusing them of sowing strife in the Arab world. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he will not comment on Hariri s speech, calling it a Saudi statement and saying Riyadh had forced Hariri to resign. The sudden nature of Hariri s resignation generated speculation in Lebanon that his family s Saudi construction business had been caught up in an anti-corruption purge and he had been coerced into resigning. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said it was nonsense to suggest Hariri had been coerced into quitting in a CNN interview on Monday. Hariri had quit because Hezbollah had been calling the shots in the government, he said. Hariri, a Saudi citizen, was free to leave the country at any time, he said. Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, a senior member of Hariri s political party, said he was under the impression Hariri would return to Beirut within days. A meeting between Saudi King Salman and Hariri in Riyadh on Monday proved rumors wrong, he said - an apparent reference to speculation that Hariri was detained or forced to quit. Earlier on Monday, President Michel Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, appealed for national unity. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, another political ally of Hezbollah, said in a televised statement after meeting Aoun it was too early to talk about forming a new government. The crisis could re-aggravate tensions between Sunni and Shi ite Muslims and afflict Lebanese government with paralysis once again. All of the sides have called for calm and there has been no sign of unrest since Hariri s resignation. The Hariri-led government took office last year in a political deal that made Aoun president. The deal ended years of deadlock, and last month it produced Lebanon s first budget since 2005. Hariri flew to Saudi Arabia on Friday after meeting in Beirut the top adviser to Iran s Supreme Leader, who described the coalition as a victory and great success afterwards. | 0fake |
Trump says his administration committed to Japan's security | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the alliance between the United States and Japan is a cornerstone of regional peace and stability and his administration is committed to even closer ties between the two countries. “We are committed to the security of Japan and all areas under its administrative control and to further strengthening our very crucial alliance,” Trump told a White House news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “The bond between our two nations and the friendship between our two peoples runs very, very deep. This administration is committed to bringing those ties even closer,” he added. | 0fake |
Putin, in telegram to Syria's Assad, hails 'strategic' Deir al-Zor victory | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, hailing the breaking of the siege of Deir al-Zor by Syrian government troops, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters that Putin had hailed the breakthrough as a strategic victory over Islamic State militants. Street-to-street fighting was now underway in Deir al-Zor, Peskov said. Russian air strikes that struck Islamic State targets in the city on Tuesday helped Syrian government troops in the area swiftly advance, he said, citing a Russian Defence Ministry report to Putin. | 0fake |
AWESOME! TED TURNER JR Hammers Commie Loving Hillary And Bernie [Video] | I saw this live on Cavuto and it s just so great! Ted Turner jr. is stumping for Ben Carson. You ll love this! | 1real |
White House Asks Congress To Include Obama Executive Branch Abuse of Investigative Authority As Part of Russian Probe | White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted on Sunday that reports revealing the Obama Administration ordered intelligence gathering of the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election is “troubling. ”[“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling,” Spicer tweeted on Sunday. “President Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees will exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. ” Breitbart News reported extensively on the Obama administration’s efforts to undermine President Donald Trump candidacy, including the Obama administration filing a request to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers. That request was denied. CBS falsely reported on Sunday that the White House statement said a Congressional investigation would “include” the Obama administration’s intelligence activities. “JUST IN: White House statement: Congressional investigation will include “whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016,” CBS tweeted on Sunday. Spicer said the White House was requesting this be included in any investigation. | 0fake |
Democratic Party workers pore over videos in bid to hobble Trump | (Reuters) - From the basement to the third floor of Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, dozens of election campaign workers are glued to screens playing back videos of Donald Trump and other Republicans, digitally documenting their policy positions on everything from torture to climate change. The newly bulked up operation, including research, of more than 70 people is central to the Democrats’ strategy to sink whoever the Republicans nominate to run for the White House in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Party officials who provided Reuters with details of the operation increasingly think their target will be Trump, the New York businessman and former reality TV star who is the surprise Republican front-runner. The video clips will be used as grist for attack ads that will be deployed rapidly on social media sites any time Trump, or either of his rivals, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich, strays during the general election campaign from policy proposals they touted in the nominating contests across the country. That could, in theory, hinder them from appealing to the millions of more moderate voters needed to beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the two competitors for the Democratic nomination. Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesman Luis Miranda, who provided Reuters with a partial tour of the research operation, said voters in the run-up to November’s election were “not going to be as responsive to the divisive rhetoric” that Trump used in the Republican campaign and that was a “key part of our general election strategy.” Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the Democratic Party operation. Trump leads Cruz with 678 delegates to the Texan’s 423 delegates and Kasich at 143 as of this week after a string of wins in states where his supporters favored his flamboyant rhetoric and plans to wall off the U.S. border with Mexico, deport millions of undocumented immigrants and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country. Trump has also called for a revision of laws that ban torture, and wants to scrap trade deals he blames for job losses. There are two more Republican nominating contests on Tuesday. A candidate needs to accumulate at least 1,237 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican convention in July. News and video monitoring have been election staples for years, but the latest operations bear little resemblance to the lower-tech past because of leaps in technology and the speed with which a candidate’s remarks are distributed. “Everything is on steroids,” said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant, who recalled campaigns continuously taping news channels on VHS tapes - a tedious process that limited how much could be monitored. Other new technology, such as the live streaming application Periscope, makes news from around the world available almost instantly, said Holly Shulman, a Democratic strategist and former DNC official. “Halfway around the world we were able to respond to something before the reporters looked at it even,” she said. The Republican National Committee (RNC) said it has also ramped up its video monitoring efforts, with a focus on Clinton, adding staff and using newer technology. Eight people on the RNC staff are devoted to monitoring news coverage, and the party said it was building a searchable digital library of Clinton speeches, interviews and other events going back to 1991, the year before her husband Bill Clinton won the presidential election. Attacks on Trump by Republican rivals and Super PACs, independent political action committees that may raise unlimited sums of money, have failed to stop his campaign’s momentum. But the DNC said it believes its strategy will be effective. For one, the Democrats believe the Republican establishment’s efforts to block Trump’s nomination have been slow and disorganized - and hampered by a fear of tearing the party apart. The Democratic Party is also betting the general electorate will be more easily persuaded to counter Trump than registered Republicans have been. Clinton has a nearly 10-point lead over Trump in a hypothetical general election match up, according to an average of polls gathered by Real Clear Politics. The effort to hobble the former reality TV star takes a page out of reality television itself, where producers comb through thousands of hours of candid video, index it into an easily searchable library, and then paste together coherent narratives. The project helps address recommendations from the Democratic Victory Task Force, commissioned by DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, which in February 2015 suggested the party prepare for the 2016 election and promote the party’s messaging. The DNC did similar work during the 2012 presidential election, but on a much smaller scale. Its digital and social media staff went from 5 to 25 people over the past 18 or so months, spokesman Miranda said. The current team divides its time on video from a wide range of sources - from national news to local channels, clips put up on YouTube by individual users and campaigns, and events webcast by the campaigns themselves. It also has scouts that record in the field. The work has yielded a number of attack videos already, many prepared and sent out at a moment’s notice. On Feb. 28, for example, the party released a video slamming Republican presidential hopefuls for their opposition to action on climate change, featuring them denying man-made global warming alongside images of U.S. flooding, wildfires, droughts and heat waves. Earlier in March, after Trump cruised to victory in several state nominating contests, the DNC put out another 40-second video, mixing news clips talking about how Trump is dominating his party. “These videos are getting tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of views across our various platforms,” Miranda said. “He’s not going to get off as easy with us as with the rest of the Republican field. We know what he’s said, we know where he’s flip-flopped, where he’s made mistakes.” | 0fake |
Anti-Trump Protesters Scream Profanities at FOX News in Segment on Peaceful Protests | Lefty losers | 1real |
What to Expect From the New Congress | Email
In what Democrats and the Left hoped would be a steal reclaiming control of both the House and Senate on the coattails of a much-anticipated Clinton victory, Republicans firmly held their ground retaining control of both chambers of Congress as Donald Trump wins the presidency.
With all 435 seats up for reelection in the 247-seat Republican-dominated House of Representatives, Democrats made only moderate gains picking up a net total of only five districts with only a few races remaining undecided as of Wednesday afternoon but not enough to alter the balance of power.
Unsurprisingly, Paul Ryan, who has been critical of his party's own presidential nominee and now President-elect Donald Trump, easily won his reelection, defeating Democrat opponent Ryan Solen in a landslide with 65 percent of the vote. Although Ryan is favored to be reelected Speaker of the House for the incoming 115th Congress, he is also likely to receive opposition from both Democrats on the Left and Trump-Republicans who disagree with the speaker on his support for “free trade” agreements — namely, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
It still remains to be seen whether House conservatives or President-elect Trump will push Ryan from the speakership in favor of another Republican congressman. However, in a statement posted on Facebook, Ryan congratulated Trump on his victory and vowed to work with the president-elect. “We are eager to work hand-in-hand with the new administration to advance an agenda to improve the lives of the American people. This has been a great night for our party, and now we must turn our focus to bringing the country together,” Ryan said.
Among Republican losses and Democrat gains in the House was the ouster of incumbent 12-term Florida GOP Congressman John Mica, who maintains a lackluster cumulative score of 57 percent from The New American 's " Freedom Index ," which measures congressmen’s fidelity to the Constitution based on the votes they cast. Mica lost his reelection bid to Democrat challenger Stephanie Murphy, the first Vietnamese-American women elected to Congress.
Also in Florida, former Republican governor-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist defeated incumbent freshman Republican Congressman David Jolly, who holds al Freedom Index score of 48 percent.
The most disappointing race for conservatives was the defeat of seven-term New Jersey Republican Congressman Scott Garrett, who lost to Democrat challenger and former Clinton-speech writer Joshua Gottheimer. Garrett rates a cumulative Freedom Index score of 76 percent, which is the highest for any congressman from New Jersey, but far less than ideal. All constitutionalist top-tier Freedom Index score recipients in Congress easily won their reelection campaigns.
In Michigan, where Trump is expected to win the state's 16 electoral votes, libertarian/constitutionalist Republican Congressman Justin Amash crushed his Democrat opponent Douglas Smith 59 to 38 percent with 100 percent of precincts reporting. Amash, boasts an impressive Freedom Index score of 93 percent, second only to Thomas Massie of Kentucky who has a near-perfect score of 98 percent. Massie also blew out his Democrat opponent with an even wider electoral margin of 71 to 29 percent. Both Amash and Massie have made reputations for themselves as heirs to former Congressman Ron Paul as leaders in the liberty movement in Congress. Amash and Massie have firmly opposed reauthorization of the Patriot Act, have vigorously opposed indefinite detention and unconstitutional surveillance-state measures, and have championed pro-liberty causes such as auditing the Federal Reserve as a step towards eventually abolishing the Fed and restoring sound money, i.e. a gold-standard currency.
Other incumbent constitutionalists such as Congressmen Alex Mooney of West Virginia and David Brat of Virginia easily won their races against their Democrat rivals. Congressmen Amash, Bratt, Massie, and Moonie have also expressed deep reservations about and oppostition to the TPP agreement advocated by both President Obama and House Speaker Ryan.
In the Senate, Rand Paul was easily reelected with 57 percent of the vote, garnering over one million votes compared to Democrat challenger Jim Gray who received only 813,224 votes, 43-percent. Looking forward, Senator Paul optimistically told Fox News on Wednesday morning, “The one thing I’m excited about in the Trump presidency is I think in the very first weeks of this next Congress, the Republican Congress is going to repeal some regulations. I hope a half a dozen regulations or more and we’ll get them onto Trump’s desk and I think he’ll sign them.”
In Wisconsin, in what was a rematch and ultimately a repeat of the 2010 U.S. Senate race, incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson defeated Democrat opponent former Senator Russ Feingold. Johnson’s reelection victory was an upset to Democrats who hoped to unseat him as part of an effort in one of five states they sought to flip from Red to Blue in order to regain control of the Senate.
The only Republican loss in the Senate, which is hardly a loss for conservatism and constitutionalist principles, was in Illinois where RINO (Republican in name only) incumbent Senator Mark Kirk lost to two-term Democrat Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth. Kirk has the lowest Freedom Index score of any Republican in the U.S. Senate with a dismal 35-percent. He was defeated by Duckworth, who received 54 percent of the vote.
As far as what to expect from the new Congress, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters early Wednesday morning that repealing ObamaCare is a “pretty high item on our agenda, as you know.” McConnell went on to call President Obama’s landmark health insurance legislation the “single worst piece of legislation” from Obama’s first term.
Trump’s victory, coupled with Republicans maintaining control of both chambers of Congress, sends a clear anti-establishment message to Washington that Americans want a cooperative Congress to work with a President Trump and Vice President Pence to finally and fully repeal ObamaCare, nominate constitutionalist judges to the Supreme Court, and put an end to anti-sovereignty trade deals such as the TPP, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Trade in Services Agreement (TiSa), and the still-under-negotiation and little-known U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Of course, none of this will happen without the same steadfast tenacity and commitment to contacting and urging Congress to take these appropriate steps as was utilized when working toward achieving these historic wins on Election Day.
In a post-election message from The John Birch Society, Vice President of Communications Bill Hahn impassionedly stated: The John Birch Society has never been closer to victory as we are today. Think of the opportunity that has been afforded to us. Here we have a president that has been talking on many issues that we have called attention to, especially illegal immigration and trade agreements. When in recent memory have we had a presidential nominee even mention Americanism or advocating for scaling back our involvement within the UN? We all realize the faults that Trump has and where his views on issues differ but let’s not use that as an excuse to not get involved. If you are waiting for a better candidate or a better time in the future they do not exist.
Hahn optimistically implored listeners and constitutionalist grassroots activists that “we have a tremendous opportunity to advance our action projects, turn the tide of globalism, and put our country back onto a track of less government, more responsibility, and with God’s help a better world.” Emphatically, Hahn urged activists to “place twice the amount of time, energy, money, and gusto into The John Birch Society than you did with this election. Your efforts paid off, so let’s double down and strike while the iron is hot.”
With the obstructionist roadblock of a globalist Democrat president removed from the equation, the incoming 115th Congress has the potential of either moving in the constitutionalist direction or becoming a huge disappointment in the fight for liberty. Only time will tell whether the new Congress, in conjunction with President Donald Trump in the White House, will keep its campaign promises. One thing, however, is certain, as Hahn stressed: This is a tremendous opportunity for those seeking to roll back government and advance the cause of liberty. Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment
Thank you for joining the discussion at The New American. We value our readers and encourage their participation, but in order to ensure a positive experience for our readership, we have a few guidelines for commenting on articles. If your post does not follow our policy, it will be deleted.
No profanity, racial slurs, direct threats, or threatening language.
No product advertisements.
Please post comments in English.
Please keep your comments on topic with the article. If you wish to comment on another subject, you may search for a relevant article and join or start a discussion there. | 1real |
“I Was Sort of a Jack-A** Before Meditation”: One Way We Can Help Shift Police Brutality | There are layers to every good story; nuances to be explored, discussed, and shared. I first met York Region Police officer Jon Carson through Rev Bhante Saranapala, head monk at the West End Buddhist Temple in Mississuga, Canada. Bhante and I worked together on a story after a picture that had been taken in the temple showing Peel Region Police officers sitting in lotus position, eyes closed, and meditating with him went viral.
Bhante and Jon became friends through the meditation connection. After the success and interest of that story, Bhante mentioned to me that he was friends with an officer known as ‘the mindful cop,’ who was working to change the culture within his police region, helping officers become more self-aware through mindfulness training.
Bhante thought I might like to meet him. And he was right.
It was a pleasure sitting and chatting with this officer of 15 years and learning about his journey with mindfulness. Quite frankly, it’s not every day you come across a cop that meditates! His soft spoken yet confident tone made it clear he takes this seriously and has made a real lifestyle change for the better. He spoke about the great benefits that had come from his mindfulness training for not only his family and work life, but also, and most importantly, to the community he served.
But Jon wasn’t always into meditation. In fact, he says he laughed out loud when his wife (also an officer) gave him a magazine with Lieutenant Richard Goerling sitting cross-legged and meditating on the cover. At the time, he had been recovering from an accident that left him with his eighth concussion. His doctor prescribed three things to him for recovery, and, fortunately for Jon, meditation was one of them.
He talked about the synchronicity of the doctor’s prescription and the meditating cop on the cover of the magazine, and how he recognized he was “being given meditation by the universe.” Prior to this, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) had been a very real part of his life. He told me about a call he responded to in 2009 involving a very young child. “I’ve been dealing with the trauma of that incident and many others since,” said Jon. And he’s been dealing from the inside out.
PTSD affected 15-18% of officers in the U.S. in 2015, but many officers suffer in silence. The media portrays police officers as tough, stoic, manly — the alpha male rather than the vulnerable human being. But they are real people, just as susceptible to trauma and affected by violence as the rest of us. We just don’t see it, according to Jon. He knew he could either deal with his PTSD with a six-pack of beer or a sleeve of cookies, but neither was conducive to real healing.
Policing is one of the most stressful occupations out there. Typically fitness is used to help officers deal with the horrific things they see, but that doesn’t really address or treat the mental health issues. Unresolved thoughts can lead to pent up emotions, and according to one study published earlier this year, excessive anger is the prevailing emotion amongst officers. This can negatively impact the well-being of the officer, which in turn negatively impacts the well-being of the public. Recognizing the anger he felt inside, Jon read Lieutenant Richard Goerling ‘s story a number of times while recovering and began slowly incorporating meditation into his life.
He became a ‘closet meditator,’ putting his headphones in and closing his eyes at work or sneaking off with a pillow to go sit in the prayer room at the station. While some questioned what he was doing, others noticed big changes in his demeanor and language.
When I asked him why it was important for officers to have mindfulness based training, he responded, ” …Coming back to the breath. If we can have that pause between the reaction versus the response, we can be that much more effective when dealing with the public.” With all the violence we’ve seen recently involving police and civilians, it felt refreshing to meet someone actually presenting a solution to the violence that is accessible to all. The more we are aware of what is happening internally, the more we can respond calmly to the situation rather than reacting in the moment, without thought.
I also asked who Jon Carson was before mindfulness training, and he said, “a bit of a jack-ass.” He always expected people to follow his orders without question — he would show up and they would do as he said, and that’s it. Now, all of that has changed. He creates space for dialogue, and lots of it. We’ve lost sight of what effective communication looks like and how to actually ‘hear’ other people — listening deeply to the needs behind the emotionally charged statements some people make in heated situations.
Jon believes strongly in implementing mindful based training to officers and knows it can be an invaluable tool on their belt. He felt compelled to approach his bosses and present this mindful training course to all new recruits, which has since been approved. Now, York Region Police is looking to quantify their results, to encourage other forces to follow suit.
Changing police culture is not easy, and Jon has received some funny looks from some of his colleagues, but he knows change sometimes come slowly, particularly systemic change. But he also knows this has the potential to make our society a better place, to transform it, literally from the inside out. See, the thing about mindfulness is that it’s for everyone; it breaks down barriers and helps us see others as humans first, and occupation, race, or whatever else, last. Jon mentioned toward the end of our chat that if both sides remembered that we were just people, who have families, and good days and bad days — that we’re just people who make mistakes, and who learn from them — a lot of misconceptions both sides have about each other would slowly slip away.
Look out for a follow-up with @mindfulcop Jon and other officers who are boldly coming forward in the same way.
| 1real |
Republican Rep Sickeningly Justifies Obamacare Repeal: Poor People Don’t Want Healthcare | Republicans just keep digging their political graves deeper.The Affordable Care Act currently provides health insurance to 30 million Americans. The plans are broader than ever before and people can t be discriminated against just because they have a pre-existing condition.People who didn t have affordable access to medical care now have it.But Republicans have been trying to take it away from them for years and are still trying to do so even though Americans across the country have made it clear that they support the landmark healthcare law.The latest Republican to desperately try to justify repealing the Affordable Care Act is Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall, who claims the free market provides better and more affordable healthcare while also claiming that poor people don t want healthcare. Just like Jesus said, The poor will always be with us, Marshall told STAT News. There is a group of people that just don t want health care and aren t going to take care of themselves. But Marshall, like most Republicans, is lying.As it turns out, people who gained health insurance through Medicaid expansion are, in fact, using preventive care services to take care of themselves.So saying that poor people don t want healthcare is absolutely ridiculous.But Marshall continued to insist that poor people don t want to take care of themselves. Just, like, homeless people. I think just morally, spiritually, socially, [some people] just don t want health care. The Medicaid population, which is [on] a free credit card, as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And I m not judging, I m just saying socially that s where they are. So there s a group of people that even with unlimited access to health care are only going to use the emergency room when their arm is chopped off or when their pneumonia is so bad they get brought [into] the ER. Again, Medicaid recipients are using preventive services such as mammograms and cholesterol checks by an increase of 60 percent and 20 percent.In addition, Marshall envisions a healthcare system that only the wealthy can afford. In doing so, he based his vision on the hospital he ran before taking office. Our vision was that we would look more like a hotel with customer service that delivered five-star health care, he said. So our cafeteria looks more like a coffee shop than it does a sterile hospital dining room. We have bright windows everywhere, and outside of every window there s a garden. Thinking that healing is more than just a knife and a needle. The price of a stay at a five-star hotel can range well into the hundreds upwards to thousands of dollars per night, hardly something a low-income American can afford.While Marshall argues that free market healthcare is more affordable, the facts paint a far different picture.For example, a British couple were on vacation in New York when the woman unexpectedly went into labor 11 weeks early. She gave birth at a private hospital and was slapped with a $200,000 medical bill.The same thing happened to a Canadian woman who was vacationing in Hawaii, only she got slapped with a $1 million medical bill.These are the astronomical prices that Republicans like Marshall think Americans should have to pay. Such prices are financially crippling to low-income Americans, and medical bankruptcy is one of the major reasons why the Affordable Care Act was passed in the first place.Because while Marshall claims that government healthcare is more expensive, had the two women above given birth in their home countries, their care would have been free because Canada and England both have national healthcare services paid for through taxes. Even a private hospital a England would have only cost the British couple $15,000, far lower than the $200,000 bill issued by the kind of five-star American hospital Marshall thinks should be the future of healthcare.In short, Republicans don t think poor people should get access to affordable healthcare. They think healthcare is for rich people. That s morally repugnant and is exactly why Republicans should be ousted from office en masse in 2018. This country needs a healthcare system that works for everyone. Republicans are content with just letting people die.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Somali Muslim Refugee Makes History In U.S. Election | Somali Muslim Refugee Makes History In U.S. Election Nov 11, 2016 1 0
Ilhan Omar has made history this November by becoming the first Somali-American lawmaker in U.S. history. Ilhan is a former refugee from Somalia, is Muslim and is a mother of three. Ilhan Omar has made history in the U.S.
Ilhan won House District 60B in southeast Minneapolis with 80% of the vote.
Ilhan, who is 34 and a Minnesota resident said: “This really was a victory for that 8-year-old in that refugee camp. This was a victory for the young woman being forced into child marriage. This was a victory for every person that’s been told they have limits on their dreams.”
“I think I bring the voice of young people. I think I bring the voice of women in the East African community. I bring the voice of Muslims. I bring the voice of young mothers looking for opportunities.”
She is the youngest of seven children who fled from the Somali civil war and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. In 1995 she and her family arrived in the U.S. and Ilhan spoke only Somali. Shortly after, her English improved and she began translating for her grandfather at local political events. Ilhan Omar gives hope to her supporters.
Omar’s husband also spoke and began to describe his wife as a strong, Muslim woman:
“For those men — wooo! — let me tell you something. When you see a strong, African, Muslim woman, don’t be afraid, no, you know what, appreciate that. That’s the model, that’s the new 2016, going into 2017.”
Ilhan’s focus will be on renewable energy, sustainability, justice and the common good for all people.
Also making history on Election Day was Stockton, CA Michael Tubbs, who is 26 and is Stockton’s first black mayor. Michael Tubbs became Stockton, CA’s first black mayor.
“We have a great opportunity to show the nation, ‘How do you reinvent yourself?’ I’m tired of talking about where we’ve been. I’m more interested in talking about where we’re going. We have to mature as a community and start demanding solutions.”
While the Presidential Election has many outraged, perhaps we can look at the positive that has come from this election as well as intend for more positive results to come from all elected leaders. What we need now more than ever is unity and focus towards building a better world. This must begin now and it must include us all. Share this good news with everyone you know!
Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and practices health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, a family member or a friend as well as view other inspiring articles. | 1real |
Man Arrested at Rally Tells Authorities He Wanted to Kill Donald Trump - The New York Times | A man arrested at a Donald J. Trump rally in Las Vegas on Saturday told the authorities that he had intended to kill Mr. Trump, according to a complaint filed Monday in United States District Court in Nevada. The man, Michael Steven Sandford, was arrested after trying to grab an officer’s gun from her holster, the complaint said, and had lingered near the officer, telling her he wanted Mr. Trump’s autograph. In an interview after his arrest, the complaint says, Mr. Sandford told the authorities that he “made a conscious effort to come to Las Vegas to kill Trump,” and that he had been “planning to attempt to kill Trump for about a year. ” He also said that he expected to be killed by law enforcement personnel during his attempt on Mr. Trump’s life. Mr. Sandford said that the day before the rally, which was held at the Treasure Island casino, that he visited a nearby gun range to “learn how to shoot a gun” and that it was his first time using a weapon. He said he chose the specific officer because he noticed that her holster was in an “unlocked position. ” Mr. Sandford had a United Kingdom driver’s license when he was arrested and had been living in New Jersey for about a year and a half before driving to California, and eventually Las Vegas He said he had bought a ticket to Mr. Trump’s rally in Phoenix later that day as a backup plan should he not find an opportunity in Las Vegas. All rallies for Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, are protected by the Secret Service and feature full metal scanners at the entrance, along with numerous members of his private security detail throughout the events. The Trump campaign directed all requests for comment to the Secret Service. In an email, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service confirmed that Mr. Sandford was arrested after trying to disarm the officer. She said that the investigation was continuing and that he could face additional charges. | 0fake |
New wave of cyber attacks hits Russia, other nations | KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Cyber attacks using malware called BadRabbit hit Russia and other nations on Tuesday, affecting Russian Interfax news agency and causing flight delays at Ukraine s Odessa airport. While no major outages were reported, the U.S. government issued a warning on the attack, which followed campaigns in May and June that used similar malware and resulted in what some economists estimated are billions of dollars in losses. The attacks are disturbing because attackers quickly infected critical infrastructure, including transportation operators, indicating it was a well-coordinated campaign, said Robert Lipovsky, a researcher with cyber firm ESET. More than half the victims were in Russia, followed by Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey and Japan, according to ESET. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning on the BadRabbit ransomware, a type of virus that locks up infected computers and asks victims to pay a ransom to restore access. It did not identify any U.S. victims but advised the public to refrain from paying ransoms and report any infections to the Federal Bureau of Investigation through the government s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Ransomware infections have the potential to halt activity at targeted organizations. The May WannaCry ransomware shuttered hospitals, factories and other facilities around the globe for days. Interfax, one of Russia s largest news agencies, said some of its services were hit by the attack but expected them to be back online by the end of Tuesday. An Odessa airport spokesman said a few flights were delayed because workers had to process passenger data manually. Kiev s metro system reported a hack on its payment system but said trains were running normally. Ukraine s cyber police chief told Reuters the country was barely affected. Russian cyber-security firm Kaspersky Lab said BadRabbit appeared to spread through a mechanism similar to June s destructive NotPetya virus, which took down many Ukrainian government agencies and businesses. It then spread across corporate networks of multinationals with operations or suppliers in eastern Europe. Kaspersky said it was investigating to see whether BadRabbit was related to NotPetya. Ukrainian banking services, which have been hit by previous attacks, were unaffected, according to the nation s central bank. | 0fake |
McConnell says deep State Department budget cuts won't pass | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said he would not back slashing State Department funding as the Trump administration is expected to propose, adding that deep cuts would not pass the legislative chamber. Speaking to reporters, McConnell also said Republicans, who control both the Senate and the House of Representatives, are still not in agreement on a healthcare plan to replace Obamacare. | 0fake |
GOP So Desperate To Cling To Power That GEORGE W. BUSH Got Back Into Politics To Save Them | The Republican Party is fractured, and divisions are deeper than ever thanks to one Donald J. Trump. Some Republicans feel the party needs to unify behind Trump now, but others, particularly Senators in tight races, know what Trump is doing to their re-election chances. As such, an old friend has come out of the woodwork to shill for them: Former President George W. Bush.George the Lesser, along with Jeb! and their father, George the Greater, will not support Trump for president. A former spokesman for W., Freddy Ford, told NBC News why W. would hop back into the cesspool of conservative U.S. politics after such a long hiatus: President Bush believes that it s critical to keep the Senate in Republican hands. He is actively helping some senators in tight races who are strong leaders and share timeless conservative values. Ford also told The New York Times: Friends say that the former president is deeply bothered by Mr. Trump s campaign message, especially his derogatory remarks about Muslims and immigrants. At the event with Mr. McCain, Mr. Bush stressed the importance of preserving the Republican-held Senate as a check and balance on the White House, suggesting that such a check was needed, whether the next president is Mr. Trump or Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. In other words, maintaining what little relevance the party has left is more important than trying to defeat Trump at this point, because the only way to defeat Trump himself is to endorse Hillary. As a die-hard Republican, George the Lesser won t do that. So he s gone out and hosted fundraisers for vulnerable Senators like John McCain (R-AZ) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and he s got three more planned for Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Ron Johnson (R-NC), and Rob Portman (R-OH).The GOP is defending many more Senate seats than the Democrats this year, which is part of their fear that Trump will cost them everything but the House, and the only reason they d hang onto the House is ridiculous gerrymandering.This hasn t gone unnoticed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which reacted to this news with a statement sent to The Hill: Republicans are so desperate for people to forget that they ve pledged their allegiance to Donald Trump that they are now campaigning with the architect of a disastrous foreign policy who wanted to privatize Social Security and left office with the economy losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month. Obviously, they re scoffing at this particular strategy, as well they should. It s an odd move for George the Lesser, and shows the party s growing fears over The Donald and what he really stands for.Featured image by David Cannon/Getty Images | 1real |
The Ruling American Oligarchy | PaulCraigRoberts.org October 29, 2016
I am now convinced that the Oligarchy that rules America intends to steal the presidential election. In the past, the oligarchs have not cared which candidate won as the oligarchs owned both. But they do not own Trump.
Most likely you are unaware of what Trump is telling people as the media does not report it. A person who speaks like this is not endeared to the oligarchs.
Who are the oligarchs?
—Wall Street and the mega-banks too big to fail and their agent the Federal Reserve, a federal agency that put 5 banks ahead of millions of troubled American homeowners who the federal reserve allowed to be flushed down the toilet. In order to save the mega-banks’ balance sheets from their irresponsible behavior, the Fed has denied retirees any interest income on their savings for eight years, forcing the elderly to draw down their savings, leaving their heirs, who have been displaced from employment by corporate jobs offshoring, penniless.
—The military/security complex which has spent trillions of our taxpayer dollars on 15 years of gratuitous wars based entirely on lies in order to enrich themselves and their power.
—The neoconservatives whose crazed ideology of US world hegemony thrusts the American people into military conflict with Russia and China.
—The US global corporations that sent American jobs to China and India and elsewhere in order to enrich the One Percent with higher profits from lower labor costs.
—Agribusiness (Monsanto et.al.), corporations that poison the soil, the water, the oceans, and our food with their GMOs, herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, while killing the bees that pollinate the crops.
—The extractive industries—energy, mining, fracking, and timber—that maximize their profits by destroying the environment and the water supply.
—The Israel Lobby that controls US Middle East policy and is committing genocide against the Palestinians just as the US committed genocide against native Americans. Israel is using the US to eliminate sovereign countries that stand in Israel’s way.
What convinces me that the Oligarchy intends to steal the election is the vast difference between the presstitutes’ reporting and the facts on the ground.
According to the presstitutes, Hillary is so far ahead that there is no point in Trump supporters bothering to vote. Hillary has won the election before the vote. Hillary has been declared a 93% sure winner.
I am yet to see one Hillary yard sign, but Trump signs are everywhere. Reports I receive are that Hillary’s public appearances are unattended but Trumps are so heavily attended that people have to be turned away. This is a report from a woman in Florida:
“Trump has pulled huge numbers all over FL while campaigning here this week. I only see Trump signs and stickers in my wide travels. I dined at a Mexican restaurant last night. Two women my age sitting behind me were talking about how they had tried to see Trump when he came to Tallahassee. They left work early, arriving at the venue at 4:00 for a 6:00 rally. The place was already over capacity so they were turned away. It turned out that there were so many people there by 2:00 that the doors had to be opened to them. The women said that the crowds present were a mix of races and ages.”
I know the person who gave me this report and have no doubt whatsoever as to its veracity.
I also receive from readers similar reports from around the country.
This is how the theft of the election is supposed to work: The media concentrated in a few corporate hands has gone all out to convince not only Americans but also the world, that Donald Trump is such an unacceptable candidate that he has lost the election before the vote.
By controlling the explanation, when the election is stolen those who challenge the stolen election are without a foundation in the media. All media reports will say that it was a runaway victory for Hillary over the misogynist immigrant-hating Trump.
And the liberal, progressive opinion will be a relieved and off guard as Hillary takes us into nuclear war.
That the Oligarchy intends to steal the election from the American people is verified by the officially reported behavior of the voting machines in early voting in Texas. The NPR presstitutes have declared that Hillary is such a favorite that even Republican Texas is up for grabs in the election.
If this is the case, why was it necessary for the voting machines to be programmed to change Trump votes to Hillary votes? Those voters who noted that they voted Trump but were recorded Hillary complained. The election officials, claiming a glitch (which only went one way), changed to paper ballots. But who will count them? No “glitches” caused Hillary votes to go to Trump, only Trump votes to go to Hillary.
The most brilliant movie of our time was The Matrix. This movie captured the life of Americans manipulated by a false reality, only in the real America there is insufficient awareness and no Neo, except possibly Donald Trump, to challenge the system. Americans of all stripes—academics, scholars, journalists, Republicans, Democrats, right-wing, left-wing, US Representatives, US Senators, Presidents, corporate moguls and brainwashed Americans and foreigners—live in a false reality.
In the United States today a critical presidential election is in the process in which not a single important issue is addressed by Hillary and the presstitutes. This is a total failure. Democracy, once the hope of the world, has totally failed in the United States of America. Trump is correct. The American people must restore the accountability of government to the people. The Best of Paul Craig Roberts Tags: Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, has been reporting shocking cases of prosecutorial abuse for two decades. A new edition of his book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions , co-authored with Lawrence Stratton, a documented account of how americans lost the protection of law, has been released by Random House. Visit his website . Copyright © 2016 Paul Craig Roberts | 1real |
SEAN SPICER Fires Off Tweet After Resignation as Media Speculation Explodes | Sean Spicer resigned today from his position in President Trump s administration. He tweeted out after his resignation a very gracious message of thanks:It s been an honor & a privilege to serve @POTUS @realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August Sean Spicer (@PressSec) July 21, 2017It was speculated that it was a blow when the Trump administration announced yesterday that Anthony Scaramucci had joined the Trump administration as White House Communications Director.A few things Scaramucci move is also a blow to Spicer, who has sought to have comms director report to him, as Dubke did. No chance here Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 21, 2017NYDN reported: Spicer, who will stay on through August, told the President he vehemently disagreed with his choice for the top communications post, and his distaste was evident when reporters approached him about the appointment.ABC News White House Correspondent Johnathan Karl said the former press secretary slammed the door in my face when he questioned him on Scaramucci, chalking it up to strange times. The press is using this move as a sign that the Trump administration is collapsing and in chaos:Chris Wallace: There is a Game of Thrones quality to this @WhiteHouse; you do have various power centers that are colliding w/ each other. pic.twitter.com/9mOlVRfxEP Fox News (@FoxNews) July 21, 2017Chris Wallace speculated about the move with a somewhat negative view of how this will harm communications between Congress and the Trump administration He s clueless!After thanking Sean Spicer, Scaramucci made his first announcement as communications director that Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be the new press secretary:WH Communications Dir. Scaramucci: Sean is a true American patriot I love the guy and I wish him well https://t.co/ZKxpKBPkEw NBC News (@NBCNews) July 21, 2017Rush Limbaugh concluded his radio broadcast today by saying he thinks Scaramucci won t work in this position. After listening to the press conference, Limbaugh said it s clear that Scaramucci was appointed to make the press understand and like President Trump. Not gonna happen! | 1real |
BREAKING: FLINT’S DEMOCRAT MAYOR SUED After Whistleblower Rats Her Out For STEALING DONATIONS Meant For Residents | Democrats looking for attention and along with every celebrity who has been able to find their way to the burned out city of Flint, MI have all jumped on the It s all Michigan s Republican Governor Snyder s fault bandwagon. In reality, there has been plenty of blame to go around. Obama s EPA Director, Gina McCarthy has plenty of culpability when it comes to the involvement of her EPA officials and the cover up of the Flint water crisis. In the end however, it s never about the people of Flint, it s about saving the hides of the inept political officials who allowed this crisis to happen. Flint Lives really don t Matter to greedy politicians like Hillary Clinton, who have used the horrible misfortune of Flint residents to gain trust and votes in the black community.Will anyone remember Hillary s support for black Democrat Mayor Karen Weaver, who is now being accused of STEALING money from charitable donations (that should have been used to support the people who are suffering in the community where she was elected) and putting it into her own campaign fund?The Flint water crisis has triggered yet another lawsuit, this one filed by the city s former administrator, who claims she was wrongfully fired for blowing the whistle on the mayor of Flint for allegedly trying to steer money from a charity for local families into a campaign fund.Former City Administrator Natasha Henderson, 39, who now lives in Muskegon, claims in a lawsuit filed today in U.S. District Court that she was terminated on Feb. 12 for seeking an investigation into allegations of misconduct by Flint Mayor Karen Weaver.Specifically, the suit alleges that Weaver directed a city employee and volunteer to steer donors away from a charity called Safe Water/Safe Homes, and instead give money to the so-called Karenabout Flint fund, which was a political action committee or campaign fund created at Weaver s direction.According to the lawsuit, a city employee told Henderson in confidence that she and a volunteer had previously been directing donors to the City of Flint s website, where they could give money to the Safe Water/Safe Homes charity, which helped families affected by the water crisis. But Weaver directed them to steer donors to the Karenabout Flint website, which the city council had not approved, the suit claims. A red flag went off when it was an unrecognizable fund, Henderson s lawyer, Katherine Smith Kennedy, told the Free Press. She did the right thing. She reported the matter to the city attorney. And for doing the right thing, she was punished. She was fired. The lawsuit names the City of Flint and Weaver as defendants.For entire story: Detroit Free Press | 1real |
WATCH: Bill Maher Returns And Hilariously Mocks Drug Addicted Red States For Voting Trump | Bill Maher returned from break just in time for Donald Trump s inauguration and dedicated one of his New Rules to the red states that have massive drug addiction problems.Maher began by telling liberals that they need to stop calling Trump supporters rubes and simpletons, and feel their pain instead.Maher even proved that Trump supporters are truly in pain because he pointed out that of the 14 states that have the highest number of painkiller prescriptions in the country, all of them voted for Trump.Trump also won 80 percent of the states that have the biggest heroin problem, including the counties Trump won in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In other words, people voted for Trump because they were on drugs and out of their f*cking minds. So lets stop calling Trump supporters idiots and fools and call them what they are: f*cking drug addicts! Maher said.Maher then proceeded to blast conservatives for being hypocrites because they ve been labeling liberals as drug addicts for decades but they are now the ones plagued by heroin and painkillers to the point where these states literally are flipping to Republicans.Maher noted that Trump s best state was West Virginia, where people pop over 400 painkillers per person. West Virginia s mascot is a dilated pupil, Maher quipped. Maher also pointed out that Wisconsin has been turning redder and redder since 2008 and now has a major heroin epidemic that has caused the number of drug deaths to quadruple. I never thought I would hear myself say this, but kids, don t do heroin. It s a gateway to being a Republican, Maher continued.Maher continued by trying to teach conservatives how to deal with being high without doing crazy shit like voting for Trump. We get high and bid a thousand bucks for a Beatles lunchbox on eBay, you got high and ordered a president from Moscow. He then concluded the segment by telling drug addled conservative to ignore the asshole across the bar who keeps staring at you staring at you, that s a mirror. Here s the video via YouTube:Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
SAVAGE ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTERS Knock Out Innocent Man At Portland Airport: “That’s right Nazi boy!” [Video] | AIRPORTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY were inundated with crazy leftists who didn t educate themselves on the Trump order on refugees. They literally went nuts as you ll see in the video blow. Can you imagine the news if a conservative Trump supporter had done this to a leftist? The press would be all over it but I ll bet you never heard of this horrific attack. Watch how the protesters swarm and chant they must have realized they were on camera and then chanted peaceful protest as if to reassure the press that their intention was for peace. Well, it sure doesn t look that way The video below is of the exact moment when this throng of lunatics chased these men into the airport. The extended video is below the shorter one. You ll see in the extended video that these protesters are vile and disgusting. This is NOT peaceful protest! | 1real |
ЕС намерен расширить санкции в отношении Сирии | 0 комментариев 0 поделились источник Pravda.Ru
Как пишет Wall Street Journal, ссылаясь на свои источники, санкционные репрессии могут быть направлены против министров и их заместителей из правительства Сирии.
По данным издания, в ЕС не будут тянут время, и, скорее всего, список будет расширен уже на следующей неделе.
Отметим, в настоящее время в санкционных сирийских списках Европейского союза находятся более 200 человек и около 70 организаций. Напомним, недавно еще пять стран, не входящие в ЕС, но поддерживающие политику Брюсселя, продлили еще на полгода санкции против России . В список этих стран вошли Украина, Черногория, Албания, а также Лихтенштейн и Норвегия, входящие в Европейское экономическое пространство.
Что заставило руководителей этих стран принять такое решение, рассказал Pravda.Ru старший научный сотрудник Института славяноведения РАН Петр Искендеров.
- Какие у этих стран причины для присоединения к санкциям?
- Позиция Черногории связана с позицией правящей элиты, которая одержала победу на днях на очередных парламентских выборах, - конкретно, премьер-министра Мило Джукановича. Он провозгласил вступление в ЕС и НАТО своим ключевым внешнеполитическим приоритетом. И понятно, что внешняя политика Черногории полностью находится в русле Брюсселя.
Если говорить об Албании, то эта страна уже является членом НАТО. Она тоже активно пытается продвинуть свою заявку на вступление в Европейский союз и четко солидаризируется по внешнеполитическим вопросам с ключевыми лидерами ЕС, такими как Франция, Германия и Италия. А поскольку все эти страны пока официально не блокируют антироссийские санкции, подобного нельзя ожидать и от Албании. Ее внешняя политика полностью солидаризируется с политикой ЕС.
Лихтенштейн - это карликовое государство, которое финансово и экономически связано с государствами Центральной Европы, прежде всего со Швейцарией, Австрией, Бельгией, Голландией, Германией. Поэтому от этого государства ожидать самостоятельности во внешней политике не приходится.
В Норвегии другая ситуация. Эта страна полностью самодостаточная и в политическом, и в энергетическом плане, она не является членом ЕС, но связана с Брюсселем торгово-экономическими соглашениями. Кроме того, Норвегия является одним из конкурентов России в том, что касается освоения Арктического шельфа, это наш конкуренты на энергетическом рынке, в плане снабжения Европейского союза газом. И в принципе, Норвегия среди скандинавских стран традиционно занимает наиболее ярко выраженную антироссийскую позицию, по сравнению даже с Финляндией и Швецией.
Поделиться: | 1real |
In Trump freeze, U.S. agencies delay rules affecting farm towns | NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. regulators under the new presidential administration have instituted a freeze on rules key to the country’s farm belt, agricultural groups said on Tuesday, heightening uncertainty for some of the regions that helped propel Donald Trump into office. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will delay implementation of this year’s biofuels requirements along with 29 other regulations finalized in the last weeks of Barack Obama’s presidency, according to a government notice. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pause rules affecting livestock, groups said. EPA and USDA representatives did not respond to requests for comment. The freeze prompted worry in rural communities on Tuesday, though sources said such delays are not unheard of with a new administration. Trump won nearly two-thirds of the rural vote in November, with big agricultural states lining up for the Republican. The more than decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been stymied by regulatory delays in years past and is facing uncertainty under the new administration, including a proposed EPA chief who has been a critic of the program. The RFS, which is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on imported oil, requires that oil companies blend increasing amounts of biofuels, such as corn-based ethanol, into gasoline and diesel. Refiners that fail to do so must buy paper credits. Some in the oil industry were heartened by the news. The oil industry has lobbied heavily for changes or a repeal of the policy. “While the regulatory freeze implemented by President Trump does not change the statutory compliance of the RFS, it does provide an opportunity to take a closer look at this fundamentally flawed policy,” said Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents companies including oil refiners. Prices of the paper credits used by fuel companies to prove they are meeting the requirements dropped sharply after the news, falling to the lowest levels since November 2015. The Renewable Fuels Association, which represents biofuels producers, said it did not expect the procedural delay to lead to any significant changes to the requirements. The delayed fuel rules will be implemented on March 21, according to a federal register notice. About a third of the 13.6 billion bushels of corn produced in the United States in 2015 was used to make fuel ethanol, according to the National Corn Growers Association. At the USDA, “they put a regulatory freeze on everything that is in the pipeline,” said Dave Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council. The agency has put on hold new rules it had formerly said would help protect meat producers from mistreatment by packing companies and processors, he said. The pork council opposes the measures, saying they are not necessary. The freeze is also affecting new rules that would for the first time mandate specific space requirements for hens laying organic eggs, Warner said. The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association said the delay in implementing USDA rules involving meat packers was worrisome. The group, which represents cattle producers, had supported the measures as needed to prevent anti-competitive buying practices. It was not immediately clear when or if the USDA rules would be implemented. “We are certainly on edge right now and hope that with further review the Trump administration will see the value in those rules,” said Lia Biondo, the association’s policy and outreach coordinator. | 0fake |
Why the Jobs Aren’t Coming Back. The “modern day marvel.” | Why the Jobs Aren’t Coming Back. The “modern day marvel.” The machines are taking over The candidates in the current campaign – or any campaign – are all promising to “bring back good jobs” to “create good jobs.” When asked how they would do that, they are all a little light on details.About a year ago, Joe Biden was in Michigan to celebrate the opening of a new manufacturing plant that made “small metal clamps” used in all kinds of industries to hold wiring, hoses. Etc. in place. The largest market is the auto industry but they are sold to hundreds of other manufacturers. Depending on size, shape, and material, these parts sell for a few pennies or less. You have to make a lot of these parts to have any substantial billing numbers.This new plant is fully automated and runs 24/7/365 with just 14 people. Joe was quite happy saying “manufacturing is returning to America.”However, there is a backstory. That plant had been around for years. It had employed 600 people on two shifts. Then, the Chinese began to undercut the pricing, and the plant was no longer profitable and closed. Two years later, it reopened as a fully automated plant and regained the business because it could now manufacture cheaper than the Chinese.There are several stories inside the main story.The first story is about the initial plant closing. Anytime 600 people lose their jobs, you know that some employee ended up losing their home, that some cars were reprocessed, that some college kid had to quit school, etc. Retailers got hit. Utilities at the plant were no longer needed. Suppliers got hit too.More at [ My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." 09 | 1real |
Michael Brown's Family To File Wrongful Death Lawsuit | The family of Michael Brown will file a civil lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, and former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, an attorney for the family announced Thursday.
The news comes just one day after the U.S. Department of Justice officially announced its decision not to file federal charges against Wilson for fatally shooting Brown last July.
In a press conference, family attorney Anthony Gray expressed the family’s disappointment in the Justice Department’s decision and announced the next legal actions they plan to take.
“We are officially formulating a civil case that we anticipate will be filed very shortly on behalf of the family,” Gray said. “We plan to demonstrate in a court of law that Wilson’s choice to use deadly force was unreasonable and unnecessary.”
Brown's parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., attended the conference but did not make any comments. However, their frustration with the department's decision is widely shared by many local officials, residents and protesters -- some of whom took to the streets Wednesday evening to demonstrate their outrage.
The criticism was further fueled by a scathing report released by the Justice Department, also on Wednesday. The report revealed that the city of Ferguson had engaged in unconstitutional patrolling practices that routinely discriminated against African-Americans. It also disclosed emails proving racial bias on behalf of Ferguson police officials.
"[It] really just confirms what many of us already knew and what has been experienced by many African-Americans here in the St. Louis region for quite some time," St. Louis Alderman Antonio French told HuffPost Live on Wednesday, referring to the report.
"Some of the specific details were shocking, [but] there's a culture that's been allowed to fester in Ferguson and one that's really been experienced by African-Americans for years and boiled over last year," French continued.
Attorneys for the Brown family say they hope some level of accountability can be reached through the civil case. Meanwhile, French has taken the lead in calling for the resignation of the chief of the Ferguson Police Department.
“I think some of the specific details outlined in this Department of Justice report really make it impossible for him to stay there,” he said. “When you have the culture that exists with these racist emails ... the stats alone suggest he needs to go." | 0fake |
Prominent South Carolina congressman to endorse Hillary Clinton: NBC News | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and a prominent African-American leader, will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Friday, NBC News reported on Thursday. The endorsement comes ahead of the Feb. 27 Democratic primary in South Carolina, where more than half of the voters are expected to be African-Americans. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 0fake |
‘What Is Best About America’ - The New York Times | Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment. 1. Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and the rest of the USA gymnastics team represent what is best about America: a place where talent, hard work, diversity, and mutual respect lead to the kind of achievement that all of can proudly share with each other. — Dylan111 in New Haven, reacting to an article about the gymnast Simone Biles winning the gold medal in the women’s competition Thursday. Her teammate Aly Raisman won the silver. Tuesday night, the United States team of five won gold in the team competition. This comment had more than 50 reader recommendations. 2. The anthem is a series of questions: Can you see? Does that banner yet wave? The U. S. national anthem is ideally suited to feature “unstable, questioning chords. ” And to my ears, the use of the relative minor chords doesn’t necessarily sound “sad” I think it’s also accurate to say those moments sound “noble” or “stately” or “stoic. ” I suspect that people are reacting to the instrumentation as much as the harmonization — this version has some reflective strings instead of bass drums and brass. There’s nothing wrong with this arrangement, unless you insist that the national anthem be as bombastic and aggressive as possible, every time you hear it. — Brian T. in Lexington, Ky. reacting to an article about the version of the national anthem that is played when a United States athlete wins a gold medal at the Rio Olympics, which some listeners say sounds “sad” because of the preponderance of minor chords in the arrangement. This comment received more than 110 reader recommendations. 3. [Michael] Phelps was impressive tonight but Simone’s historic victory is so much more meaningful and will go a long way in inspiring the next generation, especially those who are in swimming. — Nancy Rhee on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Simone Manuel, who tied for the gold medal in the women’s freestyle, becoming the first woman to win an individual swimming medal in the Olympics. This comment received more than 35 likes. 4. I’m glad Lilly won, but this is one rude woman. I heard her on NPR this morning, and she’s got the empathy of a birdbath. Is she not aware the doping was state sponsored? Does she have any idea what it would be like to go against Putin his lackeys? Did her opponent not suffer enough during her ban and during the introduction to the race? We’re all against doping, but forgiveness and moving on — with adequate testing — are much nobler traits than what I saw last night. — ECF1 in New York, reacting to an article about the open criticism of athletes who have served doping suspensions by their opponents at the Rio Games. Lilly King, the American who won the women’s breaststroke Monday, wagged a finger at Yulia Efimova of Russia, who served a suspension for a banned substance and contested another before competing at these Olympics. 5. It’s a huge historic day for our little island nation of Fiji. We are so very proud of our players and the coaching staff. Our Fiji rugby team made us so happy today. We will never forget. Vinaka Boys. ..Go Fiji Go! — Altaf Ali on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Fiji’s gold medal Thursday, in rugby sevens. Fiji defeated Britain, . 6. What’s so weird? A fair number of women marry their coaches. They spend all their time training and no life outside of it. Doctors marry nurses and other doctors. Lawyers marry other lawyers. We say nothing. Now, we have an opinion? Who are we to judge? — Shelley Pasternak on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about the Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu, whose relationship with her has raised eyebrows in and out of the pool at the Olympics. Ms. Hosszu has won three gold medals so far at the Rio Games. This comment received more than 120 likes. 7. I’m sorry, but I just can’t take out the violins. However, I do hope, with all my heart that she remembers those “lean” years if she’s elected when she makes decisions that affect the 90 percent of Americans who are struggling. I have my doubts. Contrary to this story, my rent in NYC in 1980 was $285 a month, and I still went to sleep at night worrying how I would make it. I was waitressing and putting myself through college. Much of how I see the world and the struggles of the people around me in Myanmar and in the U. S. go back to that time. We can only hope Hillary remembers something somewhat comparable. Unfortunately, “Let them eat cake” too often comes to mind. I still miss that guy from Brooklyn, the child of immigrant parents, who truly started out with nothing and never forgot it. — Far From Home in Yangon, Myanmar, reacting to an article about Hillary Clinton’s competing desires both to serve the public in government and to make money. 8. I think, as I have thought for many years, that Hillary is an incredible woman and leader. But seeing this slice of her personality . .. serves as a nice counterbalance to the prevailing political narrative that she is cold and calculating. I understand that 30 years in public life takes a toll, but years from now I think we’ll look back and there will be a clear delineation between the expectations for men versus women in public life — and the very, very different paths that she and her husband took to get into office as well as what they did once they were there. — Laura C. in Philadelphia. 9. Were it not for his religious fanaticism, I would vote for Pence in a heartbeat. In January I will become a full Canadian citizen with the full intention of renouncing the U. S. one that, quite frankly, embarrasses me. I’m 71 and have lived in Nova Scotia since 2010. While this would be my last chance to vote in a U. S. election, I choose to pass. — Robert Coane, reacting to an opinion article by Matt Latimer, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. The article asks the Republican nominee, Gov. Mike Pence, to persuade Donald J. Trump to withdraw from the presidential race. 10. Trump wants to cut taxes to spark an economic recovery, and specifically drop the corporate tax rate to 15% which would make us with ALL industrialized nations and likely would put an end to corporate inversions. Leave the country isolated from the world? In point of fact, no — our corporate taxes are among the very highest in the industrialized world, make us uncompetitive and incentivize our companies to bolt our regulation is stifling expansion and and free trade policies have played their role, along with offshoring and automation, in our middle classes. And the rest of “the world” is hardly healthy — their tax and regulatory frameworks have a great deal to do with their sorry state. But I can understand the concern: whenever Trump talks sense rather than erupting over some sleight, his numbers go up. — Richard Luettgen in New Jersey, reacting to an editorial about Mr. Trump’s economic plan. This comment received over 115 reader responses. | 0fake |
Ruling May Allow Russia to Add Seven Athletes - The New York Times | After weeks of debate over Russia’s participation in the Rio Games, Olympic officials announced Thursday — less than 24 hours before the opening ceremony — that 271 Russian athletes would compete in Rio. They excluded more than 100 others, branding them tainted by a government doping program. But on the first day of the Games, the list of who would represent Russia in Rio was not necessarily final, as a new court ruling made it possible for seven more Russian athletes to be added to competition schedules at the last moment. What is the number of Russian athletes competing in Rio? It was 271 on Thursday. It looked likely to grow on Friday, possibly reaching 278. The seven additions could include swimmers, cyclists and a wrestler with previous doping violations who have served their punishments. Several, if not all, of those seven have traveled to Rio and are hoping for a favorable outcome, Russia’s sports ministry said. The governing bodies for those three sports must decide whether to approve the athletes in question, after which the Olympic committee must give final approval. A decision was expected Friday night, a spokesman for the Russian Olympic Committee said. Why the uncertainty? And hadn’t all Russians who were caught doping already been barred from Rio? World sports’ highest court decided Thursday that Olympic officials’ decision to automatically exclude all Russian athletes who had been caught doping in the past but had served sanctions was “unenforceable. ” How did the Olympic committee react to the possibility that Russians with drug violations might compete in Rio? The committee said in a statement Friday that it was disappointed with the court’s decision but that it respected the ruling. How had officials justified barring Russians with doping histories, given that Olympians from other countries with past drug violations can compete? Russia has been accused of an extensive doping program that corrupted the results of recent Olympics. After global antidoping officials said that they had strong evidence of cheating by Russia, Olympics officials said that Russian athletes would be considered guilty until proven innocent. The Olympic committee instructed sports authorities that no Russian who had ever been caught cheating should be allowed to compete in Rio and that even those with clean histories were not necessarily to be considered clean. Why has it taken so long to make a decision? The debate over Russia’s participation has been hotly disputed, testing loyalties in the political world of international sports. Antidoping officials and some top athletes called for a blanket ban on the entire country, while some Russian officials decried that punishment as a conspiracy to undercut their country. This week in Rio, the president of Russia’s Olympic committee said it was discriminatory to reverse the presumption of innocence to which athletes are usually entitled. The president of the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday that he and his colleagues had wrestled with a “difficult” question: “Can you hold an individual responsible for the wrongdoing of his or her country?” How many Olympians does Russia usually send to the Games? Around 400. The country sent 436 athletes to the last Summer Olympics, at which it won 82 medals. Russia tried to enter 387 athletes in this year’s Rio Games. Regardless of small final changes to the roster that may come, it will have at least 100 fewer athletes than it had hoped for. Only one athlete will represent Russia in track and field, one of its strongest sports and one in which it won 18 medals at the last Summer Games. | 0fake |
The RNC Has Made Itself The De Facto Judge And Jury Of America | We all knew the 2016 Republican National Convention would be a Hillary hate fest. For the past three days, Republicans have given the voters not one reason to vote for them, but many reasons why they shouldn t vote for Hillary Clinton.No substance, only an us-against-them mentality. This shouldn t come as a shock to anyone.But what has come as a shock is that the RNC has crowned itself as the de facto judge and jury of America. Not only was it a Hillary hate fest, it was a hyper-partisan witch hunt that transcends anything we ve seen in presidential politics.While their presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, paints himself (humorously) as the law and order candidate, speaker after speaker, from General Michael Flynn, to Patricia Smith, to Chris Christie, have decided to take the law into their own hand, and convict Hillary Clinton of egregious crimes. They are, in their minds, the judge and jury that will convict Hillary Clinton, courts be damned.No matter how many times they scream guilty, lock her up, or Hillary for prison, they know, as much as anyone else, that Clinton is innocent. Since the 1990s, when Ken Starr and his band of ideological thugs (including Newt Gingrich), Republicans have never been able to successfully pin anything on Hillary Clinton. Not Rose Law Firm, not Whitewater, not Benghazi, and not her emails. Yet they have convinced themselves that they know better than the law, and they know better than the judges, juries, prosecutors and special counsels that have spent countless hours no, years trying to find something, anything, to convict Hillary Clinton of.Republicans know what they re doing. It s pure political theater. It s tidbit SoundBits that stick in voters minds and fester until election day, polluting the electorate s ability to look at the facts in an objective, impartial manner. They know they can t really convict her, but if they can convince the people that they re right and the law is wrong, that s good enough for them.But in the eyes of the Republicans, whose only goal is to win and not govern, the court of public opinion is mightier than the courts that uphold the rule of law.There is no law and order with Republicans. That s just a talking point they use when they want to stop black people from having their voices heard or when they don t like the Supreme Court granting marriage rights to same-sex couples.These instances, coupled with their sophomoric chants at their coveted convention, shows one thing: Republicans do not respect the law. They do not respect the institutions thatAl Franken is right. Lock her up has become a banana republic for the GOP. They have no substance to run on. Hillary Clinton is their main topic, and their world s revolve around her. It s actually quite pathetic not just on the surface but also deep down. They know they can t win with their ideas, so they must rely on smearing others.The Democratic convention can t come fast enough.Featured image via Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump's tweet on London train bombing just speculation: minister | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s interior minister said a claim by U.S. President Donald Trump that the culprits behind a bombing on a London train were in the sights of the police, made on Twitter shortly after the attack, had been nothing more than speculation. It s never helpful to have speculation about an ongoing operation and I would include the president of the United States in that comment, Amber Rudd told BBC television on Sunday. It is pure speculation, absolutely. Rudd s comments echoed those of British Prime Minister Theresa May who said on Friday it was not helpful for anyone to speculate on investigations. | 0fake |
Anthony Weiner Sends Apology Sext To Entire Clinton Campaign - The Onion - America's Finest News Source | Anthony Weiner Sends Apology Sext To Entire Clinton Campaign Close Vol 52 Issue 43 · Politics · Politicians · Election 2016
BROOKLYN, NY—In response to the FBI’s announcement that its investigation of him had produced new evidence that could pertain to its probe of the Democratic presidential nominee, Anthony Weiner reportedly sent an apology sext early Monday morning to the entire Hillary Clinton campaign. “Just wanted u 2 know I am so so sorry for the mess I caused everybody,” read the first of several group text messages that Weiner sent to over two dozen top campaign staffers between the hours of 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., a series that reportedly also included a grainy close-up photograph of the former congressman’s right nipple, several images of his erect penis protruding from his boxer briefs, and a fully nude selfie taken in front of a bathroom mirror on which he had written the phrase “I’m a bad boy” in lipstick. “U know I’d do just about anything to patch things up. I just hope nobody over there wants to give me a spanking! So hard right now.” At press time, sources confirmed that Weiner was speaking to the angry father of the 13-year-old girl whose number is reportedly one digit off from that of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. Share This Story: WATCH VIDEO FROM THE ONION Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter
Give your spam filter something to do. Daily Headlines | 1real |
The Director of the FBI Reopens the Hillary Case | Recipient Email =>
Word has reached me from Washington that the FBI has reopened the Hillary case of her violation of US National Security protocols, not because of the content of the new email releases, but because voter support for Trump seems to be overwhelming, while Hillary has cancelled appearances due to inability to muster a crowd. The popular vote leaves the FBI far out on the limb for its corrupt clearance of Hillary. The agency now has to redeem itself.
I myself do not know what precisely to think. Having been at the top of the Washington hierarchy for a quarter century, I have seen many mistaken judgments. At one time I had subpoena power over the CIA and was able to inform President Reagan that the CIA had misled him. He took note and proceeded with his policy of ending the Cold War with the Soviets. On other issues I have been mistaken, because I assumed that there was more integrity in government than actually exists.
However, FBI director Comey did not need to reopen the case against Hillary simply because some new incriminating emails appeared. Having dismissed the other incriminating evidence, these emails could have passed unremarked.
The problem for the FBI, which once was a trusted American institution, but no longer is, is that there is no longer any doubt that Donald Trump will win the popular vote for president of the United States. His appearances are so heavily attended that thousands are turned away by local fire/occupancy regulations. In contrast, Hillary has curtailed her appearances, because she doesn’t draw more than 30 or 40 people.
Americans are sick to death of the corrupt Clintons and the corrupt American media. The Clintons are so completely bought-and-paid-for by the Oligarchy that they were able to outspend Hollywood on their daughter’s wedding, dropping $3,000,000 on the event.
Nevertheless, I don’t underestimate the power of the Oligarchy. As Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury I experienced the Oligarchy’s power. If I had not been backed by the President of the United States, I would have been destroyed.
Indeed, the Oligarchy is still trying to destroy me.
Possibly Trump, as his enemies allerge, is just another fake, like Obama who misled the electorate. However, Trump attacks the Oligarchy so strongly that it is hard to believe that Trump isn’t real. Trump is asking for a bullet like John F. Kennedy, like Robert Kennedy, like Martin Luther King, like George Wallace.
In Amerika, dissidents are exterminated.
Trump is up against voting machines over which he has no control. If there are no INDEPENDENT exit polls, Trump can easily be robbed of the election, as the Texas early voting scandal indicates, with the electronic machines assigning Trump votes to Hillary. The “glitch” doesn’t assign any Hillary votes to Trump.
My expectation is that, unless Trump’s popular vote is so overwhelming, the electoral collage vote will be stolen. Because of the absence of any valid reporting by the presstitutes, I don’t know what impact the orchestrated election of Hillary would have on the electorate. Possibly, Americans will break out of The Matrix and take to the streets.
I beleve that Hillary in the Oval Office would convince the Russians and the Chinese that their national survival requires a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the crazed, insane government of the United States, the complete narcisstic state that in the words of Hillary and Obama is “the exceptional, indispensible country,” empowered by History to impose its will on the world. This crazed American agenda is not something that Russia and China will accept.
Here is Donald Trump speaking to Americans in words Americans have been waiting to hear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8prvxjW2wM
Notice that Trump doesn’t need teleprompters.
I do not agree with Trump on many issues, but the American people do. For me and for the world, the importance of Trump is the prospect of peace with Russia. Nuclear war makes every other problem irrelevant.
If Hillary is installed by the Oligarchy—this is a word used by former Democratic President Jimmy Carter who said that the US is no longer a functioning democracy but is ruled by an Oligarchy—war with Russia and China will be upon us.
After 15 years the Taliban and ISIS still run wild in the Middle East despite the efforts of the American “superpower.” Unable to defeat a few lightly armied Taiban after 15 years, what prospects does the enfeebled US have of winning a conflict with Russia and China?
None whatsoever.
The United States has had an entire generation of people born into a war for which the purpose is inexplicable. Why these wars? Why this endless slaughter of women and children and endless columns of refugees overwhelming all of Europe desperately striving to escape Washington’s wars of world hegemony. Why do not the total dumbshits in Washington hear when the President of Russia says that “Russia can no longer tolerate the state of affairs that Washington has created in the world.”
The unjustified arrogance of Washington, a washed up Third World State, is likely to destroy life on earth. No greater danger to life exists than Washington. We have to hope that Trump can clean out the Augean Stables. (Reprinted from PaulCraigRoberts.org | 1real |
Robert Gates: I Am ’in Agreement’ With Trump’s ’Disruptive Approach’ - Breitbart | On this week’s broadcast of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” former secretary of defense Robert Gates said he was “in agreement” with President Donald Trump’s “disruptive approach. ” Partial transcript as follows: DICKERSON: What’s your sense overall of President Trump as an unpredictable leader? GATES: Broadly philosophically, I’m in agreement with his disruptive approach. So in government, I’m a strong believer in the need for reform of government agencies and departments. They have gotten fat and sloppy and they’re not . They are inefficient. They cost too much. I also think on the foreign policy side that there is a need for disruption. We’ve had three administrations follow a pretty consistent policy toward North Korea, and it really hasn’t gotten us anywhere. So the notion of disrupting and putting the Chinese on notice that it’s no longer business as usual for the United States I think is a good thing. Now the question is, obviously, in the implementation of disruption. On the foreign policy side, there’s the risk of being too spontaneous and too disruptive where you end up doing more harm than damage. Figuring out that balance is where having strong people around you matters. Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
Show #137 – SUNDAY WIRE: ‘Eyes on the Matrix’ with ACR’s Hesher and Shawn Helton | Episode #137 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes this Sunday May 29, 2016 as host Patrick Henningsen broadcasts 3 HOURS of LIVE power-packed talk radio on ACR LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:SUNDAYS 5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET (US) | 9am-12pm PT (US)This week s edition of THE SUNDAY WIRE is broadcasting LIVE from the US as this week s guest hosts Shawn Helton and Hesher McHeshington team-up to achieve escape velocity from the matrix as they fill in for Patrick Henningsen who is on the road. In the first hour, Hesher and Helton cover some of the top news stories throughout the world. Later in the program, we connect with Basil Valentine for global commentary.Strap yourselves in and lower the blast shield this is your brave new world *NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*Direct Download of Our Most Recent Show// <![CDATA[ broadstreet.zone(46707); // ]]>Sunday Wire Radio Show Archives | 1real |
GERMANY: “We are Somali Muslims, we don’t have to pay” | GERMANY: “We are Somali Muslims, we don’t have to pay” In Wabern, Hesse, a group of five Somali Muslim freeloaders sat down and had drinks at the “Piano” pub. The group was there for the first time and Albayrak [the owner] didn’t know them. They drank “eight beers, two vodkas” and put everything on a tab. When Albayrak want to collect payment, there was anger. “We are Somalis, we don’t pay.” Source Two of the savages stood up and went out. Albayrak banned the other three from the establishment and threw them out. “They were very aggressive, they were upset,” says Albayrak. The pub owner then shut the door. Suddenly, the owner heard a noise from outside. There was a “boom, boom” sound. Albayrak looked out and saw two of the Somali Muslim thugs with iron rods beating on the pub door, shattering the glass. “I was afraid they were going to kill me,” says the 58-year-old. He called the police but they didn’t arrive for a half hour, and by then, the savages were already gone. | 1real |
BOOM! DirecTV REFUNDS NFL Sunday Ticket Subscriptions After Being Bombarded With Angry Calls From Customers Over National Anthem Protests | Satellite service DirecTV is refunding NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions for customers offended by the weekend s national anthem protests.Normally the company does not give refunds for the specialty package after the season starts, but it apparently changed course after getting calls from hoards of customers upset over the players and coaches who knelt for the anthem during Sunday and Monday games, one former subscriber said. I want to spend my money somewhere where it s gonna be appreciated, former subscriber Paul Alvarado of Keller, Texas, told The Post. I m paying for a product that should not include that kind of anti-American sentiment. Keller contacted DirecTV Tuesday to cancel his roughly $300-per-year plan when they surprised him by telling him he would get all the money back as a statement credit. The customer service rep he talked to said he had already received five calls to cancel on Tuesday alone, Alvarado said.DirecTV did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Alvarado said the policy change happened overnight. NYP | 1real |
Obamacare Officially Bans Transgender Discrimination | While Republicans whine and complain that their right to be a bigot is being infringed on by the big bad liberal government, the Obama Administration is (once again) doing the right thing by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to ban all forms of discrimination against transgender individuals.Not only does it ban discrimination against the transgender community, it goes even further: all discrimination on the basis of sex overall is banned fully and completely within health programs and entities that receive any federal funding.Regardless of what Republicans will say about this federal overreach, the Obama Administration has every right to implement this ruling under the Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities rule which is enforceable as part of Section 1557 of the ACA.Once again, Republicans have been outplayed, and their hatred has hit another legal wall. In a statement, Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services, gleefully defended the decision, saying: A central goal of the Affordable Care Act is to help all Americans access quality, affordable health care. Today s announcement is a key step toward realizing equity within our health care system and reaffirms this Administration s commitment to giving every American access to the health care they deserve. The HHS website plainly lays out a feminist agenda that benefits all women, trans and non:Prohibiting denial of health care or health coverage based on an individual s sex, including discrimination based on pregnancy, gender identity, and sex stereotyping.The decision comes as the Obama Administration also set up blueprints for legal safeguards for trans students in public schools all across the country and sued North Carolina over HB 2, which was found to be in violation of the Civil Rights Act.As Obamacare faces yet another threat in court, Republicans have put forth a candidate that promises to repeal every word of the landmark healthcare law on his first day in office.That means everything this law has corrected sexism, ageism, racism and classism will again hang over the heads of every American should the buffoon known as Donald Trump become President (assuming Democrats don t take back the House or the Senate).Not only are Democrats winning the culture wars led by President Obama and his progressive administration, they are literally putting in place the legal safeguards to see it cemented for the rest of American history.If Democrats don t see the need to come out and vote, this should open the eyes of every weary, disgruntled voter. Democrats can continue the course for four more years and beyond. As Rob Reiner said, transgender rights are the last pieces of the civil rights puzzle.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
Fascination and Fear: Covering the Black Panthers - The New York Times | The Black Panther Party was founded 50 years ago in Oakland, Calif. on Oct. 15, 1966. Within two years, it had chapters across the country. The Times is marking the occasion by exploring the Black Panthers’ legacy through their iconography and how they were covered in our own pages. Fifty years later, images from the Black Panther Party’s heyday still flicker in our national memory. With their leather jackets, black berets and lock step formations, these youthful revolutionaries were for media coverage — and for posterity. With the heroic era of the civil rights movement glimmering to a close in 1966, the Black Panthers showed that a more radical struggle for racial justice could be photogenic, even if it was less palatable to the mainstream. An ironic tension emerged in the way the press treated the Black Panthers: Journalists were at once fascinated and frightened by them. And The New York Times was no exception. “At the same time the newspaper was dubious and skeptical of them, it also gave them a tremendous amount of coverage,” said Jane Rhodes, a professor of studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the author of “Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of a Black Power Icon. ” “The media, like most of white America, was deeply frightened by their aggressive and assertive style of protest,” Professor Rhodes said. “And they were offended by it. ” When Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party, their first goal was to confront what they saw as an epidemic of police brutality. They took to the streets with rifles, standing guard over policemen on patrol. The California Assembly responded quickly, proposing a law to ban the open carrying of firearms. So the Panthers, fully armed, marched into the California state Capitol to protest the bill. The national news media took notice. The Times’s first article on the Panthers was a wire report, “Armed Negroes Protest Gun Bill,” published on May 3, 1967. The piece began, “With loaded rifles and shotguns in their hands, members of the antiwhite Black Panther party marched into the state Capitol today. ” What the article did not explicitly say, though it was reported later by others, was that the Panthers had read a statement that afternoon calling “upon the American people in general” — not just — to help them in their push for rights. The Times sent its own reporter a few days later to write a profile of Mr. Newton, the party’s young . That article was no more measured than the first. It barely mentioned police brutality, instead lavishing attention on the fact that the Panthers had weapons. “Political power comes through the barrel of a gun,” Newton was quoted as saying. To some degree, the Panthers were responsible for presenting themselves as a legion. “This is how the Black Panther Party wanted to be seen,” said Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University. “The Panthers and The Times were taking part in a coproduction. ” And in subsequent articles, The Times did investigate the Panthers’ broader goals a bit more closely. A Times Magazine article by Sol Stern argued that “to write off the Panthers as a fringe group of little influence is to miss the point. The group’s roots are in the desperation and anger that no legislation or poverty program has touched in the ghetto. ” But as tensions with law enforcement escalated into increasingly violent clashes, the press focused with increasing intensity on violence between the Panthers and the police — especially Newton’s violent with a police officer in October 1967, which led to a murder trial the next year. There was far less attention paid to the party’s critique of law enforcement. What went largely unreported was the fact that these conflicts stemmed not just from the Panthers, but also from the federal government. With chapters springing up in dozens of cities, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, mounted a covert operation to discredit the group and create strife within it. He declared the Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country. ” It was not until years later that the Senate’s Church Committee would show how pervasively the F. B. I. worked against the Panthers and how much it influenced press coverage. It encouraged urban police forces to confront Black Panthers planted informants and agents provocateurs and intimidated local community members who were sympathetic to the group. The conflict that inevitably followed played directly into the narrative that had been established: that the party was a provocative, dangerous organization. This was never more apparent than in 1969, when the F. B. I. ’s campaign to undermine the party reached its peak. Black Panthers in New York, known as the Panther 21, were charged with plotting to set off bombs throughout New York City. A surge of media coverage followed, with The Times among those outlets leading the way. Almost two years later, all the defendants were cleared, after it became clear that the charges stemmed almost entirely from the provocations of three three undercover operatives with the New York City Police Department who had embedded themselves within the organization. Internal documents made public during a lawsuit brought by Dhoruba bin Wahad, one of the defendants, show that the F. B. I. had used the press — particularly the New York news media — to create strife within the party and to convey the impression that it was a volatile group. Agents wrote of “an effort to obtain news media publicity highlighting friction between east and west coast BPP leadership personnel,” according to one F. B. I. memo procured in the 1980s by Mr. Wahad’s legal team. Another discusses “distributing copies of a critical article on the BPP which appeared in the ‘New York Times. ’” As The Times focused on the trial and other conflicts between the Panthers and the police, the party was organizing a slate of service programs for in New York. But they went relatively unnoticed. “We didn’t get covered by any of the media when we were doing these types of things, really — only when some of us would get arrested,” Mr. Wahad said in an interview. Beginning in late 1968, fatigued by constant conflict and what they saw as sensational coverage, the Panthers refocused their efforts away from policing the police and toward providing health care and other services to the urban poor. They began in California’s Bay Area with a breakfast program for school children, and eventually developed initiatives around education and housing advocacy. The Times did eventually report on some of these programs, but often with a tone of skepticism. An article on Dec. 7, 1968, mentioned the party’s free breakfast program, but only to suggest that it was part of a ploy to indoctrinate . The article, “Black Panthers Growing, but Their Troubles Rise,” suggested that as the party grew, it was intimidating residents and struggling to formulate a coherent direction. When it did mention the breakfast program, the article called it merely “a means of improving its image. ” The Times painted a slightly different picture the following June, when it ran a full feature on the breakfast program, nearly nine months after the party’s official newspaper, The Black Panther, announced the initiative. But mostly, the programs were treated as publicity stunts, or worse. The fact that The Times did respond, to some degree, to the organization’s change of focus was largely because of a growing cadre of reporters. In July 1969, Earl Caldwell, who is black, wrote an article, “Panthers’ Meeting Shifts Aims From Racial Confrontation to Class Struggle,” and followed it with a piece for the Week in Review section, “Panthers: They Are Not the Same Organization. ” “One thing The Times figured out was that the Panthers were selling newspapers,” Professor Rhodes said. “The coverage of the Panthers was attracting a younger audience, maybe more of a black audience. ” “Black reporters were able to do much better reporting because they had greater credibility and greater access,” she said. But that was becoming a moot point: By 1969, the party was being torn asunder, its East and West Coast factions rived by distrust, largely because of the F. B. I. And in the court of public opinion, the Panthers had already lost. A Harris Survey showed that in April 1970, just 10 percent of Americans thought that “a fairly sizable number of Black Panthers have been shot and killed by law enforcement officers” because law enforcement officers were trying to wipe out the Panthers — exactly what Hoover privately said his mission was. of the country said that police shootings of Panthers were due to violence started by the Panthers themselves. Just 16 percent perceived the Panthers as doing good work for disadvantaged youth. Looking at contemporary news coverage, Professor Rhodes said progress has been made when it comes to covering race and activism. “I see organizations like The Times making a much more sustained effort at deeper coverage,” she said. But articles still tend to emphasize the conflict between the police and protesters, she said, without addressing the core principles guiding social movements such as Black Lives Matter: greater investment in public education, community control of law enforcement and economic justice. “There’s a lot of examples to be learned from the example of the Black Panthers, in terms of taking a look at not just rhetoric and styles of protest, but also looking for some understanding of what protest means and what it intends,” she said. | 0fake |
DISNEY Introduces New Marvel Comic Books: Captain America (Captain Socialist) Beats Up Conservative Terrorists Defending U.S. Borders And More [VIDEO] | Indoctrination by Disney pretty much covers every demographic: toddlers with sippy cups watching the Disney channel and Disney movies, teens reading Marvel comic books, young women watching an abortion being performed on ABC s Scandal while Silent Night plays in the background, and full grown men kicking back with a beer watching sports on ESPN.Watch this unbelievable summarization of Disney s new Marvel comic book:h/t Weasel Zippers | 1real |
Lebanese army to deploy along entire eastern border: army chief | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s army will deploy along the country s entire eastern border with Syria and remain stationed there after recently recapturing areas from Islamic State militants, army chief General Joseph Aoun said on Friday. The remarks appeared to confirm comments by the Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah that it was handing over points it had controlled along the border to the military. The army will deploy from now onwards along the extent of the eastern borders, to defend them, Aoun said at a ceremony commemorating Lebanese soldiers killed by Islamic State. An army offensive last month ended with the militants withdrawing from their last foothold along the border under a ceasefire deal. The Syrian army and Hezbollah fought the jihadists separately on the Syrian side. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in July it would be ready to hand over territory it captured if the Lebanese army requested it. Hezbollah led a campaign in the same area that month to oust the Nusra Front jihadist group from their last foothold along the border. Security sources said Hezbollah had begun handing over points it controlled. Iran-backed Hezbollah has played a critical role in vanquishing Sunni Muslim jihadists in the border region during the six-year-long Syrian war, part of its military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The group, an ally of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, was key to the defeat of militants in the Qalamoun area further south in 2015, and at the Syrian town of Qusair, in 2013. Lebanon s southern border with Israel, a Hezbollah foe, is patrolled by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. | 0fake |
HILARIOUS! President Trump BEGS Hillary To Run In 2020 At Press Conference…”PLEASE RUN AGAIN!” [VIDEO] | FOX News reporter John Roberts told President Trump that in an earlier interview, Hillary Clinton said she did not believe that the players taking a knee in the NFL was about disrespecting the flag. Roberts mentioned that Trump fired back in a tweet that he hoped Hillary would run again in 2020. Trump interrupted to say: Oh I hope Hillary runs! Is she going to run? Please, Hillary, run again! Trump responded that her way of agreeing with the players disrespecting our flag is the reason she lost the election, saying, Well, that s why she l the election. I mean honestly, it s that thinking is why she lost the election. Trump said that he believes that Hillary s statement in itself, is very disrespectful to our country. Watch:Will someone please tell Crooked Hillary that America doesn t care about her opinion, and if we did, we would have elected her as our next President. Here s the hilarious tweet from President Trump on Monday morning that John Robert s was referring to: I was recently asked if Crooked Hillary Clinton is going to run in 2020? My answer was, I hope so! I was recently asked if Crooked Hillary Clinton is going to run in 2020? My answer was, "I hope so!" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2017 | 1real |
null | Make 1k per car (cough cough) sell a million a year to make a billion profit and with a Ford PE have 6 billion dollar market cap. All good. | 1real |
BLACK LIVES MATTER ACTIVIST, Erica Garner Makes Campaign Ad For SANDERS [VIDEO]…OOPS! Bernie’s Support For INSANE TAXES Killed Her Dad | TAXES really do kill people. Eric Garner is a perfect example. This tragedy happened on Donald Trump s home turf, if his campaign was on top of their game, they d be all over this Ahead of the Pennsylvania primary Bernie Sanders was asked about Philadelphia s proposed soda tax during a recent interview with Meet The Press . Hillary Clinton favors the tax but Bernie opposes it because he says it taxes the poor who are already struggling enough. Chuck Todd didn t buy that answer and pressed Sanders to explain why he opposes the soda tax but favors cigarette taxes (which are much, much higher). Bernie explained that he thinks cigarettes are different than soda and that there s almost a question as to why [cigarettes]remain a legal product in this country . Apparently, Bernie Sanders doesn t realize that the cigarette taxes he favors are what got Eric Garner killed.Unfortunately, Chuck Todd didn t catch that statement and moved on to other topics. He should have jumped on it given that it s quite the hypocritical line coming from someone trying to gain the support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Bernie Sanders even has the support of Eric Garner s own daughter who starred in a three minute campaign ad just a couple months previous.One wonders whether or not Erica Garner approves of Bernie Sanders support of the cigarette taxes that killed her father.Recall that Eric Garner was accused of selling un-taxed cigarettes in New York City. The Federal government already imposes a $1.01 tax, which the New York state government adds a $4.35 tax to, and the New York City government tacked another $1.50 onto. That brings the total cigarette tax in New York City to more than $6.85 cents which is more than the cost of the cigarettes themselves. These excessively high taxes that Bernie Sanders supports double the price of pack of cigarettes and creates a black market for un-taxed cigarettes.It was this black market that Eric Garner was accused of taking part in. Un-taxed cigarettes are a lucrative business in New York City and account for tens of millions of dollars in sales. Many people try to make a living selling these un-taxed cigarettes as Eric Garner was allegedly doing when he was stopped by the police.Situations like this are the inevitable result of high taxes. If people refuse to pay taxes this is how they will be enforced. People with guns will show up. People will die.Via: A Libertarian Future | 1real |
CUBA’S GETTING NUCLEAR Reactors From Putin, While Obama Campaigns For Hillary | As our limp-wristed President flies around on taxpayer funded Air Force One campaigning for Hillary, Putin sells Castro s Cuba nuclear technology.Taxpayers are paying a fortune for the use of Air Force One on the campaign trail by President Obama and Crooked Hillary. A total disgrace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2016A Russian government-controlled company signed an agreement to sell nuclear technology to Cuba this week.Cuba plans to purchase nuclear medical technology, radiation research, training for nuclear specialists, and staff to help manage radioactive waste. Ultimately, the country may purchase nuclear reactors and storage space for nuclear waste from Russia.This is not the first time Cuba has attempted to build a nuclear reactor. With the help and financial assistance of the former Soviet Union, Cuba tried the to build two 440-megawatt nuclear power reactors near the city of Cienfuegos. Construction of the reactors began in 1983, but the collapse of the Soviet Union disrupted construction.Former Cuban President Fidel Castro says that the country invested $1.1 billion into the project, and cost estimates to complete the partially constructed reactors range from $300 million to $750 million. The U.S. government has consistently opposed Cuba s plans to build a nuclear reactor, although President Barack Obama recently normalized relations with the country.Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
Greece and Turkey trade barbs as Erdogan visits Athens | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and Turkey squared up over old disputes on Thursday during a state visit to Athens by President Tayyip Erdogan that quickly descended into verbal sparring over a list of historical grievances. Designed to boost relations between the two nations, the first visit of a Turkish president in 65 years quickly turned into a blunt grudge-fest between the NATO allies. The two countries agreed to revive a consultation process for confidence-building measures, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said. By the end of the first day, both sides appeared to pull back from what threatened to be a massive diplomatic flop. There is a lot more which unites us, from that which divides us, as long as there is will, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos told a state banquet in Erdogan s honor. We can live side by side, Erdogan said in a translation provided by Greek state TV. Our aim is to build the future differently, with unity, coexistence and solidarity, he said. Earlier, he and Erdogan turned what was expected to be a staid welcoming ceremony into an unprecedented bout of diplomatic sparring over a host of differences. The topics vented ranged from discrimination against Muslims in northern Greece to Turkey s military presence in ethnically-split Cyprus, and loose interpretations of an international treaty defining the borders of the two countries. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne covered a range of issues and defined the borders of modern-day Turkey, and by extension, Greece. Erdogan told Greek media outlets before he even landed that the treaty needed a revision, putting Greeks in a defensive mode. At the noon meeting, Pavlopoulos ruled out any change to the treaty while a stern-looking Erdogan, seated beside him, said there were details in the treaty which required clarity. Though Erdogan focused on religious rights of the Turkish Muslim community in northern Greece, he said there were also problems on military topics . The truth, is I m a little confused regarding if what he is putting on the table is to modernize, to update, to comply with the Lausanne Treaty, Tsipras said at a news conference as Erdogan stood at his side. SHOW-STOPPER The long exchange between Erdogan and the Greek president was the show-stopper, however. This is the bedrock of our friendship, said Pavlopoulos, referring to the treaty and pointedly telling his VIP guest he was a Professor of Law. It has no flaws, it does not need to be reviewed or updated, he said. Erdogan responded by saying it was a treaty signed 94 years ago and did not apply only to Greece or Turkey but also included countries such as Japan. It was also supposed to protect the Turkish minority in northern Greece, whom Erdogan said were still discriminated against. You can t find such treatment of my Greek citizens in Turkey, Erdogan said in a 30-minute, back-and-forth exchange where notes were slipped to both him and Pavlopoulos by ministers. Erdogan is the first Turkish president to visit Athens since 1952. He is now doing his best to make sure that the next visit will not take place in the next 150 years, said Wolfango Piccoli, Co-President of Teneo Intelligence. In Northern Greece, Erdogan said, Greece insisted on calling the Turkish community there Muslim rather than using the term Turkish . There are more than 100,000 of them in the area known as Western Thrace. They can t accept the word Turk being written outside a school, said Erdogan, who is due to visit the region on Friday. Tsipras told Erdogan he too had sensitivities on religious freedoms. The Greek government, he said, had moved ahead with the reconstruction of a series of mosques around the country. Yet not once did it cross our mind to hold an Orthodox religious ceremony in Fethiye mosque (in Athens) as wrongly, in my view, is taking place repeatedly in Hagia Sophia, he said of the imposing structure in Istanbul that was once a church, converted into a mosque and now a museum. There have been readings of the Koran in Hagia Sophia in recent years. The NATO partners teetered on the brink of war in 1974, 1987 and 1996 over long-running disputes on ethnically divided Cyprus, mineral rights in the Aegean Sea and sovereignty over uninhabited islets in that sea. We allowed your re-entry to NATO, Erdogan told Pavlopoulos, referring to the departure of Greece from the bloc in 1974 after Turkey s invasion of Cyprus in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup. It rejoined in 1980. If it wasn t for us, you wouldn t have been able to (rejoin), Erdogan said. While relations have improved, many Greeks believe Turkey has territorial aspirations against their country, an issue Erdogan said on at least two occasions was not the case. | 0fake |
Trump spokesman accuses Democratic Senate leader of 'stalling tactics' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump accused Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday of “stalling tactics” for slowing confirmation of the incoming Republican president’s Cabinet picks. Schumer should recognize that “this is more about continuity of government and ensuring that these qualified individuals get voted on as soon as possible so that we can lead this country forward,” spokesman Sean Spicer said at a news briefing. | 0fake |
Illinois budget talks fizzle amid partisan entrenchment | SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - Bipartisan talks to reach a fiscal 2017 budget for Illinois ahead of a Tuesday deadline have derailed as the state’s Republican governor and top Democrat refused to budge from their demands. The two sides have been at an impasse since last year, leaving Illinois as the only state without a complete budget for the fiscal year that ends on June 30. Bipartisan, rank-and-file working groups pushed by Governor Bruce Rauner have been meeting, with sporadic reports that progress was being made on a budget for the new fiscal year. But following a short meeting on Friday with the governor, legislative leaders made it clear that common ground has not been reached. Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno accused Democrats of pulling the plug on negotiations. “They want to push the balanced budget issue reforms off into the fall, after the election,” she told reporters. “It’s clear their priority is political and not for the good of the state.” House Speaker Michael Madigan defended the budget passed by Democrats in his chamber this week, saying he is not willing to hold residents “hostage” while the governor expands his demands for pro-business and anti-union reforms. “There will be a complaint the state does not have sufficient money to pay for that budget,” Madigan said. “And I’ve said for the last year and a half, I’m prepared to negotiate with the governor to find the money to pay for those services.” House Republicans blasted the $14.1 billion general funds budget passed on Wednesday and again on Thursday by Democrats as being $7.2 billion short on revenue because the spending plan does not include big costs like pensions and debt payments. Madigan, who has advocated a so-called millionaires’ tax, said his first revenue choice would be taxing the wealthy through exclusions and deductions in the Illinois income tax code, including the earned income tax credit. Rauner contended negotiations were continuing. But he warned that the fifth-largest U.S. state must stop spending money it does not have. “We’ll never have balanced budgets if we don’t grow our economy and we need reforms to grow our economy, get more jobs and higher family incomes,” he said. House Republicans pleaded with Democrats during Friday’s session to break with Madigan and continue to work with them. “My request is that you don’t give up,” said House Republican Jim Durkin, who added that a deal was close. | 0fake |
Ethnic land dispute forces thousands to flee in Ivory Coast cocoa belt | GUIGLO, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - An ethnic-fueled land dispute has driven thousands of farmers off illegal plantations in Ivory Coast s main cocoa belt, threatening the start of the harvest in the world s top producer. Humanitarian workers and local government officials said at least 3,000 people had already been displaced by the violence, after the government said last week that two people had been killed in clashes and soldiers had been sent to the area. Ivory Coast s main production area has for decades been subject to explosive disputes over land ownership between native groups in the area and migrants from neighboring countries and other parts of Ivory Coast. The latest dispute broke out last month between members of the We alliance from the Guere, Yacouba and Wobe ethnic groups, who entered the Cavally and Gouin-Debe forest reserves in western Ivory Coast and threatened ethnic Baoules and migrants from Burkina Faso farming there. They threatened to kill us if we didn t leave the village within 10 minutes, said Gouin-Debe cocoa farmer Pierre Koffi Kouame. There are around 30 small villages in the area where we live and all of them were visited by these youths. We don t do anyone any harm. We just grow cocoa, he said. The 2017/18 cocoa season in Ivory Coast began on Oct. 1 following a record harvest of over 2 million tonnes last season. Most growing areas will hit peak production within the next three months. The cocoa is already there and many pods are ripe and should have already been harvested last week, said Sylvain Kouadio, who fled his plantation near the town of Blolequin late last month. If nothing is done, the cocoa is going to rot. It must not stay on the trees too long. The Ivorian Parks and Reserves Office (OIPR), which manages protected land, estimates that up to 40 percent of Ivorian cocoa production comes from illegal plantations. Cocoa farmers have illegally set up plantations within Ivory Coast s national parks and forest reserves for decades, but the phenomenon accelerated during and after a decade-long political crisis and civil war, which ended in 2011. Tensions over land ownership were a major factor contributing to the political crisis, and western cocoa growing areas saw some of the worst violence during two civil wars in 2002-2003 and 2011. A Reuters reporter saw hundreds of families, recently pushed out of the forests, camped out on the premises of a local government building in the town of Guiglo, seeking to shelter their children and meager belongings from the rain. A local government official said those displaced from the forests typically stay for three or four days while they look for a new place to live. All we want is to take back our land from the outsiders who have occupied it for years, said Rigobert Toualy, a member of the We alliance in Guiglo. | 0fake |
It Looks Like George Soros is Funding the Trump Protests Just Like He Funded The Ferguson Riots | Does someone behind the scenes want to see civil war in the United States?
The answer is almost certainly yes.
And it isn’t likely to settle down anytime in the next few days. (If you aren’t prepped for this, go here to learn how to stay safe .)
Just a little background: this has been going on since the midst of the campaign when actors were hired on Craigslist and trained to disrupt rallies.
For example, one Craigslist ad was answered by Paul Horner, who admitted he was paid $3,500 to cause a scene at a Trump event in Fountain Hills, Arizona. “As for who these people were affiliated with that interviewed me, my guess would be Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Horner said. “The actual check I received after I was done with the job was from a group called ‘Women Are The Future’. After I was hired, they told me if anyone asked any questions about who I was with or communicated with me in any way, I should start talking about how great Bernie Sanders is.” Horner continued, “It was mostly women in their 60’s at the interview that I went to…” ( source )
Actors Wanted – Knowledge of politics or skilled fighting a plus! (see image )
The same report goes on to say: When asked about the other protesters at the rally, Horner said he saw most of them during the interview and training for the rally. “Almost all of the people I was protesting with I had seen at my interview and training class. At the rally, talking with some of them, I learned they only paid Latinos $500, Muslims $600 and African Americans $750. I don’t think they were looking for any Asians. Women and children were paid half of what the men got and illegals received $300 across the board. I think I was paid more than the other protesters because I was white and had taken classes in street fighting and boxing a few years back”
You can also read this article , in which a quote caught on video from Project Veritas shows how the Clinton campaign caused disruptions via “bird-dogging.” There’s a lot of evidence that someone is funding these protests.
An eyewitness in Austin, Texas spotted protesters being transported by chartered coach buses.
Then there was this Craigslist ad. (see image )
There are many more tweets along these lines, but suffice it to say, suspicion is high that these, just like the Clinton campaign, are rigged to manipulate the American people. Why would anyone want to cause all this trouble?
That’s where the web gets tangled. It certainly seems counterproductive to set fire to America. After all, what these people are doing is likely to end up with more tyranny – like martial law, for example.
Exactly.
That’s precisely the plan.
Back in August, hackers from a group called DC Leaks got into the private documents of the Open Society, an organization founded by George Soros. Soros, whom DC Leaks referred to as “the architect and sponsor of almost every revolution and coup around the world for the last 25 years” is a pro-globalist billionaire who has been trying to take over the world via shadow government for decades.
Zero Hedge reported on the findings in the Soros leak: The documents are from multiple departments of Soros’ organizations. Soros’ the Open Society Foundations seems to be the group with the most documents in the leak. Files come from sections representing almost all geographical regions in the world, from the USA, to Europe, Eurasia, Asia, Latin, America, Africa, the World Bank “the President’s Office”, as well as an unknown entity named SOUK. As the Daily Caller notes , there are documents dating from at least 2008 to 2016. Documents in the leak range from research papers such as “ EUROPEAN CRISIS: Key Developments of the Past 48 Hours ” focusing on the impact of the refugee crisis, to a document titled “ The Ukraine debate in Germany “, to an update specific financials of grants. They reveal work plans, strategies, priorities and other activities by Soros, and include reports on European elections, migration and asylum in Europe. An email leaked by WikiLeaks earlier this week showed Soros had advised Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State on how to handle unrest in Albania – advice she acted on.
As well, it’s important to note that Soros provided a whopping $33 million to activists in Ferguson, Missouri, escalating a protest to a siege. The Washington Times reported: …liberal billionaire George Soros, who has built a business empire that dominates across the ocean in Europe while forging a political machine powered by nonprofit foundations that impacts American politics and policy, not unlike what he did with MoveOn.org. Mr. Soros spurred the Ferguson protest movement through years of funding and mobilizing groups across the U.S., according to interviews with key players and financial records reviewed by The Washington Times. In all, Mr. Soros gave at least $33 million in one year to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson , according to the most recent tax filings of his nonprofit Open Society Foundations…
This is business as usual for the OSF (Open Society Foundation), as explained by director Kenneth Zimmerman : Mr. Zimmerman said OSF has been giving to these types of groups since its inception in the early ’90s, and that, although groups involved in the protests have been recipients of Mr. Soros’ grants, they were in no way directed to protest at the behest of Open Society . “The incidents, whether in Staten Island, Cleveland or Ferguson , were spontaneous protests — we don’t have the ability to control or dictate what others say or choose to say,” Mr. Zimmerman said. “But these circumstances focused people’s attention — and it became increasingly evident to the social justice groups involved that what a particular incident like Ferguson represents is a lack of accountability and a lack of democratic participation.” Soros-sponsored organizations helped mobilize protests in Ferguson , building grass-roots coalitions on the ground backed by a nationwide online and social media campaign. Other Soros-funded groups made it their job to remotely monitor and exploit anything related to the incident that they could portray as a conservative misstep, and to develop academic research and editorials to disseminate to the news media to keep the story alive. The plethora of organizations involved not only shared Mr. Soros‘ funding, but they also fed off each other, using content and buzzwords developed by one organization on another’s website, referencing each other’s news columns and by creating a social media echo chamber of Facebook “likes” and Twitter hashtags that dominated the mainstream media and personal online newsfeeds.
Soros was busted for paying protesters to go into Ferguson and stir things up. This is not theory. It’s FACT. The Daily Mail reported that Soros spent $33 million to bankroll the protests. The Washington Times reported that it was totally cool, though, because humanitarian that he is, Soros just wanted to help the civil rights movement ( source ). What a guy. Of course, this seems to be a thing with the kabillionaires. The Ford Foundation and Rockefeller foundation also fund “social activism.” Which is kabillionaire code for “mess stuff up and wreak havoc.”
Keep in mind that the organization Black Lives Matter was born through the Ferguson riots. Does this look familiar?
If the Modus Operandi in these protests looks familiar, that’s because MoveOn.org is organizing a lot of them, and MoveOn is funded by …you guessed it: George Soros. The organization was originally founded to combat the impeachment of Bill Clinton…are you seeing a link here? Another proud instigator is the Answer Coalition which also – are you sitting down? Has links to Soros. ( source )
There are a lot of people who are out there because they genuinely oppose a Trump presidency. The unfortunate thing is, their opposition comes from propaganda that they passionately believe. They are acting based on misinformation and they’re being professionally manipulated.
The next step here is martial law, which nobody wants.
Well, nobody except George Soros and friends.
Someone who wants to see America ripped apart is causing this division. Last summer, it was leaked that Soros attempted to destabilize Russia and depose Putin in 2012. Putin responded by banning Soros and all of his organizations from Russia. In 2014, Putin issued an international arrest warrant for Soros.
We could certainly improve both international relationships and our current situation by extraditing Soros immediately.
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website , where this article first appeared , offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter , and you can email her at SF Source Activist Post Nov. 2016 | 1real |
Pat Robertson Says If We’d Only Worship Trump, Las Vegas Never Would’ve Happened | In the wake of any tragedy in this country, there are invariably those who make statements that become indelible. Things get said that we ll remember forever, whether that s a good thing or a bad thing.When George W. Bush said his FEMA Director Brownie was doing a heck of a job, Dubya couldn t possibly have known it would become synonymous with ironically praising a dismal performance.When reporters are the first to come across emergent tweets about disastrous, high-profile events, they can look just like vultures:Source: TwitterAnd when spiritual leaders publicly blame a tragedy on the ills of the world rather than the actual cause, it can leave a similar stain. Remember when Jerry Falwell blamed pagans, gay people, feminists, and abortionists for the attacks on September 11, 2001? Of course you do. It was as disgusting then as it is now.Similarly, the man I consider to be the Worst Human On The Planet just said that the worst mass shooting in American history happened because people talk shit about Donald Trump. Seriously.Pat Robertson, the host of the Christian Broadcasting Network s 700 Club, went on his show Monday and made the predictably horrific statement: Violence in the streets, ladies and gentlemen. Why is it happening? The fact that we have disrespect for authority; there is profound disrespect for our president, all across this nation they say terrible things about him. It s in the news, it s in other places. There is disrespect now for our national anthem, disrespect for our veterans, disrespect for the institutions of our government, disrespect for the court system. All the way up and down the line, disrespect. That s right: People who wish we had a president who didn t act like a schoolyard bully and NFL players who silently protest the murder of unarmed black people across America are to blame for the events of Sunday night in Las Vegas.I have a different belief, Pat. I believe you are responsible for the legions of Christians across this country who don t give enough of a fuck about human life to change anything.Featured image via Mario Tama/Getty Images | 1real |
Over 500 Russian and Egyptian Troops Train to Kill Terrorists (Photos) - Boris Egorov - Russia News Now | This post was originally published on this site
The first Russian-Egyptian anti-terrorist exercise, dubbed Defenders of Friendship-2016 was held on October 15-26.
It took place in the desert, between the Egyptian cities of El-Alamein and Alexandria.
The Russian Airborne Troops arrived in the African continent for the first time.
Over 500 Russian and Egyptian paratroopers took part in the drills.
More than 15 helicopters and planes, 10 items of air-droppable military hardware were involved.
Russian and Egyptian servicemen practiced localization and elimination of militant groups in desert conditions.
Foreign representatives, including ambassadors and military attaches, were present in the capacity of observers.
Egyptian military are going to use the experience of the Russian Airborne Troops in the fight against international terrorism.
In 2015, Russia and Egypt held their first joint maritime exercises in the Mediterranean near Alexandria.
Next Russia-Egypt joint drill may be held in Russia next year. Related | 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 |
Jury Rules In Favor Of Bundy In Oregon Standoff Case | The occupation eventually ended on Jan. 26, when the Bundys and other key occupiers were arrested at a traffic stop. One of the occupiers, Robert “LaVoy” Funicum, was killed during that altercation.
Speaking with The Oregonian , the attorneys for the various defendants expressed satisfaction with the jury’s decision.
“More than we could have hoped for,” said Morgan Philpot, one of the attorneys for Ammon Bundy.
“Stunning,” added defense lawyer Lisa Ludwig, who was serving as standby counsel for Ryan Bundy.
“I’m just thrilled,” chimed in Lisa Maxfield, an attorney for one of the five other defendants.
There was just one problem. The Bundys were still expected to stand trial in Nevada for an earlier standoff that occurred several years prior. Moreover, U.S. Marshals present at the verdict hearing Tuesday reportedly had a retainer for Ammon. This led to an in-court altercation, and he was again placed in custody.
This snafu aside, the ruling was, according to The Oregonian, “a remarkable blow to the federal government as it tries to tamp down a national movement … to open public lands to ranchers, miners and loggers.” | 1real |
Burst tire may have caused deadly tourist bus crash in Mexico -police | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The driver of a tour bus that crashed on Tuesday on a quiet road in Mexico s Yucatan Peninsula, killing 12 people, may have lost control after one of the front tires exploded, the local police chief said. The bus was carrying 31 passengers, including citizens of the United States, Brazil, Canada and Sweden, on a trip to Mayan ruins when it crashed and flipped over, authorities said. Most of those aboard were travelers on Royal Caribbean cruise ships. It seems a front tire of the bus exploded, making it lose control and leave the asphalt, Carlos Briceno Villagomez, head of the police in the municipality of Bacalar, told Mexican TV network Televisa on Tuesday night. The government of Quintana Roo state said it was investigating the cause of the accident, which happened on a flat stretch of road and did not appear to involve another vehicle. The driver was injured and has been arrested. A Mexican tour guide was among those killed. A local civil protection official said authorities were also investigating whether human error contributed to the accident. The U.S. State Department confirmed on Wednesday that multiple American citizens had died in the crash. Mexican authorities said eight U.S. citizens died. We can confirm the deaths of multiple U.S. citizens in #Mexico bus accident, and several injuries. We express our heartfelt condolences to those affected by this tragedy, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a post on Twitter. One Canadian died in the crash and three others were injured, a spokesman for Canada s Global Affairs department said. Two Swedish citizens died and two others were injured, Mexican authorities said. A child was among the dead. Quintana Roo is one of three states on Mexico s Yucatan Peninsula, a major tourist destination. | 0fake |
Obamacare on the line at SCOTUS | Washington (CNN) The future of health care in America is on the table -- and in serious jeopardy -- Wednesday morning in the Supreme Court.
After more than an hour of arguments, the Supreme Court seemed divided in a case concerning what Congress meant in one very specific four-word clause of the Affordable Care Act with respect to who is eligible for subsidies provided by the federal government to help people buy health insurance.
If the Court ultimately rules against the Obama administration, more than 5 million individuals will no longer be eligible for the subsidies, shaking up the insurance market and potentially dealing the law a fatal blow. A decision likely will not be announced by the Supreme Court until May or June.
All eyes were on Chief Justice John Roberts -- who surprised many in 2012 when he voted to uphold the law -- he said next to nothing, in a clear strategy not to tip his hand either way.
"Roberts, who's usually a very active participant in oral arguments, said almost nothing for an hour and a half," said CNN's Supreme Court analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who attended the arguments. "(Roberts) was so much a focus of attention because of his vote in the first Obamacare case in 2012 that he somehow didn't want to give people a preview of how he was thinking in this case. ... He said barely a word."
The liberal justices came out of the gate with tough questions for Michael Carvin, the lawyer challenging the Obama administration's interpretation of the law, which is that in states that choose not to set up their own insurance exchanges, the federal government can step in, run the exchanges and distribute subsidies.
Carvin argued it was clear from the text of the law that Congress authorized subsidies for middle and low income individuals living only in exchanges "established by the states." Just 16 states have established their own exchanges, but millions of Americans living in the 34 states are receiving subsidies through federally facilitated exchanges.
But Justice Elena Kagan, suggested the law should be interpreted in its "whole context" and not in the one snippet of the law that is the focus of the challengers.
"We look at the whole text. We don't look at four words," she said. Kagan also referred to the legal challenges to the law as the "never-ending saga."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was concerned that in the states where the individuals may not be able to receive subsidies, "We're going to have the death spiral that this system was created to avoid."
And Sotomayor wondered why the four words that so bother the challengers did not appear more prominently in the law. She said it was like hiding "a huge thing in a mousetrap."
"Do you really believe that states fully understood?" she asked, Carvin, that those with federally run exchanges "were not going to get subsidies?"
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested the four words at issue were buried and "not in the body of the legislation where you would expect to find" them.
Justice Anthony Kennedy asked questions that could be interpreted for both sides, but he was clearly concerned with the federalism aspects of the case.
"Let me say that from the standpoint of the dynamics of Federalism," he said to Carvin. "It does seem to me that there is something very powerful to the point that if your argument is accepted, the states are being told either create your own exchange, or we'll send your insurance market into a death spiral."
He grilled Carvin on the "serious" consequences for those states that had set up federally-facilitated exchanges.
"It seems to me that under your argument, perhaps you will prevail in the plain words of the statute, there's a serious constitutional problem if we adopt your argument," Kennedy said.
The IRS -- which is charged with implementing the law -- interprets the subsidies as being available for all eligible individuals in the health exchanges nationwide, in both exchanges set up by the states and the federal government. In Court , Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. defended that position. He ridiculed the challengers argument saying it "revokes the promise of affordable care for millions of Americans -- that cannot be the statute that Congress intended."
But he was immediately challenged by Justice Antonin Scalia.
"It may not mean the statute they intended, the question is whether it's the statute they wrote," he said.
Although as usual, Justice Clarence Thomas said nothing, Justice Samuel Alito was also critical of Verrilli's argument. He said if it were true that some of the states were caught off guard that the subsidies were only available to those in state run exchanges, why didn't more of them sign amicus briefs. And he refuted the notion that the sky might fall if the challengers were to prevail by saying the Court could stay any decision until the end of the tax season.
On that point Scalia suggested Congress could act.
"You really think Congress is just going to sit there while all of these disastrous consequences ensue?" he asked.
Verrilli paused and to laughter said, "Well, this Congress? "
Kennedy did ask Verrilli a question that could go to the heart of the case wondering if it was reasonable that the IRS would have been charged with interpreting a part of the law concerning "billions of dollars" in subsidies.
Only Ginsburg brought up the issue of standing -- whether those bringing the lawsuit have the legal right to be in Court which suggested that the Court will almost certainly reach the mandates of the case.
President Barack Obama has expressed confidence in the legal underpinning of the law in recent days.
"There is, in our view, not a plausible legal basis for striking it down," he told Reuters this week.
Wednesday's hearing marks the third time that parts of the health care law have been challenged at the Supreme Court.
In this case -- King v. Burwell -- the challengers say that Congress always meant to limit the subsidies to encourage states to set up their own exchanges. But when only 16 states acted, they argue the IRS tried to move in and interpret the law differently.
Republican critics of the law, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, filed briefs warning that the executive was encroaching on Congress' "law-making function" and that the IRS interpretation "opens the door to hundreds of billions of dollars of additional government spending."
Hatch said Republicans would work with the states and give them the "freedom and flexibility to create better, more competitive health insurance markets offering more options and different choices."
In Court, Verrilli stressed that four words -- "established by the state" -- found in one section of the law were a term of art meant to include both state run and federally facilitated exchanges.
He argued the justices need only read the entire statute to understand Congress meant to issue subsidies to all eligible individuals enrolled in all of the exchanges.
Democratic congressmen involved in the crafting of the legislation filed briefs on behalf of the government arguing that Congress' intent was to provide insurance to as many people as possible and that the challengers' position is not consistent with the text and history of the statute.
Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell warned that if the government loses it has prepared no back up plan to "undo the massive damage." | 0fake |
All dogs on dog Tinder | All dogs on dog Tinder 14-11-16 DOGS are using social media for no-strings hookups with other dogs, it has emerged. Experts believe that all dogs are using dog phone apps to meet fellows dogs for secret liaisons, often under their owners’ noses. Stephen Malley, a golden retriever, said: “I use Doggr to meet other dogs who I might like to casually hump while I’m out and about. “I’m in a committed relationship with a chew toy, but there’s such a thrill about meeting some anonymous dog in the park and just going at it in the bushes. “I like to have my owner with me in my profile picture, because it shows I have a sensitive, affectionate side, and bitches love that.” Nikki Hollis, a highland terrier, said: “I like Sniffr, because it matches me with other dogs whose anal glands I want to sniff. Which is all other dogs.” Professor Henry Brubaker, of the Institute for Studies, said: “We believe users of Doggr only ever swipe right, whether they’re looking at a picture of a dog, an armchair, a human leg, or a cat. “We have also identified dog Uber, which involves lying down and whining until you’re picked up and carried home.”
Share: | 1real |
Politicians to Skip Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade After Gay Group Is Banned - The New York Times | Some of Massachusetts’s top politicians said on Wednesday that they would not attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in South Boston after organizers told a group of gay and transgender military veterans that they would not be allowed to march on March 19 after two years of L. G. B. T. inclusion in the event. The governor, Charlie Baker, and the mayor of Boston, Martin J. Walsh, both announced their decision to skip the parade over its decision to bar the group, OutVets. In a statement, the mayor encouraged the public to do the same. “I will not tolerate discrimination in our city of any form,” Mr. Walsh said. “I will not be marching in the parade unless this is resolved. Anyone who values what our city stands for should do the same. ” Mr. Baker said it “doesn’t make any sense” to exclude the group. “If veterans’ groups aren’t allowed to march in that parade for whatever reason, then I’ll probably do something else,” he told reporters on Wednesday. The controversy began on Tuesday night when the parade organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, voted 9 to 4 to exclude OutVets. Dan Magoon, the executive director of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, resigned as the parade’s chief marshal over that decision. Mr. Magoon, who voted in favor of including OutVets, said there was “strong opposition” to the group’s participation. He said opponents cited the group’s late application as well as a past code of conduct violation. “They didn’t tell us anything detailed or specific about the incident, but it was enough to swing the vote,” Mr. Magoon said. According to the code of conduct published by the Allied War Veterans Council, the parade does not ban L. G. B. T. groups, but it also “will not allow the advertisement or display of one’s sexual orientation as a topic that should in any way be depicted as a theme of our parade. ” Bryan Bishop, the founder of OutVets, said parade organizers told him on Wednesday night that a small rainbow patch that has been part of the group’s logo since 2014 was found to be in violation of that rule. “My jaw just dropped on the floor,” he said. Marchers from his group wore jackets with the logo in 2015 and 2016 without incident, he said. Organizers told him Wednesday that they had violated the rules two years in a row. “They said people felt that rainbows represent the gay community,” Mr. Bishop said. “I told them if that’s the case, then every picture of a rainbow in the parade that leads to a pot of gold needs to be removed. ” Mr. Bishop said parade organizers told him they would allow his group to march only if it removed the rainbow patch or did not display its logo, which he refused. “They refuse to change their minds,” he said. “They are stuck in an arcane time in our history. ” He said parade organizers also complained that allowing OutVets to march had cost them support from the Roman Catholic Church. Leaders of the veterans council did not respond to emails or return phone calls on Wednesday evening seeking comment. “This is an issue that didn’t need to exist because OutVets has marched consecutively for the last two years with no incident,” Mr. Magoon said. It was the first L. G. B. T. group to march in the Boston parade. The decision in Boston represents a backsliding on gay and transgender rights in one of the most liberal cities in the country, and it appeared to take many there by surprise. Michael Flaherty, a Boston city councilor, said the decision was “disgusting,” adding, “Whoever voted for this is a nitwit. ” United States Senator Edward J. Markey said he would boycott the parade, too, unless the veterans council changed its decision, which he called “a stunning and inexplicable reversal. ” “We all believed we’d moved beyond a time when the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was used as an occasion to exclude people, in this case veterans, from our community just because of who they are or who they love,” he said in a statement. Sponsors of the parade began to drop out on Wednesday as well. The supermarket Stop Shop said it would no longer sponsor the parade, and said it was “evaluating” its continued participation in the event. As politicians and sponsors began to object, The Associated Press reported on Thursday that the veterans council would hold an emergency meeting on Friday to reconsider their decision. Gay and transgender groups campaigned for years to be included in St. Patrick’s Day parades in Boston, New York and other cities. Organizers historically told gay and transgender people they could not march under their own banner but could march with other groups in the parades, which celebrate Irish heritage and were traditionally organized by groups often deeply influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. When an L. G. B. T. group marched in the New York parade with Mayor David N. Dinkins in 1991, spectators shouted epithets and threw beer bottles at them for nearly 40 blocks. The mayor told reporters the experience reminded him of marching in Birmingham, Ala. during the civil rights movement. “I knew there would be deep emotions, but I did not anticipate the cowards in the crowd,” he said. The conflict over the New York parade came to a head in 2014 when Mayor Bill de Blasio boycotted it — the first mayor since Mr. Dinkins to do so — over its ban on L. G. B. T. groups. Guinness, a leading sponsor of the parade, also cut ties that year. The first L. G. B. T. group marched in New York in 2015. Niall O’Dowd, the publisher of several news media outlets, said some in Boston objected to the participation of OutVets in 2015, but when the group returned in 2016 “there was no problem. ” He compared opponents of L. G. B. T. participation in the parades to Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender at the end of World War II and kept fighting for decades from isolated positions. “This is just insane. This fight has been won. There’s no question,” he said. “Everyone thought this would be part of the usual historical progression, but now they’ve banned them again, which is extraordinary. ” | 0fake |
Trump Judicial Nominee: Transgender Children Are Part Of ‘Satan’s Plan’ Of ‘Destruction’ | Donald Trump s nominee for a federal judgeship in Texas sounds like Michele Bachmann in his defense of conversion therapy, a discredited and dangerous practice. That practice, which claims to change a person s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, has been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades. So naturally, Donald Trump s judicial pick, Jeff Mateer, the current first assistant attorney general of Texas, thinks it s a swell idea.At the time Mateer was serving as general counsel of the First Liberty Institute (have you noticed the liberty never means what they think it means?), he faced criticism from LGBT rights groups.Flashback: As the GOP nominee, Donald Trump said, As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Believe me. And then he chose a bigot as his vice-president and now a judicial nominee with his head up his a**.If Mateer is confirmed by the US Senate, he will serve on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.CNN reports:In a May 2015 speech, titled The Church and Homosexuality, Mateer discussed a Colorado lawsuit in which the parents of a transgender girl sued her school for preventing her from using the bathroom of her choice. In Colorado, a public school has been sued because a first grader and I forget the sex, she s a girl who thinks she s a boy or a boy who thinks she s a girl, it s probably that, a boy who thinks she s a girl, Mateer said in a video posted on Vimeo in 2015 And the school said, Well, she s not using the girl s restroom. And so she has now sued to have a right to go in. Now, I submit to you, a parent of three children who are now young adults, a first grader really knows what their sexual identity? he said. I mean it just really shows you how Satan s plan is working and the destruction that s going on. Trump, however, said in April that people should use the bathroom they feel is appropriate. Apparently, that s all changed now as he picks staunch and extreme conservatives to fill his administration and now, judicial posts.In that same May 2015 speech, Mateer said that the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage could lead to what he called disgusting new forms of matrimony. I submit to you that there ll be no line there, he said. Why couldn t four 4 people wanna get married? Why not one man and three women? Or three women and one man? I mean, it s disgusting. I ve learned words I didn t know. I mean, other than my assistants here, have you ever heard the word throuple ? Throuple so that s three people coming together of different sexes, maybe mixed sexes, he continued as if he couldn t stop himself. Them coming together. There are people who marry themselves. Somebody wanted to marry a tree. People marrying their pets. It s just like you know, you read the New Testament and you read about all the things and you think, Oh, that s not going on in our community. Oh yes, it is. We re back to that time where debauchery rules. Later that year in November 2015, Mateer blasted states for banning gay conversion therapy at a conference hosted by controversial pastor Kevin Swanson, who preaches that the Biblical punishment for homosexuality is death. Swanson has called for executing gays and he did that at an event packed with GOP candidates. The issue is always, it s same sex, Mateer said, according to CNN. And if you re giving conversion therapy, that s been outlawed in at least two states and then in some local areas. So they re invading that area. Image via screen capture. | 1real |
Missouri Democrats filibuster proposed gay discrimination amendment | (Reuters) - Democratic senators in Missouri were in the 20th hour of filibuster on Tuesday, trying to block a Republican-proposed amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit penalties on religious groups that discriminate against same-sex couples. The Democratic caucus began the filibuster at 4 p.m. on Monday and members said they planned to continue until Wednesday. A filibuster is a prolonged debate - often around the clock - aimed at blocking progress of an initiative. The proposed amendment in Missouri is the latest in a series of measures introduced around the country by conservatives in reaction to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court legalization of same-sex marriage. The measures seek to protect religious groups and companies from being fined or punished if they decline to provide services such as wedding cakes or flowers to same-sex couples. “The most offensive thing is that it would put discriminatory language into the constitution of the state. But it would also put general revenue of the state at risk,” Senate Minority Leader Joe Keaveny, a Democrat, told Reuters. He pointed to a similar Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana that led to groups threatening to cancel conventions in Indianapolis. If the resolution to amend the constitution, SJR 39, passes the Senate, it would go to the state’s House of Representatives and then to Missouri voters for approval. Republicans dominate both houses of Missouri’s General Assembly, with 24 of 34 Senate seats and 116 of 163 House seats. Keaveny said Republicans could respond to the filibuster by forcing a vote on the resolution to amend the constitution, but said that would be an unusual step. They could withdraw the resolution, or put it on an informal calendar to debate at a later date. Republican Senator Bob Onder, who sponsored the resolution, said the resolution does not discriminate, but protects vulnerable religious institutions. “We are fighting for fairness and the right for people to freely live out their faith while not infringing on the rights of others,” he said. The language of the proposed amendment says it “prohibits the state from imposing a penalty on a religious organization who acts in accordance with a sincere religious belief concerning same sex marriage, which includes the refusal to perform a same sex marriage ceremony or allow a same sex wedding ceremony to be performed on the religious organization’s property.” Although the amendment does not mention companies, Keaveny said Democrats believe it would allow businesses to claim religious belief as a defense for refusing service to same-sex couples. | 0fake |
Unpopularity of Clinton, Trump puts spotlight on potential running mates | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rarely have two U.S. presidential front-runners needed more from running mates than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Democratic and Republican leaders in the 2016 White House race are unusually unpopular nationally, polls show, despite their success with voters in their respective parties. Clinton has struggled to generate excitement about her candidacy and assuage voter concerns about her trustworthiness, while Trump fares badly among women and minorities in polls. Their weaknesses only increase the importance of their vice presidential pick, who could potentially help them rally support in key demographics ahead of the Nov. 8 vote - if each gets their party’s nomination. Hispanic advocacy groups are lobbying Clinton to choose a Hispanic running mate. The person most often mentioned - Julian Castro, the housing and urban development secretary who is one of the party’s rising stars - is opposed by liberal activists who accuse him of favoring Wall Street firms in the sale of distressed mortgages. Some of the groups have started an online petition against Castro’s candidacy, which has angered the Latino Victory Fund, a nonpartisan advocacy group that has been pushing for a Latino vice-presidential nominee. “These attacks against Secretary Castro are completely unfounded, short sighted, and only serve to pit us against each other,” said Cristobal Alex, the fund’s president. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has called on Clinton to choose Castro. Democratic strategist Joe Velasquez, a Clinton supporter, said a Hispanic running mate could make a difference in swing states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada and Virginia, which have large Hispanic populations. Polls show Hispanic voters overwhelmingly dislike Trump, in part because of his comments likening illegal immigrants to criminals. U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez has also been mentioned as a possible Latino pick. But Clinton’s decision isn’t clear-cut. Given Trump’s unpopularity with some moderate Republicans, she may want a vice-president who can wrest away some of those voters. Someone like Tim Kaine, a senator from Virginia who personally opposes abortion but supports a woman’s right to choose, or New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who has close ties to the financial sector. There was no immediate comment from Castro, Kaine, Perez or Booker. Clinton though could give a higher priority to winning over liberal democrats, who see her as too pro-Wall Street and have flocked to her rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sherrod Brown, a senator from Ohio who is a fierce opponent of global trade deals, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a fierce critic of the banking industry, have both been named as possible vice president picks. Brown and Warren did not respond to requests for comment. The Clinton campaign confirmed a report in the Boston Globe that Clinton would include at least one woman in any short list of vice presidential candidates to be vetted. Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis is skeptical that Clinton needs to spend much time appeasing the liberal wing of her party if she wins the nomination. “As much as people have made out this race between Clinton and Sanders to be an ideological death match, Donald Trump will do more to bring the Democratic Party together than anyone has ever done,” he said. Trump is viewed unfavorably by 80 percent of Democrats, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll. But other Democrats fear the increasingly bitter Clinton-Sanders battle, has fractured the party. Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, said Clinton’s pick “has to be viewed through a prism of, among other things, their ability to bring on Sanders voters.” Reuters/Ipsos polling suggests Clinton would struggle to attract some Sanders voters. When asked what they would do if Clinton was the nominee, 15 percent of Sanders supporters said they would stay home on Election Day and 16 percent said they would vote for the Republican nominee. Forty-nine percent said they would vote for Clinton. Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns refused to comment on the vice-presidential speculation, saying they remain focused on winning their respective nominating contests. Clinton holds a commanding lead among the party delegates who will pick the party’s nominee, but Sanders has pledged to keep fighting. Trump may not have the Republican nomination locked down until the summer, if he can beat off challenges by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is running a distant third in the Republican race. Typically, vice-presidential selections are vetted for weeks after a candidate has emerged as the party’s nominee and are announced shortly before the party conventions in the summer. Trump’s polarizing candidacy could make his job of finding a running mate more difficult. For much of the campaign season, many in the Republican establishment, along with well-funded political committees, have been looking for ways to keep Trump from winning the Republican nomination. Trump has stated his preference for an established office-holder rather than a political neophyte like himself, specifically listing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Kasich. Walker, who has endorsed Cruz, laughed when he was asked about the prospect, but has been noncommittal. Rubio has repeatedly rejected the idea. Kasich last week said there was “zero chance” of his playing second fiddle to Trump, despite mounting speculation that he would be an ideal candidate because of his deep government experience and Ohio’s crucial role as a general election swing state. A source close to Kasich told Reuters the governor has no interest in working with Trump as the two don’t agree on much. Cruz, too, said this week he would not be Trump’s running mate, while telling reporters in Hollywood, Florida on Wednesday that “a Trump-Kasich ticket loses to Hillary Clinton.” Tony Fratto, a Republican strategist, said Trump may be forced to turn to “guys at the end of their careers, not people who believe they have a future. Someone in their last act who has nothing to lose by accepting an offer from Trump.” That might include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has been one or the few establishment politicians to campaign for Trump, or Florida Governor Rick Scott, who has endorsed Trump. Both are in their final terms in office. Christie was asked about the prospect in an interview with a New Jersey radio station on Thursday. “The way I think about these things, you never say ‘never,’” he said. Other names linked to Trump include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a Trump adviser, and Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate. There was no immediate comment from Sessions, Scott and Giuliani. Armstrong Williams, a close adviser to Carson, said the former White House hopeful doesn’t want the slot. “At this point he has no interest in being in politics ... none,” Williams said. “I think Trump is looking for someone with government experience, someone who is more political.” | 0fake |
CNN’S JIM ACOSTA Schooled on the Meaning of the Statue of Liberty by Trump Senior Advisor [Video] | We wish President Trump could clone SENIOR ADVISOR Stephen Miller! He s so brilliant and knows immigration like no other! We can t say the same for the White House Press Corp! The Trump administration made some positive announcements on immigration and the left went nuts! Miller got the best of them!Stephen Miller has been with President Trump from the earlier days of the 2016 campaign. He would give incredible speeches to the rally audience. He s so well versed on immigration and American history that he could take on anyone and win in a debate! We love the guy! He s a PATRIOT!FYI: The Statue of Liberty had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with immigration. The Emma Lazarus poem that Acosta refers to was affixed to the pedestal as an ex post facto inscription in 1903. ONE OF OUR FAVORITE MILLER MOMENTS WAS A SPEECH DURING THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT AWESOME!Trump spokesperson Stephen Miller just hammers Hillary Clinton! You will love every minute of this!HERE S A PREVIOUS REPORT WHERE MILLER RIPS INTO CHUCK TODD ANOTHER AWESOME MILLER MOMENT!There was a big hit piece in WaPo on Stephen Miller that called him every nasty thing in the book. He battled back and steamrolled over Chuck Todd. Keep it up Stephen Miller! We absolutely love how you re calling out the left!WATCH Stephen Miller SMOKE @chucktodd on Immigration. Chucky keeps trying to interrupt Miller steamrolls over him! pic.twitter.com/kOurG4cpWH Boston Bobblehead (@DBloom451) February 12, 2017 | 1real |
Zapatistas solidarizam-se com a resistência yaqui | Zapatistas solidarizam-se com a resistência yaqui 27.10.2016 | Fonte de informações: Pravda.ru No passado dia 21 de Outubro o povo yaqui de Loma de Bácum bloqueou uma via de acesso ao seu território em protesto pela construção de um gasoduto nas suas terras, as autoridades mexicanas reagiram com violência e do confronto resultaram um morto, oito feridos e 13 viaturas incendiadas. O Exército Zapatista de Libertação Nacional e o Congresso Nacional Indígena distribuíram no dia 25 um comunicado solidarizando-se com o povo yaqui, tribo ameríndia cujo território se encontra disperso entre vários Estados do México e dos Estados Unidos da América, o qual reproduzimos na integra. Flávio Gonçalves "COMUNICADO CONJUNTO DO CNI E DO EZLN EM APOIO À DIGNA RESISTÊNCIA DA TRIBO YAQUI Outubro de 2016 À TRIBO YAQUI, AOS POVOS E GOVERNOS DO MUNDO, Nós, os povos originais que constituem o Congresso Nacional Indígena e as comunidades zapatistas, enviamos os nossos votos mais sinceros e solidários à Tribo Yaqui, ao seu governo tradicional e às suas tropas, expressando que estamos convosco nestes momentos difíceis, após os confrontos decorridos no passado dia 21 de Outubro em Loma de Bácum. Repudiamos os confrontos e a discórdia que os maus governos, e os seus capatazes das empresas nacionais e estrangeiras, promovem e semeiam nas comunidades, com a ambição de ficarem com o gás, a água e os minerais do território Yaqui, propósito para o qual os poderosos fomentam a divisão como ferramenta para impor a morte e a destruição sobre os nossos territórios, pois para eles nada significamos além de mais poder e de mais dinheiro. Como povos, nações e tribos do Congresso Nacional Indígena, bem como povos zapatistas, saudamos a defesa do território da tribo yaqui, apelamos à união perante um inimigo que é um só e que tenta retirar-nos tudo o que temos como povo, tudo o que torna possível a nossa organização colectiva, a nossa história, a nossa língua e a nossa vida. Nas várias geografias da resistência dos povos originais deste país, os maus governos utilizam o nosso próprio povo para disseminar a violência entre irmãos, a qual lhes garante a imposição de letais projectos de extracção, de reformas estruturais, da destruição da organização comunitária e o surgimento do terror entre os que lutam. Para aqueles que combatem, em contraste com os capitalistas, a vida e o futuro dos povos são tudo. Apelamos à sociedade civil nacional e internacional, aos povos originais, à Sexta nacional e internacional e aos órgãos de comunicação social independente, que estejam atentos e exijam o respeito que merecem os povos indígenas na sua organização autónoma e na sua livre determinação. Outubro de 2016 Pela Reconstituição Integral dos Nossos Povos Nunca Mais um México Sem Nós | 1real |
Globally, Orlando Attack Strikes Now-Familiar Fault Lines - The New York Times | ROME — By Monday morning, the grim, if now familiar, global ritual had begun. Leaders across Europe, Asia and elsewhere sent messages of sympathy and outrage. Editorialists opined against extremism and violence. Symbolic gestures — another special lighting of the Eiffel Tower — were announced. Solidarity hashtags circled the virtual globe. The Orlando attack now ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. And the horrific slaughter early Sunday at a gay nightclub has a uniquely American component, again demonstrating an easy access to assault weapons that stupefies much of the rest of the world. But judging from the initial reaction, the attack in Florida resonated globally on Monday not as an American anomaly, but because it felt so universal. Orlando now takes a place with Paris, Brussels, Beirut, Bamako, San Bernardino and other cities struck by different incarnations of terrorism in recent years. Candles were once lit in their honor, too. The Orlando attack is already stirring debate on some of the most visceral fault lines of American politics: terrorism and Islamophobia, security and civil liberties, gun control and gay rights. But absent guns, those issues also resonate across the world, especially in many developed countries wrestling with how to maintain their freedoms in the face of violent attacks on their values. In an interconnected world, what seemed most relevant was what bound together the satirists of Charlie Hebdo, the rock music fans at the Bataclan, the tourists at the Brussels airport and the young people dancing early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando — not what divided them and their societies. But that connectedness also meant that Orlando quickly became politicized globally as well as in the United States. One organization campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union in the June 23 national referendum posted a campaign message on Twitter that showed Islamic State fighters warning of an “ atrocity” if Britain remained in the European bloc. The group deleted the message after the person who posted it was widely condemned. For many gays, lesbians and transgender people, the Orlando attack was a searing moment, highlighting the continued threats they face from an ideologically varied array of sources even as much of the world grows more inclusive about sexuality. In London, Owen Jones, a liberal columnist who is gay, walked off the set of a Sky News program after arguing with the host on how the Orlando attack should be defined. Mr. Jones argued it was both a terrorist attack and an hate crime, while the program’s host sought to make a distinction between the two. “This guy, however he dresses up his bigotry and hatred, is someone who hates gays,” Mr. Jones said of the killer. “If he went into a synagogue and killed innocent Jewish people, as people have done, disgusting terrorists, we’d call it out for what it is. “This was a homophobic hate crime as well as terrorism. ” The day before the Orlando attack, thousands of people took part in gay pride parades in Croatia and Poland amid concerns about rising political trends. In Brazil, a spate of killings of gay and transgender people has started an intense debate, with some Brazilians arguing that the rising clout of evangelical Christian legislators is increasing intolerance in the country. “These killings in Orlando were motivated by the most sordid homophobia,” said Jean Wyllys, an openly gay congressman from Rio de Janeiro. “This could have happened to any of us, to me, to a friend, a work colleague, a neighbor, a cousin. They could be dead if they had been in Orlando enjoying themselves at a club without harming anyone else. ” Europe’s mainstream political leaders were quick to offer condolences on Monday and affirm their friendship with the American people. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany condemned “such a murderous attack” and declared a determination to “continue our open, tolerant life. ” Tel Aviv’s City Hall was bathed in the colors of the rainbow and the American flag on Sunday night. The town hall in Sydney, Australia, was lit in pink. In Britain, the cities of Blackpool and Liverpool said they would light local landmarks with rainbow colors on Monday night in memory of the victims. Even so, the Orlando killings come as political parties in Europe are stoking sentiments in a similar vein to Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the United States. As Mr. Trump quickly seized on the massacre to renew his call to view Muslim immigrants as a threat, some politicians in the European right did the same. Hungary’s government has been in the vanguard on resisting migrants, and championing a illiberal democracy. On Monday, Lajos Kosa, the parliamentary leader of the governing party, invoked the Orlando attacks as a cudgel to repeat the party’s campaign against migrants from Syria and other Muslim nations. “Uncontrolled migration, forced resettlement, the inflow of crowds into European society who not only cannot but do not want to integrate come with enormous dangers,” Mr. Kosa told a plenary session of the Hungarian Parliament on Monday. In recent years, as Europe has struggled to respond to Islamist terrorism, security in the United States was regarded as more efficient and better organized. Europe’s national security agencies were poorly coordinated and blamed for failing to root out cells of homegrown Islamist terrorists, especially in France and Belgium. Now, after the attacks in Orlando and San Bernardino, Calif. the United States also seems likely to confront difficult questions about the government’s ability to track and stop determined killers, especially those who operate largely on their own, drawing inspiration but not practical support from groups like the Islamic State. The questions are likely to be especially pointed for the F. B. I. given that it had twice investigated the Orlando killer, Omar Mateen, for possible terrorist ties. For years, America’s liberal gun laws, and the unwillingness of Congress to change them, have mystified people in many other countries. In Japan, the American gun issue is treated as a bizarre aberration, and much of the news media coverage of the Orlando killings focused on the terrorism angle. Only one person was killed by a gun last year in Japan, according to the National Police Agency, and there were only eight reported incidents of a gun being fired. In China, news of the Orlando shooting came only hours after a man set off primitive explosives in the area at an airport in Shanghai. Four people were slightly injured, showing the gulf between the two countries in the lethality of the weapons available to the public. In China, where ordinary citizens have no access to firearms, the weapon of choice is often a large kitchen knife. More than 300, 000 Chinese students are studying at American universities, and the Orlando shooting brought on new concerns from Chinese parents. Gao Junlan, a lawyer from southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, was concerned about her daughter, a chemistry student at the University of Minnesota. Her daughter was at the Shanghai airport when the explosives were detonated there, waiting to catch a flight to the United States. “I think the American government should tighten its gun control,” Ms. Gao said by telephone. “Yes, it is a free society for people with all religions and beliefs, but not everyone is capable of controlling their behavior, and the government’s lax regulation is making killing a lot easier. ” | 0fake |
U.S. House passes bill requiring warrants to search old emails | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to require law enforcement authorities to obtain a search warrant before seeking old emails from technology companies, a win for privacy advocates fearful the Trump administration may work to expand government surveillance powers. The House passed the measure by a voice vote. But the legislation was expected to encounter resistance in the Senate, where it failed to advance last year amid opposition by a handful of Republican lawmakers after the House passed it unanimously. Technology companies such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) have lobbied Congress for years to pass the Email Privacy Act, which updates a decades-old law to force authorities to first get a warrant to access emails or other digital communications that are at least 180 days old. MORE FROM REUTERSChanneling Steve Jobs, Apple seeks design perfection at new 'spaceship' campusFrom disputes to a breakup: wounds still raw after U.S. electionIslamic State sees chance to revive fortunes in Trump presidency Currently, agencies such as the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission only need a subpoena, which is subject to less judicial oversight than a warrant, to seek such data from a service provider - a standard that has existed since the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was adopted in 1986. Supporters of the bill passed Monday say it is needed to update an out of date law conceived and written before the rise of the commercial internet. Richard Salgado, director of law enforcement and information security at Google (GOOGL.O), said in a statement the measure would “fix a constitutional flaw” in the ECPA. “While there are disagreements about other aspects of surveillance reform, there is no disagreement that emails and electronic content deserve Fourth Amendment protections,” he said. But some senators, including No. 2 Republican John Cornyn, last year sought to use the legislation as a vehicle for amendments that would expand the FBI’s domestic surveillance capabilities, effectively killing the bill. Debate over law enforcement access to Americans’ electronic communications intensified last year when the FBI sought a court order to make Apple help unlock an encrypted iPhone linked to one of the shooters behind a deadly attack in San Bernardino, California. Privacy advocates have expressed alarm at President Donald Trump’s ability to expand government spying. The Republican campaigned on a “law and order” platform that included suggestions he may want to place some mosques in the United States under surveillance and maintain a national database on Muslims. Microsoft last year filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over ECPA, alleging that the government’s use of the law violated the U.S. constitution. It argued that ECPA is too often used to prevent companies from notifying its users, sometimes indefinitely, when investigators pry into emails and other data stored on remote servers. | 0fake |
MATT DAMON Says America Needs IMMEDIATE GUN BAN After Making $50 MILLION KILLING People With Guns In Popular Movie Series | It warms the heart to know people as important as Hollywood actor Matt Damon care so much about the little people with guns in America. If Damon really feels so strongly about the government taking our Second Amendment right away, perhaps he should stop making a living with guns Matt Damon will return to the big screen as trained assassin Jason Bourne later this month, and while promoting the new film in Australia over the weekend called for a ban on guns in the United States.In an interview with a reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald, Damon said: You guys did it here in one fell swoop and I wish that could happen in my country, but it s such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly. We just can t. Damon made these comments at the red carpet premiere of the new Bourne movie, a film series in which he has killed at least 10 people with a firearm.Damon, who has reportedly made over $50million for his work in the four Bourne films, has also had no issue with using weapons in other films.The 45-year-old actor has also carried firearms in his movies The Departed, Green Zone and Elysium, to name just a few.Via: Daily Mail | 1real |
In Pakistan, North Korean diplomat's alcohol stash raises bootlegging suspicions | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Neighbors say when three men kicked down the doors and burgled the home of a North Korean diplomat in Islamabad last month, it took them more than three hours to lug out their booty: thousands of bottles of Scotch whisky, beer and French wine. The robbers came prepared. Police and witnesses said they brought three cars and a small truck to plunder Hyon Ki Yong s trove of alcoholic drinks, which is worth more than $150,000 on the black market in a country where it is illegal for Muslims to consume alcohol. The police, who recovered much of the stash soon after the Oct. 3 burglary, say that the three robbers were police officers and have issued arrest warrants for them and for a member of a well-known bootlegging family. They have also arrested Hyon s housekeeper. Senior police and customs officials say the discovery of such a large amount of liquor has led them to conclude that some North Korean diplomats are involved in selling alcohol either to make money for themselves or to provide funds for the cash-starved regime in Pyongyang. The North Korean government is facing increasingly tough United Nations-backed economic sanctions because of its nuclear weapons and missile development programs. This North Korean was involved in liquor selling, said a senior police official in Islamabad who is familiar with the investigation, in reference to Hyon. The officer said North Korean diplomats in Pakistan had been doing this for years, though he didn t provide direct evidence of such sales. Reuters could not independently verify that Hyon had been selling alcohol. A diplomat from the North Korean embassy declined to comment on Hyon s case, or the wider allegations about alcohol sales. It has been discussed between the embassy and MOFA (Pakistan s ministry of foreign affairs), said the diplomat, who put the phone down before identifying himself. He did not respond to subsequent calls. Reuters was unable to reach Hyon for comment. The investigating police officer, Ishtiaq Hussain, said that the housekeeper, Boota Masih, had confessed to his role in the crime and had provided all the details. Masih is in custody and he could not be reached for comment. Reuters couldn t determine if he has a lawyer. One of the officers being sought by police, Malik Asif, told Reuters when contacted by phone that he denies being involved in the burglary. He said he is currently in hiding. He said he had no doubt that North Koreans were involved in the alcohol smuggling business. They have been doing this business for a long time, he added. Some foreign diplomats in Islamabad have long-held suspicions that North Korean diplomats in Pakistan are involved in bootlegging. They say they believe Pakistan has turned a blind eye to bootlegging by North Koreans, perhaps out of courtesy to the historic ties between the two countries. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist lionized as the father of Pakistan s atomic bomb, in 2004 said he had sold nuclear secrets to North Korea. Pakistan denies being lax in policing such behavior by North Korean diplomats. No such activity has ever been, or shall ever be tolerated, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told Reuters. When asked about this particular case, Faisal said: Pakistan is actively investigating the case and any indiscretion, if proven, will be punished as per national and international laws. Pakistan has also always denied helping North Korea with its nuclear program. This summer, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad along with South Korean and Japanese counterparts lodged a complaint with Pakistan s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the size of the North Korean mission in Pakistan, because they wanted to reduce its ability to raise funds for Pyongyang by reselling imported alcohol, according to diplomatic sources in Islamabad and Seoul. The Japanese and South Koreans had been making such requests for more than a year, according to a source in Seoul. A Japanese foreign ministry source has denied knowledge of the demarche. The source in Seoul estimates North Korea has 12-14 diplomats in Pakistan, split between Islamabad and Karachi, prompting some diplomats to wonder why Pyongyang needs so many representatives when according to Pakistan central bank data - its official trade with Pakistan has ceased since August 2016. Washington has been tightening the diplomatic and economic noose around North Korea, seeking to cut its foreign sources of funding amid fears the world s most isolated regime is on the cusp of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to American shores. The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan declined to comment. Japan s foreign ministry declined to comment. The South Korean foreign ministry said: Our government is closely monitoring any movement concerning illegal activities of North Korea but we cannot officially confirm this case. Pakistan s foreign ministry didn t respond to questions about the pressure it faced from other nations over the size of North Korea s mission. When Hyon discovered the robbery on Oct. 4 after returning to Islamabad from a trip to China, the diplomat rushed to the nearby police station to report the crime. He was angry and upset, said Hussain, the police officer who interviewed Hyon in Islamabad s Kohsar police station. And very worried. Hyon told the police the robbers had fled with 1,200 bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, 200 cases of wine, 60 cartons of beer, dozens of bottles of tequila, two diamonds and $3,000 in cash, according to a police document reviewed by Reuters. On the black market, the whisky alone is worth $80 per bottle, or a total $96,000. Hyon and the North Korean embassy told police the alcohol was imported legally and presented documents to back up its case. Police declined to make the documents available. A week after the robbery, North Korea s ambassador to Pakistan met the foreign ministry s chief of protocol and requested Hyon s missing items be returned, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry document seen by Reuters. It is unclear whether Hyon, who would have diplomatic immunity, is himself under investigation. Documents reviewed by Reuters showing four separate alcohol import orders by North Korea s embassy between March-December 2016 paint a picture of a mission importing alcoholic drinks that would be far above any reasonable personal needs of its diplomats. During the nine-month period, the embassy imported 10,542 bottles of French Bordeaux wine through Truebell, a United Arab Emirates-based company. The four orders, billed by Truebell at $72,867, also included a total of 17,322 cans of Heineken and Carlsberg beer, as well as 646 bottles of champagne. A person who answered the phone on Truebell s Sharjah, UAE number told Reuters that the company no longer has any dealing with North Korea, but did not elaborate, and would not answer any more questions. Alcohol is a sensitive issue in Pakistan. Muslims, by law, are not allowed to consume alcohol but many among the Westernized elite drink. Non-Muslims such as Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, accounting for about 3 percent of the population between them, are allowed to drink alcohol but obtaining high-quality imported liquor and wine is almost impossible through legal means. This has spawned a lucrative black market. Alcohol is smuggled across borders and through sea ports, while several diplomats from poorer countries told Reuters they had been offered thousands of dollars by bootleggers to buy their quarterly alcohol quotas. I ve been approached five times, usually at diplomatic receptions, said one non-Western diplomat. Under Pakistan s rules, Hyon, who has the first secretary rank at the North Korean embassy, would every three months be allowed to import a consignment of alcohol. Under one of the allowed formulas that would mean 120 liters of various spirits, 18 liters of wine and 240 liters of beer only a fraction of the amount he reported missing. | 0fake |
China, Fanning Patriotism, Adds 6 Years to War with Japan in History Books - The New York Times | BEIJING — For generations, the “ War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” has been ingrained in the minds of Chinese schoolchildren. Revolutionary hymns evoked the bloody years, from 1937 to 1945, of what is known outside China as the Second War. Chinese documentaries denounced Japan’s “eight years of belligerence. ” Now the war is getting a new name, and an extended time frame. In a move aimed at stirring up nationalism and support for the ruling Communist Party, President Xi Jinping’s government has ordered educators to rewrite textbooks to describe the conflict as the “ War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” lasting from 1931 to 1945, the authorities said in a statement on Wednesday. Under the decision, the Second War will be described as having started in the fall of 1931, when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Manchuria. Previously, the war’s beginning had been traced to the Marco Polo Bridge incident, a skirmish in 1937 between Japanese forces and Chinese troops along a rail line southwest of Beijing that represented the beginning of conflict. The Chinese Ministry of Education said the decision to add six years to the war sought to promote patriotic education and to highlight the Communist Party’s “core role” in resisting Japanese fascism in the prelude to World War II. It also seemed intended to rally support for the party among young people as Mr. Xi vigorously promotes Communist history and thought in schools. Zhang Lifan, a historian in Beijing, said the decision to revise the length of the war was justified from a historical perspective. But he said it would also have political benefits for the party and would encourage sentiment. “Chinese leaders still have a Cold War mentality,” he said. “They’ve tried to conjure up imaginary enemies in the world. ” Mr. Xi has worked in recent years to enhance the image of the Communists and their achievements in World War II, even though many historians believe it was the Chinese Nationalists, not the Communists, who did most of the fighting. The party had not previously emphasized the fight against the Japanese from 1931 to 1937, when Communist forces were in disarray as they fought a civil war with the Nationalists. During that time, the Nationalists led efforts to resist the Japanese and negotiate truces. It was not until 1937 that the Communists joined forces with the Nationalists to fight an increasingly belligerent Imperial Japanese Army. Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese politics at King’s College London, called the textbook revision a “tidying up of history. ” He said the revised account exaggerated the Communists’ accomplishments. “It demonstrates this continuing keenness by the party now to seek sources of legitimacy wherever it can,” he said, “and reveals more insecurity than real strength. ” The change will probably ruffle feathers in Japan, China’s longtime rival, as the countries jockey for influence in Asia and struggle to overcome the legacy of World War II, more than 70 years after the global conflict ended. Yasuhisa Kawamura, press secretary for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday that it was not up to the Chinese government to decide the length of the war. “It is important that Japan and China should demonstrate they do not focus excessively on the unfortunate past,” he added. Mr. Xi has accused Japan of distorting history, and the Chinese state news media has criticized Tokyo’s efforts to revise textbooks, saying it has played down atrocities by Japanese soldiers. When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan visited Pearl Harbor last month, Chinese internet users brimmed with outrage, saying Mr. Abe had not done enough to apologize to China for Japan’s actions during the war. In Beijing, many people applauded the government’s decision to revise the textbooks, which are filled with references to wars against “aggression” by foreign forces. The Korean War, for example, is known as the war to resist United States aggression and aid Korea. “The Japanese have also altered their textbooks, why can’t we?” said Wang Yalin, 30, a musician. Still, he said, the change would most likely fuel sentiment in China. Zhao Feng, 38, a tailor, acknowledged that the relationship between the countries had deteriorated. But he said it was important to note the earlier date of Japan’s invasion of China. “The occupation started much earlier,” he said. On social media, some people were more skeptical of the government’s motives for making the change. “Don’t use history education for political ends,” one person wrote on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter. “The most important thing is to learn the truth. ” | 0fake |
SICK REASON Historic City With “Off the charts” Crime Rates Passes Disgusting Ordinance Putting Criminals Before Cops | The Providence (RI) City Council voted Thursday to give first passage to the Community Safety Act, a far-reaching ordinance designed to curb profiling by the city s police but the odd benefits it gives to criminals and specifically gang members has many in law enforcement shaking their head.The council voted 12-0 to approve the ordinance as hundreds of supporters cheered. Mayor Jorge Elorza has already said he intends to sign it into law.After reading the details of this ordinance, the only ones that will be cheering in a few months will be the criminals.While the politicians covered up the terrible provisions in this act by saying that it was simply designed to curb profiling, what was really inside it will create one of the most lawless cities this country knows.The violent crime rate in Providence is already 134% higher than the state average and the passing of this ordinance will be the best thing that Rhode Island criminals have seen in some time.Developed by activist groups, the Community Safety Act is weighed heavily towards giving benefits to the criminal element. If you don t believe us, just look at the official logo (above) of the Act. It shows the police at the bottom, which is exactly where the politicians have placed them by passing this ordinance.No one in law enforcement will argue that racial profiling should not be eliminated but this Act uses that premise to handcuff law enforcement from simply doing their job.The international and extremely violent gang MS-13 that initiated in El Salvador and contains a large number of illegal immigrants here in the United States, has been thriving in Providence, RI for several years. This new Safety Act will go a long way in helping this gang, that uses many of the same practices as ISIS to grow and prosper in Providence:Here are some of the items that the future victims of Providence Crime need to be aware of:And of course, the ordinance ends with an entire page on how police will be prosecuted and sued for any violation of anything in the ordinance of which must goes far and beyond any case law or practice that any agency in this country is currently doing. Actually, the piles of paperwork that the Act requires of a police officer after they stop someone is done in another city .Chicago. Hasn t that worked out well there?Now there will be some that are not educated in the dynamics of what this ordinance will cause that say we oppose this because we want police to racially profile others. That is ridiculous. It is against the law for race to be the sole indicator on profiling and no one in the profession agrees with racial profiling but passing this ordinance because a small section prohibits racial profiling is like eating a salad with a milk shake. Any of the benefits of the salad go away after you drink the 1000 calorie shake.Let us be clear. The City of Providence is in deep trouble. Their crime rate is already off the chart and this Act gives all of the rights to criminals and in an odd way, gang members?Via: LawOfficerJesse Waters takes a look at Providence, RI to help understand why the unemployment is so high. Perhaps instead of passing laws to protect criminals and illegal aliens, Providence should address the root cause of their problems, like fatherless children and an entire generation of drug dealers and slackers (***Warning***this video may make you miss Bill O Reilly and his honest assessment of our inner cities): | 1real |
Tancredo - The Republic at Risk: Deep State Opponents Seek to End the Trump Presidency by Leaks and Sabotage - Breitbart | We are witnessing the unraveling of the fabric of constitutional government, and only a fool can believe it will end well. [The nastiest opponents to President Trump inside and out of government apparently feel justified in using “any means necessary” to defeat and remove him. Every day sees more evidence of a desire not only to block his policies but to drive him from office. While it does not yet rise to the level of an organized conspiracy, it does raise serious issues of constitutional fidelity. First, in the weeks following the November election, we saw street protest and marches, followed by lawsuits, then leaks from inside government, and then talk of “impeachment” over crimes for which no evidence exists. And folks, in the words of Al Jolson, you ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s probably going to get worse. The seeds of this “cultural embarrassment” over Trump’s victory were planted in the days immediately following the November 8 election: These efforts have at least three obvious things in common: desperation born of utter shock at Trump’s election victory elitist arrogance and the active participation and support from the nation’s major media organizations. Yet, there is another novel element interwoven in these events that is even more dangerous — dangerous not simply as a political obstacle to Trump’s agenda, but inherently dangerous to the survival of our country. That novel element is the active, conscious subversion of lawful Presidential orders and initiatives by the permanent civil service apparatus called the “senior bureaucracy. ” It is also being called the “Deep State,” meaning the part of the government that is immune to political appointment and political accountability. And most dangerous of all is the involvement of our nation’s intelligence agencies in the leaks aimed at embarrassing the President. The earliest news stories about an alleged “Russian connection” openly named America’s intelligence operations as the source. Now comes this month’s FBI testimony that the agency has been conducting an investigation of the Trump campaign, and yet the FBI still has not cited any evidence of any that justifies the investigation. This involvement of intelligence agencies and the FBI in investigations — and the subsequent leaking of information gathered in the surveillance — puts into question the President’s ability to trust the information provided to him by those agencies. And THAT, my friends, can seriously impair his ability to manage national security policy and any international or crisis that occurs. The theme of an “illegitimate presidency” provides a veneer of moral justification for seemingly disconnected acts of political sabotage. If resistance to Trump’s policies is resistance to “tyranny” by a “usurper,” then nothing is out of bounds or off limits. This “ ” arrogance is what makes the campaign potentially lethal for constitutional government. The effort to paint President Trump as a usurper who deserves to be thrown out of office is unprecedented in its scope and intensity, and it will have unintended consequences for the Republic. This week there were revelations from the House Intelligence Committee supporting Trump’s allegation of Obama regime surveillance of the Trump campaign and transition. Intelligence gathered by lawful wiretaps of foreign agent activities recorded “incidental” conversations involving persons inside or close to Trump campaign. Those “intercepted” conversations reportedly had nothing to do with alleged “Russian hacking” of the election, nor did they reveal any “collusion” with Russian agents. Yet, contrary to law, the conversations were shared with Obama White House staff and then with the media. How do we explain the bizarre obsession of Democrat leaders and the media with the “Russian connection”? Not one tiny shred of evidence has been produced by anyone to show any Trump campaign collusion with Russian activities connected to the 2016 election. And yet, the media and Democrat opponents (sorry, I repeat myself) continue to raise that specter to keep alive the myth of a “stolen election. ” In the last days of the Obama administration, new rules were signed into law by Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the NSA Director as administrative amendments to Executive Order 12333, rules allowing the distribution of certain raw intelligence data to 16 additional government agencies at home and abroad. It may have been those new rules which facilitated the leaking of information concerning conversations Trump’s nominee for Mike Flynn, had with the Russian Ambassador — conversations which the FBI later said broke no laws. What this week’s revelations show is not any Russian collusion with Trump to influence the election but nearly the exact opposite: elements of the Obama government colluded with intelligence agencies to spy on the Trump campaign — or at a minimum, to use information gathered by surveillance to attack and undermine the Trump campaign team’s transition plans for an orderly changing of the guard. Opposition to Trump policies is to be expected, and by hostile bureaucrats was not unknown in the first year of the Reagan administration and other governmental changeovers. But there are legitimate and lawful means of opposition and illegitimate ones — even illegal ones, like the leaking of classified information. If the saboteurs inside government expect the American public and tens of millions of Trump supporters to tolerate organized, incipient treason against constitutional government, they are mistaken. | 0fake |
Possibility of fire aboard EgyptAir flight raised as body parts, debris found in Mediterranean | As pieces of luggage, human remains, wreckage and what could be a tell-tale oil slick were found early Friday in the Mediterranean Sea, one aviation expert said telemetry received by satellites from the doomed plane suggested a fire could have started onboard, knocking out computers and control mechanisms.
David Learmount said the fire could have started in the plane's avionics compartment. Such a scenario could indicate an electrical fire, and not terrorism, brought down EgyptAir flight 804 on Thursday.
The first physical clues to the crash of flight 804, which carried 66 passengers, crew and security officers, surfaced about 190 miles off the coast of the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Reports of debris being found on Thursday proved false, but the verified debris field could bring authorities closer to the all-important flight data recorder, which could provide insight into what caused the crash.
An EgyptAir official said midday Friday that wreckage of the missing plane has been found, including body parts, luggage and passengers' seats. The announcement came hours after a Greek official also reported evidence being found.
"A short while ago we were briefed by the Egyptian authorities... on the discovery of a body part, a seat and baggage just south of where the aircraft signal was lost," Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told reporters in Athens, according to Reuters.
The Cairo-bound flight had left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris late Wednesday night, and disappeared from radar as it neared its destination. Authorities have said terrorism is more likely than technical failure, but the investigation is still in the early stages.
A flotilla of international ships and boats were searching a wide swath of the sea Thursday and during the night for debris from the ill-fated Airbus 320. The mile-long oil slick was identified from satellite images from the European Space Agency, which cautioned that there was no guarantee the slick was from the missing aircraft. The agency said the slick was about 25 miles southeast of the plane's last known location, and passed the information to relevant authorities late Thursday.
The Egyptian presidency Friday expressed its "deep sadness and extreme regret" over the deaths of the passengers and crew members aboard the flight -- the first official recognition of the tragic crash. Egypt’s military also confirmed for the first time Friday that plane debris and passengers’ personal belongings were found in the Mediterranean Sea.
Egyptian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir wrote on his Facebook page that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane had found "personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris."
Egyptian airport officials said Friday that three French and three British investigators and an AirBus technical expert had arrived in Cairo to join the investigation.
No terror groups had taken credit for the disaster as of Friday morning, and authorities were going through the passenger manifest, crew members' backgrounds and airport staff for possible links to terror. Authorities said the plane swerved and spun wildly before plummeting into the sea. The Egyptian military said that no distress call was received from the pilot.
In Paris, French authorities scoured Charles de Gaulle Airport, the country's main hub, for any sign of a security breach prior to the flight's departure. Reuters reported that investigators were interviewing officers who were on duty at the airport Wednesday night to determine whether they heard or saw anything suspicious.
"We are in the early stages here," a police source told Reuters about the investigation.
The Wall Street Journal reported that French investigators were poring over surveillance footage from the airport, as well as performing background checks of those on board the plane and anyone who may have had ground access to the aircraft.
Flight 804 was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two babies, three security staff and seven crew members, officials said. Egypt's aviation minister, Sharif Fathy, described those on board as including 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, one Briton, two Iraqis, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian and one Canadian.
Families of the victims spent the night in a hotel in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, while they awaited the news of their loved ones. Egyptian officials said some arrived from Paris late Thursday, among them eight relatives of the 15 French passengers on board the missing jet.
Later Friday, the relatives of those killed held prayers for the dead at Sultan Hussein mosque in Cairo. Some of them cried as they prayed.
Among those killed were Salah Abu Laban, his wife Sahar Qouidar, their son Ghassan Abu Laban and daughter-in-law Reem al-Sebaei
The relative, Abdel-Rahman al-Nasry, told The Associated Press, "I ask God for forgiveness. This is very hard for the family."
Magdi Badr, a family friend, said, "we pray for the victims."
In the U.S., Los Angeles International Airport announced Thursday that it was stepping up security in the wake of the EgyptAir disappearance. A statement from airport authorities said they were eliminating or restricting airport worker access to 150 doors in the terminals. The statement also said additional airport police officers had been assigned to monitor employee access points and conduct random screenings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 0fake |
With Common Core tests, a lot at stake for first-year principal | Principal Krystal Hardy has dedicated herself to improving the culture and upping the test scores at a struggling New Orleans charter school. Her third-graders, for one, take 14 standardized tests, including Common Core ones, each year.
Third-grade students at Sylvanie Williams College Prep elementary school read individually in class, on Jan. 16, 2015, in New Orleans. Fifty percent of the children here started the academic year below grade level in reading and math. The goal is to help them catch up and keep making progress.
This story is the third in a yearlong series following Krystal Hardy, a first-year principal trying to bring order and improve test scores at a struggling New Orleans charter school. The project is a partnership between The Christian Science Monitor and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that covers inequality and innovation in education and is affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University.
A week before their final round of Common Core tests, the fifth-graders at Sylvanie Williams College Prep, a charter school in New Orleans, are reviewing the procedures for solving a multi-part word problem in math. Their principal, Krystal Hardy, looks on.
“Pay attention! I’ve seen these kinds of questions on the PARCC test,” says math teacher Tiffany Labrie, referring to the Common Core tests that most students in Louisiana take this month. “This calls for converting ounces to pounds, so you can use your reference sheet,” she tells them, indicating a handout on every desk.
“Don’t forget, you can use the reference sheet today, but also on the what?” asks Ms. Labrie, rhetorically.
“PARCC!” echoes Labrie. “You’ll have those reference sheets during the PARCC tests. Remember to use them!”
Ms. Hardy – who is in her first year as principal – has staked her career on improving the culture and upping the test scores at this struggling elementary school, located in a gritty part of New Orleans' Central City neighborhood. At the start of the academic year in August, 50 percent of the approximately 400 students, nearly all of whom are African-American and most of whom are poor, scored below grade level in reading and math. Their road to improvement is paved with tests.
Indeed, like most public school students across America, pupils at Sylvanie Williams get tested often – although Hardy is trying to balance the “data-driven instruction” with a strong social justice curriculum.
The earliest tests this year helped teachers figure out which students had learned the material and which ones needed that lesson again. After five months, Hardy and her staff began diving deeper, comparing test results with worksheets that students completed in class. When they saw patterns of errors, the teachers themselves worked through the problems, trying to figure out exactly where the students were going wrong.
Their findings have already dramatically changed the way teachers teach. And the teachers are noticing that student achievement is picking up.
“We were able to administer targeted medicine,” says Hardy.
“Instead of saying, ‘Some of these students aren’t good at multiplying,’ ” she says, “we could start to say, for example, that 40 percent of these students in this class don’t seem to understand the place-value concept in three-digit numbers and about 40 percent, say, understand the concept but are not paying attention to details when they compute.”
Students at Sylvanie Williams take annual tests in science and social studies aligned to the state’s standards, plus two rounds of Common Core tests in English and math developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). In some grades, students also take three sets of benchmarking tests three or four times a year. In the end, third-graders, who get tested the most, take a whopping 14 standardized tests per year, in addition to “exit tickets” – teacher-generated assessments at the end of a unit of study.
Testing infuses many aspects of the school day. The walls of Hardy’s office and the teachers’ conference room are hung with posters sporting bar charts that show test results. Students and teachers talk about the test, the test day, and “reaching basic.”
Outside a third-grade classroom, a colorful hand-drawn poster names the children who have achieved the advanced, mastery, and basic levels on one test. In another classroom, a teacher has written out in magic marker a several-foot-long list of standards (4.NF.5: Express equivalent fractions and add fractions with denominators of 10 and 100) – presumably to keep his own teaching on target for the Common Core math test.
Although a vocal minority of parents whose children tend to be enrolled in more affluent schools around the country have refused to let their kids take the Common Core tests, no Sylvanie Williams families have opted out. And Hardy is predicting the final round won’t be a problem for her scholars. “They’re used to it,” she says simply.
Early in the year, diagnostic test results helped distinguish what had been taught from what had been learned. Hardy keeps a close eye on lesson plans – teachers submit them to her each week – so she knows what material is being covered.
By January, armed with more data, Hardy and her teachers and coaches were really poring over the test results. And that’s when the dialogue around instruction began to shift. The teachers started collaborating on how to quickly and directly backfill the specific foundational skills that students need to move forward.
“After that point,” says fourth-grade teacher Terrance Mitchell, “I think as a school we really started to see the achievement of our students begin to accelerate.”
Although Hardy is committed to running a test-driven school, the data focus has its frustrations. Because the Common Core exams are new this year, the PARCC administrators need to perform technical calculations on the results. This means that scores on the tests will be released to Hardy after Sylvanie Williams’s school year ends – too late for teachers to use that data to course-correct.
State political leaders are maneuvering to scuttle or at least modify the use of the Common Core in Louisiana, so it’s not certain that the standards that the students are being asked to meet this year will even be around next year.
The school’s relentless focus on standards and testing reduces time for less defined but often more meaningful types of lessons – ones that help kids understand themselves, their fellow students, and the world around them. But Hardy has tried to squeeze these kinds of experiences into the school day.
In January, she took 40 students on a field trip to Selma, Ala., to join the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the march to Montgomery. And one morning, she taught a unit on poverty in America, which included having third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders compare weekly expenses with median income for high school dropouts, college graduates, and those with a master’s degree.
Recently, a fifth-grade blackboard showed the remnants of a vibrant discussion about young black men, police, and excessive force. “Because of the demographic our children come from, many will face immense challenges and unique realities,” Hardy says.
“We need to prepare them to understand how the world will engage with them. They need to understand how to engage with it. And maybe, create the possibility that they will act as change agents in their world.”
Hardy accepts that her school, and her tenure as principal, will be evaluated largely on test scores. But she is adamant about maintaining what she sees as crucial parts of education that no test will measure.
• This project is a partnership between the Monitor and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news website focused on inequality and innovation in education and is affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University. © 2015 The Christian Science Monitor and The Hechinger Report. | 0fake |
China gives greenlight to dozens of Trump trademarks | SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has granted preliminary approval for 38 trademarks linked to Donald Trump, documents on China’s state trademark office show, giving the U.S. President and his family protection were they to develop the “Trump” brand in the market. The trademarks - which in theory cover a wide sweep of businesses from hotels to mobile libraries and escorts - underline the complexities and potential concerns over conflicts of interest facing President Trump, who has a sprawling business empire using the Trump name around the world. Trump, a wealthy real estate developer, has previously said he has handed over his business interests to a trust overseen by one of his sons and a Trump Organization executive. He can, however, revoke the trust at will and, as its sole beneficiary, remains linked to it financially. The trademarks - mostly variations in English and Chinese on the name “Donald Trump” - were given preliminary approval in two lists published on the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Feb. 27 and Monday. Trump’s lawyers applied for the trademarks in April last year, mostly registered to “Donald J. Trump” and listing to the address of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York. Some U.S. law makers have raised questions about whether Trump’s position as President could prompt preferential treatment of his businesses. Trademark lawyers, however, said that the approval process did not seem that unusual. “If they were filed in April last year and just now approved, it’s fairly normal,” said Yong Heng Wu, Shanghai-based counsel for MWE China focused on intellectual property, adding the general timeframe for preliminary approvals was 6-9 months. “I think the reason why people are paying so much attention to Donald Trump trademarks now is because he became the President of the most powerful country in the world.” The trademarks cover business areas including branded spas, massage parlors, golf clubs, hotels, insurance, finance and real estate companies, retail shops, restaurants, bars, bodyguards and escort services. Intellectual property lawyers said trademark applications were often very broad to give the applicant the most comprehensive protection for their brand. Three of them, related to hotel brand Scion that Trump’s sons want to expand in the United States, are not directly registered in the President’s name but via DTTM Operations LLC. The three are also listed to the Trump Tower address. Asked about the approvals, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had always “equally” protected trademarks for Chinese and foreign companies, adding that the approvals process had been carried out in line with the law. The preliminary approvals are open to be challenged for around a 90-day period. Barring objections they will be formally registered in late May and early June respectively. Trump and his family, like many business owners, hold trademarks around the world, from business sectors such as apparel in the Philippines to golf clubs in Australia and property in Japan and South Korea. These ties between politics and business have, however, prompted concern from politicians and rights groups who say the President could face potential conflicts of interest related to the extensive business affairs of his family. Alan Garten, general counsel for the Trump Organization, said in a statement the group had been actively enforcing its intellectual property rights in China for over a decade. “The latest registrations are a natural result of those long-standing, diligent efforts, and any suggestion to the contrary demonstrates a complete disregard of the facts as well as a lack of understanding of international trademark law.” Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, the ranking member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for formal briefings about the Chinese trademark approvals and on “the potential constitutional dangers that they present.” Cardin has previously introduced a resolution demanding Trump cut his ties with the Trump Organization or risk violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which bars public servants from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless approved by Congress. Chang Tsi & Partners, listed as acting on behalf of Trump’s team for the China trademark applications, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the approvals. Trump received a single trademark approval last month in China for Trump-branded construction services, following a 10-year legal battle. The Associated Press earlier reported the approvals. | 0fake |
null | I was okay with this guy until recently. Now he's just being stupid. OK Duterte, become a servant child of China and enslave your poor little Nation. Even my Filipina wife is getting annoyed by you at this point. Bash the Administration, but don't bash we the American people and call us Dogs you SOB! | 1real |
Putin opens monument to Stalin's victims, dissidents cry foul | MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a monument to the victims of Stalinist purges on Monday, but Soviet-era dissidents accused him of cynicism at a time when they say authorities are riding roughshod over civil freedoms. The Wall of Grief occupies a space on the edge of Moscow s busy 10-lane ring road and depicts a mass of faceless victims, many of whom were sent to prison camps or executed on Josef Stalin s watch after falsely being accused of being enemies of the people. Nearly 700,000 people were executed during the Great Terror of 1937-38, according to conservative official estimates. An unequivocal and clear assessment of the repression will help to prevent it being repeated, Putin said at the opening ceremony. This terrible past must not be erased from our national memory and cannot be justified by anything. His words and the ceremony amounted to one of his strongest condemnations of the Soviet Union s dark side in the 18 years he has dominated Russia s political landscape. Putin has in the past called Stalin a complex figure and said attempts to demonise him were a ploy to attack Russia. But at Monday s ceremony, he said there were lessons for Russia. It doesn t mean demanding accounts be settled, said Putin, who stressed a need for stability. We must never again push society to the dangerous precipice of division. Putin s carefully balanced words reflect Kremlin unease over this year s centenary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which paved the way for Stalin s rise. Uncomfortable about promoting discussion of the idea of governments being overthrown by force, the Kremlin is not organizing any commemorative events. Putin, who is expected to run for and win the presidency again in March, told human rights activists earlier on Monday that he hoped the centenary would allow society to draw a line under the tumultuous events of 1917 and to accept Russia s history - with great victories and tragic pages . Yet some historians fret that what they say is Putin s ambiguity about Stalin along with Russia s 2014 annexation of Ukraine s Crimea have emboldened Stalin s admirers. Monuments and memorial plaques honoring Stalin have sprung up in different Russian regions. State-approved textbooks have softened his image, and an opinion poll in June crowned him the country s most outstanding historical figure. By contrast, those who have helped document Stalin s crimes, from the Memorial human rights group to individual historians and journalists, have sometimes felt themselves under pressure from the authorities. A group of Soviet-era dissidents published a letter on Monday, accusing Putin of cynicism. We ... consider the opening in Moscow of a monument to victims of political repression untimely and cynical, they said in the letter, published on the Kasparov.ru news portal. It s impossible to take part in memorial events organized by the authorities who say they are sorry about victims of the Soviet regime, but in practice continue political repression and crush civil freedoms. | 0fake |
Cancer Survivor Receives First Penis Transplant in the United States - The New York Times | A man whose penis was removed because of cancer has received the first penis transplant in the United States, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Thomas Manning, 64, a bank courier from Halifax, Mass. underwent the transplant operation on May 8 and 9. The organ came from a deceased donor. “I want to go back to being who I was,” Mr. Manning said on Friday in an interview in his hospital room. Sitting up in a chair, happy to be out of bed for the first time since the operation, he said he felt well and had experienced hardly any pain. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Dr. Curtis L. Cetrulo, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and a leader of the surgical team. “It’s uncharted waters for us. ” The surgery is experimental, part of a research program with the ultimate goal of helping combat veterans with severe pelvic injuries, as well as cancer patients and accident victims. If all goes as planned, normal urination should be possible for Mr. Manning within a few weeks, and sexual function in weeks to months, Dr. Cetrulo said. Mr. Manning welcomed questions and said he wanted to speak out publicly to help dispel the shame and stigma associated with genital cancers and injuries, and to let other men know there was hope of having normal anatomy restored. “Don’t hide behind a rock,” he said. He said he was not quite ready to take a close look at his transplant. He will have to take several drugs for the rest of his life. One of them, tacrolimus, seems to speed nerve regeneration and may help restore function to the transplant, Dr. Cetrulo said. Another patient, his penis destroyed by burns in a car accident, will receive a transplant as soon as a matching donor becomes available, Dr. Cetrulo said. Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are also planning to perform penis transplants, and have had a combat veteran, injured in Afghanistan, on the waiting list for several months. Dr. Cetrulo estimated the cost at $50, 000 to $75, 000. Both hospitals are paying for the procedures, and the doctors are donating their time. Worldwide, only two other penis transplants have been reported: a failed one in China in 2006 and a successful one in South Africa in 2014, in which the recipient later fathered a child. Veterans are a major focus of transplant programs in the United States because suicide rates are exceptionally high in soldiers with severe damage to the genitals and urinary tract, Dr. Cetrulo said. “They’re to guys, and they feel they have no hope of intimacy or a sexual life,” he said. “They can’t even go to the bathroom standing up. ” Given the psychological toll, he said, a penis transplant can be lifesaving. Dr. Cetrulo said the team would most likely perfect its techniques on civilian patients and then move on to injured veterans. It will also train military surgeons to perform the transplants. The Department of Defense, he said in an email, “does not like to have wounded warriors undergo unproven techniques — i. e. they do not want them to be ‘guinea pigs,’ as they have already sacrificed so much. ” His team is working on ways to minimize or even eliminate the need for medicines, which transplant patients typically have to take. That research is especially important for veterans, he said, because many are young and will risk serious adverse effects, like cancer and kidney damage, if they have to take the drugs for decades. From 2001 to 2013, 1, 367 men in the military suffered genitourinary injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. Nearly all were under 35 and had been hurt by homemade bombs, commonly called improvised explosive devices, or I. E. D. s. Some lost part or all of their penises. The Massachusetts General team spent three years preparing for the penis transplants. The team did meticulous dissections in a cadaver lab to map out anatomy, and operated on five or six dead donors to practice removing the tissue needed for the transplants. Mr. Manning’s operation involved about a dozen surgeons and 30 other health care workers. Dr. Dicken Ko, a team leader and the director of the hospital’s regional urology program, said the team had not planned a set number of transplants. Instead, he said, the hospital will evaluate candidates one at a time and decide whether to allow surgery. For now, he said, the transplants will be limited to cancer and trauma patients, and will not be offered to transgender people. An accident at work in 2012 brought Mr. Manning to the hospital, and ultimately to the transplant team. Heavy equipment had fallen on him, causing severe injuries. The doctors treating him saw an abnormal growth on his penis that he had not noticed. Tests revealed an aggressive and potentially fatal cancer. Penile cancer is rare, with about 2, 030 new cases and 340 deaths expected in the United States this year. If not for the accident, Mr. Manning said, “I would’ve been in the ground two years ago. ” Doctors said that to save his life, they would have to remove most of his penis, in an operation called a partial penectomy. Mr. Manning’s urologic oncologist, Dr. Adam S. Feldman, estimated that a few hundred men a year needed full or partial penectomies because of cancer. Mr. Manning was left with a stump about an inch long. He had to sit to urinate. Intimacy was out of the picture. He was single and was not involved with anyone when the cancer was found. After the amputation, new relationships were unthinkable. “I wouldn’t go near anybody,” he said. He continued: “I couldn’t have a relationship with anybody. You can’t tell a woman, ‘I had a penis amputation. ’” Some people close to him urged him to keep the operation a secret, but he refused, saying that was like lying, and he had nothing to be ashamed of. “I didn’t advertise, but if people asked, I told them the truth,” he said, adding that a few male friends made “guy talk” jokes at his expense, but that it toughened him up. “Men judge their masculinity with their bodies,” he said. Before he had even left the hospital after the amputation, he began asking Dr. Feldman about a transplant. No one at the hospital was considering the idea yet, and Dr. Feldman admits that he thought it was a bit outlandish. But Mr. Manning never gave up hope. “I kept my eye on the prize,” he said. Soon Dr. Cetrulo and Dr. Ko began talking about transplants. About three years later, Dr. Feldman called Mr. Manning to ask if he still wanted the operation. After a battery of medical tests, interviews and psychological grilling — typical for transplant candidates, to make sure they understand the risks and will take medicine — Mr. Manning was on the waiting list. Two weeks later, a donor with the right blood type and skin tone became available. Mr. Manning was stunned that it had happened so fast. Dr. Cetrulo credits the New England Organ Bank, which asks families of some dying patients to consider organ donation. The organ bank said the donor’s family wished to remain anonymous but had extended a message to Mr. Manning saying they felt blessed and were delighted his recovery was going well. Organ banks do not assume that families who donate internal organs like kidneys and livers will also be willing to give visible or intimate parts like a face, hands or a penis. Those requests are made separately. Several families have agreed to allow the penis to be removed, and none have declined, said Jill Stinebring, the organ bank’s regional director of organ donation services. So far, Mr. Manning has had one serious complication. The day after his surgery, he began to hemorrhage and was rushed back to the operating room. Since then, his recovery has been smoother, he said. He has no regrets. He looks forward to going back to work and hopes to eventually have a love life again. “If I’m lucky, I get 75 percent of what I used to be,” he said. “Before the surgery I was 10 percent. But they made no promises. That was part of the deal. ” | 0fake |
CUBA’S GETTING NUCLEAR Reactors From Putin, While Obama Campaigns For Hillary | As our limp-wristed President flies around on taxpayer funded Air Force One campaigning for Hillary, Putin sells Castro s Cuba nuclear technology.Taxpayers are paying a fortune for the use of Air Force One on the campaign trail by President Obama and Crooked Hillary. A total disgrace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2016A Russian government-controlled company signed an agreement to sell nuclear technology to Cuba this week.Cuba plans to purchase nuclear medical technology, radiation research, training for nuclear specialists, and staff to help manage radioactive waste. Ultimately, the country may purchase nuclear reactors and storage space for nuclear waste from Russia.This is not the first time Cuba has attempted to build a nuclear reactor. With the help and financial assistance of the former Soviet Union, Cuba tried the to build two 440-megawatt nuclear power reactors near the city of Cienfuegos. Construction of the reactors began in 1983, but the collapse of the Soviet Union disrupted construction.Former Cuban President Fidel Castro says that the country invested $1.1 billion into the project, and cost estimates to complete the partially constructed reactors range from $300 million to $750 million. The U.S. government has consistently opposed Cuba s plans to build a nuclear reactor, although President Barack Obama recently normalized relations with the country.Read more: Daily Caller | 1real |
CNN Guest SMACKS DOWN Trump Supporter For Racist Gun Violence Comments (VIDEO) | Infamous Donald Trump surrogate and supporter Scottie Nell Hughes thought she was going on CNN yesterday to make yet another pathetic attempt to get African-American voters to support The Donald (even though he is currently polling at ZERO with black voters) but her plans quickly went astray when political strategist Angelia Rye called her out for defending Trump.Cooper began the segment by running a few emotional interviews featuring three black women who had lost their children due to gun violence. In making her completely flawed case, Hughes told host Anderson Cooper that Trump would be able to bring hope to black communities as well as jobs. She said: It s these urban areas, 44 cities, where crime is going up as well as gang violence. So there s an issue that needs to be addressed by those kinds of those communities, and they need to be supported whether it s through law enforcement or education. Rye didn t hesitate to point out everything that was wrong with those comments, and drop a few truth bombs in the process. Rye jumped in, pointing out that Trump and his supporters are so racist they hardly realize it: A couple of things. One is gun violence specifically the overall crime rate has been on a steady decline since the 1980s. But I think that it s really important to watch the words that we use. When we say, Those communities, those people, who are we talking about? Referencing one of the interviews that had prefaced the conversation, Rye echoed a woman s doubts that Trump could really take on Chicago s crime in a week, like he says he can. Rye also reminded Hughes that Trump has had zero empathy for the black community and those who have been killed by police brutality, racial profiling and gun violence. She said: Donald Trump was busy calling people who look like me thugs, blaming the victim in these instances of gun violence and police brutality. That is deeply troubling to me and not only to me, but I m sure to several other I can t speak for all African-Americans but to other African-Americans. You can watch Rye lay into Hughes below:Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
ACLU sues Trump administration over birth control policy | (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration on Friday over its decision to roll back requirements under Obamacare that employers provide insurance to cover women’s birth control. The ACLU lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court, asserted constitutional and procedural claims against the change. Democratic state attorneys general have also pledged to take legal action against the decision. | 0fake |
The Playlist: Taylor Swift and the Jesus and Mary Chain Offer Different Shades of Teases - The New York Times | Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos — and anything else that strikes them as intriguing. You can listen to this playlist on Spotify here. Like this Playlist? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes. com, and sign up for our Louder newsletter (coming soon!) here. The sleight of hand that made “Earned It,” the Weeknd’s magisterial song for the original “Fifty Shades of Grey” film, so effective was that it relied on a sort of bondage, balancing the tension between its polished exterior and what was easy to imagine as its core. “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” the first offering from the film’s sequel, by ZAYN and Taylor Swift, (available on Apple Music) has no such struggle. There’s little moistness here: ZAYN’s sweet vocals never manage anguish or tension, and Ms. Swift has perhaps never been more obscured by digital manipulation, in places to the point where she’s practically anonymized. The pleading in the song is clinical, the chemistry muted. (An opportunity for Ms. Swift to strike back at an ex is largely missed — ZAYN is a former bandmate of Harry Styles, her paramour.) The thickness of the production conveys the urgency here — in the beginning, it recalls the hollers of Ms. Swift’s “Out of the Woods” — and the chorus gleams. But the song never sweats, nor threatens to. JON CARAMANICA Here’s one way to announce a comeback: “Trying to win your interest you ain’t having none of that. ” That’s the salutation from Jim and William Reid, the brothers who lead the Jesus and Mary Chain, which released its last album in 1998 but has been touring sporadically since 2007. “Amputation” opens a new album due in March, “Damage and Joy,” and it barely budges from the sound the Jesus and Mary Chain perfected on “Psychocandy” in 1985. It’s rock sung with cynical conviction and barricaded with layer upon layer of distorted guitars and additional noise, like the sizzling whistle that opens the track and squeals throughout. The mandate is to keep thickening the mix, loading on the irritants and cranking them up: the way sweet falsetto “oohs” arrive with vicious feedback at 1:25, and the way the chorus is chanted for the final minute and a half over implacable drums and a massive pileup of lead and rhythm guitars. It’s not chaos it’s strategic cacophony. JON PARELES Rage spews every which way in “Governed by Contagions,” the first song in 16 years from the reunited At The . The beat gallops and pummels Omar ’s guitar parts proceed from buzzing, nagging repetition to jagged leaps to screeching tremolo chords, and the singer and lyricist Cedric rails, obliquely, about desperate people facing detested adversaries, “singing cannibal hymns of the bourgeoisie,” and envisioning revolution: “That’s the way the guillotine claps,” a chorus declares. It’s as precise in its aggression as At The Drive In’s has always been it’s also a gauntlet thrown down. J. P. The title of Ryan Adams’s coming album, “The Prisoner,” refers to an emotional state — specifically, what it means to be consumed or paralyzed by desire. On the album’s lead single and opening track, “Do You Still Love Me? ,” his lyrics suggest the perspective of someone trying to catch sand as it slips through his hands. The chorus consists of the title phrase (with a “babe” added for good measure) while one verse elaborates further: “What can I say? I didn’t want it to change Is my heart blind and our love so strange?” “The Prisoner” is due out on Feb. 17. NATE CHINEN Here’s a bash from a band that’s equally raucous and confronting mortality, media and general pandemonium all at once. It’s from the provocatively titled album “Nazi Hologram. ” The verses pound one chord into drone ecstasy the bridges jump around but come back to that drone. “As I lay there cruised up to had something she was looked sinister and stuck it in stuck it in me!” Then the drums crash harder and Andrew Katz sings, “Turn on your TV sets!” J. P. Sure, there’s plenty of gimmickry in pop music, but it’s admirable when someone leans in to it as convincingly as Post Malone does. He’s a singer with a background his music is both pointedly hybridized and abstract enough that it can be interpreted many different ways. On “Cold” — a standout from his major label debut album, “Stoney,” which was released today — he ups the ante even further. The singing is spectral, the cadence is practically spoken, and, as a bonus, the beat is with thumps that flicker on and off. The result is unusual and impressive: “Cold” flirts with everything, and commits to nothing. J. C. Hurray for the Riff Raff hasn’t had to pivot to become part of the resistance. But on its new song, the band sharpens its aim and agenda, aligning with protesters at Standing Rock and in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico. Alynda Segarra, the songwriter at the helm of Hurray, sings of cultural theft and systemic oppression, naming no names but making her opposition clear: “Now all the politicians, they just squawk their mouths They said ‘We’ll build a wall to keep them out’” The song, which rides a percussive groove (and has some fine guitar playing) is an early taste of “The Navigator,” due out on March 10. Ms. Segarra’s touchstones on the album range from Fania Records to Bowery to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, with an animating conviction that’s summed up in this song’s closing refrain: “I’ll keep fighting ‘til the end. ” N. C. This charming song is many months old, but has finally received a vivid video, thanks to its inclusion on Kodie Shane’s new EP, “Zero Gravity,” her first major label release. Kodie Shane is a member of Lil Yachty’s Sailing Team, and in Daliesque fragments similar to the boss. “Sad” is a duet between them, with Kodie Shane lamenting her romantic lot, followed by Lil Yachty coming in to offer succor, and more. The climactic scene in the video is both comic and sweet. They sing face to face in a therapist’s office — their voices digitized, their emotions very raw. J. C. The Cuban pianist David Virelles is a brilliant hybridist, but until recently he generally released music with acoustic dimensions, approachable from the vectors of postbop or . “Antenna” — recently released in digital form and as a vinyl EP — sounds like something else entirely, even as it carries on an inquiry that has always been at the center of Mr. Virelles’s work. A track called “Rumbakuá” has electronic textures, splicing and versifying by the Cuban rapper Etián Brebaje Man. The EP is worth seeking out, and so is a performance by Mr. Virelles at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday evening, with partners like the guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. N. C. | 0fake |
Outsiders Selected by Trump Aim to Unnerve Washington - The New York Times | They are Donald J. Trump’s disrupters. Seven men and one woman named by Mr. Trump to run vast government agencies share a common trait: once they are confirmed, their presence is meant to unnerve — and maybe even outright undermine — the bureaucracies they are about to lead. Some of those chosen — 17 picks so far for federal agencies and five for the White House — are among the most radical selections in recent history. Other presidents’ nominees, even when controversial, were often veterans of the Washington bureaucracy and generally believed in it. But a number of Mr. Trump’s most important selections have no experience in federal government and a great drive to undo it. Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma state attorney general who was picked to lead the E. P. A. rejects the established science of climate change and has built his career on fighting environmental regulations. At the Education Department, Betsy DeVos wants to steer government money away from traditional public schools. Rick Perry was picked to head the Energy Department — unless he eliminates it, as he once promised. Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, the conservative Republican who was chosen as White House budget director, refused to back the 2011 deal to raise the federal debt limit and helped to bring the United States to the brink of default. “Donald Trump ran to make the governing people uncomfortable,” said Andrew H. Card Jr. who served as chief of staff to former President George W. Bush and as transportation secretary for his father. “He clearly picked people to lead some of these departments who will be challenging to the insiders. ” As Mr. Trump finishes announcing his choices for cabinet and senior White House aides, a picture is emerging of an administration with little ideological cohesion and no single animating purpose. They are neither all conservatives, nor all mainstream conservatives. They are not all insiders or outsiders. Some have known Mr. Trump for years. Others met him in the weeks since he was elected. Instead, Mr. Trump has recruited people to lead his government who can be roughly grouped into categories that appeal to the different parts of his psyche. In addition to the disrupters, there are the dealmakers, the loyalists, the establishment and the generals. Mr. Trump’s administration so far reflects the people who worked for and advised him during the campaign. It is mostly men, and mostly white. Many of his picks are extraordinarily rich, though not all. Loyalty is at a premium — except when it isn’t. (Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s choice for national security adviser, was an early supporter who was rewarded. Todd Ricketts, who may become deputy commerce secretary, was a leader of the “Never Trump” movement.) There is “no overarching theory,” said Pete Wehner, who was deputy director of speechwriting for Mr. Bush and a fierce critic of Mr. Trump during the campaign. “He’s not being driven by the usual impulses, which would be policy or ideology or political philosophy. ” Here is a look at the groups: Few things made Mr. Trump’s campaign supporters roar with approval more than when he hammered the “political class in Washington,” telling people at his rallies that the government had betrayed them, and vowing that change was coming. At many agencies, it may soon arrive. In addition to Ms. DeVos, Mr. Pruitt, Mr. Perry and Mr. Mulvaney, the disrupters include Ben Carson, chosen to lead the Housing Department Andrew Puzder as labor secretary Representative Tom Price of Georgia to oversee the Health and Human Services Department and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama as attorney general. The disrupters appear to have been picked in part for their singular ability to shake up the normal course of business at their agencies. Mr. Sessions, whose 1986 nomination as a federal judge was rejected by the Senate because of testimony from colleagues that he was a racist, is likely to push for wholesale changes at the Justice Department by imposing conservative positions on immigration, terrorism, crime, drugs and guns. He is almost certain to reverse efforts to confront civil rights violations, sentencing disparities and police abuses. Mr. Carson, a surgeon who has no experience in housing or running a large government agency, has already put housing advocates on notice that he does not think much of current programs for the poor. Mr. Puzder, who owns chains and is opposed to raising the minimum wage, is a longtime critic of his department’s approach. Mr. Price, who waged a crusade against the Affordable Care Act in Congress, could soon be in a position at H. H. S. to lead the drive to repeal and replace it. Mr. Trump demonstrated his desire for a disruptive force when he named Mr. Pruitt to head the nation’s top environmental agency. While saying that his administration “strongly believes in environmental protection,” he previewed the kind of change he is looking for. “For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs,” he said, adding that Mr. Pruitt “will reverse this trend. ” As he creates an administration in his own image, perhaps no category is more natural for the author of “The Art of the Deal” than the dealmakers. Mr. Trump, who puts a premium on the ability to negotiate in business and finance, has chosen Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor, to lead the Commerce Department Steven Mnuchin of Goldman Sachs to lead the Treasury Department and Rex W. Tillerson, the chairman of Exxon Mobil, who has a longtime relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, to be secretary of state. “To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well,” Mr. Trump said last week during an interview about Mr. Tillerson on “Fox News Sunday. ” “He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company — not for himself — for the company. ” Mr. Mnuchin made a fortune through financial deals and now becomes the nation’s top financial official. Mr. Ross, a “vulture” investor on Wall Street, bought nearly dead companies and made huge profits when his turnaround strategies worked. Like most future presidents, Mr. Trump has also positioned loyal, trusted aides to be close to him at the White House. Four of the loyalists — Reince Priebus, who will be White House chief of staff Stephen K. Bannon, chief strategist Donald F. McGahn II, White House counsel and Mr. Flynn, national security adviser — will occupy the most coveted real estate in the West Wing. The president has also tapped Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, to oversee the Small Business Administration. Ms. McMahon has known Mr. Trump for years, long before he considered running for president. In 2007 on W. W. E. Mr. Trump took down Vince McMahon, Ms. McMahon’s husband and the chairman of the organization, in what was billed as the “Battle of the Billionaires. ” All five loyalists stuck by Mr. Trump during the toughest of times in the campaign. Mr. Priebus, the departing chairman of the Republican Party, came late to joining the Trump team, but refused to waver publicly when the Washington establishment was rushing to condemn Mr. Trump during various scandals, particularly a leaked “Access Hollywood” recording that captured Mr. Trump boasting about grabbing women by their genitals. Mr. Bannon, who has been accused of embracing white nationalist views as the head of Breitbart News, was always there, whispering advice to Mr. Trump in the background, if not officially in charge of campaign strategy. Mr. Flynn and Mr. McGahn are veterans of Mr. Trump’s campaign world, having secured their posts in the administration through longevity. Loyalty goes only so far, however. Four of Mr. Trump’s most avid supporters so far have no role in the new administration: Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. If there was one group Mr. Trump repeatedly derided on the campaign trail, it was the establishment. It was filled with the “stupid” people who ran the government poorly, Mr. Trump said. It represented the Washington swamp that he pledged to drain. When it looked like he might not win, he blamed them. But Mr. Trump hasn’t shunned the establishment as he sets up his government. He has chosen Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, as his envoy to the United Nations Representative Michael Pompeo of Kansas for C. I. A. director and Elaine Chao as his secretary of transportation. Ms. Haley, a rising star in the Republican establishment, endorsed Senator Marco Rubio of Florida during the primaries. Mr. Pompeo, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, is in the nation’s capital. And there are few people who define the Republican establishment more than Ms. Chao, who, in addition to having served in cabinet posts during both Bush administrations, is married to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader. Ultimately there may be no more direct expression of Mr. Trump’s psyche in his administration picks than the generals. Despite saying during the campaign that he knew more about the Islamic State than generals did, Mr. Trump is now embracing the retired leaders of America’s military. That explains Gen. James N. Mattis, who was responsible for American military operations in the Middle East as head of United States Central Command, or Centcom, and is now Mr. Trump’s pick for defense secretary. It also explains Gen. John F. Kelly, who oversaw American military operations in Central and South America as head of United States Southern Command and is now Mr. Trump’s choice for homeland security secretary. It also may help frame his choice of Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL commander, to be interior secretary. While not a general, Mr. Zinke served in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Pacific. His autobiography, “American Commander,” was published recently. Mr. Trump particularly likes “Mad Dog Mattis,” the former Centcom commander’s nickname. “Mad Dog Mattis!” Mr. Trump said to a roar of applause at a recent rally in Fayetteville, N. C. “Mad Dog plays no games, right?” Mr. Trump called General Mattis, who led a Marine division to Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, one of “the most effective generals that we’ve had in many, many decades. ” | 0fake |
RACIST RANT From Supreme Court Justice Exposes Slanted Personal Opinion On Law Enforcement | Supreme Court Justic Sotomayor went on a racist rant about how law enforcement has targeted minorities and put fear in black and brown people: It is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny. She s weighed in before in a racist manner: I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn t lived that life Supreme Court Justice SotomayorSotomayor once again brings her racist view to the court clouding her decisions on ALL Americans:Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday issued a vehement dissent in a Fourth Amendment case writing that the majority s opinion sanctions police stops that corrode all our civil liberties and threaten all our lives. The fiery objection came on case where a Utah man challenged his arrest based on a stop that was later found to be unlawful. The 5-3 majority opinion, Sotomayor wrote, will have dramatic ramifications for law-abiding citizens targeted by police, especially minorities. It is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny, she wrote. For generations, black and brown parents have given their children the talk instructing them never to run down the street; always keep your hands where they can be seen; do not even think of talking back to a stranger all out of fear of how an officer with a gun will react to them. By legitimizing the conduct that produces this double consciousness, this case tells everyone, white and black, guilty and innocent, that an officer can verify your legal status at any time, she added. It says that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights. It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged. With four major decisions due in the next week, including cases on affirmative action, abortion and immigration, Sotomayor s anger signals that what has been a quiet term since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia could get increasingly contentious. Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Via: CNN | 1real |
Seven World-Historical Achievements of the Iraq Invasion of 2003 | Photo above by The U.S. Army | CC BY 2.0 H ere is a list of the noteworthy, ongoing results of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq beginning in March 2003. (Recall that invasion was denounced by the UN as illegal, based entirely on lies, and—given the U.S.’s hegemonic position in the world, allowing it to act with impunity—the crime’s architects have never punished.) 1/ The principal achievement of the war and occupation was the dramatic expansion of the al-Qaeda network that had attacked the U.S. on January 11, 2001. An al-Qaeda franchise was established in Iraq for the first time, playing a key role in the Sunni “insurrection” against the occupiers and their Shiite allies, then expanding across the border into Syria where it split into the al-Nusra affiliate and its even more savage rival, ISIL. Iraq also served and serves as a training ground for jihadis now operating from Iraq to Libya and beyond. 2/ The invasion and its consequences encouraged the cause of Kurdistan , an imagined state straddling Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The Kurds are the largest stateless people in the world, victims of British and French colonialists who divided the region between them after World War I. After the Gulf War of 1991, the U.S. established a “no-fly” zone over northern Iraq to discourage Baghdad from deploying troops in the region. Iraqi Kurdistan had already obtained a degree of autonomy before the invasion but the status became official under the occupation and a referendum for independence is likely to pass soon. This would infuriate Iraq and perhaps provoke Turkey’s intervention. As it is, the autonomous region is locked in struggle with Baghdad over territorial claims and control over oil fields. 3/ The invasion destroyed the Iraqi state , causing it to fracture into three: Kurdistan, the Sunni zone in the west, and the Shiite-majority areas around Baghdad. The Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein had been extremely repressive and brutal. But it had maintained order; discouraged religion in politics; protected the Christian and other religious minorities; promoted women’s rights; imposed no dress code; enforced a criminal code modeled after the Napoleonic (not the Sharia); licensed rock n’ roll radio stations, allowed the brewing of beer and its sale etc. The Shiite-led regime boosted into power by the occupation has reversed much of this. (A bill to ban the production and sale of beer was just passed by Parliament last week.) But the regime’s power does not extend into much of Anbar Province, ISIL still governs Mosul, and again, Kurdistan has become autonomous. 4/ Because Shiites are the majority in Iraq (60%), and dominate Iran next door; and because the leaders of Shiite parties have studied in Iran or lived their in exile and are sympathetic to Iran’s mullah-led regime; and because the U.S. was forced by peaceful mass protests to allow elections and the emergence of Shiites as the leaders of the country, Iran’s power and influence in the region has expanded dramatically. (Apparently no one in the State Department thought about that.) Since Iran has not attacked another country in centuries—but was savagely attacked by Saddam Hussein in 1981, sparking a long war killing over half a million people—and since Iran’s friendliness to its neighbor, one of the few Arab countries in which its co-coreligionists hold power, is entirely natural, one can ask why anyone might be alarmed by this. But it does alarm some, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, that crucial U.S. Arab ally governed by Wahhabi Sunnis, most of all. 5/ The invasion produced a regional power struggle between Sunni Islamists on the one hand, and their Shiite (and other) enemies on the other. This is often portrayed as a contest between Saudi Arabia (whose government-backed clerics condemn Shiites as heretics, and who fear the prospects for rebellion in Saudi Arabia’s own oppressed Shiite minority) and Iran, depicted as the protector of Shiites in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen etc. (The so-called “Shiite Crescent” extending from Iran to Hizbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon in fact embraces states and movements that have little in common with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But they are all targeted by the medieval regime in Riyadh which tars them all with the Iranian brush.) The Saudis were keen advocates for a U.S. strike on Iran (on the false pretext of a nuclear threat); are major supporters of al-Nusra in Syria and have funded ISIL as well, preferring such Islamist forces to the secular if Alawite-led Syrian regime; and are bombing the hell out of Yemen with active U.S. and British assistance under the false pretext that the Shiite Houthi “rebels” are agents for an expanding Iran. These things would not be happening, had the U.S. not ripped the lid off Pandora’s box in Iraq in March 2003. 6/ The invasion has produced friction between the U.S. and its important NATO ally Turkey (which has the second largest military in the alliance). Turkish war planes are bombing Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) militia in Syria who constitute the U.S.’s most reliable allies, producing U.S. protests (which the Turks ignore, arguing straight-faced that the YPG are just as terrorist as ISIL). The Turks warned before the invasion of Iraq that it would likely produce regional instability. But Ankara would have allowed the U.S. to attack from Turkish soil if Turkish forces as part of the “coalition of the willing” could be stationed around Mosul, once part of Turkey—the idea being to contain Kurdish nationalism. Fortunately the parliament rejected the deal. But the predicted instability has occurred. The Arab Spring of 2011 in Syria was not directly connected to the Iraq invasion, but gave the U.S. the opportunity to pontificate that “Assad has lost legitimacy,” demand his immediate resignation, and bankroll the armed opposition including the Kurds. The fact that U.S. efforts to find and recruit Syrian Arab forces as allies—who are not in bed with al-Nusra—to topple Assad have failed so dismally binds the Pentagon ever closer to forces that Turkey wants to wipe out. (The conflict and contradiction are embarrassing to Washington. Oh, by the way, did you notice that the Turkish foreign minister just announced that Turkey would invade Iraq if it “felt threatened”?) Having declared in 2011 that Bashar al-Assad must go, the U.S. was faced in 2014 with the horrible embarrassment of ISIL (that toxic fruit of its Iraq invasion) winning lightening victories from Raqqa to Fallujah, obliterating the Sykes-Picot line dividing Syria and Iraq. The now-Syria based terrorists were approaching Baghdad. So now the U.S. having withdrawn all troops in Iraq was back in action, bombing to prevent such a disaster. And it started bombing ISIL positions in Syria (although with far less efficacy than the later Russian efforts) in league with a list of largely reluctant allies dragooned into formal membership in what Washington likes to call a “coalition” to make its unilateral program for the region sound like the will of what they like to call “the international community” regardless of how many key nations that imagined “community” includes.
Michael Moore’s all-out campaign in support of Hillary, and his pathetic attacks on Assange (“ He’s a human Molotov cocktail” ), typify, all too well, and all too sadly, the despicable qualities of American liberals, especially their treachery and obtuseness when the going gets heavy. Moore, a man supposedly astute enough to do documentaries about American stupidity and chicanery, should know better than go around propagandizing for the Queen of Chaos. Nor render any service to the Democrats a party that he should know damn well betrayed the public interest by passing Obamacare instead of single payer which he himself postulated in his documentary SiCKO. The U.S. command that Assad step down was made in the summer of 2011. Turkey’s President Erdogan, hitherto a friend and even mentor of the Syrian leader, opportunistically took up the U.S. demand and demanded his resignation. And Ankara itself began to interfere big-time in the neighboring country it once dominated, targeting Kurds more than anyone else. Since the U.S. relies on these allies, how could there not be a sharp conflict here? 7/ The invasion of Iraq and aftermath resulted in four million Iraqi refugees fleeing the country as of 2007. Hundreds of thousands have poured into Europe, alongside people displaced by U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Libya, and by the turmoil in Syria exacerbated by U.S. actions, producing a massive continent-wide crisis. Many Europeans aptly blame the deluge on the U.S., pointing to the U.S.’s paltry record of admitting refugees from the Middle East and complaining of strained national resources to handle the humanitarian catastrophe. (Another embarrassment.) *** This is all what Buddhists call “karmic retribution” for past acts. Or what the Hebrew prophet Hosea referred to when he said “Those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind.” Or what the CIA meant when it invented the term “blowback.” It’s all heading towards something, unless decent people stop it. But when I watch people like Michael Moore line up behind the foremost advocate of war in U.S. politics, joining (consciously, philosophical) amoral thugs hell-bent on maintaining and expanding the empire when it’s in a stage of precipitous decline, I am not optimistic. Not only will she win, but she will rival Dick Cheney as a cold-blooded latter-day Cold Warrior, cynically exploiting fear and stupidity to try to bring Russia to its knees. Hillary doesn’t recognize any of these seven points, which to recapitulate are: • US actions have greatly strengthened al-Qaeda • US actions have encouraged Kurdish nationalism (with unpredictable ramifications) • The US through its vicious illegal actions has destroyed the modern Iraqi state • US actions have solidified ties between Iran and Iraq’s majority Shiite community, strengthening a country still targeted for “regime change” • The invasion of Iraq and the regime change there exacerbated the historical Sunni-Shiite divide, and encouraged Saudi Arabia as the ultra-Islamist protector of the shrines to redouble its efforts to support extremist Sunnis everywhere in the region • The results of the invasion place Turkey and the U.S. at loggerheads over the question of Kurdish nationalist movements in both Iraq and Syria • US interventions in the Middle East and North Africa since 2001 have produced a massive refugee crisis, inflicted mainly on Europe She does not acknowledge that George W. Bush’s invasion (that she so passionately endorsed, fully exposing her Valkyrie soul, was criminal and not somebody’s well-meaning “mistake”). She doesn’t have any analysis of the Kurdish question. (She is not—as sometimes alleged by supporters—a “policy wonk” but a lazy intellect who doesn’t know jack-shit about the real world.) She has never expressed regret for the horrific destruction of Iraq, nor given any attention to the plight of its women, who were (as she surely knows) much better off under Saddam Hussein. (To acknowledge that would be to suggest that sometimes U.S. imperialism favors misogynist Islamists over relatively progressive secularists, for its own pragmatic empire-building purposes. She can’t mention that publicly.) She deals with the rise of Iran—made inevitable by the U.S. invasion of Iraq—by doubling down on her crude clueless Iran rhetoric, which rests on the assumption—repeatedly debunked by U.S. intelligence agencies—that Iran might pose a nuclear weapons threat. She doesn’t understand the history of the Sunni-Shiite divide; I believe she rolls her eyes in irritation that these people have these differences so hard to understand, impeding the Exceptional Nation’s ability to straighten everything out by bombing, and conquering, and making people die. She doesn’t understand anything about the history of the Kurds and their fate in the region. She feels no guilt at all about her orchestration of the ruin of Libya. She sees no reason to link her own actions to the flooding of Europe with refugees fleeing terror. But she will probably be the next president, with fellow shieldmaidens Michele Flournoy (as “secretary of defense”) and Victoria Nuland or Samantha Power (as secretary of state). Never acknowledging what happened yesterday, never able to absorb historical lessons, determined to maintain and expend its global hegemony (just as that becomes absolutely impossible to do, because other nations rise too, and great nations like Spain and Britain actually get humbled over time), the U.S. under Clinton will likely head methodically towards a showdown with Russia. She wants so badly, to show she can do it. She’ll do it for women, everywhere, to show how strong a woman can be. And then there will be a sudden strange change in your environment. As you wonder what’s going on you’ll be painlessly vaporized, on account of Hillary’s passion to topple Assad, or forcibly reintegrate the Donbass into Ukraine. The brilliance of the 2003 invasion will be clarified as never before in that bright blast, as Hillary—a very strong woman—cackles in the background from her bunker about how she came, saw, and a million died. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS PLEASE COMMENT AND DEBATE DIRECTLY ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP CLICK HERE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Religion. He is the author of Servants, Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan ; Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan ; and Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900 . He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion , (AK Press). He can be reached at: gleupp@tufts.edu Note to Commenters Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com
We apologize for this inconvenience.
What will it take to bring America to live according to its own propaganda? =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. | 1real |
BUSTED: Republican Conspired With Aide To Label Angry Constituents ‘Un-American’ For Booing Him | A Michigan Republican may have literally guaranteed that he won t get another term in Congress.Republicans across the country have been cowardly avoiding holding town hall events because thousands of their angry constituents have been showing up to protest their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a move that would strip healthcare away from millions of Americans and drive up the price of healthcare beyond what many can afford.And that s exactly what happened on Saturday in Michigan when Rep. David Trott actually had the balls to show his face to his constituents in the 11th district he supposedly represents.However, things went spectacularly wrong for Trott from the beginning as the 1,000 people in attendance were not amused by his defense of the repeal effort. The crowd booed him and chanted, Vote him out! Things got even worse when Trott lied by claiming that the United States military is the weakest it s ever been. In fact, our military is the most funded military on the planet. It could be cut in half and still be the most well-funded military on Earth. Claiming that our military is weak is not only a lie, it s an insult to every American who currently wears the uniform.But in response to being booed off the stage, Trott dug the hole deeper by getting caught on a hot mic conspiring with one of his aides to portray his own constituents as un-American. We re going to take that part where they re booing funding the military and I m going to get somebody to write a story and we re going to promote the sh*t out of that, an aide told Trott behind closed doors. It s un-American crap. Here s the video via YouTube: That s right. A Republican congressman is literally going to get someone to write a cheap propaganda story for him so he can accuse his own constituents of hating the military and portray them as un-American in retaliation against them for booing him and his lies.Forget waiting until the next election, Trott should be forced to resign in disgrace right now for what his aide just said about his own constituents.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
Comment on Anonymous: World War 3 Is On The Horizon (In 2016) by World War 3 News 2016: Anonymous Declares WW3 'on the Horizon' | Share on Facebook Share on Twitter It has been said a number of times over the past year, that WWIII could be on the horizon. Recent events and statements between Russia and the United States have people believing it’s closer than ever. But is this really the case? Should we be worried? advertisement - learn more Since almost everything real and important taking place is kept from the masses while we are distracted by mainstream media and pop culture, it’s tough to say what is really going on. But if we begin to look at the various things going on in the world, we can piece together some interesting things. In this case, anonymous is hinting that WWIII is inching closer. Some people even believe it has already begun. But you know what? I’m not sure we need to move into fear. First check out the video, then read on. Not All Bad News Right off the bat many start worrying about nuclear bombs, and that’s fair. But there is also an interesting fact to consider: UFOs have been shooting down nuclear threats over the last few decades. Dozens of foreign governments have released thousands of pages of UFO related documents –here is an example of the latest batch released from the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense in June 2013. Other country’s governments who have done the same include Mexico, France, Argentina, Russia and Belgium, just to name a few. advertisement - learn more The fact that governments have released and documented information that detail UFO encounters with the military, as well as supposed extraterrestrial encounters with people, tells us that they’ve had and do have a high level of interest when it comes to the topic of UFOs and extraterrestrials. Had this information remained classified, nobody would officially be able to say that governments have allocated resources to investigate this phenomenon, and it would have remained in the “conspiracy” realm. At the same time, it’s important to remember that this issue goes far beyond and well above government control. “It is ironic that the U.S. should be fighting monstrously expensive wars allegedly to bring democracy to those countries, when it itself can no longer claim to be called a democracy when trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars have been spent on projects which both congress and the commander in chief know nothing about.” – Paul Hellyer, Former Canadian Defense Minister (source) “Everything is in a process of investigation both in the United States and in Spain, as well as the rest of the world. The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data.” – General Carlos Castro Cavero (1979). From “UFOs and the National Security State, Volume 2″, Written by Richard Dolan “Behind the scenes, high ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.” Former head of CIA, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, 1960 (source) Just last year at the Citizens Hearing on Disclosure , a United States congresswoman voiced her opinion that the US government should disclose this existence, pointing to the fact that a number of foreign governments have already done so -you can read more about that story here. War is something none of us want I’m sure we could agree on, and just because UFO’s may be shooting down nukes doesn’t mean we are OK with war. But what can we do when it comes to such large worldly events? There must be something… Consciousness! Evolve Your Inbox & Stay Conscious Daily Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox. What you focus on, what your thoughts are each day, how you feel and how you treat one another is important. It has a huge impact on what plays out in our world. This has been proven numerous times when studies examine the impact of people meditating or focusing on something specific. Collective consciousness is real and it can be impacted. Here is an example of meditation helping in war zones. You are not small, you can impact millions, we can impact billions because we are all connected. Focus on the world you want and share that with others. As for physical action, again what you choose to do to be in alignment with your purpose is powerful. But we can also continue to raise awareness about what is going on in our world and make decisions and choices that opt out of the things we no longer want to see and support. Meditation, intention, being a good person, aligning with your soul purpose, being of service to others and doing things like voting with your dollar is no passive, it is powerful when you understand how our reality works.
Transcript of video: Greetings World, We are Anonymous. For the last two months, we have been consistently reporting on a possible global conflict, World War 3 between the United States and its allies in the West, and Russia and its allies in the East. The dispute on the South China Sea has severely damaged the United States relations with the Peoples Republic of China. After the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s nine-dash-line claim in the South China Sea, and its land reclamation activities on islets are invalid and unlawful, the United States has been preparing to sail in the area under a so-called Freedom of Navigation principle. This has angered the Chinese. In August, the Chinese Defense Minister, Chang Wanquan told his country’s citizens to prepare for, what he described as the peoples war at sea. Mr Wanquan was referring directly to the United States planned provocation under the pretext of Freedom of Navigation. China has since vowed to take all necessary measures available to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea, revealing that it had the right to set up an air defense zone on the sea. China has also since been positioning and testing its nuclear weapons, and planning military drills on its waters with Russia. Even the United States has confirmed that China has tested an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, which is capable of striking everywhere in the world within half an hour. Moving away from the South China Sea, we arrive in Syria. It is an open secret that the civil war in Syria is a proxy war between the United States and Russia. Russia has even intervened physically on the request of the Syrian government. The United States, unable to get any invitation, has been openly and secretly arming many rebel groups in the country, with open plans to overthrow the Syrian government. Of course, since Russia honored the invitation of the Syrian government last year, the war has been turning in favor of the Syrian government, which was falling before Russia’s intervention. As we speak now, tension is mounting between the United States and Russia. Nerves are at their highest since the Cold War era. The United States, at the moment, is sitting on tenterhooks. Many officials in the president Obama administration are frustrated and confused regarding the situation in Syria. The United States has announced that it has ended all contacts with Russia in Syria. This announcement by the United States comes as Russia, beginning on September. 22nd, intensified its military operations in Syria, with the intentions to capture the city of Aleppo for the Syrian government. Diplomatic efforts to put an end to the fighting in Syria, have collapsed. As the Aleppo operation continues, Russia has given the United States a stern warning not to take any action against the Syrian government forces. In fact, there are many Russian jet fighters stationed in Syria, ready to shoot down any United States jet fighter that attempts to strike on the Syrian government forces. These developments from Moscow are not going down easily with the United States. The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, is said to have urged president Obama to intervene and face the consequences from Russia. He is said to have even favored a nuclear deterrent against Russia. However, it appears that before Kerry could even make this suggestion to president Obama, the Russians had already gathered intelligence on the happenings within the White House. According to Zvezda, a Russian defense ministry Television channel, the country has started preparing its citizens for a possible nuclear war with the United States – because of the mounting tensions in Syria. Russia has since moved to deploy nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in its western-most region, Kaliningrad, which borders on NATO members of Poland and Lithuania. Due to how the situation has become, some top officials at the United States defense headquarters have finally spoken. These Pentagon officials have admitted that World War 3 is imminent, and that its going to be deadly and fast. The military generals were speaking on a future-of-the-army panel in Washington. “A conventional conflict in the near future will be extremely lethal and fast, and we will not own the stopwatch,” Major General William Hix said. General Hix also stated that China and Russia’s armies are becoming increasingly technological, and that the Pentagon was getting ready for violence on the scale that the United States Army has not seen since Korea. His comments were also echoed by lieutenant Gen Joseph Anderson and Chief of Staff, Gen Mark A. Milley, who described war between nation states as almost guaranteed. The generals also said apart from the conventional battle, cyber battle, too, has become a reality against the United States, revealing that even smaller nations are launching it against the country. We are Anonymous. | 1real |
Nearly All Wild Animals Face Mass Extinction By 2020 | Sean Adl-Tabatabai in News , World // 0 Comments
A disturbing new report suggests that over two-thirds of wild animals living on Earth are set to become extinct by the year 2020.
The comprehensive report by the WWF and Zoological Society of London says animal populations across the globe will continue to plummet by 67% by 2020 due to a mass extinction that is killing the natural world.
Thegaurdian.com reports:
The creatures being lost range from mountains to forests to rivers and the seas and include well-known endangered species such as elephants and gorillas and lesser known creatures such as vultures and salamanders.
The collapse of wildlife is, with climate change, the most striking sign of the Anthropocene, a proposed new geological era in which humans dominate the planet. “We are no longer a small world on a big planet. We are now a big world on a small planet, where we have reached a saturation point,” said Prof Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, in a foreword for the report.
Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF, said: “The richness and diversity of life on Earth is fundamental to the complex life systems that underpin it. Life supports life itself and we are part of the same equation. Lose biodiversity and the natural world and the life support systems, as we know them today, will collapse.”
He said humanity was completely dependent on nature for clean air and water, food and materials, as well as inspiration and happiness.
The report analysed the changing abundance of more than 14,000 monitored populations of the 3,700 vertebrate species for which good data is available. This produced a measure akin to a stock market index that indicates the state of the world’s 64,000 animal species and is used by scientists to measure the progress of conservation efforts.
The biggest cause of tumbling animal numbers is the destruction of wild areas for farming and logging: the majority of the Earth’s land area has now been impacted by humans, with just 15% protected for nature. Poaching and exploitation for food is another major factor, due to unsustainable fishing and hunting: more than300 mammal species are being eaten into extinction, according to recent research.
Pollution is also a significant problem with, for example, killer whales and dolphins in European seas being seriously harmed by long-lived industrial pollutants. Vultures in south-east Asia have been decimated over the last 20 years, dying after eating the carcasses of cattle dosed with an anti-inflammatory drug. Amphibians have suffered one of thegreatest declines of all animals due to a fungal disease thought to be spread around the world by the trade in frogs and newts.
Rivers and lakes are the hardest hit habitats, with animals populations down by 81% since 1970, due to excessive water extraction, pollution and dams. All the pressures are magnified by global warming, which shifts the ranges in which animals are able to live, said WWF’s director of science, Mike Barrett.
Some researchers have reservations about the report’s approach, which summarises many different studies into a headline number. “It is broadly right, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts,” said Prof Stuart Pimm, at Duke University in the US, adding that looking at particular groups, such as birds, is more precise.
The report warns that losses of wildlife will impact on people and could even provoke conflicts: “Increased human pressure threatens the natural resources that humanity depends upon, increasing the risk of water and food insecurity and competition over natural resources.”
However, some species are starting to recover, suggesting swift action could tackle the crisis. Tiger numbers are thought to be increasing and the giant panda has recently been removed from the list of endangered species.
In Europe, protection of the habitat of the Eurasian lynx and controls on hunting have seen its population rise fivefold since the 1960s. A recent global wildlife summit also introduced new protection for pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, and rosewoods, the most trafficked wild product of all.
But stemming the overall losses of animals and habitats requires systemic change in how society consumes resources, said Barrett. People can choose to eat less meat, which is often fed on grain grown on deforested land, and businesses should ensure their supply chains, such as for timber, are sustainable, he said.
“You’d like to think that was a no-brainer in that if a business is consuming the raw materials for its products in a way that is not sustainable, then inevitably it will eventually put itself out of business,” Barrett said. Politicians must also ensure all their policies – not just environmental ones – are sustainable, he added.
“The report is certainly a pretty shocking snapshot of where we are,” said Barrett. “My hope though is that we don’t throw our hands up in despair – there is no time for despair, we have to crack on and act. I do remain convinced we can find our sustainable course through the Anthropocene, but the will has to be there to do it.” | 1real |
Biden does not see Trump undoing much of environmental record | OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday he doubted whether Donald Trump could undo much of the current administration’s record on the environment because so many green policies have firmly taken hold. Trump, who will take over as president on Jan. 20, has said he does not believe in global warming and will name a climate change skeptic, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The Republican is expected to nominate another climate change skeptic, U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, to head the Interior Department, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday. Democratic President Barack Obama has made the fight against global warming a priority, and Biden said businesses now realized his policies made sense economically. “There is a constituency that crosses party lines. Regardless of whether the next administration is as aggressive as we have been - and I’m not suggesting they intend to - there is no way to turn back this tide that has begun to roll,” the vice president told a Canadian environmental summit. The Obama administration has lifted vehicle fuel standards, invested heavily in renewable energy, pushed to curb methane gas emissions and adopted a Clean Power Plan that requires states to cut carbon output. Biden said that in some parts of the United States it was now cheaper to use solar or wind power rather than rely on power stations fueled by coal or gas. Company executives were starting to price in carbon emissions reduction while motorists enjoyed not having to refuel their vehicles as often, he said. “Reality has a way of intruding,” he said. “Whatever uncertainly exists around the near-term policy choices of the next president, I am absolutely confident the United States will continue making progress on this path to a low-carbon future.” “And that’s because many of the trends I’ve mentioned have taken hold and are no longer dependent on government initiatives. They are market-driven, they are common sense.” Trump has vowed that within his first 100 days in office he will rescind the Clean Power Plan, eliminate “unwarranted restrictions” on hydraulic fracturing oil-drilling technology, cut “outdated” regulations, and pull the country out of a global pact to curb warming of the planet. Biden said, “One of the things the president and I are proudest of accomplishing over the last eight years is debunking the myth that America can’t grow our economy and bring down emissions at the same time.”. Among those in the audience for Biden’s remarks was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is also taking an aggressive stance on climate change. | 0fake |
Cameroon Anglophone regions to shut Nigeria border over protests | YAOUNDE (Reuters) - The government of one of Cameroon s Anglophone regions ordered its border with Nigeria closed this weekend in response to calls by activists for protests to demand more rights for the country s English-speaking minority. The move on Thursday represents an escalation in a crackdown on months of protest spurred by complaints about political and economic discrimination in the Anglophone regions of the predominantly Francophone country. Security forces killed six protesters and arrested hundreds of others following calls for reforms by lawyers and teachers last year, and the internet was shut down in Anglophone regions from January to April. The Anglophone regions have strong ties to eastern Nigeria, and authorities may fear that allowing the border to remain open during protests offers the demonstrators a rear base and makes it harder to maintain order. Anglophone activists have called for renewed protest on Sunday after thousands took to the streets last week, with some hoisting separatist flags. In a statement, Southwest region s governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, said the border would be closed from 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Friday until 7 a.m. Monday following persistent threats of destabilization through manipulation by individuals acting from outside the national territory. The order also banned inter-city transportation, gatherings of more than four people in public locations and all port activity during that same period. It was not clear whether similar restrictions would be imposed in Northwest, Cameroon s other Anglophone region. The unrest has presented a fresh challenge to the government of President Paul Biya, which has faced international criticism for its response to the demonstrations. In a statement on Thursday, a U.N. spokesman said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned about tensions ahead of Sunday s demonstrations and urged the government to address the grievances of English speakers. The Secretary-General supports upholding the unity and territorial integrity of Cameroon and urges all parties to refrain from acts that could lead to an escalation of tension and violence, the statement said. The country s linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors. After independence in 1960, the English-speaking part opted to join French Cameroon instead of Nigeria. | 0fake |
JUDGE NAPOLITANO: THREE INTEL SOURCES Have Disclosed How Obama Spied on Trump [Video] | JUDGE NAPOLITANO was on FOX & Friends this morning discussing the Obama administration s efforts to spy on Donald Trump. Three intel sources have disclosed to the network that Obama went to British intelligence to get the goods on Trump, but we may never be able to prove it JUDGE NAPOLITANO: Three intelligence sources have informed FOX News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn t use the NSA, he didn t use the CIA, he didn t use the FBI and he didn t use the Department of Justice He used *GCHQ. *GCHQ is a British intel agency.@Judgenap: Three intel sources have disclosed that Pres. Obama turned to British spies to get surveillance on Trump pic.twitter.com/IghCFm7qhO FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 14, 2017 | 1real |
Five Juveniles Charged With Throwing Object at Trump Motorcade - Breitbart | Five middle school students are facing charges for throwing objects at President Donald Trump’s motorcade in West Palm Beach, authorities have confirmed. [In a tweet, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office confirmed that they had “ID’d Juveniles who threw a 2 x 4 at Presidential Motorcade. ” We have ID’d Juveniles who threw a 2 x 4 at Presidential Motorcade. A juvenile from a local middle school confessed to throwing the 2 x 4. pic. twitter. — PBSO (@PBCountySheriff) February 18, 2017, “A juvenile from a local middle school confessed to throwing the 2 x 4,” it continued. Although originally believed to be a rock, the office confirmed that the object is a piece of wood. According to CBS, the children all attend a local middle school, meaning they cannot be identified due to their age. The announcement follows reports on Friday that the Secret Service were investigating the incident, where two separate objects were picked off the ground, having been thrown at the motorcade. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com. | 0fake |
BREAKING: D.C. Driver Plows Into Capitol Police…Shots Fired | It happened around 9:30 a.m. at the 100 block of Independence Ave., SW.The driver was arrested on the scene.Police say that officers fired shots, but no one was hit .Breaking News: Shots were fired after a US Capitol police cruiser was struck, Fox 5 reports, adding that a suspect is in custody. pic.twitter.com/0uW0wcj0BG Fox News (@FoxNews) March 29, 2017 | 1real |
VALERIE JARRETT Discusses Possibility Of Michelle Obama’s Run For Office With MSNBC Media Ally, Says Trump’s Win Was”Gut-Wrenching” [VIDEO] | In a harsh reminder of just how differently reporters treated the Obama Administration compared to the current administration. Mika couldn t contain her excitement at getting to talk to Jarrett even begging the former advisor repeatedly to get herself, Michelle or Barack involved in politics again, to save the party. She began the sympathetic interview by empathizing how rough election night was for Democrats. She cooed to Jarrett, There were some rough I mean, election night, what was that like for you?After Jarrett answered that it was gut-wrenching but work still had to be done so they needed to move on, the MSNBC host harped on the election night devastation again: I still, though, wonder like, is there any flash in time, election night or in the days after, God, I saw some brutal pictures of some really devastated faces, could you ever have imagined and was there a moment when you realized the next president is going to be the man who rose to power on the birther movement, of all things?Though there s no denying Trump did help spread birther conspiracies prior to his campaign, so did Hillary Clinton. Her campaign was actually the first to raise these conspiracy theories during the 2008 election when she was running against then Senator Obama.Mika then asked Jarrett what she wish she d known before her first days in the White House. Jarrett responded with a scathing rebuke of partisan Republicans who had obstructed Obama from day one and were terrified at giving the power back to the hands of the American people. NewsbustersThe best part of the interview comes near the end when Mika implores Jarrett to ask Barack Obama to come back: Could he come back and save the party? Tell them what to do? Laughter What dingbat leftist Mika clearly doesn t understand is that community organizer Barack Obama is still running the party from DC and doesn t have any plans to go away Watch: You know, elections have consequences, Jarrett told Mika. It s part of why President Obama worked so hard during the campaign. And so when people show you who they are you can t be surprised when they actually then continue to fulfill what they said they were going to do. Here is the entire video: | 1real |
Temple of the Dog Reunites, Headliners at Last on a Mini-Tour - The New York Times | UPPER DARBY, Pa. — Last Thursday afternoon, at the Tower Theater outside Philadelphia, the five members of Temple of the Dog were onstage grappling with a common problem faced by men in their early 50s: trying to remember just how they did things in their 20s. The next night, the roughly hall would be packed, the rock band’s first headlining concert appearance since, well, pretty much ever, but in rehearsal the band’s only audience was stagehands and lighting techs. After plowing through the crunching riffs of “Pushin Forward Back,” however, something didn’t sound quite right. “I don’t think we go into that long of a breakdown on the record,” said the guitarist Stone Gossard, noting the extended solo by his fellow guitarist, Mike McCready. “I’ll solo all night,” Mr. McCready admitted. After a brief discussion, the musicians set down their instruments and huddled in front of the drummer Matt Cameron’s kit, listening over a smartphone to the song as it appeared on their 1991 album, “Temple of the Dog. ” Memories refreshed, they returned to their stations, and resumed pushing “Pushin Forward Back” to its conclusion. Not that the band members are unfamiliar with one another: Mr. Gossard, Mr. McCready and Mr. Cameron, along with the bassist Jeff Ament, are all longtime members of Pearl Jam, while the singer Chris Cornell is known primarily for his work leading Soundgarden. Rather, it was the material that was somewhat alien, Mr. Gossard said during a conversation in the theater’s dressing room, describing the challenge of “learning songs that we literally played maybe 10 times 25 years ago. ” Despite the rust, tickets for the group’s first tour, eight shows in five cities (including Madison Square Garden on Monday night) sold out in minutes, all the more remarkable for a band, as Mr. Cameron points out, “that doesn’t exist. ” Temple of the Dog was originally convened a ago, in tribute to their friend and colleague Andrew Wood, lead singer of the Seattle bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, who died in March 1990 of a heroin overdose shortly before the release of Mother Love Bone’s debut album, “Apple. ” At the band’s inception, Soundgarden was preparing for its second major label album and Pearl Jam was just beginning to coalesce. To help deal with his grief, Mr. Cornell had written two songs, “Say Hello 2 Heaven” and “Reach Down,” in which he tried to channel Mr. Wood’s influence. “I thought, well, this is one thing that I can do to remind myself and maybe other people of who this guy is and was and keep his story and in a way his life with us,” Mr. Cornell said. He made demos of the songs, and approached Mr. Ament and Mr. Gossard, both of whom had been in Mother Love Bone with Mr. Wood, about properly recording them. The project soon evolved into an entire album, with the trio joined by Mr. Cameron, Soundgarden’s drummer, and Mr. McCready, a childhood friend of Mr. Gossard’s. “I think that was a healing process for us all and you can certainly still hear it in the record,” Mr. Cameron said. The name Temple of the Dog came from a lyric by Mr. Wood in the Mother Love Bone song “Man of Golden Words” (also on the set list for the current tour). The group played two short opening sets in Seattle in 1990, and has occasionally performed Temple of the Dog songs with Mr. Cornell at Pearl Jam concerts, but otherwise the band has never played together live since recording the album. “It was never intended to be like a big promoted rock record,” Mr. Cameron said. AM released the album in April 1991 and 70, 000 copies sold that year, but not until 1992 did sales explode. After the success of Pearl Jam’s debut, “Ten,” and Soundgarden’s “Badmotorfinger,” AM reissued “Temple of the Dog” and promoted the video for “Hunger Strike,” featuring the band and the Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder. “It didn’t really get that broad attention,” Mr. Cornell said, “until someone at MTV put it together that ‘Oh, there’s this one video that we have that has members of both bands in it let’s play it all day! ’” “Hunger Strike” shot up the charts and the album went platinum, but a tour for Temple at the time would have been “impossible,” Mr. Cornell said, given the busy road schedules of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. “You had to be out there beating the drum all the time,” he said. “Now it’s sort of a luxury. It’s a different world and a different time in the life spans of our respective bands, where we’ve written our own tickets, we sort of do whatever we want, so we’re fortunate that we can do this now. ” The current tour is accompanied by the recent release of a “25th Anniversary Mix” of the album, available in several permutations, including a CD, DVD and collection. Also arriving this week is a Mother Love Bone box set, “On Earth as It Is: The Complete Works” (on the Pearl Monkeywrench label) offering a new opportunity to examine the talents of Mr. Wood, a flamboyant figure in the Seattle scene who idolized Freddie Mercury, Paul Stanley and Elton John. “He had this way of looking at life that just made you laugh while you were around him,” Mr. Gossard said. Mr. Cornell was Mr. Wood’s roommate for about a year during the late 1980s in a dilapidated house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle perched right over Interstate 5. The freeway noise was so loud it permitted Soundgarden and Malfunkshun to rehearse in the living room. “We had bands that were influenced by each other,” Mr. Cornell said, “and there was kind of a rivalry between us as songwriters, but literally like five feet apart — through the doors to the bedrooms we could hear each other. ” In the lyrics to “Reach Down,” Mr. Cornell depicted Mr. Wood “wearing a long white leather Purple glasses and glitter in your hair. ” “There was an aspect of him that was always performing all the time,” Mr. Cornell said. “He had sort of invented himself as this character. The first time I ever saw him he had this entourage. He was a rock star, really, because he was it didn’t have anything to do with anything else. ” The idea of a Temple reunion began percolating around five years ago, during Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary festival, after Mr. Cornell joined the other musicians onstage (Mr. Cameron having signed up as Pearl Jam’s drummer in 1998) to play five Temple songs. It took a while to coordinate schedules, but time has finally been set aside. “I always think about where Andy would want these songs to be played,” Mr. Ament said. “The Garden and the Forum were like the two places he probably wanted to play more than anywhere, so from that standpoint it’s awesome. ” Mr. Cameron hopes the reissues and the tour can elevate Mr. Wood’s presence in the legacy of Seattle’s music scene. “He wasn’t a footnote in our history,” Mr. Cameron said. “He was a real big influence for us all. ” | 0fake |
US Welcomes Report on Coalition Strikes That Killed 300 Civilians in Syria | 0 30 0 3 The United States welcomed a report claiming the US-led coalition underestimated harm to civilians in Syria after killing some 300 in airstrikes in two years, US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Amnesty International revealed in a report that the US-led coalition had killed hundreds of noncombatants in Syria during two years of airstrikes that were purported to target the Daesh. © Sputnik/ US Military on Ground in Syria Training Opposition for Raqqa Operation "We take all such reports seriously and we support the Defense Department as they do the proper investigations," Kirby told reporters. "We welcome that input."
When asked about the rights group suggesting that the US-led coalition underestimated harm done to civilians in Syria, Kirby claimed that the United States had no reason not to welcome that feedback because its military tries harder than any other to avoid civilian casualties.
Amnesty International said US authorities have failed to respond to a memorandum that raised questions about the conduct of coalition forces in Syria.
According to the group, the most recent deadly airstrikes, conducted in June and July, killed more than 100 civilians in the Syrian villages of Tukhar, Hadhadh and Ghandoura. ... | 1real |
Kenyan police fire tear gas after women attacked at election meeting | KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police in the western city of Kisumu fired tear gas and bullets in the air on Wednesday to disperse young men who broke into a hotel and beat women attending an election meeting, an officer said. Kenya held presidential, legislative and local elections on Aug. 8, but three weeks later the Supreme Court nullified the presidential result, citing irregularities in the tallying process. A re-run is scheduled for Oct. 17. Although the ruling ushered in a period of uncertainty, many hope it will restore some faith in Kenya s tarnished institutions, reducing the long-term likelihood of political violence. On Wednesday, a Christian women s organization was holding a meeting related to the election re-run when the men broke into the hotel where they were meeting, said Joseph Keitany of the Administration Police in Kisumu County. The region is a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga. We deployed police and they fired tear gas and bullets in the air and chased the group of young boys away, he told Reuters. The youth started beating women and they stole their laptops and money before police arrived. A Reuters witness said the men smashed windows and broke chairs. Another witness said young men attacked participants using the broken chairs. I was making my presentation when the youths came in, said pastor Alice Atieno. They started interrogating us and beating us on claims that we were buying IDs. Keitany said he believed the men stormed the hotel because of rumors circulating on WhatsApp that the women s meeting was intended to plan the renting of voter identification cards, a rigging tactic alleged by the opposition ahead of last month s election, where online hoaxes and fake stories were alleged from all sides. Participants in the meeting denied that was the purpose and said they were meeting to see how to encourage peaceful voting. A Reuters witness said he saw a Red Cross ambulance taking three women to hospital. In 2007, a disputed presidential vote led to protests and ethnic violence that killed 1,200 people. Following the August election, human rights organizations reported at least 28 deaths, mostly linked to police. But the protests were quelled when the opposition decided to take its complaints to court. Kenya s vocal civil society organizations have been working hard to plan monitoring and advocacy around the new vote. The east African nation is the region s richest economy and a stable Western ally in a region roiled by conflict. | 0fake |
Lego refuse to build Trump’s wall | November 13, 2016
Under the hashtag ‘StopFundingHate’ the Danish firm have ceased collaboration with Republicans, The Daily Mail and James Corden’s agent. Citing ethical reasons, the toy manufacturer said they would continue to make Star Wars-themed Death Stars but had declined to Donald Trump’s request for a ‘full-sized’ one.
Despite being the nemesis of bare feet everywhere, Lego were keen to distance themselves from any negative publicity – withdrawing from plans for a Lego Boko Haram ‘Adventure Playground’, Lego Kim Jong-Un with Missile Launcher and Lego Mrs Brown’s Boys ‘House of Fun’. Instead their focus will be on a ‘Brexit Box of Bricks'; which lacks any plan and, despite promises on the packaging, can not be used to build any hospitals whatsoever.
Lego’s rejection leaves Mr. Trump no choice but to assemble his 2,000 mile wall out of pulped copies of the Koran; held together with ‘whatever the hell’ he uses as hair glue. Sadly Mexico had already agreed to pay for the construction costs, but, like most parents this Christmas, had balked at the material cost of using Lego.
Meanwhile The Daily Mail will no longer give away toys but will continue to dispense fear for free. Likewise Mr. Trump has said he will keep his election promises without Lego; replacing Obamacare with ‘Doc McStuffins’, waterboarding with ‘Super Soakers’ and any non-compliant women with ‘Barbie’– or Ivana as she is known. Share this story...
Wrenfoe Wrenfoe .. | 1real |
HILLARY VOLUNTEER, Obama Supporter Mocks Ryan Owens’ Widow Carryn For “Standing there and clapping like an idiot” | Speaking of not having a soul..check out this tweet by Hillary volunteer and Obama supporter (Dan Grilo made all of his tweets private, but unfortunately for Dan the Democrat, we took a screen shot):Here s Dan Grilo s Twitter profile. Such a nice Democrat If Democrats keep carrying on with this type of hateful messaging, they ll never see another member of their party holding a pubic office again. | 1real |
Trump's pick Gorsuch sworn in, restoring top court's conservative tilt | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump reveled in the biggest political victory of his presidency at a White House ceremony on Monday in which his Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch was sworn in, poised to make an instant impact on a court once again dominated by conservatives. Trump was able to fulfill a top campaign promise when the Republican-led U.S. Senate voted to confirm the conservative Colorado-based federal appeals court judge to the lifetime job on Friday despite vehement Democratic opposition. With Gorsuch aboard, the court has five conservative justices and four liberals, a majority that could be pivotal in deciding a range of issues including abortion, gun control, the death penalty, presidential powers, political spending, environmental regulation and religious rights. Standing in the White House Rose Garden under bright sunshine on a warm spring day, Trump tied the occasion to the political aims of his administration, as the eight other members of the nation’s highest court looked on. “Together we are in a process of reviewing and renewing and also rebuilding our country,” Trump told an audience that included conservative activists and administration officials. “A new optimism is sweeping across our land and a new faith in America is filling our hearts and lifting our sights.” Gorsuch filled a vacancy that had lingered for nearly 14 months after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia’s February 2016 death. Gorsuch’s judicial oath was administered by Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch worked as a clerk as a young lawyer. Gorsuch becomes the first justice to serve alongside a former boss. Trump made a point of thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his role in winning confirmation. McConnell last week led the effort to change long-standing Senate rules in order to end a Democratic blockade of Gorsuch’s nomination. Under McConnell’s leadership, the Senate last year refused to consider Democratic former President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Scalia, an appointment that would have tilted the court to the left for the first time in decades. “I’ve always heard that the most important thing that a president of the United States does is appoint people, hopefully great people like this appointment, to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump said. “He will decide cases not based on his personal preferences but based on a fair and objective reading of the law,” Trump said of Gorsuch. During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump pledged to pick a justice who would overturn the landmark 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Gorsuch declined to answer about whether Roe v. Wade and other important court precedents were properly decided. “To the American people, I am humbled by the trust placed in me today,” Gorsuch said, with his wife Louise and the Republican president standing behind him. “I will never forget that to whom much is given, much will be expected. And I promise you that I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great nation.” Those attending included liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who called Trump “a faker” during the presidential campaign but later said she regretted the remark. Trump at the time called for her resignation, saying her “mind is shot.” Scalia’s widow, Maureen, also attended. Gorsuch earlier in the day took his separate constitutional oath, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court with the other justices. Gorsuch, 49, could serve for decades. Trump may be able to make further appointments to make the court even more solidly conservative, with three justices 78 or older: Ginsburg, 84; fellow liberal Stephen Breyer, 78; and conservative swing vote Kennedy, 80. Gorsuch will take part in the court’s next round of oral arguments, starting on April 17. They include a religious rights case on April 19 in which a Missouri church is objecting to being denied state funds for a playground project due to a state ban on providing public money to religious organizations. Gorsuch can be expected to have an immediate impact on the court. He takes part on Thursday in the justices’ private conference to decide which cases to take up. Among cases up for discussion is one in which gun activists are seeking to expand gun rights to include carrying concealed firearms in public. Another is a bid to reinstate Republican-backed North Carolina voting restrictions that a lower court found were intended to suppress black voter turnout. A third concerns whether a Christian bakery owner can object on religious grounds to making a cake for a gay couple. With Gorsuch sworn in, his new colleagues could decide to hear new arguments in their next term, starting in October, in cases argued during their current term in which they may have been split 4-4 and did not yet decide. | 0fake |
“I feel like these Topshop models are sick of me apologising, but also maybe willing to hear me out” | Next Swipe left/right “I feel like these Topshop models are sick of me apologising, but also maybe willing to hear me out” @Brycoo over on Twitter writes, “I feel like these Topshop models are sick of me apologising, but also maybe willing to hear me out” | 1real |
Cruz & Kasich Quit: Trump Crushes Elite Establishment, #DropOutHillary Now Trending | 21st Century Wire says The field is now clear for Trump to become the GOP presidential nominee.Watch a video of this report here:Ted Cruz and John Kasich have both now bowed out of the presidential race, leaving Donald Trump as the last Republican candidate standing.The two failing candidates made their decision after Trump swept to victory in Indiana last night.Dr. Inderjeet Parmar, Head of the Department of International Politics at City University London, says that, it has exposed a deeply divided Republican party whose leadership has lost all credibility and whose conservative philosophy, which it has held dear since 1980, is in tatters. It is, indeed, the elite leadership of both political parties that appears to have provoked this realignment in US politics towards outsiders and those not embroiled in what many see as a corrupt and broken system.Bernie Sanders, the Democratic outsider, also shocked the world with a victory over Hillary Clinton last night.Just two weeks ago Cruz and Kasich were publicising that they had made a deal to stop Trump, yet even their combined efforts were useless.Yesterday, a Rasmussen poll emerged showing that Donald Trump can indeed beat Hillary Clinton at the general election, and that scenario is looking ever more likely with the political establishment in such dramatic retreat.It is possible that Bernie voters will not support Hillary in the general election, and in many ways their anti-establishment position gels much better with the politics of Trump than it does with Wall Street insider Clinton.Immediately after Kasich s announcement today, #DropOutHillary began trending on Twitter. At the time of writing it is the number two trending hashtag in the US with 102,000 tweets.With such an immediate response taking aim at another establishment figure, the chances of Trump, or perhaps even Sanders, taking the presidency seem higher than ever.GET THE FULL STORY ON THE ELECTION: 21st Century Wire 2016 Election Files | 1real |
The path to total Dictatorship: America’s Shadow Government and its silent coup | The path to total Dictatorship: America’s Shadow Government and its silent coup Unaffected by elections. Unaltered by populist movements. Beyond the reach of the law By John W. Whitehead - October 27, 2016 “Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by Congress, the President, or the people . Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system … a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state…. The important point to remember about this group is not its ideology but its organization… It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government…. This group … is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable.”— Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech
Unaffected by elections. Unaltered by populist movements. Beyond the reach of the law.
Say hello to America’s shadow government.
A corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country, this shadow government represents the hidden face of a government that has no respect for the freedom of its citizenry.
No matter which candidate wins the presidential election, this shadow government is here to stay. Indeed, as recent documents by the FBI reveal, this shadow government— also referred to as “The 7th Floor Group” —may well have played a part in who will win the White House this year.
To be precise, however, the future president will actually inherit not one but two shadow governments.
The first shadow government, referred to as COG or Continuity of Government, is made up of unelected individuals who have been appointed to run the government in the event of a “catastrophe.” COG is a phantom menace waiting for the right circumstances—a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, an economic meltdown—to bring it out of the shadows, where it operates even now. When and if COG takes over, the police state will transition to martial law.
Yet it is the second shadow government —also referred to as the Deep State—that poses the greater threat to freedom right now. Comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who are actually calling the shots behind the scenes, this government within a government is the real reason “we the people” have no real control over our government.
The Deep State, which “ operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power ,” makes a mockery of elections and the entire concept of a representative government.
So who or what is the Deep State?
It’s the militarized police, which have joined forces with state and federal in order to establish themselves as a standing army. It’s the fusion centers and spy agencies that have created a surveillance state and turned all of us into suspects. It’s the courthouses and prisons that have allowed corporate profits to take precedence over due process and justice. It’s the military empire with its private contractors and defense industry that is bankrupting the nation. It’s the private sector with its 854,000 contract personnel with top-secret clearances, “a number greater than that of top-secret-cleared civilian employees of the government.” It’s what former congressional staffer Mike Lofgren refers to as “ a hybrid of national security and ”: the Department of Defense, the State Department, Homeland Security, the CIA, the Justice Department, the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President via the National Security Council, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a handful of vital federal trial courts, and members of the defense and intelligence committees.
It’s every facet of a government that is no longer friendly to freedom and is working overtime to trample the Constitution underfoot and render the citizenry powerless in the face of the government’s power grabs, corruption and abusive tactics.
These are the key players that drive the shadow government.
This is the hidden face of the American police state that will continue long past Election Day.
Just consider some of the key programs and policies advanced by the shadow government that will continue no matter who occupies the Oval Office.
Domestic surveillance. No matter who wins the presidential popularity contest, the National Security Agency (NSA), with its $10.8 billion black ops annual budget, will continue to spy on every person in the United States who uses a computer or phone. Thus, on any given day, whether you’re walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency, whether the NSA or some other entity, is listening in and tracking your behavior. Local police have been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data recorders. Technology now makes it possible for the police to scan passersby in order to detect the contents of their pockets, purses, briefcases, etc. Full-body scanners, which perform virtual strip-searches of Americans traveling by plane, have gone mobile, with roving police vans that peer into vehicles and buildings alike—including homes. Coupled with the nation’s growing network of real-time surveillance cameras and facial recognition software, soon there really will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Global spying. The NSA’s massive surveillance network, what the Washington Post refers to as a $500 billion “ espionage empire ,” will continue to span the globe and target every single person on the planet who uses a phone or a computer. The NSA’s Echelon program intercepts and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax and email message sent anywhere in the world. In addition to carrying out domestic surveillance on peaceful political groups such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and several religious groups, Echelon has also been a keystone in the government’s attempts at political and corporate espionage .
Roving TSA searches. The American taxpayer will continue to get ripped off by government agencies in the dubious name of national security. One of the greatest culprits when it comes to swindling taxpayers has been the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with its questionable deployment of and complete mismanagement of millions of dollars’ worth of airport full-body X-ray scanners, punitive patdowns by TSA agents and thefts of travelers’ valuables. Considered essential to national security, TSA programs will continue in airports and at transportation hubs around the country.
USA Patriot Act, NDAA. America’s so-called war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, will continue to chip away at our freedoms, unravel our Constitution and transform our nation into a battlefield, thanks in large part to such subversive legislation as the USA Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act. These laws completely circumvent the rule of law and the rights of American citizens. In so doing, they re-orient our legal landscape in such a way as to ensure that martial law, rather than the U.S. Constitution, is the map by which we navigate life in the United States. These laws will continue to be enforced no matter who gets elected.
Militarized police state. Thanks to federal grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military supplies and weapons to local without charge, police forces will continue to be transformed from peace officers into heavily armed extensions of the military, complete with jackboots, helmets, shields, batons, pepper-spray, stun guns, assault rifles, body armor, miniature tanks and weaponized drones. Having been given the green light to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the courts, America’s law enforcement officials, no longer mere servants of the people entrusted with keeping the peace, will continue to keep the masses corralled, controlled, and treated like suspects and enemies rather than citizens.
SWAT team raids. With more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans by local police for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties will continue to rise. Nationwide, SWAT teams will continue to be employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of criminal activity or mere community nuisances including angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Domestic drones. The domestic use of drones will continue unabated. As mandated by Congress, there will be 30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part of an industry that could be worth as much as $30 billion per year. These machines, which will be equipped with weapons, will be able to record all activities, using video feeds, heat sensors and radar. An Inspector General report revealed that the Dept. of Justice has already spent nearly $4 million on drones domestically, largely for use by the FBI , with grants for another $1.26 million so police departments and nonprofits can acquire their own drones.
School-to-prison pipeline. The paradigm of abject compliance to the state will continue to be taught by example in the schools, through school lockdowns where police and drug-sniffing dogs enter the classroom, and zero tolerance policies that punish all offenses equally and result in young people being expelled for childish behavior. School districts will continue to team up with law enforcement to create a “schoolhouse to jailhouse track” by imposing a “double dose” of punishment: suspension or expulsion from school, accompanied by an arrest by the police and a trip to juvenile court.
Overcriminalization. The government bureaucracy will continue to churn out laws, statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, rendering the rest of us petty criminals. The average American now unknowingly commits three felonies a day, thanks to this overabundance of vague laws that render otherwise innocent activity illegal. Consequently, small farmers who dare to make unpasteurized goat cheese and share it with members of their community will continue to have their farms raided.
Privatized Prisons. States will continue to outsource prisons to private corporations, resulting in a cash cow whereby mega-corporations imprison Americans in private prisons in order to make a profit. In exchange for corporations buying and managing public prisons across the country at a supposed savings to the states, the states have to agree to maintain a 90% occupancy rate in the privately run prisons for at least 20 years.
Endless wars. America’s expanding military empire will continue to bleed the country dry at a rate of more than $15 billion a month (or $20 million an hour). The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.
Are you getting the message yet?
The next president, much like the current president and his predecessors, will be little more than a figurehead, a puppet to entertain and distract the populace from what’s really going on.
As Lofgren reveals, this state within a state, “concealed behind the one that is visible at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue ,” is a “hybrid entity of public and private institutions ruling the country according to consistent patterns in season and out, connected to, but only intermittently controlled by, the visible state whose leaders we choose.”
The Deep State not only holds the nation’s capital in thrall, but it also controls Wall Street (“which supplies the cash that keeps the political machine quiescent and operating as a diversionary marionette theater”) and Silicon Valley.
This is fascism in its most covert form, hiding behind public agencies and private companies to carry out its dirty deeds.
It is a marriage between government bureaucrats and corporate fat cats.
As Lofgren concludes:
[T]he Deep State is so heavily entrenched, so well protected by surveillance, firepower, money and its ability to co-opt resistance that it is almost impervious to change … If there is anything the Deep State requires it is silent, uninterrupted cash flow and the confidence that things will go on as they have in the past. It is even willing to tolerate a degree of gridlock: Partisan mud wrestling over cultural issues may be a useful distraction from its agenda.
In other words, as I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People , as long as government officials—elected and unelected alike—are allowed to operate beyond the reach of the Constitution, the courts and the citizenry, the threat to our freedoms remains undiminished.
So the next time you find yourselves despondent over the 2016 presidential candidates, remember that it’s just a puppet show intended to distract you from the silent coup being carried out by America’s shadow government. | 1real |
A Man Who Hated Black Men Found a Victim Who Cared for Others - The New York Times | Since he was a boy he has hated black men. A bitter hatred of black men that boiled in his mind and consumed him. Then last week, apparently, he decided to kill them. This was the investigators say they gathered of James Harris Jackson, a morose and seemingly directionless white man who lived in Baltimore and had been having trouble getting rooted since leaving the Army. He had registered few obvious traces of who he was and what he stood for. Those who intersected with him found him to be a disagreeable and solitary figure who waved away contact with others. By all accounts, Timothy Caughman, 66, was a benevolent man content with an unassuming life. He lived in a former single room occupancy residence that had been his longtime home. The son of a home health care aide and a pastor, he had worked in antipoverty programs in Queens. Religion and philosophy were constants in his conversations over unhurried meals of turkey bacon and grits at local diners. In recent years, he had caught the familiar New York infatuation with celebrities and delighted in collecting their autographs and pictures. On St. Patrick’s Day, Mr. Jackson boarded a bus in Washington and rode it to New York. There were black men everywhere, and he told investigators he contemplated going elsewhere, but settled on New York because of the flood of media there. His goal was to draw the widest possible attention to his murderous plan. He made his statement of what hate looks like late on Monday night when the authorities said he pulled out a sword and fatally stabbed Mr. Caughman. He had been scavenging for cans in Midtown Manhattan around the corner from his home. Presumably, Mr. Jackson had little intention of getting away with it. Just after midnight on Wednesday, he surrendered to the police and took responsibility for the murder. He was arraigned on Thursday in Supreme Court in Manhattan and charged with murder as a hate crime. He was ordered held without bail. The attack comes at a particularly anxious moment in America as hate crimes are on the rise in the country and especially in New York City. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo forcefully condemned the killing. At the arraignment, Joan Illuzzi, the prosecutor, said that Mr. Jackson was particularly offended by black men who were with white women. She told the judge that additional charges may be filed, including murder in the first degree, “as this is an act, most likely, of terrorism. ” Dressed in a Tyvek suit, handcuffed and his legs in shackles, Mr. Jackson sneered several times as the charges were read. At one point, he gazed at the ceiling as though bored. He did not enter a plea. Sam Talkin, Mr. Jackson’s defense lawyer, declined to comment on the specifics of the case. “We just need for the dust to settle,” he said. If the information put forth by the authorities is accurate, he added, they will have to deal with Mr. Jackson’s “obvious psychological issues. ” The investigation into Mr. Jackson is still in its early stages and much remains unknown. But pieces of his life — and of the man he is accused of killing — were beginning to come together. Thus far, investigators have not linked Mr. Jackson to any white supremacy or hate group. Their sense is that he’s a discontent, not unlike many others who carry out senseless killings. But he was blunt about his prejudices when questioned by detectives. According to a law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity since the investigation is continuing, “He told the cops, ‘I’ve hated black men since I was a kid. I’ve had these feelings since I was a young person. I hate black men. ’” Mr. Jackson told detectives, according to the official, that his intention was to keep on killing, the first attack being a springboard. At one point during his interrogation, he said he thought about grabbing a police officer’s gun and using it to shoot others. Investigators have not yet determined the origins of this hate. Mr. Jackson told them that he had written his beliefs down and was going to deliver his writings to The New York Times. “He said, ‘Listen, I wrote this all down, it’s in my laptop,’” the law enforcement official said. He apparently grew up in Baltimore. In 2007, he graduated from the Friends School of Baltimore, a small and prestigious Quaker day school. Matt Micciche, the head of school, said the campus community was “shocked and saddened by the news of this horrific attack. ” “Our school — and the Religious Society of Friends — has a long history of commitment to diversity, racial equality, social justice and nonviolence,” Mr. Micciche said in a statement. “The entire Friends School community extends our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Timothy Caughman. ” In March 2009, Mr. Jackson joined the Army and served at various locations in the United States, working in military intelligence. He was deployed to Afghanistan between December 2010 and November 2011. Afterward, he was stationed in Baumholder, Germany, before being discharged in August 2012, when his rank was specialist. During his service, the Army said, he received several awards. It’s unclear what he did after leaving the Army, though he seemed lost. In the spring of 2015, he was nearly evicted from an apartment building in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood for falling behind on his rent, according to Marcus Dagan, who was filling in then as the building’s manager. Speaking by phone from Omaha, where he now lives, Mr. Dagan said Mr. Jackson occupied a apartment and was at least six months in arrears. Mr. Dagan described him as a “slob” and a “deadbeat,” who refused to let anyone inside his apartment and never engaged in the building’s social atmosphere. “He turned into the tenant from hell,” Mr. Dagan said. He began eviction proceedings, but Mr. Jackson left before they were completed. The apartment, Mr. Dagan said, was the most disgusting thing the person hired to clean it had ever seen. “He definitely had some issues of some kind,” Mr. Dagan said. “How do you describe it? He was off. ” Yet he said he had never heard Mr. Jackson say anything that could be construed as racist. “Never had an intimation of that,” he said. “When you shake hands with somebody you can guess the character,” he said. “In his case, you’d get like three fingers and a cold fish. ” Mr. Jackson’s most recent address was a house wedged into a narrow street lined with rowhouses in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore, just west of Johns Hopkins University, a historic area that is filled with restaurants and shops. No one answered the door at the home on Thursday. A patrol car from the Baltimore Police Department was posted outside. Members of Mr. Jackson’s family appeared to be together in his parents’ home in a gated community several miles away. On Thursday afternoon, his family issued a brief statement through a lawyer: “Our family is shocked, horrified and heartbroken by this tragedy. We extend our prayers and condolences to the family of Timothy Caughman. We have no further comments at this time and ask that our privacy be respected. ” After Mr. Jackson got to New York last Friday, he checked into the Hotel at Times Square on West 46th Street, using an assumed name. As far as the police know, he attacked no one else during those first days. As best they can tell, he was hunting. His weapon was a sword, and he carried two smaller knives. From surveillance cameras, investigators managed to track some of his movements, though there are gaps. In one video, he can be seen tailing a black man. When detectives questioned Mr. Jackson, they said he acknowledged zeroing in on that man but didn’t strike because there were too many people around. Late Monday evening, he found a target on a Midtown street corner. Timothy Caughman was bent over some garbage. Like many New Yorkers living spare lives in their retirement years, Mr. Caughman was once someone else, his identity not defined by empty pockets and a modest address. He was born in Jamaica, Queens, and grew up in a comfortable apartment in the South Jamaica Houses. One of his cousins said the family has roots in Georgia dating back to the 1700s when their ancestors were first brought to America as slaves. He was the son of Tula Caughman, a home health care aide for wealthy residents of nearby Jamaica Estates, and William Caughman, the pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church. Growing up, he was called Hard Rock, for he knew his way around a boxing ring — and a street fight. “He was known in the community as not to be someone who started a fight, but if you started it, he finished it,” said one of his cousins. According to Seth Peek, another cousin, Mr. Caughman earned an associate degree after attending college in Brooklyn and Staten Island. For several years in Queens, Mr. Caughman ran a division of the Neighborhood Youth Corps, a federal antipoverty program designed to provide jobs to poor youths. “He probably gave out about two or three thousand jobs to people in the community,” said one of his cousins. He also freely contributed homespun advice on how to excel: “‘If you know that someone is going to be somewhere, and you want to meet them, you got to be there an hour early,’” the cousin recalled Mr. Caughman instructing him. Later, he held a succession of jobs, including as a concert promoter. He was particularly proud of booking an early gig by Earth Wind Fire, before they attained fame, his cousin said. For the last 20 years, he lived in a room at the Barbour Hotel on West 36th Street that now houses formerly homeless people transitioning to permanent housing. Svein Jorgensen, the chief executive of Praxis Housing Initiatives, which manages the Barbour, said that of the residents, Mr. Caughman was one of the few who were actually permanent tenants and not part of the transient program. In reports of the murder, Mr. Caughman was incorrectly assumed to be homeless. “He was an extremely gracious individual and respectful of his neighbors,” Mr. Jorgensen said. He read avidly, and mainly kept to himself. He was a recycler of redeemables, his currency for his modest wants. His relatives said he viewed this as an entrepreneurial undertaking, a way to keep active and help pay for his room. He did maintain a social media presence. He had a Twitter account, and in his profile he defined himself as a can and bottle recycler, autograph collector and a good businessman. He said he aspired to visit California. On his Twitter feed, sandwiched between posts about celebrity culture, are links to articles about preventing cholesterol in babies and others about autism, echoing his broad interests. Among those aware of his fandom is Shari Headley, an actress who most recently played a district attorney on Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the ” television soap opera. She held a live chat on Twitter every Tuesday, and she said Mr. Caughman rarely missed one. One day he requested a photo of her, and she mailed him an autographed photo. “What kind of world are we living in right now?” she said, overcome with emotion. “What a harmless guy. He spends his days just wanting to take pictures with celebrities. ” When Ms. Headley’s character on “The Haves and the ” was killed off recently, she said Mr. Caughman was downcast, wishing it weren’t true. When her agent told her Mr. Caughman had been stabbed, she hoped the same thing. Late Monday evening, as Mr. Caughman rooted through trash on Ninth Avenue, near his home, a white man in a dark coat approached him from behind. He said nothing. The man withdrew a sword from beneath his coat. A woman heard commotion, but didn’t realize what was actually happening and she ran off. But she told detectives she heard Mr. Caughman say, “Why are you doing this? What are you doing?” | 0fake |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.