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Trump appointee Gorsuch energetic in first U.S. high court arguments | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s appointee Neil Gorsuch on Monday showed himself to be a frequent and energetic questioner during U.S. Supreme Court arguments in his first day hearing cases as a justice, at one point even apologizing for talking too much. Gorsuch, whose confirmation to the lifetime job restored the court’s conservative majority, exhibited composure and confidence, sitting on the far right of the bench in the ornate courtroom, alongside liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He appeared relaxed, gingerly sipping from a disposable coffee cup. The justices, with the exception of the usually silent Clarence Thomas, are known for their aggressive questioning, and Gorsuch showed no qualms about jumping right in. Eight times during the course of three one-hour arguments Gorsuch peppered attorneys with a series of pointed questions. The court had its full complement of nine justices, five conservatives and four liberals, for arguments for the first time since Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February 2016. Gorsuch formally joined the Supreme Court on April 10 after being confirmed three days earlier by the Republican-led Senate over broad Democratic opposition. The Coloradoan came across as temperamentally different from the sometimes hard-edged New Yorker Scalia, offering respectful but firm questioning even when the lawyer facing his queries seemed evasive. “I’m sorry for interrupting, counselor,” Gorsuch told one of the lawyers in the second case, a property dispute from New York state. “If you would just answer my question, I would be grateful.” In the first case, an employment dispute, Gorsuch grilled lawyer Christopher Landau, who represented a man claiming he was discriminated against by the U.S. Census Bureau, over the fine points of a law governing civil service employees. “I’m sorry for taking up so much time, I apologize,” Gorsuch said after his first lengthy exchange, sitting back in his high-backed chair and smiling. Chief Justice John Roberts welcomed Gorsuch to the court before oral arguments began. “Justice Gorsuch, we wish you a long and happy career in our common calling,” Roberts said. Gorsuch responded by thanking his new colleagues for their “warm welcome.” Gorsuch asked a string of questions about complicated federal law. As he indicated during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, his line of inquiry focused on the text of a statute, an approach also embraced by Scalia and other conservative jurists. “Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if we followed the plain text of the statute? What am I missing?” Gorsuch asked government lawyer Brian Fletcher in the employment case. When Fletcher responded that he could give reasons for his interpretation, Gorsuch appeared unsatisfied. “Not reasons. Where in the language?” he asked, referring to the statute. The second case involved whether a developer can intervene in a lawsuit brought by a property owner against the town of Chester, New York over its refusal to give him permission to build on his land. One of the lawyers in the case, Neal Katyal, was a familiar face to Gorsuch, having heartily endorsed his nomination, even testifying at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general in Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department, represented the town. Gorsuch sparred with a lawyer for a developer hoping to build on the land but did not directly engage with Katyal. The third case involved a dispute over whether certain securities class-action lawsuits can be barred because they were filed too late. Gorsuch, who at 49 could remain on the court for decades, served for a decade on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before Trump nominated him in January. Trump was able to fill Scalia’s vacancy only because Senate Republicans last year refused to consider Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland. | 0fake |
Canada Just Threw A Grenade Into Elizabeth Warren's Trade Fight With Obama | The Volcker Rule bars banks operating in the U.S. from speculating in securities markets for their own profit -- a risky activity that can put taxpayers on the hook for big bailouts if the bank bets turn sour. But there are exceptions to the rule. For instance, banks are allowed to hold U.S. government debt in their own accounts.
But those same banks aren't allowed to trade in Canadian government debt. Oliver thinks that's a NAFTA violation. Although he didn't lay out his argument in detail on Wednesday, NAFTA, like the TPP, generally bans countries from discriminating against each other's financial services. NAFTA prohibits policies that limit cross-border trade in financial services and requires the U.S. to treat Canadian companies the same way that it treats U.S. companies.
"The Volcker Rule is clearly not a violation of NAFTA or any other trade agreement, all of which explicitly safeguard the ability of the United States to protect the integrity and stability of our financial system," a Treasury spokesperson said. "The Volcker Rule is a key prudential financial regulation that prohibits risky proprietary trading while protecting taxpayers and the depth, liquidity, and stability of U.S. capital markets. NAFTA does not weaken our ability to implement Wall Street Reform now or in the future, and neither would any trade agreement we're negotiating."
It's true that NAFTA contains an exemption for "prudential" regulation, and financial reform watchdogs strongly agree with the Treasury Department's interpretation. But it's not an airtight case.
Sorting out whether the Volcker Rule qualifies for that exemption is the sort of thing that a court would traditionally determine under U.S. law, and U.S. courts typically give significant deference to the views of the executive branch. U.S. courts, however, don't have jurisdiction over NAFTA or any other free trade pact. International tribunals do.
"The administration can say whatever it wants about its interpretation of these trade agreements," said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, a Wall Street watchdog group. "The problem is, under the terms of these agreements, they are not going to be interpreting them. Private tribunals of trade lawyers are going to be interpreting them, and there are going to be plenty of openings, as this shows, to make claims that critical prudential regulations conflict with trade agreements. And eventually one of those is going to win out."
Treasury has known about Oliver's objection to the Volcker Rule for more than a year. As far back as 2011, a lobbying group representing Canadian banks claimed that the Volcker Rule runs afoul of NAFTA in arguments presented to U.S. regulators. But none of this turmoil prevented Obama from flatly rejecting Warren's contention that trade agreements, particularly the TPP, can be used to attack financial standards.
"The notion that corporate America is going to be able to use this provision to eliminate our financial regulations and our food safety regulations and our consumer regulations -- that's just bunk," Obama told reporters in an April conference call. "It's not true."
Canada may not opt to pursue a NAFTA case against the U.S. over the Volcker Rule. If it doesn't, Canadian banks won't have the right to sue on their own because NAFTA bars individual companies from suing sovereign nations over most financial services violations.
But the TPP would be different, according to congressional briefings by the U.S. Trade Representative, which are reflected in a December letter from Warren to Ambassador Michael Froman, the top Obama trade official. The TPP wouldn't just empower foreign governments to sue the U.S. over bank regulations; it would allow individual companies and investors to bring such cases.
Under the "investor-state dispute settlement" process, an international tribunal cannot overrule a law or regulation, but it can assess financial penalties to encourage countries to change said law or regulation. In the past, under other trade deals, the mere existence of such cases has sometimes pressured governments into abandoning non-financial services regulations.
Moreover, the TPP would reportedly allow foreign banks to sue the U.S. government for failing to provide them with a "minimum standard of treatment." The term is vaguely defined, but international tribunals have interpreted it very broadly to make corporations eligible to receive damages for lost profits caused by policy changes that occurred after they invested in a country. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) raised similar concerns in her own December letter to Froman over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a pending trade deal with Europe. | 0fake |
BOOM! Wikileaks Shows Hillary Speech To Bankers:”I would like to see more successful business people run for office…You can be maybe rented but never bought” | No wonder she didn t want anyone to see her speeches. She was singing the praises of Trump before she even knew he was going to defeat her in the general election From Wikileaks email dump: SECRETARY CLINTON: That s a really interesting question. You know, I would like to see more successful business people run for office. I really would like to see that because I do think, you know, you don t have to have 30 billion, but you have a certain level of freedom. And there s that memorable phrase from a former member of the Senate: You can be maybe rented but never bought. And I think it s important to have people with those experiences. And especially now, because many of you in this room are on the cutting edge of technology or health care or some other segment of the economy, so you are people who look over the horizon. And coming into public life and bringing that perspective as well as the success and the insulation that success gives you could really help in a lot of our political situations right now. [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13] | 1real |
Bernie Sanders Derides Pick of Clinton Allies as Convention Committee Leaders - The New York Times | Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is seeking to bar allies of Hillary Clinton from leading the powerful rules and platform committees of the Democratic National Convention in July, escalating his battle with party leaders. In a letter sent on Friday to party officials, lawyers for Mr. Sanders said that the appointments of Barney Frank, the former Massachusetts congressman, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut violated party rules. Mr. Frank is to the rules committee, and Mr. Malloy the platform committee. In the letter, Mr. Sanders’s lawyer Brad Deutsch said that both men have been “harsh, vocal critics of Senator Sanders, and equally active supporters of his challenger, Hillary Clinton. ” Mr. Frank has called Mr. Sanders “outrageously McCarthyite” for his suggesting that Mrs. Clinton would be influenced by her speaking fees from Wall Street Mr. Malloy has led efforts among Clinton allies to attack Mr. Sanders’s record on gun control. Under convention rules, Mr. Deutsch said in the letter, their open criticism of Mr. Sanders made them unfit to the committees. “Their criticisms of Senator Sanders have gone beyond dispassionate ideological disagreement and have exposed a deeper professional, political and personal hostility toward the senator and his campaign,” Mr. Deutsch wrote. “The chairs therefore cannot be relied upon to perform their convention duties fairly and capably while laboring under such deeply held bias. ” Democratic officials replied on Saturday morning with a letter from Jim Roosevelt, a retired health insurance executive, and Lorraine C. Miller, who head the party’s permanent rules and bylaws committee. They said the appointments did not violate party rules, and that Mr. Sanders had not demonstrated otherwise. The question of Mr. Frank’s and Mr. Malloy’s qualifications had been settled in January, when they were first appointed, Ms. Miller and Mr. Roosevelt wrote, and there is no mechanism to revisit it. “We are compelled to dismiss it,” they said. Mr. Sanders’s efforts to disqualify the Clinton backers mark his latest bid to ensure that his ideas and supporters are well represented at the convention in July. And his battles with Clinton supporters have become increasingly bitter. This month, Sanders supporters erupted in protest at a state party meeting in Nevada, with some threatening the party’s chairwoman there in a dispute over the selection of convention delegates. Mr. Sanders is preparing a major push to influence the party’s formal platform, and Mr. Frank and Mr. Malloy will each wield substantial power over that process. Mr. Deutsch’s letter indicates that if necessary, Mr. Sanders will take his battle over the credentials of Mr. Frank and Mr. Malloy to the convention in Philadelphia. Both men were chosen in January by Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, who has clashed with Mr. Sanders over her scheduling of primary debates and, more recently, his supporters’ attacks on other Democratic leaders. | 0fake |
TOP BRITISH GENERAL WARNS OF NUCLEAR WAR WITH RUSSIA; “THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT” | Paul Joseph Watson Senior British army officer and former deputy supreme allied commander Europe Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff warns that NATO faces “nuclear war with Russia in Europe,” and that America is already technically at war with Russia. In a hawkish article for CNN , Shirreff asserts that the west faces the biggest threat from Russia since the Cold War and that Vladmir Putin plans to “re-establish Russia’s status as one of the world’s great powers” by marching into the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Comparing the west’s policy towards Putin to the appeasement of Hitler, Shirreff claims that Moscow, “may have already lit the fuse that could lead to the unthinkable: nuclear war with Russia in Europe.” Under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, an attack on one NATO member country represents an attack on all member countries, meaning the United States would be at war with Russia if Russian troops set foot in Baltic countries. “A Russian attack on the Baltic states puts America at war with Russia — meaning nuclear war, because Russia integrates nuclear weapons into every aspect of its military doctrine,” writes Shirreff. He also states that “Russia is at war with America already,” recycling the claim, which remains unproven, that Russia is behind the email hacks that led to Wikileaks’ publicizing of Clinton campaign emails. “And don’t think Russia would limit itself to the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. Any form
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Dr. David Duke and Prof. Kevin MacDonald on Duke’s overwhelming victory in the debate | Dr. David Duke and Prof. Kevin MacDonald on Duke’s overwhelming victory in the debate November 3, 2016 at 10:24 am
Dr. David Duke and Prof. Kevin MacDonald on Duke’s overwhelming victory in the debate
Today Dr. Duke talked about his senatorial debate last night, including the attempt by Black Lives Matter activists to attack him and his police escort and the so-called moderator debating with him. Despite him being the target of attacks from all sides, Dr. Duke was judged the winner by 95% of the respondents to the NBC on-line poll.
Professor Kevin MacDonald then joined the show and talked about the significance of the debate and the election. This is an amazing show that you don’t want to miss.
Our show is aired live at 11 am replayed at ET 4pm Eastern and 4am Eastern.
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Russia to beef up western defenses with S-400's to counteract US-NATO threat | November 21, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RIANovosti - translated by J. Arnoldski -
In response to the deployment of American missile defense systems in Europe, Russia is being forced to strengthen its aerospace defenses on its western borders, Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on Defense and Security, told RIA Novosti.
“As a responsive measure against such a type of threat, we will be compelled to strengthen our aerospace defense system in the western direction and put into operation additional forces and means for resolving the covering of relevant facilities and control points. This strengthening of forces will include the deployment of S-400 and Iskander complexes in Kaliningrad, as well as the creation of new formations in the Western and Southern Military Districts,” the senator said.
Ozerov remarked that one of the arguments which Russia has put forward in relation to the deployment of American missile systems in Europe is the fear that this infrastructure could be promptly converted to accommodate strike weapons, particularly land-based cruise missiles.
“These fears are being confirmed today,” Ozerov stated.
According to the senator, along with motorized infantry and tank units, the divisions being created in the Western and Southern Military Districts will include troops and anti-air defense means. “In addition, we are not hiding this, we are improving our aerospace forces and developing new, modern missiles of both the “land-air” and “air-land” classes which would be capable of overwhelming the air defenses that the US has in Europe,” Ozerov explained.
Senator Ozerov added that the additional deployment of arms capable of neutralizing the US missile defense threat is a symmetrical response. According to him, Russia is constantly monitoring the situation and is “ready to respond.”
In May of last year, the construction of the Aegis Ashore facility was completed which includes American missile systems in the vicinity of the Romanian town of Deveselu. Another such facility is to appear by 2018 in northern Poland.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that the US and NATO’s actions in deploying anti-missile defense systems in Europe represent a threat to Russia’s national security and could undermine strategic stability in the region.
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HOW REAGAN DEALT WITH RADICAL PROTESTERS At Berkeley University [VIDEO] | Reagan explains why the protesters got out of hand to the reporters: All of it began the first time some of you who know better and are old enough to know better, let young people think that they had the right to chose the the laws they would obey, as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest. Compare and contrast Reagan s decision to address the unlawful behavior of these protesters, to Barack Obama hiding from the press, yet meeting with organizers and agitators of these radical groups to offer encouragment to the violent, unlawful protesters we are seeing across the United States today.Do you agree or disagree with Reagan s approach to stopping the protesters from breaking the law: In his 1966 campaign for California governor, Republican Ronald Reagan promised to to clean up the mess at Berkeley. Reagan was referring to the unrest prevalent not just at the University of California, Berkeley, but on college campuses throughout state. Students and faculty alike were engaged in protests, demonstrations, and strikes related to issues such as the draft, civil rights, discrimination, and women s liberation.In one 1966 campaign speech, Reagan declared that many leftist campus movements had transcended legitimate protest, with the actions of beatniks, radi cals and filthy speech advocates having become more to do with riot ing, with anarchy than academic freedom. He blamed university administrators and faculty, who press their particular value judgments on students, for a leadership gap and a morality and decency gap on campus, and suggested a code of conduct be imposed on faculty to force them to serve as examples of good behavior and decency. [1]Six months after Reagan took office in 1967, he wrote this letter to Glenn Dumke, the chancellor of San Francisco State College, one of California s largest public institutions. Dumke served as the public face of the state college system, and he was a staunch opponent of radical student and faculty demonstrations. In his letter to Dumke, Reagan criticizes liberal activism on campuses. He condemns these people & this trash on campuses as well as the excuse of academic freedom & freedom of expression in allowing protests and demonstrations to go on. We wouldn t tolerate this kind of language in front of our families, Reagan writes of campus protesters. He urges Dumke to lay down some rules of conduct, promising that you d have all the backing I could give you. How far do we go in tolerating these people & this trash under the excuse of academic freedom & freedom of expression? Please understand, that question isn t made in any tone of accusation. I mean myself too in that use of the term we. We wouldn t let a LeRoi Jones in our livingroom and we wouldn t tolerate this kind of language in front of our families. Hasn t the time come to take on those neurotics in our faculty group and lay down some rules of conduct for the students comparable to what we d expect in our own families? If we do and the we this time means you d have all the backing I could give you, I believe the people of Calif. would take the state college system to their hearts.[illegible] RonVia: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History | 1real |
U.S. may sanction four countries for refusing deportees: DHS | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could impose additional penalties on four unidentified countries that do not cooperate with requests to return their citizens, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman said Wednesday. The State Department and the DHS can sanction countries that do not cooperate with removals, but has only used that punishment authority twice in the past 15 years. The current 12 countries deemed recalcitrant are China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Iran, Cambodia, Myanmar, Morocco, Hong Kong, South Sudan, Guinea and Eritrea. Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke sent a letter to the State Department last week identifying the latest four countries that could face the new penalties. DHS spokesman David Lapan declined to discuss possible sanctions or the names of the four countries that could face additional sanctions, including denying visas. However, CNN cited a DHS official close to discussions about the deliberations as saying on Wednesday the four under consideration were Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone. In two cases since 2000, the United States halted issuing visas to government officials and their families to Guinea and Gambia. Lapan said in some cases the DHS has no choice but to release some convicted criminals who served prison time but could not be returned to their home country because their home country refuses to cooperate. “We have tens of thousands of individuals,” Lapan said. The DHS identifies countries that can be sanctioned and the State Department decides what, if any, sanctions could be imposed. The DHS has said that it has final deportation orders against 35,000 Cuban citizens that have criminal histories that Cuba refuses to accept. | 0fake |
Ohio governor lacks power to suspend open carry law: spokeswoman | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ohio Governor John Kasich lacks the power to suspend a state law allowing citizens to openly carry guns, his office said on Sunday, after a police union official called for a suspension ahead of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. “Ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested. The bonds between our communities and police must be reset and rebuilt - as we’re doing in Ohio - so our communities and officers can both be safe. Everyone has an important role to play in that renewal,” Kasich spokeswoman Emmalee Kalmbach said. | 0fake |
Polarization Vortex: Obama, Bush Approval Shows Widest Partisan Gap | Many Republicans claim that President Obama is among the most polarizing presidents in modern history. If the results of a new Gallup survey measuring his approval rating are any indication, they might be right.
The president's overall approval rating for his just finished sixth year in office stood at 42.6 percent, according to Gallup. That's well below Bill Clinton's or Ronald Reagan's sixth-year average (63.8 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively). Even so, Obama's average for the year is still ahead of Richard Nixon (25.4 percent), who was by this point in his presidency mired in Watergate; George W. Bush (37.3 percent); or Harry S. Truman (38.6 percent).
But another measure that looks at how Republicans and Democrats view presidential performance shows that Obama is on track to be the most polarizing president ever, nudging out his predecessor with an average 70-point gap between the political parties.
"Both Bush and Obama were elected with hopes of unifying the country. However, the opposite has happened, at least in the way Americans view the job the president is doing, with presidential evaluations more divided along party lines than ever before, Gallup notes.
"These increasingly partisan views of presidents may have as much to do with the environment in which these presidents have governed as with their policies, given 24-hour news coverage of what they do and increasingly partisan news and opinion sources on television, in print and online," the polling organization says.
In his sixth year in office, 79 percent of Democrats approve of Obama's performance, while just 9 percent of Republicans do. George W. Bush's numbers were exactly reversed in year six of his presidency (79 percent of Republicans approval vs. 9 percent for Democrats).
Obama and Bush had their most polarized approval ratings in their fourth years in office, both with a 76 percentage point gap between Republicans and Democrats for the final year of their first term (although Bush had slightly higher approval from both parties, the gap was still the same). As Gallup points out, the fourth year is typically the most polarized in a president's due to it being an election year.
According to Gallup: "Each of Obama's six years in office rank among the 10 most polarized in the last 60 years, with George W. Bush holding the other four spots. Bush's most polarized years were his fourth through seventh years in office, after the rally in support for him following the 9/11 terror attacks had faded. Clearly, political polarization has reached new heights in recent years, under a Republican and a Democratic president." | 0fake |
Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels - The New York Times | SUNNYVALE, Calif. — For more than a decade, Silicon Valley’s technology investors and entrepreneurs obsessed over social media and mobile apps that helped people do things like find new friends, fetch a ride home or crowdsource a review of a product or a movie. Now Silicon Valley has found its next shiny new thing. And it does not have a “Like” button. The new era in Silicon Valley centers on artificial intelligence and robots, a transformation that many believe will have a payoff on the scale of the personal computing industry or the commercial internet, two previous generations that spread computing globally. Computers have begun to speak, listen and see, as well as sprout legs, wings and wheels to move unfettered in the world. The shift was evident in a Lowe’s home improvement store here this month, when a prototype inventory checker developed by Bossa Nova Robotics silently glided through the aisles using computer vision to automatically perform a task that humans have done manually for centuries. The robot, which was skilled enough to autonomously move out of the way of shoppers and avoid unexpected obstacles in the aisles, alerted people to its presence with soft birdsong chirps. Gliding down the middle of an aisle at a leisurely pace, it can recognize bar codes on shelves, and it uses a laser to detect which items are out of stock. Silicon Valley’s financiers and entrepreneurs are digging into artificial intelligence with remarkable exuberance. The region now has at least 19 companies designing cars and trucks, up from a handful five years ago. There are also more than a types of mobile robots, including robotic bellhops and aerial drones, being commercialized. “We saw a slow trickle in investments in robotics, and suddenly, boom — there seem to be a dozen companies securing large investment rounds focusing on specific robotic niches,” said Martin Hitch, chief executive of Bossa Nova, which has a base in San Francisco. Funding in A. I. has increased more than fourfold to $681 million in 2015, from $145 million in 2011, according to the market research firm CB Insights. The firm estimates that new investments will reach $1. 2 billion this year, up 76 percent from last year. “Whenever there is a new idea, the valley swarms it,” said Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, a chip maker that was founded to make graphic processors for the video game business but that has turned decisively toward artificial intelligence applications in the last year. “But you have to wait for a good idea, and good ideas don’t happen every day. ” By contrast, funding for social media peaked in 2011 before plunging. That year, venture capital firms made 66 social media deals and pumped in $2. 4 billion. So far this year, there have been just 10 social media investments, totaling $6. 9 million, according to CB Insights. Last month, the professional social networking site LinkedIn was sold to Microsoft for $26. 2 billion, underscoring that social media has become a mature market sector. Even Silicon Valley’s biggest social media companies are now getting into artificial intelligence, as are other tech behemoths. Facebook is using A. I. to improve its products. Google will soon compete with Amazon’s Echo and Apple’s Siri, which are based on A. I. with a device that listens in the home, answers questions and places orders. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, recently appeared at the Aspen Ideas Conference and called for a partnership between humans and artificial intelligence systems in which machines are designed to augment humans. The auto industry has also set up camp in the valley to learn how to make cars that can do the driving for you. Both technology and car companies are making claims that increasingly powerful sensors and A. I. software will enable cars to drive themselves with the push of a button as soon as the end of this decade — despite recent Tesla crashes that have raised the question of how quickly human drivers will be completely replaced by the technology. Silicon Valley’s new A. I. era underscores the region’s ability to opportunistically reinvent itself and quickly follow the latest tech trend. “This is at the heart of the region’s culture that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush,” said Paul Saffo, a longtime technology forecaster and a faculty member at Singularity University. “The valley is built on the idea that there is always a way to start over and find a new beginning. ” The change spurred a rush for talent in A. I. that has become intense. “It’s ridiculous,” said Richard Socher, chief scientist at the software maker Salesforce, who teaches a course at Stanford on a machine intelligence technique known as deep learning. “The number of people trying to get the students to drop out of the class halfway through because now they know a little bit of this stuff is crazy. ” The valley’s tendency toward reinvention dates back to the region’s initial emergence from the ashes of a deep aerospace industry recession as a manufacturing center producing memory chips, video games and digital watches in the . A malaise in the personal computing market in the early 1990s was followed by the World Wide Web and the global expansion of the consumer internet. A decade later, in 2007, just as innovation in mobile phones seemed to be on the verge of moving away from Silicon Valley to Europe and Asia, Apple introduced the first iPhone, resetting the mobile communications marketplace and ensuring that the valley would — for at least another generation — remain the world’s innovation center. In the most recent shift, the A. I. idea emerged first in Canada in the work of cognitive scientists and computer scientists like Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun during the previous decade. The three helped pioneer a new approach to deep learning, a machine learning method that is highly effective for pattern recognition challenges like vision and speech. Modeled on a general understanding of how the human brain works, it has helped technologists make rapid progress in a wide range of A. I. fields. How far the A. I. boom will go is hotly debated. For some technologists, today’s technical advances are laying the groundwork for truly brilliant machines that will soon have intelligence. Yet Silicon Valley has faced false starts with A. I. before. During the 1980s, an earlier generation of entrepreneurs also believed that artificial intelligence was the wave of the future, leading to a flurry of . Their products offered little business value at the time, and so the commercial enthusiasm ended in disappointment, leading to a period now referred to as the “A. I. Winter. ” The current resurgence will not fall short this time, said several investors, who believe that the economic potential in terms of new efficiency and new applications is strong. “There is no chance of a new winter,” said Shivon Zilis, an investor at Bloomberg Beta who specializes in machine intelligence . John Shoch, a veteran venture capitalist at Alloy Ventures in Palo Alto, Calif. said deep learning has made a difference to the potential success of A. I. companies. “You get a new set of tools that let you attack a new set of problems, which let you push the boundary out,” he said. For others, like Jerry Kaplan, who helped found two A. I. companies in the 1980s — Symantec, which became a security company, and Teknowledge, which ultimately shut down — the Valley’s new enthusiasm is troubling because it suggests an unfounded optimism similar to earlier eras in which the field overpromised and underdelivered. “Sometimes when I hang around with A. I. enthusiasts here in the valley, I feel like an atheist at a convention of evangelicals,” he said. | 0fake |
DHS Officials Tried To Stop Trump’s Unlawful Muslim Ban — Steve Bannon Overruled Them | Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday which enacted the Muslim ban he has been promising for months. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order on Saturday. But now, it appears that Trump s advisor Steve Bannon, who just happens to be a white supremacist, overruled the Department of Homeland Security to pass the bigoted ban in the first place.Like most of Trump s actions, he didn t really bother to consult anybody except for his inner circle about this executive order. He says that he only surrounds himself with the best people but none of them actually have a clue WTF they are doing when it comes to the law. When Trump signed the order nobody even knew what countries were affected by the ban.According to CNN, the policy team at the White House developed the executive order on refugees and visas, and largely avoided the traditional interagency process that would have allowed the Justice Department and homeland security agencies to provide operational guidance. It wasn t until after Trump had signed his name on the dotted line that DHS really got a chance to sit down and try to determine if the order was even legal. A person with knowledge of the matter said that homeland security staff didn t even get to lay eyes on the order until Friday. Even Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Department of Homeland Security leadership didn t get to see the document until just before Trump signed it into law. The administration also chose not to allow the Office of Legal Counsel to provide legal guidance on the matter.After they were finally allowed to review the order, DHS reportedly decided that the ban could not apply to green card holders, who are legal residents of the U.S., but Trump s Bannon overruled them. CNN reports:It was finally decided that decisions on whether or not to allow green card holders to enter the U.S. would be made on a case by case basis, but directives issued to airlines clearly state that lawful permanent residents are not included and may continue to travel to the USA. This would include green card holders as they are lawful permanent residents of the United States.A source close to the administration said that Bannon had been heading up the directives regarding green cards. No doubt Bannon, with his racist alt-right ideologies, is running point on this whole mission. This is what happens when you let a white supremacist run the country.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
Left-Behind Explosives Taking Deadlier Toll on Afghan Children, U.N. Says - The New York Times | KABUL, Afghanistan — Months after intense fighting between the Afghan government and the Taliban subsided on the outskirts of Kunduz, Hajji Habib Rahmani’s family decided to go ahead with a delayed wedding. Amid the festivities, Abdul Basit, one of the children playing behind the house, picked up an unexploded shell, and it blew up. Basit, 14, and his brother Haroon, 8, were killed, and 12 other children ages 7 to 15 were wounded. The shell had been “fired from a helicopter during the fighting, and it hadn’t exploded,” said Mr. Rahmani, an uncle of the two brothers. On Monday, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan reported that 2016 had been another year of record civilian casualties in the country, and it expressed particular concern about a 65 percent jump in the number of children killed or wounded by explosive remnants as fighting has spread to heavily populated civilian areas. The report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or Unama, said overall civilian casualties had continued their steady increase in recent years. In 2016, 3, 498 civilians were killed and 7, 920 others wounded — a rise of 3 percent over the previous year, the report said. “I am deeply saddened to report yet another year of increase in civilian casualties — another figure for the number of civilian casualties,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the United Nations special representative for Afghanistan and the head of Unama, said at a news conference on Monday in Kabul, the Afghan capital. “The killing and maiming of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable. ” According to the report, Unama documented “record numbers of civilian casualties from ground engagements, suicide and complex attacks, and explosive remnants of war” in 2016. The report also said casualties caused by aerial operations were the highest since the mission started systematically tracking them in 2009 and had doubled compared with 2015. Afghanistan is still having to clear what remains of the hundreds of thousands of mines and explosive remnants dating as far back as the war with the Soviet Union and the subsequent factional fighting, even as newer explosives take lives on a daily basis. Just as the conflict is restricting the movements of demining crews, civilians are being killed and maimed by homemade roadside bombs planted by insurgents, as well as unexploded ordnance left behind by coalition forces around bases they abandoned. And now, more children are dying not long after battles in their neighborhoods have ended, as none of the combatants bother to clear explosive remnants afterward as sought by international conventions. About 61 percent of the civilian casualties are attributed to what Unama calls “antigovernment elements,” largely the Taliban. But civilian casualties caused by local affiliates of the Islamic State also increased tenfold compared with 2015, with 899 casualties claimed by Islamic State in 2016. forces caused 24 percent of the civilian casualties, the report said, significantly higher than in 2015. The United Nations mission was especially concerned about an overall 24 percent rise in casualties involving children compared with 2015, with 3, 512 such episodes in 2016 causing 923 deaths and leaving 2, 589 wounded. More than half of the child casualties occurred during ground engagements. Afghanistan has successfully carried out one of the world’s largest demining efforts over several decades, removing nearly two million items of explosive material, more than 700, 000 antipersonnel mines and more than 29, 000 antitank mines, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service. The efforts have resulted in a 65 percent reduction in casualties caused by mines and explosive remnants since 2001. But in recent years, as the international coalition has closed down bases ahead of its withdrawal from the country, more casualties have been reported from ordnance exploding in areas that had been used as firing ranges and then abandoned by coalition forces. From 2009 to 2015, the United Nations recorded 138 casualties resulting from explosive remnant accidents in or around facilities used by the international coalition, and it said that 75 percent of the victims were children. A clearance operation to start getting rid of the explosives was introduced in 2014 to clear dozens of these sites. The United Nations said many of last year’s casualties involving children and unexploded ordnance were caused by new explosive items left behind after recent fighting. “My team tracks the location of every one of the detonations, and the trend we have documented was a direct correlation between casualties from exploded ordnance and areas where the heaviest ground fighting happened,” said Danielle Bell, the director of the human rights unit at Unama. “The majority of casualties resulted from new unexploded ordnance from the current conflict. ” The United Nations is urging the Afghan government to comply with international rules requiring it to clear explosives after a battle. | 0fake |
China state media attacks Western democracy ahead of Congress | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s official Xinhua news agency attacked Western democracy as divisive and confrontational on Tuesday, praising on the eve of a key Communist Party Congress the harmony and cooperative nature of the Chinese system. China s constitution enshrines the Communist Party s long-term leading role in government, though it allows the existence of various other political parties under what is calls a multi-party cooperation system . But all are subservient to the Communist Party. Activists who call for pluralism are regularly jailed and criticism of China s authoritarian system silenced. In a lengthy English-language commentary, Xinhua took aim at the crises and chaos swamp(ing) Western liberal democracy . Unlike competitive, confrontational Western politics, the CPC and non-Communist parties cooperate with each other, working together for the advancement of socialism and striving to improve the people s standard of living, it said. The relationship maintains political stability and social harmony and ensures efficient policy making and implementation. China s system leads to social unity not the divisions which are an unavoidable consequence of the adversarial nature of today s Western democracy, Xinhua said. Endless political backbiting, bickering and policy reversals, which make the hallmarks of liberal democracy, have retarded economic and social progress and ignored the interests of most citizens. Xinhua did not name any countries, but state media has previously cited the examples of Britain s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president as examples of why Western democracy is flawed. When Xi Jinping assumed office five years ago, his ascendancy gave many Chinese hope for political reform, mainly due to his folksy style and the legacy of his father, Xi Zhongxun, a former reformist vice-premier. But Xi has overseen a sweeping crackdown on civil society, charging or detaining dozens of rights lawyers and activists who authorities say are a threat to national security and social stability. Internet controls have also been tightened. Xi looks set to further cement his grip on power at the once-in-five-years Congress that opens on Wednesday, promoting key allies and laying out a policy framework for the years ahead. Xinhua said that under the leadership of the party, Chinese-style democracy has never been in better shape. China has absolutely no need to import the failing party political systems of other countries. After several hundred years, the Western model is showing its age. It is high time for profound reflection on the ills of a doddering democracy which has precipitated so many of the world s ills and solved so few. | 0fake |
NEWT GINGRICH: Why Obama, NOT TRUMP, Should Testify Under Oath Before Congress in Russia Probe [VIDEO] | Former Speaker Newt Gingrich discusses the Russia investigation with Hannity He drops a bomb when he says that Obama should testify under oath before Congress in the Russia probe. We totally agree!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc_t7IOfonUNewt Gingrich: There s no question that Congress should call the former president in to testify under oath to explain what he was doing and why he was doing it, Gingrich said. There s no question that they should build the case from the ground up.Who was doing the investigating? Who was reporting to the president? Who did it go through? What were the meetings like when they decided not to pursue it? I mean, talk about an extraordinary failure of national security. Guess what s about to happen, the Congress is about to have to call Barack Obama in to testify under oath about when he knew about Russia meddling. Who told him? Why did he do nothing? Who was in the meetings when he decided to do nothing? It s going to turn out, yes, there s a big Russian story. It s Barack Obama, not Donald Trump. And you cannot make this stuff up. | 1real |
WOW! Kellyanne Conway’s “MISTAKE” Forced Leftist Media To Expose What REALLY Happened In Bowling Green…And The TRUTH About These Iraqi “Refugees” Is P.R. Nightmare For The Left [VIDEO] | President Donald Trump s Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway clarified a comment in which she mistakenly referred to a Bowling Green Massacre. She said Friday on Twitter that she meant to say terrorists instead of massacre, referencing a 2013 ABC News story on two suspected terrorists living as refugees in Kentucky.According to the story: The discovery in 2009 of two al Qaeda-Iraq terrorists living as refugees in Bowling Green, Kentucky who later admitted in court that they d attacked U.S. soldiers in Iraq prompted the bureau to assign hundreds of specialists to an around-the-clock effort aimed at checking its archive of 100,000 improvised explosive devices collected in the war zones, known as IEDs, for other suspected terrorists fingerprints. An undercover FBI operation exposes Al Qaeda terrorists posing as refugees in the middle of the American heartland. They quickly learned the laxed background checks were to blame. But it turns out that may be just the beginning. There may be dozens more now in this country as well.The video below shows an admitted Al Qaeda terrorist who had already killed American soldiers in Iraq, trying to get weapons to kill more of them. And Authorities tell ABC News he may be just one of dozens of men with American blood on their hands where mistakenly allowed to settle in the US as refugees.The two men came from Iraq 4 years ago among tens of thousands of refugees who the State Department approved to come here, seen as no threat to the US . But the two were in fact, as the FBI says part of an Al Qaeda connected insurgent group that had already killed American soldiers with road side bombs. One bomb killed 4 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard on patrol in a Humvee in 2005. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whx0USVGce0 | 1real |
‘A DELIRIUM IS SPREADING’ – The Left’s Great Russian Conspiracy Theory | The very people who for years talked about the problem of conspiracy theories have become the keenest spreaders of conspiracy theories. The people who spent the past few months banging on about the post-truth politics of Brexit and Trump have shown they don t have the first clue what truth is. The people who posed as champions of logic have revealed themselves as peddlers of paranoia 21st Century Wire says During last year s the election cycle, 21WIRE called-out the liberal establishment s whole Russian Hack conspiracy as a hoax, but even conservative media were too shy to go that far in condemning what is obviously one of the biggest put-ups in modern political history.As veteran journalist Robert Parry said this week on ACR s Patrick Henningsen LIVE show this past week, a madness has set-in in Washington and throughout progressive liberal enclaves throughout America, as the opposition still clings to the desperate hope that some actual evidence to support their conspiracies theories about Trump and Russia will somehow manifest and provide a short-cut to his ouster.Hillary Clinton s internationalist tribe, American and European progressive left, is at the precipice an entire block of society who may have lost their minds and who could end up committed in a political bardo.Finally, some mainstream publications are beginning to come around to call it what it is, and that s much welcome.As they say, always better late than never Brendan O Neil Spectator The chattering classes have officially lost it. On both sides of the Atlantic.Of course they d been teetering on the cliff edge of sanity for a while, following the bruising of their beloved EU by 17m angry Brits and Hillary s loss to that orange muppet they thought no one except rednecks would vote for. But now they ve gone over. They re falling fast. They re speeding away from the world of logic into a cesspit of conspiracy and fear. It s tragic. Or hilarious. One or the other.Exhibit A: this week s New Yorker. It s mad. It captures wonderfully how the liberal-left has come to be polluted by the paranoid style of McCarthyist thinking since Trump s victory. It s a New Yorker for a future, dystopian America that s been captured by the Evil Empire. The mag s masthead is in Cyrillic and its famous dandy mascot Eustace Tilley has morphed into Putin. It s now Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley. This week's cover, Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley, by Barry Blitt: https://t.co/P43URkCLMy pic.twitter.com/sUunrilCf3 The New Yorker (@NewYorker) March 2, 2017Inside the mag it s even more feverish. A 13,000-word report, Trump, Putin and the New Cold War, is accompanied by a drawing of a deep-red, UFO-style Kremlin hovering over the White House and firing lasers into it. It s CGI Hollywood meets House Un-American Activities in an orgy of liberal dread over Ruskies ruining the nation.It used to be right-wingers who fretted over Russians and Reds and pinkos colonising Westerners lives and minds. Now it s lefties. Trump is regularly called Putin s puppet. He s an unwitting agent of Moscow, we re told. The New York Times even called him The Siberian Candidate, echoing the title of the 1962 thriller The Manchurian Candidate, in which an American is brainwashed by Korean Communists to become an assassin. That s how some seriously view Trump: a Putin-moulded foot soldier of Russian interests who ll assassinate the American way of life, if not American citizens. I mean, Vanity Fair actually asks: Is Trump a Manchurian Candidate? These people need a lie down. You have to get deep into the New Yorker s prolix report to discover that US officials still haven t provided evidence for their claim that Putin ordered the hacking of Democrat emails in order to hurry Trump to power: The declassified report [on Putin s meddling] provides more assertion than evidence. But that hasn t stopped the left McCarthyists, these Reds on the Web fearmongers, from buying into all kinds of claptrap about Putin putting Trump in the White House.In December, a YouGov survey of Democratic voters found that 50 percent of them think Russia tampered with vote tallies to help Trump. That is, White House-eyeing Putinites actually meddled with voting machines or ballot counts. There s no evidence whatever for this. In YouGov s words, it s an election day conspiracy theory. A kind of delirium is spreading.The spectre of Putinite meddling is now blamed for everything that doesn t go the liberal elite s way Continue this story at The SpectatorREAD MORE RUSSIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russia FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
NO RECOUNT? HILLARY WON CA County With Most Illegal Aliens By Stunning Margin…Ex-ICE Agent Explains How Easy It is For Illegals To Vote [VIDEO] | This ex-ICE agent reminds us of how ridiculous Jill Stein s cherry-picked 3 state vote recount effort really is. Meanwhile, the Left and the leftist media completely ignore states like CA, where illegal aliens rioted against Trump and anyone who supported him, before and after the election over fear of deportation or loss of taxpayer funded benefits. CA was largely responsible for Hillary s slight edge in the popular vote. Without California s lopsided votes for Hillary, Trump would have won the popular vote by a large margin.A California state bill was just signed in to law in October, 2015, by Gov. Jerry Brown, that registers and allows illegal aliens to vote in US Elections. The Motor Voter Act (A.B.1461) automatically registers residents of California to vote at the DMV. According to the law and a report by the Washington Times, The New Motor Voter Act automatically registers to vote all eligible voters when they obtain or renew their drivers licenses at the Department of Motor Vehicles instead of requiring them to fill out a form. The goal is to ease barriers to voting, but election-integrity advocates warn that the measure could inadvertently add millions of illegal voters to the rolls given that California allows undocumented aliens to obtain drivers licenses. California state officials are praising the law and Alex Padilla, California s Secretary of State says, Citizens should not be required to opt in to their fundamental right to vote. We do not have to opt in to other rights, such as free speech or due process. The right to vote should be no different. State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez from San Diego said, This bill will lead to millions more registered California voters, which means more people we can talk to. Critics of the law have called it for what it really is. Absolute and complete voter fraud and corruption on a grand scale. Stephen Frank from California Political Review issued a statement saying, A.B. 1461 assures corruption of our elections. Our elections will look like those of Mexico and other corrupt nations and honest people will stop voting, since illegals will out vote them. Linda Paine of the Elections Integrity Project says, Citizens must oppose this treasonous attempt to turn California into a form of government that gives control to non-citizens. -Raw ConservativeWhen Trump tweeted about illegal aliens affecting the outcome of the vote, specifically in CA, Politfact was quick to accuse him of being dishonest:Grabbing the attention of the Golden State, President-Elect Donald Trump claimed in a recent tweet there was serious voter fraud in three states won by Hillary Clinton during the General Election, including California.Trump made this claim on Sunday during a flood of tweets about voter fraud. The president-elect also said he would have won the popular vote if not for the millions of people who voted illegally. PolitiFact national examined that claim and rated it Pants on Fire.We decided to fact-check Trump s eye-opening claim about serious voter fraud in California.Our researchTrump offered no evidence about California voter fraud in his series of tweets. His allegations are completely unfounded, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in an interview. I think it s a big disservice to our country and to our democracy to continue to raise these doubts. If anything, a message back to Mr. Trump is, if you have proof, if you have evidence, please bring it forward. Procedures are in place to investigate any real voter fraud. But as the evidence has shown, the cases of voter fraud across the country are statistically minimal if you go back decades. Padilla s office could not immediately say how many voter fraud complaints it s received for this and past general elections.Hillary Clinton held a 3.9 million vote lead over Trump as of Nov. 28, a margin that s grown substantially as California continues to count the state s many absentee ballots. Broad brush allegations Dean Logan, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials and the top elections official in Los Angeles County, said in a statement responding to Trump s tweets, that the state has a history of accurate and accountable elections. Logan described Trump s voter fraud claims as broad brush allegations. Logan added in an email to PolitiFact California that: Quantifying complaints or allegations of voter fraud is not a specific data set that we track. That alone probably gives you a sense of the frequency, but there is no indication that the rate of concern on this issue was higher in this election cycle than in any other. He added that there are legal avenues for challenging a voter s eligibility. But none were used before or after the election, he said. And I think that sort of goes to the point that there s nothing to back up those allegations, Logan said.Trump s unsupported claim about voter fraud in California may also draw on misinformation about two recent state laws: AB 60, which allows undocumented immigrants to obtain state driver s licenses; and the New Motor Voter Act, which by mid-2017 will automatically register citizens to vote when they obtain or renew a driver s license. Politifact CA | 1real |
HYSTERICAL! WATCH WOMAN CHECK TRUMP’S HAIR TO CONFIRM IT’S NOT A TOUPEE | A Latino radio host gave Trump a nickname of The Man with the Toupee and Trump was not having any of it. He was holding a rally in South Carolina and invited a woman onstage to inspect his hair. Too funny! | 1real |
Warriors Edge Thunder to Extend Dream Season to N.B.A. Finals - The New York Times | OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors entered the N. B. A. playoffs having spent months chasing basketball magic. As they overwhelmed a conga line of opponents, the Warriors went about the uncharitable business of obliterating records, each new number more impressive than the last. Yet the Warriors have remained aware that all their feats would be meaningless without an opportunity to vie for another championship, their victories consigned to the dustbin of near renown, their records reduced to footnotes of almost greatness. They have always wanted the whole package: the wins, the records and the trophy. Golden State sustained the dream on Monday by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder, in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals at Oracle Arena. The Warriors, the defending champions, are bound for the N. B. A. finals, where they will face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight year. Game 1 is here on Thursday. “You appreciate how tough it is to get back here,” said Stephen Curry, who led the Warriors with 36 points. “That’s the one thing I’ve learned. ” Of all the Warriors’ accomplishments, this one may have been the most impressive. They had to win the final three games of the series to outlast the Thunder, whose miscues — missed shots, turnovers and wasted chances to advance — could haunt the franchise for years to come. Curry shot 13 of 24 from the field and made seven . Klay Thompson, his companion in the backcourt, added 21 points, including six 3s. The Warriors shot 17 of 37 from the line. They also set an N. B. A. record for in a series with 90, and Curry broke the individual record by sinking 32. (Yes, two more records. Big surprise.) In the series finale, the Warriors trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half before overtaking the Thunder in the third quarter. Golden State conjured its usual brand of basketball sorcery, draining and flying for dunks. When the Thunder threatened late in the fourth, whittling the lead to 4 on a short jumper by Kevin Durant, Curry emerged. With the shot clock set to expire, Curry sold Serge Ibaka, his defender, on a pump fake and drew a foul as he launched a . Curry made all three free throws. “That kind of hurt us,” Durant said, adding: “But hey, it’s a lot of . We could have said a lot throughout the whole playoffs. ” Curry sealed the win with another . As the final buzzer sounded and confetti fell around him, he cradled the ball with his left arm and pumped his right fist. “I knew we were ready for the moment,” Curry said. “We were a mature basketball team that tried our best not to listen to the noise when, six or seven days ago, we were down, and everybody thought the wheels were falling off and it was kind of the end of our run. But in that locker room, the talk was positive. It was ‘Let’s figure it out.’ ” Durant scored 27 points on shooting for the Thunder, and Russell Westbrook collected 19 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds. Both players supplied huge minutes throughout the series — Durant played 46 minutes in Game 7, Westbrook 45 — and each suffered by the end. Fair or not, the loss also opened the door to a flood of questions about Durant, who is due for free agency at the start of July. Will he stay or will he go? “I mean, we just lost, like, 30 minutes ago, so I haven’t even though about it,” Durant said. “I’m just embracing my teammates and just reflecting on the season. ” The Warriors survived injuries, the antics of Draymond Green and three elimination games against the Thunder, including one in Oklahoma City. On Saturday, the Warriors erased a deficit to win Game 6, ensuring Monday’s finale. Kerr made one significant change for Game 7 by starting Andre Iguodala instead of Harrison Barnes. Iguodala, a versatile defender, shed his attached himself to Durant and wound up playing 43 minutes. “He’s going to need some good treatment tomorrow, for sure,” Curry said. Early on, the Warriors labored with their shooting. After having scored 41 points in Game 6, Thompson missed his first seven attempts in Game 7. Even after Thompson found his rhythm, hitting three in a span of less than 2 minutes, the Thunder took a lead into halftime. In the third quarter, Curry made consecutive — the first to tie the game, the second to give the Warriors the lead. Later, after Durant bricked a attempt, the Warriors raced the other way. Shaun Livingston, the team’s backup point guard, absorbed contact as he soared for a dunk, his play pushing the lead to 6. The Warriors did not trail again. “It was an emotional play,” Kerr said. “Our bench was into it, and it seemed to pick up our intensity that much more. ” In the finals, the Warriors will reacquaint themselves with the Cavaliers and their old friend LeBron James. Last season, with the Cavaliers hindered by injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, the Warriors clinched the series in six games. But Love and Irving are healthy, and the Cavaliers have been resting at home since they got past the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference finals last week. It was no easy road to the finals for Warriors, who have been stretching themselves since the start of the season. They won their first 24 games to set an N. B. A. record, but their seasonlong pursuit of the Chicago Bulls for the best record in N. B. A. history seemed to take an emotional and physical toll. At the start of playoffs, the Warriors flirted with disaster. Curry sprained his right ankle in the first game of their series with the Houston Rockets, then sprained his right knee three games later. After missing about two weeks, Curry returned to help carry the Warriors past the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round. “I think anytime you go through a long postseason, you grow,” Kerr said. “The experience is incredibly valuable. ” But with their length and shotmaking prowess, the Thunder were a far greater challenge, especially when they dealt the Warriors blowout losses in Games 3 and 4. The Thunder could sense the delicious possibilities, one win separating them from the finals. The Warriors’ dream season teetered on the edge. On the team plane back to Oakland after Game 4, Green sat with Thompson, Curry and Andrew Bogut at a small table. They discussed their predicament. “We just kept talking about what we needed to do and what we were going to do,” Green recalled. On Monday, the Warriors proved once again that they are more than mere showmen. After a season spent chasing the impossible, they are four wins from making it real. | 0fake |
Why Your Backyard Chickens Could be Giving You Salmonella | The concept of owning backyard homesteading has been steadily increasing in popularity over the last decade. As people–particularly those in urban areas–have become more knowledgeable about sustainability and ecological living, backyard chickens in particular have become a kind of mascot for the particular lifestyle. It’s affordable, funky, and fun to raise chickens, but this practice is not without some risks.
Live poultry, such as chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys, often carry harmful germs. This year there have been several reported cases of Salmonella spreading via backyard chickens by the CDC . Eight different states are reporting Salmonella outbreaks linked to backyard chickens.
These germs naturally live in the intestines of poultry (and many other animals). Salmonella germs therefore exist in their droppings and on their bodies (feathers, feet, and beaks) even when the birds appear healthy and clean. The germs can then easily get on cages, coops, food dishes, hay, plants, and soil in the area where the birds live and roam. Germs can then pass onto the hands, shoes, and clothes of people who handle the birds or their eggs. While it usually doesn’t cause the birds to be sick or show signs of infection, Salmonella causes serious issues when it is passed on to people. It’s not a matter of keeping your chicken coops clean or purchasing “healthy” chickens. Even organically fed poultry in spotless coops can have Salmonella and there is really no way of knowing which birds have it.
Is Salmonella Serious? Salmonella infection is no joke: it can cause serious intestinal distress with symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal cramping. If the symptoms are severe enough, an infected person will require hospitalization. Babies and children under the age of five, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with immune deficiencies are more likely to have serious symptoms. If the infection goes untreated, Salmonella can even spread from the intestines to the bloodstream, which leads to the infection traveling rapidly to other places in the body. A course of strong antibiotics and observation by a doctor is then necessary. In rare cases, if left untreated Salmonella can even lead to death.
How To Avoid Salmonella infection The number one way to avoid Salmonella infection is to always wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling a chicken or anything that may have been in contact with chicken droppings. You should also cook any collected eggs thoroughly and be present when small children are around poultry to ensure they do not touch their hands to their mouths without hand washing, etc. In fact, if your children are under five years of age, they should not handle chickens or their eggs at all (the same goes for anyone over 65 or anyone with a compromised immune system).
It should go without saying, but never let the chickens into your home, especially not into your kitchen or areas where food is prepared. You also don’t want to eat or drink anything near the areas where you are minding your chicken coop. And chickens are adorable, but limit cuddling and never kiss them.
How to Treat Salmonella If you do contract Salmonella and you are an adult with an otherwise healthy immune system, you should be fine in a week or two, though you will feel pretty miserable while the infection runs its course. (If you are in the compromised immune system category, your doctor might prescribe antibiotics and keep you in the hospital where you can be observed.) Make sure to contact your doctor if your symptoms seem to be worsening or if you have a high fever.
Pamela Bofferding is a native Texan who now lives with her husband and sons in New York City. She enjoys hiking, traveling, and playing with her dogs.
This information has been made available by Ready Nutrition
Originally published November 1st, 2016 How – and Why – You Should Make Your Own Peanut… Oh, Nuts! Another Nut Butter Recall – This Time, in… Sustainable Essentials: 8 Necessary Items for Raising Baby… Upcoming Health Crisis? 4th Incident of Superbug Gene Found… Shocking Photos: This is the Chicken That You Feed Your… | 1real |
“TEFLON” TRUMP WINS SUPPORT From Unlikely Groups Of Voters | Trump is winning support from latinos and from Union Members two groups that typically vote Democrat. What is it about this candidate? We d love to know your thoughts. This has been an interesting election year so far and will only get crazier. It s a turning point Trump has support from 38 percent of Latino voters followed by Ted Cruz with 15 percent and Jeb Bush with 14 percent. The New York Post reported:Thirty eight percent favor Trump, followed by Cuban American Ted Cruz (15 percent), Jeb Bush (14 percent) and Cuban American Marco Rubio (8 percent), according to the national poll conducted by the Beck Research for the American Federation for Children. If you re trying to stop Trump this poll should trouble you, said pollster Deborah Beck.From Day 1 of his presidential campaign, Trump got into hot water with Hispanic organizations for asserting many Mexican immigrants are rapists, criminals and drug dealers. His campaign has since gained steam for his tough talk on building a border wall and making Mexico pay for it and implementing a temporary ban on all Muslims from entering the United States. This poll finds that he s building a committed base of voters. Trump is proving to be Teflon, and despite his statements about Hispanic voters, 38 percent of Hispanic Republicans back him, said Beck, president of Beck Research LLC.The other group that s an unlikely supporter is the Union vote:In September, union leaders rocked the political world by suggesting Hillary would not just automatically get their nod; that Republican candidate Donald Trump could be in play for their consideration, in part due to Hillary s rejection of the Keystone Pipeline, while Mr. Trump supports it.Mr. Trump has a history of dealing with Unions on his real estate projects around the country.The source of the attraction to Mr. Trump, say union members and leaders, is manifold: the candidate s unapologetically populist positions on certain economic issues, particularly trade; a frustration with the impotence of conventional politicians; and above all, a sense that he rejects the norms of Washington discourse. They feel he s the one guy who s saying what s on people s minds. Read more: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
Spicer: ’No Truth’ to Report Trump to Restructure U.S. Spy Agency | Donald Trump’s incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday “there is no truth” to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that the is working with top advisers to restructure the nation’s top spy agency. [“These reports are false. All transition activities are for participation, gathering purposes, and all discussions are tentative. The ’s top priority will be to ensure the safety of the American people and the security of the nation. He’s committed to finding the best and most effective way to do it,” declared Spicer during a transition daily call with reporters. “But — I want to reiterate — there is not truth to this idea of restructuring the intelligence community infrastructure. It is 100 percent false. ” Citing unnamed individuals reportedly familiar with the plans on Wednesday, WSJ reported that Trump’s belief that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has grown “bloated and politicized” under President Barack Obama prompted the incoming to work with top advisors on a plan to revamp America’s top spy agency. “The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world has become completely politicized,” an individual who is close to the Trump transition told WSJ. “They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact. ” Trump has not kept secret his disdain towards what he believes the U. S. intelligence agencies have become under Obama. Last year, a congressional task force confirmed allegations that senior U. S. Central Command (CENTCOM) leaders manipulated intelligence assessments in 2014 and 2015 to make it appear that President Obama’s strategies were winning the war against the Islamic State ( ). Referring to the alleged plans by Trump to revamp the top U. S. spy agency, WSJ reports: The planning comes as Mr. Trump has leveled a series of attacks in recent months and the past few days against U. S. intelligence agencies, dismissing and mocking their assessment that Russia stole emails from Democratic groups and individuals and then provided them to WikiLeaks for publication in an effort to help Mr. Trump win the White House. One of the people familiar with Mr. Trump’s planning said advisers also are working on a plan to restructure the Central Intelligence Agency, cutting back on staffing at its Virginia headquarters and pushing more people out into field posts around the world. The CIA declined to comment. For commending Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticizing U. S. spy agencies, and accepting an explanation by WikiLeaks Julian Assange of the hacking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) the incoming has drawn the ire of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Trump has also drawn criticism from intelligence and officials for the same reasons. “Mr. Trump’s advisers say he has long been skeptical of the CIA’s accuracy, and the often mentions faulty intelligence in 2002 and 2003 concerning Iraq’s weapons programs,” notes WSJ. “But his public skepticism about the Russia assessments has jarred analysts accustomed to more cohesion with the White House. ” “Top officials at U. S. intelligence agencies, as well as Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, have said Russia orchestrated the computer attacks on the Democratic Party last year,” also reports the Journal. “President Barack Obama ordered the intelligence agencies to produce a report on the hacking operation, and he is expected to be presented with the findings on Thursday. ” On Friday, Trump is expected to meet with the heads of the CIA, FBI, and DNI James Clapper to discuss the findings of the alleged Russian hacking. | 0fake |
France close to Qatar military, transport contracts: presidential source | PARIS (Reuters) - France is close to finalizing major military and transport contracts during a visit by Emmanuel Macron to Qatar on Thursday, a French presidential source said. Qatar has an option to buy 12 more Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets after buying 24 planes in 2015 for about 6 billion euros ($7.11 billion) and officials have said that the deal could be concluded this week. The two sides are also in talks for sale of 300 VBCI armored vehicles from French firm Nexter and a contract worth some 3 billion euros to manage the Doha metro for 20 years. Discussions are ongoing, a French presidential source told reporters on Monday ahead of the visit. You spoke about several dossiers for which the point of maturity is close, but I prefer to remain a little bit prudent and wait until Thursday. Paris has close commercial and political ties with Qatar and has pushed further business interests in the country as well as encourage investment into France, where the gas-rich Gulf state already has assets of about $10 billion. It has also sought to play a role as a go-between in a row, which began in early June when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut political and trade ties with Qatar. Since then Qatar has sought to strengthen its military, including signing military equipment deals with the United States, Russia and Britain. ($1 = 0.8441 euros) | 0fake |
Advisor and surrogate Doug Schoen unendorses Hillary Clinton |
Democrat pollster Doug Schoen, who advised President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign and worked on Hillary Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential bid, has withdrawn his endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the presidency following the renewal of the FBI investigation into Clinton and her her top aide Huma Abedin. Schoen said he fears a constitutional crisis should Clinton be elected and sworn into office while under investigation
Schoen made the announcement on the Fox News Channel Sunday night where he is a contributor. Video of the announcement was posted to Twitter.
(Transcribed by Kristinn Taylor.)
Shoen, “â€I’ve been a supporter of Secretary Clinton.â€
Host Harris Faulkner, “We all know, yeah!â€
Schoen, “You do know. But, and the but is a big deal, at least to me. Given that this investigation is gonna go on for many months after the election.â€
Faulkner, “No matter who wins.â€
Schoen, “No matter who wins. But if the secretary of State (Clinton) wins we will have a president under criminal investigation with Huma Abedin under investigation, the secretary of State–the president-elect–should she win under investigation. Harris, under these circumstances I am actively reassessing my support. I’m not a Trump‌â€
Faulkner, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You’re not gonna vote for Hillary Clinton?â€
Schoen, “Harris, I’m deeply concerned that we will have a constitutional crisis if she’s elected. I want to learn more this week see what we see. But as of today I am not a supporter of the secretary of State for the next‌â€
Faulkner, speaks over Schoen, “How long have you known the Clintons, sir?â€
Schoen, “I’ve known the Clintons since 1994.â€
Faulkner, “Wow.â€
Schoen was on a panel with fellow Democrat pollster Pat Caddell and former Republican Congressman John LeBoutillier.
Schoen’s bio reads in part:
Douglas E. Schoen has been one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for over thirty years. A founding partner and principle strategist for Penn, Schoen & Berland, he is widely recognized as one of the co-inventors of overnight polling.
Schoen was named Pollster of the Year in 1996 by the American Association of Political Consultants for his contributions to the President Bill Clinton reelection campaign.
His political clients include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Indiana Governor Evan Bayh, and his corporate clients include AOL Time Warner, Procter & Gamble and AT&T. Internationally, he has worked for the heads of states of over 15 countries, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and three Israeli Prime Ministers…â€
Source
| 1real |
YEA! GOP SENATOR GOES OFF On Liberal Dem Spouting Lies About Trump Tax Plan: ‘GIMME A BREAK!’ [Video] | Dem Sherrod Brown and GOP Senator Orrin Hatch go at it! They were discussing the tax plan and Hatch let Brown know he doesn t appreciate the class warfare propaganda THE MIDDLE CLASS WINS WITH TRUMP TAX PLAN:The Senate s plan to rewrite the tax code would go much further than a competing House proposal toward making good on Republican promises to focus on the middle class, a new report shows.Moderate-income people would consistently see the largest percentage declines in their tax bills, according to an analysis released late Saturday by the official, nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.In 2019, people in the middle of the income spectrum, earning between $50,000 and $70,000, would see their taxes fall by 7.1 percent. Those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 would see a 10.4 percent decline, the report shows, while millionaires would get a 5.3 percent tax cut.Unlike with the House plan, that trend holds up throughout the period over which JCT analyzed the Senate proposal. In 2027, for example, millionaires would get a 2.8 percent tax cut from the Senate plan, compared with a 6.1 percent decline for people in the middle and a 10.3 percent reduction for those earning between $20,000 and $30,000.How Republicans tax plans would affect people in different income groups has been a hotly contested issue in Congress, with the GOP contending its plans are aimed at the middle class while Democrats call them a giveaway to the rich.The House proposal would have a muddled impact on people in different income groups, JCT found earlier this month. At first, modest-income people would be its biggest winners, but the outlook changes after the first few years. Some modest-income people would face tax increases under the House plan, JCT found, and by 2027, millionaires would be its biggest winners.The analysis of the Senate plan, which the Finance Committee plans to formally take up on Monday, shows people in every income cohort receiving a tax cut on average, though it did not examine whether some people within those groups would face tax increases. | 1real |
Treason Accusations RAIN DOWN On Trump As He Cheers On Russia Against American Media | Trump and his whole team should be disqualified from the presidency after this.Donald Trump continued sucking up to Russia on Friday by openly siding with Russia and Vladimir Putin over news outlets in the United States while singling out Fox News as the lone media outlet that has sold out America in support of Trump and his Russian friends.Russians are playing @CNN and @NBCNews for such fools funny to watch, they don t have a clue! @FoxNews totally gets it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016This is pretty damn serious because it demonstrates that Trump will always side with Russia against American businesses, media outlets, the intelligence community, and government officials if they continue to criticize or oppose him.Rooting against American media while praising one of our enemies amounts to treason and Twitter users absolutely went nuclear on Trump for doing just that.@realDonaldTrumpIt s killing you isn t it? pic.twitter.com/w6XJVTMwYe Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump There used to be a whiff of treason around your election. Now it s the stench of a hot diaper in a tiny car on a warm day. Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump The moment when future students will read tweets in history class about the time an American President became a traitor. Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) December 30, 2016@Pappiness @drspl5 @realDonaldTrump more like a traitor became a president. Headerop (@Headerop1) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews How would you know? You don t go to briefings! Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews Why don t you just MARRY Russia? Jackie P (@jackiepatie) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump Does Putin have his hand up your butt, or did you hand him your phone so he could just tweet himself? Kelly Scaletta (@KellyScaletta) December 30, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Oh honey I know they re mean to you but it sounds an awful lot like you re going with feelings over freedom of the press. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) December 30, 2016.@realDonaldTrump And remember, Vladimir may tell you he thinks you re smart, but he detests America in his heart. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews Puppet. Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) December 30, 2016@bbogaard @CharlesPPierce @realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews 17 agencies say Russian hacked US. 1 Liar said they did not. Generation Y (@VotesMillennial) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews They re playing you for a fool. Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews says the guy who once tweeted this. https://t.co/yLz3r3td4q Mike Wickett (@mikewickett) December 30, 2016More projection. @realDonaldTrump is acknowledging that the Russians are playing him for an embarrassing treasonous fool. https://t.co/2BS28fxhVP John Aravosis (@aravosis) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews Donald. You ll be a scratch n sniff President. Superficial appeasement with little substance. T. Rafael Cimino (@TRafaelCimino) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump Putin is NOT someone you can reason with. He. is. playing. YOU! Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump Praising a man from Russia where journalists are murdered and who probably had someone poisoned with radioactive polonium. pic.twitter.com/mO47eWvzPk The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) December 30, 2016@realDonaldTrump @CNN @NBCNews @FoxNews Seriously, Ronald Reagan would punch you in the face if he were still alive. MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) December 31, 2016Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He has proven that time and time again, and he just made it clear again today. He intends to side with Russia over America and his obsession with Putin is terrifying.Russia is clearly going to use Trump like a puppet and if the American people don t want Putin to control the White House, now is the time to do something about it.Featured Image: Photo of Donald Trump by Joe Raedle/Getty Images. Photo of Vladimir Putin by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images | 1real |
Three more states refuse Trump commission's voter data request | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maryland, Delaware and Louisiana on Monday joined a growing number of U.S. states that have refused to hand over voter data to a commission established by President Donald Trump to investigate possible voting fraud. More than 20 states, including Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York and Massachusetts, have declined to provide some or all of the information that the panel requested, saying it was unnecessary and violated privacy. Republican Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after making unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election. Calling the request “repugnant,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a statement that his office had advised the State Board of Elections that the commission’s request was illegal. The request “appears designed only to intimidate voters and to indulge President Trump’s fantasy that he won the popular vote,” Frosh said. The commission sent a letter to the 50 states asking them to turn over voter information including names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories. Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler said the presidential commission could purchase the limited information legally available to candidates running for office. “You’re not going to play politics with Louisiana’s voter data,” he said in a statement. Delaware Elections Commissioner Elaine Manlove said in an interview with Milford’s WXDE-FM radio that her office would not comply since some of the information was confidential. Manlove said she was working with the attorney general’s office to see if the request could be denied completely. Trump has blasted the states who have refused to turn over the data. He said in a tweet on Saturday, “What are they trying to hide?” Trump won the White House through victory in the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states, but he lost the popular vote to Clinton by some 3 million votes. He has claimed he would have won the popular vote had it not been for voter fraud. Civil rights activists say the commission will encourage voter suppression by justifying new barriers to voting, such as requiring identity cards to vote. | 0fake |
TRUMP SUPPORTER’S HILARIOUS VIRAL VIDEO Mocking CNN’s 1-Star App Rating Has Everyone Laughing! | Terrance Williams is a conservative Trump supporter and comedian who makes hilarious videos on Twitter. Anyone who watches Williams videos can t help but notice his contagious laugh. When Williams went to Apple s App Store yesterday, he made a hilarious discovery.Watch: @CNN GOT 1 STAR IN THE APPLE STORE. @TuckerCarlson @greggutfeld @seanhannity @realDonaldTrump @FoxNews don't argue with this wack network pic.twitter.com/TFboCRmc1f Terrence Williams (@w_terrence) July 7, 2017A couple of days ago, Williams video commentary on #FakeNewsCNN went viral after Sean Hannity retweeted it, saying he was crying after watching Williams video.Omg I'm crying watching this. I want to go on tour with @w_terrence The best laugh EVER! So so so funny!! Luv ya Terrance!! https://t.co/fxQXHbg26u Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 6, 2017Williams made another hilarious video exposing fake black guy and one of the BLM leader s after he blocked Williams on Twitter.Watch:BLM Shaun King Blocked because I called him white Tag him and tell him to call me! TalcumX pic.twitter.com/ff4cJ89OaU Terrence Williams (@w_terrence) July 2, 2017Here s the video that got Williams blocked by fake black guy Sean King:Black Lives Matter Leader @ShaunKing is a White Man Go to bed man! You Looking like @georgesoros lol retweet if you agree pic.twitter.com/WAtret1yjc Terrence Williams (@w_terrence) July 1, 2017Williams hammered CNN after they blackmailed the Reddit user who created the hilarious wrestling meme with Donald Trump while replacing the face of the WWE Chairman with a CNN s logo, that they would expose his identity to everyone unless he agreed to their terms.Watch:Somebody get @CNN ON THE PHONE! Let's talk about this Blackmail! Y'all Frauds and Thugs now ? #CNNIsBlackmail pic.twitter.com/MecrmHwMsl Terrence Williams (@w_terrence) July 5, 2017Terrence Williams videos are not always funny. On the 4th of July when liberals were trashing America, Terrence took to Twitter to put them in their place:Happy 4th of July! Why people bringing up Slavery? Who cares we Free now let Freedom ring!#happy4th @realDonaldTr https://t.co/MRe2cZiu1x Terrence Williams (@w_terrence) July 4, 2017Williams isn t shy about speaking his mind. In this tweet, he calls out whiny Americans who say they hate the United States but have no problem with collecting benefits from America s hardworking citizens How you Hate America but Love Your Food Stamps pic.twitter.com/71TOEcyGBz Terrence Williams (@w_terrence) July 5, 2017 | 1real |
Clinton cronies steered millions to foundation — and Bill’s wallet | Email
Two Bill Clinton cronies used their private consulting firm to steer millions in business to the former president while raising funds for the Clinton Foundation — and even called the arrangement “Bill Clinton Inc.”
Doug Band, a top Clinton aide, detailed the complex financial arrangement between his company, Teneo, and the foundation in a memo contained in hacked e-mails released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
“Teneo partners have raised in excess of $8 million for the foundation, more than $5.25 million of which is in the bank,” the memo reads.
“Teneo partners also have generated over $3 million in paid speeches for President Clinton, $1.25 million of which has been paid to him thus far.”
The consulting company was formed by Band and former State Department envoy Declan Kelly. The memo about its activities shows the incestuous relationship between the foundation and the private business interests of the former president.
In one arrangement, Kelly introduced Bob McCann, the head of UBS Wealth Management, to Clinton at an event in 2009.
After the meeting, McCann donated hundreds of thousands to the foundation while inviting Clinton to give several paid speeches.
Another arrangement involved the Laureate Foundation, which donated more than $1 million to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Laureate was a “personal advisory services business,” the memo said, paying Clinton “$3.5 million annually to provide advice and serve as their honorary chairman.”
The cozy relationship with the Clintons put the Baltimore-based Laureate at high-profile events with international players who could help it expand its reach around the globe.
The Band memo also includes a section about “For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e., Bill Clinton Inc.).”
Some of the speeches “secured” by Teneo include two $450,000 addresses delivered to UBS in 2011 and 2012, as well as a commitment for three additional paid speeches, if he chose to give them.
Another secured event was a $1 million fee for Clinton to speak at two one-hour sessions during an event in Hong Kong. The fee included $400,000 for a private plane.
“Since 2001, President Clinton’s business arrangements have yielded more than $30 million for him personally, with $66 million to be paid out over the next nine years should he choose to continue with the current engagements,” the memo reads.
The relationship between Band and the donors was criticized harshly by daughter Chelsea Clinton in another e-mail.
Chelsea specifically called out Band and Teneo for “hustling’” business opportunities out of the foundation.
“I continue to want — and to try — to disintermediate myself from this muddle, edify the corporate audit and existential process we are in — while also being a responsible board member, daughter and person,” Chelsea wrote in the 2011 e-mail.
The relationship between foundation donors and Hillary Clinton’s State Department was raised through e-mails obtained by Citizens United in which top Hillary aide Huma Abedin appeared to vet donors’ access to the Clintons based on their links to the CGI.
In a December 2012 e-mail in which a CGI official asks for Band and a few others to meet with Hillary during a trip to Ireland, Abedin writes to Band, “Are these legit cgi people?” | 1real |
Trump, China's top diplomat, discuss cooperation, possible Xi meeting | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, who has attacked China on issues from trade to the South China Sea, held his first face-to-face talks with a member of the Chinese leadership on Monday, and the White House said it was a chance to discuss shared security interests and a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping. State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, met Trump briefly after talks with the new U.S. National Security adviser, H.R. McMaster, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. A senior U.S. administration official said discussions included bilateral cooperation and the possibility of arranging a meeting between Trump and Xi, but no date was set. The official said the meeting with Trump lasted five to seven minutes. White House spokesman Sean Spicer called it “an opportunity to say ‘hi’ to the president” before Yang left. “This was an opportunity to begin that conversation and talk to them on shared interests of national security,” he said at a regular news briefing. China’s Foreign Ministry cited Yang as telling Trump that China was willing to enhance exchanges with the United States at all levels, expand coordination and cooperation, and respect each others’ core interests and major concerns. “Ensuring the steady and healthy development of China-U.S. ties will surely benefit both peoples and the world as a whole,” the ministry paraphrased Yang as saying. Yang, who outranks China’s foreign minister, was the first top Chinese official to visit the White House since Trump took office on Jan. 20. His visit followed a phone call between Yang and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week, during which the two affirmed the importance of a constructive U.S.-China relationship. It was the latest step by the world’s two largest economies to try to put relations back on an even keel after a rocky start following Trump’s election victory. Trump has been a strong critic of Beijing, accusing China of unfair trade policies, criticizing its island building in the strategic South China Sea, and accusing it of not doing enough to constrain its neighbor, North Korea. Trump incensed Beijing in December by talking to the president of Taiwan and saying the United States did not have to stick to the “one China” policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part. Trump later agreed in a phone call with Xi to honor the “one China” policy in a diplomatic boost for Beijing, which vehemently opposes criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Trump pressed China to do more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, saying Beijing could resolve the issue “very easily if it wanted to.” China dismissed Trump’s remarks, saying on Friday the crux of the matter was a dispute between Washington and Pyongyang. Beijing has repeatedly called for a return to negotiations between Pyongyang and world powers. As Yang held talks at the White House, senior officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea met at the State Department to discuss additional measures to choke off funding to North Korea’s weapons program. “The officials considered other possible measures under national authorities, including means to restrict further the revenue sources for North Korea’s weapons programs, particularly illicit activities,” they said in a joint statement. They also agreed that North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs directly threatened their security and “strong international pressure” was needed to push back at Pyongyang, the statement said. Plans for renewed contacts with North Korea in the United States were canceled last week after the U.S. State Department denied a visa for the top envoy from Pyongyang, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. | 0fake |
Zimbabwe army controls paramilitary police depot in Harare: source | HARARE (Reuters) - The Zimbabwean military is in charge of a paramilitary police support unit depot in Harare and has disarmed police officers there, an army source told Reuters. They are now in charge of all armory, all gates and roads leading in or out of the camp. Arcturus Road (which leads to the camp) is closed and all Support Unit details with guns have been disarmed, the source said. | 0fake |
BREAKING NEWS: TRUMP ADMIN ANNOUNCES “MASSIVE TAX CUT” For Businesses And Massive Tax Reform [VIDEO] | President Trump s 2017 Tax Reform for Economic Growth and American Jobs was announced today by National Economic Director Cohn and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin:Three Key Things to Remember (see photo below):-Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax-Reduce the top Cap Gains rate to 20%-Repeal the so-called death tax. TAX PLAN REDUCES CURRENT 7 TAX BRACKETS TO 3 AND DOUBLES STANDARD DEDUCTION GARY COHN, NAT L ECONOMIC DIRECTOR: ENTIRE SPEECH BELOW THIS VIDEOTax plan reduces current 7 tax brackets to 3 and doubles standard deduction, National Economic Director Cohn says https://t.co/T5uqoA85rO pic.twitter.com/hAOtIOh2WP CBS News (@CBSNews) April 26, 2017TAX REFORM FOR 2017: Tax reform plan reduces corporate tax rate to 15%; medium and small-sized businesses eligible for rate Treasurey Secretary Mnuchin -ENTIRE SPEECH BELOW THIS VIDEO:Tax reform plan reduces corporate tax rate to 15%; medium and small-sized businesses eligible for rate, Mnuchin says https://t.co/T5uqoA85rO pic.twitter.com/zavdOihq9E CBS News (@CBSNews) April 26, 2017ENTIRE SPEECH: | 1real |
American Psychoanalytic Association Gives Members Permission To Diagnose Trump’s Mental Health | Mental health professionals will now be allowed to openly diagnose Donald Trump.For the first time since 1973, a rule that prevents mental health professionals from publicly giving their expert opinion on the mental health of a public figure will no longer be enforced by the American Psychoanalytical Association.The rule was put in place after Barry Goldwater sued Fact Magazine for publishing a poll in which a majority of psychiatrists declared him mentally unfit to be president. Goldwater would go on to lose the presidential election of 1964.But ever since Trump declared his candidacy and began saying and doing insane things in public, many psychiatrists have openly defied the rule in order to inform Americans on his mental state.Fox News pundit Charles Krauthammer, who is also a board-certified psychiatrist, wrote a brutal diagnose of Trump s mental health last August. Trump s hypersensitivity and unedited, untempered Pavlovian responses are, shall we say, unusual in both ferocity and predictability. This is beyond narcissism. I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value indeed exists only insofar as it sustains and inflates him. In addition, Dr. Drew Pinsky also expressed concerns about Trump s mental health. The question, though, is, are some of the reckless qualities that everyone is getting so disturbed about on the campaign going to be translated into office should he get elected? That s a pretty hard thing to predict. I don t know if this is just somebody playing politics, or is this somebody who really can t contain their impulses? When I hear people that are impulsive with their speech, I worry about hypomania and bipolar types of conditions. At the time, psychiatrists were warned to avoid diagnosing Trump without personally examining him first. But that has all changed.Six months into Trump s presidency, the American Psychoanalytical Association has given permission to their 3,500 members to do just that.And you can bet Trump s head is going to explode.Former APA president Dr. Prudence Gourguechon explained the decision to STAT News. We don t want to prohibit our members from using their knowledge responsibly since Trump s behavior is so different from anything we ve seen before, Dr. Gouguechon said.Indeed, Americans need this knowledge now more than ever before as Trump continues to lash out at anyone who criticizes him and is even starting to throw members of his own administration under the bus. His emotions and behavior are so unpredictable that it is understandable that people would worry, especially considering that Trump has access to nuclear weapons.It s time for Americans and Congress to demand Trump undergo a mental health exam by a board-certified psychiatrist. Furthermore, it s time to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unfit to serve. This insanity has gone on long enough. America cannot continue to be led by an unstable narcissist. It s time to make America sane again.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images | 1real |
Trump urges Alabama voters to back Roy Moore | PENSACOLA, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday voiced support for Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican Senate candidate dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, during a rally that foreshadowed themes for next year’s midterm elections. Trump, speaking to a stadium of supporters in Pensacola, Florida, near the Alabama state line, touted his work to quit or renegotiate trade deals and called on Democrats to support a measure that would avert a government shutdown. Trump highlighted familiar themes from his political rallies: criticism of violence in Chicago, which he suggested was less safe than Afghanistan, as well as his commitment to improving U.S. border security and to crack down on immigration. But he made a point of using the rally to note his desire to get Moore elected. “Get out and vote for Roy Moore,” Trump said ahead of Tuesday’s election. The race in the heavily Republican state heated up last month with accusations that Moore sexually assaulted or behaved inappropriately with several women when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Moore, a conservative Christian and former state judge, denies the allegations, and Trump formally endorsed him on Monday. “We cannot afford - this country, the future of this country - cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close United States Senate,” Trump said. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate. Trump said Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, is a “total puppet” of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. “He will never, ever vote for us. We need somebody in that Senate seat who will vote for our Make America Great Again agenda,” Trump said. Moore’s race against Jones, a former attorney, has come amid an array of allegations of sexual misconduct that have brought down men in media, politics, and entertainment. U.S. Senator Al Franken said on Thursday he would resign in the coming weeks after allegations of sexual misconduct. Franken said it was ironic that he was leaving while Moore campaigned with backing of his party and Trump, who last year faced allegations of sexual misconduct, remained in the Oval Office. Trump’s support for Moore puts him at odds with other lawmakers in the Republican Party, particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In his speech, Trump did not directly address the sexual harassment allegations against Moore, but he mocked the fact that one of Moore’s accusers acknowledged on Friday that part of an inscription that she had said Moore had written in her high school yearbook was in fact penned by her. “Did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook? ... There was a little mistake made - she started writing things in the yearbook,” Trump said. The accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, said last month Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16 and he was a prosecuting attorney in his 30s. Moore denies ever having known Nelson. Nelson says the yearbook entry shows that they were acquainted. Nelson’s attorney Gloria Allred said on Friday a handwriting analysis had concluded that Moore had signed the yearbook. The White House reiterated on Friday that Moore had denied the accusations against him. “We find these allegations to be troubling and concerning, and they should be taken seriously. Roy Moore has also maintained that these allegations aren’t true, and that should also be taken into account,” White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters on Air Force One during Trump’s flight to Florida. After initially abandoning Moore, the Republican Party resumed contributing funding to his election effort after Trump’s endorsement. | 0fake |
HOW LEFT- LEANING GOOGLE’S SECRET DECISIONS COULD CHOOSE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT | America s next president could be eased into office not just by TV ads or speeches, but by Google s secret decisions, and no one except for me and perhaps a few other obscure researchers would know how this was accomplished.Research I have been directing in recent years suggests that Google, Inc., has amassed far more power to control elections indeed, to control a wide variety of opinions and beliefs than any company in history has ever had. Google s search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more up to 80 percent in some demographic groups with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated, according to experiments I conducted recently with Ronald E. Robertson.Given that many elections are won by small margins, this gives Google the power, right now, to flip upwards of 25 percent of the national elections worldwide. In the United States, half of our presidential elections have been won by margins under 7.6 percent, and the 2012 election was won by a margin of only 3.9 percent well within Google s control.There are at least three very real scenarios whereby Google perhaps even without its leaders knowledge could shape or even decide the election next year. Whether or not Google executives see it this way, the employees who constantly adjust the search giant s algorithms are manipulating people every minute of every day. The adjustments they make increasingly influence our thinking including, it turns out, our voting preferences.What we call in our research the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) turns out to be one of the largest behavioral effects ever discovered. Our comprehensive new study, just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), includes the results of five experiments we conducted with more than 4,500 participants in two countries. Because SEME is virtually invisible as a form of social influence, because the effect is so large and because there are currently no specific regulations anywhere in the world that would prevent Google from using and abusing this technique, we believe SEME is a serious threat to the democratic system of government.According to Google Trends, at this writing Donald Trump is currently trouncing all other candidates in search activity in 47 of 50 states. Could this activity push him higher in search rankings, and could higher rankings in turn bring him more support? Most definitely depending, that is, on how Google employees choose to adjust numeric weightings in the search algorithm. Google acknowledges adjusting the algorithm 600 times a year, but the process is secret, so what effect Mr. Trump s success will have on how he shows up in Google searches is presumably out of his hands.***Our new research leaves little doubt about whether Google has the ability to control voters. In laboratory and online experiments conducted in the United States, we were able to boost the proportion of people who favored any candidate by between 37 and 63 percent after just one search session. The impact of viewing biased rankings repeatedly over a period of weeks or months would undoubtedly be larger.In our basic experiment, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups in which search rankings favored either Candidate A, Candidate B or neither candidate. Participants were given brief descriptions of each candidate and then asked how much they liked and trusted each candidate and whom they would vote for. Then they were allowed up to 15 minutes to conduct online research on the candidates using a Google-like search engine we created called Kadoodle.Each group had access to the same 30 search results all real search results linking to real web pages from a past election. Only the ordering of the results differed in the three groups. People could click freely on any result or shift between any of five different results pages, just as one can on Google s search engine.When our participants were done searching, we asked them those questions again, and, voil : On all measures, opinions shifted in the direction of the candidate who was favored in the rankings. Trust, liking and voting preferences all shifted predictably.More alarmingly, we also demonstrated this shift with real voters during an actual electoral campaign in an experiment conducted with more than 2,000 eligible, undecided voters throughout India during the 2014 Lok Sabha election there the largest democratic election in history, with more than 800 million eligible voters and 480 million votes ultimately cast. Even here, with real voters who were highly familiar with the candidates and who were being bombarded with campaign rhetoric every day, we showed that search rankings could boost the proportion of people favoring any candidate by more than 20 percent more than 60 percent in some demographic groups.Given how powerful this effect is, it s possible that Google decided the winner of the Indian election. Google s own daily data on election-related search activity (subsequently removed from the Internet, but not before my colleagues and I downloaded the pages) showed that Narendra Modi, the ultimate winner, outscored his rivals in search activity by more than 25 percent for sixty-one consecutive days before the final votes were cast. That high volume of search activity could easily have been generated by higher search rankings for Modi.Google s official comment on SEME research is always the same: Providing relevant answers has been the cornerstone of Google s approach to search from the very beginning. It would undermine the people s trust in our results and company if we were to change course. Could any comment be more meaningless? How does providing relevant answers to election-related questions rule out the possibility of favoring one candidate over another in search rankings? Google s statement seems far short of a blanket denial that it ever puts its finger on the scales.There are three credible scenarios under which Google could easily be flipping elections worldwide as you read this:First, there is the Western Union ScenarioGoogle s executives decide which candidate is best for us and for the company, of course and they fiddle with search rankings accordingly. There is precedent in the United States for this kind of backroom king-making. Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, was put into office in part because of strong support by Western Union. In the late 1800s, Western Union had a monopoly on communications in America, and just before the election of 1876, the company did its best to assure that only positive news stories about Hayes appeared in newspapers nationwide. It also shared all the telegrams sent by his opponent s campaign staff with Hayes s staff. Perhaps the most effective way to wield political influence in today s high-tech world is to donate money to a candidate and then to use technology to make sure he or she wins. The technology guarantees the win, and the donation guarantees allegiance, which Google has certainly tapped in recent years with the Obama administration.Given Google s strong ties to Democrats, there is reason to suspect that if Google or its employees intervene to favor their candidates, it will be to adjust the search algorithm to favor Hillary Clinton. In 2012, Google and its top executives donated more than $800,000 to Obama but only $37,000 to Romney. At least six top tech officials in the Obama administration, including Megan Smith, the country s chief technology officer, are former Google employees. According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, since Obama took office, Google representatives have visited the White House ten times as frequently as representatives from comparable companies once a week, on average.Hillary Clinton clearly has Google s support and is well aware of Google s value in elections. In April of this year, she hired a top Google executive, Stephanie Hannon, to serve as her chief technology officer. I don t have any reason to suspect Hannon would use her old connections to aid her candidate, but the fact that she or any other individual with sufficient clout at Google has the power to decide elections threatens to undermine the legitimacy of our electoral system, particularly in close elections.This is, in any case, the most implausible scenario. What company would risk the public outrage and corporate punishment that would follow from being caught manipulating an election? Second, there is the Marius Milner ScenarioA rogue employee at Google who has sufficient password authority or hacking skills makes a few tweaks in the rankings (perhaps after receiving a text message from some old friend who now works on a campaign), and the deed is done. In 2010, when Google got caught sweeping up personal information from unprotected Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries using its Street View vehicles, the entire operation was blamed on one Google employee: software engineer Marius Milner. So they fired him, right? Nope. He s still there, and on LinkedIn he currently identifies his profession as hacker. If, somehow, you have gotten the impression that at least a few of Google s 37,000 employees are every bit as smart as Milner and possess a certain mischievousness well, you are probably right, which is why the rogue employee scenario isn t as far-fetched as it might seem. And third and this is the scariest possibility there is the Algorithm ScenarioUnder this scenario, all of Google s employees are innocent little lambs, but the software is evil. Google s search algorithm is pushing one candidate to the top of rankings because of what the company coyly dismisses as organic search activity by users; it s harmless, you see, because it s all natural. Under this scenario, a computer program is picking our elected officials.To put this another way, our research suggests that no matter how innocent or disinterested Google s employees may be, Google s search algorithm, propelled by user activity, has been determining the outcomes of close elections worldwide for years, with increasing impact every year because of increasing Internet penetration. SEME is powerful precisely because Google is so good at what it does; its search results are generally superb. Having learned that fact over time, we have come to trust those results to a high degree. We have also learned that higher rankings mean better material, which is why 50 percent of our clicks go to the first two items, with more than 90 percent of all clicks going to that precious first search page. Unfortunately, when it comes to elections, that extreme trust we have developed makes us vulnerable to manipulation.In the final days of a campaign, fortunes are spent on media blitzes directed at a handful of counties where swing voters will determine the winners in the all-important swing states. What a waste of resources! The right person at Google could influence those key voters more than any stump speech could; there is no cheaper, more efficient or subtler way to turn swing voters than SEME. SEME also has one eerie advantage over billboards: when people are unaware of a source of influence, they believe they weren t being influenced at all; they believe they made up their own minds.Republicans, take note: A manipulation on Hillary Clinton s behalf would be particularly easy for Google to carry out, because of all the demographic groups we have looked at so far, no group has been more vulnerable to SEME in other words, so blindly trusting of search rankings than moderate Republicans. In a national experiment we conducted in the United States, we were able to shift a whopping 80 percent of moderate Republicans in any direction we chose just by varying search rankings.There are many ways to influence voters more ways than ever these days, thanks to cable television, mobile devices and the Internet. Why be so afraid of Google s search engine? If rankings are so influential, won t all the candidates be using the latest SEO techniques to make sure they rank high?SEO is competitive, as are billboards and TV commercials. No problem there. The problem is that for all practical purposes, there is just one search engine. More than 75 percent of online search in the United States is conducted on Google, and in most other countries that proportion is 90 percent. That means that if Google s CEO, a rogue employee or even just the search algorithm itself favors one candidate, there is no way to counteract that influence. It would be as if Fox News were the only television channel in the country. As Internet penetration grows and more people get their information about candidates online, SEME will become an increasingly powerful form of influence, which means that the programmers and executives who control search engines will also become more powerful.Worse still, our research shows that even when people do notice they are seeing biased search rankings, their voting preferences still shift in the desired directions even more than the preferences of people who are oblivious to the bias. In our national study in the United States, 36 percent of people who were unaware of the rankings bias shifted toward the candidate we chose for them, but 45 percent of those who were aware of the bias also shifted. It s as if the bias was serving as a form of social proof; the search engine clearly prefers one candidate, so that candidate must be the best. (Search results are supposed to be biased, after all; they re supposed to show us what s best, second best, and so on.)Biased rankings are hard for individuals to detect, but what about regulators or election watchdogs? Unfortunately, SEME is easy to hide. The best way to wield this type of influence is to do what Google is becoming better at doing every day: send out customized search results. If search results favoring one candidate were sent only to vulnerable individuals, regulators and watchdogs would be especially hard pressed to find them.For the record, by the way, our experiments meet the gold standards of research in the behavioral sciences: They are randomized (which means people are randomly assigned to different groups), controlled (which means they include groups in which interventions are either present or absent), counterbalanced (which means critical details, such as names, are presented to half the participants in one order and to half in the opposite order) and double-blind (which means that neither the subjects nor anyone who interacts with them has any idea what the hypotheses are or what groups people are assigned to). Our subject pools are diverse, matched as closely as possible to characteristics of a country s electorate. Finally, our recent report in PNAS included four replications; in other words, we showed repeatedly under different conditions and with different groups that SEME is real.Our newest research on SEME, conducted with nearly 4,000 people just before the national elections in the UK this past spring, is looking at ways we might be able to protect people from the manipulation. We found the monster; now we re trying to figure out how to kill it. What we have learned so far is that the only way to protect people from biased search rankings is to break the trust Google has worked so hard to build. When we deliberately mix rankings up, or when we display various kinds of alerts that identify bias, we can suppress SEME to some extent.It s hard to imagine Google ever degrading its product and undermining its credibility in such ways, however. To protect the free and fair election, that might leave only one option, as unpalatable as it might seem: government regulation.Authored by Robert Epstein (@DrREpstein senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology), originally posted at Politico.com Via: Zero Hedge | 1real |
Donald Trump: ’I Didn’t Get Elected to Serve the Washington Media’ - Breitbart | President Donald Trump defied media coverage of his presidency, vowing to keep fighting for the people who elected him president. “Look at the way I’ve been treated lately especially by the media,” Trump said. “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. ” The president made his remarks during his commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, offering his advice to the graduates. “You will find that thing happen to you that you do not deserve and that are not always warranted, but you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight. ” Trump said. “Never ever, ever give up. Things will work out just fine. ” Trump’s remarks are the first public remarks since leaked Comey memos accused Trump of trying to shut down an investigation into his investigation into his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The president encouraged cadets to fight hard for what they believed in. “You can’t let them get you down,” he said. “You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. ” Trump’s remarks drew cheers and applause from the crowd, as he explained that he would continue to fight, pointing out that he won the election by doing just that. “The more righteous your fight, the more opposition you will face,” he said. Trump boasted that he had already brought back jobs back into the country, appointed a new Supreme Court Justice and invested heavily into the military. He also spoke about his efforts to reduce job killing regulations and his success slowing illegal border crossings. “I didn’t get elected to serve the Washington media or special interests,” he said. “I got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country, and that’s what I’m doing. ” | 0fake |
How to Heal Your Chakras and Increase Personal Development | Leave a reply
Seth M – The seven Chakras of the body are energy hubs and they hold great influence over you and your personality. They are what receive, internalize and diffuse the life energy that flows through us, and each one needs to be balanced; not under-active or over-active.
Activating or obstructing our Chakras happens both consciously and subconsciously as a result of our thoughts and feelings and actions. Here are ways to heal your seven chakras:
Crown Chakra; Spirit Energy – This chakra is found at the crown of your head and is associated with your sense of higher purpose, your consciousness and your vision. An obsession with material things is what blocks this Chakra.
To stimulate this Chakra, one can meditate , pray or participate in religious activity, or sing with passion.
Third-Eye Chakra; Integration Energy – The third-eye Chakra is found between your eyes and its energy manifests as intuition . It is also called Anja and is associated with the color indigo. This Chakra works with the left and right brain processes, bringing together the male and female sides of you.
A busy life that lacks self-reflection is a major blocker of this Chakra’s energy. To stimulate it, try being still often, take walks, practice a creative activity, or clear out the excess and clutter that fills your work and life.
Throat Chakra; Meaning Energy – The throat Chakra is called Visuddha, its color is blue and it can be found in your throat. As it is found in the throat, this Chakra is most closely associated with communication and expression . Beliefs, language and metaphors all stem from this Chakra.
Disorganized thoughts and lack of focus will block this Chakra’s energies; to stimulate it, say what you are afraid to say, write down inner thoughts and reflections, express your thoughts through art, charts, or diagrams to visualize what you want to say, and talk to other people.
Heart Chakra; Connection Energy – Anahata, or the Heart Chakra, is green and is found at the center of your chest. This Chakra is associated with kindness and love, and it is experienced as the connection one feels between others.
Being alone or isolated will block this Chakra’s energy source . To stimulate it, spend more times with friends and family, connect with people, participate in discussion, and develop partnerships with others.
Solar Plexus Chakra; Control Energy – This Chakra is yellow and is called Manipura. It is found in the stomach area and its energy manifests in moments of clarity, and is often associated with our sense of power, confidence, and self-control.
Blockages of this Chakra are caused by lack of planning. To stimulate this Chakra, one must create order or structure, expose one’s self to more sunshine, and match our tasks to our energy levels .
Naval Chakra; Activity Energy – Also known as Svadisthana energy, the Naval Chakra is orange and can be found in your lower abdomen. This Chakra is tied to our feelings and sexuality, and is associated with movement, doing, achievement and our creative side .
Stagnation due to self-doubt or procrastination is a major blocker of this energy. To stimulate it, connect emotionally with others, practice doing things in steps, do yoga.
Root Chakra; Existence Energy – The Root Chakra is our Base Chakra, or Muladhara. It’s found in the tailbone and its color is red. the Root Chakra is concerned mainly with one’s sense of security, survival and self-preservation.
Negative self-talk and self-doubt are major barriers to this Chakra. This Chakra is highly important because if you are unable to deal with your self-doubts, your limit your access to all other six Chakras and their energies.
To stimulate the Root Chakra, one must confront and overcome self-doubts, visualize tasks being completed and embrace the sense of achievement you will gain once you’ve accomplished them, and listen to what your body is saying when facing these challenges.
Each of the seven Chakras are connected to one another and they influence every characteristic of our being. SF Source Dreamcatcher Reality Oct. 2016 Share this: | 1real |
Remaking Kennedy Airport Is Governor’s Next Big Plan - The New York Times | Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Wednesday that with a complete overhaul of La Guardia Airport underway, he wants to rebuild New York City’s other airport, John F. Kennedy International. Mr. Cuomo outlined a plan to spend more than $10 billion modernizing Kennedy’s terminals and improving the highway and transit systems connected to the airport. He did not provide a timetable for the plan or say specifically where all of the money would come from. “The next step is to tackle J. F. K. because La Guardia isn’t enough,” Mr. Cuomo said, speaking at a meeting of the Association for a Better New York, a business group, in Manhattan. “We need to build a new airport at J. F. K. and go through the same process as we did with La Guardia. ” In promoting big infrastructure projects, including the Second Avenue subway, which opened Sunday, Mr. Cuomo is building his legacy in New York, and perhaps raising his national profile. The plans offered by Mr. Cuomo on Wednesday suggest that he does not intend to stop trying to impose his will on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates La Guardia and J. F. K. The authority’s commissioners are scheduled to meet on Thursday to vote on a $30 billion spending plan that includes only about $1 billion for improvements at J. F. K. When Mr. Cuomo formed an advisory group in 2015 to study how to improve J. F. K. he said the panel would make recommendations to the authority. But the authority’s chairman, John J. Degnan, did not see the panel’s final report until Tuesday. “We await an opportunity to review the details of the governor’s proposal,” Mr. Degnan said on Wednesday. “We will have to evaluate it against other compelling capital needs identified by the Port Authority, both within other airports and within other operations that we oversee. ” Mr. Degnan, an appointee of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, has been at odds with Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, over the authority’s spending priorities. The agency also operates the main commuter bus terminal in Manhattan and Newark Liberty International Airport. Mr. Cuomo pushed for $2. 5 billion in the capital plan for improvements at the New York airports, possibly including an AirTrain link from New York City’s subway system to La Guardia. Mr. Cuomo’s advisory panel suggested that most of the rest of the money — up to $7 billion — could come from private sources, including airlines that use J. F. K. Kennedy is a collection of terminals, some of which were built, at least in part, by the airlines that occupy them. JetBlue Airways and the authority split the cost of building Terminal 5, which opened in 2008. Delta Air Lines has spent more than $1 billion in the recent years to improve its facilities at Terminals 2 and 4. At La Guardia, the authority has committed $600 million to the rebuilding of Terminals C and D against an estimated cost of about $4 billion. That investment would come on top of a $4 billion rebuilding of the Central Terminal Building there, which began last year. Mr. Cuomo hopes to entice airlines to make similar investments at J. F. K. to compete for customers. He challenged airlines to make offers, saying Delta had called him at 5:45 a. m. on Wednesday. Mr. Cuomo did not mention seeking federal financing. Donald J. Trump has said he plans to make an ambitious investment in infrastructure a priority of his administration. As part of Mr. Cuomo’s plan for J. F. K. Matthew Driscoll, New York State’s transportation commissioner, said his agency would spend as much as $2 billion to improve the flow of traffic to and from the airport. The changes would include adding a lane to the Van Wyck Expressway and widening ramps at the busy interchange in Kew Gardens, Queens, which Mr. Driscoll said handles 250, 000 vehicles per day. Thomas F. Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said that transit agencies would explore creating a ride between Manhattan and J. F. K. Travelers must now switch to the AirTrain from the subway or Long Island Rail Road, a transfer that Mr. Prendergast described as “schlepping with your luggage. ” Though New York City owns the land under J. F. K. no one from City Hall attended Mr. Cuomo’s speech. “Investments in New York City’s airports are vitally important to our region’s development,” said Melissa Grace, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We look forward to hearing more details about the plans for J. F. K. in the months to come. ” | 0fake |
Fiscal Conservative Ted Cruz Just Released His Plan To Destroy America By EXPLODING Our Deficit | If you ever want to know how STUPID Republicans are when it comes to economics, you don t need to look back over the decades of Republican presidents and their associated financial disasters. All you need to do is find any potential Republican presidential candidate, and examine their tax plan.2016 s crop of candidates does not fail in this. Every single one of them that has come out with a plan has been universally mocked by legitimate economic scholars that use real math because their plans are more unrealistic than a stop-motion monster movie.The latest member of the idiot village to have his tax fantasy completely trashed is Ted Cruz. His plan reads like something a failed James Bond villain would try to do in order to destroy the U.S. economy.Here are some of the features included in Cruz s plan.A 10 percent flat income tax rate:Ted wants to replace our seven different tax brackets with one single tax rate of 10 percent. A flat tax always favors the wealthy while hurting the poor. To put it simply, the poor can t afford to have taxes deducted from their income like the rich can. When you pay 10 percent of 1 million dollars you have $900k remaining and you aren t starving. When you pay 10 percent of $15k you re left with $13.5k and you are starving worse because you were already starving at $15k. Don t forget, we would probably have to cut food stamps and other social safety nets because there is no money for them. Add into that the fact you are paying in taxes equal to about what a single individual would get in food stamps per year, while not actually getting food stamps.Elimination of many major taxes:Cruz wants to remove the estate tax (misclassified as a death tax by Republicans), alternative minimum tax, payroll tax, corporate taxes, and the Medicare surtax imposed by the Affordable Care Act. If you want a way to underfund the U.S. government to where it could cause a global financial crisis, this would be one of the ways to do it.Impose a VAT tax on businesses:Despite Cruz denying strongly that he is not in favor of a VAT tax, his business tax proposal is exactly that. The Tax Policy Center calls it that, so that s what we are calling it as well and the fact he is afraid to call it what it is shows the absurdity of his plan. A VAT tax will likely reduce wages because employers will no longer be able to deduct the cost of wages from their taxes. This will force employers to pay even less than they are currently. A good way to crush an economy is to hurt the buying power of the consumer base and this would be one of the most efficient ways to do it.Virtually nothing in this plan seems to be realistically paid for:Another very standard feature of Cruz s plan is that it would explode our federal deficit and debt by amazing levels. Estimates put it at over $20 trillion in 2 decades (8.6 in the first decade, 12 in the second). Republicans can t stop complaining about how President Obama has exploded our debt since he had to have the Bush years numbers on his books. However, he hasn t even come close to the costs Cruz would impose on the nation. It would make us unable to afford functional government.Most tax savings would go to the top 0.1 percent of filers: Top money-looters (I refuse to call them earners ) would get a post-tax income boost of $2 million approximately a 29 percent increase. Middle-income people would get an average of about $1,800 coming in at around a 3.2 percent increase, and lowest income filers would get an average of 0.4 percent of their income, or around $46. To put it more simply, if you are ultra wealthy, you could buy several extra middle-class homes per year just to pass the time. If you are poor you could buy about 60 percent of one McDonald s cheeseburger per week, per year with your savings.There s no other word to describe this besides insane, because it s the same thing from every Republican candidate every year, with them expecting different results every time. Democrats MUST vote in large numbers in November. We literally can t afford not to.Featured image from Flickr | 1real |
CNN, NYT Reporters Whine After Trump WH Relegates Them to ‘Siberia’ Section - Breitbart | On Friday, mainstream media reporters from the New York Times and CNN whined after President Donald Trump’s White House relegated them to the rear of the Rose Garden during Trump’s press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. “We were in the equivalent of Siberia, no pun intended, when it comes to where we were seated,” CNN’s Jim Acosta reportedly said on Friday evening. “That could be seen as an oversight on the part of the White House staff but it could also be seen as retaliation over the reporting we’re doing over here at CNN. ” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said it was “outrageous. ” And Acosta, mustering up the courage mainstream media reporters never found while Barack Obama was president, said the poor seating assignments are “not going to deter us from what we’re doing over here. ” Breitbart’s Matt Boyle has described Acosta as “a vehemently media figure in the heart of the opposition party’s mothership CNN. ” CNN was placed away from the other TV networks in the equivalent of Siberia (no pun intended) at today’s news conference. — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 9, 2017, Of course, this may just be an oversight by WH staff. But it could also be seen as retaliation for our coverage. I have emailed @PressSec https: . — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 9, 2017, Trump has referred to outlets like CNN and the Times as part of the “opposition party” and slammed them for publishing “fake news” based on anonymous sources. The New York Times was sent to the very last row a day after former FBI director James Comey revealed on Thursday while testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Times published a fake news story in February suggesting that Trump’s campaign had colluded with Russians a year before the 2016 election. The White House has put the New York Times in the last row at today’s joint press conference with Trump and Romania’s president pic. twitter. — Gabby Morrongiello (@gabriellahope_) June 9, 2017, “In the main, it was not true,” Comey said of the story, which was based on four anonymous sources. “And again, all of you know this. Maybe the American people don’t. The challenge, and I’m not picking on reporters about writing stories about classified information, is the people talking about it often don’t really know what’s going on, and going on are not talking about it. We don’t call the press to say, hey, you don’t that thing wrong about the sensitive topic. We have to leave it there. ” In addition to the Times’ “fake news” story, Comey also revealed that have been “many, many” stories in the mainstream press about the Trump campaign and Russia that have been “dead wrong. ” | 0fake |
UK PM May is focused on tackling extremism, spokesman says in response to Trump | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May is fully focused on tackling extremism, her spokesman said on Thursday, responding to a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump telling her to focus on “destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism”. Asked if May was focused on tackling extremism: her spokesman said: “Yes.” “The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country are law-abiding people who abhor extremism in all its forms. The prime minister has been clear ... that where Islamist extremism does exist it should be tackled head on. We are working hard to do that both at home and internationally and ... with our U.S. partners.” | 0fake |
Exxon C.E.O. Said to Be Top Contender for Secretary of State Giuliani Is Out - The New York Times | ■ Rudolph W. Giuliani, a fiercely loyal Trump ally, is out of the race for secretary of state. Rex W. Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobil, appears to be the leading contender. ■ Donald J. Trump’s transition team is asking a lot of questions at the Energy Department. ■ Mr. Trump will name Gary D. Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, to direct the National Economic Council. ■ He could also name Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington, to be interior secretary. Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, is the leading candidate to be Mr. Trump’s secretary of state, according to a person with direct knowledge of the search process. Mr. Tillerson went to Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday to meet with Mr. Trump, who is said to be close to making a decision. Mr. Tillerson has been strongly recommended by a number of business leaders. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, has been described by Mr. Trump’s advisers as still in the running. But Mr. Trump has said conflicting things privately about his views of Mr. Romney, advisers said, and has indicated to several people that he is unlikely to be named. Trump’s transition team has circulated an unusual questionnaire that requests the names of all employees and contractors who have attended domestic or international climate change policy conferences, as well as emails associated with the conferences. The questionnaire appears targeted at climate science research and clean energy programs. Energy Department employees, who shared the questionnaire with The New York Times and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, described the questionnaire as unprecedented and worrying. “These questions don’t just indicate an attack on civil servants here in Washington,” said an Energy Department employee. “They amount to a witch hunt in D. O. E. ’s 17 national labs, where scientists have the independence to do their work — yet here are questions that are reminiscent of an inquisition rather than actual curiosity about how the labs work. ” The questionnaire asks for lists of employees involved in key climate change programs, including all those who have attended United Nations climate change conferences. It also asks for lists of employees involved in designing a metric known as the Social Cost of Carbon, a figure used by the Obama administration to measure the economic impact of carbon dioxide pollution, and to justify the economic cost of climate regulations. It specifically asks which Energy Department programs are essential to meeting the goals of President Obama’s climate change agenda, which Mr. Trump has vowed to roll back. It includes several questions for the Energy Information Administration, the department’s statistics office, which also measures the nation’s carbon dioxide pollution, asking for justification of its numbers. “In the Annual Energy Outlook 2016, E. I. A. assumed that the Clean Power Plan should be in the reference case despite the fact that the reference case is based on existing laws and regulations,” the questionnaire reads. “Why did the E. I. A. make that assumption, which seems to be atypical of past forecasts?” And it includes several questions focused on the national scientific laboratories, including queries on highest salaries, and outside evaluation of research. Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies, is no longer in the running for secretary of state, after removing his name from contention on Nov. 29, according to a statement from the transition. “Rudy Giuliani is an extraordinarily talented and patriotic American,” Mr. Trump said in the statement. “I will always be appreciative of his dedication to our campaign after I won the primaries and for his extremely wise counsel. He is and continues to be a close personal friend, and as appropriate, I will call upon him for advice and can see an important place for him in the administration at a later date. ” Mr. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, will remain on the transition team. “This is not about me it is about what is best for the country and the new administration,” Mr. Giuliani said. “Before I joined the campaign I was very involved and fulfilled by my work with my law firm and consulting firm, and I will continue that work with even more enthusiasm. From the vantage point of the private sector, I look forward to helping the in any way he deems necessary and appropriate. ” The statement came as Mr. Giuliani’s prospects had dimmed for the State Department post, apparently the only one he wanted. He had been offered the job of attorney general and secretary of homeland security, but had no interest, according to a person briefed on the discussions. Some in Mr. Trump’s circle were concerned about the potential for a messy confirmation hearing over Mr. Giuliani’s tangle of foreign business ties and paid speeches. Encouraged by the ’s possible on deporting young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, two senators have crafted a bipartisan bill to help protect them. Known as the Bridge Act, the bill, sponsored by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, is intended to protect roughly 800, 000 young illegal immigrants from deportation should Mr. Trump make good on his campaign promise to end the protections issued by President Obama through an executive order. The Obama program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, granted deportation protection and work permits for two years to immigrants brought to the country as minors who have passed criminal background checks. The measure, which also has at least one from each party, would give current recipients a reprieve even if Mr. Trump undoes the order, and allow new applicants to apply. Mr. Trump, who has included the Dreamers in his broader deportation plan, appeared to back down in an interview published in Time magazine this week when he said, “We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud. ” Mr. Cohn, president of the Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, is expected to be named director of Mr. Trump’s National Economic Council, joining the Treasury secretary pick Steven Mnuchin as Goldman voices on the economic team. Mr. Trump used Wall Street and “the global elites” as constant foils during the campaign, featuring Goldman’s chief executive and chairman, Lloyd Blankfein, in his dark closing argument. Since his victory, however, Mr. Trump has tapped Mr. Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner, for Treasury secretary the billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to be his commerce secretary Todd Ricketts, heir to the Ameritrade fortune, to be deputy commerce secretary and now Mr. Cohn. The National Economic Council was created by President Bill Clinton — another frequent foil of Mr. Trump’s — to show that domestic policy would be equal to foreign policy. Like the older National Security Council, the N. E. C. coordinates the policies of the Treasury, labor and commerce departments, as well as other agencies like the Small Business Administration and the Council of Economic Advisers. And because Mr. Cohn will sit in the White House complex, he is likely to be extremely influential on Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohn is also a big contributor to federal campaigns on both sides of the aisle, including tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats and Democratic campaign committees. Adding Mr. Cohn to the economic team was a favorite idea of Mr. Trump’s Jared Kushner. And he does not break the streak of wealthy Trump teammates. Mr. Cohn’s most recent total compensation package made public at Goldman exceeded $20. 5 million. Goldman Sachs shares, by the way, are up 33 percent since Election Day. Ms. McMorris Rodgers, the woman in the House Republican leadership, is expected to be announced as Mr. Trump’s secretary of the interior as early as Friday, two people close to the transition efforts said. Ms. McMorris Rodgers comes from Washington, a state with large federal land reserves, and she was also critical of Mr. Trump at various points during the presidential campaign. Aides to Mr. Trump did not respond to requests for comment. In the last part of his winning run, Mr. Trump’s campaign amassed more money than Hillary Clinton’s, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission late Thursday. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign took in $70 million from Oct. 20 to Nov. 28, compared with $86 million for the Trump campaign, of which $10 million came from the candidate’s own pocket. In terms of spending, Mrs. Clinton relied on the war chest she had built up during the course of the campaign to spend almost $131 million, compared with $94 million by Mr. Trump. Mrs. Clinton closed the period with under $1 million dollars in the bank, much less than the $7 million remaining for the Trump campaign. Mr. Trump may have tossed in a few million in the final weeks of his campaign, but he also took a few, soliciting donations from supporters, then reimbursing himself for rent and his airplane. From Oct. 20 to Nov. 28, the period covered by a postelection report filed with the F. E. C. the campaign paid nearly $3 million to properties owned by Mr. Trump, including rent to Trump Tower and event fees to other Trump hotels. The largest part went to Tag Air, the company that operates Mr. Trump’s airplane. The new disclosures bring the total amount that Trump companies earned from his campaign to nearly $12 million. The campaign itself was hardly a moneymaker for Mr. Trump himself, though. The ’s total cash contributions came in at more than $65 million, well short of the $100 million he had originally promised but likely more than his businesses earned off the venture. Linda McMahon, a pro wrestling impresario, put $1 million into Future45, a “super PAC,” in the final stages of the presidential campaign, taking her total contribution to the organization to $7 million. This week, Ms. McMahon — who lost twice in recent years as a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Connecticut — was chosen by Mr. Trump to head the Small Business Administration. Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who took down Gawker, gave $1 million to Make America Number 1, an “super PAC” run by the Mercer family, hedge fund billionaires. He has not been named to a position by the transition team, but he has been mentioned as a possibility for the Supreme Court. And: But: But Mr. Trump did tell Time magazine he had done nothing to divide the country. The Trump inaugural committee offered details for the multiday party planned for Mr. Trump’s inauguration, which in a departure from the norm will include a welcome rally. (The does love his rallies.) The announcement: Not stated: A Million Women March is being organized for the day after with a different message — though organizers did not get formal permits for the mall. | 0fake |
CNBC Just Confirmed Comey Is Abusing His Power To Help Trump | Comments
A bombshell report from CNBC confirms that FBI Director James Comey had in fact concluded that the government of the Russian Federation was interfering with the election, but fought to keep that information from being released to the public because it was “too close to the election.”
Instead, Comey prevented the name FBI from appearing on the statement the government ultimately made on October 7th.
This attitude stands in stark contrast to the cavalier way in which Director Comey threw a wrench into the election by writing a letter to “update” Congress on the Hillary Clinton email investigation since the FBI discovered emails that “may” be pertinent to their previous inquiries.
That announcement has drastically shifted the polling landscape of the election and given the Republican Party the final stretch ammunition that the Donald Trump campaign, sinking after weeks of sexual assault revelations, needed to bail themselves out and redirect the national narrative away from their own bad press.
The hypocrisy is astounding; it appears that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation attempted to hide the machinations by a foreign power to interfere in the elections of the United States to protect the Republican nominee, who has a long documented history with the operatives of said foreign power and a personally profitable reason to cultivate their support.
The Director then said that he couldn’t release that information to the public – which definitely deserves to know if a foreign power is interfering with our electoral process – because it was “too close to the election” but then releases an intentionally vague and misleading letter concerning new emails that “may or may not be” pertinent to an investigation which the FBI itself had already exonerated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over?
It’s obvious that Director Comey has joined Congressional Republicans in their efforts to conduct a witch-hunt against one of our nation’s most devoted public servants and usher in the election of a treasonous sexual predator instead. | 1real |
EU heads toward tougher action on Poland after Merkel joins fray | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany s entry alongside France into a battle between the European Commission and Poland over the rule of law increases the likelihood of unprecedented EU action to punish Warsaw. German Chancellor Angela Merkel abandoned her usual public restraint last week by criticizing Poland s governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, showing the European Union s executive has the firm backing of its most influential member. It may be a watershed moment in the dispute over an overhaul of the judiciary and other steps taken by PiS which Brussels says undermine democracy in the largest ex-communist EU state. Poland risks a reprimand under procedures known as Article 7 that have never been used before and would deal a heavy blow to its prestige, deepen its isolation in the bloc and diminish its ability to influence EU policies. Much is also at stake for the EU. The row has deepened divisions as the EU comes to terms with Brexit and failure to act against a member seen as flouting democracy could raise questions about its determination to defend its core values. As much as I wish for good relations with Poland they are our neighbor and I will always strive for this given the importance of our ties we can t simply keep our mouth shut in order to keep the peace, Merkel said in Berlin. This goes to the very foundations of our cooperation within the European Union. For a decade after it joined the EU in 2004, Poland was the poster child of the bloc s eastward expansion as it was seen as faithfully upholding the EU s democratic values and its economy thrived. But relations have deteriorated rapidly since the eurosceptic PiS led by former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, long a political foe of European Council President Donald Tusk, won power in late 2015. The Commission opened an inquiry into the rule of law in Poland in January 2016 after new legislation put more power in the hands of the Warsaw government, a move seen in Brussels as weakening democratic checks and balances. The main battle now is over reforms that the Commission says undermine the judiciary s independence, giving the justice minister discretionary power to prolong the mandates of judges at retirement age and dismiss and appoint court presidents. In another unprecedented development, Warsaw has also ignored a ruling by the EU s top court by continuing with large-scale logging in an ancient forest. Until now Berlin has let French President Emmanuel Macron take the lead on Poland since he took office last May. He says Warsaw is isolating itself and shunned Poland and its close EU ally, Hungary, during a recent tour of eastern Europe. But Merkel, who will seek a fourth term as chancellor in an election on Sept. 24, showed her concern by speaking out against Poland last Tuesday and by discussing Poland last week with the head of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. A diplomatic source said their talks included discussion of how quickly to proceed in the row with Warsaw. PiS denies accusations by the Commission, Western EU states, political opponents in Poland and rights groups that it is eroding democracy in the country of 38 million people. Some EU politicians have made comments most recently that are unjust on Poland. That is why I want to stress that Poland is a democratic country, based on the rule of law, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said in video footage released last week. Filmed standing in front of Polish and EU flags, she said: Let s not allow particular interests of particular countries to overshadow the chief current task, which is to guarantee security to the people of our continent. The Commission has the option of triggering Article 7, which would mean asking all 27 other EU states to declare that PiS is putting democracy at risk. But imposing sanctions would require unanimity among the other member states and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made clear he would shield Warsaw from the maximum punishment stripping it of its EU voting rights. Commission deputy head Frans Timmermans said last week he would propose opening Article 7 if Poland starts dismissing Supreme Court judges, adding: We are very close to triggering Article 7. But he also said Brussels was waiting to see what proposals Polish President Andrzej Duda makes on two judiciary laws, including on the Supreme Court, proposed by PiS after he vetoed them in July. Two others have been signed. His comments indicate Warsaw still has a last chance to escape Article 7. No formal decision is likely before the EU leaders meet for a Brussels summit in October at the earliest. One EU official said Article 7 is where this seems to be heading but added: Nobody likes to single out a member state like that. Everyone has their sins and this creates a dangerous precedent - what if you are going to be the next one? | 0fake |
“Crazy Fat Kid” Kim Jong Un Has HILARIOUS Rule That Prevents N. Korean Men From Copying His Look | Just when everyone thought the Crazy Fat Kid couldn t get any crazier! This has to be the funniest thing we ve seen in a long time Don t think about asking your barber for The Kim Jong Un in North Korea.North Koreans can choose between 15 sanctioned hairdos none of which appear to include their leader s signature swept-back style.Twitter user Mika M kel inen shares an image board with 15 different snappy styles men are allowed to choose from when they visit their barber in N. Korea.North Korean men can choose between 15 approved haircut styles. I had the most popular one and it's not like Kim Jong Un. #ylemaailmalla pic.twitter.com/BvDCrgqg7R Mika M kel inen (@Mikareport) April 14, 2017Because nothing says trendy like this handsome devil s hairstyle: Equality in North Korea: Both sexes have 15 approved haircut models. You can forget about dyeing your hair though, reporter Mika M kel inen tweeted.The North Korean leader and hair icon reportedly first started wearing his hair in the voluminous style as a nod to his grandfather Kim Il-sung. NYP | 1real |
Fault lines: GOP civil war deepens | Washington (CNN) Donald Trump is poised to breeze through another round of primary contests this week -- while the Republican Party splinters around him.
Trump's ascent to the top of the GOP, which was capped last week with Ted Cruz' s devastating loss in the Indiana primary, happened so fast that even the billionaire himself was surprised. And the whipsawed party establishment now faces immediate choices -- none of which particularly appeal to them.
'Just not ready' for Trump
Will they unite behind their party's standard-bearer? Will they sit out the 2016 campaign? Or will they fight on, in a quixotic quest to undermine Trump?
Trump's opponents are still sorting through the wreckage of the GOP primary season for a path forward. But it has become painfully clear over the past five days that party unification will be tough to come by, if it happens at all.
Trump himself enters his first full week as the presumptive nominee by signaling that he has limited patience for or interest in the establishment's rebellion. Though the election is six months away, he announced Monday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will lead his transition team.
But when CNN's Chris Cuomo gave Trump a chance to take on Ryan and the GOP establishment during a "New Day" interview Monday, Trump demurred. His response: "We'll see what happens."
He used the interview to offer fresh evidence of his willingness to thwart tradition. Trump, who is building his presidential bid around his business acumen and knowledge of the economy, told Cuomo the U.S. should take the unprecedented step of defaulting on the debt "because you print the money."
Trump is making quite clear he doesn't intend to cast off the provocative style on the campaign trail that alarmed the Republican establishment and resonated so deeply with primary voters. After spending days on the receiving end of criticism from the likes of Ryan, Romney and Graham, Trump and his supporters hit back -- hard.
Sarah Palin, a key Trump surrogate and 2008 vice presidential nominee, took the unusual step of backing the little-known Republican businessman challenging Ryan for his Wisconsin seat.
"His political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral," Palin said. "And for him to already come out and say who he will not support is not a wise decision of his."
For his part, Trump didn't seem too worried about the talk of the GOP disintegrating because of his nomination. Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Trump questioned the need for party unity, arguing that his campaign is unlike any before and won't rely on the same political calculations.
"Does it have to be unified?" he asked. "I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps that's ever run for office. I actually don't think so."
He went on: "I think it would be better if it were unified. I think ... there would be something good about it. But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense."
Those comments underscore the growing debate over whether Trump's unorthodox candidacy will doom the GOP in the fall or whether the anxious party leadership has grown so out of touch with the electorate that it's missing the genuine anger fueling Trump's rise.
Facing the likelihood of running against the first female nominee of a major party, Trump sought to recast Clinton's image by reviving the impeachment saga of the 1990s and arguing that she was dismissive of women who had extramarital affairs with her husband.
"And some of those women were destroyed, not by (Bill Clinton), but by the way Hillary Clinton treated them after it went down."
"But I think, for the most part," she went on, "Americans are concerned about things like who will be able to appoint the next Supreme Court justices, which will affect an entire generation coming up. I think that's what people are concerned about, much more so than Bill Clinton's obvious indiscretions, and Donald Trump having been divorced a couple of times, but owning up to it."
Trump also caused some confusion over the weekend by taking positions on the minimum wage and taxes that are not only out of step with GOP tradition but also his own stances during the primary.
On taxes, he said levies on the wealthy would go up under his administration. He argued that while he supports across-the-board tax cuts, he would likely bargain away cuts for top earners during negotiations with Congress.
"On my plan, they're doing down," he said on "This Week." "But by the time it's negotiated, they'll go up."
He added: "We're going to submit the optimum ... That's what I'd like to get and we'll fight for it. But from a practical standpoint, it's going to get renegotiated. And in my opinion, the taxes for the rich will go up somewhat."
And after he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week that he was "looking at" raising the minimum wage, he told ABC's George Stephanopoulous that he hasn't "decided in terms of numbers."
"But I think people have to get more," he said, while acknowledging the shift.
"I'm allowed to change," he said. "You need flexibility, George, whether it's a tax plan where you're going to -- where you know you're going to negotiate. But we're going to come up with something."
Such shifts, however, are deeply unnerving to many of Trump's opponents.
They have argued that he effectively fooled many primary voters into supporting him and will change his tune once he has to appeal to a broader electorate ahead of the general election.
That fear is partly what's fueling speculation over a potential third-party run from someone like Romney, who met privately with Kristol, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, last week to discuss how to get an independent candidate into the race.
"Profiteers tempt and endeavor to hook us with compulsive addictions," Romney said. "Entertainment media distracts us from the things that bring enduring achievements and happiness." | 0fake |
McCain Has The Best Laugh He’s Had In 80 Years When He’s Asked THIS About Donald Trump | It s gotta be hard these days to be John McCain. Standing up to Donald Trump is pretty unpopular among Republicans these days, and we ve seen the proof in how quickly the base turned on some otherwise solidly-conservative GOP Senators who have decided the age of Trump is just too much for them.First Tennessee s Bob Corker then McCain s fellow Arizona Senator Jeff Flake dropped out of the running for reelection, possibly dashing the GOP s hopes for holding on to the Senate in the 2018 elections. But regardless of the fact that they ve both been what old Mitt Romney might call severely conservative, red meat Trump voters turned on the two like villagers with pitchforks.That could be, however, because they don t have the credentials John McCain has. When he trolled Trump hard last week on the bone spurs he used as an excuse to dodge the draft with all of his silver spoon, private school pals, Trump tried to clap back with a warning that people have to be careful because at some point I fight back. McCain s answer? I have faced tougher adversaries. Now, you might think Donald Trump is at least smart enough not to come at a former POW with some weak stuff like that, but you d be wrong. Laughably wrong. In fact, go ahead and have a little laugh, because you re in good company.McCain thought it was hilarious.Appearing on The View the following day, the panel gave the senior Arizona Senator a chance to expound a little on his short response to the president s threat: He said he would fight back and it wouldn t be pretty. Are you scared? McCain didn t answer immediately because he was busy laughing his ass off. No, I mean, almost with tears in his eyes. There he is, next to his daughter who just landed the spot on this show and this old man looks like he s going to cry from laughing so hard. Every woman on the panel is cracking up. People offstage are howling.I just want to know Donald Trump has seen this clip. I can die happy as long as I know Donnie Daycare has watched this octogenarian cry tears of laughter at the prospect of being scared of little old him.Enjoy!McCain is asked if he's afraid of Trump. He laughs for about 15 straight second. pic.twitter.com/u7NYkkBGHf Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 23, 2017Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
REPORT: Trump Illegally Used Charity Money To Jumpstart Presidential Campaign | A new report from RealClearPolitics is detailing what might be another illegal endeavor of Donald Trump at the behest of his charitable foundation (which has already been caught illegally using funds to pay off lawsuits).From 2011 to 2014, leading up to his presidential announcement (and speculation in 2012), the Trump Foundation donated nearly $300,000 to various conservative groups and organizations.IRS laws clearly state that charity executives may not use a foundation funds to finance personal endeavors that benefit said executives.In 2011, Trump met with South Carolina conservative activist Oran Smith with the intent for, as Smith puts it, laying the foundation for a campaign. After the meeting between the two, Trump, using foundation money, donated $10,000 to Smith s organization, the Palmetto Family Council.According to RealClearPolitics:In many cases, this flow of money corresponded to prime speaking slots or endorsements that aided Trump as he sought to recast himself as a plausible Republican candidate for president. Although sources familiar with the thinking behind the donations cautioned that Trump did not explicitly ask for favors in return for the money, they said the contributions were part of a deliberate effort by Trump to ingratiate himself with influential conservatives and brighten his political prospects.Talk about real pay-for-play.Using Foundation money to monetarily influence, even slightly, those who could (and would) catapult his political career (a personal endeavor) is still illegal under IRS laws no matter how many technicalities Trump and his lawyers want to argue.In almost all instances, these conservative organizations, with considerable political influence, invited the billionaire mogul and provided endorsements after he donated thousands of dollars to their cause.Another high profile donation was made to The Family Leader organization, a socially conservative think tank that featured Trump as a keynote speaker at one of their most prestigious events in 2013. Trump was featured as the keynote speaker after giving $10,000 like he did with the Palmetto Family Council. RealClearPolitics points out that Trump may have broken IRS rules by giving directly to the organization and not its affiliated nonprofit branch, thus pitting Trump in a double whammy on unethical, illegal political meanderings.After Trump donated $100,000 to Citizens United, a Koch-backed political entity:In April 2014, when Citizens United hosted a cattle call of would-be Republican candidates for president in New Hampshire, Trump was there. In January 2015, at Citizens United s Freedom Summit in Iowa, Trump was again on the program.This won t bode well, especially for a guy who s under audit from the IRS. We now know why, apparently.While Republicans try to find something, anything, to pit Clinton against her foundation, the GOP is ignoring the obvious abuses of Trump and his. This double standard from the right should not surprise anyone their candidate is failing and they need to divert any negative attention away from him. This is the party of Christian values at work.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 1real |
Dr. Jane Orient: ‘Universal Coverage Means Less Care’ - Breitbart | The executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) observes that any Obamacare health care replacement plan that attempts to implement “universal coverage” will suffer the same outcome as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since the more “coverage” that is mandated, the less actual “health care” will be available. [Orient emphasizes what has ultimately been the demise of Obamacare. Its supporters say millions more have “coverage,” i. e. insurance cards, though many can’t afford its high premiums and deductibles. “The reported success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare) is based on enrollment numbers,” Orient explains. “Millions more have ‘coverage.’ Similarly, the predicted disasters from repeal have to do with loss of coverage. ” The physician continues that plans to provide universal coverage will result in “tens of thousands of deaths. ” In the fervor to keep Obamacare’s conditions provision and the push further for universal coverage, Orient asks where the data are on the ACA’s actual impact: Where are the statistics about the number of heart operations done on babies born with birth defects, the latest poster children? How about the number of babies saved by this surgery, and the number allowed to die without an attempt at surgery — before and after ACA? I haven’t seen them. Note that an insurance plan doesn’t do the operation. A doctor does. The insurer can, however, try to block it. Also missing are figures on the number of courses of cancer chemotherapy given, or not given, or the time from diagnosis to death in cancer patients before and after ACA. survival of cancer patients in the U. S. is generally better than in countries that have universal coverage, or the type of plan progressives want to import. Again, the insurance plan isn’t medicine. You can get medicine without insurance, and if you have insurance it might refuse to pay. Orient observes that, between 2014 and 2015, U. S. mortality rates increased for the first time in decades. “This primarily affected whites,” she notes. “Is Obamacare the cause? There are many factors involved, drug abuse probably being the most important. But I suspect that if repeal had happened in 2012 or 2013, it would have been blamed. ” “Medicaid expansion may have alleviated fears of medical bankruptcy, but we don’t know that more patients got treatment,” Orient continues. “In Canada, there is no fear of a medical bill. But there might not be any treatment either. ” In October of last year, Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber admitted the ACA was working just as it was designed — jacking up premiums and deductibles, and limiting choices for its customers. “The main goal of Obamacare was ” Gruber, an MIT economics professor, said on CNN, continuing: One was to cover the uninsured, of which we’ve covered 20 million, the largest expansion in American history. The other was to fix broken insurance markets where insurers could deny people insurance just because they were sick or they had been sick. Those have been fixed, and for the vast majority of Americans, costs in those markets have come down, thanks to the subsidies made available under Obamacare. “Jonathan Gruber exposed himself as not credible and simply a propaganda minister of Obamacare when he was exposed explaining the grand deception perpetrated on the American public,” Dr. Gerard Gianoli, a specialist in and skull base surgery, told Breitbart News. “To claim that Obamacare is working is almost too ridiculous to comment upon, unless the purpose of Obamacare was to drive up insurance premiums, while providing less options for health care and destroying the best medical care system in the world. ” Orient agrees, observing that experts beating the universal healthcare drum “know very well that resources are limited, and that spending (‘costs’) must be contained. ” She adds: They also understand that the burgeoning bureaucracy and its minions and retainers must be well paid. So the answer is to cut services. Some plans “incentivize” doctors to make more money by skimping on care. Others call for a “global budget” — the deliberate creation of scarcity. When the money is gone, treatment is canceled. There will be fewer beds, fewer CT scanners, fewer drugs, and fewer doctors. But all will be fair. No rationing by price, just by waiting lines, political pull — and death. There will be no medical bills to pay after a service, if you get any service. Only taxes in advance, service or no service. Dr. Kristin Held, a ophthalmologist and surgeon, explains how Obamacare obliterated medical care and that even many Republicans still refuse to embrace the free market when it comes to health care, a situation that will keep healthcare costs high: In a normal free market, people can look for a less expensive car or a different dealer. But ObamaCare outlawed the insurance products that millions of people had and were satisfied with. No more “bare bones” policies for instance. The leather seats and entertainment “option” are no longer optional. And no heading to the dealer across the street — or the state line — who’ll make you a better deal. The government has fixed the prices, the products, and the dealers. You may be shocked to hear that “ ” Republicans didn’t fix that. They’ll let you do without the car, but you can’t get a cheaper one. After all, the Obama car features are immensely popular. They are certainly popular with certain groups: Held explains that if Republicans retain the “’guaranteed rating’ features that always and everywhere send premiums into the stratosphere,” insurers can’t price their products by level of risk, and premiums will still go higher. She urges Republicans to address “the entrenched flaws that keep the costs up” in health care. “We must continuously remind ourselves that the goal is survival of our patients, not the survival of big insurance corporations, political careers, and parasites,” she asserts. “We need an ambulance not a Monster truck, and most importantly we must drain the swamp. ” | 0fake |
Senior U.S. lawmakers want India PM Modi to address U.S. Congress | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee called on Tuesday for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of Congress during a visit to Washington in June. “Given the depth of our relationship with India across a range of areas - defense, humanitarian and disaster relief, space cooperation, conservation and innovation - we believe this is an ideal opportunity for the Congress to hear directly from the prime minister,” Representatives Ed Royce, the Republican committee chairman, and Eliot Engel, the panel’s ranking Democrat, wrote to House Speaker Paul Ryan. The invitation would be a sharp turnaround for a leader who was once barred from the United States over massacres of Muslims. A spokeswoman for Ryan said she had no announcement at this time about whether Ryan would extend the invitation. Invitations to address the Senate and House are considered a great honor. There have been only two in the past year: Pope Francis, on Sept. 24, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on April 29, 2015. When Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies swept India’s elections in 2014, there initially were questions about whether he would qualify for a visa. President Barack Obama quickly dismissed the issue by inviting him to the White House when he called to congratulate him on his victory. In 2002, when Modi had just become Gujarat’s chief minister, more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in sectarian riots in the state. The administration of President George W. Bush denied Modi a visa in 2005 under a 1998 U.S. law barring entry to foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” Modi denied any wrongdoing. India’s Supreme Court ruled in 2010 he had no case to answer. Washington sees its relationship with India as critical, partly to counterbalance China’s rising power. Obama has called it “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.” The letter to Ryan was also signed by Republican Representative George Holding and Democrat Ami Bera, the co-chairmen of the Congress Caucus on India and Indian Americans. | 0fake |
Review: ‘Roots’ for a Black Lives Matter Era - The New York Times | The original “Roots” was about history, and it was history itself. Airing on ABC in January 1977, this generational saga of slavery was a kind of answer song to the 1976 Bicentennial celebration of the (white, often ) founding fathers. It reopened the books and wrote slaves and their descendants into the national narrative. But as an event, it was also a chapter in that story. It shaped and was shaped by the racial consciousness of its era. It was a national reckoning for more than 100 million viewers. As a television drama, it was excellent. But as a television broadcast, it was epochal. The remake of “Roots,” beginning Memorial Day on History, AE and Lifetime, is largely the same story, compressed in some places and expanded in others, with a lavish production and strong performances. It is every bit as worthy of attention and conversation. But it is also landing, inevitably, in a very different time. Viewers who watched “Roots” four decades ago have since lived with racial narratives of moving forward and stepping back. They’ve seen America’s first black president elected and a presidential candidate hesitate to disavow the Ku Klux Klan. So in timing and spirit, this is a Black Lives Matter “Roots,” optimistic in focusing on its characters’ strength, sober in recognizing that we may never stop needing reminders of whose lives matter. The first new episode, much of it shot in South Africa, looks stunning, another sign of the cultural times. Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby, in the role made famous by LeVar Burton) is now not a humble villager but the scion of an important clan, and his home — Juffure, in Gambia — a prosperous settlement. Kunta is captured by a rival family and sold into slavery to a Virginian (James Purefoy) by way of a harrowing Middle Passage. Mr. Kirby’s Kunta is a more regal and immediately defiant character than Mr. Burton’s. But his tragedy is the same: He rebels but fails and is beaten into accepting his slave name, Toby. The name — the loss of identity — is as much a weapon as the whip. As the overseer who beats him puts it: “You can’t buy a slave. You have to make a slave. ” Kunta stops running, but he preserves his traditions, including the practice of presenting a newborn baby to the night sky with the words, “Behold, the only thing that is greater than you. ” That theme of belonging to something larger, of the ancestral family as a character in itself, is essential to “Roots. ” Although Alex Haley fictionalized the events of his novel on which the is based, his story offered black Americans what slavery was to erase: places, dates, names, memories. And that focus keeps the ugliness — the racial slurs, the gruesome violence — from rendering this series without hope. A person may live and die in this system, but a people can survive it. Still, the individual stories remain heartbreaking, even in small moments, as when the slave musician Fiddler (a soulful Forest Whitaker) recognizes a Mandinka tune he overhears Kunta singing. He’s moved — and, it seems, a little frightened by what the recognition stirs in him. As much as he’s worked to efface his heritage as a survival strategy, it lingers, a few notes haunting the outskirts of his memory. Kunta’s daughter, Kizzy (E’myri Lee Crutchfield as a child, Anika Noni Rose as an adult) is teased with the possibility of a better life she grows up friends with the master’s daughter and learns to read. But she’s sold to Tom Lea (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) a struggling farmer who rapes and impregnates her. Rape — there are several assaults in this series — is another weapon against identity, another way you make a slave. Ms. Rose burns with Kizzy’s determination to hang on to her sense of self. Kizzy and Tom Lea’s son, Chicken George ( Page, walking nimbly in Ben Vereen’s footsteps) makes his name raising fighting cocks for his . The series has lighter moments, especially with the charismatic George, but those can quickly turn dark at an owner’s whim. Childhood friends grow up promises get broken there are no good masters. At eight hours over four nights, each with a separate director, this “Roots” is about a third shorter than the original. It focuses less on white characters — gone is Ed Asner’s captain, a sop to white viewers — though there are insights about how class resentment feeds bigotry. You feel the story’s compression most in the second half, especially the melodramatic, rushed final episode, which works in both the story of George’s son Tom (Sedale Threatt Jr.) — named, under duress, for his grandfather — and George’s service in the Civil War. This ends emotionally, but it emphasizes that there is no permanent : “Every day,” the younger Tom says, “always going to be someone wants to take away your freedom. ” Overall, the remake, whose producers include Mr. Burton and Mark M. Wolper (whose father, David L. Wolper, produced the original “Roots”) ably polishes the story for a new audience that might find the old production dated and slow. What it can’t do, because nothing can now, is command that audience. As homogeneous as the TV system could be, as many faces as it left out, “Roots” was an example of what it could do at its best. I watched it when I was 8 years old because it was all anyone was talking about, including the kids in my mostly white school. A generation of viewers — whatever we looked like, wherever we came from, wherever we ended up — carried the memory of Kunta having his name beaten out of him. Viewers will have to seek out this “Roots,” like every program now. Today’s universe of channels and streaming outlets presents a much wider range of identity and experience. But we see it in smaller groups and take away different memories. That’s not the fault of “Roots,” of course it’s simply our media world. The legacy of representation now lives in a constellation of programs, among them dramas like “Underground,” which imagines its story as an action thriller comedies like “ ” and “The Carmichael Show,” with their complex ideas of black identity and this “Roots,” still a necessary story, but now one story among many. | 0fake |
7 Notable Debuts at Art Basel Miami Beach - The New York Times | galleries are making their debut at Art Basel Miami Beach on Thursday, out of some 600 dealers who applied for the fair and 269 who were accepted. The lineup is determined after much debate on the merit of each and how individual galleries contribute to the overall balance of the show. The New York Times asked Noah Horowitz, the fair’s director, to highlight several newcomers. The sprawling fair is divided into multiple sectors, which can help visitors make sense of its size. Galleries is the main event, intended for top dealers from around the world. Nova is for works done in the last three years. Positions displays projects and is intended to be an incubator for new talent. Survey tackles historical projects, while Public stages outdoor sculptures and installations in Collins Park. Owned by Mara McCarthy, the daughter of the noted contemporary artist Paul McCarthy, this is one of the galleries fueling the rapid ascension of the Los Angeles art scene. Its program, strong in artists of the 1960s and ’70s, is part of a trend, Mr. Horowitz said: “Younger galleries looking at the past. ” The Box is focusing on Barbara T. Smith, 85, an important feminist figure on the West Coast who pioneered and sexuality related performance art. The collective gallery she and her fellow artists founded in the early 1970s, was the site of “Shoot,” the notorious Chris Burden performance piece in which he had himself shot in the arm with a rifle. “Barbara Smith is a legend, and her work has great resonance,” Mr. Horowitz said, though he added that she perhaps was not a household name for collectors. “This is what Survey does so well, provide a place for rediscovery. ” The gallery will show video and sculptures related to her work “Field Piece” ( ). For the original installation, a field of tall resin forms, Ms. Smith asked participants to experience the work naked. Founded by Emmanuel Di Donna, a former Sotheby’s executive, the Upper East Side dealer specializes in Surrealist and Modern art, as well as other postwar works. Not only is this Di Donna’s first showing at Art Basel Miami Beach, it is the gallery’s first art fair. “He’s a great example of a young but superserious, dealer,” Mr. Horowitz said, using the industry term for works that have been previously bought and sold. “He does formidable research on these shows. He’s someone we think will be on the scene for many years to come. ” The mix of works includes “La Joconde” (1967) an bronze by the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte, and “Femme, oiseau, étoiles” (1942) a work in gouache, charcoal and pastel by the Catalan Surrealist Joan Miró. Also on hand is a sculpture by the Italian Fausto Melotti, “La rivoluzione dogmatica” (1969) made of brass and fabric. art is always a strong component of Art Basel Miami Beach, given the fair’s proximity to Central and South America and Miami’s distinct Latin flavor. “We try to emphasize great projects coming from the region,” Mr. Horowitz said, and there are 31 galleries exhibiting this year. Simões de Assis Galeria de Arte was founded in 1984 by the architect Waldir Simões de Assis Filho, who has an unusual family connection to the fair: His son, Guilherme S. de Assis, participated in the Positions sector last year with his SIM Galeria. The father’s gallery, participating in its first international art fair, has made a specialty of secondary market work by South American artists, and this year will feature 16 works made from the 1930s to the 1950s by the Uruguayan artist Carmelo Arden Quin ( ). Quin, who lived in Paris for much of his life, made geometric works, often on irregularly shaped canvases, and is considered an influential modern painter of the type Survey highlights. Vigo is a gallery in London’s West End, founded by Toby Clarke and Thomas Williams, that shows a variety of contemporary artists, including Derrick Adams and Leonardo Drew. For the Miami Beach fair, the gallery is exhibiting more than two dozen drawings and paintings by the Sudanese artist Ibrahim including the ink on paper “Study of a Boy’s Head” (1960) and “Illustration no. 2 for Tayeb Salih’s novel Maryoud” (1977). Mr. known for a gestural approach to works often done in a limited palette of black and white, is a former politician and diplomat who was imprisoned without charges in Sudan in 1975 and has taken inspiration from his time in jail. Two years ago, Mr. became the first African artist to have a retrospective at Tate Modern in London, a show that featured more than 100 works. “He’s having an amazing moment of discovery,” Mr. Horowitz said. “Now he’s really in the international consciousness. ” And the match of dealer and painter is significant, he said. “A London gallery showing an African artist demonstrates that Survey is quite the global program. ” The city of Bologna does not have a big presence on the international fair scene — that tends to be a role filled by Milan or Rome — but Galleria d’Arte Maggiore has developed a strong reputation for showing masterworks across a wide spectrum, from Paul Klee to Basquiat. It was founded in 1978 by Franco and Roberta Calarota and it is now being run by their daughter, Alessia. “It’s a real family affair,” Mr. Horowitz said. For its first Miami Beach appearance, the gallery is focusing exclusively on the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi (1890 — 1964) who became an icon largely after his death for his paintings of deceptively simple tabletop scenes. He imbued clusters of vases and bottles with metaphysical heft. A solo show of his work was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008. “Anything to do with the Morandi estate, it starts and ends with Maggiore,” Mr. Horowitz said. “They have access to an extraordinary cache of material. ” Given the sometimes cacophonous nature of contemporary art, the Maggiore booth may provide a respite for visitors to the fair. Four of the paintings in the booth have the title “Natura morta” (“still life”) and were done between 1940 and 1960. “It’ll be a beautiful slow presentation in a hectic fair,” Mr. Horowitz said. This is a young gallery showing new works. The show’s title, “Shanghai: A New Ballardian Vision,” has a literary slant and refers to the dystopian urban vision of English novelist J. G. Ballard ( “Empire of the Sun”) who grew up in the Chinese city. The installation will include works by Aaajiao (the nom d’art of the new media artist Xu Wenkai) the painter Cui Jie, and Liu Shiyuan, who works in photography among other media. Ms. Cui’s fantastical oil paintings of imagined buildings, including “Building of Eagles” (2014) are among the works on display. Mr. Horowitz said the gallery’s founder, Leo Xu, a curator and writer, had“risen to the fore of the next generation of Chinese gallerists,” noting that he had exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong show since it began. (Leo Xu Projects has also participated in Frieze New York and other international fairs.) “It’s a wonderful example of how our presence in Hong Kong has helped us cultivate relations with these Asian galleries,” Mr. Horowitz said. “We don’t take them for geographic reasons — it’s just that great things are being done in China right now. ” Hong Kong is known for being a hub of the art trade, but not so much its production or display. Edouard Malingue Gallery has been participating in Art Basel Hong Kong, and for its first Miami Beach outing is mounting a show of the video artist Wong Ping. Mr. Wong is known for animations that touch on what the gallery’s website calls “repressed sexuality, personal sentiments and political limitations. ” Mr. Wong is also a Hong Kong native. “It’s nice to see a Hong Kong artist,” Mr. Horowitz said. “There’s not an infinite pool of them. A local scene is developing there that goes beyond merely the commercial aspect of a market center. ” Of “Jungle of Desire” (2015) the main work in this solo presentation, Mr. Horowitz said, “Our committee totally loved this video. ” The gallery is also exhibiting a work in the Public sector, which is displayed outdoors in Collins Park, in front of the Bass Museum of Art. Eric Baudart’s “Atmosphère” (2016) is a tank filled with peanut oil that, powered by a fan, will ripple and move. “It’s great to see a new gallery not only do a booth, but contribute an ambitious project to another sector, too,” Mr. Horowitz said. | 0fake |
Raqqa evacuation included some foreign fighters: local official | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Some, but not all, foreign Islamic State fighters have left Syria s Raqqa city on Sunday as part of a withdrawal deal with U.S.-backed militias, a local official told Reuters on Sunday. Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, would not say how many militants remain in the city, where the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have hemmed them into a small enclave. An SDF spokesman said earlier that a group of Syrian Islamic State fighters without foreign militants had evacuated Raqqa overnight, taking civilians with them as human shields. | 0fake |
Clinton says 'there is no case here' in FBI email investigation | KENT, Ohio (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Monday that she welcomed the FBI to look at the emails in the latest twist in the controversy over her use of a private server while she was secretary of state. “There is no case here,” Clinton said at a rally at Kent State University, telling supporters she was confident the FBI would reach the same conclusion as it did in a year-long investigation - that there were no grounds for any charges. | 0fake |
White House Says Bathrobe Anecdote Is All Wet - The New York Times | ■ The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, took aim on Monday afternoon at a New York Times story that described President Trump watching television in his bathrobe. ■ Opposition to Mr. Trump’s travel restrictions on certain countries mounted, but the president remained defiant and unbowed. ■ Mr. Trump turned to Twitter early Monday and began challenging polls that showed his travel order was not popular. ■ A bipartisan group of former National Security Council officials filed court documents opposing the ban. ■ The Justice Department corrected the record on how many people had their visas canceled because of the ban. Mr. Spicer denounced The Times’s account, published Sunday night, of the president’s turbulent adjustment to life in the White House. In particular, he zeroed in on one detail among a few paragraphs of the story that he insisted were wrong: that the president has worn a bathrobe while alone in the White House residence. “That is literally the epitome of fake news,” Mr. Spicer told reporters traveling with Mr. Trump. “Start at the top. I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe. He definitely doesn’t wear one. ” The White House staff stocks the official residence with bathrobes. Within moments of Mr. Spicer’s comment, reporters on Twitter posted photos of a much younger Mr. Trump lounging in a bathrobe. Mr. Spicer added that the story was “so riddled with inaccuracies and lies that they owe the president an apology. ” He went on, “Literally, blatant factual errors, and it’s unacceptable to see that kind of reporting or reporting. ” The overall piece, which described Mr. Trump’s first two weeks in office as he attempts a dramatic of a Washington culture he has never inhabited, was “not an accurate portrayal of what’s really happening,” Mr. Spicer concluded. Mr. Trump appeared not to like the news he was reading Monday morning. In one Twitter post, the president rejected reports of polls showing that a majority of Americans oppose his travel order. In another, he appeared to lash out at suggestions that Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, holds the real power in the West Wing. A CNN poll released over the weekend said that 55 percent of Americans viewed Mr. Trump’s travel order as an attempt to keep Muslims out of the country. The president also seemed angry about the story line, which was featured in a Time magazine article and in a “Saturday Night Live” skit showing Mr. Bannon as the Grim Reaper directing Mr. Trump’s activities in the White House. On Twitter, Mr. Trump called the reports “fake news” that sought to marginalize him. If you missed Mr. Trump talking to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News during the Super Bowl, you will have another chance tonight. Mr. Trump continued his screed against news coverage of him on Monday, training his fire at The New York Times in an apparent reaction to a portrait of his early stumbles published in Monday’s editions. In a Twitter post, Mr. Trump appeared to characterize The Times’s coverage, which was based on interviews with several of his White House’s most senior officials and others aware of the administration’s inner workings, as “fiction” based on fabricated sources. Mr. Trump has long delighted in denigrating The Times and claiming, falsely, that its coverage of him has led to declining readership. But in a meeting at The Times in November, he called the paper, which is among his first reads each morning, “a great, great American jewel. ” Last week, The Times surpassed three million print and digital subscriptions, adding 276, 000 net subscriptions in the last three months of the year, more additions than in 2013 and 2014 combined. It’s official: Silicon Valley really, really despises Mr. Trump’s immigration order. Overnight, 97 companies — most of them technology firms, including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — filed a legal brief arguing that the ban is unconstitutional and harms the interests of American businesses. The brief, filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, is blunt and direct. The ban, it says, “hinders the ability of American companies to attract great talent increases costs imposed on business makes it more difficult for American firms to compete in the international marketplace and gives global enterprises a new, significant incentive to build operations — and hire new employees — outside the United States. ” It is a remarkable statement of unity from the country’s technology companies, many of which rely heavily on foreign workers. And it is a shot across the bow for Mr. Trump, foreshadowing a rocky relationship with Silicon Valley leaders over the next four years. The companies were not the only ones joining in opposition. Susan E. Rice, former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, was among the leaders of a petition signed by a group of former National Security Council officials. The Justice Department on Monday corrected the record on an claim that one of its lawyers made in a Northern Virginia courtroom about the impact of President Trump’s executive order on visitors from seven countries. The government lawyer provoked gasps in the courtroom when he told Judge Leonie Brinkema, one of the Federal District Court judges weighing legal challenges to Mr. Trump’s order, that more than 100, 000 visas had been revoked as a result of the order — far more than had been understood to be the case. That number, however, came under question later on Friday, when a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs said that the real number was around 60, 000 and that the larger figure had inaccurately included diplomatic visas that were not affected by the ban. On Monday, the department submitted a filing to Judge Brinkema that corrected its statement in the court. “In response to a question from this court as to how many individuals have been affected by the executive order, government counsel presenting oral argument, based on information he had received, stated that 100, 000 visas had been provisionally revoked as a result of the executive order,” it said. “The Department of State has since provided undersigned counsel with a revised number, which is roughly 60, 000 visas. ” An outside, political group is adding veteran and Republican Party strategists, and is also employing one of the president’s campaign ad makers to try to ensure Senate confirmation of his remaining cabinet nominees. The group, 45Committee, has signed Larry Weitzner of Jamestown Associates, which produced most of Mr. Trump’s campaign ads in the general election. Mr. Weitzner’s first spot will air nationally this week, with a gauzy focus on the initial days of the Trump presidency. It’s part of a $4 million effort, with three other ads focused specifically on the nominations of Betsy DeVos for education secretary, Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Tom Price for secretary of health and human services. Some of those ads have been broadcast in states with critical races in the 2018 midterms. The other new advisers are Cara Mason, who worked as the finance director for the Trump Victory committee under Reince Priebus Rob Collins, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Mike Shields, a former Republican National Committee chief of staff and Rob Simms, a former National Republican Congressional Committee executive director. With Mr. Trump’s administration still evolving, the 45Committee has moved to fill a void, supporting the White House as it finds itself besieged by critics. Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff known for his uncompromising stance on illegal immigration, is back in the news months after losing his bid for . Now he is asking supporters to help him raise $1 million for his legal defense fund. Mr. Arpaio faced numerous lawsuits alleging abuse and faulty medical care in several jails, and taxpayers in Maricopa County, where he was sheriff, spent tens of millions of dollars for his legal defense. In his email, Mr. Arpaio attributed his defeat to a host of enemies, including “leftist financier George Soros,” the American Civil Liberties Union and the Obama administration’s Justice Department. Mr. Soros spent an estimated $2 million last year opposing Mr. Arpaio, and the Justice Department under Mr. Obama filed criminal charges against the sheriff for refusing a judge’s order to stop discriminating against Latinos. As the sheriff of Arizona’s largest county, Mr. Arpaio gained a national reputation for immigration raids that targeted heavily Hispanic neighborhoods in and around the Phoenix area. Thousands of people were caught up in the raids, which were often carried out without any proof of criminal activity, and which critics called racial profiling. | 0fake |
HIV ‘Cure’ Almost Complete after Scientists Remove Virus’s DNA from Living Tissue | Research could ‘potentially serve as a curative approach for patients with HIV’, scientist says
Scientists have managed to remove DNA of the HIV virus from living tissue for the first time in a breakthrough that could lead to an outright cure.
At the moment, treating the disease involves the use of drugs that suppress levels of the virus so the body’s immune system can cope.
Now researchers in the US have revealed they used gene-editing technology to remove DNA of the commonest HIV-1 strain from several organs of infected mice and rats.
In April, the same team reported that they had successfully eliminated the virus from human cells in the laboratory, but a paper in the journal Nature Gene Editing revealed they had managed to do the same thing in live animals for the first time.
The researchers’ team leader, Professor Kamel Khalili, of Temple University, said: “In a proof-of-concept study, we show[ed] that our gene-editing technology can be effectively delivered to many organs of two small animal models and excise large fragments of viral DNA from the host cell genome.”
The current antiretroviral drugs for HIV are not able to eliminate HIV-1 from the infected cells.
And if treatment is interrupted, the virus can start replicating quickly, putting patients of risk of getting full-blow AIDS.
This is because it is able to persist in immune system T-cells and other places where it is not actually active and is unaffected by the current treatments.
The researchers used a specially adapted virus to deliver the gene-editing system into the cells.
“The ability of the rAAV delivery system to enter many organs containing the HIV-1 genome and edit the viral DNA is an important indication that this strategy can also overcome viral reactivation from latently infected cells and potentially serve as a curative approach for patients with HIV,” Professor Khalili said. In a statement, Temple University said the implications of the new study were “far-reaching”.
“The gene-editing platform by itself may be able to eradicate HIV-1 DNA from patients, but it is also highly flexible and potentially could be used in combination with existing antiretroviral drugs to further suppress viral RNA. It also could be adapted to target mutated strains of HIV-1,” it added. Professor Khalili said a clinical trial could happen within the next few years, but he first planned to carry out a similar study involving a larger group of animals.
TMZ Breaking
SOURCE | 1real |
Two-thirds of U.S. voters say they back some gun control: Reuters/Ipsos poll | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two-thirds of Americans voting in Tuesday’s presidential election favor moderate or strong gun control measures, according to an early reading from the Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll, up from 59 percent who said so in 2012. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been a vocal opponent of increased limits on American gun ownership, while Democrat Hillary Clinton has advocated for an assault weapons ban and comprehensive background checks on would-be gun owners, following a slew of deadly mass shootings in the United States. The Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states and included about 38,000 people who had already voted in the presidential election. The poll reading will be updated as more poll responses are tallied and more votes counted across the country. The survey found that Americans’ views on abortion – another divisive issue in American politics - has not changed significantly since 2012, with 39 percent of voters saying it should be illegal. Trump opposes abortion and has said it should be punished while Clinton believes it should remain legal. | 0fake |
Ben Carson Home Vandalized with Anti-Trump Graffiti, CNN Accuses Him of Lying | 21st Century Wire says The culture wars continue to ramp-up after events in Charlottesville. White House Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson reported on Wednesday that his Virginia home was vandalized by people who also wrote hateful rhetoric about President Trump. We were out of town, but other kind, embarrassed neighbors cleaned up most of the mess before we returned, he said.Carson issued a statement in which he noted a personal experience of an incident which took place after he and is wife previously purchased a farm in Maryland: One of the neighbors immediately put up a Confederate flag. A friend of ours who is an African-American three-star general was coming to visit and immediately turned around concluding that he was in the wrong place. Interestingly, all the other neighbors immediately put up American flags shaming the other neighbor who took down the Confederate flag. In both instances, less than kind behavior was met by people taking the high road We could all learn from these examples. Hatred and bigotry unfortunately still exists in our country and we must all continue to fight it, but let s use the right tools. Unfortunately, Carson s comments were met with a cynical and disrespectful response from the divisive gatekeepers at CNN, who proceeded to insult the African-American Republican cabinet minister. Incredibly, CNN s national political reporter Maeve Reston implied he was lying, saying that Carson s anecdote is worth a FACT-CHECK :This Ben Carson anecdote is worth a fact-check .. https://t.co/CvJSDSkfxW Maeve Reston (@MaeveReston) August 16, 2017Along with the criminal act of vandalism, CNN s attack on Carson also proves that the New Left in America do not accept the presence of an African-American, or black conservative in politics, and will seek to undermine him simply for being in the wrong party. READ MORE CHARLOTTESVILLE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Charlottesville Files SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Life: 5 Times Neil DeGrasse Tyson Threatened Someone With Halley’s Comet | The king of scientific takedowns, NDT doesn’t mess around. 1. When he took down a climate-change denier on Twitter. 2. When he was a guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and claimed, “Creationists have a right to their beliefs, and I have a right to my belief that the most famous comet of all time is coming to send them all to early graves. Get ready for a peer-reviewed ass clobbering at the hands of frozen ice and rock.” 3. The time he went on a Twitter rant about Donald Trump. 4. The time a guy was blocking his driveway. 5.The time someone called him ugly.
Holy crap! Looks like when Neil gets pissed, he gets REALLY pissed. We love you, Neil, but please keep Halley’s Comet up in space where it belongs. | 1real |
WATCH: FEMALE UNIVERSITY Employee Assaults White Male Student For Wearing Hairstyle Belonging To Black Culture | If a black student was assaulted by a white university employee for wearing a white hairstyle, would this be one of the only sources where you could find the story?A video has surfaced online alleging a San Francisco State University employee assaulted a white student for cultural appropriation . The woman has been identified online as Bonita Tindle. According to LinkedIn Tindle has held multiple jobs at SFSU since September 2015.In the video Bonita Tindle claims the white student should not wear his hair in dreadlocks because of his white culture. Bonita Tindle s friend Davia Spain is a witness to the assault. We would also like to mention that according to wikipedia dreadlocks originated from ancient Greece.The victim has reportedly filed a police report. If you have additional information to add please leave a comment below.Via: Conservative Outfitters | 1real |
Exclusive: White House declines to support encryption legislation - sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is declining to offer public support for draft legislation that would empower judges to require technology companies such as Apple Inc to help law enforcement crack encrypted data, sources familiar with the discussions said. The decision all but assures that the years-long political impasse over encryption will continue even in the wake of the high-profile effort by the Department of Justice to force Apple to break into an iPhone used by a gunman in last December’s shootings in San Bernardino, California. President Obama suggested in remarks last month that he had come around to the view that law enforcement agencies needed to have a way to gain access to encrypted information on smartphones. But the administration remains deeply divided on the issue, the sources said. The draft legislation from Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the Republican chair and top Democrat respectively of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is expected to be introduced as soon as this week. The bill gives federal judges broad authority to order tech companies to help the government but does not spell out what companies might have to do or the circumstances under which they could be ordered to help, according to sources familiar with the text. It also does not create specific penalties for noncompliance. Although the White House has reviewed the text and offered feedback, it is expected to provide minimal public input, if any, the sources said. Its stance is partly a reflection of a political calculus that any encryption bill would be controversial and is unlikely to go far in a gridlocked Congress during an election year, sources said. A White House spokesman declined to comment on the pending legislation, but referred to White House press secretary Josh Earnest’s statements on encryption legislation. Last month Earnest said the administration is “skeptical” of lawmakers’ ability to resolve the encryption debate given their difficulty in tackling “simple things.” Tech companies and civil liberties advocates have opposed encryption legislation, arguing that mandating law enforcement access to tech products will undermine security for everyone. Several lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, have vowed to oppose any attempt to limit encryption protections in U.S. technology products. Even some intelligence officials worry that enabling law enforcement agencies to override encryption will create more problems than it solves by opening the door to hackers and foreign intelligence services. Some also say it is unnecessary because the government has other means of getting the information it needs. The Justice Department dropped its legal action against Apple last week, saying it had found a way to hack into the phone. The White House last year backed away from pursuing legislation that would require U.S. technology firms to provide a “back door” to access encrypted data. The backpedaling resembled a retreat by President Bill Clinton’s administration in the 1990s on efforts to require a special computer chip in phones to give the U.S. government a way to monitor encrypted conversations. But the desire for encryption legislation among some intelligence and law enforcement officials has never gone away, and it gained new life after the Islamist militant-inspired attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Obama, speaking at the South by Southwest entertainment festival in Austin, Texas, last month, warned against “fetishizing our phones” and said that doing nothing to address law enforcement’s encryption challenges “can’t be the right answer.” Obama, however, also cautioned against Congress taking any action that would be “sloppy and rushed.” Apple and others have called on Congress to help find a solution to the problem of criminals and terrorists using encryption to avoid surveillance. A separate proposal to form a national encryption commission to further study the issue is also not expected to be enacted this year. Meanwhile, tech companies are stepping up their efforts to implement encryption and other security measures. The Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp announced this week that it had implemented complete encryption of its service - and now cannot get access to customer messages even if was ordered to by a court. | 0fake |
Hand-Foot-And-Mouth Disease On The Rise: What Parents Need To Know | Share on Facebook Every parents worries about the infectious childhood illness that sweep through classrooms and after-school programs this time of year. Most kids get their inoculations early on to avoid old-fashioned diseases like mumps and rubella that used to effect huge swathes of children every year. Even better, there's now an annual flu shot for tackling one of the winter's most contagious illnesses — even Ellen knows how important it is to get your flu shot! Still, some diseases are proving harder to tackle than others. One of the most resistant is hand-foot-and-mouth disease, which still affects about 200,000 Americans in the USA every year. This year, experts at the West Central Health District in Georgia warn that it could be a record-breaking year for the disease, which is already causing outbreaks among school kids and college students. Scroll through below to learn more about the disease, and what you can do to head it off. Hnad-foot-and-mouth disease — or HFMD for short — is an incredibly common ailment that affects hundred of thousands of people every single year. Part of the reason it's so very common? It's highly contagious, and can spread easily from contact with saliva or mucus. In other words, you can't get it from simply being in the same room as someone with the infection, but you can get it from a sneeze, a kiss, or a handshake. That's part of the reason it runs rampant in kindergartens and preschools, where the kids tend to be grabby with one another, and are usually a little bit covered in spit and snot. It also spread quickly on college campuses, where food and drinks are shared frequently, and students tend to be overtired and not at peak physical health. Senior citizens or folks with weakened immune systems are also vulnerable, especially if they live communally, like in a nursing home. Of course, even a perfectly healthy adult in the prime of life can get this disease; it all depends on what germs you're exposed to. Fortunately, the symptoms are unpleasant, but usually mild and not life-threatening. They include flu-like symptoms, like fever and sore throat, but HFMD is most characterized by the itchy red spots that appear on — you guessed it — your hands, feet, and mouth. Sores may sometimes also appear on the legs and genitals. The virus looks alarming, especially if you're sporting spots, but fortunately it usually clears up on its own within a week or two. Still, if you suspect you or another member of your family has the disease, go to the doctor straight away. Because it's so contagious, this illness usually requires you to stay home until the virus is fully out of your system, to keep it from spreading to other folks in your community. Though the symptoms of the virus are usually mild, there can be serious side effects, especially in people with weakened immune systems from another illness or from age. In some rare cases, HFMD can lead to serious brain infections like meningitis and encephalitis. More commonly, kids who don't shake the symptoms for a few weeks may lose some of their fingernails or toenails. According to the CDC , outbreaks of HFMD are not common in the USA, but that might be changing this year. A large outbreak has been sweeping through Georgia, and may affect the wider South Eastern US, and could even spread to other regions of the country. If you happen to live in an area affected by this year's HFMD outbreak, it's important to be extremely vigilant about hygiene practices. To keep this illness away from your family, make sure everyone is washing their hands after leaving the bathroom, and before touching any food. If you suspect HFMD, make sure to keep your kiddos home from school until they have been cleared by a doctor. If you or someone you know does contract the illness, the best treatment is rest and plenty of fluids, even if the sores make swallowing a little painful. Watch the video below to learn more about hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and don't forget to SHARE to help prevent the spread of disease this year! Related: | 1real |
The Brexiter’s guide to what’s British | The Brexiter’s guide to what’s British 04-11-16
GOOD Brexit morning. Since June 24th, it has become apparent that some things which claim to be British are anything but, and only loyal Brexiters can tell the difference.
Here’s the ultimate Brexiter’s guide to what is British and what will leave our shores forever when the Sacred Emerald is placed in the Queen’s crown to trigger Article 50:
The British legal system – not British. Based on the Magna Carta, clearly not native to these shores as it has a foreign name, the British legal system has spent centuries convicting British people who must logically be innocent by virtue of their nationality.
The BBC – not British. The ‘British’ in the BBC’s name is a Trojan horse which sneaks multicultural propaganda into the homes and hearts of decent patriots. All BBC News programmes have been entirely fictional since 1964.
News International – British. This US-owned media corporation is as British as steak-and-ale pie, dog-fighting in rural barns and Oxo.
16,141,241 Remain voters – not British. Probably Brazilian. Go back to Brazil.
Winning World War II – British. America was involved at the very, very end, for between five and ten minutes. Russia had no idea it was even going on.
Parliament – not British. None of them were elected. They were all appointed by a cabal of elite judges who are all homosexuals.
Share: | 1real |
BREAKING: OBAMA WILL VETO BILL Unanimously Passed By Congress Allowing 9-11 Victims To Sue Saudi Arabia | This should come as a surprise to no one Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the worst terror attack in history, in which 15 Saudi citizens, among 19 Muslim hijackers, murdered nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11.Barack Obama s White House announced today they are spitting right in 9-11 victims faces.The U.S. Congress passed a bill unanimously that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue governments like Saudi Arabia who we now know for certain were involved in the attack.The bill went right to President Obama s desk.But today, the White House announced Obama will VETO the bill.Unbelievable.From CNN:President Barack Obama will veto a bill that would allow terror victims of the attacks on September 11, 2001, to sue Saudi Arabia, the White House said Monday. That s the plan, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said when asked if the President planned to veto the bill, saying it would complicate diplomatic relations. Earnest defended the administration s stance against the bill saying it is not an effective, forceful way for us to respond to terrorism. Lawmakers are expected to attempt to override the veto, and if successful, would mark the first time in Obama s presidency.Utterly disgraceful, even for Obama. Now his infamous bow to the Saudi king takes on a new, and sickening meaning.In April, a senior Saudi prince urged Americans not to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming general election, after Trump promised to blow the lid off secret documents proving that the Saudi government helped plan the 9/11 Attacks.Via: Top Right News | 1real |
OOPS! Media Forgot Ted Kennedy Asked Russia To Intervene In Election, Help Defeat Ronald Reagan | In 1991 a reporter for the London Times found a very interesting memorandum composed in 1983 by Victor Chebrikov, the top man in the KGB. The memo was addressed to Yuri Andropov, the top man in the USSR. The subject: Sen. Edward KennedyThe memorandum reads in part: On 9-10 May of this year, Sen. Edward Kennedy s close friend and trusted confidant [John] Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov. The message included an offer to visit Moscow The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA. Kennedy was offering to help Soviet Russia deal with President Reagan, by telling them how to paint their propaganda picture.Via Forbes: The document, Kengor continues, has stood the test of time. I scrutinized it more carefully than anything I ve ever dealt with as a scholar. I showed the document to numerous authorities who deal with Soviet archival material. No one has debunked the memorandum or shown it to be a forgery. Kennedy s office did not deny it. As part of the deal, Kennedy promised to make sure that certain American news networks gave Andropov air time and would go soft on him while still making it look like true journalism.Why would Kennedy do this, you might ask? Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988, the memorandum continued. Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. So apparently, if a democratic senator actually seeks out help from Soviet Russia to beat his opponent, that s ok, but if a Republican cabinet member so much as has contacts in Russia, the gloves come off.(Source: Forbes) | 1real |
WATCH: BEST DESCRIPTION OF UK BREXIT YET…Conservatives Will Stand Up And Cheer! | Take note America | 1real |
MINNESOTA: FIRST FEMALE MUSLIM Legislator Votes To Make Life Insurance Companies Do The UNTHINKABLE For Dead Terrorists [VIDEO] | She burst on the scene last August when she upset a 44-year incumbent Democrat in the Minnesota state primary elections to become the nation s first female Muslim state legislator.Ilhan Omar, the 34-year-old community organizer who came to America as a refugee from Somalia, was touted by Democrats as a model success story. From a refugee camp to the State Capitol with intelligence and insight, beamed former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who endorsed Omar. This is a wonderful story to tell as Americans, and a great source of pride for the state of Minnesota s open arms. But on Thursday Omar made her mark in another way.She was one of only two members of the Minnesota State House to vote against a bill that would allow life insurance companies to deny payouts to the beneficiaries of terrorists who die in violent attacks on Americans.Omar, who represents the heavily immigrant Cedar Riverside area of Minneapolis, was joined by fellow Democratic Rep. John Lesch of St. Paul in voting against the bill.Omar s vote sticks out because at least 42 Somali refugees have been confirmed by the FBI to have left the U.S. to join overseas terrorist organizations, including al-Shabab, the al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia, and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.Dozens of other Somali-Americans have been tried and/or convicted of providing material support to overseas terrorists.The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is home to the nation s largest Somali refugee community.The Minnesota insurance bill was introduced by Rep. Joe Hoppe, R-Chaska, in response to Syed Farook s jihadist rampage in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015 in which he shot and killed 14 people and injured 22 at an office Christmas party. Farook made sure his life insurance policies worth $275,000 were valid before conducting the deadly shooting with help from his wife, Tashfeen Malik.After Farook died in a shootout with police, his mother fought to remain the beneficiary of the life insurance policies. The insurance company balked and the case has gone to court.Democratic Rep. Debra Hilstrom said the goal of the Minnesota bill is to make certain that folks don t benefit [from terrorism] and this limits the beneficiary to the premiums that were paid in. It limits the exposure for the insurance company when someone is committing an act of terrorism. WNDWatch: | 1real |
Trump call for immigration legislation sparks Republican interest | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s call to the U.S. Congress to pass protections for some undocumented immigrants is stirring interest among his fellow Republicans in Congress, despite the party’s longstanding divisions over immigration that were on display on Wednesday. Trump, who fashioned his 2016 presidential campaign around a pledge to clamp down on illegal immigration, has now turned the political landscape on its head. On Tuesday, he angered business groups and Democrats with his announcement that he was terminating former President Barack Obama’s executive order protecting from deportation nearly 800,000 immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were illegally brought to the United States as children. But he also urged legislative efforts to permanently protect those youth, despite long-held opposition from some of the most conservative members of the Republican Party who comprise his base of supporters. Democrats have long been united around major elements of a comprehensive immigration bill, while Republicans have been divided over whether to embrace anything beyond narrow tweaks of current law. “My challenge to the president,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, is to help Congress get legislation passed within Trump’s six-month deadline. “Work the phones, try to find a consensus.” Republican lawmakers on Wednesday touted a slew of competing ideas on immigration that could lure votes from many pockets of the party but might doom any bill by alienating Democrats or conservative Republicans. One of Trump’s most vocal supporters in Congress, Republican Representative Chris Collins, wasted no time in introducing legislation on Tuesday to protect Dreamers. In an interview on Wednesday he went further, calling for comprehensive moves to put the 11 million undocumented people living in the United States on a pathway to citizenship if they qualify. “Our dairy farmers need it, our crop farmers, the hoteliers, the restaurateurs, the families need it, the kids need it,” Collins said of firms that employ foreign workers and the millions of undocumented. Representative Pete Sessions, a senior Republican who chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, said he favors allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for a “guest worker” program. But he said he would not support legislation that ultimately grants them citizenship - a major stumbling block for immigration advocacy groups, Democrats and some Republicans. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said Republicans are not fully on board yet with effort. Upon leaving a closed-door meeting of House Republicans, he was asked whether immigration legislation might emerge in early 2018. “I think that there’s no decision. We listened carefully,” he said. Indeed, conservative Republican Representative Mike Burgess quipped, “We’ve got other things that are probably more pressing” than addressing the Dreamers now. The immigration issue has vexed Congress for years, raising doubts about whether Trump and a Republican Congress could build a consensus around legislation. “It may be difficult for Republicans to address the DACA (Obama’s executive order) issue within the six-month time frame, because that’s exactly when many of them are entering primary season, where candidates could outflank them on the right calling them weak on immigration,” said Ron Bonjean, a political strategist who previously worked for House and Senate Republican leaders. Meanwhile, Senator Tom Cotton wants to reduce the number of legal immigrants allowed into the United States, a move that Democratic Senator Dick Durbin called “problematic,” especially amid some Republican opposition. In the meantime, lawmakers are expected to fine-tune proposals to help farmers get easier access to temporary foreign workers, just as others work to help their home-state high-tech industries get more visas for skilled immigrants. More border security steps are likely too, although there is only weak support for Trump’s southwestern border wall. Those measures could help House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell patch together the votes that would be needed - if they are so inclined. If the effort sputters, as it has so many times in the past, Republican Representative Mike Coffman has a Plan B at the ready: a three-year pause in deporting qualified Dreamers to give Congress yet more time to come up with a permanent fix. | 0fake |
Exclusive — Taylor Force Family’s Attorneys: Cut U.S. Funding to Palestinian Terrorists, Suicide Bombers’ Families Now - Breitbart | Israel Law Center founder Nitsana told Breitbart News Daily in an exclusive Memorial Day radio special on SiriusXM 125 The Patriot Channel that it’s past time for the United States to cut funding to Palestinian terrorists and their families.[ ’s organization, an law group, is representing the family of Taylor Force, a U. S. Army veteran who was murdered in cold blood by a Palestinian terrorist last year in Israel after serving the U. S. in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Force was in Israel as part of a school mission trip, and was killed by a Palestinian terrorist who thought he was attacking Jews — even though Force was not Jewish but Christian. “Taylor Force was a serviceman and he went with his school on a mission to Israel, a seven days tour,” said in the interview, which aired Monday morning. ”One of his visits in Israel was on Jaffa. It was nighttime, and a Palestinian young man came and stabbed him and many, many others with a knife. He killed him and also injured many, many others … He did a great service to his country. He served in Iraq and served in Afghanistan. And he came to Israel on a tour in the framework of his school. ” Force was a West Point graduate who served as a U. S. Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan before enrolling in graduate school at Vanderbilt University. He was killed in a tourist area in Jaffa Port. At the time of the terrorist murder, President Joe Biden was meeting with President Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv when the Palestinian terrorist went on the stabbing spree claiming Force’s life and injuring many others. “It’s a tourist area,” said. “The city of Jaffa is near . It’s a very hopping place at nighttime. There is a boardwalk. Very late, there is a lot of people walking by the beach. And it’s the kind of a place that you do not expect to be killed or stabbed. Anywhere in Israel, it’s not supposed to be dangerous a place. This is a mixed area and there are a lot of Arabs in Jaffa, but the Palestinian who stabbed Taylor Force to death was not an Israeli Arab. He came from the territories and simply decided that he’s going to out tonight and stab Jews. He did not recognize that Taylor Force was not a Jew, and simply killed him with the rest of the people there. ” In response to the terrorist attack that claimed Force’s life, members of the U. S. Congress drafted legislation in his name — the Taylor force Act — which would cut U. S. funding to the Palestinian Authority until the organization stopped paying terrorists behind attacks like this and their families. “The Taylor Force Act would take away the amount of money the Palestinians obtain,” said. “The Palestinians Authority is paying their prisoners, the secure prisoners who are sitting in the Israeli jails being sentenced for killing and for taking acts of murder and acts of terror against civilians, and also the amount of money the Palestinians are paying the families of the suicide bombers. They have been rewarding the families of those who detonate themselves and have killed the civilians. [The bill would take the money out] from the U. S. aid that the U. S. provides the Palestinian Authority. It’s a total sort of deduction. They take the awards that the Palestinian Authority has given, they take it from the prisoners and families, and they take it from what the U. S. gives the Palestinians. ” She explained that it is “shocking” right now that the United States government is funding the Palestinians, who turn around and use the money to fund terrorists and their families after they commit these attacks. “This money is inducing others to go and kill, and as you can see not only Israelis are getting killed on the streets of and Jerusalem,” said. “A lot of tourists are getting killed. Israel is a popular country and gets a lot of visits from people all over the world, and Taylor Force was not the first American getting killed in and unfortunately will not be the last one. The United States knows that part of the money they are giving to the Palestinian Authority is going to pay these prisoners and to pay the families of those who have killed their own civilians, American citizens, and as you say it’s totally ironic, horrible and unbelievable that the administration keeps supporting the Palestinian Authority without demanding right now to bring to a halt right now all these payments to the prisoners and the families of suicide bombers. ” She added that unless the money flow from the United States is completely cut off, there is “not a chance — not a chance” that the Palestinian Authority would stop using it to fund terrorists and the families of terrorists. The reason being, she said, is because it is in the “culture” of the Palestinians to commit these acts of horror against Israelis and the entire Western World. “They are not going to stop these payments,” said. “It’s basically their culture. The culture is to promote violence against Israel. They incite people to go and kill. There is indoctrination of the people in the Palestinian Authority, areas to go and learn how to kill. The Palestinian Authority simply sees this payment as its sort of control over the Palestinian population. If they stop paying these funds, they will lose any authority. They will lose any support. They will lose the people. And the Palestinian Authority is doing basically what Hamas is doing, the terrorist organization in Gaza that controls Gaza and Gaza’s government in Gaza. They give their prisoners funds. They pay stipends to their prisoners and their families who went and lost people bombing themselves. They can’t really leave the market, leave the area just to Hamas, otherwise people will go and be loyal to Hamas. There is competition between the Palestinian Authority, which is headed by the PLO, and Hamas, which is a terrorist organization which controls the Gaza Strip — which complicates the situation. Therefore, talking about it, as President Trump is doing, will not get the job done. ” President Donald Trump, in his White House meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas per White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s readout of the meeting, pressed Abbas on the payments to the terrorists. “President Trump raised his concerns about payments to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have committed terrorist acts, and to their families, and emphasized the need to resolve this issue,” the White House readout from Spicer’s office read. White House sources tell Breitbart News that Spicer was instrumental in raising this issue with President Trump ahead of that Abbas meeting, providing the president with key information about the issue of Palestinian payments to terrorist and terrorists’ families. In a meeting in Israel between Trump and Abbas during President Trump’s foreign trip, Trump was reportedly furious with Abbas after learning that Abbas apparently misled him in the Washington, D. C. White House meeting. “You tricked me in Washington,” Trump reportedly said to Abbas behind closed doors in Israel, per an Israeli television station. On Monday, Abbas confidante Ahmad Majdalani told the Jerusalem Post that the reports of a heated meeting with Trump are “a total fabrication and a lie. ” Netanyahu has also bashed Abbas for inaccurately claiming Palestinians promote peace. “I heard President Abbas yesterday say that the Palestinians teach their children peace,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, that’s not true. They name their schools after mass murderers of Israelis and they pay terrorists. ” said that for President Trump to extract real action on this front and make progress toward peace, real action must happen — and that starts with the Taylor Force Act. “There must be an act to be taken,” she said. “There must be more than just simple words, more than just an idea. We all know that the Palestinian Authority is paying this money. We all know, a few years ago they removed themselves from these payments asking the PLO to go make these payments, not the Palestinian Authority, so Mahmoud Abbas can come to President Trump and say, ‘listen, it’s not me. I was paying more. It’s the PLO.’ But let us not forget that Mahmoud Abbas is the head of the PLO in addition to his position as the head of the Palestinian Authority. So, to make a long story short, the Palestinian Authority will not halt these payments, and if President Trump is not going to take a serious step, they will just keep paying this money that induces and incites more terror attacks against civilians. ” She added that while there is widespread support for the Taylor Force Act in both chambers of the U. S. congress, “there is no guarantee that it would pass. ” “Therefore there must be a push — listeners of your radio show must call up their elected representatives and urge them to push to get this law passed,” said. “The State Department always objected to any deduction to the Palestinian Authority, to any prevention of ‘aid’ to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians always have to get their money. The United States is always one of the largest providers of the Palestinian Authority’s finances. They pay a large amount of their budget and therefore they have great leverage on the Palestinian Authority, but it’s not going to get done if there won’t be a public support and public urge to pass this law. So the listeners, the American citizens who care about civilian life, who care about human rights, who care about the life of Israelis and Americans in Israel have to push for this law to pass by urging their representatives to make it happen. ” Representatives for House Speaker Paul Ryan have not responded to requests for comment when asked why Ryan has not yet held a vote on this bill when there is clear bipartisan support for the legislation and it would easily pass the House of Representatives at this time, per Breitbart News sources on the Hill. The White House did not have a comment when asked about this bill or about the Israeli news reports on Trump’s reportedly heated meeting with Abbas in Israel. LISTEN TO NITSANA OF ISRAEL LAW CENTER ON BREITBART NEWS DAILY: | 0fake |
Houthi radio station says ex-president Saleh killed, party denies | DUBAI (Reuters) - The radio station of Yemen s Houthi-controlled Interior Ministry said on Monday that the group s rival, ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh had been killed, but there has been no independent confirmation of his death. The report added that the official Houthi TV station would soon broadcast footage of his dead body, while social media users in Yemen circulated unverified images of a corpse which resembled the ex-president. Saleh s party denied to Reuters that their leader had been killed and said he was continuing to lead forces in their clashes against the Houthis in the capital Sanaa. His whereabouts are unknown and he has made no public appearances since the reports of his death surfaced. | 0fake |
Bono to World Leaders: No ’Wall High Enough’ to Keep Out Islamic Terror | U2 frontman Bono condemned the idea of a “national border” as the best way to protect one’s country from Islamic terror. [“I don’t see a body of water wide enough or a wall high enough to keep these problems from our doors,” the Irish rocker said before world leaders Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. “The frontier of national interest is no longer the national border,” Bono said. “You may not be interested in the trouble on a street or across the Mediterranean on the other side of the globe, but let me assure you, that trouble is interested in you. Our fate is a shared fate. But which fate will it be?” A longtime humanitarian activist, Bono urged world leaders to promote investments in development and education in third world countries like Nigeria. He warned that the Islamic terror group Boko Haram could push the African country into a “humanitarian crisis” like the one we see in Syria. “We need to help African leaders make sure that their young people find work, or they’ll find trouble,” Bono said. “From where I stand, if Nigeria fails, Africa fails. If Africa fails, Europe fails. And if Europe fails, well, then the world has a very, very big problem. We need to help African leaders make sure that their young people find work, or they’ll find trouble”: Bono was standing in Germany — a country currently facing its own humanitarian crisis after opening the doors to an unlimited number of migrants in 2015. To combat the refugee crisis in her country, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has set aside tens of million of taxpayer dollars for a fund that will pay migrants to withdraw their asylum applications and leave Germany voluntarily. Bono acknowledged that a “strong military” is necessary to secure freedom, but he added, “In an uncertain world, a strong military is essential, but the best bulwark against violent extremism is hope and opportunity,” he said. “We need a plan to make sure all girls can go to school. On hundred thirty million girls around the world don’t,” Bono explained. “For every extra year a girl goes to school, her income goes up 12 percent. Some studies even suggest that more education can reduce a country’s risk of conflict by 20 percent. ” Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson. | 0fake |
Pentagon identifying new areas to pressure Iran, reviewing plans | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it was identifying new areas where it could work with allies to put pressure on Iran in support of President Donald Trump s new strategy, which promises a far more confrontational approach to Tehran. Trump struck a blow against the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement on Friday in defiance of other world powers, choosing not to certify that Tehran is complying with the deal and warning he might ultimately terminate it. He also promised to address Iran more broadly, including its support for extremist groups in the Middle East. Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Defense Department spokesman, told Reuters the Pentagon was assessing the positioning of its forces as well as planning but offered few details. We are identifying new areas where we will work with allies to put pressure on the Iranian regime, neutralize its destabilizing influences, and constrain its aggressive power projection, particularly its support for terrorist groups and militants, he said. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said his first goal would to talk with U.S. allies in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere to gain a shared understanding of Iran s actions. Certainly we intend to dissuade them from shipping arms into places like Yemen and explosives into Bahrain and the other things they do with their surrogates, like Lebanese Hezbollah, Mattis said. The U.S. military has long been a strident critic of Iran, accusing it directly and indirectly of trying to undermine the United States and its allies, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The tensions escalated in recent months in Syria, where American pilots shot down two Iranian-made drones this summer. Still, a more aggressive approach to Iran could trigger a backlash from Iran s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and forces that it backs. That includes in Iraq, where U.S. troops are fighting Islamic State and trying to keep their distance from Shi ite militia aligned with Iran. U.S. forces in Iraq are quite exposed, and coalition forces are quite exposed to the risk of attack if Iranian elements so choose, said Jennifer Cafarella, lead intelligence planner at the Institute for the Study of War, a think-tank in Washington. The U.S. military is analyzing an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, that killed an American soldier in Iraq this month. The reappearance of the device, which Iran-backed Shi ite militia routinely used to target American troops in Iraq before their withdrawal in 2011, has startled U.S. officials. CIA Director Mike Pompeo noted the device was detonated in an area controlled by a militia backed by Tehran. We do not have evidence of a direct link to Iran, but we are closely examining this tragic incident, Pompeo said on Wednesday. Cafarella said the killing of the U.S. soldier may have been a warning from Iran. I think it is possible that the Iranians have been attempting to signal their commitment to retaliate against the U.S. strategy, she said. Mattis said the United States was watching for any new provocations from Iran. Asked whether he thought Tehran might retaliate, he said: It would be ill advised for them to attack us. Reuters has previously reported that options to increase pressure on Iran include more aggressive U.S. interceptions of Iranian arms shipments, such as those to Houthi rebels in Yemen, It could also direct U.S. naval forces to react more forcefully when harassed by armed IRGC speed boats. The Pentagon on Friday detailed a series of major concern about Iran, including its ballistic missile development and cyber attacks against the United States and U.S. allies. The Pentagon promised to review U.S. security cooperation activities with allies in the region, something that could lead to alterations in U.S. arms sales and military exercises. It also signaled a willingness to re-examine the positioning of the roughly 70,000 American troops the Pentagon says are stationed in the Middle East. Still, Mattis said: Right now we are not changing our posture. | 0fake |
BREAKING! TERROR ATTACK BY SUICIDE BOMBER At Ariana Grande Concert: 19 Dead, 50 Injured…Panicked, Bloodied Kids Seen Stampeding Out Of Stadium [VIDEO] | At least 19 people have been killed after explosions were heard inside Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. American authorities are saying this was a suicide bomb that not only killed 19 but injured 50 concertgoers. Speculation is that this was a pressure cooker bomb. We cannot confirm. A CONCERTGOER IS IN SHOCK RECEIVING HELP -These horrible terrorists hurt and killed young people!BREAKING: VIDEO & REPORTS that this was likely a nail bomb. TERRORISTS killed kids with a NAIL BOMB. #Manchesterpic.twitter.com/LfQsmaXUw9 Democrats for Trump (@YoungDems4Trump) May 22, 2017Video below shows people fleeing from the concert after loud bangs rang out immediately after the concert finished:Horrific, frightening video of panic after large explosion at #Manchester arena.pic.twitter.com/onxMbX60Me Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) May 23, 2017Video showing concert goers racing for the exits:EXPLOSION AT MANCHESTER ARENA AND EVERYONE RAN OUT SO SCARY pic.twitter.com/pJbUBoELtE (@hannawwh) May 22, 2017ARMED POLICE ARRIVE ON THE SCENE OF THE EXPLOSION:Manchester Arena: Armed police arrive on the scene of explosion pic.twitter.com/h5cfz8w6qz Democrats for Trump (@YoungDems4Trump) May 22, 2017THE LATEST FROM THE SCENE:LATEST from #Manchester Arena @GranadaReports pic.twitter.com/JvT0Md4WYN Michael Worrall (@mikeyworrall1) May 22, 2017NAIL BOMBS:#BREAKING: Sources from Manchester hospitals say they re receiving patients with injuries compatible with a nail bomb. #sun7 pic.twitter.com/wL0A18Mje8 Sunrise (@sunriseon7) May 22, 2017 | 1real |
UNREAL! HOUSE MOVES TO BAN SALE OR DISPLAY OF CONFEDERATE FLAG IN FEDERAL CEMETERIES | WHAT THE HECK! What s happened to the Southern leaders? Confederate flags should be placed on the graves of Civil War soldiers. This is way over the top and a knee-jerk reaction to the shooting in Charleston, SC.The House has voted to ban the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the deep South.The low-profile move came late Tuesday after a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers.The proposal by California Democrat Jared Huffman would block the Park Service from allowing private groups from decorating the graves of southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi.Pressure has mounted to ban display of the flag on state and federal property in the wake of last month s tragic murders at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.SELLING CONFEDERATE FLAGS BANNED TOO:The House voted to affirm that stores on federal lands operated by the National Park Service cannot sell Confederate flags, in light of a new policy announced in the aftermath of the shooting in Charleston, S.C.Adoption of the amendment to the 2016 Interior Department appropriations bill came easily on a voice vote after just six minutes of debate, where no one spoke in opposition. The amendment reflects a policy announced by the National Park Service in June to ban the sale of Confederate flag merchandise from its gift shops and bookstores.Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the author of the amendment, said it was important that Congress prevent the sale of the Confederate image on federal property. This House now has an opportunity to add its voice, by ending the promotion of the cruel, racist legacy of the Confederacy, Huffman said. While many concessionaires have agreed to do this, I am dismayed by reports that some will continue to sell items with Confederate flag imagery. Read more: The Hill | 1real |
Somebody’s thought of a new way to make America great again | Next Swipe left/right Somebody’s thought of a new way to make America great again Over on Reddit, secretly_banana has shared a bumper sticker they spotted on their college campus, which could well have support from both Republicans and Democrats. | 1real |
Potentially nasty fight looms over Trump U.S. Supreme Court pick | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats are gearing up for a potentially ugly fight over Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court pick, with some liberal activists urging them to do everything possible to block any nominee from the Republican president-elect. Democrats are still seething over the Republican-led Senate’s decision last year to refuse to consider outgoing President Barack Obama’s nomination of appeals court judge Merrick Garland for a lifetime post on the court. The action had little precedent in U.S. history and prompted some Democrats to accuse Republicans of stealing a Supreme Court seat. Trump last week vowed to announce his appointment within about two weeks of taking office on Friday. He said he would pick from among 20 candidates suggested by conservative legal groups to fill the lingering vacancy caused by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia last Feb. 13. Scalia’s replacement could tilt the ideological leaning of the court for years to come, restoring the long-standing conservative majority that disappeared with Scalia’s death just at a time when it appeared liberals would get an upper hand on the bench. Liberal groups are gearing up for a battle, with the People For the American Way calling the judges on Trump’s list of candidates “very extreme.” “We’re hearing from Senate Democrats and parallel concern among outside groups that this is going to be a major fight,” said Marge Baker, the group’s executive vice president. “We’ll be arguing that Democrats use every means at their disposal to defeat the nominee. This is going to be ‘all hands on deck,’ using all means at our disposal.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has said it is hard for him to imagine Trump picking a nominee who Democrats could support, and said he would “absolutely” fight to keep the seat vacant rather than let the Senate confirm a Trump nominee deemed to be outside the mainstream. “We are not going to make it easy for them to pick a Supreme Court justice,” Schumer told MSNBC on Jan. 3, adding that if the Republicans “don’t appoint someone who’s really good, we’re going to oppose them tooth and nail.” Senate Democrats may be in a position to hold up Trump’s selection indefinitely. Senate rules require 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to overcome a procedural hurdle called a filibuster on Supreme Court nominees. There are 52 Republican senators. Assuming all 52 back Trump’s nominee, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell either would need to lure eight Democrats to his side or change the rules and ban the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. Republicans, then in the minority, complained that their rights had been trampled when Senate Democrats in 2013 voted to eliminate the filibuster for executive branch and judicial nominees beyond the Supreme Court. Baker said liberals cannot hold their fire for fear that Republicans will use this so-called nuclear option, adding, “At some point you don’t game this out. You say, ‘This is a fight.’” Other liberal groups urged a more conciliatory approach. “We’re not predisposed to opposition here,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Any nominee will be evaluated, Clarke said, adding that the group is girding for a nominee who is hostile to civil rights. Trump’s nominee could influence the court on a wide range of issues including abortion, the death penalty, religious rights, presidential powers, gay and transgender rights, federal regulations and others. Political considerations also hang over the confirmation fight. Democrats and the two independents aligned with them in the Senate will be defending 25 seats in the 2018 elections, while Republicans defend only eight. Many of those Democratic seats are in Republican-leaning states Trump won in the Nov. 8 election, including West Virginia, Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, Montana, Michigan and Ohio. Republicans likely will target these and other Democrats in hopes of coaxing them into backing Trump’s nominee. That means Democratic senators such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Indiana’s Joe Donnelly and Missouri’s Claire McCaskill could face extra pressure not to block Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. The liberal groups are facing off with well-funded conservative adversaries. The Judicial Crisis Network, for instance, has said it will spend at least $10 million on advertising and grassroots efforts to pressure Senate Democrats to back Trump’s nominee. Carrie Severino, the group’s chief counsel, said it would be hypocritical for Democrats to block a vote after arguing the Constitution required the Senate to act on Garland. “A lot of them (Democrats) spent the last nine months saying there is a constitutional duty to have a vote. I’d find it shocking if they would not carry out what they think their duty is,” Severino said. Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said the high level of interest the vacancy has generated among activists, lawyers, students and others makes up for the deep pockets of the other side. “I don’t think we’ll need $10 million given the outcry expressed already,” Aron said. | 0fake |
2009 FLASHBACK: “What If” Remixed | 11/08/2016 | 1real |
Forgotten No Longer: Pennsylvania Breitbart Readers Praise Trump Paris Decision | Several Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM listeners from Pennsylvania called in to host Joel Pollak on Friday to express their support for President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords. [Caller Ken said, “I used to work in a coal mine. Coal operators, their biggest fear and why they’re afraid to make major investments, is because they’re afraid the Democrats will get back in office and all their investments will be wasted. And that’s the biggest inhibitor to growth right now. ” Caller Westin said of the climate accord, “The one thing we’re missing, it’s done with malice. This isn’t bad policy by making a mistake. It’s bad policy by choice and purpose. We have to look at what is their objective. Their objective is to pass money around, redistribute wealth, of course. But the real diabolical purpose is to crush the middle class in this country. ” Westin also pointed to the backlash against the middle class for voting for Trump. Chris, calling from Pennsylvania, said, “All of these deals, it seems as if they work against the United States, our industry, etc. ” He added, “Mr. Trump, yesterday, talked about all of the negative things that would happen to various sectors in the economy, and my point is, these left people, lefties, who rabidly support all these accords, I would think they would know what’s going on on the inside. And then as soon as Obama says, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re on board,’ perhaps they are shorting a portfolio of energy companies, for instance, or mining companies. ” Chris suggested, “They take their money and run. Then we’re left holding the bag. ” Caller Louis said he liked to call global warming “global communism. ” “It’s a redistribution of wealth,” said Louis, “of them taking the money to give it to their good old boy system, mostly to people like Al Gore and whoever they arranged to take the money. And I don’t think that taxpayers should take this on our shoulders so a bunch of guys can drive around in nice cars. He also said people need to look at the science and not the hype and that the climate has always been changing and will continue to change, regardless of what man does. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN: | 0fake |
Tim Kaine Cheers End of White Majority in Spanish Address | Tim Kaine Cheers End of White Majority in Spanish Address Julia Hahn, Breitbart, November 5, 2016
During an Arizona speech delivered in Spanish, Sen. Tim Kaine cheered the demographic transformation of the United States caused by the nation’s federal immigration policies, telling his Latino audience on Thursday, “You are the future of America.”
“By 2050, communities of color will represent the majority of our population,” Kaine said. “So, of course, Latinos will help shape the future of America because you are the future of America.”
As the Pew Research Center has documented, this demographic transformation is largely the result of the changes to visa issuance policies enacted into law in 1965 that lifted the immigration controls put in place by Calvin Coolidge during the 1920s. {snip}
{snip}
Yet during his remarks, Kaine laid out how a Clinton administration plans to hasten the demographic transformation through expansive immigration policies that would essentially bring about the dissolution of national borders . Kaine explained how a Clinton-Kaine administration would “end family detention,” “close private detention facilities,” freeze deportations, and would give citizenship–and, by extension, voting privileges and access to federal benefits–to the illegal population.
Kaine also doubled down on his pledge to expand President Obama’s executive amnesty:
A few months ago, the Supreme Court put DAPA on hold. That was devastating for millions of families. But it’s important to note that the Court didn’t actually rule on the substance of the case. Hillary and I have always said that DAPA is squarely within the President’s authority, and we will keep fighting for it.
{snip} | 1real |
null | ha! Good one | 1real |
Merkel silent on fourth term despite glowing words from Obama | BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama called German Chancellor Angela Merkel an “outstanding” ally on Thursday and said she might get his support if he were a German citizen and she decided to run for a fourth term as leader of Europe’s largest economy. Merkel, whom many expect to stand again, declined to show her hand, despite Obama’s words of support. She said she would announce her decision at the appropriate moment, but “that is not today”. “Chancellor Merkel has been an outstanding partner,” Obama told reporters in Berlin when asked if he wanted her to run again, praising her integrity and their shared core values. Merkel told a joint news conference that it was difficult to say goodbye to Obama after their close partnership over the past eight years. “The parting is hard for me,” she said, before adding that the U.S. constitution limited a president’s time in office to a maximum of eight years and that she had to accept this. Obama smiled at journalists and winked. He said Merkel faced “big burdens” if she chose to run again. “I wish I could be there to lighten her load somewhat, but she is tough.” Merkel, in power since 2005, is expected to announce on Sunday whether she will run for chancellor again in next year’s federal election, the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland media group reported on Wednesday. Close Merkel aides have said she is moving toward another run, and one lawmaker in her conservative party this week told CNN that she would definitely put herself forward. A poll conducted for German broadcaster ARD, released on Thursday, showed Merkel’s conservatives would get 32 percent of the vote if the elections were held on Sunday, down one percentage point from a poll taken on Nov. 3. The center-left Social Democrats, junior partner in her “grand coalition,” would get 23 percent, up one percentage point from the last poll, while the pro-environment Greens would get 13 percent, also up one point, the poll conducted by Infratest dimap showed. The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party dropped one percentage point to 12 percent. | 0fake |
Trump Just Promised To Only Pick A White Man For VP – His Reason Will Make You SICK | According to Donald Trump, Joe The Plumber was right when he said the only American thing we can do is elect a white Republican President, emphasis on white. On Thursday, the Trump campaign somehow managed to lower the bar of decency even more than they already have. Speaking on The Donald s behalf, his campaign chair made a promise that will make Trump s poorly educated white supremacist supporters happy Trump will only pick a white man for Vice President, regardless of qualifications or other factors, because minorities are apparently incapable of being good at the job. He needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn t want to do, Paul Manafort told the Huffington Post. He seems himself more as the chairman of the board, than even the CEO, let alone the COO. There is a long list of who that person could be, the campaign chair continued, and every one of them has major problems. But no matter what their problems, every single one of them is better than those blacks and Mexicans, according to Manafort. He says that the campaign likely won t choose a woman or a member of any minority group:Only Trump s idiot supporters would view choosing a running-mate based on their qualifications for the job rather than sex and skin color pandering. Is this really who Republicans want to lead the nation someone who wants to literally build a wall to keep brown people out of the country, someone who thinks simply being from Mexico makes one a drug dealer, someone who tweets out white supremacist propaganda and encourages his supporters to beat up black people at his rallies (even offering to pay their legal fees)?featured image via Getty Images/Spencer Platt | 1real |
Why Not Vote Third Party? We Asked California Voters. | In an election year in which the two mainstream candidates are disliked at never-before-seen levels, might there be an opportunity for third party candidates?
Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party are seeing more interest in their parties' nominees than ever before, and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson is polling close to double-digits, higher than any other third party candidate since Ross Perot in 1992.
We hit the streets of Los Angeles and the campus of UCLA to ask voters whether they'd consider voting third party this year and to administer the isidewith.com test, an online quiz that shows you which candidate is your ideological match based on your answers to a series of questions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many people's matches weren't consistent with the candidate for whom they planned to vote.
In this solidly blue state, most voters we talked to plan to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton, with varying levels of enthusiasm. But while a few committed Clinton partisans seemed unlikely to budge, we found that many folks identified as independents, a trend consistent with data that points to fewer and fewer Americans affiliating with the major parties.
And these self-described independents were more willing to at least hear out the third party candidates. In fact, a recent Quinnipiac poll found that 62 percent of Americans want Gary Johnson on the debate stage, despite the fact that the Commission on Presidential Debates sets the polling cutoff at 15 percent.
So what would it take for these independent-minded voters to pull the lever for someone other than Clinton or Trump? Watch the video above to find out.
Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Justin Monticello. Hosted by Monticello. Shot by Weissmueller. Additional graphics by Josh Swain. Music by Audionautix.
Scroll down for downloadable versions. Subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel for daily content like this. | 0fake |
Kenya opposition chief: people should stay home, not protest during polls | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition leader Raila Odinga told a BBC interviewer that he was not calling for protests during repeat presidential elections scheduled for Thursday, but that he wanted supporters to stay at home and boycott the vote. We have not told people to protest on polling day. We have not said that at all. We have told people to stay away, he said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. Odinga s comments contradict repeated his previous public calls for protests on voting day. | 0fake |
SUNDAY SCREENING: Operation Hollywood (2004) | Our weekly documentary film curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE.How many of your favorite movies have been shaped and directed by the Pentagon? Since the 1970 s, a number of successful Hollywood blockbuster hits, including Patton, Apocalypse Now, Top Gun, Three Kings, Saving Private Ryan, Blackhawk Down and others have had their productions and budgets augmented by the US military machine including the use military bases, heavy weaponry, submarines aircraft and aircraft carriers generously made available to the studios but at a price. The quid pro quo is that Pentagon s experts are then allowed to vet hundreds of screenplays each year, and even have direct input into the story lines.Operation Hollywood explores the cozy relationship between the big entertainment studios and the military industrial complex, and asks why Americans, and the world, accept that the Pentagon will use movies to promote its own brand of propaganda in the furtherance of a US-centric global agenda of militarization. Watch:. Run time: 52 min Director: Emilio Pacull Distributor Arte France and Les Films d Ici (2004)For additional background on this topic, listen to author Jay Dyer s highly informative lecture on the subject.SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERESUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
WATCH: Hypocrite Mitch McConnell Tells Democrats To ‘Grow Up’ And Treat Trump Like GOP Treated Obama | You know, because Republicans are now pretending that they acted like adults over the last eight years.In 2009, Mitch McConnell infamously declared that Republicans would actively work to sabotage the government and America in order to make President Obama a one-term president. Of course, his plan failed but he never stopped the unprecedented obstruction, hissy fits, and utter disrespect towards President Obama and whatever policy ideas he proposed. Basically, if Obama suggested it, Republicans hated it, even if it was their idea originally, like the individual mandate in Obamacare.But now that Donald Trump is about to take over the White House due to help from the Russians, McConnell is whining because Democrats intend to show him what karma looks like.Last week, McConnell complained after Senate Democrats promised to block Trump s Supreme Court nominees, calling such a thing something that Americans won t tolerate. Except that McConnell and Republicans blocked President Obama s Supreme Court nominee for nearly a year until the nomination recently expired. But now Republicans all of a sudden expect Democrats to kiss Trump s ass.And McConnell demonstrated his hypocrisy again on Sunday during an interview with Face The Nation host John Dickerson.The Office of Government Ethics recently sounded the alarm that they are being pressured to rush Trump s cabinet picks through a system of checks that McConnell himself insisted upon in 2009, such as financial disclosures, tax returns, and background checks, when President Obama made his cabinet picks. But now McConnell is pretending that Republicans treated President Obama with nothing but deference and respect and said that Democrats should treat Trump the same way and resorted to using petty insults.The Democrats are really frustrated that they lost the election, McConnell said. We confirmed seven Cabinet appointments the day President Obama was sworn in. We didn t like most of them, either. But he won the election. So all of these little procedural complaints are related to their frustration at having not only lost the White House, but having lost the Senate. I understand that. But we need to, sort of, grow up here and get past that. Here s the video via VidMe.Funny, I seem to remember Republicans leaving countless federal and judicial positions unfilled because they pledged to make President Obama fail. And to this day hundreds of positions remain unfilled all because Republicans hated that a black guy was elected president.McConnell insisted on these rules being followed in 2009, so he must follow his own rules. But it gets even worse for McConnell when you consider that his wife has been nominated to be Secretary of Transportation, so one wonders what McConnell wants to desperately hide so much that he now thinks it s no big deal to skip procedure.Seriously, Democrats should declare war on Trump in a way that makes the Republican war against President Obama look like a sissy fight. Turnabout is fair play, after all, and if anyone deserves to be obstructed and blocked, it s Donald Trump. And Republicans only have themselves to blame.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Evan McMullin Issues DIRE Warning For ALL Americans About Trump (TWEETS) | Independent conservative presidential candidate Evan McMullin has been busily warning the world about Donald Trump ever since the reality star became president-elect. McMullin is a former operative for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is also an expert on autocrats. He once went on a tweetstorm warning the nation that Trump shows all the signs of being a dictator in the making. Now, he is back to warn us again this time about where Trump s loyalties really lie and it s NOT with the United States of America.McMullin sent out tweets on Saturday, saying that Trump, is, quote, not a loyal American. First, McMullin condemned Trump s Russia-friendly secretary of state pick:In Tillerson, Trump has identified a potential secretary of state unlikely to oppose Trump's alignment with Putin. https://t.co/xc8aWzOOW6 Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 10, 2016Then, he warned everyone that Trump is steadily dismantling all of the things that have protected us from Russia for decades:.@realDonaldTrump is purposely dismantling barriers that protect our nation from dangerous Russian subversion, which he has also welcomed. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 10, 2016Finally, McMullin told all Americans what we definitely need to heed, that Trump is not loyal to this nation, and since he will be running it for the next four years, we need to realize that and act in our best interest:It must be clear that Donald Trump is not a loyal American and we should prepare for the next four years accordingly. @realDonaldTrump Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 10, 2016This is as dangerous as it gets, folks. Trump is literally about to hand control of this nation over to Vladimir Putin. Putin is no friend of the United States. He is a bully, a thug, and a killer. He is the enemy of democracy everywhere, and we have a man who is a sympathizer to Russia and Putin about to become president.We must resist. We must not normalize this. Our very lives as we know them may depend on #TheResistance.Featured image via George Frey/Getty Images | 1real |
SABO…The Most BADASS CONSERVATIVE ARTIST In America Will Be On Tucker Carlson Tonight…Why You Don’t Want To Miss It! [VIDEO] | Hardcore, unconventional, conservative and badass artist Sabo has been taking his message to the streets for several years. I had a lengthy phone conversation with him last year and after I hung up the phone, I had the same kind of feeling I had after meeting Andrew Breitbart. Like Andrew Breitbart, Sabo s not fighting a conventional war against the left, he s studied them, he knows the dirty tactics they use to win and he s determined to beat them at their own game, even if it means shocking a few Americans along the way. Sabo never got to meet Andrew Breitbart, but always wanted to, as he recalls here:Now a thing about me was I d spent a good three years trying to get sober. In that time I did everything I could to stay the hell away from politics. It was the most peaceful three years of my life. Unfortunately during those three years guys like Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart were really picking up steam. So, because of my absence from the political scene I didn t really know much about them. And what little I did know about Glenn Beck I didn t really like. I remember friends would try turning me on to him but I wasn t into his delivery, too loud, too passionate. Not my deal. Sadly Andrew passed away about the time I decided to get back into the political fray. I never had the privilege to meet him. Everyone says we d of really gotten along. I did however get to meet his crew and they were all stand up people.Glenn Beck interviewed Sabo in 2015 when he was still keeping his face hidden from the public: One of Sabo s most popular pieces of work was his badass representation of Ted Cruz who he wholeheartedly supported for President.During the campaign, Sabo came after Hillary and Bernie Sanders pretty hard. He focused on plastering his hard-hitting posters in areas where fundraisers or events for Bernie or Hillary were taking place. Sabo wanted to make sure the American public saw Hillary as he saw Hillary:It took him a while to come around to Donald Trump, but eventually he did.Sabo s controversial artwork can be found on posters, t-shirts and bumper stickers at his online store: unsavoryagents.com Here s a video of Sabo replacing a sign in a park bench in LA with his own unique printed message. Notice the guy smoking a crack pipe on the bench the entire time.In 2014, Sabo got a little visit from the Secret Service over his controversial posts on Twitter. He certainly didn t handle the interview in the way most Americans would have.:Sabo will be on FOX News Tucker Carlson show tonight at 9 pm EST. He ll likely discuss the artwork that he plastered all over LA in advance of the Oscars last night.Here are a few of the posters liberal actors found when they arrived on the red carpet. We can promise you one thing it won t be an interview you ll want to miss | 1real |
IPhone 7 and Wireless Headphones: Analyzing Apple’s Announcements - The New York Times | SAN FRANCISCO — Apple unveiled new iPhones at an event on Wednesday, as it has done every September for the last few years. The event, held in San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, was the company’s most important outing of the year. Even as the iPhone remains the outsize producer of Apple’s revenue and profit, sales of the smartphone have recently been declining. So more than ever, the onus is on Apple to keep up excitement for the gadget. What was different this time was that people were focused on something that the new iPhones lack, rather than a flashy new feature. The item that disappeared is the traditional headphone jack, with Apple turning people toward wireless headphones instead. Brian X. Chen, Farhad Manjoo and Katie Benner were at the event to provide live analysis of what you need to know about the announcements, not what you don’t. Here’s what Apple announced: ■ New iPhones, called the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. ■ The new iPhones lack a headphone jack. ■ The new iPhones have a revised home button with force sensitivity, which will vibrate to give feedback. ■ The iPhones are . ■ The Plus model of the new iPhone includes a camera to take photos. ■ A new Apple Watch, called Apple Watch Series 2, which includes GPS. ■ Pokémon Go is available for Apple Watch. ■ An update on how Apple Music is performing. ■ Tweaks to its iWork suite of productivity apps. Farhad: This was a tricky event because there wasn’t much new to the products. The iPhone has the same design as last year’s (and the one the year before) and the major new thing is … a missing headphone jack. So what I was watching for was Apple’s reality distortion field: How will Apple’s C. E. O. Tim Cook, and friends convince us that taking away a feature is really an advance for the iPhone? Brian: As Farhad said, the new iPhones — and also the Watches — look largely the same as their predecessors. The takeaway for me was that Apple focused on making the most significant changes to the tiniest components: camera sensors, upgraded chips, a revised home button and the addition of GPS to the watch. I get the impression that they are saving the big changes for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone next year. So if consumers can hold off a year for the next iPhone, I’d encourage them to wait. But for owners of iPhones that are at least two years old, these are going to be major upgrades — if you find a way to cope with the lack of a headphone jack. Katie: Apple didn’t offer a new killer product or a drastic update to any of the products in its lineup. Instead, Apple piled on new features — like stereo speakers, wireless headphones and camera features — to appeal to specific niche buyers. Frank Gillett at Forrester Research called this strategy an accumulation of compelling new features that Apple hopes will “motivate the trend followers to buy new iPhones, and expose other buyers to the benefits they’ve built into iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2. ” Perhaps more important, Apple was trying to cobble together a credible story for the future from these incremental moves — that a wireless world is coming and that it will be the leader in that world. Farhad: Apple likes road maps. That’s what you saw today. The company clearly has deep, plans for the iPhone — it wants to improve wireless functioning, it wants to keep pushing on the camera, and it will keep improving performance without sacrificing battery life. The problem for Apple is that the steps along the way to achieving its goals aren’t always that exciting. This is one of those years: There are lots of incremental improvements, but nothing stands out as a . Someday, Apple is telling us, all these increments will add up to something unimaginably amazing. Right now, though, the moves look puzzling — we really did not get a good defense for removing the headphone jack — and we may just have to live with the confusion. Katie: For the past few quarters, Apple has emphasized that services and software will drive growth as iPhone revenue ebbs. At Wednesday’s event, Mr. Cook underlined that. He kicked off the morning with updates on two of the company’s most important software and services divisions — Apple Music and the App Store. “We’ve always had a deep love for music,” Mr. Cook said. “It inspires us, and it’s a key part of our product experience. ” Mr. Cook said the company had 17 million subscribers after about a year for Apple Music and added that the music service would be the “premier destination for exclusive music,” nodding to the idea that the company will use its huge war chest to lock up deals with artists. Brian: In another nod to software, Mr. Cook said Super Mario is coming to the App Store. Nintendo, the struggling video game company, long refused to offer its games and franchise characters on mobile devices, but the company recently did a 180, with Pokémon Go as a recent example. The change seems more beneficial to Nintendo than to Apple. Pokémon Go was a huge success, at least initially, proving that app stores are a viable revenue stream for Nintendo beyond its consoles. Apple also announced a new version of iWork, its suite of productivity apps that rival Microsoft Office and Google’s productivity apps. The tweaked version of iWork will include collaboration, meaning multiple people can work on documents and presentation slides at the same time. It’s good that these changes are coming to iWork, but Microsoft and Google have been offering collaboration tools for years already. Farhad: The education market has been important to Apple for decades, and for the last few years it has pushed the iPad as the perfect school computer. It did so again today, with those tweaks to its iWork software aimed at schools. But Apple has lately faced more competition from rivals, especially Google, whose cheap and simple Chromebook has become one of the machines at schools. For both companies — and lately for other tech rivals, including Amazon — the education market functions as a gateway. Get them early, win them for life. Brian: The new Apple Watch is called Apple Watch Series 2. It emphasizes fitness and health, with Apple showing a video of runners, gymnasts and swimmers using the watch. One major criticism of Apple Watch was that it did a bit of everything and did not have any strengths. Apple is trying to beef up the fitness capabilities, similar to Fitbit. The new version is up to 50 meters (164 feet). It also includes GPS for tracking runs. The watch is faster than the previous version. Katie: Whether Apple Watch has been successful or not has largely been a mystery. Apple doesn’t break out Watch revenue in its earnings. But Mr. Cook pulled back the curtain a little when he revealed that Apple is now the No. 2 global watch brand, measured by revenue, behind Rolex. The Apple Watch is also the smartwatch, even though a killer app has yet to emerge for the watch. The company is hoping to change that with the introduction of a Pokémon Go app for the watch. Brian: It’s important to note that Apple Watch sales don’t appear to be growing much. IDC, the research firm, estimates that Apple Watch market share in the wearables market shrank 56. 7 percent last quarter compared to the same period last year. That’s largely because consumers have probably been waiting for a new version to come out before deciding whether to buy a watch. It’s definitely still a nascent device. Farhad: This is the first Apple event in a few years that didn’t feature any redesigned hardware. But there is a new ceramic finish for the Watch that comes closest to some new design. The gleaming white finish is in some ways a return to the past for Apple. (Remember all those white computers from the early 2000s?) But beyond that, it’s always interesting when Apple discovers a new material for use in its devices. You usually notice some new process or material start in one product and then wend its way throughout the company’s lineup over a few years’ time. In other words, three years from now, we may have ceramic phones. A man can dream, anyway. Brian: For now, my advice to consumers: I see no compelling reason for people with Version One of the device to upgrade unless they are fitness buffs. The addition of GPS gives the Apple Watch a slight edge against Fitbit’s Blaze, a comparable smartwatch that lacks GPS. But until we get to try the software, it’s tough to tell how the new Apple Watch’s fitness capabilities will compare to accessories from Fitbit. Fitbit’s products are popular partly because the apps are so well designed for monitoring health statistics, including footsteps, calories and weight. So GPS isn’t necessarily the magic bullet. Katie: Leading up to the event, the most ballyhooed update was Apple’s decision to eliminate the headphone jack. On Wednesday, Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, saved that announcement for last. Removing the port for standard headphones means users now have to connect their headphones to the iPhone through the charging port. “From the start we designed Lightning to be a great digital audio connector,” Mr. Schiller said. The update may have its detractors in the days after the announcement, but Apple has a long history of making hardware changes that the industry eventually follows, including the decision to change floppy disk sizes in the old Mac days and, more recently, the decision to take away laptop ports. Apple will include new Lightning earbuds, and an adapter, in the box. Why remove the headphone jack, a technology that people seem to like? Mr. Schiller summed it up in one word: “Courage. ” Farhad: Apple said the most important reason it’s removing the headphone jack is because it believes in a “wireless future” for audio. It’s making that future a reality with a new set of wireless headphones, called AirPods. They look like Apple’s wired earbuds, without the wires they apparently just slip in your ears. Perhaps more important than the earbuds themselves is the wireless technology Apple is using to power them. The company is using Bluetooth, and Apple says its chips improve the technology by connecting faster and using less power. If Apple has perfected a new, proprietary way of doing this, it could prove an important innovation for lots of future wireless products, including home devices, cars and wearables. Brian: Jony Ive, Apple’s design chief, said in a video at the event that we are “just at the beginning of a truly wireless future. ” But wireless earphones have been around for years, and Bluetooth wireless technology has become excellent. This is another example of Apple’s being a latecomer to a market and saying it will make a better product than earlier ones. Farhad: The reality distortion was in force in other ways. In true Apple fashion, we got a video into the development process for the iPhone 7, with not even a nod to the fact that the phone looks nearly identical to the one Apple released last year and the one the year before. Because it has a new color and a new Apple logo, Apple insists it’s “a beautiful new design. ” I’m sure there are minor differences — the antenna band is different — but it seems too rich to call it a new design. Too rich, except for Apple. One area where I do give Apple points on the iPhone is the focus on the camera. Apple made a strategic decision a few years ago to plow a lot of development resources into the iPhone camera. That has paid off: The iPhone’s camera has long surpassed most other smartphone cameras, and for many people, it’s better than most cameras. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus continue that trend. The Plus model features two cameras, which allows for . Even the smaller phone’s camera includes features to improve your snapshots. If the pictures Apple showed off are any guide, the iPhone’s camera is fast closing in on all but the most of cameras. Look forward to more of those “Shot on iPhone” billboards. | 0fake |
Watch Lab MP claim that “The Government is hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast” | Next Prev Swipe left/right Watch Lab MP claim that “The Government is hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast”
The brexit / breakfast slip strikes again and this time for Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell . "Hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast" https://t.co/s451F9ixoP
— Sean Clare (@Sean__Clare) October 27, 2016
The question is: is this chaotic breakfast going to be hard or soft? | 1real |
Trump administration bans selected words at health agencies: paper | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has told agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services to avoid using certain words or phrases in official documents being drafted for next year’s budget, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. The newspaper said one of the agencies, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was given a list of seven prohibited words or phrases: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.” Officials at a second agency were also told to use “Obamacare” instead of the Affordable Care Act to describe President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law and to use “exchanges” instead of “marketplaces” in reference to venues where people can buy federally subsidized health insurance, the Post reported. The HHS pushed back on the report. “The assertion that HHS has ‘banned words’ is a complete mischaracterization of discussions regarding the budget formulation process,” spokesman Matt Lloyd said in a statement. “HHS will continue to use the best scientific evidence available to improve the health of all Americans. HHS also strongly encourages the use of outcome and evidence data in program evaluations and budget decisions,” he said. The newspaper said State Department documents also now refer to sex education as “sexual risk avoidance.” A briefing at the second HHS agency relied on a document from the White House Office of Management and Budget, which oversees President Donald Trump’s annual budget proposal to Congress, according to the Post. The Post said no explanations were given for the language changes. | 0fake |
(VIDEO) JUDGE NAPOLITANO FILLS US IN ON ORDER FOR “ROLLING RELEASE” OF CLINTON E-MAILS | 1real | |
HUNDREDS RALLY After Atheist Group Forces Mayor To Remove Christian Flag From Veterans Memorial [Video] | The group called Freedom from Religion has been going all over America to force towns to remove any religious symbols.Mississippi Town Fights Back Against Effort To Remove Christmas Display: I just feel like Christians lose a lot nowadays because we re too polite. ATHEISTS SUE GOVERNOR OF TEXAS Over Display on Capitol GroundsThey re all over the place! It s time to fight back against this group! | 1real |
The Rise of the Internet Fan Bully - The New York Times | Normani Kordei, a member of the girl group on the rise Fifth Harmony, sat for a lighthearted Facebook Live interview earlier this month. Within a week, she had been chased off Twitter by a mob spewing racist insults. “I’ve not just been cyber bullied, I’ve been racially cyber bullied with tweets and pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can’t subject myself any longer to the hate,” she wrote. Her account has been silent since. Online harassment has become a depressingly common workplace hazard for people of color in the public eye. Last month, the “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones temporarily quit Twitter after weathering a deluge of racist abuse. And last year, the Brazilian actress Taís Araújo reported a series of harassers to the police after they had inundated her Facebook page with similar comments. But the racist taunts hurled at Ms. Kordei didn’t originate from some white supremacist message board, or even from a crew of Fifth Harmony haters. It came from within the Fifth Harmony fandom itself. The incident illuminates some strange similarities between the bands of internet trolls stalking the web and the legions of online fans seeking to stir up some drama. They both know that the most hurtful weaponry to wield against black women include images of apes, threats of lynching and a . Fifth Harmony is a Simon girl group that snagged its first Top 10 hit this year with the saucy single “Work From Home. ” Its brand would best be described as “gyrating girl power. ” But when Ms. Kordei sat down with the digital lifestyle magazine Galore for the Facebook Live interview on the subject of female friendship, one question — “Describe each girl in one word” — ripped a fault line through the group’s young, female fan base. Of her bandmate Ally Brooke, Ms. Kordei said: “Sunshine, because she is literally the light of the group. ” Of Lauren Jauregui: “My therapist, I can go to her about absolutely anything, and I feel like I can trust that she won’t judge anything that I say. ” And Dinah Jane: “She’s like the queen, she just has a good time anywhere she is. ” When she reached Fifth Harmony’s final member, Camila Cabello, she paused. “She is … let’s see. Camila. Very quirky. Yeah, very quirky. Um, cute. Quirky. ” That’s it. But that was enough to enrage some fans of Ms. Cabello, the who has been positioned as Fifth Harmony’s breakout star (and earned a spot in Taylor Swift’s squad). To this set, Ms. Kordei’s answer was apparently insufficiently effusive. “Camila is a lot more than cute and quirky she’s kind, classy, mature and hardworking,” one fan tweeted. The backlash soon grew big enough to hit the teen gossip sites (“OMG: Did Normani Kordei Throw Shade at Camila Cabello?” the magazine asked) before curdling into something more sinister. In fan enclaves across the web, a subset of Fifth Harmony followers called Ms. Kordei “Normonkey,” “coon,” and “nigger. ” One said she “deserves to be lynched. ” Another Photoshopped her face onto the body of a woman hanging from a tree. This is the kind of rhetoric you expect to see on 4chan’s political message board, a den of white supremacist rhetoric fused with ironic memes. The trolls of 4chan have lately helped power the online presence of the the folks who led the Twitter assault against Ms. Jones. Now the internet’s most unruly celebrity fans are cribbing their troublemaking tactics from the same playbook. The firestorm against Ms. Jones was touched off by a nasty review of “Ghostbusters” published by Milo Yiannopoulos, a conservative provocateur. As the attacks built, comment threads unspooled inside 4chan, surfacing racist images and commentary to hurl at Ms. Jones in Twitter’s open marketplace. Abuse against Ms. Kordei was organized, too, by an anonymous Twitter account that popped up directing fans to inundate her with slurs. Trolls thrive off provoking a response from their targets. When Ms. Jones began speaking out against the abuse on Twitter, 4chan posters traded gleeful messages. Fans, too, delight in forging some connection with the stars, even if it comes in the form of a rebuke. The abuse against Ms. Kordei escalated after she took to Twitter to deny a feud with Ms. Cabello and to denounce the fans attempting to stir up trouble. That behavior eventually scored a response from Ms. Cabello, too. “You don’t have to hate on somebody else to support me — I don’t appreciate it and it’s not what I’m about,” she tweeted. “Be kind or move on. ” Most Fifth Harmony fans, who call themselves Harmonizers, are not racists. As the abuse mounted, support for Ms. Kordei poured out under the hashtags #IStandWithNormani and #WeLoveYouNormani. Still, racially tinged remarks about Ms. Kordei have been a presence amid her rise in popularity — fans have expressed surprise that she reads books and called her “ugly” and “ape” — and the abuse tends to flare at dramatic moments within the roiling fan narrative of imagined alliances and feuds (like the supposed ongoing beef between Ms. Kordei and Ms. Cabello). A similar dynamic has played out among One Direction fans, some of whom have greeted Zayn Malik, the group’s lone Muslim member, with death threats and slurs like “terrorist. ” He briefly quit Twitter in 2012, citing Islamophobia, and left the band last year. And when Robert Pattinson started dating the singer FKA Twigs in 2014, a subgroup of his fans inundated her with racist abuse on Twitter that left her “genuinely shocked and disgusted. ” Some level of infighting is embedded within pop fandom itself. Like One Direction before it, Fifth Harmony is a pop group that’s been perfectly primed to exploit differences in personality, style and ethnic background of the group’s singers. The Spice Girls played this trick most baldly, naming and dressing members after a singular trait — Baby, Scary, Sporty, Posh and Ginger. But supporting a favorite bandmate can easily degrade into trashing a least favorite. In a New York Post article from 1998, one Spice Girls fan said of Ginger (Geri Halliwell): “A lot of people don’t like her. I think some people hate her the most out of all of them. ” She added: “I personally don’t like Scary Spice, though. ” Typically, girl group loyalism falls into the benign end of human . But in the crucible of online fandom, demographic distinctions can coarsen into warring factions. A fan fantasy that frames the band members as hating one another — and paints one of them as rude, stupid, evil, and deserving of death because she is black — is no longer just idle fan fictions. As Ms. Kordei put it in one of her notes to fans, “For those of you who enjoy speculating creating drama that doesn’t exist, please keep in mind that myself and the other girls in the group are PEOPLE. ” She added: “This is our story so let us write it our way, instead of you trying to write it for us. ” | 0fake |
SONEG El Mundo Today 2×12: ¿Es ético hacerse viejo? | © El Mundo Today Más historias Manuela Carmena pide a los madrileños que guarden las latas y las bolsas de la basura para hacer los vestidos de los Reyes Magos EL MUNDO TODAY RADIO Este sitio web utiliza cookies para analizar cómo es utilizado el sitio. Las cookies no te pueden identificar. Si continuas navegando supone la aceptación de la Política de Cookies. Estoy de acuerdo. Más info. | 1real |
Exclusive: U.S. to renew most Myanmar sanctions with changes to aid business | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to renew the bulk of its sanctions against Myanmar when they expire next week, but will make some changes aimed at boosting investment and trade, according to several senior U.S. officials and congressional aides. An announcement on extending much of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, could come as soon as Tuesday ahead of a visit to the Southeast Asian nation by Secretary of State John Kerry on May 22, officials said. The U.S. Treasury Department has significantly eased sanctions against Myanmar by issuing general licenses that give companies and investors exemptions to sanctions targeting more than 100 individuals and businesses, including some of Myanmar’s biggest business players. U.S. officials began lifting trade and financial sanctions against the country after military leaders launched reforms that led to a civilian government being formed in 2011, beginning its transformation from a half-century as an international pariah. In December, Treasury temporarily relaxed trade restrictions on the country also known as Burma by allowing all shipments to go through its ports and airports for six months. This time, Washington will likely offer more general licenses to specific companies, and take some people off Treasury’s list of “Specially Designated Individuals” targeted for sanctions, congressional aides and U.S. officials said. Kerry’s visit to Myanmar is his first since the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s Nobel laureate, swept to power following a landslide election win in November. A constitution drafted by the country’s former military rulers bars her from becoming president. President Barack Obama’s opening to Myanmar followed by its peaceful transition to an elected government is seen as one of his foreign policy achievements. He has visited there twice. But the administration also wants to maintain leverage on the country to guard against backsliding on reforms and to press for improvement on human rights. By renewing the legal framework for sanctions even as it eases some measures, Obama will offer the private sector more breathing room while maintaining pressure on its military, which still holds significant political power. The sanctions had been due to expire on May 20. Washington has deep concerns about human rights conditions in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, especially violence against ethnic and religious minorities including Rohingya Muslims. Members of the U.S. Congress, from both parties, are watching closely and could move to clamp down on Myanmar themselves if they think Obama is moving too quickly. Last month, Senators Cory Gardner and Ben Cardin, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Foreign Relations Asia subcommittee, wrote to Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew expressing concern about rights, and asking the administration to work with Congress to ensure those concerns were addressed. “Like you, we want to ensure that the U.S. is Burma’s strongest supporter on its road to democracy,” the senators said in the letter, seen by Reuters. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Aung San Suu Kyi supported the extension of U.S. sanctions with some changes. Discussions with her have focused on how to properly target trade restrictions so they do not hurt Myanmar’s overall economy, but keep pressure on military-owned institutions, they said. “We are looking to take steps to demonstrate our support for the new democratically elected government of Burma ...and that we’re taking the necessary steps to ensure that they succeed, that they can carry on economic developments and reforms,” a senior administration official told Reuters. “At the same time we want to do that in a smart, measured way that gives us a range of options and flexibility to respond appropriately going forward,” the official added. The United States is eager to expand relations with Myanmar to help counteract China’s rise in Asia and take advantage of the opening of one of the world’s last “frontier markets,” growing but less developed emerging economies. Peter Kucik, a former senior sanctions adviser at the U.S. Treasury, said despite an easing of some banking sanctions by the United States since 2012, transactions with Myanmar were still difficult. “I suspect the changes that get announced all drive at the same end goal: which is to promote and make easier the trade and business relationships between the two countries and encourage continued reform while minding concerns,” said Kucik. “The details will really indicate where the principal areas of remaining concern are but broadly speaking they are going to be aligned with what we’ve seen so far,” he said. | 0fake |
Clinton will call for stricter 'rules of origin' at Ohio campaign stop | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will call for higher trade standards at a Saturday campaign stop in Youngstown, Ohio, to ensure that automakers that use largely foreign parts are not given preference for producing “made in America” cars. Her campaign said Clinton will tell supporters she will take a stand against weak “rules of origin” and will say the pending Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade compact with 12 nations, is not stringent enough. The TPP, which is being finalized by the Obama administration, sets the content threshold for “made in America” cars at 45 percent. Clinton has said she opposes the TPP because it does not do enough to protect U.S. workers. International trade deals have become a flash point in the U.S. presidential race. | 0fake |
DONALD TRUMP & DEUTSCHE BANK: DID CLINTONS LEAN ON US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT? | Clinton perversion of electoral procedures, manipulation of media and the Justice system should make every American voter think twice about Hillary
Before we get into the meat of this thing, let me make two things very clear: The evidence presented here is not the usual half-checked/chosen at random/doctored stuff we’re used to in madcap conspiracy rumours. Everything shown here is a matter of undisputed public record – a rare thing in this Presidential campaign I’m not trying to prove a theory here, as I lack the resources to do so. I am merely using informed logic to establish those four things required to build any credible case: behavioural track record, means, motive and opportunity. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that in terms of capability of performing dirty tricks, the Clinton campaign ticks all four boxes. The Clintons’ track record on dirty tricks
Negative advertising, smear rumour, making rally halls look more full/empty on TV and innate media bias have all been obvious for many years in Western election campaigns. Not surprisingly, during Presidential campaigns this is heightened by the physically more personal nature of the contest.
Huffington Post banned The Slog from commenting in 2012 after I alleged the use of troll swarms by Obama to mess up Republican sites. Three months later, his White House CoS casually confirmed the story.
This is truth bending, and isn’t illegal. But the Clinton track record against Bernie Sanders is of a quite different order. I was given first-hand evidence, for example, of blatant threats to Democratic National Convention (DNC) workers that anyone helping organise Sanders rallies would have no future or place in a Clinton White House. But there is also disturbing evidence of electoral irregularity as well. October 2015 – over 120,000 voting registrations lost in Brooklyn – & rock solid Sanders neighbourhood, plus nearly a third of Sanders supporters complaining that, on pitching up to vote, their Party registrations had been changed Over nine straight 2015 primaries, Sanders won seven: in the other two, “massive voter irregularities” were reported. Hillary won them. The supposedly neutral DNC is stuffed with overt Clinton activists. The private company collecting sensitive poll/registration information NPG van has close ties to Bill Clinton and worked for him in 1992. Leaks from NPG are, to say the least, recurrent. On the eve of the Democratic party’s convention in Philadelphia, a whopping 20,000 emails were made public by Wikileaks showing supposedly ‘neutral’ senior party officials tried to undermine Mr Sanders’s insurgent left-wing campaign by publicly portraying him as an atheist. Solidly Sanders locations in Arizona’s Maciopa County found their polling booths available reduced from 200 to 60. Odd behaviour during a Primary campaign. Undercover videos just four days ago showed two senior DNC operatives openly admitting to paid interference with Trump rallies and voter registration manipulation.
These days, one talks to Washington pundits who – sadly – shrug and say “both sides are at it – they cancel each other out”. But what I’ve shown above is just a fraction of highlights compared to the total media exposure of Clinton criminality. Doing a quick count from 78 sites, press titles and broadcasters last night, allegations against the Clinton campaign outnumber all others by 5/2.
However, it’s at this point that we go beyond even electoral irregularity and into suggestions of Hillary Clinton perverting the course of events at the Department of Justice (DoJ). Here, we segue neatly into ‘means’. The means to destroy Trump
Without any shadow of doubt, the biggest bubbling-under scandal of the campaign (until complaints about Trump’s locker-room and sex abuse behaviour ‘surfaced’) was that involving emails sent by Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State.
The headline here is this: while heading up State, she only used her own personal and heavily abuse-protected server to send official emails – rather than official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers. On leaving that job, the State Department hurriedly classified all the emails retrospectively.
This suggestive of the fact that Ms Clinton has something to hide. Her behaviour was also highly irregular, and cannot solely be explained by national security concerns: if there are fears about how secure State is, then we may as well all pack up and go home. (There are as it happens; but their security is a hundred times more sophisticated than hers).
Hillary maintains that her behaviour did not break federal rules, and there are precedents to show that. The hole in her defence is that there are no precedents for all the emails to have produced on her private server.
Having seen the content of some 150 emails, the FBI began by being quite bullish on the subject of an investigation. But then suddenly it wasn’t. An anodyne report was eventually issued in July 2016, criticising her “extreme carelessness”.
Her behaviour does not support that finding. Over at the DoJ, Dan Metcalfe, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy (FOIA), said this gave her even tighter control over her emails by not involving a third party such as Google, and helped prevent their disclosure by Congressional subpoena. He added: “She managed successfully to insulate her official emails, categorically, from the FOIA, both during her tenure at State and long after her departure from it—perhaps forever”, making it “a blatant circumvention of the FOIA by someone who unquestionably knows better” .
But neither State nor the DoJ did anything. The former issued a report making it clear that Secretary Clinton had lied to employees about the ‘permission’ she had, and confirmed that permission had never been sought. She also lied to the media about never sending classified material via her own server: a review of the 55,000-page email eventually released found “hundreds of potentially classified emails”.
There is a clear – very clear – scenario that scopes out here: that of an ambitious wannabe US President conspiring to hide her guilt about stuff in perpetuity. Among the forty emails held back by US security agencies are those assumed to refer to the Benghazi Compound disaster, during which the Ambassador lost his life in the most bestial manner.
However, the FBI having been quietly told to pipe down, the job facing the Clintons now was to get the DoJ onside. Bill went right to the very top.
In late June 2016, it was reported that Bill Clinton met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on her private plane on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Three days later, a Justice Department official categorically told the media that Attorney General Lynch will accept “whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server”.
Washington sources confirm that Lynch “already pretty much knew what the FBI would say”. Did the Clintons have a strong motive?
Nothing is ever conclusive in these areas. But the overwhelming suggestion from these events is that the Clintons most certainly do have the means to influence the activities and output of the Justice Department.
However, it’s easy to argue that Candidate Clinton had little to fear from Trump; the media almost universally dismissed him as a no-hoper. So why take the risk of, potentially, using the DoJ to put her adversary in a spot?
It’s easy to argue that, but the US media have been wrong about Donald Trump since Day One. And the facts don’t support the argument.
Last night, the BBC released this trend map of the poll support for each candidate throughout the campaign:
On this diagram, I have indicated in green ink the two points at which Clinton and Trump are neck and neck. In early to mid July – following embarrassing email revelations – Clinton’s support dips, and Trump briefly overtakes her.
From the word go, the Clinton campaign saw Trump’s financial background, practices and exposure as an obvious weakness. Having pressed hard for his tax returns, once his official election as the GOP presidential nominee was confirmed – June 19th 2016 – they began demanding to see his financials.
In fact, they already knew of one unfortunate link: on March 20th, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal had featured a piece showing Donald Trump’s massive dependence on Deutsche Bank as a credit supplier. The Murdoch press is campaigning solidly for Hillary, and Rupert himself has given substantial donations to her presidential bid. His motives towards her and Deutsche have been detailed by The Slog elsewhere .
The dates here are key – particularly the dates from which Deutsche Bank ceases to be ‘troubled’ in the background, and increasingly becomes a foreground, front-page crisis .
In early to mid June, Trump racks up his support and closes the gap with Clinton.Other financial papers pick up on the WSJ story….despite the fact that Trump’s cash flow and personal salary alone would be enough to pay off all the Deutsche loans. At this point, the International Monetary Fund releases a report saying that Deutsche Bank “appears to be the most important net contributor to systemic risks in the global banking system.”
The IMF – and its boss Christine Lagarde – are prime movers in aiding Clintonian foreign policy relating to the EU and North Africa. But still Trump’s support leaps from 34-40%. Then early July, S&P Global Ratings lowers its outlook on Deutsche Bank to negative. At the same time, Deutsche Bank’s U.S. unit fails the U.S. Federal Reserve’s stress test. The story filters down into non-specialist media. Clinton consolidates her lead.
But by this time, DB is starting to look like a basket case – which it has been for years – and the ‘ailing’ bank gets kicked out of the STOXX blue-chip Europe 50 index.
And yet, the Donald starts to recover momentum. By mid September, he’s back to almost neck and neck. It’s now that the DoJ Establishment goes for the throat.The Justice Department chooses this precise moment – September 16th – to splash with the news that Deutsche Bank faces a whopping $14.5 billion malpractice fine. Within hours, its shares go into freefall.
Between September 20th and 28th, a broader media blitz and online campaign openly calls Trump “massively dependent on Deutsche loans”. Counterspin from the Deutsche camp claims negotiations to reduce the DoJ fine are well in hand. Two days later Justice splashes again: no, it alleges, they haven’t even started yet.
But still, general awareness of the Trump-Deutsche link remains low….and Trump himself steadies his poll ratings. Locker rooms, pussy grabbing abuse allegations suddenly sprout via close Clinton ally David Farenthold. Donald’s poll ratings dive.
Donald Trump is just beginning to recover his position. Already pro-Democrat sites are switching tack to say that Trump “is a puppet candidate of foreign banks” – a silly allegation, given that he only works with one, and it’s more dependent on his business than vice versa. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has Deutsche CEO John Cryan by the balls; as far as the Clintons are concerned, it holds all the cards. Opportunity
For myself, I doubt very much that Hillary & Co will go any further down the ‘dodgy credit’ road. With only two weeks to go to Election day, an imminent Deutsche collapse would play into Trump’s allegedly wandering hands: it is, after all, the US unit that faces the fine, and Trump’s populism is anti Wall Street.
I think an equal (if not bigger) force behind pushing Deutsche Bank into the limelight is that of forcing it into a Middle East role where it can be a Rottweiller controlled by State, its old boss Hillary Clinton, and massive regional investor Rupert Murdoch.
But while the opportunity was there, it’s obvious that Bill Clinton had all the influence his wife needs to help her get elected. Indeed, by being so unpopular in his own Party, Donald Trump has made this a much easier task: nobody but nobody in the US élite wants Trump in the White House.
As I endeavoured to stress at the outset, the object in this post is not to prove a conspiracy, but rather to present an avalanche of evidence to support one simple – and widespread – observation about the Hillarybillies: as their power has increased, so too has their megalomania inflated to a frightening degree.
Where once there were only crooked land deals and cigars to go on, today it is easy to argue that this creepy couple are operating at the kind of level where the American systems of Law, foreign policy, power separation and democracy itself are being perverted. This much has been obvious for some time; but American voters need to make their minds up by November 8th which they want least – Donald Trump in the White House, or Mr and Mrs Clinton doing the bidding of corporate globalism…while dragging the US further and further towards geopolitical confrontation.
Looked at in that way, while this has probably been the most superficial and childish Presidential contest in American history, it will probably also turn out to have been the most important. | 1real |
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