title stringlengths 1 456 ⌀ | text stringlengths 1 143k ⌀ | label class label 2
classes |
|---|---|---|
SNARKY CHUCK TODD SNAPS AT KELLYANNE CONWAY For Criticizing The Press…Conway Strikes Back! [Video] | 1real | |
Macron says not in French interests for German coalition talks to stall | PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he had spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel late on Sunday when her efforts to form a coalition government collapsed and that it was not in French interests for the process to stall. It s not in our interests that the process freezes up, Macron told reporters in Paris. Germany s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) unexpectedly pulled out after more than four weeks of talks with Merkel s conservative bloc and the ecologist Greens, citing irreconcilable differences. | 0fake |
Israeli Minister sparks Scandal after showing Satisfaction at Italy's Earthquakes |
Two earthquakes, which struck Italy this week, were “retribution” for the country’s support of the UNESCO resolution disregarding the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, Israeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara said.
“I’m sure that the earthquake happened because of the UNESCO decision,” Kara, a member of the ruling Likud Party, wrote in a memo, Ynetnews website reported.
Ironically, the Israeli politician was on a state visit to the Vatican when the quakes hit central Italy on Wednesday, killing one and injuring 10 people.
Earlier the same day, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), passed a resolution criticizing Israel for its handling of the holy site in Jerusalem – called Temple Mount by Jews, and Haram al-Sharif by Muslims.
The document was adopted after heated debate over its wording, and particularly the Arabic names used in the document. Italy was among the nations voting in favor of the resolution.
Israel blasted UNESCO and its Arab members for trying to undermine Jewish connections to the holy site.
Kara arrived in the Vatican in a fruitless effort to avert the resolution, but still managed to have a small chat with the leader of the Catholic Church.
According to Kara, Pope Francis “strongly disagreed” with the resolution.
“He (the Pope) even said publicly that the holy land is connected to the Nation of Israel,” the deputy minister stressed.
As for surviving the natural disaster, the Israeli politician said that “going through the earthquake was not the most comfortable of experiences, but we trusted that the Holy See would keep us safe.”
Source
| 1real |
Health Groups Denounce G.O.P. Bill as Its Backers Scramble - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Influential groups representing hospitals and nurses came out on Wednesday against a Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, joining doctors and the retirees’ lobby to warn that it would lead to a rise in the uninsured. In a letter to lawmakers, major hospital groups wrote, “As organizations that take care of every individual who walks through our doors, both due to our mission and our obligations under federal law, we are committed to ensuring health care coverage is available and affordable for all. ” The groups, including the American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Catholic Health Association of the United States and the Children’s Hospital Association, said they could not support the bill “as currently written. ” The hospitals and the American Nurses Association joined the American Medical Association and AARP, which rejected the bill on Tuesday. House Republicans have been left scrambling to marshal support from businesses and other interests that stand to benefit from lower taxes if the bill passes. Insurers are on the fence, and other powerful forces like pharmaceutical companies remain largely on the sidelines. Squeezed between wary health care providers and angry conservatives who believe that the bill leaves too much of the Affordable Care Act in place, the Republican leadership and President Trump appear to be facing an uphill climb. But the White House appears increasingly confident about the prospects for a health care overhaul to pass in the House. In a meeting with conservative leaders in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he anticipated the most trouble in the Senate, where moderate and conservative lawmakers are opposing the plan for different reasons. He said he was prepared to pressure holdout senators by holding the kind of rallies he led during his presidential campaign. The House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, said Republicans were “going through the inevitable growing pains of being an opposition party to becoming a governing party. ” “It’s a new system for people,” he added. “But it’s all the more reason why we have to do what we said we would do and deliver for the American people, and govern and use our principles. ” The array of groups taking strong positions against the bill is evidence that its potential consequences extend far beyond health insurance coverage, to much of the nation’s economy. The opposition is also a powerful reminder of how many past efforts to overhaul the American health care system failed because of resistance by major interest groups. Winning the support of the health care and insurance industries allowed the Obama administration in 2010 to push through the most significant health care legislation since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. Within a few months after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, his administration had lined up support from health care providers, insurers, consumers and pharmaceutical makers by offering a grand bargain: The health bill would include a requirement that most Americans have health insurance, providing millions of new customers through the law’s often substantial premium subsidies and its option for states to expand Medicaid. In exchange, hospitals would have to accept spending cuts and the health care industry would have to accept new taxes to pay for the legislation. The Obama White House dedicated enormous effort to win pledges of support before Democrats even put out a bill — an effort not replicated by the Trump White House or Republican leaders in Congress. But the Affordable Care Act also created an array of taxes that the Republicans now hope to wipe away, helping them win the support of groups like the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Tax Reform, led by the activist Grover Norquist. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation issued estimates this week showing how much revenue the government could lose starting in 2018 under the Republican bill, which the party has called the American Health Care Act, as a result of repealing taxes on drug makers (nearly $25 billion over 10 years) insurers (nearly $145 billion) makers of medical devices (nearly $20 billion) and households (more than $270 billion from taxes on earned income and investment income). “The American Health Care Act repeals the medical device tax, which will result in greater investments in medical cures, lower health care costs and more manufacturing jobs in communities across the United States,” trumpeted the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. The extent to which these groups mobilize on behalf of the Republican bill may help determine whether it succeeds. For now, the supporters of the House bill seem badly outgunned by opponents. On Wednesday, as two congressional committees took up the Republican bill, the American Nurses Association and a coalition of hospital groups came out against the proposal. The A. M. A. which has nearly 235, 000 members and calls itself the voice of the medical profession, sent a letter to leaders of the two committees on Tuesday saying it could not support the Republican bill “because of the expected decline in health insurance coverage and the potential harm it would cause to vulnerable patient populations. ” In particular, the group said it opposed a plan to replace the sliding, premium tax credits provided under the Affordable Care Act with fixed credits based on age. The current system, it said, “provides the greatest chance that those of the least means are able to purchase coverage. ” America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance lobby, released its own lengthy statement on Wednesday. In a letter to the leaders of the House committees that drafted the bill, Marilyn B. Tavenner, the group’s chief executive, warned Republican leaders that their plans to change Medicaid financing, among other things, could harm coverage and care. While many insurers have lost money in the Affordable Care Act’s private insurance marketplaces, they have generally profited from the expansion of Medicaid, which would effectively be phased out under the Republican plan. “As a core principle, we believe that Medicaid funding should be adequate to meet the health care needs of beneficiaries,” Ms. Tavenner wrote. “Medicaid health plans are at the forefront of providing coverage for and access to behavioral health services and treatment for opioid use disorders, and insufficient funding could jeopardize the progress being made on these important public health fronts. ” A day earlier, AARP — the association of and older Americans that is another crucial supporter of the Affordable Care Act — declared its opposition to the bill and even started running an ad against it. In a letter to Congress, the group said the bill would increase health costs for people ages 50 to 64, could lead to cuts in Medicaid coverage of care and would allow insurers to charge older people five times as much as younger ones. The hardening resistance complicated the case for the Republicans as they moved their bill forward on Wednesday. “I respect those organizations and their views,” said Representative Larry Bucshon, an Indiana Republican and a heart surgeon who conceded that criticism of the bill from doctors and hospitals could make it more difficult to sell the measure to the public. “Their voice is an important voice in health care. ” But, he noted, those groups supported the health care law in 2010. “Hospitals have done quite well under the Affordable Care Act, but my constituents have not,” he said. “Their premiums are going up. Their deductibles are high. ” Across the rotunda, Republican senators were less enthusiastic. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, said she was not certain that a delay in the rollback of Medicaid coverage was “enough for me. ” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, expressed alarm that the bill’s tax credits would not account for higher premium costs in insurance markets like hers, a largely rural state with little competition. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said he did not want states that took the Medicaid expansion to “get a benefit” that the states that rejected the program did not. Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said she was unhappy that the bill removed money for Planned Parenthood. There was also a creeping concern about how quickly the bill was moving. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, essentially promised to move the bill to the Senate floor without the hearings and other processes that are normal for such a piece of legislation. He had promised when Republicans took the majority that they would honor normal Senate processes and traditions. “I think if that’s the approach they take,” Mr. Rubio said, “they won’t have the votes in the Senate. ” | 0fake |
Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos Is Barred From Running Lab for 2 Years - The New York Times | Federal regulators have barred Elizabeth Holmes, chief executive of Theranos, from owning or operating a medical laboratory for at least two years, raising new questions about the future of the embattled and its founder, once a Silicon Valley phenomenon. In a letter sent to Theranos that was made public on Friday, regulators said they were revoking the certification of its flagship laboratory in Newark, Calif. effective Sept. 5. They also said the laboratory would be prohibited from taking Medicare and Medicaid payments. The government scrutiny stemmed from questions about the effectiveness of Theranos’s technology and the way the company operated its labs. The company faces a fine of $10, 000 for every day it is out of compliance with regulations, effective July 12. Such stern sanctions are “virtually in my 40 years’ experience in the industry,” said David Nichols, president of the Nichols Management Group, a consultant to and operator of clinical laboratories. “I don’t see a path forward for the company. ” What Theranos and Ms. Holmes will do next is not clear. The company said in its statement that it would continue to operate a laboratory it owns in Arizona, at least for now. But if the license of the California lab is indeed revoked, then Ms. Holmes and Theranos could not own or operate any laboratory, and the Arizona facility would also have to be shut, according to both Theranos and a spokesman for the regulator. Theranos represents the promise and the pitfalls of the era, as money floods into young companies with new technologies in an effort to find a “unicorn” — a business that transforms its industry and makes its backers rich in the process. Theranos and Ms. Holmes in particular offered a compelling narrative: a brilliant student who dropped out of college to pursue an audacious idea that would upend the medical testing business, performing multiple tests at low prices using only a finger prick of blood. By last year, Theranos had a valuation of about $9 billion. Ms. Holmes invited comparisons with the Apple Steve Jobs because of her youth, her tight control of the company she founded, and even her customary black turtlenecks. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates laboratories, reviewed its practices last year and found numerous deficiencies, including one that posed “immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety. ” That apparently referred to erroneous results in a test of blood clotting used for patients who take the blood thinner warfarin. Theranos made two submissions to the agency of corrective actions. But in its letter to Theranos, dated Thursday, the regulator said the company’s second submission “again does not constitute a credible allegation of compliance” and had not “abated the immediate jeopardy. ” The letter cited numerous examples of the company’s failing to demonstrate that it had corrected a problem. Theranos said late Thursday and again on Friday that it was shutting down and rebuilding its California lab “from the ground up,” and bolstering its personnel and training there. Theranos said it would stop patient testing at the facility immediately, even before the sanctions take effect, but would continue to work with regulators to resolve the issues. “We accept full responsibility for the issues at our laboratory in Newark, Calif. and have already worked to undertake comprehensive remedial actions,” Ms. Holmes said in a statement. Jane Pine Wood, a lawyer specializing in the regulations of laboratories, said companies could appeal such sanctions and typically do. In most cases, that leads to a settlement that allows the laboratory to continue to operate. But this case may be unique, she said. Ms. Wood, a partner at the firm McDonald Hopkins, said that in cases in which there was no settlement and the appeal went to a hearing before an administrative judge, laboratories “almost never win. ” But Theranos would not lose its license for the California lab, or its ability to operate the Arizona lab, until after the appeals process is exhausted, buying it some time. Even if the company can continue to operate the Arizona lab, the business there has shrunk. Walgreens, with which Theranos had a deal to perform tests, pulled out of the partnership last month and closed the Theranos blood collection centers that were in about 40 of its drugstores in the Phoenix area. Now Theranos must rely on a handful of collection sites it owns itself. The sanctions could put pressure on Ms. Holmes to step aside, though it was not clear if that could happen without her consent, given her control of the company. Even if she stepped aside as chief executive, the ban on Theranos operating laboratories might still apply. It is also unclear who could or would take her job. “The company was so tightly controlled by her and Sunny Balwani that there is no clear executive you can name who can take over while she is banned for two years,” said Jondavid Klipp, publisher of Laboratory Economics, an industry newsletter. Mr. Balwani was the chief operating officer at Theranos until he resigned in May. Mr. Klipp said that even if Theranos continued to operate its laboratory, “it’s hard to imagine why a physician would send a patient to a Theranos lab when there are established, reputable choices. ” One option for the company would be to sell machines to other laboratories, rather than operate its own laboratories. It hinted at this on Friday, saying the laboratory was just one of its business units and that “its research and development unit has developed many technologies that are not dependent on running a laboratory. ’’ It said that the problems found by regulators were primarily in the laboratory operations, not with the company’s proprietary blood testing technology. Still, if it wants to sell equipment to other labs, Theranos would have to prove that its technology really worked. There is great skepticism on that front because Theranos has not published data about its technology’s performance. Ms. Holmes is scheduled to present such data at a laboratory conference on Aug. 1. Ms. Holmes began the company in 2003 after dropping out of Stanford at the age of 19. Eventually she settled on the goal of creating a new way to perform blood tests that relied on a few drops of blood rather than the larger amounts medical testing often required. Tests would be cheaper, the argument went, and more people would be inclined to get them. In interviews focused on Theranos’s success, she said the idea came from her fear of needles. The idea had appeal. Theranos won backing from tech luminaries like the software mogul Lawrence J. Ellison, and the company counted Henry A. Kissinger, a former secretary of state, and a former Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, among its advisers and directors. But some people questioned the reliability of the tests, including former Theranos employees who took their concerns to federal regulators. Ms. Holmes defended the company publicly, especially after articles last year in The Wall Street Journal enumerated those concerns. Still, federal inspectors found deficiencies in the Newark laboratory that could lead to inaccurate results, including inadequately trained employees and samples stored at the wrong temperature. Theranos promised to overhaul the plant and bring in a new slate of experts to fix its problems. It also voided or corrected numerous results from many tests it performed in the past. In April, Theranos said it was under criminal investigation from the Justice Department and disclosed another inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Holmes said in the statement that the company was committed “to demonstrating our dedication to the highest standards of quality and compliance. ” | 0fake |
Jeff Rovin: Clintons paid me to ‘fix’ their sex scandals | It’s all old news to those of us who, unlike Democrat LIVs (low information voters), pay attention to the Alternative Media. But it’s still significant because the information made it to Fox News’ Hannity Show .
His name is Jeff Rovin .
After decades as one of Bill and Hillary Clintons’ many retainers, Rovin is outing himself as the Clintons’ “ fixer ” — defined by Oxford Dictionaries as “ A person who makes arrangements for other people, especially of an illicit or devious kind. ” In Rovin’s case, he claims to have been employed by the Clintons to suppress and remove from the media any scandalous news of their sexual affairs. Note: For a few of the Clintons’ other retainers, see “ Hillary Clinton’s medical handler, cleaner, & prompter were all at the last presidential debate ”.
Rovin says he was paid $4,000 a month to keep the Clintons’ open marriage and their respective adulteries from the news. In Hillary’s case, she had “affairs” with Vincent Foster and with a female Hollywood honcho. Note: On July 20, 1993, Foster — who was Bill Clinton’s deputy White House counsel at the time — was found dead on a park bench in D.C.’s Ft. Marcy Park, supposedly from a self-inflicted gun shot. See “ FBI files linking Hillary Clinton to Vince Foster suicide vanished from National Archives “. Note: According to the Clintons’ former assassin Larry Nichols, when she was First Lady, Hillary regularly went to California on weekends to be with Hollywood producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and other women to “worship” Satan at “a church”. See “ Clinton friend and assassin Larry Nichols: Hillary is a satanist ”. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason , 69, is a television producer who, with her husband Harry Thomason, is best known for creating, writing, and producing the TV series, Designing Women . The couple are notable for their friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, which dates back to Bill’s days as governor of Arkansas. The Thomasons created several short-subject political propaganda films for Bill, the most famous of which was The Man from Hope that introduced Bill at the 1992 Democratic Convention. The Thomasons did similar propaganda films for Hillary’s run for the U.S. Senate and for other candidates, such as General Wesley Clark’s presidential bid. Clark has endorsed Hillary for president. (See “ Obama-supporter Gen. Wesley Clarke: Disloyal Americans should be put in concentration camps ”)
Here’s Rovin on Hannity , on Oct. 24, 2016:
The National Enquirer first broke Jeff Rovin’s story. Here’s what Rovin told the Enquirer :
During the 1980s and 1990s, I was working in Hollywood as a reporter for several national magazines and newspapers. Because of my good relationship with stars, publicists and the press I became “a fixer”: someone who helps stars keep embarrassing stories out of the press. I helped keep secrets safe for some of Hollywood’s leading men.
In 1991, my reputation was such that I was asked to work on behalf of a fast-rising figure on the national stage: Arkansas Gov. William Jefferson Clinton. I attended a meeting in Hollywood where I was told by an intermediary: “There will be a lot of stories coming out in the tabloid press. We want them buried.”
I was informed that these stories would involve rumors of Bill Clinton‘s many sexual dalliances and an alleged ongoing affair of Hillary Clinton with a male member of her law firm, Vince Foster, as well as a female mover-and-shaker in Hollywood.
For a retainer of $4,000 a month — paid by a third party, not the campaign — I was told to keep these stories hush-hush in one of two ways: by trading access to the Clintons for “positive” interviews, or by paying the reporters.
The payments were always cash, usually delivered in a movie theater or restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, and came in two denominations: $100 for a heads-up that a bad story was coming; or considerably more to kill the piece.
It did not appear that the job would be terribly time-consuming: After all, Hillary reportedly had just one lover, and Bill’s girlfriends were all in the past.
Not so. The sexual dalliances were ongoing — and so my communications with the West Wing, Air Force One and Camp David continued through 1998 — a stunning length of time when one considers that both the president and the first lady were supposed to be devoting their full energies to the business of the people of the United States!
The gravest example of a Clintonian lack of judgment occurred in March 1994. Presidential brother Roger Clinton was marrying his eight-months-pregnant bride Molly. There was a bachelor party. Prostitutes were involved. Recordings were made. Recordings involving Bill Clinton.
Arrangements for a meeting between Bill and a 26-year-old brunette were discussed when the president was to arrive in Dallas for the ceremony.
The tape recording was offered, for sale, to The National Enquirer . Before the publication and its then-editor could publish a transcript, I swooped in and negotiated for the White House to give this paper exclusive access to the ceremony itself. Not even The Washington Post or The New York Times had that. The Enquirer was given leave to publish exclusive White House photographs.
At the reception, while Bill Clinton sang with the piano player, Hillary was introduced to The Enquirer reporter. Her expression fierce, voice tight, she took and tightly held the reporter’s hand and demanded, “Are we done now?” The reporter replied, “Madam First Lady, with this incident, yes.”
Of course, we were not done. This was one of many in an endless string of sexual stories arising from what effectively was the Clintons’ open, polyamorous marriage.
I have kept these secrets for a quarter-century because Bill Clinton had become an elder statesman with heart trouble and Hillary Clinton seemed to be focused, at last, on the business of doing her job — for better or for worse.
I am coming forward now because of the endless attention the alleged indiscretions of Donald Trump have received. Nothing I have heard comes close to the sexual and moral corruption of the Clintons — many of which have yet to be revealed.
Predictably, the liberal media is focusing on one man’s alleged misdeeds and ignoring another’s proven sins.
I mention some of these here and now because we have only two serious candidates for the presidency. In the few weeks remaining until the election, we should not be weighing whose corruption is worse (the Clintons win by a landslide, if all were to be told), but who has the best ideas and leadership skills to become president of the United States. Hillary Clinton is transfixed by Christina Aguilera’s boobs, confirmed by the singer on the Ellen Degeneres Show in May 2016.
See also: | 1real |
Special counsel Mueller asks White House for Flynn documents - New York Times | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators working for U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, have asked the White House for documents related to his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the New York Times reported on Friday. “Though not a formal subpoena, the document request is the first known instance of Mr. Mueller’s team asking the White House to hand over records,” said the Times, which cited unnamed people close to the investigation for the report. The Times also said the investigators had questioned witnesses about whether Flynn was secretly paid by the Turkish government during the final months of the 2016 campaign. The White House and Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment. The Times quoted Ty Cobb, special counsel to Trump, as saying “We’ve said before we’re collaborating with the special counsel on an ongoing basis.” Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia and called the investigation a witch hunt. The Republican president fired Flynn in February after it became clear that he had falsely characterized the nature of phone conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to Washington in December. Reuters reported in June that according to a subpoena, federal prosecutors in Virginia were investigating a deal between Flynn and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin as part of a grand jury criminal probe. Alptekin’s company, Netherlands-based Inovo BV, paid the now-inactive Flynn Intel Group $530,000 (406,554 pounds) between September and November 2016 to produce a documentary and research on Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric living in the United States. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen for a failed coup last year. | 0fake |
SAY WHAT? Tide Detergent Joins Forces With Open Borders Organization La Raza To “Wash Away Racism” [VIDEO] | I wish there was some way I could let Tide Detergent Co. know that I don t approve of their association with the radical open borders, no voter ID required, social justice extremism group La Raza. Oh wait there is Thank goodness we too have choices when it comes to laundry detergent, just like Tide s choice to align themselves with this leftist anti-American group.Detergent company Tide is helping to wash away racist labels, and its partner in the project is La Raza (literally The Race ), a notorious racialist activist group that espouses open-borders radicalism.In a new Tide ad, a handful of Latinos discuss some of the demeaning labels they ve encountered in America. Look, I could tell you a long list of all the things people call us, one man says. Gardener, being naco,' says another. I think it s beaners, frijoleros,' adds a woman. Drug dealer, says another young man. Usually people call us mojados,' says the first interviewee. I don t like to hear when people refer to all Cubans as balseros,' says a man with a salt-and-pepper goatee. Hispanics are labeled all the time, the screen reads.https://youtu.be/j_XMalvsutkThe video then explains that using ketchup instead of ink, Tide printed T-shirts with the racial smears. The participants are then asked to walk around the room with the shirts and respond to the hateful labels they gave Tide to print. The first thing that came to my mind is that this is an insult to all Cubans, said the man with the goatee in response to the shirt that contained the demeaning name he had mentioned.Holding the beaners shirt, the woman says, In a way this is how a lot of people think To be labeling people it s really a low thing to do, says another participant.The ad then shifts to a montage of washing the shirts, revealing, surprise!, Tide has successfully washed the hurtful names away. The next montage features the interviewees writing in their own positive labels, like decentes (decent, honest), trabajadores (workers), valientes, (brave, courageous) and luchadores (fighters).The sponsors of the ad are Tide and La Raza, an activist group notorious for its race-baiting and overtly racist positions. If its name isn t a clear enough declaration of its racially motivated intentions, The Race s political positions have made clear that its goal is the promotion of the Hispanic race through open-borders radicalism and social justice activism. A few of the group s positions: it opposes voter ID laws, building a wall on the souther border and cooperation between local officials, and federal immigration officials (in other words, sanctuary cities ). It supports drivers licenses and in-state tuition for illegals, and voter ID. Via: Daily Wire | 1real |
Factbox: Trump on Twitter (September 5) - DACA, Japan, South Korea | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA! [0804 EDT] -I am allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States. [0836 EDT] - I look forward to working w/ D’s + R’s in Congress to address immigration reform in a way that puts hardworking citizens of our country 1st. [1645 EDT] - Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can’t, I will revisit this issue! [2038 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 0fake |
Europeans, Africans agree renewed push to tackle migrant crisis | PARIS (Reuters) - Europe s big four continental powers and three African states agreed a plan on Monday to tackle illegal human trafficking and support nations struggling to contain the flow of people across the desert and Mediterranean sea. The 28-nation European Union has long struggled to reach a coherent answer to the influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty and political upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and the crisis is testing cooperation between member states. After hosting the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, Chad, Niger and Libya, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was time for greater coordination. We must all act together - from the source countries to Europe and passing by the transit countries, especially Libya - to be efficient, he told reporters. It s a challenge as much for the EU as for the African Union. While the meeting was sparse on concrete details, the leaders agreed on the principle of setting up a mechanism to identify legitimate migrants who are fleeing war and persecution, and to use the United Nations to register them in Niger and Chad so as to prevent them being exploited by traffickers. At the core of it, it s all about fighting illegal migration, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference. She said that Berlin was willing to increase its efforts. If we want to stop human traffickers, then this can only be achieved through development aid, she said. The migrant crisis has put Paris and Rome at odds. Italy has accused France and other EU states of not sharing the migrant burden and has also asked the EU Commission for more budget flexibility to help it tackle the crisis. Nearly 120,000 migrants, including refugees, have entered Europe by sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 2,400 have drowned while making the dangerous journey, often without enough food or water in overcrowded dinghies run by people smugglers. We are all committed to reducing the damage, the death of Africans in the desert, the death of Africans crossing the Mediterranean, Chad President Idriss Deby said. The fundamental problem will always remain development. We need resources, he said. The informal meeting did not outline any new specific financing and the leaders repeated that stabilizing chaotic Libya, where thousands of migrants end up before embarking on a perilous Mediterranean sea journey to Europe, would be key to any long-term solution. | 0fake |
WATCH: CNN Host Stuns Media, Says Clinton’s Team Thinks “She’s Nuts!” | WikiLeaks Destroys Hillary Mouthpiece Donna Brazile… Iron-Clad Proof
“This shows you that the angst even her campaign chairman wasn’t told until very late that she had a private email server in her Chappaqua, New York, home when she was secretary of state. It shows you the secrecy — some would say paranoia — of Hillary Clinton and her inner circle,” he continued.
“If we can keep this from people until the last possible second and only release if we’re forced to release it. What does that tell us about a Clinton presidency ?” he asked.
King even asking that question is a massive leap forward for the network. Advertisement - story continues below
You can watch the segment here:
Despite King’s statements, CNN political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson didn’t think it will have any impact.
“I mean, that’s the big issue should she get elected to the Oval Office,” she said. “It’s terrible that her inner circle was talking about this in this way. More terrible I think if it had come earlier.” Advertisement - story continues below | 1real |
Trump has lit a fire. Can it be contained? | An already ugly presidential campaign has descended to a new level — one where the question is no longer whether Donald Trump can be stopped on his march to the Republican presidential nomination, but whether it is possible to contain what he has unleashed across the country.
Violence at Trump’s rallies has escalated sharply, and the reality-show quality of his campaign has taken a more ominous turn in the past few days. On Saturday, a man charged the stage in Dayton, Ohio, and a swarm of Secret Service agents surrounded the GOP front-runner.
Later Saturday at a Trump rally in Kansas City, the candidate was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, who were then removed from the venue. Outside the rally, police said they used pepper spray to control crowds. Kansas City police said that two protesters were arrested.
The racially tinged anger that has both fueled Trump’s political rise and stoked the opposition to it has turned into a force unto itself. It has also brought a reckoning from his three remaining rivals for the Republican nomination, who are shedding their fear of provoking Trump and of alienating the raging slice of their party’s base that has claimed him as its leader.
But Trump should not be viewed in isolation or as the product of a single election, President Obama said Saturday at a fundraiser in Dallas.
Obama said those who “feed suspicion about immigrants and Muslims and poor people, and people who aren’t like ‘us,’ and say that the reason that America is in decline is because of ‘those’ people. That didn’t just happen last week. That narrative has been promoted now for years.”
This year’s presidential campaign, however, seems to have fallen into a bottomless spiral.
A low point came Friday night. Where Trump has delighted in mocking hecklers — and condoning attacks on them by his supporters — he was forced to cancel a rally at the last minute after protesters turned up by the thousands. That set off a chaotic scene in the arena at the University of Illinois at Chicago that left a handful injured and thousands agitated.
[Campaign 2016 is on a dangerous descent]
Trump’s continued domination of the GOP race suggests that there are no guardrails left in politics. Party elders and his opponents assumed that at some point, he would self-destruct. But he has defied just about every norm, and it has redounded to his benefit.
His candidacy and the sentiment it provokes have also stirred disturbing historical comparisons.
GOP political consultant Stuart Stevens, who was a top strategist for 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, said Trump’s rhetoric is “almost verbatim” what segregationist George Wallace was saying in his third-party 1968 presidential campaign.
“I don’t know what’s in Trump’s heart, but I don’t care. What he’s saying is really hateful,” Stevens said. “What did the Democratic Party do with Wallace? They rejected him.”
Some on the right accused the anti-Trump forces who shut down the rally in Chicago of being the true culprits, who denied the GOP front-runner an opportunity to exercise his constitutional right to free speech.
“It’s sad, number one, that you have protesters that resort to violence, that resort to threats of violence that resort to yelling and screaming and disruption to silence speech that they don’t like,” said Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is running a distant second to Trump in the GOP primaries.
But Trump’s Republican opponents — all of whom have pledged to support Trump if he gets the nomination — said that the New York billionaire cannot be held blameless.
“I think it is also true that any campaign, responsibility begins and ends at the top,” Cruz said.
“Look at the rhetoric of the front-runner in the presidential campaign,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said Saturday. “This is a man who at rallies has told his supporters to basically beat up the people who are in the crowd and he’ll pay their legal fees. Someone who’s basically encouraged the people in the audience to rough up anyone who stands up and says something he doesn’t like.
“I still at this moment continue to intend to support the Republican nominee, but it’s getting harder every day.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich condemned Trump for creating a “toxic environment” that has led supporters and protesters to “come together in violence,” but he, too, stopped short of saying he would not support his Republican rival if Trump secures the party’s presidential nomination.
Their increasingly pointed criticism of Trump comes at a crucial moment in the GOP race, with primaries being held Tuesday in five states that could either propel Trump to the nomination or give life to the effort to stop him.
Most closely watched will be Florida and Ohio, which are considered must-wins for home-state candidates Rubio and Kasich. And for the first time in this electoral season, delegates will be awarded on a winner-take-all basis, which means that victories by Trump would accelerate his efforts to secure the nomination.
Trump has won GOP contests in 15 states, accumulating an estimated 458 Republican delegates of the 1,237 he needs.
On Thursday, the candidates held their final debate before the next round of primaries, and they managed to remain civil to one another and focused on their substantive differences.
During the debate, Trump was asked about an incident in which a supporter at a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., punched a protester.
“There is some anger. There’s also great love for the country. It’s a beautiful thing in many respects. But I certainly do not condone that at all,” Trump said.
Now, the outbreak of violence in Chicago had again drawn focus to Trump’s temperament and character, as well as whether he has played a role in inciting his supporters.
[After months of playing protesters to his advantage, Donald Trump is overpowered in Chicago]
For months, Trump has been able to control — and even employ as foils — the hundreds of protesters who show up to his rallies to oppose what they consider divisive and racist.
Trump often says that he loves having protesters at his rallies, that they make his rallies fun. Plus, the interruptions are an opportunity to show him bossing around and mocking liberals, often bellowing, “Get ’em out!”
In the past two weeks, however, these interruptions have increasingly eaten into Trump’s speaking time and become more violent. The Trump supporter who punched the protester in North Carolina was charged with assault.
Asked about the criticism from other Republican candidates following the Chicago cancellation, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski mocked them: “Do they have protesters at their events? Do they have any people at their events?”
Lewandowski — who has been accused of and denies manhandling a female reporter at a Trump event — also said his candidate does not plan to do anything to calm his supporters.
“The American people are angry,” Lewandowski said. “They’re upset at the way this country has been run. They’re upset that this country is being taken advantage of by every other country in the world. And they’re tired of not being proud to be Americans.”
As for Trump, he insisted that his supporters had been blameless in Chicago. He accused backers of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a Vermont senator and democratic socialist, of inciting the violence.
“My people are nice,” Trump said at his rally in Dayton. “Thousands and thousands of people, they caused no problem. They were taunted, they were harassed by these other people. These other people, by the way, some represent Bernie, our communist. . . . He should really get up and say to his people: ‘Stop. Stop.’ ”
Sanders retorted in a statement issued by his campaign: “As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar. Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump’s rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests.”
“What caused the protests at Trump’s rally is a candidate that has promoted hatred and division against Latinos, Muslims, women, and people with disabilities, and his birther attacks against the legitimacy of President Obama,” Sanders added, referring to Trump’s false assertions that Obama was born in Africa and was therefore disqualified to be president.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also jumped into the fray.
“The ugly, divisive rhetoric we are hearing from Donald Trump and the encouragement of violence and aggression is wrong, and it’s dangerous,” she said at an appearance in St. Louis. “If you play with matches, you’re going to start a fire you can’t control.”
The decision to cancel the rally on Friday was made by the Trump campaign, not the agencies charged with keeping him safe.
Trump requested Secret Service protection in October and was granted a detail of agents in early November.
Government officials have said their role is only to protect Trump and that any decisions to throw out the hecklers and protesters at Trump rallies are made by the campaign or groups hosting the events. Secret Service agents intervene only, officials have said, if someone verbally or physically threatens the candidate.
After the man tried to breach the barricades around Trump on Saturday, he was charged with disorderly conduct and inciting panic by the Dayton police, according to an official familiar with the matter. Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer identified the man as Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio, the Associated Press reported.
“I was ready for him, but it’s much easier if the cops do it, don’t we agree?” Trump said after the man was hauled away. “And to think I had such an easy life! What do I need this for, right?”
Tumulty reported from Washington. Johnson reported from Chicago and DelReal from Dayton. Also contributing to this story were Ed O’Keefe in Largo, Fla.; Abby Phillip in St. Louis; Philip Rucker in Cleveland; Jim Tankersley in Sharonville, Ohio; Juliet Eilperin and David Weigel in Washington; and Katie Zezima in Ballwin, Mo. | 0fake |
Video by Wife of Keith Scott Shows Her Pleas to Police - The New York Times | CHARLOTTE, N. C. — A cellphone video made by the wife of Keith Lamont Scott as he was fatally shot by the police here shows the moments before and after the episode, including the wife’s pleas to her husband to get out of his truck, and her pleas to the officers not to shoot him. But the video, which was given to The New York Times on Friday by lawyers for the family, does not include a view of the shooting itself. Nor does it answer the crucial question of whether Mr. Scott had a gun, as the police have maintained. This question and others surrounding the case have transformed Charlotte into the latest crisis in the divisive debate over police treatment of minorities. In the last several nights here, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets demanding justice. Many have done so peacefully. Others have vandalized property and clashed with the police. One of the lawyers, Justin Bamberg, who is representing the family along with Eduardo Curry, said in an interview on Friday that the video did not prove whether the shooting was justified. Rather, he said, it offered “another vantage point” of the episode. He said he hoped the Police Department would release its own videos of the shooting, as protesters have demanded since Mr. Scott was killed on Tuesday. The video provided a vivid glimpse of the drama that played out as Mr. Scott’s wife of 20 years, Rakeyia, first pleaded for a safe outcome to her husband’s encounter with the police, and then was heard reacting in uncomprehending horror as he was shot to death. Mr. Scott, a father of seven, had parked his white Ford Explorer in a visitor’s space at the apartment complex where he lived, about a south of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He often waited there, on a stretch of Lexington Circle, for one of his children to return home from school. Officers of the Police Department arrived in unmarked vehicles shortly before 4 p. m. to serve a warrant on another person. Ms. Scott left their apartment to bring Mr. Scott a cellphone charger, the lawyers said, when she saw the officers around him and began recording the scene on her phone. The Police Department has said that officers saw Mr. Scott, who was black, standing beside his S. U. V. holding a handgun, then saw him get into the vehicle. The video, which lasts 2 minutes 12 seconds, begins with shaking images of grass and the voice, apparently that of an officer, shouting, “Hands up!” Immediately, Ms. Scott said, “Don’t shoot him,” and began walking closer to the officers and Mr. Scott’s vehicle. “Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him. ” An officer can then be heard yelling: “Gun. Gun. Drop the gun. ” A police S. U. V. with lights flashing arrived, partly obscuring Ms. Scott’s view, and a uniformed officer got out. From that point, there are five officers, most of whom appeared to be wearing body armor over plain clothes, around Mr. Scott. “Don’t shoot him, don’t shoot him,” Ms. Scott pleaded, her voice becoming louder and more anxious. “He didn’t do anything. ” Officers continued to yell “drop the gun” or some variation of it — at least 12 times in 38 seconds. “He doesn’t have a gun,” Ms. Scott said. “He has a T. B. I. ” — an abbreviation for a traumatic brain injury the lawyers said Mr. Scott sustained in a motorcycle accident in November. “He’s not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine. ” “Drop the gun,” an officer screamed again as Ms. Scott tried to explain her husband’s condition. The officer then said he needed to get a baton. “Keith don’t let them break the windows. Come on out the car,” Ms. Scott said, as the video showed an officer approaching Mr. Scott’s vehicle. “Drop the gun,” an officer shouted again. Ms. Scott yelled several times for her husband to “get out the car,” but on the video, he cannot be seen through the window of the S. U. V. “Keith, don’t do it,” Ms. Scott shouted, as the video showed her backing away and panning to the ground. Mr. Bamberg said that Ms. Scott was trying, in those statements, to “get him to stand still” after he got out of the car. It was only in the final moments before the shots — less than two seconds on the video — that the camera panned back and Mr. Scott could be seen, still unhurt. He was standing between the vehicles and officers, wearing bright aqua pants, a dark and a white ball cap, his head turning from side to side. Neither of his hands — and what, if anything, he was holding — could be seen clearly. Friends and neighbors have raised the possibility that he was holding a book. The police claimed that he was holding a gun, and that a gun was recovered from the scene. But the police chief, Kerr Putney, has acknowledged that in police videos of the shootings, he could not see Mr. Scott’s hands. “The video does not give me absolute, definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun,” he said on Thursday. Fifty seconds into Ms. Scott’s video, four shots rang out. The Police Department has identified the officer who fired as Brentley Vinson, 26, who is black, and has been with the force since 2014. Ms. Scott seemed to flinch at the first gunshot, and the picture immediately left her husband. “Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him?” Ms. Scott shouted, her voice becoming louder each second. “Did you shoot him? He better not be [expletive] dead. ” She moved closer, and the video showed Mr. Scott lying face down on the pavement, his white sneakers pointed to the camera, with officers standing and kneeling around him. “I’m not going to come near you. I’m going to record, though,” Ms. Scott said. “I’m not coming near you. I’m going to record, though. He better be alive. ” Mr. Bamberg said of the video: “Right now, we don’t have enough facts to say whether this shooting was justified or unjustified. That’s what we’re trying to find out. ” The lawyers also brought attention to an object that they said could be seen on the ground near Mr. Scott after he was shot. They said the object seemed to appear in the video after the camera panned away briefly, in a place where no object was previously visible. The video had been widely viewed both online and on television by Friday afternoon. City and police officials did not respond to Ms. Scott’s video. But in a statement on Friday, Jennifer Roberts, the mayor of Charlotte, pressed the state’s Bureau of Investigation to speed up its efforts to release the police recordings. “I urge it to use every resource at its disposal to get this done, and release the information to the public as quickly as possible,” she said. Chief Putney arranged for Mr. Scott’s family members and their lawyers to privately view two police videos on Thursday. Beforehand, they had been uncertain whether the videos should be released to the public, Mr. Bamberg said, but after seeing them, they called for release of the recordings. While the family members differed with the police on some major points about the videos, they seemed to be in agreement with the police chief on one aspect. “It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands,” they said in a statement. Mr. Bamberg and Mr. Curry also described the two police videos — one from a dashboard camera and the other from a body camera — that the police allowed the lawyers and family members to view. The video, Mr. Bamberg said, provided few significant details of the shooting. But he said the dashboard video showed two officers taking up positions behind a pickup truck and yelling commands at Mr. Scott, who was inside his vehicle. The dashboard video, the lawyers said, appeared to show that the front window on the driver’s side was rolled up. The video, Mr. Bamberg said, then showed Mr. Scott stepping out of the vehicle, his hands down, with his right hand empty and “some type of object” in his left hand. “It’s impossible to make out what it is,” the lawyer said, noting that Mr. Scott was . “He doesn’t make any dramatic movements,” Mr. Bamberg said. He also said Mr. Scott seemed “confused. ” In the video, Mr. Scott took a couple of steps forward “in a nonaggressive manner,” the lawyer said, and then a step back. Then shots were fired. According to court records, Mr. Scott, who was born in South Carolina, was charged in that state with a number of offenses including check fraud, aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon. Later, he moved to Texas, where he shot and wounded a man in San Antonio in 2002. He was convicted and sentenced, in 2005, to seven years in prison, and was released in 2011. His lawyer in the Texas shooting case, Gloria Yates Early, said Mr. Scott had claimed his family was being “stalked. ” “Allegedly, people were following them around with weapons, pointing them at their bodies,” Ms. Early said. “He carried a gun around and he admitted to shooting a guy. He alleged of himself and his family. ” When asked on Friday if Ms. Scott knew whether her husband owned a gun at the time he was shot by the police, Mr. Curry replied, “Not that she knew of. ” | 0fake |
WATCH: Anti-LGBT Attack At Equality House – SHOTS FIRED (TWEETS) | WATCH: Anti-LGBT Attack At Equality House – SHOTS FIRED (TWEETS) By Jordan Baranowski on October 28, 2016 Subscribe
Planting Peace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading peace in the world, purchased the house across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church in 2013. The organization soon painted the house the colors of the rainbow, started flying pride flags, and dubbed the home The Equality House to show support for the LGBT community.
Over the last week, The Equality House has been targeted by vandals. It is yet another example of the anger and violence that has taken our country by storm during this ugly election season. Image Provided By Aaron Jackson , Via NBC News
Aaron Jackson, the president of Planting Peace , was in the house on Sunday, October 23, when he heard noises outside. He called the police and discovered the house’s pride flags had been thrown into the street.
In addition, vandals had graffitied the phrase “fuk fags” in black spray paint on the side of the house.
Just a few days later, members of Planting Peace discovered seven bullet holes in a window of the house. Luckily, no one was inside at the time. Police are still investigating.
The Equality House has long served as an important symbol for the LGBT community. Located in Topeka, the capital of Kansas, the house sits directly across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro was founded by Fred Phelps, and members of the church regularly picket funerals, plays, and gay weddings, accompanied by a series of signs with offensive slogans like “God Hates Fags.”
There is currently no evidence that the Westboro Baptist Church or its members were responsible for the attacks.
Speaking with Huffington Post , Jackson said of the issues facing the country and the LGBT community: “The blatant acts of hate we experience at the Equality House mirror the acts of hate and discrimination our LGBT family experiences every day. Planting Peace has seen an increase in hate mail, death threats and physical acts of vandalism and violence over the past three months. According to the FBI, the LGBT community is more likely to experience a hate crime than any other minority group.”
Even as these attacks continue, Planting Peace will continue to preach peace, love, and acceptance. Not long after the attacks, they tweeted out the following :
— Equality House (@Equality_House) October 27, 2016
Thoughts and prayers are nice, but if you really want to help Planting Peace, check out their website and donate to their cause.
Featured Image By Aaron Jackson Via NBC News About Jordan Baranowski
Jordan is a writer and teacher based out of Kansas City. Connect | 1real |
America’s Post-Trump Widening Divide | America’s Post-Trump Widening Divide November 19, 2016
An ugly side of Donald Trump’s victory has been the unleashing of bigotry against minorities and women with the President-elect only mildly reining in these belligerent followers, writes Michael Winship.
By Michael Winship
A friend of mine who has dual Israeli-American citizenship tells the story of entering an elevator in Jerusalem shortly after a bullying right-wing government had taken over the country. The other passenger was ostentatiously puffing on a big cigar. My friend pointed to the no smoking sign and politely, in Hebrew, asked the man to douse his smoke.
“Eff you,” the man replied. “We’re in charge now.” Only he didn’t say, “Eff.” The Confederate battle flag, seen by many around the world as a symbol of white supremacy, has had a resurgence in public displays following Donald Trump’s victory.
Sound familiar? Well, it’s a tiptoe through the tulips compared to what’s going on in the United States right now. Incidents of hate-related violence and other abuses have proliferated throughout this lovely land of ours.
The presidential campaign and now the election results have further allowed the pinheads of society to let their racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic freak flags fly. Despite denials from many on the Right and the Trump transition team, this is really happening — unlike that avalanche of fake news stories that have been overwhelming social media. (And yes, I know have been scattered incidents in which Trump followers have been vilified on the streets, but far fewer.)
Journalists who investigated Trump, his businesses, family and associates have been mailed anti-Semitic screeds or threatened with violence and even death. Women who have reported on Trump have been sent the vilest sexist epithets. Kshama Sawant, the socialist city council member from Seattle who recently urged protests at Trump’s inauguration in January, has been targeted for email and phone attacks, some of which have suggested that she kill herself.
Just about everyone I know has a story or two or three from the last week and a half. My friend Deana tells of a part-Asian co-worker swung at by a white male who mistook him as being from the Middle East, of a friend’s boyfriend who was told to “Go back to Africa” on his Facebook page, of another friend’s middle-school-aged daughter and other girls who were pushed around by boys in her class, some wearing Trump T-shirts and shouting hateful things about women.
An Upsurge in Ugliness
From the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) : “Between Wednesday, Nov. 9, the day after the presidential election, and the morning of Monday, Nov. 14, [SPLC] collected 437 reports of hateful intimidation and harassment… Venues of harassment included K-12 schools (99), businesses (76) and universities (67). Common also was vandalism and leafleting on private property (40) and epithets and slurs hurled from moving vehicles (38).” Trump and his running mate Mike Pence thank their supporters for the upset victory on Nov. 8, 2016. (Photo from donaldjtrump.com)
A new report from the FBI states that last year, hate crimes were up 6 percent, with a two-thirds increase in attacks against Muslims. According to their statistics, “There were 5,818 single-bias incidents involving 7,121 victims. Of those victims, 59.2 percent were targeted because of a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 19.7 percent because of a religious bias; 17.7 percent because of a sexual-orientation bias; 1.7 percent because of a gender-identity bias; 1.2 percent because of a disability bias; and 0.4 percent because of a gender bias.”
Camila Domonosket at NPR notes, “The FBI report is based on local law enforcement data. It almost certainly understates the scale of the problem: In 2014, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated, based on victim surveys, that 60 percent of hate crimes are never reported to police.”
Here in New York City, the police department reports that so far in 2016 , hate crimes have jumped 30 percent from the same period last year, “including a spike during last week’s hotly contested presidential election,” according to DNAInfo New York . “NYPD statistics show that anti-Muslim and anti-‘sexual orientation’ motivations were responsible for much of the rise.”
But what was Donald Trump’s response to the reports of the upswing in hate crimes after his election? “I am very surprised to hear that,” he told 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl . “I hate to hear that, I mean I hate to hear that.”
Lesley Stahl: But you do hear it?
Donald Trump: I don’t hear it — I saw, I saw one or two instances…
Lesley Stahl: On social media?
Donald Trump: But I think it’s a very small amount. Again, I think it’s —
Lesley Stahl: Do you want to say anything to those people?
Donald Trump: I would say don’t do it, that’s terrible, ‘cause I’m gonna bring this country together.
Lesley Stahl: They’re harassing Latinos, Muslims —
Donald Trump: I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, “Stop it.” If it — if it helps. I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it.
“Stop it.” Really? That’s all? You sounded like a parent telling the kids in the back seat to quit fidgeting. Make your condemnation swift, adamant and loud. We know you know how to do loud. Demand that it cease.
The Bannon Factor
And while we’re at it, Mr. President-elect, the appointment of your campaign CEO Steve Bannon as counselor and chief White House strategist makes a hideous situation even worse. Cancel it. Steve Bannon, political adviser to Trump. (Photo from YouTube)
This is, after all, the person who — more than a year ago! — Joshua Green at Bloomberg BusinessWeek succinctly described as “the most dangerous political operative in America.”
Julia Zorthian at TIME magazine writes that as head of the alt-right news website Breitbart , “Bannon has given voice to some of the unsavory forces floating around the conservative movement’s fringe, including a resurgence of white nationalism. His appointment has fueled anger , with critics decrying Bannon’s connections to racist and anti-Semitic views.”
In recent days, many of you have seen some of Breibart ’s headlines: “Bill Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew,” “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy,” “Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer?” and “Gay rights have made us dumber, it’s time to get back in the closet.”
Even The Washington Post’ s Kathleen Parker, who cut Bannon some slack in a recent column , concluded that “he has been willing to strategically encourage people’s hate as a way of inciting them to action. How these methods will manifest themselves in the White House remains to be seen. But we can uncomfortably imagine that Trump under Bannon’s direction will do whatever it takes to get what he wants.” Swell.
So hate speech and Steve Bannon: a perfect pair. Donald Trump, you’ve let this evil genie out of the bottle. Set an example for a country so viciously torn asunder. Use one of your two remaining wishes and end this madness.
Michael Winship is the Emmy Award-winning senior writer of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, and a former senior writing fellow at the policy and advocacy group Demos. Follow him on Twitter at @MichaelWinship . [This article originally appeared at http://billmoyers.com/story/none-normal-un-american/ ] | 1real |
WATCH: Michelle Obama DESTROYS Donald Trump With Just A Few Words | First Lady Michelle Obama brought the house down at the 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, using her section of the prime time broadcast to directly take on Republican nominee Donald Trump.In her final convention appearance as the sitting First Lady, Mrs. Obama said: Don t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn t great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now, is the greatest country on earth. That was, of course, a direct swipe at Donald Trump s slogan where he has promised to make America great again. .@FLOTUS: "Don't let anybody ever tell you this country isn't great" https://t.co/DD977hsyqQ #DemsinPhilly https://t.co/MTU1qI5p6A ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 26, 2016She also pointed out that American voters deserve a President who understands that complex issues can t be boiled down to 140 characters, a reference to Donald Trump s reliance (addiction?) to Twitter, his chosen way of communicating.The statement was followed by a full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton, as Mrs. Obama told the audience to get to work because we need to knock on every door in order to pour every last ounce of our passion and our strength and our love for this country into electing Hillary Clinton as President of the United States of America. The First Lady also echoed one of the slogans associated with Clinton s campaign, noting that I m with her in the upcoming election.She also pointed out to the audience in the stadium and watching at home, that her own life was an example of the American ideal. I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, Mrs. Obama said, also adding that her daughters as black women were a part of the amazing American story.During her time as First Lady, Mrs. Obama has remained a very popular figure even as the President has gone up and down in approval. Along with Hillary Clinton, she was ranked among the ten most admired women in the world by the Gallup poll in its most recent survey on the topic in late 2015.Featured image via Twitter | 1real |
Ted Cruz Awkwardly Explains Why Texas Should Have Federal Relief Money But Not Victims Of Hurricane Sandy | U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was against federal aid for natural disasters until he was for it. The Texas Senator voted against Federal funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy, the deadliest and most destructive hurricane in the Atlantic in 2012, but now he wants funds after Hurricane Harvey barreled down on his state. At least 14 people have died after Harvey hit Texas. More than 3,000 people have been rescued as responders work around the clock in devastating conditions.During a press conference on Monday, Cruz said that Trump has pledged whatever the state needs for water-soaked Texas. But, just after that presser, Cruz was in the awkward position of having to defend his position to MSNBC s Katy Tur on the 2012 Hurricane Sandy relief package, calling it filled with unrelated pork. There is time for political sniping later, Cruz said without one bit of irony or acknowledgement of his hypocrisy. It s not really political sniping, senator, Tur shot back. These are people who needed money and who needed funding right after that storm, I covered those people. Many of them, just like those in Houston, lost absolutely everything they owned. Cruz told Tur that hurricane relief is a vital, central role of the federal government and should continue to be for a long time. The problem with that particular bill is it became a $50 billion bill that was filled with unrelated pork, Cruz said. Two-thirds of that bill had nothing to do with Sandy, he continued. And what I said then and still believe now is that it s not right for politicians to exploit a disaster and people who are hurting to pay for their own political wish list. Disaster relief needs to be focused on the victims of disaster relief, and I supported that for Sandy, disaster relief there, and I would support that anywhere there s a major disaster without getting distracted by political, unnecessary pork spending, he added.The Washington Post begs to differ with Cruz:The Congressional Research Service issued a comprehensive report on the provisions, and it s clear that virtually all of it was related to the damage caused by Sandy. There may have been some pork in an earlier Senate version, but many of those items were removed before final passage. There were also some items that appear to have been misunderstood.Regardless, Ted Cruz voted against it but now he wants all that delicious disaster relief money for his state. And, Texas should get that money asap. The victims of Sandy should have, too.Image via screen capture. | 1real |
YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHO DEFEATED A BILL IN JUNE TO ARM OUR SOLDIERS AT RECRUITING CENTERS AND BASES | Even though he s a RINO THIS is a shocker! In June, Nevada s Republican Sen. Dean Heller tried to get the Pentagon to change its practice of banning arms from our soldiers on bases and in recruiting centers here in America. Unfortunately for our soldiers, John McCain was the principle foe of the move and helped to defeat the arming of our soldiers, a decision that recently had deadly consequences in Tennessee. Last week Nebraska Senator Dean Heller appeared spoke to radio host Kevin Wall on KKFT AM in Carson City, NV, to talk about his amendment and noted that John McCain himself defeated the move to arm our soldiers.Here is a transcript of what Heller to the radio station: Dean Heller: So I submitted an amendment in the Department of Defense Authorization bill to allow this to happen. Now this was of course six weeks ago before Chattanooga. And the chairman of the committee wouldn t support it by the way, chairman was John McCain did not want the amendment as part of the bill and wouldn t accept it. Here is what Heller said on his website about the bill: Today, U.S. Senator Dean Heller sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, requesting that National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conferees include his amendment to give military base commanders the authority to allow service members to carry personal firearms on base for their personal protection and force protection. In June, Senator Heller offered this amendment during the Senate s consideration of the Fiscal Year 2016 NDAA. In addition, Senator Heller introduced stand-alone legislation to address this issue critical to the safety of our nation s service members. John McCain made sure that the Marines who died in Chattanooga and all their brethren would not be able to fire back and save lives when a terrorist attacked. How s THAT from a war hero ? Granted, even if the amendment had been included in the Pentagon budget bill and passed, it isn t too likely that the change would have been made quickly enough to have allowed the Marines in Tennessee to protect themselves against an ISIS terrorist s rampage. But that isn t the point, here. The point is McCain saw no reason to even allow them to be able to defend themselves. In the terror attacks on the two Chattanooga recruiting facilities we now see just how wrong McCain is.Via: publiusforum | 1real |
GEORGE WASHINGTON PROFESSOR On Soros Activists Shutting Down Roads: Why It’s Time To Start “Suing the Bastards” | Americans better start fighting back against these people who are shutting down our public roads by hitting these thugs where it really hurts in their wallets. Otherwise, we will continue to see increased violence that is being blamed on pro-Trump supporters in the media Anti-Trump activists who protested his planned appearance in Arizona today by blocking a limited access highway and creating a traffic nightmare with cars backed up for miles [N.Y. Daily News] could be sued in class action law suits for massive damages modeled after suits filed against those who similarly illegally blocked traffic at the George Washington Bridge, and judgments against other illegal protesters, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.With the mainstream media continuing to blame Trump supporters for the efforts of their opponents to shut down their free speech rights, it may be time to adopt the tactics the left favors to get its way: lawsuits. That s the suggestion of John Banzhaf, a George Washington University law professor who defies categorization politically but is often labeled a gadfly. He explains:Anti-Trumpers Block Highway; Face Class Actions For DamagesSuits Filed re Blocked GW Bridge Provide Precedenthttps://t.co/LN17FGakCw John Banzhaf (@ProfBanzhaf) March 19, 2016Why and How to Sue Anti-Trump Protesters and Other Disruptors"Sue The Disruptors" More Effective Than Criminal Lawhttps://t.co/9MMiZtE5wq John Banzhaf (@ProfBanzhaf) March 21, 2016As Banzhaf had predicted and later helped inspire, two different class action law suits seeking millions in civil damages were brought by persons stuck in the massive traffic jams at NYC s GW Bridge which were illegally caused by former aides to Governor Chris Christie.Suing protesters Suing the Bastards may be the most effective way to help deter illegal protests, says Banzhaf, noting that slap-on-the-wrist criminal fines usually aren t very effective, especially since it sometimes also helps give illegal protesters a soap box to air their grievances in criminal trials.The lead protester who chained her neck to a pickup truck was George Soros paid operative, Jacinta Gonzalez from New Orleans.But the tide may already be turning, says Banzhaf, citing these examples.When other groups see that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been forced to pay $2.55 million to Japanese companies for illegally using acid and smoke bombs to disrupt their whaling, they may think twice before blocking traffic to advance their agenda, says Banzhaf, who has promoted the idea and the very slogan of Suing the Bastards when the law is broken.In another example, a student who illegally chained himself to some construction equipment because he opposed an oil pipeline was forced to pay out big bucks for his criminal conduct.As NPR reported it, he was apparently ready to accept a relatively painless conviction for trespass, but not to pay the pipeline company $39,000 in restitution.Similarly, eleven protesters who allegedly engaged in illegal activities at the Mall of American are facing restitution claims from the City of Bloomington.In these and many similar situations, protesters are often willing to accept a small misdemeanor fine and conviction for a chance to focus attention on their cause, especially if it means they get to have a criminal trial which generates even more publicity for them and for their grievance, argues Banzhaf.While most of these actions against criminal protesters have been brought by businesses, there s no reason why similar legal actions cannot also be brought by any person falsely imprisoned on that Arizona highway as was the case with one of the two GW-Bridge suits.Using the threat of legal actions is a far better and more American way of deterring illegal protests than engaging in physical violence against them, as some Trump supporters have apparently already done, says Banzhaf.Via: PRLOG | 1real |
Anthony Weiner’s Latest Sexting Scandal: Here’s What We Know - The New York Times | Hours after former Representative Anthony D. Weiner of New York apparently deleted his Twitter account in the wake of a New York Post report that he had been involved in another sexting episode with a woman online last year, his wife announced that the couple were separating. It was at least the third public episode involving such behavior by Mr. Weiner, who resigned from Congress in 2011 after it was revealed he had been sending lewd messages and photos to women online. That sexting scandal destroyed his political career, derailed a comeback attempt in 2013 and strained his marriage to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton. On Monday, Ms. Abedin said in a statement: “After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband. Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy. ” The woman told The Post that the online chats started in January 2015 and that they continued through this month. Screen shots published by The Post showed that the two exchanged photos — of the woman in various bikinis and of Mr. Weiner showing off his abs or his crotch — and that they talked about sex. In one message, Mr. Weiner abruptly changed the discussion from massage parlors and wrote, “Someone just climbed into my bed. ” “Really?” the woman said. His response, in a screen shot dated just July 31, 2015, showed a child curled up next to Mr. Weiner, who was wearing white shorts. Mr. Weiner and Ms. Abedin have a son, Jordan, 5. The Post did not identify the woman but described her as a “ supporter of Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association who’s used Twitter to bash both President Obama and Clinton. ” Mr. Weiner, asked by The Post for comment, “admitted he and the woman ‘have been friends for some time,’ ” according to the article. “She has asked me not to comment except to say that our conversations were private, often included pictures of her nieces and nephews and my son and were always appropriate,” Mr. Weiner was quoted as saying. Mr. Weiner could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. ■ When Mr. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011, he publicly apologized and vowed to change his behavior, but he denied having an addiction. But in 2013, his attempt at a political comeback as a New York mayoral candidate was scuttled when it was revealed he had again been exchanging messages online with at least three more women under the nom de guerre “Carlos Danger. ” A documentary, “Weiner,” released in May, traced the disastrous campaign and the effects on Ms. Abedin, who is shown near tears after the sexting revelations were made public. ■ According to a New York Times report, Ms. Abedin learned only on Sunday while the couple were in the Hamptons with their son that Mr. Weiner had sent a photo of himself and the boy to the unidentified woman. ■ Mr. Weiner’s ties to the Clinton campaign make his explicit messages a useful weapon by the Trump camp in the bruising race to the White House. Indeed, Mr. Trump released a statement on Monday that said the episode was an issue of national security. “I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It’s just another example of Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment. ” ■ The Daily News said it would no longer carry Mr. Weiner’s columns, which included his writings on New York City politics. “We’ve severed ties with him as a columnist,” Joshua Greenman, a Daily News editor, said on Monday in an email. (The Daily Beast initially reported The News’ decision.) ■ The television station NY1 also put Mr. Weiner on “indefinite leave” from his position as a contributor. Mr. Weiner had appeared on “Inside City Hall. ” ■ As for the involvement of the child’s image in a post, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services said in a statement that because of confidentiality, it would not comment on the possibility that it may begin an inquiry. In an interview with The New York Times in July, when asked whether he was still engaging in the activities that got him into trouble, Mr. Weiner said: “I’m not going to go down the path of talking about any of that. “But I will say this: There’s no doubt that the Trump phenomenon has led a lot of people to say to me, ‘Boy, compared to inviting the Russians to come hack someone’s email, your thing seems almost quaint.’ ” | 0fake |
U.S., Gulf nations target Yemen terrorism financing | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and six Gulf nations have targeted 13 individuals they say are al Qaeda and Islamic State militants, in an action intended to disrupt terrorism financing in Yemen, U.S. administration officials said on Wednesday. Among those targeted are the militant group s chief financial officer in Yemen and head of assassinations in that country. The action puts those named on a business blacklist, which prohibits any financial actions and freezes their bank accounts. The nations joining the United States in the sanctions were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar. This is the largest ever multilateral designation in the Middle East, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in Riyadh on Wednesday. U.S. administration officials said this is the first joint sanctions action by Washington and Gulf states. The coordination was particularly significant because of a months-long diplomatic crisis between Qatar and several Gulf states. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism, meddling in the affairs of Arab countries and cozying up to their arch-rival Iran. The four countries have since added dozens of individuals and entities to a blacklist they say are associated with Qatar. One of the individuals on Wednesday s sanctions list, Abdula Wahaba al-Humayqani, and one of the entities, Rahmah Charitable, are part of that blacklist. Qatar s National Counter Terrorism Committee said in a statement it had strengthened its anti-terrorism finance laws. Qatar is committed to taking the necessary steps to defeat terrorism in all its forms, and will continue to work closely with the United States to impose sanctions on those who facilitate terrorist activity, Major General Abdulaziz A. Al Ansari said in the statement. Qatar signed an agreement with the United States in July to increase cooperation on fighting terrorism finance, Qatar s counter-terrorism committee said. Peter Harrell a sanctions expert at the Center for a New American Security, said cooperation between Gulf nations and Qatar was an important step. Qatar has had a history of not being as robust on terrorism finance, Harrell said. It s heartening to see Qatar do this. It signals some ability to cooperate. | 0fake |
U.S. would slash EPA vehicle testing budget under Trump plan | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration would virtually eliminate federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget for vehicle emissions and fuel economy testing but will seek to raise fees on industry to pay for some testing, a government document shows. The cuts would slash by more than half the staff of the EPA department that conducts vehicle, engine, and fuel testing to verify emissions standards are met and mileage stickers are accurate. Its work helped lead to Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) 2015 admission that it violated vehicle emissions rules for years. In a March 21 budget document posted online by the Washington Post, the Trump administration proposed eliminating $48 million in federal funding for EPA vehicle and fuel testing and certification. It represents a 99 percent federal cut to the vehicle testing budget and would require “pretty much shutting down the testing lab,” said Margo Oge, who headed the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality under President Barack Obama. The proposal, which would also cut 168 out of 304 full-time jobs, seeks to partially fund current operations by boosting fees automakers and engine manufacturers pay for testing. An EPA official confirmed the document’s authenticity. The Trump administration has proposed cutting the EPA’s budget by 31 percent and eliminating more than 50 programs. EPA spokesman John Konkus declined to answer questions about how the cuts could affect vehicle testing. “We know we can effectively serve the taxpayers and protect the environment. While many in Washington insist on greater spending, EPA is focused on greater value and real results,” Konkus said. Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an auto trade association, said automakers were concerned the proposed cuts could delay certification of new vehicles “and getting products to consumers.” Janet McCabe, a former EPA official in the Obama administration, said Monday that companies that take care to comply with the rules can be at a disadvantage without strong enforcement of the rules. “We know that a little bit of cheating can mean a lot of air pollution,” McCabe said. The administration plans to release a detailed budget plan in May. In March, Trump ordered a review of tough U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards put in place by the Obama administration. The EPA stepped up scrutiny of automakers after Volkswagen admitted to cheating diesel emissions tests in 580,000 U.S. vehicles. VW agreed to pay up to $25 billion in penalties and buyback costs and pleaded guilty in March to felony charges. In September 2015, EPA said it would review emissions from all U.S. diesel vehicles after Volkswagen’s admission it used secret software to emit up to 40 times allowable emissions. That review prompted the allegation by the EPA in January that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV used undisclosed software to allow excess diesel emissions from 104,000 U.S. trucks and SUVs. Fiat Chrysler denies wrongdoing. The EPA is also scrutinizing emissions from Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz vehicles. It has not approved Daimler or Fiat Chrysler’s request to sell 2017 model diesels. The EPA has also investigated cases of several automakers overstating mileage on window stickers in recent years. In 2014, the EPA hit Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp with $350 million in penalties for overstating fuel economy ratings. | 0fake |
Philadelphia To Host 2016 Democratic National Convention | Leading up to the decision, Philadelphia was one of three cities -- including New York and Columbus, Ohio -- vying for the opportunity to host.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the DNC, announced in a Thursday statement that the committee had signed a final contract with Philadelphia earlier that morning.
“I am thrilled to announce that Philadelphia will host the convention where we will nominate the 45th President of the United States,” Wasserman Schultz said in the statement. “In addition to their commitment to a seamless and safe convention, Philadelphia’s deep rooted place in American history provides a perfect setting for this special gathering. I cannot wait to join Democrats across the country to celebrate our shared values, lay out a Democratic vision for the future, and support our nominee.”
The Democratic National Committee decided in late January that the convention would take place July 25, 2016, just one week after the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
The last time Philadelphia hosted a presidential convention was in 2000, when Republicans nominated then-Gov. George W. Bush. The last time the Democrats hosted their convention in Philadelphia was in 1948. | 0fake |
Monmouth poll: 6-point Clinton lead over Trump day before U.S. election | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton led Republican Donald Trump by 6 percentage points among likely U.S. voters in a Monmouth University poll released on Monday, a day before the U.S. presidential election. The survey of 802 registered voters found 50 percent backed Clinton while 44 percent supported Trump, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, the university said in a statement. Its last poll released on Oct. 17 found Clinton up by 12 points, it said. Several other national opinion polls released earlier on Monday showed Clinton with a 3-point or 4-point advantage. | 0fake |
Everyone getting hammered tonight for bad reasons | Everyone getting hammered tonight for bad reasons 11-11-16
BRITAIN is to get hammered as usual tonight but for bad reasons, not celebratory, end-of-the-week ones.
Alcohol is selling briskly across the UK as adults prepare to get blackout drunk not because the weekend is here but because the weekend is here and Donald Trump is president and Leonard Cohen is dead.
Nikki Hollis, from Peterborough, said: “Normally I’m skipping merrily into the land of drunkenness, a carefree sense that none of it matters, but tonight I’ll be lurching there.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I haven’t killed two bottles of wine by 10pm in my despair, as opposed to last week when I polished off two bottles before News at Ten out of sheer joie de vivre. ”
She added: “And tomorrow’s hangover will be a black cloud of gloom clearly revealing that everything in the world is shit. While last week it just seemed like that.”
Pub landlord Bill McKay said: “We’re expecting a fairly dark atmosphere in here tonight. We probably won’t do the quiz.”
Share: | 1real |
Boko Haram Terrorists Release 82 Kidnapped Chibok Girls | Nigerian authorities announced the release of an estimated 82 of the 276 girls kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram from a mostly Christian school in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014 this weekend. The release appears to be part of a deal that may have gained freedom for jailed Boko Haram terrorists. [A Nigerian government official told Al Jazeera the government was keeping the girls in the town of Banki, close to the border. Few details surfaced on the status of the girls following their release Saturday. “According to sources, this may be a result of negotiations — but there have also been some military operations of recent around that area, as well as other parts of northeast Nigeria,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reported from Nigeria’s capital. “We were told that Boko Haram was trying to negotiate for the release of some of their top commanders in custody of the Nigerian security services,” Idris reported. “There are also some reports suggesting that they want some ransom to be paid for some of these girls. ” Boko Haram, which roughly translates to “all Western education is forbidden,” seeks to impose Islamic Sharia law in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north. In March, thousands of women in Nigeria took the streets of the northern capital Maiduguri to protest the government’s inability to eradicate Boko Haram, which continues to commit mass abductions, rapes, and murders since the government claimed it had defeated the group in 2015. The women who organized in Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state, wanted to attract the attention of representatives of the U. N. Security Council, who were visiting the city at that time. The protests also targeted President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, who won the nation’s presidency on a campaign promise to eliminate Boko Haram. Boko Haram jihadists also abuse boys by teaching them at an early age how to rape women while limiting the chances of them escaping. “They tell us to remember to hold the girl tight on both hands, pinned to the floor,” a boy identified as “Ahmed” told reporters last year. “They said we shouldn’t let a woman overpower us. ” On April 14, 2014, the terrorists seized 276 pupils from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok, with 57 of them managing to escape in the immediate aftermath of the abduction. Since then, some of the schoolgirls have been released, while others managed to escape. Even with Saturday’s release, that leaves about 100 girls still unaccounted for and the future of the girls is uncertain after years of trauma and many have borne children while in captivity. | 0fake |
Harriet Tubman Ousts Andrew Jackson in Change for a $20 - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew on Wednesday announced the most sweeping and historically symbolic makeover of American currency in a century, proposing to replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the former slave and abolitionist, and to add women and civil rights leaders to the $5 and $10 notes. Mr. Lew may have reneged on a commitment he made last year to make a woman the face of the $10 bill, opting instead to keep Alexander Hamilton, to the delight of a fan base swollen with enthusiasm over a Broadway rap musical based on the life of the first Treasury secretary. But the broader remaking of the nation’s paper currency, which President Obama welcomed on Wednesday, may well have captured a historical moment for a multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial nation moving contentiously through the early years of a new century. Tubman, an and a Union spy during the Civil War, would bump Jackson — a white man known as much for his persecution of Native Americans as for his war heroics and advocacy for the common man — to the back of the $20, in some reduced image along with the White House. Tubman would be the first woman so honored on paper currency since Martha Washington’s portrait briefly graced the $1 silver certificate in the late 19th century. While Hamilton would remain on the $10, and Abraham Lincoln on the $5, images of women would be added to the back of both — in keeping with Mr. Lew’s intent “to bring to life” the national monuments depicted there. The picture of the Treasury building on the back of the $10 bill would be replaced with a depiction of a 1913 march in support of women’s right to vote that ended at the building, along with portraits of five suffrage leaders: Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony, who in more recent years was on an unpopular $1 coin until minting ceased. On the flip side of the $5 bill, the Lincoln Memorial would remain, but as the backdrop for the 1939 performance there of Marian Anderson, the classical singer, after she was barred from singing at the segregated Constitution Hall nearby. Sharing space on the rear would be images of Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial performance, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who in 1963 delivered his “I have a dream” speech from its steps. The final redesigns will be unveiled in 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment establishing women’s suffrage, and will not go into wide circulation until later in the decade, starting with the new $10 note. The unexpectedly ambitious proposals reflect Mr. Lew’s tortuous attempt to expedite the process and win over critics who have lodged conflicting demands, pitting mainly women’s advocates against Hamiltonians newly empowered by the unlikely success of their hero’s story on Broadway. Mr. Lew’s design proposals are the culmination of 10 months of public commentary that began almost immediately after he invited Americans last June to help him decide which woman from history to honor on the $10 bill. That initiative proved to be hardly as simple as he first imagined. Immediately an online group called Women on 20s insisted that the woman to be honored — Tubman was its choice — had to go on the more common $20 note, displacing not the popular Hamilton but Jackson, whose place in history has suffered lately with attention to his record of forcibly relocating Native Americans, supporting slavery and — despite his prominence on currency — opposing a national banking system and paper money. But the $10 was next in line for redesign, based on federal officials’ assessment of counterfeiting threats. Yet other women mobilized by the Girls’ Lounge, a networking organization for female corporate leaders, demanded that a woman go on the $10 note, as Mr. Lew first proposed, because they did not want to wait years for a new $20 bill. Within the administration, Rosie Rios, who as treasurer of the United States oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, was also pushing for a woman on the $10 bill. But nothing so roiled the debate as the phenomenon of the musical “Hamilton. ” Weighing in for his place on the $10 bill were theater patrons and teenagers rapping to the soundtrack, as well as the show’s creator and star, Miranda. When Mr. Lew and his wife caught a performance last August, the Treasury secretary hinted to Mr. Miranda that Hamilton would stay. Just this week, the show won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. By July, in fact, Mr. Lew already had decided to keep his predecessor on the $10 note, and put a vignette of suffragists on the back, with Tubman scheduled for the $20 bill and changes to the $5 note as well. “I had a kind of ‘aha’ moment where I said we’re thinking too small,” Mr. Lew said on Wednesday. He decided to redesign all three notes to accommodate the various views, and sooner. As for the choice of Tubman, he said that in the public comments he reviewed each night, “the pattern became clear that Harriet Tubman struck a chord with people in all parts of the country, of all ages. ” “This is a good solution,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who wrote to the secretary “strongly suggesting he not remove Hamilton” from the bill. Mr. Lew directed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to hasten the redesign of the $20 and $5 notes at the same time. Subsequent production of the $10 bill would take precedence, though Mr. Lew said all three notes could be in wallets before 2030. The final decision on release is up to the Fed. One wild card is that Mr. Lew and President Obama have just months left in office. But Mr. Lew expressed confidence that his successors would not veto the currency makeovers. “I don’t think somebody’s going to probably want to do that — to take the image of Harriet Tubman off of our money? To take the image of the suffragists off?” he said. Not since 1929 has American currency undergone such a change. That year all paper money changed, with more standard designs and smaller size to save costs. In advance of Mr. Lew’s decision, the emotion that the Treasury initiative had prompted was reflected in a letter to the Treasury secretary on Tuesday evening. More than three dozen women including actors, feminists, corporate executives and journalists objected to preliminary news reports that he was planning to renege on putting a woman on the $10 face, calling it, if true, “a major blow to the advancement of women. ” They admonished the Treasury secretary, saying: “ Could there be a better metaphor for status that continues to limit our girls?” The signers included the actresses Ellen DeGeneres, Geena Davis and Jane Lynch the former soccer star Abby Wambach former Representative Gabrielle Giffords the news media figures Katie Couric and Arianna Huffington the feminist leader Gloria Steinem and the photographer Annie Leibovitz. Mr. Lew’s compromise did not satisfy the letter writers since the new note, the $10 bill, will picture women on the back. But Women on 20s released a statement “celebrating” the decision, despite Mr. Lew’s inability to say how quickly the government can accelerate a new $20 note given technological and production complexities. Yet, as Mr. Lew said Wednesday: “I said we were going to listen. We really did listen. ” | 0fake |
House GOP leaders desperate to avoid shutdown | Top Dems want White House to call off Part B demo — The next cancer drug shortage | 0fake |
WOW! MACON, GA RESIDENT SLAMS Rep John Lewis: “What have you accomplished? Why don’t you go on the news and talk about the black-on-black terrorism that’s happening in Chicago?”[VIDEO] | Young black man delivers poignant message to Representative John Lewis, who recently called Donald Trump an illegitimate President So many jobs have left the state. And you know what s moved in? Drugs, gangs illegal immigration. My mother s been there for 27 year and she s on drugs. It s her choice. I m not blaming you Representative Lewis. But you ve been there. You ve done nothing. Last year, you did a sit in for Hillary Clinton. For Hillary Clinton! You did a sit in on the floor. It was for her. It wasn t for guns. It wasn t for the Pulse nightclub. That s you guys tried to exploit. But it was for Hillary Clinton, to set her up to win. And now that she lost, your token ass is sad. So you re gonna call Donald Trump, illegitimate? I mean seriously? What are you doing? You re living off of MLK. Martin Luther King is a great man, obviously, we re celebrating his birthday years later after his death. FOX News Calls You A Civil Rights Icon Why Are You An Icon? Because You Got Your Ass Beat? You have been ineffective. Where are your accomplishments? Nothing. Why don t you go on the news and talk about the black on black terrorism that s happening in Chicago? "The Five"BLACK Democrats have been played watch video https://t.co/gYrAIBPCg4 Jose (@JoeTheMailman) January 16, 2017 | 1real |
“Violent Revolution If Trump Lets Them Down”: People Remain Poised for Angry Revolt – Roberts |
“Revolution is probably the only solution.”
That seems to be the conclusion of Paul Craig Roberts, a respected member of Reagan’s Administration and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
The crisis has simply been building.
Like others, Dr. Roberts highlights the promises of Donald Trump and the reasons behind his sweeping populist victory.
However, he warns that if Trump “pulls an Obama” and sells out the people to whom he has promised change, violent revolution will likely be the result – because the rage against the machine is “permanent.”
He told the Richie Allen Show :
Paul Craig Roberts: “The good thing about the election is it showed the American people could defeat the establishment; it could defeat the oligarchs; it could defeat their candidate. So that is a good thing; it shows that the people finally woke up. They understood that a lot was at risk. They were not being served by the government – and the fact that they realized this. They are not as insouciant as they have been. They are more aware. They were determined; they were not influenced by the propaganda against Trump. And so that’s what’s good, and this will stay. I think this will be permanent.
Now if Trump pulls and Obama and sells them out, the question is will they get demoralized and give up, or do they get more angry and the next time we see a bloody revolution. You know, sometimes, when you had so much corruption – in the United States, every institution is totally corrupt, everyone. The oligarchy have corrupted everything. When you get so much corruption, sometimes you can’t have a change without bloodshed. People have to die.
Richie Allen: “And you’re a pacifist.”
Roberts: “Our founding fathers were aware of this. Thomas Jefferson was explicit about it. So what we may see if Trump is blocked or he gives up or nothing can happen, people they could just give up or they could just get angry.”
Why? Because people are fed up with the establishment, hungry for change and too desperate to ignore the crisis they are in.
The economic situation alone has driven the masses to the edge. Without a decent standard of living and a secure place in or near the middle class, things are going to be unstable and ripe for a volatile chemical reaction .
Although Paul Craig Roberts statements seem alarming, they are in line with everything that has been happening economically, and secondarily politically, for the past several cycles and through the entire Obama presidency.
Watch the full interview via The Richie Allen Show :
Paul Craig Roberts “The People Spoke But We’ll Have Violent Revolution
If Trump Lets Them Down!”
History proves that things are teetering towards revolution, and if a President Trump doesn’t offer satisfaction, then people may very likely turn towards their only remaining alternative. Allen : “So we could see more than civil disobedience, we could see violence.”
Roberts : “I think it only could be violence, because if you try to do civil disobedience, you’re individually acting and you have no protection, but violence requires large numbers and there’s protection in numbers. If I tell them, ‘I’m not having anything to do with you, I’m not paying my taxes,’ they’ll just come pick me up. But there’s tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions saying, ‘Screw you, we’re going to kill you’, you can’t pick them up.”
“And so, I think that if – you see, look, Richie, everyone needs to understand this. The living standards of the average American have collapsed. All this b.s. about America being rich, and they’re always so wonderful and the streets are paved with gold, but it’s all B.S. For 20, 30 years the living standards have been collapsing – since the Clinton regime. Collapsing. We have half of the 25 year old Americans living at home with their parents because they cannot get employment that lets them have an independent existence. They cannot pay their rent. We have huge numbers of university graduates suffocated by student loans. They can’t get jobs that let them pay the loans off. We have more people aged 24 through 34 years of age living at home with their parents than living independently.”
“There are no good jobs created. The jobs reports, to the extent that they aren’t just fabricated, they are part-time, low-pay jobs without any benefits. No pension. No health benefits. They country, the people are being destroyed. The retired people have had no interest income on their savings for eight years – they’re having to draw down the money they expected to produce an income to see them through their retirement. People are suffering. They can’t buy houses – if you can’t form a household, you can’t buy a house. You can’t buy home furnishings, appliances.”
“The whole economy is hurt. So it’s a really serious economic situation. The domestic market is almost non-existent; it can’t grow because there’s no income growth for anybody except the 1% – and there’s a limit to how much the 1% can consume. So the economic situation is very bad. There’s debt everywhere. Individuals don’t have any discretionary income – except for a very few. And so that type of situation, if it worsens, at some point people say ‘I can’t survive… I’ve nothing to lose’. […] This is a situation here. We’re talking about the United States is degenerating into a third world country.”
This is not just a question of Trump’s performance, qualifications or ego in office.
This is a systematic problem that spans decades of the American history. The Clintons and Bushes are symptoms of that problem, and the system underestimated the intense angry and dissatisfaction against those entrenched oligarchs and elites.
However, as Paul Craig Roberts makes clear earlier in his interview here , Trump faces a significant threat of being undermined by his “advisors,” staff, cabinet appointments and so forth, particularly if they are loyal to the establishment, as nearly every ‘experienced’ individual in these positions seems to be.
Neocons and the like could swiftly pervert yet another “change” administration into an establishment cover operation for the continuity of their control system. Indeed, even with the best of intentions, Trump faces an uphill battle at overturning the status quo. Indeed, the system may well be plotting to unleash a new wave of economic decline that they can blame him for, and break the dam of unrest that has been swelling.
The larger storm is still brewing. Roberts argued in his column, ‘ The working class won the election ‘ that:
The US presidential election is historic, because the American people were able to defeat the oligarchs. Hillary Clinton, an agent for the Oligarchy, was defeated despite the vicious media campaign against Donald Trump. This shows that the media and the political establishments of the political parties no longer have credibility with the American people.
It remains to be seen whether Trump can select and appoint a government that will serve him and his goals to restore American jobs and to establish friendly and respectful relations with Russia, China, Syria, and Iran.
It also remains to be seen how the Oligarchy will respond to Trump’s victory. Wall Street and the Federal Reserve can cause an economic crisis in order to put Trump on the defensive, and they can use the crisis to force Trump to appoint one of their own as Secretary of the Treasury.
[…] We won’t know what to expect until we see who are the Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries. If it is the usual crowd, we will know Trump has been captured.
[…] If Trump is advised to be conciliatory, to hold out his hand, and to take the establishment into his government, the American people will again be disappointed. In a country whose institutions have been so completely corrupted by the Oligarchy, it is difficult to achieve real change without bloodshed.
The post-election riots against Trump, the Black Lives Matter protests that have pitted police against inner-city people of color and the quieter exercises for martial law and the containment of a domestic uprising all prove that the elite understand what is coming, and while they may have no way to stop it altogether, they may succeed in steering it into meaningless fights and divisions which they can use as a buffer.
Economic devastation and the collapse of the system means that literally tens of millions of people will have nothing left to lose , and nothing better to turn to than mob revolt.
Beware of what’s coming, prepare for long periods of instability and roaming violence, and pray that the system corrects for the benefit of the people of this country once again.
Read more:
“The Second American Revolution Is Happening” – U.S. Intelligence Agencies Have Started A Counter Coup Against Clinton
“It Is Really Hard To Argue With Trump About This”: Face It, America Is In Decline
“Revolt of the Elites”: Society Is Divided, Self-Absorbed and Powerless to Stop Them
Triggers For Revolt: Rising Resource Costs Escalate Odds of Global Unrest
Who Are The “Deplorables” And Why Do They Refuse To Be Trampled Upon?
| 1real |
PayPal Co-Founder And Major Trump Supporter Said Rape Accusations Are Just “Belated Regret” | PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has received tons of criticism for his wayward support of Donald Trump, and is coming under fire even more for his recent donation of $1.25 million to Trump’s... | 1real |
Factbox: Big-ticket items at center of Congress spending bill | (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Thursday approved a temporary funding bill to prevent federal agencies from shutting down at midnight Friday when existing money was set to expire. The following are the major items that were debated on the legislation that President Donald Trump is expected to sign into law: The Friday midnight deadline for action was the result of the Republican-controlled Congress failing to pass any of the regular appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Instead, the government has been operating on a series of temporary measures. This newest stopgap bill continues funding for government operations through Jan. 19, giving lawmakers several weeks to work out a spending bill that would pay for agency activities through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. House of Representatives conservatives failed in their bid to attach a major defense spending increase that would fund the Pentagon through September. Instead, Congress agreed to fund the military through Jan. 19, like most other programs. But in a move to attract support, a $4.7 billion increase was included to be used for missile defense and ship repair. Democrats and Republicans will continue negotiations on higher funding for both military and non-military programs. An $81 billion disaster aid bill was going to be attached to the government funding bill. Instead, the House approved it as a stand-alone bill, only to see the Senate put off action until at least next month. It would build on about $52 billion already provided to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and several states hit by severe hurricanes, wildfires or other natural disasters. Democrats want to do more for Puerto Rico and some Republicans worry about the mounting costs of disaster aid. The Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helps provide medical care to nearly 9 million children in low-income families, will get $2.85 billion to cover expenses through March as lawmakers seek a more permanent solution. Senators put off until early next year their bid to maintain healthcare subsidies for low-income people participating in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Many House Republican lawmakers dislike the idea. The National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will be extended through Jan. 19 as lawmakers try to reconcile competing versions of such legislation in the House and Senate. Legislation to protect “Dreamers” from deportation was not included, despite Democrats’ push to resolve the issue by year’s end. It was a major disappointment for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and immigration advocacy groups. But negotiators are still trying to reach a deal on helping immigrants, many from Mexico and Central America, brought to the United States illegally as children. The issue is expected to come back to life in early 2018. | 0fake |
Fungus: The Hidden Cause of Almost Every Major Disease? | Fungus: The Hidden Cause of Almost Every Major Disease? Oct 29, 2016 Previous post
There is reason to believe that fungus could be the hidden cause of many diseases from the flu all the way to cancer.
Sounds like a big claim and a sweeping generalization, but when you take a closer look at it, you will be staggered to discover just how ubiquitous the humble fungus is, and how much ill-health it can cause.
Let’s start at the beginning. Nature has a way of eliminating old, decaying matter, whether plant or animal: the fungus. While bacteria are also decomposers, fungi are largely unrecognized for the role they can play in disease, and breaking down the human body prematurely.
Not all every kind of fungus is “bad” or harmful to your health. For example, many of the Chinese and Japanese medicinal mushrooms, such as reishi, shiitake and maitake, are among the greatest stimulators of the immune system and are superb natural remedies. Other mushrooms like the common button mushroom are also good for your health and high in certain nutrients like vitamin D, which is hard to get from food sources.
However, I am focusing here not on the more rare beneficial types of fungus, but on the more common and widespread deleterious types of fungus, including yeast (candida), strains of mold and mycotoxins.
FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE CLICK LINK | 1real |
REINCE PRIEBUS Embarrasses Snarky NBC Meet The Press Host For Promoting FAKE Russian RNC Hacking Story [VIDEO] | The entire premise for Chuck Todd s position is two media reports. One of those media reports (NYT) is demonstrably false; the second (WaPo) is specifically constructed to target and undermine the Trump presidency. The Washington Post was previously cited, on the record, with their own statements, claiming their intention and motivation to oppose the Donald Trump candidacy.Incoming White House Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus pushes back against reports from both publications based on his personal knowledge one is false; and no indication the second is anything other than false. Conservative TreehouseReince Priebus was almost laughing out loud at the obviously flustered Chuck Todd after he became overly emotional when Preibus demanded the accusations that the RNC was hacked by the NYT s and the Washington Post were NOT TRUE: I don t know why you re so hot about this? The fact of the matter is, you should be happy the RNC was not hacked. The RNC was not hacked Chuck! Then why was the FBI there? , Todd whines Priebus is finally fed up with Chuck Todd s obsession with getting him to admit that the RNC was hacked: So you tell me, why would the press run with something that wasn t true? No response was given to Priebus question.Todd presses on: Do you not believe Russia was involved? Priebus: Here s what I m saying, you don t have a single source. You tell me who the specific source is who said the RNC was hacked? https://youtu.be/zPPZbrouq-8 | 1real |
Bashar al-Assad is losing ground in Syria | For most of the past two years, it looked like Bashar al-Assad's campaign to hold on in Syria was working. Syria's weak, uncoordinated, and increasingly Islamist rebels were being gradually pushed back. And while ISIS had seized vast parts of the country, it and Assad appeared to tolerate one another in a sort of tacit non-aggression pact designed to crush the Syrian rebels. It seemed that Syria, and the world, would be stuck with Assad's murderous dictatorship for the foreseeable future.
But in the past few weeks, things appear to have changed — potentially dramatically. The rebels have won a string of significant victories in the country's north. Assad's troop reserves are wearing thin, and it's becoming harder for him to replace his losses.
A rebel victory, to be clear, is far from imminent or even likely. At this point, it's too early to say for sure what this means for the course of the Syrian war. But the rebels have found a new momentum against Assad just as his military strength could be weakening, which could be a significant change in the trajectory of a war that has been ongoing for years.
Bashar al-Assad's forces are losing ground against the rebels, for example in northern Idlib province, where two recent rebel victories show how strong the rebels have gotten. First, in late March, Assad's forces were pushed out of Idlib City, the region's capital. Second, in late April, rebels took Jisr al-Shughour, a strategically valuable town that lies on the Assad regime's supply line in the area and near its important coastal holdings.
"Jisr al-Shughour is a good example of how the regime is, indeed, losing ground," Noah Bonsey, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told me. "Most observers were surprised at how quickly it fell, given that it is a town of some strategic importance."
While rebels' most dramatic victories are in Idlib, they're advancing elsewhere as well. They've seized towns in the south and have repelled Assad offensives around the country.
"Losses in Idlib and the southern governorate of Deraa have placed great pressure on Assad," Charles Lister, a fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, writes. "Frustration, disaffection and even incidences of protest are rising across Assad’s most ardent areas of support on Syria’s coast — some of which are now under direct attack."
Bonsey concurs. "Rebels have seized momentum in recent weeks and months," he says. "The regime is clearly weakening to an extent that was not widely reflected in the English-language narrative surrounding the conflict."
Recent regime defeats reflect growing unity among the rebels as well as fundamental weaknesses on the regime's side.
The Idlib advance, in particular, was led by Jaish al-Fatah, a new rebel coalition led by several different Islamist groups. While the coalition includes Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise, the jihadis don't appear to dominate the group.
"The operations also displayed a far improved level of coordination between rival factions," Lister writes, "spanning from U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigades, to moderate and conservative Syrian Islamists, to al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and several independent jihadist factions."
Rebel coordination is nothing new in Syria. But this coalition stands out for its size and breadth.
"The number of fighters mobilized for the initial Idlib city campaign has been significant, and that's been just as true in subsequent operations in the north," Bonsey says. "The level of coordination we've seen over several weeks, on multiple fronts, is something that we have rarely, if ever, seen from rebels in the north."
And as the rebels have gotten more united, the regime has gotten weaker. The basic problem is attrition: Assad is losing a lot of soldiers in this war, and his regime — a sectarian Shia government in an overwhelmingly Sunni country — can't train replacements quickly enough.
Bonsey calls this an "unsolvable manpower problem." As a result, he says, Assad is becoming increasingly dependent on his foreign allies — Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah specifically — to lead the ground campaign.
But Iran has shown limited willingness to commit heavily to areas like Idlib, and rather is concentrating principally on defending the regime's core holdings around Damascus and the coast. According to Bonsey, "it's a matter of priorities," which is to say that their resources aren't unlimited, and they've (so far) preferred to concentrate them in the most critical areas.
Iran's involvement in conflicts in Iraq and Yemen on top of Syria has left it "really overstretched," according to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The cumulative resource investment has "certainly had an impact on Assad losing territory in Syria," he concludes.
"For the regime, the status quo militarily is not sustainable," Bonsey says, and "Iran's strategy in Syria does not appear sustainable. The costs to Iran of propping up Assad's rule in Syria are only going to rise with time, substantially. And what's happened with Idlib in recent weeks is only the latest indication of that."
Bonsey, like most Syria experts, does not believe Assad is on the road to inevitable defeat.
"While much of the subsequent commentary [to the Idlib offensive] proclaimed this as the beginning of the end for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, we are still a long way from that," Lister writes.
For one thing, Iran sees the survival of the Assad regime as a critical strategic priority, as it allows Iran to supply Hezbollah and maintain a close ally in the Levant. Any post-Assad government is likely to be Sunni-dominated,and quite hostile to Iran. Tehran is probably willing to go to some lengths to keep that from happening, and Iranian intervention in the war has been a significant force.
"In strict military terms, there isn't yet a direct threat on the strategically essential territory that the regime and its backers continue to control," Bonsey says, "and there isn't yet a reason to think the rebels are capable of threatening" such a region.
Since Assad can't crush the rebels in their strongholds, then, the conflict is looking a lot like a stalemate — which it already was before this rebel offensive began.
Moreover, the unity of this new rebel coalition could collapse. The broad alliance we've seen in Idlib is held together by victory: the more they push back Assad, the more willing they are to cooperate. But if Assad's forces start beating them, the ideological and political fault lines in the coalition could cause rebel groups to turn on one another. It's happened — many times — before.
The "big question now," according to Bonsey, is "how the regime and its backers choose to respond to these defeats." A major decider, in other words, is Iran. But as long as they see protecting the Assad regime as vital, they are likely to do what it takes to keep his core territory intact. | 0fake |
BREAKING: FBI Deputy Director Exposed As Crooked Hillary’s Accomplice In This Shocking New Crime, She’s Totally Busted | November 2015 Ads BREAKING: FBI Deputy Director Exposed As Crooked Hillary’s Accomplice In This Shocking New Crime, She’s Totally Busted
Some Evidence is coming out regarding the handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private server. A frequent donor of the Clinton’s has donated a substantial amount of money to the wife of the FBI agent responsible for Hillary’s case. The FBI’s investigation found that Hillary was innocent of any crimes. Wonder why.
Let me just start by saying that this is the single worst crime a person running for President in the US has EVER been convicted of. Hillary Clinton was just proven beyond any doubt to have been directly involved with the bribing and promoting of a top FBI agent during her own email trial.
Let me break this down for you:
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, one of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s most consistent backers, donated nearly $500,000 to the Virginia state Senate campaign of a candidate (Dr. Jill McCabe) who is married to the FBI’s deputy director. – Daily Mail
McCabe’s husband, Andrew McCabe, was the associate deputy of the FBI’s Washington field office, which was tasked with investigating Hillary’s emails.
This is where it gets really interesting. Sometime between the donation being made and the beginning of Clinton’s email investigation, McCabe was promoted to the Deputy Director of that office, giving him full control of the Clinton investigation.
FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE CLICK LINK | 1real |
Lunatic Glenn Beck Prepares To Move His Show To Israel Ahead Of Government Collapse (VIDEO) | Glenn Beck is a paranoid lunatic, and he has just done one more thing to further cement that idea. Beck announced on the Friday edition of his show that his staff is, on his orders, preparing to move his entire broadcasting network out of the country. Why? Because this idiot thinks that the America that we all know and love is on the brink of collapse, and when that collapse comes, the new government will silence him. Beck told his equally idiotic followers: We have to pick up our pace on finding another place to broadcast. I need to know if I can get to Jerusalem, where they won t shut this down and we can be able to broadcast into the United States. This could end quickly. The worst part of all of this is that this announcement came after an audience member asked what she could do to prepare her family for the coming apocalypse. She has already relocated from California to Texas on Beck s lunatic suggestion. She has also followed more of Beck s terrible advice, and is reading the Left Behind series to her children, which warns of coming worldwide disaster.As if all of that is not bad enough, Beck s child was present during these doomsday prepper declarations, and of course was alarmed. Instead of comforting her and anyone else who might be rightfully disturbed by these ideas, Beck says that today s children should be warned as well because they re the giants that are going to fix this, they have to know. He went on to warn that reading Left Behind is important because they have to know that this might be the time You have an army on earth now that says they are the army of the Antichrist, they are the army of Armageddon. This is about as irresponsible as it gets, and Beck doesn t seem to be slowing down this crazy train anytime soon.Watch the insanity below, via Right Wing Watch:Featured image from screen capture via Right Wing Watch | 1real |
AWESOME RANT By African-American Woman Who’s FED UP: “Sanctuary cities are racist!” | You will love, love, love this passionate lady! She gets it!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zs6IMuee98 | 1real |
‘Silicon Valley’ Season 3, Episode 7: Stop, Beta Time - The New York Times | Until the last mouse click of “To Build a Better Beta,” Pied Piper has existed only in the abstract, with endless promise and limitless value. Richard’s compression platform could be worth billions. It could be the next Facebook. It could change the world. Alternately, it could be utterly worthless, one of the countless failed that pile up in Silicon Valley like E. T. cartridges in a New Mexico landfill. As Erlich Bachman, the father of such stillborn incubees as Aviato and Nip Alert, says, “Shuttering a company in the Valley like a rite of passage, like herpes simplex one. ” The metaphor gets more disgusting from there. Sunday night’s episode opens with Richard feeling exposed. He has fought hard to get his idea off the ground, but there was a certain amount of comfort in not getting what he wanted. Action Jack’s push for a clunky data storage appliance may have insulted his vision of an elegant compression engine with mass utility, but he could still hide behind the box. If Jack had prevailed, Richard could grouse forever about how his brilliant algorithm was squandered by a businessman and no one could question it. Bringing the pure, uncompromised Pied Piper into the world is a dream that nonetheless puts Richard on the precipice of a true, lasting, fatal disaster. “To Build a Better Beta” is about the release of the beta version of Pied Piper, which is an important period for any tech company to work out the kinks before an official launch. It’s not one of the funnier episodes this season, because there’s so much heavy lifting required from a plotting standpoint, but it touches smartly on themes of trust, friendship and the lies we tell our friends and ourselves. That’s the benefit of “Silicon Valley” constantly bogging down its characters with setbacks and conflict: Their response clarifies who they are and brings their relationships into sharper focus. The good news for Richard is that almost everybody loves the platform, including one notoriously critical user who calls it the best beta he’s seen in 15 years in the Valley. A beaming Jared enthuses, “I don’t want to count our chickens before they’re hatched — I mean, 3 percent of hatchlings are born mutated or dead — but we may have a healthy brood on our hands. ” The bad news is that Monica, whose opinion he values the most, so dislikes it that she initially lies to him about ever trying it at all. Her reassurances are comforting: She passed on a 20 percent stake in Slack, which she still doesn’t get (“Is it email? Is it a chat room? ”) and besides, in this business, investing in people is wiser than investing in products. And yet her general complaint about Pied Piper feeling too “engineered” seems on point, given the distance between the coding nerds on Richard’s team and the ordinary flesh sacks who would actually be using the platform. “To Build a Better Beta” makes a joke out of Dinesh and Gilfoyle’s failure to fill out a invite list. It stands to reason that users would find their software too. The guys at Pied Piper know code, but they don’t know people (or business or fashion or social cues or other matters) which is in large part of what makes “Silicon Valley” so funny. Gilfoyle and Dinesh each have a cover for their personal dysfunction. Gilfoyle writes off the whole of humankind as inherently venal and untrustworthy: “It’s a war of all against all. The history of humanity is a book written in blood. We’re all just animals in a pit. ” (Jared’s deadpan response, “I feel very sad now,” may be the funniest moment of the episode.) Dinesh merely makes up friends in the dim hope that no one will try to verify them. These cool dudes are too busy “snowboarding in Tahoe” to answer questions about the beta. (As ever, Jared is sympathetic, recalling all the escape plans he hatched with his imaginary friend, Harriet Tubman.) So underneath all the lies told in “To Build a Better Beta,” there’s a pitiful, childlike vulnerability. Monica doesn’t want to hurt Richard’s feelings when his confidence is at its most fragile. Gilfoyle and Dinesh don’t want to admit that they’re the only true friends each has. Only Jared seems comfortable in his own skin, which he’s described as his “home” when he has no place to sleep. Now that they’re finally releasing Pied Piper to an internet of faceless, unsympathetic, often hostile users, they’ll be totally defenseless. The creators of “Silicon Valley” surely know the feeling. Bytes • The unraveling of Bachmanity continues apace, with Erlich and Big Head scrambling to recover $6 million in funds their devious money manager has tucked away for tax purposes. The succession of disastrous meetings gives T. J. Miller an opportunity to hold court, which is always comedy gold. I particularly liked Erlich’s upset mood over the poor recovery efforts on his missing tiki head. • The episode makes a subtle point about the total disregard Silicon Valley has for matters of privacy. Hooli finds out about the Pied Piper beta by spying on company email. Gilfoyle finds out about Hooli scamming an invite code through the “God view” he installed in the platform. The show doesn’t make them equivalent violations — Hooli’s is more nefarious, Pied Piper’s more useful — but it’s taken as a matter of course that privacy concerns are a joke in the tech world. • Big Head has lost his entire $20 million settlement, but he gets to keep both of the cannonballs he rented. He’s going to be O. K. • isn’t my favorite character, but his presence as a Erlich’s unwelcome tenant and tormentor this season has been good for a few stray laughs, none heartier than his prank phone call in the seconds before launch. “Erlich Bachman, this is your mom. You are not my baby. ” | 0fake |
Indonesia warns of tough response after Papuan rebels threaten Freeport | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia s military said on Friday it was prepared to take tough measures against rebels who have threatened to destroy the mining operations of Freeport-McMoRan Inc in the eastern province of Papua in their independence struggle. Police say an armed separatist group linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) is preventing about 1,000 people in five villages from leaving an area near the giant Grasberg copper mine, operated by a unit of the Arizona-based company. A state of emergency has been declared and at least 300 additional security forces have been deployed to the area after a string of shootings since Aug. 17 killed one police officer and wounded six. The group, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), on Friday denied occupying villages near the mine. Hendrik Wanmang, a representative of TPN-OPM, said none of its more than 2,000 fighters was stationed in the villages. We cannot mingle with the community, Wanmang said in a telephone interview. That would endanger them. Wanmang also denied police allegations his group had carried out rape and torture of civilians, saying villagers were continuing to carry out activities as usual . But he warned that Freeport employees and security personnel remained in the area at their own risk. We are at war against the National Police, Indonesian military and Freeport, he said. (TPN-OPM) will continue to fight until the root of this problem - Freeport - is removed, Wanmang said. A Freeport Indonesia spokesman declined to comment. Papua Police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said the situation in the villages near the town of Tembagapura was conducive and the community was functioning as usual . They aren t hostage, but if you want to get to these villages you have to get past this armed criminal group, Diaz said, referring to the OPM. Police were taking persuasive steps to resolve the conflict through negotiations and dialogue with community, religious and tribal leaders, he said. Authorities made conflicting statements about the situation. Indonesian military chief Gatot Nurmayanto said the group had taken hostages in the villages and the army would take a hard approach if necessary. Tough measures, including armed conflict, would be a last resort if negotiations with the group failed to resolve the issue, Papua military commander George Enaldus Supit said later, clarifying the statement. Wanmang said his group was not interested in negotiating. If the government wants to send millions of national police and Indonesian military troops to protect the Freeport area, go ahead - they are just trying to protect the deception. The Grasberg mine has been dogged by security concerns for decades, as pro-independence rebels have waged a low-level conflict in Papua. Between 2009 and 2015, shootings in the mine project area killed 20 people and wounded 59. More recently, Freeport, the world s largest publicly listed copper producer, has been grappling with labor problems at Grasberg and a mine rights dispute with Indonesia. The Freeport dispute is likely to overshadow efforts by President Joko Widodo s government to resolve conflict in Papua, the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said. Any violence in the Freeport area can involve multiple actors with multiple interests, it said in a recent report. Even if the OPM is blamed, Papuans will be asking who else was involved. | 0fake |
Russian military denies report IS captured Russian soldiers in Syria: Ifax | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Defence Ministry on Tuesday denied a report that two Russian soldiers had been captured in Syria, Russia s Interfax news agency reported. Islamic State released a video earlier on Tuesday that it said showed two Russian soldiers that is says it captured in fighting in the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor. In the video, released on the group s AMAQ s news agency, two men appeared wearing gray tunics, one wearing handcuffs and the other with what appeared to be bruises on his face. One of them spoke in Russian, with Arabic subtitles in the video. There have been no incidents involving the capture or losses among military servicemen of Russia s armed forces in the province of Deir al-Zor or in other areas in Syria, Interfax cited a defense ministry official as saying. | 0fake |
Plutocrats love Jeb, but voters don’t: Bush’s “electability” argument is getting even weaker | A CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday pins Jeb Bush’s favorable rating at 35 percent compared to 57 percent who view him unfavorably. The only good news is that he’s 30 points above water among Republicans, 61 percent to 31 percent, and Republicans are the demographic that counts in a Republican primary. (He remains underwater among Tea Party supporters, though.) He’s way underwater among Democrats — but also among independents, who view him unfavorably 30 percent to 62 percent.
Then there’s ol’ Don Trump, who’s long held the position of candidate viewed most unfavorably (though very much liked by the people who do view him favorably, hence the high national and early-state polling numbers). Trump’s favorability rating sits at 38 percent, with his unfavorable at 58 percent. Not that different from Bush.
And then consider how each fares in a matchup with Hillary Clinton, whose favorables aren’t in such great shape either. Clinton defeats Trump by six percentage points, 51 percent to 45 percent. Against Bush? She leads by nine percentage points, 52 percent to 43 percent.
All of which raises some questions about what, exactly, the GOP establishment and the many, many wealthy donors who have donated to Bush see in him, expect from him. Or as the New York Times’ Nate Cohn puts it:
Jeb Bush is supposed to be the electable one. That’s why establishment donors flock to him: get him past the primary by giving his super PAC over $100 million, with which he can slam everyone else for as long as necessary, and then he can win the general election in a way that Cruz or Walker or Trump cannot. That’s because Jeb is supposedly the most reasonable of the general election candidates, the least beholden to ideological overreach, and the one most rhetorically open-armed about wooing Hispanic voters into the Republican coalition.
The only problem is that the more the public sees of Jeb, the more they dislike him and the thought of him becoming president. That wretched 30-62% figure among independents, combined with a head-to-head hypothetical in which he fares worse against Hillary Clinton than TRUMP! does, would seem to throw the whole rationale behind the Jeb Bush campaign down the toilet. Which is funny, because Jeb Bush doesn’t come across as nearly as much of an asshole as many of the other candidates do. He can seem mumbly or boring or stilted, but not actively malevolent. That he’s doing so poorly among independents — and that 92 percent of independents know enough about him to have an opinion — is likely a function of his last name. Bush hopes that the more he shows himself and explains his plans, the more he’ll be viewed as his own person. He’s not executing this plan especially well. The smartest thing that Jeb Bush has done this year was convince a whole host of wealthy Republican donors and establishment operatives to get behind his candidacy early. Now that they’ve invested so much into this candidate, they’re willing to stick it out well past the point at which the candidate has proven himself to be a boob. | 0fake |
Montana tribe, conservationists sue U.S. government for ending coal moratorium | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Native American tribe in Montana and a coalition of conservation groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday for lifting a moratorium on coal leases on public land without consulting tribal leaders and conducting a full environmental review. “It is alarming and unacceptable for the United States, which has a solemn obligation as the Northern Cheyenne’s trustee, to sign up for many decades of harmful coal mining near and around our homeland without first consulting with our Nation,” Tribal Council Chairman and President Jace Killsback said in a statement. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe in southern Montana said the administration had lifted the moratorium without hearing the tribe’s concerns about the coal-leasing program’s impact on its members and lands. The tribe sent a letter earlier this month to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting a meeting to discuss the issue. Zinke did not respond, and signed the order lifting the moratorium on Tuesday. In a press call on Wednesday, Zinke did not respond to a query about the Northern Cheyenne lawsuit. Killsback said the tribe, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Great Falls, would be harmed by lifting the ban. “The Northern Cheyenne rarely shares in the economic benefits to the region generated by coal industry and other energy development projects,” he said. About 426 million tons of federal coal are located near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation at the Decker and Spring Creek mines in Montana, the tribe said. However, neighboring tribe, the Crow, relies on coal production as its predominant industry and has called for the relaxation of coal regulations for years. “A war on coal is a war on the Crow people,” Zinke said on the call. Legal group Earthjustice argued that lifting the coal moratorium imperils public health for the benefit of coal companies. “No one voted to pollute our public lands, air or drinking water in the last election, yet the Trump administration is doing the bidding of powerful polluters as nearly its first order of business,” Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine said in a statement. The legal filing said that undoing the moratorium violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires a full environmental review prior to major policy changes. | 0fake |
Election Day: No Legal Pot In Ohio; Democrats Lose In The South | Election Day: No Legal Pot In Ohio; Democrats Lose In The South
Tuesday is "off year" Election Day in parts of the country. Legalizing marijuana is on the ballot in Ohio, Houston voters will decide on an equal rights ordinance and San Francisco weighs short-term rentals in what's being called the "Airbnb Initiative."
Elsewhere, eyes are on governor races in Kentucky and Louisiana, and whether Democrats can make any progress in the South.
Here's a look at some of the races:
Houston voters will decide whether to keep an equal rights ordinance that was approved by the City Council last year. The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity — criteria not covered by national anti-discrimination laws. The ordinance is hotly debated, particularly after some opposition ads were released. The ads claim that the ordinance would allow men who identify as women to assault women and young girls in bathrooms.
Hillary Clinton tweeted her support for the ordinance on Oct. 29, writing: "No one should face discrimination for who they are or who they love — I support efforts for Equality in Houston & beyond. #HERO #YesOnProp1 -H".
A White House spokesman said that President Obama and Vice President Biden were "confident that the citizens of Houston will vote in favor of fairness and equality."
Update from Houston Public Media: Houston's voters strongly rejected the anti-discrimination measure, with about three-fifths of voters opposed.
Republican Matt Bevin and Democrat Jack Conway are running to replace retiring Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat. Although Republicans have aggressively been spending money in the hope of retaining the governor's mansion, Conway has outspent Bevin 4 to 1. This race has been characterized by both candidates accusing each other of lying about their records.
Update from WFPL in Louisville: Conway conceded the race — the returns late Tuesday night showed Bevin winning with about 53 percent of the vote — and Republicans generally performed well in the state.
Louisiana has a gubernatorial election this year but it doesn't work the way you might expect. Louisiana's election system relies on what's called a "jungle primary." In a jungle primary, all candidates regardless of party appear on one ballot. If no one wins 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates face each other in a runoff election.
John Bel Edwards, a Democrat and state legislative leader, earned roughly 40 percent of the vote. He now will face Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, in the runoff election on Nov. 21. Vitter has had a tough race so far. His critics have continuously cited his involvement in a 2007 prostitution scandal, in which Vitter's telephone number was found in the records of the so-called D.C. Madam, Deborah Palfrey. Palfrey was accused of running a prostitution ring that made more than $2 million over 13 years.
The "Clean Elections Initiative" would increase public funding for candidates to up to $3 million in order to make them more competitive against privately-funded candidates, according to Reuters. The existing law makes up to $2 million available to candidates for state office. The ballot measure would also increase disclosure requirements and increase the penalties for campaign finance violations.
Update from the Portland Press Herald: The measure passed, with 55 percent of the vote as of late Tuesday:
Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is up for reelection and faces opposition from an unlikely candidate — truck driver and political unknown Robert Gray. According to The Associated Press, Gray didn't even tell his closest relatives that he had signed up to campaign for governor. Bryant has spent roughly $2.7 million this year and reportedly has $1.4 million in the bank. Gray has spent about $3,000 on his campaign in the past three months.
Update from Mississippi Public Broadcasting: Gray will presumably be back on the road after losing, 67 percent to 32 percent.
Ohio voters vote on two ballot measures with constitutional amendments that could dramatically change marijuana laws in their state. Issue 3, as one of these two measures is called, would enable landowners or operators of 10 predetermined sites the right to grow commercial marijuana. That's in contradiction to the second measure, Issue 2, which would prohibit monopolies from being enshrined in the state constitution. If both measures pass, there's sure to be lots of confusion.
Update from WCPN in Cleveland: Voters rejected legal and medical marijuana, with two-thirds voting against Issue 3; Issue 2, the measure rejecting the proposed marijuana oligopoly, was passing 54 percent to 46 percent.
San Franciscans heading to the polls Tuesday will get to vote on Proposition F, colloquially known as the "Airbnb Initiative." The initiative is a ballot measure that would strengthen regulation on the short-term rental of houses and apartments. While Airbnb is likely the biggest company in that niche market, the Los Angeles Times points out that there are other vacation rental companies that would be affected. Right now, residents can rent out their apartment or home for 90 days in a year. Proposition F would limit that rental period to 75 days. The measure is viewed as an attempt to discourage people from taking units off the housing market and using them as short-term apartment rentals. San Francisco has an acute housing shortage.
Update from KQED in San Francisco: Voters rejected the measure, Proposition F, 55 percent to 45 percent.
Seattle voters will decide on a campaign finance measure that's being touted as a national model for campaign finance reform. Ballot initiative I-122, if passed, would create a public financing model in the city. Every resident would receive a $100 voucher to give to the candidate of their choosing. The measure would also limit election campaign contributions from entities receiving city contracts of $250,000 or more, or from people spending more than $5,000 on lobbying.
Update from KUOW in Seattle: Voters overwhelmingly passed the measure, 60 percent to 40 percent.
All 140 seats of Virginia's General Assembly are up for election today. Republicans currently control the state Senate, 21 seats to 19. Expecting low turnout, both parties have been trying to drive their message home to voters. Republicans are expected to retain their majority in the GA. Democrats hope to take control of the state Senate.
Update from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Republicans have kept their majority in the Senate, and their strong control of the General Assembly. | 0fake |
Mulvaney says no plans to fire U.S. consumer bureau's English | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mick Mulvaney, White House budget chief and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), said on Monday he has no intention of firing Leandra English, who had attempted to block him from taking control of the agency. Former CFPB head Richard Cordray had named English to lead the bureau following his resignation last month, but that appointment had been mired in turmoil after U.S. President Donald Trump had assigned Mulvaney to the same role. A U.S. District Court judge last week sided with Trump, saying the law gave Mulvaney the right to lead the consumer finance watchdog, but English is challenging the decision. During a news briefing at the CFPB on Monday, Mulvaney told reporters he would “absolutely not” consider firing English and that he would like her to continue to serve as deputy director but had not had any direct contact with her. English could not immediately be reached for comment through her lawyer, Deepak Gupta. Since arriving at the CFPB, Mulvaney has implemented a hiring freeze and suspended all new regulations for 30 days. On Monday, he said he was also reviewing more than 100 pending enforcement actions, including litigation as well as private settlement talks and investigations. He declined to comment on specific cases, but said there were two litigation actions he has asked to delay and separately cited the CFPB’s case against mortgage company PHH Corp (PHH.N) as one that “has issues” without elaborating. The budget chief said data security was also a top priority and that he had instructed the bureau to stop collecting personally identifiable information until data security problems highlighted by the bureau’s independent audit office had been addressed. Mulvaney this week brought in Republican congressional lawyer Brian Johnson as a senior adviser and plans to quickly bring on board more political hires to help him review the bureau’s existing and pending regulations, the budget chief said. “Then I’m going to get down to the weeds of something I enjoy which is the budget, and how the agency ... is funded, how it’s structured, personnel, those types of things,” he added. Trump “wants to move expeditiously” on naming a permanent replacement but the Senate confirmation process is likely to take some time and Mulvaney expects to be in the interim role for up to seven months, he said in an interview Reuters. English is expected to formally file a preliminary injunction against Mulvaney and Trump this week, according to court filings. | 0fake |
Americans' health deteriorating under Obamacare as life expectancies plunge | Americans' health deteriorating under Obamacare as life expectancies plunge
Wednesday, November 02, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer Tags: Americans , life expectancy , plummeting health (NaturalNews) For many years, the assumption has been that the United States leads the world as an advanced civilization, dominating in categories like education, quality of life, and life expectancy. But a new study released this year by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) paints a much different picture, suggesting that Americans are less healthy and will more than likely live much shorter lives compared to those in previous generations.The 36-page report reveals that the average 65-year-old American man today will most likely die just short of his 86th birthday, while the average 65-year-old American woman only has about two years longer until she dies, on average, around age 88. This might not sound like anything out of the ordinary, except that these figures are actually down compared to last year's report using the same criteria.Over the past several years, the report explains, American health has taken a major downturn. Life expectancy amongst 65-year-olds is down by about six months, on average. It's also down for younger Americans, who are likewise expected to live about six months less than in previous generations. In nearly every generational category, including "Baby Boomers," "Generation X," and "Millennials," life expectancy is down, and will likely continue to go down.This is especially the case among middle-aged, non-Hispanic whites, who a recent study by Princeton University found are increasingly succumbing to the detrimental effects of bad habits like alcohol and drug abuse, unhealthy diet, and lack of exercise. This report also highlights increasing rates of suicide within younger populations, a sad state of affairs that says even more about the current state of our society.Mortality rates are still rising, the data suggests, but at an increasingly lower rate. And if things continue on the current trajectory, eventually overall life expectancy will be on the downturn – that is, unless the factors contributing to this decline are addressed and brought to bear. If they aren't, the average American life will likely continue to decline into the future. Pension payers, insurance companies see dollar signs as people die earlier While the study's findings have many applications in terms of social science research , the one area where they're making the biggest ripples involves employee pensions. By looking at this new life expectancy data through the lens of post-retirement disbursements, employers can determine whether or not their liabilities will increase or decrease – and based on the most current data, it appears that a decrease is on the way."The updated scale provides the latest information to help accurately measure pension obligations," says Dale Hall, managing director of research at the SOA. "However, it is up to pension plan sponsors, working with their plan actuaries, to determine how to incorporate emerging mortality improvement data into their plan valuations."With the growing popularity of 401k accounts as opposed to pensions , the new data can also help employees who handle their own retirement affairs better ascertain how much they need to make, and how much they need to save, to live comfortably until their deaths. All of this information makes a difference when determining the price of annuities and insurance contracts whereby insurance companies are obligated to pay out until the time a person dies.Year-over-year changes in mortality are very volatile," Hall adds, noting that something as simple as a bad flu season can disrupt the death rate averages.At the same time, some experts claim that longevity rates in the long-term are still on an upward trajectory, and that soon-to-be retirees and younger folks alike need to take into account the fact that they could live much longer than the latest figures suggest, and to plan accordingly. Sources: | 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 |
Catalan commission to investigate claims of abuse during banned referendum | MADRID (Reuters) - Catalonia will create a special commission to investigate claims of abuse by Spanish police during a banned referendum on independence on Sunday after more than 800 people were left injured, leader of region Carles Puigdemont said on Monday. Thousands of Spanish police were shipped in to the region to prevent the vote on secession though scenes of violence due to heavy-handed tactics by armored, baton-carrying riot units have received international condemnation. The vote which the constitutional court banned and Madrid said was illegal, yet still attracted millions of defiant voters, was valid and binding, Puigdemont said during a conference. The Catalan leader said he had had no contact with Spain s central government and called on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to say whether he was in favor of mediation in talks over the region s future, which should be overseen by the European Union. | 0fake |
Trump Blasts Democrats: A ‘disgrace’ that Full Cabinet Not in Place, ‘Obstruction by Democrats!’ | 21st Century Wire says In a tweet by President Donald Trump on Tuesday he called the Democratic Party out for obstructing the formation of his cabinet. He noted it was a disgrace that his full cabinet was not in place and blamed the Democrat Party for obstruction. It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2017Does President Trump have a valid point?If we look at the appointments and confirmations of both the Bush and Obama administrations for nominees to lead major departments and agencies there is an undeniable difference when comparing to Trump s appointees. Trump s fifth cabinet member was confirmed on Tuesday. Obama had twelve appointments sworn in at this time in his tenure.The Senate confirmed Education Department lead, Betsy DeVos, on Tuesday after Democrats held an all-nighter with a failed attempt to stop her confirmation. She was confirmed in a vote of 51-50 after two GOP senators joined all the Democrats in voting against her and Vice President Pence cast the vote that broke the tie.Senate Democrats are planning yet another all night debate into Wednesday in protest of President Trump s choice for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. Many people are finding it hard to argue with the President s tweet as the Democrats certainly appear to be putting up road blocks at every opportunity.READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
HILARIOUS: What A Trump Ad For Black Voters Would REALLY Look Like (VIDEO) | Donald Trump s presidential campaign has been trying hard to convince the media and (white) voters that he is wholeheartedly making an appeal to black voters. But in reality the Trump attempt to speak about the issues that black Americans have been insulting and ham-fisted at best.Taking that into consideration, Conan O Brien broadcast an ad poking fun at what Trump outreach to black voters would really look like:Like the real Trump campaign s efforts, the hilarious ad comes across more as something that a white person who has never interacted with a black person would come up with. It starts out echoing Trump in the way he has argued that black people have terrible lives, then ratchets up to point out different ways that Trump could pander to black voters including appointing Denzel Washington to run the FAA.The comedic bit points out how bad the actual Trump work has been, showcasing just how little attention Trump gives to how real black Americans are dealing with life. Instead, Trump treats these voters as simpletons who are looking to him to be their savior. His pitch has literally been to ask black voters what else they have to lose, a far cry from a positive sales job.And black voters are understandably not responding to the Trump come-on. Polls show that Trump is on track to have less black vote support in the election than either John McCain or Mitt Romney did in their elections, although President Obama was on the ballot in those contests.Some polling in swing states has shown Trump polling at zero percent with black voters. They have largely been turned off by a campaign using the most nakedly racist appeals seen in such an effort since the pro-segregation Dixiecrat party was a player in the 1960s.Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
Zimbabwe's Mugabe says may make cabinet changes next week | HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday he may make changes to his cabinet next week, at a time of rising tensions within his ruling party over who will eventually takeover from him. Mugabe told a meeting of the ruling ZANU-PF youth wing in Harare that it was time to review the performance of his cabinet ministers. The last cabinet reshuffle was in September 2015 when Mugabe was removing allies of his former deputy Joice Mujuru, whom he fired in December 2014 over accusations that she was plotting to topple him. She denied the allegations. Next week there might be some changes in government. Should we remain with the same team or we make changes or even discard some. So that exercise I will be doing it and early next week you will get the results, Mugabe told a meeting of his ZANU-PF youth wing. Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a frontrunner to take over from Mugabe, said on Thursday he had been poisoned in August when he fell ill and was airlifted to South Africa, which earned him a public rebuke from First Lady Grace Mugabe. ZANU-PF is divided into two camps, one supporting Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe and another rallying behind Grace. Mugabe also castigated his senior party officials for fighting in public, saying this would weaken ZANU-PF and embolden the opposition ahead of elections next year. And the public insults, its a shame. A shame even to our legend because our party was not built on that basis. A party which has learnt that if we are divided then we become the food of vultures outside, Mugabe said. | 0fake |
BREAKING: Democrat Congressman, Vocal ILLEGAL ALIEN Advocate and Trump Impeachment Leader, Luis Gutiérrez To Announce He Won’t Run For Re-election…What’s Behind His Sudden Decision? | Rep. Luis Guti rrez (Ill.), one of the most vocal immigration reform advocates in the House, reportedly won t run for reelection.Three Democratic sources told Politico that Guti rrez plans to announce Tuesday that he s pulling his nominating petitions for the seat.He was one of several Democrats to endorse articles of impeachment filed against President Trump earlier this month.Guti rrez s spokesman, Douglas Rivlin, told Politico that he couldn t comment. I don t know anything. I don t know anything, he said Monday. The HillRepresentative Luis Gutierrez, the strongest voice in Congress for illegal aliens, has been a thorn in the side of Donald Trump ever since he won the GOP primary. With absolutely no grounds, other than the fact that Trump won t be bullied into caving to the Democrat agenda, Gutierrez has been calling for the impeachment of Trump for quite some time. Gutierrez recently went off on an embarrassing rant about impeaching President Trump that was caught on video:Luis Gutierrez was recently arrested outside of the Trump Towers in New York while protesting over Trump s position on the protections President s executive order gave to DACA recipients. | 1real |
Tesla’s Solar Roof To Cost Less Than Normal Roof Says Elon Musk | Tesla's Solar Roof To Cost Less Than Normal Roof Says Elon Musk Nov 18, 2016 23 0
Wonderful news for the solar and renewable energy industry keeps coming in. Yesterday, Tesla and SolarCity shareholders approved Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, with 85% of the voters in favor. Depiction of a solar roofed home.
However, the big news of the day came when Elon Musk said that the cost to install their solar roofs will likely be less than a normal roof, even before adding in the electricity savings that will be gained from the homeowner:
“It’s looking quite promising that a solar roof will actually cost less than a normal roof before you even take in the value of electricity into account. So the basic proposition would be, ‘Would you like a roof that looks better than a normal roof, lasts twice as long, costs less and by the way generates electricity?’ It’s like, why would you get anything else?”
A few weeks ago, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s plan for their solar roofs which he presented a couple weeks ago. The plans include four different types, which can be seen in detail here . The solar cells are tucked in behind the glass so that the roofs look appealing, sharp and clean.
Musk also said that the glass tiles can incorporate heating elements that melt snow while still generating electricity. He stated further that such a process wouldn’t be energy intensive to do so, but would be extremely net positive.
The four types of roofs are expected to be available in 2017, starting with 1-2 of them from the beginning. Tesla is also planning to unveil the Model 3 in 2017 , which will be much less expensive than the Model X and Model S. Tesla’s goal with the Model 3 is to make this type of vehicle available to a wider audience.
With good reason too, as renewable energy is experiencing much momentum right now in the world. As we reported four days ago, Tesla made more money in one quarter this year than all U.S. oil companies made together last year. Jointly due to falling oil prices and the global awakening to the need for renewable energy, these oil companies actually lost over $67 billion last year.
Additionally, it was announced in the UK recently that for the first time ever, solar power supplied more energy to the UK this summer than coal-generated electricity.
Also, back in September, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea announced plans to create the Asian Super-Grid , which will consist of wind and solar energy to help power those countries, as well as places in Europe, Southern Africa and Southeast Asia.
2017 is shaping up to be quite a year in many different regards. For renewable energy, the year and years ahead look extremely bright. If Tesla can indeed get their solar roof price below regular roofing prices, this will catalyze humanity’s transition into clean, sustainable and renewable energy very quickly. Let’s intend for the best!
Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and does health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information and other inspiring articles. | 1real |
University of Wisconsin Anti-Capitalism Professor Earns $170,000 Annually - Breitbart | Recently published information reveals that Erik Olin Wright, a professor who teaches a course bashing capitalism at the University of Wisconsin, earns an annual salary of $170, 000. [A syllabus for Professor Wright’s class, entitled “Class, State, and Ideology: An Introduction to Social Science in the Marxist Tradition,” was published only by the free MacIver Institute. The syllabus claims that the course covers the Marxist tradition and its “radical critics of capitalism as an economic system and social order. ” Wright argues that a study of the Marxist tradition gives students the tools to understand the “radical egalitarian project of social change. ” Wright, a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin’s Sociology Department, makes $116, 111 more than the average household income in Wisconsin. His $170, 000 annually salary also places him in the top two percent of all Americans. Wright has written extensively on “radical democratic egalitarianism,” and believes that the inequities by a capitalist economic and social order “perpetuates eliminable forms of human suffering. ” It is unclear if Wright believes his membership in the top two percent of American income earners makes him a willing participant in the nation’s capitalistic economic order that causes “human suffering. ” Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com | 0fake |
South Sudan needs $1.7 billion humanitarian aid in 2018 | JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan needs $1.7 billion in aid next year to help 6 million people half of its population cope with the effects of war, hunger and economic decline, the government and the United Nations announced on Wednesday. South Sudan slid into civil war in late 2013, two years after gaining independence from Sudan and a third of its 12 million population has fled their homes. The conflict was sparked by a feud between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, who is being held in South Africa, and eventually led to a fight along ethnic lines. We are calling for $1.72 billion to continue providing life-saving assistance and protection for 6 million people most in need in South Sudan, Alain Noudehou, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, told a news conference. Humanitarian assistance was needed for people suffering the effects of displacement, food insecurity, malnutrition, violence and economic decline, Noudehou said. Since the conflict began, about 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, with nearly 1.9 million people who have internally displaced and about 2.1 million who have fled to neighboring countries, he said. The conflict has also led to a cut in crude oil production, which is a key foreign exchange earner, and the ensuing insecurity has hampered cultivation of food. Also at the news conference was South Sudan s Humanitarian Affairs Minister Hussein Mar Nyuot. I believe if we don t get the amount ($1.72 billion) and the donors don t respond to this more crisis in South Sudan will happen. That means 2018 might be worse than 2017, he said. | 0fake |
Campaign Chaos: Mike Pence Just Slammed Trump For His Remarks On Groping Women | Only a few days ago, it seemed as if Donald Trump could not make a gaffe big enough to end his campaign. Then on Friday, audio of Trump from 2005 was released in which Trump makes violently misogynistic remarks regarding groping women. It s set his campaign into a tailspin and even his running mate, Mike Pence, is now calling out Trump.Pence made his remarks in a statement Saturday where he wrote: As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the eleven-year-old video released yesterday. I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them. I am grateful that he has expressed remorse and apologized to the American people. We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night. The beginning of Pence s statement is reminiscent of a viral video post made by Republican Senator Mike Lee made after hearing the audio. Except for the fact that Lee went a step further and pleaded with Trump to drop out of the race. Two other Republican Senators have called for Trump to drop out after hearing the audio. While the statement from Pence is written in a manner that positions Trump along the lines as a sinner who might still be capable of redemption, the word from insiders is that Pence is absolutely furious with Trump. WaPo national political correspondent, Philip Rucker, recently tweeted that a source close to Trump said that Pence is absolutely apoplectic about Trump s groping comments. A source close to Trump camp told me Pence and his team are absolutely apoplectic, "melting down and "inconsolable. Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) October 8, 2016This statement from Pence provides more evidence that Trump s campaign is in crisis. Pence s position as Trump s wing-man is clear. Pence is supposed to and has been making the case for Trump to socially conservative Christian Republicans, an unfortunate position to be in at the present moment. There is no way to make a man who caused the entire nation to hear the word pussy on repeat in the news cycle be palatable to the moderate Christian right-wing. Featured image from Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
Вот такая нынче благотворительность | Происшествия
Избрание Дональда Трампа президентом США достаточно сильно шокировало весь мир, в том числе, самих американцев. В последние дни сразу в нескольких городах Штатов начали проводиться шумные акции протеста против новоявленного главы государства. Как и всегда в подобных случаях, протесты должен кто-то координировать и финансировать, поскольку сами по себе люди в одно время и в одном месте не соберутся. Если, конечно, это не пункты продажи седьмых Айфонов. Как сообщил информационный портал «Daily Caller», решивший разобраться в ситуации, на этот раз в роли организатора акций выступает некая организация под названием «Progress Unity Found».
Самое интересное то, что эта организация зарегистрирована как благотворительная, и поэтому даже не платит налоги. По сути своих учредительных документов, это такая же организация, как, к примеру, «Красный Крест». Однако цели перед собой «Progress Unity Found» ставит совсем другие: «обеспечить прогрессивную альтернативу мейнстримной благотворительности». Оказывается, даже в благотворительности есть мейнстрим, который теперь уже совсем не крут, и ему нужна альтернатива. Хорошо оплачиваемая, разумеется.
Всё то же издание «Daily Caller» выяснило, что «Progress Unity Found» финансово поддерживает коалицию из нескольких правозащитных организаций «Act Now to Stop War and End Racism» («ANSWER»), которая непосредственно и занимается организацией и проведением акций протеста против избрания Трампа. Коалиция считает, что выполняет священную миссию, мобилизуя людей по всей стране и совершая экстренные протестные действия в связи с выбором американцами экстремальной, можно сказать, фанатичной программы развития государства, предложенной Дональдом Трампом.
Сторонников этой противотрамповой позиции просят активнее раскрывать свои кошельки и оказывать ANSWER финансовую помощь, дабы она могла и далее протестовать по всей стране. В том числе, провести масштабные акции планируется 20-го января будущего года, когда состоится церемония инаугурации Трампа.
Напомним, что подобные акции, нередко сопровождающиеся массовыми беспорядками и стычками с сотрудниками правоохранительных органов, начались сразу же после объявления результатов выборов. 8 лет назад, после избрания Барака Обамы, в США многие так же говорили о бесперспективности его политики. Правда, до таких масштабных мероприятий протеста под прикрытием благотворительности дело ещё не доходило. Не успели организоваться? Посмотрим, как будет развиваться ситуация, и как проявит себя миллиардер на посту президента. И ещё весьма любопытно, из каких фондов на самом деле финансируется «благотворительность» «Progress Unity Found»? | 1real |
Gold prices on the way to all-time highs | Font Size "What does the rising gold price mean for the Russian economy and ordinary consumers?" "It means that the Russian Central Bank has been running a justifiable policy, because the bank has been purchasing gold during the recent three years. Now gold will cost even more. Citizens still have an opportunity to buy gold investment coins that are VAT-free in Russia, unlike bullions. "In Russia, there are three ways of investing in gold. They include unallocated bullion accounts in banks - bullions and coins. This method is bad because unallocated bullion accounts are excluded from the deposit insurance program. Therefore, if a bank collapses, the state will not give you anything back. ЭA bullion is a good investment, but in Russia, this investment shall include 18% of value added tax. Therefore, your price per one gram or one ounce of gold will be 18 percent higher. Gold investment coins are exempt from VAT, so this is the most profitable way among those that exist. ЭIn Russia, the most common gold coin is known as "Pobedonosets" or "Victorious." This is a quarter of an ounce coin. The global standard is one ounce or 31 grams. In Russia, however, we produce quarter of an ounce coins - approximately 7.7 grams of pure gold. Today, this coin costs about 20,000 rubles. I bought it in the early 2000s when it was 4,000 rubles. The price grows in both rubles and dollars. ЭThe most popular foreign coin is known as the "Australian Kangaroo," because it depicts a kangaroo. This coin costs about 91,000 rubles today. This is an ounce coin, 9999 purity. Since the beginning of the year the price on the coin has increased by 20 percent," said Alexey Vyazovsky. Pravda.Ru | 1real |
May heads for Brussels as last-minute Brexit talks go on | BRUSSELS/DUBLIN (Reuters) - British negotiators were locked in last-minute talks with their European Union and Irish counterparts on Monday, trying to put together a Brexit deal that Prime Minister Theresa May might agree over lunch in Brussels. London has broadly agreed to many of the EU s divorce terms, including paying out something like 50 billion euros. But the issues of the rights of expatriate citizens and the UK-EU border on the island of Ireland remain fraught, diplomats said. Brussels officials and diplomats sounded increasingly confident of a deal over the weekend, but they caution that much will depend on the outcome of May s talks over lunch. I have a good feeling but I am not prejudging the outcome, one senior Brussels diplomat said. May hopes that her talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, due to start at 1:15 p.m. (1215 GMT), can persuade her 27 fellow EU leaders that sufficient progress has been made on divorce terms for them to agree next week to open talks on their future trade relationship. They will hold a summit on Friday, Dec. 15 [nL8N1O30C4], chaired by European Council President Donald Tusk, with whom May has scheduled a meeting at 4 p.m., after her lunch with Juncker. Dublin, backed by the rest of the EU, is seeking strong assurances that London will commit to keeping business regulations in Northern Ireland the same as in the EU, to avoid a hard border that could disrupt peace on the island. Hopefully, we ll find a way forward today, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told state broadcaster RTE ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss the issue before May s talks. Coveney said the talks are in a sensitive place , with the British and Irish governments discussing possible texts of an agreement. Britain is seeking to keep its options open, having rejected a commitment to leave Northern Ireland in a customs union with the EU or to keep the whole United Kingdom in one. May depends in parliament on a pro-British party in Northern Ireland that rejects any deal which would divide the province from the British mainland. But Ireland and the EU say maintaining a customs union is the best way to avoid regulatory divergence . Juncker and Barnier will meet the European Parliament s Brexit team at 11 a.m. to brief them on progress. The legislature, which must approve any withdrawal treaty if a disruptive Brexit is to be avoided in March 2019, has demanded that EU courts have the final say in guaranteeing rights for 3 million EU citizens in Britain. Britain insists that it will no longer accept the supervision of the European Court of Justice. Nadine Dorries, a member of Britain s ruling Conservative Party who supports Brexit, said May should tell EU officials time is running out to move talks on to the next phase. The EU has had enough time now to decide whether or not they are going to discuss trade with us, they need to get on with it and if they don t get on with it, the closer we get to walking away with no deal , she said. May portrays Monday s meeting as part of preparations for an EU summit on Dec. 15 - though the EU says no negotiations will be conducted at the summit itself, so Monday is the last chance for her to make offers. A British spokesman said: With plenty of discussions still to go, Monday will be an important staging post on the road to the crucial December Council. Since Britain s referendum on leaving the EU in 2016, high-profile opponents of Brexit have suggested Britain could change its mind and avoid what they say will be a disaster for its economy. Half of Britons support a second vote on whether to leave the EU, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday. With the clock ticking down to the March 2019 exit date, May is under pressure to start talks on its future trade ties by the end of the year to remove the cloud of uncertainty for companies that do business in the EU. More than 30 pro-Brexit supporters, including members of parliament and former Conservative ministers, have signed a letter calling on May to walk away from talks unless key conditions are met. They include an end to free movement of people from the EU into Britain and for the European Court of Justice to have no further role in British legal matters after March 2019. | 0fake |
Melania Trump Rips Kathy Griffin: Beheading Photo ’Makes You Wonder About Mental Health’ | First Lady Melania Trump has responded to Kathy Griffin’s photograph of herself clutching Donald Trump’s bloody, severed head, describing the photo as “very disturbing” and “simply wrong. ”[A report Wednesday claimed that the First Lady’s son, Barron Trump, was watching television when the image flashed up on the screen as part of the news coverage of the incident. The president’s son reportedly became “panicked” over the photo because he did not know who Griffin was or the context in which the photo was taken. “As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing,” Melania Trump said in a statement Wednesday. “When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it. ” The photograph, first published by TMZ Tuesday morning, shows the My Life on the comedian holding up a bloody, decapitated head meant to resemble that of the president, in a photograph reminiscent of horrific pictures taken by Islamic State terrorists to celebrate their atrocities. The photo was taken during a shoot with L. A. artist Tyler Shields. The image went viral Tuesday, drawing strong condemnation from both sides of the political aisle as well as thousands of calls for a boycott of Griffin’s current comedy tour. The president responded Wednesday, saying the proliferation of the photograph had been particularly hard on his children, including Barron. Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017, The image also reportedly led the U. S. Secret Service to open an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the photo shoot. Griffin apologized in a video posted to her Twitter account Tuesday, saying the image had gone “too far. ” I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. pic. twitter. — Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 30, 2017, “I’m a comic. I cross the line. I move the line, then I cross it. I went way too far,” Griffin said. “The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, I will continue. ” The apology apparently did little to quell outrage over the image. On Tuesday, CNN — where Griffin has a live New Year’s Eve broadcast with Anderson Cooper since 2007 — said it was “evaluating” the comedian’s role in its future broadcasts. Home security services company ADT also announced that it would pull its advertising from the network over the incident. On Wednesday, the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque announced that Griffin’s upcoming show, scheduled for June 16, had been cancelled. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
China says South China Sea not an issue between China, United States | BEIJING (Reuters) - The South China Sea was not an issue between China and the United States, and Washington is expected to make a positive contribution instead of stirring up trouble, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday. Zheng was speaking at a briefing about next week s visit to China by U.S. President Donald Trump. | 0fake |
U.S. House to vote on non-nuclear Iran sanctions next week | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will vote next week on new sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, senior House Republicans said on Friday, seeking to take a tough line against Iran without immediately moving to undermine the international nuclear deal. “It is Congress’ responsibility to work with the executive branch on a clear-eyed strategy to stop Iran’s reckless behavior,” Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the number two House Republican, and Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a joint statement emailed to Reuters. “Immediate action towards this goal will come from the House next week as we vote on legislation that furthers sanctions on Hezbollah and Iran’s missile proliferation,” they said. President Donald Trump defied both allies and adversaries on Oct. 13 by refusing to certify that Iran is complying with an international agreement on its nuclear program, and threatened that he might ultimately terminate the accord. That threw the fate of the agreement between Iran, the United States and other world powers into the hands of Congress, by opening a 60-day window in which Congress could reimpose, or “snap back,” sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program that were lifted under the agreement. However, many of Trump’s fellow Republicans - who all opposed the deal reached under former Democratic President Barack Obama - have said they see no immediate need to do so. Congressional aides said that, for now, House lawmakers are focusing on clamping down on Iran in other ways such as the missile and Hezbollah sanctions. In the Senate, a separate effort is under way to amend existing U.S. law to set new conditions for the U.S. role in the pact, although critics said such a plan could violate terms of the deal, formally known as the JCPOA. Britain, France and Germany, European U.S. allies who signed the agreement, are particularly concerned about Trump’s action and have lobbied Congress to preserve the nuclear pact. Among other things, the ballistic missiles bill would toughen existing sanctions by going after entities with assets outside the United States if they were found to support Iran’s ballistic missile program. It has broad bipartisan support in the House, and also is expected to pass the Senate. The Hezbollah bill is directed at the Shi’ite militia’s allies in Lebanon’s government and asks the Trump administration to estimate and distribute assessments of the net worth of Lebanese politicians. The Senate has already unanimously passed a different version of the Hezbollah sanctions bill. | 0fake |
BERNIE SANDERS’ ECONOMIC POLICY Explained In One BRUTAL Meme | This is the economic policy that s bringing throngs of college-age young adults to rally for Bernie Sanders.It s a sad but true commentary on the generation of adults who will be leading our nation in the years to come. Note to college students, this is what mature bill-paying adults call B.S. economics. | 1real |
Openly Testy, Republicans Reject the President’s Wiretap Claims - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — In a striking repudiation, Republicans on Wednesday threatened subpoenas and vented openly about the lack of evidence behind President Trump’s tweet that President Barack Obama had wiretapped his phones in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign. The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Devin Nunes of California, told reporters on Capitol Hill that “I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower” and that Mr. Trump, if taken literally, is simply “wrong. ” Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, said he had provided no information to Mr. Trump that might have formed the basis for the president’s claim. And two Republican senators threatened to block Mr. Trump’s nominee for deputy attorney general until they get clarity from the F. B. I. about the accuracy of the president’s assertions. One of them vowed to issue subpoenas, if needed. But Mr. Trump appeared defiant. In a Fox News interview, he hinted at a broader meaning to his Twitter messages and suggested that his online assertions would eventually be vindicated, saying that “wiretap covers a lot of different things. ” Mr. Trump added, “I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. ” It is unclear if Republicans will accept an effort by Mr. Trump and his aides to redefine what he meant. Mr. Nunes told reporters on Wednesday that lawmakers will have to confront that issue as hearings of the intelligence committee open on Monday. In one of the most significant signs of pressure from within Mr. Trump’s own party, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he would block the nomination of Rod J. Rosenstein to be deputy attorney general unless the F. B. I. answered his questions. Mr. Rosenstein had been expected to win Senate confirmation easily. The Judiciary Committee has primary oversight of the F. B. I. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, joined Mr. Grassley in the threat. “We’ll hold up the deputy attorney general’s nomination until Congress is provided with information to finally clear the air as to whether or not there was ever a warrant issued against the Trump campaign,” Mr. Graham said on NBC’s “Today” program. A delay on Mr. Rosenstein’s appointment would create a number of problems for the Justice Department. In particular, he was expected to oversee any department investigations into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election after Mr. Sessions recused himself because Mr. Sessions was an adviser to the Trump presidential campaign. Previous presidents have faced similar uprisings within their own parties: Democratic lawmakers initially denounced President Bill Clinton’s behavior with an intern that led to his impeachment in the House, and Republican frustration with the Iraq war, as President George W. Bush’s approval ratings fell, hampered Mr. Bush’s agenda. But rarely does a president clash so forcefully with his own party so early in his first year. Mr. Trump already faces a difficult dynamic on Capitol Hill as he struggles to push through a major overhaul of the nation’s health care system that is already dividing the Congress. To overcome that intraparty opposition — not to mention the hostility to his health care plan from Democrats — Mr. Trump will need to woo the very Republicans who are increasingly growing weary of defending his online assertions. In the days since Mr. Trump’s Twitter post on March 4, the White House has offered a series of shifting response, explanations and clarifications, some of which have been in conflict with each other. Democrats have been particularly aggressive in assailing the president and his staff. Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat, said Wednesday that if no evidence emerged to substantiate his claim, Mr. Trump should “explain himself. ” “You can’t level an accusation of that type without retracting it or explaining just why it was done,” he said. Mr. Nunes and Mr. Schiff said the F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, would testify Monday at the committee’s first public hearing on its Russian interference investigation. Mr. Comey could presumably resolve the question about the wiretap. Mr. Schiff also challenged the statements of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, who had said that while he was not aware of any investigation targeting Mr. Trump, the president spoke accurately when he said he had been wiretapped by Mr. Obama. “Those two things cannot both be true unless he is suggesting that the F. B. I. was engaged in a rogue operation unsupervised by a court to wiretap Trump Tower,” Mr. Schiff said. “There is absolutely no evidence of that and no suggestion of any evidence of that. ” As part of the F. B. I. ’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election, agents are looking at whether any of Mr. Trump’s associates colluded with the Russian government. After Mr. Trump made the claim on Twitter that Mr. Obama had tapped his telephone, Mr. Comey asked the Justice Department to make a statement disputing Mr. Trump’s assertion. So far the Justice Department has refused to say publicly whether it went to a judge to get a secret warrant to eavesdrop on Mr. Trump, putting the department in a difficult position. Silence from the Justice Department has frustrated Mr. Comey. If the Justice Department says there was no wiretap, it undercuts the president’s accusation. If there was a wiretap, it suggests that F. B. I. agents and federal prosecutors had probable cause to believe that Mr. Trump the candidate was operating as an agent of a foreign power. It is not clear why Mr. Trump thought he was wiretapped or what led him to make the claim, which was flatly rejected by James R. Clapper Jr. a former director of national intelligence, and by a spokesman for Mr. Obama. Mr. Graham and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, asked the F. B. I. last week for copies of any warrant applications and court orders “related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump campaign or Trump Tower. ” Mr. Graham said Wednesday afternoon that the F. B. I. had offered to respond to the letter from him and Mr. Whitehouse in a classified briefing. Mr. Comey met behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon with Mr. Grassley, along with Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and top members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. | 0fake |
Show biz: Business and breakthroughs | Show biz: Business and breakthroughs Exclusive: Vanessa Frank learns what makes or breaks members of film industry Published: 1 min ago Vanessa Frank About | | Archive Vanessa Frank has been involved in the film industry first as an actress and then in production, distribution and international sales. At 31, she directed her first film, “Let The Lion Roar,” starring Oscar nominated Eric Roberts, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Sorbo and Grammy nominated singers Jaci Velasquez, Tim Rushlow and Jamie Grace. The film was an indie distribution success, with sales in 52 nations. Print
About Film Talk
Film Talk podcasts takes you inside the minds of some of the brightest filmmakers in the world. Learn from award-winning filmmakers as they teach the secrets to their success – the daily habits, routines and practices they employ to be the best in their industry. Guests include Oscar winners, Emmy Award winners, and Golden Globe winners. You can access the archive of all Film Talk podcasts here .
Making independent films happen with Atit Shah
Atit Shah is a film producer with five films releasing within the next 12 months, including “Jekyll Island” starring Oscar-nominated Minnie Driver, Emmy Award-winner John Leguizamo, AnnaSophia Robb and Ed Westwick, and “Money” starring Kellan Lutz.
He is the CEO of Create Entertainment, and is represented by UTA.
Breaking through as a female director with Melanie Aitkenhead
Melanie Aitkenhead is the director of the reboot of “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”, Oscar-nominated James Franco’s retelling of the 1996 classic film of the same name. The film stars Tori Spelling, with a cameo by Franco and premiered on Lifetime.
She’s also the director of the film adaption of James Franco’s popular novel “Actors Anonymous,” which explores the lives of young actors in Hollywood and stars Franco alongside Oscar-nominated Eric Roberts, Keegan Allen and Scott Haze.
Building the franchise with Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is the CEO of Platinum Studios, one of the world’s largest independent libraries of comic book characters. Scott has played an integral role in creating one of the largest bibles in comic book history: the Platinum Studios “Macroverse,” which includes anchor titles such as “Cowboys & Aliens.”
A constant innovator, Scott established Platinum in 1997, following a successful career as the founder of Malibu Comics, which sold to Marvel in 1994. At Malibu, Scott led many successful comic spinoffs into toys, television and feature films, including the billion-dollar film and television mega-hit, “Men in Black.”
The art of entrepreneurship with Kent Speakman
Kent Speakman is a producer and entrepreneur at the intersection of entertainment and technology. Examiner.com has called him “one of the most influential entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry.” He has won the iMedia Entertainment Marketing award for “Best Digital Campaign” and “Best Mobile Entertainment Startup,” and he was awarded Evan Carmichael’s “Top 100 Entrepreneurs to Follow” in 2013 preceded by the “iMedia Top Ten Digital Marketers” in 2009.
Kent founded KONNECT – a digital, mobile and experiential agency that works with startups, brands and entertainment properties – before he co-founded FAMEUS, a new social network that connects members of the entertainment industry in innovative ways with a unique technology and that was listed on the Huffington Post’s “Top 10 Startups in LA” in 2015.
Kent has an international network of professionals and influencers, having orchestrated a variety of film and technology projects in Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, Asia and India. He has produced hundreds of events across Canada and the US, whilst working with clientele ranging from A-list celebrities, to tech mobile startups.
The Legal Aspect of Filmmaking with Dan Satorius
Dan Satorius is a world-class entertainment lawyer, with a practice that focuses principally on transactions, intellectual property, business structuring and financing. Furthermore, he is a nationally regarded attorney on clearance issues including Fair Use. His clients include Academy Award, Emmy Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Peabody Award-winning independent producers, writers and broadcasters in the film and television industry.
After graduating from film school and law school, Dan produced award-winning documentaries and short dramatic films. His graduate thesis film was selected as a finalist for a student Academy Award. In addition to practicing entertainment law for more than 25 years, Dan has been an adjunct professor at William Mitchell School of Law where he taught Entertainment Law.
Dan is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries, Co-Vice Chair of the Film and Television Division, and a member of the Governing Committee. | 1real |
Mexicans on U.S. border fear economic catastrophe if Trump wins | TIJUANA/NOGALES, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexicans on the U.S. border anxiously awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, plagued by fears of economic disaster if Republican Donald Trump wins and tries to choke local industry, isolate the country and deport millions. Trump’s campaign has been one of the most unpopular in living memory in Mexico, ranging from stinging verbal attacks on its migrants, threats against its trade agreements, to his repeated vows to seal off the country behind a huge border wall that he insists Mexico will pay for. Nowhere has the bad-tempered contest been felt more acutely than in the Mexican cities straddling the U.S. border, which hundreds of thousands of people cross for work every day, and acts as a bridge for $500 billion in annual bilateral trade. Trump launched his bid accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug peddlers across the border, prompting the government to accuse him of stirring up hatred and fanning concerns on the border that racial prejudice is becoming more acceptable. The tycoon says he could scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement that took effect in Mexico, the United States and Canada in 1994, and he has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 35 percent on Mexican-made goods to help U.S. industry. “We’re very worried. We know what Donald Trump is looking to do, which is limit the imports, he wants to manufacture everything in the States,” said Marcello Hinojosa, president in the border city of Tijuana of industry group Canacintra. “But this has been analyzed by both the United States and by Mexico and it’s suicide for both countries.” Mexican business leaders say about 40 percent of the average Mexican factory export is made of U.S. content and argue the two manufacturing sectors are so closely intertwined that it is impossible to take steps against one without damaging the other. Trump, who polls show trailing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a tight race, says Mexico is “killing” the United States on trade. However, commerce between the two has grown much faster than their respective economies since NAFTA, World Bank and U.S. data show. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the United States, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says roughly 6 million American jobs depend on trade with Mexico. Trump has also blasted U.S. companies for investing in Mexico, which houses billions of dollars worth of manufacturing plants, especially around Mexico’s northern border. Trump blames the Mexican factories for jobs losses in the United States. If protectionist policies gain ground, prices for products and services would go up, and jobs would eventually be lost in Mexico, putting pressure on people to migrate - or exposing them to the lure of violent crime, Hinojosa said. Rarely have Mexicans expressed such strong views about U.S. presidential candidates as during the current campaign. Mexicans favor Clinton in the race by 10 to 1, according to a poll published in Mexico in late September. But the tightening of polls in the last two weeks has rattled their confidence she will win. “Personally, though I think I speak for many Mexicans, I hope Trump loses,” said Rodolfo Monroy, 85, a restaurant owner in the border city of Nogales, opposite Nogales, Arizona. “Why? Because he’s rude, because of what comes out of his mouth. He doesn’t like us Mexicans,” he said, with a flash of anger on his face. “We’re going to be in real trouble (if he wins).” Wadih Kuri, Chief Executive of ABC Aluminum Solutions, a local aluminum company, recalled being labeled “beaner” as a Mexican studying across the border, the sort of prejudice he said Trump’s campaign was encouraging again. “Are we still at the same place where kids need to be ridiculed because they’re from Mexico? And that’s all he’s doing. So If I’m nervous, I’m nervous for the culture that he’s inspiring,” said Kuri, who now lives in San Diego. Trump’s threats to deport more than 11 million undocumented migrants living in the United States, roughly half of whom are Mexican, could also put Mexican authorities under strain, said Cuauhtemoc Galindo, the mayor of Nogales, Mexico. Nor was it wise economic policy, he added. “Having someone govern who feeds racism, hate, this sort of thing ... will also make a lot of Mexicans stop visiting (the United States) out of fear, out of a sense of pride, which will also hurt the U.S. economy,” Galindo said. Crossing into the United States from Tijuana, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the hemisphere, construction worker Alejandro Ortiz said “every aspect” of his life would be affected if Trump wins - which he fears will happen. “This is going to affect me whenever I cross the border, they’re going to investigate me more, just because of my color, because I speak Spanish,” said Ortiz, 36, who was born in the United States but grew up in Mexico. | 0fake |
TRUMP INSIDER REVEALS Donald’s Top Pick For VP: Wants Someone He “can live with for eight years” [VIDEO] | We wholeheartedly approve Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is now the leading candidate to be tapped by Donald Trump as his running mate, a close confidante of Trump tells Newsmax.On Tuesday, Trump told the AP that he has whittled down his choices to 5 or 6 names. I have a list of people that I would like, Trump revealed in his interview Tuesday.But the name that keeps cropping up as his favorite is Gingrich, a Trump confidante tells Newsmax.Trump has tapped former presidential contender Ben Carson to help pick his running mate. Carson said Tuesday that he is stepping down from that post to focus on the Thursday meeting between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump also announced this week that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will head his transition team.Trump is said to favor Gingrich for several reasons.First, Trump recognizes he is a Washington neophyte and sees in Gingrich someone who can school him in the legislative process and make nice with Capitol Hill.Trump admitted to the AP he wants a running mate who can help him with legislation, getting things through. As Speaker, Gingrich successfully got Bill Clinton to sign legislation abolishing welfare, while agreeing to budget constraints that led to the first balanced budgets in a generation.Trump has other reasons he is leaning toward Gingrich. He is said to personally like him. Rubio, Newsmax reported, has already been eliminated though he lobbied through surrogates for the job. Rubio has denied doing so.Trump also finds Ohio Gov. John Kasich kind of quirky and not someone he resonates with, the confidante said.Trump is apparently discarding the traditional approach of picking a running mate to provide geographic or ideological balance to his ticket. Instead he wants someone he can live with for eight years, the Trump source said.This concept of a simpatico ticket, while rare, occurred when then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas turned to then-Sen. Al Gore of nearby Tennessee to run with him in his successful 1992 bid for president.The Fox News commentator was an early defender of Trump in the GOP primary.Here is Newt Gingrich endorsing Donald J. Trump only yesterday: Donald values loyalty, the source said, and Gingrich has been loyal.Trump told the AP that he also is looking for a candidate who has held office and been under the public microscope. For the most part, they ve been vetted over the last 20 years, he explained to the AP.Gingrich has had such vetting, and survived a bitter, though unsuccessful run for president in 2012 against Mitt Romney.Gingrich is also considered one of the best communicators in the party, and Trump is placing great emphasis on who can go toe-to-toe against Hillary Clinton s running mate in upcoming debates.Via: NewsMax | 1real |
War, US Government Corporate Propaganda, The CIA And The Russian “Putin Threat” | Behind the headlines - conspiracies, cover-ups, ancient mysteries and more. Real news and perspectives that you won't find in the mainstream media. Browse: Home / War, US Government Corporate Propaganda, The CIA And The Russian “Putin Threat” Essential Reading By Smoking Mirrors on September 8, 2011
Smoking Mirrors at his creative best writing about … well you decide what he’s writing about The Anglo-Saxon Mission Part I By wmw_admin on March 1, 2010
Bill Ryan talks to a former City of London insider who participated in a meeting where the elite’s plans for depopulation were discussed. The meeting, which took place in 2005, also discussed a planned financial collapse Have You Read the Talmud Lately? By wmw_admin on September 3, 2006
The Talmud expounds some of the most virulent racism, as these extracts plainly show. However, as a reader points out not all Jews are influenced by it, or even read it. Only the ultra religious study it, the rest haven’t a clue. We leave you to decide | 1real |
Senate Gives Trump Jr. Ultimatum: Respond By Friday Or Face Subpoena | The Senate Judiciary Committee just gave former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. a decision to make by Friday evening and the clock is ticking. The Committee has pre-approved subpoenas in order to force Manafort and Don Jr. to appear before the panel if they do not accept by Friday evening an invitation to appear next week, the Washington Post reports.Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the Committee Chairman, said that Manafort, Trump Jr. and a third invited witness, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, have been given until Friday night to accept the invitation to testify in a public hearing which is scheduled for Wednesday.Now, if they do not accept this offer, the Iowa Republican said that subpoenas would be issued almost immediately. We ve already authorized the orders, Grassley said. He further noted that the committee s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), had also signed off on the orders in advance. She and I don t have to take any action it s already been taken. According to a member of Manafort s legal team, they are considering the request. But it s really a request in name only since the subpoenas are ready to go.Things are so bad for Manafort that he s confused about which meeting to respond to first.Grassley scheduled the two senior Trump campaign surrogates to appear before the panel the same week as the Senate Intelligence Committee plans to interview the president s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. That interview is scheduled for Monday, according to Kushner s lawyer although on Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee s top Democrat, Mark R. Warner (Va.), indicated the committee was also planning on a second audience with Kushner.Jared Kushner, Trump s son-in-law, is being scrutinized as well, along with Manafort and Don Jr., over their interactions with Russians, most of which have been revealed recently. Kushner had to update the list of foreign contacts on his disclosure form which he needed to submit to get security clearance three times. He added more than 100 people to it. Apparently, Kushner has a very bad memory.Kushner, Manafort and Trump Jr. will also be asked about their meeting at Trump Tower in June of 2016 in which they met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer in order to obtain damaging information on Hillary Clinton to help his father win the election.The number of people present at the meeting keeps increasing, which totally doesn t seem suspicious at all. Don Jr. said it was a conversation about adoption, but according to the emails Trump s son released on Twitter, there was no mention of that. Instead, it mentioned getting dirt on Clinton.The 8th person in that secret Russian meeting with Trump Jr. has been identified as Irakly Kaveladeze. He s a bit of a shady character who was once the subject of a congressional inquiry into money laundering. Kaveladeze was accused of being involved in a massive effort, in a ten year period, to launder $1.4 billion of Russian and Eastern European money through U.S. banks.Like Trump has said about his Russian scandal, Kaveladeze called his money laundering scandal a witch hunt. Trump has repeatedly called the Russia scandal fake news and so has Don Jr. We re wondering if under questioning as he stands in front of the panel, Junior will yell out, Fake panel! Because this isn t Twitter anymore. This is real life. Tick tock.Featured image via John Moore/Getty Images | 1real |
Kim Kardashian The Queen Of Selfies Retires Her Booty From Breaking The Internet | Tuesday, 1 November 2016 Kim Kardashian: The Queen Of Selfies
The world wide web has been crashing, due to suffering from withdrawals of Kim Kardashian's daily selfies. Kim was the queen of breaking the internet with her big booty, and it wasn't always from her sitting on it! Once upon a time, Kardashian fans felt so empowered by her nakedness, they would to bow to her tweets 1000 times a day, masterbate to her on Instagram 400 times a day, and drool at her snapchat videos 2000 times a day hoping they could see more selfies.
Things changed inside a Paris Hotel when 5 super villains robbed Kim of her biggest selfie moment. Fans were outraged and began rioting around the world when they learned the robbers didn't post any photos online showing Kim's booty & her boobs all tied up.
In a press conference, the Kardashian family let the world know that the online trolls are real and keep haunting them in person like the boogie man. Kris Kardashian says the trolls have not stopped the family from living their normal reality TV life in the limelight because she hired more super heroes as body guards that are ready to take on the villains! Meanwhile, Kanye is still loving himself publicly, Kylie continues eating pizza filled with love letters from her number one stalker fan, and the rest of the family is estatic that the focus is back on them for a minute.
Kim Kardashian has been offline for a month, yet fans refuse to believe this is the end of her booty selfies online. The world wide web hasn't stopped praying for Kim, they desperately await her selfie comeback so they can have meaning in their lives and feel empowered once again. Make DeniseVasquez's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!) | 1real |
Democrats use Trump as bogeyman to get people to vote | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic Party activists in some U.S. states are using Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate who has stirred controversy with his comments about illegal immigrants and women, as the centerpiece of their “get out the vote” campaign for the November elections. In California, canvassers from the Orange County Democrats carry pictures of Trump when they knock on doors ahead of the June 7 California primary. They ask if people will vote in the primary, and warn that if they don’t help pick the strongest possible Democrat, “this guy will win,” said Henry Vandermeir, the local party chairman in Orange County, a traditionally Republican island in the state. Democrats in New Hampshire have unveiled Trump/Sununu lawn signs, looking to tie Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on issues such as climate change (Trump is a skeptic) and healthcare. One sign reads: “Trump/Sununu. Because Health Care Is For Losers,” a swipe at Trump’s vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. “Every state party is trying to maximize what they can get out of this difference (between candidates) and to tie Trump to the Republicans in the state,” said Holly Shulman, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. To be sure, Republicans appear likely to use Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination who is also a polarizing figure, in a similar fashion. “There is no better volunteer recruitment tool, fundraising pitch, or unifier for the Republican Party than the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency that will surely take us further backwards,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement. Democrats are also looking to tie Trump to Republican Senate candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot as they seek to regain control of the chamber they lost in the 2014 congressional elections. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last week released so-called “Trump cards” online, equating several Republican senators’ policy positions with those of the New York developer. For Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, for example, the DSCC highlighted how they and Trump oppose a federal minimum wage hike. The DSCC also launched a website in March, partyoftrump.com, which labeled some senators “Retrumplicans” and asked for donations to help fight senators who support Trump. Recent polls suggest that a Trump/Clinton matchup could be a tight race. The two candidates were in a dead heat in the three key swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania in a Quinnipiac University poll earlier in May. And a Reuters poll this month showed that much of the backing for Clinton and Trump comes from people whose primary motivation is to stop the other side from winning, rather than any love for either of the two candidates or their policies. The strategy of highlighting opposing candidates is not without risks, according to Bruce Newman, the author of “The Marketing Revolution in Politics: What Recent U.S. Presidential Campaigns Can Teach Us About Effective Marketing.” If Trump - who shocked pundits by beating 16 other Republican hopefuls for the nomination - proves more attractive to the general electorate than Hillary Clinton, then tying him to other Republicans could hurt Democrats “We don’t know how popular this guy is going to get,” Newman said. “This is just the beginning.” (This version of the story has been refiled to add dropped “to” in final paragraph) | 0fake |
BRILLIANT TRUMP ADVISER: “The Extreme Media” Has Gotten Donald Trump Wrong Since He Announced [Video] | What a treat! Laura Ingraham interviewed President Trump Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller tonight:Miller has been spot on from the beginning of his tenure as Senior Adviser to Trump He often warmed up the Trump rally crowds with incredibly uplifting speeches. He also gave a great speech about why not to vote for Hillary:Trump spokesperson Stephen Miller just hammers Hillary Clinton! You will love every minute of this!The guy is so dialed in on immigration and what needs to be done to reform it. One million people come into the U.S. yearly! 300K in the 70 s, 500K in the 80 s and now 1 million! NUTS!Ingraham pivots to speak about polls and the media Note that he calls the media the extreme media LOL! Who doesn t love that new term?Ingraham discusses Trump s agenda and the populist movement. It s about trade, immigration, public safety to help ALL Americans.Uplifing everyone is the key!SOME BACKGROUND ON MILLER S RISE TO TRUMP S INNER CIRCLE:When Jeff Sessions first looked at Stephen Miller, he saw potential in the recent Duke University graduate.Miller, then in his early 20s, took up an offer from the conservative author David Horowitz to visit Capitol Hill to introduce him to members of Congress. Horowitz believed that Miller, who penned conservative columns at Duke and in Horowitz Front Page Mag, would be a capable D.C. staffer. A meeting with Sessions was on the top of Miller s Washington wish list. What was supposed to be a 15-minute meeting became an hour-long meeting with the senator, Stephen Boyd, Sessions former communications director who eventually hired Miller. Sen. Sessions immediately saw that Stephen Miller was an extraordinary young man who had a deep grasp of conservative politics. It wasn t only Sessions who saw something in Miller.When Donald Trump takes the oath of office on Friday, the 31-year-old Miller will be one of the president s closest confidants, serving as a senior White House advisor. That title, announced last month, comes after Miller worked as a senior policy advisor for the better part of a year on the Trump campaign. Trump also tasked Miller with writing his speech to the Republican National Convention, and initial reports indicated that Miller would be writing the inaugural address. The Trump camp is now saying that the president-elect wrote that one himself, although New York Magazine poked some holes in that claim.While Sessions did not have an opening for Miller at the time of that first meeting nearly 10 years ago, he told Boyd to put him on his radar. He came out and he said to me, I want you to keep an eye on him and see if he can be a part of our team one day,' Boyd recalled. After working as a press secretary to two House members, Miller was hired as a communications staffer on the Judiciary Committee, where Sessions was the top Republican. I remember setting up a staff and it was Friday afternoon, and I got the go-ahead to hire a press secretary just to work on Judiciary. [Sessions ] directions were very clear and he and I discussed it that it was obvious this was a kid with a lot of talent, Boyd said.Miller would move up the ranks from a Judiciary Committee staffer to press secretary for Sessions office, eventually rising to communications director when Boyd departed to become chief of staff to Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, in 2012. Miller could not be reached for this story.On the surface, there didn t seem to be much in common between Sessions, who grew up near Selma, and Miller, who was raised in liberal Southern California.The turning point for Miller came after the Sept. 11 attacks, when he was disgusted with how his high school in Santa Monica ridiculed President George W. Bush and how the liberal-leaning faculty banned conservatives like Horowitz and talk show host Larry Elder from speaking at the school but allowed leftists and a Communist to address the student body, according to an interview he gave to the Los Angeles Times. During that dreadful time of national tragedy, anti-Americanism had spread all over the school like a rash, Miller wrote in a 2003 essay, How I Changed My Left Wing High School, which Horowitz published. The co-principal broadcasted his doubts about the morality of the air strikes against the Taliban to the entire school via the PA system. One teacher even dragged the American flag across the floor as we were sending off brave young men to risk their lives for it. It was then that I first took action, writing to prized radio personality Larry Elder. He invited me to discuss these issues on his program, which immediately drew the ire of the teachers, administrators, and even my fellow students. Their resistance only strengthened my resolve. Miller continued his conservative advocacy at Duke, when he gained attention for defending the white lacrosse players accused of raping a black stripper (the players were ultimately exonerated) at a time when public opinion was against them. His position led to appearances on cable news, further raising his profile. Three of our fellow students are being put on trial not because of evidence but because of a DA s incompetence and malice, he wrote in the university s student paper. Sadly, many in the community have shown that they are not fair minded but would rather hunt for witches than search for justice. Miller s writings were one of the main factors in Boyd hiring him. I focused on his material he had written for the other two members of the House. I was very impressed he had a column in college and he was a very good writer, Boyd recalled. I was impressed with his intellect, I was impressed with his grasp of politics. I was impressed with his ability to get the core of the matter and articulate it in a way [the public would] understand. Sessions office later found out that Miller had an uncanny ability to channel the senator s when dealing with the press. Colleagues of Miller s and Sessions told Politico that the two had a mind meld, a quality that Boyd also attested to. Miller has demonstrated an ability to capture the voice of his boss in a way that is very important and also exceeds the ability of most Capitol Hill staff, Boyd said.That voice was mostly flexed on immigration, where explained Sessions views to the public.When his boss was accused by pro-immigration groups of being a demagogue for his opposition to an unsuccessful 2010 bill to grant illegal immigrants amnesty for enrolling in college or enlisting in the military, Miller stuck to the issue instead of responding with another attack. The DREAM Act is a proposal for mass amnesty that would even include those who have committed serious criminal offenses, he told AL.com in November 2010. It would add millions of newly authorized workers at a time when Americans are struggling with high unemployment and recession. Besides being a conduit between the senator and the media, Miller also played a role on policy matters; he was instrumental in helping Sessions derail the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill in 2014 that would have given illegals a pathway to citizenship. Miller helped put together a briefing book for Republicans filled with talking points and data to bolster their case. We had been working on the ideas in it for months, and Stephen put it in the handbook in a very quick time in a very cogent fashion, Sessions told Politico. It was very timely and it impacted the outcome of the vote. Boyd said Miller s involvement on policy was unusual for a communications staffer. It is rare, although in his case I think it speaks to his grasp on the issues and his understanding as they impact the average man and woman, Boyd said. There s no doubt that there was a great trust between Sen. Sessions toward Stephen Miller and they made a great team. Miller s having switched to a high-level position on Trump s team at a relatively young age does not come as a shock to Boyd, who said his former colleague has adeptly articulated Trump s views. I think personally that Miller was one of the first people to really understand the deep frustration that the American working class is feeling, their concerns with open borders and trade policies that hurt them more than they help, and also brought an ability to channel that energy toward president-elect Trump, he said.Steve Bannon, former Breitbart News CEO and Trump s campaign manager who will join Miller in the White House as chief advisor to the president, said Sessions work in the Senate with Miller s input paved the way for Trump s candidacy. Whether the issue was trade or immigration or radical Islam, for many years before Donald Trump came on the scene, Sen. Sessions was the leader of the movement and Stephen was his right-hand man, Bannon told Politico in their June profile of Miller.What started out as the potential of a recent college graduate has turned into high expectations for Miller. | 1real |
Obama legacy imperiled as Trump weighs Supreme Court pick | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump’s presidential election victory all but dooms major Obama administration initiatives that are already tied up in legal challenges and gives him the chance to appoint a pivotal fifth conservative justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 healthcare law, his plan to combat climate change, his executive action on immigration, his transgender rights policy and other issues were challenged in court by Republicans and industry groups. (For a graphic on legal challenges to major Obama initiatives click tmsnrt.rs/2eznafM) A Trump administration could decide no longer to defend the policies in court after Trump takes office on Jan. 20. In addition, Trump and the incoming Republican-led Congress could simply repeal or rescind Obama’s policies, as they have promised. Trump’s Supreme Court appointment, possibly the first of multiple picks, would allow him to restore the decades-long conservative majority on the bench, which looked under threat when conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died in February. The shorthanded court currently is split with four conservatives and four liberals. Conservative activists may be emboldened to bring cases urging the court to support gun rights, uphold abortion restrictions and rule for religious rights. “If you have a conservative court, you are going to have more conservative decisions,” said Kerri Kupec, a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group involved in religious rights cases. One issue the court could take up in the near term is whether business owners who oppose same-sex marriage can object on religious grounds to providing services to gay couples. One dispute concerns a baker in Colorado, while another involves a florist in Washington state. In the labor context, the high court could also revisit whether states can force nonunion workers to pay unions for collective bargaining activities. The court split 4-4 on the issue in March, just after Scalia’s death, in a loss for conservative groups challenging the practice. Liberal hopes of gaining a majority on the Supreme Court for the first time in decades lasted almost nine months, from Scalia’s death on Feb. 13 to Tuesday night. In a vindication of Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision, with little precedent in U.S. history, to take no action on Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, appeals court judge Merrick Garland, Trump is now poised to nominate a new justice as soon as he takes office. His nominee would be considered for confirmation by a Republican-controlled Senate under McConnell. Trump may also be able to make further appointments to the court, with three justices 78 or older, including 83-year-old liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom Trump called on to resign in July after she called him a “faker” and speculated about the possibility of moving to New Zealand if he won the White House. Fellow liberal Stephen Breyer is 78, while conservative Anthony Kennedy is 80. If Trump is able to replace Ginsburg or another liberal justice during his presidency, the court’s conservative wing would be further strengthened. Such a majority “could be a threat to important rights that have been protected in the past by the Supreme Court,” said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal legal group. She cited abortion rights and efforts at ensuring racial equality as examples. A conservative court, as it was with Scalia on the bench, would likely be favorable toward gun rights, skeptical of abortion and supportive of the death penalty. If Democrat Hillary Clinton had won Tuesday’s election, liberals may have been emboldened to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty and seek gun restrictions and limits on campaign spending, among other things. Trump has already issued a list of 21 judges, mainly federal judges appointed by President George W. Bush and state court judges, he said he would consider to fill Scalia’s vacancy. All have conservative credentials on such issues as abortion, birth control and gun rights. The case that could be affected soonest by Trump’s win involves transgender rights. The court on Oct. 28 took up a case concerning a female-born transgender high school student named Gavin Grimm, who identifies as male and sued in 2015 to win the right to use the school’s boys’ bathroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration. No date has been set for the argument in the case. The court could potentially delay acting until it has nine justices. A ruling could resolve similar litigation around the country over an Obama administration directive saying schools should allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choosing. Trump has said he would rescind the Obama directive. He also has said he would rescind Obama’s executive action to protect millions of immigrants in the country illegally from deportation and give them work permits, which was put on hold by the courts while the administration fights to revive it. Trump would be expected to overturn major regulations put in place under Obama, including the Clean Power Plan to curb greenhouse emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants. That process takes time, meaning the Supreme Court could potentially rule on a legal challenge to the Clean Power Plan before Trump can dump it. The case is pending before an appeals court in Washington. The Republican Congress under Trump could now seek to repeal Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, but even if it does not, a Republican legal challenge that could cripple the law is pending before a federal appeals court in Washington. | 0fake |
Salvador court finds ex-president Funes illegally enriched himself | SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - An El Salvador court on Tuesday ruled in a civil case that former President Mauricio Funes and one of his sons had illegally enriched themselves and ordered them to pay nearly $420,000 in restitution to the government, a prosecutor said. The country s second civil court ruled that Funes could not justify $206,665 of his assets, while his son Diego Funes could not prove the origin of $212,484, government prosecutor Cecilia Galindo told reporters following a closed-door ruling. The court also recommended that prosecutors file criminal charges against Funes, she said. El Salvador s attorney general had sought to recover $1.23 million from Funes and his family. The court acquitted Funes ex-wife and the current social inclusion minister, Vanda Pignato, of similar charges, Galindo said. She did not specify why the court had levied a smaller fine than was sought by prosecutors. Funes, a former journalist, was elected in 2009 and brought the party formed by a former leftist guerrilla group, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), to power for the first time following a 1980-1992 civil war. His term ended in 2014 and he sought asylum in Nicaragua last year after claiming he was being politically persecuted. Funes said in his Twitter account that he rejected the unjust and arbitrary sentence of the court. You can not condemn defendants for stealing money from the state and say their assets are illegal just because there is pressure from the Right to do so. We will appeal this sentence, Funes said in a post. | 0fake |
Trump, Putin had previously undisclosed visit at G20 dinner | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a previously undisclosed conversation during a dinner for G20 leaders at a summit earlier this month in Germany, a White House official said on Tuesday. The two leaders held a formal two-hour bilateral meeting on July 7 in which Trump later said Putin denied allegations that he directed efforts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump’s interactions with the Russian leader were scrutinized closely because of those allegations, which have dominated his first six months in the White House, and Trump’s comments as a presidential candidate praising the former KGB spy. Trump and Putin first met at the G20 during a gathering of other leaders, which was shown in a video. They later held the bilateral meeting, which was attended briefly by a pool of reporters. In the evening, both men attended a dinner with G20 leaders. Putin was seated next to U.S. first lady Melania Trump. The U.S. president went over to them at the conclusion of the dinner and visited with Putin, the official said. That conversation had not been previously disclosed. “There was no ‘second meeting’ between President Trump and President Putin, just a brief conversation at the end of a dinner. The insinuation that the White House has tried to ‘hide’ a second meeting is false, malicious and absurd,” the official said. In a tweet late on Tuesday, Trump said: “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is “sick.” All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!” News of the conversation, first reported by Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, could raise renewed concern as Congress and a special counsel investigate allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered to help Trump, a Republican, win the presidency. Trump says there was no collusion and Russia denies interference in the election. Bremmer said Trump got up from his seat halfway through dinner and spent about an hour talking “privately and animatedly” with Putin, “joined only by Putin’s own translator.” The lack of a U.S. translator raised eyebrows among other leaders at the dinner, said Bremmer, who called it a “breach of national security protocol.” The White House official said the leaders and their spouses were only permitted to have one translator attend the dinner. Trump sat next to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife. His translator spoke Japanese. “When President Trump spoke to President Putin, the two leaders used the Russian translator, since the American translator did not speak Russian,” the official said. A U.S. official who was briefed by some of his counterparts about the encounter said some of the leaders who attended the dinner were surprised to see Trump leave his seat and engage Putin in an extended private conversation with no one else from the U.S. side present. “No one is sure what their discussion was about, and whether it was purely social or touched on bilateral or international issues,” the official said. As part of the investigations into allegations of Moscow’s meddling, a congressional panel said on Tuesday it wanted to interview Trump’s eldest son, his former campaign chairman and all others who were at a June 2016 meeting with Russian nationals. The meeting in Trump Tower in New York has grabbed the spotlight in the saga of possible collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign as media reports of more participants than originally known have emerged. Donald Trump Jr., who runs the Trump Organization family business, released emails last week in which he eagerly agreed to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow’s official support for his father’s campaign. “Any intelligence out there that suggests that somebody is of interest to us, we have to pursue it,” the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Republican Senator Richard Burr, told reporters. Trump Jr.’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager from March to August, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On July 10, Trump Jr. posted on Twitter: “Happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know.” MOSCOW-BASED DEVELOPER A man who works for a Moscow-based developer with ties to Trump was identified on Tuesday as the eighth person to attend the Trump Tower meeting. Lawyer Scott Balber confirmed Ike Kaveladze’s name to Reuters after CNN reported that his client had been identified by special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors and was cooperating in their investigation. Balber represented Trump in the New York businessman’s 2013 lawsuit against comedian and television host Bill Maher, demanding the $5 million Maher offered to give to charity if Trump could prove his father was not an orangutan. Kaveladze’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as vice president of Crocus Group, a company run by Moscow-based developers Aras Agalarov and his son, Emin, an Azerbaijani-Russian pop star. The two have ties to the Trump family and helped set up last year’s meeting between Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Kaveladze was asked to go to the meeting with the understanding he would be a translator for Veselnitskaya, only to find she had brought her own translator with her, Balber told CNN. Balber said he also represented the Agalarovs. Balber said Mueller’s investigators had not interviewed his client or made contact about the Agalarovs. In addition to Trump Jr., lawyer Veselnitskaya, her translator, and Kaveladze, the meeting was attended by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, Manafort, publicist Rob Goldstone and Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin. Separately, the White House said on Tuesday that Trump had nominated Jon Huntsman, a former Utah governor and envoy to China under former Democratic President Barack Obama, as U.S. ambassador to Russia. | 0fake |
Trump says he hopes North Korea understands gravity of situation | BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday he hoped North Korea “fully” understood the gravity of his words warning Pyongyang against taking any military action against the United States or its allies. “I hope that they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean,” Trump told reporters at his golf resort in New Jersey. “Those words are very easy to understand.” | 0fake |
WATCH: GOP Governor Tells Christians To Martyr Themselves For Right To Discriminate | This is why we have separation of church and state, to guard this country from religious whackos like Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant.In April, Bryant signed a sweeping anti-LGBT law that allows public and private employers to discriminate against gay people and anyone else such as interracial couples, atheists, and people who have had premarital sex if they claim to have a sincerely held religious belief. This abuse of religious liberty by Republicans has now reached fever pitch as many red states are adopting similar laws as a way to be bigoted assholes toward to certain groups of people. And now Bryant, despite being criticized by people in his own state, is calling upon Christians across the country to martyr themselves for the right to discriminate.During the right-wing Watchmen on the Wall conference, Family Research Council hate group leader Tony Perkins introduced Bryant as the winner of the first ever Samuel Adams Religious Freedom Award for passing the bigoted law in his state, which means Samuel Adams is probably rolling in his grave.Perkins declared that all elected officials should be ministers of God and Bryant kissed Perkins ass by comparing him to David in the Biblical story of David and Goliath. I remember in Sunday school, reading one of my favorite stories. It was about a giant, a bad giant, who came into a valley one day and he called to the Israelites, Send down your champion and let me vanquish him. We were in that valley, but Tony Perkins was there with us. He was there as surely as Our Lord and Savior, as surely as the God of all gods stood there with us. And I can tell you how fortunate we are in this nation and in this organization to have a man of faith and leadership in Tony. God bless you for what you do. Bryant then proceeded to whine about the opposition to the discriminatory law he signed claiming that they don t know the history of Christians being persecuted and said Christians are willing to stand in line for crucifixion to secure their right to discriminate. They don t know that Christians have been persecuted throughout the ages. They don t know that if it takes crucifixion, we will stand in line before abandoning our faith and our belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So if we are going to stand, now is the time and this is the place. Here s the video via Right Wing Watch:This is proof of how insane conservative Christians have become. They imagine that they are being persecuted because they aren t allowed to refuse service to people they hate. Of course, if Christians were really being persecuted in this country they would be dragged out in the streets and beaten or killed as they are in countries where Christianity is a minority religion. That s what real persecution looks like.But Bryant is hardly the first Mississippi governor to use religion to justify bigotry. As a two-term governor and US Senator from the state in the 1920s through late 1940s, Bilbo believed that God sanctioned racism.According to Think Progress:For Senator Bilbo racism was more that just an ideology, it was a sincerely held religious belief. In a book entitled Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization, Bilbo wrote that [p]urity of race is a gift of God . . . . And God, in his infinite wisdom, has so ordained it that when man destroys his racial purity, it can never be redeemed. Allowing the blood of the races [to] mix, according to Bilbo, was a direct attack on the Divine plan of God. There is every reason to believe that miscengenation and amalgamation are sins of man in direct defiance to the will of God. Another Mississippi governor named Ross Barnett was still repeating the same justification in 1960. The good Lord was the original segregationist, he claimed.Segregation has since been outlawed, but conservatives are still using the same argument to justify their bigotry and it s going to be fun watching a federal court put them in their place once again.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
Singapore minister urges U.S. focus on strategic interest in Asia | SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (Reuters) - The United States should focus on larger strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region, including expanding trade ties, the defense minister of Singapore said on Saturday, when asked about the controversy sparked by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Taiwan. Ng Eng Hen said it was not Singapore’s place to comment on Trump’s phone calls, but welcomed comments by his aides reaffirming Trump’s support for the longstanding U.S. “one China” policy, a policy also supported by Singapore. China lodged a diplomatic protest on Saturday after Trump spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. Trump’s 10-minute telephone call with the Taiwanese leader was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”. The Singaporean official told the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in southern California that the bigger issue was how the United States would shape its role in the Asia-Pacific region in coming years, given China’s rapid rise. “We ought to have the larger strategic interests in mind,” Ng said. He said the U.S. role in Asia should be multidimensional, including trade and commercial ties, not just focused on security issues, and the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement would have been a “concrete, tangible commitment” to do just that. Trump has already ruled out U.S. participation in TPP. | 0fake |
Comment on FBI: No link between Trump and Russian government by Christian Zionist | Posted on November 1, 2016 by Dr. Eowyn | 2 Comments
For Hillary Clinton and her accomplice and protector, the Obama administration, Russia is the new, all-purpose bogeyman.
They say the Russian government is the hacker of those revealing and embarrassing DNC, Hillary and Podesta emails that WikiLeaks has been releasing.
Hillary even accused Donald Trump of being in cahoots with Moscow. The latest accuser is longtime Democratic strategist James Carville.
As reported by Edund Kozak for PoliZette , in an appearance on MSNBC yesterday, Oct. 31, 2016, Carville attacked the FBI for reopening its criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, calling it part of a vast conspiracy to subvert American democracy. (See “ Weinered: FBI reopens investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails ”)
Carville raged:
“This is in effect an attempt to hijack an election. It’s unprecedented … the House Republicans and the KGB are trying to influence our democracy! [FBI Director James] Comey was acting in concert and coordination with the House Republicans. We also have the extraordinary case of the KGB being involved in this race and selectively leaking things from the Clinton campaign that they hacked.”
As noted by Kozak, “Apparently the fact that the Soviet security agency [KGB] was disbanded in 1991 does not preclude its involvement in this vast, anti-Clinton, FBI-organized conspiracy.”
Now, the New York Times reports (via ZeroHedge ) that in an investigation into Russia’s possible involvement in the 2016 presidential election, the FBI concludes that there’s no evidence that Trump is connected with the Russian government:
“For much of the summer, the F.B.I. pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead — which they ultimately came to doubt — about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank.
Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.”
Hey, James Carville, you conniving POS. This message is for you!
~Eowyn | 1real |
GOP reaches ‘new level of panic’ over Trump’s candidacy | Turmoil in the Republican Party escalated Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increased alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump’s candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks and missed opportunities.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was described as “very frustrated” with and deeply disturbed by Trump’s behavior over the past week, having run out of excuses to make on the nominee’s behalf to donors and other party leaders, according to multiple people familiar with the events.
Meanwhile, Trump’s top campaign advisers are struggling once again to instill discipline in their candidate, who has spent recent days lurching from one controversy to another while seemingly skipping chances to go on the offensive against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
“A new level of panic hit the street,” said longtime operative Scott Reed, chief strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “It’s time for a serious reset.”
Trump allies on Wednesday publicly urged the candidate to reboot, furious that he has allowed his confrontation with the Muslim parents of dead Army Capt. Humayun Khan to continue for nearly a week. They also are angry with Trump because of his refusal in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday to endorse two of the GOP’s top elected officials — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — ahead of their coming primary elections.
[Donald Trump refuses to endorse Paul Ryan and John McCain in GOP primaries]
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), one of Trump’s most loyal defenders, warned that his friend was in danger of throwing away the election and helping to make Clinton president.
“The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now, neither of them is acceptable,” he said. “Trump is helping her to win by proving he is more unacceptable than she is.”
Gingrich said Trump has only a matter of weeks to reverse course. “Anybody who is horrified by Hillary should hope that Trump will take a deep breath and learn some new skills,” he said. “He cannot win the presidency operating the way he is now. She can’t be bad enough to elect him if he’s determined to make this many mistakes.”
Campaigning in Florida, Trump sought to pivot away from his problems. He addressed the controversy and speculation, saying his campaign is “doing really well” and has “never been this well united,” then focused renewed attacks on Clinton and President Obama.
But the idea that the campaign was fully united was undercut when Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, told Fox News Channel that he “strongly endorsed” Ryan in his primary campaign. Other Republicans viewed the endorsement as a sign that he is having some influence within the campaign, said a person familiar with Pence’s role.
Campaign manager Paul Manafort went on cable news channels earlier in the day to try to tamp down the rampant criticism of the GOP nominee, saying that reports of a campaign staff in crisis were incorrect. He said the campaign is “focused,” in “very good shape” and “moving forward.”
Throughout the day, there were also persistent reports that allies of Trump, including Priebus, Gingrich and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, were trying to arrange a meeting with Trump to urge him to refocus his candidacy. Manafort, when asked on Fox News about such a meeting, said he knew nothing about it. “Not me,” Gingrich said in an email when asked if he were part of an upcoming meeting.
A knowledgeable GOP strategist said, “It’s not happening,” then added, “It doesn’t take a genius to know that calling Donald Trump and yelling at him is never going to work.”
At past moments of crisis in the campaign, Trump’s children have played an influential role, and there was some hope within the party that they could again provide help. Bloomberg Politics reported Wednesday afternoon, however, that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had left for a hunting trip outside the country.
[Transcript of Donald Trump’s interview with The Washington Post]
Friends and allies of Manafort disputed reports that the top adviser had given up on Trump, describing him as fully committed to waging a successful campaign. But they said Manafort has been frustrated by Trump’s apparent lack of discipline on the stump and in his many media interviews.
“Paul has good influence with Donald,” said Charlie Black, a longtime GOP strategist and former business partner of Manafort’s. “But he’s Donald, and he’s going to operate stream of consciousness a lot of times. You just hope he’ll have more days on message than days on consciousness.”
A second GOP strategist who also knows Manafort said Trump’s campaign manager is “the most aggressive guy I’ve ever met.”
“My guess is he’s trying to make the best of this for the campaign,” said this strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. “But this is not the plan. There’s no way to explain that this is what you want done in the middle of your campaign.”
From Washington to state capitals nationwide, a feeling of despair and despondence fell over the Republican establishment.
Trump suffered two defections Wednesday when Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), an Iraq War veteran, said on CNN that he is unlikely to vote for Trump because the nominee was “beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics.”
Former Montana governor Marc Racicot, a former RNC chairman and a close associate of former president George W. Bush’s, also said he won’t vote for Trump.
“I’m not accusing people of being appeasers, but what I am saying is that there’s a transcendent set of values throughout our history that we subscribe to above party,” Racicot told Bloomberg Politics, adding that he thinks Trump lacks those values.
Reed, who managed Robert J. Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign, said Trump should “stop doing silly interviews nine times a day that get you off message” and deliver a major address seeking to reset the campaign establishing himself as the change candidate.
Reed said such a pivot is “mandatory” for Trump to be successful, as is smoothing relations with Ryan, McCain and other GOP leaders. “If Trump decides he wants to go it alone, it is a lonely road,” he said.
Two weeks ago at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, GOP leaders were buoyed by what they saw in Trump. But he quickly reverted to his old ways, setting off alarms in some parts of the party.
“I’m pulling for him, but he’s not driving on the pavement. He’s in the ditch,” said Henry Barbour, an RNC member and longtime strategist in Mississippi. “I’m frustrated. There’s time to fix it, but there’s one person who can fix it. It’s up to him.”
A Republican consultant who is working on Senate and gubernatorial races nationwide says the situation is wreaking havoc.
“The level of uncertainty with Trump just throws everyone off. It really hurts all of them,” the consultant said. “The Republican Party to him is like any kind of real estate deal. It’s all transactional. . . . He’s willing to burn the house down.”
If the situation has not improved by Labor Day, the RNC may need to begin redirecting resources to bolster vulnerable House and Senate candidates, as it did when Dole’s defeat became apparent in the fall of 1996, a senior Republican said.
Many top GOP fundraisers and donors are taking refuge in the Senate races, pouring their time and money into trying to protect the Republican majority.
“I have had a number of very successful calls today raising money,” said Virginia developer Bob Pence, who is serving as the finance chairman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “People are very animated for Senate races.”
Steve Duprey, another RNC member from New Hampshire and a confidant of McCain and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), both of whom Trump attacked in the Post interview, said Republican leaders are “pretty unhappy.”
“People are more frustrated than they have been with past indiscretions,” Duprey said, referencing Trump’s intraparty attacks as well as his feud with the Khan family. “People are just going, ‘Can you believe this?’ . . . Our nominee is losing opportunities to make the case why he should be elected instead of Mrs. Clinton and instead spending all of his time dealing with controversies of his own creation.”
Trump has not taken advantage of Friday’s report showing slow economic growth in the last quarter or of an interview Clinton gave to Fox News’s Chris Wallace on Sunday in which she said that FBI Director James B. Comey had generally agreed with her characterizations of her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. The interview has drawn criticism from fact checkers at news organizations.
“At some point, he needs to be immeasurably better than Hillary Clinton, but he’s not going to have an opportunity to govern if he doesn’t begin to bring Republicans together and then, eventually, bring independents and even Democrats on board and convince them that he can do this job,” Barbour said.
Barbour said he, like others, has been frustrated by missed opportunities since the Democratic National Convention ended Thursday night. “The last several days have made this election a referendum on Donald Trump. We want this to be a referendum on Hillary Clinton and the wrong direction the country’s on.”
RNC chief Priebus has had multiple conversations with Trump and his campaign, although he was not in direct contact with the candidate in the immediate hours after Trump declined to endorse Ryan.
Calling Priebus “very frustrated,” a knowledgable GOP strategist said, “It’s the totality of the week. The whole Khan thing kicking off the week was a concern to him, and then obviously all the other smaller issues were. He’s been going after this all week. The [failure to endorse Ryan and McCain] was like the cherry on the cake.”
Gingrich said Trump is continuing to operate on instincts that helped him in business and in the primaries but said the GOP nominee doesn’t realize that those skills are not adequate for a general election.
“He can’t learn what he doesn’t know because he doesn’t know he doesn’t know it,” Gingrich said. | 0fake |
Comment on 5 Corporations Own The U.S. Media – We’ve Been Conditioned How To Think, What To Think, And What To Do by You’re Being Fooled: The Problem With ‘Alternative’ News Websites – Collective Evolution | From the day we are born into this world, we are being taught what our parents have been taught, and what their parents have taught them, without asking many questions such as who we are, why we are here, and why things are the way they are. Existential questions are simply perceived as irrelevant in a left-brained society; in which money and career performance seem to be the primary focus. For those who seek a reason, countless financed religious institutions claim to provide the ultimate answers and a securing spiritual identity. From cradle to grave, we are following the guidelines of what authority defines as a state-of-the-art system, in which “success” seems to begin and end within the running wheel of education, career performance, debt management and retirement. A vibrant economy is the ultimate priority of our global hierarchy. However, a vibrant planet, the respect of all life forms, healthy foods, peaceful ways and conscious actions seem to remain a mere subject of conversation, often turned into a few fundraising campaigns with very little or no impact at all. After all, living consciously and in perfect harmony with nature certainly goes against the principles of industrialism. Generations have passed, trends have changed, technologies have emerged and a better communication has opened doors for alternative information and ideas that are pushing the envelope on society’s boundaries. Yet they all seem to remain in the “fantasy” section of our industrialist system, for in the good old ways of a governing establishment we ought to trust. “Authority knows best” is the slogan of our conventional wisdom, and we meanwhile can mind our own business, go on with our lives, get our needs met and attempt to live happily ever after as long as we conform to the expected norms of society. We then pass on this set of unquestioned beliefs and habits to our children, encouraging then to perpetuate the same cycle, because after all, it is all we’ve ever known. Is this all there is to life? Is this way of life forever sustainable?· Do we have to live this way? What is the purpose of our existence? Such questions are well worth asking, because to realize that there is more to us than what we’ve been led to believe is the first step towards uncovering answers. “The search implies that there is something more to life than what is presently the case.” – Jeff Foster Human Nature or Human Conditioning We have been told that the state of our world is purely the result of our inherent human nature. Some even say we are born ill intended, and learn the “good values” through stringent parental, educational or religious discipline. Even though this version of the story has been adopted and repeated by many, we are going to take the road less travelled. Instead of qualifying our true nature as predetermined and unchangeable, could it be that the current state of humanity is the result of a second nature? By definition, a “second nature” is an acquired behaviour that has been so long practiced to the point where it seems innate. It is a conditioning of consciousness, rather than a fundamental characteristic of consciousness. Considering the fact that humanity’s consciousness has been externally influenced for a very long time, shouldn’t this lead us to question how much of our behaviours and aspirations are actually ours? Without a doubt, our society is programmed to sell us on competing belief systems, political views, brands and products, and the list could go on forever. After all, maintaining the trend of such mindsets is what is profitable to the system. Whether it is a cream that promises beauty, a substance that promises relief, a car that promises attention, a career that promises prestige, or a luxurious lifestyle that promises eternal happiness, this system is an expert at creating billions of needs only to sell us on ideas and products that promises to satisfy them. The Mainstream media is the best example of a great influence on the human mind. TV shows, magazines, the news, politics, education, or organised religion all tend to either implement a sense of patriotism, materialism, idolism, conformism, or any compliant mindset that seem to fit the bill of an authority figure. We have been slowly yet surely trained to avoid critical questioning, and to allow what we call our “leaders” to decide of our individual and collective destiny. When it comes to the word “conspiracy” -or the simple thought that the ones in power may not have the benefit of the whole at heart -ridicule is a very popular reaction and is often the treatment that whistleblowers, experts or ex-government officials/employees receive when trying share such simple information. The word has even been paired with “theory”, because people in general have better things to do than to research information that is being labeled as theoretical. Yet the question that we should begin to ask ourselves is: Why would authority would give any credibility to those who challenge and question authority? In this article, we are going to bypass the scrutiny of information and the need to prove opinions or facts, because after all, it is no one else’s job to think for ourselves but ourselves. All information emerging from both sides of the coin in regards to our economic system, our governments or even events such as 9/11 is already out there for us to evaluate. It is therefore up to the individual to switch off the tendency to filter information out of acquired preconceptions, to step aside from “chain reactions” and to research throughly and intuitively. Then again, no matter how much data our brain may take in, it is not necessarily more information that shall make us more “enlightened”. As Einstein once said, “Information is not knowledge.” The point I am making is that constantly thinking in accord to the beliefs we cherish or the information we advocate is certainly not the extent of what knowledge and understanding is. In order to move forward, we have to look beyond competing beliefs and conceptual answers. Whether we are speaking of individuals who proclaim themselves as awake and aware, teachers, religious people or intellectuals; segregation will always cause us to fail to see the bigger picture -as long as we let ourselves be run by our egoic mind *. The Ego vs. The Observer Self The truth is, aside from all of the concepts, belief systems, patterns and behaviours we may have acquired since birth, we all possess a profound awareness that does not relate with our egoic mind. It is a pure awareness that does not filter information with acquired beliefs, and therefore does not have a clouded perception. This consciousness is what some call the intuition, the inner-knowing, the heart, the gut feeling or the soul, yet the word that shall be employed for the moment is the observer self While a teacher teaches what they have been taught, a priest preaches the bible’s teachings, and a politician reiterates the same system, the observer self is the awareness that is not manipulated by anyone or anything, for it does not depend on external factors to build up an identity. It only observes with a clear lens, and therefore see’s things as they truly are.
“Your original unconditioned consciousness exists only in you, so going elsewhere can never give you access to your essential nature, to who you really are.” – Byron Brown For example, a young child would naturally perceive a hierarchical government creating wars and the destruction of our planet for economical purposes, as utter nonsense. Yet generations who have been conditioned to believe and teach that war ends war, or that pieces of paper and digits on a computer are the only thing that can make the world go round, are more likely to ignore the self-destruction it implies and “run with the money”. “As things are interpreted or labeled by the mind they slowly cease to be what they are and start to become what is thought about them.”– John Greven Let’s bring forth our observer self for a moment an answer these following questions: Would an awake and aware population allow the damaging and destruction of our home -the Earth- for the sake of the economy? Would it perpetuate the use of petrol -despite the alternatives- for the sake of the economy? Would it allow war profiteering for the sake of the economy? Would it in-debt the poor for the sake of the economy? Would its thoughts be consumed by the obsession of material goods and superficial values? And finally, would an awake and aware population believe in waiting for world leaders to make the world a more harmonious place, when the priorities above are specifically what empower them? Simple observations are really all that is required to blatantly see and feel the imbalance of such a disconnected state of consciousness. However, this is exactly what we are collectively enabling while we keep ourselves busy and distracted over competing with each other’s social statuses, beliefs, race, identities, opinions, and so forth. All of which are often stances that we take on from the very system profiting from all of the priorities mentioned above. A sense of separation from each other, the earth and all other life forms is an obvious characteristic of our system, which has consequently reinforced humanity’s own sense of separation from everyone and everything. We willingly go at war and kill each other, passively accept poverty and famine as being normal while others over consume, and continue to obsess over financial profit despite the consequences. This sense of separation has gotten to the point where parts of the western world knowingly dump their toxic waste in developing countries, as if sending pollution farther away will hide the fact that we all live on the same earth. Yet despite our belief in being separated from the environment, from each other, and by imaginary borders, we all possess an inner knowing that remains unhampered by external indoctrination. This knowing -earlier referred to as the observer self -see’s all life as a whole. Instead of thinking in terms of what can serve or harm ME, it naturally thinks in terms of what can serve or harm US. Take for example a child who did not yet take on a patriotic identity that gives importance to illusory borders, who does not yet comprehend the “ownership” and price tagging of nature, and who does not hold any form of cultural belief system or prejudice. Would this child go to war with another earthling, destroy the planet in the name of pieces of paper and digits on a computer, or be too greedy to desire a world in which we all share the planet’s resources equally? Just like this child, the observer self too perceives purely, with no concept that taints its vision.
Many of our ideas and beliefs about ourselves and the world are so deeply ingrained that we are unaware that they are beliefs, and take them, without question, for the absolute truth. – Rupert Spira When we consciously choose to expand our awareness and to simply observe what our system stands for, we realize it does not have to be this way. It is simply erroneous to presume that it endorses a forever-sustainable way of living. It has no concern for respecting nature, or even human lives. It only profits through the promotion of unconsciousness . The simple act of turning on the TV or observing the magazines they sell us at the cashier’s waiting line should make the preceding statement very clear. We may think that an intellectual society offering a stringent education system -which has brought many individuals to a state of esteemed expertise- would naturally lead us to the peak of our human evolution. Yet when we look at the wars we still engage in, the increasing rate of health deterioration, the repetitive oil leaks in our oceans, and the amount of corrupted government regulations that won’t budge, shouldn’t that lead us to ask ourselves: What exactly are we learning? Will we need to experience the shutting down of the earth’s eco-system before we finally set aside our differences and awaken to our interconnectedness and equality with each other, the earth and all life forms? A Shift In Consciousness: Awakening to Oneness
“To me, spirituality is about two things: The liberation of consciousness from all illusion, so that the true nature can shine, and an embodiment in life that is an alternative to the patterns of manipulation and greed that dominate our current culture.” –Christian Opitz “ Oneness ” simply means the awareness of our inherent interconnectedness with each other, the earth, the animal kingdom, and essentially the entire universe. It is the profound understanding -beyond opinionated beliefs- that we are all equal facets of the same underlying consciousness in which all life arises. Some physicists call this consciousness “The Unified Field”, some call it a Universal Consciousness, others name it “God”, yet the word that shall be employed in this article is Source. Source is not a separate, superior and judgmental entity as our society’s endorsed religious institutions want us to believe, but is in fact the core essence of who we truly are beyond the experience of separation. Click here to watch the video ‘An Answer To Existential Questions’ For a long period of time, human consciousness has remained caught up within in a very limited archaic programming, which led us to perpetually seeing ourselves as separate from each other, from all lifeforms and from the earth. Hence why we have ended up passively enabling such ill-treatment between each other and the environment. The reality we have created for ourselves is the result of living our lives with our egoic minds in the driver’s seat. We are experiencing the projection of a strictly left-brained consciousness, where we believe there is nothing more to us than the individual physicality, mind, thoughts and emotions. Our society -which is a reflection of this state of consciousness- exclusively honors the ego-driven cleverness of the mind, instead of encouraging the reunification with our heart/soul consciousness. In this state, we have allowed division, fear, and control to keep us from taking responsibility for ourselves and awaken to our true nature, all while waiting for “saviors” or political dictators to outline our individual and collective destiny. Such a disconnected state of consciousness is unsustainable and if not shifted, would lead humanity to its own demise.
“Our species is far too clever to survive without wisdom.”– E.F.Schumacker Planet earth is currently undergoing a shift in consciousness. This awakening is leading an increasing amount of individuals to reconnect with their observer self, which is enabling them to perceive the world from a wider, more unified perspective. More are beginning to not only question the ego-driven structures controlling humanity, but to question the very purpose of their existence and of life itself. Such an existential crisis has purposefully guided many towards remembering to who they truly are beyond the mind and the physicality: Souls (the observer self) having a human experience . Because of a past collective soul agreement, we initially incarnated on earth into what is called the “experiential realm”. The purpose was of experiencing and evolving as souls, lifetime after lifetime, while being overruled by a thicker sense of individual identity, mind and ego, and having no direct remembrance of our essence of Oneness/Source. Our souls basically agreed for the experience of feeling what it is like to have a sense of total separation from each other and from Source, to the extent where even the concept of a separation from “God” was later believed as factual. This altogether created a rich and highly polarized sensorial experience. With the intention of certain beings, our experience was later altered with an additional challenge, which was to experience the limitation of a hierarchical structure ruled by separation and egoistical purposes. The elitist group of individuals at the very top of this hierarchy is often referred to as the “Illuminati”, and are pushing forward their agenda for global control with an intellectual “New World Order” (Totalitarian world government and one world currency) -all while being aware of this threatening shift in consciousness. Humanity has experienced and remained caught up in this dormant state for a long while. This undergoing shift in consciousness stems from the fact that we have collectively agreed -at the soul level- to move beyond this collective amnesia to create a new, more conscious, harmonious and expansive experience, all while uncovering our natural state of creative limitlessness , love and peace . This is not a matter of blaming an elitist group for where we are at. We have agreed to overcome such a challenge as souls having a human experience, for us to learn and “grow up” from it. It is simply about finally taking responsibility for what we have created, and move on.
“We are not called to fight the bad guy, harm it, or fear it. We are just called to dig within and find our sacred ground. To stand in full love by our bottom line. And as we do, the bad guy will very quickly scuttle away or drop its mask. Because it was never about the bad guy, but about us all along, about finding that essence inside, embracing all of who we are, when faced with any challenge. It is one of the ways in which we can honor the bad guy in his role of carrier of lessons, who is volunteering to wear a dark mask, so we may reach for more and find what was lost.”– Katie Gallanti Letting Go of the Old, Making Room for the New : A Shift of Vibration In the midst of these unique times of social upheaval and spiritual awakening, many individuals find themselves at a crossroad in their personal lives. Challenging situations are arising, and a discomfort in old routines is intensifying. Why is this happening? New energies of a higher consciousness are entering the earth plane, while our world is purging its energetic densities of a lower consciousness. This process is being sensed in our personal lives as well, bringing forth old emotional baggages or situations that challenge our traditional ways of thinking. Such emotions and discomforts will build up as long as we keep on missing the point of our soul’s call, which is to let go of the prevailing thoughts and beliefs that keep us from expanding towards the wholeness , love and infinite potential of who we truly are. As much as collective and personal challenges may feel like turmoil at first, it is merely a sign of old and unsustainable structures/comfort zones breaking down to make room for the new. If it is not about blaming and fighting this insanity and corruption, then where do we go from here?
“Peace cannot be kept by force ; it can only be achieved by understanding.”– Albert Einstein When we shift our awareness towards the quantum construct of reality, we understand that everything we can possibly feel and think of is essentially a form and rate of vibration. Quantum physicists accurately describe the fundamental particles of reality as “ wave functions” . The reason for this abstract description is precisely because fundamental particles behave in a most abstract manner. Their existence emerge in waves in which lies only the potentiality for measurable outcomes. The word potentiality is key, because we now know through a number of scientific experiments (such as the double-slit experiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7YBmOk1nQw ) that the very presence of a conscious mind observing and/or intending to measure a particle, consequently determines the aspect and location in which it takes form. This quantum decoherence is scientifically known as “the measurement problem”. In other words, the fundamental nature of reality -the “Unified field”, consciousness, “God” or Source- is originally “open” to all potential outcomes. Yet our very consciousness is intimately hooked to the one that shall be experienced. As the physicist Dr. York Dobyns stated, “ Without us, (conscious beings) there would just be this expanding superposition of possibilities with nothing definite ever actually happening.” “Peace in ourselves, peace in the world.” -Thich Nhat Hanh That being said, everything in the universe and on earth vibrates at certain frequencies, including our thoughts, beliefs and emotions. We are literally molding our experienced reality via the power of our personal and collective perceptions, and our inner-state is reflected outwards. As Einstein said, we cannot solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it. This shift in consciousness is but a leap beyond the old dualistic consciousness we chose to experience as souls, towards the consciousness of Oneness, which is of a higher vibrational frequency -one of unconditional Love and understanding of who we really are beyond this physical realm. The angry, judgmental and reactive “egoic mind” actually attracts and emanates through it the same lower frequencies that keep humanity boxed in this low vibrational “matrix” of control.
“It’s just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one.” – Bill Hicks Resuming It All In One Simple Analogy It is as if each and everyone of us are projectors responsible for the projections on our own blank walls. Most of us are unconsciously choosing to project a tape of violence, of hate, of segregation, of being powerless, and even of blame of the other 3 projectors for playing their hostile tape. Here lies the silliness, the ironicalness of justifying our own projection through blame. And this is where humanity is at: playing the same tape, over and over again, while most individuals are still blaming the projection instead of changing their own tape that is too playing a role in this projection. As much as we end up pointing fingers at the powers that be, they are no more or less powerful than we are. The only power they grant themselves, is through influencing our choice of the tapes we shall fill our projectors with. Yet we’ve always had the choice, despite us not being aware of it and taking responsibility for ourselves. This is the reason why Humanity is so slow in igniting true change. No one decides to look at their own tape. We seem to rather enjoy the comfort of holding on to the same stories and put them in “repeat” instead of transcending them; instead of BEING the change. The ego doesn’t want to know that it begins with ourselves, it doesn’t want us to dig into our own personal belief systems and let go of certain self-limitative mindsets or emotional baggages we carry. The ego is afraid of what can liberate us, and what can liberate us is ultimately ourselves.
“First realize that your world is only a reflection of Yourself and then stop finding fault with the reflection.”– Nisargadatta. This is the illusion so many are still buying into. It is the belief that we have no influence over others and the world. We even think we have no influence over our own lives, no influence as the very projector of our own “blank wall”. This belief stems from the fact that we do not see ourselves at one with the world, at one with the people, and at one with ourselves. We see ourselves as a tiny little separated specs of dust with no power whatsoever through the emanation of our own state of being. Yet we are indeed all interconnected, we are all one. Our own consciousness directly impacts the collective consciousness, which is literally the motor of our experienced reality, it is the “projector” of it. Just as we can change our tape and project harmony on our own blank wall, we can choose to be who we truly are -our unconditioned self- and therefore reflect Peace, Love, Awareness, and all that which uplifts and unveils a more conscious understanding. Or… we can play the tape of blame, anger, hatred, victimization, pointing fingers, and never, ever looking at our own projections. We ultimately have the choice, right here, and right now.
“Remember, you are constantly in the act of creating yourself. You are in every moment deciding who and what you are.” – Neale Donald Walsch Elina
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 1real |
Can Tesla’s Autopilot Be Trusted? Not Always - The New York Times | LOS ANGELES — Driving a Tesla Model S with Autopilot technology can be frightening and exhilarating. Exhilarating, because when you are behind the wheel of a vehicle that can steer itself and will brake and accelerate when necessary, it’s easy to glimpse the future of transport, when fully autonomous driving becomes the norm. But Autopilot also gave me trepidation, as I wondered if the vehicle would indeed make that curve, or slow in time to avoid hitting the car that had come to a sudden stop in front of me. Fortunately, it succeeded, most of the time. And when there seemed room for doubt, I was able to apply my own human intervention. The issue of “handoff” — whether a person can safely resume control quickly enough — has been a topic that Tesla’s critics have seized upon. In my Autopilot test drives, I have been too nervous to be lulled into complacency. And in least one case, it was a good thing I was paying attention. Mine have been only test drives, in a car lent by the company. Last month I tried the original version of Autopilot. This week I used the updated version that Tesla has begun uploading to vehicle owners as part of a software upgrade. My wife found “freaky” — in a good way — the “summon” feature on Autopilot old and new, which enables the car to enter and leave the garage without a person in the vehicle. My grandchildren, who were along for the Autopilot test drives, screamed in delight when I took my hands off the wheel as the car steered itself on winding city streets and curving freeways. With Autopilot engaged in the traffic endemic to Los Angeles (mostly stop, much less go) driving became much less strenuous. Gone is the constant braking and accelerating, as the car stays in lane and, with its active cruise control, slows and speeds up to keep you creeping along. When I drove with Autopilot last month, the older version gave me periodic reminders — a small visual warning on the display screen and an audible chime — to put my hands back on the wheel. But once I did, the warning disappeared, and I could once again remove my hands until the next warning a few minutes later. This feature is where the new Autopilot may be most discernibly different. The company has said it made the warnings more emphatic in an effort to avoid the sort of fatal crash that occurred in May. In that accident, a Tesla operating in Autopilot mode on a Florida highway plowed full speed into a that had turned in front of it. Evidently, neither the driver nor the automated system recognized the hazard. The new version is meant to force the driver to pay attention — or at least keep hands on the wheel. The updated Autopilot, at freeway speed, will visually and then audibly warn you to place your hands on the wheel, if it senses they are off. If you need to be reminded with three audible warnings within an hour, the Autopilot system disengages and remains that way until the car is next restarted. The visual warning has been enhanced, too. Besides the alert on the screen, the entire perimeter of the instrument panel pulses a warning in white light. When you are puttering along at a few miles per hour in heavy traffic, though, the warnings, by design, do not come on at all. The other big Autopilot change is potentially more significant in terms of technology. To help the car sense things like a on a Florida highway, Tesla says it has made Autopilot less reliant on the vehicle’s cameras, putting more of the onus on the radar system. Something more sophisticated than my test drives would be required to gauge the effectiveness of that change. But whether because of the new radar emphasis, or for other reasons, I did find that the automatic braking and steering seemed more precise and less abrupt with the updated Autopilot. Before, the car seemed to slow long after I would have started to brake now, it seems more suitably cautious. Yet, both before and after the upgrade I found anomalies in the Autopilot operation. Several times, as I drove in the freeway fast lane with Autopilot engaged, the Tesla began to veer toward the center divider. That happened even though the lane markings, which are supposed to guide the system, were clearly visible. In each case, I steered the car back toward the center of the lane, automatically disengaging Autopilot. At other times, I found that the vehicle made more minor steering corrections to stay in lane than I would have done if I were in control. If the lane stripes were slightly out of alignment, the car moved to the left or right to follow them, apparently not sensing that they would straighten out 10 or 20 yards ahead. Tesla says Autopilot is designed primarily to work on roads such as expressways. But the system also works on standard city streets, with or without center dividers, as long as lane markings are visible. On city streets, Tesla intends the system to be used in traffic. Autopilot does improve that type of driving, as the car can control speed and frequent braking better than a bored, irritated human. But on streets when traffic is flowing, I found Autopilot to be much more erratic. On a road that curved about 90 degrees, I twice found the car heading straight for the curb. Tesla told me that’s because Autopilot was not designed to steer into such tight curves. And after the road straightened, the Tesla decided it should veer into the left turn lanes that opened up at the intersection, even though I wanted to go straight. On a straight section of road that slightly widened at one point, the Tesla headed for a parked car. Autopilot did not disengage, but the forward sensors sounded an audible warning indicating that I would need to manually hit the brakes. Good thing I was paying attention. It is clear to me that Autopilot is no substitute for an engaged driver. That, Tesla says, is the point it has made all along, no matter how its most adventuresome car owners might be. And with the new version of Autopilot, Tesla has integrated that message more fully into the system. But if a driver needs to stay engaged, with one’s hands on the wheel and eyes on the road while using Autopilot, what is the purpose of the technology? Autopilot clearly helps in traffic, significantly reducing driver fatigue. And maybe, as Tesla contends, Autopilot can help a responsible driver avoid accidents. But in normal, traffic conditions, if the driver must be ready to retake control at any time, Autopilot would not seem to have much utility, especially on shorter drives when fatigue or boredom are less likely. Autopilot is an demonstration technology, pointing the way to a full autonomous driving future. But drivers who think they now own a vehicle are sadly, and perhaps dangerously, mistaken. | 0fake |
Someone left a funny note asking the postman to move a spider | Next Swipe left/right Someone left a funny note asking the postman to move a spider
If you have a fear of spiders, there’s nothing worse than seeing one between you and something you want: a cup of tea, the toilet, lifelong happiness … That’s what happened to the writer of this note, shared on Reddit by TheGrumpyNovelist .
The note says:
“Dear Mr Postman! Beholder of parcels, bringer of utility bills! I write to you on this day to ask a simple task of you. Living on the right side of my mail box is a spider, seemingly holding my mail hostage. If you could remove him for me, either by relocation or brutal murder, I would be forever in your debt. Signed, Resident”
They added a drawing of the spider for clarity. This prompted Reddit user taybon to add “A day in the life of said spider. The human is yet to collect these items. I must protect them from fingers and flies. The parcel deliverer is arriving before previous parcels have been emptied. Perhaps if I greet him and wave at him he will notice me and…..” | 1real |
Argentina faces 'hope and hopelessness' in submarine search | BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - No sign of the Argentine submarine lost in the South Atlantic since Nov. 15 has been found despite a massive international search effort, while families of the 44 crew members face the increasing likelihood that their loved ones will never return. Saturday marked the 10th day since the ARA San Juan submarine reported its last position off Argentina s southern coast. Reports of a sound detected underwater near the last known position of the vessel suggest it might have imploded after reporting an electrical problem. But citing respect for the families, navy spokesman Enrique Balbi declined to say anything to confirm the now-common belief that the crew had perished. We are at a stage of hope and hopelessness at the same time, Balbi told reporters. We will not speculate beyond the facts as we know them. He said seven ships were braving 3-meter (3.28-yard) waves to map the ocean floor where the San Juan was most likely to be found. The U.S. Navy said it had deployed unmanned underwater vehicles, or mini-subs equipped with sonar, to join the search. A Russian plane arrived in Argentina on Friday carrying search equipment capable of reaching 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) below the sea surface, Balbi said. The search effort also includes ships and planes from Brazil, Chile, Great Britain and other countries. Families of the crew were meanwhile stuck in an emotional purgatory. The problem with being the loved one of someone who is missing is that the mourning process cannot start, because they are still out there somewhere, local psychologist Guillermo Bruchstein said in a Saturday television interview. They are gone but are not dead. The families have said they suspect the more than 30-year-old vessel was not properly maintained, a charge the government denies, and that the navy has been slow in sharing information with them. Relatives expressed anger at the level of funding of the armed forces, whose budget has declined since the fall of a military dictatorship in the 1980s. The loss of the San Juan is a consequence of the fact that the abandonment and degradation of our defense forces has been an official policy, Argentine Senator Pino Solanas of the independent Project South party told local radio on Saturday. Concerns about the crew s fate have set off a fierce political debate in a society sharply divided between supporters of President Mauricio Macri and opposition Peronists, who have been quick to find fault with the government s response. Until we find the submarine and have all the information, Macri said on Friday, we are not going to speculate on who is at fault. | 0fake |
Democrats & Republicans Just Joined Forces To Condemn Comey’s Partisan Smears | Comments
I learned exclusively tonight that the Democratic Coalition Against Trump is being joined by University of Minnesota Law Professor Richard Painter in a non-partisan joint campaign to mount a public campaign against an expedite a response to their parallel complaints against FBI Director James Comey for his partisan witch-hunt of Hillary Clinton.
Painter is a former Bush Administration White House Counsel who served as ethics counsel to the President.
“Richard Painter and I connected this evening, and we are sending out the message clearly that the FBI Director’s behavior is a non-partisan issue, and we will be sending out a joint press release tomorrow morning accordingly,” said Scott Dworkin, Senior Adivsor to the Democratic Coalition Against Trump.
Both parties seek to prevent future political interference by America’s top federal law enforcement agency into partisan elections.
“We plan to make joint television and other media appearances together with Professor Painter,” said Dworkin who plans to participate in the broadcasts, “or alongside other members of the DCAT.”
Each independently made similar complaints to Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel’s ruling about the FBI Director’s recent memo .
Because the memo has intruded on this year’s presidential election, DCAT and Painter are alleging that FBI Director Comey’s violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits pernicious partisan use of office by federal employees or officials.
The FBI Director ignored Justice Department policy guidance which proscribes public investigatory actions within 60-days of an election. It’s a policy that has been respected across parties and administrations for decades to keep justice and elections un-entwined.
Justice officials specifically advised Comey of the policy .
He sent a mea culpa letter to other FBI agents just hours after the election-impacting memo.
The Democratic Coalition Against Trump filed the first reported Hatch Act complaint against FBI Director Comey in the wake of his unusual memo Friday afternoon.
Yesterday, Professor Richard Painter filed his own Hatch Act and ethics complaint against the FBI Director and an ethics complaint over the same memo, which is also drawing the ire of the career professionals at the top federal investigatory agency. | 1real |
AMERICA IN CRISIS: “Hillary Clinton Is A CRIMINAL Involved In a Criminal Enterprise…If The Voters Do Not Stop Her, She Will Be The Next President of the United States” | Are Democrat voters willing to risk what little integrity their party has left to get behind Crooked Hillary? Will they be inspired to go to the polls to elect someone they know has been under criminal investigation for most of her adult life? Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, talked with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon about President Barack Obama s willful disregard for the law as president and the FBI s decision not to charge Hillary Clinton for her actions involving top secret emails. Issa said:We are in a crisis because Hillary Clinton, if the voters do not stop her, will be the next President of the United States. She will, in fact, on Day One say, Pardon me, and she ll mean it. She ll have pardoned herself. She will have, in fact, gone from being a criminal involved in a criminal enterprise obviously, Clinton Cash depicted that and somebody who flaunted the security laws, the privacy laws, the presidential and the Federal Records Act, and gotten away with it.Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
BUSTED! ABC/WASHINGTON POST POLL Showing Hillary Clinton Leading Trump By +12 Is FAKE | Those who were shocked by the latest ABC / Washington Post goal seeking report (aka poll ) that shows Hillary opening up a 12-point lead with likely voters after the latest debate last Wednesday need to look a little further. Ironically, this poll farce was embargoed for release after 9 a.m. EST on Saturday, which made it a dominant topic of conversation on all the morning talk shows.Of course, like many of the recent polls from the likes of Reuters, ABC and The Washington Post, something curious emerges when you look just beneath the surface of the headline 12-point lead.Meanwhile, with huge variances in preference across demographics one can easily see how simple it is to rig a poll by over indexing to one group vs. another. While the pollsters release the the split of the sample pool by political affiliation, they do not share the split by any of the following demographics which are just as important to determining the outcome of the poll. Zero Hedge METHODOLOGY This ABC News poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Oct. 20-22, 2016, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 874 likely voters. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 36-27-31 percent, Democrats Republicans Independents. As we ve pointed out numerous times in the past, in response to Reuters efforts to tweak their polls, per the The Pew Research Center, at least since 1992, democrats have never enjoyed a 9-point registration gap despite the folks at ABC and The Washington Post somehow convincing themselves it was a reasonable margin.Rush Limbaugh weighed in on the suspicious outlier poll that came out on Saturday night: I don t care what network you watch, maybe with Fox exempted, although certain places at Fox you ll find the same sentiment. It s over. And they all cite these polls. They all cite the polls that show Hillary up 10 to 12 points. And even take the low point at 10, I just saw somebody on CNN, a conservative Republican say, At 10 points with two weeks it s over, there s no way you can reverse that, it s history. So they all believe the polls. In fact, their belief in the polls is biblical. I think these people have a greater confidence and faith in the polls than they do in the Bible. So it s over. And, furthermore, to show you just how over it is, the Democrats are actually now in red states where Trump may win those states, but they re in there and they re working down the ballot and they re gonna win back the House, they re gonna win back the Senate, and Chuck-U Schumer is gonna end up a majority leader in the Senate.And you Republicans, you are toast, do you understand? You Republicans, it s toast, and you Republicans had better start doing your postmortems right now, and you had better starting figuring out why this happened. You lost this because you saw to it that Trump was nominated, and if you weren t for Trump, you better find out who made it possible for Trump to be nominated, and you better do something about those people. Americans who are sick and tired of a corrupt media and the corrupt politicians they prop up, need to ignore these manufactured polls. Instead of wasting time reading this drivel, Americans need to be out knocking on doors and contacting friends, to explain to them why we need a President like Trump to DRAIN THE SWAMP!There has never been a better time to ignore Hillary s media and stay focused on the prize | 1real |
Police: Oklahoma Double Murder Suspect Has Hit List, May Be Headed to Nevada | Yahoo News
A 38-year-old Oklahoma man who has evaded police for two days after killing two people and shooting four others — including two police officers — has a hit list and may intend to kill up to eight more people, authorities said Tuesday.
“This is a man who has indicated a total propensity to kill people, to injure people, shoot people,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel. “He has no care for human life whatsoever.”
Authorities believe he may be headed to Nevada and have notified police there to be on the lookout. Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel told ABC News that the suspect, Michael Vance, could face the death penalty if convicted of the crimes. Whetsel is warning citizens to stay clear if they spot Vance, adding that he has “absolutely nothing to lose.” Vance’s rampage began Sunday evening, when he allegedly shot two police officers responding to the scene at a mobile home park over reports of shots fired in the area. The two officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries, officials say, and were temporarily disabled as Vance fled the scene in their patrol car. One officer was shot in the foot and another was hit by gunfire in both legs.
Investigators believe Vance live-streamed two videos while on the run, one from inside the police cruiser and another while inside another vehicle. In one of the videos, Vance appears in a blood-covered shirt and says he’s been shot before showing a rifle on the seat next to him.
“Letting y’all know, look, this is real,” he says in the video, according to the Associated Press. “If you want to know what’s up next, stay tuned to your local news.” Vance said things were “going to be intense,” according to an affidavit released on Monday night.
He then proceeded to a mobile home park, where police discovered the bodies of two of his relatives. Officials identified those victims as 55-year-old Ronald Everett Wilkson and 54-year-old Valerie Kay Wilkson, his wife.
The affidavit describes wounds consistent with attempts to sever one victim’s head and the other’s arm.
Vance then allegedly “shot at and injured” a woman as he was in the process of stealing her silver 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse .
Vance is also suspected of shooting a man during an attempted carjacking early Monday.
Vance was last known to be driving a 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse and was armed with an AK-47. He is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous, authorities say. Sheriff Whetsel instructed any potential witnesses not to approach Vance but to call 911 and let the police handle the situation. | 1real |
What Happens If Trump Refuses To Concede Election - The Onion - America's Finest News Source | Hillary Clinton Waiting In Wings Of Stage Since 6 A.M. For DNC Speech PHILADELPHIA—Saying she arrived hours before any of the members of the production crew, sources confirmed Thursday that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has been waiting in the wings of the Wells Fargo Center stage since six o’clock this morning to deliver her speech at the Democratic National Convention. Depressed, Butter-Covered Tom Vilsack Enters Sixth Day Of Corn Bender After Losing VP Spot WASHINGTON—Saying she has grown increasingly concerned about her husband’s mental and physical well-being since last Friday, Christie Vilsack, the wife of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, told reporters Thursday that the despondent, butter-covered cabinet member has entered the sixth day of a destructive corn bender after being passed over for the Democratic vice presidential spot. DNC Speech: ‘I Am Proud To Say I Walked In On Bill And Hillary Having Sex’ A friend of the Clinton family describes a Hillary who America never gets to see: the one he saw having sex. Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context NEW YORK—Emphasizing that the practice was just more evidence of journalists’ bias against him, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stated Thursday that he was sick and tired of the mainstream media always attempting to place his words into some kind of context. Who’s Speaking At The DNC: Day 4 Here is a guide to the major speakers who will be addressing attendees on the final night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention Bound, Gagged Joaquin Castro Horrified By What His Identical Twin Brother Might Be Doing Out On DNC Floor PHILADELPHIA—Struggling to free himself from the tightly wound lengths of rope binding his wrists and ankles together, bruised and gagged Texas congressman Joaquin Castro was reportedly horrified by what his identical twin brother, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, might be out doing on the floor of the DNC Thursday. Obama: ‘Hillary Will Fight To Protect My Legacy, Even The Truly Detestable Parts’ PHILADELPHIA—Emphasizing the former secretary of state’s competence and tenacity during his Democratic National Convention address Wednesday night, President Barack Obama praised Hillary Clinton as someone who would work tirelessly to defend and advance the legacy he had built, even the “truly repugnant parts.” Tim Kaine Clearly Tuning Out In Middle Of Boring Vice Presidential Acceptance Speech PHILADELPHIA—Describing the look of total disinterest on his face and noting how he kept peering down at his watch as the speech progressed, sources at the Democratic National Convention said that Virginia senator Tim Kaine clearly began tuning out partway through the boring vice presidential acceptance address Wednesday night. Cannon Overshoots Tim Kaine Across Wells Fargo Center PHILADELPHIA—Noting that the vice presidential nominee had been launched nearly 100 feet into the air during his entrance into the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, sources reported that the cannon at the back of the Wells Fargo Center had accidentally overshot Tim Kaine across the arena, sending him crashing to the stage several dozen feet beyond the erected safety net. Biden Regales DNC With Story Of ’80s Girl Band Vixen Breaking Hard Rock’s Glass Ceiling PHILADELPHIA—Devoting a large portion of his speech to the “pioneering, stiffy-inducing” all-female quartet, Vice President Joe Biden regaled the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night with the rousing story of the metal band Vixen breaking hard rock’s glass ceiling in the late 1980s. | 1real |
Watch Bernie Sanders Slam The Hell Out Of Republican Obstruction And Birther Nonsense (VIDEO) | Bernie s combination of calling it like it is, and his tendency to get pissed off a little easily at Republicans often results in some epic smackdowns being delivered by him. One of these gems came up again during a Democratic town hall event hosted by CNN.Bernie started to talk about the unprecedented decision by Republicans to essentially cut Obama s final term short to only 3 years by blocking ANY effort at nominating a 9th SCOTUS judge following the death of Antonin Scalia. However, rather than act like it s some kind of new thing, he avoided the rhetoric and called it exactly what it is.It s just the latest link in a very long and unbroken chain of choices made by Republicans to disrespect, delegitimize, and smear the legacy of the first black President of the United States. Yes, Republicans would love to get a SCOTUS judge installed if they can delay until after the election. However, they tip their hand too easily in how they attack Obama compared to other Democrats like Bernie.Pointing out a glaring fact, Bernie mentioned that his father came from Poland yet nobody has asked where HIS birth certificate is. It s so obvious yet no Republican even realizes it. Bernie has just as much of a reason to have his citizenship questioned as President Obama, yet it never occurred to a single Republican to do it. As he said, there s one obvious reason, which he mentions in the video clip.Watch Bernie end the discussion on why Republicans are such incredible idiots below: // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Bernie Sanders, speaking at CNN s Democratic Candidates Town Hall, gets off the first zinger of the night at Donald Trump.Posted by Mashable News on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
U.S. top court seeks more information in contraception insurance case | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asked both sides for new information in a challenge by Christian nonprofit employers to a mandate under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law to provide insurance to female workers covering birth control, indicating the justices are struggling to decide the closely watched case. The court’s order requested more information on how contraceptive coverage can be obtained “in a way that does not require any involvement” by these employers, who object to the requirement on religious grounds. The Supreme Court suggested that one way to resolve the case would be for insurance companies to have the job of notifying employers about the availability of contraception coverage if their religious employer does not provide it. In the oral argument in the case last week, the shorthanded eight-justice court appeared split, raising the possibility of a 4-4 decision that would leave in place lower court rulings that backed the Obama administration. The court, now evenly divided with four conservatives and four liberals, is one justice short following the death of conservative Antonin Scalia in February. The order in the contraception matter came just hours after the court deadlocked 4-4 in another major case: a conservative challenge to a critical source of funding for public sector unions.. The request for additional information could both delay a ruling and indicate the court is seeking a compromise that a majority of justices could back. A ruling is due by the end of June. Dubbed Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress in 2010 over unified Republican opposition and is seen as Obama’s signature legislative achievement. But congressional Republicans have repeatedly sought to repeal it and conservatives have launched numerous legal challenges, with the Supreme Court in 2012 and 2015 issuing high-profile rulings preserving it. In the current case, Christian nonprofit employers objected to a 2013 compromise offered by the Obama administration that allowed entities opposed to providing contraception insurance coverage to comply with the law without actually paying for the required coverage. Groups can certify they are opting out of the mandate by signing a form and submitting it to the government. The government then asks insurers to pay for contraception. The challengers primarily are Roman Catholic including the archdiocese of Washington and the Little Sisters of the Poor order of nuns that runs care homes for the elderly. They contend the accommodation violates their religious rights by forcing them to authorize the coverage for their employees even if they are not paying for it. | 0fake |
U.S. condemns threat to ban Venezuela opposition from elections | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Monday condemned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro s threat to ban opposition parties from participating in next year s presidential elections. The Venezuelan people deserve the right to express their views and consent to governance through a free and fair democratic process that is open to all candidates, the department said in a statement. After three opposition parties boycotted mayoral elections on Sunday, Maduro said on Monday they should be banned from participating in future elections. | 0fake |
Blue State Blues: Donald Trump Exposes Media’s Jenga Journalism - Breitbart | For months, the mainstream media played a game of “Jenga journalism,” building a tower of accusations against Donald Trump, using flimsy, speculative claims of Russian collusion. [None of the different pieces of the conspiracy theory could hold up on their own, but journalists — and the Hillary Clinton campaign — treated the pile of Russia innuendo like a real monument. But then Trump made the move that forced them to tug at the foundations of their own illusion, and it crashed. @joelpollak comes up with amazing new meme in @chucktodd interview #JengaJournalism https: . — TundraTabloids (@TundraTabloids) March 17, 2017, In the past several days, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Morell have both stated publicly that there is no evidence that the Trump campaign cooperated with Russia. But they held their tongues for months as the false accusations mounted against Trump. It was only after the president tweeted that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped him that they found the courage to tell the truth. Trump based his claim on the mainstream media’s own reporting — a point made by conservative talk radio host Mark Levin and then later at Breitbart News. The New York Times, the BBC, and others had reported that the Obama administration had carried out surveillance on people close to Trump. Furthermore, the Times reported that the previous administration relaxed the rules of the National Security Agency to disseminate the results of that surveillance, some of which was evidently leaked. The media latched onto Trump’s claim that Obama had tapped his “phones,” as if that proved Trump was lying. But no one could dispute any of the core elements of Trump’s claims — until this past Thursday, when the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a short bipartisan statement: “Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016. ” The committee’s statement was interpreted by the media as a definitive conclusion — though the investigation is ongoing. But if true, the only part of the story that has been debunked concerns surveillance of Trump Tower itself, a claim first made by the Heat Street website. It does not mean the warrant that Heat Street reported — and which the BBC reported as well — was never sought. That warrant, reportedly rejected by a FISA court, amended, and then approved, concerned a computer server. The New York Times also reported in October that the FBI had been investigating that server for “a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank. ” (The FBI found no evidence of any “conclusive or direct link,” which did not stop Democrats and the media from claiming there was one.) All the Senate committee did this week was confirm what Clapper had already said — that there had been no warrant for surveillance of Trump Tower itself. So no “phones,” but the basic case still stands: there was surveillance of the Trump campaign, the results were shared widely within the government, and the intelligence made its way — often illegally — to the mainstream media. The people leaking the intelligence are happy to defend what they are doing, through surrogates like former CIA agent and presidential candidate Evan McMullin, who told CNN the leakers were stopping “a security threat coming from the White House. ” Yet the mainstream media are behaving as if Trump’s tweets about having his “wires tapped” are a very serious lie that undermines his entire administration. Having congratulated each other for exposing Trump on an entirely trivial matter, journalists are now using Trump’s tweets to badger other Republicans, like UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. (How many Obama Cabinet members had to face such questions about their “credibility” after he was caught spying on foreign leaders?) Moreover, in skewering Trump for claims about “wiretapping” and “phones,” the media are holding Trump to a standard of literalism they would never apply to themselves. For example, mainstream media headlines screamed for months about a “love affair” between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin: “The curious love affair” (CBS) “Trump and Putin: A Love Story” (New Yorker). But it turns out there is no evidence Trump had sexual intercourse with Putin. Liars! Nervous Republicans like Rick Santorum fret that Trump is “hurting himself” with his tweets. On the contrary: not only has he exposed the media’s double standards, but he is also forcing them to impeach their own evidence. After all, if there was no surveillance of the Trump campaign, then there was no Russian collusion, and the media are simply “fake news” partisans. By tweeting about Obama, Trump moved the last weak Jenga block. Now the tower is wobbling. Your move, journalists. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 0fake |
Senators Seek ‘Living Wage’ for Capitol Hill Contractors | A group of senators is calling for higher wages and better health care for the contractors who work in Senate office buildings.
Private companies receive contracts to provide many of the services for government buildings on Capitol Hill, from running the cafeterias to cleaning offices to restoring aging buildings. | 0fake |
Fox Hosts Cruelly Mock, Misgender Trans High School Athlete (VIDEO) | Jut when you didn t think the hosts on the Fox News channel couldn t get any more despicable, they do. On Tuesday s edition of Fox and Friends, the hosts of that silly show decided to take aim at a high school athlete who just happens to be transgender. They misgendered her and called her a boy, and also said that she was gender bending, and confused. The athlete is a track star at her high school, and instead of praising this brave young woman as they should have the hosts said that she was confusing kids who are already pretty confused in this culture. They went on to wonder: Are girls who identify as boys, are they going to be the running backs for the football is that going to work out well? How s that going to work out? Here is the transcript of the conversation, via Media Matters:STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Laura, we talk about popular culture and society. How about this story this morning. There s a high school track athlete who was born male, identifies now as female LAURA INGRAHAM: No.DOOCY: Competed with the girls track team. And finished I think third at the state competition. I think we could have seen this coming. What do you make of this?INGRAHAM: Well, it s another first, right? We re all into firsts so that s a first. Then it will be the first field hockey player and pole vault star. Let me just say this, and Brian will love this story. I was in field hockey in Glastonbury, Connecticut. And at the end of the season one season we had the boys soccer team play us. We were ranked number one in the state so the boys decided they were going to pick up sticks, the soccer team and play against us. Well, sadly for us the boys, who have never played field hockey, creamed us, okay? They killed us. We were number one in the state. They were faster. They were stronger. And they I mean, it made me really mad, but they had better hand/eye coordination and never picked up a stick before. So is this fair to the other girls competing? I mean, I don t think it s really fair.BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Of course it s not.INGRAHAM: And I think it s just more gender bending. This is gender bending this is the next frontier until there s another frontier that the you know, those who want to mix up the traditional social mores want to take us to. So it doesn t surprise me. It s not fair. Until parents make their views known, this is just going to keep getting worse.KILMEADE: Hey, Laura, in an environment where people are taking performance enhancing drugs to do better in sports you know we re going to be in the situation where, well, we d like to win our first state championship so let s let a few men excuse me, some boys play with the girls team and then take the controversy and also take the trophy.INGRAHAM: Hey Brian, do you think it will go the other way though? Are girls who identify as boys, are they going to be the running backs for the football is that going to work out well? How s that going to work out? Let s go the other direction and see how successful that works out. I mean it s just, I have no I really have KILMEADE: I just shrug my I don t know what to say.INGRAHAM: Well, it s only the current conversation, but remember we ll be on to the next issue and then the next and the next. This is a current litmus test. You re not a human being with real feelings and empathy unless you re cheering this on and bowing down to this new movement. Look, that s the way they want to frame it. It s up to the regular Americans to say, look, I m a good person. But I don t think this is fair and I think most people don t develop their understanding of their own, you know, sexuality until frankly later in life. You know, I think it s I think it s confusing kids who are already pretty confused in this culture.KILMEADE: I m confused, and I m a grown-up. Laura Ingraham, I pretty much have reached my maximum in maturity. Laura. Thanks so much.This is really just too much, even for the imbeciles at Fox and Friends. They can have their opinions, sure, no matter how absolutely ignorant they may be. But attacking a private citizen, a high school student no less, on national television over her gender identity is truly beyond the pale. These people need an education, not a platform to spread ignorance.Watch the video below, again via Media Matters:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Malaysia asks Interpol to trace financier linked to 1MDB scandal | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has asked Interpol to try to locate a Malaysian financier for questioning over his suspected involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the deputy prime minister said on Monday. The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to seize $1.7 billion in assets that it said were bought with misappropriated funds from 1MDB, according to dozens of civil lawsuits filed by the department in the past two years. The assets include a private jet, a hotel and real estate in New York, and a $107 million interest in EMI Music Publishing bought by Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, the lawsuits said. Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, has not been charged with any crime. But U.S. authorities have said they are pursuing a criminal probe into 1MDB-linked transactions. We are confident Interpol will act professionally, but the police have yet to receive any detailed information (on Low s whereabouts), Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in parliament. A spokesman for Low could not be reached for comment. Low has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying that the U.S. Justice Department s actions were a further example of global overreach in pursuit of a deeply flawed case . Interpol did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. 1MDB, founded by Prime Minister Najib Razak, is facing money laundering probes in at least six countries including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to the U.S. lawsuits. Low is accused in the lawsuits of using 1MDB-linked funds to buy Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio a $3.2 million Picasso painting, and giving about $9 million in jewelry to Australian model Miranda Kerr. DiCaprio and Kerr have turned over the items to U.S. authorities and promised to cooperate in the 1MDB probe. The lawsuits also said $681 million from 1MDB was transferred to the account of Malaysian Official 1 , which U.S. and Malaysian sources have previously identified as Najib. Najib has denied any wrongdoing and a Malaysian government investigation has also cleared him of any wrongdoing. A Malaysian police probe into 1MDB is under way. | 0fake |
From Yamaclaus to Menorah Bong: Hanukkah Goods That Can Hold a Candle - The New York Times | Lots of people make a living from the seasonal business of Christmas — lights, trees, stocking stuffers, eggnog — but the business of Hanukkah products is tougher. Some entrepreneurs have made it work (or are trying) with quirky products whether earnest (like the Star of David tree topper) or mildly subversive (like the Santa Claus yarmulke or a bong). Some purveyors of these seasonal products, like Neal Hoffman, never expected to be in the Hanukkah business. Mr. Hoffman was shopping in a Nordstrom in 2012 when his son ran up to him holding an Elf on the Shelf, the popular Christmas toy. That turned out to be both complicated and fortuitous: complicated, because Mr. Hoffman is Jewish, his wife is Catholic, and they had decided to raise their children Jewish. And fortuitous because of what happened next. “I was like, ‘Dude, you can’t have that,’” said Mr. Hoffman, who previously had worked at Hasbro, the toy giant. “‘You can have a’ — and I was like, what would be Jewish I could rhyme with?” he said. “And then I said, ‘I’m going to get you a Mensch on a Bench. ’” After raising more than $22, 000 on Kickstarter, Mr. Hoffman produced his first run of Mensch on a Bench dolls for the next holiday season, and he has been selling them ever since. They come with a storybook that situates the bearded character, who wears a black hat and a Jewish prayer shawl, in the Hanukkah story: He watches over the oil in the Maccabees’ temple to ensure it burns for eight days. “Elf on a Shelf is a great product,” Mr. Hoffman said. “But they just left the Jewish market sitting there saying: ‘What about us? What about our kids? ’” That first year, 2013, sales of Mensch on a Bench, which retails for $30, reached about $100, 000, mostly through Mr. Hoffman’s own website. In 2014, Bed Bath Beyond picked up the product and Mr. Hoffman appeared on “Shark Tank,” and sales climbed to $900, 000. Revenues were $800, 000 last year and will be about the same this year — which suits Mr. Hoffman, who works out of his home and enjoys the lifestyle of a niche product entrepreneur. “We pull in a profit, I get to do something I love, and I work maybe 20 hours a week during most of the year,” said Mr. Hoffman, who this season introduced a plush talking toy, Ask Bubbe. Amy Kritzer, who with her brother Andrew owns Modern Tribe, an online Judaica store with an offbeat edge, said that Hanukkah accounted for about 40 percent of annual revenue. Popular this year is the Emoji Menorah from Rite Lite ($30) with each candle base wearing a different expression, and the Jewdolph Knit Koozie ($12) a bottle sleeve with a reindeer whose antlers form a menorah, from Freakers. Also on the website is the Yamaclaus, a fluffy Santa Claus hat in the shape of a yarmulke. Alan Masarsky started Yamaclaus with his boyfriend, Larik Malish. Both grew up in interfaith homes, and both were fans of the 2003 episode of “The OC” that popularized the term “Chrismukkah,” a portmanteau for a merged Christmas and Hanukkah celebration. On the episode, characters wore what they called a yamaclaus. The couple had no inkling of starting a business when, in 2011, they hosted a holiday party and made their guests a crude version of the beanies out of red construction paper and cotton balls. They were a hit, so they checked to see if the trademark for Yamaclaus was available (it was) and if they could raise $2, 500 on Kickstarter to start production (they did). In 2013, Yamaclaus ($11) began selling on the company’s website, which today accounts for about 70 percent of sales. Mr. Masarsky, a marketing manager at Facebook who lives in San Francisco, said sales had increased 200 percent this year, as it had the previous two, but declined to provide more financial details. Yamaclaus wearers who post photos on social media tend to be in nonreligious settings. “Tons of our customers wear them when they’re lighting a menorah,” Mr. Masarsky said. “But not at shul — not at a synagogue. ” Michael Krasny, author of “Let There Be Laughter,” a book about Jewish humor, said many jokes make light of Jews’ “anxiety of being assimilated and turning into Christians. ” Products that intertwine Christian and Jewish culture may be a positive force, he said. “They can have it both ways,” Mr. Krasny said. “We can call it an homage to Christians at the same time as it’s bringing to the fore something that’s associated with Jewishness. ” Interfaith households are on the rise. From 2005 to 2013, 58 percent of Jews who wed married gentiles (usually Christians) compared with 35 percent who did so from 1970 to 1974, according to the Pew Research Center. Morri Chowaiki grew up in a Jewish home his wife, Marina, grew up in an interfaith one. “She always wanted a Christmas tree, and I was like, no way,” said Mr. Chowaiki, who in 2005, after they were married about a decade, relented. “I said, ‘All right, just don’t go crazy — if I walk into the front room and there’s a nativity scene there, I might have a little issue with it. ’” Ms. Chowaiki bought and decorated a tree, then unveiled it. And her husband was impressed — it was festooned with dreidels and blue and silver ornaments. But at the top of the tree: a star. “I laughed and said, ‘You couldn’t at least find a Jewish star to put at the top of the tree? ’” Mr. Chowaiki said. She told him she had looked — and found nothing. By 2009, he had designed and trademarked one, the Hanukkah Tree Topper, and sold about 2, 000. By 2013, the product had been picked up by retailers including Bed Bath Beyond and SkyMall and sold 35, 000 units — and earned Mr. Chowaiki a spot on “Shark Tank. ” On that episode, Daymond John, the investor who founded FUBU, purchased a 35 percent stake in the business for $50, 000, and Mr. Chowaiki agreed to license out the product to Kurt S. Adler, a wholesaler that specializes in holiday items. There are now several versions of the product available online, starting at about $12. Once the tree topper was licensed, Mr. Chowaiki ceased to be involved in operations. And in April, Mr. John hired him to head the sales and retail division of his company, the Shark Group. The Menorah Tree grew out of a similar marital dynamic: Michael Patchen, who is Jewish, wanted something festive to suit his wife, Jenny, who is half Catholic and half Jewish. In 2006, Mr. Patchen and his brother, Alex, made a menorah out of wood and artificial pine garland, decorated it with ornaments and lights, and surprised her with it. Now they sell a metal version that is seven feet high, assembles like an artificial tree and sells for $295 on their website. They’ve sold in the “low to ” since introducing the product in 2013, said Alex Patchen, who declined to be more specific. In 2012, David Daily had an idea for how to make the Hanukkah party he and his wife were hosting in Austin, Tex. memorable: a menorah bong. Mr. Daily, who owns Grav Labs, a glass bong and pipe manufacturer in Austin with annual sales of $12 million, made the bong himself. It was about two feet long and had eight bowls with stems that could hold candles. “I definitely had a Jewish experience growing up of enjoying cannabis with all my cousins,” Mr. Daily said. “And this menorah bong obviously is meant to be shared. ” Their guests were, in every sense, bowled over, but Mr. Daily never planned on marketing the menorah bong. It sat on a shelf in his home for a couple of years. Then an online head shop, 420 Science, borrowed it and made a video of it in action. It garnered about two million views on Facebook and YouTube and has been shared on social media about 100, 000 times. Grav recently produced 100 menorah bongs. At 14 inches, they are less cumbersome than the original. They cost $700 from retailers including 420 Science. But Dr. Dreidel may not be widely available until next Hanukkah. Hannah Rothstein, a conceptual artist, conceived of the dreidel in 2014 and has made fewer than a hundred of the wooden tops on a commission basis, charging $150. The dreidel features images of Dr. Dre, the rapper and record producer, and a version will retail for about $40 — barring complications. “I have not gotten any letters from Dr. Dre’s lawyers,” Ms. Rothstein said. “And if he wants to go in on the idea, we could make a million together. ” Next year she also hopes to produce a Hanukkah homage to Macklemore, another artist: the . | 0fake |
The Gun Shop Owner That Banned Muslims Is Now Selling Obama, Bernie And Hillary Targets (IMAGE) | One of Florida s most infamous gun shop owners is yet again making headlines this time for selling targets that have the faces of President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on them.Last year, Florida Gun Supply owner Andy Hallinan raised eyebrows by banning Muslims from his store, when he made this announcement via a YouTube video: I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community, and so effective immediately, I m declaring Florida Gun Supply as a Muslim-free zone. I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots. This of course, got the attention of the racist murderer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman. Naturally, the two gun nuts joined forces to sell confederate flag paintings through Hallinan s store so that Zimmerman could pay his living expenses. Apparently racism and hate speech works, because Zimmerman was able to make $100,000 on a painting so horrible a first grader could have done better.Now, Hallinan s latest stunt is an idea all of his own. On his website, BernieTargets.com, he is selling the targets with the three Democrats faces on them for $4.99, marked down from $9.99.Bernietargets.com Hallinan has several other classy products for sale on the site, such as a Muslim-free zone vehicle sticker , an ISIS hunting permit , a Mohammed target , a Muslim-free yard sign , Liberal tears gun oil and a Hillary for prison 2016 yard sign .If this guy is a fan of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, that wouldn t be a surprise at all. Hallinan clearly agrees with Trump s anti-Muslim rhetoric, and is probably right on board with The Donald s horrific proposal to ban all Muslims from coming into the country which is pretty much what Hallinan tried to do on a smaller scale with his store last year.This type of xenophobia, and blatant hate toward those with different religious (and political views) is so dangerous. Having targets with the faces of President Barack Obama (who Trump has repeatedly implied is Muslim) and this year s Democratic candidates is truly blurring the line between parody and inciting violence.Featured image is a screenshot | 1real |
WFP chief gets pledge from Congo's president on food aid access | GENEVA (Reuters) - President Joseph Kabila has agreed to help aid reach a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where ethnic conflict has spawned a humanitarian emergency, the head of the U.N. s World Food Programme said on Monday. WFP Executive Director David Beasley said he had also asked Congo s Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala to waive $9 million in administrative fees the organization had paid to the government, saying the sum could feed tens of thousands of people. This country is destabilizing and it needs attention because if we don t give the attention now it could impact the entire region, Beasley told reporters by phone from Kinshasa. The conflict in Kasai region turned Congo into the world s biggest displacement crisis this year. Although many people have started going home, Beasley said Congo still had about 600,000 children on the brink of starvation and 7.7 million severely malnourished people. While visiting Kasai, where WFP has 1 percent of the $135 million needed for the next eight months, he said he saw horror in the eyes of women and children as they told of beheadings and brutality. The Kasai region, it was rather appalling, in ways that are truly hard to explain, in ways you actually don t want to explain, he said. Beasley said he met Kabila for about 45 minutes before meeting ministers and explained that the trust of aid donors needed to be rebuilt and that the government must provide access, safety and visas. He gave me his assurances that he would do everything possible to address any and all needs that we brought to his attention, Beasley said. Beasley, a former governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina, told Congo s prime minister that WFP had paid the government $9 million in administrative fees just for access, just for being here , and asked him to scrap the fees. As I told the government, the prime minister, and the ministers, if you take that $9 million and I m feeding people at 31 cents a day, you can do the math - that s 75,000 people, give or take, that we can feed in an entire year, he said. Asked about the $9 million, government spokesman Lambert Mende said: That s the first time I ve heard of anything like that. We know that we have humanitarian needs because many people (in Kasai) are returning to their homes and we are working with our partners on that, Mende said. Beasley said there was donor fatigue but addressing the Kasai situation immediately would save lives and money. | 0fake |
Officials: Obama Warned About Flynn, But Trump Thought He Was Joking | The Trump administration has finally, definitively, admitted that President Obama personally warned Donald Trump about hiring Michael Flynn within 48 hours of the election .The conversation occurred during the 90-minute sitdown the former President and the guy who was kinda-sorta elected by a minority of the population (and Russia) and against the wishes of most Americans.A senior Obama official tells NBC that the President, who actually fired the disgraced Trump foreign policy advisor in 2014, made it very clear that he is not a fan of Michael Flynn. NBC reports:According to all three former officials, Obama warned Trump against hiring Flynn. The Obama administration fired Flynn in 2014 from his position as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, largely because of mismanagement and temperament issues.Obama s warning pre-dated the concerns inside the government about Flynn s contacts with the Russian ambassador, one of the officials said. Obama passed along a general caution that he believed Flynn was not suitable for such a high level post, the official added.Two administration officials said Obama also warned Trump to stay vigilant on North Korea.One official says that Trump thought the remark was made in jest, according to NBC.Recently, Trump attempted to blame President Obama for his failure to vet Flynn. General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama Administration but the Fake News seldom likes talking about that, The Donald tweeted Monday as Sally Yates was preparing to testify.But in fact, it was his team not Obama s who failed to vet the former General. When Flynn was fired, for example, he had not even completed a CIA background check.NEW: Flynn never received broader security clearance needed to serve as Natl Security Advisor before his firing. via @KenDilanianNBC pic.twitter.com/xDDFxtYjuW Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 8, 2017Trump has a lot to be worried about right now and more will be coming.Featured image via Getty Images (Pool) | 1real |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.