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Republican Senator Gets Dragged For Going After Robert Mueller | Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) thought it would be a good idea to attack Special Counsel Robert Mueller over the Russia probe. As Mueller s noose tightens, Republicans are losing their sh-t and attacking Mueller and the FBI in order to protect probably the most corrupt president ever.Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted on Friday, Speaking on behalf of the vast majority of the American people, Republicans in Congress be forewarned: any attempt to remove Bob Mueller will not be tolerated. Cornyn retweeted Holder to say, You don t. You don t https://t.co/7lHYkIloyz Senator JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) December 16, 2017Bloomberg s Steven Dennis tweeted on Saturday that [Cornyn] s beef is with Holder, not Mueller, but Cornyn responded to say, But Mueller needs to clean house of partisans. But Mueller needs to clean house of partisans https://t.co/g8SwgAKtfH Senator JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) December 16, 2017The Washington Post s Greg Sargent asked Cornyn, Will you accept the findings of the Mueller probe as legitimate, @JohnCornyn? Makes sense to me to wait to see what they are first, Cornyn responded.Makes sense to me to wait to see what they are first https://t.co/9lCqpYujKN Senator JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) December 16, 2017Republicans are trying to discredit Mueller and Twitter users took notice.If you even THINK of firing Mueller I ll make it my life s mission to make sure this is your last term, buddy. Mrs. SMH (@MRSSMH2) December 16, 2017Carrollton, TX here Ready and willing to help get Cruz and Cornyn out Jules012 (@JulesLorey1) December 16, 2017Garland, TX here Same! Bye Bye TDK (@ejkmom1998) December 16, 2017Austin, TX. #IStandWithMueller. Cronyn is a fake representative. He represents his own interests and anything to profit himself Vj (@Tex92eye) December 16, 2017I stand with Mueller! Kenneth Shipp (@shipp_kenneth) December 16, 2017He speaks for me Its BS how you cover up for a Russia pawn If Trump not gulity why would Mueller be fired to cover up Ellen Reeher Morris (@EllenMorris1222) December 16, 2017@EricHolder speaks for 69% of Americans according to recent polling. That s vast majority in my book. You were around for the Saturday Night Massacre @JohnCornyn. Firing Mueller would be X100! Lori Winters (@LoriW66) December 16, 2017Country over party. pic.twitter.com/NXEX9rGBgu PittieBoo (@PittieBoo) December 16, 2017He speaks for me, @JohnCornyn , and he speaks for the vast majority of American citizens who, you should remember, vote. See you in 2018. Andrew Silver (@standsagreenoak) December 16, 2017I might just move to Texas to get those cronies tossed out of office. Blue wave is coming for the corrupt. Ollie (@marciebp) December 16, 2017Good try, John. History will not be kind to you.Photo by Ann Heisenfelt/Getty Images | 1real |
THIRD-RATE ACTOR Who Called His 11-Yr Old Daughter A “Rude Thoughtless Pig” Defends Liberal Pig “ISIS Kathy” Who Attacked Trump’s 11-Year Old Son | Listen:After creating a video that included a vile, beheaded bloody head of President Donald Trump, the not-so-funny comedian Kathy Griffin has watched her career falling apart. In true liberal form, Griffin is blaming Donald Trump and his children for destroying her life, even though much of the outrage from the Trump children and his wife Melania was over Griffin s stated goal of wanting to beat down Trump s 11-year old son Barron. Even CNN and CNN s Anderson Cooper, who once considered himself a friend of Griffins have alienated themselves from the ISIS inspired comedian. No worries though, the man who loves to impersonate Donald Trump on SNL, and who berated his own 11-year old daughter, actor Alec Baldwin has Kathy Griffin s back.The 59-year-old actor, who played President Donald Trump on last season of Saturday Night Live, took to Twitter on Friday to defend Griffin amid the backlash over her controversial photo shoot. Kathy .baby I ve been there, Baldwin wrote before referencing his own political drama in 1998, when he joked about then-Representative Henry Hyde on Late Night with Conan O Brien. The whole Henry Hyde thing w Conan, where we bring out an oxygen mask at the end? A joke, he recalled. That s what I thought. That s what we intended. No one walked out of the studio and said, No, we re serious! No one. But all your gutless, weasels in the GOP insisted I actually threatened Hyde. They played the victim beautifully. FOX NewsSorry Alec but when you start making jokes about our current president being beheaded and actually create visuals to make your point that s when you cross the line from humor to inhumanity. Not that we care, but you re not doing your flailing career any favors by defending ISIS Kathy. | 1real |
Look At These Markets Seeing Massive Waterfall Declines As Chaotic Global Trading Continues! | 14 Views November 17, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
Look at these markets seeing massive waterfall declines as other hit new highs as chaotic global trading continues.
Mortgage rates based on the 10-Year Treasury have been headed dramatically higher as bonds continue their waterfall decline (see crashing chart below). Waterfall Decline In 10-Year Treasuries As Interest Rates Rise
30-Year Treasuries are also in free fall… 30-Year Treasuries Continue To Plunge As Interest Rates Rise Meanwhile the U.S. Dollar is hitting new multi-year highs U.S. Dollar Hits New Multi-Year Highs And the Dow Jones is at new highs… Dow Jones Hits New All-Time Highs Along with the Nasdaq… Nasdaq Hits New All-Time Highs The bottom line is that the world is set for much more chaotic trading as the year comes to an end and we head into what will be a wild west atmosphere in global markets in 2017. Just remember, no matter what hell breaks loose, gold will stand the test of time.
Rick Rule – A Look At 2017 And What Sprott Asset Management Is Doing With Our Clients’ Money Right Now CLCK | 1real |
Odebrecht paid firms linked to Peru's Kuczynski $4.8 million: document | LIMA (Reuters) - Brazilian builder Odebrecht transferred $4.8 million to companies linked to Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski between 2004 and 2012, some of which was paid to a company Kuczynski controlled when he held senior government roles, according to a document the company sent to Congress. In a brief recorded message broadcast on local radio program RPP after lawmakers made the contents of the document public on Wednesday, Kuczynski denied wrongdoing but did not deny the transfers took place. Kuczynski s office declined further comment. Odebrecht [ODBES.UL] declined to comment. A source in the company who spoke on condition of anonymity said the document seen by Reuters was authentic. The transfers shown in the document contradicted Kuczynski s previous denials about his ties to Odebrecht and prompted some lawmakers in the opposition-controlled Congress to call for his resignation. Odebrecht is at the center of Latin America s biggest graft scandal and has admitted to paying about $30 million in bribes to officials in Peru over a decade, including during the 2001-2006 term of ex-President Alejandro Toledo, when Kuczynski was finance minister and prime minister. After Odebrecht s public acknowledgement a year ago, Kuczynski repeatedly denied ever taking money from Odebrecht or having any professional connections to the company. But on Saturday Kuczynski announced on a local radio program that he once worked as a financial adviser for an Odebrecht project when he did not hold public office; he did not mention the company that paid him. According to the document sent to Congress, Odebrecht made seven transfers totaling about $780,000 to Kuczynski s company Westfield Capital Ltd between 2004 and 2007, including about $60,000 when Kuczynski worked in Toledo s Cabinet and the government awarded several contracts to Odebrecht. Later, between 2008 and 2012, Odebrecht paid about $4 million to First Capital Inversiones Y Asesorias. Kuczynski has previously said that First Capital belongs to his friend and Chilean business partner, Gerardo Sepulveda. Kuczynski was the sole director of Westfield Capital, according to his sworn declaration on the presidency s website. Kuczynski has not appeared in public since his radio interview on Saturday. He said on RPP on Wednesday that he had decided to heed Congress repeated calls to explain any connections he had with Odebrecht to an investigative committee. I ve never favored any company. I m willing to clarify everything that needs to be clarified before Congress and prosecutors because I have nothing to hide, Kuczynski said on RPP, without taking any questions from journalists. A spokesman for Popular Force, the opposition party that holds a majority of seats in Peru s single-chamber Congress, slammed Kuczynski. The country, Mr. Kuczynski, is tired of your lies and doesn t want any more explanations. The country hasn t just lost its trust in you, but in your government as well, Daniel Salaverry, the spokesman, told a news conference. In a televised plenary session late on Wednesday, hardline Popular Force lawmaker Hector Becerril called for Kuczynski to resign, calling the transferred funds camouflaged bribes. An independent lawmaker also called for Kuczynski to step down. A source in the attorney general s office said prosecutors investigating Odebrecht in Peru were probing Kuczynski s relationship with the company but could not name him as a suspect until his term and presidential immunity end. Toledo, the former president under whom Kuczynski worked, has been accused of taking a $20 million bribe from Odebrecht in exchange for help in securing lucrative highway contracts. Toledo has denied the charges. Authorities in Peru are seeking his extradition from the United States. | 0fake |
PIERS MORGAN: “Get Off Your High Horse, Hillary. Only ONE Candidate is Up To Her Neck in FBI Probes and Her Name Isn’t Donald” – TruthFeed | Breaking News PIERS MORGAN: “Get Off Your High Horse, Hillary. Only ONE Candidate is Up To Her Neck in FBI Probes and Her Name Isn’t Donald” PIERS MORGAN: “Get Off Your High Horse, Hillary. Only ONE Candidate is Up To Her Neck in FBI Probes and Her Name Isn’t Donald” Breaking News By TruthFeedNews November 4, 2016
By Piers Morgan When I competed in Donald Trump ’s first season of Celebrity Apprentice , he pitched me in the finale against country music star Trace Adkins. NBC promoted our showdown in endless commercials as ‘USA versus UK, good versus evil.’ Trace was portrayed as a strong, kind, polite, hard-working, all-American hero. I was depicted as an arrogant, obnoxious, ruthless British villain. There was just one problem, as I pointed out to Trump in a boardroom exchange that tragically never got aired. ‘One of us,’ I explained, ‘is a violent alcoholic who’s been shot by an ex-wife, stabbed in bar-room knife fights, and has a criminal record for a DUI.’ I competed in Donald Trump’s first season of Celebrity Apprentice – and I was once portrayed as evil, not unlike how Donald has been branded these days Yesterday, Hillary Clinton showed she didn’t get the ‘rise above the monster’ memo, shrieking herself hoarse (pictured today speaking in North Carolina) I paused for effect. ‘The other…. is me…. the bad guy.’ Trump roared with laughter. He got the irony, even if viewers never got the chance to. I was reminded of this today as I watched President Obama tear into Trump, branding him a small-brained, star-f***ing, Ku Klux Klan tolerating ‘loser’ born with a silver spoon in his mouth. It was an astonishingly personal and nasty attack from a man whose own wife Michelle recently declared from atop her lofty moral plinth: ‘When they go low, we go high.’ Yesterday, Hillary Clinton showed she didn’t get the ‘rise above the monster’ memo either, shrieking herself hoarse as she once again laid into Trump supporters she recently described as ‘The Deplorables’. ‘I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and the anger of people who support Donald Trump,’ she raged. This follows a familiar pattern from Team Clinton as election day draws closer: when in doubt, trash Trump and his followers in the meanest, ugliest, most personal way possible. The mantra seems to be: ‘When they go low, we plummet even lower.’ A similar mistake was made in Britain during the EU referendum debate when the Remain campaigners belittled and berated the Brexiters in a snide, sneering, superior manner. They lost. The problem for Mrs Clinton as she gallops across the fields of America like a crusading white knight trying to single-handedly save the nation from imminent Armageddon at the hands of Mr Evil is that she’s the Trace Adkins of this battle. In other words, she ain’t no saint herself. Her supporters don’t accept this of course. To them, Hillary is a vestal political virgin of unimpeachable integrity. ‘Why would I want to criticise her?’ a female Clinton-ite actress indignantly asked me on Twitter yesterday. ‘She’s up against a mad man. Compared to him, she’s bathed in golden light.’ It was the kind of thing I’d expect Tom Cruise to say in defence of his beloved basket case Scientologists. Yet as I write this, Clinton is facing potential FBI criminal investigations on two fronts. One is the re-opened case of her ongoing email scandal, this time centering on the contents of sexting pervert Anthony Weiner’s laptop. The second, according to the Washington Post, is an investigation into an alleged ‘pay-or-play’ operation Hillary ran out of the State Department that favoured donors to the Clinton Foundation charity. At the root of it lies a central charge that the Clintons have cynically and greedily exploited political power and status to enrich themselves, under the convenient protective umbrella of their Foundation. Big sponsors have been repeatedly ‘invited’ to donate big sums to the Foundation, then also donate big sums to the personal fortunes of Bill or Hillary in the form of cash, holidays, private jets and other benefits. On the face of it, this seems like a prima facie case of potential corruption. Yet the Post further reports the FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation has been held up by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, to the fury of many in the FBI. This is the same Loretta Lynch who Bill Clinton hijacked for a 30-minute conversation on a private airstrip days before the original FBI email investigation verdict exonerating his wife was made public. We can all draw our own conclusions, none of them I suspect very pretty. I know from first-hand experience there’s no such thing as a free lunch with the Clintons. There is no such thing as a free lunch with the Clintons. I know from my own dealings it’s quid-pro-quo: Bill would scratch my back if I scratched his I’ve interviewed Bill Clinton twice, for CNN. On both occasions, the request was only granted once I had agreed to moderate a panel for the former president at his annual Clinton Global Initiative event in aid of Clinton Foundation. It was a strict quid-pro-quo: Bill would scratch my back if I scratched his. So I scratched away, as do many other TV journalists each year who want an interview with him. There’s a similar pattern to almost everything in Planet Clinton: they trade favours. But when that trade involves millions of dollars raked into personal bank accounts on the back of charity donations, it stinks to high heaven. ‘Trace’ Clinton should get off her high horse, before she gets a nosebleed.
H/T – DailyMail
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Hezbollah says Kurdish vote a step toward wider Mideast partition | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Saturday that an Iraqi Kurdish independence vote marked a first step toward the partition of the Middle East, warning that this would lead to internal wars and must be opposed. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed group, said events in northern Iraq, where Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence on Monday, were a threat to the whole region and not just Iraq and neighboring states with Kurdish populations. It will open the door to partition, partition, partition, Nasrallah said. He added that partition means taking the region to internal wars whose end and time frame is known only to God . Nasrallah noted that his group s arch enemy Israel had come out in support of Kurdish statehood and described the referendum as part of a U.S.-Israeli plot to carve up the region. The United States came out in opposition to the vote, along with major European states and neighboring countries Turkey and Iran. The government of Syria, where Kurdish groups have established autonomous regions, also opposed the referendum. Nasrallah was speaking to supporters on the eve of Ashura, when Shi ites commemorate the slaying of the Prophet Mohammad s grandson, Imam Hussein, at Kerbala in 680 AD. Hezbollah, a political and military movement, is a major player in the Syrian conflict, where it has deployed thousands of fighters in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah fighters are currently fighting along with other Iran-backed militias and the Syrian army against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria. Daesh is at its end. It is a matter of time in Iraq and Syria, Nasrallah said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. He said counter attacks mounted by Islamic State in eastern Syria in the last two days were expected as the group was besieged, adding that it was incapable of recovering ground . | 0fake |
Senator Warren aide said to be in running for SEC job: sources | WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) - Bharat R. Ramamurti, a legislative aide for Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, is a contender for one of the vacancies on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. Ramamurti is senior counsel to Warren on banking and economic policy and she is staunchly backing him for the SEC job, one of the sources told Reuters. The sources spoke anonymously because deliberations on candidates for the SEC, which is the primary regulator that polices and writes rules for Wall Street, are not public. Ramamurti declined to comment. A source said a decision on the post was not imminent. In prior instances with President Donald Trump’s administration, candidates in the running for positions were sometimes dropped after their names became public. Other names that are in the mix include Vermont Law School professor Jennifer Taub, the AFL-CIO’s office of investment director Heather Slavkin Corzo and Andy Green, a managing director at the Center for American Progress who previously worked for SEC Democratic Commissioner Kara Stein, the sources told Reuters. Taub and Green declined to comment and Slavkin Corzo could not be immediately reached. A spokesperson for the White House declined to comment, saying he could not discuss personnel matters. Trump must nominate three people to fill out the five-member panel, which currently is down to two commissioners - Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar, a Republican, and Stein. The nomination of Wall Street deal-making attorney Jay Clayton, Trump’s choice to lead the SEC, was approved by the Senate Banking Committee earlier this month. Clayton, an independent, is still awaiting confirmation by the full Senate, which is currently away for Easter recess. Trump has not yet formally nominated anyone else for the remaining SEC spots - one Democrat and one Republican. Warren, a progressive Democrat, has been critical of the Trump administration’s plans to roll back the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. She voted against Clayton’s nomination, saying his employment as a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell representing large banks creates too many conflicts of interest and may prevent him from being a tough regulator. As her counsel on the banking committee, Ramamurti has played a prominent role in shaping Warren’s policy agenda. He helped steer her investigative efforts into the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal and worked on bipartisan efforts to broker a deal on housing reforms for mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. | 0fake |
Garlic: 12 Serious Health Benefits | Underground Health | Discover Little Known Health Secrets and Useful Tips For Healthy Living! First Name Red Banana Health Benefits
by Elisabeth Dahl – JillianMichaels.com If you’re looking to add some variety to your fruit bowl, consider the red banana. They’re available year-round in supermarkets and specialty stores. Use them as you would yellow bananas — eating them raw, slicing them into fruit salads or baking or frying them. While tasty, these purplish bananas are also […] How GMO foods alter Human DNA
How GMO foods alters human DNA as explained by the one and only “Health Ranger” Mike Adams. Mike does a great job explaining just how GMO foods work to alter the GNA code of human beings over time. The more GMO food that is ingested, the more the DNA is changed. This change occurs over […] Neurosurgeon Speaks Out On How Vaccines Harm Child Brain Development
by Dave Mihalovic – Prevent Disease Arguably one of the most outspoken and articulate leaders in raising awareness on the dangers of vaccination, Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD, provides compelling arguments why the vaccination of pregnant women is harmful and a hidden cause of neurological disorders. He also discusses the toxic ingredients in vaccines such as formaldehyde, […] Is eating vegan the key to superhuman strength?
by Jonathan Wells – The Telegraph “The world’s strongest animals are plant-eaters. Gorillas, buffaloes, elephants and me”. It was with these words that, earlier this week, Barnabas du Plessis revealed himself to be the new spokesperson for animal rights and vegan advocacy organisation PETA. A world-renowned body-builder and former Mr Universe, du Plessis cut meat, fish, eggs and […] The Herxheimer Reaction: Feeling Worse Before Feeling Better
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If you’re interested in discovering the best way to start reaping the benefits of drinking alkaline ionized water, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s explore the best ways of getting your own alkaline water so you can begin enjoying the many health benefits it has to offer. Home Alkaline Water Ionizer Machine: The cream […] What Most Doctors Won’t Tell You About Cholesterol
Why don’t many doctors tell you the truth about cholesterol? Cholesterol that naturally occurs in animal foods is not harmful to your health! But it can become harmful to your health if it is damaged by exposure to high levels of heat and/or harsh processing techniques. by Dr. Ben Kim – Drbenkim.com During my university years, […] U.S. Senate Reaches Deal on National GMO Labeling
(AP – NBC News) Senators have a bipartisan deal to require labeling of genetically modified ingredients nationally, a week before a labeling law in Vermont goes into effect. The deal announced Thursday (July 23, 2106) by the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee would require the nationwide labeling of genetically modified organisms, or […] Varicose Veins: Is There Hope?
Varicose veins are difficult for conventional medicine to treat. Alternative medicine shows some promise and can alleviate, even regress, some of the symptoms. by Anna Sienicka – HomeopathicCare.ca When valves inside the veins are weak or absent, or return of blood from congested areas is inefficient, veins can become enlarged and swollen aching. Varicose veins are […] Dehydration a leading cause of diseases
Dehydration is a lot more than just not drinking enough water. The side effects of being dehydrated involve numerous body systems and symptoms can range from mild to life threatening. by Dr. Cory – New Vision Water makes up a large percentage of blood, the life giving red liquid that brings oxygen, nutrients and vital […] The brain on LSD revealed in groundbreaking images
by Ian Sample – The Guardian The profound impact of LSD on the brain has been laid bare by the first modern scans of people high on the drug. The images, taken from volunteers who agreed to take a trip in the name of science, have given researchers an unprecedented insight into the neural basis […] Put Down the Pork Chops! US Pork is Hazardous to Your Health
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New research shows that copper may play a large role in Alzheimer’s disease! by Melissa Healy – LA Times New research finds that copper in amounts readily found in our drinking water, the foods we eat and the vitamin supplements we take likely plays a key role in initiating and fueling the abnormal protein build-up and […] Homeopathy is ineffective? Decide for yourself!
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North Korean threat highlights NATO missile shield 'weak link' | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO has joined world powers diplomatic efforts to stop North Korea s missile program but it cannot yet rely on its U.S.-built shield to defend Europe, experts and diplomats said. The United States says the shield, more than a decade in the planning, is needed to protect against so-called rogue states, a term U.S. officials have used to refer to North Korea and Iran. But with Berlin, Paris and London potentially within striking distance of North Korea s missiles from next year, officials say the U.S.-led alliance s system needs more radars and special interceptors to destroy a rocket from Pyongyang. The NATO shield in its current state lacks the reach and early warning radars to shoot down North Korean rockets. It s a weak link, said Michael Elleman, a missile defense analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Early tracking is also difficult because North Korean missiles would be flying over Russia, where NATO obviously cannot put radars, he added. The sort of interceptor needed to shoot down North Korean ballistic missiles could breach a Soviet-era arms control agreement between the United States and Russia because of its greater range, arms experts say. Moscow has long objected to U.S. missile shield plans, saying their real aim is to neutralize Russia s own nuclear arsenal, rather than meet the perceived threat from rogue states . Russia s strategic concerns would, therefore, make it hard to renegotiate the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, something arms experts say would be required if a North Korean missile shield were to be fully effective. Alliance planning to confront any threat from Pyongyang is in its infancy. Following North Korea s country s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, two senior NATO diplomats told Reuters that protection against the North Korean threat was only beginning to be considered at NATO headquarters in Brussels. That was despite a more forceful diplomatic tone on the crisis and warnings on the scale and immediacy of the threat from U.S. President Donald Trump s new ambassador to NATO, France s defense minister and the alliance s deputy head. While analysts do not expect North Korea to have a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile until next year at the earliest, NATO s European allies could become a target as a way of threatening their closest partner, the United States, a third NATO diplomat said, stressing that was only speculation. The United States switched on its $800 million European missile defense umbrella in May last year at a site in Romania to protect against Iranian rockets. The system, controlled from a NATO base in Germany, includes radars and interceptors stretching from eastern Europe to the Mediterranean. A final site in Poland should be ready by late 2018, extending the European umbrella from Greenland and the Azores. To shoot down a ballistic missile from North Korea would require a new generation of interceptor, the Block II, which is still in development. It is capable of downing ballistic rockets earlier and at a much higher altitude. However, Elleman said that U.S. missile sites in Alaska and California, as well as in Japan and South Korea, were likely to be given priority before Europe, when they are ready in 2018. There will be a lot of competition for the assets, he said. | 0fake |
Additional inspectors sent to Florida's nuclear plants ahead of Irma: NRC | (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Friday it has dispatched additional inspectors to the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants in Florida in preparation for the effects of hurricane Irma on those sites. Turkey Point was expected to close on Friday evening and St. Lucie is to shut about 12 hours later, depending on the storm s path. The nuclear plants are located along Florida s Atlantic Coast, about 20 feet (6 meters) above sea level. The NRC inspectors are verifying that all of the preparations have been completed, and the plants emergency diesel generators are available to be used if the storm affects off-site power supplies, the agency said in a statement. The inspectors will remain at the nuclear plant sites and the incident response center will remain staffed until the agency is assured that the storm no longer poses a risk to these facilities, the agency said. The NRC expects to activate the regional incident response center in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday. Electricity generator Florida Power & Light (FPL), a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc, generates enough power for about 1.9 million homes at the Turkey Point and St. Lucie plants. Hurricane Irma is expected to hit Florida as a powerful Category 4 on Sunday. It threatens to knock out power to more than 4.1 million homes and businesses served by FPL, affecting around nine million people based on the current storm track, the utility s chief executive said. | 0fake |
Donald Trump’s Claim That He’s The Strongest GOP Candidate Ever Is Bulls*it | Donald Trump loves to brag that he is the strongest Republican candidate ever. As proof, he offers the fact that he received 13 million votes during the primary. Reagan, Trump says, had fewer than 8 million votes. He also bypassed Romney by about three million.Here s what Trump says about it: Look, you know the Republican Party has largely come together. They agree with me, and they believe in me, and I got more votes than anybody in the history of primary elections, Trump replied. Nobody s ever even gotten close, the Republicans. I got more than Ronald Reagan, I got more than Richard Nixon, I got more than Dwight Eisenhower, I got more than anybody But I have to say, the Republicans better get smart, they better start sticking together. Source: Breitbart.comTrump s claim is absolutely true. Do you feel that? That s a collective chill going down the spines of every sane person on the planet. Fortunately for all of sanity, it s not as simple as Trump or some in the media claim. Trump did not bypass Ronald Reagan or even Mitt Romney in the popular vote, and here s why: In the simplest of terms, we have a lot more people than we did when Reagan ran in 1980 and even when Romney ran in 2012.The truth doesn t bode well for Trump:In 1980, Ronald Reagan won 7.7 million votes in the Republican contests in a country that had more than 80 million fewer people of voting age. Further, more than a dozen states held non-binding caucuses that the candidates largely ignored. Adjusting for the population increase and the number of meaningful primary contests today, Reagan likely would have won close to 14 million votes significantly more than Trump received, according to a HuffPost analysis.Adjusting George W. Bush s 12 million votes from 2000 the same way suggests he might have won 14.5 million votes. And adjusting 1952 s numbers, Eisenhower might have received 13.6 million votes, while Taft might have won 18.6 million both more than Trump received.But the biggest GOP winner in modern times, according to the HuffPost analysis, was Richard Nixon in 1960, when the sitting vice president won 5 million votes in just 13 contests suggesting Nixon could have won 25.6 million votes with today s voting population and primary schedule.Source: Huffington PostLet s compare that to Hillary Clinton. In 2008, both she and Barack Obama nearly tied with more than 17 million votes each. This year, her vote totals are lower (about 16 million) but they are still greater than Donald Trump s.Of course, like most of Trump s boasts, these numbers mean absolutely nothing. Primary voters tend to be a different group of people than general election voters and we are still several months out, but we do know that he s not in a position to do better than Ronald Reagan or even than Mitt Romney.Featured image via Sara D. Davis at Getty Images. | 1real |
Deadly aftershock, volcanic ash spread alarm in Mexico | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 aftershock that shook Mexico on Saturday was blamed for five deaths, spreading fear among anxious residents reeling from a string of natural disasters and interrupting the search for survivors from a bigger tremor earlier this week. The Popocatepetl volcano south of Mexico City sent a column of ash into the sky, capping an intense period of seismic activity including two powerful tremors this month that have killed more than 400 people and caused damage of up to $8 billion. Mexico s capital was shattered by Tuesday s magnitude 7.1 quake that flattened dozens of buildings and killed at least 307 people. The government s response to the disaster is under close scrutiny ahead of a presidential election next year. Although the latest quake was not as destructive, fear is running high among the population. Terrified residents ran into the streets, where they crouched and prayed as earthquake sirens went off. Two women died of heart attacks as the ground shook, the city government said. Tents were set up in different parts of the city where psychologists offered mental health support to survivors and rescuers traumatized by the natural disasters. Acts of solidarity came from all corners of Mexican society. Tuesday s quake hit on the anniversary of a 1985 tremor that, by some estimates, killed 10,000 people. Roxana Trani, a 30-year-old banker, was one of the thousands of young Mexicans who turned to social media to find out how to help. She joined one of the aid collection centers that popped up in Mexico City and traveled to Puebla state in one of many convoys flooding from the city to more isolated communities. I never understood why the people who suffered the 85 quake were so afraid of the slightest tremors. Now I get it, Trani said. Being at a funeral and seeing all the pain that one minute caused has changed me, she said. Concern that the aftershock could cause further collapses paralyzed rescue efforts at a housing complex in the Tlalpan neighborhood of Mexico City, frustrating first responders who believed people were alive under the rubble. By the evening, hard-hatted first responders were again digging for bodies or survivors in a dwindling number of rubble heaps. Their work barely skipped a beat elsewhere when earthquake alarms twice rang out across the city. The United States Geological Survey said the latest quake was relatively shallow with an epicenter near Juchitan, a tropical region of Oaxaca state hard hit by a massive 8.1 magnitude tremor that struck on Sept. 7. Three people died in Oaxaca during Saturday s tremor, including a man who was attacked by a swarm of wild bees, authorities said. Mexico s seismological authorities said it was an aftershock of the Sept. 7 tremor, which was the strongest to hit the country in 85 years and killed at least 98 people. The Popocatepetl volcano, which is visible on a clear day to the approximately 20 million people who live in the Mexico City metropolitan region, spewed vapor and ash-filled gas after two small eruptions on Saturday. Dozens of buildings were brought to the ground by Tuesday s earthquake, while an army of trained rescuers helped by droves of volunteers frantically removed rubble in a day-and-night search for survivors. Apartment buildings, offices, a school and a textile factory were among the structures flattened, leaving thousands homeless. The search had wound up at many sites by Saturday. Officials said there could be some 30,000 badly damaged homes in the adjacent states of Morelos and Puebla. RMS, a risk modeling company, estimated economic losses of $4 billion to $8 billion. Mexican volunteers, professionals and soldiers backed by teams from the United States and countries as far away as Japan and Chile have saved 69 people from the rubble after several days of searching. But in the past 48 hours rescuers have found more corpses than survivors, and frustration was mounting. A government response seen as lacking in the disastrous 1985 temblor severely damaged the credibility of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. Mexico is now better prepared to deal with the aftermath of earthquakes, thanks to disaster planning, civic groups, a stringent building code and communication technology. The government has run a massive search-and-rescue operation involving thousands of soldiers and police, but victims in outlying areas of the city and surrounding villages complained that aid has been slow to arrive. Here we have no help, everything is in the center (of the city), said Justina Gonzalez, 55, a shopkeeper in the Xochimilco district in the far south of the city whose two-bedroom house fell down on Tuesday. She now lives in a tent and said neighbors were bringing her family food. We lost everything, we don t even have a way to cook, Gonzalez said. | 0fake |
After Brussels, Trump's 'strength' resonates with GOP voters (+video) | [Updated at 2 p.m. ET] Over and over, as Republican voters spoke of the presidential race – and of Donald Trump in particular – one word kept coming up: “strong.”
The nation needs a strong leader, said the 12 voters, gathered Tuesday night in St. Louis for a focus group. That’s hardly a surprising conclusion, especially following the deadly terror attacks by the Islamic State in Brussels earlier in the day. And Mr. Trump, the GOP presidential front-runner, projects strength, they said.
After Tuesday’s nominating contests, in which Trump gained more delegates than his top rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the billionaire is one step closer to accomplishing an extraordinary feat: winning the Republican presidential nomination as a political novice, while bucking party orthodoxy on a range of issues, from trade to entitlements to the US’s role in the world to Planned Parenthood.
Some in the group expressed reservations about Trump. He needs a “filter,” two of the women said. He needs to “turn the noise down just a tad,” said another. “Be a bit more humble,” said one of the men. Two of the 12 voters in the focus group – organized by veteran pollster Peter Hart, with reporters watching via live stream – said they would vote for Trump in November only as “a last resort.”
So why do some voters see Trump as strong?
“Because he’s direct and outspoken, and uses language that they understand and relate to,” Mr. Hart told the Monitor Wednesday. “I don’t want to say the swear words, but the way in which he approaches it, it’s not political speak. It’s straight talk, and he gets credit for it.”
Hart describes Trump’s style as “authoritarian.” In fact, recent academic research shows that Trump supporters are united by one common trait – not income, education level, or race, but an inclination toward authoritarian leadership. That finding could have profound implications for the Democrats come November, if Trump is the Republican nominee.
“Because of the prevalence of authoritarians in the American electorate, among Democrats as well as Republicans, it’s very possible that Trump’s fan base will continue to grow,” wrote Matthew MacWilliams, the author of the study and a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in Politico last December.
Placing Trump in the American historical context is tricky. In many ways, the real estate mogul/reality TV star/Twitter maven has no historical precedent. But in his ability to project strength, at least, Hart sees a hint of Ronald Reagan.
“If you were looking for the one link between President Reagan and Trump, it is the clear, straightforward, declarative language,” says Hart. “The difference is, Reagan was always the smiling face, with an upbeat, sunny message of ‘morning in America,’ and Trump is obviously stern and tough. And while he says he will ‘make America great again,’ essentially his language is much more negative and harsher.”
After Tuesday’s nominating contests, in which Trump gained more delegates than his top rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the billionaire is one step closer to accomplishing an extraordinary feat: winning the Republican presidential nomination as a political novice, while bucking party orthodoxy on a range of issues, from trade to entitlements to the US’s role in the world to Planned Parenthood.
But ultimately, if Trump wins the Republican nomination, only one said they would never vote for him. That result flies in the face of polls that show major reservations about Trump by Republican voters. One recent survey shows more than a third of Republican voters in the “never Trump” camp.
On Tuesday, Trump and Senator Cruz performed as expected: Trump won the Arizona primary, and all 58 delegates at stake, with 47 percent of the vote. Senator Cruz won the Utah caucuses, and all 40 of the state’s delegates, with 69 percent of the vote. A contested GOP convention in July remains a possibility, but Trump still has potential to lock up the nomination before then.
In Arizona, about half of the voting took place before Tuesday, and the attacks in Brussels. Among those who voted on primary day, it’s not clear how the terror attack might have affected voters’ choices.
But Brussels certainly weighed heavily on the focus group voters in St. Louis. When asked for the “one thing” they’re looking for in the next president, voters named a range of qualities, including ability to get things done, high moral character, and toughness.
“You’ve got to be strong,” said Trump supporter Kevin Rotellio, a restaurant manager in his 40s. “We can’t be weak, or we might be the next terror attack.”
At another point, when the discussion turned to leadership style, one participant brought up a world leader whom Trump has said he admires.
“This business about Trump’s being outspoken and harsh and all that – isn’t Putin the same way? And he seems to be doing OK, so I don’t know that that’s bad,” said Joseph Glass, a retired engineer who voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Missouri primary.
The biggest reservations over Trump were voiced by women – a reflection of polling that shows women are more concerned than men by Trump’s manner, and an overall gender gap. When the group was asked by Mr. Hart if Trump would be different as president than he has been as a candidate, some expressed hope that that would be the case.
“If he surrounds himself with reasonable people, he will be different,” said Joyce Reinitz, a teacher who lists her party affiliation as “not strong Republican.” “He’ll still be opinionated. But he will have perhaps some of the social filters built in as personalities that will try to calm him down.”
Another woman, homemaker Gabrielle Ritter, also hoped for the calming influence of advisers, if Trump is elected. Ms. Ritter, an independent who voted for Cruz in the primary and came into the focus group with a “very unfavorable” view of Trump, wished “he could just come across more reasonable.”
“I’m concerned about him discussing deals with Putin or Iraq or the Middle East or Mexico,” she said. “I’m concerned, because of how he is portrayed in the media right now, how he is going to handle those situations, so that we don’t end up in a worse international situation. I think that the best decision that he could make is to choose a good cabinet of advisers to help him.”
Cherri Crenshaw, another independent woman who voted for Cruz, said she is looking for a president who is "strong plus respectful." When asked to elaborate, she responded: “It’s the opposite of Donald Trump. I think he is very strong, but I think he comes across as a bully. I don’t think you can lead the country when you’re demeaning people in such blatant ways.”
And yet of the 12, only one focus group participant said they could never vote for Trump. And when asked if they had reservations about Trump’s understanding of foreign policy, only one person raised their hand.
Dissatisfaction with the status quo is that high – high enough to put a foreign policy novice in the Oval Office. Frustration over the Obama years, and the inability to “get things done,” burns hot. And Republican voters, at least most of these voters, are prepared to bet on someone who is untested in government – even someone they don’t much like. They dismissed the concerns of the GOP “establishment” as “Washington politicians” who have nobody but themselves to blame for the rise of Trump.
Focus groups are an imperfect way to gauge public sentiment. (Though it must be noted that Hart as moderator, with the sponsorship of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, is considered the gold standard.) Sometimes a form of “group think” can set in.
That may have been the case with this group, when all but one said they’d vote for Trump if he’s the nominee. But exasperation with the Obama administration, and the state of the country, may be so high by November that the vast majority of Republicans would be willing to pull the lever for Trump, despite the polls today. | 0fake |
EPA chief wants scientists to debate climate on TV | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the early stages of launching a debate about climate change that could air on television – challenging scientists to prove the widespread view that global warming is a serious threat, the head of the agency said. The move comes as the administration of President Donald Trump seeks to roll back a slew of Obama-era regulations limiting carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, and begins a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement - a global pact to stem planetary warming through emissions cuts. “There are lots of questions that have not been asked and answered (about climate change),” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told Reuters in an interview late on Monday. “Who better to do that than a group of scientists... getting together and having a robust discussion for all the world to see,” he added without explaining how the scientists would be chosen. Asked if he thought the debate should be televised, Pruitt said: “I think so. I think so. I mean, I don’t know yet, but you want this to be open to the world. You want this to be on full display. I think the American people would be very interested in consuming that. I think they deserve it.” Pruitt, one of the most controversial figures in the Trump administration, has repeatedly expressed doubts about climate change – one of the main points of contention in his narrow confirmation by the Senate. While acknowledging the planet is warming, Pruitt says he questions the gravity of the problem and the need for regulations that require companies to take costly measures to reduce their carbon footprint. “It is a question about how much we contribute to it. How do we measure that with precision? And by the way, are we on an unsustainable path? And is it causing an existential threat?” he said in the interview. Since taking up his role at EPA, he has emerged as one of the more prolific Trump cabinet appointees, taking steps to undo more than two dozen regulations, and influencing Trump’s decision to pull the United States from the Paris climate change deal, agreed by nearly 200 countries in 2015. Pruitt rejected global criticism of the United States for pulling out of the climate deal, which Trump has said would have cost America trillions of dollars without benefit. “We have nothing to be apologetic about,” Pruitt said. “It was absolutely a decision of courage and fortitude and truly represented an America First strategy with respect to how we are leading on this issue.” Pruitt said the United States had already cut its carbon output to the lowest levels in nearly 25 years without mandates, thanks mainly to increased use of natural gas - which burns cleaner than coal. Pruitt said his desire for the agency to host an ongoing climate change debate was inspired by two articles published in April – one in the Wall Street Journal by theoretical physicist Steve Koonin, who served as undersecretary of energy under Obama – and one by conservative columnist Brett Stephens in the New York Times. Koonin’s article made the case that climate science should use the “red team-blue team” methodology used by the national security community to test assumptions. Stephens’ article criticized claims of complete certainty in climate science, saying that it “traduces the spirit of science.” Pruitt said scientists should not scoff at the idea of participating in these debates. “If you’re going to win and if you’re so certain about it, come and do your deal. They shouldn’t be scared of the debate and discussion,” he said. Pruitt said debate is not necessarily aimed at undermining the 2009 “endangerment finding,” the scientific determination that carbon dioxide harms human health that formed the basis for the Democratic Obama administration’s regulation of greenhouse gases. He said there may be a legal basis to challenge the finding but would prefer Congress weigh in on the matter. In the interview, Pruitt added that he intended to deal “very aggressively” with automakers that use devices to cheat emissions tests, and would also seek to boost accountability for companies to clean up polluted sites under the Superfund program. He said EPA was also not ready to decide yet on a change proposed by Trump’s special adviser Carl Icahn to the U.S. biofuels program, that would shift the burden of blending biofuels like ethanol into gasoline away from refiners to companies further down the supply chain. | 0fake |
THE NEW SWEDEN: Rapes, Riots, Severed Heads, Freeloading Foreigners And Shocking Acquittals | The consequences of throwing out the welcome mat for people who have no intention of obeying your rules or living in a world with morals or values Some 30 Muslim men thought that the woman was in violation of Islamic sharia law, by being in Sweden unaccompanied by a man. They thought that she should therefore be raped and her teenage son killed. Two Swedish citizens were convicted by a Gothenburg Court of joining an Islamist terror group in Syria and murdering two captives. Video evidence showed one victim being beheaded. Every night when I have gone to bed, I have seen a head hanging in the air. Court Chairman Ralf G. Larsson. Sometime during the night, the victim was awakened by the Iraqi as he raped her. The woman managed to break free and locate a train attendant. At first, the woman did not want to call the police. She felt sorry for him [the rapist] and was afraid he would be deported back to Iraq. One week after Sweden raised its terror alert level to the highest ever, the police raised another alarm saying their weapons are simply not good enough to prevent a potential terror attack.November 4: The Swedish Immigration Service sent out a press release, saying that it had hired close to a thousand additional employees since June. The Immigration Service now has over 7,000 employees, including hourly workers and consultants double the 3,350 employees who worked there in 2012. Most of the new recruits work with the legal processing of asylum applications, but the units dealing with receiving migrants and filing their initial applications have also expanded considerably. As if the record influx of migrants this autumn were not crushing enough, the Immigration Service also had trouble retaining its staff. Employees complain about being badly treated: they are always expected to be on call, and possibly even work Christmas Eve.November 4: Bobel Barqasho, a 31-year-old Syrian, was sentenced by Sweden s Supreme Court to 14 years in prison. Before his case reached the Supreme Court, Barqasho had been sentenced by a lower court to 9 years in prison, then acquitted by the Court of Appeals. In February 2013, Barqasho threw his wife off a sixth-floor balcony. Against all odds, the woman survived the 13-meter (about 43 feet) fall, but was badly injured. When she woke up after five weeks in a coma, her head was held together by a helmet, her face felt loose, and her teeth were gone. In the Court of Appeals, the defense managed to plant reasonable doubt about the man s guilt by claiming the woman was depressed and had jumped of her own free will] so the Court of Appeals set him free. By the time the Supreme Court pronounced its sentence of 14 years, Barqasho had disappeared. He is now being sought by Interpol.November 6: The Gr nkulla School in Alvesta closed after reports of a rape at the facility spread on social media. A Somali boy had apparently been sexually harassing a 12-year-old girl for some time. On October 17, he allegedly took his attentions a step farther, pulled the girl behind a bush and raped her. The girl s father had been unsuccessful in trying to get the school to address the problem earlier, but even after the reported rape, the school s management did not act. The boy was allowed to continue going to the school just on a schedule different from the girl s. Her distraught parents told the news website Fria Tider: We are being spat on because we are Swedish. In protest against the school s management, many parents, viewing the school as having sided with the perpetrator, moved their children to other schools.November 9: Social commentator and whistleblower Merit Wager revealed on her blog that administrators at the Immigration Service had all been ordered to accept the claim that an applicant is a child, if he does not look as if he is over 40. A staggering 32,180 unaccompanied refugee children had arrived during 2015 by December 1 since then another 1,130 have come and the government finally decided to take action.If its proposition is approved by Parliament, everyone who looks adult-aged will be forced to go through a medical age-determination procedure. One of the reasons Sweden stopped doing these in the first place, was that pediatricians refused to take part in them. They said the procedures were unreliable. November 10: A 28-year-old Iraqi man was prosecuted for raping a woman on a night train between Finland and Sweden. The man had originally planned to seek asylum in Finland, but had found the living conditions there too harsh. He had therefore taken a train back to Sweden. In a couchette (sleeping car where men and women are together), the rapist and two other asylum seekers met one of the many Swedish women whose hearts go out to new arrivals. The woman bought sandwiches for the men; they drank vodka. When two of the men started groping the woman, she told them to stop, yet chose to lie down and go to sleep. Sometime during the night, she was awakened by the Iraqi as he raped her. The woman managed to break free and locate a train attendant. To the attendant s surprise, the woman did not immediately want to press charges. The court documents state: The train attendant asked if he should call the police. At first, the woman did not want him to do so, because she did not want to put N.N., an asylum seeker, in a tough spot. She felt sorry for him and was afraid he would be deported back to Iraq. The man was given a sentence of one year in prison, payment of 85,000 kronor (about $10,000) in damages, and deportation but will be allowed to come back to Sweden after five years.November 10: An Algerian and a Syrian asylum seeker were indicted for raping a Swedish woman in Str ngn s. The men, 39-year-old from Algeria and 31-year-old from Syria, met the woman in a bar one night in August. When the woman left, one of the men followed her, pulled her to the ground, and assaulted her. Afterwards, the woman kept walking, and ran into two other men the Syrian and another unidentified man and was raped again. The Syrian reportedly also spit her in face and said, I m going to f k you, little Swedish girl. The men, who lived at the same asylum house, denied knowing each other when questioned by the police.The verdict was announced on December 1. Rapist number one was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, 117,000 kronor (about $14,000) in damages, and deportation to Algeria. Rapist number two was convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to four years in prison. He cannot be deported, however, because there are currently hindrances towards enforcing deportations to Syria. He was also ordered to pay the woman 167,000 kronor (about $20,000) in damages.November 13: A trial began against eight Eritrean men, between the ages of 19 and 26, who according to the District Court, crudely and ruthlessly gang-raped a 45-year-old woman. She had been waiting in a stairwell for a friend when the men invited her into an apartment. Inside, she was thrown on the floor, held down, beaten and brutally raped. When questioned by the police, she said, It felt as if there were hands and fingers everyplace. Fingers penetrated me, vaginally, anally. It hurt very much. I could feel the fingernails. She said she could also hear the Eritreans laughing and speaking in their own language while they raped her. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, she said.When two of the men started fighting over who should rape her next, she tried to flee, but one of the men hit her over the head; she fell unconscious. After coming to, she escaped out a window and was able to reach a neighbor.The District Court of Falun established that several men had taken part in the attack, but the District Attorney was unable to prove who had done what. Therefore, only one man was convicted of aggravated rape, and sentenced to five years in prison. The others were sentenced to only 10 months in prison for helping to conceal a serious criminal offense. After serving their time, the men will be allowed to stay in Sweden.November 14: The Swedish Security Service, S po, warned again of Muslim terrorists hiding among migrants. The number of individuals listed as potential security threats has tripled this year, and includes several hundred who may be ready to carry out Paris-style attacks.As the Immigration Service has a huge backlog in trying to register all 150,000 asylum seekers who have come to Sweden so far in 2015, there are probably also many migrants that would be considered potential security threats.November 14: Sweden s Foreign Minister, Margot Wallstr m, made yet another strange statement with diplomatic consequences. The day after the Paris attacks, in an interview with Swedish Public Television, Wallstr m was asked, How worried are you about the radicalization of young people in Sweden who choose to fight for ISIS? Wallstr m replied: Yes, of course we have a reason to be worried not only here in Sweden but around the world, because there are so many who are being radicalized. Here again, you come back to situations like that in the Middle East, where not least the Palestinians see that there isn t any future for us [the Palestinians], we either have to accept a desperate situation or resort to violence. Two days later, the Swedish ambassador to Israel, Carl Magnus Nesser, was called to a meeting at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Its spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, later told Reuters, The Swedish Foreign Minister s statements are appallingly impudent [She] demonstrates genuine hostility when she points to a connection of any kind between the terror attacks in Paris and the complex situation between Israel and the Palestinians. In a formal statement, the Swedish Foreign Ministry denied that Margot Wallstr m s remark had connected the Paris attacks with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Swedish Conservative (Moderaterna) Member of Parliament, Hanif Bali, sarcastically tweeted that it seemed the Foreign Minister is suffering from an obvious case of Israel-Tourette s. November 18: The Authority for Civil Protection and Contingency Planning (MSB) warned that the asylum situation was not only very strained, but that things keep getting worse and that in some parts of Sweden, the authorities can only function until the end of December. Meanwhile, the Immigration Service calculated that another 13,000 beds are needed in so-called evacuation accommodations. The problem cannot be fully solved even if the Armed Forces help provide more housing or if the MSB could arrange more tent accommodations, the authority wrote.The massive influx of asylum seekers has also led to native Swedes being crowded out of the health care and social services systems, according to the MSB. It [the MSB] is so busy handling unaccompanied children and asylum seekers, that there simply is not enough time to tend to the everyday functions, such as healthcare and social services, said Alexandra Nordlander, Chief of Operative Analysis at the MSB, to the daily tabloid, Aftonbladet.November 19: A fire broke out at Lundsbrunn Spa, a few weeks after plans were announced to convert the historic building into the biggest asylum-seekers home in Sweden. According to the police, the fire was not an arson, but started in a wood-pellet stove.Many hotels and spas have transforming themselves into asylum-seekers housing, in order to profit from lucrative deals offered by the Immigration Service. Lundsbrunn Spa, near a mineral spring, dates back to 1890; in 1817, a hospital was established on the grounds. The nearby village is home to fewer than 1,000 people, so when Lundsbrunn Spa decided to accept an offer from the Immigration Service, the village faced a doubling of its population. The owners of Lundsbrunn wrote on the Spa s website that they see the transformation from spa to asylum-seekers home as a temporary measure.November 20: Norwegian businessman Petter Stordalen, the billionaire owner of Nordic Choice Hotels, announced that the chain s many properties in Scandinavia and the Baltic states would no longer serve their guests sausage and bacon for breakfast. The breakfast buffet of the Nordic Choice s Clarion Hotel Post in Gothenburg was named earlier this year the best hotel breakfast in the world by the British newspaper, The Mirror. But apparently, this award did not matter.The cause for the hotel s decision was cited as health reasons. The internet, however, was soon abuzz with speculation that the real reason was adaptation to Islamic dietary laws (halal). One week later, Stordalen backtracked. The reaction from hotel guests had been too strong. Many people vented their anger over the withheld bacon on Stordalen s Facebook page. Stordalen commented: The guests have spoken. Comfort Hotels are bringing back bacon. November 23: Hassan Mostafa Al-Mandlawi, 32, and Al Amin Sultan, 30, were indicted in the Gothenburg Municipal Court, suspected of having traveled to Syria in 2013 and murdering at least two people there. The charge was terrorist crimes, (alternatively crimes against international law) and murder. Chief Prosecutor Agnetha Hilding Qvarnstr m, of the National Unit for Security Cases, said: The act [was] committed with the intent to harm the state of Syria and intimidate the people, thus the classification: terrorist crimes. The hard part is to clarify fully whether these men have been part of an armed group, and acted within the frames of the armed conflict, or not. The accused men came to Sweden, one from Iraq and one from Syria, as children, but grew up in Sweden and are Swedish citizens. They traveled to Syria in 2013, and joined one of the many Islamist terror groups there. According to the prosecution, they murdered two captured workers in an industrial area of Aleppo by slitting their throats. The prosecutor wrote that, Al-Mandlawi and Sultan have both expressed delight at the deeds. During the trial, films of the executions were shown, but both men still denied having committed the crimes. Those present in court agreed that the films were among the most disturbing ever displayed in a Swedish court. First, they show a man having his throat slit, the blood gushing before he dies. Then, the other victim s head is severed from his body, and the killer holds up the severed head to loud cheers from the others. The court s chairman, Ralf G. Larsson, told the news agency, TT: Every night when I have gone to bed, I have seen a head hanging in the air. The verdict was announced December 14: Both men were convicted of terrorist crimes and sentenced to life in prison. The verdict will be appealed, the defense lawyers said.Via: Gatestone Institute | 1real |
Australia's Turnbull goes rural in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at widening appeal | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday named a new attorney general and promoted two junior lawmakers from rural Queensland state to his cabinet in a reshuffle he hopes will bolster his flagging popularity. Australian leaders often revamp cabinets before the start of a new year but for center-right Turnbull the move is an attempt to salvage his leadership, ravaged by dismal opinion polls. Last month, Turnbull s ruling Liberal-National coalition made its worst showing in a Queensland election in more than a decade, when it won 34 percent of the vote as Pauline Hanson s populist One Nation clawed into its conservative base. A large number of marginal seats in the country s third most populous state of Queensland often give its voters a crucial say in deciding federal elections. The reshuffle was sparked by the resignation of Attorney General George Brandis from the Senate. Turnbull said he would ask Brandis to be the country s next High Commissioner, or ambassador, to the United Kingdom. Turnbull gave cabinet positions to Queenslanders John McVeigh and David Littleproud, who both took office 18 months ago. He dropped infrastructure minister Darren Chester, from the urban state of Victoria, giving the portfolio to deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the Nationals, which features prominently in Queensland. It s a ministry that showcases the depth of the Liberal and National team, with well-earned promotions for talented individuals, a number of young and upcoming MPs bringing new skills and energy to the frontbench, Turnbull told reporters in Sydney. Asked why he removed Chester, whose duties included running the Australian part of the fruitless search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Turnbull said his cabinet had to take into account matters of geography , but did not elaborate. The pitch to voters in the northeastern state of Queensland was obvious, said Stewart Jackson, a specialist in Australian politics at the University of Sydney. Everybody s been spooked by One Nation, Jackson said. The emphasis will shift back towards Queensland where the National Party was traditionally strong. The overhaul also brings youth into a government that has narrowly retained its razor-thin majority in parliament after a constitutional crisis triggered a series of by-elections. The two promoted Queenslanders, Littleproud and McVeigh, are 41 and 52 respectively. The new attorney general, social services minister Christian Porter, from the iron ore-rich state of Western Australia, is 47. Employment minister Michaelia Cash, who takes the expanded title of minister for jobs and innovation, and Nationals member Bridget McKenzie, who joins cabinet as minister for sport, rural health and regional communications, are also 47. Turnbull gave no reason for the departure of Brandis after 17 years, but called him a stalwart who had backed tougher national security laws and the legalization of same-sex marriage, a measure parliament passed this month. In 2015, when Turnbull unseated then prime minister Tony Abbott, he said the move was necessary because Abbott s government had lost 30 opinion polls in a row. Under Turnbull, the government has lost 25 opinion polls in a row. Many commentators say that if the figure reaches 30, which could happen as soon as March, Turnbull s party may consider removing him. | 0fake |
Rubio picks outgoing Devon executive to oversee energy policy issues | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has picked Devon Energy Corp co-founder Larry Nichols to help oversee his campaign’s stance on energy issues, Rubio spokesman Jahan Wilcox said on Monday. Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, made the choice as his campaign efforts move toward the next round of primary voting states, including Nevada on Tuesday and then Oklahoma and Texas on March 1, “Super Tuesday.” Nichols, who stepped down as Devon’s CEO in 2012 after more than 30 years but stayed on executive chairman, is set to fully retire this year from the Oklahoma-based oil producer. Like other powerful voices in the oil and gas industry, Nichols last year echoed calls to lift a 40-year-old federal ban on crude oil exports. Nichols is set to host a Feb. 26 fundraiser for Rubio in Oklahoma, a key U.S. energy state and home to significant horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and in December donated $50,000 to the super PAC supporting Rubio, according to Bloomberg News. Nichols, 73, is active in several industry groups, including America’s Natural Gas Alliance, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Industry Political Action Committee, and the American Petroleum Institute, according to Devon’s website. He also previously led the American Exploration & Production Council. Before his work in the energy sector, Nichols worked as a special assistant in the U.S. Department of Justice, the company’s website said. Rubio is battling to be the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election alongside front-runner and real estate tycoon Donald Trump and fellow U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a key oil state. Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are also seeking the Republican nomination. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 0fake |
Thousands rally for gay marriage in Australia ahead of vote | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of people rallied for marriage equality in Australia s second-biggest city of Melbourne on Saturday ahead of a postal survey on same-sex marriage which could lead to its legalisation. Australia is one of the only developed English-speaking countries not to have legalised same-sex marriage, despite strong popular support and the backing of a majority of lawmakers. Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, of the opposition Labor Party, called on the conservative Liberal Party-led government to do more to ensure the debate did not turn ugly ahead of the postal survey next month. I m particularly calling on the prime minister of Australia to speak out against any bile or hate speech that we might see in this campaign, he told the rally. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week urged supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage to show mutual respect as their campaigns turned increasingly vitriolic. [nL4N1LB1TJ] Rally organiser Anthony Wallace from activist group Equal Love said 15,000 people attended the event, making it one of the largest gay rights rallies in Australian history. Police declined to estimate the size of the crowd. The rally is an annual event, which this year began and ended at the Victorian State Library, where a mass same-sex wedding ceremony was held. Australians will vote over several weeks from mid-September in the non-compulsory postal ballot on whether to legalise same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage is supported by 61 percent of Australians, a 2016 Gallup opinion poll showed, but the issue has fractured the Turnbull government and damaged his standing with voters, now at a six-month low. | 0fake |
U.S. pressure or not, U.N. nuclear watchdog sees no need to check Iran military sites | VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States is pushing U.N. nuclear inspectors to check military sites in Iran to verify it is not breaching its nuclear deal with world powers. But for this to happen, inspectors must believe such checks are necessary and so far they do not, officials say. Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley visited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is scrutinizing compliance with the 2015 agreement, as part of a review of the pact by the administration of President Donald Trump. He has called it the worst deal ever negotiated . After her talks with officials of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Haley said: There are... numerous undeclared sites that have not been inspected. That is a problem. Iran dismissed her demands as merely a dream . The IAEA has the authority to request access to facilities in Iran, including military ones, if there are new and credible indications of banned nuclear activities there, according to officials from the agency and signatories to the deal. But they said Washington has not provided such indications to back up its pressure on the IAEA to make such a request. We re not going to visit a military site like Parchin just to send a political signal, an IAEA official said, mentioning a military site often cited by opponents of the deal including Iran s arch-adversary Israel and many U.S. Republicans. The deal was struck under Trump s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano frequently describes his Vienna-based agency as a technical rather than a political one, underscoring the need for its work to be based on facts alone. The accord restricts Iran s atomic activities with a view to keeping the Islamic Republic a year s work away from having enough enriched uranium or plutonium for a nuclear bomb, should it pull out of the accord and sprint towards making a weapon. The deal also allows the IAEA to request access to facilities other than the nuclear installations Iran has already declared if it has concerns about banned materials or activities there. But it must present a basis for those concerns. Those terms are widely understood by officials from the IAEA and member states to mean there must be credible information that arouses suspicion, and IAEA officials have made clear they will not take it at face value. We have to be able to vet this information, a second IAEA official said, asking not to be identified because inspections are sensitive and the agency rarely discusses them publicly. Despite Haley s public comments, she neither asked the IAEA to visit specific sites nor offered new intelligence on any site, officials who attended her meetings said. A U.S. State Department spokesman confirmed this. She conveyed that the IAEA will need to continue to robustly exercise its authorities to verify Iran s declaration and monitor the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the spokesman added, using the deal s official name. Under U.S. law, the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days of Iran s compliance with the deal. The next deadline is October. Trump has said he thinks by then Washington will declare Iran to be non-compliant - a stance at odds with that of other five world powers including U.S. allies in Europe. An IAEA report published in 2015 as part of the deal formally drew a line under whether Iran pursued nuclear weapons in the past, which is why new information is needed to trigger a request for access. The IAEA has not visited an Iranian military facility since the agreement was implemented because it has had no reason to ask for access, the second agency official said. The deal s Access section lays out a process that begins with an IAEA request and, if the U.N. watchdog s concerns are not resolved, can lead to a vote by the eight members of the deal s decision-making body - the United States, Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union. Five votes are needed for a majority, which could comprise the United States and its Western allies. Such a majority decision would advise on the necessary means to resolve the IAEA s concerns and Iran would implement the necessary means , the deal s Access section says. That process and wording have yet to be put to the test. Iran has reiterated commitment to the terms of the deal despite Trump s stance, but has also said its military sites are off limits, raising the risk of a stand-off if a request for access were put to a vote. That adds to the pressure to be clear on the grounds for an initial request. If they want to bring down the deal, they will, the first IAEA official said, referring to the Trump administration. We just don t want to give them an excuse to. During its decade-long impasse with world powers over its nuclear program, Iran repeatedly refused IAEA visits to military sites, saying they had nothing to do with nuclear activity and so were beyond the IAEA s purview. Shortly after the 2015 deal, Iran allowed inspectors to check its Parchin military complex, where Western security services believe Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations more than a decade ago. Iran has denied this. | 0fake |
WHOA! NEW EMAILS SHOW COMEY FBI LIED About Meeting Between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch On Tarmac…Proves Media Colluded With Obama’s DOJ To Kill Story About Tarmac Meeting [VIDEO] | A new email dump from the FBI via a FOIA request by the ACLJ reveals what appears to be collusion between the media and the DOJ to squash the story about the 2016 meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Phoenix, AZ.Also Comey reportedly said the FBI had no documents related to this meeting to fill a prior FOIA request. That apparently isn t true, given this new email dump. The Right ScoopWatch:From the ACLJ: We have just obtained hundreds of pages in our ongoing investigation and federal lawsuit on former Attorney General Loretta Lynch s tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton while the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI had an ongoing criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton s emails. The results are shocking.Watch Lynch s explanation of her meeting with Bill Clinton on the tarmac:First, the Comey FBI lied to us. Last July, we sent FOIA requests to both the Comey FBI and the Lynch DOJ asking for any documents related to the Clinton Lynch plane meeting. The FBI, under the then directorship of James Comey, replied that No records responsive to your request were located. The documents we received today from the Department of Justice include several emails from the FBI to DOJ officials concerning the meeting. One with the subject line FLAG was correspondence between FBI officials (Richard Quinn, FBI Media/Investigative Publicity, and Michael Kortan) and DOJ officials concerning flag[ing] a story . . . about a casual, unscheduled meeting between former president Bill Clinton and the AG. The DOJ official instructs the FBI to let me know if you get any questions about this and provides [o]ur talkers [DOJ talking points] on this . The talking points, however are redacted.Another email to the FBI contains the subject line security details coordinate between Loretta Lynch/Bill Clinton? On July 1, 2016 just days before our FOIA request a DOJ email chain under the subject line, FBI just called, indicates that the FBI . . . is looking for guidance in responding to media inquiries about news reports that the FBI had prevented the press from taking pictures of the Clinton Lynch meeting. The discussion then went off email to several phone calls (of which we are not able to obtain records). An hour later, Carolyn Pokomy of the Office of the Attorney General stated, I will let Rybicki know. Jim Rybicki was the Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to FBI Director Jim Comey. The information that was to be provided to Rybicki is redacted.Also of note several of the documents contain redactions that are requested per FBI. It is clear that there were multiple records within the FBI responsive to our request and that discussions regarding the surreptitious meeting between then AG Lynch and the husband of the subject of an ongoing FBI criminal investigation reached the highest levels of the FBI.However, on October 21, 2016, the Comey FBI replied to our legal demands that No records responsive to your request were located. This is in direct contravention to the law, and we are preparing further legal action to force the FBI to come clean and turn over ALL documents related to this matter to us in a timely manner.Second, the hundreds of pages of (heavily redacted more on that below) documents paint a clear picture of a DOJ in crisis mode as the news broke of Attorney General Lynch s meeting with former President Clinton. In fact, the records appear to indicate that the Attorney General s spin team immediately began preparing talking points for the Attorney General regarding the meeting BEFORE ever speaking with the AG about the matter.Third, there is clear evidence that the main stream media was colluding with the DOJ to bury the story. A Washington Post reporter, speaking of the Clinton Lynch meeting story, said, I m hoping I can put it to rest . The same Washington Post reporter, interacting with the DOJ spin team, implemented specific DOJ requests to change his story to make the Attorney General appear in a more favorable light. A New York Times reporter apologetically told the Obama DOJ that he was being pressed into service to have to cover the story. As the story was breaking, DOJ press officials stated, I also talked to the ABC producer, who noted that they aren t interested, even if Fox runs with it. Two days after the meeting, DOJ officials in a chain of emails that includes emails to Attorney General Lynch herself stated that the media coverage of the meeting looks like all or most are FOX and that CBS . . . just says a few lines about the meeting. Fourth, DOJ bureaucrats have redacted all the talking points, discussions of talking points, a statement on the meeting that was apparently never delivered because there was not enough media coverage on the meeting, and its substantive discussions with the FBI on the matter. They absurdly claim the deliberative process exemption to FOIA, which is only supposed to apply to agency rulemaking processes.The ACLJ won t stop until justice is served on this matter:Discussions about Attorney General Lynch s ethically questionable meeting with former President Clinton during her investigation into Hillary Clinton clearly has nothing to do with any rule making process. We will be taking these redactions back to federal court. The law is on our side. We will keep pressing on with our investigation of former Attorney General Lynch until we get to the bottom of this.To donate to the ACLJ and help to fund the important work they re doing, click HERE.Here s James Comey discussing the Lynch and Clinton meeting on the tarmac:Here is Loretta Lynch s testimony before Congress regarding her meeting with Bill Clinton: | 1real |
U.S. Senate Democrat leader demands reversal of immigration order | (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday demanded that President Donald Trump reverse an executive order targeting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, saying it makes the United States appear “less humanitarian, less safe, less American.” “It must be reversed immediately, and Democrats are going to introduce legislation to overturn it,” Schumer said in New York. Schumer also said he had been told by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly that 42 people now detained at U.S. airports would be processed and allowed to enter the country under a court order issued on Saturday night. Schumer said Kelly also told him Trump’s executive order would not affect green card holders, which contradicts previous administration statements. | 0fake |
Amazon Now Worth Twice As Much As Walmart - Breitbart | Amazon stock has skyrocketed this week as shares rose above $900 for the first time on Tuesday CNN Money reports. [Amazon stock is riding high with shares gaining 7 percent this week alone and 20 percent overall this year. This values Amazon at around $430 billion, twice the market value of one of its major rivals Walmart which is worth around $220 billion. Currently, the only companies worth more than Amazon are Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft. Amazon is now worth more than both Facebook and the Warren Berkshire Hathaway, This surge in Amazon’s stock price comes after the announcement last week that the company would be buying the Middle Eastern site Souq. com. Amazon reportedly purchased the company which had been previously valued at around $1 billion for the price of $650 million. Amazon’s stock is now trading at 125 times the companies estimated earnings this year and 75 times the companies projected profits for next year. Despite the high price of the stock, financial data and software company FactSet still considers the stock a good buy. Two dozen analysts have estimated the stock price target to rise above the current price with seven analysts putting it above $1, 000. Daniel Salmon of BMO Capital Markets raised his price estimation on Monday to $1, 200 while Shyam Patil of Susquehanna Financial Group raised his price target to $1250. These estimations are approximately 40 percent higher than the current market price, if these predictions are proven true, then Amazon could soon hold a market value of nearly $600 billion. Considering the company’s rapid expansion into technology with their Amazon Alexa home device and it’s Sponsored Products business, Amazon could soon also be dominating the tech and world in the near future. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 0fake |
Airstrikes by Russia Buttress Turkey in Battle vs. ISIS - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Russian warplanes have carried out airstrikes to support Turkey’s offensive in northern Syria against the Islamic State, an important evolution in a budding partnership. The deepening ties threaten to marginalize the United States in the struggle to shape Syria’s ultimate fate. The air missions, which took place for about a week near the strategically important town of Al Bab, represent the Kremlin’s first use of its military might to help the Turks in their fight against the militant group. The Russians seized an opening to try to build a military relationship with Turkey, a NATO member, as the United States has sought to keep the emphasis on taking Raqqa, the Islamic State’s capital. The Russian bombing is a remarkable turnabout from November 2015, when a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian attack plane that had violated Turkey’s airspace. Russia and Turkey had already been involved in a joint effort to establish a in Syria — one that does not involve the United States. At the same time, ties between the United States and Turkey have come under growing strain as the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has become increasingly alarmed about the Kurdish forces known as the Y. P. G. The United States has aligned itself with those forces to combat the Islamic State in Syria. Some analysts say Russia appears to have arrived at an accommodation in which the Turks are moving to establish a security zone in northern Syria to preclude Syrian Kurds from setting up an autonomous region. In return, the Turks appear to be backing off their efforts to unseat President Bashar of Syria, who, with Russian help, is strengthening his hold on the country’s major cities to the south. “The rapprochement is largely tactical,” said James F. Jeffrey, a former United States ambassador to Turkey. “Russia can live for now with a Turkish enclave in northern Syria if it does not threaten the Assad regime. And it allows Russia to exploit the U. S. shift to Turkey’s rival, the Y. P. G. by providing air support to the Turks against the Islamic State, which the U. S. inexplicably is not providing. ” Donald J. Trump has spoken positively, though in vague terms, about the possibility of cooperating with Russia in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. But the Obama administration’s efforts to forge a common political and military strategy with the Kremlin on Syria collapsed after Russia supported Syrian forces and fighters with its air power in the brutal retaking of Aleppo. Turkey began the operation at Al Bab, east of Aleppo, without coordinating with the United States and without the benefit of American airstrikes. “This is something that they’ve decided to do independently,” Col. John Dorrian, the spokesman for the operation against the Islamic State, said in November. Turkey appeared to have assumed that it would make short work of the Islamic State fighters there. But the fighting has been stiff. In late November, the Turkish military’s problems were compounded when three of its soldiers were killed in what Turkish forces said was a Syrian airstrike. Mr. Erdogan later spoke by phone with Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, who assured him that Russia had not been involved in the air attack, according to Turkish news reports. The improving ties between the two autocratic leaders opened the door to greater cooperation. The Turkish military spoke publicly about the Russian role in a Jan. 2 statement that noted that Russian warplanes had struck targets the previous day about five miles south of Al Bab. American officials, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing intelligence, said that Russian airstrikes in the Al Bab area began at the end of December, and that Russian aircraft were flying near Al Bab as recently as Friday. The effectiveness of the Russian air operations, which have mainly involved dropping “dumb,” or unguided, bombs, is unclear. As Turkey’s casualties have mounted in the Al Bab operation, Turkish officials have complained about the lack of American air support and have even made veiled threats that Turkey might suspend allied combat flights against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria from its major base at Incirlik, which would be a major blow to the air campaign. American officials suggested that the holdup in carrying out allied airstrikes in recent weeks was related to a Turkish decision to ban the Americans from flying reconnaissance drones in and around Al Bab to help identify and confirm targets, as well as bad weather. The Turkish military said that measure was needed to ensure that no potentially hostile aircraft flew over its troops, but it has hampered the United States’ ability to carry out airstrikes without endangering civilians. Operating without the benefit of precise intelligence, the United States recently engaged in what officials called a “show of force” operation in which American aircraft flew low over Al Bab and dropped flares. But last week, the Turks agreed that the United States could fly drones and other aircraft to gather intelligence, which paves the way for the coalition to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Al Bab, American officials said. The United States regards the Kurdish forces as some of the most effective fighters in the campaign against the Islamic State in Syria. But in deference to Turkish sensitivities, the Americans have declined to arm them directly. The Turks, however, regard them as nothing more than an arm of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an insurgent Kurdish group in Turkey and Iraq. The Turks have blamed the group for killing dozens of Turkish security forces in recent weeks. By any measure, the nascent cooperation between Russia and Turkey is a striking development. The situation was far different when Russian warplanes arrived at Latakia, Syria, in September 2015 to help the Assad government take on rebel groups, including some backed by the United States and Turkey. Relations were thrown into a crisis after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian attack plane and the Russian pilot was fatally shot by Syrian rebels as he was parachuting down. Mr. Putin denounced the as a “stab in the back. ” Russia responded by deploying the an advanced system, at Latakia, and imposed economic sanctions against Turkey. But over the past year, the calculations of the two countries have changed. While President Obama warned that Syria would become a Russian military “quagmire,” the Russians, working with Iran, forces and the Syrian military, helped Mr. Assad take back Aleppo in the waning months of the Obama administration without substantial Russian casualties. Still, Russia has to reckon with the fact that the Syrian military lacks the troops to control all of the country. At the same time, Turkey’s immediate objectives have shifted. Worried about the possibility that Kurdish fighters might link up separate cantons to establish an autonomous enclave across northern Syria, as well as about the presence of Islamic State fighters near its borders, Turkey sent its own forces into northern Syria in August. The Turkish offensive, which has enlisted the support of Syrian opposition groups that Turkey has backed, succeeded in taking the town of Jarabulus. But it has become bogged down near Al Bab, the last major town west of Raqqa still held by the Islamic State. The Russians notified the United States about the flights using a special hotline between Russian forces in Syria and the American air war command at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The hotline’s goal is to “deconflict” air missions carried out by the Russians and the coalition. | 0fake |
'Ashamed' Franken says he won't quit Senate over groping accusations | (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Al Franken, trying to salvage his political career amid accusations of groping or inappropriately touching women, said on Sunday he does not plan to resign but called himself “embarrassed and ashamed.” Franken, a Democrat and former comedian who has represented Minnesota in the Senate since 2009, said in a round of media interviews - his first since the allegations surfaced on Nov. 16 - that he looked forward to returning to his job on Monday. “I’m embarrassed and ashamed. I’ve let a lot of people down and I’m hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust,” Franken told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Franken resisted comparisons between his behavior and that of Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama who has been accused of improper conduct involving teenage girls decades ago. “I’m going to take responsibility. I’m going to be held accountable through the ethics committee,” said Franken, whose behavior is being investigated by the Senate ethics panel. “And I’m going to hopefully be a voice in this that is helpful... Again, I respect women. What kills me about this is it gives people a reason to believe I don’t respect women.” Franken told Minneapolis television station WCCO in another interview that his predicament was “a bitter irony” because he has championed women’s’ issues and has employed them in both his campaign and Senate offices. “I’ve put them (women) in the highest jobs in my office,” he said. In a separate interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Franken, one of the leading liberal voices in the Senate, said has no plans to quit. When asked if he had considered resigning, Franken said: “No, no. The ethics committee is looking into this and I will cooperate fully with it.” Pressed about stepping aside and allowing a woman to take his seat, Franken told Minnesota Public Radio, “I’m committed to working as hard as I can here in the Senate for the people of Minnesota.” Franken’s office had previously issued statements in which he either apologized or said he could not remember behaving in the manner the women have described. He has not denied any of the allegations. Franken was first accused of sexual misconduct by radio broadcaster Leann Tweeden. She said Franken had forcibly kissed her during a 2006 USO war zone tour, and a photo showed him with his hands over her chest while she was sleeping. Four days later, a woman named Lindsay Menz told CNN that Franken had touched her buttocks while the two were being photographed in 2010 at the Minnesota State Fair. Franken has apologized to Tweeden, and has said he does not remember the incident with Menz. Last week, two other women told the Huffington Post Franken had touched their buttocks in separate incidents. The article did not provide the names of those two accusers. “I don’t remember these photographs, I don’t,” Franken told the Star Tribune. “This is not something I would intentionally do.” “I have been reflecting on this,” Franken told Minnesota Public Radio of the allegations. “I want to be a better man.” Franken is among a long list of celebrities and politicians who have been accused of sexual misconduct. The recent wave of accusations, some of them dating back decades, began in October. | 0fake |
Connecticut governor signs bill to close $220 million budget gap | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Connecticut’s governor signed on Wednesday legislation to close a $220 million budget gap by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, as the state battles a fiscal crisis set to worsen next year with a projected budget deficit of nearly $1 billion. The bill, which received bi-partisan support, comes on top of a series of budget cuts during the current fiscal year after revenue projections failed to meet projections, a fact officials blamed partly on weak capital gains tax receipts. The administration of Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, has been fighting fires around the budget for most of the year. Indications are that the fiscal situation will worsen before it gets better. One report predicted the deficit could be as high as $900 million in the next fiscal year. Last month, Connecticut canceled pay increases for almost 2,000 managers at state agencies. The raises, which had been postponed twice, are now frozen indefinitely. Officials have said there will be reductions in staff numbers in the months ahead. The amount Connecticut pays to borrow has risen in relation to other municipal bond market borrowers, a sign investors see greater risk. Connecticut now pays 0.58 of a percentage point more than top-rated muni bond issuers to borrow for 10 years, up from 0.3 of a percentage point last year. Connecticut has a high investment grade rating at the major ratings agencies, although Moody’s (Aa3) and Standard & Poor’s (AA) have a negative outlook on the state. Fitch rates Connecticut AA with a stable outlook. | 0fake |
Electric vehicle sales fall far short of Obama goal | DETROIT (Reuters) - Back in 2008, with gas prices averaging nearly $4 a gallon, President Barack Obama set a goal of getting one million plug-in electric vehicles on the roads by 2015. Since then, his administration has backed billions of dollars in EV subsidies for consumers and the industry. Yet today – with gas prices near $2 a gallon - only about 400,000 electric cars have been sold. Last year, sales fell 6 percent over the previous year, to about 115,000, despite the industry offering about 30 plug-in models, often at deep discounts. Such challenges are part of the backdrop for Obama’s Wednesday visit to Detroit, where he’s expected to discuss the state of the auto industry. Despite slow plug-in sales, the industry continues to roll out new models in response to government mandates and its own desire to create brands known for environmental innovation. At the Detroit Auto Show last week, General Motors Co(GM.N) showed off its new electric Bolt EV; Ford Motor Co(F.N) unveiled a new plug-in version of its Ford Fusion; and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV(FCHA.MI) unveiled its first plug-in hybrid, a version of its new Pacifica minivan. Ford CEO Mark Fields said last week that EVs “are a difficult sell at $2 a gallon.” Plug-in vehicles accounted for fewer than 1 percent of the 17.4 million cars and trucks sold last year, according to data from HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm. That doesn’t include sales of more mainstream gas-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius. But hybrid sales also fell last year - by 15 percent, to 384,000 - and now comprise just 2.2 percent of all vehicle sales. In his State of the Union Address last week, Obama didn’t specifically address electric vehicles but said: “We’ve got to accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources.” The main obstacles for electric vehicles are their high cost and short driving range. The Chevy Bolt promises a breakthrough on both fronts, with a 200-mile range and a price starting at about $30,000 - after government incentives. Still, that’s a steep buy-in compared to increasingly efficient gasoline-powered economy cars that can sell for less than $20,000. “If gasoline was $8 a gallon, consumers would amortize the costs of an electric vehicle pretty quickly,” said former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz, who headed up the development of the original Chevy Volt, a pioneering plug-in hybrid. “But at $1.50 a gallon, who is going to be willing to pay an $8,000 or $10,000 premium?” Palo-Alto electric car maker Tesla Motors(TSLA.O) has garnered praise for making high-performance, long-range sport sedans - typically selling for about $100,000 and traveling about 250 miles between charges. But other automakers have struggled to produce a more affordable car with a range longer than 100 miles. Green car advocates say EVs are a crucial part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will help wean the United States off imported oil. In the long term, they argue, oil prices are almost certain to rise again, making electric cars more viable. The industry is moving ahead with EV development for a number of reasons. Many states, led by California, have imposed zero-emission vehicle mandates. California has set an ambitious goal to have 1.5 million such vehicles on its roads by 2025. The state accounts for about 40 percent of all electric car sales, but only about 120,000 of the 31 million automobiles on California roads as of a year ago were zero-emission vehicles. Many automakers worry that consumers will perceive them as technologically backward if they don’t build electric cars – even if they can’t yet sell them in large numbers. The industry is also responding to an influx of state and federal cash and related mandates. The U.S. Energy Department awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in low-cost loans to spur electric vehicle manufacturing by companies such Nissan Motor Co(7201.T) and Tesla. In 2009, the administration dedicated $2.4 billion of the $787 billion stimulus bill to promote battery and EV production. Consumers can get a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. The Obama administration has repeatedly proposed boosting the credit to $10,000. Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan - which saw sales of its electric Leaf fall by 43 percent in 2015 - told reporters at the show that automakers are ramping up EV offerings because of increasingly strict government mandates. “Everybody came to the conclusion that there’s no way we can meet the emission regulation in the future” without selling zero-emission vehicles, he said. “This is not going to be an easy shift.” Volkswagen AG(VOWG_p.DE), still reeling from its diesel emissions crisis, has touted plans to introduce 20 more plug-in vehicles by 2020. GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra said she is convinced that customers want EVs and that gas prices won’t stay low forever. “Long-term electrification is part of the solution,” she said at the show. Lutz, the former GM executive, says automakers have no choice but to build them. Because of government mandates, he said, “Electric vehicles are going to have to be crammed in the market at way below what it costs to make them.” | 0fake |
Michael Moore’s ‘Morning After To-Do List’ Is Going Viral – Maybe This Time We Will Listen |
He called it. Many times.
Michael Moore, the controversial documentary filmmaker, is a staunch Democrat and Clinton supporter, but has been saying all along that Trump was going to win.
On Real Time with Bill Maher in July, Moore cried out, “Get out of your bubble, people!” He listed five reasons why Trump was going to be the next president and he was creepy correct.
For example, his first reason ‘The Rust Belt/Brexit Strategy’ played out before our eyes last night:
“Mitt Romney lost by 64 electoral votes. The total votes of [Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania ]… 64. All he (Trump) has to do is win those four states.”
You can check out the whole list, explained in detail, here .
And during a talk posted on Youtube on October 24 th , Moore also explained why Trump was gonna win.
But the ever-optimistic Moore is not wasting his time saying, “I told you so.” Instead, he has put out a call for action. On his Facebook page, he posted a to-do list and it looks like this time people are listening. The posting has gone viral, with 218K reactions, 10K comments and almost 100K shares on Facebook alone.
So, without further ado… Michael Moore’s Morning After To-Do List: Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn’t let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must “heal the divide” and “come together.” They will pull more hooey like that out of their ass in the days to come. Turn them off. Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that’s about to begin. Everyone must stop saying they are “stunned” and “shocked.” What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all “You’re fired!” Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that. You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: “HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!” The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don’t. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he’s president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we’ll continue to have presidents we didn’t elect and didn’t want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there’s climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don’t want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the “liberal” position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above). Let’s try to get this all done by noon today.
— Michael Moore
You can read the original post on Michael Moore’s Facebook page .
Featured image via YouTube screengrab Share this Article! | 1real |
Sanders Asks Obama To Intervene In Dakota Access Pipeline Dispute | Posted on October 30, 2016 by Carol Adl in News , US // 0 Comments
Bernie Sanders sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Friday requesting that he intervene to protect Native Americans who have been peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.
In a statement issued on his official U.S. Senate website, Sanders asked Obama to halt construction of the pipeline until federal officials properly conduct a cultural and environmental review. Recommended
President Barack Obama has sneakily approved the construction of two new Dakota pipelines just as the DoJ halted the construction on the existing one. (1 hour ago)
At least 140 people were arrested at the construction site on Wednesday after hundreds of police in riot gear moved in with tanks, using sound cannons, pepper spray and rubber bullets.
Sanders.Senate.gov reports:
Hundreds of Native American protectors have gathered at the site since April to protest the pipeline’s construction on land they claim is tribal under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
“I urge you to take all appropriate measures to protect the safety of the Native Americans protesters and their supporters who have gathered peacefully to oppose the construction of the pipeline,” Sanders wrote in the letter. Recommended
Bernie Sanders joined protests in support of Native American activists who are striving to stop construction of a North Dakota pipeline. (1 hour ago)
Sanders asks that President Obama direct the Justice Department to send observers to the site to protect protestors’ safety and First Amendment rights; call North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple to remove the National Guard from the protest camp; and direct the Army Corps of Engineers to issue an order to stop work on construction of the pipeline near the protest site to reduce tensions while awaiting judicial action.
Sanders again called on the president to suspend construction of the pipeline until the Army Corps of Engineers completes a full cultural and environmental review.
“It is deeply distressing to me that the federal government is putting the profits of the oil industry ahead of the treaty and sovereign rights of Native American communities,” Sanders wrote. “Mr. President, you took a bold and principled stand against the Keystone pipeline – I ask you to take a similar stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline.”
Sanders previously called on the president to block construction of the pipeline during a rally outside the White House with leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other tribal nations in September. | 1real |
Microsoft co-founder Gates, Trump discuss innovation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said he and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had a good conversation about “the power of innovation” on a variety of issues, including health and education. “We had a good conversation about innovation, how it can help in health, education, impact of foreign aide and energy,” Gates, who runs one of the largest private charities in the world, told reporters as he left Trump Tower in New York City after their talk. | 0fake |
Iranian products on display in Kiev | Iranian products on display in Kiev Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:33AM Iran's Export Capabilities Exhibition in Kiev. © Press TV
Lena SavchukPress TV, Kiev
The Ukrainian capital Kiev is hosting Iran Export Capabilities Exhibition. Many Iranian companies have attended the event to showcase their products and services and find business partners in Ukraine. Loading ... | 1real |
Russia Prepares to Block LinkedIn After Court Ruling - The New York Times | LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals that will soon be bought by Microsoft, is to be blocked in Russia after a local court ruled on Thursday that it had breached the country’s data protection rules, a sign of growing tensions for American tech companies operating in the country. The case in the Moscow city courts arose at a time of debate in Washington over how the United States might retaliate for what American security officials said was the Russian government’s hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee and other digital interference in the presidential election. Russia has a history of increasing regulatory pressure on businesses in political disputes. The case began in August, before Donald J. Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election, and there is currently no connection between the LinkedIn case and the hacking scandal. The country’s push to gain greater control over its internet users is one of a number of attempts by governments worldwide to dictate how people use digital services. From China’s blocking of whole swaths of the internet to Europe’s efforts to regulate what can and cannot be viewed online, different regions and countries are in a battle with companies and other governments to decide how the internet will expand. Russia imposed its ban — a rare occasion of LinkedIn being blocked in a country — after lawmakers passed new rules last year that required any personal digital data on Russian citizens collected by companies to be stored within the country. Officials said the rules were aimed at protecting people’s online privacy from hackers, but critics have claimed the legislation could allow Russian authorities to force companies — both local and international — to hand over sensitive information about their users. Many of Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies, like Facebook and Twitter, also do not store data locally within Russia, but Roskomnadzor, the country’s telecommunications watchdog, targeted LinkedIn for its failure to comply with the new data rules. It was unclear why LinkedIn was targeted in particular, rather than any other major social networking site. Analysts have suggested that the Russian authorities focused on the company, an in the country’s social networking market, as a warning to larger tech companies. The Moscow court decision, upholding a previous ruling against LinkedIn, means the company will now be blocked from operating across the country. The ban could take effect as early as Monday, with internet service providers in Russia blocking access to LinkedIn’s web address. The company, which has fewer than five million Russian users among its 467 million global users, could still appeal the court’s decision. “The Russian court’s decision has the potential to deny access to LinkedIn for the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses,” Anoek Eckhardt, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement. “We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization request. ” LinkedIn is being bought by Microsoft — a Silicon Valley tech giant with deep links in Russia — for $26. 2 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. A number of other American tech companies like Facebook and Twitter have made efforts to expand their footprints within the country, though they have had to balance people’s use of these social networks with the government’s often efforts to gain control of digital information. Facebook, for instance, rejected all five requests from the Russian government last year for access to specific data on people’s online accounts, according to the company’s latest transparency report. Twitter also rejected four requests from local officials for individuals’ account information over the same period, according to its own report. Despite LinkedIn’s current problems in Russia, the company has often been willing to bend to local pressures, particularly in China, where it has agreed to abide by the country’s strict censorship rules to build a significant presence there. Other American tech companies like Google and Facebook remain blocked in China. The current standoff over data in Russia started in 2012, when local campaigners in Moscow used social networks to organize widespread protests against the of the country’s current president, Vladimir V. Putin. The same year, Russian hackers breached LinkedIn and stole more than six million of its customers’ passwords. Despite criticism of Russia’s data protection rules, other countries, including Germany, have passed similar legislation that forces tech companies to store people’s digital information on local servers. A number of American tech companies are investing billions of dollars combined to build data centers across Europe to comply with such rules. In Brazil, a judge also blocked WhatsApp, the internet messaging service, after the company, which is owned by Facebook, refused to hand over data to help in a criminal investigation. The efforts have been aimed at safeguarding individuals’ personal data, though companies have been quick to voice their skepticism over such practices. In Russia, companies like Google have also faced other challenges from local incumbents like Yandex, the country’s largest search engine, which have often outmuscled international rivals in their home market. This year, Yandex won a legal challenge against Google over antitrust claims that the American search giant has unfairly favored some of its own mobile services over those of rivals. Eventually, the Silicon Valley company was fined $6. 8 million in the case. | 0fake |
Orban says Trump's migration, foreign policy plans 'vital' for Hungary | BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday said the migration and foreign policy plans of U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump were “vital” for Hungary, whereas those of rival Democrat Hillary Clinton were “deadly”. The outspoken conservative leader Orban is the first European head of state to express a clear preference for either of the two candidates, who will face each other in elections in November 2016. Orban has in the past upset fellow members of the European Union over policy, most recently with his tough stance on Europe’s migrant crisis, objecting to EU resettlement plans and having a fence built along Hungary’s southern border. Orban said the U.S. Democrats supported migration as well as what he described as “democracy export”, while Hungary - like Trump - opposed both, “making it clear where Hungary’s interests lie.” “The Democrats’ foreign policy is bad for Europe, and deadly for Hungary,” he said. “The migration and foreign policy advocated by the Republican candidate, Mr Trump, is good for Europe and vital for Hungary.” Orban had on Saturday called Trump’s security policies “valiant.” His remarks came after Trump raised ire for telling the New York Times last week that he would tie any U.S. military help to NATO allies to conditions in the event of a Russian attack. Clinton’s campaign struggles to contain the political fallout from a leak of thousands of emails in a hacker attack that they said were designed to help Trump. Experts and U.S. officials say the attack came from Russia. Both Moscow and the Trump campaign have said those claims were “absurd”. Orban’s government has unnerved some partners with its close ties to Russia. It secured large business deals with Moscow, such as the construction of a big new nuclear power plant, and criticized the European Union’s embargo on Russia. “Hungary’s foreign policy has borne an eerie resemblance to Russian diplomatic interests in recent years, and indeed has been little short of an extended arm of the Russian government in foreign policy matters,” Political Capital analyst Peter Kreko said. “I don’t think Putin is behind the budding relationship between Trump and Orban but both are interested in improving Russian ties so theirs is an alliance of interests.” | 0fake |
EU to sign joint defense pact in show of post-Brexit unity | BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - At least 20 countries in the European Union will sign up to a new defense pact next week, promoted by France and Germany, to fund and develop joint military hardware in a show of unity following Britain s decision to quit the bloc. After years of spending cutbacks in Europe and a heavy reliance on the United States through the NATO alliance, France and Germany hope the accord, to be signed on Nov. 13 in Brussels, will tie nations into tighter defense collaboration covering troops and weapons. The Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, could be the biggest leap in EU defense policy in decades and may go some way to matching the bloc s economic and trade prowess with a more powerful military. But differences remain between Paris and Berlin over what countries legally bound by the pact should do, EU diplomats said. France wanted a core group of governments to bring money and military assets to PESCO as well as a willingness to intervene abroad. Germany has sought to broaden the pact to make it inclusive, which some experts say could make it less effective. This has to bring about a higher level of commitment if it is going to work, said a EU official, describing PESCO as a defense marriage . The EU already has plenty of forums for discussion, the official said. So far France, Germany, Italy, Spain and around 16 other EU countries have pledged to join the pact, which could formally be launched when EU leaders meet in December. Some other members, including Denmark, Portugal, Malta and Ireland, have yet to commit themselves publicly. But it was clear that Britain, which intends to leave the bloc following the Brexit referendum of June 2016, would not participate, officials said. Britain has long sought to block EU defense cooperation, fearing it could result in an EU army. French diplomats said the pact would have several areas where EU governments would agree to work together and pledge funds, including EU military operations, investment and acquiring defense capabilities together as a group. A German official said the initiative won momentum from French President Emmanuel Macron s call for a European intervention force in September and U.S. President Donald Trump s insistence that Europe do more for its security. Proposals for PESCO include work on a European medical command and a network of logistic hubs in Europe, creation of a crisis response center, and joint training of military officers. A key goal is to reduce the numbers of weapons systems and prevent duplication to save money and improve joint operations. It could also serve as an umbrella for projects such as a Franco-German initiative to design a new fighter jet, and existing bilateral military cooperation agreements, such as the close ties between Germany and the Netherlands. Efforts under the pact will be closely coordinated with the U.S.-led NATO alliance to ensure transparency and avoid any redundancies, the German official said. One area where NATO and EU officials see common ground is in the need for a military zone for free movement of troops and equipment, loosely based on the EU s passport-free travel Schengen zone. I welcome integration to the maximum extent practical. We obviously want to avoid duplication and maximize transparency, U.S. Air Force General Tod Wolters, NATO Allied Air Commander, told Reuters. Under the plans, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would focus on collective defense, while PESCO would ensure a quicker and more efficient EU response to events like the 2014 Ebola crisis in Africa, the official said. This will not happen in competition with NATO, the German official said. | 0fake |
Desmond Doss: His Only Weapon Was His Conscience | Desmond Doss: His Only Weapon Was His Conscience Written by Michael E. Telzrow Email
He refused to touch a gun, yet wanted to serve his country during World War II. After being mocked and badgered for his pacifism, he became a hero and the first “conscientious objector” in U.S. history to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. His incredible story is depicted in the movie Hacksaw Ridge , directed by Mel Gibson and starring Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss. The article that follows is not about the movie but about the real-life Doss.
The grenade landed at his feet with a thud. While three other soldiers in Company B of the 307th Infantry scrambled for shelter in a foxhole, Army Company Aid Man, Private First Class Desmond Doss attempted to kick the deadly projectile away with his heavy combat boot. He had only one thought in his mind, and that was to protect his beloved men. Unable to kick the grenade clear, Doss was rocked by an ear-splitting explosion that sent 17 pieces of white-hot shrapnel into his body. Treating himself for shock, he took refuge in the foxhole with his platoon mates and spent a terrifying five hours within yards of the enemy on Okinawa.
The next day, litter bearers made their way to his position and loaded Doss on a stretcher bound for the safety of an aid station. On the way, they encountered a soldier with a serious head wound. Sensing the severity of the soldier’s wounds, Doss rolled off the stretcher and insisted that the wounded man take his place. Swapping places with the wounded soldier was typical of Doss. By then his deep concern and compassion for his comrades was legendary among the men of the 307th Infantry Regiment. From Guam to Leyte and now Okinawa, Doss had repeatedly placed the safety of his men above his own. When the bloody Okinawa campaign finally ended, Doss had etched his name in the annals of military history as the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery under fire.
History sometimes teaches us that men and women of conviction often rise from the most humble of backgrounds. Greatness is not the sole domain of the powerful or rich, but is often found where one least expects it. Desmond Doss was born on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia. The son of William Thomas Doss, a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Oliver Doss, a shoemaker, he was raised in a devout Seventh Day Adventist family. Ever since he was a young boy, he had been immersed in a faith-based environment, and it exerted a most profound effect upon his life. He formed a deep respect for the 10 Commandments. As a young lad, he was particularly interested in a lithographic print depicting the illustrated Commandments that hung on the wall in his Lynchburg home. One image in particular held his interest. The subject of the Sixth Commandment was the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. The image of Cain with a club in his hand standing over his slain brother caused Doss to ponder the act. “I wondered how in the world could a brother do such a thing? It put a horror in my heart of just killing; and as a result, I took it personally, Desmond, if you love me, you won’t kill.”
As a young man, Desmond cared for the sick of his community and church, and generally wanted to help others. He seemed to have an inherent desire to assist those in need. By the time he was 21, Doss was a deacon in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
“Conscientious Cooperator”
In 1941, Doss secured a job as a ship joiner in the naval shipyards at Newport News, Virginia. Before the declaration of war, Doss had registered as a conscientious objector, or 1AO status as it was defined by the Army. At first, Doss was against such a designation. He had always linked conscientious objectors with sedition and unpatriotic attitudes. He felt he was anything but that. He wanted to serve his country by caring for the sick and wounded, and bristled at the thought that he would be associated with less honorable men. Despite his unwavering belief in the Sixth Commandment, and his strong Seventh Day Adventist conviction of observing the Sabbath on Saturday, Doss felt he could serve his country as well as anyone. In the end he acquiesced, but always referred to himself as a “conscientious cooperator.”
For obvious reasons, he specifically requested assignment to medical duty, but partially because that way he could reconcile his beliefs with working seven days a week, because as he said in his own words, “Christ healed on the Sabbath.” Later in life he explained, “I felt like it was an honor to serve my country according to the dictates of my conscience.” In 1942, his number came up, and Doss did what millions of other Americans did in WWII — he left the safety of his civilian job and embarked upon an adventure that would change his life.
Before he left for active duty, Doss married the love of his life, Dorothy Pauline Schutte, of Richmond, Virginia, on August 17, 1942. It was a marriage that would sustain him throughout the war, and until her accidental death in 1991. After induction and assignment, Doss became a company aid man with the 307th Infantry, 77th Division, United States Army. Almost immediately, he faced routine and unmerciful harassment from his platoon mates. He was mocked and derided for his devotion to prayer, refusal to even touch a weapon, or perform drills and fatigue on Saturdays. Even by the standards of the 1940s, Doss was an anomaly. He eschewed alcohol and gambling, never smoked, and was steadfast in his faithfulness to Dorothy. Naturally, his convictions were seen as old-fashioned and extreme. It was a mix that was sometimes at odds with the more cosmopolitan recruits from the larger cities. Naturally, some of the men resented Doss’s convictions and especially chafed at the idea that he would be excused from Saturday duty. For Doss’s part he did all he could to observe the Seventh Day Adventist Sabbath observance. He even went as far as to work 24 hours on Sunday, and he would later recount how he would swap duty days with a Catholic soldier who wanted to attend Mass on Sundays.
Doss’s refusal to compromise his religious beliefs and train with weapons prompted his battalion commander, Colonel Gerald Cooney, to consider sending Doss back to the United States for non-combat duty. Cooney later recounted on a television episode of This Is Your Life that Doss “wouldn’t even touch a rifle.” Cooney relented only after Doss’s company commander convinced him otherwise, and that the army medic could be depended upon when the times got rough. Prior to that incident, Doss had been threatened with court-martial for refusing to handle a rifle and had been considered for discharge as a psychological case. Throughout it all, Doss remained steadfast in his convictions and belief that he could perform the duties of a medic without resorting to handling weapons of any kind.
Once the fighting started, however, the harassment ended. On the island of Guam, Doss changed the minds of his fellow soldiers. The liberation of Guam afforded Doss the opportunity to practice what he had learned in combat medical training, but just as important, it allowed him to prove his worth on the battlefield. From July 21, 1944 through August 10, Doss and the men of the 77th Infantry Division slogged through the jungles of Guam from the southern end of the island to the northern tip, in what was a continuous struggle against a determined Japanese foe. Doss, while not even officially assigned as the unit medic, went out routinely with the advancing forces in the stifling heat of the small Pacific island. He repeatedly removed wounded men from the deadly front, often under intense fire from the enemy. Unarmed and unafraid, Doss saved dozens of men from certain death. Later, in December action at Leyte in the Philippines, Doss traversed an open field under intense fire to assist and retrieve two wounded soldiers. Realizing one was dead, Doss carried the surviving soldier back to a jungle area where he constructed a stretcher out of bamboo and removed the soldier to a safer area. In the end he was awarded the Bronze Star with an Oak Leaf Cluster for his actions on Guam and Leyte. More importantly, he earned the respect of his fellow soldiers. Later, Doss would speak of his actions there: “I knew these men; they were my buddies, some had wives and children. If they were hurt, I wanted to be there to take care of them.”
Cliffhanger Rescues
Following Guam and Leyte, the 77th Division found itself as part of the 10th Army under the command of General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., the son of a Confederate General. The objective of the 10th Army was to assault and take control of Okinawa, a small island in the Ryukyu Islands chain, and a mere 350 miles from the Japanese home islands. There, they would face stiff and savage resistance. Before they even got there, the 5th U.S. Fleet suffered major losses from Japanese Kamikaze strikes — 10 major attacks in all. The 5th Fleet sustained 10,000 casualties, half of which were killed in action. Twenty-eight American ships were sunk, but it did not deter the Americans, who launched one of the largest amphibious landings of the war on April 1, 1945.
Soon after landing on the southern end of the island, it became apparent that the U.S. forces were facing a determined, well-entrenched foe across the entire island — coast to coast. The Japanese employed a now-common defensive technique characterized by intricate and elaborate underground positions, supported by expert use of knee mortars, machine guns, and ferocious frontal attacks. Buckner rejected any idea of a flanking amphibious assault and opted for a series of bloody frontal attacks. From Guadalcanal to Okinawa, the Japanese employed tactics that took advantage of the terrain; especially reverse slopes and escarpments. It was on one such escarpment — the Maeda Escarpment, a 400-foot high, jagged coral ridge — where Doss would write his name in the history books.
Since April 26, various American units of the 24th and 96th Divisions had been engaged in fierce battle with the Japanese at the Maeda Escarpment. After an artillery barrage of 1,616 rounds, the attack had been launched. The 383rd Infantry easily moved into position at the base of the escarpment, but when the men reached the crest, they suffered 18 casualties in a matter of minutes. The Japanese held Maeda like a vise grip. The geographical fortress was packed with pill boxes, hidden machine gun emplacements, and caves, and it was defended by a foe willing to fight to the death. Despite slight advances on Hills 150 and 152 on April 27, no American forces were able to secure the escarpment. The battle see-sawed back and forth and on April 29, the men of the 307th Infantry went into action. It was here where Private Desmond Doss became the first conscientious objector to perform battle actions that would secure for him the nation’s highest military award.
Moving into action, the men of Company B, 307th Infantry, cleared the base of the escarpment with flame throwers, grenades, and small-arms fire. Fighting every inch of the way, the men reached the base of the escarpment, exhausted and spent. They had battled innumerable counterattacks, terrifying night battles, and hand-to-hand combat. Daily airstrikes were employed to dislodge the Japanese from their dug-in positions. It had taken Lt. Colonel Gerald D. Cooney’s men of the 307th five days to gain control of Needle Rock to the left of the top of the escarpment. It had taken the battalion nine attempts to finally secure Needle Rock.
During the night of April 30, the unit brought up five naval cargo nets that Doss helped splice together, and four 50-foot ladders to aid in climbing the peak. On May 1, men of Company A attempted to secure the top of the escarpment by using the ladders. Every man was killed or wounded as soon as he stood up. Company B fared little better. After securing the edge of the escarpment, they were driven off with heavy casualties by a relentless Japanese counterattack. A five-man squad from Company B was mowed down by enemy fire. Doss, as he had done before on Guam and Leyte, crawled on his belly four times to rescue his wounded comrades. On May 2, Companies A and B went back to the edge of the escarpment, but failed to make progress. They tried again on May 3, but were hammered by Japanese knee mortars, grenades, and 81-mm mortar fire from the reverse slope of the escarpment.
On May 4, the men of the 1st Battalion, 307th infantry continued their fierce fighting with the Japanese. A successful demolition assault cleared a pillbox and cave complex that had been very troublesome, but the enemy was not ready to yield. From camouflaged positions, the Japanese poured a devastating enfilading fire into the Americans. The men of the 307th, those who could still stand, broke for the safety of the rear. Only Doss remained. Aided by covering fire from the remnants of his battalion, Private Doss moved inexorably from one casualty to the other, administering emergency first aid and dragging them to the edge of the escarpment where he lowered them to safety using a litter technique that he had devised back in training at Elkins, West Virginia. Using a series of bowline knots, Doss fashioned a sling that secured each man’s legs through loops and doubled around the chest. It was perfect and ensured that lowering the wounded over the jagged cliff would not result in any additional injuries. For five harrowing hours, Doss went from wounded man to wounded man. Exposed to enemy fire, Doss could only attribute his survival to divine intervention. By the time he was finished, a blood-soaked Desmond Doss had saved at least 75 men, although his commanders thought it was closer to 100. Captain Jack Glover of the 1st Battalion remarked years later when asked about what Doss did during the fighting for the escarpment, “We fought many days on the escarpment and had to leave casualties behind. Doss refused to seek cover.”
American losses on the escarpment had been heavy. The 1st Battalion lost over 400 men, but the battle was not over for Doss and the men of the 307th. Two weeks later, on May 12, moments after a wounded Doss had given up his stretcher to a man in need, a Japanese sniper bullet slammed into the medic’s arm. The bullet had entered his wrist, exited his elbow and lodged in his upper arm. His arm was shattered and nerves were damaged. Quickly, Doss asked a man named Brooks for his rifle. A dismayed Brooks handed the rifle to the one man in the company who had never touched a weapon. Doss had no intention of using it for its intended purpose. Instead he asked Brooks to help him fashion a splint for his severely damaged arm. When he finally got to the aid station, Doss passed out.
Damaged Body, Undamaged Faith
His wounds were his ticket home, but not before surgery to remove 17 pieces of Japanese shrapnel and the setting of his broken arm. While on board a hospital ship, Desmond Doss discovered that his Bible was missing. He guessed that it had been lost as a result of the grenade explosion, and he quickly sent word back to his unit to be on the lookout for it. Remarkably, they were able to recover a scorched and somewhat damp Bible in the general area where Doss had been wounded. In Doss’s mind, the reunification with the Holy Book was another sign of God’s intervention and benevolence.
For his actions on the Maeda Escarpment, Desmond T. Doss was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor — the first and one of only three awarded to conscientious objectors. The citation read in part: “Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions, Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.” Subsequently, he was promoted to corporal and received the nation’s highest military honor at the White House on October 12, 1945. The man once reviled and mocked by his beloved comrades was now a symbol of courage and bravery for the entire division.
Following the war, Doss spent nearly six years in and out of veterans and military hospitals recovering from his wounds and a case of tuberculosis that he had likely acquired while in service to his country. The disease robbed him of one lung and five ribs that were removed in an attempt to save him. Doss never fully recovered. In 1954, he moved his small family to northwest Georgia near the town of Rising Fawn. There, along with Dorothy and his son, Tommy, Doss tried to make a go of farming, but his injuries and lack of one lung made it extremely difficult. He devoted much of his time to Seventh Day Adventist programs and spoke publicly about his experiences after appearing on a television episode of This Is Your Life in 1959. His beloved wife, Dorothy, passed away as the result of an automobile accident in 1991, and Doss married Frances Duman in 1993.
In July 2000, six years before succumbing to cancer, the old soldier wrote these words after receiving favorable medical news: “I love God and Christ with all my heart, I have always tried to keep his Ten Commandments. The principles of the commandments are included in the Golden Rule, and I feel that I received the Congressional Medal of Honor because of the love God gave me for my fellow men.”
Ever a man of conviction and faith, Desmond T. Doss finally succumbed to cancer on March 23, 2006, in Piedmont, Alabama. Photo: President Truman presents Desmond Doss with the Congressional Medal of Honor
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Hedge Fund Managers Work to Stanch Loss of Investors - The New York Times | Hedge fund titans once ran their firms like elite private clubs, picking who made it past the velvet rope and how much they would pay for access to supercharged performance. Years of poor performance have now led a number of funds to consider something more like general admission. Some investors — MetLife, American International Group and the New York City pension plan, among them — have recently begun to withdraw their money from hedge funds in larger numbers. And the investors who stay are getting a chance to sit at the negotiating table and dictate lower fees and better terms for sharing in the returns that managers make. It’s an unusual position for many hedge fund managers, who as a group are not known for sharing well with others. For decades, hedge funds operated on a “2 and 20” model: Investors paid fees of 2 percent of assets under management and 20 percent of any gain in any year. When performance was good, the founders of the biggest firms were catapulted to the top of global wealth rankings. Now, in a bid to persuade investors to stay, some managers are sweetening the deal by lowering fees in return for locking up investor money for a longer period of time and setting certain performance targets that if exceeded, investors would pay a fee. For newcomers, managers are even offering the favorable terms once exclusively offered to longtime loyal clients. “Managers are having to negotiate, and investors are demanding much more than they used to in the absence of value,” said Adam I. Taback, head of global alternative investments at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “High fees are like an expensive car,” he said. “It is fine as long as you’re getting performance out of it. ” In recent years, investor criticism of hedge fund underperformance against a roaring stock market was met with frustration by managers who complained that investors couldn’t have their cake and eat it, too. A hedge fund manager’s job was to protect in down years but not outperform in good years, the industry argued. But when markets began to fall last summer, so did hedge fund returns, rendering the point moot for many investors. Over the last 18 months some of the managers — including William A. Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management and Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital Management — have consistently lost money. Others that made bets on macroeconomic trends were caught off guard by bets and had to shutter their firms. And many hedge fund managers found themselves crowded in the same stock. That meant big returns as everyone piled in but even bigger declines when everyone sold out. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, for example, was one of the most popular stocks held by hedge funds in 2015, and its stock price soared to more than $260 a share at one point. But when news of a government investigation came to light and issues with the company’s pricing strategy became apparent, the stock came crashing down. On Friday, Valeant’s share closed at a low of $24. Mr. Ackman, who has been Valeant’s biggest cheerleader, has lost billions of dollars so far on his bet on the company. His Pershing Square Holdings is down 17. 5 percent so far this year through June 7, in large part because of the Valeant position. Other hedge fund titans including Paulson Company and Viking Global Investors have collectively lost billions of dollars on the Valeant trade. “I see the herd mentality among hedge funds every day,” Roslyn Zhang, a managing director at China Investment Corporation, China’s sovereign wealth fund, said at the SkyBridge Alternatives, or SALT, hedge fund conference in Las Vegas last month. Describing how some funds spend “two seconds” on one theme before deciding to put investor money behind the idea, she added: “We pay 2 and 20 for treatment like this. I am reflecting that maybe we are not making the right decision. ” All of this has prompted some within the industry. “We are in the first innings of a washout in hedge funds,” Daniel S. Loeb, the founder of the hedge fund Third Point, wrote to investors in a recent letter, describing a “catastrophic period” for the industry. But for some investors, acknowledgment of poor performance is not enough. In September 2014, the nation’s biggest pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, announced plans to liquidate its $4 billion hedge fund holdings on concerns that the investments were too expensive and too complicated. In April this year, the pension fund for New York City civil employees voted to exit its portfolio of $1. 5 billion in hedge fund investments. Some insurance companies have shown their displeasure, too. “We had a very negative experience in hedge funds,” Peter D. Hancock, the chief executive of A. I. G. told investors earlier this year. The insurance group plans to pull about half of its $11 billion in hedge fund holdings. MetLife, another insurance giant that has roughly $1. 8 billion invested in hedge funds, has been sending out redemption requests to those managers. Steven Goulart, its chief investment officer, recently told shareholders that the exit was prompted by inconsistent performance. The market environment will “continue to be challenging for hedge funds,” he added. Investors pulled $15. 1 billion from the industry in the first quarter of the year. But these exits are a drop in the ocean compared with the $2. 9 trillion the industry manages. Other institutional investors, meanwhile, continue to pump money in. Still, the pressure is mounting. “Now the fact that people are willing to cut, you’re going to see pressure on managers who are not at the top of the pyramid are going to have to cut,” said Mark W. Yusko, the chief investment officer of Morgan Creek Capital. In a move that is largely in the industry, Mr. Robbins recently apologized to investors in an attempt to stem the outflow of investor money from his firm. He pledged to “right the ship as quickly as possible” and even offered investors the opportunity to put more money into a new fund that would waive fees. Mr. Robbins has continued to lose money this year. Investors in his flagship fund have lost 6. 5 percent as of the end of May. So Mr. Robbins is now offering more favorable redemption terms, allowing existing investors that add more money into the fund to step into the shoes of investors that have left, according to three people briefed on the firm’s plans who were not authorized to speak publicly about them. As long as performance continues to lag, hedge funds will be scrutinized and hedge fund giants will be at a disadvantage. David Rubenstein the billionaire of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, perhaps summed up the sentiment best when he told an audience of money managers at the SALT conference in May, “Please don’t be embarrassed about the industry. ” In case there was any hesitation, Mr. Rubenstein added: “We shouldn’t be upset about what we do. We should be proud. ” | 0fake |
THE YOUNG GIRL THE CLINTONS DESTROYED…Monica Lewinsky: “I’m Probably The Only 41 Year Old Who Doesn’t Want To Be 22 Again” | In 1998, I lost my reputation and my dignity. I lost everything and I almost lost my life -Monica Lewinsky, 2015Here is Monica Lewinsky, now a 41 year old woman who is actually being paid to address audiences about how her affair with then President Bill Clinton destroyed her life. What price did Bill Clinton pay for destroying this young girl s life? What price did Hillary pay for enabling his behavior (that bordered on pedophilia given the age difference between Bill and Monica)? This young girl was slut shamed by the entire world while Bill and Hillary, unconcerned with her well-being, huddled together to work out the details of how they would deceive the world with lies and save their political careers and ambitions. Hillary even went so far as to call Monica a narcissistic looney tune. Does anyone really believe the audience at this event had any desire to hear what Monica Lewinsky had to say about the age of media, and how it affects people s lives? They wanted to hear about what it was like to have an affair with the former President of the United States of America, who also happens to be a serial philanderer, and is still married to a woman who pretends to be a champion for other women. The Clinton machine made sure Monica Lewinsky didn t receive any compassion from the media. She was made into a public joke, and humiliated by a rabid press who was looking for someone other than the Clinton s to blame for the shame that Bill Clinton brought to the office of President of The United States.The Clinton s never gave a damn about this young girl they only cared how about how they could spin it with the media, so as not to affect Hillary s Presidential ambitions | 1real |
Fiorina: Breakout debate performance has sparked 'uptick' in financial support | Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Sunday that her breakout performance during the last week’s debates has created a surge in support and that she can ascend to win the party nomination.
“The truth is the race has just started,” Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s game on.”
Fiorina failed to qualify for the prime-time Fox News Channel debate Thursday night for the top-10 ranked GOP candidates. So she competed with the seven others in a forum before the main event.
Still, just the exposure was key to her campaign because as a first-time presidential candidate she lacked name recognition, Fiorina said.
“It was a big night for me,” she told Fox. “Only 40 percent of Republicans had heard my name. … There’s been an uptick in financial support, in support generally.”
Nevertheless, Fiorina, the only major female candidate in the 2016 Republican field, will have a tough time breaking into the top tier or winning the nomination, considering she has consistently ranked among the last in most major polls.
And she is ranked 13th among 15 candidates with 1.3 percent of the vote, according to the most recent averaging of polls by the nonpartisan website RealClearPolitics.com
Beyond the problem of name recognition, Fiorina will continue to have to defend her tenure at Hewlett-Packard where she laid off 30,000 employees and was eventually fired.
On Sunday, Fiorina argued, as she has since the start of the campaign, that she kept the company alive in the post-9/11 and dotcom bubbles.
“Sometimes, in tough times tough calls are necessary,” she said, adding she was fired in a “board room brawl.”
Fiorina said she will continue to do what she has since the start of the race, attack the top candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and work hard on the campaign trail.
She said Trump has "no excuse" for attacking Fox new anchor Megyn Kelly for her tough questions to him during the debate.
"There’s no excuse for this," she said. "It’s her job to ask tough questions."
Fiorina, whose platform includes cutting the size of government and economic growth through the support of small business, also said: "I’m throwing every punch. ... I’m going to keep working hard, keep doing what I’ve been doing since day one -- keep talking to people and answering their questions.” | 0fake |
Senior Thai royal official dismissed in latest shake-up: palace | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand s Royal Household Bureau has dismissed a top palace official for extremely evil behavior , a note on Wednesday said, in what appears to be the latest shake-up under new King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The removal of Grand Chamberlain Distorn Vajarodaya, whose role is to manage the royal household, was announced by the palace in a document dated Nov. 6, media reported. The document lists things that Distorn allegedly did including falsifying a 25 million baht ($754,830) charity receipt for royal honors and tax evasion in the name of the crown. The Bureau of the Royal Household deemed Distorn s ... acts as disciplinary misconducts considered as extremely evil behavior deserving of dismissal from the civil service, the royal household bureau said. A palace official told Reuters on Wednesday that she was unable to comment on the matter. Reuters was unable to reach Distorn for comment. Distorn s dismissal is the latest sign of the new king s assertiveness and part of an ongoing purge of officials who the palace says did not perform or behave according to their rank. King Vajiralongkorn, 65, who inherited the throne last year following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has set about reordering the palace, including the way its finances are managed. In February, a top palace official was also fired for extremely evil misconduct. Late King Bhumibol died in Oct. 2016 aged 88 after ruling for seven decades. During his reign, he helped revive the prestige of the monarchy with the help of a powerful palace public relations machine. He was cremated on Oct. 26 after a year of mourning. The funeral was attended by hundreds of thousands of people who thronged Bangkok s historic area to watch a series of spectacular processions and ancient Buddhist and Hindu rites and say goodbye. | 0fake |
Exclusive: Trump considering fracking mogul Harold Hamm as energy secretary - sources | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is considering nominating Oklahoma oil and gas mogul Harold Hamm as energy secretary if elected to the White House on Nov. 8, according to four sources close to Trump’s campaign. The chief executive of Continental Resources (CLR.N) would be the first U.S. energy secretary drawn directly from the oil and gas industry since the cabinet position was created in 1977, a move that would jolt environmental advocates but bolster Trump’s pro-drilling energy platform. Dan Eberhart, an oil investor and Republican financier, said he had been told by officials in Trump’s campaign that Hamm, who has been an informal advisor to Trump on energy policy since at least May, was “the leading contender” for the position. Eberhart said he had discussed the possible appointment with top donors at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week, where Trump was formally nominated as the party’s candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election. Three other sources close to the Trump campaign confirmed Trump was considering Hamm for the post. One of the sources said he first heard that Hamm was a contender from Trump officials on Sunday. None of the sources was aware of who else Trump may be considering for the job. Representatives for Trump and Hamm did not respond to a request for comment. Addressing the convention on Wednesday night, Hamm called for expanded drilling and said too much environmental regulation threatened to limit U.S. oil production and increase the country’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil producers. “Every time we can’t drill a well in America, terrorism is being funded,” Hamm told the cheering crowd. “Every onerous regulation puts American lives at risk.” Hamm, 70, became one of America’s wealthiest men during the U.S. oil and gas drilling boom over the past decade, tapping into new hydraulic fracturing drilling technology to access vast deposits in North Dakota’s shale fields. Past heads of the U.S. Department of Energy, which is charged with advancing U.S. energy security and technology and dealing with nuclear waste disposal, have typically boasted a political or academic background. This is not the first time Hamm has been in contention for the job. The Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney, vetted Hamm to be energy secretary but ultimately decided against him because the two men have differing positions on renewable energy sources like wind. He made headlines in 2015 after settling a protracted divorce case and agreeing to pay his ex-wife $975 million - reported to be the biggest divorce settlement in history. His fortune is now estimated at nearly $12 billion. “FRACKER-IN-CHIEF” Trump, who has yet to make any announcements about his prospective cabinet, has already surrounded himself with strong advocates of traditional energy sources like oil, gas, and coal and has promised to gut environmental regulations to boost drilling and mining if elected. He tapped U.S. Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, a climate skeptic and drilling advocate, to help draw up his campaign energy platform, and picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence, also a climate skeptic, as his running mate. Both moves cheered the energy industry but alarmed environmental activists who say a Trump presidency would set back years of progress on issues like pollution and climate change. “Given that Hamm’s as close as we’ve got to a fracker-in-chief in this country, it would be an apropos pick for a president who thinks global warming is a hoax manufactured by the Chinese,” said leading environmental activist Bill McKibben. Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has promised to bolster regulation and increase use of renewable fuels to combat climate change if elected. | 0fake |
Trump Makes An Even Scarier Threat After Promising Riots: We’ll ‘Win With Our Second Amendment’ (VIDEO) | Republican front runner Donald Trump, who recently threatened America by saying there would be riots if he wasn t made the GOP nominee, has just made an even more insane, terrifying prediction: he s going to win with guns, pretty much giving the thumbs up to gun violence.During a Saturday rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump made his supporters grand promises of how we are going to win . Amongst these promises was an ominous threat. Shouting over the crowd s cheers, Trump yelled: We re going to win with our Second Amendment. We re gonna win big league with our Second Amendment! You can watch the unbelievable moment below, where Trump delights his gun-loving fanatics:If Trump s comments weren t disturbing enough, this particular rally was also overcome by a horrendous amount of brutality. In once instance, police officers released pepper stray on anti-Trump protesters for little to no reason, arresting several. In another incident, a Trump fan drove a Jeep right through a crowd of protesters. Even on social media, Trump fans were calling for protesters to be tear gassed and shot. Trump s preference of using tactics such as bullying, violence and threats seem to be limitless every week, he raises the bar and encourages his fans to up the ante, too. In the past, he s promised to ruin the lives of protesters by arresting them, and vowed to pay any legal fees that may result from his supporters attacking protesters (and then denied it). Trump even threatened to punch a protester himself. All of these things have actually happened been said by Trump and many of them have happened so the fact that he is riling up his loyal gun nut followers and talking about their Second Amendment rights is all the more terrifying. And let s not forget that Trump actually said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and STILL rise in the polls.Someone should probably tell the RNC that Ohio, where the GOP convention will take place this summer, is an open carry state. Since it s not likely that the RNC will take the safety measures to prevent guns from coming into the convention, hopefully there will be enough good guys with guns to take on Trump s gun-toting minions if he doesn t get the nomination. Featured image via Quietmike.org | 1real |
From Pauper to A-List Princess, Anna Kendrick Reveals She Was Once 'Too Poor' To Buy Shoes for Oscars |
In 2009, Anna Kendrick became a star.
But it seems she wasn't quite prepared in terms of....anything.
When the 31-year-old actress snagged a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work in “Up In The Air,” it made her an instant A-lister.
But while promoting her new memoir, “Scrappy Little Nobody,” on the “Ellen DeGeneres” show Wednesday, Kendrick revealed that it all happened at a time when she was totally broke:
“It was this weird combination of, like, all these great things are happening but at the same time nothing has changed.”
She describes how she had a hard time getting together a decent outfit for the Oscars:
“My stylist told me I had to wear the perfect shoes for an outfit, and because the movie isn't out yet, she said, 'Nobody really knows who you are. The shoe places don't want to loan you the shoes, so can you buy a pair of Louboutins?'” Image Credit: Simon & Schuster
Kendrick laughed as she recalled being sent to New York to promote “Up In The Air” alongside George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.
She said being broke put her in an awkward position:
"At one point I was like, 'If we do another trip to New York can you put me up in a less nice hotel room and then I could keep some of the cash?' And they were like, 'Ew no, this is not how this works!''' Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube
Kendrick's memoir covers more hilarious moments of being “too poor,” in addition to moments that will stand out to her for the rest of her life - namely her recent duet with Justin Timberlake for their new film “Trolls”:
“It'll be, like, a career highlight for me. It was amazing watching him do his thing.” Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube
“Scrappy Little Nobody” is available now at bookstores, and “Trolls” comes to theaters November 4th.
| 1real |
Anti-Trump demonstrators set fires, break windows in California | OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Protests against Donald Trump broke out in California’s Bay Area late on Tuesday after the Republican candidate won the U.S. presidential election, a Reuters witness and local media reported. Demonstrators set fire to a likeness of Trump, smashed store front windows and set garbage and tires on fire in downtown Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco. A few miles away, University of California, Berkeley students protested on campus. A demonstration also unfolded at the University of California, Davis where students blocked streets as they marched and chanted anti-Trump slogans and “You are not America, we are America,” according to Twitter posts. One protester in Oakland was struck by a vehicle after blocking a highway, local media reported. | 0fake |
Courts likely to probe Trump's intent in issuing travel ban | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington state’s attorney general has promised to uncover “what truly motivated” President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, an approach that could prompt a rare public examination of how a U.S. president makes national security decisions. The presidential order imposed a temporary ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, but a federal judge has barred enforcement of the order while the court considers a challenge brought by Washington state. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit left the judge’s ruling in place without deciding the ultimate merits of either side’s arguments. In its decision, the 9th Circuit cited a previous case establishing that “circumstantial evidence of intent, including … statements by decisionmakers, may be considered in evaluating whether a governmental action was motivated by a discriminatory purpose.” The Trump administration has argued that the ban is necessary to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country and is not discriminatory because the text of the order does not mention any particular religion. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson signaled on Sunday that he will move aggressively to obtain written documents and emails authored by administration officials that might contain evidence the order was unconstitutionally biased against Muslims or Islam. He also said he would also move to depose administration officials. Legal scholars say this could move the court into uncharted waters. “The idea of looking at motive has never really been applied to the president,” said John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. “It would represent a serious expansion of judicial oversight of what the president and the entire executive branch does,” said Yoo, now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. Trump has harshly criticized the federal judge in Washington for his decision and a top White House aide on Sunday accused the 9th Circuit of a “judicial usurpation of power.” “The president’s powers here are beyond question,” senior policy adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News Sunday. U.S. courts have historically been careful about probing the motives behind laws, in part out of respect for the separation of powers between branches of government. But on questions of racial or religious discrimination, they have sometimes allowed intent to be examined. In 1993, for instance, the Supreme Court found that an ordinance banning animal sacrifice in Hialeah, Florida, though neutral on its face, was actually intended to discriminate against a Santeria church, which holds sacrifice as a sacred rite. Stephen Griffin, a professor of constitutional law at Tulane University, said cases like this make it clear that the court can look beyond the words of Trump’s executive order. “Motive is relevant,” he said. One question in the current case is likely to be which, if any, of Trump’s statements should be admissible in examining the administration’s motives in issuing the order. “If you’re allowed to use evidence from the campaign, the state’s case is very strong,” said Griffin. In December, 2015, days after a mass attack by an Islamic State sympathizers in San Bernardino, California, Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our representatives can figure out what is going on.” He later said he supported only suspending immigration from areas with a history of terrorism. Stanford University Law School professor Michael McConnell, a former federal appeals judge, said the court should not consider campaign statements, because Trump only swore an oath to uphold the Constitution after he became president. In its complaint, Washington cited an interview the president did on the day the order was signed with the Christian Broadcasting Network, saying he would prioritize Christians in the Middle East for admission as refugees. Legal experts are divided on whether the state’s lawyers should be allowed to question the president’s advisers – and possibly even the president – in depositions. The White House could potentially claim executive privilege, which protects the president and other officials from subpoena, said Thomas Lee, an expert in constitutional law at Fordham University. Anna-Rose Mathieson a partner with the California Appellate Law Group said that one person who might be more easily deposed would be presidential adviser and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who told Fox News the president had asked him to put a commission together to figure out how to make a Muslim ban legal. David Pressman, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, said there are important protections in place so that the executive branch can receive national security advice. “You don’t want a situation in which courts are adjudicating intelligence that is coming to the executive when trying to formulate policy,” said Pressman. Though in this case, Pressman said he did not believe the national security argument for the order was clear, opening the door to further questioning. The next steps in the case are not certain. The Trump administration has said it is considering appealing the 9th Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court, and the 9th Circuit itself might decide to rehear the case with a larger panel of judges. The president has also said he might replace the order with “a brand new” one, which could end the current legal action. | 0fake |
Trump Threatens Government Shutdown If Congress Doesn’t Approve Billions To Fund His Border Wall | Donald Trump and the Republicans are about to prove once and for all that they are incapable of governing.Despite having control of Congress and the White House, Republicans are on the verge of causing a government shutdown because Trump is demanding that funding for his useless border wall be included in the budget.The deadline to pass a new budget is Friday, when the temporary funding bill that was passed in December expires.Over the weekend, Trump s budget director Mick Mulvaney made it clear that Trump is obsessed with funding the massive wall and that not funding the project would be unacceptable. This suggests that Trump will veto any budget that does not include it. We ve finally boiled this negotiation down to something we want very badly that the Democrats really don t like and that s the border wall, Mulvaney claimed. At the same time, there s something they want very badly that we don t like very much, which are these cost-sharing reductions in the Obamacare payments. Trump followed up with a series of tweets on Sunday.ObamaCare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017The Democrats don t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017Yes, Mulvaney and Trump are literally threatening to take healthcare away from Americans if Democrats and Republicans continue to refuse to waste taxpayer dollars on a wall that won t do anything to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants crossing into the country.As the Berlin Wall demonstrated, people will still find a way to cross the border if they are desperate enough, even at the risk of death.Also, the number of people crossing the border illegally is already way down and has been for some time. The number was even dropping while President Obama was in office. The drop in the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border makes Trump s wall even more unnecessary.The wall would not only cost billions to build, it s likely that a Mexican company would be contracted to do the work and it would irreparably harm migration patterns of animals and destroy habitats.Overall, the wall is a bad idea. But Trump is desperate to achieve anything as his first 100 days come to a close. Trump made a lot of promises about what he would do in his first 100 days, and the border wall was his top promise.But the wall is an unpopular idea as well. Only 28 percent of Americans support it, and Republicans and Democrats in the Southwest agree that it shouldn t be built.If Trump and Republicans continue to insist on wasting taxpayer dollars on a wall, a government shutdown is inevitable and Democrats won t be at fault.The last two major government shutdowns were in 1995 and 2013. In both instances, a Democrat was in the White House. But Republicans controlled Congress in 1995 and controlled the House in 2013 while Democrats controlled the Senate, albeit without a 60-vote majority and the fact that Republicans obstructed everything.The point is, however, that the American people blamed Republicans for both of those shutdowns. And they will definitely blame Republicans again because Republicans control the White House and Congress this time.Republicans are literally facing a no-win scenario.Republicans in the House and Senate NEED Democrats in order to pass Trump s wall funding because 60 votes are needed in the Senate and it s likely that hardline conservatives will vote against the budget in the House.And since many Republicans also don t support the wall, it s looking like Trump will have to be the one to back down and we all know that Trump doesn t like backing down. And that means he will be the one responsible for causing a government shutdown that will hurt our country, no matter hard hard he tries to pin the blame on Democrats. Democrats do not control Congress, nor do they control the White House. This is all on Trump and Republicans.Featured Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 1real |
Stacey Dash Weighs In On The Oscars, BET And Racism In America, And It Is ABSURD (VIDEO) | Never has a movie role so perfectly described a person as Stacey Dash s character in Clueless describes her. Dash, the newest token multi-racial person hired by Fox News, was asked for her opinion on the current controversy over the lack of minority representation at the Academy Awards and the Oscar boycott by prominent black actors and directors.Working for Fox News means you have to be a total sellout, and Dash is no exception. It s clear that the only reason she s being asked her opinion on the issue is to persuade the 68-year-old white men who dominate the network s demographics to believe that racism has in fact been cured in America, and here s a black woman who proves it.Dash goes on a tirade about the difference between segregation and integration, asserting that the only reason America sees any racism or segregation at all is because BET and the Essence Awards exist. She takes it one step further into absurdity by declaring we shouldn t have Black History Month.These are all the typical arguments of institutional racism, of course, and Fox must be awfully proud to be able to drop a woman of color in a chair opposite Steve Doocey to declare such myth as fact. The arguments are so transparent and weak. If white people had their own network, black people would lose their minds? White television dominates the networks, from the major players right down to Field and Stream TV, where the only black person you ll see is during a commercial break.For black people to hold their own awards show is reverse racism? Have you considered that there s a possibility that black people feel as though they re excluded from oh, say the Oscars? It s pretty obvious that all those poor white actors who are discriminated against by the jerks at BET have a show or two they can clearly call their own.The most ludicrous is Dash s contention that Black History Month is somehow promoting segregation. Yes, February the shortest month of the year, mind you is set aside to honor the contributions of African Americans. To racists and clueless idiots like Stacey Dash, that somehow gives Fox News hosts license to proclaim an unfair advantage to the black community, which is perhaps the most laughable sentiment of all time. April is Autism Awareness Month. Are we somehow discriminating against people with Down s syndrome by prioritizing autism for 30 days? How about March? March is Women s History Month. Are we being disrespectful to half of the population because we decide to celebrate the achievements of women?It s ludicrous. Where s the outrage over Italian-American Heritage Month? How about Polish-American Heritage Month? Why are they not on the radar for a good shellacking at Fox News?I think we all know why. Racism is NOT an issue America has solved; not by a longshot.Watch Stacey Dash make the standard arguments of institutional racism below:https://www.facebook.com/AndrewRamosTV/videos/473698129488396/Featured image via screen capture | 1real |
Professor Who Predicted Trump’s Election Has Another Prediction Trump Will HATE (VIDEO) | Until November 8, Democrats desperately tried to dismiss the prediction of presidential historian Allan Lichtman, who has accurately predicted every presidential election for the last 30 years. Unfortunately, it turned out polls were wrong and he was completely right.Lichtman has a second part to his prediction, though. While he accurately called the fact that Trump would win the White House, he s now predicting that he will just as quickly lose it through impeachment.While his electoral prediction was based on a scientific system, his latest prediction is not. It s a gut call, but let s call his an educated gut. His main argument is the baggage that Trump is carrying with him to the Oval Office. But it has a few reasons behind it. What you see [with Trump] is what you get: candidates don t fundamentally change. Donald Trump throughout his life has played fast and loose with the law. He was found by the justice department in the seventies to have discriminated against African Americans with his real estate business. This video is a couple of days old, so Lichtman didn t know that Trump would be settling the Trump University fraud case that s been hanging over his head, but that s far from the only scandal. While that alleged victim in the child rape case dropped the charges, Gloria Allred, the alleged victim s attorney, said the story isn t over yet.All of this, though, might just be an excuse to get rid of Trump. Trump is a wildcard and if there s anything Republicans can t stand, it s unpredictable behavior. Republicans love control and they would love to see Mike Pence, the vice president, as president because he is predictable and controllable. Pence is anti-choice and anti-gay. Trump keeps changing his opinions on those issues. That type of moral uncertainty doesn t sit well with the ber religious Republican Party.Here s the video:Of course, if Trump is impeached, that would leave us with a President Pence. Trust me when I say that s no better.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 1real |
WOW! Do Anti-Trump Protesters REALLY Know What They’re Protesting? [Video] | Wow! Talk about clueless! Austen Fletcher approaches anti-Trump protesters and gets clueless answers on why they re against Trump:Thought you might enjoy this @PrisonPlanet @allidoisowen @JackPosobiec pic.twitter.com/kdYm2WlfdB austen fletcher (@fleccas) July 17, 2017One individual in a Spiderman mask crouching on the floor begins rambling semi-incoherantly, stating, No Trump says no to racism. Let s have a color-filled America, a melting pot, like America was supposed to be built on, he adds. The man is then asked by Fletcher, What about the diversity you re seeing on the Trump side? There s blacks, Hispanics, gays for Trump, there s a lot of different people that support Trump? Via: InfowarsHere s yet another video from Fletcher that proves the left is clueless and just protesting like sheeple:If You Thought Liberal Protesters Were Inarticulate, Uninformed & Indoctrinated, You Are Wrong OK, That s A Joke YOU RE RIGHT!!ENJOY pic.twitter.com/9zBT49gFPA Love America (@POLITICSandFUN) July 16, 2017Please check out and follow austen fletcher on twitter! | 1real |
D.N.C. Contenders Agree on One Thing: Resistance to Trump - The New York Times | BALTIMORE — The outpouring of protests across the country has scrambled the contest for chairman of the Democratic National Committee two weeks before the vote, as party activists thrash out who should be the face of a newly energized party. The surge of liberal activism in response to President Trump’s election has transcended the divisions that some Democrats feared would cleave the party after its defeat in November. But it has also injected volatility into a race for party chairman that had been shaping up as a straightforward proxy war between the candidates most closely identified with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Hillary Clinton. Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, one of Mr. Sanders’s most prominent surrogates during last year’s primary race, and Thomas E. Perez, the former labor secretary who backed Mrs. Clinton and received consideration to be her running mate, have emerged as the leading contenders. Yet neither has secured the support of anywhere close to a majority of the 447 committee members who will decide the race, as other candidates did in the weeks leading up to prior votes. This is partly because other hopefuls in a field that has swelled to double digits have yet to withdraw from the race. But it also owes to the genuine uncertainty about who can best harness the antipathy toward Mr. Trump, and lead a party that has been dominated by former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton for more than two decades. At the final candidate forum here on Saturday, the leading candidates all sought to associate themselves with the “resistance” against Mr. Trump. In an acknowledgment of how much Democrats are enjoying their unity — and how much they do not want a replay of the race — Mr. Perez and Mr. Ellison held to a de facto nonaggression pact toward each another. “I had no better friend,” Mr. Ellison said of Mr. Perez, referring to the former secretary’s time in the Obama cabinet. Strikingly, only one candidate among the 10 onstage truly confronted the two : Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. “Why not go with somebody who isn’t a product of one faction or another faction, but somebody who is here to deliver the fresh start our party needs,” said Mr. Buttigieg, adding of the party’s contentious presidential primary, “I don’t know why we’d want to live through it a second time. ” He does not have anywhere near the number of public commitments that Mr. Ellison and Mr. Perez currently enjoy, but Mr. Buttigieg is trying to fashion himself as a compromise candidate if neither of the secure a majority on the first ballot when the party gathers this month in Atlanta. Anticipating such an effort, two of the other trailing contenders used the forum to target Mr. Buttigieg. The New Hampshire Democratic chairman, Raymond Buckley, boasting of his own neutrality during the presidential primary, turned to Mr. Buttigieg at one point and reminded him of his endorsement of Mrs. Clinton. “Sorry, mayor who supported Hillary,” Mr. Buckley quipped. And Jehmu Greene, a Democratic organizer and a former Fox News contributor, chided the Mr. Buttigieg for his frequent remark that a millennial is best suited to represent millennials. Before and after the gathering, rumors of deals being struck between competing camps swirled in the corridors of this city’s convention center, where the contenders set up booths and one candidate seeking to become the party finance chairman even sprang for a platter of crab cakes. While the hopefuls for party chairman have slightly divergent diagnoses of what went wrong last year and ideas for the best way forward, the discussion so far has largely centered on party tactics and strategy. Mrs. Clinton’s victory in the popular vote, Mr. Trump’s unpopularity and the increasingly liberal bent of the party’s grass roots have tempered any calls for moderation. “This is not going to be a philosophical battle,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House Democrat. Mr. Hoyer was at Saturday’s forum to support Mr. Perez, but called both his candidate and Mr. Ellison “strong progressives. ” With support from a number of governors, leading donors and Obama loyalists, Mr. Perez is clearly the preferred candidate among the Democratic establishment. That status, despite his liberal credentials, has made him a figure of suspicion among elements of the left. “It says a lot about how much Sanders has skewed how Democrats think when the Latino labor activist from Takoma Park is considered the centrist,” said Kenneth Baer, an author and a former Obama administration official, alluding to the progressive Maryland enclave where Mr. Perez lives. At the outset of the forum here, Mr. Perez proclaimed, “I miss Barack Obama a lot, my friends. ” Yet he conceded during a television interview that the former president had not paid sufficient attention to . He also raised eyebrows last week by telling Kansas Democrats that he agreed with the complaint from Mr. Sanders’s supporters that the primary process had been “rigged. ” Soon after, Mr. Perez wrote on Twitter that he “misspoke” and that Mrs. Clinton “became our nominee fair and square. ” The machinations have seemed rather small, though, in light of the boiling fury toward Mr. Trump. Ben Jealous, the former N. A. A. C. P. president and a supporter of Mr. Ellison, noted that the progressive group that he helps lead had drawn 500 participants to a rally on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and another 400 to Western Maryland, both conservative parts of the state. “Donald Trump will ensure we stay woke,” Mr. Jealous said. | 0fake |
Stationing American troops in Japan will lead to bloody tragedy – ex-PM of Japan | 41 Shoina is a village drowned up to the waist in sand. Its denizens are quite fatalistic about it, and their only means of protection is leaving their door open for the night, as they can never be sure if they can open it in the morning. The village of Shoina is situated beyond the Arctic Circle, 1,400 kilometers north of Moscow. This tiny settlement is known for its sands, which appeared here over 50 years ago and have been waging a relentless offensive against humans ever since, depriving them of living space. How did they appear, and where else in Russia can you find unusual places like this? Solve the mystery, on RTDoc. SUBSCRIBE TO RTD Channel to get documentaries firsthand! http://bit.ly/1MgFbVy FOLLOW US RTD WEBSITE: http://RTD.rt.com/ RTD ON TWITTER: http://twitter.com/RT_DOC RTD ON FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/RTDocumentary RTD ON DAILYMOTION http://www.dailymotion.com/rt_doc RTD ON INSTAGRAM http://instagram.com/rt_documentary/ RTD LIVE http://rtd.rt.com/on-air/ | 1real |
Trump taps Fed centrist Powell to lead U.S. central bank | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday tapped Fed Governor Jerome Powell to become head of the U.S. central bank, breaking with precedent by denying Janet Yellen a second term but signaling a continuation of her cautious monetary policies. Powell, 64, a lawyer and investment banker appointed to the Fed board in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama, emerged as Trump’s choice from a slate of possible nominees that included Yellen and others who may have pursued a sharp policy shift. In an announcement at the White House, Trump described the soft-spoken Powell as a smart and committed leader who would build on Yellen’s achievements in steering the U.S. economy after the recovery from the 2007-2009 financial crisis. “If we are to sustain all this progress, our economy requires sound monetary policy and prudent oversight,” Trump said as Powell looked on. “We need strong and steady leadership at the U.S. Federal Reserve ... He will provide exactly that.” Powell has worked alongside Yellen for the past five years, backing her direction on monetary policy and, in recent years, sharing her concerns that weak inflation justified a continued cautious approach to raising interest rates. Yellen’s four-year term as Fed chief ends in early February 2018. She will be the first U.S. central bank chief not to be renominated to a second term since 1979. Trump on Thursday lauded Yellen’s stewardship but did not say why he decided to pass her over for another term. The Republican president said he was impressed by Powell’s experience in the private-sector and “real-world perspective” to government. “He understands what it takes for our economy to grow,” Trump said. Powell, who in the last 25 years has done a prototypical Washington circuit of government, private, and think tank jobs, pledged to be attuned to emerging financial risks and the impact the Fed has on average Americans. He will take over an economy that has been expanding for more than eight years and one that boasts an unemployment rate at more than a 16-1/2-year low. “Monetary policy decisions matter for American families and communities. I strongly share that sense of mission and am committed to making decisions with objectivity and based on the best available evidence,” Powell said in brief remarks after Trump’s announcement. His nomination now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate for confirmation. “I’m encouraged by President Trump’s choice,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that pledged “timely” consideration of the nomination. There was little apparent market reaction to Powell’s nomination, which had been expected. Investors were largely focused on the release of details of a Republican plan to broadly change the U.S. tax code. By setting benchmark short-term interest rates, the Fed broadly influences borrowing and lending conditions in the economy. Since the crisis, the central bank has gained more power over the financial sector, while becoming more concerned about issues like income inequality. Yellen, a Fed veteran who has served at all levels of the sprawling central bank system, said in a written statement that she would work with Powell “to ensure a smooth transition.” Trump’s decision, after a broad and very public search, offers what analysts said was a classic compromise, allowing him to select his own Fed chief while getting continuity with the policies of the Yellen-run central bank. “The kernel of what this boiled down to is that in selecting Powell, (Trump) has all but selected Yellen,” said Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University and author of a recent book on Fed politics. “There is not really much daylight, if any.” In June, Powell laid out both a defense of the Fed’s gradualist path and a critique of those, including some of his competitors for the Fed job, who argued the central bank had increased the risk of high inflation and other problems. Trump on several occasions has said he would prefer rates to stay low, a position apparently at odds with some of those who were on his short list, particularly Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. Top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn also was a contender. Powell has been a reliable supporter of the consensus forged by Yellen on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, and likely will be seen as a less risky choice with the economy growing solidly and U.S. stock markets near record highs. The Fed has raised rates twice this year and is widely expected to do so again next month. But Powell has gone further than his colleagues in calling to relax some of the stricter regulations imposed after the crisis, also important to Trump. Powell can now pursue that end along with Trump appointee Randal Quarles, the Fed’s new vice chair for supervision. Though he will be the first Fed chief since the late 1970s without an advanced degree in economics, Powell brings market insights, Fed board experience and Republican ties that analysts say will likely make for a smooth confirmation and transition. Under President George H.W. Bush, Powell oversaw policy on financial institutions and debt markets as an undersecretary of the Treasury. From 1997 to 2005 he was a partner at the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, and focused on public debt dynamics while at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank. Yellen is entitled to remain as a Fed governor until 2024, though previous central bank chiefs have traditionally not stayed once a successor was in place. | 0fake |
Uzbekistan releases dissident, arrests another | ALMATY (Reuters) - Uzbekistan released a prominent dissident from prison on Tuesday, on the same day an opposition outlet said one of its contributors in the Central Asian nation had been arrested. The former Soviet republic has puzzled observers with conflicting signals over the last few weeks, with another prominent dissident, who had been struck off a security blacklist, being detained on his return from exile. Human rights activist Azam Farmonov, 39, was set free on Tuesday, the United States embassy in Tashkent said in a statement welcoming his release. Farmonov was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2006 on charges of extortion which other activists called fabricated. His term was extended by five more years in 2015. Farmonov s early release followed the freeing of several other prominent political prisoners jailed under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev s predecessor, Islam Karimov. We applaud these positive steps and hope they signal future releases and a more open approach to civil society, the U.S. embassy said. Karimov had run the nation of 32 million with an iron fist from 1989 until his death in September 2016, and his tough policies resulted in Uzbekistan s international near-isolation. Seeking to improve ties with the West and attract foreign investment, Mirziyoyev has taken steps to liberalize the nation. He has moved to ease travel restrictions and implemented a foreign exchange reform. He also ordered some 16,000 people struck off a blacklist of potential extremists and dissidents in August. However, when one of them, prominent dissident writer Nurulloh Muhammad Raufkhon, returned to Tashkent from Turkey last month, he was detained. Although Raufkhon has been released this week, he still faces anti-government propaganda charges. On Tuesday, People s Movement of Uzbekistan, an organization of opposition activists in exile, said in a statement that a contributor for its website Uzxalqharakati.com had been arrested and charged with seeking to overthrow the constitutional order. Authorities in Uzbekistan could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. | 0fake |
Obama says world should address ‘grievances’ that terrorists exploit | President Obama defended his administration’s approach to the terror threat at a White House summit Wednesday, standing by claims that groups like the Islamic State do not represent Islam -- as well as assertions that job creation could help combat extremism.
Obama, addressing the Washington audience on the second day of the summit, said the international community needs to address “grievances” that terrorists exploit, including economic and political issues.
He stressed that poverty alone doesn’t cause terrorism, but “resentments fester” and extremism grows when millions of people are impoverished.
“We do have to address the grievances that terrorists exploit including economic grievances,” he said.
He also said no single religion was responsible for violence and terrorism, adding he wants to lift up the voice of tolerance in the United States and beyond.
Obama’s address came as Republican lawmakers and others criticized the administration for declining to describe the threat as Islamic terrorism.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has also come under fire for suggesting several times this past week that more jobs could help address the terrorism crisis.
On Tuesday, Rob O'Neill, former Navy SEAL Team 6 member who claims to have fired the shot that killed Usama bin Laden, told Fox News: "They get paid to cut off heads -- to crucify children, to sell slaves and to cut off heads and I don't think that a change in career path is what's going to stop them."
Obama also called on Muslim leaders to “do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam, that there is an inherent clash in civilizations.”
Obama acknowledged that some Muslim-Americans have concerns about working with the government, particularly law enforcement, and that their reluctance “is rooted in the objection to certain practices where Muslim-Americans feel they’ve been unfairly targeted.”
He said it was important it make sure that abuses stop and are not repeated and that “we do not stigmatize entire communities.” He also said it was vital that “no one is profiled or put under a cloud of suspicion simply because of their faith.”
Although Obama called for a renewed focus on preventing terrorists from recruiting and inspiring others, some thought his message seemed to miss the mark.
“He was meandering, unfocused and weak,” said Richard Grenell, former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration and a Fox News contributor. “He was talking about isolating terrorists. He doesn’t understand the threat that we face… People are being burned in cages and he’s talking about more investments?”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in an interview with Fox News, called Obama an "apologist for radical Islamic terrorists." And he mocked the president for recently comparing modern-day atrocities to those committed during the Crusades.
"I don't think it's too much to ask the president to stay in the current millennia," Cruz said, describing the rhetoric as "bizarre politically correct double-speak."
Recent Fox News polling showed most voters think Obama should be tougher on Islamic extremists. It showed 68 percent think Obama should be tougher; only 26 percent said he's being tough enough.
The poll of 1,044 registered voters was taken Feb. 8-10. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Leaders from 60 different countries traveled to Washington for the summit this week.
Community leaders from Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles were also in attendance and discussed how their cities could help empower communities to protect themselves against extremist ideologies. | 0fake |
Philippines Confirms Killing of Robert Hall, Canadian Hostage, by Abu Sayyaf - The New York Times | MANILA — Philippine officials confirmed on Tuesday that a Canadian man held captive by the militant group Abu Sayyaf had been decapitated, the second hostage from Canada killed in the southern Philippines this year. The man, Robert Hall, was abducted in September with three other people — one of dozens of such abductions carried out in the last few decades by Abu Sayyaf, an organization of several hundred fighters that has functioned as a gang. The group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The severed head of a man believed to be Mr. Hall was found in a plastic bag near a Roman Catholic church on the southern Philippine island of Jolo on Monday night, the Philippine police said on Tuesday. A video of Mr. Hall’s beheading was released on Tuesday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online. The video shows a masked man quoting the Quran while an unmasked man pushes Mr. Hall’s head to the ground and decapitates him. “We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr. Robert Hall, a Canadian citizen, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months,” Sonny Coloma, a spokesman for President Benigno S. Aquino III, said on Tuesday. “We extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to his bereaved family. ” “We truly regret that our people’s cherished tradition of extending gracious hospitality toward foreign nationals has been marred by a small band of criminals,” Mr. Coloma added. Mr. Hall, a former welder who was sailing around the Pacific, was abducted in September with his companion, Marites Flor, a Philippine citizen, from a resort on Samal Island, in the country’s south. Also abducted from the resort at the time were John Ridsdel, a Canadian mining executive, and Kjartan Sekkingstad, a Norwegian hotel manager. In April, Mr. Ridsdel was beheaded after ransom demands were not met. Ms. Flor and Mr. Sekkingstad are thought to be alive. Officially, the Canadian and Philippine governments do not pay ransom, but Philippine officials said last week that family members of those who had been abducted were negotiating to pay about $6. 5 million each for the release of Mr. Hall and Mr. Sekkingstad. Abu Sayyaf militants had said they would behead Mr. Hall on Monday afternoon if the ransom was not paid. In March, Abu Sayyaf abducted 10 sailors from Indonesia, and in April the group seized four sailors from Malaysia. The Indonesians were released in May, and the Malaysians in June. According to local news reports, both groups paid ransoms, but the Philippine government has not confirmed this. A Philippine police official said during a news briefing in Manila on Tuesday that only the head believed to be Mr. Hall’s had been found, and that it had been brought to Manila for DNA testing. The Philippine military is looking for Mr. Hall’s body to help with identification and to be able to return his remains to Canada. In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed on Monday to find those responsible for killing Mr. Hall and Mr. Ridsdel. “We are more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes,” Mr. Trudeau said. He reiterated Canada’s policy of not paying for the release of hostages, “as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians. ” Both Mr. Ridsdel and Mr. Hall lived in Calgary, Alberta, for some time. Mr. Ridsdel was a former journalist and oil industry executive with a large circle of friends that included many prominent Canadians. Mr. Hall generally worked as a welder and acted in community theater productions, sometimes in starring roles, according to several Canadian accounts. A statement from his family to Maclean’s magazine gave his year of birth as 1949. Before sailing across the Pacific in 2014, Mr. Hall was said to have been living in at least two communities in British Columbia. | 0fake |
Reporter’s Question About Russia P*ssed Trump Off So Much He Kicked Everyone Out Of His Office | If you want to know how Trump treats the press, you need only read the White House press pool report from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s visit:The pool was then ushed into the Oval. POTUS and Benjamin Netanyahu sat in two chairs set up in front of the fireplace. FLOTUS sat on the couch to POTUS s right. Sara Netanyahu sat on the opposite couch. POTUS referred to the press as: The nicest people over there. This remark was a clear attempt to soften up the people Trump usually demonizes as fake news and the lying media. In fact, the report says Trump even went out of his way to compliment FAKE NEWS CNN s Sarah Murray on a recent story. It was then that Murray, undeterred by The Donald s effort to win her over with a couple compliments, asked her question and all hell broke loose:He called out to CNN s Sara Murray and complimented a recent story. She asked POTUS to comment on whether his advisors contacted Russian intelligence officer during the campaign. *_Trump did not respond to her question._* Pool was asked to leave.This should have been an easy question for Trump. The answer is yes. Calls between key Trump staffers have not only been intercepted and made public by our own intelligence agencies and those of our allies who now have to spy on us because Trump is likely compromised. Michael Flynn just resigned because of his discussions of sanctions with the Russian ambassador while Obama was still President.Instead, Trump said nothing. No admission of wrongdoing, no promise to vet his people better or to actually do his f*cking duty to the American people, nothing.The terrifying thing is that Trump doesn t have to say anything.House Oversight Committee Jason Chaffetz that s the guy who led the charge against Hillary Clinton has already vowed that he will never satisfy their desire to bring down Donald Trump. Rand Paul accidentally admitted that Republicans won t back a Trump investigation because they re too busy taking healthcare away from our country s most vulnerable. Besides, it s not like Trump is a Democrat, right? I just don t think it s useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party, Paul says. We ll never even get started with doing the things we need to do, like repealing Obamacare, if we re spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans. I think it makes no sense. Think about that. Trump wasn t joking when he said he could shoot someone in public and not lose support and he wasn t just talking about voters. At this point, we can pretty safely assume that our government is compromised to the point that he can literally get away with anything. You either have a country or you don t, a small-handed orange man once said a few billion times. Call your congressmen. Demand they do the right thing and investigate and impeach Donald J. Trump now while we still have a country.Featured image via Getty Images/Win McNamee | 1real |
Barbara Boxer Urges Democrats to Follow Meryl Streep’s Lead | Former Senator Barbara Boxer defended Meryl Streep’s controversial, Golden Globes acceptance speech and urged Democratic politicians to follow her lead during CAA’s “Take Action Day” summit on Thursday. [Boxer — who just signed on as a client at CAA after leaving the Senate last year — was one of several politicians and progressive leaders taking part in what the Hollywood billed a “ ” political summit for clients and staff. “I don’t think she talks down to anybody,” Boxer said of Streep during a conversation with CAA agent Michael Kives, according to Deadline. “I don’t think it’s up to people to worry about how one segment of the country thinks. What did Meryl Streep say that should be offensive to the middle of the country, that Donald Trump imitated a disabled person? Believe me, people in Middle America didn’t like that one bit. ” During her acceptance speech at the Globes in January, Streep said that Hollywood belonged to the most “vilified” segment of American society in the wake of Trump’s election, and criticized what she called the president’s “instinct to humiliate,” his “disrespect” and his “violence. ” The speech was widely praised in Hollywood but sparked outrage among the president’s supporters. While she defended Streep’s speech, Boxer said it was important not to speak out politically just “for the sake of doing it. ” “I believe in freedom of speech for every single person, whether they work in Hollywood, don’t work at all, are old, young, whatever,” she said, according to the Wrap. “Don’t do it for the sake of doing it, but if it moves your heart and you have a stage, use it. ” “It’s not up to Meryl Streep to tailor our message to middle America, it’s up to candidates who are running for office to tailor a message that resonates,” Boxer added. CAA’s “Take Action Day” runs all day Thursday and was also expected to include appearances by Sen. Kamala Harris ( ) Rep. Kevin McCarthy ( ) Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards and Muslim Public Affairs Council founder Salam . Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0fake |
“BIKERS FOR TRUMP” Vow To Defend Trump During Inauguration Day…Plan Celebration! [Video] | 1real | |
THE SECRET PLAN The Democrats Have To Steal The 2016 Election [Video] | Loretta Lynch is much like Obama in that they both feel the ends justifies the means if it s for their political ideology. The eternally wronged believe they haven t gotten a fair shake and won t unless they change the rules of the game. In this case, it would be voting rights laws Yes, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder s successor, is a big believer that Voter ID is racist. Just listen to this woman and understand that she s not representing anyone BUT her pet special interest groups scary stuff! And the United States Department of Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is helping them. On February 12, these groups filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court seeking to reverse a recent decision by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The Commission s decision allows Kansas and other states, including Arizona and Georgia, to enforce state laws ensuring that only citizens register to vote when they use a federally designed registration form.Under federal law, the EAC is responsible for designing the federal voter-registration form required by the National Voter Registration Act, or Motor Voter, as it is commonly called. While states must register voters who use the federal form, states can ask the EAC to include instructions with the federal form about additional state registration requirements. Some states are now requiring satisfactory proof of citizenship to ensure that only citizens register to vote.Under Article I, Secion 2 and the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, states have the power to set the Qualification requisite for electors. As with many issues, the Left disdains the balance the Framers adopted in the Constitution and objects to this delegation of power to the states. They prefer to see power over elector eligibility centralized in Washington, D.C.So when Arizona sought to include citizenship-verification requirements with voter-registration forms, the institutional Left including the League of Women Voters, People for the American Way, Common Cause, Project Vote, and Chicanos for La Causa brought a lawsuit claiming that the EAC hadn t approved such requirements. Incredibly, this fight over whether states can ensure that only citizens are voting went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2013 in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, a divided Court said that Arizona could not implement such a requirement unless and until the EAC agreed to change the instructions for use of the federal form to include the Arizona requirements. Incredibly, this fight over whether states can ensure that only citizens are voting went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.However, the majority opinion in that case, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, stipulated that if the EAC refused Arizona s request to accommodate the proof-of-citizenship requirement, the state could sue the EAC and establish in court that a mere oath will not suffice to effectuate its citizenship requirement and that the EAC is therefore under a nondiscretionary duty to include Arizona s concrete evidence requirement on the Federal Form. The Court went so far as to say that Arizona could also claim that a refusal by the EAC would be arbitrary, since the agency has accepted a similar instruction requested by Louisiana. Indeed, the Court noted, the EAC had recently approved a state-specific instruction for Louisiana requiring applicants who lack a Louisiana driver s license, ID card, or Social Security number to attach additional documentation to the federal voter-registration form.Alice Miller, who was not an EAC commissioner, but only the acting executive director, denied the request. It s not even clear that Miller had the right to make this or any other decision. At the time, a quorum did not exist on the bipartisan, four-member independent commission. And that decision is starting to look even more suspect. It seems that Miller may not have been the one who actually made the decision after all. Sources inside the Justice Department tell me that, in fact, it was partisan, left-wing lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department who actually drafted the denial letter. This is significant for several reasons.First, the EAC is supposed to be an independent federal agency. While the president is empowered to nominate commissioners for the two Democratic and two Republican commission slots, in practice the president consults with the majority leader of the Senate (Mitch McConnell) and the speaker of the House of Representatives (Paul Ryan), as well as the leaders of the minority party in both houses, to pick the nominees. Because the EAC deals with federal election administration, the legislation establishing the agency the 2002 Help America Vote Act was designed so as to provide the EAC with political balance and to be outside the president s control.Allowing lawyers for the highly partisan Voting Section to write agency policy obliterates all semblance of independence and bipartisan balance. The Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division has become one of the most controversial and ideological components in the entire U.S. government. It is the same cadre of lawyers that dismissed a voter-intimidation charge against members of the New Black Panther Party who physically threatened voters in Philadelphia to help President Barack Obama get elected in 2008; that has waged a war on voter ID and other election-integrity measures; and that has refused to enforce the Voting Rights Act in a race-neutral manner as called for by the plain text of the statute.It was Voting Section lawyers who fought in federal court to keep Kansas from enforcing a similar state law to ensure that only citizens registered to vote. One of those lawyers, Bradley Heard, engaged in potentially unethical conduct when he tweeted on his private Twitter account his impressions of the federal judge after a hearing in Kansas. Justice Department lawyers are not allowed to use social media to share with the public confidential assessments about the cases on which they work. According to a source, Heard s actions prompted a quick internal memo from DOJ ethics officials reminding Voting Section lawyers they may not take to social media to bash Kansas and talk about ongoing Justice Department litigation.On the Twitter account that landed Heard in hot water, he calls himself a Voting Rights Gladiator . . . Outside Agitator. Before joining the Voting Section, Heard worked for a number of years at the Advancement Project, a radical left-wing voting organization. The Advancement Project has worked closely with the ACLU, NAACP LDF, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and other liberal advocates to oppose voter-ID statutes, felon-disenfranchisement laws, and citizenship-verification regulations, and has adopted extreme positions on many other state and federal voting-rights laws.Read more: NR | 1real |
Short Film Envisions Effect Global Warming Will Have On New York With Terrifying Accuracy (VIDEO) | The world was stunned when Donald Trump pulled the USA out of the Paris Climate Accord, claiming that the deal was very unfair to the United States. For those that have been living in a bubble, which might be all of us in the near future, the Paris Climate Accord is a deal to keep the global temperature rise only two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for this century.Before Trump decided to hastily back out of the deal, there were 195 countries involved in the agreement, the only two not included being Syria, mainly because they have enough on their plate at the moment, and Nicaragua, who thought the plan wasn t stringent enough!Donald Trump has always called New York City home so two film artists who go by both Claire&Max and Menilmonde have decided to put together a short visual representation to explain what impact an increase of 2 C will have on New York, mainly because we know the president doesn t really read anything. Simply titled Two C, the four-minute film shows the frightening effect of climate change on New York City landmarks if the whole world follows in Trump s footsteps and throws caution to the wind on the issue of climate change.The French pair spoke to indy100 to discuss the two steps involved in completing the project, one that took several months to finish. We needed to delete all the people in the streets and the human life, then we added the water. It s the result of 3D simulation, they told the online publication. The place of man in our society is one of the main themes of our work, with the theme of emptiness and abandonment, convinced of the atrophic impact on the environment. We traveled a lot and [were] convinced, too, that our planet is very fragile, but people forget too fast or do not pay attention, still today. Worse, some do not believe in climate warming. They also mentioned that they received a lot of comments telling them that they should ve also included a flooded Trump Tower to really hammer the point home, however, they just hope that Trump s withdrawal will raise more awareness of the Paris climate deal. We thought that Macron had a good reaction with his Make the planet great again . Communication on climate change must go on and on. Featured image via Menilmonde | 1real |
Two Senate Republicans critical of party's tax plan | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate Republican tax plan that would repeal the Obamacare mandate and give permanent tax cuts only to U.S. corporations drew fire from two Republican lawmakers on Wednesday in what could be a sign of trouble for the sweeping measure. Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he would not support the current Senator proposal, or a separate tax bill being debated in the House of Representatives, because he believes they unfairly benefit corporations over other kinds of enterprises, including small businesses. Senator Susan Collins, one of three Republicans who opposed a Republican Obamacare repeal effort earlier this year, warned that some middle-income taxpayers could see tax cuts wiped out by higher health insurance premiums if the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate goes through. Their views could signal problems for Senate Republicans, who want to pass tax legislation by December but can afford to lose no more than two votes from their ranks because they have only a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Democrats have called the Republican tax plans a giveaway to the rich and corporations. “Neither the House nor Senate bill provide fair treatment, so I do not support either in their current version,” Johnson said in a statement, adding he would still work with his Republican colleagues to produce better legislation. Senate Republicans produced a new plan late on Tuesday that would guarantee permanent tax cuts for corporations but only temporarily lower tax bills for individuals and small businesses, while tying the overall package to an effective repeal of a key part of Obamacare, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Exposing the tax-cut initiative to the same political risks that wrecked a mid-2017 anti-Obamacare push by Republicans, Senate tax committee chief Orrin Hatch unveiled an amendment that he defended as helpful to the middle class. Collins, a Maine Republican, told reporters that adding the mandate repeal was a mistake. “This is going to be difficult and I just don’t know why we had to complicate it by bringing up the ACA,” she said. Several moderate Republicans including Collins and John McCain have not said if they support the tax plan. The new Republican plan, Hatch said at a committee meeting, would expand the child tax credit and slightly reduce some middle-class tax rates. Taken together, those changes “will let us channel even more tax relief to the middle class,” he said. But those changes would be temporary, while a deep cut in the corporate tax rate would be permanent under Hatch’s plan, which was widely expected to become the main vehicle for Republicans efforts to revamp the tax code before year end. The effort is seen by Republicans as critical to their prospects of retaining power in Washington in the November 2018 congressional elections. So far, Republicans and President Donald Trump have no major legislative victories from 2017 to show voters despite controlling the White House and Congress. They are hoping the tax cut will fix that problem and have made progress in recent days while Trump toured Asian capitals. He returned late on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Thursday. The House began debating its tax bill on Wednesday, with a full vote expected on Thursday. The Senate and House tax plans must eventually be reconciled and merged into a final plan that can pass both chambers before it goes to Trump to sign into law. By including an effective repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate, Senate Republicans likely ended any possibility of gaining support from Democrats. “This is not just another garden variety attack on the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. This is repeal of that law,” said Senator Ron Wyden, the finance committee’s top Democrat. He blasted Republicans for setting a “double standard” by guaranteeing permanent tax cuts only for corporations. The individual mandate clause of Obamacare requires healthy younger people to buy insurance or pay a federal penalty. The aim is to hold down coverage costs for those sick or older. By repealing that penalty, Republicans would raise more than $318 billion over a decade to pay for tax cuts, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan unit of Congress. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office separately estimated last week that repealing the mandate would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 13 million by 2027. Trump backed the inclusion of the mandate repeal in the tax bill, as do Republican conservatives in the Senate and House. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday that while the House tax plan did not repeal the mandate, Republicans in that chamber would likely approve a final measure hammered out with the Senate that included it. Hatch’s Senate plan would also expand access to deductions for “pass-through” businesses and increase the child tax credit to $2,000 from the earlier proposed $1,650. But those benefits would expire at the end of 2025. The changes would still allow the measure to comply with a deficit requirement that must be met if Senate Republicans are to pass the legislation with a simple majority. The Senate tax plan is required to add no more than $1.5 trillion over 10 years to the federal deficit and national debt. Otherwise, Senate Republicans would need 60 votes. | 0fake |
Sean Penn TORE Steve Bannon To RIBBONS After Being Asked About About Working Together | Sean Penn is not exactly one to mince words, and he didn t mince words when he was asked about the time he worked with Steve Bannon on a film project. Bannon has a heavy history of bankrolling and doing other work on films, even as recently as 2012. He was an executive producer for The Indian Runner, which was Penn s first time directing.Penn was not nice when talking about Bannon, and that s putting it mildly. He actually said: Bannon was then, as he is now, simply another bitter Hollywood wannabe who went rogue by way of toxic narcissistic iconoclasm. But, deep in his heart, he s just a conniving hateful bloated punk who despises mankind. And then there are also the bad things about him And then there are also the bad things about him Wow. Just wow. We ve known since Bannon came into the spotlight a year ago that he was a complete dick who loves bullying people. Earlier this year, film critic Ann Hornaday wrote a piece for the Washington Post that talks about what we can learn about Bannon from watching the films he made.Many of his films are directly tied to his worldview in fact, he s an extreme right-wing version of Michael Moore in that respect. He s spent a lot of time attacking the permanent political class, in his films, along with hippies and community organizers who allegedly hate this country and hate the Constitution. He s gone after Hillary Clinton and President Obama, but also Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. In short, he hates the whole world and everyone in it who doesn t see it exactly the way he does.Which seems to be exactly what Penn was describing in his mini-diatribe.Bannon is also someone who issues threats and ultimatums and strong-arms people into doing things his way. His narcissistic ego likely suffered a massive blow when he tried to bully Republicans on their farce of a healthcare bill by saying, This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill. Even before that sorry excuse of a bill failed, just the idea of Republicans not following his orders was enough for him to urge Trump to create a shit list. When Republicans scoffed in his general direction over his orders, it was very likely a humiliating defeat for him.So he s just a conniving hateful bloated punk who despises mankind, is a damned accurate description of him.Image of Sean Penn by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter. Image of Steve Bannon by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 1real |
BREAKING: It Looks Like Russia Hacked Our Voting Machines | Since Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote (and even months before that), Democrats have been focused on the fact that 17 intelligence agencies are all in agreement that Russia interfered with our election through propaganda and through hacking of the Democratic National Committee server. That can t be true, say Republicans. There s no evidence that Russia tampered with the voting machines (as if that s the only form of election manipulation), say Republicans. Now there is evidence of exactly that. While we don t yet know that any votes were flipped during the election, the evidence now says that they were hacking voting machines a few months before the election.According to an NSA document acquired by The Intercept, Russian military intelligence cyber-attacked a U.S. voting software supplier, using information gained in that attack to launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations. Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions, the document states. The operation gave the hackers persistent access to the targeted computers, allowing them to survey the victims for items of interest. Source: NewsweekThis happened in August, so at this time, the NSA says they don t know if Russians actually interfered at the ballot boxes, but, according to a watchdog group called Verified Voting, Russians very well could have prevented some people from voting. If someone has access to a state voter database, they can take malicious action by modifying or removing information, Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, told The Intercept. This could affect whether someone has the ability to cast a regular ballot or be required to cast a provisional ballot which would mean it has to be checked for their eligibility before it is included in the vote, and it may mean the voter has to jump through certain hoops such as proving their information to the election official before their eligibility is affirmed. Not only are things not looking good for Trump as subpoenas and possible criminal indictments are looming over an increasing number of people close to him, but this brings the legitimacy of the election back into focus. Right now, it s unclear what will happen if it s proven that Hillary Clinton would have won the election, but it s becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not belong there.Featured image via Adam Berry/Getty Images | 1real |
Congressmen question Trump on U.S.-Russia friendship | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican and Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Sunday cast doubt on whether Russia can become an ally of the United States, an idea President-elect Donald Trump has embraced. Republican Devin Nunes, chairman of the committee, said on “Fox News Sunday” he would like to see a U.S.-Russia friendship but does not know if it is possible. Adam Schiff, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said on CNN it would be great if Russia could be an ally, but, “It’s not realistic and we need to be clear eyed and sober about just what the Russians are about.” | 0fake |
Factbox: New Zealand 2017 election - main parties and policies | (Reuters) - New Zealand s two main parties are neck and neck in opinion polls after the appointment of a charismatic leader boosted the opposition Labour Party, threatening the governing National Party s decade-long hold on power. The election is on Sept 23. Below are the main parties positions on key issues: ECONOMYNew Zealand s once booming economy is facing some capacity constraints. Unemployment is at an eight-year low and a labor shortage, most noticeably in construction, threatens to curb growth. Both main parties plan to be fiscally prudent and maintain a budget surplus, but would differ on monetary policy. National plans to cut net debt to 10-15 percent of GDP by 2025, while Labour and the Green Party both plan to cut it to 20 percent of GDP within five years of taking office. Labour proposes adding full employment to the existing inflation mandate of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which economists say could lead to easier monetary policy and fuel longer-term inflation. To form a government, National may be more dependent on New Zealand First, which favors greater currency intervention - something New Zealand has been reluctant to do in the past. National is planning to adjust tax thresholds, or effectively deliver tax cuts, from April 2018 to boost family income. Labour wants to do away with National s planned tax cuts and boost tax credits and subsidies. New Zealand s house prices have risen more than 50 percent in the past decade as the construction industry failed to keep up with demand from a growing population, fueled by record migration and an increasing number of New Zealanders staying home. Labour criticizes National for leaving the housing crisis unresolved after nine years in government. It wants to ban overseas buyers from purchasing existing homes and build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 years. It also plans to create a housing authority to speed up residential development. National questions Labour s ability to build so many houses while curbing immigration. It plans to make NZ$1 billion available to speed up the development of 60,000 houses. New Zealand First wants to ban foreign non-residents from owning a home in New Zealand, except in particular cases, and to provide government assistance for first-home buyers. The Green Party wants to provide 10,000 new houses over 10 years for low-income groups through a rent-to-buy scheme. The National Party tightened eligibility criteria this year for immigration and believes current levels of immigration are about right to meet the economy s needs. Labour plans to reduce net immigration by up to 30,000 from record levels of over 70,000 annually and to charge every visitor a NZ$25 fee, which would be ring-fenced for a NZ$75 million infrastructure fund. The Greens want to review immigration policy to make sure migrants match the skills employers need, in line with Labour s policy. New Zealand First wants to curb immigration by ensuring New Zealand workers have the first chance at jobs and by capping the number of older migrants. National wants to expand New Zealand s international trade. Among other plans, it wants to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, launch a free trade deal with the European Union and Britain post-Brexit and upgrade its free trade agreement with China. Labour wants to reconsider New Zealand s role in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact if provisions on foreign investment are not changed to allow the New Zealand government to restrict investment into the country. New Zealand First wants to renegotiate the TPP. | 0fake |
Watch Zoolander And Hansel’s Hilarious Critique Of Presidential Candidates’ Fashion Choices (VIDEO) | Owen Wilson as Hansel and Ben Stiller as Zoolander stopped by Saturday Night Live s Weekend Update to offer their professional advice and commentary about the fashion choices of the 2016 presidential candidates and it was hilarious.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5QM7UYi9mA]The pair began the segment by teasing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Well, you know, Hillary is from the 90s, which is really hot right now, Hansel said. Then Zoolander compared her attire to that of one of his all-time fashion icons Kim Jong-un. Not to name drop, but I m pretty good friends with his sister, Kim Kardashi-un. But the real fun began when the pair mistakenly confused Ted Cruz for Tom Cruise. Using Cruise s past movie titles, the pair said: Next, we ve got Tom Cruise. Oh, he s totally let himself go. This is a real Mission Impossible for a stylist. Makes me keep my Eyes Wide Shut. He should take his Top Gun and do some Risky Business with a Cocktail. And finally, they ended with none other than Donald Trump and his fashion choices. When asked what they thought of Trump, the pair said: Oh, we love him. Donny is just like us. He has the classic male model look. Donny has orange mocha crapaccino. And this one is called hot mess. When all was said and done, the funniest jokes were on the Republican front-runner. Featured image: screencap | 1real |
Hillary Clinton now accuses the FBI of rigging the US elections [Video] | Share on Facebook
In a complete 180, Hillary Clinton is now the Presidential candidate that is talking about a US election that is rigged… courtesy of the FBI .
It so enjoyable watching the neo-liberal left, Hillary Clinton crime syndicate, scramble to divert attention away from justice finally being carried out against her entire corrupt group of grifters.
Was it not just a few weeks ago that the Clinton campaign was blasting Trump comments on elections rigging.
Hello shoe, meet the other foot…Here is Hillary Clinton alluding to an FBI vote rigging operation…
“It is pretty strange, it’s pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information, right before an election.”
“In fact it’s not just strange, it’s unprecedented and it is deeply troubling.”
It’s not strange at all. You broke the law multiple times, over multiple instances.
With all the pay-to-play Clinton Foundation evidence and Libya illegal war funding ISIS activity overseen by “her”, we subscribe to the view held by these baseball fans who held up a large “Hillary for Prison” sign during the World Series Postgame Show.
It was impossible to ignore… | 1real |
Republican Representative Gowdy says he is not interested in FBI job | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, who was among 11 people being considered for director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said on Monday he is not interested in the job. Gowdy said in a statement that he told Attorney General Jeff Sessions he “would not be the right person” to lead the agency. President Donald Trump touched off a political firestorm last week by firing FBI Director James Comey, who was leading a probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign. | 0fake |
Japan's Koike: a political paradox shakes things up ahead of poll | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Yuriko Koike says she went into politics to be a player, not a bystander. Now Tokyo s first female governor is shaking things up as her new Party of Hope challenges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s ruling bloc in an Oct. 22 poll, called by the Japanese leader to seek a fresh mandate after nearly five years in office. When the Berlin Wall dividing East and West Germany was breached in 1989, Koike was a 37-year-old TV announcer. Three years later, she ran for parliament. The world was changing immensely, so I went from news presenter to newsmaker. I decided Japanese politics was moving too slowly and rather than be an outside critic, I should become ... a player on the inside, Koike told Reuters in an interview. Koike, who defied Abe s party last year to run for governor, isn t seeking a seat in parliament s lower house herself, but is the driving force and public face of her upstart party. In many ways, Koike is a paradox, interviews with people who know her and a review of her career show. She s a global thinker with a nationalist tinge; an entrepreneurial outsider who climbed the ladder with help from old-boy mentors, and a risk taker who has balked at perhaps her biggest gamble by declining to run in the national election now. Koike has made no secret of her ambition to be Japan s first woman prime minister her pet female terrier is nicknamed So-chan a diminutive for sori or premier in Japanese. She has already cracked a few glass ceilings. She became the country s first female defense minister in 2007, although stepped down after 55 days after a tussle with a top bureaucrat. She was also the first woman to run for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party s top leadership post in 2008, but came in a distant third. Koike comes from a business family in western Japan, a background that sets her apart from many Japanese politicians, including Abe, who are scions of blue-blood political dynasties. Her origins may account for a style that admirers say has more in common with venture capitalists than staid lawmakers. She s not afraid to take initiatives, which in most of Japan is deeply frowned upon, said a person who has known her for 25 years and advises on financial reforms. In Japan, it s subtlety within riddles, but she s blunt. Koike has a talent for political marketing - critics call it populism - a skill she is using as she tries to differentiate her conservative party from Abe s equally conservative LDP with promises to break the fetters of vested interest politics. She calls her party s economic policies Yurinomics in contrast to Abe s Abenomics, and its platform includes 12 Zeroes it wants to achieve, including zero hayfever , and zero euthanasia of unwanted pets . A graduate of Cairo University in 1976 who speaks Arabic and English, Koike in some ways has a global perspective and often sings the praises of diversity. Like Abe, she advocates opening Japan to more highly skilled foreign workers. Also like Abe, she has visited Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan s past militarism, but told Reuters she would not do so if she became premier. Koike also espouses some causes dear to Japan s rightwing, including revising the post-war, pacifist constitution. In the past, she has even suggested Japan should consider acquiring nuclear weapons, breaking a taboo in the only country to suffer a nuclear attack. She also opposes local voting rights for foreign residents, many of whom are of Korean descent. There is a dark side that doesn t jibe with a more open-minded, dare we say, liberal view, said her long-time acquaintance. Koike migrated through several parties before joining the LDP in 2002, only to abandon it after becoming governor. She counts among her mentors Ichiro Ozawa, a one-time LDP heavyweight who helped engineer the long-ruling party s ouster in 1993 and again in 2009, as well as popular ex-premier Junichiro Koizumi. Critics say her career reflects an opportunist streak, while allies call it practical. She wants to make change, but she s also pragmatic she can make a deal with anyone Communists or Abe or traditional stakeholders, said another adviser. It s a kind of talent. Despite speculation that she would abandon her job as governor to return to parliament, Koike stuck to her decision not to run. Analysts say that s likely because her party has little chance of defeating Abe s ruling bloc, but may do well enough for her to take the leap in the next poll. But those who know Koike say her desire for the nation s top post remains. Is she Machiavellian and strategic? The answer is yes. Is she prepared to think for the long run? The answer is yes, said her long-time acquaintance. Is her over-riding ambition to be Japan s first female prime minister? That is definitely a goal. | 0fake |
Trump the Great — Paul Craig Roberts | Trump the Great
Paul Craig Roberts
Liberals, progressives, and the left-wing (to the extent that one still exists) are aligning with the corrupt oligarchy against president-elect Trump and the American people.
They are busy at work trying to generate hysteria over Trump’s “authoritarian personality and followers.” In other words, the message is: here come the fascists.
Liberals and progressives wailed and whined about “an all white male cabinet,” only to be made fools by Trump’s appointment of a black male and two women, one a minority and one a Trump critic.
The oligarchs are organizing their liberal progressive front groups to disrupt Trump’s inauguration in an effort to continue the attempt to delegitimize Trump the way the paid Maidan protesters were used in Kiev to delegitimize the elected Ukrainian government.
To the extent any of the Trump protesters are sincere and not merely paid tools of oligarchs, such as George Soros, military and financial interests, and global capitalists, they should consider that false claims and unjustified criticism can cause Trump and his supporters to close their ears to all criticism and make it easier for neoconservatives to influence Trump by offering support.
At this point we don’t know what a Trump government is going to do. If he sells out the people, he won’t be reelected. If he is defeated by the oligarchy, the people will become more radical.
We do not know how Washington insiders appointed to the government will behave inside a Trump presidency. Unless they are ideologues like the neoconservatives or agents of powerful interests, insiders survive by going along with the current. If the current changes under Trump, so will the insiders.
Trump got elected because flyover America has had all it can take from the self-dealing oligarchy. The vast bullk of America has seen its economic prospects and that of children and grandchildren decline for a quarter century. The states Hillary carried are limited to the liberal enclaves and oligarchy’s stomping grounds on the NE and West coasts and in Colorado and New Mexico, where effete wealthy liberals have located because of the scenary. If you look at the red/blue electoral map, geographically speaking Hillary’s support is very limited.
We know that Hillary is an agent for the One Percent. The Clintons $120 million personal wealth and $1.6 billion personal foundation are proof that the Clintons are bought-and-paid-for. We know that Hillary is responsible for the destruction of Libya and of much of Syria and for the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Ukraine. We know that the Clinton regime’s sanctions on Iraq resulted in the deaths of 500,000 children. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. We know Hillary used government office for private gain. We know she violated national security laws without being held accountable. What we don’t know is why groups that allegedly are liberal-progressive-leftwing are such fervent supporters of Hillary.
One possible answer is that these groups are mere fronts for vested interests and are devoid of any sincere motives.
Another possible answer is that these groups believe that the important issues are not jobs for Americans and avoiding war with nuclear powers, but transgender, homosexual and illegal alien rights.
Another possible answer is that these groups are uninformed and stupid.
What these protesters see as a threat in Trump’s strong and willful personality is actually a virtue. A cipher like Obama has no more ability to stand up to the oligarchy than a disengaged George W. Bush so easily stage-managed by Dick Cheney. Nothing less than an authoritarian style and personality is a match for the well-entrenched ruling oligarchy and willful neoconservatives. If Trump were a shrinking violet, the electorate would have ignored him.
Trump did not purchase his presidency with the offer of handouts to blacks, the poor generally, teachers unions, farmers, abortion rights for women, etc. Trump was elected because he said: “Those who control the levers of power in Washington and the global special interests they partner with, don’t have your good in mind. It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you.”
It has been a long time since the electorate heard this kind of talk from someone seeking public office. Trump’s words are what Americans were waiting to hear.
As willful as Trump is, he is only one person. The oligarchy are many.
As impressive as Trump’s billion dollars is, the oligarchs have trillions.
Congress being in Republican hands will spare Trump partisan obstruction, but Congress remains in the hands of interest groups.
As powerful as the office of the president can be, without unity in government changes from the top don’t occur, especially if the president is at odds with the military with regard to the alleged threat posed by Russia and China. Trump says he wants peace with the nuclear powers. The military/security complex needs an enemy for its budget.
It is absolutely necessary that a lid be put on tensions between nuclear powers and that economic opportunity reappears for the American people. Trump is not positioned to benefit from war and jobs offshoring. The only sensible strategy is to support him on these issues and to hold his feet to the fire.
As for the immigration issue, the Obama Justice (sic) Department has just worsened the picture with its ruling that American police departments cannot discriminate against non-citizens by only hiring citizens as officers. Now that US citizens face arrest in their own country by non-citizens, the resentment of immigrants will increase. Clearly it is nonsensical to devalue American citizenship in this way. Clearly it is sensible to put a lid on immigration until the US economy is again able to create jobs capable of sustaining an independent existence.
If Trump can defeat the oligarchy and save America, he can go down in history as Trump the Great. I think that this prospect appeals to Trump more than more wealth. Instead of trying to tear him down in advance, he should be supported. With Trump’s determination and the people’s support, change from the top down is possible. Otherwise, change has to come from the bottom up, and that means an awful lot of blood in the streets.
The post Trump the Great — Paul Craig Roberts appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 1real |
Ukraine's economy is further away from European standards than ever | November 21, 2016 - By Eduard Popov for Fort Russ - translated by J. Arnoldski -
On November 21st, Ukrainian President Poroshenko admitted that Ukrainians' quality of life has not improved over the three years since the events on the Maidan and is still far from European standards. However, he did find an excuse for his failed economic policies, explaining the failures of Ukraine’s economy by “objective factors” and the need to spend more than 5% of GDP on “the defense and security sector and the creation of a new army.”
In addition, Poroshenko tried to shift the blame onto his predecessors, saying that economic reforms necessary to ensure the necessary growth of the economy had not been pursued in the country for a long time.
The Euromaidan, as we remember, stood under one main slogan: joining the EU, which the “criminal regime” of President Yanukovych hindered. After nearly 3 years since the victory of the Maidan and the overthrow of the “criminal” government, no one is waiting for Ukraine in the EU and Ukrainians’ living standards have declined dramatically.
Poroshenko, however, still found positive changes in the life of Ukraine. A bit earlier, on November 20th, he stated that for the first time in several years, namely after 14 quarters of decline, the country noted a growth in the economy. He called the International Monetary Fund’s aid to the Ukrainian state the defining moment behind this. Moreover, Poroshenko promised to significantly raise wages in the near future, particularly for doctors, teachers, and other public sector workers. Poroshenko compared the Ukrainian economy with a patient finally leaving the hospital and going on the mend.
Ukraine’s economy is, in my opinion, most likely not recovering, but is a stably critically ill patient. If any improvements happen, then they affect only certain industries that have very little growth. If we take longer periods and the entire economy as a whole, then the Ukrainian economy does not demonstrate any positive outlook. This was recognized by the ex-governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, according to whom Ukraine needs at least 15 years to regain the level of development it had under President Yanukovych. Poroshenko’s promises that the money provided by the IMF will bring social benefits sound like pure populism, or more like demagoguery.
The IMF loan is too relatively small to have any significant impact on the macroeconomic situation in this country of 40 million (according to inflated official figures) with a depressed economy and enormous social burden (over 12 million Ukrainians are pensioners).
Ukrainian experts themselves have noted that the lion’s share of the loan will go, first of all, to service debt, and, secondly, to infrastructural reform. Ukraine will see no real spending money from the IMF, as such is largely means provided to service debt problems. Poroshenko, like an experienced businessman setting up a new business, is openly lying when he says otherwise.
A number of Ukrainian experts suggest that the IMF money is needed by Kiev for political concerns. When getting money, the government never forgets to remind everyone that as long as the loans are coming in, this means that the West has not ditched them.
As calculated by the executive director of Blazer International Fund, Oleg Ustenko, Kiev is already forced to allocate 5% of its entire GDP to covering debt. In order for the economy to show growth, it would have to grow at a rate above 5%, otherwise GDP will decline.
Poroshenko also compared the reforms supposedly underway in Ukraine to those carried out in Central and Eastern European countries. This analogy makes sense. The results of these reforms, which liberal experts consider successful, essentially transitioned the economies and financial systems of the socialist camp countries to the control of Western companies and transnational corporations. Therein, the countries of the former socialist camp lost their economic sovereignty.
When Poroshenko compares supposedly successful reforms in Ukraine with the “successful” reforms in these European countries, he is right in only one aspect: Ukrainians too will lose their right to their own property and resources.
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Clinton Is the Most Dangerous Person Alive – An Interview with Edward S. Herman | 2016 presidential campaign by Ann Garrison
The just-concluded election revealed as much about the corporate media, which has broken every rule of journalism to support Hillary Clinton, and the fraudulence of much of the American Left, which turns out to have no real problem with war or capitalism, than it did about the candidates, themselves. Edward Herman is an exception, a genuine man of the Left. He says “a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for war with Syria and Russia.” Clinton Is the Most Dangerous Person Alive – An Interview with Edward S. Herman by Ann Garrison
“ The election of Hillary Clinton might threaten a democratic order as much as a Trump victory.”
Ann Garrison: Earlier this year, you told me that you differ with Noam Chomsky, your co-author of Manufacturing Consent and other books, in that you plan to vote for the Green Party's presidential and vice presidential candidates Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Are you still planning to do so?
Edward S. Herman: Yes.
AG: Can you explain why?
ESH: Because the two duopoly candidates are dangerous to societal and international welfare and even survival. Hillary Clinton is a neo-liberal and pre-eminent war-monger. I think she is the most dangerous person living in the world today, given her highly likely election victory and her likely performance as president. She represents the corporate elite and military-industrial complex more clearly than Trump and she is a follow-on to Bush and Obama. She will pursue similar policies except for her somewhat more aggressive bent.
Trump is a self-promoting windbag, racist and dangerous, unpredictable phony. We have a ghastly choice in these two. Jill Stein offers a protest opportunity, more so than not voting. On the line that either voting for Stein or not voting would constitute a vote for Trump, one might argue that a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for war with Syria and Russia and a vote for Netanyahu (and hence for escalated violence in Palestine).
AG: Hillary Clinton and John Podesta's e-mail has revealed that Hillary Clinton is well aware that the Saudi and Qatari rulers - not rogue elements - fund ISIS, and the same Saudi and Qatari rulers fund the Clinton Foundation. Throughout the last George Bush's presidency, there were innumerable headlines that "Saudi oil sheikhs met with George Bush on his Crawford, Texas ranch." What are your thoughts on that?
ESH: Saudi Arabia is a US ally and an instrument of the warfare state. Hillary Clinton has treated its leaders warmly and she will continue to do so as president. The Clinton Foundation's receipt of money from Saudi and Qatari leaders is a first class conflict of interest and outrage, but the media have focused on the many less important abuses of Trump, helping cover over the outrages of their preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton, and her husband, Bill Clinton.
AG: What do you think of Clinton's statement that she would make removing Bashar Al-Assad her top priority? And Trump's statement that he would not, because that would recklessly risk confrontation with Russia?
ESH: Hillary Clinton has essentially promised to escalate war in Syria and is therefore promising to go to war with Russia as well. Diana Johnstone has made the case that Hillary Clinton plans to try to bring about "regime change" in Russia (cite). This is of course incredibly dangerous and would have aroused a really democratic media, but the existing media are part of the war system, hence Hillary Clinton's commitment to wars is essentially suppressed. Trump has made a number of statements along the lines of reducing US interventions and commitments abroad and trying to deal with Russia in a less confrontational manner, but he has sometimes contradicted himself by urging expanded arms, use of nuclear weapons, etc. But Hillary Clinton has said nothing that would offset her war-mongering. This difference from Trump may help explain the intensity of media hostility to Trump.
AG: Jill Stein has said that "wars for oil are blowing back at us wth a vengeance" and that she would cut the military budget by half, close most of the foreign bases, and redirect resources into a Green New Deal that would fully employ Americans building sustainable energy and agricultural infrastructure. I can't imagine you disagree, but do you think it's important for the Greens to articulate such a vision at the national and international level, instead of focusing solely on local races that they might win?
ESH: The Greens don't have the resources to compete in many local elections. So she is wise to focus on the big national and international issues. Furthermore, the real gap in the political system is the lack of opposition to national neoliberal and militaristic policies. It is said that she can't make a bigger mark given the hegemony of the duopoly, but even Ralph Nader couldn't get 5 percent of the vote. The system still works well, for the 1%.
AG : Michael Moore has made a movie called "Trumpland" and warned that Trump's election would be the end of the United States , assuming that would be a bad thing. David Swanson, author of "War Is a Lie," has imagined the same but argued, in " Secession, Trump, and the Avoidability of Civil War ," that the break-up of the United States is not the worst possibility on the horizon. Do you have any thoughts on this?
ESH: Michael Moore is completely oblivious to the fact that the enlarging war that is likely to follow Hillary Clinton's election threatens not only a nuclear exchange but also attacks on civil liberties and the march toward fascism. In its own way, the election of Hillary Clinton might threaten a democratic order as much as a Trump victory. The anti-Trump hysteria has tended to block out consideration of the Hillary Clinton menace.
AG: Is there anything else you'd like to say about why you're voting for Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka?
ESH: I've always believed in the moral rule laid down in the categorical imperative: "Do that which you would wish generalized." Ann Garrison an independent journalist based in Oakland, USA. | 1real |
15,000 More Public Workers Are Fired in Turkey Crackdown - The New York Times | ISTANBUL — The Turkish government on Tuesday expanded its crackdown on political opponents, dismissing an additional 15, 000 civil servants from their jobs and shutting down 375 organizations, including nine more news outlets. More than 100, 000 public workers, including police officers, teachers, soldiers and others, had already been fired for what the authorities said were connections to a failed coup on July 15 or to terrorists. The new wave of dismissals came on a morning when the European Parliament was scheduled to debate freezing accession talks for Turkey to join the European Union. It was one of several recent indicators that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was abandoning hope of success in that process, which has dragged on for 11 years. Mr. Erdogan has been defiant, saying it was time that the European Union made up its mind on Turkey’s membership, and threatening to hold a nationwide referendum on whether to continue the talks. A recent European Commission report expressed concern that Turkey’s worsening record on human rights and press freedom was making accession increasingly difficult. The Turkish president has advocated bringing back the death penalty, which is banned in European Union countries as a condition of membership, and he has ordered a thorough crackdown on the country’s news media, with 129 outlets now closed. Human rights advocates have also been alarmed by a measure, favored by Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, to declare an amnesty for an estimated 3, 000 to 4, 000 men convicted of child abuse and rape, provided they have married their victims. The measure, which applies to what it calls “consensual” cases of child marriage, was scheduled to be debated on Tuesday in the Turkish Parliament, but it was instead returned to committee, forestalling an immediate vote. The legislation has infuriated women’s groups in Turkey and has drawn criticism from United Nations agencies. On Monday, a delegation of socialist members of the European Parliament was rebuffed in its attempt to visit Selahattin Demirtas, the jailed leader of Turkey’s leading opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, at the prison where he has been held in Edirne, in the country’s northwest. Mr. Demirtas is among 10 members of Parliament from that party who have been detained this month over alleged connections with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by the initials P. K. K. which the government considers a terrorist organization. The government has also deemed followers of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen to be terrorists, blaming them for the attempted coup. A government decree on Tuesday said that 375 groups from various cities had been ordered shut down for what it said were links with terrorists, along with nine news outlets. All the financial assets and property of those organizations were to be seized by the Treasury. The decree said that more than 15, 000 public employees were to be dismissed, including 338 soldiers, 404 military police officers and more than 7, 500 police officers. All of their passports were canceled, it added. The decree stated that all of them were “related, belonging to or in contact with terror organizations and structures that are considered by the National Security Council as acting against national security. ” The decree was issued under emergency powers granted to Mr. Erdogan’s government by Parliament after the failed coup. Parliament extended those powers on Oct. 11 for an additional three months. Members of the European Parliament have been strongly critical of Turkey’s crackdown on opponents and on the news media. After debating the issue in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday, they are expected to vote on Thursday to put a temporary halt to accession talks with Turkey. The vote is designed to ratchet up pressure on Turkey to curtail its repressive tactics. Although the resolution already has the backing of the main political groups in the European Parliament, the vote will not be binding because of the European Union’s complicated procedures. Any decision to freeze the talks must be made by other branches of the union. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, or of European Union member states would first need to make a formal proposal to do so, and a majority of the member states would have to vote in favor of the move for it to pass. Many of the Turkish organizations shut down on Tuesday were charities or professional bodies, such as a nationwide group called Our Agenda Is Kids, based in the capital, Ankara the Endoscopy and Laparoscopy Training Association and the Pancreatic Islet Cell Research Association. Some of the organizations had connections to leftist groups or to followers of Mr. Gulen, but others seemed to have no political links at all. | 0fake |
Christianity under attack: US must do more to promote religious freedom | Throughout the Middle East and North Africa today, Christianity is under attack. Terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are destroying some of the oldest and most sacred Christian communities and relics in the world on the very lands where Christianity was born and first took root. They are committing brutal atrocities against Christian communities in Syria and Iraq, persecuting religious minorities and destroying entire towns and local economies. Christians are fleeing their homes in increasing numbers, creating an exploding refugee crisis that will have grave ramifications on the stability and security of the entire region.
While the world has been rightly outraged by the violence waged by ISIS against people of all sects, ethnicities, and religions, the United States, Europe and other key allies have done little to end ISIS’s systematic efforts to drive-out and eradicate entire religious communities from their historic and sacred homelands. The Obama Administration has repeatedly refused to defend religious freedom abroad and continues to ignore its devastating cost to those religious communities targeted by terrorists because of their religious beliefs.
As a nation founded in the pursuit of religious freedom, America can and must do more to root-out the religious intolerance that is helping to foster much of the political instability and violence we see today. Specifically, we believe the Obama Administration should integrate the protection of religious freedom into its overall response to growing terrorist threats and development efforts around the world. Doing so would help to eliminate the underlying causes of violent extremism, promote increased international economic stability, and foster greater respect for human rights.
Promoting religious freedom would, first and foremost, undermine the efforts of terrorist organizations such as ISIS to capitalize on simmering religious intolerance to build influence and wield power. ISIS has succeeded in tearing apart the social fabric of local communities and exacerbating sectarian and ethnic divisions to recruit supporters from disaffected populations and assert control over wide swaths of otherwise insecure territory. As a result, they have precipitated a breakdown of basic order that has allowed new and unprecedented security threats to the United States and our allies to fester and grow.
The Obama administration can counter this strategy by building alliances with popular local and regional leaders who can expose these radical ideologies’ moral bankruptcy and champion pluralism and tolerance. The Administration should also combat terrorist propaganda about religious minorities and develop programs that promote tolerance and empower minorities to better advocate for their rights and interests. Only by reaffirming the importance of religious freedom and working closely with communities and their governments will we be able to strip away sympathy and support for ISIS and other extremist groups that is bred from deeper political, economic, and social grievances.
Properly designed and implemented, a U.S. foreign policy committed to religious freedom can advance our national security interests, stabilize and consolidate the spread of democracy across the globe, help sustain economic growth, and promote the equality of men and women.
Most importantly, it can help prevent religiously-motivated terrorism and undermine the conditions that have helped spur the rise of groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Shuddhikaran Movement.
Promoting religious freedom would also support the governance structures necessary for economic and political security in developing nations. As recent studies by groups such as the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation have found, higher levels of religious freedom are associated with higher levels of economic productivity and growth. Clearly, sustainable political and economic development is only possible when religious freedom and equal opportunity contributes to a secure environment in which citizens and businesses can operate freely.
Finally, we must remain committed to religious freedom because of the special distinction religious freedom holds as a fundamental human right—a belief that is shared by democratic countries across the globe and protected by numerous international treaties and agreements.
American support for religious liberty sends a potent and unmistakable message to threatened communities around the world: America is your friend. Such support builds enduring good will towards our country among those who could be leading their own nations in the years ahead. And it reminds all observers, whether friendly or hostile, that the U.S. remains committed to a world where justice and human dignity are central to legitimate governance.
Republican John McCain is a Navy veteran. He represents Arizona in the United States Senate.
Tony Perkins is president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. | 0fake |
Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Oct 24) - Bob Corker, Stock Market | 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 : - Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts.... [0813 EDT] - ...Corker dropped out of the race in Tennesse when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record! [0820 EDT] - Isn’t it sad that lightweight Senator Bob Corker, who couldn’t get re-elected in the Great State of Tennessee, will now fight Tax Cuts plus! [0930 EDT] - Sen. Corker is the incompetent head of the Foreign Relations Committee, & look how poorly the U.S. has done. He doesn’t have a clue as..... [1013 EDT] - ...the entire World WAS laughing and taking advantage of us. People like liddle’ Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back. Now we move forward! [1020 EDT] - Stock Market just hit another record high! Jobs looking very good. [1035 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 0fake |
WATCH: Hannity Loses His Sh*t And Refers To Hillary As ‘President Clinton’ During UNHINGED Rant | Sean Hannity threw a massive temper tantrum on Monday night in defense of Donald Trump.The Fox News host went off on a seriously delusional rant about Hillary Clinton, even referring to her as President Clinton on two occasions.Hannity whined about the indictments against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and just like Donald Trump, attempted to shift the focus from Trump s Russia collusion to Hillary Clinton. This is beyond insanity and it s inexcusable, Hannity whined. Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, the Obama Administration allowed your national security to be compromised in what is an unprecedented way and few in the media will touch this story. Major crimes were committed. They knew about it. They did nothing before the deal. Hannity is referring to the Uranium One deal the Obama Administration made with Russia back in 2010. Trump himself has been bellowing about it for quite some time now in a desperate effort to distract from his very real crimes.Basically, the deal gave a Russian company no more than a 51 percent stake in a Canadian-based mining company and ownership of 20 percent of the currently licensed uranium in-situ recovery production capacity in the U.S. This deal does not harm our national security as Hannity claims, nor did Hillary Clinton personally approve of the deal. Factcheck.org recently gave a run-down of the deal and thoroughly debunked Trump and Hannity s claims. As we ve written before, there is no evidence that donations to the Clinton Foundation from people with ties to Uranium One or Bill Clinton s speaking fee influenced Hillary Clinton s official actions, FactCheck.org wrote. That s still the case. In fact, not only did such a deal require approval from several federal agencies and committees, only 11 percent of overall U.S. production of uranium comes from Uranium One. And that uranium is sold to operators of commercial nuclear reactors. Basically, the uranium is being sold to us as it would have if Uranium One was not held by a Russian company. This deal was under a lot of scrutiny before it went through, and was even publicly announced. But Hannity did not utter one word about it when it happened.Of course, Hannity is still insisting that the evidence is on Trump s side despite the fact that there is a lot of evidence proving that he and Trump are full of shit and that Trump committed treason to steal an election. We are at a major crisis point in America tonight. Do we have equal justice under the law in this country today? If you or I or anybody in this room with me now or watching TV with you, if we ever did anything close to what the Clintons, the DNC, and others did, we would be rotting in a jail cell tonight hoping our friends would send us a cake that had a file. The only difference between Trump/Russia collusion is that we have the evidence, and after a year of black helicopter conspiracy theories, they have none. And just like we have the evidence, when it comes to Clinton and her email server scandal, why hasn t she been charged? Here s the video via YouTube.Hillary Clinton has not been charged because she didn t commit any crimes and there is ZERO evidence that she did. Trump, on the other hand, is about to go down for collusion.Clearly, nobody gives Trump a blowjob like Sean Hannity. And frankly, he and Fox News should be sued for slander.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1real |
Former California state senator pleads guilty to corruption charge | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former California Senator Ron Calderon pleaded guilty in a federal court on Tuesday to a single count of mail fraud, ending a public corruption case in which he admitted to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes, prosecutors said. Calderon, a Democrat from the Los Angeles suburb of Montebello, left office in 2014 after serving a dozen years in the state Senate and four years in the Assembly. Sentencing is set for Sept. 19. The 58-year-old former politician reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors last week, several weeks before he was scheduled to go on trial on charges contained in a 24-count indictment. His mail fraud offense carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but prosecutors agreed under the terms of Calderon’s plea deal to seek a sentence of no more than 70 months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. Once an influential figure in the California Legislature, Calderon was one of three Democrats in the state Senate suspended over ethics charges in 2014, costing their party a cherished two-thirds Senate majority during an election year. According to his indictment, Calderon accepted $100,000 in bribes from the owner of a Long Beach hospital to preserve a loophole in the law that allowed companies controlled by the owner to charge more for hardware used in spinal surgeries. Calderon also was accused of taking bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood movie executives in exchange for steering legislation in their favor. His older brother, Tom Calderon, 62, a former member of the California state Assembly who became a political consultant, also was named in the indictment. He pleaded guilty last Monday to a federal money-laundering charge for allowing bribes earmarked for his brother to be funneled through his firm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than a year in prison for the elder Calderon brother. | 0fake |
Social Media Finds New Role as News and Entertainment Curator - The New York Times | By the end of last week, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook would conduct “a full investigation” into accusations that editors at the company prevented news stories from conservative outlets from appearing in a section of the social network’s service. But the statement, issued after a weeklong crush of attention about the accusation, leapfrogged a perhaps more obvious question — one that Facebook’s 1. 65 billion monthly users around the world may not have considered. Facebook has editors? It does, and it isn’t alone. Most major social media platforms have, in recent years, amassed editorial teams of their own, groups that select, tame and fill gaps in the material produced by users and media companies. The teams are often tiny compared with the rest of their sprawling organizations. But most of these employees — whether they are called curators, reporters, editors or something else — make editorial choices that reach huge audiences. How and why these decisions are made are generating new questions for the companies, and their users, to grapple with. “Mainstream news organizations have endured a skeptical public for decades,” said Kjerstin Thorson, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Now, she says, social media companies may face similar, and perhaps jarring, scrutiny. Facebook declined to say how many people have editorial roles, as did Instagram, which Facebook owns. But several other companies provided some details about their operations that suggest the scope and variety of their editorial ambitions. Snapchat said it has around 75 people who produce content, collecting and annotating videos and photos of live events and sometimes adding reporting themselves. Twitter employs just under a dozen people in the United States and around two dozen worldwide to collect and describe postings about notable topics. Vine, the video service owned by Twitter, employs five to 10 people to highlight videos and producers that might have been overlooked by the audience, or that the company simply wants more people to see. “Where curation picks up,” said Ankur Thakkar, the editorial lead of Vine, “is that you need human eyes and ears to pick up on a cultural trend that a machine might not see. ” In some cases, these teams coexist with media professionals working elsewhere on the platform. Peter Hamby, a former CNN political reporter, oversees a team of six journalists within Snapchat, while media companies — including CNN — produce content for the company’s Discover feature. The novelty of these arrangements can obscure their straightforward influence. Such companies, with hundreds of millions of users, attract enormous amounts of human attention. People whose Snapchat videos are featured in a curated live event say they have had millions of views. A performer featured by Vine can expect a surge of new followers a trend or meme given the same treatment can garner thousands of new responses from users. Facebook’s Trending Topics, the feature that drew all the attention last week, is relegated to a small box in desktop browsers and users’ search page on mobile devices. But the positioning provides confirmation, in the language of Facebook’s own guidelines, “that the topic is tied to a current news event in the real world. ” Broad guidelines for Twitter curators are published on the site and state that their posts, called Moments, “will not take a view on a controversial subject” and that curators will “select tweets that represent all sides of the argument” in Moments that reflect a public debate. Snapchat did not share editorial guidelines, but pointed to a team of experienced reporters as evidence of its standards. (A job listing for an “editorial lead” at Snapchat, who will be charged to “define the editorial voice of Snapchat’s Live Stories,” asks for “five years’ journalism or storytelling experience. ”) The report accusing suppression of news stories within Facebook’s Trending Topics was published by the website Gizmodo last Monday, prompting a denial by Facebook followed by the release of its set of internal editorial guidelines. Facebook said on Thursday that its editorial guidelines “do not permit the suppression of political perspectives. ” For the companies, adding additional curated or original editorial content has an obvious appeal, helping them extract more value from people already using the platform, as well as potentially attracting new ones. “Each of these companies has to give people that aren’t coming there a reason to come there — new users, or infrequent users,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities. But, Mr. Pachter said, the presence of editorial operations risks emphasizing just how significant the companies have become as gatekeepers for news and entertainment. “To edit it, and write it, and create it, and curate it, it’s a big responsibility,” he said. “I don’t think they realize what they’re getting into. ” Last week’s debate surrounding Trending Topics gave users and critics a chance to analyze the Facebook platform, which has established significant reach, in new ways. Social networks like Facebook have been widely seen as impartial systems that reflect users’ ideas, preferences and relationship back at them. But suddenly, the companies were viewed not just as tech companies, which the public is broadly endeared to, or as media companies, which are regarded with deep skepticism by much of the public, but also as something in between. Details about the Facebook team’s editorial practices, for example, immediately led to questions about the tools they used — the software that identified popular stories in the first place. And analysis of those tools led to questions about the central mechanics of Facebook — the software that uses more than a billion users’ personal connections and preferences to decide what to show them next. Many of these interrogations ended up in the same thorny thicket: Who designed the system this way, and why? That may help explain why other companies refrained from wading into public discussions around Facebook last week, hoping to avoid a similar storm. “There are a lot of similarities between this situation and how little we knew about how traditional news organizations worked in the middle of the 20th century,” Ms. Thorson said, “the last era before media trust plummeted. ” She added: “The question really is, how much sustained media attention to these processes will it require before these platforms must react in some way to preserve the trust they have? “I suspect quite a bit. ” | 0fake |
The Senate's 46 Democrats got 20 million more votes than its 54 Republicans | On Tuesday, 33 US senators elected in November will be sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden — including 12 who are new to the chamber. The class includes 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats, a big reason why the GOP has a 54-46 majority in the Senate overall.
But here's a crazy fact: those 46 Democrats got more votes than the 54 Republicans across the 2010, 2012, and 2014 elections. According to Nathan Nicholson, a researcher at the voting reform advocacy group FairVote, "the 46 Democratic caucus members in the 114th Congress received a total of 67.8 million votes in winning their seats, while the 54 Republican caucus members received 47.1 million votes."
Here's what that looks like in chart form:
This doesn't mean that the Republican majority is illegitimate or anything like that. Indeed, after 2008 and 2012, the tables were turned: Democrats got more Senate seats than their vote share suggested they should. The problem isn't that the deck is stacked in favor of Republicans. The problem is that the deck is stacked in favor of small states, which receive equal representation in the Senate despite dramatic variance in population. The Senate is a profoundly anti-democratic body and should be abolished. | 0fake |
BOMBSHELL: FBI REVEALS LYING OBAMA Used A Pseudonym To E-mail Clinton…Refuses To Release E-mails | Obama told CBS News March 7, 2015 that he did not know about Clinton s private email while she was his secretary of state from Jan. 21, 2009 to Feb. 1, 2013.Q: Mr. President, when did you first learn that Hillary Clinton used an email system outside the U.S. government for official business while she was secretary of state?Obama: The same time everybody else learned it through news reports.President Barack Obama used a pseudonym in email communications with Hillary Clinton and others, according to FBI records made public Friday.The disclosure came as the FBI released its second batch of documents from its investigation into Clinton s private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.The 189 pages the bureau released includes interviews with some of Clinton s closest aides, such as Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills; senior State Department officials; and even Marcel Lazar, better known as the Romanian hacker Guccifer. In an April 5, 2016 interview with the FBI, Abedin was shown an email exchange between Clinton and Obama, but the longtime Clinton aide did not recognize the name of the sender. Once informed that the sender s name is believed to be pseudonym used by the president, Abedin exclaimed: How is this not classified?' the report says. Abedin then expressed her amazement at the president s use of a pseudonym and asked if she could have a copy of the email. The State Department has refused to make public that and other emails Clinton exchanged with Obama. Lawyers have cited the presidential communications privilege, a variation of executive privilege, in order to withhold the messages under the Freedom of Information Act. The report doesn t provide more details on the contents of that particular email exchange, but says it took place on June 28, 2012, and had the subject line: Re: Congratulations. It may refer to the Supreme Court s ruling that day upholding a key portion of the Obamacare law.Read more: Politico | 1real |
Want to Pick Better Bottles? Repeat After Me: Wine Is Food - The New York Times | Many people seek an easy formula for choosing better wines. I’m often asked if I can suggest a book, or a class, or a particular wine magazine. But trying to master the vast array of wine producers from almost all corners of the earth is a long, though fascinating, slog. I’m still trudging along that endless route myself. Fortunately, there is a simpler solution that does not require poring over tomes that daunt you with complexity, or pamphlets that mislead you by promising easy expertise. All you have to do is remember three words: Wine is food. This may sound absurd to people whose idea of wine appreciation is swilling a little red in a bar while their friends are downing cocktails or beer. It will make no sense to those for whom a glass of wine is merely the reward for arriving home after a hard day’s work, as others may enjoy a Scotch on the rocks or a martini. But wine in the classic sense is not a cocktail replacement. It is an integral part of a meal, served at the table, with food. And for me, a simple way to understand wine, to elevate the quality of what you consume and the pleasure you take in it, is to treat wine as if it were another staple of the table, just as you would the produce, meat and bread that you shop for and eat. In the last few decades, Americans have become far more conscious of the ingredients in their meals. Categories like organic foods, once the province of eccentric health nuts, are now mainstream and big business. Shopping is no longer a matter of driving the car to the supermarket and loading up it carries a host of ethical, political and aesthetic considerations. Where and how is food grown and raised? How are animals treated? Flavor, a factor that was once relegated to the bottom of the food industry’s list of priorities, is again front and center. The distance that food must travel is critical to many, as is the role of science and industry. All of these considerations are fundamental to the food revolution that has vastly improved both the quality of what we eat and the pleasure we take in it. Yet when it comes to wine, many who care deeply about their food are still drinking the equivalent of the square tomato. This blind spot has kept many consumers from asking questions about how their wine is made, even though they may be hyperconscious of the origins of the food they eat. What would happen if wine drinkers began to take an interest in the winemaking process? Make no mistake: Just as surely as supermarket aisles in the United States are lined with processed foods, the products of painstaking research into flavor components, manufacturing techniques and customer desires, so are they filled with bottles of processed wine. These wines are not the simple, pastoral expressions of an agricultural culture. They are wines, farmed industrially with chemical sprays, churned out in factories with technology and machinery and additives, and tailored, just as processed foods are, to specifications derived from substantial audience research and the use of focus groups. Most people don’t care about the intricacies of what they consume, as long as it tastes good to them. They have other priorities. But a significant minority do care about what they eat, enough so that farmers’ markets, butchers and bakers, restaurants and whole supermarket chains are now dedicated to providing great ingredients that meet heightened aesthetic, medical, moral and ethical considerations. Thinking about wine in the same way is a significant first step toward improving the quality of the wine you drink and the pleasure you take in it. Under federal law, a wine cannot be called organic unless it is made from grapes that have been certified as organic, has been fermented with organic yeast and has no added sulfur dioxide, a preservative that is used in all but the most natural of wines. Very few wines can be called organic, though many are made from organically grown grapes. That alone may offer no clues to the quality of the wine. Organic grapes, like industrially farmed grapes, can be processed in the winery with great artifice and little regard for producing a forthright product. What’s more, many small farmers of great integrity work organically, or adhere to even stricter principles than the definition requires, but don’t bother certifying their work because of the expense and bureaucracy involved. So labels are not always meaningful. Even more important than labels like “organic” would be a greater sense of transparency in how grapes are grown and wine is made. Processed foods are required to list all the ingredients used during production. Why should wine be immune to such labeling requirements? Many decisions are made after scanning the ingredient labels of competing products. Shouldn’t we want to know what’s in our wine, too? The wine industry has long argued that consumers would find ingredient labels confusing or incomprehensible. That may be true, but it’s irrelevant. Who among us understands the ingredients that go into, say, a breakfast cereal? Millions of people could not care less and buy these products anyway. But with comprehensive labeling, those who want to avoid artificial or suspect ingredients have the opportunity to do so. They should have the same opportunity with wine. And you can bet that once people begin to ask questions about the ingredients and processes involved in making wine, the industry will begin to cater more to this growing group of educated consumers. Thinking of wine as food will affect shopping decisions in another important way. Many people who may care enough to buy meat, fish, bread and produce from specialty purveyors or farmers’ markets continue to buy their wine in supermarkets, retailers or convenience stores. If you care about wine, that is a mistake. You may happen on a good bottle, but chances are you will not. For that, you need a store run by passionate devotees who do much of the advance work for you. A good wine shop or online merchant with a point of view, like a great butcher or baker, will have performed a rigorous selection process before making its wares available to consumers. Knowing that you are in a good wine shop can sharpen your down to issues of taste and occasion rather than quality. Treating wine as food clarifies the notion of what it is you have on the table. It simplifies wine and makes it more approachable. And it leads to the same conclusion: To drink better wine, you must ultimately find a better wine source. | 0fake |
Hillary Clinton’s New Tax Plan Will Make Trump’s Kids FURIOUS | Since the Reagan administration, Americans have been sold a bill of goods that tells us that inherited money is more valuable than earned money. Republicans would like all inherited money to be completely sheltered from any taxation, while for the most part, Democrats disagree. The compromise has been that only estates valued at a whopping $5.45 million or more ($10.9 million for married couples) are taxed. Anything below that is completely tax free.Now, Hillary Clinton, after prodding from Bernie Sanders and his followers, has revised her estate tax plan and trust me when I say Donald Trump s children won t be happy.Previously, Clinton said she would restore the tax on dead rich folks to its 2009 levels, pushing up the rate from 40 percent to 45 percent, and making it kick in for estates worth at least $3.5 million (today, it only hits those valued at $5.45 million or more). But, no longer. Instead, she s borrowed a page from her formal primary rival, and now proposes turning the levy into a progressive tax meaning it will take a bigger bite out of wealthier estates with a top rate of 65 percent. The last time the estate tax hit that level was in 1982, though back then it also kicked in on smaller inheritances.Beyond all that, Clinton has said she would largely do away with the step-up in basis at death, a rule that allows lucky heirs to avoid paying capital gains taxes that, say, their parents or uncle or other rich benefactor would have owed had they sold their stock before passing away.In the end, the committee expects these measures to raise about $225 billion over ten years.Source: SlateAs it stands, the estate tax system is a joke. In 2012, a staggering $1.2 trillion was passed down as an inheritance. Of that, less than 1 percent was taxed. As for the Republican argument that estate taxes will hurt small businesses, in 2013, only 20 small businesses and family farm estates, in the entire country, had to pay estate taxes.The other common Republican argument is that estate taxes are double taxation (as if every other dollar in the American economy hasn t been taxed multiple times), but the reality is that most of what comprises large estates comes from capital gains, which are also unlikely to have every been taxed.Of course, even if Clinton is elected, she ll have a tough time passing this, at least as long as Paul Ryan is in charge of the House. He wants Trump s kids to pay zero in estate taxes. Of course, for all we know, Trump himself pays zero in taxes.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images. | 1real |
Labor Dept forecasts costs, retiree gains from fiduciary rule | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new rule aimed at protecting retirement funds will result in up to $31.5 billion in compliance costs for the brokerage industry over the next decade but produce even bigger gains for retirees, the U.S. Labor Department said on Wednesday. In its final fiduciary standard rule released on Wednesday, the Department predicted industry compliance costs of between $10 billion and $31.5 billion over the next 10 years. Individual retirement account investors will gain between $33 billion and $36 billion over the next decade as a result of the rule, and between $66 billion and $76 billion over the next 20 years, the Department said. | 0fake |
Indonesian forces prepare to storm Papua villages held by rebels | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian security forces in the eastern province of Papua are preparing to storm five villages that they say are being held by an armed rebel group, police officials said on Saturday. Around 200 police and military personnel have been deployed and are awaiting orders to secure the area, where an armed separatist group linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) is preventing about 1,000 people from leaving an area near a giant copper mine, operated by the American miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. [nL3N1NG46N] Today the joint police and military forces have occupied various posts to be able to take action, said Papua police spokesman, Suryadi Diaz. They will be taken dead or alive, he said of the around 100 rebels that police say have tortured and abused the villagers since taking over the area several days ago. A state of emergency has been declared in the area and at least 300 additional security forces have been deployed to the area of the province after a string of shootings since Aug. 17 that killed one police officer and wounded six. The rebel group, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), on Friday denied occupying villages near the mine, but said it was at war with the police, military, and Freeport. Papua has had a long-running and sometimes violent separatist movement since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969. President Joko Widodo has sought to ease tension in the two provinces by stepping up investment, freeing political prisoners and addressing human rights concerns. This is the first escalation of violence during his term. Freeport s Grasberg mine has been dogged by security concerns for decades due to a low-level conflict waged by pro-independence rebels in Papua. Between 2009 and 2015, shootings within 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 dispute with the Indonesian government over rights to the mine.[nL2N1N00LD] | 0fake |
Blast in Afghan capital causes numerous casualties | KABUL (Reuters) - A blast in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday caused numerous casualties, Reuters witnesses and Afghan officials said. A Reuters television team saw at least eight people who appeared to have been killed, besides several wounded at the explosion site in the city s Wazir Akbar Khan area. A public health official said three dead bodies and 10 wounded had been taken to city hospitals. | 0fake |
Presidential Transition of Power Begins amid Nationwide Protests | Trump’s victory has been followed by talk in GOP circles of repealing Obamacare and getting the economy back on track. CBN’s Jennifer Wishon and economist Steve Moore addressed these issues and more on The 700 Club.
President-elect Donald Trump met with President Barack Obama at the White House Thursday in what turned out to be a cordial first step in the transfer of power.
“We talked about foreign policy, we talked about domestic policy,” the president told reporters following the 90-minute meeting, adding that it's important for the country to come together to face the challenges ahead.
Trump, for his part, said he looks forward to being with the president "many, many more times."
CBN's David Brody and Jenna Browder talk to protesters outside the White House Thursday. (Audio begins at 1:30)
The meeting came as thousands of anti-Trump protestors hit the streets Wednesday, from New York to Philadelphia to Chicago and Los Angeles, to express their anger over Trump's surprising victory.
One protestor expressed the shock and disbelief of many Clinton supporters when she said, "Something horrific and unbelievable has happened."
But Trump promised to be a president for all Americans.
"To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people," Trump said in his victory speech Wednesday morning.
Obama also called for Americans to come together, saying, "It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country."
Although many world leaders also expressed support for Trump, Europeans who watched the election closely and expected a certain Clinton victory were still trying to come to grips with the results. French President Francois Hollande said Trump's victory "opens a period of uncertainty."
Much more certain is Trump's agenda for his first 100 days. A top priority is to repeal and replace Obamacare.
"Believe me, we'll get rid of that," Trump warned when he was on the campaign trail. "I've been saying it for years."
Trump has also promised middle class families a 35 percent tax cut, although the Tax Foundation, which has reviewed the plan, said it would actually cut taxes for several income levels.
Trump has also vowed to build a wall on the border with Mexico, and to make it a lot tougher for persons from terror-related countries to enter the U.S., saying, "Radical Islamic terror is right around the corner. We have to be so tough, so smart, so vigilant."
The president-elect is also eager to fill the empty seat on the Supreme Court, which has been vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February, with a conservative justice -- and he could get more chances to appoint justices.
Wall Street quickly adjusted to the idea of a Trump presidency. After an initial sell-off, stocks posted strong gains.
Meanwhile, President-elect Trump has a lot on his plate, and a lot to talk about when he meets with President Obama. | 0fake |
SHOCK: After FBI Surprise Attack, is Democratic Leadership Giving up on Hillary? | 10,300 10,300 likes
Unreal! We live in fascinating, exciting times, brothers!
Other such public actions of retribution have coincided with this(ie CNN actually firing Donna Brazile for being a despicable hack). These are remarkable turnarounds, but what could be behind this? If the democratic leadership is turning on Hillary, why would they do this? What’s their reasoning for doing so? What’s in it for them? Well, the answers would surprise many, but are logical if thought through.
Saving Face and Saving Brand
Hillary Clinton is a sociopathic criminal, guilty of treason, mass murder for profit, and lining the pockets of globalists at our expense. We know that folks like us, in the Alt-media, and #AltRight etc all know that…but the “blue-pilled”, “normie” public, has, up until this point…not known that!
All these O’Keefe, Wikileaks, and whistleblower revelations about Hillary and Washington DC are news to tens of millions of people. Some still haven’t heard this news, others still shockingly don’t care…but it doesn’t matter now.
Too many now know who she is and how the system works, and the FBI and others will find overwhelming evidence of criminal wrong-doing on Hillary now(yes, even with Podesta’s DOJ friend in charge of it). The woman would likely be impeached within months of being in office, which if this occurred, could even bring about a Constitutional crisis. The fallout of this would tarnish the brand of the Democratic party beyond recognition.
Bill Mitchell, a pro-Trump pollster and commentator on Twitter(whom I recommend you follow @ mitchellvii ) has some thoughts on the matter which are close to my own. It is highly possible that Democrat leadership has largely decided that Trump winning would be a “lesser evil” for them, than a POTUS Hillary. If Hillary is entangled in this situation for most of her first term, the fallout from Obama, followed by a criminal like her would be the “One-two” punch that their party wouldn’t recover from.
It could very well be that they believe Trump will be ineffective as POTUS, or could be rendered such by skillful opposition. In their minds, under a one-term, lame-duck Trump Presidency, with few promises being met to his constituency, and a worsening economy, their party would be set to counter-attack with a stronger candidate in 2020.
Not only would this put them on better footing to blame a candidate from the GOP side, for the mess the country is in, but it could actually save their party and their brand. It is highly likely many are considering “cutting their losses”, and settling for stopping President Trump in 4 years’ time.
Remember, VP Joe Biden himself, went from saying he’d “like to fight Trump behind the woodshed”, to actually saying he’d work with a President Trump if he wins.
Huge change in tone, folks. These people see the writing on the wall…
Conclusion
Election 2016 has been absolutely incredible: the constant Assange whistle-blowing on DC corruption, the oppo dumps, the truth-telling about Hillary’s crimes, the candidates themselves, the enormous poll swings, the under-cover stings from O’Keefe, etc….
Nothing has ever been seen like it.
Let’s face it brothers: if this election was a movie, no one would believe it! Too many twists and turns!
At this point however, there are signs that much of the Democratic leadership near the top may have decided that a Hillary Presidency may tarnish their brand too badly. They wrongly believe that a Trump administration could be effectively opposed, and put them on solid footing for a 2020 White House bid. They believe they could survive a Trump Presidency better than a Hillary one, at this point.
Democratic (and even Republican) opposition have emptied every clip at anti-fragile Donald since he announced his Presidential bid, but it now appears though, that the Democratic opposition has run out of ammo!
Now they’re throwing their empty guns at him for the last 7 days, hoping for a miracle!
This man, who Donald Trump has come out of nowhere, has wrecked the criminal Bush family, and is now inches away from wrecking the criminal Clintons as well. Forever.
He’s done it while being pummeled by the MSM, and backstabbing traitors within his own party. He’s stalked and hunted them all relentlessly, and has turned the majority of the people against them, and against globalism…in just 18 short months.
None have been able to stop him. It has been one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever witnessed, and gives me great hope that our foes, these globalist banksters, technocrats, International Zionists, and every foe of the West, is much weaker than we ever thought possible.
Just think:
If CANDIDATE Trump has been able to do all this in just 18 months, what kind of utter, nightmarish carnage could PRESIDENT Trump bring down upon neo-liberal globalism?
I believe we’re all about to find that out! | 1real |
Discord among Republicans already weighs on Trump's tax plan | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disagreement among U.S. congressional Republicans is already swirling around a tax cut plan unveiled days ago by President Donald Trump, who has proposed repealing the tax on inheritances and eliminating a deduction for state and local tax payments. The discord shows the difficulty of overhauling the complex U.S. tax code. This task has defied Washington since 1986, the last time a comprehensive rewrite was completed despite lobbyists who defend each tax break. Trump has yet to score a major legislative win since taking office in January and is pushing hard for a tax code revamp. But his plan is meeting the same internal Republican tensions between moderates and conservatives that have sunk his efforts this year to repeal the Obamacare health law. “There’s a lot of give and take,” Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn told Fox Business Network on Friday. Members of the administration “have been meeting everyday with the tax writers trying to figure out where they need to end up to get the votes ... we’re going to make sure the president gets what he asks for,” he added. One obstacle is the projected fiscal impact of the plan, which would slash U.S. revenues and expand the federal deficit and the national debt, which now exceeds $20 trillion. Republican lawmakers from high-tax states such as New York exited meetings this week with Kevin Brady, chairman of the House of Representatives’ tax-writing committee, saying there would be some sort of compromise on repealing the deduction for state and local tax payments. Separately, some Republican senators were questioning the repeal of a 40 percent inheritance tax levied on estate assets worth more than $5.5 million, or $11 million for married couples. That tax affects only about 0.2 percent of estates, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. “That is not a priority for me as we seek to craft this tax bill,” Senator Susan Collins, who has often been a key Republican vote, said in a statement on Thursday. Republicans want to use a procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass eventual tax legislation, which allows passage with a simple majority in the 100-seat Senate. Republicans hold 52 Senate seats and can only afford to lose support from two senators, with Vice President Mike Pence able to cast a tie-breaking vote. Democrats will likely oppose the legislation. One Republican fiscal hawk, Senator Bob Corker, has already said he cannot support tax legislation that adds to the annual federal deficit. “We remain very bearish on any tax legislation passing this year - or next,” Cowen and Co analyst Chris Krueger said in a Friday research note. The Trump plan, made public last week, calls for up to $6 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. Without accompanying spending reductions, the budget would hugely expand the deficit, according to some estimates. The administration contends tax cuts would spur so much economic growth that the resulting new revenues would help offset the cost. In addition, Republicans are proposing “revenue raisers,” such as ending the deduction for payments of state and local tax, known as SALT. Doing that would raise about $1.3 trillion over a decade, the Tax Policy Center said. Almost 30 percent of taxpayers currently deduct state and local taxes. In New Jersey, for example, 41 percent of tax filers, meaning individuals or married couples, claimed the deduction, which averaged $17,850, according to a Government Finance Officers Association analysis of Internal Revenue Service data. Although the deduction disproportionately benefits people in high-tax states and localities, individuals in all states claim it. In Georgia, for example, 33 percent of tax filers claim an average deduction of $9,158, the report said. Republican Representative Chris Collins of New York, a Trump ally, told reporters earlier this week that lawmakers from high-tax states, such as his own, were discussing “ways to level the playing field,” including capping the amount of the deduction or putting other limits on it. “There are many districts with Republican members where state and local deduction is used by a large portion of the taxpayers,” said Frank Sammartino, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. “So it’s not surprising that it’s not strictly a blue state/red state thing.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the state and local tax deduction the “Achilles’ heel” of tax reform and said his party would oppose any move to repeal it. He dismissed compromise plans as unfeasible. Brady said on Thursday that at this point there has been no change to the framework, but tax writers are “listening very carefully” to lawmakers’ concerns. “It’s got to be frustrating when you’re in a state where local and state officials really put the screws to taxpayers,” Brady told reporters. “We are determined to provide tax relief to every American, regardless of where they live.” | 0fake |
Democratic debate: 6 takeaways | Durham, New Hampshire (CNN) No more fake niceties. No more patience. No more Martin O'Malley to get in the way.
Hillary Clinton re-launched her campaign Thursday night, going directly after Bernie Sanders regarding his attacks on her record, stressing her foreign policy experience, and making the case to Democrats that it's time to stop dreaming and get real.
Sanders didn't hold back either, continuing to rail against the political establishment and campaign finance system. And he hit Clinton again on her Wall Street connections and vote for the war in Iraq.
Here are the takeaways from the intense MSNBC Democratic debate:
Clinton goes after Sanders for his 'artful smear' campaign
In her second presidential campaign, Clinton clearly doesn't want to win through a war of attrition. She's sick of Sanders casting himself as the protector of the progressive realm against the corrupting influence of the Clintons, and she is ready to extinguish the Bern now.
After yet another Sanders swipe at Clinton as part of a political establishment bankrolled by Wall Street and drug companies, she unloaded.
"Time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth which really comes down to, you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, senator, and I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough," Clinton said.
Then she challenged him: "If you've got something to say, say it directly, but you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation I ever received."
And finally, Clinton made it just a little bit more personal, saying: "I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks."
And she follows with the definition of 'progressive'
It's been a struggle for months for Clinton to find a way to tell Sanders' supporters that she's on the same page with them policy-wise -- it's just that their big ideas could never, ever make it through Congress.
She tried a new way of explaining their differences on Thursday night, and it was her best yet.
"A progressive is someone who makes progress," Clinton said.
It was easy to see Clinton's exasperation with Sanders. The pattern repeated itself: He'd propose a liberal policy and be cheered. She'd say she agrees, and then add that she has a specific plan to make it happen.
"I'm fighting for people that cannot make those changes and I'm not making promises that I cannot keep," Clinton said.
But Sanders' response is potent, too
In going right at Sanders, Clinton took a big risk.
She is hoping to pick up a few points in New Hampshire, and slow Sanders' momentum nationally. But in doing so, she could infuriate the young voters who Sanders has drawn into the political process.
At first those young voters were fine with Clinton -- liked her, even. They just saw Sanders as more genuine. Now, the tone at Sanders' rallies makes clear, she will have significant work to do to win them over should she win the nomination.
Sanders didn't hit Clinton directly when he responded, but he didn't shrink, either. He lambasted 1990s-era Wall Street deregulation (under Bill Clinton, of course), the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil.
"That is what goes on in America," Sanders said. "There is a reason, you know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system," he said, "and in my view it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families."
Wall Street continues to be full of potholes for the former secretary of state.
Her pragmatism and her accusations of an "artful smear" on Sanders' part don't erase the political problem caused by her paid speeches at Goldman Sachs -- which she had joked about in a CNN town hall the night before, saying with a laugh that the $675,000 in speaking fees she received was what they'd offered.
"I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record," she said, arguing that she was tough on bankers behind closed doors and has been in the 2016 campaign, as well.
Thirteen years and two presidential campaigns later, Clinton's vote to go to war in Iraq still haunts her. Her experience on foreign policy -- as Sanders himself admits -- is much deeper. But just like then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, Sanders keeps using that Iraq vote as Kryptonite on the subject.
She finally found an answer to Sanders' criticism: "A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS."
It allowed Clinton to finally capitalize on a significant weakness of Sanders.
There's a reason Clinton's campaign decided to embrace four more Democratic debates: She's a bare-knuckle brawler, and she's not going to lose the nomination because she wasn't willing to hit Sanders hard enough.
Sanders, meanwhile, will pull his punches -- especially on subjects where he's tepid.
The big one is foreign policy. It never comes up at his town hall meetings, and it's not at the top of his supporters' priorities. On the debate stage, it shows.
The email issue continues to hang over the Clinton campaign -- and the question of whether there's some ticking timebomb there that could decimate her campaign in a general election after she wins the nomination.
Asked directly whether she could "reassure" Democrats on this, Clinton said: "Absolutely I can."
MSNBC's Chuck Todd pressed further regarding an FBI investigation into the matter. "I am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved."
Sanders -- as he has before -- declined the opportunity to take a direct shot at Clinton on the emails. But he did remind viewers that he could attack her if he wanted to.
"The secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue," he said, "and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that." | 0fake |
U.S. Congress certifies Trump's Electoral College victory | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Friday certified the Electoral College vote that gave Republican Donald Trump his victory in the contentious 2016 presidential election after a raucous half-hour joint session punctuated by Democratic challenges. The Republican businessman, whose presidential campaign was his first bid for public office, garnered 304 electoral votes, compared with 227 won by his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, according to the vote tally read by Vice President Joe Biden. The electoral votes were opened before a joint session of Congress in what is considered a formality for most presidential elections. Members of the House of Representatives objected to the electoral tally in states including Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Mississippi and the Carolinas in a symbolic move that exposed lingering dismay over a contentious election campaign. Some members complained about long lines at polling stations while others cited concerns over Russian attempts to influence the result in Trump’s favor. “I object because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our election,” said Representative Barbara Lee of California before being overruled. Biden denied the objections one by one, at times jocular and apparently determined to finish the tally. “It is over,” he said at one point, to laughter from Republicans. None of the representatives had the backing of a senator, which would have allowed them to suspend the joint session and allow the House and Senate to meet separately to debate the objections. Although Trump, who is set to take office on Jan. 20, won the Electoral College vote that determines the victor, Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots. The election has been shadowed by concerns about Russian hacking of Democratic groups and other forms of intervention during the campaign. Trump, who has repeatedly downplayed possible Russian interference, was due to receive a U.S. intelligence report on the situation later on Friday. He told The New York Times on Friday that the focus on the issue was a “political witch hunt.” The intelligence agencies did not conclude that Russian hacking changed any vote tallies. But House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said concerns about Russian interference cast a pall over the 2016 vote. “That’s why people have some level of dismay today on the vote ... about the Electoral College,” Pelosi said at a news conference. “How much is known about the foreign disruption of our election?” | 0fake |
TAKE THIS SHORT QUIZ: Which Radical Said It? We Guarantee The Answers Will Surprise You… | Here are six trivia questions to see how much history you really know. The answers are very revealing. If you don t know the answer, make your best guess. Answer all of the questions (no cheating) before looking at the answers.Hint: The answers to these questions aren t all Barack Obama.1) We re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. A. Karl MarxB. Adolph HitlerC. Joseph StalinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above2) It s time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few And to replace it with shared responsibility, for shared prosperity. A. LeninB. MussoliniC. Joseph StalinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above3) (We) can t just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people. A. Nikita KhrushevB. Joseph GoebbelsC. Boris YeltsinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above4) We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own in order to create this common ground. A. Mao Tse DungB. Hugo ChavezC. Kim Jong IID. Barack ObamaE. None of the above5) I certainly think the free-market has failed. A. Karl MarxB. LeninC. MolotovD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above6) I think it s time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched. A. PinochetB. MilosevicC. Saddam HusseinD. Barack ObamaE. None of the above(1) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004(2) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007(3) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(4) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(5) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(6) E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005 | 1real |
Iran’s Supreme Leader: ’Real War’ with West Is ’Culture War’ on TV, Internet | In a speech this month in the East Azerbaijan region of Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said that a war on Iran’s culture and economy is more dangerous to his Islamic regime than any military threat from the West. [“A European official said to our officials that a war in Iran would have been inevitable if it had not been for the ” Khamenei said, referring to the nuclear agreement brokered by the Obama administration and Western allies. “That official said that if the had not been signed, the war would have been definite. ” “This is a blatant lie!” Khamenei said in the speech. “Why do they speak about war? They do so because they want to switch our minds to a military war, but the real war is something else. ” “The real war is an economic war, the real war is the war of sanctions, the real war is the arenas of work, activity, and technology inside the country,” Khamenei said. “This is the real war!” “They draw our attention to a military war so that we ignore this war,” Khamenei said. “The real war is a cultural war. “There are so many television and internet networks which are busy diverting the hearts and minds of our youth away from religion, our sacred beliefs, morality, modesty and the like,” Khamenei said. “They are working in a serious manner and they are spending heavily on this,” Khamenei said. “The real war is this. ” The 2017 Academy Awards on Monday night put Iran and its culture in the spotlight, with the Iranian film The Salesman winning Best Foreign Language film. The Iranian film’s director, Asghar Farhadi, said last month that he would boycott the Oscars because of Trump’s immigration order on halting refugees coming to the United States from seven countries with links to Islamic terrorism, according to a January 29 New York Times article. “To humiliate one nation with the pretext of guarding the security of another is not a new phenomenon in history and has always laid the groundwork for the creation of future divide and enmity,” Farhadi said in a statement published by the Times. “I hereby express my condemnation of the unjust conditions forced upon some of my compatriots and the citizens of the other six countries trying to legally enter the United States of America and hope that the current situation will not give rise to further divide between nations. ” The Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, tweeted praise for the film’s award and Iranian culture after the win. “Proud of cast crew of ‘The Salesman’ for Oscar stance against #Muslim Ban. Iranians have represented culture civilization for millennia,” Zarif tweeted. The Guardian reported that a “protest vote” against Trump’s immigration policy might have helped the film win. Khamenei tweeted in August that the United States was responsible for creating and supporting ISIL, or Daesh, as part of what he claims is a culture war against “true Islam. ” “US aim of making backing DAESH is to sow discord in Islamic Ummah, defame true Islam promote Wahabi Islam which is far from true Islam,” Khamenei wrote. Khamenei, a Muslim cleric, has been the Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989 after serving as the third president from 1981 to 1989. He regularly calls the United States the Great Satan and promotes the destruction of Israel. | 0fake |
SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP! Senator Whack-Job Warren Gets Rebuked After Ignoring Senate Rules…Makes Desperate Last Ditch “Race Card” Play Against Jeff Sessions [VIDEO] | Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut down Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren during a Senate floor speech on Tuesday, accusing the Democrat of violating Senate rules by criticizing their colleague and attorney general nominee, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.Warren was warned early on in her remarks by Montana Sen. Steve Daines, the Republican overseeing the floor speeches, after she quoted Coretta Scott King, the late widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.Warren quoted King asserting that Sessions had exhibited so much hostility to the enforcement of voting rights laws for blacks.Daines struck his gavel and reprimanded Warren, who is one of a handful of Democrats who plan an all-night Senate floor session to oppose the Trump nominee. The senator is reminded that it is a violation of Rule 19 of the standing rules of the Senate to impute to another senator or senators any conduct or motive unworthy or becoming a senator, Daines said.Around 20 minutes later, McConnell interrupted Warren s speech to invoke Rule 19. The senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama as warned by the chair, said McConnell. Senator Warren, quote, said Senator Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote of black citizens. I call the senator to order under the provisions of Rule 19. Warren protested. Mr. President, I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate. I ask leave of the Senate to continue my remarks. McConnell objected to Warren s request and Daines ordered her to take her seat.Warren appealed the ruling and called for a quorum vote to delay the proceedings.Despite Democrats protest speeches, Sessions is expected to be approved as attorney general on Wednesday. Daily CallerIt s a sickening game Democrats play with the character of other people who don t agree with them and their radical views. They have no problem impugning the good name of Senator Jeff Sessions, who has an impeccable record of service to our nation, as long as he has been completely discredited by the time he takes office. | 1real |
Trump's Supreme Court nominee questions power of administrative agencies | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch is known for questioning how far courts should go in deferring to federal agencies on interpreting the law, a view that could be important for U.S. companies and, perhaps, for President Donald Trump. Nominated by Trump on Tuesday to fill a vacancy on the nation’s highest court, the 49-year-old Gorsuch is widely viewed as a sharp-eyed jurist and a crisp writer who has the potential to be a persuasive voice on the court. In a recent case, Gorsuch took a dim view of a landmark 1984 high court ruling, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Widely cited, the ruling directed judges nationwide to defer to agencies’ interpretation of laws that may be ambiguous. It is known as “Chevron deference.” Last August, in a case over immigration rules, Gorsuch called the doctrine the “elephant in the room” that concentrates federal power “in a way that seems more than a little difficult to square with the Constitution.” Showing his willingness to tackle the issue head on, he added, “Maybe the time has come to face the behemoth.” If Gorsuch can persuade other Supreme Court justices to question Chevron deference, companies arguing before the high court against federal regulations might have a better chance on issues ranging from the environment to immigration. At the same time, broader skepticism of deference to agencies could have long-term consequences for Trump. The new president is moving swiftly to reshape the federal bureaucracy, appointing agency heads who could upend the legacy of President Barack Obama on emissions, health care and internet policy. The court’s views on agencies’ agendas will be critical. “The idea that President Trump of all people would be the one to choose a justice who might push the court to reduce the executive power is pretty ironic,” said John Nagle, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School. If the Supreme Court were to overturn or limit the Chevron precedent, lower courts could become more active in deciding the ultimate meaning of a statute, making it less likely that an agency’s view would stand, Nagle said. “It could make it more difficult for the Trump administration to defend some of its regulatory actions in federal court,” said Case Western Reserve University School of Law professor Jonathan Adler. Republicans in Congress, particularly when Obama was in office, frequently complained about Chevron deference. They have even debated legislation that would override it. The House of Representatives passed such a bill on Jan. 11, although it is unlikely to win approval in the Senate. Gorsuch is not the first judge to take aim at the issue. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency over its regulations for limiting pollution from mercury and other toxic materials. At that time, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate opinion saying the government’s position “raises serious questions about the constitutionality of our broader practice of deferring to agency interpretations of federal statutes.” While Thomas has argued the doctrine threatens the Constitutionally-mandated separation of the different branches of government, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy have said it may threaten individual liberties, said Andrew Grossman, a conservative lawyer who has represented companies challenging government regulations. “Gorsuch may be the one to bring the court together on fundamental questions of administrative power that have sparked so much controversy and divisiveness in recent years,” Grossman said. Some court-watchers say that in practice the justices are inclined to support executive actions that are in keeping with their own views. But an analysis of their votes carried out by Jack Beermann, a professor at Boston University School of Law, showed that such an outcome is not uniform. | 0fake |
You Really Don’t Want To Miss This Drag Queen Interviewing Trump Minions (VIDEO) | When thinking about who would be the perfect person to send to a Donald Trump campaign rally to interview supporters, there really is no one better than Drag Queen Courtney Act, previously of Rupaul s Drag Race.She left the comforts of Provincetown, MA, and went over to Fairfield, CT, to talk to Trump minions.It was there that she met all sorts of interesting folks Islamophobes, racists, misogynists You know, pretty much everyone you think you d find at a Trump rally.Courtney talked to quite a few people, including a man with Trump that B*tch t-shirts, another man with a Made in China Trump hat, as well as a white supremacy group, but one woman really embodied everything Trump.This lady told Courtney: It doesn t matter what your religion is, but I do believe that the Muslim is not a religion. I believe it s more of a cult and if people got together and sacrificed a human baby or sacrificed a woman at the stake, I would say that people would probably say that s not a good religion. Like Satanic cults, for instance, they re not legal in our country and therefore I don t believe Sharia law should be legal either. Besides all the factual inaccuracies and crazy within all that, it doesn t quite seem to be understandable English either. And she calls herself American.One of the best parts of the video was when some protesters at the rally recognized Courtney from her time on Rupaul s Drag Race. It was probably a nice relief for her to run into sane people in that crowd of nincompoops.All in all, this video is pretty damn hilarious, yet it s still kinda scary knowing there are people in the U.S. who think this way. However, these people vote. Which is all the more reason to make sure we all get out this November and VOTE BLUE.Watch the video here:https://www.facebook.com/junkeedotcom/videos/971933766252421/Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
‘Duck Dynasty’ Legacy: Real, Fake and Upfront About It - The New York Times | Interesting juxtaposition of the week: The AE show “Duck Dynasty” announces that the current season will be its last, and Paul Horner, who creates fake news stories on the internet, tells The Washington Post: “My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. ” “Duck Dynasty,” the reality show about the Robertson family of Louisiana and its business, became a spectacular hit for AE after its debut in March 2012, then a spectacular headache in late 2013 when Phil Robertson, the patriarch, made remarks in a GQ interview that were widely seen as offensive to gay people. At that point the show was averaging nine million viewers a week, an amazing number for a reality series, but the controversy cost it cachet among some viewers, and ratings have fallen considerably since. Overexposure no doubt also played a role in the show’s decline. Members of the clan became celebrities and started turning up all over the place, and the producers churned out too many episodes too quickly. Even viewers who still loved the Robertsons and their homespun antics may have been tiring of the whole premise. During Wednesday night’s Season 11 premiere, the family announced that the series would end with the finale in April. Don’t bother making a joke about the Robertsons shelving the series so they could join Donald J. Trump’s administration — social media was flooded with them by Thursday morning. Sure, that could happen — there are certainly enough Robertsons to fill every cabinet post, and Willie Robertson, the show’s central figure, was a supporter of Mr. Trump — but this is more likely just an example of a TV show that has run out of gas. Not without leaving a legacy, however. The series helped solidify the idea that distinguishing between real and fake, truth and fabrication, isn’t really important. I spent a day with the Robertsons in West Monroe, La. in the summer of 2012, between the show’s first and second seasons. The series was still building momentum, but even at that early stage, the Robertsons readily acknowledged that their “reality show” wasn’t real at all. That’s hardly rare — most reality shows are staged or at least steered toward a preplanned result, of course. But the Robertsons were unusual in that they freely admitted it. “Guided reality” is the phrase they used. The episodes didn’t simply follow the Robertsons around in their daily lives the producers would often sketch out the parameters of a situation and have the family live it. What made the show work so well was that the Robertsons, fitting the Eastern elite’s image of hicks, were in fact savvy media manipulators, excellent improvisers and telegenic as heck. And they seemed to intuit that although many of the show’s episodes were obvious setups, no one would care. “Duck Dynasty” sensed that viewers would happily embrace the reality that they wanted, even if it was a manipulated or outright invented version of reality. And now, in 2016, we have seen this flexible definition of what’s real carry into the political arena. As Mr. Horner noted, fabricated news articles streamed into receptive minds through Facebook feeds and such were a worrisome phenomenon in the presidential election, and they continue to be. “The era,” it’s being called. (Earlier this week, “ ” was named Oxford Dictionaries’ 2016 international word of the year.) Politicians have only recently figured out how to exploit it. The Robertsons and other dynasties have been doing it for years. | 0fake |
null | No doubt putting on dresses and makeup too. | 1real |
Voters Can Fight Back Against Election Fraud | Voters Can Fight Back Against Election Fraud November 08, 2016 Voters Can Fight Back Against Election Fraud
Reports are already coming that there are attempts at voter fraud as Americans go to the polls on this Election Day.
Some examples: TRUNEWS reported on how fake IDs are being used to influence election results
As a voter, you have every right to assume that your vote is secure and counted fairly. Attempts to influence elections through voter fraud violate the rights of every informed citizen, and are a legitimate threat to the constitutional republic.
What can you do? Fight back!! If you see voter fraud of ANY KIND, report it at your local polling station, and also to your STATE election board.
Here is a list of phone numbers by state to report any suspected election fraud as you go to the polling booth:
Alabama | 1real |
Trump dictated misleading statement on son's meeting with Russian: Washington Post | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump dictated a statement, later shown to be misleading, in which his son Donald Trump Jr. said a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 was not related to his father’s presidential campaign, the Washington Post reported on Monday. Trump Jr. released emails earlier in July that showed he eagerly agreed last year to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow’s official support for his father. The New York Times was first to report the meeting. The Washington Post said Trump advisers discussed the new disclosure and agreed that Trump Jr. should issue a truthful account of the episode so that it “couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.” The president, who was flying home from Germany on July 8, changed the plan and “personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said he and the Russian lawyer had ‘primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children,’” the Post said, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the deliberations. It said the statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared to publish the story, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.” An attorney for Trump, Jay Sekulow, issued a statement in response to the Post report: “Apart from being of no consequence, the characterizations are misinformed, inaccurate, and not pertinent.” The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the Post story, nor did Trump Jr.’s attorney, Alan Futerfas. U.S. investigators are probing whether there was collusion between the Kremlin and Trump’s Republican presidential campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow sought to hurt Clinton and help Trump in the 2016 election. Russia denies any interference, and Trump has denied collusion with Russia.The president applauded his son’s “transparency” after he released the email exchanges on July 11. “It remains unclear exactly how much the president knew at the time of the flight about Trump Jr.’s meeting,” the Washington Post said. David Sklansky, a professor of criminal law at Stanford Law School, said that if Trump, as reported by the Post, helped craft a misleading public statement about the meeting, he may have bolstered a potential obstruction of justice case against himself. To build a criminal obstruction of justice case, federal law requires prosecutors to show that a person acted with “corrupt” intent. A misleading public statement could be used as evidence of corrupt intent, Sklansky said. “Lying usually isn’t a crime,” he said. But “it could be relevant in determining whether something else the president did, like firing (former FBI Director James) Comey, was done corruptly.” | 0fake |
WATCH: Matt Lauer Just CRUSHED Kellyanne Conway’s Bullsh*t Defense Of Flynn And Trump | Donald Trump s national security adviser Michael Flynn has resigned in disgrace, and Kellyanne Conway should do the same after this disastrous interview.While President Obama was still in office, Flynn contacted the Russian ambassador to talk about lifting the sanctions placed upon them in retaliation for interfering with our election process.This is a violation of the Logan Act, which bars citizens from negotiating with foreign powers.Trump was not in office yet, so Flynn was not yet in his official position either, which means he broke the law.Flynn also lied to Mike Pence about the contact and Acting Attorney General Sally Yates had warned Trump of Flynn s actions last month and warned him that Flynn could be blackmailed by the Russians.Trump would later fire Yates, but kept Flynn on staff despite the illegal actions and threat of blackmail.Then on Monday night, Flynn resigned. But Kellyanne Conway insists that Flynn had Trump s full confidence up until the very end when he all of a sudden changed his mind. I think misleading the vice president really was the key here, Conway told Matt Lauer on the TODAY Show on Tuesday morning. I spoke with the president this morning, and he asked me to speak on his behalf, and to reiterate that Mike Flynn had resigned. He decided that this situation had become unsustainable for him. But that was not good enough for Lauer, who proceeded to call Conway out. You re saying that was the straw that broke the camel s back, but the White House knew about that last month when the Justice Department warned the White House that General Flynn had not been completely honest in characterizing that conversation with the Russian ambassador. Lauer went on to remind Conway that the Justice Department further warned Trump that Flynn was a blackmail risk.Conway responded by repeating her previous statement and even admitted that Flynn was still present at meetings. Lauer was not amused. Kellyanne, that makes no sense! Last month, the Justice Department warned the White House that General Flynn had mislead them! And that as a result he was vulnerable to blackmail. And at that moment he still had the complete trust of the president? Conway then insisted that the media move on and stop reporting on the scandal.Here s the video via Twitter. That makes no sense. @MLauer to @KellyannePolls while discussing Trump s former national security adviser Michael Flynn pic.twitter.com/94SaFlQJxo TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 14, 2017This is a major scandal because it exposes the fact that Trump is incapable of controlling his own staff and that he will continue to trust his friends even if they are dirty. Trump s national security adviser was a threat to national security and Trump didn t do anything about it. Trump should have to answer for that and if he doesn t like it he should resign.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
WHY DEMOCRATS Can Thank HARRY REID For Replacing Justice Scalia With Neil Gorsuch [VIDEO] | In 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used the nuclear option to call for a vote to change the rules of the Senate with a simple majority. His call won 52-48, with only three Democrats voting in opposition to the rule change that eliminated the ability to filibuster any presidential nominees except the United States Supreme Court. This is the way it has to be, Reid said. Former President Barack Obama supported Reid s rule change, citing that Republicans used the filibuster more often than the historical average in order to prevent confirmation of his nominees.Watch Democrats explain why they need the nuclear option is necessary: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed revenge and hoped to recoup a majority in the Senate in the upcoming 2014 elections, which they successfully did. Reid s decision proved to bear short term benefits for Democrats; it set the precedent for McConnell to apply the same option to push through President Donald Trump s nominee to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. The ObserverThanks to all of you who encouraged me to consider filibuster reform. It had to be done. Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) November 21, 2013McConnell recently promised not to kill the filibuster for legislation, though Politico reported he argued that using the nuclear option to confirm Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch later this week merely restores what had been the custom in the Senate before a war over judicial nominations flared up during the George W. Bush administration. The nuclear option was averted in 2005 over several of Bush s court picks, but Reid s use of it in 2013 allowed several of Trump s nominees to barely get confirmation in the Senate with a simple majority. Now, Republicans used the power to change the rules again to apply this simple majority rule to the Supreme Court nomination. | 1real |
Trump MELTS DOWN On Vacation, Tries To Pretend He’s Actually Working (TWEETS) | While it seems like Donald Trump hasn t worked a single full day since he stepped foot in the White House, the former reality television star apparently feels differently.Currently, Trump is busy enjoying his 17-day vacation, despite the fact that he s already spent approximately 20% of his presidency on the golf course, and much more time glued to cable news and his Twitter account. If there s any POTUS that doesn t deserve to take time off, it s certainly #45.Trump has gotten a lot of backlash over taking time off, especially considering how much Trump criticized former president Barack Obama for taking a little bit of time off. It s quite hilarious, because Obama worked his a** off for America. Trump hasn t done a damn thing besides create chaos and humiliate the country, and he s already taken three times as much time off than Obama! Here s a quick refresher of how Trump has trashed Obama over the years: Now that Trump is being outed for being the laziest POTUS we ve ever had, it s no wonder he threw an absolute FIT today in response to the criticism. This evening, Trump took a break from his golf outing at New Jersey s Bedminster Golf Resort to whine about how he s working hard and NOT on vacation, despite the fact that this is totally a vacation.Seriously pathetic. Trump even left work early to begin his golfing holiday today. The hypocrisy that follows everything Trump does is just mind-blowing. He truly lives in his own world, far removed from reality and any sort of logical thought.Trump does not deserve to be taking a holiday right now. He is ignoring America s pressing issues and the American people while creating disturbance everywhere he goes. Deep down, he knows he doesn t deserve it or else he wouldn t be so damn defensive.Featured image via Ian MacNicol / Getty Images | 1real |
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