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11,000 | 40 Years Ago Ronald Reagan Warned Us About Obama In This Speech [Video] | I d like to suggest that there is no such thing as the left or right. There s only an up or down. | 0 |
11,001 | “TRAITOR IN CHIEF” WARNS CONGRESS…Shut Down Prison With Muslim Terrorists Or I’ll Stop Funding Military [VIDEO] | Name one time this reckless Commander in Chief has put our men and women in uniform before the war on terror Just one.On Monday, the Obama administration announced that President Obama would veto a defense authorization bill if it did not close down Guantanamo Bay. White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained that the House funding bill would be vetoed principally because of the irresponsible way that it funds our national defense priorities, but also because of the efforts to prevent the closure [of] the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He added that Democrats would sustain Obama s veto, and defense authorization would die.Obama s strong stand on Gitmo underscores two vital points. First, President Obama does not fear defunding America s national security. Second, Obama does not fear Republicans in Congress.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has been authorized for five decades running. The current NDAA fully funds the military through a workaround measure, thanks to President Obama s demands that a huge chunk of sequestration cuts come from defense funding. Now Democrats complain that the workaround measure isn t good enough: Republicans should bust open the bank again.But that s not Obama s main criticism of the NDAA. He has long had a bug in his ear with regard to Gitmo, which he feels has strengthened terrorists feelings about the evils of the United States. Given his recent moves to parlay with the Cuban dictatorship as well, Obama may want to hand Gitmo in totality back to the Cuban government. The fact that Obama would be willing to dramatically cut America s military funding, even as Russia takes over Ukraine and Syria, as Iran gears up for a big regional military push, as China continues its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, demonstrates Obama s top priority is doing leftist work, not protecting the United States.In fact, Obama s choice to prioritize Gitmo above national security isn t a choice at all: Obama wants America s military slashed, and he wants Gitmo closed. Senator Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) agrees with Obama that Gitmo should be closed, but even he says that Obama has manipulated the process to create an impasse. According to Roll Call, McCain has said the White House promised him a plan to close the prison, but has yet to present one. Without that, he has said he wouldn t be able to find the votes to do what the White House wants. Now, normally, Obama s nasty priorities would pose little threat to military funding: after all, Obama would be stymied by Republicans in Congress. And Obama has threatened to veto the NDAA before over Guantanamo; each time, Congress has called Obama s bluff, and he has signed the bill into law.But this time, the feeling is that Obama could be more serious. After all, with the legacy of Republicans folding on executive amnesty, the Iran deal, and funding for Planned Parenthood, among others, Obama probably feels he can leverage Gitmo out of existence. He believes that Republicans fear defense defunding more than he must their constituents will hold them accountable, while he s in pure f*** it list mode. He also thinks that Republicans are unwilling to undergo a head-to-head matchup with him under almost any circumstances.And Obama is right. In his entire tenure as Commander-in-Chief, Obama has had to issue a grand total of four vetoes. Four. That s less than every president since Chester A. Arthur, who filled out James Garfield s term, serving less than four years. Obama has had a fully Republican Congress this year, and a Republican House since 2010. He has issued just two vetoes this year, one with regard to Keystone XL Pipeline, and the other with regard to a bill related to the National Labor Relations Board. All of his other major policy priorities have been guarded zealously by a Democratic minority or an unwilling Republican majority.So why wouldn t Obama try to hold Republicans feet to the fire on defense authorization?Obama s mastery of Congress is unprecedented in American history; the only other candidates for that title either held Congressional dominance within their own party (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) or ruled a Congressional rump (Abraham Lincoln). Shutting down America s defense funding would be a crowning achievement for a president who cares more about weakening America s role in the world than defending her citizens.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
11,002 | HOUSE TAKES Measures To Impeach IRS Chief After Stubborn Refusal To Cooperate…Who Do These People Think They Are? The IRS? | Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the House will vote on whether to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen, and he indicated members won t be pressured to vote one way or the other.The entire House Republican conference is to meet behind closed doors next week to discuss the issue, but conservatives led by Representative John Fleming of Louisiana say the process of introducing a privileged resolution to force the vote will begin before that.Ryan, who has previously hedged on whether the House should take such action, said on Wednesday that he won t stop it. The House hasn t impeached a cabinet official since the mid-1870s and has never impeached an executive branch official, such as Koskinen, who doesn t hold cabinet rank. Any House action would be largely symbolic, because the effort is expected to be blocked in the Senate if it passes the House. Read more: Newsmax.com The IRS is refusing to recant the targeting criteria it used to single out tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny, according to court filings made public Wednesday that show the tax agency still struggling with the fallout from the scandal.At least three tea party groups are still awaiting approval from the IRS more than three years after agents publicly admitted they d asked inappropriate questions and put the groups through unreasonable delays in obtaining tax-exempt status. Last month the IRS told both Congress and a federal judge that it would start processing the outstanding applications but the agency has refused to say how or when, leaving the groups themselves struggling to make sense of things. Making matters ever more difficult, the IRS specifically refused in court papers to reject further use of the criteria it used to single out tea party and conservative groups in the first place. Despite all the representations made by the IRS about having changed its ways, it still asserts that the viewpoint-based Targeting Criteria are relevant for making a determination of tax-exempt status, Edward Greim, the lawyer representing tea party groups in a class-action lawsuit, told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.Read more: WT | 0 |
11,003 | New Delhi declares emergency as toxic smog thickens by the hour | NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian capital declared a pollution emergency and banned the entry of trucks and construction activity as a toxic smog hung over the city for a third day on Thursday and air quality worsened by the hour. Illegal crop burning in the farm states surrounding New Delhi, vehicle exhaust emissions in a city with limited public transport and swirling construction dust have caused the crisis, which arises every year. The problem has been compounded this year by still conditions, the weather office said. A U.S. embassy measure of tiny particulate matter PM 2.5 showed a reading of 608 at 10 a.m. when the safe limit is 50. An hour before it was 591. PM 2.5 is particulate matter about 30 times finer than a human hair. The particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs, causing heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and respiratory diseases. Residents complained of headaches, coughs and smarting eyes. Many stayed home and restaurants in some of the city s most crowded parts were deserted. I d like to assure people that the central government shall do everything possible to bring about improvement in air quality in Delhi and the Nation Capital Region, federal environment minister Harsh Vardhan said as authorities faced criticism for failing to take steps to fight a problem that erupts every year. The haze covered India Gate, a war memorial in the center of the city where Britain s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were due to pay respects in a two-day trip ending on Thursday. Schools have been shut for the week and late on Wednesday the city administration announced a set of measures to try to clean up the air. Commercial trucks have been banned from the city unless they are transporting essential commodities, all construction has been stopped and car parking charges raised four times to force residents to use public transport. The Delhi transport department said it would take a decision later in the day on whether to introduce an odd-even scheme under which cars with license plates ending in an odd number are allowed one day and even-numbered cars the next. But experts said these measures were unlikely to bring immediate relief. There is such a cloud over us that you probably need artificial rain or some such to clear this, said Dr Vivek Nangia, a pulmonologist at Delhi s Fortis hospital. Video images shot by ANI, a Reuters affiliate, showed farmers illegally burning crop stubble in Rohtak, about 65 km from Delhi. Farmers in Haryana, where Rohtak is located, and Punjab, the two big agrarian states surrounding Delhi, burn millions of tonnes of crop waste around October every year before sowing the winter crop of wheat. State authorities say it is hard to enforce the ban unless farmers, a powerful political constituency, are given funds to buy machinery to clear their land. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said in a Twitter post: Situation is serious but Punjab helpless as problem is widespread & state has no money to compensate farmers for stubble management. | 1 |
11,004 | Chicago Hot Dog Stand Literally Lets You Bite Into Trump’s Tiny Wiener (TWEET) | Donald Trump infamously went further into the gutter than usual at a recent debate, where he talked about his hand size, which we all know was just code for the size of his d*ck. Well, one Chicago hot dog stand has taken this horrible comment and run with it and now their customers can literally take a bite out of Trump s little wiener.Dubbed the Trump Footlong, the hot dog from the Wiener s Circle hot dog stand is pushing something that is definitely false advertising, because the hot dog is anything but a footlong. In fact, it s only 3 inches. They tweeted out their new product, and it will likely drive up sales just because people are so eager to humiliate Trump regarding his grossly unpresidential remarks regarding his own genitals:The trump footlong! At te wiener's circle starting tomorrow! Just look at those long, resplendent fingers! pic.twitter.com/kYezqMT5De The Wiener's Circle (@DOGSnSHAKES) March 10, 2016Of course, most people would still be hungry after just one 3-inch hot dog, so most folks will likely opt for the Trump Super PAC, which is four of these little buggers for just $12.56. Definitely a deal, if you ve ever eaten off of a food truck or stand of any kind in a city the size of Chicago. Besides, your hard-earned money would be going to infuriate and humiliate the biggest buffoon in American politics. Definitely well worth it.Just wait until Trump gets a load of this one. I bet that s the last time he alludes to the size of his d*ck on camera during a presidential debate or anywhere else.Featured image via screen capture from AI archives | 0 |
11,005 | URS Federal Services wins $3.6 billion U.S. defense contract: Pentagon | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - URS Federal Services Inc has been awarded an estimated $3.6 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity U.S. defense contract for remotely piloted aircraft services, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Leidos, AASKI Technologies Inc and Textron unit AAI Corp will share in a $900 million firm-fixed-price contract for technical services and field support in support of Product Office Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems, the Pentagon said in a statement. Hologic Inc has been awarded a maximum $721 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for radiology systems, accessories and training, the statement said. | 1 |
11,006 | WILLIAM SHATNER Blasts ‘Social Justice Warriors’ Who Criticize Trump | William Shatner is such a smarty pants on twitter. He gets his snarky point across with few words.Shatner has been the subject of left-wing anger since he announced in May that he would not follow the lead of many in Hollywood and attack President Donald Trump.Shatner, a Canadian, said, I consider myself a guest here, when asked to comment on former Star Trek cast member George Takei s constant criticisms of the President.On Twitter Wednesday morning, the Captain Kirk actor was asked his plans for the day. He responded by saying, Tweet Hello. Have SJWs get offended by figuring some obtuse way to define it. Spend my day telling them off. You know, just a typical day. A Twitter user joked that the term social justice warrior was offensive, to which Shatner responded, when are SJW s social? When they are sleeping? Fellow actor Adam Baldwin asked Shatner if social justice warriors ever explain the difference between their social justice and Justice? Shatner repled:The tweets go on with one person on the left saying that progressives gave shatter his career back Shatner simply replied, How so? LOL!Read more: Daily Caller | 0 |
11,007 | Warren Buffett Knows Exactly Why Trump’s Campaign Is Broke | Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world and someone who actually does know a lot about money, has known this whole time what drove Trump s campaign finances into the ground. He didn t say as much, because at the time Buffett revealed this, it was 1991 and he was talking about Trump s bankrupt Taj Mahal. What he said then can apply now, though, and the state of Trump s campaign finances backs it up.Back when Trump filed for bankruptcy on the Taj Mahal, Buffett was giving speeches to undergrad students at Notre Dame when someone asked him where Trump went wrong. Buffett said: He simply got infatuated with how much money he could borrow, and he did not give enough thought to how much money he could pay back. That s so Trump, especially when faced with the possibility that he can t do what he wants because of consequences. So is this: The big problem with Donald Trump was he never went right. He basically overpaid for properties, but he got people to lend him the money. He was terrific at borrowing money. If you look at his assets, and what he paid for them, and what he borrowed to get them, there was never any real equity there. No, he never did go right. Trump has six bankruptcies total in his history, which is a lot, even over 25 years. He owes at least $100 million to Deutsche Bank. One has to wonder whether he got over his infatuation with borrowing, or whether he learned anything from his bankruptcies. He certainly hasn t learned to think about the consequences of anything he does.His campaign is more than $40 million in the hole with just over $1 million in the bank, and he just sent out his first desperate email begging his constituents for money. He ll need those donations to keep his campaign running, not pay off debt. Perhaps he thinks the debt will walk quietly away?This is significant because, if he s as in love with debt as he is with himself, he very well could make our national debt skyrocket despite his more than impossible promise to have it paid off within eight years. He s far more likely to actually bankrupt the U.S. than any other candidate if he s mired in this notion that he can borrow money indiscriminately.Buffett and Trump are polar opposites in the way they do business, and even in the way they see government. For instance, Trump has bragged about the low tax rate he pays, as if that s something to be proud of when the government is talking about cutting needed services because there isn t enough money. Buffett, on the other hand, has called for higher taxes on the wealthy repeatedly.That makes Buffett the smart one of these two, but then, we already knew that.Trump keeps saying he can change his tune anytime he wants, but the few paltry efforts he s made have failed spectacularly within just a few days. It s a good bet that he ll remain addicted to borrowing money, even as president. He has his eye on the prize, and the prize is a destroyed U.S., and a fat wallet for himself.Featured image by Paul Morigi/Getty Images | 0 |
11,008 | Trump greets Japanese emperor with a handshake and nod - but no bow | TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump greeted Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Monday with a genteel handshake and nod, but no bow, avoiding the pitfall of U.S. President Barack Obama who was criticized at home for his deep bow to the monarch. Trump, wearing a suit and tie and his wife, Melania, in a long, dark blue dress, were met at the palace entrance by the royal couple, who were both wearing suits. Trump smiled, shook hands and nodded at the 83-year-old emperor before greeting Michiko as well. The four entered the palace where they chatted through interpreters in footage aired live on television, but without sound as is customary. After the meeting, Trump shook hands again, and tapped the emperor s arm repeatedly with his left hand. Thank you for the great meeting , he told Akihito. I m sure we will meet again . Obama came under fire after meeting the emperor in Tokyo in 2009 for what his critics back home said was bowing too low to Akihito. Some U.S. commentators said the U.S. president should not lower his head before foreign monarchs. Akihito has spent much of his reign working to heal the wounds of World War II, which was waged across Asia in his father s name, Emperor Hirohito. Obama also faced criticism from a different quarter - etiquette experts - who noted he combined a bow with an handshake, which is not done in Japan traditionally, whether meeting the emperor or anyone else. Japanese guests are not supposed to touch the royal couple or shake hands, but foreign guests often do. Hillary Clinton shook hands and air-kissed the empress on both cheeks, then took her hand as they entered the palace when she met the royal pair as secretary of state in 2011, a month or so after the triple disasters of an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown hit northeastern Japan in March of that year. Traditionalists say that Japan s Chrysanthemum throne dates back more than 2,000 years. Akihito was the first royal heir in the Japanese imperial family to marry a commoner a symbol of Japan s new modernity and confidence. Japan earlier this year enacted a law clearing the way for Akihito, to step down, clearing the way for the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in nearly two centuries and the accession of his son, Crown Prince Naruhito in late 2018 early 2019. Akihito s father, Emperor Hirohito, was considered divine until after Japan s defeat in World War Two. The current emperor is defined by the constitution as a symbol of the people, and has no political authority although he is widely respected. | 1 |
11,009 | how to survive a nuclear fallout | keywords medical equipment stethoscope facts stethoscopes history
when we hear the word doctor the first image comes in our mind is a person in a white coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck the stethoscope has become a very common name amongst people thanks to its display in various tv shows movies and frequent use of it by doctors but still there are many fun facts which other people might not know about stethoscope so here they are
years old history yes stethoscopes are one of the oldest inventions which are still being used across the world by millions of doctors rene laennec in had invented the stethoscope it was a wooden instrument and looked quite different from what we see it as now
i see your chest stethoscope is a greek word which roughly translates into i see the chest stethos means chest and scope mean examination
an interesting story behind its invention when stethoscope was not invented doctors would put their ears around the chest of patients and gently tap the chest with fingers this technique would make female patients little uncomfortable rene laennec was a very shy person once he was examining an overweight woman he found it difficult to hear her hear sounds to hear heartbeats of that lady he rolled a quire paper into a tube and placed it on her chest this inspired him to make the device which we all are familiar with and called stethoscope
google doodle for rene laennec on february th rene laennec would have celebrated his th birthday to commemorate this day google doodle marked his th birthday
used to identify if a person is dead or not
nowadays stethoscope is used to hear heart sounds and to determine symbols of other diseases but initially stethoscope was designed to find out if the person in the hospital is dead or alive
it might be replaced very soon
as mentioned stethoscopes were invented almost years ago and being in use for such a long time shows that how useful and efficient stethoscopes are however as the technology is getting advanced every passing day stethoscopes might be replaced very soon by pocketsized ultrasonic devices which can perform multiple measurements on patients
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11,010 | Scarborough Shreds Last Bit Of Credibility By Floating This Insane Obama Conspiracy Theory (VIDEO) | In the last several months, Joe Scarborough a one-time Republican politician and now host of MSNBC s Morning Joe has gone so deep into Trumpmania and anti-Obama hysteria that it s hard to imagine his reputation ever recovering. On a recent Morning Joe broadcast, viewers got to watch as he torched the last bit of his integrity to take yet another cheap shot at President Obama at the expense of both common sense and objective reality.In the episode, Scarborough poured over Obama s recent interview with Fox News and concluded that the president was giving investigators probing Hillary Clinton s email servers coded, hidden messages through the airwaves. Tin foil hat firmly in place, Scarborough accused Obama of tampering with the investigation.Obama said he wasn t going to talk to the attorney general about the pending investigation, but he just did, he lamented. Talk about a rigged process. Scarborough s frequent guest and occasional yes man Bloomberg editor Mark Halperin agreed. It seemed ill-advised to say, OK, I ve got no connection to this, but here s what I know about it and here s my conclusion, Halperin said on MSNBC. He should just say, I shouldn t talk about it, Halperin added. There s a pending investigation and I should keep myself away from it in every way and leave this to the independence of the Justice Department. I don t know why he went on at such length defending her, because, in theory, he shouldn t really know the facts of the case. Both men seem to have very little understanding of the investigation or the context in which Obama stated his opinions. Scarborough in particular seems to have gotten his information from right-wing memes he read online. At one point, he claimed over 100 agents were working on investigating Clinton s wrongdoing a figure based on a long-debunked right-wing lie started by a Republican politician (for obvious reasons).Equally bogus is the idea that Obama could influence the investigation by stating his personal opinion in a Fox News interview. Given the fact that the president has repeatedly stood by his former Secretary of State, the premise that FBI agents would be oblivious to which way Obama leaned is laughable. He, like most of the country, finds the email scandal a waste of time, resources, and money (a lot of money). It s not exactly exposing nuclear launch codes if he tells reporters that Clinton s emails were mostly harmless that s public record.Not that Scarborough would ever admit it, but even Republican presidents tend to side with their political allies and employees. George W. Bush, he might recall, was a fierce defender of Vice President Cheney s chief of staff Scooter Libby even after he was found guilty of lying about his boss s leak of an undercover CIA operative. Bush would later go as far as to commute Libby s sentence just before he left office.Unlike the tangible damage, Cheney s office did to national security, Clinton s email controversy is vague to the point of meaninglessness. The public has had a hard time getting itself worked up over the scandal because as far as anybody can tell, nothing truly damaging happened. As both Obama and Clinton have acknowledged, using a private email was careless but it wasn t exactly harmful.And thus Scarborough once again has embarrassed himself with a wild haymaker that failed to land.Featured image via MSNBC | 0 |
11,011 | BREAKING VIDEO: DHS WHISTLEBLOWER TESTIFIES OF HARASSMENT AND LOSS OF GUN RIGHTS | Wow! This is big and has to do with telling the truth about the EB-5 visa program:A Department of Homeland Security watchdog report issued Tuesday blasted the agency s No. 2 official for repeatedly intervening on behalf of well-connected participants in an investor-visa program, including Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.) and Tony Rodham, a brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.The inspector general report faults Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for creating an appearance of favoritism and special access as a result of highly unusual steps he took while serving as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversaw the investment-based program known as EB-5.WHISTLEBLOWER HARASSED AND ABUSED:They took her right to carry a weapon away and harassed her. This woman is very brave to testify! Hopefully, they will keep on digging into this and find out everything they need to. Great job Taylor! Taylor Johnson, a senior special agent in the Homeland Security Investigations division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified at a Senate hearing alongside whistleblowers from several other agencies who claim to have faced similar harassment.Johnson told lawmakers she ran into resistance after investigating the so-called EB-5 program, which offers visas to investors. She said she looked into the program over concerns about security risks, questioning whether visas were being approved with little scrutiny.But Johnson said her managers began to hear complaints about her queries. Soon, she was removed from the investigation, and the case was closed.From there, it got worse.Johnson told the Senate Homeland Security Committee her weapon and credentials were taken, her government vehicle was confiscated, and her access to the building where she worked and government databases was revoked.Further, she said, I was told I couldn t even carry or own a personal weapon, which is a constitutional rights violation. Read more: FOX News | 0 |
11,012 | REALLY FAKE NEWS: New York Times Finally Retracts Its ’17 Intelligence Agencies’ Claim on Russia Hacking US Elections | 21st Century Wire says Back during the 2016 election, 21WIRE declared with confidence how the US government and mainstream media s Russian Hacking meme as hoax. It turns out we were right. More than mere canards however, these type of media disinformation talking points are how the establishment manufactures public consent for corrupt and dysfunctional policies. Once these fabricated talking points are circulated through the media, they later make their way into the mouths of politicians who repeat them incessantly, and in the case of the Senate and Congressional committee hearings on Russia and cabinet confirmation hearing use the fake canards to bully people who are testifying on Capitol Hill. The fake 17 intelligence agency claim was used by nearly everyone who used the hearings to grandstand and act tough on Russia, including pro-war Senators John McCain, Marco Rubio, Adam Schiff and countless others. It was also employed by Hillary Clinton, along with ever single panel expert on CNN and MSNBC who used the lie to prop-up their contrived and politicized narratives about how Russia hacked and influenced the 2016 election.What s more crucial though, is to realize the absolute key role to New York Times plays in this process of giving fake news the venire of officialdom at a government and mainstream level. They are a pivotal distribution point in the western propaganda dissemination machine as nearly every US broadcast network across 4 time zones will routinely reference the New York Times as their primary source. 21WIRE has chronicled their exploits in helping to promote a series of illegal US-waged wars around the world.Consortium News Exclusive: A founding Russia-gate myth is that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies agreed that Russia hacked into and distributed Democratic emails, a falsehood that The New York Times has belatedly retracted, reports Robert Parry Robert Parry Consortium NewsThe New York Times has finally admitted that one of the favorite Russia-gate canards that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies concurred on the assessment of Russian hacking of Democratic emails is false.On Thursday, the Times appended a correction to a June 25 article that had repeated the false claim, which has been used by Democrats and the mainstream media for months to brush aside any doubts about the foundation of the Russia-gate scandal and portray President Trump as delusional for doubting what all 17 intelligence agencies supposedly knew to be true.In the Times White House Memo of June 25, correspondent Maggie Haberman mocked Trump for still refus[ing] to acknowledge a basic fact agreed upon by 17 American intelligence agencies that he now oversees: Russia orchestrated the attacks, and did it to help get him elected. However, on Thursday, the Times while leaving most of Haberman s ridicule of Trump in place noted in a correction that the relevant intelligence assessment was made by four intelligence agencies the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency. The assessment was not approved by all 17 organizations in the American intelligence community. The Times grudging correction was vindication for some Russia-gate skeptics who had questioned the claim of a full-scale intelligence assessment, which would usually take the form of a National Intelligence Estimate (or NIE), a product that seeks out the views of the entire Intelligence Community and includes dissents.The reality of a more narrowly based Russia-gate assessment was admitted in May by President Obama s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Obama s CIA Director John Brennan in sworn congressional testimony.Clapper testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on May 8 that the Russia-hacking claim came from a special intelligence community assessment (or ICA) produced by selected analysts from the CIA, NSA and FBI, a coordinated product from three agencies CIA, NSA, and the FBI not all 17 components of the intelligence community, the former DNI said.Clapper further acknowledged that the analysts who produced the Jan. 6 assessment on alleged Russian hacking were hand-picked from the CIA, FBI and NSA.Yet, as any intelligence expert will tell you, if you hand-pick the analysts, you are really hand-picking the conclusion. For instance, if the analysts were known to be hard-liners on Russia or supporters of Hillary Clinton, they could be expected to deliver the one-sided reportthat they did.Politicized IntelligenceIn the history of U.S. intelligence, we have seen how this selective approach has worked, such as the phony determination of the Reagan administration pinning the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II and other acts of terror on the Soviet Union.CIA Director William Casey and Deputy Director Robert Gates shepherded the desired findings through the process by putting the assessment under the control of pliable analysts and sidelining those who objected to this politicization of intelligence.The point of enlisting the broader intelligence community and incorporating dissents into a final report is to guard against such stove-piping of intelligence that delivers the politically desired result but ultimately distorts reality.Another painful example of politicized intelligence was President George W. Bush s 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq s WMD that removed State Department and other dissents from the declassified version that was given to the public.Since Clapper s and Brennan s testimony in May, the Times and other mainstream news outlets have avoided a direct contradiction of their earlier acceptance of the 17-intelligence-agencies canard by simply referring to a judgment by the intelligence community. That finessing of their earlier errors has allowed Hillary Clinton and other senior Democrats to continue referencing this fictional consensus without challenge, at least in the mainstream media.For instance, on May 31 at a technology conference in California, Clinton referred to the Jan. 6 report, asserting that Seventeen agencies, all in agreement, which I know from my experience as a Senator and Secretary of State, is hard to get. They concluded with high confidence that the Russians ran an extensive information war campaign against my campaign, to influence voters in the election. The failure of the major news organizations to clarify this point about the 17 agencies may have contributed to Haberman s mistake on June 25 as she simply repeated the groupthink that nearly all the Important People in Washington just knew to be true.But the Times belated correction also underscores the growing sense that the U.S. mainstream media has joined in a political vendetta against Trump and has cast aside professional standards to the point of repeating false claims designed to denigrate him.That, in turn, plays into Trump s Twitter complaints that he and his administration are the targets of a witch hunt led by the fake news media, a grievance that appears to be energizing his supporters and could discredit whatever ongoing investigations eventually conclude.Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).READ MORE RUSSIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire RUSSIA FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
11,013 | U.S. consumer watchdog agency official sues to block Trump's pick | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official filed suit late on Sunday trying to prevent President Donald Trump from naming an acting head of the watchdog agency, but its top lawyer concluded Trump had the power to do so. The moves were the latest dramatic developments in the fight over leadership succession of an agency created in 2011 under Democratic former President Barack Obama to protect consumers from predatory lending practices. Republicans in the White House and Congress have tried to weaken the agency. The leadership of the agency was plunged into confusion on Friday after its outgoing Obama-era director Richard Cordray formally resigned and elevated his former chief of staff, Leandra English, to replace him on an interim basis until the Senate confirms a permanent successor named by Trump. Hours later, the Republican president named Mulvaney — his budget chief and a harsh critic of the agency — as its acting director. CFPB General Counsel Mary McLeod wrote a memo, first reported by Reuters, concurring with the opinion of the U.S. Justice Department that Trump had the power to appoint Mulvaney to the post. “I advise all Bureau personnel to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB,” McLeod’s memo stated. Late on Sunday, English sued in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeking a temporary restraining order blocking Trump from appointing Mulvaney. In the filing, English said Mulvaney had no experience in a consumer protection or financial regulatory role, had sought to get rid of the agency and once described it as a “sad, sick joke.” McLeod’s intervention bolstered Trump’s position and isolated English, 34, who has held multiple jobs at the CFPB since its creation. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Trump administration is aware of English’s lawsuit, but said “the law is clear” and that Mulvaney is the acting director. Sanders pointed to McLeod’s conclusion, adding that “there should be no question” that Mulvaney can take the job. “It is unfortunate that Mr. Cordray decided to put his political ambition above the interests of consumers with this stunt. Director Mulvaney will bring a more serious and professional approach to running the CFPB,” Sanders said. Both sides in the battle say they have the law on their side. Democrats have said the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that created the agency stipulated that its deputy director would take over on an interim basis when a director departs until the Senate confirms a permanent director. Cordray named English as deputy director and said she would become the acting director. “It’s a very important fact ... their own general counsel came out with a different conclusion,” said Alan Kaplinsky, head of the Consumer Financial Services Group for law firm Ballard Spahr LLP said. “Now that the thing is in court, I think it is really going to be in the hands of the judge.” Trump administration officials said the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act gives a president the power to temporarily fill agency positions, except for those with multi-member boards, an exemption they said did not apply to the CFPB. “The president’s attempt to install a White House official at the head of independent agency — while allowing that official to simultaneously serve in the White House — is unprecedented,” said English’s lawyer, Deepak Gupta of the law firm Gupta Wessler, adding that “the law is clear” and that English is the acting director. Created after the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has issued rules and imposed steep penalties on banks, auto dealers, student lenders and credit card companies. [L8N1NW0MW] Future enforcement activities could be stymied while the question of who runs the CFPB is decided. Republican lawmakers argue that the agency wields too much unchecked power, adding that it burdens banks and credit card companies with unnecessary red tape. Writing on Twitter, Trump on Saturday called the agency a “total disaster” that had “devastated” financial institutions. | 1 |
11,014 | Netanyahu Whines About U.N. Resolution, Refuses To Abide By Terms Like A True Tyrant | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threw a temper tantrum like a petulant child because the United Nations finally passed a resolution condemning Israel s illegal settlements.For decades, Israel has been seizing more and more territory for themselves from the Palestinian people as nations around the world, including the United States oppose what they are doing. All the while, Israel has been fragrantly ignoring what the rest of the world thinks even as America continues to give Israel billions of taxpayer dollars to combine with their own military budget, a military they have repeatedly used to commit genocide against Palestinians.The best solution for peace is a two-state solution, but Israel rejects the idea because they want the land for themselves.And that forced President Obama and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power to abstain from a U.N. vote on a resolution condemning the Israeli settlements. Applause within the United Nations broke out upon passage, proving that the world is tired of the conflict in the Middle East and wants to end it even if it means Israel does not get everything it wants.But Netanyahu threw a hissy fit in a statement on Friday whining about the resolution and accusing President Obama of abandoning Israel. Israel categorically rejects the despicable anti-Israeli resolution at the UN, and will not adhere to it, the Prime Minister s Office said in a seething statement after the council voted in favor of the motion 14-0. While the Security Council does nothing to prevent the massacre of half a million people in Syria, it is shamefully singling out Israel the only democracy in the Middle East. The Obama administration not only failed to defend Israel from this harassment at the UN, it cooperated with it behind the scenes. Israel is looking forward to working with President-elect Trump and with out friends in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, to undo the damage of this absurd resolution. In reality, while President Obama still supports Israel s right to exist, he refuses to let Netanyahu bully us. For years, Netanyahu has refused to halt the settlements that prevent peace talks from moving forward. He has also been itching to start a war against Iran so he can sit back and watch as our troops fight and die doing Israel s dirty work.And frankly, if President Obama really hatred Israel, he would have let Iran wipe it off the f*cking map years ago and would never have approved the ridiculous $38 billion in military aid over the next ten years that Israel is about to receive. Also, past presidents have also supported resolutions condemning Israeli settlements, including Ronald Reagan.Perhaps Netanyahu should have respected President Obama instead of insulting him repeatedly over the years like when he delivered an address to Congress rebuking him for working with Iran to reduce their nuclear development. Let s keep in mind that President Obama succeeded in getting Iran to the table and both sides were able to come to a diplomatic agreement. Iran is now complying by giving up their centrifuges. If Netanyahu had his way, we would be at war with Iran, something he can now talk Trump into actually doing.If Netanyahu really wanted peace talks, he would have halted the settlements years ago. But Netanyahu and his right-wing government have no interest in peace. They have become frighteningly similar to the Nazis over the years as they kill Palestinians indiscriminately and advocate genocide against them. One would think that a people whose history is full of tragedies like the Holocaust would avoid trying to commit one themselves. But Netanyahu has dragged Israel to the extreme right-wing.Now Netanyahu is about to have Trump by his side, an egomaniac who hates Muslims as much as he does, which could mean the restart of perpetual war in the Middle East for our military or worse since Trump is obsessed with using nuclear weapons.So it looks like Putin isn t the only foreign leader who got a puppet in the White House. Israel did, too. And the world could be set on fire if we continue letting Israel bully us.Featured image via Press TV | 0 |
11,015 | Romanian deputy PM Shhaideh investigated for abuse of office | BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against Deputy Prime Minister Sevil Shhaideh for suspected abuse of office in a land transfer case, they said on Friday. The probe against Shhaideh, 52, is the first high-profile investigation faced by the nine-month old Social Democrat (PSD) government in one of the European Union s most graft-prone member states. Shhaideh, also a minister for regional development, is a close ally of PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who has received a suspended sentence for vote rigging and is currently on trial in a separate abuse of office case. I was called here and I was informed ... I am a suspect, I cannot say more because the investigation is ongoing, Shhaideh told reporters outside the prosecutors headquarters. I will make use of all my rights so as to be able to analyze the documents with my lawyer. Prosecutors said in a statement that they suspected Shhaideh, at the time a deputy regional development minister, of helping in 2013 to illegally transfer 324 hectares (800 acres) of prime land near the Danube river from the state to the county council of Teleorman, which then leased it to private operators. The transfer was done through government bills, which the prosecutors said contravened the constitution as well as legislation concerning state property and national waters. Dragnea served as head of the Teleorman county council for more than a decade until 2012 and has had business ties to the region. Prosecutors are investigating four public servants in the case and have asked parliament to approve an investigation into Rovana Plumb, a lawmaker and currently minister in charge of European funds. They said they suspected Plumb, who was acting environment minister in 2013, of complicity in abuse of office. Under Romanian legislation, parliament must approve investigations against sitting lawmakers. Transparency International ranks Romania among the European Union s most corrupt states and Brussels, which keeps its justice system under special monitoring, has praised magistrates for their efforts to curb graft. In August, the European Commission expressed concerns that a planned overhaul of the judiciary would undermine Romania s progress. [nL8N1LA6DLC] The overhaul, which would give the politically appointed justice minister more control over the judiciary, comes half a year after government attempts to weaken the crackdown on high-level graft triggered Romania s largest street protests in decades. Shhaideh, who comes from Romania s small Muslim community, was Dragnea s first pick for prime minister after last December s parliamentary election, but the centrist president, Klaus Iohannis, rejected her nomination. [nL5N1EM134] | 1 |
11,016 | Seth MacFarlane Just Told Johnson And Stein Supporters EXACTLY What They Need To Hear (TWEET) | In a perfect democracy, there would be multiple viable parties to choose candidates from. Each one would have to work hard and strive for our vote, and each one would have an equal chance at winning. Unfortunately, because of the way election laws and funding are currently in the United States, we re pretty much stuck with a two-party system and any third-party vote goes to help one of the two major parties.Think Ralph Nader in 2000 and how his votes in Florida gave us George W. Bush. Well, Nader and the Supreme Court.It s imperfect, but until laws are changed, it is what it is. No amount of whining or sitting elections out is going to change that. What we need are legislators willing to change the laws, but that s never going to happen if people keep having hissy fits.This year s election is so critical not just for the nation, but the entire world. A Donald Trump presidency would be catastrophic on so many levels, both with domestic and foreign policy.Reminding everyone how important this election is, and how a third-party vote will give us a President Trump, is none other than the legendary writer/producer and creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane.MacFarlane tweeted: Remember: This November you can help elect President Donald Trump just by voting for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein! Happy Election Year! Remember: This November you can help elect President Donald Trump just by voting for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein! Happy Election Year! Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) September 19, 2016His sarcasm is more a terrifying wake-up call than just witty banter on the Twitter machine.Does this mean you shouldn t vote for Stein or Johnson? No, of course not. However, it needs to be brought to people s attention that their vote for a third party isn t actually going to put their candidate into office, but rather have the possibility of ushering in the apocalypse with Trump.A conscience vote does not do anyone any good with a Fascist in the White House, and it goes much deeper than just feeling good about yourself on election day.So, do what you do. That s your freedom to do so, but remember the unintended consequences of that vote and what will be in store for the entire world.Featured Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images | 0 |
11,017 | U.S. businesses fear NAFTA doomed; Mexico warns of consequences | MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most powerful U.S. business lobby accused the Trump administration of making “poison pill proposals” to sabotage NAFTA on Tuesday, as Mexico’s foreign minister said the demise of the regional trade pact would hurt bilateral cooperation. The process of renegotiating the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement has turned increasingly acrimonious. Mexico accuses U.S. President Donald Trump of spoiling for a “protectionist war” with proposals aimed at balancing trade. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Tuesday that an end to NAFTA would mark a breaking point in U.S.-Mexican relations and affect bilateral cooperation in other areas. Mexico is a key partner of the United States in fighting drug trafficking and stemming illegal immigration across the U.S. southern border. Videgaray spoke after Trump warned again that he would like to scrap the treaty that created one of the world’s biggest trade blocs. “I happen to think that NAFTA will have to be terminated if we’re going to make it good,” Trump said in an interview with Forbes published on Tuesday. The Mexican peso weakened for the fifth straight session on Tuesday amid the increased tensions, and hit its weakest level against the dollar since early June. A fourth round of negotiations starting in Washington on Wednesday to modernize NAFTA has been prolonged by two days to Oct. 17, two sources in Mexico said. Trump’s hardline position did not appear to have wide support ahead of the talks, with many U.S. businesses and farmers lining up to back the existing agreement. Speaking in Mexico City, Thomas Donohue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s president and chief executive, listed several U.S. proposals that he said would undermine $1 trillion in annual trilateral trade, including a “sunset clause” to force regular negotiations. His comments marked the second broadside the chamber has launched against the Trump administration’s stance on NAFTA in less than a week. It has argued repeatedly that the trade pact is critical to U.S. industries such as agriculture and manufacturing. “There are several poison pill proposals still on the table that could doom the entire deal,” Donohue said at an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico, where he said the “existential threat” to NAFTA threatened regional security. U.S. officials have suggested incorporating a sunset clause in NAFTA that would kill it unless it was renegotiated every five years. The officials have also suggested eliminating a key dispute resolution mechanism, much to the dismay of Canada. Donohue singled out plans to make automakers source more parts in North America, as well as proposed changes to the dispute resolution mechanism as obstacles to NAFTA’s renewal. He also cited plans to limit Canadian and Mexican access to U.S. government procurement rules. Automakers in Mexico say excessive content requirements could do serious damage to the industry’s competitiveness. “The impact would be the opposite of what’s intended: U.S. industry would source more inputs from Asia and less from the U.S. That’s right — this proposal would actually send business overseas,” Donohue said. He also slammed the emphasis placed by the White House on reducing the U.S. trade deficit. “It’s the wrong focus and is impossible to achieve without crippling the economy,” he said. The chamber sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday signed by more than 300 local U.S. business groups in support of NAFTA. The United States, Mexico and Canada began renegotiating NAFTA this summer. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw if he does not win concessions to reduce a U.S. trade deficit of around $64 billion with Mexico. “The president has strongly criticized this agreement for years. We realize that as bad as it has been for us, it has been great for Mexico and Canada. Naturally they will defend this lopsided accord,” U.S. trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday. “To rebalance will require substantial change and not mere tweaking. The president has vowed to bring jobs and investment back to America. We will do no less,” he added. | 1 |
11,018 | Chicago mayor vows fiscal fix before muni audience | CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel tried to reassure municipal credit analysts on Wednesday that the city and its public school district are not falling into a financial abyss. “I will not rest until we fix the fiscal position of both the city and (Chicago Public Schools),” the mayor told the National Federation of Municipal Analysts annual conference. But some attendees said his speech did little to alleviate their worries about the city’s sinking credit. “I’m very concerned. I don’t see them making any headway,” said Susan Dushock, a senior vice president at SunTrust Private Wealth Management, referring to an ongoing political impasse that is hindering Chicago’s efforts. The battle between Illinois’ Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, and Democrats who control the legislature has left the state without a fiscal 2016 budget and has stymied Chicago’s efforts to seek pension relief. Chicago continues to struggle with a structural budget deficit and a $20 billion unfunded pension liability. Rulings by the Illinois Supreme Court both this year and last year have made it much more difficult to enact pension changes to lower that liability. Emanuel likened those rulings to putting “a straightjacket around us,” but vowed to continue negotiating with unions to reach a deal that ensures pensions are paid in a manner that is responsible to taxpayers. He also touted the diverse economy of the nation’s third-largest city, its ability to snag relocating corporations, and educational improvements at schools. “(Emanuel) didn’t focus on how to solve the current fiscal crisis,” said Richard Ciccarone, who heads Merritt Research Services. CPS is also betting on state solutions for escalating pension payments that have left it with a $1 billion budget gap. The district is calling for a bigger share of state funding to cover pensions and the costs of educating poor children. The city and CPS have been hit with downgrades that pushed their credit ratings closer to or into the “junk” level and both are paying a huge penalty in the U.S. municipal bond market. Chicago general obligation bonds due in 22 years were trading at 287 basis points over Municipal Market Data’s benchmark triple-A yield scale, while the so-called credit spread for CPS bonds due in 15 years was 463 basis points, according to MMD. | 1 |
11,019 | OBAMA Defends Black Lives Matter But Does He Really Want To Support What’s In This Video? | But he s pointing the finger at the wrong aspect of violence and death in the black community. If he would focus on the REAL problem of black on black crime he d get somewhere. How can anyone take Obama seriously when he skips over this HUGE issue? Once again, it s all about politics and division with this president. Pitiful! #NYC: #PeoplesMonday on the streets chanting #FTP! #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/KRRrRaHGHs Ash J (@AshAgony) October 20, 2015Meanwhile, in St. Louis, police escorted a gaggle of BLM protesters and some of the demonstrators tried to justify President Obama s faith in them by screaming Pigs in a blanket. Fry em like bacon at their protectors: | 0 |
11,020 | Clinton campaign to focus on key states in election: memo | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign laid out states critical to the U.S. presidential election in a memo to supporters dated Wednesday, including six with key minority populations - Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Nevada. The memo, sent to “interested parties” from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, also set a goal of raking in $4 million a day between now and the Nov. 8 election, or around $500 million total. The memo, which was shared with Reuters by a Clinton supporter, emphasized the importance of boosting turnout among minority voters in the race against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. “If we fail to turn out African-American voters in Ohio, North Carolina or Virginia, we will lose. If we fail to turn out Hispanic voters in Florida, Colorado or Nevada, we will lose,” Mook wrote. “If we fail to turn out Asian-American and Pacific Islander voters in Nevada or Virginia, we will lose. Plain and simple,” he added. The memo emphasized the need for “the most aggressive Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) program in history” across the country and named other states, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, as key to the campaign’s efforts. The campaign declined to comment. Clinton’s lead over Trump widened to 13 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. The poll showed 46 percent of likely voters supporting Clinton, with 33 percent backing Trump. But 22 percent said they would not support either candidate. That support is lopsided among different racial and ethnic groups. Among the smaller sample of black voters, for example, Clinton has a whopping 80 percent support, while with white voters the two candidates are just about even, according to the poll. | 1 |
11,021 | The White Vote Can’t And Won’t Save Trump – Republicans Are Screwed | Donald Trump is now the unofficially declared Republican nominee. Congratulations, Republicans, you went from Abraham Lincoln, to Dwight D. Eisenhower, to George W. Bush, and now Trump. We didn t think it could get much worse, but it did.Thankfully for the Democrats and other sane Americans, both Clinton and Sanders stand to beat Trump in a landslide in a general election. The math favors Clinton to be the Democratic nominee, for she only needs roughly 180 more delegates out of the 1,100+ left in the rest of the contests. No matter who you support, this is a good thing.So, unless there is a divine intervention (on both sides), it s going to be Trump v. Clinton.Anti-establishment Republicans are elated though for some weird reason their candidate is screwed.Take a look at the numbers: CNN has Clinton beating Trump 54-41 percent, a thirteen point lead. That s pretty sizable. And what s even more remarkable is the fact that Trump leads Clinton with white voters by only nine points (52-43). Remember, white voters are supposed to be Trump s saving grace in this election the angry white voter, new-age Southern Strategy is supposed to carry the xenophobic buffoon, and he is only leading by nine points.In 2008, McCain garnered 55 percent of white voters to Obama s 43 percent 12 point difference and still lost.In 2012, Romney nabbed 59 percent of whites to Obama s dismal 39 percent a 20 point difference and still lost.Projections show that Trump will have to win 70 percent of white voters if he wants to take the White House. And why is that? Because Clinton is absolutely crushing him among non-white voters. In CNN s poll, 81 percent of nonwhite voters are backing Clinton, while 14 percent are backing Trump, a 67 point difference.That s not even taking into consideration the entire female vote, which Trump is losing in historic proportions.And it certainly doesn t help that Republicans have lost ground with white voters (and white men) while Democrats have picked up the Republican s slack. Reuters found:Among whites under 40, the shift is even more dramatic. In 2012, they were more likely to identify with the Republican Party by about 5 percentage points. In 2015, the advantage flipped: Young whites are now more likely to identify with the Democratic Party by about 8 percentage points.Bottom line: the white vote cannot and will not save Donald Trump. The face of the nation has changed, the demographics have shifted, and it s no longer going to be the white man calling the shots. And no matter how many races and religions Trump wants to ban, the rhetoric will not be enough for his racist base. Of course never say never. There is always a chance he could win if Democrats get too comfortable and stay home. But if Democrats get out and vote, Trump will lose, and lose huge.Let s put the final nail in the white dominance coffin and send a message to the bigots on the Trump train.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
11,022 | Senate votes to pursue tax bill negotiations with House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans agreed to talks with the House of Representatives on sweeping tax legislation on Wednesday, amid early signs that lawmakers could bridge their differences and agree on a final bill ahead of a self-imposed Dec. 22 deadline. The Republican-led Senate voted 51-47, along party lines with Democrats opposed, to begin formal conference negotiations to reconcile rival House and Senate tax bills passed last week. The move, which follows similar House action this week, brings Congress a step closer to sending President Donald Trump a tax overhaul that he can sign into law. House and Senate negotiators will need to work out differences on issues ranging from business taxes to the repeal of the Obamacare mandate that Americans obtain health insurance or face a penalty before lawmakers can pass a final version. But John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said he was optimistic House and Senate tax negotiators would be able to work out an agreement within the next two weeks. “Given the similarities between the House and the Senate bills, I think there are some obvious targets where they need to focus their attention but obviously they won’t be rewriting the bills,” Cornyn said. Republican negotiators must be careful not to agree to changes that could diminish support in the Senate, where they can afford to lose support from no more than two party members. There has been no major tax overhaul since 1986, when Republican Ronald Reagan was president. While there are significant differences between the House and Senate bills, both would cut the U.S. corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, provide tax relief for “pass-through” enterprises including small businesses where earnings are taxed at individual rates, and both benefit the wealthiest Americans and reduce the tax burden for most middle-class taxpayers. Republicans claim the legislation will spur enough economic growth to pay for the tax cuts with new revenue, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that Senate bill would still add $1 trillion to the federal budget deficit over a decade, even with an economic upswing. U.S. stock prices have rallied on growing optimism that tax legislation will become law. But on Wednesday, the head of sovereign credit ratings at S&P Global told Reuters that the rising deficit and looser fiscal policy could prompt negative action on U.S. credit ratings unless Washington addressed long-term budgetary issues. “If U.S. tax reform is approved, it seems certain to increase the federal budget deficit,” Moritz Kraemer, S&P’s sovereign global chief rating officer, said in an interview. “A meaningful relaxation of fiscal policy without countervailing measures to address the longer-term fiscal challenges of the U.S. could lead to a negative rating action.” Senate Republicans later voted down a Democratic motion instructing tax negotiators to produce a deficit-neutral bill. Passage of the tax bill would provide a badly needed legislative victory for Trump and Republicans after their failure earlier this year to enact legislation repealing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Trump and his Republican allies see enacting the tax overhaul that they promised voters as crucial to their strategy for the 2018 U.S. congressional elections, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the 100-member Senate will be up for election. Democrats have been united against the bill, calling it a handout to corporations and the rich that would drive up the federal deficit. In an early sign of progress on reconciling the House and Senate versions, Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the tax-writing Finance Committee, said he did not think that the final bill would retain a corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT). The House bill calls for a repeal of the corporate AMT, which is designed to limit the ability of corporations to reduce their payments through tax breaks and credits. Corporate AMT repeal is not part of the Senate version. Getting rid of the corporate AMT would be popular with many businesses and would also be a concession toward the House bill. But repeal would also require lawmakers to replace the $40 billion in revenues that retaining the corporate AMT would raise over a decade. Increasing the corporate income tax target from 20 percent is seen as one way to pay for the AMT repeal and other potential changes. “I’ll keep it at 20 if I can, but there’s a drive to get it to 22. They want more money, that’s why,” Hatch told reporters. | 1 |
11,023 | Dem Senator Introduces Bill Banning Hate Crime Offenders From Purchasing Guns | In response to the horrific Orlando shootings (which is simultaneously being labeled terrorist attack and a hate crime), Democratic Senator Bob Casey on Monday introduced legislation banning any American convicted of a hate crime from legally purchasing a gun.Titled the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the bill ties together existing legislation regarding what falls under the scope of a hate crime a misdemeanor motivated in part by hate or bias related to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, and which misdemeanor makes up a hate crime. These misdemeanors include low-level assaults, threats, harassment and property damage.In a statement released on his website, Casey described his bill as common sense, saying:If you have proven you will commit criminal acts based on hate, you absolutely should not have access to a gun. It s common sense. It is time we as members of Congress do something. If you are a member of Congress and you say you care about security then you have to take steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands and ensure our law enforcement has the resources needed to keep communities safe.Casey s office also reminded the public that, according to National Crime Victimization Survey data, about 259,000 hate crimes happen each year in the United States, and that between the years of 2010 and 2014 alone, more than 43,000 hate crimes were committed with a firearm.These are the people who should not have access to guns, period.The same bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in February by Democrat David Cicilline of Rhode Island. It is currently being held up in committee, and GovTrack gives the bill less than a 2 percent chance of being enacted. A simple bill, like Casey s, would prevent the sale, disposition, possession, shipment or transportation of a firearm based on an enhanced hate crime misdemeanor sentence. Let s sit back and see how Republicans try to worm their way out of this no-brainer piece of legislation. They did it with background checks at gun shows and stopping terrorists from getting guns, so who knows how they ll respond to this one.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
11,024 | Trump’s LOST HIS DAMN MIND Making RIDICULOUS Demand Of Pelosi; Her Response Is Perfect (TWEETS) | If you re not paying attention to Donald Trump on Twitter at the moment, you are missing out on witnessing a truly unhinged individual playing a classic game of projection.With allegations and proof being revealed day after day regarding Trump and his administration s ties to Russia, especially throughout the course of his campaign and the years prior, Trump is left to do the only thing he appears to know how to do deflect and blame others of doing exactly what he is doing.Earlier in the day Trump tweeted an image of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer grabbing a donut with Vladimir Putin,We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017Schumer did nothing wrong, and unlike Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he didn t commit perjury surrounding this event.Schumer even tweeted back:Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team? https://t.co/yXgw3U8tmQ Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 3, 2017And for the record, they were Krispy Kreme donuts. Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 3, 2017Which is far more transparent than Trump has ever been.Trump, clearly upset that people aren t reacting to this revelation that Schumer and Putin grabbed a Krispy Kreme together then decided to try and throw Nancy Pelosi under the bus in the same regard.He said: I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. https://t.co/qCDljfF3wN Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017However, here s the thing, she also wasn t under oath trying to be confirmed as the utmost authority of law and order in the nation.Pelosi shortly thereafter responded with that exact point:.@realDonaldTrump doesn't know difference between official mtg photographed by press & closed secret mtg his AG lied about under oath. https://t.co/YRFCuJkjLA Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 3, 2017Meanwhile, Trump, Sessions, Flynn, Kushner, and all the rest of those who have been implicated as being in contact with Russia that would be a devastating blow to Trump and his administration.Trump is merely trying to shift focus, but in the mean time, he s making himself look guilty as hell.Featured Photo by Mario Tama, Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
11,025 | AUDIENCE MEMBER GETS The Last Word When Michael Moore Tries To Discredit Donald Trump On CNN [Video] | Michael Moore: Trump is a malignant narcissist who is only about himself https://t.co/R0pt5Dh3hk #TheMessyTruth https://t.co/gHqK44OGur CNN (@CNN) December 7, 2016 | 0 |
11,026 | GOP Senate Candidate Turns Out To Be A Disgusting Child Molester | The Republican favorite in Alabama s Senate race next month is being accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with a 14-year-old girl in 1979, The Washington Post reports. It s not just one child that the uber-Conservative Christian is accused of approaching when he was in his 30s, but the newspaper also found three other women who said that Roy Moore had approached them around a similar time when they were between the ages of 16 and 18.Leigh Corfman says she was 14 years old when Moore, then 32-years-old, approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. At that time, Moore was an assistant district attorney. Corfman s mother went inside for a child custody hearing after Moore offered to watch her daughter. He said, Oh, you don t want her to go in there and hear all that. I ll stay out here with her, says Corfman s mother, Nancy Wells, 71. I thought, how nice for him to want to take care of my little girl. Once he was alone with Corfman, Moore asked for her phone number. It was days later that he picked her up around the corner from her house, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, then flattered her by telling her how pretty she was and kissed her. But by the second visit, things turned even worse when he took off the 14-year-old s shirt and pants and removed his clothes. Moore then allegedly touched her over her bra and underpants and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear, according to the paper. I wanted it over with I wanted out, she recalled thinking at the time. Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over. Two of Corfman s childhood friends explained that she told them that she was seeing an older man, and one said that Corfman identified the man as Roy Moore.Corfman s mother said that her daughter told her about the encounter more than a decade later, during the time that Moore was becoming more prominent as a local judge.The Post spoke with three other women who said that Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s. All three of the women the paper spoke to said that they never had any sexual contact with Moore outside of kissing. According to one woman who was 18-years-old and in high school at the time, Moore would bring bottles of wine to their dates, even though the legal drinking age was 19.One woman, Wendy Miller, said that she first met Moore when she was a 14-year-old working as Santa s helper at a mall. He began asking her out when she was 16 years old.But, conservatives will overlook Moore trying to diddle children.This is such a sad, punk move from Breitbart, and people are going to remember it. pic.twitter.com/V8tndfAeCD Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 9, 2017Conservatives voted an admitted sexual predator into the highest office in the land, so Moore might get more votes following this explosive report. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images. | 0 |
11,027 | Trump nominates trading firm founder Viola as Army secretary | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Vincent Viola, an Army veteran and founder of a high-speed trading firm, to be secretary of the Army, adding another figure from the business world without government experience to his Cabinet. Viola is a West Point graduate who founded the highly profitable high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial Inc in 2008, Trump’s transition team said in a statement on Monday. Viola is a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he began his financial services career, and is a leader in electronic trading. Along with Virtu CEO Douglas Cifu, he bought the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League in 2013. In the Army, Viola trained as an Airborne Ranger infantry officer and served in the 101st Airborne Division, the transition team said. “Whether it is his distinguished military service or highly impressive track record in the world of business, Vinnie has proved throughout his life that he knows how to be a leader and deliver major results in the face of any challenge,” Trump was quoted as saying in a transition team statement. After the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Viola helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. “A primary focus of my leadership will be ensuring that America’s soldiers have the ways and means to fight and win across the full spectrum of conflict, Viola said in the statement. As Army secretary, Viola would oversee 473,000 active duty soldiers. Trump met with Viola on Friday as the Republican president-elect considered candidates for top posts in his administration, which begins on Jan. 20. Cabinet positions yet to be filled include secretaries of agriculture and veterans affairs and the U.S. trade representative. Viola, 60, whose net worth is $1.8 billion according to Forbes magazine, is the latest wealthy financier or businessman tapped to join Trump’s administration. Those nominees, with little or no experience in government, include Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, Goldman Sachs chief operating officer Gary Cohn for director of the National Economic Council, private equity firm owner Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary and Andrew Pudzer, CKE Restaurants Inc chief executive as labor secretary. FROM WEST POINT TO HIGH-SPEED TRADING Viola was a leading figure in the emergence of high-frequency trading, in which rapid-fire machines place thousands of very short-term bets, making markets and profiting on tiny price imbalances. In 2014, Virtu Financial received a letter of inquiry from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as part of a wider investigation of such firms, which came amid heightened attention to such trading after the publication of author Michael Lewis’ book “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt.” The firm was never charged with anything and has always backed more regulation for trading and market making. If Viola is confirmed by the Senate as secretary of the Army, his ownership stake in the Panthers would be placed in a trust, while Cifu would take over Viola’s role as chairman and governor of the team’s parent company, Sunrise Sports and Entertainment, the Panthers said in a statement. Cifu currently has the role of vice chairman and alternate governor of the club. Viola was born to Italian immigrant parents in New York’s Brooklyn borough, and was the first in his family to attend college. He left the Army after five years because his father suffered a massive heart, he told the West Point Center for Oral History, which he helped fund. Friends in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn where Viola grew up pointed him to Wall Street after he failed to find work elsewhere. Viola stood out on entering the trading pits in 1982 as a “local” on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as many of the floor traders did not have a college education. Viola has said the principles of West Point - duty, honor, country - are overwhelming and become ingrained. “It’s very hard to come here and not leave not having a selfless sense of what duty means, what honor is, and the importance of your country,” Viola said in 2011 the Oral History interview. | 1 |
11,028 | White House says Obama spoke to Trump by phone on Saturday | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke to President-elect Donald Trump by phone on Saturday, a White House spokesman said on Monday. The conversation was “one of a handful” between the two men since the Nov. 8 election, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a regular news briefing. He declined to say what they talked about. | 1 |
11,029 | U.S. student held in North Korea died of oxygen starved brain: coroner | (Reuters) - An American student who had been imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months died from lack of oxygen and blood to the brain, an Ohio coroner said on Wednesday. Otto Warmbier s death on June 19 was due to an unknown injury that occurred more than a year before his death, Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said at a news conference. We don t know what happened to him and that s the bottom line, Sammarco said. Warmbier s parents could not be reached for comment on the coroner s report. The University of Virginia student was held by North Korea from January 2016 until his release on June 15. Warmbier, 22, was returned to the United States in a coma. The coroner and a Sept. 11 report by her office cited complications of chronic deficiency of oxygen and blood supply to the brain in Warmbier s death. Only an external examination of the body rather than a full autopsy was conducted at the request of Warmbier s family. North Korea had blamed botulism and the ingestion of a sleeping pill for Otto Warmbier s problems and dismissed torture claims. Warmbier died days after arriving back in the United States. The native of Wyoming, Ohio, had been arrested at the airport in Pyongyang as he prepared to leave the reclusive communist country. He had been traveling with a tour group. Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to take from his hotel an item bearing a propaganda slogan, North Korea s state media reported. Saying his son had been tortured, Fred Warmbier told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday, As we looked at him and tried to comfort him, it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth. Great interview on @foxandfriends with the parents of Otto Warmbier: 1994 - 2017. Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea, President Donald Trump said on Twitter following the interview s broadcast. In response to a question at the news conference, the coroner said there was no evidence of trauma to Warmbier s teeth nor was there evidence of broken bones. The coroner s report said that Warmbier s body had multiple scars varying in size, including a large irregular one measuring 4.3 by 1.6 inches on the right foot. | 1 |
11,030 | VP Of Trump Transition Team To Dems: ‘Put Your Big Boy Pants On’ And Attend Inauguration (VIDEO) | The Women s March on Washington started out smaller, but now it s set to be one of the biggest protests in American history. The protest started out with tens of thousands of women expected to march, but then it went viral. Now men are joining the demonstration as well. Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to show up the day after Donald Trump is sworn in. In addition, more than 50 Democratic lawmakers are skipping the Inauguration. After Trump attacked Rep. John Lewis on Twitter, the number of lawmakers expected to opt out of attending rose from thirty to 56.In an interview with CNN s Chris Cuomo, the vice-president of Trump s transition team used odd wording on Tuesday to prompt Democrats to attend the Inauguration.Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) said that Democrats need to put on their big boy pants and attend Friday s inauguration.Yeah, sure, that ll make them go.Duffy then blasted the Democratic lawmakers who say they will not attend Trump s big event. I was not thrilled, it was a very depressing day in 2008 and 2012 in the Duffy household when President Obama won reelection, Duffy said. We fought hard for the Republican candidate. We weren t happy. But guess what? We go to the inauguration, maybe with a heavy heart, but it s part of this American process that Republicans and Democrats come together as one America. While whining about the Inauguration, Duffy compared Democrats to children:Duffy compared the Democrats who are participating in the boycott to children who are used to getting a juice box and a trophy even when they lose. Listen, Donald Trump won, he said. You may not agree with his agenda just like we didn t agree with President Obama s agenda. But show up! That s your duty as a Republican congressman. Be part of the process. Duffy said that Republicans may not attend the next Democratic president s inauguration. Because what this does is, in the future, what happens with the next Democrat [sic] presidential election are Republicans supposed to say that we re going to stay home, that these events become partisan in nature? he remarked. That s bad for the country. Show up, be part of it. Put your big boy pants on and let s start working together. Watch:Poor Sean. It s got to suck that Trump is the least popular president-elect in modern history. Meanwhile, President Obama will leave the office as the most successful Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Obama s approval rating is soaring while Trump s is plunging.Trump has the worst approval rating in modern history while entering office.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
11,031 | IS TIM ALLEN’S “Last Man Standing” About To Be Revived After “Passionate” Conservatives Express Outrage Over ABC’s Decision To Cancel Show? | Tim Allen took to Twitter to express his disappointment after discovering that the second highest rated comedy TV series on ABC, Last Man Standing was going to be cancelled:Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years. #lastmanstanding Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) May 16, 2017Many of his fans commented in support of his courage to stand up for his conservative views:Thanks for standing up and speaking out against the PC police for as long as you could, Tim. Mark Dice (@MarkDice) May 16, 2017Conservative comedian Mark Dice also reminded him that his comments on a recent Jimmy Kimmel show about how it was tough to be a conservative in Hollywood, was likely the final straw that caused ABC to cancel his show: You calling out the Liberals for their insanity on Jimmy Kimmel was the last straw for the Network, but someone had to do it. Thanks, Tim! Mark Dice (@MarkDice) May 16, 2017A petition was started last week by Last Man Standing fans and now has over 371K signatures. The petition asks ABC to reconsider their decision to cancel the Last Man Standing and to renew the show. Here is the LINK to that petition:The petition to ABC reads:Despite consistently high rankings, especially considering the time slot in which it is aired, Tim Allen s show Last Man Standing has been cancelled by the network on which it is aired, ABC. Last Man Standing stands out in the sea of network television sitcoms. It is a show that appeals to a broad swath of Americans who find very few shows that extol the virtues with which they can identify; namely conservative values. Last Man Standing was not just selling conservative ideals though, as some of the characters in the show are clearly of the liberal persuasion, yet the characters on the show all manage to get along and take care of one another, despite their politically opposed views. The show is about more than politics though, it is about family. In fact, politics is only a secondary part of the show, but one in which many Americans can readily identify. Last Man Standing is one of the only shows on broadcast television, and the only sitcom, that is not constantly shoving liberal ideals down the throats of the viewers. And sadly, that is likely the real reason the show has been cancelled.The intent of this petition/boycott is to attempt to get ABC to renew the show. With that in mind, I will no longer be watching any ABC shows. I have cancelled the DVR settings for the other ABC shows that I regularly watch. If you want to help try to save Last Man Standing, I encourage you to do the same. Even if you are not willing to boycott the network, but still want to save the show, please sign this petition and share it. If you do plan to boycott ABC, please say so when you sign. Let them hear our voices.Now, Studio 20th Century Fox Television is looking for a new home for canceled Tim Allen comedy Last Man Standing. Speaking to Variety Thursday, studio presidents Jonnie Davis and Howard Kurtzman said that they were surprised by ABC s decision to pull the plug on the show. That s the one that s really an open sore right now, Davis said. Kurtzman added, We really were expecting a pickup. The fact that we didn t get a pickup was a surprise and a disappointment. I think no one was more disappointed than Tim Allen, such a huge star with such a huge following. But the series, which was ABC s second most-watched comedy last season behind Modern Family, may not be dead. Asked whether Last Man Standing would be shopped to other networks, Kurtzman said, We re starting to explore that. If it s not going to go forward at ABC, of course Jonnie and I are hopeful that we can find another home for it. Political and social conservatives have been vocal in their disappointment over the show s end. Allen, its star and executive producer, is conservative and a supporter of President Trump.Speaking to reporters Tuesday, ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey denied that Last Man Standing was canceled because of Allen s right-leaning politics, and said that it was, instead, a scheduling decision. Once we made the decision not to continue with comedy on Friday, it was just kind of that s where we landed, she said. VarietyTime will tell if ABC s fan base is more important to them than their liberal views | 0 |
11,032 | Indonesia labels calls for U.S. boycott over Jerusalem move 'misguided' | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia s vice president said on Tuesday that calls for a boycott of U.S. goods over President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel were misguided - not least because of the country s reliance on U.S. technology. There have been a series of protests in the world s biggest Muslim-majority country since Trump s controversial move this month to reverse decades of U.S. policy. At a rally of about 80,000 people on Sunday, the Indonesian Ulema Council, a body of Muslim clerics, called for a boycott of U.S. and Israeli products if Trump did not revoke his action. Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters that Indonesia was trying to put pressure on Washington through the United Nations and it was not even practical to stop using American products. Do not be emotional... do we dare to boycott iPhones, stop using Google. Can (you) live without them? he asked. (You) cannot live without them now. If you go out of the house now, you put (an iPhone) in your pocket, he said. Kalla said that even if people stopped watching U.S. movies, other American goods such as specialized petroleum equipment were vital in oil-producing Indonesia, Southeast Asia s biggest economy. There have been a series of protests in Indonesia over the issue of Jerusalem, including some where hardliners burned U.S. and Israeli flags. The status of Jerusalem, a city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, is one of the biggest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Asked about how to proceed after Washington vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the U.S. declaration on Jerusalem to be withdrawn, Kalla said that dialogue was the only solution. There had been three wars, and Palestine s territory has become smaller, so there must be a dialogue, peace, he said. Indonesia enjoys a trade surplus with the United States and is one of 16 countries that the Trump administration has said could be investigated for possible trade abuses. Tutum Rahanta, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Retailers Association, said it was up to consumers whether to buy American products. If it is advice or a call to boycott, it depends on the consumers whether to use the products or not. | 1 |
11,033 | WATCH: Obama Celebrates Jobs Win, Drops Truth Bomb That Will Make GOP Squeal (IMAGE) | In January of 2016, the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9%, the lowest it has been since February of 2008 as America dealt with the repercussions of the job-killing Bush Recession.Revisions also showed that 2015 was even better for jobs than initial reports had indicated.In terms of the revisions, today s report is the once-a-year report that revises every month from the previous calendar year. On this front, the news is also good: we previously believed the U.S. economy created 2.65 million jobs in 2015, but the new, final tally is 2.74 million.January was the 64th consecutive month of positive job growth the best stretch since 1939 and the 71st consecutive month in which we ve seen private-sector job growth, which is the longest on record.President Obama took the opportunity of the successful jobs report to make an appearance before reporters today, and noted that We should feel good about the progress we ve made and that the U.S. economy is the strongest in the world, while at the same time Americans were working and getting bigger paychecks. He also dinged Republicans, who have opposed the economic reforms proposed during his administration, and in fact have tried their best to slow down the recovery. Obama noted that the positive figures are Inconvenient for Republican stump speeches as their doom and despair tour plays in New Hampshire. I guess you cannot please everybody. He also pointed out that the right has not offered anything beyond rhetoric. Those who are running down the economy and adding to the anxiety don t seem to have any plausible, coherent recipe other than cut taxes for those who have been doing the very best in this economy and somehow magically, that s gonna make other folks feel good, Obama said. Or, alternatively they argue the reason you re feeling insecure is because immigrants, or poor people are taking more and more of your paycheck and that is just not true. The facts don t bear that out. MSNBC s Steve Benen released a chart showing the comparison between Obama s record on jobs and the situation he encountered when taking over for Bush. It gives an excellent picture of how far the economy has come, and a warning about what could be lost.US Unemployment: Bush vs ObamaFeatured image via YouTube | 0 |
11,034 | Lying Liar Reince Priebus Says Trump Is Fulfilling Pledges At ‘Breakneck Speed’ (VIDEO) | Even though amateur president Donald Trump will likely reach the 100-day mark of his alleged presidency with no notable legislation while his contract with the American voter still sits on his website, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said on Sunday on NBC s Meet the Press that the former reality show star is fulfilling his campaign promises at breakneck speed. And then, as if he had never met members of his own party before, Priebus blamed historical unbelievable obstruction from Democratic senators for the hundreds of jobs throughout the federal government the Trump s administration has failed to fill, according to Talking Points Memo:Republicans aren t called the party of no for no reason.In late January of 2009 after former President Barack Obama took office, this happened:The Republicans were pumped because they saw a path out of the political wilderness. They were convinced that even if Obama kept winning policy battles, they could win the broader messaging war simply by remaining unified and fighting him on everything. Their conference chairman, a then-obscure Indiana conservative named Mike Pence, underscored the point with a clip from Patton, showing the general rallying his troops for war against their Nazi enemy: We re going to kick the hell out of him all the time! We re going to go through him like crap through a goose! From day one, Congressional Republicans made opposing Obama a political strategy. And now, one of those Republicans, Mike Pence, is vice-president.Here is Trump s breakneck speed at breaking promises:The Muslim ban was not implemented. Hillary Clinton will not be locked up. As a candidate, Trump repeatedly promised that he would declare China a currency manipulator immediately after he took office and now he says, They re not currency manipulators. Trump said he will build a wall on the US-Mexico border, and Mexico will pay for it. Mexico is not paying for it. The taxpayers are. Trump s campaign website stated, (It has since been deleted but the Internet is forever) On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare. Trump promised to Drain the Swamp, but instead filled it up with Goldman Sachs alumni. Trump said he would give the military s top generals 30 days to submit a plan for defeating ISIS and that hasn t happened.And that s just the short list. To be sure, we re glad those promises, aside from that swamp issue, are unfulfilled. But facts matter and Reince is lying.Image via screen capture. | 0 |
11,035 | Comey to testify to Senate panel in public session | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump last week amid an agency probe into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election, has agreed to testify before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee at a public hearing, the committee said in a statement on Friday. The hearing will be scheduled after the May 29 Memorial Day holiday, the statement said. | 1 |
11,036 | Huntington Ingalls wins $2.8 billion U.S. defense contract: Pentagon | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Huntington Ingalls Inc is being awarded a $2.8 billion cost-plus-incentive fee contract for USS George Washington refueling complex overhaul, the Pentagon said on Friday. | 1 |
11,037 | Trump Campaign Manager Was In Debt To Shady Russian Interests, Obviously Compromised | Recently, there have been an avalanche of revelations regarding just how close Donald Trump s 2016 presidential campaign was to Russia. In the past couple of weeks, that story has centered on Donald Trump, Jr. and his meeting with a bunch of Russians in Trump Tower in an effort to get dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Now, however, we turn our attentions more closely to another person who was in that meeting: Former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort.According to the New York Times, Manafort could have been compromised by the Russians due to an amazing amount of money he owed them to the tune of $17 million. This information comes via financial documents from Cyprus, a place for rich people to hide lots of money to avoid paying American taxes. According to those records which have been verified Manafort came by this debt when he was working for pro-Putin entities in Ukraine. He was apparently using shell companies to conduct business over there. Said companies owe Russian oligarchs a bunch of money, and they also owed said money during the time when Manafort was running Trump s campaign. The New York Times explains:The records, which include details for numerous loans, were certified as accurate by an accounting firm as of December 2015, several months before Mr. Manafort joined the Trump campaign, and were filed with Cyprus government authorities in 2016. The notion of indebtedness on the part of Mr. Manafort also aligns with assertions made in a court complaint filed in Virginia in 2015 by the Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, who claimed Mr. Manafort and his partners owed him $19 million related to a failed investment in a Ukrainian cable television business.In other words, Paul Manafort is in deep sh*t with a some really dangerous Russians, and he was in that same kind of trouble while he was running an American presidential campaign. This revelation is just another in a long and complex line of Trump associates who somehow have ties to very dangerous Russians some of which reach all the way up to the Kremlin and even Vladimir Putin himself.Make no mistake, folks we have Russian agents in the White House. The Russians helped hand Donald Trump the presidency so that they could compromise him and those around him. It s dangerous for the nation and for the world, and we must make sure to elect a Congress in 2018 that will be a check on this corrupt administration full of Russian stooges.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
11,038 | WHY DID THE STATE DEPARTMENT REDACT THIS ONE CLINTON SENTENCE? | The State Department redacted one sentence just one. Cleaning up for our former Secretary of State is something the State Department has gotten really good at: FYI. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered. That s it the one sentence that tells us so much. Rand Paul was on to the answer. Clinton slithered out of it .Among the emails released by the State Department today was one sent by Hillary Clinton to Jake Sullivan on April 8, 2011. Clinton was forwarding a private intelligence report that Sidney Blumenthal had sent her with the subject line: UK game playing; new rebel strategists; Egypt moves in. In the State Department release today, Clinton responds with FYI and a sentence that is redacted.But the New York Times posted its versions of the emails earlier this week and the sentence is not redacted. In the Times s version the redacted sentence reads: FYI. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered. The redaction in the State Department version is labeled a B5 Freedom of Information Act exception, which provides for a deliberative privilege in keeping the information from the public.The obvious question: Why did the State Department redact that sentence?Via: The Weekly Standard | 0 |
11,039 | Trump administration, states headed for showdown over fuel rules | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration and major U.S. states appear to be headed for a showdown over landmark rules aimed at doubling the fuel efficiency of vehicles sold in the United States. At an Environmental Protection Agency public hearing on Wednesday on the fuel rules in Washington, California air resources board official Annette Hebert warned that the state could withdraw from a nationwide vehicle emissions program if the EPA weakens the regulations or ignores the technical record. New York state also urged the administration not to weaken the rules. “Science doesn’t change based on election results,” Hebert said, referring to the November election of Republican President Donald Trump. In March, Trump ordered a review of U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards from model year 2022 through 2025 established under the Obama administration, and suggested he would reduce regulatory requirements. “The assault on the American auto industry is over,” he told automakers in Michigan. Automakers want the White House and California to reach agreement on revisions because a legal battle over the rules could result in lengthy uncertainly for the industry. They also want changes in the rules to address lower gas prices and a shift in U.S. consumer preferences to larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles. Federal law prohibits states from setting their own vehicle emissions rules, except for California, which can seek waivers to federal policy under the Clean Air Act. Other states can choose to adopt California’s rules. Julia Rege of Global Automakers, a group representing automakers including Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), said at the hearing that automakers need national rules, and urged U.S. regulators and California to “be as actively involved in the process as before, and work to keep the national program intact.” With just over six months before the 2025 rules must be finalized, there have been no vehicle emission talks between California, automakers and U.S. officials. The White House has held talks with automakers about the review in recent months, Reuters reported last month. In June, New York state’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, and 12 other top state law enforcement officials said they would mount a court challenge to any effort to roll back vehicle emission rules. United Auto Workers legislative director Josh Nassar said at the hearing that the national program should be continued to “prevent chaos, lawsuits, uncertainty.” The Obama administration’s rules, negotiated with automakers in 2011, were aimed at doubling average fleet-wide fuel efficiency to about 50 miles (80 km) per gallon by 2025. The Obama administration said the rules would save motorists $1.7 trillion in fuel costs over the life of the vehicles but cost the auto industry about $200 billion over 13 years. A number of environmental advocates and retired military leaders at the hearing urged U.S. regulators not to weaken the standards. Automakers want changes. “To keep costs reasonable for buyers and maximize future production levels and fleet turnover, it is vital to clearly focus on consumer preferences and market realities,” said Chris Nevers, an official with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing General Motors Co (GM.N), Toyota, Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and others. U.S. regulators disclosed earlier that they may revise fuel efficiency requirements starting with the 2021 model year, a year earlier than Trump announced in March. | 1 |
11,040 | Sarah Palin Humiliates Herself By Picking A Fight With Bill Nye: He’s ‘As Much A Scientist As I Am’ | After learning that Bill Nye had been very publicly demolishing her new climate change denial movie, Sarah Palin lashed out at the beloved science communicator with the ultimate insult saying he s as dumb as she is.In what might be the most mismatched battle of intellect in history, Palin and Nye have recently gone toe-to-toe over an upcoming documentary meant to prove climate change is a lie called Climate Hustle. The film is produced by infamous right-wing climate denier Marc Morano and is billed as the long-awaited response to Al Gore s Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth. Palin, a woman whose catchphrase is Drill, baby, drill is the film s chief promoter.For a brief moment it appeared that Nye would actually get a chance to debate Palin over climate science face-to-face, however the deal quickly fell through. The two sides have been trading barbs online ever since. Nye seemingly put the matter to rest with a final Facebook post in which he explained: Marc Morano did not invite me to his movie but he said I refused to come after he did invite me he was making that up, Nye said in a video posted on his Facebook page. It s disingenuous, at best. Morano did interview Nye and a clip in which he humiliates himself by refusing to put his money where his mouth is with a simple $20,000 bet quickly went viral.Never one to know when to keep her mouth shut, Palin has now jumped into the fray and hilariously tried to attack Nye s credibility by comparing it to her own.As The Hill caught at an event on Capitol Hill:Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, said the man known for his show Bill Nye the Science Guy, is using his position of authority to harm children by teaching them that climate change is real and man-made.Palin said behind the alarmism that the climate is changing is a predetermined and political agenda of those, I think, who are controlling the narrative right now on changes in the weather. The irony of a half-term governor and now reality television star criticizing Bill Nye for his science credentials is rich. And while Nye doesn t currently work as a research scientist, he received a Bachelors of Science from Cornell in mechanical engineering and spent his early career teaching astronomy and ecology courses at the college level. Furthermore, he s been honored with dozens of prestigious awards for his work at being an effective communicator of science (a job that is sorely needed). He s dedicated his life to passing along oftentimes complex scientific ideas in a way that is digestible and fun.In terms of climate science, Nye isn t a leading authority doing the cutting edge research but he listens to the people who are. Palin, of course, hasn t bothered to listen to a scientist once in her career. Instead, she s latched onto Morano, a man who viciously smeared respected climatologists to push his climate denial agenda. Before being humiliated by Nye during his own interview, Morano s last claim to fame was appearing on Fox News to complain that Google was unfairly discriminating against his articles by fact-checking them.Who would you trust?Featured image via Getty | 0 |
11,041 | Macron's invitation to visit France not related to Kurdish referendum - Iraqi PM | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Paris was not related to the Kurdish independence referendum. The invitation was delivered to Abadi on Aug. 26 by the French foreign and defense ministers during a visit to Baghdad, Abadi s office said in a statement, adding its purpose was to strengthen bilateral relations and concentrate efforts on fighting terrorism. A source in Macron s office said Abadi had accepted an invitation from Macron to visit Paris on Oct. 5 for talks on the Kurdish independence referendum. A phone call between Abadi and Macron, after Monday s referendum did not mention in any way the need to recognize the rights of the Kurdish people, said Abadi s statement. | 1 |
11,042 | Pope to meet top Buddhist monks in Myanmar, address military | VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will meet Myanmar s top Buddhist monks, its military generals and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in November when he visits that country and Bangladesh, both caught up in a crisis over the Rohingya Muslim minority. According to a full program of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the pope will say two Masses in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and one in Bangladesh, which is predominantly Muslim. Francis will be the first pope to visit Myanmar and the second to visit Bangladesh, where Pope John Paul visited in 1986. The pope arrives in Yangon, the country s largest city, on Nov. 27 after a flight of more than 10 hours and is scheduled to rest for about 24 hours before heading to the country s capital Naypyitaw for a day. There, he will have separate private talks with President Htin Kyaw and Suu Kyi, who is both State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, making her effectively the country s civilian leader. A senior Vatican official said military leaders are expected to attend a separate, public meeting where the pope will address politicians and diplomats. This is where he is expected to give the keynote speech of the trip. Myanmar is facing international scrutiny over the plight of its Rohingya community. In February, Francis said they had been tortured and killed simply because they wanted to live their culture and Muslim faith. Last August, some hard-line Buddhists were riled with the pope spoke about the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters and asked Catholics to pray for them, adding that they should be given their full rights . On Nov. 29, the pope will address the Sangha Maha Nayaka, the country s highest Buddhist authority, which is a government-backed panel of senior monks responsible for regulating the Buddhist clergy. The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that Bangladesh border guards reported more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into their country from Myanmar on Monday alone.. The government offensive has drawn international condemnation and U.N. accusations of ethnic cleansing, which the government denies. There are about 700,000 Roman Catholics in Myanmar according to the country s cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, out of a population of about 51.4 million. Catholics make up a tiny minority in Bangladesh. Francis will be the second pope to visit that country, after Pope John Paul in 1986. (This refiled version of the story adds dropped numeral in second paragraph Nov 26 instead of 6). | 1 |
11,043 | Trump signs order for tighter vetting to prevent terrorism | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order he said would impose tighter vetting to prevent foreign terrorists from entering the United States. “I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America,” Trump said at Pentagon ceremony. “We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people,” he said. Trump also signed an order he said would begin the rebuilding of the U.S. military by “developing a plan for new planes, new ships, new resources and new tools for our men and women in uniform.” | 1 |
11,044 | U.N., Red Cross urge Saudi-led coalition to re-open aid lifeline to Yemen | GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations and Red Cross on Tuesday urged the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen to re-open an aid lifeline to bring imported food and medicine into the country. It is estimated that seven million people are facing famine there. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country to stem the flow of arms from Iran. The Saudis and their allies say the Houthis get weapons from their arch-foe, Iran. Iran denies the charges and blames the conflict in Yemen on Riyadh. The U.N. Security Council is due to meet on Wednesday, at the request of Sweden, to discuss the humanitarian situation in Yemen, diplomats said in New York. We call for all air and sea ports to remain open to ensure food, fuel and medicines can enter the country, Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva. He said humanitarian operations are currently blocked because air and sea ports in Yemen are closed, The Saudi-led coalition has told the world body to inform all commercial vessels at Hodeidah and Saleef ports to leave , Laerke said, referring to Red Sea ports controlled by the Houthis. The price of fuel jumped 60 percent overnight in Yemen and the price of cooking gas doubled, he said. This is an access problem of colossal dimensions right now. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) joined the call. Food, medicine and other essential supplies are critical for the survival of 27 million Yemenis already weakened by a conflict now in its third year, Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement. The ICRC said that a shipment of chlorine tablets to prevent cholera did not get clearance at Yemen s northern border. It voiced fears for 50,000 vials of insulin for diabetics due to be delivered by next week, which require constant refrigeration. ICRC spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet said that a ship carrying 500 metric tonnes of rice, which arrived in Hodeidah port in October after a three-month trip from Pakistan, had to leave the port last week without offloading because the ship s crane had broken. The port itself lacks adequate cranes after repeated coalition bombing. Rupert Colville, U.N. human rights spokesman, said it would study whether the blockade amounted to collective punishment , banned under international law, but hoped that it would be temporary. Attacks in Yemen over the past week that have killed dozens of civilians, including children, at markets and homes, he said. These included at least nine air strikes on the Houthi-held city of Sanaa since Saturday, when a missile was fired from Yemen toward the Saudi capital of Riyadh, he said. A cholera epidemic has caused 908,702 suspected cases and 2,194 deaths since the outbreak began in April, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said. In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called for increased aid to Yemen, citing alarm at the latest U.N. report. No one will be able to say later, particularly with respect to Yemen, that they didn t know what was happening. | 1 |
11,045 | White Supremacist Kills Black Man, Planned On Murdering More (VIDEO) | James Harris Jackson, 28, eventually surrendered to police in New York City to admit to fatally stabbing a 66-year-old black man in the chest with a 26-inch sword that has an 18-inch blade. The sword exited the victim s back after being plunged into his chest. Jackson, an army veteran from Baltimore, held a long-time hatred of black people and had traveled to Manhattan with the goal of killing black men.This is an attack you won t see amateur president Donald Trump tweeting about.Timothy Caughman, 66, the white supremacist s victim, stumbled into a police station bleeding from stab wounds to his chest and back, Assistant Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan South detectives, told reporters at Police Headquarters, according to the New York Times.After taking down his first victim, Jackson set his sights on another black person just blocks away but something reportedly spooked him. He appeared to be very close, following a black guy, a source said. He slows down and at one point he turned around and came back. It s clear he was really focused on the guy for some time. Then, he falls out of camera view and doesn t attack the guy. He made statements that he was following the guy but something spooked him. Jackson was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder, but the chief said they wanted to upgrade the charge by classifying it a hate crime.Watch:.@NYPDMTS walk James Harris Jackson, an army veteran & member of a hate group in Maryland, accused of killing a #NYC black man @NYDNVideo pic.twitter.com/DWwGxM0GgG Edgar Sandoval (@edjsandoval) March 22, 2017Surveillance video of Jackson near the scene:Jackson admitted to police that he was a member of a white supremacist group and said that he detailed his racist views on his laptop computer, according to the Daily News.Jackson told the authorities that he initially wanted to stab a black man, then grab a police officer s gun and shoot some people, a police source said.Aubry said, He wanted to make a statement. Jackson told police that he has been harboring (racist) feelings for quite some time, and it s believed he had these feelings for over 10 years, police said. He knew what he was doing when he was coming up here, Aubry said at a press conference. It is believed he was specifically intending to target male blacks. It s been well over 10 years that he has been harboring his hate towards blacks. Jackson reportedly said he doesn t like interracial relationships. More than an unspeakable human tragedy, this is an assault on what makes this the greatest city in the world: our inclusiveness and our diversity, Mayor de Blasio said Wednesday. Now it s our collective responsibility to speak clearly and forcefully in the face of intolerance and violence here or across the country. We are a safe city because we are inclusive. We are a nation of unrivaled strength because we are diverse. No act of violence can undermine who we are. The last words Caughman said to his attacker were, What are you doing? Good question.Image via screen capture. | 0 |
11,046 | INTEL CHAIR Stands Up To Dems Calling For His Ouster: “Democrats want me to quit because I’m effective at getting to the bottom of things.” [Video] | .@Rep_DevinNunes: I m sure that @TheDemocrats do want me to quit because they know I m quite effective at getting to the bottom of things. pic.twitter.com/q8rfNfLHzc Fox News (@FoxNews) March 28, 2017 | 0 |
11,047 | White House to tap law professor, former Hill staffer to serve on CFTC | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday said he plans to tap a law professor and a former congressional staffer to serve on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency that polices the derivatives marketplace. The White House said it plans to nominate Chris Brummer, a law professor at Georgetown University and Brian Quintenz, an investment firm founder who previously worked for former Ohio Republican Congresswoman Deborah Pryce. If Brummer and Quintenz are eventually confirmed by the U.S. Senate, it will finally allow the CFTC to fill its two vacant seats on the five-member panel. Democratic CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen left the agency in August 2015, while Republican CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia resigned in July 2014. The CFTC won broad new powers to police the over-the-counter derivatives market in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. The agency has largely completed writing the new regulations, and in the coming years much of the focus is expected to shift toward enforcing the rules. Debate over how the new derivatives rules will impact farmers and companies that use swaps to hedge their risks, however, has still remained a hot topic. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, whose panel will eventually vote on the two CFTC nominees, said Thursday he wants to make sure that both Brummer and Quintenz are sensitive to these so-called “end-users” who rely on derivatives to hedge against price fluctuations that impact their businesses. “For the CFTC to effectively function for all stakeholders, we must make sure nominees have a solid understanding of agriculture and prioritize the folks who use the futures and derivatives markets to manage risk,” he said in a statement. Brummer has previously worked in a variety of different roles, including some in the regulatory arena. In 2015, he completed a three-year stint serving on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s National Adjudicatory Council, a body that reviews disciplinary proceedings of brokers and brokerage firms. He also served as an academic fellow in the international affairs office of the Securities and Exchange Commission and has taught at a variety of universities. Quintenz, meanwhile, has worked as an analyst and senior associate with Hill-Townsend Capital LLC. He also served as the director of travel and as assistant to the treasurer for the presidential exploratory committee of former Congressman John Kasich. | 1 |
11,048 | NATIONAL ENQUIRER ENDORSED TRUMP…Then Dropped YUGE Bombshell: “CRUZ’S 5 SECRET MISTRESSES” | Unfortunately, in this day and age, it doesn t really matter if the story is true or not. The propaganda driven media, and Americans who hang on their every word (especially the anti-God Left), are so anxious for red meat on one of the top GOP presidential candidates, the story will stick regardless of its validity Here s Trump s Spokesperson, Katrina Pearson on the tabloid story:What's worse? People who actually believe the trash in tabloids, or the ones who know it's false &spread it anyway? #stupidity on all levels Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) March 25, 2016One thing I ve learned from writing about politics for 10 years is that you ll never talk someone out of believing something they really want to believe. (At least you won t if you re a mediocre writer. Maybe great writers are different.) Another thing I ve learned is that there s no way to cover ratf*cking without participating in it. An accusation is made, it reaches a critical mass of public awareness, then you re forced to choose between ignoring a matter of public interest and spreading the accusation by addressing it. It s a testament to how far this has spread already that Cruz himself felt obliged to say something.Here s the National Enquirer story alleging that Cruz has had affairs with at least five women. Wait, let me rephrase: Here s the National Enquirer story alleging that there are claims that private detectives are investigating affairs with at least five women that Cruz has supposedly had. Two possibilities here:1. It s all true. Better men than Cruz have exploited their stature in Washington for sexual conquests. And the Enquirer s been right before about political sex scandals that no one else would touch. As every Trump fan on Twitter will eagerly tell you today, they got the John Edwards story right. Meanwhile, we re still waiting for further details on the 12 mistresses Barack Obama supposedly has. Or how it could be that Hillary Clinton had six months to live six months ago. Or why no major mainstream newspaper has yet exposed the fact that Antonin Scalia was assassinated by a hooker hired by the CIA. Personally, I m more interested in that one than this Cruz business.2. It s a smear. As it turns out, the Enquirer is emphatically pro-Trump. They endorsed him a few weeks ago. He s been friends with the paper s CEO, David Pecker, for years. And this wouldn t be the first time they ve done him a solid by publishing a spoonfed attack on one of his opponents, according to Gabriel Sherman. Supposedly it was Team Trump that handed the Enquirer a story last year about Ben Carson leaving a medical sponge inside a patient. It s also noteworthy, as Cruz himself mentions in the clip, that Trump advisor turned Trump cheerleader Roger Stone is the only quoted source in the Enquirer piece.Whether or not the target denies the claim is unimportant. The point is to plant the possibility that it s true in the audience s minds, knowing that some will believe it. So here we have with the Cruz accusation a publication that s in the tank for Trump, that s allegedly willing to fling sh*t for him, and that s in contact with people renowned for their own willingness and ability to supply sh*t to the media. Could it be that the accusation is sh*t itself?In a weird twist, Trump s own spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson a former spokeswoman for Cruz is identified in the Enquirer piece as one of the alleged mistresses via a partially distorted photo that s nonetheless clear enough. Pierson denies any relationship with Cruz:Of course the National Enquirer story is 100% FALSE!!! I only speak to myself, however.Carry on Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) March 25, 2016Certain publications were eager to use a supposed threat against Ted Cruz by worldwide hacker group Anonymous as proof that he was guilty as charged. A threat from a hacker group Anonymous must mean Cruz is guilty right? Unfortunately, the video they re using is not even from the official Anonymous official account. How about doing a little homework guys?Here s the video they re using:The publications who are using Billy Anderson s video as proof that Anonymous is threatening Ted Cruz, as a way to prop up Donald Trump, might want to look up a video the OFFICIAL Anonymous account posted about Donald Trump:https://youtu.be/PvCC2qONQFgLastly, before voters fall for a video from Anonymous posted by Billy Anderson (who has only 2 videos on his account) they may want to better understand how Anonymous really feels about the upcoming elections. Here s a clip from their OFFICIAL account:There s a reason these Anonymous masks were frequently seen at Occupy events and most recently at the anti-Trump rally in Chicago. They tend to be worn by anarchists.Via: Hot Air | 0 |
11,049 | Trump speaks with Afghan leader, U.S. commander calls for more troops | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and his Afghan counterpart discussed security in a phone call on Thursday, officials said, hours after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said thousands more troops were needed to break a stalemate with the Taliban. Trump and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also spoke about opportunities to strengthen ties, counterterrorism cooperation and economic development, the White House said in a statement. It said Trump also emphasized the continuing importance of the U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership and his support for Ghani’s government, which is faced with an emboldened Taliban-led insurgency that is still gaining ground after more than 15 years of war. The Afghan Embassy in Washington said Trump and Ghani had spoken on Dec. 3, but Thursday’s call was their first since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Hours before the call, General John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington he did not have enough troops to adequately advise Afghan forces on the ground. Nicholson said he had enough U.S. troops to carry out counterterrorism operations against the Taliban, al Qaeda and other insurgents but also acknowledged gains made by the Taliban over the past year. “We have a shortfall of a few thousand,” Nicholson said. Trump has so far offered little clarity about whether he might approve more forces for Afghanistan. About 8,400 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, well down from their peak of about 100,000 in 2011. Nicholson said extra forces need not all come from the United States and could also be drawn from other allies. The focus of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan has narrowed considerably to training Afghan forces and conducting counterterrorism missions since a significant drawdown began under Democratic former U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama was often criticized by Republicans in Congress for focusing too much on driving down U.S. troop numbers in an attempt to force Afghan soldiers to become more self-sufficient. Nicholson said U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would speak with allies soon and suggested Mattis might also visit Afghanistan, which might help him prepare his own recommendations for Republican Trump. He also spoke of security in Afghanistan in terms of the often-difficult U.S. relationship with Pakistan, long seen as a haven for insurgents from the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other militant Islamist groups. “Our complex relationship with Pakistan is best assessed through a holistic review,” Nicholson said. Addressing U.S. concerns about Pakistan was at the top of his list of priorities with the Trump administration, he said. The Afghan Embassy in Washington said Trump and Ghani had also discussed regional security issues, “as well as the joint fight against terrorism and countries that sponsor it.” It also said Trump said he planned to meet Ghani soon. (This story has been refiled to say Afghan embassy, not U.S., in paragraph 4) | 1 |
11,050 | Trump rally makes stock options great again for some CEOs | BOSTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump once described Jamie Dimon as “the worst banker in the United States,” but the president-elect has helped make the boss of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) $50 million richer. Dimon is the top beneficiary among the 30 chief executives who run companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index from a stock rally inspired by Trump’s election, according to a Reuters analysis of their option grants. Trump’s proposed policies for lower taxes, less Wall Street regulation and more infrastructure spending have energized the U.S. stock market since the real estate magnate’s Nov. 8 victory. The post-election rally even resurrected the value of an option award held by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) CEO Lloyd Blankfein that was worthless on the eve of the election. Dimon, a lifelong Democrat, has seen his stock options surge in value by more than $50 million to $146 million since the Republican candidate’s White House win. Trump criticized Dimon in 2013 for reaching a $13 billion settlement with the U.S. government over the sale of toxic mortgages instead of fighting the case. Nevertheless, he appointed Dimon to the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of high-profile business leaders he set up last month to advise him on economic growth and job creation. Dimon declined to comment on Trump’s criticism or the rise in value of his holdings. Stock options held by Dow 30 CEOs surged in value by 23 percent to about $1 billion in 2016, with most of the gain coming after Trump’s election win. The figures reflect outstanding stock options that could be exercised at the end of 2015. Options that expired or vested in 2016 were excluded from the analysis. In a few cases, CEOs exercised some of those options during 2016, U.S. regulatory filings show. Visa Inc (V.N) CEO Charles Scharf did not need a Trump-led stock rally to hit the jackpot. About two weeks before the election, he exercised nearly 800,000 options for gross proceeds of almost $33 million, U.S. regulatory filings show. He resigned from Visa effective Dec. 1. For a look at how the post-election rally has affected Dow 30 stock options, click here (tmsnrt.rs/2iCbvvT) Trump campaigned on the slogan “Make America Great Again,” vowing to bolster the prospects of the American working class by preventing jobs from moving abroad, restricting immigration and renegotiating trade pacts. In 2015, Trump called high salaries paid to CEOs a “joke” and a “disgrace” and said these were often approved by company boards stacked with CEOs’ friends. PRO-BUSINESS AGENDA To be sure, Trump’s election has helped investors big and small. Hopes of a pro-business agenda have driven the Dow 30 close to 20,000 - a level it has never breached - in a boon for workers’ retirement plans. “With the recent Trump/Republican win, it appears that investors are getting more excited about potential growth and animal spirits are on the rise,” top investment strategists at Morgan Stanley said this month in a wealth management report. “This is likely to lead to the final euphoric stage of this cyclical bull market which could be quite powerful in 2017’s first half.” Big stock option gains for Goldman Sachs head Blankfein, American Express Co (AXP.N) CEO Kenneth Chenault and JP Morgan’s Dimon may be a surprise, given that their companies have reduced or even eliminated option grants in recent years in favor of stock awards tied to hitting financial targets. Blankfein’s 322,104 outstanding options, granted in 2007 with a $204.16 strike price, were under water by $7.3 million on the eve of the presidential election. But by the end of 2016, their value had soared to $11.4 million. That was an $18.7 million swing, thanks to the Trump-inspired stock market rally and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates, a boost for banks and credit card companies. Blankfein declined to comment. Alan Johnson, managing director of pay consulting firm Johnson Associates in New York, said the big gains for the leaders of American Express, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reflect how stock option compensation can magnify gains in a company’s share price. “When the stock goes up, with options, you get more leverage,” he said. Critics of stock options say the grants can produce large amounts of wealth for CEOs even with mediocre performance. One reason is that grants often are not linked to any financial performance metric, such as return on equity. And so as the United States nears the eighth year of a bull market, options can increase in value even if the CEOs are running companies whose share price has lagged broad benchmarks during their tenure. For example, shares of Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) rose 54 percent during Douglas Oberhelman’s tenure as CEO of the big equipment maker from mid-2010 to the end of 2016, while the Dow 30 more than doubled during that span. But the value of Oberhelman’s options rallied during his last year as CEO, climbing to $20.3 million after being under water by nearly $9 million at the start of 2016. The options’ value got a $10.6 million booster shot after Trump’s victory. Caterpillar shares rose 36 percent in 2016, making it one of the best performing stocks on the Dow. Trump has said he would use Caterpillar tractors to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Caterpillar and Oberhelman declined to comment. Not all CEOs have been winners, however. Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) CEO Muhtar Kent, who contributed $2,700 to Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival for president, saw the value of his options decline by $11.3 million to $143 million. Coca-Cola shares are off 3 percent since Trump was elected amid lingering concerns about consumers cutting their consumption of sugary drinks. A Coca-Cola spokesman declined to comment. | 1 |
11,051 | U.S. court puts Obamacare case on hold until Trump takes office | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday brought to an end President Barack Obama’s bid to overturn a ruling that threatens to gut his signature healthcare law by putting the case on hold until after President-elect Donald Trump, who aims to repeal Obamacare, takes office. The Obama administration had appealed a judge’s May ruling favoring the challenge filed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives against a key part of the 2010 law. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed to a request by the Republicans to delay its consideration of the government’s appeal until after Trump takes office on Jan. 20. The Obama administration opposed the move. If the law is repealed by Congress, the case would be moot. The court’s decision to put the case on hold will not have an immediate effect on the law, as the lower court ruling was put on hold pending the appeal. The court said both sides should provide an update on the status of the case by Feb. 21. The challenge targeted government reimbursements to insurance companies to compensate them for reductions that the law required them to make to customers’ out-of-pocket medical payments. Trump has said he favors repealing and replacing Obamacare but would consider retaining certain elements. The law has enabled millions of previously uninsured Americans to obtain health insurance, but Republicans condemn Obamacare as a government overreach and have mounted a series of legal challenges. The Obama administration appealed U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer’s ruling that the government cannot spend billions of dollars in federal funds without congressional approval to provide subsidies under the healthcare law to private insurers to help people afford medical coverage. The House Republicans argued that the administration violated the U.S. Constitution because it is the legislative branch, not the executive branch, that authorizes government spending. The Obama administration has interpreted the provision as a type of federal spending that does not need to be explicitly authorized by Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 and 2015 issued major rulings authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts that preserved Obamacare and rejected conservative challenges. | 1 |
11,052 | Trump, tech tycoons talk overhaul of H1B visas | NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has been actively considering ways to revamp a temporary visa program used to bring foreign workers to the United States to fill high-skilled jobs, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Possibilities for reforming the distribution of H-1B visas, which are used largely by the tech industry, were discussed at a meeting last month with chief executives of tech companies at Trump Tower, said two sources, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to talk about the closed-door talks. DON’T MISS Pharma grapples with drug price backlash DOJ to examine FBI actions in Clinton email probe Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller proposed scrapping the existing lottery system used to award the visas. A possible replacement system would favor visa petitions for jobs that pay the highest salaries, according to the sources. H-1B visas are intended for foreign nationals in “specialty” occupations that generally require higher education, which according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) includes, but is not limited to, scientists, engineers or computer programmers. The government awards 65,000 every year. Companies say they use them to recruit top talent. But a majority of the visas are awarded to outsourcing firms, sparking criticism by skeptics that say those firms use the visas to fill lower-level information technology jobs. Critics also say the lottery system benefits outsourcing firms that flood the system with mass applications. The H-1B visa program tends to be more critical to outsourcing firms than U.S. tech firms. For instance, more than 60 percent of the U.S. employees of Indian outsourcing firm Infosys (INFY.NS) are H-1B holders, and the company in its annual report has cited an increase in visa costs as among factors that could hurt its profitability. The top 10 recipients of H-1B visas in 2015 were all outsourcing firms, according to government data compiled by the IEEE-USA, a professional organization representing U.S. engineers. Sixty-five percent of H-1B petitions approved in the 2014 fiscal year went to tech workers, mostly from India, according to USCIS. In several high-profile cases, American workers were asked to train H-1B holders to do their jobs before being laid off themselves. The idea advanced by Miller in the tech meeting has also been pushed by the IEEE-USA. Miller previously served as a staffer for Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general, who has been an outspoken critic of abuses of the H-1B program. Trump, who has applied for H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers to his own businesses sent mixed messages about the program on the campaign trail. He assailed it for taking jobs from U.S. workers, but during a Republican debate last March said he was “softening” his position “because we have to have talented people in this country.” He later issued a statement on his website saying he would “end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program.” Trump businesses, like Trump National Golf Club and Trump Model Management, have received permission to bring in more than two dozen foreign employees on H-1B visas since 2011, according to Department of Labor data. During the meeting last month in New York, Trump seemed to be searching for middle ground, and members of his transition team raised specific proposals, the two sources said. A third source familiar with the talks said the Trump team has also discussed the plan to change the lottery system internally. There were more than a dozen top tech executives from some of the country’s largest tech companies, including Google (GOOGL.O), Facebook (FB.O) and Apple (AAPL.O), present at the meeting. Microsoft (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella said technology companies need to be able to recruit talent from abroad when necessary. Trump seemed open to modifying the H-1B program, the sources said. He said he wanted to stop “bad people” from immigrating to the United States, not “great people,” according to one account of the meeting. Among proposals the group discussed was raising the cost of applications from large companies as a way to discourage bulk filing for the visas. Asked by Trump if they would object to that, none of the tech CEOs said they would. “In our view, the president-elect is not hostile to H-1B visas,” said one of the sources familiar with discussions at the meeting. While Trump could initiate some changes to the visa program with executive action, significant shifts would likely need to go through a lengthy formal rulemaking process, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration expert at Cornell Law School. Major changes would likely be subject to court challenges, he said. Other reforms, like changing the visa cap or offering more green cards to high-tech workers, could require Congressional action, Yale-Loehr said. A wide variety of companies, including Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), use the H-1B visa program to bring in employees from abroad. | 1 |
11,053 | Trump travel ban on more solid ground as top court cancels hearing | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Supreme Court signaled on Monday it may dismiss a challenge to President Donald Trump s controversial travel ban after the White House announced tailored restrictions on eight countries that legal experts said stand a better chance at holding up in court. The high court canceled oral arguments scheduled for Oct. 10 to decide whether or not a March 6 executive order that temporarily blocked travel from six Muslim-majority countries was discriminatory. That ban expired on Sunday. The president replaced it with a proclamation that indefinitely restricts travel from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea. Certain government officials from Venezuela will also be barred. The new ban, Trump s third, could affect tens of thousands of potential immigrants and visitors. Trump has been trying for most of the year to create a ban that passes court muster. The Sunday proclamation, which he said is needed to screen out terrorist or public safety threats, could be less vulnerable to legal attack, scholars and other experts said, because it is the result of a months-long analysis of foreign vetting procedures by U.S. officials. It also might be less easily tied to Trump s campaign-trail statements some courts viewed as biased against Muslims. The greater the sense that the policy reflects a considered, expert judgment, the less the temptation (by courts) to second-guess the executive, said Saikrishna Prakash, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, in an email. It looks less like a matter of prejudice or a desire to fulfill a campaign promise. In its brief order, the high court asked the Trump administration and the ban s challengers, including states and refugee advocacy organizations, to file briefs on whether the case should be dismissed. Trump s March 6 ban sparked international outrage and was quickly blocked by federal courts as unconstitutional discrimination or a violation of immigration law. In June, the Supreme Court allowed a limited version of the ban to go ahead while the justices prepared to hear arguments over its legality on Oct. 10, a date they have now scrubbed. In 2016, more than 72,000 nonimmigrant and immigrant visas were issued to the countries covered by the new ban, excluding Venezuela, with nearly half of those going to Iran. Only nine North Koreans immigrated to the United States in 2016 and 100 were granted nonimmigrant visas. The new ban is set to go into effect on Oct. 18, but it already applies to five of the six countries covered by the March 6 ban, according to a U.S. State Department cable issued on Sunday and obtained by Reuters. (To read the full cable click here: here) Sudan was dropped from the list of banned countries after the Sudanese government provided information required under the new criteria set out by the Trump administration earlier this year, a White House official said on Monday. The government has said the president has broad authority in immigration and national security matters, but challengers to the March ban had argued that it ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution s bar on favoring one religion over another. They cited statements Trump made during his 2016 campaign for president, including his call for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Within hours of Sunday s proclamation, representatives for the Hawaii, New York and California attorneys general said their offices were reviewing the new restrictions. Advocacy organizations denounced it as more of the same. If the court does dismiss the case, there remains the separate issue of whether the justices will throw out the sweeping lower court rulings that invalidated the ban. The government would want to erase precedents that constrain its authority while the challengers would want to keep them in place for the same reasons. This is still a Muslim ban. They simply added three additional countries, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, which previously sued to block Trump s travel ban executive orders. Of those countries, Chad is majority Muslim, travel from North Korea is already basically frozen and the restrictions on Venezuela only affect government officials on certain visas, Heller said. Sudan, which was in the March order, is no longer included. The worldwide review examined each country s ability to issue reliable electronic passports and share security risk data with the United States. Overall, 47 countries had problems, and 40 made improvements, including 11 that agreed to share information on known or suspected terrorists, Trump s proclamation said. The review at least arguably attenuates the link between the president s alleged bias and the policy, said Margo Schlanger, a University of Michigan Law School professor. However, challengers potentially could argue that the expanded ban violates the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, which forbids the government from discriminating based on an individual s nationality when issuing immigrant visas. Congress decided that it didn t want an immigration system that played favorites among countries, Schlanger said. | 1 |
11,054 | After U.S. exit, Asian nations try to save TPP trade deal | WELLINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they hope to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after U.S. President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord. The TPP, which the United States had signed but not ratified, was a pillar of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s policy to pivot to Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has touted it as an engine of economic reform, as well as a counter-weight to a rising China, which is not a TPP member. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday pulling the United States out of the 2015 TPP agreement and distancing the United States from its Asian allies. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had held discussions with Abe, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong overnight about the possibility of proceeding without the United States. “Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. “But we are not about to walk away ... certainly there is potential for China to join the TPP.” In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not say directly whether China would be interested in joining the TPP but that at a time of economic uncertainly the Asia-Pacific should make its own contributions to growth with openness. “We think that in the present situation, no matter what happens, all should keep going down the path of open, inclusive, continuous development, seeking cooperation and win-win,” Hua told a daily news briefing. Obama had framed the TPP without China in an effort to write Asia’s trade rules before Beijing could, establishing U.S. economic leadership in the region as part of his “pivot to Asia”. China has proposed a counter pact, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and has championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Hua said efforts on FTAAP should be stepped up, adding China hoped talks on RCEP could be concluded at an early date. New Zealand’s English said the United States was ceding influence to China and the region’s focus could switch to alternative trade deals. “We’ve got this RCEP agreement with Southeast Asia, which up until now has been on a bit of a slow burn, but we might find the political will for that to pick up if TPP isn’t going to proceed,” English said. Malaysia’s trade minister said negotiators from the remaining TPP countries would be in “constant communication” to decide the best way forward. “Notwithstanding the current position of the new U.S. administration on (TPP), we will continue to engage with our American colleagues to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic relations, given the U.S.’s importance as our third-largest trading partner and a major source of investment,” Mustapa Mohamed said in a statement. The TTP, which has been five years in the making, requires ratification by at least six countries accounting for 85 percent of the combined gross domestic product of the member nations. Australia held open the possibility of China, the world’s top exporter, joining a revised deal. “The original architecture was to enable other countries to join,” Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday. “Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed interest and there would be scope for China if we are able to reformulate it.” Japan has led the push for the partnership, which includes Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam. “There is no change to our view that free trade is the source of economic growth,” Japanese Economy Minister Nobuteru Ishihara told reporters. When asked whether Japan would be open to negotiating a bilateral trade pact with the United States, Ishihara said it was uncertain whether U.S. trade officials would start such negotiations. Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said separately that Japan was not considering moves with other TPP members based on a lack of U.S. involvement. “As Prime Minister Abe has made clear, TPP without the United States is meaningless and the balance of interests would crumble,” he told a news conference, adding Japan would keep explaining the benefits of the pact for America. Abe had made TPP a core of his economic growth policies and along with the Obama administration, viewed it as strategically vital in the face of a rising China Trump took office on Friday and pledged to end what he called an “American carnage” of rusted factories and crime. He vowed to bring jobs back by renegotiating what he called bad multilateral trade deals in favor of bilateral ones. New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said he had talked with a number of TPP-member ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week and he expected they would meet in coming months. “The agreement still has value as a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the other countries involved,” McClay said in an emailed statement to Reuters. | 1 |
11,055 | U.S. senators to introduce bill to secure 'internet of things' | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday plans to introduce legislation seeking to address vulnerabilities in computing devices embedded in everyday objects - known in the tech industry as the “internet of things” - which experts have long warned poses a threat to global cyber security. The new bill would require vendors that provide internet-connected equipment to the U.S. government to ensure their products are patchable and conform to industry security standards. It would also prohibit vendors from supplying devices that have unchangeable passwords or possess known security vulnerabilities. Republicans Cory Gardner and Steve Daines and Democrats Mark Warner and Ron Wyden are sponsoring the legislation, which was drafted with input from technology experts at the Atlantic Council and Harvard University. A Senate aide who helped write the bill said that companion legislation in the House was expected soon. “We’re trying to take the lightest touch possible,” Warner told Reuters in an interview. He added that the legislation was intended to remedy an “obvious market failure” that has left device manufacturers with little incentive to build with security in mind. The legislation would allow federal agencies to ask the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for permission to buy some non-compliant devices if other controls, such as network segmentation, are in place. It would also expand legal protections for cyber researchers working in “good faith” to hack equipment to find vulnerabilities so manufacturers can patch previously unknown flaws. Security researchers have long said that the ballooning array of online devices including cars, household appliances, speakers and medical equipment are not adequately protected from hackers who might attempt to steal personal information or launch sophisticated cyber attacks. Between 20 billion and 30 billion devices are expected to be connected to the internet by 2020, researchers estimate, with a large percentage of them insecure. Though security for the internet of things has been a known problem for years, some manufacturers say they are not well equipped to produce cyber secure devices. Hundreds of thousands of insecure webcams, digital records and other everyday devices were hijacked last October to support a major attack on internet infrastructure that temporarily knocked some web services offline, including Twitter, PayPal and Spotify. The new legislation includes “reasonable security recommendations” that would be important to improve protection of federal government networks, said Ray O’Farrell, chief technology officer at cloud computing firm VMware. | 1 |
11,056 | The HORRIFYING Reality Of Executions In This State Has Been Uncovered, But It’s Unlikely To Stop | According to Reuters, a grand jury in Oklahoma found that jail staff did not verify what drugs they were using for lethal injections and were unaware when the wrong drugs were administered. This report is another damning piece of evidence that shows that there are many flaws in the supposedly humane systems in place for carrying out capital punishments.In 2014, the news broke that the execution of an inmate named Clayton Lockett, who was sentenced to death for murder. An executioner failed to properly put an I.V. line into Lockett. The needle used to inject the lethal drugs into Lockett began to spray all over the execution chamber that he was in. He died, after 45 minutes of agony. Not because the toxins that were pumped into his body worked as intended, but because they caused Lockett to die of a heart attack.After, a massive outcry from the public, which included a scathing condemnation from Amnesty International, Oklahoma made some minor changes to their policies regarding executions. In 2015, two more botched executions were performed. One of those executed was Charles Werner. His final words were My body is on fire. One of the major factors contributing to these botched executions is due to the absence of sodium thiopental, which is the executioner s drug of choice for lethal injections in the U.S. The drug was taken off from the market in 2011 due to increasing international regulations on lethal injections. States who have yet to abolish capital punishment, have been scrambling to find alternatives.That means, once again in its history, the U.S. is desperately clinging to a practice that the rest of the world is moving towards abolishing. There are many good reasons for abolishing the death penalty but there is one reason in particular that even the staunchest advocates of the deathly penalty must admit is terrifying. A recent study found that 1 in 25 prisoners who are sentenced to death are actually innocent.No matter what protocols are put in place, we can never know for sure if they are truly innocent. I share the same stance as many capital punishment abolitionists, that capital punishment is always wrong, no matter what, whether the convicted individual is guilty or innocent. The idea that innocent people might be subjected to what is increasingly becoming not only a death sentence but a sentence to living their final moments in a state of hell ( My body is on fire ) is unconscionable.Oklahoma, you have already proven that reforming your policies on capital punishment are a facade. It s time to for you and the rest of the states that have yet to abolish the death penalty to give up this barbaric practice.Right now, all executions are on hold in Oklahoma. Since then, not a single execution has been botched and not a single innocent person has been murdered by the state. It s sounds as if they have found the perfect solution to their problem now they just need to make it permanent.Featured image from (Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers) | 0 |
11,057 | CLINT EASTWOOD Gets Real With The “P*ssy Generation” And Political Correctness…Guess Who He’s Supporting For Prez? | Scott and Clint Eastwood are a great father/son duo in their latest interview with Esquire magazine. The banter between the two is so good that you just know they have a close relationship. They look so much alike it s pretty amazing.The best parts of the interview are Clint s honest assessment of the p*ssy generation In true Eastwood style, he calls out all of the people who re calling everything under the sun racist . You ve gotta love his common sense attitude when he tells those offended liberals to just get over it . He s a Trump guy and totally understands where Trump is coming. You ll love his assessment of Hillary it s dead on!In an interview with Esquire published Wednesday, the actor/director/producer said young America which he has dubbed both the kiss-ass and pussy generation needs to stop throwing the word racist around so freely. Trump s onto something, because secretly everybody s getting tired of political correctness, kissing up, he said. We re really in a pussy generation. Everybody s walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren t called racist. Eastwood also said that he isn t inclined to support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if she continues upholding the status quo. I d have to go for Trump you know, cause she s declared that she s gonna follow in Obama s footsteps, he said. There s been just too much funny business on both sides of the aisle. She s made a lot of dough out of being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. Though Eastwood said he hasn t formally endorsed anybody, he dismissed the furor caused by Trump s comments about the Mexican heritage of Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who presided over federal lawsuits against Trump University. Yeah, it s a dumb thing to say. I mean, to predicate your opinion on the fact that the guy was born to Mexican parents or something. He s said a lot of dumb things. So have all of them. Both sides, Eastwood said. But everybody the press and everybody s going, Oh, well, that s racist, and they re making a big hoodoo out of it. Just f ing get over it. It s a sad time in history. Read more: The Wrap | 0 |
11,058 | Supreme Court invalidates gender inequality in citizenship law | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a gender distinction in U.S. immigration law that treats mothers and fathers differently when determining a child’s citizenship, calling such inequality “stunningly anachronistic.” The high court, in a 8-0 ruling authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, found that a provision in federal law that defines how people born overseas can be eligible for U.S. citizenship violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection guarantee. The ruling, however, may not help the man who brought the case, New York resident Luis Morales-Santana, who was seeking to avoid deportation to the Dominican Republic after being convicted of several offenses. The law requires that unwed fathers who are American citizens spend at least five years living in the United States - a 2012 amendment reduced it from 10 years - before they can confer citizenship to a child born abroad, out of wedlock and to a partner who is not a U.S. citizen. For unwed U.S. mothers in the same situation, the requirement was only one year. In the ruling, the Supreme Court said that until Congress revises the law, both women and men will be covered by the five-year requirement. Ginsburg, known for her work on gender equality before she became a jurist, wrote for the court that in light of the Supreme Court’s various rulings regarding the equal protection guarantee since 1971, having separate “duration-of-residence requirements for unwed mothers and fathers who have accepted parental responsibility is stunningly anachronistic.” The arguments made in defense of the law by former President Barack Obama’s administration before he left office in January “cannot withstand inspection under a Constitution that requires the government to respect the equal dignity and stature of its male and female citizens,” Ginsburg wrote. Morales-Santana’s deceased father was an American citizen, while his mother was not. His father failed to meet the law’s five-year requirements by 20 days. His lawyer, Stephen Broome, said he is reviewing how the ruling affects his client. Morales-Santana, 54, was born in the Dominican Republican and has lived legally in the United States since 1975. He was convicted of several criminal offenses in 1995, including two counts of robbery and four counts of attempted murder. The U.S. government has sought to deport him since 2000. The high court split 4-4 on the same issue in 2011. In July 2015, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York sided with Morales-Santana and struck down the law at issue, saying it applied “impermissible stereotyping” in imposing a tougher burden on fathers. The U.S. Justice Department sought to defend the law and asked the high court to take the case. The case is one of several with immigration-related themes that are before the justices at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration is pursing efforts to strengthen immigration enforcement. | 1 |
11,059 | Official sacked after Yoda image appears on Saudi textbook | DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi authorities fired a senior education official and other supervisors after a school textbook was found that included a photo-shopped image of the late King Faisal seated next to Star Wars movie character Yoda, Saudi media reported on Tuesday. The dismissal was also prompted by other errors in various textbooks, including history, chemistry, English language and religious education. The Education Ministry recalled textbooks with a cover photo showing Yoda seated next to King Faisal as he signed the United Nations Charter in 1945, Saudi media said. The Arabic-language Okaz daily said the education minister ended the contract of the undersecretary of the Curriculum and Educational Programs Department, Mohammed bin Attiyah al-Harthi, as well as all officials in charge of reviewing and approving the textbooks. The online newspaper sabq.org and al-Madinah Arabic daily carried similar reports on their websites. The reports appeared after Harthi rejected charges that a social science textbook contained errors. He accused critics of exploiting the mistakes to achieve fame, Okaz said. Okaz quoted Harthi as saying he would remain loyal to the kingdom despite his dismissal. The artist who had added the Yoda image to the photo of King Faisal said he did not know how the picture had ended up on the cover of the textbook, Saudi media reported. He said he made the picture in 2013 as part of a project intended to build a bridge between the young generation and major historic events by mixing popular culture in U.S. movies into historic events. | 1 |
11,060 | Incoming New Zealand government to review central bank objectives | WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand s new government plans to review and reform the Central Bank Act to possibly include employment, alongside inflation, as a dual target, Labour Prime Minister-elect Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday. The populist New Zealand First, the junior partner in the new Labour-led coalition government, also wants to broaden the central bank s focus to include greater management of the local dollar s value against other currencies. We have been looking at changing the objectives set out in the Reserve Bank Act, Ardern told reporters in Wellington. The objectives of the Act to possibly include employment is certainly part of our plans. Labour flagged the monetary policy changes during its election campaign. New Zealand First has previously mentioned it would like the central bank to better manage the currency, without elaborating. The New Zealand dollar suffered fresh falls on Tuesday as Ardern and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters confirmed their policy priorities. The kiwi dollar shed all its early gains to push below $0.6940, having briefly been as high as $0.7003 at one point. Rather than just focussing on inflation, Labour wants the Reserve Bank to have a full employment goal when devising policy settings, bringing it into line with the United States and Australia. While unemployment in New Zealand is at near decade lows of below 5 percent, job growth was a hot political issue during the recent election. The unlikely alliance between the centre-left Labour and populist New Zealand First was brokered after a Sept. 23 election failed to deliver a majority to the governing National or opposition Labour. Peters has been offered the role of deputy prime minister, which he is likely to accept, and Ardern indicated on Tuesday that Peters would also become foreign minister, putting a protectionist at the forefront of New Zealand s international relations. Peters was foreign minister in a Labour-led government in 2005, during which time he became among a handful of Western politicians to visit North Korea. The general consensus is that he did a good job, said Richard Shaw, politics professor at Massey University. He wasn t particularly interested in restructuring departments. He s very good at working the room and is an affable character. Labour and New Zealand First share similar policies designed to cut immigration, ban foreigners from buying existing property and raise the minimum wage. Many of the policies draw on voter concerns that immigration and foreign buyers of local homes are putting too much pressure on infrastructure and house prices, representing a shift in New Zealand s formerly open door policy. Ardern said Labour s immigration policy remained in place, whereby net migration would reduce from by between 20,000 to 30,000. This represents a less dramatic cut than New Zealand First had proposed prior to the election. Net migration is running at just over 70,000 a year. While a confidence and supply agreement with the Greens is delivering policies across the political spectrum, such as a push to legalise cannabis for personal use. | 1 |
11,061 | Obama tells Trump to 'stop whining' over rigged election claims | WASHINGTON/GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama lacerated Donald Trump on Tuesday over his repeated assertions that the Nov. 8 election is rigged against him, telling the Republican presidential candidate to “stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.” With opinion polls showing him falling further back against his White House rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump has intensified his allegations, although numerous studies have shown that voter fraud in U.S. elections is rare. At a campaign rally in Grand Junction, Colorado, Trump continued his attack, saying, “The press has created a rigged system and poisoned the minds of the voters.” But he also used his speech to detail a new initiative if elected president: a constitutional amendment imposing term limits for members of Congress, six years for members of the House of Representatives, 12 years for members of the Senate. Obama was asked about Trump’s voter fraud assertions on Tuesday at a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden following meetings with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. He responded with a blistering attack on the Republican candidate, noting that U.S. elections are run and monitored by local officials, who may well be appointed by Republican governors of states, and saying that cases of significant voter fraud were not to be found in American elections. Obama said there was “no serious” person who would suggest it was possible to rig American elections, adding, “I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.” Trump, speaking at the Grand Junction rally Tuesday evening, said that Obama should stop campaigning for “Crooked Hillary” and “get out and work on jobs and work on the border.” Trump has raised the possibility for weeks of illegal activities that could tarnish the November election result, citing scant or questionable evidence, including the possibility of votes being cast by dead people, and he has urged his supporters to show up at polling locations on Election Day. He has sharpened his allegations even as Republican lawyers called his assertions unfounded. In a report titled “The Truth About Voter Fraud,” the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law cited voter fraud incident rates between 0.00004 percent and 0.0009 percent. An August study by the Washington Post found 31 credible cases of impersonation fraud out of more than 1 billion votes cast in elections from 2000 to 2014. Arizona State University studies in 2012 and 2016 found similarly low rates. In pointed remarks that were part civics lesson, Obama said that if Trump wins on Nov. 8, “It would be my expectation of Hillary Clinton to offer a gracious concession speech” and “it would be my job ... and escort him over to the Capitol, in which there would be a peaceful transfer of power” at his swearing in. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, took a softer tone than Trump during a campaign appearance in North Carolina, saying he was “confident” that the integrity of the election will be ensured. But Pence added that “in recent years we’ve had instances, proven instances of voter fraud.” A number of Republican-led states, citing the need to prevent voter fraud, have passed laws with stricter identification requirements. But several have been struck down by courts that ruled they were designed to hinder minority voting. Trump trails Clinton by 7 points in national opinion polls, according to an average of polls compiled by RealClear Politics. Over the last few weeks, Trump, who has never previously run for office, has been embroiled in one controversy after another, eclipsing policy issues such as taxes, trade, the economy and national security that normally dominate the final push in presidential campaigns. With three weeks left until Election Day and early voting both by mail and in person already under way in many states, Trump has been grappling with the fallout from the release earlier this month of a 2005 videotape in which he was heard bragging about groping women and making other unwanted sexual advances. He has said the remarks were just “locker room” talk and has strongly denied allegations by a string of women who have come forward since the video emerged to say Trump groped or touched them inappropriately, denouncing his accusers as liars and fame-seekers. The controversies will be the backdrop for the third and final of three presidential debates, to be held on Wednesday evening in Las Vegas. Trump was widely viewed as having been on the defensive during the first debate. He appeared to have improved his performance in the second debate, but according to polling, more voters saw Clinton as the victor. Wednesday’s debate, like the first one, will be a traditional format with the moderator posing all the questions. Topics chosen by moderator Chris Wallace include debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots, and fitness to be president. At Tuesday’s press conference, Obama also criticized Trump for his “continued flattery” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying “it is out of step with” the country. Trump has praised Putin as a strong leader and on Monday suggested that if he wins next month he might meet the Russian leader before he is even sworn in as president. | 1 |
11,062 | U.S. lawmakers seek to shut banks that harm consumers | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to direct banking regulators to review operations at the country’s largest banks and consider shutting them down if they exhibit repeated wrongdoing to consumers. The bill, likely to meet stiff opposition from the Republican majority in Congress, represents the most direct threat yet from policymakers eager to see the nation’s biggest banks, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, broken up. “It is clear steeper penalties need to be used when a megabank demonstrates a pattern of consumer abuse,” said Representative Maxine Waters, a lead sponsor of the bill and the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. Deficiencies in processing customer complaints, servicing residential mortgages, as well as engaging in deceptive business practices or opening unauthorized accounts could all be deemed harmful to consumers under the bill, opening banks up to significant regulatory action. Eight Democrats, led by Waters, introduced the legislation on Wednesday. If signed into law, the bill would require federal banking regulators to review every U.S. bank identified as a “global systemically important bank” within 90 days. Specifically, regulators would need to determine if the banks have exhibited “repeated law violations that harmed consumers,” as defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, another federal regulator. The bill puts pressure directly on banking regulators, who Democrats argue are not utilizing all their tools to curb what they see as bad behavior in the banking sector. Democrats in Congress are frequently critical of the banking sector, but this new legislation represents the most direct attempt by lawmakers to significantly curb big banks. If any banks are found to be repeat offenders, regulators would have 120 days to begin winding the institution down and barring its executives from the financial industry, using their existing powers. And large bank executives would be required to attest annually they have reviewed all lines of bank business and are compliant with consumer protection laws. Executives would also face heightened civil and criminal liability under the bill. Lawmakers backing the bill identified several banks they believe should face such a comprehensive review and possible dissolution, including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup. One week earlier, Waters released a report claiming Wells Fargo has shown a “pattern of abusive business practices,” making clear, and reiterated her belief the bank should be broken up. Spokespeople for those banks either declined to comment on Waters’s bill or did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The new bill is also the latest step Democrats have taken to increase pressure on banking regulators, who they believe are not taking a sufficiently harsh stance with the industry. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has repeatedly pressed the Federal Reserve to remove members of Wells’s board of directors who were in that role when bank employees created potentially millions of fake customer accounts. Warren has not signed on to the new legislation. | 1 |
11,063 | Myanmar warns U.N. scolding could harm talks with Bangladesh on Rohingya crisis | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar warned on Wednesday that a scolding delivered by the U.N. Security Council could seriously harm its talks with Bangladesh over returning home more than 600,000 people who fled to escape a Myanmar military crackdown. In a statement on Monday, the Security Council had urged Myanmar to ensure no further excessive use of military force and expressed grave concern over reports of human rights violations and abuses in Rakhine State . Responding, Myanmar s de facto leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, whose less than two-year-old civilian administration shares power with the military, said the issues facing Myanmar and Bangladesh could only be resolved bilaterally, a point she says was ignored in the Security Council statement. Furthermore, the (Security Council) Presidential Statement could potentially and seriously harm the bilateral negotiations between the two countries which have been proceeding smoothly and expeditiously, Suu Kyi s office said in a statement. In contrast, Bangladesh issued a statement saying Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali appreciated the recent statement of the U.N. Security Council during a meeting with a new resident coordinator of the United Nations in Bangladesh. The Myanmar statement said Ali had been invited to Myanmar on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, but Bangladeshi officials told Reuters that the earliest the talks were likely to take place was during the minister s visit for a regional meeting in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw on Nov. 20 and Nov. 21. The two sides have to agree a process for repatriation of Rohingya, with Bangladesh reluctant to fall back on the drill used for the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar in the 1990s, as it wants a more lasting solution. A senior Bangladesh foreign ministry official said the United Nations should be involved in the process this time. For years, we tried to resolve this issue bilaterally with Myanmar, but it was in vain, the official told Reuters. This problem is not going to be resolved anytime soon. The UN s involvement in the process is a must. A sour note was struck over the talks last week, as Bangladesh officials voiced outrage over Suu Kyi s spokesman casting suspicion that Bangladesh might drag its feet over the repatriation process in order to first secure hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid money. Speaking at a conference for Commonwealth countries parliamentarians in Dhaka on Sunday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for more international pressure on Myanmar. I would request all of you to discuss Rohingya issue with utmost priority and exert pressure on the Myanmar government to stop the persecution of its citizens and take them back at the earliest, she said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to visit Myanmar on Nov. 15, with moves afoot in Washington to table a bill calling for sanctions on Myanmar that specifically target the military and related business interests. In a nod to China, the Myanmar statement said it appreciated the stand taken by some members of the Security Council who upheld the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. To appease council veto powers Russia and China, Britain and France dropped a push for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the situation and the 15-member body instead unanimously agreed on a formal statement. The United Nations has denounced the violence during the past 10 weeks as a classic example of ethnic cleansing to drive the Rohingya Muslims out of Buddhist majority Myanmar. Rejecting that accusation, the military says its counter-insurgency clearance operation was provoked by Rohingya militants synchronized attacks on 30 security posts in the northern part of Rakhine State on Aug. 25. Rohingya refugees say the military torched their villages, but the military say the arsonists were Rohingya militants. The refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape and murder. Myanmar says those accusations will have to be investigated. Meantime, the exodus from Rakhine continues. Several thousand Rohingya reached Bangladesh last week, many wading through shallows on the Naf river on the boundary between the two countries, and some making a short, but perilous sea crossing in small boats. On Wednesday, 52 Rohingya came ashore in Bangladesh on a raft lashed together from bamboo and plastic jerrycans, having been unable to find a boat to take them, Shariful Islam, a Bangladesh border guard official, told Reuters. On Tuesday, border guards told Reuters of at least two other boats with 68 Rohingya reaching Cox s Bazar, where they would join the multitude sheltering in refugee camps. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who defied the junta that ruled Myanmar for decades, has been pilloried abroad for not speaking out more forcefully to rein in the military. Last week she visited Rakhine for the first time since the crisis erupted, meeting community leaders and seeing the efforts to deliver aid and return the region to some semblance of normality. She has spoken of plans for repatriation centers at which refugees will have to prove they once lived in Rakhine, before being allowed to return. But having been classed as stateless by former junta rulers, Rohingya could struggle to pass the test. | 1 |
11,064 | JULIAN ASSANGE GETS EMOTIONAL Over His Family, Especially Young Children, During Exclusive Sean Hannity Interview [VIDEO] | I know what I m doing. I m prepared to wear the consequences of the conflict but my family s innocent. During an exclusive interview, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gets emotional while telling Sean Hannity about the effect his virtual imprisonment has had on his family, especially his children. I know what I m doing, but my family is innocent they didn t sign up for that fight. | 0 |
11,065 | KELLOGG’S PULLS ADVERTISING From Breitbart News As Punishment For Conservative News Slant…#BoycottKelloggs | Kellogg Co. is pulling its ads from the website Breitbart News, the right-wing news organization whose former chairman Steve Bannon was tapped as a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump.Brands that advertise on Breitbart have drawn flak in recent weeks, with activists saying the website espouses racist and anti-Semitic views. A screen shot showing an advertisement for Kellogg s Frosted Mini Wheats was part of an online campaign to get marketers to abandon the site. We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren t aligned with our values as a company, said Kris Charles, a spokeswoman for Kellogg, which also makes Frosted Flakes and Special K cereal. We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site. AppNexus Inc., one of the biggest digital advertising services, barred Breitbart from using its ad-serving tools earlier this month because it felt the publisher violated its hate-speech rules.AppNexus scrutinized Breitbart s website after Bannon was given the White House post. The digital ad firm decided the publication had breached a policy against content that incites violence, according to a spokesman for the company. Kellogg declined to name the third-party company that places its digital ads.Kellogg is the latest major brand to pull its online advertising from the news site. Other companies including Allstate, Nest, EarthLink, Warby Parker and SoFi have also blacklisted Breitbart from showing their ads, according to Digiday.The site had 19.2 million unique monthly U.S. visitors in October, up from 12.9 million a year ago, according to ComScore Inc. Breitbart doesn t rely on subscriptions, suggesting that advertising is a major source of revenue.Many marketers buy online advertising through third-party tech companies that distribute them widely across the internet, so they may not be aware of all the websites where they appear. But they also have the ability to control which websites display their ads. The creator of the Twitter account Sleeping Giants has been taking screen shots of ads appearing on Breitbart in an attempt to pressure those brands to take their ads down.Not all brands are shying away from advertising on Breitbart, though. After a screenshot showed a Nissan ad on the website, the automaker said in a statement that it places ads in a variety of sites in order to reach as many consumers as possible. The placement of Nissan advertising is not intended to be a political commentary and there are no plans to change the advertising mix at this time, the company said. Bloomberg | 0 |
11,066 | Clinton says Trump gun rights comment incites violence | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said Republican Donald Trump’s gun rights comment incites violence and said he does not have the temperament to be president. “Every single one of these incidences shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States,” she said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, a day after Trump’s remarks. | 1 |
11,067 | UK MPs cast doubt on plan to avoid Ireland border after Brexit | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s intention to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit is inconsistent with its plan to withdraw from the European Union s single market and customs union, a committee of lawmakers said on Friday. The Irish border, which will be the only land link between the EU and Britain after Brexit, is proving to be one of the most problematic issues in a slow diplomatic process which is testing the patience of politicians, businesses and investors. The EU is looking to Britain to provide a solution on how to manage the flow of goods between Ireland and the British province without erecting politically inflammatory border controls. Britain has said it wants to withdraw from the EU s customs union, within which goods can move freely, but will not contemplate border posts or other infrastructure that could disrupt 20 years of delicate peace in Northern Ireland. We cannot at present see how leaving the customs union and the single market can be reconciled with there being no border or infrastructure, said opposition lawmaker Hilary Benn, chair of the Brexit committee which is scrutinising the negotiations. The British government has said it is seeking a flexible and imaginative approach to the border that goes beyond existing EU precedents, and has mooted technological solutions or a new form of customs union. But ministers have been criticised by their counterparts in Ireland for a lack of detail. Progress on the border issue is crucial to Britain s hopes of moving negotiations on to the subject of trade and future relations - something businesses are impatient to find out about as they contemplate the need to relocate. Deputy Irish Prime Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday that significantly more clarity was needed before a Dec. 14-15 summit which could agree the start of phase two talks on trade. The committee, which based its report on evidence from Brexit minister David Davis, also said the government needed to publish more detail on both its short-term plans for a post-departure transition period, and its long-term vision of a future trading relationship with Europe. If phase two of the talks do start next month, then ministers need to move beyond words like bespoke and special and actually explain what it is they are seeking, Benn said. | 1 |
11,068 | HYSTERICAL! The Guy Who’s Spent Majority Of Both Terms On Golf Courses Makes THIS Insane DEMAND Of Congress | Of course Obama the putz blames too little government for the poisoned water crisis in Flint OBAMA TO CONGRESS ON FLINT AID: #DOYOURJOBOn a trip focused on letting Flint residents know they have not been forgotten, President Barack Obama put pressure on Congress to move a bill that would bring aid to Flint, Mich. and other communities at risk of lead contamination in their water systems.As Pro s Annie Snider reports, both houses are out of session until next week, but the Senate could, in theory, take up a water infrastructure bill that includes assistance to Flint and other cities with lead-pipe distribution systems. The bill easily passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee 19-1. Obama would like to see that bill move sooner rather than later. Congress, led by your congressional delegation, needs to act in a bipartisan fashion, do their job, make sure Flint has the necessary resources, Obama said Wednesday in a speech in Flint.President puns it like ME, calls small-government philosophy corrosive : The president used the speech to broadly attack the conservative philosophy of less-government-is-good-government, saying an anti-government attitude was at the root of the problems in Flint. I do think that part of what contributed to this crisis was a broader mindset, a bigger attitude, a corrosive attitude, that exists in our politics and exists in too many levels of our government, he said. It s a mindset that believes that less government is the highest good, no matter what. Boos for Snyder, but not from Obama: Gov. Rick Snyder also spoke at the event amid boos from the crowd of over 1,000 people. But Obama held off from attacking the governor, even trying to quiet the boobirds. No, no, Obama said. We re doing some business here. Via: PoliticoHow very big of you Barry...h/t WZ | 0 |
11,069 | UK reaffirms commitment to Iran nuclear deal in call with Trump: May's office | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May has reaffirmed Britain s commitment to a 2015 Iran nuclear deal in a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of a key U.S. decision on whether Tehran has stuck to the terms of the pact. Trump has cast doubt on the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which sought to curb Iran s nuclear program in return for lifting most Western economic sanctions. A senior U.S. administration official said last week that Trump - who has criticized the pact as an embarrassment and the worst deal ever negotiated, - was expected to decertify Iran s compliance ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline. The (prime minister) reaffirmed the UK s strong commitment to the deal alongside our European partners, saying it was vitally important for regional security, said a statement from May s office following the call on Tuesday evening. (The prime minister) stressed that it was important that the deal was carefully monitored and properly enforced. In contrast, a White House statement on the phone call said Trump underscored the need to work together to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its malign and destabilizing activities, especially its sponsorship of terrorism and its development of threatening missiles. In a separate statement, Britain s Foreign Office said Iran had upheld its nuclear commitments, adding to international pressure on Trump not to jeopardize security in the region. The nuclear deal was a crucial agreement that neutralized Iran s nuclear threat, foreign minister Boris Johnson said. It was the culmination of 13 years of painstaking diplomacy and has increased security, both in the region and in the UK. It is these security implications that we continue to encourage the US to consider. Johnson spoke by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Tuesday and will on Wednesday meet the head of Iran s nuclear agency in London to press for continued compliance with the deal. May and Trump also discussed the need for Britain, the United States and others to work together to counter destabilizing Iranian activity in the region, May s office said. Britain and the United States are two of eight signatories to the deal, along with Iran, China, France, Russia, Germany and the European Union. China, Russia and the European states have already expressed their continued support for the deal, while Iran has said Trump would not be able to undermine the pact. If Trump declines to certify Iran s compliance, U.S. congressional leaders would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the agreement. Earlier, the White House said Trump would make an announcement later this week on an overall Iran strategy , including whether to decertify the nuclear deal. May s office said she agreed with Trump that their teams should remain in contact ahead of the decision on recertification. | 1 |
11,070 | Jailed German-Turkish reporter sees Turkey drifting toward fascism | BERLIN (Reuters) - Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist detained by Ankara since February, has accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan of subjecting his entire society to a regime of fear and said Turkey is drifting toward fascism. Yucel, 44, a correspondent for the newspaper Die Welt, made the remarks in a lengthy interview with the German newspaper die tageszeitung to be published on Saturday. Turkish authorities arrested Yucel, on Feb. 14 on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organization, during a wave of arrests prompted by a failed coup attempt in July 2016. Germany is backing a complaint filed by Yucel with the European Court of Human Rights, and has repeatedly called for him and other Germans being held in Turkey to be released. The detentions have contributed to a sharp deterioration in relations between the two NATO allies. In total, Ankara has jailed more than 50,000 people pending trial and suspended or dismissed some 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers since the coup, which Turkey blames on the movement of U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen has denied any role, and condemned the coup. Yucel told the newspaper he remained in solitary confinement at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul. Solitary confinement is torture, he said. Yucel also said that even his prison guards were afraid of making a wrong move: A regime of fear is not directed solely at its critics, but also affects members of the oppressive apparatus. He said Erdogan himself had the most to fear: He knows what to expect if he loses power, and that is why he is subjecting the whole society to his regime of fear. Yucel said he hoped the European Court would act quickly on his case after a Nov. 28 deadline for Turkey to submit its position, but that he was not sure what to expect. He said that, like many of Erdogan s critics, he was disappointed that the court had rejected cases brought by teachers and government workers affected by the crackdown, which Erdogan says is necessary to guarantee Turkey s stability. But I also know the European Court of Human Rights was founded to deal with individual human rights violations, not to stop a whole country drifting into fascism, he said. The newspaper said the interview had been conducted in writing via Yucel s lawyers. | 1 |
11,071 | Former Classmates Slam Ted Cruz: He’s About As Telegenic As An Undertaker | Ted Cruz may have won Iowa but that doesn t make people hate him any less.The Texas Tea Party Senator is so universally despised that even moderate Republicans and Fox News can t stand him.Ever since being sworn in as a Senator, Cruz has shut down the government and attempted to shut it down on multiple other occasions. He has single-handedly blocked legislation that even his fellow Republican colleagues support and has told lie after lie to the media and the American people in order to position himself as some kind of savior.Just this past Sunday, Cruz was called out by Fox News for telling lies about Obamacare. That s how much Ted Cruz is hated. Conservative media is actually starting to defend Obamacare against his lies.And that s why it isn t very hard to find someone who hates Ted Cruz. It s especially not very hard to find a former Princeton classmate of Ted Cruz who also hates him.While searching for classmates to corroborate a rumor about Ted Cruz, Jezebel heard from several of them, many of which didn t fondly remember their fellow alum.According to Jezebel s Ellie Shechet,Many Princeton alums I interviewed, speaking under conditions of anonymity, had harsh words for their former classmate. One such person, who studied with Cruz at Princeton s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and asked not to be named in this story, referred to him as a monster geek who was constantly dominating the conversation in order to get the attention of the professor. She reported having such intense feelings of dislike towards Cruz during a public policy conference their junior year that I had a complete allergy towards the [law] profession when it was over. I was stunned that he would be the one that ended up [running for] president out of our class, she added, because he s about as telegenic as an undertaker. Leonard Nalencz, who didn t mind not being anonymous, shared that, Everyone in my class that I ve talked to is horrified that he s a candidate. Ouch. That has to sting.But you re not alone, Leonard. Most people are genuinely horrified that Ted Cruz is a candidate.After all, we re talking about a man who denies science. A guy who palled around with Sarah Palin for a time until she ditched him for Donald Trump. A guy who urged House Republicans to let America default on the debt, a move that would have crashed the economy. A guy whose supporters long more for him to crown himself king rather than be a president.Let s just hope Cruz only gets as far as being a candidate. Because anything more would be a disaster for this country.Featured Image: Nation of Change | 0 |
11,072 | French army charter plane crashes in Ivory Coast, four Moldovans killed | ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Four Moldovan citizens were killed and two others were injured on Saturday when a cargo plane chartered by the French military crashed into the sea near the airport in Ivory Coast s main city, Abidjan, Ivorian and French officials said. Four French citizens were also injured in the crash, which occurred as the Antonov 26 plane, en route from Burkina Faso s capital Ouagadougou, neared the airport, said Sinaly Silue, director general of Ivory Coast s civil aviation authority. A witness had earlier told Reuters that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff. There were 10 people aboard including six crew members, three French soldiers and a French civilian who was working for the (aviation) company, Silue said at a news conference. He said the plane was registered in Moldova, but did not name the company. The control tower in Abidjan lost contact with the plane at 8:24 a.m. (0824 GMT) during a heavy thunderstorm, Silue added. Abidjan s airport is located in a heavily populated area but it did not appear that anyone on the ground was hurt. The French military operates a logistics base next to the airport in support of its Barkhane operation, combatting Islamist militants in West Africa s Sahel region. This was a plane chartered by the French army in the framework of the Barkhane force in order to carry out logistical missions, French army spokesman Colonel Patrick Steiger said. Silue said he did not yet have information about what caused the crash, though he noted that the weather was very bad along the approach to the airport. An investigation had been launched and Ivorian authorities were in contact with their French and Moldovan counterparts, he said. The four injured French citizens were being treated at the French military base adjacent to the airport. France s ambassador to Ivory Coast, along with French gendarmes and soldiers, had quickly arrived at the crash site, where hundreds of local residents gathered to look at the wreckage. Some of them assisted firefighters and rescue divers who had to contend with rough seas as they freed the bodies of the dead from the plane, which had broken into several large pieces. | 1 |
11,073 | Trump taps Goldman Sachs executive Cohn for key economic post | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Monday said he would appoint Goldman Sachs Group Inc President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn to head the White House National Economic Council, a group that coordinates economic policy across agencies. “As my top economic adviser, Gary Cohn is going to put his talents as a highly successful businessman to work for the American people,” Trump said in a statement. Cohn will follow former senior Goldman executives Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman, who ran the council in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, respectively. The council post, which helps to coordinate and develop the president’s economic agenda, can also be seen as a stepping stone to other government jobs. Rubin led the council before becoming Treasury Secretary. Cohn, 56, is just one of a number of former Goldman executives who are slated to join the Trump administration and advise on the economy, including Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin and White House adviser Steve Bannon. “We will miss Gary at Goldman Sachs, but I believe the American people and the President-Elect are fortunate that he has chosen to serve his country,” Goldman Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said in a statement. Cohn had long been regarded as the likely successor to Blankfein, but that view has dimmed in the past several years as Blankfein, 62, showed no signs that he would step down in the near future. Cohn’s departure now raises fresh questions about who might succeed Blankfein in the long run, while potentially giving rise to a new group of leaders at the bank. Unlike other Wall Street firms that have had significant turnover in their upper ranks, Goldman’s leadership has remained remarkably stable over the years. Some Goldman executives have privately complained that this has created a bottleneck for the next generation of leaders. It is likely that Cohn’s role as Goldman’s president may be split, Reuters has previously reported. Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz and investment banking co-head David Solomon are likely candidates, according to people familiar with the matter. Such a move could return Goldman to a co-president, co-chief operating officer structure. Cohn had previously served alongside Jon Winkelried in this arrangement, until Winkelried’s departure from the firm in 2009. Cohn is a former Goldman commodities trader from Ohio who joined the firm in 1990. He served in a variety of leadership roles in bond trading, becoming co-head of Goldman’s broader securities division and then co-president in 2006. | 1 |
11,074 | For Russia, U.S. election meddling claims strip Trump win of luster | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin says U.S. intelligence agency allegations it ran an influence campaign to help President-elect Donald Trump win the White House are false. But if U.S. spies are right, Moscow may wish it hadn’t bothered to meddle in the first place. The belief, widely held in the West, that the Kremlin helped discredit Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by orchestrating embarrassing media leaks, has relegated U.S.-Russia relations to a post-Cold War low and stoked fears Russia will try to subvert French and German elections this year. And true or not, the bipartisan view that Russia tried to help Trump, supported by a classified U.S. intelligence report, may make it harder, not easier, for Trump to make common cause with President Vladimir Putin, something both men say they want. In the latest wrinkle, U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Trump has been presented with claims that Russia had compromising information about him. The accusations are uncorroborated and denied by the Kremlin. “There was initial delight in Russia when Trump won and there was more delight after Trump picked Rex Tillerson as secretary of state,” said Alexei Makarkin, deputy director at the Moscow-based Center for Political Technologies. “There is significantly less delight now.” Former Exxon-Mobil CEO Tillerson, Trump’s pick for America’s top diplomat, is seen as a friend of Russia. His firm has been thwarted from carrying out a huge project in the Russian Arctic by economic sanctions imposed by the outgoing Obama administration to punish Moscow for its actions in Ukraine. Makarkin said Trump and his circle would now be accused of being Kremlin stooges every time they pushed for detente with Russia, with senior Republicans likely to warn that any rapprochement would hand political capital to the Democrats. Putin, who has repeatedly praised Trump’s political skills, is hoping his incoming U.S. counterpart will ease or annul the sanctions, stay out of Russia’s domestic affairs, and maybe even team up with the Kremlin in the Middle East. But the furor over hacking and allegations of wider Russian interference have triggered pressure from Democrats and Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress for tougher, not weaker, anti-Russian measures. That has amplified Congressional calls for an independent bipartisan investigation into Russian dirty tricks and prompted President Barack Obama to expel 35 suspected Russian spies, denting early Russian optimism about a Trump presidency. When the announcement that Trump had won the Nov. 8 presidential election was made in Russia’s parliament by Vyacheslav Nikonov, the grandson of Stalin’s foreign minister, lawmakers erupted in applause. In Moscow, Clinton was widely seen as being anti-Russian. Two months later, the mood has soured. “The new hacking allegations against Russia are clearly timed to coincide with the handover of power in the United States,” Alexei Pushkov, a senator who sits on the upper house of parliament’s defense and security committee, said. “The aim is to force Trump into enmity with Russia.” Victoria Zhuravleva, an expert on U.S.-Russia relations who writes analytical papers for the government, said the current mood in the United States meant Trump would struggle to improve relations with Moscow even if he wanted to. “If we are realistic we have nothing to wait for,” said Zhuravleva, who said Congress could stymie Trump’s Russia policies and would probably present him with proposals to hit Moscow with fresh sanctions rather than roll back existing ones. To be sure, some observers of U.S.-Russian relations say the Kremlin still emerges from the affair with a major win: the new U.S. president favors closer ties with Russia and has named people who share that view to key posts. And Trump can plow ahead with rapprochement even if some in Washington oppose it. “The Constitution privileges the Executive in war and foreign policy,” Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, author of ‘We Know All About You: The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America,’ wrote in e-mailed comments. “Once Trump and Putin begin to play together (if they do), the hacking issue will become a minor historical footnote.” But with U.S.-Russia tensions so strained, some in Russia fret Washington will strike back with its own cyber attack. German Klimenko, Putin’s Internet adviser, has suggested Russia must be ready to disconnect itself or to be involuntarily cut off from the global Internet. “America could say it will throw up virtual borders to protect itself from (external) influence,” Klimenko told Reuters. “I can imagine ... any actions.” With so much focus on alleged Russian meddling, attention is now turning to presidential elections in France and Germany this year with some European politicians and intelligence services warning Moscow will try to interfere there too. The Kremlin’s preferences appear clear from state media, where Chancellor Angela Merkel has been denigrated as ‘an old witch.’ French National Front leader Marine Le Pen and center-right Francois Fillon have both been portrayed more positively. Former intelligence agents and cyber experts say neither country has the technical ability to protect itself or fully understand by whom and how it is being hacked, creating a rich opportunity for disinformation and unverifiable claims. Several intelligence experts said elements of Russia’s intelligence community won’t be able to resist trying to replicate their U.S. election operations in European elections — even while other parts of the ruling elite see such operations as highly risky. “This publicity (around the U.S. election) made Russia look so powerful that it almost provokes them to try their hand elsewhere,” said Andrei Soldatov, co-author of Red Web, which examines how the FSB security service uses the Internet. Yuri Felshtinsky, a friend of murdered Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko and an expert in the Russian intelligence services, said Europe should brace itself. “During the U.S. campaign Russia created a very powerful tool to influence elections. This tool, including hacking and the creation of web sites involved in publishing fake news, will now be used everywhere.” | 1 |
11,075 | 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. | 0 |
11,076 | INT’L LEADERS CAN’T HIDE DISRESPECT For Obama At Final G20: Philippines Leader Calls Barack Obama,”Son of a bitch”…China Makes Him Exit “Ass” Of Air Force One…Putin Has Tense Meeting With Him [VIDEO] | International leaders aren t making any secret about their disdain and lack of respect for Obama in his final G20 summit PHILIPPINES President Barack Obama is threatening to cancel a meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo D tente after the fiery political figure called the U.S. president a son of a bitch. According to the Associated Press, Duterte demanded that Obama be respectful during the G-20 summit. Otherwise, he said, son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum. Duterte was referring to a potential discussion about his violent war on the drug cartels, killing over 2,400 people in the process.During a press conference in China at the G-20 summit, Obama hinted that the meeting between himself and Duterte could be canceled. What I ve instructed my team to do is to talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time when we can have constructive, productive conversations, he said.Obama said that the United States would always assert the need for due process in prosecution of drug criminals, citing basic international norms. He added that he would bring it up in a meeting, despite D tente s comments. BreitbartCHINA The leader of the world s largest economy, who is on his final tour of Asia, was forced to disembark from Air Force One through a little-used exit in the plane s belly after no rolling staircase was provided when he landed in the eastern Chinese city on Saturday afternoon.When Obama did find his way on to a red carpet on the tarmac below there were heated altercations between US and Chinese officials, with one Chinese official caught on video shouting: This is our country! This is our airport! RUSSIA President Obama shared a tense exchange with Russian premier Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in China this morning as the two failed to agree over a ceasefire in Syria.Sly Putin could be seen grinning as he clasped hands with stony-faced Obama, who is serving the final months of his Presidency before November s election. Sun | 0 |
11,077 | RIDICULOUS! NBC STIRS UP FEAR Of A Trump Presidency With Zero Credible Reasons…They Think We’re Stupid | During the first half of their extended post-election coverage Wednesday evening, NBC Nightly News seemed to be setting the ground work for four years of a President Donald Trump all while stoking the left s anxieties. There were gasps around the world. Headlines, Trumpocalypse and Disunited States hyped NBC s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel as he delved into the ridiculous, But there are deeper concerns tonight that the world s shining light of democracy has gone dark. You cannot look at President Trump and call the American president the leader of the free world fretted the leftist Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer to Engel, Because America has increasingly abdicated its legitimacy to that title. Engel claimed that the only world leaders to welcome a President Trump was a vast array of some of the world worst despots, Those welcoming the most were right-wing parties, who rushed to embrace Trump as their new hero. Engels was eager to tie as many of them to Trump as possible: He s like me, joked the Filipino president, accused of turning his police into anti-narco death squads. Egypt s General Sisi, who came to power in a coup bragged he was the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump. And Hungary s Victor Orban who did wall out his country to keep out refugees called Trump great news. And of course, Russia s Vladimir Putin. | 0 |
11,078 | Trump national security aide Flynn resigns over Russian contacts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned late on Monday after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Flynn’s resignation came hours after it was reported that the Justice Department had warned the White House weeks ago that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail for contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump took power on Jan. 20. Flynn’s departure was a sobering development in Trump’s young presidency, a 24-day period during which his White House has been repeatedly distracted by miscues and internal dramas. The departure could slow Trump’s bid to warm up relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Flynn submitted his resignation hours after Trump, through a spokesman, pointedly declined to publicly back Flynn, saying he was reviewing the situation and talking to Pence. Flynn had promised Pence he had not discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russians, but transcripts of intercepted communications, described by U.S. officials, showed that the subject had come up in conversations between him and the Russian ambassador. Such contacts could potentially be in violation of a law banning private citizens from engaging in foreign policy, known as the Logan Act. Pence had defended Flynn in television interviews and was described by administration officials as upset about being misled. “Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the vice president-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the president and the vice president, and they have accepted my apology,” Flynn said in his resignation letter. Retired General Keith Kellogg, who has been chief of staff of the White House National Security Council, was named the acting national security adviser while Trump determines who should fill the position. Kellogg, retired General David Petraeus, a former CIA director, and Robert Harward, a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, are under consideration for the position, a White House official said. Harward was described by officials as the leading candidate. A U.S. official confirmed a Washington Post report that Sally Yates, the then-acting U.S. attorney general, told the White House late last month that she believed Flynn had misled them about the nature of his communications with the Russian ambassador. She said Flynn might have put himself in a compromising position, possibly leaving himself vulnerable to blackmail, the official said. Yates was later fired for opposing Trump’s temporary entry ban for people from seven mostly Muslim nations. A U.S. official, describing the intercepted communications, said Flynn did not make any promises about lifting the sanctions. But he did indicate that sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama on Russia for its Ukraine incursion “would not necessarily carry over to an administration seeking to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia,” the official said. Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, was an early supporter of Trump and shares his interest in shaking up the establishment in Washington. He frequently raised eyebrows among Washington’s foreign policy establishment for trying to persuade Trump to warm up U.S. relations with Russia. A U.S. official said Flynn’s departure, coupled with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and Syria and Republican congressional opposition to removing sanctions on Russia, removes Trump’s most ardent advocate of taking a softer line toward Putin. Flynn’s leaving “may make a significant course change less likely, at least any time soon,” the official said. Another official said Flynn’s departure may strengthen the hands of some cabinet secretaries, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. However, the second official said, Flynn’s exit could also reinforce the power of presidential aides Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, whom he described as already having the president’s ear. Congressional Democrats expressed alarm at the developments surrounding Flynn and called for a classified briefing by administration officials to explain what had happened. “We are communicating this request to the Department of Justice and FBI this evening,” said Democratic representatives John Conyers of Michigan and Elijah Cummings of Maryland. U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California, ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Flynn’s departure does not end the questions over his contacts with the Russians. “The Trump administration has yet to be forthcoming about who was aware of Flynn’s conversations with the ambassador and whether he was acting on the instructions of the president or any other officials, or with their knowledge,” Schiff said. The committee’s chairman, Republican Devin Nunes, thanked Flynn for his service. “Washington D.C. can be a rough town for honorable people, and Flynn — who has always been a soldier, not a politician —deserves America’s gratitude and respect,” he said. | 1 |
11,079 | Finger in Every Pie: How CIA Produces Our ‘News’ and Entertainment | 21st Century Wire says In so many respects, our media is not our own.In the past, 21WIRE has detailed various aspects of Operation Mockingbird and other CIA-related media pursuits, as well as many other bogus news stories which appear on a regular basis.Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland (Season 4, PR Art). Photo: Jim Fiscus/SHOWTIME Previously, we showed how the Hollywood hit ZeroDarkThirty was a completely fabricated piece of fiction which was passed on to the public as a true story . Also, the popular TV series, Homeland, is one of the most obvious propaganda productions in recent years, designed to reinforce many flawed assumptions and false believes about the world outside of the United States.Did you know that the CIA has actually produced a number of high-profile history TV programs that appear on US and world media channels?Yes, it s true SputnikThe Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a finger in every pie including the entertainment business: it turns out that the CIA has played a role in producing at least 22 entertainment projects; investigative journalist Adam Johnson argues that by doing this the US intelligence agency puts American media workers at risk.It seems that the US Central Intelligence Agency follows the theory that says that there are no little or insignificant things. The intelligence agency has long been keeping an eye on the Western entertainment industry and has even had a role in producing popular fiction movies and documentaries.In his article for Fair.org media watchdog investigative journalist Adam Johnson argues that this type of collaboration may cast a shadow over the image of US media workers and even put them at risk. For years, artists from across the entertainment industry actors, authors, directors, producers, screenwriters, and others have been in touch with the CIA to gain a better understanding of our intelligence mission, the CIA public website reads.According to the website, the CIA s goal in engaging with the industry is to ensure an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA, and the skill, innovation, daring, and commitment to public service that defines them. Continue this article at Sputnik NewsREAD MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Hollywood Files | 0 |
11,080 | Mom Of Columbine Shooter Shames The NRA And Gun-Crazy Republicans | Sue Klebold, the mother of Columbine High School shooter Dylan Klebold, has written an op-ed column in the Washington Post discussing the issue of gun violence in America.The April 20, 1999 shooting at Columbine in Colorado killed 13 and injured another 24. The shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, committed suicide. At the time it was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, but then the shooting at Newtown happened.In her moving piece, Klebold discusses the role of mental health in mass shootings, and notes that over the years since the massacre, we as a society have learned to better see the signs of mental distress and to know better how to reach out to kids in crisis.But she also notes that as important as that is, the issue of easy access to guns is still hanging over this issue.Having said that, I still cannot help but believe that Dylan and Eric would not have been able to take the lives of so many if they had not had such easy access to guns. As I later learned, Dylan and Eric both of whom were minors secretly attended a gun show where they bought the shotguns they would use in the massacre and met a young man who sold them a TEC-9 semiautomatic pistol.Is our right to gun ownership under the Second Amendment so absolute that we cannot, at the very least, restrict access to certain kinds of weapons to protect the most vulnerable among us especially teenagers, whose judgment at the best of times is compromised by hormones, impulsivity and immature decision-making? Is our right to bear arms so vital to what it means to be an American that there can be no limit on those rights whatsoever, whether raising the legal age at which one can purchase a gun, as we did with the drinking age or conducting more extensive background checks or restricting access to assault weapons designed for the battlefield?Her words strike right at the heart of the core beliefs of the NRA, who insist nothing can ever actually be done to rein in guns in America. Instead, the NRA and the politicians it owns Democrats and Republicans mouth words about mental health and move on from one mass shooting to the next.If the mother of one of the worst killers in American history can see this, why can t they? Is the money really worth it?Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
11,081 | Merriam-Webster Dictionary SHAMES Trump On Twitter After Misspelling Tweets | Donald Trump is a narcissist and a bully. Despite his ever-increasing obnoxiousness and commitment to Nazi-like policy proposals, he continues to rise in the polls. However, everyone sane is sick of it including the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Whomever runs that account on Twitter decided to take a shot a Trump and his misspelled tweets, by tweeting out definitions and corrections to billionaire reality star turned joke of a Presidential candidate. The prompt for this seems to be one of Trump s crazy Twitter rants, the latest of which he posted Friday.Trump s tweets featured common, easy to spell words that were horrifically misspelled. Those words included honor, choker, and lightweight. Here is the dictionary s tweet mocking and correcting Trump:honer: one that hones (https://t.co/76PlKG8PA6)leightweight: We have no. idea. chocker: https://t.co/geeDMqiS4D https://t.co/2km86hZAVQ Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 26, 2016After this, it seems that Trump was actually ashamed enough to correct his horrific spelling on Twitter. Here is a screenshot of that evidence, complete with mockery from Breitbart White House correspondent Charlie Spiering:Marco Rubio also got in on the hits at Trump, and railed him in typical childish GOP fashion: Wow every poll said I won the debate last night. Now this is him about himself, okay Great honer. I think he meant to say honor. I don t know how he got that wrong because the e and the o are nowhere near each other on the keyboard. So how does this guy not in one tweet, three tweets, misspell words so badly? And I only reached two conclusions. Number one, that s how they spell those words at the Wharton School of Business, where he went. Or number two, just like Trump Tower, he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets. Then, to add the final nail to the Twitter coffin that shamed Trump into his corrections, Michael Ian Black had some fun with Trump as well:"Cruz is a pussy.""Rubio is a chocker.""Trump peed his pants." Republican presidential candidates, 2016. Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) February 26, 2016Well, at least we now know that Trump is at least capable of being embarrassed. Well done, Merriam-Webster. You just did what no one else could do, and got Trump to admit that he was wrong about something.Featured image via Gage Skidmore from Wikimedia Commons | 0 |
11,082 | Canada's Trudeau shuffles cabinet, focuses on aboriginal woes | OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday reshuffled his cabinet to put more emphasis on helping aboriginal people, who complain he has broken repeated promises to improve their lives. Trudeau is splitting the federal indigenous and northern affairs ministry in two, with the most important role given to Jane Philpott, who has been praised across the political spectrum in her previous job as health minister. Trudeau, who took office in 2015 promising to repair ties with Canada s 1.4 million aboriginals, said the former ministry had been designed in an earlier colonial era when governments dictated to indigenous peoples rather than talking to them. There s a sense we have pushed the creaky old structures around (the ministry) about as far as they can go ... it could not deliver the reconciliation that we need, Trudeau told reporters after the reshuffle. Philpott will become the minister of indigenous services, in charge of overseeing steps to boost living standards. Carolyn Bennett, who headed the old ministry, will be responsible for ties between Ottawa and aboriginal groups. Aboriginals make up about four percent of the population. Many are mired in poverty and crime and suffer from bad health, exacerbated by widespread lack of access to safe drinking water. Suicides have plagued several isolated towns. Indigenous activists say despite Trudeau s pledges, which include billions of dollars in new spending, they have seen little improvement on the ground. A group of aboriginals mounted a high-profile protest to disrupt the July 1 Canada Day festivities, erecting a tent on Parliament Hill. The Association of First Nations umbrella organization for aboriginals said the changes announced by Trudeau were a significant step. Despite the negative publicity, public opinion polls show Trudeau s Liberals still command a healthy lead. The next election is scheduled for October 2019. In all, the shuffle involved six ministers. Political insiders told Reuters in late May that Trudeau would change his cabinet to revive a flagging agenda. In another significant move, Trudeau promoted sports minister Carla Qualtrough to be the new public works and procurement minister. She replaces Judy Foote, who quit last week for personal reasons. Qualtrough s biggest task will be to sort out a trouble-plagued bid to buy a new fleet of fighter jets. | 1 |
11,083 | Spanish police to take over Catalan polling stations to thwart independence vote | BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Spain s government said on Tuesday police would take control of voting booths in Catalonia to help thwart the region s planned independence referendum that Madrid has declared illegal. The dispute has plunged Spain into one of its biggest political crises since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s after decades of military dictatorship. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said the referendum is against the law and the constitutional court has ordered it be halted while its legality is determined. Catalonia s separatist government, however, remains committed to holding it on Sunday. Rajoy, speaking on Tuesday alongside U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, said it would be ridiculous if the affluent northeastern region declared independence from Spain. Trump said he opposed the referendum and wanted a united Spain. I really think the people of Catalonia would stay with Spain. I think it would be foolish not to, he told reporters. Senior Spanish government officials said on Tuesday authorities had done enough to prevent a meaningful referendum as Catalonia lacked an election commission, ballot boxes, ballot papers, a transparent census and election material. Today we can affirm that there will be no effective referendum in Catalonia. All the referendum s logistics have been dismantled, the Spanish government s representative in Catalonia, Enric Millo, told reporters in Barcelona. Catalonia s prosecutor has ordered the regional police - known as the Mossos d Esquadra - to take control of any voting booths by Saturday, a spokesman for the Madrid government s Catalan delegation said. In an order to police issued on Monday, the prosecutor s office said they would take the names of anyone participating in the vote and confiscate relevant documents. Anyone in possession of the keys or entrance codes to a polling booth could be considered a collaborator to crimes of disobedience, malfeasance and misappropriation of funds, the order said. The Madrid government has in recent weeks taken political and legal measures to prevent the referendum by exerting more control over the use of public funds in Catalonia and arresting regional officials. Hundreds of police reinforcements have been brought into Barcelona and other cities. Madrid has also threatened fines against bureaucrats working on the ballot, including the region s election commission, which was dissolved last week. These actions have provoked mass demonstrations and drawn accusations from Catalan leaders that the Madrid government was resorting to the repression of the Franco dictatorship. A yes vote is likely, given that most of the 40 percent of Catalans who polls show support independence are expected to cast ballots while most of those against it are not. But the unrelenting opposition from Madrid means such a result would go all but unrecognised, potentially setting up a new phase of the dispute. The Catalan regional government, which plans to declare independence within 48 hours of a yes victory, maintained on Tuesday the vote will go ahead and it sent out notifications to Catalans to man polling booths across the region. Many had not yet received information about where or when they would be working after the state-run postal service was ordered to stop all mail related to the vote, a parliamentary spokeswoman for one separatist party said. | 1 |
11,084 | Tillerson to meet NATO on March 31, ending no-show furor | BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet NATO foreign ministers at a rescheduled gathering on March 31, a senior State Department official said on Friday, ending a furor over his earlier decision to skip the event. Reuters exclusively reported on Monday that Tillerson had decided not to attend his first meeting with the ministers, originally scheduled for April 5-6 - raising fears about the new U.S. administration’s commitment to the military alliance. But the State Department official said the meeting in Brussels had been brought forward and would now go ahead. There was no official statement from NATO. Tillerson’s potential no-show had increased unease caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s description of NATO as “obsolete” during his election campaign. Trump has since said he strongly supports the alliance, but in interviews and speeches he continues to air grievances over what he see as Europe’s failure to pay its fair share of protecting the West. Tillerson met many of the NATO foreign ministers in Washington this week at a gathering of the coalition fighting Islamic State militants, but the meeting in Brussels would be his first formal NATO ministerial. Given the U.S. role as the de facto head of the alliance, it is rare for the United States’ top diplomat to miss a NATO meeting. The last time was during the Iraq war in 2003, when Colin Powell was forced to cancel at the last moment. Tillerson, a former top executive at Exxon Mobil Corp who worked with the Russian government, originally decided to attend a U.S. visit by the Chinese president instead of the April NATO meeting, Reuters reported. “The Secretary of State will visit NATO in Brussels on Friday, March 31st. The visit will come after his trip to Ankara, Turkey. Details about his schedule are forthcoming,” the State Department official said on Friday. | 1 |
11,085 | Libyans flee by boat amid 'terrible' violence at home | ABOARD SEEFUCHS RESCUE SHIP (Reuters) - Just before the sun dipped into the Mediterranean on Saturday, rescuers spotted a tiny wooden boat on the horizon. It turned out to contain five young Libyans fleeing violence and turmoil who were waving their arms for help. The crew of the Seefuchs plucked them from the old fishing boat, gave them water and couscous and one of the men, 26-year-old Hamza Tekbali, explained why they had fled their country. Libya is terrible, Tekbali told Reuters as he waited to be transferred to an Italian coast guard vessel. In Libya, if you do not kill, they will kill you, he said, adding that he feared he would be sent straight back home. The Seefuchs, a ship operated by the humanitarian group Sea-Eye, carried the men to Catania, Italy, on Wednesday along with 16 other Libyans picked up on Sunday. Already this year some 800 Libyans have reached Italy by sea, more than double the number for the whole of 2016, according to data collected by the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). The number is a fraction of the more than 100,000 non-Libyan migrants who have come to Italy from the country since January, but it suggests that the situation is deteriorating for Libyans in their own country. Migrants traveling through Libya from elsewhere in Africa en route to Europe already face terrible conditions. For the past few months we have seen more Libyans, said Marco Rotunno, who monitors migrant arrivals for UNHCR in Sicily. They mostly point to a lack of security as their reason for leaving. They talk about fighting, kidnappings, ransom and armed robberies. Conditions in Libya have deteriorated sharply since a 2011 uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. Gangs frequently kidnap people for ransom, power and water outages are common, health services have been crippled and residents often have to line-up for days to withdraw cash from banks due to a liquidity crisis. The United Nations is making a new push to end the conflict that has opened the way for Islamist militants and armed smuggling groups who have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe. In mid-September, fighting erupted in Sabratha, a people smuggling hub on the Western coast, after an armed group clamped down on migrant boat departures, prompting a cross-town rival to retaliate. As of Friday, at least 26 civilians and combatants had been killed and 170 wounded. Islamic State militants conduct attacks in Libya as well, including one on Wednesday that killed at least four people and wounded 39. UNHCR says there are still more than 217,000 internally displaced people in Libya and more than 278,000 who have recently returned home and who are considered people of concern. Tekbali abandoned his hometown of Kikla, which is located southwest of Tripoli and said it was too dangerous to return. His friend Rafat, who did not give his last name, said he was fleeing Libya after having been kidnapped by a militia in 2016. He was released after nine days when his father paid a ransom of 120,000 dinar ($87,600) but said he feared a repeat. A third man, 24-year-old Alaa, said he was persecuted in Libya because his father had fought in Gaddafi s military. Tekbali said the five friends planned their voyage for a month and set out from a beach between Sabratha and Zuwara after paying 5,000 euros ($5,888) to smugglers for the boat and the small outboard engine. | 1 |
11,086 | REPORT: FBI DIRECTOR COMEY Blocked By Obama Administration Last Summer On Supposed Russian “Influence” In 2016 Election | Comey would likely have pitched the op-ed to The New York Times.DEMOCRATS ON INTEL COMMITTEE CONTINUE THEIR ASSERTION OF RUSSIAN MEDDLING WHEN THERE WAS ZERO EVIDENCE OF IT:The question of collusion between Russian interests and Trump s campaign continues, despite repeated assertions by the president s spokesman that no link exists and no evidence emerging to show complicityWhite House Press Secretary Sean Spicer dismissed inquiries about the matter Tuesday, saying every single person who s been briefed on this, as I ve said ad nauseam from this podium have been very clear that there is no connection between the president or the staff here and anyone doing anything with Russia. SENATE INTEL INCLUDING MARK WARNER WANT YOU TO LOOK AT THE SHINY OBJECT OVER HERE DISTRACT, DISTRACT, DISTRACT FROM THE REAL CRIME OF SPYING ON AMERICANS:Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee announced Wednesday they are expanding their investigation of Russia s interference in the U.S. presidential campaign and beyond, vowing to remain independent and get to the bottom of this amid mounting controversy over a similar probe on the House side.The senators announced they are now scheduling interviews and reviewing thousands of sensitive documents, and are prepared to issue subpoenas if necessary.Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser after it emerged he lied about pre-inauguration contacts with a Russian official. As for staff here being in the clear, as Spicer put it, they have neither been identified as targets of the investigations nor ruled out.A close adviser to Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has agreed to talk to lawmakers about the Russia allegations. Other Trump associates have volunteered to be interviewed by the House and Senate intelligence committees as well.Via: FOX News | 0 |
11,087 | U.S. attorney general escalates pressure on 'sanctuary' cities | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatened on Monday to cut off U.S. Justice Department grants to cities that fail to assist federal immigration authorities, moving the Trump administration closer to a potential clash with leaders of America’s largest urban centers. Sessions’ statements were aimed at a dozens of cities and other local governments, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, that have joined a growing “sanctuary” movement aimed at shielding illegal immigrants from stepped-up deportation efforts. Police agencies in those jurisdictions have barred their officers from routinely checking on immigration status when making arrests or traffic stops. And they have refused to lock up individuals longer than otherwise warranted at the request of federal agents seeking to deport them. Trump administration officials says the deportation crackdown is focused on illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes. They insist public safety is jeopardized when police refuse to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of plans to release such a person from local custody. “Failure to deport aliens who are convicted of criminal offenses puts whole communities at risk, especially immigrant communities in the very sanctuary jurisdictions that seek to protect the perpetrators,” Sessions said at a White House news briefing. His threat to withhold grants as punishment drew swift condemnation from California and New York officials. California Senate leader Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, called Sessions’ threat “nothing short of blackmail,” accusing of “race-based scapegoating” in its crackdown on immigrants. Critics also argue that enlisting police cooperation in rounding up immigrants for removal undermines communities’ trust in local police, particularly among Latinos. And they question whether the administration is really targeting dangerous criminals. President Donald Trump, who made tougher immigration enforcement a cornerstone of his campaign, directed the government to cut off funding to sanctuary jurisdictions in a Jan. 25 executive order. That order has yet to be put into effect, but Sessions’ announcement seemed to be the first step in doing so. The Justice Department grants typically are used to help police improve crime-fighting techniques, buy new equipment and assist victims of crime. Sessions may find his ability to sway local decision-making through the Justice Department’s purse is limited, because only a fraction of its grant dollars flow directly to city and county governments. Federal records show the Justice Department doled out $1 billion to state governments and $430 million to nonprofits, but only $136 million directly to cities and counties last year. New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office would continue helping local governments “have the tools they need to protect their immigrant communities.” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, whose city is home to one of the largest U.S. immigrant communities, also denounced Sessions’ threat to use funding as a form of coercion. “L.A.’s values are not for sale,” Garcetti said. “Slashing funds for first responders, for our port and airport, for counterterrorism, crime-fighting and community-building serves no one.” So far no state has adopted policies barring cooperation with immigration authorities, though Maryland’s Democratic-controlled House of Delegates approved such legislation last week. The state’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, has said he would veto the bill. California’s De Leon is backing a bill that would essentially make all of the most populous U.S. state a sanctuary, but he does not currently have the votes to pass it. Sessions sought to frame the debate as a public-safety issue, citing the case of a woman shot to death in San Francisco two years ago by illegal immigrant who had already been deported five times and had seven felony convictions. San Francisco may not be affected by the new restrictions, as the city and county received no funding from the department in the most recent fiscal year. However, Sessions’ order could impact other jurisdictions. New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York City - all singled out as possibly noncompliant by an inspector general’s report last year - collectively received $15 million in Justice Department grants. According to Trump’s executive order, Sessions would have to wait until the Homeland Security Department determines what constitutes a “sanctuary city” before funding is restricted. DHS last week reported roughly 120 cities and counties that it deems uncooperative, though the agency has not finalized the list. Sal Tinajero, council member of the California sanctuary city of Santa Ana, questioned whether Sessions even had the authority to make good on his threat. “How do you take money away that Congress has already voted to allocate? You can’t. Congress has to take another vote,” he said. | 1 |
11,088 | Iraq refuses talks with Kurds unless they commit to unity | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government said on Thursday it would not hold talks with the Kurdish autonomous region on reopening its airports and providing dollars for its banks, unless the Kurds commit to Iraq s unity . Iraq s central government imposed a ban on direct international flights to the autonomous Kurdish region after the Kurds held a Sept 25 referendum on independence, which Baghdad says was illegal. It is calling for its neighbors to shut the landlocked region s borders. Among other measures to isolate the Kurdish region, Baghdad stopped selling dollars to four Kurdish-owned banks and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales. The Kurds have repeatedly called for negotiations following the referendum in which an overwhelming majority voted for independence. To avoid this collective punishment, we invite (Iraqi Prime Minister) Haider al-Abadi, again, ... (to) any form of dialogue and negotiations in conformity with the Iraqi Constitution, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement. It offered discussions regarding the crossings, internal trade, providing services to the citizens, the banks and the airports. But Baghdad has said the Kurds must disavow the referendum result as a pre-condition for any talks. Asked about the latest offer, an Iraqi government spokesman said there could be no talks until the Kurds gave a commitment to Iraq s unity . The KRG must accept the sovereign authority of the federal government on (..) oil exports, security and border protection, including land and air entry points, he told Reuters. The Kurds, who have sought an independent state for generations, say their referendum was meant to be the start of a negotiation that would see them gain independence after agreement with the Iraqi government. But Baghdad considered the vote illegal, especially as it was held not only in territory that forms part of the Kurdish autonomous region, but also in disputed neighboring parts of Iraq occupied by Kurdish troops. Iraq has maintained its tough line toward the Kurds with support of neighbors Turkey and Iran, which strongly oppose the secessionist movement. Washington, long friendly with the Kurds, had also called on them before the referendum to cancel it. President Tayyip Erdogan s spokesman said on Thursday Turkey would gradually close border crossings with northern Iraq in coordination with the central Iraqi government and Iran. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is expected to visit Baghdad on Sunday to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi. On Wednesday, the Kurdish authorities accused Iraqi forces and Iranian-trained Iraqi paramilitaries of preparing a major attack on the oil-rich region of Kirkuk and the area near Mosul. Both are in parts of northern Iraq outside the Kurdish autonomous region but held by Kurdish forces since Islamic State fighters were driven out. [L8N1MM5J1] Baghdad has denied it has plans for a military move against the Kurds. Abadi said on Thursday he would not use the army against the Kurdish region, and a military spokesman denied any attack on Kurdish forces was planned, saying government troops were preparing to oust Islamic State militants from an area near the Syrian border. We won t use our army against our people or to launch a war against our Kurdish citizens, Abadi said in a statement. Iraq s Supreme Judicial Council issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for the chairman of the Kurdish referendum commission and two aides for violating a valid court ruling banning the independence vote as against the Constitution. Kirkuk, a Kurdish-held, multi-ethnic city and surrounding province with large oil reserves, has emerged as a flashpoint in the crisis as it is claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds. Iraqi forces and Shi ite Muslim paramilitaries, known as Popular Mobilisation, are deployed south and west of Kirkuk, in areas previously under the control of Islamic State. The Iraqi government spokesman said the KRG must acknowledge the authority of the federal government over Kirkuk as another pre-condition for talks. The area around al-Qaim, where the Euphrates river crosses into Iraq from Syria, is the last part of Iraq still under the control of Islamic State fighters, who overran a third of the country in 2014. On Thursday, the Iraqi military dropped leaflets on al-Qaim urging the militants to surrender or face death. IS also holds areas on the Syrian side of the border, but is retreating there in the face of two sets of hostile forces - a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shi ite militias backed by Iran and Russia. Islamic State s cross-border caliphate effectively collapsed in July when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, after a nine-month battle. | 1 |
11,089 | California governor endorses Clinton, calls Trump dangerous | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, saying it was the only way to keep Republican Donald Trump out of the White House. “I have decided to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe this is the only path forward to win the presidency and stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump,” Brown said in a letter to California Democrats and independents posted online. Brown, a popular Democrat who has steered the nation’s most populous state on a centrist path, praised Clinton’s rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but noted that she had won about 3 million more votes and hundreds more delegates. “In other words, Clinton’s lead is insurmountable and Democrats have shown – by millions of votes – that they want her as their nominee.” California is the biggest prize of the six states that hold presidential nominating contests on June 7, with 475 delegates. Clinton has secured 2,310 delegates, 73 short of the number needed to clinch her party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 election. As he noted in his letter, Brown himself waged a populist presidential campaign in 1992, losing to then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, with themes similar to many espoused by Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist. Running on the slogan “We the People,” Brown railed against the influence of money in Washington and said politicians were “bought and paid for.” But Brown said Democrats need to stop fighting each other so they can focus on beating Trump, who he said presents a danger to immigrants, the environment and world peace. “The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our country faces an existential threat from climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons. A new Cold War is on the horizon,” Brown wrote. “Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as secretary of state, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one.” | 1 |
11,090 | Kushner Is Now Under Fire By Special Counsel For Potential Dirty Financial Dealings | The Trump White House is now officially in full-blown crisis mode. First, we learned yesterday that Donald Trump himself is now officially under criminal investigation for potential obstruction of justice by Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller. What s worse for Team Trump is that Mueller is a decorated Vietnam Veteran, a George W. Bush appointed former FBI Director who is the only head of that agency to serve past his ten year term, as Barack Obama went to Congress and asked them to extend Mueller s tenure. This request received bipartisan support. So, the current efforts by Trump shills to discredit Mueller are futile. His integrity is unimpeachable. Hell, even Republicans are telling Trump to leave Mueller the hell alone.Now, it seems that the cloud over Trump scandal-ridden White House is darkening, as it now seems that Trump s own son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner is now in Special Counsel Mueller s crosshairs as well. The Washington Post is now reporting that Kushner is under investigation for possible illegal financial dealings. Kushner is certainly far from the only current or former Trump shill who is under investigation for similar crimes. Others in the same situation include disgraced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump 2016 Campaign Chair Paul Manafort, who is known to have had deep ties to pro-Russia Ukrainian politicians.Of course, we all remember the reports that Kushner tried to set up a secret backchannel to the Kremlin to avoid the detection of United States intelligence agencies. Combine that with the fact that he omitted the fact that he met with the Russians during the transition from security clearance forms a federal crime and we have some pretty big and definitive reasons as to why Mueller should be looking at Kushner.It seems the White House is not unaware of how serious all of this is; even uber bigot and Christian golden boy Mike Pence has retained his own lawyer to handle any and all questions and inquiries related the the cloud of suspicion surrounding the Russia situation.All of these people are dirty as hell. Time to get these incompetent authoritarians, corrupt goons, and Russian stooges out of our White House.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
11,091 | German FDP leader presses Greens to compromise on immigration | BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Greens need to compromise on immigration policy if talks on forming a new governing coalition are to succeed, the leader of the Free Democrats (FDP) said, putting the chances of a deal at 50-50. Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to form a coalition with the FDP and Greens after her conservatives lost support to the far right in a federal election last month. The three-way alliance is untested at national level. I still see the biggest differences with the Greens, FDP leader Christian Lindner said of immigration policy in an interview with the Rheinische Post newspaper. Germany is at the limit of what the majority are ready to provide in humanitarian aid, he said, adding that realism cannot be sacrificed in a readiness for coalition. The three parties found common ground in areas of social policy and digital infrastructure during talks on Monday, but remained far apart on issues of immigration, fiscal and climate policies that divided them last week. Lindner said the Greens did not represent the majority of Germans on the issue of family reunification - allowing foreigners to join loved ones granted asylum in Germany. That is one of the most contentious issues in the coalition talks. All the parties are eager to show the public they are taking measures to prevent a repeat of 2015, when Merkel s decision to welcome people fleeing wars and persecution led to the largest influx of asylum seekers in the post-war years. But the Greens may not accept a conservative plan to suspend the right to family reunions for asylum seekers who have only been granted so-called subsidiary protection, starting in March 2018. The Greens say that would hamper integration. Those given subsidiary protection are given one-year visas that can be renewed, because it is deemed their home country is not safe. But they do not have full refugee status that would give them the right to stay. In the first phase, we haven t come close to solutions to conflicts, Lindner said of the exploratory talks on a Jamaica coalition, so called because the parties colors match those of the Jamaican national flag. Therefore, I still see the chances for Jamaica at 50-50. European reform is another area of contention between the three party groups. The FDP welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron s push for European integration and would like more security cooperation, Lindner said, but he resisted closer budget and fiscal ties. We would like to facilitate investment in the euro area. If there is a lack of money for that, we can talk. But joint liability, common risks - whether for national debt or deposits at our savings banks, cooperative banks or private banks - there is no room for maneuver there for the FDP, he said. | 1 |
11,092 | Even Foreign Leaders Are Responding To Charlottesville Better Than Trump Did | After a night of white supremacist marches in Charlottesville, Va, one of the Nazis drove his car through a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. In the wake of this tragedy, foreign leaders are giving better responses than our own president.Not wanting to alienate his racist base of supporters, Donald Trump responded by weakly condemning the many sides responsible for this senseless act of violence. On Monday, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed Trump how he should have responded.According to Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert, the German chancellor was shocked by the deadly white supremacist marches that took place in Virginia over the weekend and described the events as evil and disgusting. The scenes at the right-wing extremist march were absolutely repulsive naked racism, anti-Semitism and hate in their most evil form were on display, Siebert said. Such images and chants are disgusting wherever they may be and they are diametrically opposed to the political goals of the chancellor and the entire German government, he added.White supremacists descended on Charlottesville Friday night to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. They carried tiki torches and chanted we will not be replaced while giving Nazi salutes. On Saturday, one of the white supremacists who had attended the rally drove his car through a crowd of counter-protesters, leaving one woman dead and 19 others injured.Of course, Trump can t denounce this type of bullsh*t because these are the same people who voted him into the White House. It s a damn shame that he can t disavow Nazis but we really shouldn t be surprised. This is the same man who couldn t denounce David Duke. Trump has courted white supremacists from the very beginning of his campaign and now he has empowered them to take to the streets with their racism and hate.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
11,093 | Trump-Loving Pastor Absurdly Says Mexico Will Fund Border Wall Or Get Its ‘Legs Broken’ (VIDEO) | Much like the Republican front runner himself, Donald Trump s supporters also have a tendency to invoke violence any chance they get, as we ve seen proven time after time.On Tuesday, Ohio pastor and Trump fan Darrell Scott went on CNN to discuss Trump s plan for the U.S. border wall, and in no time caused the segment to completely derail. In speaking to fellow panelists Ben Ferguson and Margaret Hoover, Scott started by giving an absurd example of how Trump would force Mexico to pay for the wall (even though Mexico s president has flat-out refused and basically told Trump to f*ck off). Scott said: Mexico is going to pay directly, or Mexico is going to pay indirectly. It reminds me of a friend that I had years ago, OK? Let me say this for the record. He said, You re going to give me my money or I m going to break your legs and you re going to give me my money. Mexico will pay for the wall or Trump will break them down. Ferguson was quick to point out just how ridiculous Scott s example was as he fired back, We re not 12 years old. This is not your lunch money. Scott completely missed the valid point and continued on: I m tired of that 12-year-old stuff. They re gonna pay it directly, or they re gonna pay it indirectly. And putting a tax on Western Union transfers is not unreasonable. These comments came just shortly after Trump s campaign stated that if the business mogul wins the election, the candidate would ban money transfers from the United States into Mexico unless Mexico contributed $5-10 billion for his precious wall.Scott and Ferguson got into a heated back-and forth, and Ferguson told the ignorant pastor, You have no idea what you re talking about. You can watch the chaotic segment below, in which all the panelists get themselves all worked up over Trump: Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
11,094 | U.S. diplomat warns against isolationism in implicit Trump rebuke | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The longest-serving U.S. diplomat warned against isolationism, protectionism and Russian aggression on Friday in a retirement speech implicitly criticizing some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies even as he urged officials to serve the White House loyally. Ambassador Dan Fried argued that since becoming a world power over a century ago, the United States had largely pursued an open, rules-based world, rejected “spheres of influence” where great powers bully their neighbors and contributed to “the longest period of general peace in the West since Roman times.” “This track record suggests that an open, rules-based world, with a united West at its core, is an asset and great achievement, and a foundation for more,” the former assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs said as he wrapped up a nearly 40-year career at the U.S. State Department. “Yet, some argue that this is actually a liability, that values are a luxury, that in a Hobbesian or Darwinian world we should simply take our share, the largest possible,” he added. The comment was an implicit rebuke to the “America First” approach in which Trump has pledged to end what he sees as decades of other nations freeloading on U.S. security and exploiting trade agreements harmful to U.S. workers. In his speech, Fried noted “how improbable victory in the Cold War appeared” in the 1980s and he hailed the freeing of swathes of Europe, including Poland, where he served as U.S. ambassador, from Soviet domination. “This great achievement is now under assault by Russia,” he said. “It is for the present generation to defend and, when the time comes again, extend freedom in Europe.” While Fried is a skeptic of Russian intentions, colleagues described him as a pragmatist who led efforts to work with Russia as a White House aide under Bill Clinton after the fall of the Berlin Wall and later when serving George W. Bush. He is the latest member of a generation of experienced hands who have left U.S. diplomatic ranks in recent months. Some, like Fried, have retired voluntarily, while others Trump chose not to retain. Many current and former U.S. officials are troubled by Trump’s openness to closer ties with Russia, fearing this could lead to acquiescence in its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and, more broadly, in Russian domination of its other neighbors. Free trade advocates are also worried by Trump’s decision to abandon the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, his desire to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and his suggestion he could impose punitive tariffs. Fried argued against a winner-take-all attitude in which the great powers each try to carve up the world to their advantage. “Spheres of influence ... would mean our acquiescence when great powers – starting with Russia and China – dominated their neighbors through force and fear, while creating closed economic empires,” he said. “America would essentially retreat from whole areas of East Asia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.” In what appeared another implicit criticism of the current administration, whose efforts to clamp down on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations and on refugee admissions have been stymied by the courts, Fried said: “We are not an ethno-state, with identity rooted in shared blood.” The retiring diplomat also urged current officials to serve Trump and new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “with loyalty, dedication and courage.” “Help Secretary Tillerson. He deserves it. And he needs it. And help the president as well, putting your backs into it.” Among those who spoke at the event were former Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who took a dig at how long it has taken Trump to fill State Department jobs, including his own. “When Secretary (of State John) Kerry used to say to me as deputy, ‘you are truly irreplaceable,’ I thought it was just flattery,” Blinken said. “Who knew?” he added, to loud laughter. | 1 |
11,095 | strong solar storm tech risks today s news oct video | combat obesity with a balance of omega and omega the balance helps control health image credits camilo rueda lópezflickr
to tackle growing obesity rates diets need to include more omega fatty acids and fewer omegas according to a new report published in the online journal open heart
the group of experts believe a better balance of omega and in the diet is a more effective way of improving health than current nutrition policies which focus on calories and energy expenditure and have failed miserably over the past years say dr artemis simopoulos of the center for genetics nutrition and health washington dc and dr james dinicolantonio of saint lukes mid america heart institute kansas
but technological advances and modern farming methods have changed the omega to omega fatty acid ratio in the typical western diet | 0 |
11,096 | Man with sword injures police outside UK Queen's palace | (Reuters) - A man who assaulted police officers with a four-foot sword outside Queen Elizabeth s Buckingham Palace residence shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) was being questioned by counter-terrorism police on Saturday. Two unarmed officers suffered slight cuts as they detained the man, who drove at a police van on Friday evening, then took the sword from the front passenger foot-well of his car, London s Metropolitan Police said. It was too early to say what the man was planning to do, said Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met s Counter Terrorism Command. We believe the man was acting alone and we are not looking for other suspects at this stage, he said. It is only right that we investigate this as a terrorist incident at this time. Europe has been on high alert following a string of militant attacks, including four this year in Britain which killed 36 people. The country s threat level remains at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. No members of the royal family were present in the palace, which is a magnet for tourists in Britain s capital in the peak August holiday weekend. I want to thank the officers who acted quickly and bravely to protect the public last night demonstrating the dedication and professionalism of our police, Prime Minister Theresa May said in a message on Twitter. The suspect was initially arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault on police. He was then further arrested under Britain s Terrorism Act. Police said they were investigating a 26-year-old man from the Luton area, an ethnically diverse town 35 miles (55 km) north of London where police have carried out investigations linked to other militant attacks, including one earlier this year on London s Westminster Bridge. My partner saw a sword (...) as well as a policeman with blood on him, looking like his hand or chest was injured. The police officer had it in his hand, walking away with it, said an unnamed witness quoted by The Times newspaper, who said tourists were running away from the scene. Something happened before, which is why the people ran away. I m not sure what this was. But people were already scared and I saw the policeman pull the man from the car the witness said. The suspect was treated at a London hospital for minor injuries, and there were no other reported injuries. This is a timely reminder that the threat from terrorism in the UK remains severe, Haydon added. The police, together with the security services, are doing everything we can to protect the public and we already have an enhanced policing plan over the Bank Holiday weekend to keep the public safe. | 1 |
11,097 | Saudi Arabia should not forfeit 'sovereign' right to enrich uranium: senior prince | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia should not forfeit its sovereign right to one day enrich uranium under its planned civilian nuclear program, especially as world powers have allowed Iran to do so, a senior Saudi royal told Reuters. Former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal s comments reinforced Riyadh s stance on what is likely to be a sensitive issue in talks between Saudi Arabia and the United States on an agreement to help the kingdom develop atomic energy. Riyadh aims to start talks with the United States within weeks on a civilian nuclear cooperation pact, which is essential if U.S. firms are to bid in a multi-billion-dollar tender next year for building Saudi Arabia s first two nuclear reactors. The reactors will be part of a wider program to produce electricity from atomic energy so that the kingdom can export more crude oil. Riyadh says it wants nuclear technology only for peaceful uses but has left unclear whether it also wants to enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel, a process which can also be used in the production of atomic weapons. U.S. companies can usually transfer nuclear technology to another country only if the United States has signed an agreement with that country ruling out domestic uranium enrichment and the preprocessing of spent nuclear fuel steps that can have military uses. It s a sovereign issue. If you look at the agreement between the P5+1 with Iran specifically it allows Iran to enrich, Prince Turki, who now holds no government office but remains influential, said in an interview on Tuesday in Riyadh. He was referring to the six countries the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany that reached a deal with Tehran in 2015, under which economic sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for the Islamic Republic curbing its nuclear energy program. The world community that supports the nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran told Iran you can enrich although the NPT (global non-proliferation treaty) tells us all we can enrich, Prince Turki, a senior royal family member and a former ambassador to Washington, said. So the kingdom from that point of view will have the same right as the other members of the NPT, including Iran. SELF-SUFFICIENCY The dual technology has been at the heart of Western and regional concerns over the nuclear work of Iran, Saudi Arabia s regional rival. These worries helped lead to the 2015 deal, which allows Iran to enrich uranium to around the normal level needed for commercial power production. Atomic reactors need uranium enriched to around five percent purity but the same technology can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to higher, weapons-grade levels. Saudi Arabia plans to build 17.6 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity by 2032, the equivalent of around 16 reactors. Riyadh has previously said it wants to tap its own uranium resources for self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel. Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters on Wednesday that said these large resources were being explored, were promising and that Saudi Arabia would like to localize the industry in the long-term. Prince Turki said the only way to stop uranium enrichment would be by establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, a longstanding idea which has been backed by the U.N. s nuclear assembly. This is not going to happen overnight. You have to set a time scale for negotiations to include regional discussions between the prospective members of the zone on issues not just of nuclear, but of achieving peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, he said. | 1 |
11,098 | A $50,000 FREE-FOR-ALL FOR MINORITIES In The Biggest Obama Scandal Yet | PIGFORD has to be the biggest scam and fraud EVER but I ll bet most Americans haven t even heard about it. IT S ALL ABOUT FREE MONEY! Yes, free money for everyone EXCEPT you have to be a minority to get the $50,000 and it s taxpayer dollars so it s NOT free at all. Our government has spent over $4 BILLION dollars on what was to be a small program to help minority farmers who felt they were discriminated against:Essentially, the process encouraged people to lie and spawned a cottage industry. Claimants had only to file applications for a $50,000 payment by stating that they had thought about applying for loans to become a farmer. Where s Congress on this big taxpayer giveaway? Oh, they re voting for billions more to go to this scam of major proportions The Obama administration has again been protected from a troubling scandal by the mainstream media (MSM) using the tactic of omission to simply ignore the scandal, its reality, and the negative blowback attendant to a disturbing story. As sunlight began to illuminate the scandal s inconvenient and troubling facts, charges of racism were used to temporarily silence those sounding the alarm. Seemingly, the alarm-ringers only crime was having the temerity to respond with a politically incorrect point of view to abuses.The underreported scandal referenced is generally identified as Pigford. Pigford s germination occurred in 1997 as a lawsuit (Pigford vs. Glickman) alleging that 91 African-American farmers were unfairly denied loans by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) due to racial discrimination which prevented the complainants from farming. In 1999, the black farmers won their case.Pigford has the distinction of being an out-of-control waste of taxpayer funds and/or a cynical attempt by the Obama administration to curry favor with certain minority groups to which neither President Obama nor Attorney General Eric Holder can plead ignorance of involvement. Both have had knowledge since the court ruled on the Pigford lawsuit; in 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama supported and voted for the funding of the initial settlement. Since then, Eric Holder (and Obama) have been involved in overseeing and managing the Pigford judgment fund. Yet can Pigford be fairly described as a scandal?Pigford began innocently enough: as a lawsuit to redress a perceived wrong against a group of 91. But then the number climbed to 400 .then 1,600 then The number of black farmers has metastasized nay, exploded and the aggrieved group now includes not only blacks, but Hispanics, Native Americans, and females. In fact over 90,000 people have filed claims seeking a payment under the terms of the original Pigford court ruling. That decision, now referred to as Pigford #1, was anticipated to cost approximately $120 million, including legal fees.Pigford #2 is the appellation used to identify an expanded payment regime that funds more payments to African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and females. This regimen grew out of the fact that thousands of claimants missed the original Pigford #1 filing deadline of October 12, 1999. Interestingly, Native American potential claimants were estimated at 5,300, while plaintiff lawyers pegged the exposure at an estimated 19,000 Native Americans. The judgment fund announced by Agricultural Secretary Thomas Vilsack and Eric Holder in 2010 was expanded from just over $120 million to $1.25 billion, given the expectation of many more filers.However, the explosion of claimants has caused payouts to reach $4.4 billion and has swelled legal fees to over $130 million. More importantly, the claim s process created a rush to get a share of the monies allocated to the judgment fund, even if no real claim existed. Essentially, the process encouraged people to lie and spawned a cottage industry. Claimants had only to file applications for a $50,000 payment by stating that they had thought about applying for loans to become a farmer. Proof of a claimant s intent to farm also included a statement from that petitioner saying he or she had attempted to farm by planting a batch of tomatoes in his or her backyard and having that statement verified by a family member. In essence, the need to be a farmer at the time of the alleged discriminatory actions by the USDA was not a requirement to share in the financial redress.Fraud was endemic to the claims process for example, every apartment in a New York City building received a settlement of at least $50,000. Further, some families received checks of $50,000 for each family member.Read more: American Thinker | 0 |
11,099 | Russian bombers hit Islamic State targets in Syria: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Defence Ministry said on Friday six TU-22M3 long-range bombers had carried out air strikes on Islamic State targets on the western bank of the Euphrates river in Syria, the RIA news agency reported. Militants strongholds and groups were among the targets hit by the bombers, the ministry said. | 1 |
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