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11,100 | Trump Threatens To ‘Change Libel Laws’ To Sue People Who Criticize Him In Twitter Meltdown | Here s another hole in the leaky ship that is the argument Trump shouldn t be taken literally when he makes threats. Trump has circled back to his campaign promise to make changes to libel laws that would allow him to go after journalists and news organizations which publish things he doesn t like. He held out for less than three months.Trump s rediscovered love of censorship comes on the heels of several straight days of Trump freaking out about the New York Times reporting on his various scandals. And it s probably no coincidence that Trump is reconsidering press freedom right as his approval rating hits historic lows (the worst since Nixon was impeached and a record low for any president at this stage in office).In a culmination of Trump s rant against the New York Times, he called for a change in libel laws and used an article written by the New York Post a right-leaning daily owned by Rupert Murdoch to pretend his troubles are due to the liberal media and not his own incompetence.The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws? https://t.co/QIqLgvYLLi Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017The article shows how thoroughly unserious it is just three sentences in when it repeats the lie that the New York Times apologized to readers for being so biased against Trump. The paper did no such thing. The only other person who routinely suggests that it did is none other than Trump himself. The relationship between the New York Post and Donald Trump is an orange-painted echo chamber.Trump s belief that he can pass libel laws to restrict what the press says about him is terrifying, but not original. He made similar remarks during the campaign. Here s Trump channeling a dictator in February 2016: One of the things I m going to do if I win, and I hope we do and we re certainly leading. I m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they re totally protected. As the old adage goes, he told us who he was, we should have believed him.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
11,101 | White House says Trump tweet meets Comey tapes records request | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said in a letter on Friday that a tweet by President Donald Trump on Thursday was the formal answer to a request by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee for information about records of conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey. The letter to Republican Representative Mike Conaway, who is leading the panel’s investigation into Russian interference to the 2016 election, and Representative Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat, said: “In response to the committee’s inquiry, we refer you to President Trump’s June 22, 2017, statement regarding this matter.” The House panel said on June 9 it had written to Don McGahn, the White House counsel, asking about the existence of any recordings or memos covering Comey’s conversations with Trump and asked that copies of the materials be provided to the panel by June 23. Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday, a day before the deadline, that he did not know if there were recordings of his conversations with Comey, but he did not make or have any such recordings. Conaway told reporters Friday morning that Trump’s tweet was not a sufficient response. Schiff said in a statement on Thursday that Trump’s Twitter comment stopped short of denying the White House had tapes or recordings and said the White House must respond in writing. (This version of the story corrects Conaway’s role to leader of investigation from chairman in second paragraph) | 1 |
11,102 | associated press reporter admits faking news stories for hillary clinton stunning admission reveals how ap prints whatever the clintons want facts be damned | by sarah jones on fri oct th at pm matthew miller self described recovering flack from doj dscc schooled republican fbi director james comey for violating his power and lambasted him for commenting on a case within days of an election share on twitter print this post
former doj spokesman for eric holder matthew miller a self described recovering flack from doj dscc schooled republican fbi director james comey for violating his power and lambasted him for commenting on a case within days of an election
the department and the fbi have very strict rules about when they can comment on ongoing cases and director comey has violated those rules going back to his original press conference when he closed the case miller said on cnn but this latest example violates a long standing practice which is that the department goes out of its way not to do anything that can be seen as trying to influence an election in the closing days of an election and usually they interpret the closing days to be seen as the last days let alone the last days
watch here
miller also held school on twitter about comeys abuse of power which has led to hillary clinton having to defend against a negative i wrote a piece in july on why comeys public comments about clinton were such an inappropriate abuse of power httpstcogcrozqwz
matthew miller matthewamiller october he flagrantly violated doj rules with his press conference then went on to break new ground discussing details of the case to congress
matthew miller matthewamiller october followed by quickly releasing fbi s something they rarely do and which i doubt they will do for future highprofile cases
matthew miller matthewamiller october each time he either violated or seriously stretched doj rule precedent press conference was the original sin it begat the rest
matthew miller matthewamiller october but todays disclosure might be worst abuse yet doj goes out of its way to avoid publicly discussing investigations close to election
matthew miller matthewamiller october not just public discussion either often wont send subpoenas or take other steps that might leak until after an election is over
matthew miller matthewamiller october why because voters have no way to interpret fbidoj activity in a neutral way who is the target of an investigation what conduct
matthew miller matthewamiller october this might be totally benign not even involve clinton but no way for press or voters to know that easy for opponent to make hay over
matthew miller matthewamiller october which takes us back to the original rule you dont comment on ongoing investigations then multiply that times ten close to an election
matthew miller matthewamiller october for whatever reason there are many theories comey continues to ignore that but only for clinton
matthew miller matthewamiller october fbi is undoubtedly investigating links between the russian hack manafort the trump campaign but arent commenting on it good
matthew miller matthewamiller october
miller points out this just smells worse and worse the more we learn linking to this emails were not to or from clinton and appeared like info fbi already had wtf httpstcoysjwfwgzi
ken gude kengude october
the problem with comeys actions isnt that he is investigating hillary clinton the problem is he is violating long standing rules that prohibit federal employees from doing anything that could be seen as political near an election it is an established rule that ongoing investigations arent commented on for obvious reasons
this is quite simply not done comeys reasons for doing this are unclear and perhaps when he provides more information his decision will make more sense but its troubling that we are seeing such a consistent breakdown of tradition and rulesagreements of law surrounding the trump campaign which seems to have lowered the bar all around
fbi director james comey schooled by former doj spokesman for abusing his power added by sarah jones on fri oct th | 0 |
11,103 | Macedonia's pro-Western Social Democrats claim victory in local elections | SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia s ruling Social Democrats claimed victory in municipal elections on Sunday, signaling large-scale support for the new government that has pledged to speed up the small Balkan country s accession to NATO and the European Union. The Social Democrats of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE, which had ruled Macedonia for a decade, faced off in about 50 municipalities in which Macedonians make up the majority. Ethnic Albanians make up the majority in the remaining 35 municipalities. SDSM party official Mile Zecevic said his party won in 40 municipalities, calling it a victory of democracy. Victory secured the Social Democrats the backing to implement their pro-Western policies, which the nationalists see as damaging for the state and its citizens. Zaev took office in May, nearly six months after December elections, ending a two-year political crisis over a wiretapping scandal that brought down the previous government. His coalition deal with parties representing ethnic Albanians, who make up nearly one third of the country s population, angered nationalists, who stormed the parliament in April after an ethnic Albanian was elected parliament s speaker. VMRO-DPMNE, the single biggest party in the parliament, questioned the regularity of the vote. Party leader and former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said Sunday s vote passed in undemocratic atmosphere and unfair conditions. During the campaign, Zaev said: Macedonia will be the 30th member of NATO and will start (membership) negotiations with the EU. He also pledged to make progress in talks with Greece over a name dispute. Greece has blocked Skopje s efforts to join the EU and NATO, saying the name Macedonia implies a territorial claim to its own northern province of the same name. Macedonia, an ex-Yugoslav republic of about 2 million people, declared independence in 1991 and avoided the violence that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was later rocked by an insurgency among its large ethnic Albanian minority that almost tore the country apart in 2001. | 1 |
11,104 | WATCH: This Video Of The GOP’S Convention Horror Show Should Terrify Everyone Who Sees It | The recently concluded Republican National Convention in Cleveland was a four-day never-ending cavalcade of dystopian nightmares, racism, fascism, sexism, and all the worst of America rolled into one.This video, produced by Blue Nation Review, compiles bits and pieces from the convention floor and the people assembled outside of the event to paint a picture of what has become of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.https://www.facebook.com/bluenationreview/videos/614383415410204/Not only does it show the convention speakers people like Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani leading the crowd in bloodcurdling chants to lock up Hillary Clinton, but it also showcases some of the bizarre comments speakers made while speaking about why they attended.Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. points out to a shocked TV crew that he thinks Obama is a Muslim working against America, while Newt Gingrich gives Melania Trump a pass for stealing Michelle Obama s speech because she s beautiful. Conspiracy theorist and Trump ally Alex Jones is shown, leading a rally calling for Clinton to be thrown in jail. Jones, who believes that the 9/11 attack was executed by the U.S. government, is a staunch Trump supporter, and Trump has appeared on his radio show.Even more shocking are the interviews with average Americans who attended the Convention. They proudly point out to the interviewers that they oppose same-sex rights for gays, believe that Obama is a black nationalist, blame Jews for controlling the world, and believe there isn t anything wrong with calling for white supremacy.At the end of the video, Trump is shown in his acceptance speech, dispensing with dog whistle politics as the Republican Party has previously done and instead explicitly telling these people that if elected President of the United States he will be their voice. It is hard to watch this compilation and see the Republican Party and the conservative movement as simply a benign political movement anymore. Instead, they come across as a very clear threat to what America stands for.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
11,105 | Republican Senate candidate Moore hit by sexual misconduct allegations | (Reuters) - A woman has accused Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, of initiating a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 years old and he was 32, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, prompting top Republicans to say he should step aside if the allegations prove true. Moore, 70, the state’s former chief judge, vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “completely false and a desperate political attack.” U.S. President Donald Trump would want Moore to step aside if the allegations against him are true, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Friday. “Like most Americans, the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life,” Sanders said. “However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside,” she said, as Trump arrived in Vietnam on his 12-day Asia tour. In a series of Twitter posts later in the day, Moore cast the published allegations against him part of a bid to “silence and shut up Christian conservatives like you and me,” adding “I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight!” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, working with a slim 52-48 majority, called on Moore to drop out of the race “if these allegations are true.” Several other Republicans, including Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and Utah Senator Mike Lee, all of whom endorsed Moore, echoed that sentiment. At least two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and John Thune of South Dakota, said Moore should step aside immediately, with McCain calling the accusations “deeply disturbing and disqualifying.” Leigh Corfman, now 53, told the Post she met Moore at a courthouse in 1979 when Moore offered to keep her company on a bench outside of a hearing room while her mother was inside for child custody proceeding. Moore, at the time an assistant district attorney, asked for the girl’s phone number and days later took her to his house, where they engaged in sexual activity before she asked to be taken home, Corfman said. The story also quoted three other women who said Moore dated them when they were between 16 and 18 years of age and he was in his early 30s, though none said they had sexual contact with Moore. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the allegations. The Moore campaign accused the Post of colluding with Democrats to tarnish his reputation with false accusations. The Post said none of the women had donated to or worked for Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, or for his Republican primary rivals, and that Corfman said she had voted for Republicans in the past three presidential elections, including for Donald Trump in 2016. Moore has consistently led in polls over Jones. He was considered a heavy favorite in deeply Republican Alabama in the Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It remains to be see whether Thursday’s allegations can buoy Jones’ long-shot bid, which would represent a major upset for Democrats and narrow Republicans’ current edge in the Senate. Jones’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Post story. No matter what happens, Moore will remain on the ballot on Dec. 12 since a candidate’s name cannot be removed within 76 days of the election, according to the office of Alabama’s secretary of state. If, however, the state party tells election officials that it wants to withdraw its nominee, or if Moore himself decided to do so, election officials would not certify any votes cast for Moore. Write-in candidates are also allowed under state law. Alabama political strategist David Mowery, who has worked for candidates of both parties, said the chance of Moore bowing out of the race was “less than zero,” and that it was almost as improbable for state party officials to abandon him in favor of a last-minute write-in candidate. Mowery cited Moore’s overwhelming popularity with Alabama’s Republican voters, who he said would tend to distrust allegations published in the Post. Nevertheless, he said Democrats would seize on the scandal to boost fund-raising. Moore, who has made his moral and religious beliefs the heart of his pitch to voters, prevailed over several Republican opponents in a closely contested primary that saw Trump, McConnell and most Senate Republicans support the incumbent who had been appointed to Sessions’ seat, Luther Strange. The race exposed rifts between the Republican Party’s conservative base and its Washington-based establishment. Moore’s candidacy was heavily promoted by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who has vowed to support grassroots challengers next year to take on Republican incumbents. On several occasions, Moore has made controversial statements and taken positions that have cost him his job. He has condemned homosexuality and said he believes some U.S. communities are living under Islamic religious law. He first became a national figure in the early 2000s, when he lost his position as Alabama chief justice after refusing a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from outside the courthouse. After winning his position back in 2012, he was again forced out after defying the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage by ordering probate judges not to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On his Senate campaign website, Moore said he was suspended “for upholding the sanctity of marriage as between one man and one woman.” | 1 |
11,106 | Nine killed as Rohingya aid truck crashes in Bangladesh | DHAKA (Reuters) - A truck carrying relief supplies for Rohingya Muslim refugees skidded off a hilly road in Bangladesh and plunged into a paddy field on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 10, police and aid workers said. The accident happened in a district near the Myanmar border where refugees have been arriving since late last month to escape a Myanmar military offensive against insurgents that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing. Six died on the spot while three died on the way to hospital, A. K. M. Jahangir, a senior official with the Red Crescent relief group, told Reuters. Some of the injured were in critical condition, he added. The dead and injured were laborers, traveling in the truck to help distribute the aid supplies. About 422,000 refugees from Myanmar have poured into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts triggered the Myanmar army offensive in response. Buddhist-majority Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing, saying its security forces are tackling Rohingya terrorists. | 1 |
11,107 | A Mole In The White House Just Revealed Obama’s SCOTUS Pick – Even The GOP Can’t Deny It (IMAGE) | Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, and a very reputable source at that, just came forward and announced there is a mole in the White House. And, that mole has information concerning President Obama s selection of the next Supreme Court Justice of The United States (SCOTUS).As you may know by now, Republicans are hell-bent on doing anything and everything they can to block Obama s right to nominate the next SCOTUS, no matter who he picks. Well, that s going to be a problem because this pick is absolutely perfect.Why do we say that? For one, Republicans unanimously nominated him just three years ago (97-0) to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Yes, you read that right, 97-0. How on earth could the Republicans deny him now? If you re familiar with the selection, you d know I m talking about Judge Sri Srinivasan. He s Asian-American and Indian-American, and would be the first minority from both groups to hold the honor if nominated.But, his minority status is not the only reason he s an excellent choice for Democrats. He d be almost impossible for the GOP to deny. But, don t plan on them not trying. I mean, they just don t care who Obama nominates, plain and simple. This is an election year, and they ll fight him at all costs.Still, his record is hard to deny. Obama has called him a trailblazer who personifies the best of America. He s worked in the Justice Department under George W. Bush for five years, and twelve former Solicitors General, including Republicans, have endorsed his prior nomination despite his arguing against conservative causes like the Defense of Marriage Act. He didn t think it was constitutional given the fact that it placed limits on same-sex couples.Pic via Facebook.While the pick is far from finalized, you can be sure to take this pick to the bank. Don t expect President Obama to twiddle his thumbs for too long on this one. He s ready for a fight, and will pick the best nominee, without a doubt.But, just in case you re curious, a few other unofficial names are floating around that would be great nominees as well, and are rumored to be on Obama s short-list.Patricia Ann MillettShe also hails from the influential D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Senate confirmed her back in 2013 by a vote of 56-38. Not nearly as impressive as Judge Srinivasan s unanimous selection, but still a contender given her background. She s 50 and has a background working in both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.Here s why she would be a wise choice: There s only one other woman that has ever argued more cases before the Supreme Court (32 in all) than her. Impressive, indeed.Loretta LynchShe s the Attorney General of The United States. She s only been in the position since April 2015, not very long. While we don t believe Obama will pick her, it d be impossible not to have her name mentioned.In the short time that she s been Attorney General, she s already filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city of Ferguson and indicted nine FIFA executives for their match-fixing scandal. If Obama picks a woman, it will be the third woman in a row nominated to the court.Paul WatfordSome people are saying this is the most likely selection to replace Antonin Scalia, but then again, they don t have a mole in the White House like Robert Reich does.Watford is an African-American and confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in 2012. He used to clerk for a conservative judge Alex Kozinski, and he s considered to be a moderate. He s also in his 40 s, which would make him a long standing member of the court if selected.Again, though, we stress that none of these nominees were unanimously selected like Judge Srinivasan. Expect Obama to go forward with the selection after his administration can gather up enough information on Republican s opposition to him. Hey, that s what moles are good for.Featured image via White House | 0 |
11,108 | Row over Pakistani paramilitary unit fuels political confusion | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An unexplained dispute between Pakistan s interior minister and an elite paramilitary unit under his command is adding to political confusion in Islamabad, prompting questions about a rift in ties between civilian leaders and the powerful military. The spat comes at a moment of heightened concern over the feverish political climate in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which the United States seeks to include in its new strategy for South Asia. Interior Minister Ashan Iqbal was taken by surprise when the elite Rangers unit, which provides security around parliament, withdrew its guards without explanation on Wednesday. I was told the Rangers have unilaterally withdrawn from the important installations where they were on duty, which, for us, was shocking, Iqbal told domestic television channel Dawn News. This was a gross violation. Outside parliament on Thursday, the Frontier Constabulary was on guard instead. A police official on duty confirmed the Rangers were no longer stationed there. The order for them to leave did not come from the interior ministry, it must have come from somewhere else, said the official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic. The Pakistan Army s public relations wing denied any military involvement in the incident, attributing it to poor coordination. It was a local miscoordination, that got a lot of hype. I don t think there is a clash of institutions, Major General Asif Ghafoor said at a press briefing. The army will do what it needs to do within the constitution. But to create a perception that the army wants to impose martial law, these are things which are not even to be talked about, he added. Rangers officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Iqbal did not immediately respond to Reuters telephone calls to seek comment. Pakistan s military has ruled the country for 33 of the 70 years since independence from Britain in 1947. Since 2008, there have been democratically elected governments, but the army retains sweeping influence and any hint of discord stirs worries among advocates of a strong civilian government. The Rangers had this week denied Iqbal entry to a court building where matters relating to an anti-graft case against Sharif were being heard, prompting him to threaten to resign, saying he refused to be a puppet interior minister . The moves follow July s Supreme Court disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which he blamed on a conspiracy against him, feeding speculation about a rupture in civilian-military ties. Senior leaders from Sharif s Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party pointed fingers at the country s military after his disqualification for not declaring a source of income. The army denies playing a role. But the Rangers departure from the area around parliament points to a persistent disagreement between civilian and military leaders, one analyst said. They can t just leave their posts, said Zeeshan Salahuddin, communications and strategy director of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies. If they have done so without orders, that clearly shows the continuing rift between the two, and the displeasure of the military. We have concerns about the future of Pakistan s government too, in terms of them we want their government to be stable, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, following a meeting with Pakistan s foreign minister on Wednesday. The government will take action after completing an inquiry into the withdrawal, Iqbal added. The Rangers are a force subordinate to the ministry of the interior and when they are deployed, they are supposed to work under the civil administration, he said. | 1 |
11,109 | BUSTED! HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON’S MASSIVE Money Laundering Scheme With For-Profit University Makes Trump University Accusation Look Like Small Potatoes | They preyed on the poor in Latin America. They promised them an education, but the real goal was about turning a profit. No, we re not talking about the Democrat party, we re talking about the sleazy Clinton Crime Syndicate, headed up by a serial sexual abuser and his habitual liar wife. You may have heard of her, she s the Democrat party s frontrunner in the upcoming presidential race With her campaign sinking in the polls, Hillary Clinton has launched a desperate attack against Trump University to deflect attention away from her deep involvement with a controversial for-profit college that made the Clintons millions, even as the school faced serious legal scrutiny and criminal investigations. In April 2015, Bill Clinton was forced to abruptly resign from his lucrative perch as honorary chancellor of Laureate Education, a for-profit college company. The reason for Clinton s immediate departure: Clinton Cash revealed, and Bloomberg confirmed, that Laureate funneled Bill Clinton $16.46 million over five years while Hillary Clinton s State Dept. pumped at least $55 million to a group run by Laureate s founder and chairman, Douglas Becker, a man with strong ties to the Clinton Global Initiative. Laureate has donated between $1 million and $5 million (donations are reported in ranges, not exact amounts) to the Clinton Foundation. Progressive billionaire George Soros is also a Laureate financial backer.As the Washington Post reports, Laureate has stirred controversy throughout Latin America, where it derives two-thirds of its revenue. During Bill Clinton s tenure as Laureate s chancellor, the school spent over $200 million a year on aggressive telemarketing, flashy Internet banner ads, and billboards designed to lure often unprepared students from impoverished countries to enroll in its for-profit classes. The goal: get as many students, regardless of skill level, signed up and paying tuition. I meet people all the time who transfer here when they flunk out elsewhere, agronomy student Arturo Bisono, 25, told the Post. This has become the place you go when no one else will accept you. Others, like Rio state legislator Robson Leite who led a probe into Bill Clinton s embattled for-profit education scheme, say the company is all about extracting cash, not educating students. They have turned education into a commodity that focuses more on profit than knowledge, said Leite.Progressives have long excoriated for-profit education companies for placing profits over quality pedagogy. Still, for five years, Bill Clinton allowed his face and name to be plastered all over Laureate s marketing materials. As Clinton Cash reported, pictures of Bill Clinton even lined the walkways at campuses like Laureate s Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey. That Laureate has campuses in Turkey is odd, given that for-profit colleges are illegal there, as well as in Mexico and Chile where Laureate also operates.Shortly after Bill Clinton s lucrative 2010 Laureate appointment, Hillary Clinton s State Dept. began pumping millions of its USAID dollars to a sister nonprofit, International Youth Foundation (IYF), which is run by Laureate s founder and chairman, Douglas Becker. Indeed, State Dept. funding skyrocketed once Bill Clinton got on the Laureate payroll, according to Bloomberg:A Bloomberg examination of IYF s public filings show that in 2009, the year before Bill Clinton joined Laureate, the nonprofit received 11 grants worth $9 million from the State Department or the affiliated USAID. In 2010, the group received 14 grants worth $15.1 million. In 2011, 13 grants added up to $14.6 million. The following year, those numbers jumped: IYF received 21 grants worth $25.5 million, including a direct grant from the State Department.For entire story: Breitbart News | 0 |
11,110 | Barbara Boxer DESTROYS Carly Fiorina After She’s Announced As Ted Cruz’s V.P. (Tweets) | It s a shame Barbara Boxer is leaving the Senate. A fierce defender of working families and minority communities, Boxer is the kind of firebrand progressive we need in the Senate. She s also one of the funniest, apparently.In 2010, when Republicans swept the House of Representatives and picked up six seats in the Senate, Boxer faced Carly Fiorina, who mounted a tough and controversial campaign to unseat Boxer in California.In the end, Boxer prevailed, garnering 52 percent of the vote to Fiorina s 42 percent. After that, Fiorina, a sore loser, packed up and moved to Virginia, leaving California behind.Now she s Cruz s vice presidential choice (should he win the nomination). Well, with this rather unusual and obviously pandering move Cruz admitted he needs Fiorina to win California Boxer wasn t going to hold back.Taking to Twitter, Boxer took Fiorina and Ted Cruz to task in the most brilliant way possible:.@TedCruz talks tough on Iran, but his running mate was soft on Iran when she skirted the law to sell them computer parts. Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) April 27, 2016 Slogan idea for the Cruz/Fiorina ticket : Mean & Meaner Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) April 27, 2016Cruz/Fiorina= a perfect match. He wants to ship immigrants out and she s a champion at shipping jobs out. Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) April 27, 2016 Cruz thinks Fiorina will help in California. Maybe he doesn t know Carly left after she lost by a million votes? Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) April 27, 2016And this last one is quite possibly the best commentary on the subject:I predict that the latest @CarlyFiorina merger will be as successful as her last one. Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) April 27, 2016John Dingell is the king of Twitter, and now it appears Barbara Boxer is the queen. If Ted Cruz thinks his new Hail Carly move will secure a win in California, maybe he should have considered just how much of a loser she is in California.If Boxer s prediction is correct, Cruz s merger with Fiorina will be as successful as her last one, and Donald Trump will be the nominee, thus giving us President Hillary Clinton.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty | 0 |
11,111 | Trump Freaks Out, Talks ‘World War Three’ (VIDEO) | Donald Trump, increasingly desperate as the election begins to slip away, has begun simply making up nightmare scenarios that he claims would occur if Hillary Clinton wins the upcoming presidential election. Speaking to Reuters, Trump said Clinton has no plan for Syria and with her you ll end up in World War Three. He went on to claim that the former Secretary of State doesn t know what she s doing and would be unprepared to lead if elected President.Yet despite Trump s criticism, he is the one who has been on record during the entirety of the campaign expressing extreme views about national security and foreign policy. Declaring that he loves war, Trump has promised to bomb the hell out of ISIS, torture America s enemies (even though experts say that increases danger and terrorism), and vowed to commit war crimes by killing the families of terrorists.As a result, Trump has seen an unprecedented backlash against his campaign. Many foreign policy experts who served under previous Republican presidents George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush now back Clinton and oppose Trump, because they believe he would be an erratic leader with access to America s gigantic nuclear arsenal and military.For her part, Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have repeatedly made clear that with their experience in proximity to major crises that Trump would not have the mettle to make calm and level headed decisions. Clinton has cited Trump s habit of making Twitter tirades at three o clock in the morning as evidence that he has disqualified himself.Arguing without merit that Clinton would trigger World War III while polling shows that Trump at best has between a 9% to 15% chance at winning enough electoral votes to become President will not help the negative perceptions held about him amongst the public at large.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
11,112 | Sore Winner: Trump Attacks Clinton With Putin’s Help | If Donald Trump wanted people to think he isn t joined at the hip to Russian president Vladimir Putin, this is a strange way to do it. Apparently not satisfied with his own attacks on Hillary Clinton, Trump has now resorted to citing Putin to somehow add extra venom to his catty remarks about the former Democratic presidential nominee.President-elect Donald Trump agreed with Vladimir Putin s assessment of the Hillary Clinton s loss in the 2016 presidential election in a Friday night tweet.The Russian president said Democrats were losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame and said that the loss degrades their own dignity, according to the Washington Post. Outstanding figures in American history from the ranks of the Democratic Party would likely be turning in their graves. Roosevelt certainly would be, Putin told a group of journalists in Moscow, according to the paper.Putin is celebrating the results of the election going his way, as he has had something of a vendetta against Clinton for years after she opposed him while serving as secretary of state.The double-edged attack comes on the heels of revelations that Putin allegedly directed hackers to go after Clinton, stealing emails from Democratic officials including her campaign chairman John Podesta, later delivering those emails to WikiLeaks who published them for the world to see.Trump has denied that Russia stole the emails, instead arguing that it is unknown who did the hacking. But Trump has actually received intelligence briefings indicating Russian guilt, which he has chosen to ignore in his public statements.The attacks on Clinton also highlight that Trump is still sore about the fact that while he won the election via the Electoral College, he was still the recipient of less raw votes than Clinton. For all time the historical record will show that nearly 3 million more people voted for Clinton over him.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
11,113 | Women fail to crack China's glass ceiling as party picks new leaders | (This October 25 story has been corrected to change pronoun to he from she to correct gender of quoted delegate in final paragraph) By John Ruwitch BEIJING (Reuters) - Every time China s ruling Communist Party convenes a major gathering, like the congress that just ended in Beijing, the list of delegates is hand-crafted in part to burnish the party s image as representative of the masses - including giving some prominence to those in more menial jobs and ethnic minorities. Yet one group is chronically under-represented among the political elite: women. The founding father of communist China, Mao Zedong, may have once said that women hold up half the sky but when the twice-a-decade party congress selected a new batch of top leaders this week, females weren t holding up much at all. No women made it onto the elite Politburo Standing Committee, the group of seven men at the pinnacle of the party. None ever have. In the new Politburo, only one of its 25 members is a woman Sun Chunlan, head of the party body charged with outreach to non-Communists. It is her second term and she is likely to retire in five years. On the previous Politburo, there were two women, Sun and Vice Premier Liu Yandong - who is past retirement age and has stepped down from the Politburo. One rung down, just 4.9 percent of the new Central Committee, a mere 10 of the body s 204 members, are women. That number was unchanged from the outgoing Central Committee, which presided for five years, but lower than in 2007-2012 when there were 13. The State Council Information Office, which doubles as the party s propaganda department, did not respond to faxed questions for comment on why there are so few women in senior party positions. By way of comparison, five members of U.S. President Donald Trump s 24-member cabinet are women, and about 20 percent of the U.S. Congress are female. In Japan, two out of 20 members of the cabinet are women as are about 10 percent of the lower house lawmakers newly elected on Sunday. At the Chinese party congress itself, the overall numbers were stronger: about a quarter of its 2,287 delegates were women - roughly commensurate with the proportion in the roughly 90 million-member party. But with most senior leadership posts in the hands of men, activist Xiong Jing, an NGO project manager who edits a feminist social media site, said many of the women delegates to the party congress were there merely as decoration . This problem is a clich , she said. With the political system as it is now, I think even if more women were involved, whether as party congress delegates or in government, they may be very limited in what they can do. The party takes the appearance of representativeness seriously when it comes to some groups. At party congresses and annual sessions of parliament, there are delegates from China s 56 different ethnic groups, every branch of the military and police, private businesses, the state sector and, of course, the government. The party congress this year featured delegates who were astronauts, athletes, actors, judges, farmers and more. There was even a delegate representing housekeepers, who showed up in her apron and maid s cap. For women in general in China, political empowerment is lacking. China ranked 74th in political empowerment of women out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum s global Gender Gap Report last year. In 2006, it was no. 52 out of 115. Leta Hong Fincher, a New York-based sociologist and author of the forthcoming book Betraying Big Brother: The Rise of China s Feminist Resistance , says women in China are losing ground amid a resurgence of traditional gender norms. It s my impression that the Communist Party is fundamentally not interested in having women at the senior levels at all, she said. In China s pre-reform command economy under Mao, women were drafted into the workforce and recruited into nation-building. The most powerful woman since the communist takeover in 1949 was Mao s third wife, Jiang Qing. She and members of her Gang of Four were arrested after Mao s death in 1976 and blamed for the excesses of the chaotic Cultural Revolution. More recently, Hong Fincher says, the party has been spooked by China s demographic challenges - an aging population, shrinking labor force and falling birth rates - and has aggressively promoted the idea that women should be getting married and having babies. To be sure, in Chinese business there are some prominent female chief executives, such as Zhang Xin at real estate developer Soho China and Zhou Qunfei, the billionaire founder of Lens Technology. And the party and government pay lip service to gender equality. The state constitution guarantees women the same rights as men. The government ... wants to appear to be taking gender equality seriously, when in reality it is not. It is actually in full retreat with regard to gender equality, Hong Fincher said. The election process for party congress delegates is tightly controlled, with candidates vetted for their loyalty to the party and leadership. But congress delegate Tang Jialing, who is a crew member on a deep-sea research submersible, suggested that the lack of women reflected the will of the people. We are the party of the people. It s the people who voted in more men than women. It s the people s choice, he said. | 1 |
11,114 | Saudi Arabia hopes U.S. will not recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has expressed hope the United States would not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and warned such a decision would have serious implications, state news agency SPA reported on Tuesday. The recognition will have very serious implications and will be provocative to all Muslims feelings, SPA said quoting an unnamed official source at the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The United States administration should take into account the negative implications of such a move and the Kingdom s hope not to take such a decision as this will affect the U.S. ability to continue its attempt of reaching a just solution for the Palestinian cause, the statement added. On Monday, Saudi Arabia s Ambassador in Washington Prince Khalid bin Salman said any U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem before a final settlement is reached in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would hurt the peace process and heighten regional tensions. The kingdom s policy - has been - and remains in support of the Palestinian people, and this has been communicated to the U.S. administration, Prince Khalid said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing whether to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital but has not yet made a decision, his son-in-law and envoy for Middle East peace Jared Kushner said on Sunday. A senior administration official said last week Trump could make such an announcement on Wednesday. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital. Palestinians want the eastern portion of it to be the capital of a future state. U.S. policy for decades has been to reserve judgment on both claims until the parties agree Jerusalem s status in a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. | 1 |
11,115 | Episode #120 – SUNDAY WIRE: ‘Crisis of Liberty’ with guests Jason Casella and Kim Upton | Episode #120 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW finally resumes this Sunday Jan. 24, 2016 presented by host Patrick Henningsen with 3 HOURS of power-packed talk radio LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:SUNDAYS 5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET (US) | 9am-12pm PT (US)This week s very special edition of THE SUNDAY WIRE is broadcasting LIVE, as host Patrick Henningsen returns this week with another very special show, covering the top news stories internationally. In the first hour we ll look at the latest campaign of fear surrounding the Zika Virus, and also a deeper look this week s dramatic conclusion to the Oregon Standoff. In the second hour we re joined by special guest, independent activist Jason Casella from PANDA UNITE and the Solutions Institute to discuss his recent experience at the Oregon Standoff, and talk about America s crisis of liberty , as well as some positive trends in activism today. In the third hour we re joined by a very special guest live from Great Britain, personal coach and SGI Buddhist practitioner, Kim Upton, to discuss the state of the world today and whether or not mankind will be able to overcome the challenges that threaten to radically alter our 21st century civilization.Strap yourselves in and lower the blast shield this is your brave new world *NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN SOME STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES* // <![CDATA[ broadstreet.zone(46707); // ]]> | 0 |
11,116 | That Time Donald Trump Posed As His Own Spokesman To Brag About Himself (VIDEO) | Donald Trump is pretty terrible. He s exactly the sort of person who would suggest that Muslims be banned from entering the United States. He s the type of guy who would force any Muslims in the United States to register in a national database and wear special badges, then throw them in concentration camps as a temporary measure. Trump has spoken openly about building a wall between the United states and Mexico to keep brown people out, openly encouraged his supporters to beat African-Americans at his rallies. Hell, he even has been known to keep a book of Hitler s speeches by his bedside for light reading. He s repeatedly lied throughout his campaign in an effort to paint himself as the best option to serve as President of the United States. But the Washington Post has revealed yet another facet of Trump s douchebaggery: he s also the type of guy who would pretend to be his own public relations person so he can talk himself up.The Washington Post has uncovered an old recording of what sounds like The Donald talking himself up while speaking to reporters. The recording is from 1991, and is between the now-GOP nominee sorry, John Miller and a reporter from People Magazine. Sue Caswell was covering Trump s media circus-of-the-time his divorce from Ivana Trump, who says her former husband brutally raped her in just one of the many incidents that led to the end of their marriage as well as his relationship with Marla Maples.The spokesman had some interesting insight into Trump s personal life, telling Caswell that he really didn t want to make a commitment to Maples because he s coming out of a marriage, and he s starting to do tremendously well financially. He assured Caswell that Trump is a good guy who isn t going to hurt anybody and treated his wife well you know, aside from the horrific abuse, and all: Have you met him? He s a good guy and he s not going to hurt anybody. The one article said he was going to throw her out of the apartment is total nonsense. He is going to always treat her well as he treated his wife well. I mean, he paid his wife a great deal of money. He did it in a very bad period of time and, ultimately, that was settled. There were those that say that that was even put that way. I don t know if you heard that but that Trump became poor until he got his divorce. And then all of a sudden, he s been doing very well and I guess you probably heard that, too.But he treated his wife well and he treated and he will treat Marla well. He s somebody that has a lot of options, and, frankly, he gets called by everybody. He gets called by everybody in the book, in terms of women. Trump explained that he is sort of handling PR because [Trump] gets so much of it, and that he was simply doing the PR gig part-time, and even took the time to regail Caswell with a tale of the time he met Madonna.Other reporters say they received similarly suspicious calls from Miller or John Barron, and those reporters all say Trump was the person behind the calls. In fact, some of his top aides and Trump himself have confirmed that he was doing his own PR work. In 1991, People reported:Just two weeks ago, though, Ms. Maples was not even taking The Donald s calls. Not after a PEOPLE reporter played her a tape on June 26 of a man saying that he was a Trump publicist named John Miller. A shocked, devastated Marla identified the voice as that of Trump himself. He announced, among other things, that he d traded in his Georgia peach for an Italian model (Carla Bruni). When I heard his voice on that tape saying those things, I said, Whoa! Uh-uh. No more, says Marla. If he could say all that stuff and act like it s cool to have this playboy image, then oh my gosh, all I could say was, Baby, you re on your own. So she packed a bag, ducking the press as well as The Donald s persistent appeals to reconcile, and took refuge at the Greenwich, Conn., home of her close friend, morning talk show host Kathie Lee Gilford. There she talked, prayed (she and Kathie Lee are both devout Christians) and came to a Donald-less conclusion: I realized I was not going to die without this person in my life. Meanwhile a penitent Don Juan-ald had come to the opposite conclusion. The John Miller fiasco he called a joke gone awry. What I did became a good time at Mar-la s expense, and I m very sorry, says the newly humbled tycoon. As for his wandering eye, I d felt that I needed space and freedom after the divorce, so I took the opportunity to go out with other women, but I kept coming back to Marla. I realized, why go looking for something when you already have exactly what you want? Despite all of this, on Friday Trump denied that he was the guy behind the calls. I don t know anything about it, Trump said during an appearance on NBC s Today: I have many, many people that are trying to imitate my voice, and you can imagine that. This sounds like one of these scams, one of the many scams. It doesn t sound like me. It was not me on the phone, he rambled. And it doesn t sound like me on the phone, I will tell you that. It was not me on the phone. Hear that folks? It wasn t him on the phone. It wasn t him with a bone. It wasn t him on a train. It wasn t him on a plane. It wasn t him on a boat, in a moat, or you get the idea. Sure, he may have admitted it in the past, but he s running for President now. Why tell the truth? This was so farcical, that he pretended to be his own publicist. Here was this so-called billion-dollar real estate mogul, and he can t hire his own publicist, Carswell said upon listening to the tape for the first time in more than two decades. It also said something about the control he wanted to keep of the news cycle flowing with this story, and I can t believe he thought he d get away with it. Unfortunately, he keeps getting away with things. Despite his horrific remarks, his repeated lies, and his generally awful attitude, The Donald has managed to land himself the spot as the 2016 GOP nominee. Republicans have repeatedly given him a pass no matter what he says or does because he represents all that is terrible about our society bigotry, hatred, racism, xenophobia and that is exactly what appeals to them.Compared to Trump s numerous other lies this is a small one, but it does show how important it is to him that he controls the narrative.Listen to the call below:Featured image via Getty Images/Isaac Brekken | 0 |
11,117 | Former military intelligence chief advising Trump joins Drone Aviation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who has been advising Donald Trump informally on foreign policy, will join Drone Aviation Holding Corp as vice chairman of its board of directors, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Flynn, who was chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama from 2012-2014 and has since been advising Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, wants the United States to work more closely with Russia to resolve global security issues. “Having evaluated the (company’s) technologies, I believe they can positively impact our military’s defense and situational awareness and that is why I am joining Jay and his team in expanding the role of persistent aerial solutions in the marketplace,” Flynn said in the statement, referring to company CEO Jay Nussbaum. Drone Aviation develops and manufactures aerostats and electric-powered drones to give its customers “enhanced surveillance and communication capabilities.” The company’s customers include the U.S. military, Saudi Arabia and the Ecuadorian Air Force, according to its website. Flynn resigned as the head of the Pentagon’s main intelligence agency a year before his term was officially due to end. He raised eyebrows among some U.S. foreign policy veterans when he was pictured sitting at the head table with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a banquet in Moscow late last year celebrating Russia Today, an international broadcasting network funded by the Russian government. He told Russia Today in an interview published on Dec. 10 that the United States and Russia should work together to resolve the Syrian civil war and defeat the Islamic State militant group. Flynn’s experience would “help ensure that our tethered solutions, today and in the future, will continue to meet the needs of our soldiers and security forces at home and abroad as they respond to evolving threats,” Nussbaum said in the same statement. | 1 |
11,118 | Venezuela doctors in protest urge stronger WHO stance on health crisis | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s doctors, fed up with what they called the World Health Organization s passive attitude toward the country s deep medical crisis, protested at the agency s Caracas office on Monday to demand more pressure on the government and additional assistance. Venezuela is suffering from a roughly 85 percent shortage of medicines, decrepit hospital infrastructure, and an exodus of doctors during a brutal recession. Once-controlled diseases like diphtheria and measles have returned due in part to insufficient vaccines and antibiotics, while Venezuelans suffering chronic illnesses like cancer or diabetes often have to forgo treatment. Malnutrition is also rising, doctors say. Rare government data published in May showed maternal mortality shot up 65 percent while malaria cases jumped 76 percent. The former health minister was fired shortly after the bulletin s publication, and it has not been issued since. In the latest protest by an umbrella group of health associations, dozens of doctors and activists gathered at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the WHO s regional office, urging the agency step up pressure on Nicolas Maduro s leftist government and provide more aid during its 29th Pan American Sanitary Conference this week. There s been a complicit attitude because they haven t denounced things, Dr. Rafael Muci said during the rally. This is an unlivable country, and no one is paying attention, he said, adding he earns about $8 a month at a state hospital. In a statement on Monday, PAHO stressed its main role was to provide technical cooperation and highlighted recent help in providing vaccines. The Venezuelan government, which accuses activists of whipping up panic and the business elite of hiding medicines, did not respond to a request for comment. Venezuelans seeking certain drugs often have to scour pharmacies, seek foreign donations or turn to social media. Sociologist Maria Angelica Casanova, 51, has struggled to find psychiatric medicines for a year. Sometimes they come, sometimes they don t. It s serious, she said, as passers-by shouted Down with Maduro! Measles, which were controlled after a mass immunization in the 1990s, has returned to Venezuela s jungle state of Bolivar, PAHO data show. As the crisis stokes emigration, Venezuela s health problems could be exported, doctors warned. We don t know how many people who are emigrating could have some of these pathogens in incubation period, said Andres Barreto, an epidemiologist who had participated in the measles vaccination drive. | 1 |
11,119 | Bernie Sanders Predicted The Panama Papers In 2011 (VIDEO) | The Panama Papers leak recently revealed how and to what extent some wealthy international elites use Panama as a haven to avoid paying taxes in their respective countries. The leak has embarrassed public officials all over the world, led for calls in Iceland for their prime minister to resign, and illuminated to the world the sneaky and greedy ways the rich stay rich and keep getting richer.In 2011, on the Senate floor, Bernie Sanders was railing against a trade policy between the United States and Panama, citing the country is one of the biggest tax havens for the wealthy in the world: Panama s entire annual economic output is only $26.7 billion a year, or about two-tenths of one percent of the U.S. economy. No-one can legitimately make the claim that approving this free trade agreement will significantly increase American jobs, begins Senator Sanders, before asking the Senate, why would we be considering a stand-alone free trade agreement with this country? Bernie Sanders answers his own question in the same way throughout his campaign he has criticized the broadening income and wealthy inequality in the United States which is permeating into a litany of other various social ills. Well, it turns out that Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade U.S. taxes by stashing their cash in off-shore tax havens. And, the Panama Free Trade Agreement would make this bad situation much worse. Each and every year, the wealthy and large corporations evade $100 billion in U.S. taxes through abusive and illegal offshore tax havens in Panama and other countries. Despite the harsh opposition from Bernie Sanders, the U.S. -Panama Trade Promotion Agreement went into effect in 2012, and more than likely has facilitated the ability for wealthy individuals and corporations in America to launder money and evade paying millions in taxes to federal and state governments in America.Here s the video: Featured image via screencapture | 0 |
11,120 | Senator seeks explanation for career U.S. prosecutor's abrupt resignation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic Senator said on Tuesday he wants answers from top Justice Department officials about why a career prosecutor was asked to resign days before a special counsel unveiled the first criminal charges in an investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election. Dana Boente was asked to quit in late October as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, whose district has played an important role in the investigation. Just days later, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators charged President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and another aide, Rick Gates, with conspiring to launder money and other charges. It was also announced on Oct. 30 that a third former Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, had pleaded guilty earlier in the month to a charge of lying to the FBI. U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was writing to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to ask if Boente’s departure was “normal or justified.” “I’m concerned about the abrupt departure of Dana Boente after a career as a federal prosecutor ... There’s a lot of circumstances that connect the ongoing Mueller investigation to the Eastern District,” Coons said in an interview. A Department of Justice spokesman said the agency does not comment on personnel matters. Boente could not immediately be reached for comment. Investigations into whether Republican Trump’s campaign associates colluded with Russia last year to help him defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the presidency arose after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia carried out a campaign of hacking and propaganda to interfere in the election. Russia has repeatedly denied meddling allegations and Trump has denied any collusion. A Justice Department veteran, Boente has stepped in to help stabilize the law enforcement agency in frequent periods of turmoil during the first year of the Trump administration. Boente has also been temporarily serving as the acting assistant attorney general for the department’s National Security Division. He previously was acting attorney general after Trump fired the prosecutor in that post, Sally Yates. After that, Boente also briefly was acting deputy attorney general. A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Sessions, a former Alabama Republican senator and close Trump ally, asked Boente to tender his resignation in late October. Boente will step down as head of the National Security Division once Trump’s nominee John Demers is confirmed by the Senate. After that, Boente will continue as head of the Eastern District in Alexandria, Virginia, until he is replaced. Trump has not yet nominated anyone for that post. The Eastern District post is the fourth most powerful position in the department’s line of succession. A judge in the district approved the search warrant for the Alexandria, Virginia home of former Trump campaign manager Manafort in July. A grand jury in the district earlier this year became part of Mueller’s probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is under scrutiny for his work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman. | 1 |
11,121 | BREAKING: “TODAY” SHOW’S BILLY BUSH PUNISHED For Saucy Talk With Trump In 2005…Is This 2016? | THESE HOLIER THAN THOU PEOPLE ARE SICKENING! Since when does someone pretty much get fired for saying nothing wrong AT ALL? Bill Bush will never darken the door of The Today Show because of NOTHING! This entire situation is so out of control it s sickening! Billy Bush has been suspended from the Today show pending further review of the matter, NBC News said Sunday night.It is unclear if he will ever return to the broadcast. He will never be on the show again, an on-air source said, reflecting what staffers are saying behind the scenes.The sudden change came amid a chorus of calls for disciplinary action against Bush over his vulgar 2005 conversation with Donald Trump that was caught on tape and revealed on Friday.NBC sources initially said Bush was not being disciplined and that he would be in his usual spot as co-host of the Today show s 9 a.m. hour on Monday morning.As late as Sunday morning, one of the sources was saying that Bush would use Monday s broadcast to reiterate the apology he made Friday.But on Sunday afternoon, senior NBC executives made the decision to bench Bush on Monday, effectively reprimanding him.A couple of hours later, the executive in charge of Today, Noah Oppenheim, said in an internal memo that the executives had decided to go even further and suspend Bush. I know we ve all been deeply troubled by the revelations of the past 48 hours, Oppenheim wrote. Let me be clear there is simply no excuse for Billy s language and behavior on that tape, he wrote. NBC has decided to suspend Billy, pending further review of this matter. Before the memo was released, the on-air source said staffers were in the dark, stuck refreshing Twitter to find out what was going on with Bush.The suspension was a stunning turn of events. The Today show recently made a multi-million-dollar bet on Bush, relocating him from Los Angeles to New York and making him a co-host.But the taped 2005 conversation between Bush and Trump has upended the careers of both men.Read more: wisn | 0 |
11,122 | U.N. seeks to rally foreign backing for new Libyan peace plan | TUNIS (Reuters) - The United Nations is seeking to marshal international support this week for a new push to break a political stalemate in Libya and end the turmoil that followed the country s 2011 uprising. The world body s Libya envoy, Ghassan Salame, is expected to set out an action plan on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday that will propose amending a 2015 peace deal that quickly stalled. The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) set up under the December 2015 deal has never fully established itself in Tripoli, leaving Libya with three competing governments aligned with rival armed alliances. Hamstrung by internal splits in its nine-member leadership, or Presidency Council, the GNA has been unable to tackle Libya s acute liquidity crisis, save collapsing public services or bring powerful militias to heel. Though oil production has partially recovered and local forces ousted Islamic State from their North African stronghold of Sirte last year, security vacuums in central and southern Libya persist and armed groups control the informal economy. Eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar has gradually strengthened his position on the ground, with support from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Lauded by allies for his anti-Islamist stance, Haftar is accused by foes of seeking to reimpose military rule that they fought to overthrow when they toppled veteran ruler Muammar Gaddafi six years ago. The most important thing is to convince Haftar that a peaceful solution is better than a military one, said Karim Mezran of the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think-tank. You have to convince the Egyptians and the Emiratis who are his main supporters to reduce that support. Salame, who took up his post in August, is expected to propose reducing the unwieldy GNA Presidency Council to three members and it would then nominate a new transitional government, diplomats and analysts say. But securing changes to the 2015 deal would need the approval of a barely functional eastern-based parliament. The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on the head of that parliament, Agila Saleh, accusing him of stalling Libya s political process. A delegation from the eastern parliament is expected to start negotiating with members of its Tripoli-based rival assembly. They are under pressure to reach an agreement before Dec. 17, when opponents of the 2015 deal say it expires. Salame must also balance calls for new elections with the need to prepare a legal framework in which they can take place, diplomats say. Before elections you need a timetable to do the necessary preparation ... but at the same time you need a government that can govern and unify the political, economic and social and military institutions of the country and deliver services in that interim period, said a senior Western diplomat. Some armed groups have cemented their positions since 2015, while political factions across Libya have become even more splintered. Now the problem is that those factions have fragmented internally, said Claudia Gazzini, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group. It s even more difficult to solicit representative views. Elections would require an electoral law, and possibly a referendum to endorse a new constitution. In 2014, elections were challenged, leading to a major escalation of conflict and the division of Libya s key institutions. Of course it s not going to be easy, and once (Salame) makes the announcement there ll be some who will not see advantage out of it, said the Western diplomat. | 1 |
11,123 | Republicans may be on verge of losing U.S. Senate majority: aides | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party’s two-year run in the majority of the U.S. Senate is at serious risk and may well end on Nov. 8, senior congressional aides said on Wednesday, blaming Donald Trump as a drag on down-ballot Republican candidates. With 13 days to go before elections, several Senate aides from both parties privately warned of trouble for Republicans. “Things are not good ... the Senate is gone,” said one Republican aide who asked not to be identified in order to candidly discuss the turbulent outlook for the 2016 campaign. Citing opinion polling, the aide said Republicans could lose Senate seats in six battleground states: Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Missouri. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday and conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24 found that 41 percent of Republicans now expect Clinton to win the election, versus 40 percent for Trump. That is a sharp decline in confidence from last month, when 58 percent of Republicans said they thought their party’s nominee would win, versus 23 percent for Clinton. Republicans now hold 54 of the Senate’s 100 seats. Democrats must snatch four seats to win a majority, provided their presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, beats Trump. That would make Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, the tie-breaking Senate vote since the vice president votes in order to break a tie. On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report predicted Democrats would gain five to seven seats. Such a result would leave them short of the 60 votes needed to easily get things done in the Senate, but it would provide a majority. A less pessimistic Senate Republican aide said Senate control still “could go either way” but sketched out problems. In Pennsylvania, the aide said, Senator Pat Toomey has to “fight off dead weight at the top of the ticket,” referring to Trump. In Missouri, he said, Democrat Jason Kander, who is trying to unseat Senator Roy Blunt, is “a great candidate.” Nationally, “the reason we don’t hold the Senate, if we don’t, is because of Donald Trump,” the aide said. Of course, this has been a volatile and unpredictable year, and there is still time for trends to reverse. Democrats stressed they are not breaking out the champagne. According to RealClear Politics, Toomey leads by 1.8 percentage points in Pennsylvania while Blunt is up by a point in strongly Republican Missouri and Senator Richard Burr has a 2.8-point lead in North Carolina over his Democratic challenger. Still, a senior Senate Democratic aide said, “We have a lot more paths to a majority than they do.” Republicans entered the 2016 Senate races at a disadvantage, having to defend 24 seats to only 10 for Democrats. Democratic President Barack Obama, who is still relatively popular, won at least one of his two White House races in most of the states where Republicans currently are struggling, such as New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Clinton leads Trump by about 5 points in some national polls. Studies show a pattern of voting in recent decades in which the outcome of Senate races has had a significant correlation to who wins the White House. Polling in the hardest-fought states points to extremely close races with Republican incumbents’ backs against the wall. In New Hampshire, Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte is in a tough race with her Democratic challenger, Governor Maggie Hassan. University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala said Republican senators in that state and Pennsylvania face the “one-two punch” of independent voters potentially being turned off by Trump and an electorate that leans Democratic in presidential election years like 2016. “Given the overall environment, it tilts to Hassan,” Scala said. | 1 |
11,124 | CROCODILE TEARS: Watch Obama Use Phony Outrage To Gain Sympathy For Gun Control | Following Obama s phony tears, he launched directly into attack mode of the Republican majority Congress (who have already proven their not on our team) and the gun lobby. All of us need to demand a Congress brave enough to stand up to the gun lobbies lies. Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad, he said, as he bowed his head for ultimate effect, and then boom as though he never shed a tear, the attack against Republicans and gun lobbies began.Where was his outrage when Kate Steinle was killed by an illegal alien in a Sanctuary City? Where was his outrage when cops were being killed as a result of his war against cops? Obama s selective outrage and faux tears aren t fooling anyone who s paying attention This isn t the first time Obama used a fake dramatic scene to promote his agenda. Remember this phony scene? Obama was in the middle of his speech promoting socialized medicine, but somehow was able to see a woman behind him about to pass out. Watch him save her just in the nick of time. | 0 |
11,125 | Boiler Room EP #125 – Live From the Swamp Train with FunkSoul, Randy J, Patrick Henningsen | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Funk$oul and Randy J (ACR & 21WIRE Contributors), and Patrick Henningsen (21WIRE) for the 125th episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing Hurricane Irma, weather modification, the off the charts levels of so called political correctness in Washington DC as reported live by Sunday Wire s Patrick Henningsen, establishment are still actively pushing lies about the war in Syria, the good/bad/ugly business of disaster relief charities, reactionaries still blaming Hurricane Harvey on climate change, the repeal of DACA and the challenges for the left and the right to have any sort of beneficial dialog about immigration realities, platforms and policies in the environment of media driven, knee jerk, emotionally charged politicization of the topic.Direct Download Episode #125Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 0 |
11,126 | Damascus says Syrian Kurdish autonomy negotiable: report | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government is open to negotiations with Kurds over their demand for autonomy within Syria s borders, the foreign minister has said, striking a conciliatory tone as military tensions worsen between the sides in eastern Syria. Walid al-Moualem said the government could discuss the Kurdish demand once Islamic State is defeated, state news agency SANA reported, citing an interview with Russia Today. This topic is open to negotiation and discussion and when we are done eliminating Daesh (Islamic State), we can sit with our Kurdish sons and reach an understanding on a formula for the future, Moualem said. The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia controls a swathe of northern Syria where the main Kurdish party, the PYD, and its allies have established autonomy since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. Syrian Kurds say their aim is to preserve that autonomy as part of a decentralized Syria, and they do not aim to follow the path of Kurds in Iraq who held an independence referendum on Monday. Moualem reiterated his government s rejection of that referendum, saying Damascus supported Iraqi unity, but he noted that Syria s Kurds want a form of autonomy within the borders of the Syrian Arab Republic . Kurdish-led authorities in northern Syria held elections last week to choose local community leaders, the first stage of a three-phase process that will culminate in January with the election of a parliament. The YPG has been a major partner for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in eastern and northern Syria, fighting as part of the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance (SDF). While the YPG and Damascus have mostly avoided confrontation, tensions have flared as the U.S.-backed SDF and the Russian-backed Syrian army wage separate campaigns against Islamic State in Deir al-Zor province. The SDF accused the Syrian government and its Russian ally of striking its fighters on Monday, something Moscow denied. Earlier this year, Moualem characterized the Syrian Kurdish battle against Islamic State as legitimate and suggested an accommodation could be reached with the Syrian Kurds. President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to take back the whole of Syria. | 1 |
11,127 | New poll shows Philippine president still hugely popular | MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte retained a high public approval rating in an opinion poll released on Friday, a stark contrast to a different survey earlier this week that showed a sharp decline in trust and satisfaction in the maverick leader. Eighty percent of 1,200 Filipinos surveyed by pollster Pulse Asia late last month said they trust and approve of Duterte slightly down from 81 percent and 82 percent respectively in its June survey. Approval rates the president s performance and trust relates to his personality in the Pulse survey, which did not ask respondents to give a reason. A poll by Social Weather Stations conducted at the same time and released on Sunday showed trust and satisfaction in Duterte - also ratings of personality and performance - fell to the lowest of his presidency. The falls by 15 points and 18 points respectively were significant, and came after a demonstration by thousands of Filipinos and unprecedented public scrutiny on his war on drugs, triggered by the Aug. 16 killing by police of a teenager. Thousands of Filipinos have been killed during the past 15 months. Police insist none were executed, as activists have alleged. Duterte this week ordered police to stand down from the campaign but has not said what motivated his decision. His office said that was to shift focus towards bigger targets. Analysts were unable to explain the big difference in the results of surveys by two well-respected pollsters. Academic Edmund Tayao said the Pulse poll showed the public still recognized the importance of the war on drugs, and Duterte would stick to his policy agenda. The president s tone does not change, regardless of the numbers, Tayao said. Whether these surveys will result in major changes to his policy, I think not. Ranjit Rye of the University of the Philippines said the latest poll showed that, despite recent setbacks and adverse headlines, Duterte had not lost his appeal. Despite all the political noise, all the opposition against the president, he continues to be wildly popular and people approve of his leadership, Rye said. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said there was an enormous amount of appreciation for Duterte, and suggested the earlier poll may have been some form of orchestrated information, disinformation . It s not for us to speculate. But there seems to be that particular effort in order to the put the president and his administration in a particular light, he told reporters. | 1 |
11,128 | Saudi Arabia says Saudi citizen kidnapped in Lebanon | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Friday a Saudi citizen had been kidnapped in Lebanon, a country with which it is in a diplomatic crisis. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have advised their citizens against traveling to Lebanon and urged those already there to leave, as tensions rise in what is seen as a new front line in the regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Top Lebanese government officials have said they believe Saudi Arabia is holding Saad al-Hariri who resigned as Lebanese prime minister from there last weekend. Riyadh says Hariri is a free man and he decided to resign because Iran-allied Hezbollah was calling the shots in his government. The Saudi embassy in Beirut announced the kidnap of one of its citizens, but gave no details of the person s identity of the circumstances of the abduction. The embassy is in contact with the highest ranking Lebanese security authorities about securing the unconditional release of a kidnapped Saudi citizen as soon as possible, it said in a statement quoted by the Saudi state news agency SPA. Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said on the Lebanese state news agency the safety of Saudi residents and visitors was a priority for the Lebanese authorities. He added that security services are on high alert to prevent any attempt of exploiting the current political situation from anyone and for whatever reason. Tampering with the security and stability of Lebanon is a red line. | 1 |
11,129 | Merkel challenger spells out conditions for post-election coalition | BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel s Social Democrat (SPD) challenger said on Sunday his party would not form any alliances after a Sept. 24 election unless fair wages, free education, secure pensions and a commitment to a democratic Europe were guaranteed. The SPD was trailing Merkel s conservatives by 13 points in an Emnid poll published on Saturday, with 24 percent support. Polls show the most likely coalitions are a re-run of the current conservative-SPD alliance or a Jamaica tie-up of the conservatives, Greens and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). For the first time, SPD leader Martin Schulz on Sunday laid out his conditions for joining any coalitions in a video broadcast on the party s website. Specific policies for fair wages, good schools, secure pensions and a democratic Europe for peace - that s what I promise you, 61-year-old Schulz said. An SPD government would implement these plans. They re non-negotiable for me. That s why I want to become German chancellor, he said. But polls suggest the SPD s only option for gaining power would be as a junior partner in another grand coalition with the conservatives under Merkel. Schulz has put social justice at the core of his campaign, but that has failed to gain much traction. Germans have generally enjoyed 12 years of prosperity under Merkel, and she has trumpeted her economic achievements - such as reducing unemployment - throughout the campaign. In an interview with the Funke newspaper group, Schulz said he was against a re-run of the current coalition, an alliance that is always a last resort because it leaves little opposition in parliament. We re not seeking to continue the grand coalition, he said. I m running to supersede Merkel. Merkel warned supporters at a campaign rally in the northwestern town of Delbrueck on Sunday that the election result was not yet clear despite her lead in the polls. A lot of people say the vote is practically decided already ... but it is not, she said, adding that many people would make up their minds in the final days before the vote. She had on Saturday called for a high election turnout, saying: We must fight for every single person to go and vote. Germany s smaller parties narrowed down possible coalition options over the weekend, with both the Greens and the FDP saying they could not imagine a Jamaica coalition, the name refers to the black, yellow and green colors of the Jamaican flag. | 1 |
11,130 | Mexicans on U.S. border fear economic catastrophe if Trump wins | TIJUANA/NOGALES, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexicans on the U.S. border anxiously awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, plagued by fears of economic disaster if Republican Donald Trump wins and tries to choke local industry, isolate the country and deport millions. Trump’s campaign has been one of the most unpopular in living memory in Mexico, ranging from stinging verbal attacks on its migrants, threats against its trade agreements, to his repeated vows to seal off the country behind a huge border wall that he insists Mexico will pay for. Nowhere has the bad-tempered contest been felt more acutely than in the Mexican cities straddling the U.S. border, which hundreds of thousands of people cross for work every day, and acts as a bridge for $500 billion in annual bilateral trade. Trump launched his bid accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug peddlers across the border, prompting the government to accuse him of stirring up hatred and fanning concerns on the border that racial prejudice is becoming more acceptable. The tycoon says he could scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement that took effect in Mexico, the United States and Canada in 1994, and he has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 35 percent on Mexican-made goods to help U.S. industry. “We’re very worried. We know what Donald Trump is looking to do, which is limit the imports, he wants to manufacture everything in the States,” said Marcello Hinojosa, president in the border city of Tijuana of industry group Canacintra. “But this has been analyzed by both the United States and by Mexico and it’s suicide for both countries.” Mexican business leaders say about 40 percent of the average Mexican factory export is made of U.S. content and argue the two manufacturing sectors are so closely intertwined that it is impossible to take steps against one without damaging the other. Trump, who polls show trailing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a tight race, says Mexico is “killing” the United States on trade. However, commerce between the two has grown much faster than their respective economies since NAFTA, World Bank and U.S. data show. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the United States, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says roughly 6 million American jobs depend on trade with Mexico. Trump has also blasted U.S. companies for investing in Mexico, which houses billions of dollars worth of manufacturing plants, especially around Mexico’s northern border. Trump blames the Mexican factories for jobs losses in the United States. If protectionist policies gain ground, prices for products and services would go up, and jobs would eventually be lost in Mexico, putting pressure on people to migrate - or exposing them to the lure of violent crime, Hinojosa said. Rarely have Mexicans expressed such strong views about U.S. presidential candidates as during the current campaign. Mexicans favor Clinton in the race by 10 to 1, according to a poll published in Mexico in late September. But the tightening of polls in the last two weeks has rattled their confidence she will win. “Personally, though I think I speak for many Mexicans, I hope Trump loses,” said Rodolfo Monroy, 85, a restaurant owner in the border city of Nogales, opposite Nogales, Arizona. “Why? Because he’s rude, because of what comes out of his mouth. He doesn’t like us Mexicans,” he said, with a flash of anger on his face. “We’re going to be in real trouble (if he wins).” Wadih Kuri, Chief Executive of ABC Aluminum Solutions, a local aluminum company, recalled being labeled “beaner” as a Mexican studying across the border, the sort of prejudice he said Trump’s campaign was encouraging again. “Are we still at the same place where kids need to be ridiculed because they’re from Mexico? And that’s all he’s doing. So If I’m nervous, I’m nervous for the culture that he’s inspiring,” said Kuri, who now lives in San Diego. Trump’s threats to deport more than 11 million undocumented migrants living in the United States, roughly half of whom are Mexican, could also put Mexican authorities under strain, said Cuauhtemoc Galindo, the mayor of Nogales, Mexico. Nor was it wise economic policy, he added. “Having someone govern who feeds racism, hate, this sort of thing ... will also make a lot of Mexicans stop visiting (the United States) out of fear, out of a sense of pride, which will also hurt the U.S. economy,” Galindo said. Crossing into the United States from Tijuana, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the hemisphere, construction worker Alejandro Ortiz said “every aspect” of his life would be affected if Trump wins - which he fears will happen. “This is going to affect me whenever I cross the border, they’re going to investigate me more, just because of my color, because I speak Spanish,” said Ortiz, 36, who was born in the United States but grew up in Mexico. | 1 |
11,131 | Turkey launches investigation into U.S. prosecutors over Zarrab case: Anadolu | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have opened an investigation into the U.S. prosecutors who brought charges against a Turkish gold trader facing trial in New York, state media said on Saturday, after Ankara said the case was based on fabricated documents. The Istanbul prosecutor s office is investigating former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and acting U.S. Attorney John H. Kim, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, following allegations that their case was based on documents Turkey says were fabricated. When asked for comment, Bharara referred Reuters to the Southern District of New York s Attorney s Office. James Margolin, a spokesman for the Attorney s Office, declined to comment. Reuters was not immediately able to reach anyone at the Istanbul Prosecutor s office for comment. The reported move comes after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said the U.S. case was based on documents fabricated by followers of the cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last year s attempted coup. Cavusoglu also accused Bharara of being very close to Gulen s network. Following those allegations, Bharara responded on Friday on Twitter, saying: Turkey FM is a liar. Now let s see what happens in court . The case against the wealthy, Iran-born gold trader Reza Zarrab has complicated already strained relations between the United States and Turkey, both members of the NATO military alliance. Zarrab, together with alleged co-conspirators, has been charged with handling hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran s government and Iranian entities from 2010 to 2015, in a scheme to avoid sanctions. He has pleaded not guilty and is due to go on trial in New York on Nov. 27. Under a previous Turkish investigation that became public in 2013, Turkish prosecutors accused Zarrab and high-ranking Turkish officials of involvement in facilitating Iranian money transfers via gold smuggling, leaked documents at the time showed. President Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, cast that investigation as a coup attempt orchestrated by his political enemies. Several prosecutors were removed from the case, police investigators were reassigned, and the investigation was later dropped. Erdogan, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has said U.S. prosecutors have ulterior motives by including references to him and his wife in court papers relating to the trial in New York. | 1 |
11,132 | "Make Republicans Whole Again!" A divided party struggles to rally behind Trump | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ted Cruz was recounting to an audience how he had outlasted most of his 16 rivals for the Republican presidential nomination when a plane carrying the man who had won it all, Donald Trump, flew overhead, interrupting him mid-speech. “All right, that was pretty well-orchestrated,” said Cruz, a Republican U.S. senator from Texas who waged a bitter campaign against Trump. Hours later Cruz would take his revenge, refusing to endorse Trump and urging Republicans to vote their conscience during a prime-time speech on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He left the podium to a chorus of boos, and his wife was escorted off the floor as the convention erupted in rancor. Susan Hutchison, chair of the Washington state delegation, said she confronted Cruz after his speech and called him a “traitor to the party.” So much for party unity. Over three days in Cleveland this week, Republican leaders sought to sell a story of unity. They repeatedly said the party was getting ever closer to rallying behind Trump, who is running on the slogan “Make America Great Again!” and whose candidacy has divided many and exposed deep discontent among Republicans with their leaders. But in a few minutes on Wednesday night that show of unity was blown apart in spectacular fashion. Cruz’s non-committal speech infuriated Trump supporters among the thousands of delegates cramming the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. But their angry jeers triggered recriminations from other delegates. “They talk about unity and then they act like that. That is not going to get us to unify,” said Manette Merrill, a Cruz delegate from Washington state. Trump will get the opportunity to rally the party when he formally accepts its nomination on Thursday night in a speech expected to be watched by millions of Americans, including undecided and independent voters. One of Trump’s key goals going into this week’s convention was to unite the party after a roughly 18-month primary season that was marked by personal attacks on candidates, sometimes violent rallies, and deep disagreement over what it means to be a Republican. In public and in private the Trump campaign tried to win over skeptics who feel the New York businessman and celebrity TV star does not represent the party’s values. It took a harder stance against opponents, for example shutting down a desperate last-minute bid on the convention floor early in the week to stop his nomination. “It’s like a slow crawl,” former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said of the unity drive as he made the rounds at the convention. “You’re kind of doing it. You’re kind of looking around to see if anyone else is doing it,” he told Reuters. But almost from the start there were blatant signs of party disunity. Ohio Governor John Kasich, who lost to Trump in the nomination fight and disagrees with Trump on a host of issues, declined to attend the convention held in his own state. Instead, he greeted his supporters at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame close to the convention arena to the blaring tune of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” with lyrics like, “I don’t need to fight to prove I’m right.” Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort told reporters that Kasich was “embarrassing his state” by refusing to get on the Trump train. His remarks were a reminder of the sort of insults that many Republicans had hoped would disappear after a brutal primary season that was characterized by Trump’s often personal attacks on his opponents. The pleas for unity were frequent in Cleveland, led by House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top elected Republican, who has been slow in warming to Trump. “What do you say that we unify this party at this crucial moment when unity is everything?” Ryan asked thousands of convention attendees on Tuesday night. It was the biggest applause line of his speech - delegates cheered, clapped and waved signs. But U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, one of the “never Trump” holdouts, is still not convinced. “Federalism and separation of powers – if he focuses on that, he brings along a lot of conservatives like me who haven’t been sold yet,” Lee told Reuters. “He needs to make that a distinct part of his message.” Trump and his surrogates have offered scant policy details so far at the convention, nor have they been able to put to rest questions about whether they are capable of mounting a sophisticated presidential campaign to take on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The convention has been overshadowed, for example, by controversy surrounding his wife Melania’s convention speech - which included lines uttered by first lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic convention in 2008 - and the campaign’s initial reluctance to admit the plagiarism. Some Republicans thought it was an unnecessary distraction at a time when the party should be focused on selling itself and its new leader to Americans. Others said that if Trump was really serious about uniting the party he would reach out to his vanquished foes on the campaign trail, including Cruz and Kasich. Ken Cope, a Texas delegate who had backed Cruz for president but will vote for Trump, said the New York businessman needs to “swallow his pride” and stress the contributions his 16 defeated rivals made to the primary process instead of belittling them. “He’s a prideful man and he’s proud of what he is but we’re in a general election campaign and it’s going to take all of us pulling on the rope if we’re going to pull the ship to the final line,” Cope said. Still others said Trump needed to be more disciplined. Trump supporter John Whitmer, a delegate from Wichita, Kansas, said Trump made a mistake by going on Fox News on Monday night to rail against Kasich as speakers were lauding his candidacy at the televised convention. “You just stepped on your best act,” Whitmer said. “I get that you want to talk about Kasich, but everybody needed to be watching what was going on there.” After Wednesday night, the best hope for the Republican Party to come together may rest on Clinton, who was frequently vilified at the Cleveland convention this week. She will be formally nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee at her party’s convention in Philadelphia next week. When asked if the party was unified, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and close Trump adviser, Newt Gingrich, replied: “No, but we will be by the end of Philadelphia.” “Trump will get us to 90 percent unity. She’ll get us the rest of the way.” | 1 |
11,133 | Warren to campaign with Clinton in Ohio on Monday | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts will campaign with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Ohio on Monday, Clinton’s campaign said. “Clinton and Warren will discuss their shared commitment to building an America that is stronger together and an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top,” according to a campaign statement on Wednesday. Warren, who recently endorsed Clinton, is an influential progressive within the Democratic Party and a potential vice presidential pick for Clinton. | 1 |
11,134 | VIRAL VIDEO: PATRIOT COAL MINER Sings National Anthem [VIDEO] | West Virginia has a proud coal mining history rooted in the American spirit. One coal miner showed that spirit, singing the national anthem in a video that has gone viral on social media.Coal miner singing national anthem goes viral https://t.co/FR37kW8MIV pic.twitter.com/MP4ZXpOyho FOX 32 News (@fox32news) October 13, 2017Shane Wriston posted on Facebook video of his fellow miner, Josh Stowers, singing The Star-Spangled Banner for his coworkers before they headed underground for the day. There is no kneeling in this bath house we have daily Safety Meeting before every shift before these guys go Underground , and we appreciate Josh volunteering to sing after the meeting, the post reads.The two men work for Mammoth Coal in Mammoth, WV, which is owned by Alpha Natural Resources. I wanted everybody to feel close together as a whole family right then and there, Stowers told Fox affiliate WVNS. A bunch of guys I work with have past military experience and I knew that song would hit them real hard and make them feel comfortable. They could ve had a bad day at that time, and that song would put them over the edge and make them feel better about themselves. So far, the video has been shared more than 8,000 times and has hundreds of comments. Nearly all of the comments are overwhelming positive. Watch the video for yourself and let us know what you think.Read more: Fox 32 | 0 |
11,135 | Trump targets another company, draws Sanders' criticism | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump drew a rebuke from former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday, after turning his attention to another Indiana company planning a move to Mexico. “Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more!” Trump said in a Friday night Twitter post. Rexnord Corp (RXN.N), an industrial supplier based in Milwaukee, announced plans in October to move a bearing plant, and its 300 jobs, from Indianapolis to Mexico, employees told the Indianapolis Star at the time. Company representatives on Saturday did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s tweet. The Republican, who takes office on Jan. 20, warned on Thursday of consequences for companies that move jobs out of the United States but did not specify what they would be. Trump, who campaigned on promises to keep manufacturing jobs from fleeing the country, claimed credit for a deal in which Indiana state officials agreed to give United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) $7 million worth of tax breaks to encourage the company to keep around 1,000 jobs at its Carrier unit in Indianapolis instead of hiring in Mexico. The agreement was less than a complete victory for Trump, as the air conditioner maker will still send an estimated 1,300 jobs there. The deal does nothing to prevent other employers from shipping work out of state and has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike who call it corporate welfare. Sanders, who attacked U.S. trade policy in his race against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Trump’s deal with Carrier set a “very dangerous precedent” of having taxpayers subsidize multi-billion dollar corporations to “beg them” to keep jobs in the country. On Saturday, he challenged Trump over his Rexnord tweet. “What are you going to do, @realDonaldTrump? Stand up for working people or give the company a massive tax break?” Sanders tweeted in response to Trump’s post. Sanders supports tougher policies on corporations for outsourcing. During the presidential campaign, Trump said his administration would put a 35 percent import tariff on goods made by American manufacturers that moved jobs offshore. He frequently pilloried Carrier for planning to move production to Mexico as he appealed to blue-collar voters in the Midwest, including in Indiana, whose governor, Mike Pence, is the vice president-elect. It is unclear what steps would have to be taken by federalauthorities before Trump could retaliate against individualcompanies shifting jobs abroad. | 1 |
11,136 | CNN Guest’s Face After Trump Flack Blatantly Lies About Obama Golfing Is All Of Us Right Now (VIDEO) | It s Trump s third month in office and the lies about President Obama just keep coming.During a CNN panel to discuss Trump s 13th golf vacation, long-time Trump flack and woman without shame Kayleigh McEnany, thought she would help her president out by spinning a blatant lie about Obama. Trump should be excused from criticism for his repeated golf trips, McEnany reasoned, because Obama once golfed shortly after a journalist named Daniel Pearl was murdered by extremists in Pakistan.As anyone not currently trying to exploit his death to protect Trump might know, Pearl was murdered in 2002. Obama wouldn t become president for six years. And there is no evidence that he was golfing as a then state senator at the time. McEnany just flat-out lied.WATCH: Kayleigh McEnany: Obama rushed off to golf after Daniel Pearl was beheaded.Pearl was killed in 2002. Obama was a state senator. pic.twitter.com/5QkFRgjoR4 Yashar (@yashar) March 28, 2017Next to her was Atlantic writer Peter Beinart whose stunned expression pretty much sums it up.Beinart is used to this level of idiocy from Trump surrogates. During the election, his reaction to a ridiculous rant by Katrina Pierson went viral. Her lies were so unhinged that all he could do was uncontrollably laugh at her.Peter Beinart could not contain his laughter during that last @CNNTonight segment https://t.co/JgD2aEcts0 Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 13, 2016It s not hard to understand why Trump and his cronies are eager to deflect criticism of his golf game onto Obama. For years, Trump attacked the former president for taking vacations or playing golf while he was in office. During the campaign, Trump vowed to never take a vacation and promised he would have no time for golf. Since being elected, that s gone out the window. He s now spent nearly every weekend in his first two months playing golf at courses he owns.Adding further absurdity to McEnany s defense of Trump, the president doesn t let national mourning stop his golf game. He played golf this weekend during the same time a white supremacist terrorist was charged with murdering a random black man as practice before a planned mass murder of black people in New York City. Trump has refused to comment on the incident. He visited his Virginia golf course twice, lying about what he was doing both times.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
11,137 | FINALLY: Two Members Of Bundy Militia Arrested | For the last two weeks, armed domestic terrorists have been wreaking havoc on an Oregon town in a treasonous occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. They have been able to come and go freely, and no move by law enforcement, local or federal, was made to round up and arrest these criminals. That is, until Friday.Two of the militiamen made the mistake of using federal vehicles to go grocery shopping. That s what got them arrested, but not the occupation itself.first arrest made of #bundymilitia two fed vehicles from compound were driven to Safeway. vehicles now impounded pic.twitter.com/RM94eKj2Uh John Sepulvado (@JohnLGC) January 15, 2016This is the problem with the whole situation: What these people are doing is absolutely illegal, and they should most definitely be jailed for it. Instead, the authorities have let them play pretend Army for the last two weeks unimpeded. Instead of arresting them right away, instead they waited until they stole cars and charged them with that crime. And even then, it s only two members, when there are more than a hundred others there as well.This insurrection has cost the taxpayers an insane amount of money as well, as federal workers have been put on paid leave until the situation is resolved. The situation isn t any closer to any sort of peaceful resolution than it has been since its inception though; in fact, if anything, it is getting worse. Ammon Bundy and his hillbilly partners in crime are actually planning to completely ignore the government (like they aren t already), and instead set up their own laws on the occupied land. They also reportedly have plans to arrest the Harney County Sheriff. It has even been suggested that they should take on the FBI station that is keeping tabs on them.All of these fools need to be in jail. NOW. This has gone on long enough. They have disrupted the lives of every citizen in the area on an absolutely ridiculous level at this point, and the whole thing should have ended long ago.Featured image via YouTube screen capture | 0 |
11,138 | WHY TRUMP’S DOJ Gets Asian Support in Fight Against ‘Race-Based College Admissions Policies’ | Have you ever heard of the bamboo ceiling ? The term was used when referring to the Harvard quotas against Asian students. Did you know that Asian students are harmed by racial quotas in college admissions like no other group? Affirmative action was supposed to help promote equality in college admissions but is having the opposite effect by discriminating against Asian students in a BIG way! It s why one large Asian group has come out in favor of Trump s DOJ in their effort to stop discrimination against Asian students and others in the current race-based college admissions policies .One Asian-American legal group is pleased with the announcement that the Department of Justice might examine affirmative action, saying it represents a positive development in the fight against race-based college admission policies.Studies on affirmative action have shown that Asian-American students might suffer more from these race-based policies than other ethnic groups. A 2009 studied revealed Asian American students often have to score higher on their SATs than their white, black and Latin counterparts to be considered on the same playing field.Lee Cheng, the co-founder and director of the Asian American Legal Foundation, spoke to The Daily Caller News Foundation about his hope that the DOJ will now be a partner in the fight against race-based policies in college admissions. Now there is a voice in DC that we can appeal to. There s an administration and there are people at the federal government level who want to enforce civil rights as they were meant to be enforced, which is to protect individual rights of all Americans regardless of race. So we view that as certainly a very positive development, Cheng told TheDCNF. We absolutely intend to keep an eye on the development of schools across the country and where we find discrimination under the euphemism of affirmative action we would definitely let the DOJ know that they should investigate. The New York Times broke news Tuesday night of an internal DOJ memo asking lawyers in the civil rights division whether they are willing to perform investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions. The memo does not make absolutely clear what groups are affected by these affirmative action policies.Read more: Daily Caller | 0 |
11,139 | SOLYNDRA ON WHEELS: THOUSANDS OF CHEVY VOLTS SIT UNSOLD | Does anyone remember the $9,000 rebate offered to anyone buying a Volt? Yep, your tax dollars at work pushing a failed model to market instead of depending on demand. The GM bankruptcy was the biggest scam and cluster that flipped the rule of law due to Obama s desire to save the Unions over just about anyone else in the company. I could go on but the following article is yet another perfect example of Obama s effort to place ideology over the free market Under capitalism, companies produce the products that people want. Under corporatism (formerly known as fascism, before that word was redefined to mean anything liberals don t like ), companies produce the products they are arm-twisted into producing by ideologically driven government thugs. The latter is less economically efficient, as the Regime of Hope & Change keeps proving:Production of the second-generation Chevrolet Volt is set to commence this summer, with the first cars going to customers sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. But before Chevrolet can concentrate on selling the all-new version of the plug-in hybrid EV, it needs to find a way to move the overstock of first-gen models currently sitting on dealer lots.According to The Detroit Free Press, Chevy dealers had about 6,000 2015 Volts on their lots at the end of April, more than twice the amount of Volts the automaker sold in the first four months of 2015.All this unsold inventory probably means that the amount Government Motors loses on each Volt produced will climb even higher and it has already been high:In 2012, Reuters reported that GM was losing about $50,000 on each Volt it produced. Experts estimated then the Volt cost about $90,000 each to produce.Don t worry, if GM lurches back toward bankruptcy due to this lunacy, the Feds will bail it out again. You won t have to pay for it. Obama thoughtfully charges his mountains of waste to the national debt.Your grandchildren will pick up the tab.Via: moonbattery | 0 |
11,140 | erdogan ratlos was er noch machen soll damit eu beitrittsgespräche beendet | mittwoch november neue app ruft automatisch bei ex an sobald man betrunken ist berlin dpo mitten in der nacht im vollrausch den expartner anzurufen ist gar nicht so einfach oft ist man zu alkoholisiert um die nummer korrekt einzugeben nicht selten schläft man vorher ein und verpasst die gelegenheit ganz der person für die man immer noch gefühle hat unverständliche dinge ins ohr zu lallen die neue app dialx soll das nun ändern das nützliche programm kontaktiert den expartner des smartphonebesitzers automatisch sobald dieser deutliche anzeichen von betrunkenheit erkennen lässt dabei kann dialx anhand von spracherkennung lallgrad sowie durch eine auswertung der bewegungssensoren torkelgrad des handys abschätzen ob der appuser die richtige menge alkohol zu sich genommen hat der trick ist nicht zu früh anzurufen sonst kann man sich im zweifelsfall am nächsten tag noch an das peinliche gespräch erinnern erklärt christopher jungwirth der die app entwickelte zu spät ist aber auch nicht gut da der oder die ex dann womöglich keine der dahingelallten beleidigungen oder liebesbekundungen mehr verstehen kann dialx findet genau den richtigen zeitpunkt ist der ideale alkoholwert bestimmt wählt die app automatisch die nummer der exfreundin oder des exfreundes gleichzeitig klingelt das eigene telefon damit der alkoholisierte anrufer informiert ist und das gespräch führen kann während der unterhaltung bietet die app auf dem display in extra großen buchstaben unterstützende stichworte an wie ich hab noch ein tshirt von dir mir doch egal wie spät es ist ich lieb dich doch immer noch warum lässt du mich nicht einfach in ruhe du schlampearschloch oder rülps sollte der oder die angerufene den anruf in weiser voraussicht auch nach dem zehnten versuch nicht annehmen verfasst die app automatisch eine wütende sms oder eine whatsappnachricht mit zahlreichen rechtschreibfehlern dialx ist kostenlos bei google play und im appstore erhältlich dem macher der app ging es nach eigener aussage nicht um geld sondern nur darum seine exfreundin zu beeindrucken fed ssi dan foto m shutterstock artikel teilen | 0 |
11,141 | McConnell happier with Trump tweets after tax victory | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A summer spat between President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has turned into a warm embrace - and all it took was a sweeping rewrite of the U.S. tax code. For months, McConnell urged the president to lock his cell phone in a drawer and retire his signature tweets that have Washington abuzz on a daily basis. He even chided Trump for having “excessive expectations” of Congress. For his part, Trump scorched McConnell in August for failing to repeal Obamacare, sidestepped reporters’ questions over whether the senator should retire and tweeted, “Mitch, get to work.” But with Congress’ passage of the tax bill this week, giving Trump his first major legislative victory, the president tweeted on Wednesday, “I would like to congratulate @SenateMajLdr on having done a fantastic job.” McConnell joined in the love fest on Friday, or at least what constitutes a love fest for the understated senator. “With regard to the president’s tweeting habits, I haven’t been a fan until this week. I’m warming up to it,” McConnell quipped. Still, he reined in reporters who asked whether he might visit Trump in Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida resort, over the Christmas and New Year holidays. McConnell laughed and said he would instead be attending a Dec. 30 football game in Jacksonville, Fla. “That’s the closest I’ll get.” | 1 |
11,142 | Meeting between Trump and Japan's Abe has ended: Trump official | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A meeting in New York on Thursday between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ended, a Trump transition team official said. The hastily arranged meeting was an attempt to smooth relations following Trump’s campaign rhetoric that cast doubt on long-standing U.S. alliances. | 1 |
11,143 | Ron Paul Highlights Real List of Mainstream ‘Fake News’ Journalists | RTFormer congressman Ron Paul revealed a list of fake news journalists he claims are responsible for bogus wars and lies about Hillary Clinton s chances of winning the election. Journalists from CNN, the New York Times, and the Guardian are included. This list contains the culprits who told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and lied us into multiple bogus wars, according to a report on his website, Ron Paul Liberty Report. Paul claims the list is sourced and holds a lot more water than a list previously released by Melissa Zimdars, who is described on Paul s website as a leftist feminist professor. REVEALED: The Real Fake News List https://t.co/1CkOSe25LU pic.twitter.com/lqb9Uze1pi Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 19, 2016@RonPaul @The_NewRight pic.twitter.com/HntdHZbnkm Stavros (@ubipages) November 19, 2016 These are the news sources that told us if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, he said. They told us that Hillary Clinton had a 98% of winning the election. They tell us in a never-ending loop that The economy is in great shape! Paul s list includes the full names of the fake news journalists as well as the publications they write for, with what appears to be hyperlinks to where the allegations are sourced from. In most cases, this is WikiLeaks, but none of the hyperlinks are working at present, leaving the exact sources of the list unknown.CNN is Paul s biggest alleged culprit, with nine entries, followed by the NY Times and MSNBC, with six each. The NY Times has recently come under fire from President-elect Donald Trump, who accuses them of being totally wrong on news regarding his transition team, while describing them as failing. The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition. It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2016The publication hit back, however, saying their business has increased since his election, with a surge in new subscriptions.CNN s Wolf Blitzer is also amongst those named on the list. In an email from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) released by WikiLeaks, the DNC staff discusses sending questions to CNN for an interview with Donald Trump.Also listed is NY Times journalist Maggie Haberman, whom leaked emails showed working closely with Clinton s campaign to present the Democratic candidate in a favorable light.READ MORE: New leak reveals extent of Clinton ties with US mediaSo-called fake news has been recently attacked by US President Barack Obama, who claimed that false news shared online may have played a role in Donald Trump s victory in the US presidential election.Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg has now said that the social media site may begin entrusting third parties with filtering the news.READ MORE: Zuckerberg hints at third-party news verification to fight fake news on FacebookREAD MORE ABOUT MSM FABRICATING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch FilesShare on FacebookShare on Twitter | 0 |
11,144 | U.S.-backed SDF say attacked by Russian jets in east Syria | BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian militias said Russian jets and Syrian government forces struck their positions in Deir al-Zor province on Monday, killing and injuring a number of fighters. There was no immediate comment from Moscow or Damascus. The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, said they came under attack near a major gas field they had seized from Islamic State in recent days. We will not stand by with our arms crossed and we will use our legitimate right to self-defence, said the statement by the SDF, which fights alongside the U.S.-led coalition. | 1 |
11,145 | Authors Of Failed GOP Bill Which Would Have Kicked 24 Million Off Insurance Reportedly ‘Near Tears’ | The authors of the Republican bill that would have caused as many as 24 million people to lose health insurance and bankrupt countless others are reportedly near tears and demoralized following the bill s failure to make it through the house.Guys who wrote this bill are in shock. A couple darn near tears. They know how bad this is. Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) March 24, 2017Republicans supporting this bill were looking forward to the massive tax cuts it gave to millionaires and the major slashes to things like Medicaid and Planned Parenthood. Paul Ryan, the bill s biggest supporter, remarked that he had been dreaming of gutting health care since he was drinking at a keg in college. So close to that goal, he looked tired and defeated at a press conference held immediately after the bill s implosion. He admitted that the Affordable Care Act is likely here to stay.Ryan s bedraggled look led to at least one epic joke at his expense:Texas Republican Jodey Arrington was equally crestfallen.The lone Texas Republican freshman, Rep Jodey Arrington, backed the bill and is incredibly demoralized. Quotes to come Abby Livingston (@TexasTribAbby) March 24, 2017And Rep Mike Conaway decided the most optimistic thing he could say about the day was that he wasn t dead.Rep Mike Conaway is clearly disappointed but does have this reminder: "Any time you're on this side of the dirt, it's a good day." Abby Livingston (@TexasTribAbby) March 24, 2017Twitter users weren t exactly sympathetic to these heartbroken Republicans. The bill was a complete mess and would have caused immeasurable harm. Trump himself seemed to have absolutely no idea what was in the bill and didn t seem to care. The GOP was poised to pass the bill despite these drawbacks for purely political gamesmanship. Still obsessed with their irrational hatred of Obama, they even scheduled the vote to be on the 7th anniversary of Obamacare.@mikedebonis Imagine being moved to tears that your attempt to kill poor people slowly didn't work out. That's some evil. Dennis Perkins (@DennisPerkins5) March 24, 2017How exactly does a person become "darn near tears" over failing to *kick people off* health insurance? @mikedebonis https://t.co/d3qlGp5V2i Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) March 24, 2017@mikedebonis @wpjenna Beats 24 million people crying over something much more serious. Questions Raised (@RaisesQuestions) March 24, 2017@mikedebonis @marcburleigh If that is best they can write then they deserve to be in tears. Atrocious piece of legislation. Adin of Crimea (@RealCrimea) March 24, 2017For his part, Trump did what comes naturally to him: He threw a tantrum and blamed Democrats.TRUMP tells me in interview this is now the Democrats' fault, and that he anticipates that when Obama "explodes" they will be ready to deal Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 24, 2017The man who wrote The Art of the Deal failed while he had a Republican majority in both the House and Senate. Sad! Leadership is perhaps the key to getting any job done. The Art of The Deal Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2013Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
11,146 | Russia says need to prevent new sanctions against Iran, keep nuclear deal: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - It is necessary to prevent new sanctions against Iran and preserve Tehran s nuclear deal with world powers, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday. | 1 |
11,147 | Russian military chief meets NATO General to soothe war games fears: Ifax | MOSCOW (Reuters) - General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia s general staff, on Thursday used a meeting with General Petr Pavel, the chairman of the NATO military committee, to reassure him about upcoming Russian war games, the Interfax news agency reported. The Zapad-2017 war games this month have stirred unease in some countries because Russian troops and military hardware will be training inside Belarus, a Russian ally which borders Ukraine as well as NATO member states Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Interfax said Gerasimov, during a meeting in Azerbaijan, had told Pavel that the war games were purely defensive in nature, not aimed at any third countries, and designed to help secure the security of Belarus. | 1 |
11,148 | what happens to our lungs brain mood when we use a himalayan salt lamps | keywords cranberries cranberry cranberry juice kidney disease urinary tract infections uti utis
cranberry juice and tablets have been recommended as a way to either prevent recurring urinary tract infection uti or treat the symptoms but a new study finds theres no difference between people treated with cranberries or placebos
a lack of evidence for cranberry juice or capsules as being an effective preventative measure or treatment has been a recurring argument in the scientific literature for years now cranberry juice an unrealistic recommendation for utis
a urinary tract infection occurs when bacteria gets into your urine and travels up to your bladder according to the urinary care foundation utis cause more than million visits to health care providers each year about in women and in men will have symptoms of at least one uti during their lifetime
for years now cranberry juice has been recommended to aid in preventing or treating utis however theres no solid evidence that any amount is having a positive effect
additionally based on the results of a recent study led by infectious disease specialist manisha juthanimehta from the yale school of medicine even if you switch to highly concentrated capsules you still dont see a noticeable positive effect
in response to this recent study lindsay e nicolle an expert on utis from the university of manitoba advises the following
the continuing promotion of cranberry use to prevent recurrent uti in the popular press or online advice seems inconsistent with the reality of repeated negative studies or positive studies compromised by methodological shortcomings
nicolle adds clinicians should not be promoting cranberry use by suggesting that there is proven or even possible benefit any continued promotion of the use of cranberry products seems to go beyond available scientific evidence and rational reasoning it is time to move on from cranberries myth versus facts
theres a couple of reasons why the myth that cranberry juice is beneficial in preventing and treating utis has persisted for so long
first the active ingredient in cranberries atype proanthocyanidins pacs has been shown to block the adhesion of bacteria to the wall of the bladder so a vast majority of people have reasoned that if bacteria are causing utis something that blocks bacteria from accumulating in the bladder could be a potential preventive or treatment measure
but according to timothy boone md phd vice dean of the texas am health science center college of medicine houston campus and chairperson of the department of urology for houston methodist hospital theres one problem
cranberry juice especially the juice concentrates you find at the grocery store will not treat a uti or bladder infection it can offer more hydration and possibly wash bacteria from your body more effectively but the active ingredient in cranberry is longgone by the time it reaches your bladder
dr boone adds it takes an extremely large concentration of cranberry to prevent bacterial adhesion this amount of concentration is not found in the juices we drink theres a possibility it was stronger back in our grandparents day but definitely not in modern times
for example ocean sprays cranberry juice cocktail is only percent juice something so watered down could not be so ineffective
the second reason the myth continues is that its a tempting myth to believe if you experience recurring utis and want to prevent them or you want to feel empowered while youre waiting for the antibiotics to take effect drinking cranberry juice or taking capsules is a fairly easy and simple way to feel like youre helping resolve your problem
unfortunately though youre paying a lot of money for something thats only really doing the same job as a glass of water and cranberry juice is full of sugar anyway golden rules for kidney health
you can do a number of things to help keep your kidneys functioning properly at every stage of life
heres a list of ways to reduce the risk of kidney disease including urinary tract infections drink plenty of liquids especially water drinking water helps dilute your urine and ensures that youll urinate more frequently allowing bacteria to be flushed from your urinary tract before an infection can begin stay active and keep fit keeping fit helps to reduce your blood pressure staying active and keeping fit also reduces the risk of chronic kidney disease eat healthy and keep your weight in check this can help prevent diabetes heart disease and other debilitating conditions associated with chronic kidney disease reduce your salt intake the recommended sodium intake is grams of salt per day around a teaspoon try limiting the amount of processed and restaurant food and dont add salt to food its easier to control your salt intake if you prepare the food yourself with fresh ingredients dont take overthecounter pills on a regular basis common nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs like ibuprofen are known to cause kidney damage and disease if taken regularly this type of medication probably doesnt pose considerable danger if your kidneys are reasonably healthy and you use them for emergencies only however if you are dealing with chronic pain like back pain or arthritis work with your doctor to find natural ways to control your pain without putting your kidneys at risk wipe from front to back doing so after urinating and after a bowel movement helps prevent bacteria in the anal region from spreading to the vagina and urethra change your birth control method diaphragms or unlubricated or spermicidetreated condoms can all contribute to bacterial growth avoid potentially irritating feminine products using deodorant sprays or other feminine products such as douches and powders in the genital area can irritate the urethra empty your bladder soon after intercourse also drink a full glass of water to help flush bacteria regularly control of your blood sugar level about half of people who have diabetes develop kidney damage so it is important for people with diabetes to have regular tests to check their kidney functions
this recent randomized clinical trial study titled effect of cranberry capsules on bacteriuria plus pyuria among older women in nursing homes is published in the journal of the american medical association you might also like | 0 |
11,149 | Libya launches voter registration with election date unclear | TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan electoral officials announced on Wednesday the opening of a two-month voter registration period, though it is unclear when elections will next be held in the divided nation. The United Nations is supporting the voter registration process as it seeks to reconcile rival factions and relaunch a political transition that would lead to new polls. The U.N. Libya mission has previously said it hopes elections can be held by the end of next year, but has also acknowledged complex security, political and legislative challenges to organizing a vote. Libya last held elections in 2014 but the results were disputed, deepening divisions that emerged after the country s 2011 uprising. The poll led to an escalation of armed conflict and to rival parliaments and governments being set up in the capital and the east. Some Libyan political figures have called for elections as a way to break the deadlock after the stalling of a U.N.-backed peace deal signed in late 2015, with a new U.N. push to amend that deal so far producing no breakthrough. U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame expressed sympathy with that view at a joint press conference with Libya s High National Election Commission (HNEC) on Wednesday, calling elections the best way to separate competitors . I heard a large number of those demanding elections, some of whom decided on the type of elections and some who left it vague, Salame said. But he said certain conditions had to be met first, including electoral legislation being passed and Libyans agreeing to accept the results in advance. You do not want these elections to be another area of disagreement between Libyans, Salame said. The voter registration period is aimed at updating the voter register and allowing citizens who have not registered in the past to do so, said HNEC head Emad Alsayah. The registration process will last for 60 days, and the extension of process can be considered as required, he said. Libyans living abroad will be able to register online from Feb. 1. Turnout in national elections in 2014 was low, with 630,000 out of the 1.5 million registered casting a vote. | 1 |
11,150 | South Korean 'nut rage' executive remains free after court upholds suspended sentence | SEOUL (Reuters) - A former Korean Air Lines executive who went into a rage on an aircraft over the way she was served nuts in first class avoided jail on Thursday when South Korea s Supreme Court upheld her 10-month suspended sentence. Heather Cho had been charged with, among others, violation of aviation law in 2015 after she took issue with the way she was served nuts and forced the Korean Air Lines plane to return to its gate in a New York airport in December 2014. The incident became a national scandal in South Korea, as Cho is the daughter of the chairman of Hanjin Group, the conglomerate of which Korean Air is an affiliate. Cho stepped down from her role as Korean Air Lines vice president and attempted to apologize to crew members. The Supreme Court upheld an appeals court ruling that said forcing an on-the-ground plane to return to its gate cannot be seen as route deviation, but found Cho guilty of abusive language and actions against cabin crew and forcing a crew member to disembark. Cho was originally sentenced to one year in jail, but has been free from custody since May 2015, when the appeals court suspended her sentence. | 1 |
11,151 | MOTHER OF ROY MOORE ACCUSER Makes Big Mistake On Key Detail of Daughter’s Story | The character assassination of Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore continues with different RINO Republicans coming out to say Moore should step down as a candidate for US Senate. The problem is that the press and the anti-Moore politicians have crucified Moore We thought you were innocent until proven guilty!Another key fact: The claim is a 40 year old claim brought to light by a woman who has ties to the DNC So many things about this claim just don t pass the smell test. Breitbart News has yet another item that doesn t help the accuser s case:MOTHER MAKES BIG MISTAKE: The mother of Leigh Corfman, who says that Alabama Senatorial Candidate Roy Moore tried to engage in a sexual encounter with her when she was 14, has contradicted a key detail of Corfman s story. Speaking by phone to Breitbart News on Saturday, Corfman s mother, Nancy Wells, 71, says that her daughter did not have a phone in her bedroom during the period that Moore is reported to have allegedly called Corfman purportedly on Confman s bedroom phone to arrange at least one encounter.Moore strongly denies Corfman s claims.The Washington Post, which first published its newsmaking, on-the-record interview with Corfman last week, cited Corfman as remembering that she provided Moore with her number when she was 14. She said that she spoke to Moore from what she described as the phone in her bedroom.Citing Corfman, the Post reported:After her mother went into the courtroom, Corfman says, Moore asked her where she went to school, what she liked to do and whether he could call her sometime. She remembers giving him her number and says he called not long after. She says she talked to Moore on her phone in her bedroom, and they made plans for him to pick her up at Alcott Road and Riley Street, around the corner from her house.Soon after, Corfman said, he called again, and picked her up again at the same spot.Later on, Corfman described a third phone call:She says that after their last encounter, Moore called again, but that she found an excuse to avoid seeing him. She says that at some point during or soon after her meetings with Moore, she told two friends in vague terms that she was seeing an older man.Corfman clearly claimed she spoke to Moore on what she said was her phone in her bedroom on at least one of those occasions. The Post did not specify whether the second or third alleged calls purportedly took place on a bedroom phone.Wells, Corfman s mother, was asked by Breitbart News: Back then did she have her own phone in her room or something? No, she replied matter-of-factly. But the phone in the house could get through to her easily. HOW COULD HE BE GUILTY?The Post story relies heavily on Corfman s memory and her ability to recount events consistently.The newspaper reported that Corfman described her story consistently in six interviews with The Post. The Post story uses the word remembers 10 times when quoting or paraphrasing Corfman.Here are those 10 times:1: The Post cited Corfman thusly: I wanted it over with I wanted out, she remembers thinking. This detail related to Corfman s claim that Moore drove her to his house, removed his own clothes besides his underwear, took off her shirt and guided her hand to his underwear.2: During the initial alleged encounter, when Corfman said that Moore was watching her while Corfman s mother went into the courtroom, the Post reported, She remembers giving him her number and says he called not long after. 3: I remember the further I got from my house, the more nervous I got, Corfman was quoted as saying when she recalled the alleged drive with Moore from her house.5 7: The Post used the word three times when citing Corfman in the following paragraph:She remembers an unpaved driveway. She remembers going inside and him giving her alcohol on this visit or the next, and that at some point she told him she was 14. She says they sat and talked. She remembers that Moore told her she was pretty, put his arm around her and kissed her, and that she began to feel nervous and asked him to take her home, which she says he did.8 Referring to the alleged sexual encounter, the Post reported:She remembers that Moore kissed her, that he took off her pants and shirt, and that he touched her through her bra and underpants. She says that he guided her hand to his underwear and that she yanked her hand back.9 In that same encounter, the Post relates:She remembers thinking, I don t want to do this and I need to get out of here. She says that she got dressed and asked Moore to take her home, and that he did.Meanwhile, Wells told Breitbart that she and her daughter stick by the Post s story. It s truthful and it was researched very well, she said.Asked if she could remember Moore, then a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, allegedly asking to watch her daughter in 1971 while Wells went into a courtroom, Wells recounted the story essentially the same way she told it to the Post.Wells told this reporter: We were sitting in the hall. He came up and started talking to us. We were sitting on a bench waiting to go into court. He said, you know, What are you doing. You know, we told him. He is Roy Moore. And he said, You don t want her to go in there and hear all of the bickering. And I said, No. He said, I will be glad to stay out here with her and bring her in if she needs to come in. And so that is the way it started. Probably if it were in today s times that never would have happened, Wells added. He sounded like someone that I could trust and we were there in the courthouse. Corfman described her own troubled background to the Post, including three divorces, bankruptcies and a history of drug abuse.The Post related:She says that her teenage life became increasingly reckless with drinking, drugs, boyfriends, and a suicide attempt when she was 16.As the years went on, Corfman says, she did not share her story about Moore partly because of the trouble in her life. She has had three divorces and financial problems. While living in Arizona, she and her second husband started a screen-printing business that fell into debt. They filed for bankruptcy protection three times, once in 1991 with $139,689 in unpaid claims brought by the Internal Revenue Service and other creditors, according to court records.Moore strongly denied Corfman s claims. These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign, Moore said in immediate response to the Post s story.Moore s campaign said in a statement, This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation. The campaign pointed out that Moore has been married to his wife, Kayla, for nearly 33 years and has four children and five grandchildren. It also noted that Moore has served in public office in the past and that no such allegations were previously made.The statement said:The Judge has been a candidate in four hotly-contested statewide political contests, twice as a gubernatorial candidate and twice as a candidate for chief justice. He has been a three-time candidate for local office, and he has been a national figure in two ground-breaking, judicial fights over religious liberty and traditional marriage. After over 40 years of public service, if any of these allegations were true, they surely would have been made public long before now, the statement continued.On Saturday, Moore further addressed the allegations: Now I want to address something that some people have come here to hear about, Moore said at a local campaign event. Shortly after becoming the Republican nominee for the United States Senate, the Washington Post began an attack on the Foundation for Moral Law, on my wife, and on me. For weeks, we read about my salary which they distorted, about taxes where they said we were paid money we never got. But we endured that. Later, they came out and endorsed my opponent in this race, he continued. Just two days ago, the Washington Post published yet another attack on my character and reputation in a desperate attempt to stop my political campaign for the United States Senate. These attacks about a minor are completely false and untrue about something that happened nearly 40 years ago. But more than being completely false and untrue, they are very hurtful to me personally. I wanted to make it clear to the media present and the people present, I have not provided alcoholic beverages beer or anything else to a minor. I have not been guilty of sexual misconduct with anyone, he declared. These allegations came only four and a half weeks before the general election on Dec. 12. Why now? For forty years I have been closely scrutinized in the press and the public media. I have had investigations by the attorney general, I ve had investigations by the judicial inquiry commission on more than one occasion, I ve had investigations by the court of the judiciary, I ve been in five statewide campaigns in which they do opposition research they do investigations, as you can see in every one I ve ever run and three county elections and two major controversies over religious liberty and the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage, he continued. I ve been investigated more than any other person in this country. That grown women would wait forty years to come right before an election to bring charges is absolutely unbelievable. | 0 |
11,152 | WATCH: Carol Costello HUMILIATES Trump Supporter For Whining About Mythical Voter Fraud | CNN host Carol Costello was so fed up with a Trump s supporter s claims of voter fraud that she threatened to cut the interview short and then destroyed her with facts.Crazy Trump supporter Betsey McCaughey made every effort to squeeze in every little claim of voter fraud she could think of during her appearance on CNN on Thursday. This nation has been victimized by rampant election fraud, McCaughey declared, citing a Pew report to claim that dead people are voting, forcing Costello to warn her about making claims that are not true. McCaughey made her claims in defense of Donald Trump s assertion that the election is rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton.When Costello and Democratic strategist Sally Kohn ripped into the Republican nominee for refusing to say that he will concede on Election Day if he loses, McCaughey tried to spin it by claiming that Trump didn t say he wouldn t accept the results, only that he would wait until the results come in before he makes a decision.However, her spin is now void because Trump told a crowd in Ohio that he will only accept the results if I win. When McCaughey continued to falsely claim that there is mass voter fraud in this country, Costello slammed the brakes on the discussion and told McCaughey that if she continues to lie her mic will be cut.COSTELLO: Stop! Or I m going to have to cut this interview short. McCaughey: You don t want people to hear the evidence? As McCaughey continued to make her claims, the discussion only became more heated as a frustrated Costello put an end to the discussion and called for a break while producers pulled up some evidence for Costello to hit McCaughey with.Here s the video via YouTube.But McCaughey had no evidence and Costello proved it after the commercial break by playing video of Ohio s Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted saying that Trump s claims are irresponsible and that America s system of elections are fair and secure and we should not question the legitimacy of it. Costello then informed McCaughey that the Pew reports she cited only says that there are dead voters still registered and that the system needs to be updated. It did NOT say that these dead people are voting.Sally Kohn then pointed out that a comprehensive study found that out of one billion votes cast between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 possible cases of voter fraud.Here s that video via YouTube.In short, voter fraud is a myth perpetuated by Republicans in order to justify voter ID laws designed to suppress voters and as an excuse to explain how Democrats are able to win elections.Donald Trump is using the myth as an excuse to why he would lose to Hillary Clinton and he is making a treasonous mockery of our democratic process by doing so.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
11,153 | Trump Camp Spends $200,000 To Trend Pro-AHCA Message On Twitter, Anti-AHCA One Goes Viral Instead | A conservative organization whose sole purpose is to spend money helping promote Trump s talking points just wasted $200,000 in a single day.The PAC America First Policies recently announced that they would be publicly attacking Republican Senator Dean Heller after he announced he would not be supporting the GOP s bill to strip healthcare away from tens of millions of people, including many of his constituents. (The senate bill carries a slightly different name than the House version: Better Care Reconciliation Act . It s almost identical only slightly meaner than the original.) He s one of only a few Republican senators to stand up to the bill, and it made him the target of Trump s ire.In response, America First Policies paid Twitter to put their hashtag #HellerVoteYes onto the social media platform s trending section. Presumably they figured the exposure would increase pressure on Heller to change his vote and fall in line with the other GOP senators. It backfired spectacularly.First, almost immediately the #HellerVoteYes hashtag was taken over by people hopping in to call out the GOP for supporting the atrocious healthcare bill. Many users demanded Republicans work to help Obamacare survive rather than strip away healthcare from people. Conservatives who support the Republican healthcare bill were either too ashamed to jump in or were nonexistent to begin with.Shortly after the trending hashtag was derailed, a new hashtag went viral: #HellerVoteNo. Supported by celebrities and average Americans alike, the new hashtag has become a rallying cry to encourage all Republicans, not just Heller, to drop their support of the bill. As of this writing it is receiving at least twice the number of tweets as the original one and is placed directly below the promoted version.Making matters worse, on mobile devices, the #HellerVoteYes hashtag was directly below a trending story about a small boy with a major heart defect who will lose his health insurance if Republicans pass their legislation. (You can find that heartbreaking story here.)America First Policies spent a massive amount of money on this campaign. According to digital marketing blog Penna Powers, the cost to trend a hashtag for a single day comes with a $200,000 price tag. As of this writing, it s unclear if America First Policies had purchased a single 24 hours or if they plan on wasting more money in the days to come. According to a recent Politico article featuring America First Policies, the PAC is estimated to have around a million dollars in cash The barrage, which will be orchestrated by America First Policies, a group run by many of President Donald Trump s top campaign advisers, is backed by more than a million dollars, according to multiple sources familiar with the planning. Digital ads are set to begin running on Friday, and television and radio spots are set to launch early next week. so they just blew a fifth of their entire budget on this scheme which blew up in their faces.Nice work, Team Trump! Keep it coming!Featured image via Olivier Douliery Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
11,154 | Canadian teens tried to use Christmas lights for bomb: prosecutor | MONTREAL (Reuters) - A young Montreal couple tried to use Christmas lights and sandpaper to make a homemade bomb, a prosecutor told a Canadian court on Wednesday in opening statements in the terrorism trial of the former college students. The items and a handwritten bomb-making recipe copied from a propaganda magazine published by al Qaeda militants were found after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police searched a condo rented by El Mahdi Jamali and Sabrine Djermane in 2015, prosecutor Lyne Decarie said in Quebec Superior Court in Montreal. It is not clear how the lights would have been used to make a bomb. Jamali, 20, and Djermane, 21, have pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to leave Canada to join a terrorist group, possessing an explosive substance, facilitating a terrorist activity, and committing an offense for a terrorist group. The 2015 arrest of the couple, teenagers at the time, came at a time when international security forces reported that waves of young people, including college students from Montreal, were heading to Syria to join Islamic State militants. Decarie said investigators found other materials, jihadist propaganda and evidence that the couple had watched a video by a Canadian fighter for the Islamic State. New luggage and clothes, along with passport applications were discovered during the search. The pair reiterated their not-guilty pleas before Decarie began her remarks and then listened from a high-security prisoners box that was enclosed in thick glass. RCMP began investigating the couple after receiving a tip, Decarie said, and arrested them days later. The prosecutor said she would call family and friends of the accused as well as police experts in terrorism and explosives as witnesses in the trial, which is expected to last 10 weeks. | 1 |
11,155 | PRESIDENT TRUMP’S Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Begins…Feds Conduct Raids In At Least 6 States With Focus On Finding And Deporting Criminals [VIDEO] | U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of routine immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term raids, and prefers to say authorities are conducting targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries. We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system, she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of routine immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term raids, and prefers to say authorities are conducting targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries. We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system, she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.David Marin, ICE s field director in the Los Angeles area, said in a conference call with reporters Friday that 75 percent of the approximately 160 people detained in the operation this week had felony convictions; the rest had misdemeanors or were in the U.S. illegally. Officials said Friday night that 37 of those detained in Los Angeles has been deported to Mexico. Dangerous criminals who should be deported are being released into our communities, Marin said.A video that circulated on social media Friday appeared to show ICE agents detaining people in an Austin shopping center parking lot. Immigration advocates also reported roadway checkpoints, where ICE appeared to be targeting immigrants for random ID checks, in North Carolina and in Austin. ICE officials denied that authorities used checkpoints during the operations.For entire story-Washington Post | 0 |
11,156 | Trump ‘Cherished’ Letter Obama Left Him When He Took Over, Then Did The Opposite Of What It Said | It has become customary for a president, upon leaving the office to the next holder of the title, to leave a note of encouragement. Different presidents, of course, have done it differently. Back in 1992, George H. W. Bush left Bill Clinton a note that famously said I am rooting hard for you. Good luck. Clinton likewise left one for the elder Bush s son, as George W. did for Barack Obama.But when Obama quietly folded his letter and placed it in a drawer in the Resolute Desk, it contained more than just platitudes and well wishes. In addition to being twice as long Obama is a speaker, after all it was filled with not only an account of how powerful a position it is, but also advice on how to handle the job with grace and humilityAlthough Trump has never publicly read the letter aloud, he has often spoken of how much he cherishes it, when he s not busy tweeting about what a horrible president Barack Obama was. Now CNN has obtained a copy of the letter from a person that Trump once showed it to:Exclusive: In the letter Obama left for Trump on Inauguration Day, he lays out four points of advice. Read it here: https://t.co/NLczJTxyaz pic.twitter.com/ttqXGx6TxK CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 3, 2017Some highlights:It s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that s willing to work hard.It s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.[W]e are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.As you can see, President Obama left Trump with a lot of advice he has definitely not followed. From Trump s sustained focus on repealing his predecessor s signature health care bill to his determination to cut social spending in order to fund more tax cuts for the wealthy, he hasn t built any ladders of success. In his constant tweets threatening North Korea and belittling China, Mexico, and even allies like Australia and Germany, Trump hasn t done much for international order. But on the last few points, Trump has failed spectacularly. He has zero respect for the rule of law or separation of powers, and has proven himself an enemy of equal protection and civil liberties.President Obama s letter couldn t have surfaced at a more perfect time to highlight the differences between the man we got used to seeing handle disasters, terrorism, tragedies, and diplomacy humbly and the man-child who scoffs now at even the most common social norms.If only it had been a set of rules.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
11,157 | Chinese watchdog says 1.34 million officials punished for graft since 2013 | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s anti-graft watchdog said roughly 1.34 million lower-ranking officials have been punished since 2013 under President Xi Jinping s anti-corruption drive. Xi, who is preparing for a major Communist Party leadership conference later this month, has made an anti-graft campaign targeting tigers and flies , both high and low ranking officials, a core policy priority during his five-year term. China is preparing for the 19th Congress later this month, a twice-a-decade leadership event where Xi is expected to consolidate power and promote his policy positions. Those punished for graft since 2013 include 648,000 village-level officials and most crimes were related to small scale corruption, said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on Sunday. While much of the country s anti-graft drive has targeted lower ranking village and county officials, several high-ranking figures have been taken down. In August the head of the anti-graft committee for China s Ministry of Finance was himself put under investigation for suspected graft. In September a senior military officer who sits on China s powerful Central Military Commission, overseen by Xi, was detained and questioned over corruption-related offenses, Reuters reported. The CCDI said 155,000 country-level party bureaux have set up corruption policing mechanisms as of August, representing 94.8 percent of total bureaus. | 1 |
11,158 | France cautious over U.S. 'evidence' on Iran weaponry in Yemen | PARIS (Reuters) - France reacted cautiously on Friday to U.S. evidence which allegedly proved Iran supplied weapons to Houthi militia in Yemen, saying it was still studying information at its disposal and the United Nations had yet to draw any conclusions. The United States on Thursday presented for the first time pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Houthis, describing it as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions. The arms included charred remnants of what the Pentagon said was an Iranian-made short-range ballistic missile fired from Yemen on Nov. 4 at King Khaled International Airport outside Saudi Arabia s capital Riyadh, as well as a drone and an anti-tank weapon recovered in Yemen by the Saudis. When asked whether Paris believed that evidence was irrefutable, foreign ministry deputy spokesman Alexandre Giorgini declined to respond directly. The United Nations secretariat has not, at this stage, drawn any conclusions. France continues to examine the information at its disposal, he said. Tensions between Iran and France have increased in recent weeks after President Emmanuel Macron said Tehran should be less aggressive in the region and clarify its ballistic missile program. Giorgini said France remained concerned by Iran s ballistic missile program and urged it to abide fully by U.N. Security Council resolution 2231. Resolution 2231, which enshrined the landmark nuclear deal with world powers, calls on Iran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs, including launches using such technology. It stops short of explicitly barring such activity. France s foreign minister is due in Washington on Monday to in part to discuss Iran and will travel to Tehran at the start of January. (Corrects spelling of spokesman surname) | 1 |
11,159 | Sanders' tax returns highlight contrast with rival Clinton | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has made income inequality a top campaign theme, had taxable income of $205,271 in 2014, putting him almost in the top 5 percent of American earners, according to the release of Friday of his federal tax return. That figure was still far below the millions earned by his main Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in recent years. Sanders and his wife, Jane, paid $27,653 in federal income taxes in 2014, an effective federal tax rate of 13.5 percent, on income of $205,271, which is their adjusted gross income before deductions. That figure is just below the $206,563 that Census data show as the lower limit for the top 5 percent of U.S. households in 2014. But Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had income approaching $140 million over the last eight years, according to previously released returns. Sanders on Thursday described himself as “one of the poorer members of the United States Senate.” Median net worth among members of the U.S. Senate in 2014 stood at $2.9 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit organization that tracks money in politics. The return released on Friday does not include information on Sanders’ net worth. The return does show Sanders had federal taxable income after deductions of $140,994. Sanders has run a populist effort, vowing to reform what he calls a “corrupt” campaign finance system reliant on millionaires and billionaires at the expense of average voters. Clinton, in contrast, has much stronger ties to the financial system, including six-figure payments for speeches she gave to several financial institutions in recent years. Sanders often expresses skepticism that someone with those kinds of ties can effectively overhaul banks and other institutions. Clinton says she is steadfast in her commitment to eroding income inequality and creating a safe financial system. The two have clashed repeatedly over the topic - most recently Thursday night at a debate in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At that event, Sanders promised to release his tax returns after Clinton raised the issue. “You’ll get them, yes,” Sanders said. “They are very boring tax returns. No big money from speeches, no major investments. Unfortunately - unfortunately - I remain one of the poorer members of the United States Senate.” Clinton has a significant lead in pledged delegates over Sanders in the race for the Democratic nomination for the November presidential election. | 1 |
11,160 | GOP Gives Trump The Middle Finger, Prepares To Launch Probe Into Russia | Donald Trump may have decided that Russia is going to be America s new BFF, but the rest of the GOP isn t so sure. Going against the incoming administration, several Republicans are preparing to launch a wide-ranging investigation into Russia, particularly their involvement with hacking and alleged interference in the presidential election.The Washington Post reported:Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (Ariz.) is readying a probe of possible Russian cyber-incursions into U.S. weapons systems, and he said he has been discussing the issue with Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (N.C.), with whom he will be working closely to investigate Russia s suspected interference in the U.S. elections and cyberthreats to the military and other institutions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been apprised of the discussions. Burr did not respond to requests for comment.Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) also said he intends to hold hearings next year into alleged Russian hacking. Corker is on Trump s shortlist for secretary of state, according to the Trump transition team.Two of the most vocal voices on team Probe Putin are McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham.Graham said that Russia will keep doing more here until they pay a price. Next year, he plans to head up legislation and hold investigative hearings on Russia s misadventures throughout the world, which will absolutely include Russian interference in the U.S. election. I m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia. I think they re one of the most destabilizing influences on the world stage. I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay the price, Graham told CNN on Wednesday.McCain said his Armed Services Committee is going to be investigating Russia s cyber capabilities and the extent that they could be used against the U.S. military and our weapons systems, because the real threat is cyber. McCain added that this investigation will probably veer off to include looking at the possibility Russia was behind the DNC hacking. Also on the list to be probed is the hacking of state-based election systems, including that of Arizona, McCain s home state. See, the problem with hacking is that if they re able to disrupt elections, then it s a national security issue, obviously, McCain said on Thursday.He noted that the Armed Services Committee was still formulating just exactly how they would go about dealing with the issue, but said there s very little doubt that Russia was meddling in the U.S. election process, which he insists is very worthy of examination. Trump has dismissed the possibility that Russia was responsible for the DNC hacking, despite the fact that he himself called on the country to find Hillary Clinton s missing emails. I don t believe they interfered, Trump said. It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. I believe that it could have been Russia and it could have been any one of many other people. Sources or even individuals. Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images and Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images. Images merged by Rika Christensen | 0 |
11,161 | House votes to begin repealing Obamacare | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans on Friday won passage of a measure starting the process of dismantling Obamacare, despite concerns about not having a ready replacement and the potential financial cost of repealing Democratic President Barack Obama’s landmark health insurance law. The House of Representatives voted 227-198 to instruct committees to draft legislation by a target date of Jan. 27 that would repeal the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. The Senate approved the same measure early Thursday. No Democrats supported the initiative. Nine Republicans voted against the measure. With this vote, Republicans began delivering on their promise to end Obamacare, which also was a campaign promise of Republican President-elect Donald Trump. The program, which expanded health coverage to some 20 million people, has been plagued by increases in insurance premiums and deductibles and by some large insurers leaving the system. The resolution passed by the House and Senate does not need presidential approval, since it is part of an internal congressional budget process. But once the Obamacare repeal legislation is drafted, both chambers will need to approve it, and a presidential signature will be required. By that time, Trump will have been sworn in as president. He has urged Congress to act quickly to repeal and replace the Democratic program. Obamacare was enacted nearly seven years ago - over Republican objections - in an effort to expand coverage and give new protections for people with pre-existing health conditions and other barriers that left them without insurance. In the past few years, the House has voted more than 60 times to repeal or alter Obamacare, but Republicans had no hope a repeal would become law as long as Obama was president and could veto their bills. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said Obamacare was collapsing and action was urgent. For people who have health insurance through the Obamacare system, he said, “The deductibles are so high it doesn’t feel like you’ve got insurance in the first place. “We have to step in before things get worse. This is nothing short of a rescue mission,” Ryan said. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi rebutted Republicans’ claims that the law was a failure. “The rate of growth in healthcare costs in our country has been greatly diminished by the Affordable Care Act,” she said. “In the more than 50 years that they have been measuring the rate of growth, it has never been slower than now.” The choice before lawmakers, she said, is “affordable care versus chaos.” Harvard University economist David Cutler warned that there could be trouble in U.S. insurance markets if lawmakers do repeal the law but a replacement is slow in coming. “You could create a lot of havoc,” he said, adding that some insurers “may get out of the market entirely.” Trump applauded Congress’s efforts with a Friday morning tweet saying, “The ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act will soon be history!” The president-elect, who takes office on Jan. 20, pressed lawmakers this week to repeal and replace it “essentially simultaneously.” Republican leaders would like to finish the repeal process within weeks, but some lawmakers think it could take far longer. Some Republicans have expressed concern about starting a repeal before agreeing on how to replace provisions of the complicated and far-reaching law. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated repealing Obama’s signature health insurance law entirely would cost roughly $350 billion over 10 years. Republicans say a good replacement would give states more control of a healthcare program and provide more stability on health insurance premiums. | 1 |
11,162 | Influential House conservative says can't back Trump at this time: CNN | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the largest conservative group in the U.S. Congress, Representative Bill Flores of Texas, said he could not back Republican Donald Trump for president at this time, CNN reported on Wednesday. Flores, the head of the Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives, told CNN he was incredibly angry about comments that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee made about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel. | 1 |
11,163 | Fox News Editor Has His Own Really Creepy Suggestion For Trump’s VP (VIDEO) | With all the talk of Trump working on his list of potential VP picks, it s only natural that absolutely everyone under the sun would have an opinion or two about it. However, Fox News editor Chris Stirewalt s opinion should never have been uttered. He wants the King of Dunces to choose his own daughter, Ivanka, for VP.Why? Well, Stirewalt no doubt thinks this is a good enough reason: My favorite pick my absolutely favorite pick, I think is his daughter Ivanka. I think that is the best choice that he could make, he said. Everybody likes her! Has anybody ever said that they didn t like her? Everybody likes her I think he would be smart to pick his own daughter When it s a crazy election year, when weird stuff is happening, you gotta embrace the weird. Yeah, that would be weird all right. Way too weird. This is a man who is potentially a pedophile, and who has openly discussed screwing Ivanka multiple times. Recommending that he embrace the weird takes on a whole different and creepy vibe when put together with how disgusting His Royal Womanizer is.Watch Stirewalt turn horribly gross below:Of course, Charles Payne agreed that Ivanka would be a fantastic choice. She d definitely be one of the only women in His Royal Incestness inner circle, making the choice even more sickening. That an editor would actually suggest this shows how low Fox News is sinking to tout Donald Trump.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 0 |
11,164 | Hezbollah says Saudi Arabia forced Lebanon PM to resign | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia had forced Lebanon s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to resign, and called for calm and patience in Lebanon. Hariri, a political ally of Saudi Arabia resigned on Saturday in an unexpected declaration from the kingdom, citing a plot to assassinate him and slamming Hezbollah and its Iranian backers for sowing strife in the Arab world. The resignation of the prime minister, a Sunni Muslim, toppled a coalition government that included Hezbollah. The resignation was a Saudi decision dictated to prime minister Saad al-Hariri and forced on him, Nasrallah said in a televised broadcast, adding that there was no domestic reason for Hariri s decision. Nasrallah urged Lebanese not to hold protests in response to the resignation, saying this will not lead to any result . We urge against political escalation, he said. Nasrallah also said legitimate questions were being raised in Lebanon over whether Hariri was being detained in Saudi Arabia. Hariri allies in Lebanon have denied suggestions that he had been detained. Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors including billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the kingdom s most prominent businessmen. | 1 |
11,165 | There’s A New Memorial Day Tradition, And It Will Piss Trump Voters Off (VIDEO) | It s Memorial Day, which means that most across the country will be Barbecuing, spending time at the beach or just relaxing. Others are being reverent, remembering those who were lost during the nation s numerous wars. There s a new tradition, though, and conservatives won t be happy. The tradition is to burn the Confederate flag.It started lat year and it wasn t big. Several, including artists, and anyone who hates the tradition of Southern racism, joined together in an attempt to enlighten the world on what the Confederate flag stands for. The confederate flag is the N-word on a pole, said Sarasota, Florida, artist John Sims, who coordinated symbolic burials of the Confederate flag on Monday in the 13 states represented by the stars of the flag, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. Source: IB TimesThis year, organizer John Sims hopes that the movement will spread. Last year, it was over just 13 cities. This year, it could be nationwide, although you don t see a lot of Confederate flags outside of the South. So, Sims has made it easier. He s created a Burn and Bury kit that can be downloaded. You don t even have to buy anything. You can print it.While this will definitely anger Trump voters (watch for lots of cries of political correctness. ), that s not why Sims is doing it. He, like so many in this country, hate what the flag stands for.Southern heritage groups like the Sons of Confederate Veterans have failed to recognized the unredeemable nature of the Confederate flag as symbol of Southern heritage, Sims told Think Progress. And to deny this flag s connection to American white supremacy and fear of the loss of white privilege is insane. I challenge the Sons of Confederate Veterans to come correct and acknowledge that the Confederate flag should be retired as an artifact. And after that they should help advocate for reparations for slavery. He added he hoped Burn and Bury Memorial Day would ritualistically confront through reflection and catharsis, the pain and trauma of a very horrific part of American history. Source: YahooFor those who defend the flag as just being part of Southern history, it is, but it s a shameful part of Southern history. Here s the designer of the Confederate flag, Thompson, speaking for himself:Image courtesy of MicThompson went on to describe it as a white man s flag:According to a recent survey, Republicans still love the thing. Fewer than half of Republicans believe the flag is racist. | 0 |
11,166 | Member Of Congress Educates Trump: ‘Our Job Is To Check You, Not Protect You’ (TWEETS) | Donald Trump has been on an absolute tear on Twitter regarding the Russia investigation. At one point during his unhinged Twitter rant, Trump whined that the GOP-controlled Congress should be doing more to protect him from the political and legal consequences of the investigation. Well, Congressman Ted Lieu of California had a bit of bad news for the clearly constitutionally-challenged Trump: It s not Congress s job to protect him. Quite the opposite, in fact. Rep. Lieu said to Trump: Dear @realDonaldTrump: Under our Constitution, the job of Congress is not to protect you. It is to be a check and balance on you. Dear @realDonaldTrump: Under our Constitution, the job of Congress is not to protect you. It is to be a check and balance on you. https://t.co/eE56pjA6Z0 Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 24, 2017Now, of course that matters not to Trump. He has operated outside the bounds of the law his entire life, and has continued to do so since the second he took his hand off that Bible after reciting the oath of office. One could even argue that the Republicans in Congress ARE protecting Trump, considering that they won t do anything about him.Many regularly go on television and refuse to criticize Trump regarding Russia or anything else. This is true even when the evidence that he obstructed justice, colluded with the Russians, is self-dealing from the Oval Office, or committing any number of other crimes is nothing short of damning. That s to say nothing of his clear and dangerous incompetence, and his daily disgracing of the office we all hold so dear as a nation.If for no other reason than what Rep. Lieu just told Trump, we should do all we can to flip Congress in 2018. Then we can have a REAL check on this freak that is currently occupying the White House.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
11,167 | House clears way for debate on Trump-backed healthcare bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Friday cleared the way for a contentious debate on legislation to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a more limited federal healthcare insurance program. By a vote of 230-194, the House approved rules for debating the Republican legislation that Democrats oppose. It was not yet clear whether House Speaker Paul Ryan has enough Republican support to pass the bill that has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. | 1 |
11,168 | BREAKING: Megyn Kelly To CNN? | Megyn Kelly s contract with FOX news is up in 2017 We re hearing she may jump ship at FOX and jump over to CNN. Drudge Report has an exclusive story on the possible move but rumors have been swirling about Kelly for months. Kelly came under fire from Trump fans over the last year for her bias against the President Elect. Her ratings declined when conservatives realized Kelly had a vindictive streak that came out against Trump. Drudge reported:CNN President Jeff Zucker is actively perusing FOX star Megyn Kelly to anchor 8 or 9 PM on his network, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. And Kelly might just say, YES! He is moving the Himalayan mountains to get her, a top insider explains. But they are tripped up on money. He simply can t pay her the $20 million a year FOX has on the table. | 0 |
11,169 | Trump to top U.S. diplomat: Don't bother talking to North Korea | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time a day after his own secretary of state said the United States was maintaining open lines of communication with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man, Trump wrote on Twitter, using his sarcastic nickname for Kim and seeming to contradict the top U.S. diplomat. Trump, who has traded insults and threats with Kim in recent weeks amid escalating tensions over Pyongyang s nuclear and missile programs, later tweeted that his White House predecessors, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, had all failed on North Korea by Being nice to Rocket Man. So why would it work now? he asked. Kim succeeded his father, Kim Jong Il, as North Korean leader in 2011, during Obama s administration. Previous presidents negotiated with Pyongyang but ultimately failed to prevent it from pressing ahead with its internationally condemned weapons programs. Tillerson disclosed on Saturday that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue. Save your energy Rex, we ll do what has to be done! Trump said. Tillerson said during a trip to China that the United States had multiple direct channels of communication with Pyongyang, the first such disclosure by the Trump administration, and that it was probing North Korea to see if it was interested in dialogue. Tillerson expressed hope for reducing tensions with North Korea, which is fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. We are probing, so stay tuned, Tillerson told a small group of reporters. We ask: Would you like to talk? He said the United States had a couple of, three channels, open to Pyongyang. In Beijing on Monday, China s foreign ministry said it supported dialogue. We consistently support the United States and North Korea engaging in dialogue and contact to promote mutual understanding and resolve related issues through consultations, it said in an emailed response to a Reuters query on Tillerson s revelations about contact with North Korea. A senior Trump administration official, asked for clarification about Trump s Sunday morning tweets, played down the significance of the communication channels. At a time when North Korea is continuing its provocations, the president does not think now is the time to negotiate with them, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. To the extent that diplomatic channels exist between Washington and Pyongyang, they are aimed at securing the return of Americans detained by North Korea, the official added. R.C. Hammond, an adviser to Tillerson, denied that his boss had been undercut by Trump s tweets and rejected any suggestion that the secretary of state should resign. Let s resign the idea of resignation. The President just made it clear to the Kim regime the diplomatic offer on the table is cooling, Hammond said on Twitter. He also downplayed any contacts. Channels have been open for months. They ve been unused and cooling for months, Hammond wrote. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert made a similar point on Sunday. Diplomatic channels are open for #KimJongUn for now. They won t be open forever, she wrote on Twitter. U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter: If Tillerson is wasting his time, it s only because his boss fails to understand the catastrophic consequences of war on the Korean peninsula. Trump s rhetoric on North Korea has run the gamut, from personal attacks on Kim to veiled military threats, from a denial of any interest in talks to an insistence that he would prefer a diplomatic solution. After announcing new U.S. sanctions on North Korea last month, he acknowledged diplomacy was still possible, asking: Why not? . But he has also frequently declared that he had military options at its disposal, although U.S. officials and outside experts have long said a U.S. strike on North Korea would risk massive casualties. | 1 |
11,170 | NYT’s Gifts America With Christmas Eve Letter From Black Professor Who Teaches Students Every White Person Is A “Racist” [VIDEO] | It doesn t matter if you have black friends, if you voted for Barack Obama, or even if you re married to a black person you re still a racist. You can essentially never escape your white privilege and hate for Blacks. No matter what dreams a Black person may have, the White person is going to take them away from you..In 2015, I conducted a series of 19 interviews with philosophers and public intellectuals on the issue of race. My aim was to engage, in this very public space, with the often unnamed elephant in the room.These discussions helped me, and I hope many of our readers, to better understand how race continues to function in painful ways within our country. That was one part of a gift that I wanted to give to readers of The Stone, the larger philosophical community, and the world.That is how I want to deliver my own message now. Dear White America,I have a weighty request. As you read this letter, I want you to listen with love, a sort of love that demands that you look at parts of yourself that might cause pain and terror, as James Baldwin would say. Did you hear that? You may have missed it. I repeat: I want you to listen with love. Well, at least try.We don t talk much about the urgency of love these days, especially within the public sphere. Much of our discourse these days is about revenge, name calling, hate, and divisiveness. I have yet to hear it from our presidential hopefuls, or our political pundits. I don t mean the Hollywood type of love, but the scary kind, the kind that risks not being reciprocated, the kind that refuses to flee in the face of danger. To make it a bit easier for you, I ve decided to model, as best as I can, what I m asking of you. Let me demonstrate the vulnerability that I wish you to show. As a child of Socrates, James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, let me speak the truth, refuse to err on the side of caution.This letter is a gift for you. Bear in mind, though, that some gifts can be heavy to bear. You don t have to accept it; there is no obligation. I give it freely, believing that many of you will throw the gift back in my face, saying that I wrongly accuse you, that I am too sensitive, that I m a race hustler, and that I blame white people (you) for everything.I have read many of your comments. I have even received some hate mail. In this letter, I ask you to look deep, to look into your souls with silence, to quiet that voice that will speak to you of your white innocence. So, as you read this letter, take a deep breath. Make a space for my voice in the deepest part of your psyche. Try to listen, to practice being silent. There are times when you must quiet your own voice to hear from or about those who suffer in ways that you do not.What if I told you that I m sexist? Well, I am. Yes. I said it and I mean just that. I have watched my male students squirm in their seats when I ve asked them to identify and talk about their sexism. There are few men, I suspect, who would say that they are sexists, and even fewer would admit that their sexism actually oppresses women. Certainly not publicly, as I ve just done. No taking it back now.To make things worse, I m an academic, a philosopher. I m supposed to be one of the enlightened ones. Surely, we are beyond being sexists. Some, who may genuinely care about my career, will say that I m being too risky, that I am jeopardizing my academic livelihood. Some might even say that as a black male, who has already been stereotyped as a crotch-grabbing, sexual fiend, that I m at risk of reinforcing that stereotype. (Let s be real, that racist stereotype has been around for centuries; it is already part of white America s imaginary landscape.)Yet, I refuse to remain a prisoner of the lies that we men like to tell ourselves that we are beyond the messiness of sexism and male patriarchy, that we don t oppress women. Let me clarify. This doesn t mean that I intentionally hate women or that I desire to oppress them. It means that despite my best intentions, I perpetuate sexism every day of my life. Please don t take this as a confession for which I m seeking forgiveness. Confessions can be easy, especially when we know that forgiveness is immediately forthcoming.As a sexist, I have failed women. I have failed to speak out when I should have. I have failed to engage critically and extensively their pain and suffering in my writing. I have failed to transcend the rigidity of gender roles in my own life. I have failed to challenge those poisonous assumptions that women are inferior to men or to speak out loudly in the company of male philosophers who believe that feminist philosophy is just a nonphilosophical fad. I have been complicit with, and have allowed myself to be seduced by, a country that makes billions of dollars from sexually objectifying women, from pornography, commercials, video games, to Hollywood movies. I am not innocent.I have been fed a poisonous diet of images that fragment women into mere body parts. I have also been complicit with a dominant male narrative that says that women enjoy being treated like sexual toys. In our collective male imagination, women are things to be used for our visual and physical titillation. And even as I know how poisonous and false these sexist assumptions are, I am often ambushed by my own hidden sexism. I continue to see women through the male gaze that belies my best intentions not to sexually objectify them. Our collective male erotic feelings and fantasies are complicit in the degradation of women. And we must be mindful that not all women endure sexual degradation in the same way.I recognize how my being a sexist has a differential impact on black women and women of color who are not only victims of racism, but also sexism, my sexism. For example, black women and women of color not only suffer from sexual objectification, but the ways in which they are objectified is linked to how they are racially depicted, some as exotic and others as hyper-sexual. You see, the complicity, the responsibility, the pain that I cause runs deep. And, get this. I refuse to seek shelter; I refuse to live a lie. So, every day of my life I fight against the dominant male narrative, choosing to see women as subjects, not objects. But even as I fight, there are moments of failure. Just because I fight against sexism does not give me clean hands, as it were, at the end of the day; I continue to falter, and I continue to oppress. And even though the ways in which I oppress women is unintentional, this does not free me of being responsible.If you are white, and you are reading this letter, I ask that you don t run to seek shelter from your own racism. Don t hide from your responsibility. Rather, begin, right now, to practice being vulnerable. Being neither a good white person nor a liberal white person will get you off the proverbial hook. I consider myself to be a decent human being. Yet, I m sexist. Take another deep breath. I ask that you try to be un-sutured. If that term brings to mind a state of pain, open flesh, it is meant to do so. After all, it is painful to let go of your white innocence, to use this letter as a mirror, one that refuses to show you what you want to see, one that demands that you look at the lies that you tell yourself so that you don t feel the weight of responsibility for those who live under the yoke of whiteness, your whiteness.I can see your anger. I can see that this letter is being misunderstood. This letter is not asking you to feel bad about yourself, to wallow in guilt. That is too easy. I m asking for you to tarry, to linger, with the ways in which you perpetuate a racist society, the ways in which you are racist. I m now daring you to face a racist history which, paraphrasing Baldwin, has placed you where you are and that has formed your own racism. Again, in the spirit of Baldwin, I am asking you to enter into battle with your white self. I m asking that you open yourself up; to speak to, to admit to, the racist poison that is inside of you.Again, take a deep breath. Don t tell me about how many black friends you have. Don t tell me that you are married to someone of color. Don t tell me that you voted for Obama. Don t tell me that I m the racist. Don t tell me that you don t see color. Don t tell me that I m blaming whites for everything. To do so is to hide yet again. You may have never used the N-word in your life, you may hate the K.K.K., but that does not mean that you don t harbor racism and benefit from racism. After all, you are part of a system that allows you to walk into stores where you are not followed, where you get to go for a bank loan and your skin does not count against you, where you don t need to engage in the talk that black people and people of color must tell their children when they are confronted by white police officers.As you reap comfort from being white, we suffer for being black and people of color. But your comfort is linked to our pain and suffering. Just as my comfort in being male is linked to the suffering of women, which makes me sexist, so, too, you are racist. That is the gift that I want you to accept, to embrace. It is a form of knowledge that is taboo. Imagine the impact that the acceptance of this gift might have on you and the world.Take another deep breath. I know that there are those who will write to me in the comment section with boiling anger, sarcasm, disbelief, denial. There are those who will say, Yancy is just an angry black man. There are others who will say, Why isn t Yancy telling black people to be honest about the violence in their own black neighborhoods? Or, How can Yancy say that all white people are racists? If you are saying these things, then you ve already failed to listen. I come with a gift. You re already rejecting the gift that I have to offer. This letter is about you. Don t change the conversation. I assure you that so many black people suffering from poverty and joblessness, which is linked to high levels of crime, are painfully aware of the existential toll that they have had to face because they are black and, as Baldwin adds, for no other reason. Some of your white brothers and sisters have made this leap. The legal scholar Stephanie M. Wildman, has written, I simply believe that no matter how hard I work at not being racist, I still am. Because part of racism is systemic, I benefit from the privilege that I am struggling to see. And the journalism professor Robert Jensen: I like to think I have changed, even though I routinely trip over the lingering effects of that internalized racism and the institutional racism around me. Every time I walk into a store at the same time as a black man and the security guard follows him and leaves me alone to shop, I am benefiting from white privilege. What I m asking is that you first accept the racism within yourself, accept all of the truth about what it means for you to be white in a society that was created for you. I m asking for you to trace the binds that tie you to forms of domination that you would rather not see. When you walk into the world, you can walk with assurance; you have already signed a contract, so to speak, that guarantees you a certain form of social safety.Baldwin argues for a form of love that is a state of being, or state of grace not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth. Most of my days, I m engaged in a personal and societal battle against sexism. So many times, I fail. And so many times, I m complicit. But I refuse to hide behind that mirror that lies to me about my non-sexist nobility. Baldwin says, Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. In my heart, I m done with the mask of sexism, though I m tempted every day to wear it. And, there are times when it still gets the better of me.White America, are you prepared to be at war with yourself, your white identity, your white power, your white privilege? Are you prepared to show me a white self that love has unmasked? I m asking for love in return for a gift; in fact, I m hoping that this gift might help you to see yourself in ways that you have not seen before. Of course, the history of white supremacy in America belies this gesture of black gift-giving, this gesture of non-sentimental love. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered even as he loved.Perhaps the language of this letter will encourage a split not a split between black and white, but a fissure in your understanding, a space for loving a Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Aiyana Jones, Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald and others. I m suggesting a form of love that enables you to see the role that you play (even despite your anti-racist actions) in a system that continues to value black lives on the cheap.Take one more deep breath. I have another gift.If you have young children, before you fall off to sleep tonight, I want you to hold your child. Touch your child s face. Smell your child s hair. Count the fingers on your child s hand. See the miracle that is your child. And then, with as much vision as you can muster, I want you to imagine that your child is black.In peace,George YancyVia: NYT sHere is a dreadfully long interview of Professor George Yancy, who drones on and on about how White people can never escape their racism. It s especially interesting to hear the interviewer tell Professor Yancy that young White people buy into the idea that there is no racism, but they just don t know the truth (translation: even if you re not a racist and have never seen a black friend be discriminated against, you re still a racist. Go to 17.:45 mark of the video to see this incredible exchange: To be black is to already be dead. Which is a hell of a place to be. They re socially dead because in a White world they re going to be looked upon as sub-human. | 0 |
11,171 | Brussels prosecutors to speak on ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Brussels prosecutors will hold a news conference at 1300 GMT on sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by Spain, a spokesman for the Belgian authority said on Sunday. Warrants for rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust relating to Catalonia s independence campaign concern Puigdemont and four of his associates who fled to Belgium after Madrid s central government imposed direct rule in the autonomous region. We will give a press conference at 2 p.m. (local time). I can t confirm the arrests of the five people, spokesman Gilles Dejemeppe said. According to Belgian procedures, prosecutors must bring suspects to a judge, who has 24 hours to decide whether or not to approve the arrest warrant. Appeals can stretch the process to as long as 45 days. | 1 |
11,172 | Lifetime Republican Voter Thanks President Obama For Saving His Life With Obamacare | Republican lawmakers hate Obamacare, but it s saving the lives of Republican voters.Even though Brent Brown hated the Affordable Care Act and refused to vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, the lifetime GOP voter from Wisconsin wrote a letter to the Democratic Commander-in-Chief apologizing for all the bad things he said and thanking Obama for saving his life.Brown thanked President Obama because the Affordable Care Act allowed him to finally access the medication he needs to stabilize my condition. Prior to the passage of the landmark healthcare legislation, Brown had been denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. But because Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, Brown was able to get the care he needed.So he wrote a heartfelt letter to President Obama in June, which the White House posted online, thanking him for saving his life and for being my President. Brown also admitted that he was wrong about the healthcare law.Here s the full letter via the White House.To My President,I sincerely hope that this reaches you, as far too often praise is hard to come by. Apologies to people who deserve it perhaps even less so.I did not vote for you. Either time. I have voted Republican for the entirety of my life. I proudly wore pins and planted banners displaying my Republican loyalty. I was very vocal in my opposition to you particularly the ACA.Before I briefly explain my story allow me to first say this: I am so very sorry. I understand written content cannot convey emotions very well but my level of conviction has me in tears as I write this. I was so very wrong. So very very wrong.You saved my life. I want that to sink into your ears and mind. My President, you saved my life, and I am eternally grateful.I have a pre-existing condition and so could never purchase health insurance. Only after the ACA came into being could I be covered. Put simply to not take up too much of your time if you are in fact taking the time to read this: I would not be alive without access to care I received due to your law. So thank you from a dumb young man who thought he knew it all and who said things about you that he now regrets. Thank you for serving me even when I didn t vote for you.Thank you for being my President.Honored to have lived under your leadership and guidance,Brent Nathan BrownIn a follow-up letter, Brown updated President Obama on how he is doing thanks to the Affordable Care Act.The Affordable Care Act saved my life. I can now say, after several surgeries, that I m in recovery from what was a serious autoimmune disease I was finally able to receive the quality of care that had eluded me for years. I was able to consult the top surgeon in my state for the particular surgery I needed. I was able to receive the stabilizing drug that was always hidden behind a doctor s apology: I m sorry, Mr. Brown, we have to take your financial consideration into account. I was able to stay at one of the best equipped hospitals in my state for as long as I needed, without having to worry about checking myself out early because of cost concerns. I had hope.If Republican lawmakers have their way, people like Brent Brown would lose this hope. They would be stripped of the newly found healthcare that they have waited years to finally receive. This letter is not only a testament to how Obamacare is helping millions of Americans, it s a warning to Republicans that they would be hurting their own voters by repealing the ACA.Brent Brown is a shining example of the Affordable Care Act s success and necessity, and he had the courage to say he was wrong and thank President Obama for fighting for him. It s too bad other Republicans refuse to do the same.Featured Image: Flickr | 0 |
11,173 | Rudy Giuliani’s Daughter Announces She’s Backing Hillary Clinton | Trump s biggest (and most insane) surrogate Rudy Giuliani just got some bad news his daughter, Caroline, is backing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for President over Donald Trump, her father s new BFF.After posting on her Facebook that she has been pro Hillary all along, and making her profile picture Clinton s iconic H, Giuliani confirmed that the account was indeed hers and that her father, Rudy, does know:I love Hillary, I think she s by far the most qualified candidate that we ve had in a long while. My dad knows. I was for Barack in 2012. He knows and is fully comfortable with it and thinks I have a right to my opinion.She did not comment on her father s surrogacy or support for Trump. On her Facebook, after sharing an article titled, I Wrote That I Despised Hillary Clinton. Today, I Publicly Want To Take That Back, Giuliani wrote:I ve been pro-Hillary all along, but the people who are willing to open their minds & shift their perspectives are the ones with the power to save our country at this point, so I really respect this [the article]. #imwithher #voteAccording to Politico:The younger Giuliani is not the only one who has drifted from her father this election the New York Times reported that many of the former mayor s most loyal former aides have rejected Trump s candidacy, and have expressed concerns about Giuliani s embrace of the Manhattan mogul and his more extreme views, specifically on immigration. Some of his former staffers, like his onetime press secretary Matt Higgins, have endorsed Clinton.It seems like Rudy is really off his rocker when everyone around him, including his own family, are voting for the other candidate.One has to wonder what Trump promised or paid Giuliani for his ardent (and downright insane) support.Featured image via Matt Millis McKnight/Getty Images | 0 |
11,174 | Senate panel chair says will hold hearings on health insurance market | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the health committee, said on Tuesday he will hold hearings in the next few weeks on how to stabilize the individual health insurance market. Alexander’s comments come as a Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare collapsed on Tuesday over disagreements between conservatives and moderates. The individual insurance market has been hurt by insurers dropping out of the Obamacare exchanges. | 1 |
11,175 | Salma Hayek Turned Donald Trump Down For A Date And His Revenge Was Classic Trump | Donald Trump loves beautiful women. We know that because he s told us that, repeatedly. In fact, he once called hot women his alcoholism, especially if they are 17 or 18. Salma Hayek is undeniably beautiful. It s no wonder Trump tried to ask her out. It s also no wonder that she said no. What Trump did after that, though was pure Donald Trump.When I met that man, I had a boyfriend, and he tried to become his friend to get my home telephone number, she said, describing meeting Trump early in her career before she was well-known. He got my number and he would call me to invite me out. When I told him I wouldn t go out with him even if I didn t have a boyfriend, [which he took as disrespectful], he called well, he wouldn t say he called, but someone told the National Enquirer, Hayek continued, adding that she never went out with him. Someone told the National Enquirer I m not going to say who, because you know that whatever he wants to come out comes out in the National Enquirer. It said that he wouldn t go out with me because I was too short, she said. Later, he called and left me a message. Can you believe this? Who would say this? I don t want people to think this about you, she said. He thought that I would try to go out with him so people wouldn t think that s why he wouldn t go out with me. Like most things that come out of Trump s mouth, his denial didn t ring true, especially after it was revealed that he paid $120,000 from Trump Foundation money for a prize that included dinner with Hayek.Hayek has never particularly been a fan of Trump. In August, she compared him to a first grader.[ad3media campaign= 1214 ]She is a strong supporter, though, of Hillary Clinton. Just days ago, she made a Spanish language video in support of the Secretary of State.I guess we ll have to wait and see what Trump has to say about Hayek in his next 3:00 Twitter rant.Featured image of Selma Hayek via Mike Coppola/Getty Images | Featured image of Donald Trump via Gerardo Mora/Getty Images. | 0 |
11,176 | Czech PM designate: EU should not push us over migrants - paper | PRAGUE (Reuters) - The designated Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that the European Union should not push Czechs over their refusal to shelter asylum-seekers, because it could strengthen extremist parties in the country. The European Union s executive will sue Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in the bloc s top court for their refusal to host asylum-seekers, Brussels said on Thursday. Babis, whose government is due to be appointed by President Milos Zeman on Dec. 13, repeated his country s stance on migrants. The (European) Commission can withdraw the charge at any moment. We have to negotiate on this and to offer different models, like guarding the borders or help to other countries. But we don t want any refugees, Babis said in an interview published on Saturday by the Pravo daily paper. He will represent his country at the EU summit on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, where European leaders will discuss migration. The Czechs have declined to shelter asylum-seekers despite an overall drop in arrivals due to tighter borders and projects beyond the EU s frontiers to discourage migration to Europe. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) cases could lead to financial penalties but may take months, or years, to conclude. Babis said that by pushing on with the case, the EU might embolden extremist elements. The EU has to understand, that if it won t listen to our proposals, then the influence of extremist parties like (Germany s) AfD or (Czech) SPD will grow, whose strategy actually is to destroy the EU, he said. Despite his ANO party winning the parliamentary election by a landslide in October, it is unclear whether Babis will be able to win a confidence vote for his government by mid-January as required by the constitution. He also faces the threat of prosecution in connection with his business interests. The far-right, anti-EU and anti-NATO SPD party and the Communists have lent ANO support in several initial votes in parliament in return for committee posts for their members, raising the prospect that they may have some kind of agreement to back ANO. But Babis reiterated in the Pravo interview that there was no deal in place and he would talk to all parties to either back the cabinet or abstain from the vote to help ANO win. | 1 |
11,177 | George Clooney HAMMERS Trump For Insulting Meryl Streep Instead Of Focusing On Running The Country | George Clooney is tired of Donald Trump s obsession with attacking people who criticize him.During the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night, legendary actress Meryl Streep delivered an epic speech aimed at Trump with ever once saying his name.Streep defended Hollywood, the free press, and foreigners in a passionate speech while accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award and went on to express her heartbreak that a man who viciously mocked a disabled reporter during the campaign is the president-elect. There was nothing good about it, Streep said. But it was effective, and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter- someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. Predictably, Trump lost his shit and attacked Streep on Twitter, proving once again that he is too thin-skinned and unfit for the presidency.Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a .. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never mocked a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017 groveling when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017The backlash against Trump has been intense ever since because he is literally wasting time attacking any celebrity or citizen who criticizes him instead of using his time to prepare for the toughest job in the world.And even George Clooney is wondering why Trump isn t focusing on the job he s about to take over on January 20th. Aren t you supposed to be running the country? Clooney asked Trump during an event to promote a documentary about volunteers in Syria. I didn t vote for him, I don t support him, I don t think he s the right choice. Clooney then expressed his hope that Trump doesn t destroy everything over the next four years, but added that he doubts Trump will probably do exactly that. At this moment in our lives we have to hope that he doesn t destroy everything. The reality is you have to hope he will do a decent job because if the United States fails, really terrible things happen, so you have to hope that he can. I don t see any signs of it. If Trump was thinking about inviting Clooney to his inauguration, he better again.Featured Image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images | 0 |
11,178 | JUST IN: WaPo Reporter Who Broke News On Judge Roy Moore Story Has A Criminal History Of “Faking” | Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is denying that he romantically pursued teenagers as young as 14 while he was in his 30s after a bombshell report. The women accusing Moore told the Washington Post that when they were between the ages of 14 and 18, he romantically pursued them.One woman, Leigh Corfman, told the Post that when she was 14 years old in 1979, a 32-year-old Moore took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. Corfman told the Post that Moore touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. The outspoken social conservative said in a statement the four women quoted by the Washington Post are lying. This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation, Moore said.Former White House adviser Stephen Bannon helped Moore trounce establishment favorite Luther Strange in a September Republican primary, over President Trump s warning that Moore was less electable.Moore currently is in a close race against Democrat Doug Jones ahead of a Dec. 12 election. Washington ExaminerStephanie McCrummen, the reporters who co-wrote the Washington Post hit piece on Judge Roy Moore, apparently has a history of faking things like fake checks for instance According to the anti-Trump publication, Red State, McCrummen, who works for the Washington Post, (who many consider to be fake news, after using mulitple unnamed sources in an attempt to tie President Trump to the Russians), has a criminal record that involves writing a FAKE check.Ms. McCrummen has a rather interesting criminal history herself, as public criminal records in multiple states stretching across 4 time zones have shown.Ms. McCrummen s criminal history began with North Carolina Case # 1992 CR 00654, a violation of the Article 19 False Pretenses and Cheats section of the North Carolina Criminal Code. Ms. McCrummen was convicted of a crime punishable by up to six months of imprisonment for writing a hot check that was deemed worthless.Ms. McCrummen s other offenses are all traffic related and in 2010, she was tracked down by the courts after she had escaped Arizona s jurisdiction to D.C., and her case was assigned to the Fines/Fees and Restitution Enforcement (FARE) Program established to collect delinquent court ordered restitution, fines, fees, and surcharges . After the FARE team tracked her down at her Washington D.C. apartment, they finally appeared to get her attention and on October 23, 2010 she paid the defaulted fine to the criminal court, almost two months after her conviction. McCrummen has now found herself a four-time loser in the states criminal courts. She currently resides outside of the jurisdiction of the three states where she committed her crimes.Sean Hannity ripped into the media frenzy over the Judge Moore scandal on his show last night. The left is calling for his head today:.@seanhannity EVERYONE deserves the presumption of innocence before proven guilty. Not to mention these allegations coming out days before an election!#RoyMooreChildMolester pic.twitter.com/SEAC7GP0TU Shell Covfefe (@MichelleRMed) November 10, 2017When a reporter has a criminal history that essentially proves she gave false information to pay a debt or for services, shouldn t her character come into question when it comes to making a 40 year old sexual allegation against one of the most hated, Steve Bannon backed conservatives running for office in America, that may help to enhance her career? | 0 |
11,179 | Mexico welcomes NAFTA re-negotiation, expects constructive talks | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s government welcomed the upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Thursday after the Trump administration gave notice it was kicking off the process with a letter to Congress. In a brief statement, Mexico’s economy ministry said NAFTA had been a boon to Canada, the United States and Mexico, and that all three nations deserved a modern pact to regulate trade. “Mexico expects a constructive negotiation that allows more cooperation, economic integration, and boosts regional competitiveness,” the ministry said in the statement. | 1 |
11,180 | ALL Of The GOP Candidates Would WRECK Our Environment – Here’s How | During the most recent Republican Presidential debate, Donald Trump proposed getting rid of the Environmental Protection Agency altogether, a government agency founded in 1970 by Republican President Richard Nixon. Trump s skewed logic was the agency s $8 billion budget is wasted and should be reallocated to the states.In response to Rubio s pressing of Trump for what his plan is to cut taxes and balance the federal budget, Trump replied: Environmental protection we waste all of this money. We re going to bring that back to the states. We are going to cut many of the agencies, we will balance our budget and we will be dynamic again. The radical proposal of Trump defies anything remotely close to being realistic. Trump has also accused the EPA of creating more damage than they protect and making it impossible for the country to compete. His rhetoric is part of the mode of thinking many of his supporters have, that the government somehow is impeding their ability to improve their lives, and the solution is de-regulating everything in order for a free market of competition will solve everything. In reality, dissolving the EPA, which would involve repealing many environmental laws, would leave environmental protection up to the states, where most do not have the resources to enforce meaningful environmental regulations. This would also cause a vacuum of competition where states would try to appeal to hazardous industries to come to their state by downgrading environmental regulations.Because the entire Republican Party has lost their minds, Trump s proposal is one that has also been adopted by Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz. This past January, Rubio dubbed the EPA, the Employment Prevention Agency, adding the agency s regulations are out of control and hurt our economy.Cruz, who already is notorious for wanting to repeal all federal climate change regulation and the Clean Air Act, told Breitbart News in 2015, I think states should press back using every tool they have available. We ve got to rein in a lawless executive that is abusing its power, in response to a question as to whether states should comply with EPA coal regulations.The proposal to get rid of the EPA would be disastrous for the environment and the daily lives of every American. The endemic species throughout this country and the ecosystems they inhabit are already under insurmountable stress, and the science overwhelmingly shows environmental regulations, caps, and oversight are needed to mitigate the effects of climate change and other environmental influences.Dissolving the EPA is just one of the many dangers the Republican presidential candidates pose to the American public if elected, and if they were ever successful in doing so, the damage incurred could potentially destroy parts of the country indefinitely with hazardous sites, toxic waste pollution, and increasing emission rates becoming more of the norm. If anything, the EPA s funding needs to be increased, and the agency improved by making it more effective, because the stakes couldn t be higher. America cannot afford a president who doesn t understand action needs to be made to combat climate change, not worsen it.Featured image via Screen Capture | 0 |
11,181 | Elizabeth Warren Gives Trump Bad News After He Mocks Her For Not Getting VP Spot (TWEETS) | Hillary Clinton announced her choice of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her vice-presidential selection on Friday and, of course, Trump used the moment to mock Elizabeth Warren.In yet another effort to divide Democrats as the DNC Convention in Philadelphia approaches, Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to bully the Massachusetts Senator because she wasn t picked as Clinton s running mate. Pocahontas wanted V.P. slot so badly but wasn t chosen because she has done nothing in the Senate, Trump wrote before adding, Also, Crooked Hillary hates her! Pocahontas wanted V.P. slot so badly but wasn t chosen because she has done nothing in the Senate. Also, Crooked Hillary hates her! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2016Once again, the Republican nominee mocked Warren s Native American heritage and belittled her effort to fight for poor and middle class Americans in the US Senate.But Warren didn t let Trump get away with it and she responded by giving Trump bad news. I m right where I want to be, @realDonaldTrump, she wrote. Calling you out & holding you responsible for your reckless vision for America. I m right where I want to be, @realDonaldTrump: Calling you out & holding you responsible for your reckless vision for America. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 23, 2016One would think Donald Trump had learned his lesson about attacking Elizabeth Warren by now. After all, when he threw a temper tantrum by call her lazy, as well as a fraud and Pocahontas last weekend because she shredded his veep choice Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Warren ripped him a new one for it with a series of tweets that were a direct hit on how Trump is the REAL fraud.Here s just a few of them.You want to talk about who s a fraud, @realDonaldTrump? How about this? https://t.co/5UB05u8L4x pic.twitter.com/sTQrNKOoA1 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/HPPihIjqpX pic.twitter.com/dbhtFbhYF0 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/Ji9khMUbw6 pic.twitter.com/buEtsLMjfn Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/3ernRrO7q3 pic.twitter.com/wld65MAdsj Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Seriously, I could do this all day, @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/Q6Tv3m1SdX pic.twitter.com/Me3CULGxTI Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 You re nothing but a thin-skinned bully and a lousy, cheating businessman, @realDonaldTrump. The sham is over. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Seriously, Donald. Stay down. Elizabeth Warren has already kicked your ass several times. You don t want to mess with her. Unless you like getting destroyed by strong women. In that case, just wait till November and you ll receive the biggest beating of all.Featured image via Jeff Swensen/Getty Images | 0 |
11,182 | Clinton, Trump to both meet with Egyptian president at U.N. | WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Reuters) - An adviser to U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign said on Sunday that Trump will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday during the United Nations General Assembly, just as Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, is also scheduled to do. Clinton, who faces Trump in the Nov. 8 election, announced last week that she would meet both with Sisi and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko in bilateral sessions expected to take place late on Monday. A foreign policy advisor to Trump, Walid Phares, told Reuters on Sunday that Trump would also have talks with Sisi on the same day. For Trump, a New York real estate magnate and reality-TV show host who has never held political office, it marks the second time in recent weeks he has tried to burnish his foreign-policy credentials to compete with Clinton, the former Secretary of State under President Barack Obama and a U.S. Senator from New York. Trump ventured to Mexico late last month to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss border security between the two nations. But afterward, both sides quickly accused the other of not accurately representing the scope of the conversations, with Trump insisting that the subject of which country would pay for a proposed wall between the two nations never came up, and Pena Nieto saying that his country would never agree to finance it. Egypt remains in flux after the country’s chaotic revolution in 2011 that deposed President Hosni Mubarak, a movement that the Obama administration supported. Then-Secretary Clinton has since written that she advised a more conservative approach than the White House ultimately took toward Mubarak’s exit. Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohamad Morsi, was eventually supplanted by Sisi, the nation’s former defense minister and a secularist, in 2013. Some Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have since accused the Obama administration of abandoning its support of Egypt’s government in its battle against Islamic militants. Trump has called for aggressive measures in combating the threat of Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria and has proposed blocking immigrants from countries that he says pose a threat to the United States. Earlier in his campaign, he suggested banning all Muslims from entering the country. Clinton’s meeting with Ukraine President Poroshenko also is likely to be provocative given the reportedly close ties between Trump’s campaign and the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, considered part of Ukraine, in 2014. | 1 |
11,183 | STUNNING: First Lady Melania Trump Welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu [Video] | President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu planned this trip within hours of Trump s inauguration in January, with the hope of repairing the damage done by the former administration to the countries relations.It s so wonderful to see a President and First Lady that we can be proud of show so much decorum and hospitality to our allies.Watch @POTUS and @FLOTUS greet Prime Minister @Netanyahu and his wife Sara as they arrive at The White House. pic.twitter.com/rhI4LeZXf5 Fox News (@FoxNews) February 15, 2017(Source: Daily Mail, Fox News) | 0 |
11,184 | Trump’s Possible DHS Pick Threatened To DESTROY Medical Examiner For Exposing Sickening Truth | Sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee County, Wisc., is possibly in line to become the next Secretary of Homeland Security. He s ruthless, he s extreme right, he s abusive, and he s just flat terrifying. Prisoners have died under his watch, too, for reasons such as labor and thirst. When the Milwaukee County medical examiner released standard reports on two of these deaths, Clarke absolutely lost it.Brian Peterson told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Clarke called him at the end of October and verbally pummeled him because of those reports. He threatened to contact the state s medical licensing board to have Peterson s license revoked, or at least to get him sanctioned. Peterson said: I haven t been talked to like that since I was probably 5. Is this really someone we want in charge of an entire federal department? Someone who s going to threaten to destroy those who expose the truth about him? It s actually no wonder Trump would consider him that s what Trump does. Eliminate anyone who makes you look even slightly bad.What s worse is that Peterson contacted the county s executive office about it a day later, and it came out that they aren t totally unfamiliar with Clarke s bullying behavior. This isn t an isolated incident.Clarke has excoriated Black Lives Matter as an anarchist group and a hate group, and predicted that they d join forces with ISIS at some point to destroy America. He s also a member of an extreme anti-government group known as the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Organization, which should make him unfit to serve as Secretary of anything at all.That organization promotes the idea that the county sheriff is the supreme law enforcement entity in the country, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.Clarke s office contacted the county executive s office to claim that they had a recording of the entire conversation and paint Peterson as a liar. But, surprise, surprise, they refused to provide it even though it could have cleared Clarke. Then again, nonexistent tapes can t clear anybody, so that answers that.This disgusting excuse for a law enforcement officer and human being is the one who should lose his job. Nobody should be allowed to abuse anyone, and Clarke is guilty of many, many abuses.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images | 0 |
11,185 | (Video) Conservative Pundit: Liberals Are Making Gains Because ‘More Americans Are Simply Ignorant’ | While I m not a huge O Reilly fan, I do believe this comment is true. I think many Americans are either too busy to dig deep on the issues or they are apathetic to them. 2016 will be the most important election in deciding the direction we want to go in. Socialism? Do we really want to be Greece? I vote HELL NO! If you feel the same way then make an effort to inform everyone you know about the difference between Conservatism and Liberalism. It s not about electing a woman for president but about electing the BEST person for the job. Hillary is not that person! | 0 |
11,186 | NFL’S PHONY PATRIOTISM: US Defense Department Paid NFL DISGUSTING $4.5 Million For On-Field Flag Appearances…Welcome Home Tributes | Every day, the NFL gives fans another reason to stop supporting them. Although the NFL agreed to refund a small portion of the money our Defense Department (US taxpayers) have paid them to show support for our military, it s the idea that Americans have been duped into believing it was something they did out of honor or reverence for our military. The NFL has reached a new low with their acceptance of players who are disrespecting our flag to promote Obama s race war while disallowing the Dallas Cowboys to honor the 5 police officers slain in their hometown by a Black Lives Matter terrorist. Don t forget, they also looked away when Cleveland Brown s player, Isaiah Crowell posted an Instagram picture of a cop with his neck being slit open. The NFL never said a word. They never even acknowledged what some considered to be a terrorist type threat to our law enforcement.In May 2016, the NFL announced that they would return more than $700,000 of taxpayers money that was paid to teams for sponsored military tributes.After being criticized for paid patriotism, in which money came out of the armed forces budget for various measures of public recognition during games, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league would pay that money back.In a letter written to Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain on Wednesday, and disclosed on Thursday, Goodell said that following an audited review of 100 marketing agreements from 2012 to 2015 by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche teams were deemed to have received $723,734 for acts of sponsored patriotism. Given the immense sacrifices made by our service members, it seems more appropriate that any organization with a genuine interest in honoring them, and deriving public credit as a result, should do so at its own expense and not at that of the American taxpayer, the report said. Americans deserve the ability to assume that tributes for our men and women in military uniform are genuine displays of national pride, which many are, rather than taxpayer-funded DOD marketing gimmicks. PGLast year, Flake and McCain disclosed that the U.S. Department of Defense had spent $5.4 million in contracts with 14 NFL teams from 2011 to 2014. Some of those contracts disclosed that payment was for on-field flag ceremonies and tributes to welcome home veterans. One team, the Atlanta Falcons, had made more than $1 million from the department over those four seasons.The National Guard spent $6.7 million on contracts with NFL teams from 2013 to 2015. Via: ESPNThere has never been a better time to boycott the NFL, their merchandise and any of their sponsors. | 0 |
11,187 | Croatia opposition seeks government no-confidence vote on Agrokor handling | ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia s opposition parties on Thursday demanded a no-confidence vote in the government over its handling of a crisis at the country s largest company, Agrokor, but analysts said the ruling coalition would likely survive. The government intervened in April because Agrokor [AGROK.UL], the largest employer in the Balkans, faced a debt and liquidity crisis. Given its importance, the crisis could have destabilized the economy. The opposition led by Social Democrats says a liquidity loan agreed this summer with creditors including foreign investment funds to finance Agrokor s operations through a 15-month period of restructuring lacked transparency and favored some creditors. The SDP has a responsibility to expose corrupt activities, the SDP leader Davor Bernardic told reporters. The government and Agrokor s crisis manager Ante Ramljak rejected the opposition charge and said it achieved the best possible loan terms in the circumstances. A debate and vote must take place by early December and the conservative-led coalition has a small but firm parliamentary majority. I don t think this is a particularly wise move for the top opposition party (Social Democrats) as they are likely to achieve little. I see it rather as an effort to divert attention from political weaknesses within their own ranks, said political analyst Davor Gjenero. | 1 |
11,188 | Trump trade office takes aggressive view of WTO rules: document | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said on Wednesday that it will take aggressive action to combat other countries’ unfair trade practices and may defy World Trade Organization rulings that it views as interfering with U.S. sovereignty In an annual trade policy agenda document, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said the administration “will not tolerate” unfair trade practices that distort markets, including currency manipulation, unfair government subsidies, intellectual property theft and state-owned enterprises. The document publicly released to Congress on Wednesday signals that the administration may try to push the limits of what is acceptable under WTO rules in its quest to make good on campaign promises to slash U.S. trade deficits with China and Mexico, and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. The document represents a departure from the Obama administration’s strict adherence to WTO compliance in its challenges to unfair foreign trade practices. “Unlike earlier presidents, Trump is signaling a willingness to impose import restrictions — especially against a country like China — where the justification under WTO rules for doing so may be highly questionable,” said Chad Bown, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “The downside of the United States going down this path is that it is likely that other countries will follow suit immediately,” Bown added. The USTR document said it was not in the United States’ interest to let some WTO rulings undermine the use of effective remedies that the Geneva-based trade body expressly allows to fight unfair trade. “Accordingly, the Trump administration will act aggressively as needed to discourage this type of behavior — and encourage true market competition,” the USTR said in the document. Laying out many of Trump’s trade plans in writing for the first time, the document said the Trump administration plans to strictly enforce U.S. trade laws, defend U.S. national sovereignty over trade policy, and use all possible leverage to open foreign markets to U.S. exports, the document said. It makes clear the Trump administration’s view that U.S. law supersedes WTO rules — a view that could be invoked should Congress adopt a border tax adjustment plan to impose new taxes on imports that is later challenged as violating WTO tariff rules by other member countries. “The Trump administration will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy,” the report said. The nominee to be Trump’s top trade negotiator, veteran steel industry lawyer Robert Lighthizer, in 2010 advocated “aggressive interpretations of WTO provisions that might help us deal with Chinese mercantilism.” Lighthizer is awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate. He served as a deputy USTR in the Reagan administration, helping to negotiate import quotas on Japanese goods in the 1980s, with the help of powerful trade law provisions that have largely gone unused since the WTO was launched in 1995. | 1 |
11,189 | BUSTED! LIBERAL BRAINIACS Steal Trump Sign…In Company Truck! [Video] | This is just idiotic! A couple of liberal brainiacs decided to steal a Trump sign. The only problem is that they did it in a company truck! Duh!#SaturdayMorning Idiots steal Trump sign IN COMPANY TRUCK!BUSTED: WoW Pool & Lawn Services -Naples, FLVOTE @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/etQ6VzgkrK John Miller (@cyvault) September 24, 2016 | 0 |
11,190 | Hawaii Does What Republicans Won’t And Reduces The NRA To Wetting Themselves In Fear | All Republicans had to do is ban suspected terrorists from buying guns and pass a universal background checks law. But they chose to listen to the NRA, and now states like Hawaii are bringing the hammer down on guns.The American people are demanding legislative action to prevent future mass shootings and reduce the number of gun violence incidents in this country. Simple fixes like universal background checks and banning terrorist suspects from buying guns legally would have satisfied most Americans.But because Republicans are owned by the NRA they refused to act and now all gun owners are paying the price for their failure to be responsible.Hawaii has the lowest gun death rate of any state in the nation and the island chain s strict gun laws are the main reason why.And now Governor David Ige has signed three bills that take gun regulations to another level.Introduced by Democratic state Rep. Will Espero, SB 2954 requires police to place the names of gun owners in the state in the FBI monitoring database so that law enforcement in Hawaii will be informed if any of their residents commit a crime wherever they go in the United States. So if a Hawaiian commits a crime in New York the police in Hawaii will be notified so they can determine if that person should still get to be in possession of firearms.In addition, HB 625 stalking and sexual harassment now disqualify people who commit these crimes from buying guns and HB 2632 requires people who have been diagnosed with major mental disorders to surrender their guns to authorities.In all, these three measures make it clear that Hawaii is done taking shit from the NRA.Of course, it didn t take long for the NRA to whine about the bills. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action, which really should change that last word to Inaction, predictably condemned the new laws. The exercise of an individual s Second Amendment rights is not inherently suspicious and should not require a person to surrender other civil liberties, including unwarranted invasions of privacy or unequal treatment under the law. The lawful acquisition, possession, carrying, or use of a firearm does not justify subjecting citizens to ongoing monitoring. Sorry, NRA. But that s what happens when you refuse to do anything reasonable to prevent gun violence other than offering thoughts and prayers. If you can t agree on anything to keep guns solely in the hands of responsible citizens, the government has the power and the right to do it without your support.NRA spokesperson Amy Hunter complained that the laws go too far, which is coming from an organization that believes ANY law restricting guns goes too far. As you can imagine, the NRA finds this one of the most extreme bills we ve ever seen, she whined.At this point, if the NRA and their Republican puppets continue to refuse to do anything reasonable to reduce gun violence in this country, the states should do whatever it takes to make everyone as safe from gun violence as possible, even if it means putting every gun owner on an FBI list. Rep. Espero understands this and he s also a gun owner.Republicans and the NRA only have themselves to blame for not agreeing to be reasonable in the first place. They had a chance to DO something and they failed spectacularly. Now it s up to the states and Hawaii is setting an example for other states to follow.Featured image via Guns Wikia | 0 |
11,191 | Kenyan opposition says a strategist arrested, no reason given | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition National Super Alliance said on Sunday that one of its key strategists had been arrested in Kwale, in the country s coastal region, and that his whereabouts were unknown. The Alliance said economist David Ndii had been taken away from the Diani area late on Sunday. The family was told that he had been taken to the Diani beach police station, but when they went there they were told he was not there nor did they know where he was. No reason was given for his arrest, Salim Lone, an adviser for Raila Odinga, the coalition s leader, said in a statement. NASA lawyers from Nairobi and the coast are trying to locate where he is being held, he said, referring to the coalition by its acronyms. Charles Owino, a police spokesman, said he was unaware of Ndii s arrest, as were police in Kwale. Police have confirmed they have David Ndii at Diani Police Station. But they want to go back to his Leopard Beach Hotel in Kwale and pick the computer and laptop for the information they need, Dennis Onyango, Odinga s spokesman, said on Twitter. President Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Odinga in August, but Odinga challenged the election and a court voided the results, citing procedural irregularities, and ordered a fresh vote. The court s decision was the first of its kind in Africa. Odinga boycotted the October repeat poll, saying the country s election commission had failed to carry out sufficient reforms. Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote. Last week, Odinga said he planned to have a people s assembly swear him in on Dec. 12 - the country s independence day - raising the prospect for confrontation with security forces. Lone said that Ndii had been appointed chairman of a steering committee for the steering committee organizing for Odinga s planned swearing in. Why has @DavidNdii been arrested and where is he being held? Is he being permitted to speak to his lawyer? Is the rule of law and due process being respected? Isaac Okero, the president of Law Society of Kenya, said on Twitter. Kenya is a regional hub for trade, diplomacy and security. The prolonged election season disrupted its economy as investors waited to see the outcome. | 1 |
11,192 | Chile presidential hopefuls end campaigns before Sunday vote | SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile s presidential hopefuls ended their campaigns in downtown Santiago on Thursday ahead of an uncertain runoff election whose outcome will determine whether the world s top copper producer turns to the right or maintains its center-left track. Voters on Sunday will choose between billionaire conservative Sebastian Pinera and center-left senator and journalist Alejandro Guillier. During the November first-round election, a surprise surge by harder leftists confounded pollsters, sent markets plummeting and set the stage for a tighter-than-expected runoff. Everything points to a narrow margin of victory, said Guillermo Holzmann, a professor at the University of Valparaiso. It s an unusual race in that it s been difficult to gauge the electorate. Both Pinera and Guillier would keep in place the longstanding free-market economic model in Latin America s most developed country. But candidates with more extreme views on both the right and left performed better than expected in November, leading both men to make concessions to try to win over voters whose first-round choice dropped out. Uruguay former president Jose Pepe Mujica, a leftist icon in a Latin America that has largely turned to the political right, turned out to support Guillier. The conservative right has no future in Chile, Guillier told his fans. Pinera, 68, a former president and the market favorite, placed first with 36.6 percent of the vote in the first round. He has vowed to boost growth by cutting the corporate tax rate and scaling back outgoing President Michelle Bachelet s tax, labor and education reforms that Guillier has vowed to deepen. At Santiago s Caupolic n theater, he promised a new and better treatment of the middle class, older adults and children. The bearded Guillier, 64, from northern Chile, garnered 22.7 percent of the vote in November from backers hoping to preserve gains made in Bachelet s government for students, women and workers, measures such as lower university fees and laws empowering unions. Guillier has courted leftists by proposing to overhaul the country s privatized pension system and rewrite the constitution. Pinera has sought to appeal to centrist voters by calling for free technical education for the poor and a public pension option. Guillier narrowly edged out third place finisher Beatriz Sanchez of the leftist Frente Amplio. She received support from 20 percent of voters with promises to tax the super-rich to boost social spending and fight inequality. Sanchez s 1.3 million voters are seen as pivotal in the upcoming election. Voting is voluntary in Chile, and abstention has run high in recent years. It comes down to how many people stay home, and particularly, how many people stay home on Guillier s side, said University of Chile professor Robert Funk. | 1 |
11,193 | Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Aug 22) - Virginia, U.S. Navy | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Was with great people last night in Fort Myer, Virginia. The future of our country is strong! [0646 EDT] - We pray for our fallen heroes who died while serving our country in the @USNavy aboard the #USSJohnSMcCain, and their families. [1515 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 1 |
11,194 | Sanders says would prefer Elizabeth Warren over Kaine as vice presidential pick | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders said Sunday he would have preferred to see Hillary Clinton select someone like Senator Elizabeth Warren for the vice presidential spot over Senator Tim Kaine. “I have known Tim Kaine for a number of years...Tim is a very, very smart guy. He is very nice guy,” Sanders said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He is more conservative than I am. Would I have preferred to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton? Yes, I would have.” | 1 |
11,195 | Federal judge in Hawaii expands block on Trump travel ban | (Reuters) - A federal judge in Hawaii extended his halt of U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens from six Muslim-majority countries. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, who stopped the ban from taking effect this week, on Friday converted his temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction. Watson’s ruling, issued in Honolulu, applies only to the six Muslim-majority countries of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad, although the ban, announced in September, also limits travel from North Korea and Venezuela. Trump has said the restrictions are needed to tighten security and prevent terrorist attacks, and his administration reserved its right to appeal the injunction. Opponents say the ban violates the U.S. Constitution because it discriminates against Muslims while overstepping the bounds of U.S. immigration law by discriminating by nationality. | 1 |
11,196 | Republicans Assault The Poor With A New Plan To Starve The Unemployed | Paul Ryan and the Republican leadership are rolling out plans to keep wages stagnant in America for the foreseeable future. A $23 billion cut is aimed at eliminating food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to people on unemployment who are either in school or job training. It s an age-old GOP tactic. Eliminate the help for people who are looking to do better and they are forced out of school or training and into minimum wage jobs.Once they get there, the Republicans can claim they re teenagers living at home for free and it s their own fault for settling for a minimum wage job when all they have to do is go back to school or get some training. And the cycle continues. According to Roll Call:Republican leaders have proposed more than $23 billion in food stamp cuts in a budget plan that could be brought to the House floor in the next two weeks, several sources say.The proposed changes in the food stamp, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, include the end of waivers that allow some adults to receive assistance for a limited amount of time, while they are in school, or training for a job.$23 billion in cuts to food for people. Is there nowhere else we could look for $23 billion dollars? How over budget is that fighter jet program again? We re not talking about handing people cash outside a liquor store here; we re talking about food. All the BS about fraud and dependence and still one in four children in this country struggle with food. Republicans have been after the food stamp program for no reason other than to keep people as desperate as possible.Just imagine if Donald Trump is elected with a Republican majority in Congress. Food will be distributed to the poor in the streets in the form of bags of flour and rice and maybe some milk and whey to make cheese. OK, maybe that s a little extreme. There won t be any free food. Certainly in a Trumptopian society, the poor will stay out of sight where they belong.Featured image from foodsecuritychallenge.com | 0 |
11,197 | Merkel suggests Iran-style nuclear talks to end North Korea crisis | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a newspaper she would be prepared to become involved in a diplomatic initiative to end the North Korean nuclear and missiles program, and suggested the Iran nuclear talks could be a model. South Korea on Saturday braced for a possible further missile test by North Korea as it marked its founding anniversary, just days after its sixth and largest nuclear test rattled global financial markets and further escalated tensions in the region. If our participation in talks is desired, I will immediately say yes, Merkel told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview to be published on Sunday. She pointed to negotiations that led to a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers in 2015. Back then, Germany and the five countries on the United Nations Security Council with veto power took part in talks that led to Iran agreeing to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions. Merkel said that was a long but important time of diplomacy that ultimately had a good end last year, referring to when the deal was implemented. I could imagine such a format being used to end the North Korea conflict. Europe and especially Germany should be prepared to play a very active part in that, Merkel added. She said she thought the only way to deal with North Korea s nuclear program was to come to a diplomatic solution, adding: A new arms race starting in the region would not be in anyone s interests. Europe should stand united in trying to bring about a diplomatic solution and do everything that can be done in terms of sanctions , she said. Merkel is expected to win a fourth term in office in a Sept. 24 vote, with polls giving her conservatives a double-digit lead over their rival Social Democrats. Merkel is widely seen in Germany as a safe pair of hands at a time of global uncertainty such as the North Korea crisis, Britain s looming departure from the European Union and Donald Trump s presidency in the United States. Merkel has spoken to leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about North Korea this week. The newspaper said, without naming its sources, that she would speak by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. | 1 |
11,198 | Democrat Clinton vows to support Colombia-FARC peace deal | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised the peace deal between Colombia and the rebel group FARC in a statement on Thursday. “As president, I’ll ensure that the United States remains their partner in that process. The people of Colombia deserve nothing less,” Clinton said. “And the safety and security of our hemisphere and world will be strengthened by Colombia’s success.” | 1 |
11,199 | House speaker optimistic on tax reform prospects this year: source | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to reassure business leaders on Tuesday that tax reform is on track for this year, despite repeated delays and a string of political distractions from President Donald Trump. In what is billed as a major speech, House Speaker Paul Ryan will seek to dispel the notion that tax reform is adrift by describing what a U.S. tax code overhaul will look like, according to a source close to Ryan’s office. The speaker will emphasize the importance of permanent reforms and reject the notion that legislation should do little more than reduce tax rates, the source said. He will underscore the need for international corporate tax reforms in remarks to the National Association of Manufacturers. Aides said he is not expected to delve into the details of tax proposals. The Wisconsin Republican delivered a similar optimistic message to lobbyists and campaign donors in Virginia over the weekend, adding that he expected Congress to finalize legislation to dismantle Obamacare by mid-summer, according to a source familiar with the Speaker’s comments. Originally expected to unveil tax reform legislation in the spring, Republicans are under pressure from business lobbyists to make good on campaign pledges to reform the tax code and pass healthcare legislation. Lawmakers also need legislative victories to stave off Democratic challenges in next year’s congressional mid-term elections. “What Ryan needs to do is refocus folks on the rationale for having tax reform, not just the political rationale, but the economic rationale,” said Jeff Kupfer, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush. Markets have been anticipating lower taxes. Major stock indexes have hit multiple record highs from Trump’s election to the end of the first quarter, on bets he would improve economic growth by cutting taxes and boosting infrastructure spending. The tax reform debate has largely moved behind closed doors, where Ryan is trying to hammer out an agreement with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn and Republican chairmen of the two congressional tax committees. The aim is to unveil tax reform legislation in September. Outside those discussions, lawmakers have begun to talk about legislation that would do little more than cut taxes, with temporary reductions financed by the federal deficit. | 1 |
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