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1,300 | the globalization of media a failing strike force | by nicholas west while debate surrounds the threat of autonomous killer robots the mechanized replacement of humans continues across the workforce the industrial robotics industry is | 0 |
1,301 | will there be riots in america the day after donald trump wins the presidency | ways to forge strength through challenges ways to forge strength through challenges
corey is an aspiring iconoclast he believes that the key to life is for men to honour their primal nature
learn more about his views at theprimalmalecom you can also follow him on twitter november mind
we modern men need to constantly improve ourselves in a hostile world like ours that tries to debase us while the lesser men embrace weakness and degeneracy we must embrace strength and discipline while whiners complain about how unfair the world is and how its better to just disengage we must engage the world with greater willpower and defeat our enemies towards this end i propose that we become both resilient and antifragile in every way possible
the following are ways you can turn a seemingly negative circumstances into strengths stress
although stress has been maligned as the plague of the modern world that wrecks our mental and physical health the way you perceive it makes a profound difference on how it affects you new studies have shown that those who see stress as being toxic suffered damaging health effects while who saw it as being helpful were able to turn it into a source of energy to push them through their challenges
so next time you feel stressed from whatever trouble you may be facing remember that it is your friend you must reframe the sensation and believe that its your body trying to help you by changing how you processes stress you can use it to succeed in life obstacles your response to obstacles reveal the kind of man you really are
whatever obstacles you may face in your endeavors you have two choices become frustrated and discouraged by it or see it as an opportunity to grow stronger like stress its the weaker mans inclination to view an obstacle as a confirmation of his own helplessness but you must do better and face up to whatever gets in your way use every occasion to grow stronger from your obstacles and if you arent facing enough of them in your life you need to get out and start doing more things
how you deal with obstacle will show your true nature as a man for the world to see so dont pussy out or moan about what you must overcome instead be determined to rise above it your honor is at stake failures
failures are inevitable in life although you should always try your best to succeed you shouldnt be afraid to fail either just as with obstacles view every instance of failure as an opportunity to learn and adapt its not failure itself that is bad but not learning from it or giving up so easily remember winners dont quit they try to do better rejection
rejection is a specific kind of failure that is often the most painful of them all its especially difficult because its often unclear whether it was actually your fault or not i would say that its best to assume full responsibility for all the rejections you face and see what area you can improve to better increase your chance next time as long as youre willing to learn and as long as youre willing to try again you will grow master rejections and youll be placing yourself far above other men physical discomfort this is why russians are so tough
its well known that the human body is designed to be antifragile your bones get thicker with every blow and your skin gets tougher with every scrap pain and discomfort of all sorts also become more bearable the more you expose yourself to them the more harshness you endure the stronger you become over time but inversely the more comfortable you are the softer you turn and the weaker you get
one simple method you can implement to become more healthy and energized is to start taking cold showers the benefits of doing it are many including stronger immune system enhanced mood and energy better circulation boost in testosterone level and so on if you are having trouble getting started start by doing just seconds at the end of your usual warm shower and go from there you want to train yourself until you can comfortably stand under the coldest water for at least five minutes fear
you cant really turn fear itself into a positive but the process of conquering your fears can have a transformative effect on your life some of the proudest most exciting and memorable moments of my life were when i defied fears by doing a presentation in front of hundreds of people i had a terrible stagefright going rock climbing i have a terrible fear of heights and traveling for the first time by myself to a foreign country
one thing you can do to completely turn your life around is to do what this man did and make a list of all the fears that you wish to defeat write them down in an order from the least fearful to the most and start knocking them down one by one its impossible not to become a better man once you conquer them all anger
like fear anger is not something you can transform into a positive trait ive heard of people transmutating their anger to rechannel the energy into other activities but ive never had it work that way however it is a good focal point to master your mind to become more stoic it can also serve as your area of focus if you practice meditation
no matter how unpleasant your anger will teach you a lot about yourself and only if you allow it it will reveal your weaknesses insecurities and any other areas of your life in need of improvement as one of the most base and primal of human emotions you shouldnt just shirk it as something that is unneeded instead make it your friend negativity and pessimism
for the longest time i felt guilty about being so negative because i was constantly told by everyone else that it was a bad thing smile they said think positively they said your life will improve they said i was constantly berated for not being part of the north american positivity cult its no wonder why people there tend to say that theyre doing great even when theyre feeling like shit a habit i have yet to fix
but in contrary to the long held belief that positive thinking and attitude gives you a better life studies have shown just the opposite forced positivity can actually harm you for some people like me positive thinking backfires and makes things worse also badtempered people who are pessimists have been shown to enjoy more successful marriages be healthier live longer be better at negotiating and more successful overall in life so if youre a natural grouch like me its time to embrace who you are and tell the fakeass positivity people to shove it conclusion
the road to selfimprovement is an ugly and a bumpy one i honestly cant say that i enjoy it but no matter what i know that it is a necessary part of being a man i cant imagine myself not trying to be better in spite of all the difficulties i refuse to live a life of complacency some people mock and insult our efforts but know that their opinions dont matter lesser men have no say on what it means to live so fight on and prosper for this is your one and only life | 1 |
1,302 | Congress averts government shutdown for now | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress moved rapidly on Thursday to send President Donald Trump a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend, leaving fights over budget priorities and a range of other controversial issues for the coming weeks. The House of Representatives, working against a Friday midnight deadline, approved legislation in a 235-193 vote to fund a wide range of federal programs through Dec. 22. The Senate followed up by approving the bill 81-14. The White House has said Trump will sign it into law. The measure creates more time for a reckoning between Republicans and Democrats about budget differences, which Trump discussed in a meeting with leading lawmakers at the White House earlier in the day. “We hope that we’re going to make some great progress for our country. I think that will happen,” Trump said. The White House said negotiations would resume on Friday. Leaders now have about two weeks to find common ground on a host of thorny issues for the next government funding bill in order to prevent a partial government shutdown on Dec. 23. Both sides want to avoid having parts of the government close, particularly during the holidays, for fear of a public backlash, and leaders from both parties have preemptively blamed the other for such a potential outcome. That political blame game is likely to continue in the next two weeks while, behind the scenes, leaders hammer out a compromise. Republicans mainly want a big increase in defense spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018. But Democrats are insisting that any added Pentagon funding be accompanied by increases to other domestic programs. Democrats also want to enact into law protections for nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were children when they were brought into the United States. Republicans want a much wider series of immigration law changes to further clamp down on foreign arrivals, and they want immigration negotiations to be held on a separate track from the government funding bill. Democrats also want to shore up the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” by reviving federal subsidies for low-income people in the program. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer joined Trump and Republican congressional leaders for the talks after canceling a similarly planned meeting last week when the president posted a note on Twitter attacking their policy positions. The two Democrats said in a statement that the meeting on Thursday was productive but nothing specific had been agreed. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis joined the group to discuss military matters. The White House foresees a compromise with lawmakers that will include increases in defense and non-defense spending, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told Reuters. He said the White House wants a deal that covers spending for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Earlier on Thursday, Schumer said Trump seemed to be rooting for a shutdown and warned that, if one occurs, “it will fall on his shoulders.” “His party controls the Senate, the House and the presidency,” he said. “Nobody here wants to see a shutdown. We Democrats are not interested in one.” Pelosi said Democrats were not willing to shut down the government over the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) immigration program, but she also said “we will not leave here without a DACA fix.” | 1 |
1,303 | Despite no evidence, White House says Trump stands by voter fraud belief | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump stands by his belief that millions of people voted illegally in the U.S. election, the White House said on Tuesday, despite widespread evidence to the contrary. “The president does believe that,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. State officials in charge of the Nov. 8 election have said they found no evidence of widespread voter fraud and there is no history of it in U.S. elections. Even House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the most senior Republican in Congress, said he had seen no evidence to back up Trump’s claims. Republican Trump won the Electoral College that decides the presidency and gives smaller states more clout in the outcome, but he lost the popular vote to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by about 2.9 million. Trump has repeatedly said he would have won the popular vote, too, but for voter fraud. He has never substantiated his claim. The comments were the latest in a series of distractions in the opening days of the Trump administration that run the risk of overshadowing his legislative goals and efforts to advance policy proposals. On Saturday, the day after his inauguration as the 45th president of the United States, Trump complained about media coverage of the crowds that attended his swearing-in ceremony and described journalists as “among the most dishonest people on Earth.” | 1 |
1,304 | WATCH: Reince Priebus Subtly But Hilariously EMBARRASSES Steve Bannon Onstage | One has to wonder how anybody, with or without working brain cells, could stand Steve Bannon. He s a complete ass, he s hateful, he s a white supremacist, he s overbearing, he s domineering, and he leads by fear instead of example. During CPAC, Bannon and Trump s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, were up on stage for a joint interview when Bannon appeared to grab Priebus arm.What Priebus did, for all to see, should humiliate Bannon beyond reason. He literally slapped Bannon off of him, while turning to look at the interviewer to whom they were speaking. Watch it below:WEIRD! Anyone Catch Bannon Grabbing Priebus and then his reaction? pic.twitter.com/YVE22Mg8TO Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) February 23, 2017That s a very clear, Keep your hands off me, bub, move by Priebus. Despite that, Priebus was trying to squelch rumors that there s a rivalry between the two of them, even though the media reports otherwise:[Priebus] said he and Bannon get along and work closely together we share an office suite together, we re basically together form 6:30 in the morning until 11 o clock at night, he said and that the 2016 election showed the Republican Party and the conservative movement can be united.That move, though, on Priebus part when Bannon touched him, suggests an already established pattern of dislike between them. That s just ouch.Featured image by Alex Wong via Getty Images | 0 |
1,305 | DEMOCRAT UNDERBELLY EXPOSED: Out-Of-Control Violence Erupts…Anti-Trump Rioters Deliver On Threat To Turn Up Heat, Shut Down Free Speech [VIDEO] | Donald Trump on Wednesday slammed what he described as thugs and criminals who clashed with police outside an Albuquerque campaign event, just hours after police in riot gear and mounted patrol units faced off against the violent crowd.The protesters in New Mexico were thugs who were flying the Mexican flag. The rally inside was big and beautiful, but outside, criminals! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2016Watch here:The clashes erupted overnight, after Trump and some 4,000 of his supporters left the Albuquerque Convention Center. Approximately 100 demonstrators remained in downtown.Smoke grenades were used in an effort to disperse the crowd, while protesters threw rocks, plastic bottles, burning T-shirts and other items at officers. Albuquerque police said on Twitter late Tuesday that several officers were being treated for injuries as a result of being hit by rocks. At least one person was arrested.Inside the Trump rally, demonstrators shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers. The banners included the messages Trump is Fascist and We ve heard enough. Trump s supporters responded with chants of Build that wall! At one point, a female protester was physically dragged from the stands by security. Other protesters scuffled with security as they resisted removal from the convention center. The altercations left a glass door at the entrance of the convention center smashed. During the rally, protesters outside overran barricades and clashed with police in riot gear. They also burned T-shirts and other items labeled with Trump s catchphrase, Make America Great Again. Trump supporters at the rally said they appreciated his stance on boosting border security and stemming the flow of people crossing the border illegally, but some said they were frightened by the violent protests outside. Albuquerque attorney Doug Antoon said rocks were flying through the convention center windows as he was leaving Tuesday night. Glass was breaking and landing near his feet. This was not a protest, this was a riot. These are hate groups, he said of the demonstrators. Via: FOX NewsWho are these domestic terrorist hell bent on shutting down free speech, and who is organizing these violent riots? What exactly is their end goal?An article published by Breitbart News in 2010 provides us with some pretty good clues:The radical Progressive wing of the Democrat party, through people like Lisa Fithian, has been in direct coordination with the very Anarchy protesters who trashed St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2008 during the Republican National Convention. They would have done much more damage had they not been thwarted by a former radical-turned FBI informant.How do we know this? Because they wrote about it. Why don t you know about it? Because the media in this country never bothered to look into whom the people were who organized the marches which repeatedly led to violence and arrests.If any of the mainstream press had been the slightest bit curious (and why would they be? It was just politically organized rioting on the streets of our country), they could have performed some cursory Google searches that return ample circumstantial evidence of direct coordinating efforts between the clean, presentable, mainstream face of the Progressive-Democrat movement, and the dark underbelly of the Anarchy movement in this country. *How does this relationship work? It s simple(ish). Let s start with the clean face of the Progressive-Democrats: the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This entity was founded and organized by self-described Socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, and by an organization called the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).The DSA was founded and supported by many of the same people active in the 1960s radical movement, known widely as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and their domestic terrorist wing, the Weather Underground Organization (WUO).Key members of the Democratic Socialists of America are principal organizers of two current groups called Progressives for Obama and the reconstituted Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS).Progressives for Obama is where the straight face of Progressive unions, non-profits, and educational institutions organized their efforts to elect then Senator Obama to the presidency.The reconstituted MDS is the tip of the nose of America s ugly radical Progressive face. The MDS made it its mission to restart the SDS. They succeeded, and one of the first tasks of the reconstituted SDS was to begin forging a relationship with Anarchists and to participate in what they call Direct Action protests. They succeeded, and the synthesis of the Progressive Democrat movement with the Anarchists manifests itself in the self-described Socialist Anarchy movement called the Direct Action Tendency (DAT). The DAT, along with Lisa Fithian s United For Justice and Peace, represents the very ugly face of the Progressive-Democrat movement, where they coordinate with street thugs, Che/Castro worshiping Socialists, and islamists.**What is a Direct Action? A direct action typically (but not exclusively) consists of staging a protest with the predetermined goal of causing a direct confrontation with the police.While covering the Democrat convention in Denver, and subsequently the Republican convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul, it became clear that there was a distinct and organized pattern at work.Organizers would stage a rally and/or a concert. These events were planned and permitted through the local municipalities. The goal was almost always the same. Eventually the organizers would breach the boundaries of the permit, and force a confrontation with the authorities. This frequently resulted in extensive damage to property, as well as added expense in resources devoted to dealing with the Anarchists.What s the point? It s three-fold. 1) These events present successful organizing opportunities to collect names and contact info of participants, thus growing the movement. 2) These events radicalize the members, making them more devoted to the cause. 3) Propaganda is produced that depicts the evil police being brutal to otherwise seemingly peaceful protesters.What s their goal? To end Capitalism, with which they equate racism, sexism, exploitation, terrorism, and murder.These Direct Action Tendency and United For Justice linked events, (like the RNC Welcoming Committee) represent a modern day Progressive-Anarchy Tea Party. One main difference of course between the Conservative/Libertarian Tea Parties, and the Progressive-Anarchy Tea Parties is the premeditated tactic of breaking the law and getting arrested. Conservatives and Libertarians don t tend to do that. Progressive-Anarchists have mastered it as a form of political art.This all begs the question, if a group of Conservative/Libertarian Tea Partiers engaged in an attack on an urban infrastructure with the premeditated goal of shutting down a Democrat political event, would they face charges for federal civil rights violations? Perhaps that would depend on whether or not America is a land where people are guaranteed the right to political expression and peaceable assembly. | 0 |
1,306 | Top U.S. Marine's wish-list for Trump goes well beyond troop hikes | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller, like much of the Pentagon top brass, is pretty happy about President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to rebuild America’s military after years of congressionally imposed spending caps. But ask Neller about Trump’s main proposal to increase the number of Marine infantry battalions from 24 today to 36, and he pauses. “That’s a lot,” Neller told Reuters in an interview. Neller, like many of his Pentagon colleagues, thinks America’s military needs to shift quickly to prepare for more sophisticated adversaries than the insurgents the United States has been fighting in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. That will require more troops, including in the infantry. But Neller wants more cyber, intelligence and avionics specialists, as well as additional jets, amphibious ships and other weaponry that can better prepare the Marine Corps for a potential conflict with another country. Islamic extremists are certainly lethal, Neller says, but are not nearly as capable as even the Russia-backed separatists that Ukraine is fighting, whose arsenal includes drones, radar and accurate artillery, for example. “If you think the next war’s going to be like this (counter-insurgency battle), then OK fine. I don’t think it is. I don’t,” Neller said. “It’s going to be much more difficult. It’s going to be much more complicated. It’s going to be much more sophisticated.” At the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, Neller said his wish-list for the Marine Corps included speeding up purchases of higher-end items, including Lockheed Martin Corp’s stealth supersonic F-35 aircraft and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) made by Oshkosh Corp. Trump’s campaign proposal for the Marine Corps was based on a Heritage Foundation study that determined that 36 active-duty battalions would be necessary to wage two wars at once. “Having this ability deters other competitors from trying to take advantage of the U.S. being ‘tied down’ in a conflict in one region,” wrote the Heritage Foundation’s Dakota Wood. To that end, Trump has also pledged to build an active Army of around 540,000, up from about 475,000 today and build a Navy approaching 350 surface ships and submarines, up from just over 290 ships today. He pledged to give the Air Force at least 1,200 fighter aircraft, about 100 more than today. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, speaking at the same defense forum, welcomed the possibility of more aircraft and, like Neller, expressed interest in accelerating the acquisition of F-35 aircraft. “Additional aircraft would certainly allow us to be able to do different jobs across the word simultaneously,” James said, also noting the need for a new bomber. But James also spoke of other high-end capabilities, including in space, and warned about the need for Congress to fund nuclear modernization, which some estimates say will cost about $1 trillion over the next three decades. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said the U.S. arms industry is ready and capable of boosting production of new ships to meet Trump’s campaign pledge. Shifting the current target of 308 ships upwards would be “remarkably easy,” as long as there is funding to pay the bill. “If it’s resourced, it’s a matter of working closely with the industrial base, and they definitely are ready to do that,” he told Reuters, adding the only limiting factor would be hiring and training workers to build the new ships. Republicans, who will control both houses of Congress and the White House after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, see good prospects for raising military spending levels and scrapping a 2010 law that imposed mandatory cost caps on defense spending. Still, it’s unclear how Trump will fund all of his planned programs, which beyond the military spending spree includes paying for a major U.S. domestic infrastructure program. For Neller and other Pentagon chiefs, investing to prepare for more advanced threats is a priority, regardless of whether Trump makes good on his pledges. “The only thing we’re not going to do is stay the same. We’re not. Can’t. I’d be derelict in my duties,” Neller said. | 1 |
1,307 | President Obama Tells Audience Why Americans Deserve Trump And Republicans | President Obama took a trip to Milan, Italy this week and he laid down some cold, hard truths for America s liberals, telling us why we deserve Donald Trump and Paul Ryan and all of their reverse Robin Hood work of stealing from everyone to give to the rich.Eschewing a tie for a more fashion forward country, Obama told the Milan audience: People have a tendency to blame politicians when things don t work, but as I always tell people, you get the politicians you deserve, Obama explained while the audience applauded. And if you don t vote and you don t pay attention, you ll get policies that don t reflect your interest. Obama also told the audience that often times a mistake activists make is not engaging people once they get attention. Source: Raw StoryWhile it sounds a bit harsh to say that we deserve the wannabe dictator Donald Trump, it s actually not too surprising coming from the man who began his political career as a community organizer. Obama has always realized the importance of civic engagement for everyone, not just for the people running for office.We live in a country where fewer than two-thirds of the people vote during presidential elections. In local elections (arguably the most important), turnout plummets to an embarrassing one-fifth of the population.There are some positive signs, though, which Obama spoke about just a few days after Trump was inaugurated.Former president Barack Obama said he s heartened by American civic engagement, following a weekend of spontaneous protests in the wake of President Donald Trump s executive order related to immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake, Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said Monday in a written statement.Source: CNBCObama s message, as always, is that yes, our democracy can be saved. The catch, though, is that we have to get off our collective asses to do it.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images. | 0 |
1,308 | Boiler Room #108 – Who’d Win in a Fight? Boiler Room vs. Hitler vs. Dracula | 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 with Jay Dyer from Jays Analysis, FunkSoul (21WIRE & ACR contributor), Randy J (ACR contributor) and Andy Nowicki, author of Conspiracy, Compliance, Control & Defiance, for the hundred and seventh 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 we re side stepping politics and talking about movies, Hollywood, Aliens, Elf-men and paradigm shifts brought on be technological innovation!Direct Download Episode #108Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links: | 0 |
1,309 | James Comey Is Doing Something That Will Have Trump Sh*tting His Pants | Trump s numerous attacks on former FBI Director James Comey are about to come back and bite him in the ass. While Trump has spent his time attempting (poorly) to portray Comey as someone who is unreliable and worse, the former director has spent his time writing a book.The FAILING NEW YORK TIMES (as The Donald says) reports that Comey s book will cover his work as a public servant including and perhaps most notably his brief tenure in the Trump administration. It s a book about leadership and his search for truth, informed by lessons and experiences he s had throughout his career, including his recent experiences in the Trump administration, Matt Latimer, whose agency also represents Comey, says. It will speak to a broader desire in our country for more ethical leadership.It really does sound interesting, and it s no surprise that publishers are willing to hand Comey ridiculous amounts of money for it:The book will not be a conventional tell-all memoir, but an exploration of the principles that have guided Mr. Comey through some of the most challenging moments of his legal career. Among those are his investigation into Hillary Clinton s private email server during a contentious election, and his recent entanglement with the president over the F.B.I. s inquiry into Russia s interference in the 2016 election.Comey initially was reluctant to write a tell-all, but ultimately decided that he had more to say than just a retelling of his career. The Times notes that he plans to use the book to write candidly about his experience serving in multiple administrations, and to use moments from his career to draw lessons about ethics, decision making and leadership. As with his personal memos he shared with the media through a friend, Comey s book will be vetted to ensure that no classified information is contained.While the book is simply going to be a study of Comey s principles through the years, it is sure to enrage Trump, who considers facts and truth to be an anathema.Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
1,310 | WOW! “‘HALEY’S’ COMET” Just COLLIDED With Hypocritical, Anti-Israel, Terror-Nation Supporting U.N.…And The Results Were Spectacular! [VIDEO] | Trump s new UN Ambassador Nikki Haley just held her first press conference following the UN Security Council s monthly meeting on Middle East issues, and this was NO ordinary press conference. After watching this video, it s easy to see why President Trump chose her to represent the US in hopes of redefining our support for democracy in the Middle East, while identifying nations who support terrorism. Here s an excerpt of her speech to the press: The Security Council just finished its regular monthly meeting on Middle East issues. It s the first meeting like that that I ve attended, and I have to say it was a bit strange. The Security Council is supposed to discuss how to maintain international peace and security. But in our meeting on the Middle East, the discussion was not about Hezbollah s illegal build up of rockets in Lebanon. It was not about the money and weapons Iran supplies to terrorists. It was not about how we defeat ISIS. It was not about how we hold Bashar Assad accountable for the slaughter of hundreds and thousands of civilians. No, instead the meeting focused on criticizing Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East. I am new around here, but I understand that s how the council has operated month after month for decades. I am here to say the United States will not turn a blind eye to this anymore. I am here to underscore the iron-clad support of the United States for Israel. A star is born is our reaction to the first press briefing by President Trump s new ambassador at the United Nations. The ex-governor of South Carolina was ridiculed by the Left when the president first sent her nomination up to the Hill, owing to her alleged lack of foreign policy chops. She certainly rang the wake up gong for that crowd this morning, after emerging from her first Security Council monthly meeting devoted to the Middle East. Tough as nails but with a smile and a layer of Southern charm.The ambassador had just come from the regular monthly Security Council on Middle East issues. She said it was her first such meeting, and it was a bit strange. The Security Council, she said, is supposed to discuss how to maintain international peace and security. But the meeting, she said, was not about Hezbollah s illegal buildup of rockets in Lebanon, it was not about the money and weapons Iran provides to terrorists, it was not how we defeat ISIS, it was not how we hold Beshar al-Assad accountable for the slaughter of thousands of civilians. No, she said, instead the meeting focused on criticizing Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East. I am new around here, but I understand that s how the Council has operated month after month for decades. I am here to say the United States will not turn a blind eye to this anymore. I am here to underscore to the ironclad support of the United States for Israel. I am here to emphasize that the United States is determined to stand up to the U.N. s anti-Israel bias. The ambassador made clear that the Trump administration will not support the kind of resolution from which the Obama administration s ambassador Samantha Power shamefully abstained, though Mrs. Haley was too polite to name the humiliated Ms. Power. The outrageously biased resolutions from the Security Council and the General Assembly only make peace harder to attain by discouraging one of the parties from going to the negotiating table. Incredibly, Mrs. Haley said, the U.N. department of political affairs has an entire division devoted entirely to Palestinian affairs. Imagine that. There is no division devoted to illegal missile launches form North Korea. There is no division devoted to the world s number one state sponsor of terror, Iran. The prejudiced approach to Israeli-Palestinian issues does the peace process no favors, and it bears no relationship to the reality of the world around us. The double standards are breathtaking. The ambassador warned that it is the U.N. s anti-Israel bias that is long overdue for change, and said America will not hesitate to speak out in defense of its friend in Israel. All this was going on while the press was questioning President Trump on what he was going to do about anti-Semitism. If his ambassador to the world body is any example, the answer is plenty. She has the principles of a Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the grit of a John Bolton, and the star power of a Jeane Kirkpatrick, and in her first press briefing she certainly made her point. Editorial of The New York Sun | 0 |
1,311 | (VIDEO) FRIDAY NIGHT’S HYSTERICAL TAKE ON THE BOEHNER, MCCONNELL, CRUZ TUSSLE | If you haven t watched the commentary in Intellectual Froglegs, it s an acquired taste. Joe Dan is a truth teller with a great Southern accent. Hope you like it! | 0 |
1,312 | BRITISH ACTRESS NAILS IT: Do you think ISIS cares about “pathetic hashtags, prayers or candles”?…”Stop waiting to be SLAUGHTERED and DEMAND our leaders DO something!” [VIDEO] | Pathetic Predictably impotent. We are not united we are divided. We do not stand strong. We sit like ducks. Waiting to be shot. Helpless, pathetic, slow.Mohamed took a truck and drove it into men, women and children celebrating Bastille day in Nice. He killed 84.And who yet knows of the horrors still to spew from hospital wards lives fractured, crumpled, crushed.One minute they were jubilant, locals and tourists alike celebrating Bastille day together. The next, lying splintered on the floor.And the most sickening thing of all worse than spilt blood, fractured bodies, children with legs contorted out of human control, the reek of death, is our horribly sanitized response to it all.Pathetic. Predictably impotent.Evil mowed us down in a monster truck. And we tweeted like lethargic birds between Egyptian cotton sheets.Celebrities rushed to social media with their message not again , designers comforted with a patriotic graphic, tea candles were lit and instagrammed. There will be a vigil in a public square. Again. A hashtag is born #PrayForNice, exploding into a thousand others as people want to #PrayFor France or #PrayForHumanity, failing to acknowledge the horrible truth that this attack was done in some spurious god s name. You want to pray for Nice?You think religion will help solve this? Religion and its bonkers side-shoots are the problem.That s true if you re talking about the religion of hate Katie, but Christians, Jews and Hindu s don t subscribe to killing innocent people to gain entry to heaven. -100 Percent FED UP!Politicians tell us to stand united. The Prime Minister of France has said he will not allow the country to be destabilised. President Hollande reminds us terrorism will not be tolerated.Well big news: France IS destabilised in a perpetual state of Emergency. We do not stand united. We are divided, we are ripped apart. And yet we tolerate it every time.We do not stand strong. We sit like ducks. Waiting to be shot. Helpless, pathetic, slow.French Pres. Hollande hours before #NiceAttack: "What threatens us is the rise of populism." https://t.co/X9HR4Jw2fE pic.twitter.com/kyBedUfKlW Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) July 15, 2016We are reminded to be more tolerant. Liberal lefties takes to the airways lecturing at us, not to react. To remind us of the good and humanity in most people.Muslim mayors stand and tell us we will be there, shoulder-to-shoulder with France, reminding us Mohamed has nothing to do with ordinary Muslims or Islam.As with every other time, someone from the BBC informs us many of the victims will have been Muslim, as if that helps. Trying to give credence to the notion Islam can t be blamed because Muslims died too. And again, we hear a familiar refrain. The suspect was known to the police he had a fiche S on his file marking his links to terror and ISIS.He was a French national from Tunisia. (Why are they always French-Tunisians, never Tunisian/French? What do you think he called himself?)Via: Daily Mail | 0 |
1,313 | Trump’s Healthcare Bill Would Force This Mom To Pay Her 3-Year-Old Son’s Entire $231,000 Medical Bill | If you want to know just how bad Donald Trump s healthcare bill would be for this country, just ask Ali Chandra.Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Chandra was able to get health insurance for her three-year-old son, who has a pre-existing condition known as heterotaxy syndrome, a defect he was born with. Heterotaxy syndrome literally means different arrangements, Chandra explained to CNN on Sunday. Ethan was born with nine heart defects nine congenital heart defects. He has two left lungs, five or so spleens of dubious function, and his liver and his gallbladder are down the middle of his body along with his heart, and then his stomach is on the right side instead of the left side. Here s the video via YouTube.Any human being, especially parents, should sympathize with Chandra and what she and her family are going through.But their situation would be much worse if the Trumpcare bill passes Congress and is signed into law. The protections guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would vanish. And that could mean financial ruin for Chandra and her family, and the loss of the care Ethan needs.You see, without insurance and the protections Obamacare provides, Chandra would have to pay $231,000 instead of just $500 for the medical care Ethan has received. She even posted the bill on Twitter and proceeded to explain what s at stake.It seems fitting that, with the #TrumpCare debate raging, I got this bill in the mail today from Ethan s most recent open heart surgery. pic.twitter.com/pyUE2UxbWW Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017I ll save you some math; without insurance we would owe $231,115 for 10 hours in the OR, 1 week in the CICU and 1 week on the cardiac floor. pic.twitter.com/CQ9OjOsFX8 Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017He s had four of these surgeries, some more involved than others. The one before this had him in the CICU for three weeks. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017So far, Ethan s care has gone over the $1 million mark. Trump s healthcare bill would put lifetime caps on benefits, which means insurance companies would be able to deny coverage to Ethan after reaching a fixed dollar amount. That means no healthcare for Ethan unless his family goes broke to save him.That s not only cruel, it s inhumane, especially since Republicans claim to be pro-life. And Ethan s medical care is not done yet.We re hopeful that going forwards he ll need fewer and smaller surgeries, but this was not the last time they ll open his chest. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017The surgeon who created what we call Ethan s Picasso heart, shaping 4 chambers from the 2 he was born with, is several states away. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017We also regularly see a local cardiologist, and electrophysiologist for his pacemaker, a pediatrician, & immunology for his polysplenia. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017He takes 5 different prescription medications multiple times a day. All of this adds up. None of this would be possible without insurance. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017And I want you to go look at that number again. Nearly a quarter million dollars for one surgery. Reinstate lifetime caps and he s out. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017He blew past the million dollar mark long ago; I haven t even mentioned the ER trips for sepsis workups every time his temp goes above 100.4 Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Or the surprise admissions that sometimes follow those ER visits when his body just isn t strong enough to fight a common virus at home. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Donald Trump and the Republican Party should be fighting to save this boy s life, not trying to kill him by taking away his healthcare.Furthermore, the astronomical price of Ethan s healthcare is morally wrong considering what similar medical care costs in other developed nations, especially those with socialized systems. According to Twitter users who commented on Chandra s post, Ethan s medical bills in nations such as Sweden and England would be far less.In Sweden max $130/year for healthcare and another $260/year for meds. My breast cancer costed me about $700 incl hysterektomi op Annika Dahlberg (@LoveMyLotus) June 24, 2017NHS has huge problems but it does work. I have three 1st hand examples of how serious, prolonged, excellent care costs ZERO. Richard Ingham Evans (@Ringham7) June 24, 2017Indeed, in 2015, a British couple unexpectedly had to have their baby delivered in an American hospital and end up being slapped with a $200,000 medical bill for something that would have been free at a National Health Service hospital or only $15,000 at a private facility in the UK.So whether provided by the government or by private hospitals, healthcare is far less expensive in other nations and is provided to all.That s what we need in America. Instead, Republicans are working on stripping healthcare away from millions of people.But Chandra is determined to fight for her son s life even if Republicans wont.A lifetime cap on benefits is the same as saying, Sorry, you re not worth keeping alive anymore. You re just too expensive. Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Look my son in the eyes and tell him that he s fought so hard to be here but sorry, you re just not worth it anymore. I dare you. pic.twitter.com/IgdQOounyB Ali (@aliranger29) June 24, 2017Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
1,314 | zineb el rhazoui charlie hebdo survivor discusses why the world needs to destroy islamic fascism | hillary clinton seeks even more unfit secretary of state than her october daniel greenfield
having never read any medieval german folk tales hillary clinton is counting her chickens before theyve hatched and preparing to hand out jobs that no one has handed her to hand out shes busy planning her fantasy cabinet for her fantasy administration
and her big pick makes sense
reportedly she would like to make joe biden the secretary of state biden is the obvious choice hes arrogant dumb and brimming with bright ideas like just giving iran money or splitting iraq into little pieces obviously this wouldnt be a competency pick the last time we had someone qualified as secretary of state was during president bushs time in office
then democrats decided they would give the job as a consolation prize to failed presidential candidates because our foreign policy is just that important
and who could be counted on to make an even bigger mess than hillary clinton or john kerry joe biden its a perfect plan if you want a fall guy to blame everything on they dont come any more obvious than joe biden
and if you want someone shadowed by the soft bigotry of low expectations youve gotta go joe
joe biden could accidentally start ww and everyone would shrug and say thats just joe | 1 |
1,315 | With prayer, sacrifices, Pakistani Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha | KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Muslims in Pakistan crowded mosques and prayer grounds across the country to offer prayers and sacrifice goats and cows for Eid al-Adha holiday on Saturday, marking the second major religious festival of Islam. Security was tight, with authorities on guard from any possible attack by religious extremists who have carried out bombings across the country in recent years. Today, we are here to offer Eid prayers, said worshipper Saleem Ahmed at a ceremony in Karachi, Pakistan s largest city. The security arrangements were very good. May Allah approve our prayers. Eid al-Adha commemorates the Koranic tale of the Prophet Abraham s willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah, before Allah replaced the son with a ram to be sacrificed instead. A similar story involving Abraham is recounted in the holy books of Judaism and Christianity. It is tradition for those who can afford it to sacrifice domestic animals as a symbol of Abraham s willingness to sacrifice his only son. The result is a booming pre-holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep. In Pakistan alone, nearly 10 million animals, worth more than $3 billion, are slaughtered during the two days of Eid al-Adha, according to the Pakistan Tanners Association. We are presenting sacrifices to follow the path of the prophet Abraham. We should not forget our poor and needy Muslim brethren on this occasion, Karachi resident Mohamad Muzammil said at the prayer ground where cows and goats were being slaughtered. Eid al-Adha marks the end of an annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, and should be undertaken by every Muslim who can afford to do so. With a population of about 208 million people, Pakistan is the sixth most-populous country in the world, and has the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia. About 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslims. | 1 |
1,316 | WATCH: SNL’s Church Lady Returns To Hilariously Mock Ted Cruz And Donald Trump | Fresh off of being compared to Satan by John Boehner and dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, Saturday Night Live piled on by bringing back a familiar character to mock Ted Cruz.Dana Carvey returned for a special appearance as the Church Lady and the first guest was none other than Ted Cruz played by Taran Killiam, whom the Church Lady introduced as Satan.Cruz corrected the Church Lady, claiming that Boehner always has nicknames for him like buster or son of a gun. I believe the phrase was Lucifer in the flesh, Church Lady responded. A little bit different than buster.' Church Lady then asked why the 2016 race didn t work out for him. I suppose the American people weren t ready for a candidate with strong Christian values, Cruz explained. Someone like me who follows the righteous path and lives his faith every blessed moment. Has anyone ever told you that you re just a little preachy, Church Lady pointed out before noting that Cruz loves himself too much. There it is, Church Lady said noting Cruz s face. That s that happy superior face because we love Jesus more than anybody. Cruz said that he believes everything that happened is part of God s plan. Was it part of God s plan for you to get humiliated by an orange mannequin? That s an odd plan for God to have for you, Church Lady replied.Killiam s Cruz then mentioned that he s been told to go to hell so many times that he s thinking about turning evil and going there to check it out before letting out a creepy and awkward laugh. As he left, Church Lady told him that she would see him in hell.Church Lady then introduced Donald Trump as her next guest and promptly asked him if he ever reads the Bible.Trump, as played by Darrell Hammond, launched into how he enjoyed reading Corinthians Part Deux and Too Genesis, Too Furious. He then attempted to quoted from the Bible. Love thy neighbor as thyself and like a good neighbor State Farm is there, Trump said. He also said he loved the part where Game of Thrones character Jon Snow comes back from the dead. That s great Bible, Trump declared, leading the Church Lady to say her famous line, Well, isn t that special. Here s the video via NBC.The way Republican candidates have obsessed with religion over the course of this election, it was definitely an appropriate time for the Church Lady to return.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
1,317 | Iceland's leftist opposition fails to form government | REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Talks on forming a governing coalition between Iceland s Left-Green Movement and three other parties after an Oct. 28 parliamentary election have broken down, broadcaster RUV reported on Monday. President Gudni Johannesson gave the mandate to Left-Green leader Katrin Jakobsdottir last week after her party came second in the election. Jakobsdottir told broadcaster RUV that the breakdown of the talks was a huge disappointment and that talks had been progressing well. | 1 |
1,318 | Trump Administration Is Already Talking About Withholding Harvey Aid | On the National Day of Prayer, Donald Trump lashed out at South Korea and North Korea, while his administration wants Congress to attach aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey to a bill that would increase the federal debt limit. So, Trump is now at war with an influential group of House conservatives who have warned GOP leaders not to connect the two funding initiatives. This move might cause a looming conservative uprising. Usually, with Republicans, they want a debt limit increase tied to spending cuts but now, with an entire city underwater and thousands in shelters and at least 45 dead, Conservatives will have to battle it out.On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he and the former reality show star believe that raising the U.S. debt limit, which Congress must do within the next few weeks in order to avoid defaulting on its bills, should be tied to disaster relief funding for Hurricane Harvey. Without raising the debt limit I m not comfortable that we d get the money we d need this month to Texas, Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revealed the administration s approach Sunday morning when he was asked whether the White House could guarantee that funding for the disaster would not be attached to the fight over the debt ceiling. No, I can t. Quite the contrary, Mnuchin said, adding, The president and I believe that it should be tied to the Harvey funding. Watch:NEW: Sec Mnuchin tells Chris Wallace on @FoxNewsSunday that if the debt limit isn't raised, it will interfere w/ the #Harvey relief effort. pic.twitter.com/EfxtOowH8C Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) September 3, 2017Mnuchin warned of a delay in recovery funding for Texas if the debt ceiling is not raised, according to the Washington Post. Our first priority is to make sure that the state gets money, it is critical, and to do that we need to make sure we raise the debt limit, he said. Without raising the debt limit, I m not comfortable that we will get the money that we need this month to Texas to rebuild. In 2011, congressional Republicans brought the country to the brink of default after refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agreed to a series of future spending cuts. And now, Conservatives and Republicans will have to slap fight each other in order to get aid to Texas.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
1,319 | FAMOUS RHODE ISLAND DANCING COP FIRED For Protesting Cop Hating Terror Group [Video] | Welcome to the new America, where there can be no opposition to the Left or there will be serious consequences The retired cop who annually cut a rug while directing Rhode Island traffic until Providence cut ties with him when he protested a Black Lives Matter supporter has a new dance partner on the other side of town.Tony Lepore, 68, is taking his holiday dance act to East Providence from Dec. 10 to Dec. 24, the cavorting cop said during an appearance Sunday on Fox & Friends. And I ll always on the 24th wear my Santa hat and pass out candy canes to the kids, said Lepore, who s been dancing in the streets since 1984.A longtime local favorite, Providence dropped Lepore s services after he helped organize a picket outside a Dunkin Donuts where a worker wrote #blacklivesmatter on a police officer s coffee cup. Mr. Lepore was not authorized to speak on behalf of the Providence Police Department and his actions were, in my judgment, a disservice to the department and to members of the Providence community, Providence Police Chief Stephen Pare said in a statement.Lepore said Sunday he was aware of the risks of his protest but he wanted to support the beat cops. Black Lives Matter is an organization that has some individuals some individuals that advocate harm to police officers, Lepore said. Since we picketed and got a written apology from the Dunkin Donuts owner. . . . we haven t had one incident in Rhode Island. Via: FOX News | 0 |
1,320 | MEDIA IGNORES TRUMP’S FIRST Record-Breaking Christmas Season…Retail Sales Of $600 BILLION: “This is literally the best season since before the recession” | The Stock Market is setting record after record and unemployment is at a 17 year low. So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year. Sadly, will never be reported correctly by the Fake News Media! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017CBS News reported on the retailer s record-breaking holiday season without ever mentioning President Trump:Total retail sales this holiday season added up to a record $598 billion dollars up $33 billion from last year.Not surprisingly, the AP also failed to mention President Trump: Experts have issued rosy forecasts for the season. Shoppers seemed to be in the mood with unemployment at a 17-year low and consumer sentiment at its highest level since 2000. Shoppers have been spending at a pace not seen since the Great Recession, says Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners. The Wall Street Journal reported sales were up for retailers like Macy s and Wal-Mart. The Wall Street Journal even mentioned that spending was up in all income categories, as shoppers were encouraged by rising wages and low unemployment, but failed to attribute any of the retailer s success to President mention Trump:Retailers are enjoying some extra Christmas cheer.Fueled by high consumer confidence and a robust job market, U.S. retail sales in the holiday period rose at their best pace since 2011, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending.Sales, excluding automobiles, rose 4.9% from Nov. 1 through Christmas, compared with a 3.7% gain in the same period last year, according to the Mastercard Inc. unit, which tracks all forms of payment. E-commerce continued to drive the gains, rising 18.1%. Overall, this year was a big win for retail, Ms. Quinlan said.That newfound buoyancy is a relief to retailers from department-store giants like Macy s Inc. to mall favorites like Gap Inc. that struggled through a difficult year of store closures, declining foot traffic and bankruptcies by chains including the Sports Authority, Toys R Us and Payless Shoes.Investors, who have abandoned many retail stocks even as the broader stock market surged, have started to return. Shares of Macy s and Gap, for example, have jumped 24% and 18%, respectively, in the past month, compared with a 3% gain in the S&P 500. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has rallied 40% on the year and, like online nemesis Amazon.com Inc., is trading near all-time highs. Unlike in past years, when spending was driven by high-income shoppers, this holiday season a broader swath of the population opened their wallets, encouraged by rising wages and low unemployment, analysts and economists said. Fewer people are living paycheck to paycheck, said Chris Christopher, executive director of economic-research firm IHS Markit. There is a lot more spending from the lower- and middle-income groups, while the upper-income groups are splurging. Fox Business News reported the amazing Christmas season sales, but neglected to mention President Trump s positive effect on the economy:Retailers are finally enjoying some Christmas cheer.Fueled by high consumer confidence and a robust job market, U.S. retail sales in the holiday period rose at their best pace since 2011, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending.Sales, excluding automobiles, rose 4.9% from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, compared with a 3.7% gain in the same period last year, according to the Mastercard Inc. unit, which tracks all forms of payment. E-commerce continued to drive the gains, rising 18.1%. It started with a bang in the week leading up to Black Friday, said Sarah Quinlan, a senior vice president of marketing insights at Mastercard. She added that retailers benefited this year from Christmas Day falling on a Monday, giving shoppers a full weekend to scoop up last-minute purchases. Dec. 23 ranked next to Black Friday in terms of spending, according to Mastercard.Via: Gateway Pundit | 0 |
1,321 | Trump Fans Viciously Cyberbully 7-Year-Old Syrian Girl Because That’s The Kind Of People They Are | When Hillary Clinton called about half of Donald Trump s supporters a basket of deplorables, she was a bit off-base not because she insulted them by calling them what they are, but because half is far too generous.Recently, a seven-year-old girl in Aleppo that s the place Gary Johnson doesn t know about has been getting quite a bit of attention with her tweets about the horrors of her existence. Bana, like many others, is trapped in the Eastern part of the city with dwindling supplies and a constant fear of death and her tweets about her daily reality are both horrifying and endearing.Tonight we have no house, it's bombed & I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died. Bana #Aleppo pic.twitter.com/arGYZaZqjg Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 27, 2016Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us. #Aleppo Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 28, 2016We have no home now. I got minor injury. I didn't sleep since yesterday, I am hungry. I want to live, I don't want to die. Bana #Aleppo Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 28, 2016This is our house, My beloved dolls died in the bombing of our house. I am very sad but happy to be alive.- Bana pic.twitter.com/9i0xxJrQtD Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 29, 2016This is my reading place where I wanted to start reading Harry Potter but it's bombed. I will never forget. Bana pic.twitter.com/6fXX2Me8ZB Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 29, 2016On Sunday, the little girl disappeared from social media, leaving an ominous message behind indicating that she is not safe. But fortunately, the BBC reports that she and her mother, who often tweets on her behalf, managed to escape to an undisclosed location. Bana s story has touched many, including J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter series Bana loves, and the world is in awe at the child s bravery well, aside from ISIS and the American Right. They don t like her too much at all.While many have expressed sympathy for Bana s plight and have left messages of love and hope, the Basket has been relentlessly trolling the little girl because they really aren t joking when they call them selves Deplorable Dave and other appropriated insults. They wear the title give to them by the former Secretary of State as a badge of honor.@VivaSyrianAA @AlabedBana Her father won't let her have a good life. Uses her as a Wahhabi terrorist propaganda ploy. Sick Jewish Russophile (@JewRussophile) December 2, 2016@AlabedBana death is always sad but looks more like honor killing muslims r always parading the dead bodies of strap bombs2kids Laurinda Cole (@apostlelaurinda) November 26, 2016@TheHerbalRose @AlabedBana these r innocent kids that will b used as bombs, human shields & sold in2sexual slavery by parents&islam Laurinda Cole (@apostlelaurinda) November 28, 2016@BobHenriqurs @AlabedBana Bana you really need to talk to your terrorist mates and get them to stopkilling children steve wright (@stewrigh) November 26, 2016@AlabedBana STOP USING THIS CHILD FOR BULLSHIT PROPAGANDA A D (@dm7474) December 5, 2016@AlabedBana what an attention seekerStop pretending you are dying every couple of daysEveryone knows this is a fake psyop account Chelsea Lopez (@justfake) December 5, 2016@AlabedBana how about you crawl back into the bombed out building you came out to tweet BS. Blazing Fury (@FuryBlazing) December 5, 2016@AlabedBana your a fake, no child would have climbed this rubble to get a picture like this..your a rebel or isis Life is illusions (@Bman4101973) November 29, 2016.@AdamNeira @HKX07 Whatever al Qaeda pic.twitter.com/FVXIfSw5C1 Porkchan (@MostPerfectLord) November 30, 2016@AlabedBana What propaganda ! Nice plug for jk rowling who retweets you. How you have internet connection ? New phone ? Clean clothes etc? DeplorableDave (@ThePhantomPain1) November 29, 2016@AlabedBana Lolololo! I now come here daily for a good laugh. Thinking about having my dog open an acct & 'he'll' Tweet from Mars. Calamity Jane (@AmandaKavanagh5) November 29, 2016@AlabedBana you are another gay girl in Damascus . A hoax just like this is. DeplorableDave (@ThePhantomPain1) November 29, 2016@AlabedBana where are you taking these pictures from Bana? You're like 3 floors up. Trump Supporter (@Trump201611) November 29, 2016@AlabedBana cut the B.S. this is sheer propoganda. Vanna (@vannanancy) November 29, 2016@AlabedBana I hope you were able to shave your beard John Smith (@999100cn) November 29, 2016This little girl is suffering, and her plight has been well-documented, but Trump fans don t care. All they know is that she s a Muslim, which means she s not human enough for anything approaching whatever level of compassion of which they are capable.Watch an interview with Bana below:Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
1,322 | smart meter case testimony before the pennsylvania public utility commission what no one wants to acknowledge about emf damage part of | by claire bernish disinformation misinformation propaganda outright lies purposeful distractions misleading bias all tools of the government and close ally corporate media to keep the | 0 |
1,323 | Fox News Says ‘Health Insurance Doesn’t Matter Cause We’re All Going To Die Anyway’ | Figuring out the best way to deal with healthcare and health insurance is very delicate, complicated. We ve got hundreds of thousands of Americans to take care of.Or do we? We re all going to die anyway. At least, according to Fox News.Fox News has presented the best argument to the health insurance problem on Wednesday by revealing that we will all one day die so it doesn t matter. We can all pack up and go home everything is solved. You know what the crazy thing is? Lisa Kennedy Montgomery said to her fellow hosts, chuckling after each soundbite from the Democrats. We re all gonna die. And they can t predict there, there s no way, unless they re absolutely psychic and have a party line to heaven, they don t know who is going to die, or when, or how many people! This revelation and chuckling came after airing statements from Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, in which they warn that cutting health care access for at least 22 million people by 2026 a figure the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released this week could result in thousands of deaths across the nation.I guess when you get down to it, the genius of this argument is pretty funny. It s so simple!Newsweek points out that multiple studies over the course of decades have consistently reflected a decrease in deaths from treatable diseases when there is increased access to coverage. A New England Journal of Medicine report states the largest decreases [in death rates] were for deaths from health care amenable conditions such as heart disease, infections and cancer, which are more plausibly affected by access to medical care. Beginning with the Institute of Medicine s 2002 report Care Without Coverage, some analyses have suggested that lack of insurance causes tens of thousands of deaths each year in the United States, the journal wrote in its report, Health Insurance Coverage and Health What the Recent Evidence Tells Us. Several quasi experimental studies using population-level data and longer follow-up offer more precise estimates of coverage s effect on mortality, it continues. One study compared three states implementing large Medicaid expansions in the early 2000s to neighboring states that didn t expand Medicaid, finding a significant 6 percent decrease in mortality over five years of follow-up. Source: NewsweekIn other words, the personalities on Fox News are completely lost. Do people genuinely watch Fox News? Do they really soak all this in? There s enough evidence to show that cutting medical coverage will seriously hurt thousands of people, yet Fox News is happy to laugh it off.Featured image via Robin Marchant/Getty Images | 0 |
1,324 | Britain becoming U.S. vassal state, says French presidential hopeful Macron | PARIS (Reuters) - Britain is becoming subservient to a United States that will be extremely difficult to cooperate with judging by President Donald Trump’s “serious and worrying” first acts, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said on Friday. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will hold talks with Trump later on Friday, wants a renewal of the “special relationship” between London and Washington at a time her conservative government redraws its relationship with Europe. “Britain lived in an equilibrium with Europe,” Macron told France Culture radio. “But now it is becoming a vassal state, meaning it is becoming the junior partner of the United State.” French opinion polls show Macron, a former investment banker running as an independent in this spring’s presidential election, closing in on the two frontrunners, conservative candidate Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Speaking about Trump, May joked on Thursday that “opposites attract” as she signaled a shift in foreign policy that will bring her position more in line with that of Trump. Macron said Trump’s early policy moves suggested the United States might become a destabilizing force on the world stage. “What’s happening today with Trump’s first statements and choices is extremely serious and worrying,” Macron said. “It’s firstly a choice that it will be an America that provokes... an America that destabilizes things that have been built for decades.” Macron has previously said he was sure Trump would maintain close ties with the European Union, but on Friday he appeared to concede this may no longer be the case. “It signifies that the U.S. will no longer be in a position to co-organize globalization and be the world’s policeman with the European Union,” the former economy minister said. “The unpredictable choices, the outbursts and the inward-looking United States of Trump no longer guarantees Europe’s security.” | 1 |
1,325 | The Better Business Bureau Calls Trump Out As The Lying Liar That He Absolutely Is (IMAGES) | When someone else is trying to tell you that everyone else is lying in order for you to believe only them, they re probably lying to you. That s pretty much what Fox News does on a daily basis, and that s definitely what Donald Trump does regularly.In fact, Trump has just been called out on a pretty big lie that he really can t walk back from by any means. During a recent GOP debate on Fox News, Megyn Kelly asked Trump about the Better Business Bureau s rating of his Trump University. Kelly alleged that the university had an D-minus rating, while Trump boasted right now it is at an A. Here s the thing neither of those ratings are true. While Trump tried to claim that this is the current rating of his venture into swindling people via higher learning, even faxing an alleged copy of the report to the Fox moderators during the debate The Better Business Bureau report, with an A rating for Trump University. #GOPDebate https://t.co/ldJ5EFp3HM pic.twitter.com/1K9u09CFQQ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2016 that report is actually from several years ago. And according to the Better Business Bureau, they did not send a document of any kind to the Republican debate site last Thursday evening. The document presented to debate moderators did not come from BBB that night. In fact, according to an official statement released by the BBB:For purposes of this statement, we will refer to Trump University, which is how it is most often referred to in news stories. There is only one BBB Business Review for Trump University, and we noted the name change to Trump Entrepreneur Initiative when it was brought to our attention by the company.1. BBB did not send a document of any kind to the Republican debate site last Thursday evening. The document presented to debate moderators did not come from BBB that night.2. Trump University does not currently have an A rating with BBB. The BBB Business Review for this company has continually been No Rating since September 2015. Prior to that, it fluctuated between D- and A+.3. The document posted on social media on Thursday night was not a current BBB Business Review of Trump University. It appeared to be part of a Business Review from 2014.4. BBB ratings are based on information we obtain about a business, including complaints received from the public. The reporting period is three years. Detailed information about BBB ratings is available on all 5.3 million Business Reviews on our website, bbb.org.5. At no point did BBB change the rating of Trump University based upon a demand from anyone. BBB followed its standard evaluation process applicable to all businesses.6. During the period when Trump University appeared to be active in the marketplace, BBB received multiple customer complaints about this business. These complaints affected the Trump University BBB rating, which was as low as D- in 2010. As the company appeared to be winding down, after 2013, no new complaints were reported. Complaints over three years old automatically rolled off of the Business Review, according to BBB policy. As a result, over time, Trump University s BBB rating went to an A in July 2014 and then to an A+ in January 2015.7. Trump University has never been a BBB Accredited Business. The document handed to the debate moderators on Thursday night could not have been an actual Better Business Bureau accreditation notice for this business.Trump flat-out LIED. Here s what the BBB actually has listed for Trump University:via Better Business BureauDoes Trump think that these facts won t make themselves known? It certainly seems that way.This sort of purposeful lying and deceit is the last thing we need as a Commander-in-Chief. We need to make sure Trump stays as far away from the Oval Office as possible.Featured image via Flickr/BBB | 0 |
1,326 | Obama lauds Supreme Court ruling on Texas abortion law | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that he was pleased with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas abortion law. “As the brief filed by the Solicitor General makes clear and as the court affirmed today, these restrictions harm women’s health and place an unconstitutional obstacle in the path of a woman’s reproductive freedom,” Obama said in a statement. | 1 |
1,327 | 'Jihadi Gran' gets 10 years after joining son in Syria | PARIS (Reuters) - A court on Friday sentenced a radicalized French woman to 10 years in prison after traveling to Syria where her son was fighting alongside Islamic State militants. Christine Riviere, 51, dubbed by investigators as Jihadi Gran , was arrested in 2014 after three trips to Syria, which she said were aimed at spending time with her son in case he was killed. Announcing the decision, the judge said Riviere had demonstrated a firm commitment to Islamic State and had contributed to strengthening the group logistically. France, like other European nations, is wrestling with how to deal with those returning from the Syrian conflict. A presidency official said last week that half of the 500 children were born there, and in total about 2,000 French nationals or residents had gone to the two countries, Instead of trying to disengage your son, it seems on the contrary that you encouraged him, the judge said. Investigators believe that Riviere s son, Tyler Vilus, climbed the Islamic State hierarchy to lead a Francophile group. Arrested in July 2015 in Turkey and now imprisoned in France, Vilus is suspected of having known members of the network that planned and carried out the November 2015 attacks in Paris in which 130 people were killed. The sentencing comes a week after a mother-of-three was found guilty of financing terrorism after she sent money abroad to her radicalized son who later traveled to fight in Syria. She was sentenced to two years in jail. | 1 |
1,328 | ‘ALL HAT, NO CATTLE’: Sarah Sanders Hits Back At ‘Cowgirl’ Congresswoman’s Claim That Gen. Kelly Was Lying About Her [Video] | Sarah Sanders hit back at criticism that General Kelly was fabricating his account of Rep. Frederica Wilson grandstanding during an event to dedicate a new FBI office in Texas. The press was all over Sanders who clarified that Rep. Wilson made comments during the event about how she got the funding for the FBI office by picking up the phone and calling Barack. She was grandstanding and making the event about her, according to Kelly. The fake news is saying Sanders said the press couldn t speak to Kelly but when you listen to what she said it s clear she said to go ahead if they want to challenge Kelly. She NEVER said the press couldn t talk to him.In case you missed the wonderful message from Chief of Staff Kelly:White House Chief of Staff John Kelly says he was stunned to learn that Congresswoman Frederica Wilson listened in on the president s call to a fallen soldier s wife. He came into the White House press briefing and let the press have it too. He goes through the steps of what happens when someone in the military is killed. He says that the members of our military are the best 1% of our population. He said he was brokenhearted when he found out what a member of congress did. This is a heartfelt moment that is amazing:KELLY DOES A GREAT JOB OF CUTTING THROUGH THE BS FROM THE PRESS:The retired general who lost his own son in Afghanistan said the call to Sgt. La David T. Johnson s wife should have been sacred. It stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. I thought at least that was sacred, he said.The White House official found himself at the center of a charge that President Barack Obama didn t make calls to the families of fallen soldiers this week after President Trump claimed that Obama didn t call Kelly when his son Robert died.Kelly said Thursday at a White House news conference that it s true but he wasn t offended.In fact, Kelly says he counseled Trump not to call Gold Star families and to instead write letters.Read more: Daily Mail | 0 |
1,329 | ‘Half my family’ is here illegally!…State Senator Wants Entire State to Be Sanctuary State [Video] | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUr8pYr5AXs | 0 |
1,330 | Trump ends 'Dreamer' immigration program, places onus on Congress | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday scrapped an Obama-era program that protects from deportation immigrants brought illegally into the United States as children, delaying implementation until March and giving a gridlocked Congress six months to decide the fate of almost 800,000 young people. As the so-called Dreamers who have benefited from the five-year-old program were plunged into uncertainty, business and religious leaders, mayors, governors, Democratic lawmakers, unions, civil liberties advocates and former Democratic President Barack Obama all condemned Trump’s move. The action was announced not by Trump but by Jeff Sessions, his attorney general, who called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program an unconstitutional overreach by Obama. There will be an “orderly, lawful wind-down,” Sessions said. Trump later issued a written statement saying that “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are (a) nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.” He denounced Obama’s program as an “amnesty-first approach” toward illegal immigrants and pressed his nationalist “America First” message, saying that despite concerns voiced by his critics about the fate of the Dreamers, “Above all else, we must remember that young Americans have dreams too.” On Tuesday evening, the Republican president tweeted that lawmakers now had six months to “legalize DACA” and that if they did not, he would “revisit this issue!” Obama issued his own statement calling Trump’s action a political decision, defending DACA’s legality and urging Congress to protect Dreamers. “This is about young people who grew up in America - kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper,” Obama said. The Trump administration said nobody covered by the program, which provided work permits in addition to deportation protection and primarily benefits Hispanics, would be affected before March 5. Most people covered by DACA are in their 20s. Trump shifted responsibility to a Congress controlled by his fellow Republicans and said it was now up to lawmakers to pass immigration legislation that could address the fate of those protected by DACA who would be in danger of deportation. Trump and Sessions offered no details of the type of legislation they would want to see, and Trump’s spokeswoman offered only a broad outline. “I have a love for these people (DACA recipients), and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly,” Trump later told reporters at the White House, adding: “I think it’s going to work out very well.” Since Trump took office in January, Congress has been unable to pass any major legislation, most notably failing on a healthcare overhaul, and lawmakers have been bitterly divided over immigration in the past. “President Trump’s decision to end DACA is a deeply shameful act of political cowardice and a despicable assault on innocent young people in communities across America,” said Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives. The Democratic attorney general of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, said a coalition of states planned to file suit in the coming days to defend DACA, and one advocacy group announced its own legal action. “This is a sad day for our country,” added Facebook Inc (FB.O) founder Mark Zuckerberg. “The decision to end DACA is not just wrong. It is particularly cruel to offer young people the American Dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government, and then punish them for it.” Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), urged Congress to “put the humanitarian needs of these 800,000 people on the legislative calendar” before tax-cut legislation sought by Trump. Nearly 800,000 people stepped forward, admitted their illegal immigrant status and provided personal information to the government to apply for the DACA program. They now face the prospect of being deported starting in March. Dreamers are a fraction of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. “The cancellation of the DACA program is reprehensible,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement. But White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “It’s not cold hearted for the president to uphold the law.” Trump said DACA recipients would not be deportation priorities unless they were criminals or gang members. Ending DACA was the latest action by Trump sure to alienate Hispanic Americans, a growing segment of the U.S. population and an increasingly important voting bloc. Most of the immigrants protected by DACA came from Mexico and other Latin American countries. The Mexican government said it “profoundly laments” Trump’s decision to end DACA and pledged to strengthen efforts to guarantee consular protections for affected Mexican citizens. The Homeland Security Department will provide a limited window - until Oct. 5 - for some DACA recipients whose work permits expire before March 5 to apply to renew those permits. In addition, the department will adjudicate any new DACA requests, or renewal requests, accepted as of Tuesday. That would mean that some beneficiaries of DACA could work legally in the country through 2019. The administration said the president’s decision was prompted in part by a threat from several Republican state attorneys general, led by Texas, to file legal challenges in federal court if Trump did not act to end DACA. Late on Tuesday, Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton said he withdrew the 10-state suit after Trump’s decision. House Speaker Paul Ryan called on lawmakers to find a long-term solution for the young people affected by the reversal of the program. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Congress “will continue working on securing our border and ensuring a lawful system of immigration that works.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said there could be a winning formula by coupling legislation to provide legal status for Dreamers with additional border security measures, although he said support was lacking in Congress for Trump’s proposed border wall. Trump made a crackdown on illegal immigrants a centerpiece of his 2016 election campaign, promising to deport every illegal immigrant. The decision to end DACA is the latest action by Trump to erase key parts of his Democratic predecessor’s legacy. That includes pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accord, abandoning a 12-nation Pacific trade deal, seeking to dismantle the Obamacare healthcare law, rolling back environmental protections, reversing parts of Obama’s opening to Cuba and removing protections for transgender people. | 1 |
1,331 | Trump revokes Washington Post's campaign press credentials | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he will no longer issue press credentials to the Washington Post, stopping the publication from gaining access to press areas at his presidential campaign events. The Washington Post, based in the U.S. capital, is one the country’s the most influential newspapers and has one of the largest circulations. “They have no journalistic integrity and write falsely about Mr. Trump,” his campaign said in a statement explaining the decision. “Mr. Trump does not mind a bad story, but it has to be honest.” Trump’s campaign repeated criticism the candidate has made of Post owner Jeff Bezos, who also owns online retailer Amazon.com. It is unusual for a presidential campaign to refuse to issue credentials to news organizations. Credentials are needed for reporters, photographers and other staff to gain access to press seating, travel with the campaign and attend media-only events, like press conferences. “Donald Trump’s decision to revoke The Washington Post’s press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press,” the newspaper’s editor, Marty Baron, said in a statement. “When coverage doesn’t correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along — honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. We’re proud of our coverage, and we’re going to keep at it.” A source close to the campaign said the ban could be temporary and pointed out that Trump has already barred other new organizations, including Politico, from obtaining press credentials and then reversed course. Ben Smith, executive editor of Buzzfeed, responded that his news organization, which targets millennials, is also banned from covering official Trump events. The Huffington Post posted on Twitter that its reporters are also barred. “A candidate for the highest elected office in the land doesn’t get to choose what goes in a newspaper,” said Committee to Protect Journalist Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney. “It provides a ready-made excuse for authoritarian leaders to crackdown further on independent journalists. We urge Donald Trump to reconsider and let the Washington Post do its job.” Trump’s campaign took issue with an article that appeared on The Washington Post’s website earlier on Monday with the headline, “Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting’ as their headline.” The headline was changed to “Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting” within an hour after it was published. The Washington Post has assigned a team of reporters to produce a book about Trump that is scheduled to be released later this year. | 1 |
1,332 | #NeverTrump GOPers Demand Emergency RNC Meeting In Last Ditch Effort To Unseat Trump | The #NeverTrump GOP delegates are a determined bunch. They tried tirelessly to change the rules of the Republican National Convention to keep Donald Trump from officially becoming their standard-bearer. When the rule change was shot down, chaos ensued on the convention floor in Cleveland s Quicken Loans Arena as they demanded a roll call vote, which was also denied. This resulted in a walkout by the Colorado delegation, and, of course, the great Orange One was officially given the banner of the party to carry that Thursday night. Most people assumed that the Free the Delegates group was done after this. Nothing could be further from the truth, though.This same group of people is now calling for an emergency meeting of the Republican National Committee as they launch yet another sure-to-fail effort to dump Trump. It bears noting that this likely is mostly an effort to continue making noise, to show the RNC and the American public that the entire GOP is not like Donald Trump. The proposed purpose for the meeting is to lay out the law about how the RNC could go about defying the will of the Republican primary voters and get rid of Trump. They will be particularly interested in Rule 9, which is a provision specifically created to facilitate the replacing of an official nominee because of death, declination, or otherwise. Since Trump isn t dead and likely won t be dropping out, otherwise is the vague word these Never Trumpers will be looking to find their loophole in.It probably won t happen, but seeing as how Trump is falling further and further behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the polls, they have reason to believe that he simply isn t a viable candidate. Further, the sea of controversy in which Trump has engaged since being formally nominated, from his ongoing feud with the family of a fallen Muslim American soldier to his initial refusal to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Senator John McCain, means that Trump clearly has zero capability or intention of becoming presidential. If all else fails, the #NeverTrump people could always support the new Independent bid by conservative intelligence official Evan McMullin.All of that being said, though, these folks may as well hang it up. The GOP is no longer the Party of Lincoln. It is the Party of Trump.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
1,333 | Trump Could Get Primaried By A Horrified #NEVERTRUMP Republican In 2020 (DETAILS) | Ohio Governor and former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich is the one GOP elected official that is still not on the Trump Train. The other party loyalists have fallen in line, with the occasional criticisms from folks like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Infamously, Gov. Kasich did not attend the Republican National Convention even though it was in his home state and he was the sitting Governor. He also refused to praise or endorse Trump, or demand that others in his party do so. Now, it seems he may be looking at a way to take his party back from The Donald in 2020.Gov. Kasich s gubernatorial term will end in 2019, due to term limits. Therefore, he also will be looking to see what his next project will be. For now, he has been touring the talk show circuit promoting a book, and that has been the focus of these conversations. However, a man who was once an aide to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, Ryan Williams, says of Kasich s 2020 prospects: Kasich is kind of in limbo his time as governor will end when he s termed out, he doesn t have a path toward any other office in Ohio, and if Trump runs for reelection, I doubt he ll challenge him. That, however, does not mean that Kasich won t be throwing his hat into the 2020 ring. Williams goes on to say: But he s trying to keep his name in the mix in case President Trump decides not to run again He, like many people, was counting on President Trump to lose in November, expecting to occupy a space in the effort to rebuild the party. But that evaporated the minute Trump won the election. Still, though, Kasich remains skeptical of Trump as president, and refuses to rule out challenging Trump. When asked, he ducks the question and essentially says he isn t running right now, he is promoting his book.In short, it seems that Kasich knows that Trump is terrible for the country, and really has no loyalty to the man. Further, with Trump s increasingly divisive policies and rhetoric continuing to rip at the fabric of the nation, he may feel the obligation to do what he can to unseat Trump in the primary and deny him the nomination a second time. In fact, when asked, Kasich said: What I m saying is it s unlikely, but I don t know what the future is going to bring for me, or what responsibility or obligation I might feel. The more Trump rips the nation apart, something tells me that obligation will feel a lot stronger by the time 2020 rolls around if Trump isn t impeached first.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
1,334 | WATCH: Sean Spicer Just Defended Michael Flynn While Attacking Sally Yates | Following Sally Yates testimony yesterday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday accused the former acting Attorney General of being a political opponent of the president because she informed the White House three times that then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn lied about his contacts with Russia. Spicer was asked why it took Trump 18 days to fire Flynn after it was revealed by Yates that he had been compromised and was vulnerable to being blackmailed by Russia.Spicer said that Flynn was not fired immediately because of an element of due process after the White House was informed of [Yates] giving us a heads up. Somebody came over, gave us a heads up, told us there were materials, Spicer said. Ultimately, the president made a decision that was the right one. So, I think the process worked. According to Spicer, Trump defended Flynn after learning that he lied because he is somebody who served our country honorably in uniform for over 30 years. The president does not want to smear a good man, Spicer continued. Let s look at how this came down. Someone who is not exactly a supporter of the president s agenda who a couple of days after this conversation took place refused to uphold a lawful order of the president who was not exactly excited about President Trump by taking office or his agenda. Just because someone gives you a heads up doesn t mean you jump the gun and go take action, Spicer added. What if we just dismissed someone because a political opponent of the president had made an utterance, you would argue that it s pretty irrational. Watch:Spicer also said that Yates was a strong supporter of Clinton, however, he said that without offering proof of such. It was widely rumored, Spicer said.Watch:lol, reporter asked Spicer why he claimed Yates was strong supporter of Hillary Clinton, Spicer OF COURSE says it was rumored pic.twitter.com/UgWmZ1Rol6 Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) May 9, 2017Spicer called Sally Yates, who has served under Republican and Democratic Presidents, and served in the Justice Department for nearly three decades with an unblemished record, a political opponent. Let that sink in.In February, Trump referred to Flynn as a wonderful man and blamed the fake media for criminal leaks. He said that after firing this wonderful man who is now caught up in a massive scandal. Trump was not only warned by Yates three times but also by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.Image via screen capture. | 0 |
1,335 | CINDY MCCAIN Reportedly Accepts Trump Administration Position On Same Day Husband John McCain’s Outrageous Pro-Obama, Anti-Trump Remarks Are Released | The Hill released controversial comments sore loser and RINO Senator John McCain made about Trump s leadership:Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said American leadership was stronger under President Trump s predecessor, President Barack Obama, according to a Guardian report published Sunday.Asked if the country stood on sturdier ground under Obama s leadership, McCain said yes, according to the report. As far as American leadership is concerned, yes, said McCain, who also vocally criticized many of the Obama administration s foreign policy decisions.For months, President Donald Trump has been trying to convince Cindy McCain a respected voice on refugees and other humanitarian issues and wife of Sen. John McCain, a Trump critic to join his administration. Now, it s a done deal for both parties, according to two senior administration officials.After months of being offered and rejecting several potential posts in the Trump administration, Cindy McCain and the president came to the agreement of a Washington, D.C.-based ambassador-at-large position, which would focus on anti human trafficking efforts, refugees, and humanitarian-aid matters. The title being kicked around internally is U.S. ambassador-at-large for human rights, though that title is subject to change, and it is unclear if a new office within the State Department would be created for her. [Trump personally], aggressively courted her for this, one White House official told The Daily Beast. It s a done deal now The president had floated several positions before this is the one that stuck. A formal announcement of that new role is expected within a matter of weeks. Early last month, the Associated Press was the first to report that Cindy McCain was expected to be offered a prominent role in the Trump administration s State Department. For entire story: The Daily Beast | 0 |
1,336 | DESPERATE TO STOP THE FLOW OF MUSLIM REFUGEES INTO SWEDEN, Swedish Citizens Devise A Controversial Scheme | The liberals find this plan to be disgusting until their neighborhoods become the next victim of violent muslim immigrant gangs of course Anti-immigration campaigners in Gullberg in southern Sweden are plotting to build a pig farm next to an asylum centre in a last-ditch effort to deter would-be Muslim immigrants, who might find the animals offensive.More illegal immigrants on the run in Sweden (03 May 15) Swedish Syrian warms hearts over phone return (08 Apr 15) It was a long journey and some of my friends died (30 Mar 15)Plans for a new immigration centre in Gullberg have already been strongly opposed by local residents and on Wednesday it was reported that a group of campaigners had sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) pledging to breed pigs nearby in order to deter Muslims from seeking asylum in the town.The note, signed by what described itself as the interest group for Gullberg s survival said that it was trying to create a probably impossible situation for some religious people, especially Muslims , according to Sveriges Radio.Local politician Henry Sandahl from Sweden s Countryside Party (Markbygdspartiet) told the broadcaster that he agreed with the sentiment of the letter. You know that Muslims are not friends with pigs, he said.But Swedish religious experts have been quick to criticize the campaigners. This is nonsense and shows just how very little they know about Islam, said ke Sander, Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg. It is one thing when Muslims try to stay away from pork, alcohol or gambling but there is nothing [in the Koran] that says you cannot be near pigs. This is a last-ditch effort when they [the campaigners] have no arguments left, he told the TT news agency.Others turned to social media to voice their disgust at the campaign.Carl G ransson, a lawyer and former Moderate party politician suggested on Twitter that building a gigantic rubbish dump next to the asylum centre instead, designed to blow smelly winds in the direction of the angry residents. Monstrous and a total fail , wrote Johan Arenius, a political press secretary for the Christian Democrat party based in rebro in central Sweden.Sweden became the first European country in 2013 to grant automatic residency to Syrian refugees and has since seen asylum requests rise to record levels, which are still expected to reach about 90,000 in 2015.To cope with an increasing flow of refugees, the Swedish Migration Board announced in March that it was more than tripling the maximum number of residents allowed at asylum centres from 200 to 650.Via: The Local seh/t Refugee Resettlement Watch | 0 |
1,337 | RED FLAG IN CLINTON’S FBI INTERVIEW Shocks Former Prosecutor Andrew McCarthy | Finally, something else about those lawyers. I nearly fell out of my chair upon reading the very first paragraph of the notes of Clinton s interview, which identifies the lawyers for Clinton who were permitted to be present for the interview. Among them is Cheryl Mills, Clinton s longtime confidant and chief-of-staff at the State Department.Readers may recall that I suggested back in May that the fix was in in the investigation of the Clinton emails. The reason was that the Justice Department was allowing Cheryl Mills a witness, if not a subject, of the investigation to invoke attorney-client privilege on behalf of Mrs. Clinton in order to thwart the FBI s attempt to inquire into the procedure used to produce Clinton s emails to the State Department. Mills was a participant in that procedure and it is the procedure in which, we now know, well over 30,000 emails were attempted to be destroyed, including several thousand that contained government-related business.When she worked for Clinton at State, Mills was not acting in the capacity of a lawyer not for then-Secretary Clinton and not for the State Department. Moreover, as Clinton s chief-of-staff, Mills was intimately involved in issues related to Clinton s private email set up, the discussions about getting her a secure BlackBerry similar to President Obama s, and questions that were raised (including in FOIA requests) about Clinton s communications.That is to say, Mills was an actor in the facts that were under criminal investigation by the FBI. Put aside that she was not Mrs. Clinton s lawyer while working for the State Department; as I explained in the May column, Mills, after leaving the State Department, was barred by ethical rules from acting as Mrs. Clinton s lawyer in connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially as a public officer or employee. There is no way Mills should have been permitted to participate as a lawyer in the process of producing Clinton s emails to the State Department nearly two years after they d both left.I thought it was astonishing that the Justice Department indulged her attorney-client privilege claim, which frustrated the FBI s ability to question her on a key aspect of the investigation. But it is simply unbelievable to find her turning up at Mrs. Clinton s interview participating in the capacity of a lawyer under circumstances where Clinton was being investigated over matters in which Mills participated as a non-lawyer government official.FLASHBACK: REMEMBER WHEN CHERYL MILLS WALKED OUT OF FBI MEETING: Read more: NRO | 0 |
1,338 | Ouch! Joe Biden’s Former Staffer’s Scorching Firsthand Experience That’s Sure To Cause A Stir | Who knew Biden is a tyrant? The author of a 2013 book revisits the first-hand experience of what Joe Biden is like to work for and it s not a pretty picture. Basically, he s described as a major ahole who s pretty arrogant. Pick this book up for some good reading for political season or if you need one more reason to NOT vote for this tyrant.As Vice President Joe Biden ponders whether or not to run for president in 2016, claims that he was a tyrant to those who worked for him, and even plagiarized speeches during his first presidential run, have been revisited.In light of the news last week that the vice president himself leaked the story that his son Beau asked him to run for president before he died, George Packer, author of the 2013 book, The Unwinding, reexamined charges made in his book by former Biden staffer Jeff Connaughton in the New York Post, Sunday.If you just worked your ass off for him for a few years, he ignored you, intimidated you, sometimes humiliated you, took no interest in your advancement, and never learned your name. Hey, Chief, he d say, or How s it going, Cap n, unless he was ticked at you, in which case he d employ one of his favorite terms for male underlings: dumb f k. Dumb f k over here didn t get me the briefing materials I needed. It was both noun and adjective: Is the event leader a Democrat or a Republican? Or are you too dumb f k to know? In September of that year, Connaughton was on break heading to a college football game when he heard news reports that Biden had completely stolen a speech from British politician Neil Kinnock, going so far as to even steal his identity as a descendant of coal miners.The problem for Biden was that the media went looking for other more cases plagiarism, and they found it, the Post reported.They competed to dig up other Biden faults: lines lifted from Hubert Humphrey and Robert F. Kennedy; a badly footnoted law-school essay that resulted in a failing grade; exaggerated claims about his past.Then an incident recorded by C-SPAN in a New Hampshire resident s kitchen surfaced. Biden had agreed to wear a mike for an entire, unedited campaign event a first in political history. He was brilliant for 89 of the 90 minutes, but he had spent his whole career saying too much, and just before the end, a voter asked him about his law-school grades. Biden snapped, I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, then made at least three false statements about his education while taking the guy s head off.Read more: NYP | 0 |
1,339 | Swiss to return $321 million in stolen funds to Nigeria | ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland will return to Nigeria around $321 million in assets seized from the family of former military ruler Sani Abacha via a deal signed with the World Bank on Monday, the Swiss government said. Transparency International, a corruption watchdog, has accused Abacha of stealing up to $5 billion of public money during the five years he ran the oil-rich country, from 1993 until his death in 1998. In 2014, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement for the West African country to get back the funds, which had been frozen, in return for dropping a complaint against the former military ruler s son, Abba Abacha. The son was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud and forgery in April 2005, after being extradited from Germany, and later spent 561 days in custody. In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds held by the younger Abacha be frozen. Now Switzerland, Nigeria and the World Bank have agreed the funds will be repatriated via a project supported and overseen by the World Bank, the Swiss government said. The project will strengthen social security for the poorest sections of the Nigerian population. The agreement also regulates the disbursement of restituted funds in tranches and sets out concrete measures to be taken in the event of misuse or corruption, it added. | 1 |
1,340 | Swedish Mother KICKS Daughter Out Of Her Room To House Refugee…Refugee Promptly Sexually Assaults 10 Year Old Daughter | A tale of a mother and the dangerous religion of progressivism Putting her radical liberal ideology before the safety and well-being of her own children A Swedish mother decided it would be a good idea to open up her home to a male refugee from Eritrea, and so she kicked her daughter out of her room to make space. That refugee then decided to sexually assault her 10-year-old daughter.In the summer of 2015, a mother of three children in Sweden brought two third world asylum seekers into her home. To make space, she decided to move her daughter Emma into her own room.On the eve of Aug. 18, 2015, Emma awoke to find Isaac squeezing her chest. She suffered breast pain after the incident and didn t want to tell anyone, as she was afraid her mother would get in trouble. Emma couldn t even look at Isaac because he looked scary to her. The story came out after Emma finally told a friend of hers, and eventually after several people became aware of the situation, Isaac was confronted.He protested he would never sexually assault Emma, since he has a girlfriend back in Eritrea. But after further questioning, he finally admitted to groping Emma s breasts. When the police questioned him, Isaac changed his testimony and denied he had ever touched her.Isaac meanwhile maintains he s only 15, since he started school in Eritrea when he was 10 and then went to school for an additional seven years. He finished school two years ago, which according to him, makes him only 15.The Lund District Court finds this sort of calculation bizarre, but the judge has decided to move forward with the case under the assumption that he is, in fact, just 15. The judge sentenced Isaac on Friday based on the charge of juvenile sexual assault, which means he ll be sent to counseling.In the counseling process, he ll apparently learn to control his impulses and process through past experiences in his life that may have caused him to act out the way he did.Meanwhile, Emma s brother says he s never seen his sister so distraught. She cries often, even though according to her brother, she s very strong.Yet, despite what Isaac did, he ll be able to stay in Sweden.Via: Daily Caller | 0 |
1,341 | (Video) Obama Lectures Iran On Just About Everything: ‘Chanting Death To America Doesn’t Create Jobs.’ | Obama had a chance to speak of the horrors going on in the Middle East and to say so much more but he chose to behave like a college professor and lecture the Iranians: That path is now available to a nation like Iran, which, as of this moment, continues to deploy violent proxies to advance its interests. These efforts may appear to give Iran leverage in disputes with neighbors, but they fuel sectarian conflict that endangers the entire region and isolates Iran from the promise of trade and commerce. The Iranian people have a proud history and are filled with extraordinary petition, but chanting death to America does not create jobs or make Iran more secure. What a Putz! | 0 |
1,342 | WATCH: Trump Supporter Calls For Sending Black People Back To Africa | Donald Trump s pathetic outreach effort to sway black voters into supporting him just took a major hit.Just when you thought Trump and his supporters couldn t say anything worse to offend black people, a North Carolina pastor who supports the Republican nominee just pitched a let s send black people back to Africa plan reminiscent of similar ideas racists have had throughout American history.During an interview with CNN host Carol Costello, Thomas Rodgers, Sr. of Antioch Road to Glory International Ministries advocated on the air for returning black people to Africa to get jobs building a road to the United States across the Atlantic Ocean.Rodgers claimed that African-Americans do not seek dual citizenship and said that is why black people join gangs. Oh, he also says black people have no vision and no leadership. African-Americans are the only people in the world who do not seek dual citizenship. That s why Chicago gangs, California gangs, the Crips and the Bloods and Detroit in Michigan we have gangs in the streets because blacks have no vision, they have no leadership. Costello then asked Rodgers to explain his idea to build a bridge to Africa, and that s when the interview completely went off the rails. Matter of fact, where our ancestors came from, from the Indian Ocean all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, that s 4,000 miles and we want to go back and help with the highways all the way across, to create jobs, train rails, pipelines, oil, petroleum. They create jobs for young people that can t find jobs here, that the Democrats have not did. Of course, the unemployment rate in the black community dropped to 8.2 percent under the policies of President Obama, a Democrat and it was 6 percent under Democratic President Bill Clinton. So Rodgers is wrong on that point.A confused Costello asked, So you are suggesting young people in trouble should go back to Africa, perhaps to find jobs? Rodgers argued semantics, claiming that he is just calling for black people to return to Africa, which is basically the same thing as going back, just using a different wording. And then he claimed that black people don t want to stay in this country. It s a clause in the United Nations charter, our right to return, to help build infrastructure. Everybody don t want to stay here. We are skilled people. Rodgers remarks drew laughter from strategist Angela Rye, whose facial reactions while Rodgers spoke were the same that every normal person watching at home were making, pointed out that building a literal bridge between the United States and Africa is impossible.Here s the video via YouTube.The suggestion that black people should be sent back or returned to Africa has been around for a long time, particularly by white supremacists who want to turn America white again, which is why they support Donald Trump.It s offensive and suggests that black people are not capable of living in Western societies.The fact is, however, that systemic racism in this country has held African-Americans back and that is what needs to change. Black people do not need to be sent back anywhere. The system just has to be fixed so that it benefits everyone equally.Rodgers remarks should guarantee that Republicans never get a vote from a black person ever again.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
1,343 | UNREAL! OBAMA ADMIN PRESSURES LENDERS TO LOAN TO HIGH-RISK SECTION 8 WELFARE TAKERS | We ve been doing articles on this for the past couple of years to tell everyone that the second housing bubble is being forced on the American taxpayers in the name of civil rights. Did we not learn from the first time around that lending to risky people is NOT a good idea no matter what color they are!This really is the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and getting the same BAD results. The only thing is THIS IS YOUR MONEY THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS THROWING DOWN THE TOILET!If you need federal subsidies to pay your apartment rent, it s a good bet you can t afford to buy a new home. But don t tell that to the Obama regime. It s pressuring banks to lend even to Section 8 voucher recipients.In a new regulatory bulletin, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns home lenders that they can be investigated for discrimination if they reject Section 8 vouchers as a valid source of income for low-income minorities applying for mortgages. The agency argues that underwriting policies that exclude such welfare payments could have a disparate impact on minority borrowers and therefore violate civil-rights laws. The bureau has become aware of one or more institutions excluding or refusing to consider income derived from the Section 8 HCV Homeownership Program during mortgage loan application and underwriting processes, the three-page bulletin said. Explained CFPB Director Richard Cordray, Consumers should not be put at a disadvantage just because they receive public assistance. And strapping them with 30-year debt doesn t put them at a disadvantage? Did Cordray snooze through the subprime crisis? The Homeownership Voucher Program is a Clinton-era program that Obama has expanded. Under it, HUD (that is, you the taxpayer) helps Sec. 8 recipients make monthly mortgage payments while also subsidizing other homeownership expenses for up to 15 years. The program is geared toward single moms who want to buy their first home. They have to earn at least $14,500 to qualify for the generous stipend, but if they receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments, there is no minimum income requirement. The only other requirement is they have to take a free, three-hour homebuyer education class prior to closing the loan. That s right, CFPB expects lenders to bank on the notion that a little financial counseling will turn welfare recipients into a low-risk homebuyers. Last year, the agency warned lenders that they also face race-bias lawsuits if they verify the income of minority borrowers on SSDI benefits. SSDI enrollment has exploded under Obama, and fraud is rampant in the program. A recent probe by Congress found doctors rubber-stamping claims under the program. A random review found that more than one in four cases failed to provide evidence to support claims. No wonder mortgage lenders have been asking for verification. Buried in the fine print of its new Qualified Mortgage rule, which the media erroneously claim is strict, CFPB actually mandates that payments from government assistance programs are acceptable forms of income for home-loan qualification. But don t stop there .CFPB has teamed up with the Justice Department to order the biggest mortgage lenders in the country, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America, to offer loans to people on public assistance. The government is now requiring them to post branch notices promoting the risky welfare acceptance policy. A mortgage requires a stable job and good income as well as good credit to avoid defaults and foreclosures. Though President Obama worries about declining home-buying among jobless or underemployed minorities, he s just setting them up for failure all over again by putting them in homes that they can t afford.ANOTHER GREAT ARTICLE AND SOURCE FOR THE BACKSTORY ON THIS MESS:OBAMA S HOUSE OF CARDS NEW YORK POST, JULY 2012CFPB also has been working closely with the Justice Department to enhance fair lending enforcement. Justice has pressured banks to relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination, court documents show. Attorney General Eric Holder, who served as Reno s deputy, has filed a record number of fair-lending enforcement actions against lenders. More than 60 investigations are active or said to be in the pipeline, and dozens of banks have already settled, including giants Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Prosecutions have already generated more than $550 million in rebates, loan set-asides and other subsidies from banks that have settled out of court rather than battle the federal government and risk being branded racist by the media. Leading the charge is Holder s top civil-rights cop, Thomas Perez, another Clinton retread. Perez has compared bankers to Klansmen, arguing that while bankers may discriminate with a smile and fine print, it s every bit as destructive as the cross burned in a neighborhood. He says predatory lenders must now repair some of the damage done to (minority) communities. Read More: IBD | 0 |
1,344 | Je Suis HYPOCRITES: FREE SPEECH IS EMBRACED WHEN INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE MURDERED IN FRANCE…Free Speech Is Condemned (BY EVERY MEDIA OUTLET INCLUDING FOX NEWS) When Muslim Terrorists Are Killed In America [VIDEO] | Sooo when terrorists attack Je Suis Charlie, a French newspaper (who makes a living mocking religion) and kills innocent people working for the publication, the world stands tall in support of free speech. When an American hosts a Draw Muhammed contest in Texas and two terrorists (who were plotting to kill innocent Americans) are killed just before their plot to kill innocent Americans exercising their free speech rights, the organizer and attendants are criticized for inciting and even inviting violence. Can someone explain how this is not hypocrisy?In truth perhaps I was not Charlie . After all, I wasn t a religion-attacking atheist. Truth to tell, in the story of Charlie Hebdo, many left out that the cartoon magazine was something that we might call a liberal rag . It was often offensive and frequently unfunny with attacks on religion, and it didn t limit its criticism to Islam, actually attacking Christianity more. Some even believed it anti-Semitic. Deliberately, purposely provocative.And yet, even though I was none of those things, I was Charlie . Not because I agreed with any of it. But precisely because I didn t. Because even the provocative offensive speech by assholes, to paraphrase Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, is protected. Especially the provocative speech, the minority speech, that which offends, that which many may not like. Because the government doesn t have the right to shut down offensive speech for being offensive and neither do terrorists with AK-47s. You do not have the right to kill over a cartoon.Much of the world seemed to agree, leaders linking arms in Paris, being Charlie. Media in the U.S was also generally sympathetic, many pieces running Je Suis Charlie in headers.Yet here we are today, a few months later. A similar situation, where Americans exercise their First Amendment right to draw offensive cartoons of Muhammad. Yet where are the crowds of media saying Je Suis Garland ? Where are the crowds of media condemning the attack on free speech? Where are the crowds of media, highlighting even just the fact that this was immediately apparent ISIS-endorsed attack on the United States?WATCH FOX NEWS MARTHA MacCallum ATTACK EVENT ORGANIZER PAMELA GELLAR FOR ORGANIZING AN EVENT THAT MAY HAVE BEEN CONTROVERSIAL:https://youtu.be/mnMRFSg8i2sInstead, what we have is some, like NY Times reporter Rukmini Callamachi and even McClatchy News, in scary fashion, asking when is provocative speech too much and attacking the people who held the event in Garland, more than calling out the terrorists.McClatchy even discusses whether charges should be brought against the organizers of the Garland event.So why the difference here for media? Because the group was one they didn t like in a state for which they didn t care with a better result than Paris because of, well, guns?And where has the Federal government s response been to an ISIS-claimed attack on American soil? President Obama hasn t even mentioned it. The press secretary made a fairly perfunctory comment about violence not being the proper response to expression even if offensive. One might have thought he was speaking of a video, rather than an Islamist terror attack on the United States. Again, no mention of ISIS, Islamists or terrorism. Meanwhile the President has managed to go on Letterman, to golf and to attend Democratic fundraisers.In the words of Mr. Goldberg, who gets to define what is provocative?I don t know if I would agree with everything Mr. Goldberg writes, but I would defend his right to say it, even if he were provocative. Vox calls the Garland event hate speech . I think much of what Vox says is hate speech. Who gets to decide? I have multiple options to object to the content by protest and by pen, that is the benefit of being an American. As Mr. Goldberg notes, Iran has a Holocaust cartoon contest every year, basically catering to Holocaust deniers. Are they attacked? No, they are laughed at, they are belittled.Either we are all in or we are not. Either we believe in what we say we do, or we do not. But if we do not, if we allow offense or political difference to limit that protected speech, if we start to suggest as some of these writers do, what speech should or should not be allowed , we move down the slippery slope to the rule of the mob, to the rule of the despot. In an ever-growing media state, where already, even the slightest offense is often seized on and may result in the prevailing view hounding a person from his/her job for differing, this is a frightening thought.Via: Weasel Zippers | 0 |
1,345 | U.S., Russian, Japanese crew blasts off for space station | (Reuters) - A trio of U.S. and Japanese astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for a two-day trip to the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed. Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and flight engineers Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Scott Tingle of NASA lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:21 p.m. local time (0721 GMT/0221 EST). The crew will gradually approach the station, which orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, for two days before docking. Shkaplerov, Kanai and Tingle will join Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA, who have been aboard the orbital outpost since September. Onboard cameras showed crew members making thumbs-up gestures after the blast-off. Also visible was a stuffed dog toy chosen by Shkaplerov s daughter to be the spacecraft s zero-gravity indicator. Soyuz was safely in orbit about 10 minutes after the launch. | 1 |
1,346 | Social media helps U.S. millennial voters register, turnout worries linger | NEW YORK (Reuters) - As the youngest members of the millennial generation became old enough to vote in this year’s U.S. presidential election, states and social media platforms poured efforts into online registration, hoping to attract these tech savvy voters who now rival Baby Boomers as the country’s largest demographic. With Election Day just two days away, political experts are skeptical that a record number of millennials who signed up to vote will actually result in the 18-34 year-old age group turning out at the polls in proportion to their relative size of the U.S. population. Millennials make up approximately 31 percent of U.S. citizens eligible to vote, according to the Pew Research Center, on par for the first time with Baby Boomers, who are typically aged 52-70 years old. There are an estimated 225.8 million eligible U.S. voters. Millennials have so far, however, turned out in much lower numbers in elections than Baby Boomers. In 2008, a record year for millennial turnout, just 50 per cent of those eligible to vote did so, the National Census Bureau said. That compared with turnout rates of 69 per cent for Baby Boomers and 61 percent for people aged 36 to 51, also known as Generation X. This year, a number of efforts on social media by states and non-profits aimed to change that, including Facebook reminders on users’ accounts, Twitter hashtag campaigns, celebrities creating Snapchat and an Instagram post urging people to vote. According to a survey of state electoral officials and voter non-profits around the United States, these social media campaigns have paid off, at least when it came to getting young voters registered. A survey of 2,000 millennials conducted by social media platform Yik Yak, which is known for its popularity among college students and teens, showed that 62 percent registered to vote for the first time this year and, of those, 9 percent registered online following a social media prompt. In California, roughly 31 per cent of all registered voters are now aged 18-35. A Facebook reminder on May 16 coincided with 143,255 people registering or updating their registrations online that day in the state, compared to an average of 23,166 per day that month, said California Secretary of State spokesman Sam Mahood. Other states reported similar spikes. In Oregon, more than 420,000 people registered to vote online in 2016, up from 2012 when 163,545 used the online system. Digital voter enrollments in Washington jumped by roughly 135,000 in 2016, compared to 2012. From January through mid-October this year, 381,318 people used the online system in Indiana, nearly three times as many as in 2012. “Let’s face it - that’s where [younger voters] are; they’re on social media,” said Denise Merrill, the secretary of state for Connecticut, which used social media campaigns, including a dedicated hashtag and Facebook’s banner ads, to drive registrations. “Whatever we’re doing, we’re having pretty dramatic results.” Like a lot of experts, Donald Green, a professor of political science at Columbia University, is skeptical that an increase in young voter registration will correspond with millennials unseating the Baby Boomers as the most active voting bloc. Green conceded that there was “change afoot,” but said he thought it would far more gradual. By his estimate, it would be 25 years before millennials overtake Baby Boomers, or what he dubbed “generational replacement.” “In presidential elections the translation of new registration to votes is more like one half or one third,” he said. Michael Cornfield, an associate professor of political management at George Washington University, agreed that registering someone to vote does not guarantee they’ll show up on Election Day. “It’s up to the campaigns to do the last bit, which is to say make sure the right millennials in the right battleground states are being targeted,” said Cornfield. Some political experts said that, in general, millennials tend to vote more for Democratic Party candidates than Republicans. Laura Wray-Lake, an assistant professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, said the increase in millennial registration could be a boon for Democrats if they could harness some of the social media techniques used to register voters to get them to the polls. With many political experts expecting overall voter turnout to be lower this year, millennial voters in swing states are a bloc that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton could hope to turn out. Clinton leads Republican candidate Donald Trump by 27 percentage points among likely voters ages 18-34, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. “Young people have huge potential for political impact” Wray-Lake said. “I think eventually these millennials will be deciding the future of the country.” For a graphic on Online voter registration, click tmsnrt.rs/2fjdh4j | 1 |
1,347 | WATCH: Sean Spicer Fails SPECTACULARLY When Asked About Trump’s Ridiculous Twitter Habit | White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has the hardest job in Washington. He has to, on an almost daily basis, face a firing squad of reporters and try to explain his boss s crazy behavior. This is especially true when it comes to Donald Trump s infamous Twitter habit.There have been several explanations from White House officials about how reporters and the American public should treat Trump s tweets. Now that Trump has had a spectacularly nutty weekend on Twitter even by normal Trumpian standards, Spicer had to answer on Monday, point blank, if every crazy tweet is an official statement from the White House. Spicer said of the tweets: The president is the president of the United States so they are considered official statements by the president of the United States. To that end, that means that Trump s repeated attacks on London Mayor Sadiq Khan at a time when we should be supporting our closest ally through a crisis are official White House statements. That means that the infamous covfefe tweet is an official White House statement. That means that every lie, every personal attack, every crazy or vulgar or downright bizarre thing Trump has tweeted since taking office on January 20th is an official White House statement. Think about that, and weep for this nation, folks.After that clearly not well thought out response, Spicer went on to say that Trump is in no way worried that he will hurt his Muslim ban case with the Supreme Court with his tweets in that direction, either. Spicer didn t really address the tweets themselves, only sticking to the White House party line and saying: The court should follow the law. There s no question that we should prevail. Of course, if Trump continues to undermine his own case, they won t prevail, and that is sure to result in more attacks on the judiciary via you guessed it Twitter.What a crazy time to be living in. But what did we expect? Elect a clown, expect a circus.Watch the video of Spicer s bizarre remarks below:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
1,348 | U.S. military says 'opting out' of some exercises following Gulf rift | DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States is scaling back its involvement in some joint military exercises in the Gulf region, a spokesman said on Friday, following a rift between Qatar and its neighbors. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism, in the most serious rift between the United States Gulf Arab allies. Doha denies it supports terrorism and says the sanctions are intended to force it to change its foreign policies. Asked whether the United States had scaled back military operations with some Gulf Cooperation Council countries due to the rift, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Colonel John Thomas said in an emailed statement: We are opting out of some military exercises out of respect for the concept of inclusiveness and shared regional interests. We will continue to encourage all partners to work together toward the sort of common solutions that enable security and stability in the region, he added, without elaborating. The U.S. Central Command is responsible for 20 countries in the Middle East and South and Central Asia, from Egypt to Kazakhstan. The United States has sought to encourage its Arab allies to discuss their differences, which appear to revolve around Qatar s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group designated by Saudi Arabia and its allies as a terrorist organization. Gulf Arab states also accuse Qatar of cozying up to non-Arab Iran, which they accuse of trying to expand its influence in Arab countries by supporting Shi ite Muslim minorities, something Tehran denies. The United States maintains close military ties with all Gulf Arab states and regularly holds joint exercises. It has military bases in several of the counties, including Qatar which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East. | 1 |
1,349 | Lawsuit against Trump over foreign payments expands | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A nonprofit watchdog expanded a lawsuit accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of violating the Constitution by letting his hotels and restaurants accept payments from foreign governments. The amended complaint filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan adds a restaurant trade group, whose members include nationally known chefs Tom Colicchio and Alice Waters, and a hotel events booker in Washington, D.C. as plaintiffs. It is intended to address concern over whether the watchdog, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was itself harmed by Trump and had standing to sue at all. Trump is expected to respond by April 21, and had said the original lawsuit filed on Jan. 23 had no merit. Spokesmen for the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. The amended complaint said Trump violates the Constitution’s “emoluments” clause, which bars him from accepting various gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval, by maintaining ownership over his business empire despite ceding day-to-day control to his sons, Eric and Donald Jr. It said members of Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United Inc, which represents more than 200 restaurants and nearly 25,000 workers, have improperly lost business, wages and tips to Trump’s competing businesses. Jill Phaneuf, the other new plaintiff, works for a hospitality company that books events in hotels near Washington’s “Embassy Row,” which house foreign diplomats, and claimed that Trump is costing her commissions. The complaint said such plaintiffs are injured when foreign governments try to “curry favor” with Trump by favoring his businesses. It said this has even occurred since Trump took office, when China granted him trademark rights after he pledged to honor the “One China” policy of his White House predecessors. "When asked why defendant changed his position on the One China policy, and whether he had gotten something in exchange from China, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer answered: 'The President always gets something,'" the complaint said. (here) U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, oversees the litigation. The lawsuit seeks to “uphold one of the most basic aspects of the rule of law: no one, including the president, is above the law,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California at Irvine’s law school and one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said in a statement. The case is Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington et al v. Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-00458. | 1 |
1,350 | CHARLES BARKLEY DROPS TRUTH-BOMB: Blacks, Not White People Or Cops Are Keeping Blacks Down | It s a dirty, dark secret; I m glad it s coming out WOW I guess we won t be seeing Charles Barkley sitting for the national anthem because he s resents the White man or neighborhood cop for keeping him down NBA legend and all around awesome person, Charles Barkley, was recently interviewed by a local Philadelphia radio station about the current racial issues plaguing America. During the interview, Barkley stated that unintelligent, brainwashed African-Americans are the ones keeping successful ones down, not white people, or cops.What prompted Charles Barkley s response was a question posed to him on the radio show, Afternoons with Anthony Gargano and Rob Ellis; he was asked about a rumor that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was being accused by his fellow teammates of not being black enough. Colin Kaepernick s and Chris Brown s most recent debacles are prefect examples of Charles logic.Charles Barkley finished out his interview by stating:Via: Blue Lives Matter | 0 |
1,351 | Turkey's Erdogan to visit Russia, Kuwait on November 13, 14 | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia s Sochi on November 13, followed by a visit to Kuwait the following day, his office said on Monday. The visit to Sochi comes amid reports of potential sticking points in Turkey s planned purchase of a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, and Turkish objections to the attendance of Syrian Kurdish groups to a Russian-sponsored Syrian peace congress scheduled for Nov. 18. Last week, the two countries took a step toward the solution of an import crisis as Russia lifted restrictions on import of Turkish tomatoes. | 1 |
1,352 | OOPS! Notable Black Harvard Economist Finds BLACKS Are LESS LIKELY To Be Shot By Cops Than Other Races: “The most surprising result of my career” | Bad timing This is not great news for the Black Lives Matter terrorists, who were just getting warmed up. Not that the media or various Community Agitator groups will care about the truth Research conducted by a notable African-American economist at Harvard University has revealed a lack of racial bias in police shootings.The research was conducted by Roland G. Fryer, who is the youngest black professor to have received tenure status at Harvard. As Fryer expected, his research revealed that police are more likely to use force towards an African-American suspect. However, in what Fryer called the most surprising result of my career, his research also revealed that African-American suspects are less likely to be shot in an altercation with law enforcement than suspects of other racial backgrounds.According to the statistics used in Fryer s study, officers are more likely to fire their weapons without having first been attacked when the suspect is white.In officer-involved shootings in these cities, officers were more likely to fire their weapons without having first been attacked when the suspects were white. Black and white civilians involved in police shootings were equally likely to have been carrying a weapon. Both of these results undercut the idea that the police wield lethal force with racial bias.Fryer s research analyzed more than a thousand shootings in ten major police departments. Houston, Austin, Dallas and Los Angeles, as well as Orlando and Jacksonville, were among the cities included in the study.When the law enforcement data from Houston was isolated specifically, Fryer was able to conclude that law enforcement officers were significantly less likely to shoot black suspects.In tense situations, officers in Houston were about 20 percent less likely to shoot a suspect if the suspect was black. This estimate was not very precise, and firmer conclusions would require more data. But, in a variety of models that controlled for different factors and used different definitions of tense situations, Mr. Fryer found that blacks were either less likely to be shot or there was no difference between blacks and whites.The conclusions drawn by this research contradict much of the narrative that is playing out in the media about police brutality. Most major media outlets have been sympathetic to the cause of Black Lives Matter, an activist movement that exists specifically to combat racially motivated aggression towards African-Americans by law enforcement officers. Breitbart | 0 |
1,353 | Key House conservative still expects healthcare vote on Thursday | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the conservative Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Thursday he believed the chamber would go ahead with a planned evening vote on a bill to begin dismantling Obamacare. “I think we’re moving forward,” RSC Chairman Mark Walker, a bill supporter, told MSNBC. “I remain confident that we will have this vote this evening ... at some point.” | 1 |
1,354 | Failed GOP Candidates Remembered In Hilarious Mocking Eulogies (VIDEO) | Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, it s time to remember all those other candidates who tried so hard to beat him in the race to the White House. After all, how can we forget all the missteps, gaffes, weirdness, and sheer idiocies of such candidates as Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina?There s a video making the rounds on Twitter that does just that, and eulogizes three of these failed candidates as though they re dead (and the GOP itself might as well be dead at this point anyway). Appropriately titled, A Eulogy for the GOP, people make short speeches about each of these candidates.Once past the man who actually says Jeb Bush was qualified to be president, there are fake tears, with journalist and comedienne Francesca Fiorentini saying: Dearly beloved, we re gathered here today to commemorate the candidates that are no longer with us. One man, speaking to an amusing, circus-y rendition of Chopin s Funeral March, remembers Jeb this way: Jeb, we hardly knew ye. It s too bad that your policies couldn t find their way out of the Republican morass. Indeed, it was like Jeb and his policies were invisible sometimes, although many felt that he would win the nomination early on. His best performances often came during debates, when he d get into out-and-out fights with Donald Trump over virtually everything under the sun. He also had a bad habit of defending his brother s actions in Iraq, memorably saying, As it relates to my brother, there s one thing I know for sure: He kept us safe. Moving on to Marco Rubio, Fiorentini herself says: He was called so many things: Young, charming, Lil Marco.' That last nickname is, of course, a reference to Trump s penchant for name-calling. Then, a man speaking Spanish remembers Rubio this way: Marco, why aren t you a normal boy? Another said that his involvement in the Gang of Eight immigration bill killed him as a candidate, to which Fiorentini replies: Some people die of gang violence. He died of Gang of Eight violence. The makers of this video saved the absolute best for last, of course, which is Ben Carson. On our dear Dr. Carson, one of the speakers says: He would gently rock me to sleep with his monotone voice. Carson was especially well known for seemingly being asleep half the time. If we saw his eyes open wide, it was surprising, and likely because he was surprised himself. His voice is soft, his speech is slow, and it really can be hard to stay awake while he s talking. Imagine him giving a State of the Union address!To see the whole video, especially the spectacular ending after Carson s eulogy, watch below:Take a moment to say your g byes to these GOP candidates. ? https://t.co/6O70bl9zV8 AJ+ (@ajplus) May 7, 2016 Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 0 |
1,355 | Russia probe should focus on Trump financial ties: senator | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate investigation into Russia’s meddling during the U.S. election should include a thorough review of any financial ties between Russia and President Donald Trump and his associates, Democratic senator Ron Wyden said Wednesday. In a formal written request made to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Wyden said financial relationships between Trump, a real estate developer with properties around the world, and Russia are deserving of scrutiny because of resistance by Trump and some in his orbit have not been forthcoming about their finances. “Efforts to understand these relationships and to separate fact from speculation have been hampered by the opacity of the finances of President Trump and his associates,” Wyden, who also sits on the intelligence panel, wrote to Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Mark Warner. The letter, though devoid of new details, is the latest piece of evidence suggesting Trump’s business dealings are attracting expanded interest from investigators amid a raft of new reports scrutinizing potential financial entanglements between the president and Russia. Trump has declined to release his tax returns, bucking decades of precedent for presidents and presidential candidates. The letter followed new disclosures in recent weeks of previously unknown meetings and financial arrangements between Trump’s associates and wealthy Russians, and came as Democrats attempt to focus public attention on questions about Trump’s connections to Russia. On Monday, the state development bank Vnesheconombank disclosed that its executives had met Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a top White House adviser, in December. And last week Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, admitted he had done business work for Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Trump has repeatedly insisted allegations that he or members of his administration have an untoward relationship with Russia as “fake news.” He has also said that he has no business deals in Russia. A Reuters investigation published earlier this month found that dozens of members of the Russian elite have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records. Wyden has repeatedly tried to push into public light more information about U.S. investigations into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. He organized a two-sentence letter from seven senators to the White House last November asking the outgoing Obama administration to declassify additional information about Russia’s interference in the election. Then-president Barack Obama announced a review of Russia’s activities soon after. U.S. intelligence agencies later released a review of its assessment of Russia’s multi-pronged influence campaign, concluding Moscow’s actions were intended to help Trump win and discredit his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Russia has denied the allegations. Wyden in January also asked Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey if his agency was investigating links between Russia and associates of Trump. Comey declined to answer, but last week confirmed the FBI was probing possible ties. Examining finances has long been within the purview of the oversight role of the intelligence panel, Wyden wrote, citing a recent committee report said that “financial intelligence has emerged as a significant area of (intelligence community) activity, aiming to ‘follow the money’ of adversaries.” | 1 |
1,356 | South Korea says U.N. sanctions should inflict pain on North | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Thursday practical and forceful measures than can inflict pain on North Korea should be included in U.N. sanctions, a new batch of which have yet to be announced. Foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck told reporters the measures should be taken in addition to surely severing funds that can be used for the North s programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. The United States wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday. | 1 |
1,357 | GERMANY: Father And Sons Stab 20 Yr Old Syrian Daughter To Death On Mother’s Orders…Considered “Unclean” After She Was Gang Raped [Video] | This story is for everyone who believes hundreds of thousands of Muslim Syrian refugees will assimilate once they re dumped in America. Here s a newsflash these mostly Muslim men are not going to come to America and assimilate. The body of a 20-year-old Syrian woman, Rokstan M., was unearthed from a shallow grave in the small Saxon town of Dessau last week. Her father and brothers stabbed her to death on her mother s orders, after she was gang-raped by three men. The rape left her unclean and the mother allegedly demanded the killing to restore the family s honor. German police are seeking the father and brothers. That by itself is not newsworthy; what is newsworthy is the news itself, which appeared in not one of Germany s major daily newspapers or websites. The tabloid Bild-Zeitung ran the story, along with the regional press, while the arbiters of enlightened opinion buried it. Der Spiegel, the country s biggest news site, and the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, the newspaper of record, made no mention.The case of Rokstan M. is heart-rending. She had found work in Germany as a translator for the government, but she knew her family would track her down and kill her. I am awaiting death. But I am too young to die, she had written on a social media profile. Her story deserves a line or two in the quality press. But it s one of many that German leaders want to ignore.Political leaders in Germany which may absorb 1.5 million migrants this year are struggling to respond to reports of a sex crime epidemic among newly-arrived Muslims. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere urged Germans not to believe rumors of widespread rape at refugee centers, while Germany s police union chief Rainer Wendt warned, There is a lot of glossing over going on. But this doesn t represent reality. Wendt added, It is understandable that there is the desire to calm things down politically. Germany s elite knows perfectly well that the migrants bring social pathologies, because they have already seen the world s worst sex crime epidemic unfold in Scandinavia. Sweden now has the highest incidence of reported rape outside of a few African countries, and nearly ten times the rate of its European peers and all this has happened in the past ten years. Sweden ranks near the top of the World Economic Forum s Gender Gap Index, yet it has become the most dangerous country for women outside of Africa, with an incidence of rape ten times that of its European peers. Sweden s political leaders not only refuse to take action, but have made it a criminal offense to talk about it.Even in liberated, feminist, gender-neutral Sweden, there is something more horrible than rape, something horrible enough to persuade the political elite to sacrifice the physical and mental health of tens of thousands of Swedish women. That is the horror of social disintegration in the Muslim world. Sweden opened its borders to refugees twenty years before the migrant flood arrived on Germany s doorstep, and the foreign born rose from 9% of the population in 1990 to 15.4% in 2012. Foreigners have a higher birth rate, so the percentage is higher including second-generation immigrants.There have been protests, to be sure, and nationalist parties like the Sweden Democrats have gained support on an anti-immigration platform, but Sweden will remain supine as its social fabric unravels. So, I expect, will Germany. Europe is transfixed by the horror unfolding from Libya to Afghanistan, as one of the world s major civilizations unravels in real time. In its moment of agony, the Muslim world s most potent weapon is its own weakness. The human cost of the collapse of Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria is horrendous, but it is small thus far compared to the horrors that would attend instability in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The West can t bear to look at it. Via: Asia TimesUnfortunately, stories like these are not uncommon in predominately Muslim countries.Here is an 18 year old female who was left for dead after her family failed in their attempt to kill her crime of marrying a man for love: | 0 |
1,358 | Clinton Foundation to bar foreign, corporate funding if Hillary Clinton elected president | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Clinton Foundation will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations if Hillary Clinton is elected president and will stop holding the annual Clinton Global Initiative meetings whatever the outcome of the November election, a foundation spokesman said on Thursday. Former President Bill Clinton told staff members on Thursday he would resign from the foundation’s board and that it would only accept donations from U.S. citizens and independent charities. The former president also said he would hold the 12th and final Clinton Global Initiative in September. The annual meetings have included current and former heads of state, corporate leaders and celebrities who discussed poverty, healthcare, development and other issues. Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian confirmed the moves, which were first reported by the Associated Press. The foundation has come under fire during Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign, with Republicans charging that donors were rewarded with access to her and her aides as well as her husband while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Other critics have said the foundation’s reliance on millions of dollars from foreign governments created conflicts of interest for a would-be U.S. president. Clinton resigned from the foundation’s board after launching her successful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She will face Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, founded in 2001, has raised more than $2 billion for causes that focus on health and environmental issues, mainly in the developing world. | 1 |
1,359 | newsticker | dienstag november frau von maus aufgefressen weil sie nicht sofort kreischend auf stuhl gesprungen ist remscheid archiv es ist eine tragödie die leicht hätte verhindert werden können eine jährige frau ist heute im nordrheinwestfälischen remscheid in ihrer eigenen wohnung von einer maus angegriffen und grausam zerfleischt worden nach polizeiangaben hatte es die frau leichtsinnigerweise unterlassen rechtzeitig auf einen rettenden stuhl zu springen und zu kreischen wie aus dem polizeibericht hervorgeht bereitete das opfer susanne b gerade gemeinsam mit einer freundin essen zu als das nagetier ohne jede vorwarnung in der küche erschien daraufhin rettete sich die jährige freundin der frau geistesgegenwärtig sofort auf einen stuhl und versuchte das tier mit lautem kreischen zu verjagen so kann nichts passieren susanne b hingegen sei unbeeindruckt stehengeblieben und habe erklärt es handle sich nur um eine völlig ungefährliche maus die niemandem etwas zuleidetue laut dem bericht ihre letzten worte bevor sie von dem tier angefallen und vor den augen ihrer entsetzten freundin zerfleischt und gefressen wurde als die von der freundin verständigte polizei in begleitung eines notarztes eintraf waren von susanne b nur noch eine blutlache und einige kleidungsfetzen übrig die maus war spurlos verschwunden um tödliche mausangriffe wie diesen zu verhindern raten experten beim erblicken einer maus sofort ein erhöhtes möbelstück stuhl sofa schrank zu erklimmen und dort auszuharren bis sich die blutrünstige bestie wieder verzogen hat biologen zufolge können mäuse nämlich nicht klettern weil ihre krallen ausschließlich auf das aufschlitzen und zerteilen von menschen ausgelegt sind auch möglichst hysterisches kreischen hilft bei der abwehr der herkömmlichen hausmaus die aufgrund der größe ihrer ohren derartige töne im oberen frequenzbereich nicht verträgt in remscheid wird derzeit noch nach der flüchtigen maus gefahndet polizisten mit katzenstaffeln patroullieren seit dem frühen nachmittag in der nachbarschaft der augenzeugin zufolge ist die gesuchte graubraun etwa ein bis drei jahre alt und hat dunkle augen sachdienliche hinweise an die zuständige polizeidienstelle werden mit bis zu euro belohnt fed ssi dan fotos shutterstock hinweis erstmals erschienen am artikel teilen | 0 |
1,360 | WATCH: Ted Cruz Gets His A** Handed To Him By Chuck Todd In Humiliating Interview | Chuck Todd took Ted Cruz to the woodshed on Sunday after the Texas Senator claimed that there s a media conspiracy against him.Cruz is currently in second place far behind Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who is close to capturing the GOP nomination.Throughout the interview on Meet The Press, Todd repeatedly tried to get Cruz to answer whether he will support Trump or not should he become the nominee. But Cruz only embarrassed himself by avoiding the question with nonsensical claims about the media and NBC that Todd called him out on. If he s the nominee, I take it you can t support him anymore, can you? Todd asked. I recognize that many in the media would love for me to surrender to Donald Trump, Cruz accused. It s not about the media, Todd replied before stabbing Cruz with reality. Senator, it s about the numbers. He may win. Republican voters are the ones rejecting you. This is not a media conspiracy, Senator. Todd continued to grill Cruz into answering the original question. Why can t you answer the question of whether you can support Donald Trump or not? Todd asked. You can t answer that question. Why won t you answer that question, straight forward, black and white? Cruz then accused NBC executives of being partisan Democrats, which Todd immediately called out as a lie. You don t get to just say that. It s just not true. Go ahead. You re broad brushing here, and this is exactly what people hate about the media and politics. Broad brushes, right? Cruz then launched into a rant about how if voters reject him the country will be lost as if he s the only person in the nation who can save it. I m not willing to concede this country, Cruz said. If we lose this, we lose our country. At that point, Todd dared Cruz to take a stand if he really feels that way and answer the question of whether he will support Trump or not if he becomes the nominee. All Cruz has to say is that he won t support Trump, especially if he really believes that by losing to Trump the country will be lost. Don t you think it s important to take a stand? You just said it s a time for choosing. If it s a time for choosing, say it, for him or against him as the nominee! But like a stubborn petulant child, Cruz refused to answer the question and Todd slammed him for it. Let the record show, you have not taken a position on whether you can support Trump if he s the nominee, he concluded, to which Cruz replied that the media tried to force him to support Trump.Here s the video via YouTube:Cruz completely humiliated himself during this interview and left us no doubt about why Republican voters are rejecting him at the polls.He was given a national platform on Sunday television to tell voters that he will not stand by Trump if he wins the nomination but all he could do was offer contradictory rhetoric about how the country will be lost if Trump wins while refusing take a stand against Trump.When Cruz loses the Republican primary, he can t blame the media for it. The only one he can blame is himself because he was too cowardly to answer a simple question that would have shown once and for all where Ted Cruz stands. Instead, all he could do is complain. And whining will be all Cruz is remembered for doing during this campaign.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
1,361 | FEMALE VETERAN Slays Hillary In a Few Short Minutes [Video] | This is great! We love it when young women get it! | 0 |
1,362 | Donald Trump Sends Out Embarrassing New Year’s Eve Message; This is Disturbing | Donald Trump just couldn t wish all Americans a Happy New Year and leave it at that. Instead, he had to give a shout out to his enemies, haters and the very dishonest fake news media. The former reality show star had just one job to do and he couldn t do it. As our Country rapidly grows stronger and smarter, I want to wish all of my friends, supporters, enemies, haters, and even the very dishonest Fake News Media, a Happy and Healthy New Year, President Angry Pants tweeted. 2018 will be a great year for America! As our Country rapidly grows stronger and smarter, I want to wish all of my friends, supporters, enemies, haters, and even the very dishonest Fake News Media, a Happy and Healthy New Year. 2018 will be a great year for America! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017Trump s tweet went down about as welll as you d expect.What kind of president sends a New Year s greeting like this despicable, petty, infantile gibberish? Only Trump! His lack of decency won t even allow him to rise above the gutter long enough to wish the American citizens a happy new year! Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) December 31, 2017no one likes you Calvin (@calvinstowell) December 31, 2017Your impeachment would make 2018 a great year for America, but I ll also accept regaining control of Congress. Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) December 31, 2017Do you hear yourself talk? When you have to include that many people that hate you you have to wonder? Why do the they all hate me? Alan Sandoval (@AlanSandoval13) December 31, 2017Who uses the word Haters in a New Years wish?? Marlene (@marlene399) December 31, 2017You can t just say happy new year? Koren pollitt (@Korencarpenter) December 31, 2017Here s Trump s New Year s Eve tweet from 2016.Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don t know what to do. Love! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2016This is nothing new for Trump. He s been doing this for years.Trump has directed messages to his enemies and haters for New Year s, Easter, Thanksgiving, and the anniversary of 9/11. pic.twitter.com/4FPAe2KypA Daniel Dale (@ddale8) December 31, 2017Trump s holiday tweets are clearly not presidential.How long did he work at Hallmark before becoming President? Steven Goodine (@SGoodine) December 31, 2017He s always been like this . . . the only difference is that in the last few years, his filter has been breaking down. Roy Schulze (@thbthttt) December 31, 2017Who, apart from a teenager uses the term haters? Wendy (@WendyWhistles) December 31, 2017he s a fucking 5 year old Who Knows (@rainyday80) December 31, 2017So, to all the people who voted for this a hole thinking he would change once he got into power, you were wrong! 70-year-old men don t change and now he s a year older.Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images. | 0 |
1,363 | Russia's Lavrov: U.S. decision on Jerusalem contradicts common sense | VIENNA (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital by the United States runs counter to common sense. This announcement runs counter to common sense, Lavrov told a news conference in Vienna, referring to an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel s capital. | 1 |
1,364 | WATCH: Bernie Sanders Invokes Holocaust To Denounce Donald Trump | Bernie Sanders is not one to mince words when it comes to Donald Trump. He has consistently denounced Trump s rhetoric and has warned of the ramifications of both Trump s statements and actions. Sanders was recently asked about Trump s disturbing ideas about Muslims at a campaign rally and this time, he responded by invoking the Holocaust. Sanders said: You know I m Jewish. My father came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. He came over. Other people in his family did not come over. Those people died. Children died, relatives of my father. That is in my heart to see what a lunatic can do bringing up racial hatred and we re not going to allow that to take place in this country. Sanders made the statement during the rally after a Muslim American woman echoed fears about the growing Islamophobia in this country. The woman talked about how scared her young son is in today s anti-Muslim environment. Sanders said: I m going to do everything that I can to stop those Islamophobic attacks so that kids in this country who happen to be Muslim aren t afraid. Unfortunately, it s not just Donald Trump who has raised the specter of racism and fear. Ted Cruz has also called for police patrols of Muslim-American neighborhoods after the attacks in Belgium so the rampant racism isn t exclusive to the demagogue Donald Trump, but it s infested the Republican party, which is need of some serious reforms if it is going to stay relevant, although it s been quite joyous to watch the party implode.Sanders, who has ignited an enthusiasm on the part of voters not seen in decades, continues to do do very well in his bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.Watch video here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3k9C5fK6q4] Featured image via video screenshot. | 0 |
1,365 | House intel committee wants Trump Jr. to appear before panel: top Democrat | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Intelligence Committee wants Donald Trump Jr. to appear before the panel to answer questions about his meeting last year with a Russian lawyer who he believed had information damaging to Hillary Clinton, the committee’s top Democrat said on Tuesday. Representative Adam Schiff told reporters the committee also wants to interview everyone connected to the June 2016 meeting, which included Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort. | 1 |
1,366 | OUTRAGE OVER BARE CHESTED GAYS COMPARING GAY MARRIAGE VICTORY TO MARINES IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING | Because according to the left, the brave men who gave their lives for our nation are apparently the equivalent of a battle to make the perversion of marriage legal A gay rights inspired adaptation of the famous image of Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima in 1945 is sparking outrage following the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nation-wide.The image of four muscular, skin-baring men raising the rainbow flag posed like the Marines at Iwo Jima was taken some ten years ago and appeared on a gay magazine, but was recirculated last week following the Supreme Court decision.And dont compare gay marriage to the Marines who fought and died in Iwo Jima. The two events are not comparable pic.twitter.com/rqwtR2eoHh Paulie Walnuts (@PAULme_maybe69) July 1, 2015Replacing the soldiers on Iwo Jima standing up the American flag with the gay pride flag is disrespectful Mitchell Moyers (@m_moyers8) July 1, 2015They really recreated the Iwo Jima flag with the gay flag. Just stop Evan Moriyama (@AsMoriyama) July 1, 20156821 people died in Iwo Jima,over 19,000 wounded.Apparently that ain t nothi compared to gay people s struggle huh AmericanMuscle (@MrFakeDope) July 1, 2015#gay #TCOT this is offensive how dare you besmirch Marines at Iwo Jima who gave their lives so there is a supreme ct pic.twitter.com/ARRqXwJC0u Rosebud (@Murba1515) June 30, 2015The Washington Post highlighted the outcry Wednesday, recalling the bloody operation that spurred to the first iconic photo taken on February 23, 1945 by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. Three of the Marines pictured were killed in combat, among the nearly 7,000 other Americans who died on Iwo Jima. Another 20,000 American troops were wounded.The photographer of the gay rights image, Ed Freeman, The Post reports, has received hate mail, backlash on social media, and at least one death threat since the image went viral. He said if he ever saw me, he d kill me, Freeman told The Post. I got swamped with vitriolic hate mail. Freeman received disapproving responses to his when he posted on Facebook that Friday, When I took this picture almost ten years ago, it never, never occurred to me that it would someday come to symbolize the victory we are celebrating today. Congratulations to all of us! Love to you all. Freeman told The Post that he did not intend for the image to be disrespectful and chalked the outrage up to people s frustration with the Supreme Court decision. The principle complaint that people have is that I am equating the gay struggle with the contribution and sacrifice of American servicemen, Freeman said. But there is no equal sign here. This is not meant as a sign of disrespect. For God sake, no. I totally support people in uniform. There is no comparison going on here. The comparison is going on in people s heads, and they re spoiling for a fight. They re already on edge because of the gay marriage decision. Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
1,367 | U.S. Gulf Coast groups concerned as Trump picks BP lawyer to top DOJ post | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s selection of Jeffrey Bossert Clark to be the Justice Department’s top environmental lawyer has raised concerns by Gulf coast environmental groups as he was the lawyer for international oil company BP Plc in the aftermath of the company’s 2010 drilling rig explosion. Trump named Clark on Wednesday to be Assistant Attorney General for environment at the Department of Justice, representing the U.S. government on environmental regulation and enforcement issues. Clark, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, represented BP after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and Macondo oil well rupture that killed 11 workers and caused the largest offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history. The accident polluted large parts of the Gulf, killing marine wildlife and harming businesses. Along the U.S. Gulf coast, local communities are still grappling with cleanup and restoration, and had relied on the federal government and EPA to protect them against climate change and oil and gas company accidents, said Cynthia Sarthou, director of the Gulf Restoration Network in Louisiana. “I think the enforcement of any pollution laws is going to be at risk right now,” Sarthou said. “Bossert (Clark) is unlikely to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for pollution.” Sarthou added that most of the oil and gas infrastructure along the U.S. Gulf coast is aging, putting local environmental groups on alert for future accidents. “While this administration continues to choose profits over people, South Louisiana residents continue to struggle to recover from the economic, health and environmental impacts of the BP oil drilling disaster,” said Colette Pichon Battle, of the Human Rights Network, a lawyer who represented local communities affected by the BP accident. According to a White House statement, Clark is a “complex trial and appellate litigator with especially deep experience in administrative law.” In addition to practicing law in private practice, he also served worked as deputy assistant attorney general for environment at the Justice department from 2001 to 2005. As an attorney, Clark also represented industry groups in several challenges against the previous administration’s Environmental Protection Agency. This includes a lawsuit to revoke the “endangerment finding,” the scientific finding that gives the agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and one to challenge California’s ability to set its own stringent greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles. Clark was not available for comment. | 1 |
1,368 | With military discipline imposed, Trump getting more time for decisions | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s choice of a general as chief of staff has quickly brought more order to the White House and is giving the president more time to ponder decisions as he tries to bounce back from a rocky six months with no major legislative achievements. But John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general with an intimidating air, still has many challenges to confront to stem the chaos that has raged at the White House since Trump took office in January, not least the Republican president’s free-wheeling style. Trump, who attended a military prep school growing up, is said to be pleased at the increased discipline that Kelly has brought in since taking over from Reince Priebus, who struggled to maintain order and was often ignored by senior staff. “He is feeling like he’s getting more time to read the materials and have substantive discussions and talk about the decisions he’s making,” said a White House official, who asked not to be identified. “Before, he was carrying a lot himself. It feels now like there is more burden-sharing around. He has more trust and confidence in Kelly,” the official said. Aides said Kelly, who previously was running the Department of Homeland Security and who began work on Monday, was commanding respect in the West Wing. “Kelly is scary in a way that Reince wasn’t,” said an administration official. Senior staff meetings are well attended and no longer considered optional as they were under Priebus. Typically anyone who goes into the Oval Office to see Trump makes sure Kelly knows. “I think you’ve seen less backbiting,” said Ken Duberstein, who was a chief of staff for 1980s President Ronald Reagan. “I think the idea that he is asserting, that the White House cannot be a free-wheeling place but rather there is a chain of command and things go in an orderly process, are all major steps in the right direction.” So far, Kelly has not managed to put a stop to leaks to the media that have infuriated Trump. On Thursday, the Washington Post published transcripts of Trump’s sometimes fraught calls in the early days of his presidency with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. He has not reined in the president himself, and it is by no means clear he will try to do so. Confidants say Trump is still speed-dialing people in the evenings, as he has done for decades. He is still firing off bombastic tweets, like one on Thursday blaming the Republican-controlled Congress for what he called an all-time low in relations with Russia because it piled on more sanctions. But Trump did stay on message at a rally in West Virginia on Thursday night, reading from a Teleprompter and sticking to the script. Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, said time will tell whether Kelly can reform any of the habits Trump has displayed during the first six months in office.”He’ll have some of the smartest people around him and they’re not there to change him but to make him better. Even Tom Brady needs a coach,” said Bennett, referring to the highly successful New England Patriots quarterback. Trump’s friends said there is value to letting Trump be Trump, particularly since Priebus’ attempt to shape Trump into a more traditional president failed spectacularly. “Kelly can go too far in the other direction. Donald Trump doesn’t need a babysitter. He’s his own man,” said one friend. “I understand the attitude of the military types that if they can control all information flow they can control the president. But the first time he learns something that he should have heard from staff, there will be hell to pay.” Trump has yet to notch up a major legislative win and Kelly has scant experience with lawmakers. In the mid-1990s he served as the Marine Corps commandant’s liaison officer to the U.S. House of Representatives. So far his appointment is being welcomed on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers had grown weary of the chaos at the White House. Many were heartened to see one of Kelly’s first acts was to jettison Anthony Scaramucci as communications director after a foul-mouthed tirade against Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon. “He is going to bring such an air of calm,” said Senator David Perdue, a Republican and early supporter of Trump’s election campaign. “This man has been through a career of providing results, and showing leadership.” Kelly is seen as likely to form a partnership with two other retired generals in Trump’s inner circle, Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster. The three attended a meeting of top national security aides on Thursday in the White House Situation Room aimed at settling on a strategy for Afghanistan that Trump, who tends to be non-interventionist, will find acceptable. Whether they will be able to overcome his doubts about sending around 4,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan is unclear. “I think he likes the snap and efficiency. But I seriously question whether any of them share his non-interventionist world view,” the friend said. | 1 |
1,369 | Senior U.S. envoy tries to calm fears over State Department re-design | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The No. 2 U.S. diplomat on Tuesday sought to allay concerns among the State Department’s rank-and-file employees over possible layoffs and perceptions of a lack of firm direction under the administration of President Donald Trump. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, formerly chief executive of Exxon Mobil and new to government, has initiated a top-to-bottom re-organization of the agency, saying it will improve diplomats’ experience and help the department better meet 21st-century challenges. “Re-design is not a synonym for layoffs,” Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan was quoted as saying by two officials who listened to his remarks to around 450 employees at a town hall-style event that was closed to journalists. Diplomats have fretted over a hiring freeze that has hampered their ability to switch jobs, the slow pace of appointments to senior positions, and a proposed 28 percent cut in State Department funding. Sullivan acknowledged in remarks to a small group of reporters after the event that the pace of senior job hires had been frustrating. Tillerson is not directing any specific outcome from the re-design, which is being led by senior career officials, other than a better-running and more efficient department, Sullivan said. According to the Partnership for Public Service, which tracks political appointments, the Trump administration has not yet put forward a nominee for 86 of 131 Senate-confirmed positions at the department, including posts leading diplomacy on the Middle East and East Asia, where there are several potential crises. “No one here would say that we’re pleased by the fact that we don’t have more of our undersecretary and assistant secretary slots filled, but we’re working hard to do that,” Sullivan told reporters. Sullivan said media portrayals of a listless bureaucracy and “a hollowed-out State Department that is not effective” were wrong. He said work was being done on major issues such as the North Korea nuclear and missile programs, a rift between Gulf nations and Qatar and Ukraine. State Department officials said the tone of the town hall event was professional, with pointed exchanges of views at times. One said that Sullivan’s public appreciation for career diplomats “has been desperately needed.” Sullivan’s uncle was William H. Sullivan, the last U.S. ambassador to Iran, who left in 1979 when Iran’s monarchy was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic theocracy. In response to a question from an employee about State Department efforts for gay and lesbian couples posted abroad, Sullivan told employees he would do everything he can to make sure everyone is treated fairly, a remark that drew strong applause, one of the officials said. | 1 |
1,370 | Senator Who Once Betrayed America To Iran Has Gall To Accuse Harry Reid Of ‘Cancerous Leadership’ | Senator Tom Cotton just put on a legendary show of hypocrisy on the floor of the Senate and my jaw has not quite left the floor. Cotton is known these days as Tehran Tom thanks to his poorly executed attempt to derail President Obama s nuclear agreement with Iran by organizing a secret letter that was sent to the Iranian government instructing the country to ignore the diplomatic agreement or else, so it s a little rich that he feels confident in lecturing another senator on leadership. However, it s not just Cotton s shameless hypocrisy that is striking, but the apparently fully realized fantasy world he lives in. So powerful are the delusions and so blind is he to the real world, it s a wonder Cotton manages to walk through his office without bumping into a coffee table. Here s Cotton, a man who recently held up a crucial bill because it would have allowed the Iranian nuclear agreement to go forward, slamming Sen. Harry Reid for don t laugh, this is serious obstructing a defense bill. As a junior senator, I preside over the Senate. I usually do in the morning, which means I m forced to listen to the bitter, vulgar, incoherent ramblings of the Minority Leader, Cotton said. Normally, like other Americans, I ignore them. I can t ignore them today, however. Cotton tore into Reid for stalling a vote on a crucial defense bill, even though the bill eventually passed 98-0. When was the last time the Minority Leader read a bill? It was probably an electricity bill, Cotton quipped.Why was Reid holding up the bill? For one thing, Republicans decided to add an amendment that would allow religious organizations to legally discriminate against gay people (in defiance of federal law). It s a favorite pet project of the GOP and, you may have noticed, has absolutely nothing to do with funding the military. Reid may be forgiven for feeling like amendments like these are unfettered bullshit and intentionally placed in important defense bills so that people like Tom Cotton can grandstand about them.Ironically, another aspect of the defense bill that has led to controversy is amendment requiring women to register for the draft. Why is that in there? Well, it s a funny story.The move to require women to register for the draft had an unlikely origin, when Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) who opposes the Obama administration s recent decision to open up all combat roles to women proposed the change in the House Armed Services Committee to start a discussion. But to GOP leaders surprise, the committee approved his language, prompting them to yank out the provision in a Rules Committee maneuver before it could go to the floor.In other words, Republicans in both the House and Senate have worked overtime to shoot themselves in the foot then scream at Democrats for not providing them with bulletproof shoes.It s clear what going on here. The Republican-led Congress has bravely led Congress to its lowest approval numbers in history. It s function as an equal branch of government has been replaced by a level of gridlock so severe that almost nothing gets accomplished. Having gotten Congress to this point by obstruction, Republicans are eager to diffuse the blame by pretending both sides do it.In Cotton s hysterical screeching, there s a very real fear that nobody is buying it anymore. Even someone as delusional as him can see that.Watch Cotton s ravings below via C-SPAN:Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
1,371 | Vatican recalls Washington diplomat amid child pornography investigation | VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A Vatican diplomat working in Washington has been recalled to the Holy See after the U.S. State Department said the priest may have violated child pornography laws, the Vatican said on Friday. Prosecutors in the Vatican have opened an investigation into the case, which represents a fresh blow to the Roman Catholic Church as it struggles to overcome repeated sex abuse scandals among its clergy. The State Department notified the Holy See in August of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington, the Vatican statement said. A State Department spokesman said the United States had requested that the man s diplomatic immunity be waived to open the way for possible prosecution, but the Vatican refused. The priest, who was not named, has returned to Vatican City and is awaiting the outcome of the Holy See investigation, which could lead to a trial in the tiny city state. The U.S.-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said possession of child pornography was not a victimless crime because the children involved were being abused. (Pope Francis) must bring the diplomat back to the United States in order to adhere to his promises of complying with investigations by civil authorities in cases of child sexual abuse, SNAP managing director Barbara Dorris said. Pope Francis has declared zero tolerance over abuse scandals that have beset the Church for decades, but has appeared to struggle to overcome resistance within the Vatican hierarchy. The State Department spokesman said the pope had promised to act decisively with regard to cases of sexual abuse and punish those found guilty of wrongdoing. The United States encourages the Holy See to ensure full implementation of its reforms and policies designed to protect minors and provide justice regarding allegations, the spokesman said. Two years ago the Vatican put the former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic on trial for child sex offences, a case that was seen as showing the pope s determination to clean up the Church. The priest, Jozef Wesolowski, was charged with paying boys to perform sexual acts, of downloading and buying pedophile material. He died before a verdict was reached. He was the first high-ranking Catholic official to stand trial in the Vatican on such sex charges and the case was closely watched by victims of priestly abuse, who have accused the Vatican of repeatedly hushing up previous scandals. Earlier this year, Cardinal George Pell, a top adviser to Pope Francis, was charged with multiple historical sex crimes in his native Australia. The highest-ranking Church official to face such accusations, Pell has denied any wrongdoing. Just last month, in the foreword to a new book written by a Swiss man who was raped by a priest when he was eight years old, Pope Francis said sexual abuse of children by priests was a monstrosity and pledged to take action against perpetrators. | 1 |
1,372 | THE JACK BLOOD SHOW: ‘From May Day Riots to Globalism’ with 21WIRE guest Shawn Helton | 21st Century Wire says .From May Day riots to designer technocracy (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)21WIRE s Shawn Helton joins well-known Talk Radio host Jack Blood on The Jack Blood Show, to discuss the socially engineered May Day protests and riots, the fake news peddled by mainstream media, chemical false flags in Syria, North Korea and the machinations of globalism. Listen as we breakdown today s hyper-real media propaganda READ MORE GLOBALIZATION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Globalization FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
1,373 | Trump says U.S. upholds and sticks to 'one China' policy: Xinhua | BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States government upholds and sticks to the one China policy, U.S. President Donald Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday during talks in Beijing, China s official Xinhua news agency reported. As president-elect, Trump broke with protocol and accepted a congratulatory phone call from the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in December, angering China, which claims the self-ruled island as integral Chinese territory. | 1 |
1,374 | German police hunt former RAF guerrillas for suspected robbery | BERLIN (Reuters) - German police on Monday published videos showing three former members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group taking part in a 2016 armed robbery in northern Germany, and called for public help to track them down. The left-wing militia, which arose out of the student protests of the late 1960s, was suspected of killing 34 people between 1972 and 1991. The group formally disbanded in 1998 with many members slipping back into ordinary lives. The three former members being sought - two men and a woman aged between 49 and 63 - have been on the run for more than 25 years. Since 2011, they have been suspected of involvement in robberies in which more than 370,000 euros have been stolen from supermarkets and money transfer stores. The new security camera videos from July 2016, show two men strolling into a supermarket in the central city of Hildesheim with their faces covered, before they suddenly raise a gun at one of the employees and force him into a room. The other video showed the two standing in a bus in Osnabruck, Lower Saxony, carrying bulging backpacks. [goo.gl/7u811o] German police officers have visited more than 4,000 car dealers to trace the suspects, who buy cheap cars weeks before their robberies. A reward of 80,000 euros has been offered to anyone who provides significant information about them. The RAF captured world headlines in 1977 with their kidnapping and killing of industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer. They hoped to secure the release of guerrilla comrades held in a high security prison in Stuttgart. Twenty years ago, German authorities said they believed most of RAF s members were either dead, in jail or now living ordinary lives. | 1 |
1,375 | Obama pick to lead U.S. military in Africa favors powers to strike Islamic State | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the U.S. military in Africa on Tuesday backed the idea of gaining greater power to strike Islamic State, including in Libya, which he described as the group’s Plan B as it loses territory in Iraq and Syria. Marine Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser told his Senate confirmation hearing that the U.S. military was making preparations for possible military strikes in Libya against the militants. But Waldhauser noted limitations on the current commander’s ability to order strikes against the group in Libya, which require adhering to White House guidance. That differs from the rules of engagement in Iraq or Syria. Asked by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham whether it would be wise for Obama to give the commander of the Africa Command the authority to go after Islamic State targets in Africa “on your own,” Waldhauser said: “It would be wise.” “It would certainly contribute to what we’re trying to do inside Libya,” he responded. Islamic State established a presence in several parts of the country from 2014, and has been active between Benghazi and the militant group’s coastal stronghold of Sirte, about 380 km (240 miles) to the west. In recent weeks, however, the ultra-hardline group has retreated into the center of Sirte after forces aligned with Libya’s U.N.-backed unity government advanced from the western city of Misrata. One reason Islamic State established itself in Sirte, Waldhauser told the Senate Armed Services Committee, was “to be kind of a backup if Iraq and Syria fail,” he said. Waldhauser estimated that Islamic State faced between 3,000 and 4,000 opponents fighting the group around Sirte, drawn from the Mirsratan militia forces and the Petroleum Facilities Guard Central Branch. But he cautioned that alliances can shift among the Libyan militia, driven by everything from tribal ties and religious beliefs to material gain. “The unpredictable nature of paramilitary group patronage will most likely remain a significant obstacle to the GNA’s efforts to establish sovereignty,” he said in written testimony. For months, the United States has had a small number of U.S. forces rotating in and out of Libya, establishing contact with fighters inside the country. Waldhauser said they were acting in an advisory role to support the unity government, and said no more U.S. troops were needed in the country at this time. | 1 |
1,376 | LEAKED AUDIO: MSNBC Worked With Trump During Town Hall To Ensure He Didn’t Get Tough Questions | For those of us who watched the shameful MSNBC prime time Trump town hall event with the growing sense that the network s moderators, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinksi, were feeding Trump the easiest softball questions, the smoking gun may have just been found. And in the most improbable of places.On an episode of Harry Sheerer s podcast, the long-time Simpsons cast member obtained and then played a tape purported (and later confirmed) to be taken on MSNBC s set during Trump s prime time special. The tape makes it abundantly clear that the network was working hand-in-hand with the Republican front-runner to keep him happy and at ease during what was supposed to be a combative town hall Q&A.Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinkski, already long-time personal friends with Trump, have been fending off accusations that they are in the bag for the candidate for weeks. This tape is exactly the opposite of what they needed.As The Wrap noted, the discussions, taken during commercial breaks, center around ensuring Trump is okay with certain questions. Brzezinski can be heard asking Trump if he wants her to skip over a tricky deportation question entirely: Do you not want me to do, the um, the ones with, um, deportation? We really do have to go to some questions, Scarborough responds before Trump chimes in with, Nothing too hard, Mika. Brzezinski can be heard saying, OK, directly after Trump s remark. The Town Hall never featured a question about deportation. Shearer says the audio came from his found objects department and jokes you can cut the adversarial tension there with a knife. A butter knife, but still. At one point, Brzezinski tells Trump she thought he didn t have a great debate performance. Yay! But then Scarborough butts in by assuring Trump We were wrong. Wait what? The mood remains friendly throughout. So much for tough questions for Trump, a man who continually accuses the press of being unfair to him.Scarborough, in particular, has been a unabashed Trump superfan for months. By his own account, he s helped Trump prepare for debates and has often gone to bat for the business mogul against whichever group Trump happened to offend that day. After Trump s massive win in New Hampshire, Scarborough and Brzezinksi reportedly celebrated with Trump in his hotel room. The next morning, he was a featured guest on their show.Listen to the leaked audio below via Harry Shearer s Le Show podcast and decide for yourself. (Leaked audio begins around the 21 minute mark.)Featured image via MSNBC | 0 |
1,377 | Iran says Trump cannot cause collapse of nuclear deal: TV | ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump cannot cause its nuclear deal with six major powers to collapse. The nuclear deal will not collapse... Those who hope that Trump will cause its collapse, are wrong, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on State TV. In October, Trump declined to certify that Iran was complying with the nuclear agreement reached among Tehran, the United States and other powers in 2015. His decision triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to bring back sanctions on Iran. Congress passed the ball back to Trump by letting the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran pass last week. Trump must decide in mid-January if he wants to continue to waive energy sanctions on Iran. Under the deal, nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran were lifted last year, in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. Iran has said it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it, but will shred the deal if Washington pulls out. | 1 |
1,378 | Venezuela Supreme Court has staged effective coup: jurists' group | GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuela s Supreme Court has progressively dismantled the rule of law, becoming an instrument of President Nicolas Maduro s government in what amounts to a coup against the constitutional order, an international human rights group said on Tuesday. The collapse of the judiciary has left victims of torture, killings and disappearances and their families without recourse to justice after months of violent street protests, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said. It called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to take action. We have seen a judiciary that has essentially lost its independence and become a tool of a very authoritarian executive branch, Sam Zarifi, ICJ Secretary-General, told a news briefing. This breakdown of the rule of law has also severely obstructed accountability (and) essentially made it impossible to bring to justice those responsible for gross violations of human rights, he said. The Venezuelan government did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Foreign minister Jorge Arreaza on Monday rejected as baseless a U.N. report that found excessive use of force by its security forces and other violations. Four months of demonstrations in which at least 125 people were killed have all but stopped due to fatigue among protesters and disillusionment at seeing the ruling Socialist Party cement vast powers despite the concerted opposition push. The ICJ said the top court had undermined human rights and infringed the Constitution through a series of rulings since December 2015. In two rulings in March 2017, the Supreme Court of Justice effectively claimed legislative powers for itself, depriving the National Assembly of its Constitutional powers and granting sweeping arbitrary powers to the executive, it said. These decisions amount to a coup d tat against the Constitutional order and have ushered in a new reign of arbitrary rule, Zarifi said. Judges on the Supreme Court are mainly from the Socialist Party or former officials of the government of Maduro or both, the Geneva-based jurists group said. Judges who have demonstrated independence and ruled against the executive branch have faced retaliation and punishment, Zarifi said. Maduro denies accusations of a power grab, saying his actions, which include the creation of an alternative Constituent Assembly that has granted itself law-making powers, aim to restore peace after months of protests and violence. The new Constituent Assembly at this point acts as a body outside of the rule of law. It is able to legislate and create law and new regulations in the country without accountability, Zarifi said. The ICJ report, The Supreme Court of Justice: an instrument of executive power , was issued on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein said on Monday that Venezuelan security forces may have committed crimes against humanity against protesters and called for an international investigation. The evidence that s there, of course it is not adjudicated, but certainly suggests room for investigating crimes against humanity, Zarifi said. Such crimes are defined as grave and systematic violations including torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings that are part of a state s policy, he said, adding: Those indicators are all there in Venezuela. Carlos Ayala, a Venezuelan lawyer and ICJ commissioner based in Caracas, told the briefing: The situation is worsening on a daily basis because of hyper-inflation (and) the lack of access for the majority of the population to medicines and health care. More than 600 civilian students are currently being tried before military courts in Venezuela, more than 1,000 young persons, students, are in jail because of the demonstrations. | 1 |
1,379 | MCCONNELL PUSHES BACK ON MEDIA: I Understand ‘Your Job Is to Use the Democratic Talking Points’ [Video] | WHO KNEW HE HAD IT IN HIM? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) pushed back against a reporter who asked a question critical of the Republican tax reform bill early Wednesday morning by pointing out it was the reporter s job to use Democratic talking points. McConnell held a press conference shortly after the Senate passed the $1.5 trillion package of tax cuts and tax code revisions in the chamber s 51-48 vote. The vote was at about 1:30 a.m. after much debate on the floor of the Senate. The Democrats are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Republicans. They are putting politics before what s best for America. Pro-growth is the way to go! MAGA!A MONTAGE OF HYSTERIA FROM THE LEFT OVER THE TAX BILL AFTER THE HOUSE VOTE BUT BEFORE THE SENATE VOTED ON IT: Check out the woman who breaks into the live feed to call the bill a scam Wow! What do you say to Sen. Schumer when he says that you guys are going to rue the day that you pass this bill that the politics of passing long-term corporate tax cuts with short-term individual cuts is going to catch up to you guys? a reporter asked.McConnell cleared his throat and told the reporter he understood his job to use the Democratic talking points before explaining why he believes the tax reform bill is good for Americans. | 0 |
1,380 | Latest North Korea earthquake a sign of instability at nuclear test site-experts | SEOUL (Reuters) - A series of tremors and landslides near North Korea s nuclear test base likely mean the country s sixth and largest blast has destabilized the region, and the Punggye-ri nuclear site may not be used for much longer to test nuclear weapons, experts say. A small quake was detected early on Friday near the North s nuclear test site, South Korea s weather agency said, but unlike quakes associated with nuclear tests, it did not appear to be manmade. The tremor was the latest in a string of at least three shocks to be observed since Pyongyang s Sept. 3 nuclear test, which caused a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Friday s quake was a magnitude 2.7 with a depth of 3 km in North Hamgyong Province in North Korea, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the quake at 2.9 magnitude at a depth of 5 km. The series of quakes has prompted experts and observers to suspect the last test - which the North claimed to be of a hydrogen bomb - may have damaged the mountainous location in the northwest tip of the country, where all of North Korea s six nuclear tests were conducted. The explosion from the Sept. 3 test had such power that the existing tunnels within the underground testing site might have caved in, said Kim So-gu, head researcher at the Korea Seismological Institute. I think the Punggye-ri region is now pretty saturated. If it goes ahead with another test in this area, it could risk radioactive pollution. According to 38 North, a Washington-based project which monitors North Korea, numerous landslides throughout the nuclear test site have been detected via satellite images after the sixth test. These disturbances are more numerous and widespread than seen after any of the North s previous tests, 38 North said. The explosion from the sixth test was large enough for residents of the Chinese border city of Yanji, 200 km (125 miles) north of North Korea s nuclear test site, to feel the ground shake beneath their feet. The reason why Punggye-ri has become North Korea s nuclear testing field is because this area was considered stable and rarely saw tremors in the past, said Hong Tae-kyung, a professor of earth system science at Yonsei University in Seoul. The recent small quakes suggest that the test might have triggered crust deformation. South Korea s spy agency said recently the North was readying possibly two more tunnels following its latest test, according to ruling Democratic Party lawmakers who had been briefed on the issue. The tunnel used for Pyongyang s first nuclear test had been shut down after that test, while a second tunnel had been used for the following five, the National Intelligence Service was cited as saying last month. This second tunnel may have caved in after the sixth test, the intelligence officials said. North Korea has hinted its next test could be above the ground. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said last month the North could test an unprecedented scale hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump s threat to totally destroy the country. Arms experts say detonating a nuclear-tipped missile over the Pacific Ocean, while seen as the logical final step to prove the success of its weapons program, would be extremely provocative and carry huge risks. Another issue that could keep North Korea from using Punggye-ri for nuclear tests the nearby active volcano of Mt. Paektu, Yonsei University s Hong said. The 2,744 meter (9,003 ft) mountain, straddling the northwestern border between China and North Korea, last erupted in 1903. Since North Korea began testing its nuclear capabilities, experts have debated whether explosions at Punggye-ri could trigger another volcanic eruption. | 1 |
1,381 | Obama says has 'great confidence' that Russia was behind hacks | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he had “great confidence” that the hacking of Democratic Party officials and institutions were carried out by Russia and at the behest of high-level Russian officials. “The intelligence that I’ve seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the Russians carried out this hack,” Obama said at a White House news conference. | 1 |
1,382 | Australia gay marriage rally draws record crowd ahead of postal vote | SYDNEY (Reuters) - More than 20,000 people rallied in Sydney on Sunday urging the legalization of same-sex marriage, days ahead of a contentious postal survey on the issue that has divided the country. Organizers said the gathering was Australia s largest gay rights demonstration, as a diverse range of people clad in rainbow colors converged on the heart of the city to insist on equal rights. We re blown away by the response, Cat Rose from Community Action Against Homophobia said. The force we ve shown today puts us in a good stead to win this battle over the next couple of months. Though the postal ballot is non-binding, a yes vote is expected to lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage which could further fracture the government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Ballots will be mailed out from Sept. 12, with a result expected some time in November. The country s Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, said it was the law that had to change, not the gay community. We ve got one last mountain to climb before we make marriage equality a reality. Let s climb it together, today, he said. Turnbull, who has said he will be voting in support of same-sex marriage, told a gathering of the Liberal and National parties faithful on Sunday that the issue was one where everyone is entitled to an opinion. Many people will vote yes , as I will, because they believe the right to marry is a conservative ideal as much as any other principle, he said. His words were in contrast to those of one of his party s previous leaders, former prime minister John Howard, who officially launched the no campaign on Saturday. Howard said in a statement on the website of the Coalition for Marriage that there could not be changes to social institutions without wider consequences. I believe there is a conflict here between those seeking the right for same-sex marriage and the rights of the child, and I believe the right of the child to have a mother and father should be preserved, he said. The coalition, the lead campaigner against same-sex marriage, did not respond to requests for comment. It includes the Australian Christian Lobby and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. However, yes campaigner Kerryn Phelps, the former chief of the Australian Medical Association, said the survey was about unifying the nation. What we want is to see Australians united in marriage equality and united in fairness for all Australians, she said. Rally attendees Stephen Madden, 55, and David Long, 47, have been together for 21 years and want to get married. We ve had the world s longest engagement, Long said. My mum would really like to have a legal son-in-law, Madden added. The Sydney event followed a similar rally in Melbourne last month which organizers said was attended by 15,000 people. Police declined to comment on the numbers at both rallies. Australia is one of the only developed English-speaking countries not to have legalised same-sex marriage, despite strong popular support and the backing of a majority of lawmakers. | 1 |
1,383 | Missouri Senate Republicans pass anti-gay religious amendment | CHICAGO (Reuters) - A 39-hour Democratic filibuster in the Missouri Senate ended on Wednesday when Republicans forced a vote and approved a proposal to prohibit sanctions against groups and wedding vendors that discriminate against same-sex couples for religious reasons. The resolution to amend the state’s constitution passed 23-9 after the majority Republican caucus used a parliamentary maneuver to end the filibuster, which began at 4:00 p.m. CST on Monday, said Lauren Hieger, communications director for the Missouri Senate Majority Caucus. The amendment must be voted on again in the Senate next week before passing to the lower house, where Republicans have a majority, and then to the state’s voters, Hieger said. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, applauded the effort by the Senate minority to block the resolution. “Rewriting our state’s constitution to condone discrimination would be contrary to our values and harmful to our economy,” Nixon said in a statement on Wednesday. The legislation is among a series of measures introduced around the country by conservatives in response to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court legalization of same-sex marriage. The measures seek to protect religious groups and companies from being fined or punished if they decline to provide services such as wedding cakes or flowers to same-sex couples. Republicans who backed the amendment said it was about religious freedom, but Democrats said it would enshrine discrimination in the state’s constitution. Given their minority position in both chambers of Missouri’s General Assembly, Democrats chose to filibuster, debating overnight on Monday and Tuesday to block the initiative. “Inspired by senators’ heroic stand against discrimination in #MO. The nation is watching & cheering you on!” Nixon tweeted on Tuesday night. “In our pluralistic society, we should have room to respect the religious freedom of Missourians,” Republican Senator Bob Onder, who sponsored the bill, told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday morning. He said the language of the bill was modified in a compromise on Tuesday to narrowly define wedding vendors. The American Civil Liberties Union civil rights group said it would work to fight the bill in Missouri’s House of Representatives. “This amendment raises serious constitutional concerns because it singles out same-sex couples for discrimination,” Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of ACLU of Missouri, said in a statement. | 1 |
1,384 | Who do you think won the CNBC GOP Presidential Debate? | Please help us determine who real grassroots conservatives think won the CNBC (Communist News By Commies) Debate:// <![CDATA[ (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:8161910969215591,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-5571-7652"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdome.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); // ]]> | 0 |
1,385 | Federal Reserve and Republican critics may compromise on oversight after Trump win | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers and the Federal Reserve may be ready to strike a compromise deal on legislation that would give Congress greater scrutiny over the central bank, now that there is no longer the threat of a presidential veto, but it would likely stop short of dictating rules on setting interest rates. Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election will give the Republicans control over both the White House as well as both houses of Congress next month, removing a likely veto on legislation to overhaul governance of the Fed by a Democratic president. Even so, Republicans will need support from Senate Democrats now that their Senate majority has shrunk to a 52-48 split in the November polls. Republicans who have been pushing for limits on the Fed’s ability to decide policy believe the central bank has overstepped its mandate by using extraordinary measures to stimulate the economy since the financial crisis, and they say reforms are a priority next year. Interviews with lawmakers, aides and top Fed officials indicate there could be common ground for a deal, marking a possible departure from the central bank’s resolute opposition to reform. “There are different paths to a workable solution,” said Representative Bill Huizenga, a Republican who chairs the House of Representatives subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade. Huizenga, who last year introduced legislation to tie policy decisions to a benchmark rule or risk “audits” by a congressional watchdog, told Reuters that he was “open to what exactly” the audits would look like. “But it needs to be early, if not the first thing that we do.” The Trump administration and the Federal Reserve declined to comment on the potential for legislation or their positions. Huizenga’s bill last year would force the Fed to operate under a directive rule like the one named after conservative economist John Taylor, which prescribes interest rates based on levels of inflation, employment and growth. That would be a sea change from the way the Fed has long operated, in which it reviews economic conditions as it weighs decisions on interest rates, but is free to set policy as it deems appropriate. The bill would leave room for discretion but would open the door for Congress to launch real-time reviews of rate decisions if the central bank strayed too far from the rule, something Fed Chair Janet Yellen called a “grave mistake” that would damage the bank’s credibility and distract its focus on longer term economic goals. Under a strict Taylor rule, the key federal funds rate - the rate at which banks lend money to other banks on an overnight basis - would be one to two percentage points higher now than it is, based on calculations by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Huizenga’s proposal is now part of a broader bill championed by Jeb Hensarling, the influential Republican chair of the House Financial Services Committee, to winnow back financial regulations. Hensarling has called Fed reform a top priority and said he was willing to negotiate. Because any such legislation would typically require a supermajority to pass the Senate, Republicans - who now hold only a simple majority - will need to compromise in order to win the support of some Democrats. The Fed could find other ways to satisfy demands for more insight. It could use its existing semi-annual reports to Congress to cite an array of well-known monetary policy rules and explain how it arrived at its decisions with reference to those rules. That could provide the desired transparency and even side-step the threat of probes by a congressional watchdog. Another alternative would be to make these audits scheduled, and not ad hoc, which could help curb any partisan challenges to policy in real-time and preserve the Fed’s flexibility during crises. Still, those regular reviews would allow Congress to see how Federal Reserve policymakers sifted through economic data and forecasts to reach rate decisions. Now that the Fed has begun raising rates, Republicans complain it has offered a shifting set of reasons to move slowly, including political turmoil and market volatility overseas. A hint of how compromise could be achieved came this summer when the Cleveland Fed published a list of seven well-known policy rules and showed that their recommended rates varied between 0.14 percent and 3.08 percent. The Fed’s policy rate is now 0.25-0.5 percent and is expected to rise a quarter point this week. “We do look at a number of rules ... but monetary policy isn’t a simple thing,” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said in a recent interview. “I hope that any change that Congress pushes through is done in a thoughtful way and doesn’t disrupt the benefits that we have in the current system.” While there is no explicit reference to the Fed’s swollen balance sheet in proposed legislation, Hensarling and other critics have called for a firm plan to sell off the $3.5 trillion in Treasury and mortgage bonds the central bank amassed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The bond purchases were extraordinary measures taken to stimulate growth. Many Republican lawmakers say bond purchases inappropriately increases the Fed’s role in the economy and amounts to financing of the government, a measure that is banned under statutes. Critics say the Fed’s plan to shed assets once interest rates have started normalizing is too vague, suggesting that could work its way into increased congressional oversight. The Fed maintains that its policies have been transparent in the face of a deep recession and frustratingly slow recovery. Yellen and her colleagues also say the Fed can best achieve its twin mandate of price stability, which it targets at 2 percent inflation, and maximum sustainable employment when free of short-term political interference. It is close to both goals now. Taken together, Republicans’ pursuit of reforms makes future Fed policy “a big global uncertainty,” said Peter Hooper, a former Fed official who is chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities. It could lead to more aggressive rate hikes than the roughly two-per-year currently expected, and quicker trimming of the balance sheet, he said. Selling bonds, or even halting purchases of those maturing, would raise market yields and amount to tighter monetary conditions. Getting a Fed-reform bill into Trump’s hands “will require a consensus,” said Representative Frank Lucas, another Republican on the House Monetary Policy subcommittee. “To get there we would need to explain to the Senate that this would not constrain the Fed in any future crisis.” Lucas acknowledged concerns that the Taylor rule would “dramatically alter” the Fed’s flexibility, and told Reuters his staff was considering possible adjustments to proposed bills. That would appear to be something Huizenga could live with. “They are already doing the analysis, so maybe it’s asking them to share that analysis,” Huizenga told Reuters, adding he hoped the election of Trump caused Fed leadership to “rethink its stiff-arming” of reforms. | 1 |
1,386 | Trump’s Brexit Response Is A DISASTER, And Hillary Just Nailed Him For It (VIDEO) | Donald Trump had a prime opportunity to take advantage of Britain s decision to leave the European Union in the so-called Brexit. Appearing at his golf course in Scotland, Trump held a press conference a few hours after the outcome of the British referendum was clear.Instead, the presumptive Republican nominee completely botched the media availability. Instead of talking up his sympathies with the right-wing movement that got the referendum passed, Trump instead babbled on about his golf course, the views from the course, and so forth. When he was asked about the Brexit, Trump continued to bumble. He could only talk about the tumbling global markets from the perspective of how his golf course would make money, instead ignoring the pensions being wiped out in the U.K. and the effect it could have on the American economy, including retirees with their money in the market.In response, Hillary Clinton s presidential campaign released a devastating web video that laid out the seriousness of the moment and Trump s utter failure to present any sort of leadership.Hours after the #BrexitVote, Donald Trump was in the U.K.Talking about how he, personally, would benefit.https://t.co/YEt5LozDpt Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 24, 2016The video also makes it clear how lost Trump is without his teleprompter. After the media fell over itself to praise him for reading properly earlier in the week, it s also clear that Trump actually has the problem the right has accused President Obama of having for so long.When off teleprompter, Trump makes a fool of himself. He can t back up what he s saying, and more often than not he is obviously, blatantly, comically, making things up. The only time Trump can appear remotely competent is when his words are written down for him.Unfortunately for him, he has to focus so much on keeping it in check on prompter that he loses all the enthusiasm and rabble-rousing that has made him so popular with nativist supporters during the campaign. They don t want to see Trump acting presidential, but rather they want the loudmouth who bashes immigrants and calls for minorities to be beat up.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
1,387 | Trump Trolls Turn On GOP Moderates: ‘You’re Gonna Get Primaried’ | Believe or not, moderates do exist in the Republican Party. To those of us on the left, they hardly seem moderate, but they certainly aren t like, say, the Ted Cruz s of the world. In the House of Representatives, they even have a name. They call themselves the Tuesday Group. And since Donald Trump took office, it has been Republicans from that group who have been pushing back the hardest on Trump s more extreme and cruel policies. To that end, it should come as no surprise that Trump s band of trolls in his base are threatening the people in the Tuesday Group with primary challenges in 2018.At the top of the Trump trolls list of targets is Tuesday Group co-chair Charlie Dent (R-PA). They re letting Rep. Dent know that his days are numbered in the most public of ways by holding a huge event where they blasted their warnings to him from a park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Adam Gingrich, who gives political advice to hard right politicians said to Dent: You re gonna get primaried. This particular rally is just the beginning. These people seem to be ready to primary anyone who has been critical of Trump and his agenda from the right. There s just one problem with that, though: They don t seem to understand some of these districts. In a place like Pennsylvania, Ted Cruz-style policies will not fly. These people have to be more moderate than say, members of the ultra conservative Freedom Caucus or they don t get elected and re-elected. There s that, and the fact that most of them seem to at least be attempting to appear reasonable. Despite these facts, though, word has leaked out that Trump himself went after Rep. Dent in a private rant, saying that Dent is destroying the Republican Party. So, as they are likely to do, the Trump Trolls came out in force on Friday in order to back their orange man up. Northampton County GOP Chairwoman Gloria Lee Snover said of Rep. Dent: I looked Charlie Dent in the eye and I saw the swamp. In times past, I ve supported Charlie Dent as the only alternative. But now, with his disregard and disrespect to my president I will no longer be able to support Congressman Dent. For the first time, we finally are going to have primary challengers we can get behind. So, in other words, fall in lockstep with Trump or get out. Rep. Dent, to his credit, is pushing back, though. He says of the situation: I have repeatedly made it clear that on issues such as reforming the VA, making the regulatory environment more reasonable, improving America s infrastructure, providing necessary funding to help meet the needs of our military and spurring economic growth, I will work constructively and supportively with President Trump. At the same time. I am not a sycophant. If the president errs on issues that are important to the people of the 15th, or for the entire country, I will continue to state my opinions respectfully and civilly. The best part of this is that it could be a huge gift to Democrats. Pennsylvania is a swing state that, until 2016, always went blue. Therefore, the idea of a hard right conservative being elected there is pretty out there. We can t rule it out, of course, but if the GOP spends all of its times fighting with itself and the Democrats unify around one candidate, we win.Get it together, Democrats. Here are a whole bunch of seats we could possibly win simply because Trump Trolls can t abide a GOP lawmaker who isn t licking Trump s boots 24/7.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
1,388 | LAUGHABLE! HILLARY DEFENDS Maxine “James Brown Wig” Waters and WH Press Corp “Toddler” April Ryan [Video] | Hillary Clinton criticized White House press secretary Sean Spicer and Fox News host Bill O Reilly for comments each of them made about a prominent liberal woman on Tuesday.In an appearance on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning, O Reilly claimed to be distracted by California Rep. Maxine Waters James Brown Wig. He later apologized for the comment, which Clinton termed a racist joke during an event in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon.Clinton also claimed Spicer patronized American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan during a testy exchange between the two during Tuesday s White House press briefing.WATCH: And here s the video of @HillaryClinton defending WH reporter @AprilDRyan and Congresswoman @MaxineWaters pic.twitter.com/VPK9doFxTe Yashar (@yashar) March 28, 2017 | 0 |
1,389 | As World Trade Center Fell, Donald Trump Boasted His Tower Was Now The Biggest In Manhattan | September 11 was arguably the worst day in American history. All Americans were shell-shocked, fearful, and lost in grief and confusion.Well, almost all Americans were grief stricken, except of course Donald Trump. In his typical form, Trump used an unimaginable horror to prop himself up and pat himself on the back.As the World Trade Center collapsed to the ground, Trump, in a by-phone T.V. interview, boasted that his building, 40 Wall Street, was now the tallest building in lower Manhattan.Reporter: You have one of the landmark buildings down in the financial district there, 40 Wall Street uh did you have any damage? What s happened down there?Trump: Oh, it s an amazing phone call I made, 40 Wall Street actually was the second tallest building in downtown Manhattan and it was actually before the World Trade Center was the tallest, and when they built the World Trade Center it became known as the second tallest. But now it s the tallest.Congratulations, Trump. As thousands of people lie dead in a mast of rubble and debris, you single handedly turn a national tragedy into praise for yourself and your buildings.Imagine if Hillary Clinton, who was Senator of New York at the time, had said something so incredibly offensive, so devoid of sympathy or empathy for New Yorkers.Of course his supporters Republicans who exploit 9/11 to draw out our fears will dismiss this as another liberal character assault. Coupled with his lies about Muslims, the theft of his charity for 9/11 survivors, it should come as no surprise that Donald Trump did not care on iota about what happened.Only a egomaniacal narcissist would take the opportunity to plug in his business as being the biggest (and thus the best) as an iconic hallmark of the world crumbles.Watch the exchange for yourself and share it with all your patriotic Trump-supporting friends and family. Show them how hereally felt on 9/11:There s audio of Trump patting himself on the back for having the tallest building in Manhattan after the WTC fell! pic.twitter.com/vQFFcAibQz Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) September 11, 2016Here s your candidate, Republicans, in all his glory.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
1,390 | What we know about U.S. probes of Russian meddling in 2016 election | (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies have alleged that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to benefit President Donald Trump. Law enforcement agencies and congressional committees are investigating Russian meddling and possible collusion with members of Trump’s campaign. Here is what is publicly known and not known: How did the investigations begin? Former President Barack Obama ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to assess whether Russia tried to intervene in the election after a cyber attack on the Democratic National Committee in July 2016 and the publication of thousands of hacked personal emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in the month before the Nov. 8 election. Obama told intelligence officials to deliver a report on possible foreign interference before he left the White House in January 2017. What did the intelligence agencies find? The Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency concluded in a report declassified in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system but to affect the outcome. The agencies said Putin and the Russian government had a clear preference for Trump to win the White House. Putin’s associates hacked information, paid social media “trolls” and backed efforts by Russian government agencies and state-funded media to sway public opinion, the agencies said. The report stopped short of assessing whether Russia succeeded in swaying the election result. Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly denied interfering in the U.S. election. How many U.S. investigations are there into Russian election meddling? Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 that the FBI was investigating Moscow’s role in the election, including possible collusion with Trump’s campaign. The Justice Department announced on May 17 that it had appointed Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, as special counsel to lead an independent Russia probe. Mueller would, if the evidence merits, work in tandem with the FBI to handle any related criminal prosecutions. In addition, there are multiple committees in the Senate and House of Representatives investigating various aspects of Russian election meddling. What has Trump said about Russia’s role in the election? He has not taken a clear public position. At a July 2016 news conference, Trump addressed an FBI probe into Clinton’s use of a private email system when she was secretary of state and emails that had possibly been deleted by saying: “I will tell you this, Russia: if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” He subsequently dismissed reports, including from U.S. intelligence officials, that Russia had attempted to intervene in the election on his behalf. The first time Trump said he accepted the findings of the intelligence agencies was at a Jan. 11 news conference ahead of his inauguration. “As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,” Trump said, although he added: “It could have been others also.” Trump said in May that China may have hacked the emails of Democratic officials to meddle with the election, offering no evidence and countering the view of intelligence officials. Trump has made clear on multiple occasions he believes the Russia investigations have run their course and should be closed. “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?” he wrote on Twitter on May 8. On May 30, Trump tweeted: “Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.” Did the FBI probe continue after Comey’s dismissal? There is no evidence that the FBI ended or paused its investigation after Comey’s departure. Andrew McCabe, who is leading the agency as acting director, promised the Senate Intelligence Committee that Comey’s firing would not affect the investigation and that he will notify the committee of any attempt to delay or derail it. Trump on June 6 chose former U.S. Justice Department official Christopher Wray, who represented New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the so-called Bridgegate scandal, to be the next FBI director. Wray will need Senate confirmation. Why was Comey fired? The White House cited a May 9 letter to Trump from Attorney General Jeff Sessions that attached a memo from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, on “Restoring Confidence in the FBI” that recommended Comey’s dismissal. Rosenstein’s memo said Comey erred in July 2016 by announcing the FBI had been examining Clinton’s use of a private email server and that the case should be closed without prosecution. Rosenstein’s view was that Comey’s decision to make a public statement broke with longstanding FBI precedent and should have been handled by the then-U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Trump called Comey a “showboat” and “grandstander” in an interview with NBC News on May 11, saying that he would have fired Comey regardless of Rosenstein’s recommendation. Was Comey’s firing related to the FBI’s Russia probe? Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believes his dismissal was directly related to the FBI’s Russia probe. “I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation, was in some way putting pressure on him, in some way irritating him, and he decided to fire me because of that,” Comey said in his June 8 testimony. Trump asked Comey to end the agency’s investigation of Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, and also to make some sort of public statement that he was not personally under investigation in order to clear “the cloud” hanging over his presidency, according Comey’s testimony. Comey said he found it concerning that Trump would ask him to drop the agency’s probe of Flynn and declined to state publicly that Trump himself was not under investigation, in part because it would create a “duty to correct” if that changed. “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,” Trump told Comey at a Jan. 27 dinner, according to Comey. Less than a week before he was fired, Comey told a congressional panel that it made him “mildly nauseous” that he may have affected the outcome of the election by publicly re-opening and then re-closing the Clinton email probe days before the election. In an unorthodox move, Great America Alliance, an offshoot of a pro-Trump super PAC devoted to promoting the White House agenda, developed a television ad called “Showboat” to air as Comey testified. The ad claims Comey was “consumed with election meddling” at the expense of fighting terrorism. Has there been any fallout for Trump associates over contacts with Russia before, during or after the election campaign? Flynn was fired in February. The White House said he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about the contacts he had with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, before Trump took office. On May 9, federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas seeking business records from people who worked with Flynn when he was a private citizen. On May 10, the Senate Intelligence Committee issued the first subpoena in its Russia investigation, demanding documents from Flynn. He provided the first batch on June 6. Sessions had to recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related probes at the Justice Department because he had not told Congress of his own contacts with Kislyak in 2016. Rosenstein is handling matters related to Russia and it is he who appointed Mueller as special counsel. Is Trump himself under investigation? Mueller’s probe has expanded to include examining whether Trump obstructed justice by attempting to curtail the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling, the Washington Post reported on June 14. In the short letter Trump sent to Comey dismissing him from the FBI, he had thanked Comey for informing him that he was not under investigation. Comey has confirmed that Trump was not personally under investigation at any point before his dismissal from the FBI. The Post reported the scope of the probe expanded to include Trump shortly after Comey’s dismissal, citing government officials. Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, denied Trump ever told Comey he needed and expected his loyalty. | 1 |
1,391 | Joy Behar Drops DEPRESSING Truthbomb About Why Trump Won (VIDEO) | While most of us are still in a state of shock over the results of the 2016 election, the women of The View tried to reassure Americans and help them process the fact that we are now facing a Donald Trump presidency.While many Americans like to make arguments about policy and Hillary Clinton s emails, co-host Joy Behar wasted no time in pinpointing what one of the major issues of this election were. Behar went right to the root of the problem and declared that without a doubt, gender had played a huge role in how this election played out.Whoopi Goldberg began the conversation by voicing her concerns about Trump, stating that his misogyny and racism truly make him a terrifying choice for America. She said: I have to say, given the bigger picture of what Donald Trump represents, it is not so comfortable for me because not only does he now threaten how things are going to be done with kids of color, with women s rights, with my right to decide what is right for my body, not what somebody else says what is right. Goldberg wondered whether we are a nation who believes in people s rights as they are Constitutionally guaranteed. Behar responded with a brutal truthbomb, making reference to the fact that even in the year 2016, sexism allows less qualified men (or in this case, completely UNqualified men) to come out ahead of women who are over-qualified. Behar said: You know what I learned. I learned that, as usual men can get away with anything and women can get away with nothing. That s what I learned. He was unbelievably decisive, bigoted, racist, homophobic, against handicapped people, against John McCain, and yet he won. She made some mistakes, but not like that. Exactly. There is no other plausible reason why a reality televison star with zero political experience and several lawsuits (including fraud and sexual assault cases) against him should have been able to win a presidential election over a former Secretary of State who has given the last several decades of her live to serving this country.You can watch Behar speak the truth below:This election showed America that we are far from the post-racial society we thought we were, and that sexism is more than alive and well today. It s going to be an intense next four years, but we must never stop fighting for what s right.Featured image via screenshots | 0 |
1,392 | U.S. consumer watchdog's prepaid-card rule survives Congress challenge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A major challenge to the U.S. watchdog for consumer finances fizzled on Thursday, as Congress missed a deadline to repeal the agency’s new rule on prepaid cards. Late last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule requiring greater disclosures and overdraft limits for the cards sold by companies such as Mastercard Inc. (MA.N) and Greendot and frequently used in place of paychecks. The timing made the rule eligible for Congress to repeal it under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), but lawmakers only had until Thursday to kill the regulation by passing a disapproval resolution in both chambers with simple majorities. Republican Senator David Perdue of Georgia, one of the agency’s biggest critics, had introduced a resolution that he tried to speed through his chamber, but congressional aides and advocacy groups said he could not gather enough votes. Perdue has repeatedly said the CFPB, created in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to protect individuals against fraud, oversteps its authority. Earlier this week he said he intends to keep up pressure on the agency. The resolution’s failure indicates that future regulations from the CFPB, reviled by many Republicans, may have shots at survival. The agency is led by Democrat Richard Cordray, was created by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and was originally conceived by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leader in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. The CFPB was expected to soon finalize restrictions on the fine print in contracts known as “mandatory arbitration clauses” that require consumers to give up their rights to class-action lawsuits as a condition of buying a service or product. But the rule’s fate has been caught in limbo. Congress is expected to kill it swiftly with a CRA resolution once it is official. While the first half-dozen CRA resolutions flew easily through Congress, repealing a wide spectrum of Obama-era regulations, the final resolutions faced a tougher time. One limiting methane emissions from oil and gas production on public lands failed on Wednesday. All told, Congress killed 14 regulations since Feb. 1. Lawmakers could still vote after this week to repeal rules that Obama finished in the last six months of his administration, but they will need super-majorities in each chamber, which is nearly impossible to achieve in the more closely divided Senate. | 1 |
1,393 | Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines Dusts Off Infamous Quote To Thoroughly Troll Ted Cruz (TWEET) | It s hard to believe that it s been nearly 13 years since Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks perfectly spoke her mind in reference to the impending Iraq war. If you don t remember what she said, let me remind you: Just so you know, we re on the good side with y all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas. This, of course, sparked a huge backlash against not only Maines, but the Dixie Chicks. People everywhere couldn t believe that she d have the perfect audacity to speak up against an unjust war and against the president who was leading the charge into Iraq. Dissent is usually considered patriotic, but apparently not if the dissenting voice is against a warmongering conservative president.Well, dusting off her infamous quote on Twitter, Maines just completely roasted Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz. Another Republican from Texas who loves war and wouldn t think twice about send our troops anywhere he thought there was a need, necessary or not. Diplomacy be damned.Maines tweeted:Just so you know .I'm ashamed Ted Cruz is from America;) pic.twitter.com/QU39ERnAzN Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) January 24, 2016And mind you, the quotes are absolutely perfect that she chose. The first being from former President Eisenhower, a man who knew the dangers of war, because he lived through the worst we ve ever had. Then paired with Sen. Cruz, a Canadian born chickenhawk, and far from the Republican that Eisenhower was, who claims he ll carpet bomb the enemy to make them glow in the dark. Maines reminds America of the stupidity of electing yet another senseless fool to the White House and the inevitable war it would cause. A war that would send thousands more of our troops to unnecessarily die. However, Maines does it with a perfectly sarcastic spin when she says: Just so you know .I m ashamed Ted Cruz is from America;) The wink is seemingly insinuating two things: that he s a repeat of George W. Bush, so the same quote was necessary, and also that he was born in Canada, which was confirmed with this tweet:I stand corrected Just so you know, I'm ashamed Ted Cruz claims to be American. pic.twitter.com/JUltNImOXH Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) January 24, 2016Cruz is definitely a person to be ashamed of, because not only is he dangerous, he s smarmy as hell and as greasy as a used car salesman to get what he wants done. Even if that means reading Green Eggs and Ham on the floor of the Senate to shut down the United States government.Good on you, Maines.. Well frickin done. Never EVER stop speaking the truth.Featured image: YouTube/Twitter | 0 |
1,394 | “You’re Not Welcome!” Obama As Welcome At Roseberg Funerals As Westboro Baptist Church Members [Videos] | Roseberg residents and families of victims are speaking out against Obama and are repulsed by his obvious desire to use the deaths and injuries of their loved ones to promote his leftist agenda. Of course, he s going anyhow. It is of no consequence to him that basically the whole town wants him to stay away. Keep it classy Barry Maybe the Roseberg residents should make the same kind of human chain between Barack and the cameras that they do around the Westboro Baptist Church members at funerals Roseberg residents and even relatives of victims are telling Barack Obama to stay home and don t come here to dance on the graves of our loved ones. You re not welcome! Tomorrow President Obama is scheduled to visit Rosenburg, Oregon, where 10 people were killed last week at Umpqua Community College by a deranged killer who happened to use a gun to carry out his crimes.We ve already reported on the repulsed reaction from the community as people who live there continue to reject Obama s visit. Now Stacy Boylan, the father of shooting victim Ana Boylan, is directly speaking out against Obama s visit and has no interest in putting up with his exploitation of the tragedy for political purposes. I do believe it was Rahm Emanuel who said Never let a good tragedy go to waste, and I really feel that his [Obama] visit here is to completely to support his gun control agenda. I can t understand why he wouldn t make a mention of the families and the victims. I mean, he did say that it was a tragic incident and I do thank him for lowering the flags but he made it all about gun control. He was very clear about that and we saw this in Sandy Hook and now we re seeing it again and I just question his motives, Boylan said. I ve spoken to my family and for myself and for my family, my daughter and son, on principle I find that we are in disagreement with his policies on gun control and therefore we will not be attending the visit. My position on this is that gun free zones are an issue, they re a target for crazy people because they know they re not going to be met with resistance. You know, my daughter said to me, What if somebody would have had a gun? Gun free and gun control takes that option off the table. Somebody doesn t have to use their gun in defense, but to take that option entirely, I don t think that s the right course, he continued. Via: Townhall On Monday, David Jacques, publisher of the Roseburg Beacon, appeared on a Fox News segment with Bill O Reilly.He made it clear President Obama was not welcome in Roseburg and certainly not to crash the funerals of those killed in the Umpqua Community College mass shooting by using it for his own liberal agenda.https://youtu.be/F-fS9SBLTGkVia: Downtrend | 0 |
1,395 | Congress Is About To Deal A KNOCK-OUT PUNCH To Obama’s ‘Back Door’ Gun Grab…Gun Owners Are Cheering! | Obama s unconstitutional government overreach was allowed to run rampant in DC for way too long. There s a new sheriff in town and under that new sheriff s leadership is a newly emboldened Congress who miraculously just found their spine Congressional lawmakers will review a final rule issued by President Obama in December that stomps on the Second Amendment rights of Social Security beneficiaries.According to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Obama s Social Security rule qualifies SSI and disability insurance recipients as mental defectives, and therefore incapable of legally owning firearms.The rule allows those affected to file a petition for restoration of their Second Amendment rights, yet tens of thousands of legal gun owners must now prove their possession of firearms would not harm public safety or the public interest, even though the government never established, or tried to establish, the contrary, NRA-ILA added.NRA-IRA executive director Chris Cox praised Congress decision in a Wednesday statement. Congress s decision to review the Obama administration s back-door gun grab is a significant step forward in restoring the fundamental constitutional rights of many law-abiding gun owners, he wrote. The NRA has been fighting this unconstitutional government overreach since it was first discussed and we look forward to swift congressional action to overturn it. Via: Daily Caller | 0 |
1,396 | OBAMA’S DOJ SUED Michigan City To Allow MEGA-MOSQUE In Majority Christian Residential Neighborhood…Call Jeff Sessions NOW To Stop This Insanity | There is only ONE WAY to STOP this mosque from being built against the wishes of citizens in this RESIDENTIAL area, whose citizens are comprised of mostly Christian refugees that fled from Iraq to escape persecution at the hands of Muslims in their homeland: Call the US DOJ and ask our new Attorney General Jeff Sessions to review this case TODAY and ask the DOJ to STOP the mega-mosque from being built: 202-514-2000 A city of 130,000 people in southeastern Michigan is under the gun of Islamic pressure following its denial of a mega-mosque in a residential neighborhood populated largely by Christian refugees who fled Islamic persecution in Iraq.Sterling Heights already has two mosques, but a third, the American Islamic Community Center, applied for a permit and was rejected after it was determined its proposed use was incompatible with the residential area. Too much traffic, too little parking, the city planning commission decided by a 9-0 vote against the mosque in September 2015.But in December, the mosque sued the city and the Obama Justice Department joined in, claiming the real reason the mosque was denied was because the city was caving to anti-Muslim bigotry in the community. Now, a settlement deal is headed to the Sterling Heights City Council on Tuesday evening. If the council votes to sign the deal, it could be very costly for the city.Watch the attorney for the mosque developers call the reasons these mostly Christian refugees from Iraq are in opposition to a mosque being built its their residential neighborhood fake :Local residents fear it s a bad deal, something similar to the Obama DOJ-orchestrated deal forced upon nearby Pittsfield Township, Michigan, last year. That town had to pay out $1.7 million to local Muslims to whom it had denied a permit for an Islamic school, and township employees were ordered to undergo sensitivity training to assure they never again discriminate against Muslims.Attorney General Jeff Sessions could cancel any similar deal from taking effect in Sterling Heights, but only if he is aware of it and acts quickly. If the city council is found to be cooperating with the Obama DOJ staff who are expediting this consent order to stick it to the Sessions/Trump team, then this city will go nuts, said Dick Manaserri, spokesman for Secure Michigan, a group formed to educate the public on Shariah law and how it differs from American law.In last November s presidential election, Donald Trump carried Sterling Heights, normally a Democratic Party stronghold, by 56 to 44 percent over Hillary Clinton. He also carried Macomb County, home to Sterling Heights and also a Democratic-oriented county.But Trump s new AG, Sessions, is apparently not yet fully in control of the Justice Department, which includes many holdovers from the Obama administration. Why else would Jeff Sessions not dismiss the Obama DOJ lawsuit against Sterling Heights? Manaserri asks. We have been told by legal experts that he has the power to simply dismiss the lawsuit. A consent order typically implies wrongdoing with the application of penalties. When the planning commission denied the mosque permit in September 2015, hundreds of Sterling Heights residents gathered outside City Hall to celebrate. That celebration was caught on video, and critics cited it as evidence the city was somehow biased against Muslims. Tom Mitchell is a resident of Sterling Heights whose family has been there since 1965. He s seen the city s transformation over the past couple of decades under the control of what he calls progressives. He avoids the world Democrat because the city s elections are technically nonpartisan. I feel that with the left taking over, they are destroying this community. I don t want to become another Dearborn or a Hamtramck. And our elected officials are enabling this takeover, he said.Hamtramck, just a few miles south of Sterling Heights, became the nation s first city with a Muslim-majority city council in 2016, and a large portion of Dearborn resembles a Middle Eastern country with signs in Arabic and women walking the streets with their faces veiled.He said it s not a matter of discrimination. Churches have been denied building projects in the past because their sites were too close to residential housing. They didn t get the federal government to sue the city; they simply picked another site. I truly believe this one man, Mr. Sessions, has the power to throw out any consent decree that was engineered by Obama s Department of Justice. That is our hope, Mitchell said. In fact, I know of hundreds of us who are praying for that opportunity to get it in Jeff Sessions hands, before Tuesday night, because once it s signed, how do you overturn that? Signing it is tantamount to a consent that we re a bunch of bigots here in Sterling Heights. Calls to Sessions press office went unanswered Monday as all federal offices were closed for President s Day. A stinger in the eye of Iraqi Christians in Sterling HeightsMitchell said he and others are trying to get the word out in the community that the Tuesday council meeting will include an agenda item on a proposed settlement to the lawsuit.But the city council did not publish its Tuesday-night agenda in the local legal newspaper, the weekly Sterling Heights Sentry, and it didn t put a notice on its official website until late Friday. We just found out about this, so we ve been rushing to try to put together an opposition to stop the city from signing this document, which is an admission of guilt to something we don t think we committed, Mitchell said. As a local resident, I m gonna say we don t discriminate in Sterling Heights. We ve already got two mosques, a Sikh temple, a Buddhist temple and many other diverse houses of worship, so for this city to be called discriminatory is unbelievable. The unfortunate thing is, they want to plop it right in the middle of a Chaldean Christian neighborhood, Mitchell added. Somebody planned that. Somebody is seeking to put a stinger in someone s eye. Dr. Ramsay Dass, M.D., president of the American Middle East Christian Congress, said he is not so concerned about another mosque being built in Sterling Heights. He s more concerned about the big picture of political pressure being placed on small cities by an out-of-control federal bureaucracy using coercive tactics. As an American citizen, they are entitled to build a mosque, but I do not believe in making laws that small cities and towns cannot fight politically or financially, Dass told WND.The federal law being used to coerce cities into approving mosques, even when the mosque is in a residential neighborhood, is the Religion Land Use and Institutional Persons Act, or RELUIPA, which was passed by Congress in 2000.As WND has reported, the Obama administration used this law increasingly against communities denying mosques and less against those denying the construction of churches.Nahren Anweya is a spokesperson for the persecuted Middle Eastern Christians living in Michigan. She has appeared on Fox News and spoken at congressional hearings on Christian persecution in the Middle East. Her family has been living in Michigan since they escaped Iraq in 1989. She said Sterling Heights is home to the nation s second largest Chaldean Catholic community of Iraqi Christians. They thought they found a safe haven, only to find out their ancient nemesis, the Middle Eastern Sunni Muslims, were being resettled in the same county and wanted to build a mosque right in the middle of their neighborhood.Most Iraqi Christians are either Chaldean Catholic or members of an even more ancient Christian sect, the Assyrian Church of the East. The Assyrians speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. My family they re pretty patriotic American Assyrian Christians. Both of my great-grandfathers were crucified by Muslims literally on a cross, Anweya told WND. And that was because they were proud Christians, my great-grandfather used to walk around with a large gold cross around his neck, we never tried to hide it. So to see those ancient persecutors not only showing up in Macomb County en masse, but building a mosque on top of the Chaldean neighborhood, is traumatizing, Anweya said. While we are living in our safe haven, to allow a mosque to be built where we are is like putting us back to Iraq. We left everything behind to start from scratch, and then watching it follow us, this is traumatizing, she said. There are so many Muslim countries who could take these Muslim refugees, but they send them here. If we were treated fairly in their countries, then I would say let them build as many mosques as they want, but that day is far from reality. She said Muslim leaders don t believe in equality, and anything they say on that level is mere pandering to gullible local Christians. They don t believe in equality, even if they say they do, she said. Show me a Muslim country where Christians are treated 100 percent equal. Why is Christianity being degraded in every Muslim country? In 2003, we were 1.3 million Christians in Iraq, and that is where Christianity began and thrived, and now these are people who would be beheaded for their Christian faith. So, she said, the Assyrian and Chaldean communities have news for the Islamic centers that wish to build in their midst: These people are not going to give up their Christian faith, Anweya said. Where a nation is most vulnerable, is when they are not even calling themselves Christian anymore, that s the most dangerous I believe. When the sword is placed to your neck it s too late, she added. The Christians from Iraq, we are not building churches in Dearborn, so why are they building mosques in Sterling Heights? If we started building churches in Dearborn, I think you would see a few protests coming from them. Read more at:WND | 0 |
1,397 | DINGBAT MAXINE WATERS Tells Islamic Society Republicans Trying To Prevent Sharia Law From Being Enforced In America Is “Contrary To American Values…Threatens National Security” [VIDEO] | Is it simply pandering for votes, or is it possible Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters is really just a complete ignoramus? How much longer will America have to put up with the crazy antics of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi? Will either of these women ever retire or more importantly, will their constituents ever tire of them? Many of the radical remarks made by Waters and Pelosi went under the radar because we had such a horrible president that he over-shadowed the left-wing nut-jobs California elected to represent them in Congress It s not hard to prove that Sharia Law is such a far-fetched idea when you see videos like the one below where Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters, while speaking to the Islamic Society of Orange County, CA at a town hall meeting in 2012, condemned Republicans in front of a Muslim audience for trying to make it unlawful for Sharia Law to be enforced in America. And that s supposed to be a bad thing? Maxine Waters Stood Before The Muslim Brotherhood & Openly DEFENDED & Advocated For Sharia Law. One Word: DEMENTED! pic.twitter.com/665dfp4Q21 Kevin W. (@kwilli1046) April 16, 2017As for the claim of strategy, one need only look to the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood to determine whether this is a strategy or a conspiracy theory. I ll go with what the Muslim Brotherhood has written concerning this issue. Mrs. Waters is either ignorant (without excuse) or she is complicit. In either case, this woman is not fit to hold office.She then declared that, at the time, at least thirteen states were looking to adopt legislation forbidding Sharia. What is wrong with that? We have a US Constitution. That s the law in the US. Each State has a Constitution and as far as I know, not one of them is Sharia compliant. But what happens when states try and push forward this legislation? You guessed it, the Islamists and their socialist and communist friends come out of the woodwork to try and beat it down. Just look at Oklahoma, where the federal government tried to force them to overturn anti-Sharia law and to pay Islamists $303,333!After speaking about Newt Gingrich s call for Sharia not to be recognized by any court in the United States, she smugly declared that she doesn t mind calling names and telling it like it is, but you will find absolutely no mention in her pre-written speech about the Muslim Brotherhood s goals, will you?In fact, the very document I reference speaks of:Hmmm, global Islamic State, eh? I m pretty sure Barack Obama knew about these goals before his speech the other night when he deceptively declared that the Islamic State was neither Islamic nor a state. But I digress.Islam means to change the very culture you live in and the laws you live under America. If you have any doubts, understand that a current imam at the Islamic Society of Orange County and former president of the Islamic Society of North America, Muzammil H. Siddiqi, issued this fatwa on Islamonline.net (the link has now dead, but did find it in the web archives here).-InfowarsHere is an excerpt from that document: It is true that Islam stands for the sovereignty of Allah the Almighty and Allah s rules are not limited to the acts of worship, they also include social, economic and political matters. By participating in a non-Islamic system, one cannot rule by that which Allah has commanded. But things do not change overnight. Changes come through patience, wisdom and hard work.I believe that as Muslims, we should participate in the system to safeguard our interests and try to bring gradual change for the right cause, the cause of truth and justice. We must not forget that Allah s rules have to be established in all lands, and all our efforts should lead to that direction. | 0 |
1,398 | BOOM! TREY GOWDY Hammers Ex-CIA Chief [Video] | Trey Gowdy asked a pointed question of former CIA Director Brennan: Did you have evidence of a connection between the Trump campaign and Russian state actors? Brennan replied: As I said, Mr. Gowdy, I don t do evidence. BOOM! ANOTHER EPIC FAIL FOR THE DEEP STATE AS TREY GOWDY MAKES A COMPLETE FOOL OF JOHN BRENNAN:ANOTHER EPIC FAIL For the Resistance as Trey Gowdy makes a complete fool of John BrennanAGAIN, ZERO EVIDENCE Trump Colluded w/ Russia pic.twitter.com/iCzNaEMT9C STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) May 23, 2017 BRENNAN WAS ASKED BY ADAM SCHIFF AND REPLIED THAT TRUMP NEVER PRESSURED TO HAVE THE FLYNN INVESTIGATION DROPPED: EX-CIA Chief John Brennan testified today before the House today and dropped a bomb of truth that President Trump didn t pressure the intelligence community to drop the Flynn investigation: Adam Schiff: With respect to the allegations made recently that the President or his aides may have sought to enlist the member of the IC or Director Comey himself to drop the Flynn investigation, uh have any members of the IC shared with you their concerns that the President was attempting to enlist the help of the people in the intelligence community to drop the Flynn investigation? Brennan: No, sir. Adam Schiff: Are you aware of any efforts the President has made who enlist the support of the intelligence community personnel to push back on a narrative involving the collusion issue that Mr. Rooney was asking about? Brennan: I am unaware of it. NOT A GOOD DAY FOR POLITICAL HACK JOHN BRENNAN! | 0 |
1,399 | Merkel signals readiness for new election after coalition talks collapse | BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would prefer a new election to ruling with a minority after talks on forming a three-way coalition failed overnight, but Germany s president told parties they owed it to voters to try to form a government. The major obstacle to a three-way deal was immigration, according to Merkel, who was forced into negotiations after bleeding support in the Sept. 24 election to the far right in a backlash at her 2015 decision to let in over 1 million migrants. The failure of exploratory coalition talks involving her conservative bloc, the liberal pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens raises the prospect of a new election and casts doubt about her future after 12 years in power. Merkel, 63, said she was sceptical about ruling in a minority government, telling ARD television: My point of view is that new elections would be the better path. Her plans did not include being chancellor in a minority government, she said after meeting President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Steinmeier said Germany was facing the worst governing crisis in the 68-year history of its post-World War Two democracy and pressed all parties in parliament to serve our country and try to form a government. His remarks appeared aimed at the FDP and the Social Democrats (SPD), who on Monday ruled out renewing their grand coalition with the conservatives. Inside our country, but also outside, in particular in our European neighbourhood, there would be concern and a lack of understanding if politicians in the biggest and economically strongest country (in Europe) did not live up to their responsibilities, read a statement from Steinmeier, a former foreign minister who has been thrust centre-stage after taking on the usually largely ceremonial head of state role in March. Steinmeier s intervention suggests he regards a new election - desired by half of Germany s voters according to a poll - as a last resort. The SPD has so far stuck to a pledge after heavy losses in the September election not to go back into a Merkel-led broad coalition of centre-left and centre-right. Merkel urged the SPD to reconsider. I would hope that they consider very intensively if they should take on the responsibility of governing, she told broadcaster ZDF, adding she saw no reason to resign and her conservative bloc would enter any new election more unified than before. If new elections happened, then ... we have to accept that. I m afraid of nothing, she said. Business leaders also called for a swift return to talks. With German leadership seen as crucial for a European Union grappling with governance reform and Britain s impending exit, FDP leader Christian Lindner s announcement that he was pulling out spooked investors and sent the euro falling in the morning. Both the euro and European shares later recovered from early selling, while German bond yields steadied near 1-1/2 week lows, as confidence about the outlook for the euro zone economy helped investors brush off worries about the risk of Germany going to the polls again soon. FEAR OF FAR-RIGHT GAINS Earlier, Merkel got the strong backing of her CDU leadership. Josef Joffe, publisher-editor of Germany weekly Die Zeit said she could rely on CDU support for now, but added: I will not bet on her serving out her entire four-year term. The main parties fear another election so soon would let the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party add to the 13 percent of votes it secured in September, when it entered parliament for the first time. Polls suggest a repeat election would return a similarly fragmented parliament. A poll published on Monday showed a new election would bring roughly the same result as the September election, with the Greens set to see the biggest gains. If Germans voted next Sunday, Merkel s conservatives would get 31 percent, the SPD 21 percent, the Greens and the AfD both 12 percent, the FDP 10 percent and the Left party 9 percent, the Forsa survey for RTL television showed. This compares with the election result of 32.9 percent for the conservatives, 20.5 percent for the SPD, 12.6 percent for AfD, 10.7 percent for FDP, 9.2 percent for the Left party and 8.9 percent for the Greens. The failure of coalition talks is unprecedented in Germany s post-war history, and was likened by newsmagazine Der Spiegel to the shock election of U.S. President Donald Trump or Britain s referendum vote to leave the EU - moments when countries cast aside reputations for stability built up over decades. Any outcome in Germany is, however, likely to be more consensus driven. The problem is stagnation and immobility, not instability as in Italy, said Joffe. The unravelling of the German talks came as a surprise since the main sticking points - immigration and climate policy - were not seen as FDP signature issues. Responding to criticism from the Greens, FDP vice chairman Wolfgang Kubicki said a tie-up would have been short-lived. Nothing would be worse than to get into a relationship about which we know that it will end in a dirty divorce, he said. Even if the SPD or the FDP revisit their decisions, the price for either party to change its mind could be the departure of Merkel, who since 2005 has been a symbol of German stability, leading Europe through the euro zone crisis. The inability to form a government caused disquiet elsewhere in Europe, not least because of the implications for the euro zone reforms championed by French President Emmanuel Macron. Germany s political impasse could also complicate and potentially delay the Brexit negotiations - Britain has just over a year to strike a divorce deal with the EU ahead of an exit planned for March 29, 2019. It s not in our interests that the process freezes up, Macron told reporters in Paris, adding he had spoken with Merkel shortly after the failure of talks. | 1 |
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