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20,500 | British PM's social mobility board quits over failing the poor | LONDON (Reuters) - All four members of the British government s Social Mobility Commission have quit accusing Prime Minister Theresa May of being too fixated on Brexit to improve the prospects of those from poor backgrounds. May has said she would create an economy which works for all Britons, but the commission s chairman Alan Milburn, a former minister in Tony Blair s Labour government, said she was failing to deliver on her promises. I have reached the conclusion sadly that the current government bears little, if any, hope of progress being made toward the fairer Britain the prime minister has talked about, Milburn told the BBC on Sunday. The government for understandable reasons is focused on Brexit and seems to lack the bandwith to be able to translate the rhetoric of healing social division and promoting social justice into reality. May talked about tackling the burning injustices in society on her first day as prime minister last year. She talked about tackling racism, gender inequality, the underperformance of government schools and the difficulties young people face buying a home. A government spokesman said it was making good progress on social mobility. We accept there is more to do and that is why we are focusing our efforts in disadvantaged areas where we can make the biggest difference, the spokesman said. May, who presides over a warring cabinet and has faced an open rebellion by some of her own lawmakers, is being buffeted by crises. Two ministers have quit May s cabinet in the last month, placing a strain on the government ahead of the Dec. 14-15 summit on Britain s exit from the European Union, when Britain wants EU leaders to give a green light to talks about future trade relations. An opinion poll published for the Mail On Sunday newspaper put Labour on 45 percent with the ruling Conservatives on 37 percent, the biggest lead for opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn s party in a survey by pollster Survation since late 2013. An 8 point lead would put the Labour party into overall majority territory if such vote share totals were reflected at the ballot box, Survation said. Corbyn has promised sweeping renationalisation, tax rises for the rich and increased welfare spending, including an end to healthcare cuts and scrapping university tuition fees. | 1 |
20,501 | Bernie Sanders Has PERFECT Response To Man Ranting About ‘Zionist Jews’ At NY Rally (VIDEO) | Bernie Sanders smacked down a man at his Harlem rally on Saturday when he tried to imply that the senator was a supporter of Israel s war against Palestine.At the end of the event, a man grabbed the microphone from someone and brought up Sanders religion and the fact that he once spent a year in Israel before saying: As you know, the Zionist Jews and I don t mean to offend anybody they run the Federal Reserve, they run Wall Street, they run every campaign. Bernie, realizing where the question was going, shook his head and said, Brother, brother, brother. The man finished his question: What is your affiliation to your Jewish community? That s all I m asking. No, no, no, Sanders shot back. That s not what you re asking. He s right, what the man was really doing was trying to imply that the Senator is just like the Republican Party and blindly supports what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people. He wanted people to think that just because the Democratic candidate is proud of his ancestry and religion, that he s totally cool with Benjamin Netanyahu s reign of terror on Palestine in his quest to steal all of their land. That s what the man was doing.Instead of rising to the bait, Bernie took the opportunity to discuss his position on Israel and Palestine: I am proud to be Jewish. But you re not going to find any candidate running for president, for example, talking about Zionism and the Middle East. I am a strong defender of Israel, but I also believe that we have got to pay attention to the needs of the Palestinian people. There are wonderful people, I ve met them, on both sides of that issue and there are bad people on both sides of that issue. And if we are gonna bring peace, hopefully, God willing, in the Middle East we are gonna have to treat both sides with respect and equality. So while it is unfortunate that our lawmakers support Israel (they really shouldn t) the reality of the current situation makes it impossible not to even Senator Sanders knows that. But it is important to realize that you would never, ever hear Donald Trump or Ted Cruz say that we need to treat the Palestinian people with respect. They are too busy calling them terrorists and kissing Netanyahu s ass.Watch: Featured image via video screenshot | 0 |
20,502 | BRAVE PRO-TRUMP REPORTER Grabs Microphone At Climate March…Tells Liberal Crowd To Chant “Bill Clinton Is A Rapist!” [Video] | A Conservative Reporter was brave enough to grab the mic at the Climate March and instruct people to yell Bill Clinton is a rapist! Everybody raise ya fist Everybody raise ya fist Bill Clinton is a rapist Bill Clinton is a rapistThe crowd wasn t too happy! You ll see in the video below Props to Jack Posobiec! Grabbed the mic and trolled the #ClimateMarch into singing Bill Clinton is a Rapist Grabbed the mic and trolled the #ClimateMarch into singing Bill Clinton is a Rapist pic.twitter.com/E8kSzbtd4K Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 29, 2017 | 0 |
20,503 | China, Russia must take direct action against North Korea: Tillerson | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday urged China and Russia to take direct action against North Korea in response to its latest missile launch. China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own, Tillerson said in a statement. He said China supplies North Korea with most of its oil and Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor. | 1 |
20,504 | UNREAL! HOW DEMOCRATS MANIPULATED The CBO Report On Obamacare [Video] | THE VIDEO TAKES A FEW SECONDS TO LOAD IF YOU SEE A BLACK BOX IT S JUST LOADING | 0 |
20,505 | Bernie Drops STUNNING Truth Bomb On Trump Voter, Makes Her Regret Vote In Under 2 Minutes (VIDEO) | Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders knows that most Trump supporters voted out of fear and anger rather than actual policy or facts and he found a way to perfectly expose this truth on national television for all to see. During an MSNBC town hall in Kenosha, Wisconsin (aka Trump Country ), Sanders confronted Trump voter Gail Sparks about her inaccurate views on what Trump actually stood for.Sparks admitted that she hadn t voted in 2012, but got herself to the polls for Trump this year because she wanted change. She connected with his fear mongering about undocumented immigrants she even called them those people and accused them of stealing jobs and being the reason she made less money. But when Sparks brought up the social safety net, Sanders couldn t take it anymore and had to stop her in her tracks to give her the facts. Sparks said: Who s paying for this? Who s paying for the Medicaid? Who s paying for the Social Security? Who s paying for the Medicare? Now, have any of you seen down on the streets that it seems as though we have become the silent minority and not the majority? MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Sparks who she was talking about and Sparks responded, The people who need the Medicare, the people who need the Social Security, who need the help with the education. That s when Sanders respectfully decided to prove to her that she d made the wrong choice when she voted. Sanders said: Good point. Let s see if we can go forward on this. I am assuming that you believe, correct me if I m wrong, that we should not cut Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid. Is that correct or not? Sanders let Sparks agree that the social safety net shouldn t be cut before dropping an epic truth bomb. He continued: Do you know who is now working very hard to try to do that? Republicans in Congress have a plan under the guise of saving Medicare and saving Social Security, making devastating cuts. That s what the Republicans are now trying to do. As Sanders went on, a look of shock, disappointment and embarrassment washed across Sparks face but Sanders didn t stop: The other point that you made is, who is going to pay for this stuff? And that is a very fair point. What all of us should know is that over the last 25 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth in this country from you to the top one-tenth of one percent. In other words, the middle class has shrunk and trillions of dollars have gone to the top one-tenth of one percent. Do you think it s inappropriate to start asking those people to pay their fair share of taxes so we can adequately fund Medicaid and make public colleges and universities tuition-free. Is that an unfair thing to ask? Sparks took a second to digest what Sanders was saying and replied, I don t think it s an unfair thing to ask. They got rich off of us, so it s time they put back. Sanders said, Okay, that s what I m saying. This conversation between Sparks and Sanders proves that a lot of Trump supporters have no idea what Trump and the GOP are actually doing, and they re just as unclear on Trump s policies as he is. You can watch this amazing conversation with Sanders below, starting at about the 4:15-minute mark:Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
20,506 | IMF's Lagarde warns against Trump-style protectionism: FT | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned in an interview published on Thursday that anti-trade policies like those championed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump risked a protectionist movement that could severely damage global growth. Lagarde told the Financial Times that with Britain’s vote to leave the European Union already casting a shadow over global growth, the imposition of new trade barriers in another larger economy could have “disastrous” effects. “I think it would be quite disastrous, actually. Well I don’t think I should say disastrous because that is an excessive word and I should refrain from excessive words. But it would certainly have a negative impact on global growth,” she told the FT in response to a question about such policies. The newspaper said that while Lagarde made clear her negative views of anti-trade rhetoric and policies, she refrained from referring to Trump by name or singling out any politician. Lagarde also told the FT that she doubted that a prolonged period of uncertainty over Britain’s exit, without triggering formal separation negotiations, would be politically sustainable. “We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making,” Lagarde told the newspaper. In a separate interview with Agence France Presse, Lagarde said Brexit was unlikely to cause a world recession, adding that the immediate effects would hurt the UK, with some spillover to the euro area. She told AFP that proposals in Britain to cut corporate tax rates to 15 percent from 20 percent to counter the damage caused by the UK’s EU divorce was a “race to the bottom” that would hurt other economies. | 1 |
20,507 | “Non-violence hasn’t worked”…Reverend Sam Mosteller, Leader of Group Founded By MLK Calls On Blacks To Take Up Arms | Yeah that whole taking up arms thing seems to be working well in Chicago The president of a non-violent group established by MLK said that nonviolence is no longer working.At a press conference, the Rev. Sam Mosteller, president of the Georgia Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) said all African Americans should avail themselves of their Second Amendment Rights. You know, the SCLC stands for nonviolence, but nonviolence hasn t worked in this instance, Mosteller said, Let me just say it this way, I am going to have to advocate at this point that all African-Americans advocate their Second Amendment right, he added.The SCLC was co-founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1957 in reaction to the shooting of two black men.The Daily Caller is reporting that when questioned about what some might consider a turn away from non-violence, Mosteller backpedaled a little. We re going to have to do something in our community to let the rest of America know that we are not going to be victimized by just anybody whether it be police or folks that decide that black people are thugs and we need to control that black community. When asked to explain what appeared to be a call to arms, Mosteller backed off, saying that he was not advocating for members of the black community to start carrying guns en masse.When a reporter asked if his advocacy for the Second Amendment was at odds with SCLC s attitude towards nonviolence, Mosteller said, Listen, listen I didn t say that. I said the Second Amendment right? I didn t say pack weapons, I did not say that. Do you have to carry a weapon to avail yourself of the Second Amendment? he asked. The answer is no, you don t have to. Via: DownTrend | 0 |
20,508 | Trump Halts Travel In New Executive Order | 21st Century Wire says After President Donald J. Trump s previous visa suspension was blocked by federal courts, he has fulfilled his vow to overturn this by introducing a new Executive Order temporarily blocking travel to the US for residents of six Muslim-majority countries pending revision of visa procedures. The order halts the issuance of new US visas to citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for the next 90 days.The new Executive Order was revealed to reporters today by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Due to increased co-operation between the Baghdad and US governments on background checks of applicants, Iraq is excluded from the Order.More on this report from Russia Today RT President Donald Trump has issued a new executive order, temporarily blocking travel to the US for residents of six Muslim-majority countries pending revision of visa procedures. The previous travel ban, issued in January, was blocked in federal courts.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new executive order to reporters on Monday.The order halts the issuance of new US visas to citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for the next 90 days.Iraq, which was included in the January ban, was left off the list this time after the government in Baghdad agreed to increase cooperation with the US on background checks for its citizens applying for visas, AP reported.Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Jamal called the decision an important step in the right direction that consolidates the strategic alliance between Baghdad and Washington in many fields, and at their forefront the war on terrorism. Tillerson thanked the government in Baghdad for working with the State Department on improving vetting, and called the order a vital measure for protecting our national security. The new order also imposes a 120-day halt on refugee admissions from the six countries. Legal permanent residents ( Green Card holders) from the countries will not be affected, however, Reuters reported citing a fact sheet supplied by the administration. Nothing in this executive order affects existing lawful permanent residents, Kelly said, adding that Homeland Security will enforce it humanely, respectfully and with professionalism. Trump s senior aide Kellyanne Conway provided confirmation in an interview with Fox News on Monday. If you have travel docs, if you actually have a visa, if you are a legal permanent resident, you are not covered under this particular executive action, Conway said, adding that the new order will go into effect on March 16 Continue this report at RT READ MORE TRUMP AT: 21st Century Wire TRUMP FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
20,509 | Trump Makes Daughter Ivanka Fill In Because He’s ‘Exhausted’ | After months of mocking Hillary Clinton s stamina because she dared catch pneumonia during the presidential campaign, Donald Trump is reportedly so exhausted just three days into his nine day overseas trip that he s screwing up speeches and having his daughter Ivanka fill in.During a speech to Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Trump referred to Islamic extremism instead of Islamist extremism, as had been written. While that may sound like a distinction without a difference, Reuters explains:The term Islamist extremism refers to Islamism as a political movement rather than Islam as a religion, a distinction that the Republican president had frequently criticized the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, for making.Trump often referred to Islamic extremism and criticized President Obama for using the term Islamist extremism. But, because he is playing nicey nicey with the Saudis, he tried to modulate his rhetoric, but he failed. His apparent exhaustion put him right back into campaign mode.On @POTUS deviating from prepared text on Islamist extremism to say Islamic extremism, admin official explains: Just an exhausted guy Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) May 21, 2017At a briefing with reporters a WH official said POTUS is exhausted. https://t.co/0ll7Y4U1nt Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 21, 2017That wasn t the only symptom of his exhaustion. Following the speech, Trump was supposed to appear at the Tweeps Forum. Instead, he sent his daughter Ivanka.Trump is 70-years-old. His diet consists of chocolate cake, double scoops of ice cream on top of cream pie, Kentucky Fried Chicken (and other fast food) and well done steak with ketchup. As for exercise, well, he doesn t. He thinks exercise kills people.You d think he would be able to handle his nine day trip. He claims he only needs three to four hours sleep a night.It s understandable that a man of his age and his fitness level would have trouble keeping up with the rigors of such an ambitious trip, but one can t help but note the hypocrisy, especially after saying this about Hillary Clinton: To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina, Trump said in the first presidential debate. You have to be able to negotiate our trade deals with Japan, with Saudi Arabia. Source: Washington ExaminerTrump is just one country in and he s exhausted.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
20,510 | U.S. to stage drill with three carriers as Trump visits Asia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups will exercise together in the Western Pacific in the coming days in a rare show of force as President Donald Trump visits Asia with warnings about the nuclear threat from North Korea, U.S. officials say. The drill will include the USS Nimitz, the Ronald Reagan, the Theodore Roosevelt and their accompanying warships, the first time three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups have exercised together in the region in a decade. A Japanese destroyer, the Inazuma, will join the armada, two Japanese government officials said, following a separate three-day exercise with the Reagan and two Indian warships in the Sea of Japan that ended Monday. U.S. officials have previously said the drill was under consideration and that planning was under way. The decision to soon go forward with the exercise in the Western Pacific has not been previously published. The four U.S. officials and two Japanese sources who discussed the drill with Reuters spoke on condition of anonymity, and did not disclose the precise date or location of the exercise. The Pentagon and the Navy s Pacific Fleet declined comment on future operations. Reuters was not aware of any plans for Trump to visit the carriers. Trump has reiterated his tough rhetoric against North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs since starting a 12-day trip to Asia on Sunday. Speaking in Tokyo on Monday, Trump renewed his warning that the era of strategic patience with North Korea was over. The U.S. leader, who began a visit South Korea on Tuesday, has rattled some allies with his vow to totally destroy North Korea if necessary to defend the United States or its allies, and with his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a rocket man on a suicide mission. Kim has called Trump a mentally deranged U.S. dotard. The last time three U.S. carrier strike groups exercised together was in 2007, when the Nimitz, along with the John C. Stennis and Kitty Hawk carrier strike groups participated in drills near Guam. Such large-scale drills serve as a potent reminder of the U.S. ability to rapidly mobilize military force, a capability the Trump administration has been keen to emphasize as Pyongyang races ahead with tests to build a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the United States. Since taking office, Trump has vowed to expand the fleet of U.S. carriers, even as some military strategists and experts believe the massive ships would be increasingly vulnerable to modern Chinese and Russian weapons in any conflict. Singapore-based military expert Tim Huxley said the presence of the U.S. carriers still sent an unmistakable message, with each one carrying 70-odd aircraft. Beyond the capability to project military power at great range, their ability to project political and psychological power is arguably unmatched, and we are seeing that play out, said Huxley, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. While in a war against China, U.S. carriers might be vulnerable, they wouldn t be in any conflict against North Korea...and three U.S. carriers can deliver a tremendous amount of airpower. Carrier commanders say the strike groups are kept combat ready at all times, with jet fighters and surveillance planes flying constantly from their flight decks to maintain a protective screen. U.S. defense officials noted recently the presence of the three U.S. carriers in the region was reassuring allies, even though it was long scheduled. It does demonstrate a capability that no other nation in the world can do, Joint Staff Director Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie Jr said earlier this month. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called for restraint during a regular news briefing on Tuesday when asked about the carriers, saying the situation on the Korean peninsula was complex and severe. All relevant sides should exercise restraint, avoid irritating each other, dedicate themselves to lowering the tense situation on the peninsula, and at the same time make positive efforts to get the North Korean nuclear issue back on a track to a resolution via talks as soon as possible, Hua said, reiterating the long-held Chinese position. The CIA has said North Korea could be only months away from developing the ability to hit the United States with nuclear weapons, a scenario Trump has vowed to prevent. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, on a trip late last month to South Korea, was at pains to stress that diplomacy was America s preferred course to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. Still, he warned Pyongyang that its military was no match for the U.S.-South Korean alliance, and that diplomacy was most effective when backed by credible military force. | 1 |
20,511 | The Secret Society That Ruined the World: Rhodes, Rothschild, Milner | IMAGE: Globalist scribe for the American branch of international order, Carol Quigley.Jay Dyer 21st Century WireIn this partial video, I continue my analysis of Quigley s later work, The Anglo American Establishment, following upon my lectures last year on the total 1300 pages of Tragedy and Hope. Here, we look deeper into the key players who make up the real Illuminati that successfully engineered the faux democracy of the modern world, run by a shadow banking-corporate empire.This is an addendum to the 8 lectures last year on the monumental Atlanticist apologetic Tragedy and Hope based on Quigley s other telling book, The Anglo-American Establishment. The first section is free, while subscribers gain access to full talks and lectures. The goals which Rhodes and Milner sought and the methods by which they hoped to achieve them were so similar by 1902 that the two are almost indistinguishable Both sought to unite the world, and above all the English-speaking world in a federal structure around Britain. Both felt that this goal could best be achieved by a secret band of men united to one another by devotion to the common cause and by personal loyalty to one another. Both felt that this band should pursue its goal by secret political and economic influence behind the scenes and by the control of journalistic, educational, and propaganda agencies. Quigley (Namely, the Liberal Imperium.)YouTube:Jay Dyer is the author of the best selling title, Esoteric Hollywood: Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film from Trine Day. Focusing on film, philosophy, geopolitics and all things esoteric, JaysAnalysis and his podcast, Esoteric Hollywood, investigates the deeper meanings between the headlines, exploring the hidden aspects of our sinister synthetic mass media matrix.SUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
20,512 | Palestinian Protesters Attack US Embassy in Lebanon | The US Embassy in Lebanon went on lock-down today after demonstrators gathered outside on Sunday morning, as Pro-Palestinian protesters showed their outrage over U.S. President Donald Trump s provocative decision to recognize illegally occupied Jerusalem as the Zionist entity s capital city. Evetns turned violent after protesters hurled projectiles at police, and also set fires to makeshift barricades erected on the street in front of the US Embassy secure compound, located north of Beirut, Lebanon.Protesters also reportedly burned US, Israeli flags and an effigy of US President Donald Trump.Later, angry protestors manged to pull down a portion of the front metal gates to the US Embassy.Lebanese security forces deployed tear gas and water cannons to try and repel angry mobs.Reuters reports: Late on Saturday Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo urged the United States to abandon its decision and said the move would spur violence throughout the region.Israel says that all of Jerusalem is its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.Most countries consider East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in a 1967 war, to be occupied territory and say the status of the city should be left to be decided at future Israeli-Palestinian talks.The government of Lebanon, which hosts about 450,000 Palestinian refugees, has condemned Trump s decision. Lebanese President Michel Aoun last week called the move a threat to regional stability.The powerful Iran-backed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah on Thursday said it backed calls for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel in response to the U.S. decision.Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also called for a protest against the decision in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATESREAD MORE PALESTINE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Palestine FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
20,513 | TRUMP FOR AMERICAN JOBS! Testifies In 1991 Predicting Housing Tumble [Video] | It was 1991 when Trump testified to Congress about that irrational exuberance as he complained that monetary policy was pushing money into international markets, while construction was being restricted. Trump said then, watch markets and if housing/building gets too loose, it could be reined in then. But instead they never reined it in and Dem s like Raines and Gorelick helped push NINJA loans and got their bonuses by selling their junk as AAA to average Joes. you create jobs, you create so many other things, incentive has to be put back in to the construction of things that are needed, such as housing Trump in 91. Trump was for keeping jobs in America back in the 1980 s even; | 0 |
20,514 | Is the United States of America a Liberal Democracy, or Liberal Oligarchy? | 21st Century Wire says Does the American ideal of a egalitarian meritocracy really live up to the reality? Did it ever?The world s political and financial elite are currently operating in an epoch which features the greatest wealth gap in human history, and in a financial environment which is the most unrestrained in modern times all controlled by a relatively small tribe of hereditary elites.It s high time to question and reexamine the post-modern concept of democracy Liberal Democracy is a system of governance conditioned not only by political liberties such as free and fair elections, universal suffrage, and rights to run for office, but also by constitutional liberties such as the rule of law, respect for minorities, freedom of speech, religion and assembly, private property rights, and most importantly, a wide separation of powers. The founding pillar of liberal democracy, therefore, is its citizens ability to influence the government s policy formulation through the exercise of the aforementioned political and constitutional liberties. In other words, while a flawless correspondence between government policy formulation and majority preferences is idealistic, government responsiveness to citizens interests and concerns, in the process of policy formulation, is of central importance when evaluating democratic governance.Petar Djolic Global ResearchErgo, by embracing the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory s perspective, this paper will illustrate how the U.S. system of governance, while providing constitutional, that is, civil liberties to its citizens, espouses more focused and more powerful interests over more diffused and less powerful interests. This inevitably results in the U.S. political system being a liberal oligarchy rather than liberal democracy as it is presumed by many (see Dahl, 1971, 1985, 2006; Tocqueville, 2000; Monroe, 1979; Key, 1961 and famously Lincoln, 1989).First, the paper will review the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory while highlighting some of their most prominent advocates. Next, by briefly reflecting upon the definition of the oligarchs and the elites, the paper will place the concept of political influence that corporate power exerts in context. Subsequently, the paper will survey an eminent empirical study that found a vast discrepancy in the U.S. government s responsiveness to the majority preferences as opposed to the preferences of the elites. Last, the essay will illustrate how studies confirming an ostensibly desirable degree of government s responsiveness to the preferences of average citizens neglect the reflection of those preferences to those of wealthy citizens. The Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite TheoryPolitical theory, The Iron Law of Oligarchy, was first proposed by Robert Michels in his book Political Parties (1999) and later developed into The Elite Theory by scholars such as C. Wright Mills, Elmer Eric Schattschneider, G. William Domhoff, etc. Opposing pluralism, the theory focuses on the disparity between the political influence exerted by the oligarchs or the elites, actors that control considerable concentrations of wealth, as opposed to that of the average citizen. This school of political thought argues that the U.S. system of governance espouses more focused and more powerful interests over more diffused and less powerful interests. That is, the advocates of the Elite Theory stress that, in the case of the United States government policy formulation, influence is conditioned by affluence. Mills (1959), in his magnum opus, The Power Elite, offered a comprehensive description of how U.S. political, economic, military and social elites have dominated key issues in public policy formulation. Similarly, in The Semisovereign People, Schattschneider asserted that the realm of the pressure system is actually fairly small: the range of organized, identifiable, known groups is amazingly narrow; there is nothing remotely universal about it (1960: 30).Schattschneider continues by arguing that business or upper-class bias of the pressure system shows up everywhere (ibid: 30), therefore, the notion that the pressure system is automatically representative of the whole community is a myth (ibid: 36).Instead, Schattschneider posits,the system is skewed, loaded and unbalanced in favor of a fraction of a minority (ibid: 36).G. William Domhoff made a significant contributed to the elite theory with his book, Who Rules America: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. Domhoff (2013) presented a detailed depiction of how operating through various organizations such as think-tanks, opinion shaping apparatus and lobby groups enable elites to control key issues within policy formulation.Oligarchs and The ElitesAccording to Aristotle (1996), oligarchs are citizens who control and command an extensive concentration of wealth who always happen to be the few . Similarly, people who, due to their strategic positions in powerful organizations, have the ability to influence political outcomes, are classified by most scholars as economic and political elites (Higley, 2006). Therefore, the terms oligarchs and elites are often used interchangeably. These individuals can affect the basic stability of political regimes, the overall arrangements and workings of political institutions, and the key policies of the government (Higley and Burton, 2006: 7). Typically, elites and oligarchs consist of the top directors and executives of the major corporations. Nonetheless, they can belong to other essential sectors of the society such as political, military and administrative (Keller, 1963). By owning a wealth-producing property, these individuals make large-scale investment and, therefore, employment decisions, which ultimately regulates the United States economy (Higley and Pakulski, 2012). Therefore, a large percentage of American economic assets are disproportionately controlled by a rather small number of corporations.Empirical StudyOver time, a variety of diverse actors that seem to have influence on U.S. policy formulation have been identified. Coincidentally, normative concerns that the U.S. political system is vastly influenced by capital driven individuals and groups have been growing. Until recently, however, providing empirical evidence that supported these concerns proved to be very difficult, almost impossible. Nonetheless, several, fairly recent empirical studies have demonstrated that, in the case of the United States, the policy making process is influenced, to a great degree, by more focused and more powerful interests compared to more diffused, less powerful interests (see Gilens and Page, 2014; Winters and Page, 2009; Page, Kalla and Broockman, 2015; Jacobs and Page, 2005; Bartels and Seawright, 2013; etc). However, due to its limited scope, this paper will survey only one of these studies.By employing an imposing data set drawn from a heterogeneous set of policy initiatives, 1,923 in total, Gilens and Page demonstrated that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence (2014: pp. 565).By comparing policy preferences of American citizens at the 50th income percentile to that of American citizens at the 90th income percentile, Gilens and Page (2014) found that the United States policy formulation is conditioned by the preferences of the latter group far more than it is conditioned by the preferences of the former group. In fact, the influence that the medium voter exerts on the U.S. policy formulation is near zero (Gilens and Page, 2014: pp. 576). By including the data that dates all the way back to 1980 the authors illustrated that such state of affairs has been a long-term trend, making it harder for ordinary citizens to comprehend, let alone reverse. However, ordinary citizens, might often be observed to win , that is, to get their preferred policy outcomes, even if they had no independent effect whatsoever on policy making, if elites, with whom they often agree with, actually prevail as policy formulation is not a zero-sum game (Gilens and Page, 2014: pp. 570). Nevertheless, it is crucial to point out that this correlation is erroneous in terms of causal impact and, consequently, provides a false sense of political equality. In other words, the results obtained by the authors demonstrate how the relatively high level of government s responsiveness to the preferences of average and low income citizens is nothing more than a reflection of the preferences shared by wealthy citizens. However, by incorporation a multivariate analysis of different test groups, Gilens and Page (2014), illustrated how the influence of average citizens preferences drops rapidly once their preferences differ to that of wealthy citizens.The ideal of political equality that average American citizens, as well as many scholars, hold dear, stands in stark contrast to the immense representational biases demonstrated by Gilens and Page. While acknowledging that a perfect political equality has a particularly idealistic character, the enormous dichotomy in the system s responsiveness to citizens at different income levels reinforces doubt associated with the presumed liberal democratic character of American society and leads this paper to conclude that the U.S. is, contrary to popular belief, a liberal oligarchy as opposed to liberal democracy.By embracing the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory s perspective, this paper illustrated how the U.S. system of governance, while providing constitutional, that is, civil liberties to its citizens, espouses more focused and more powerful interests over more diffused and less powerful interests. This inevitably results in the U.S. political system being a liberal oligarchy rather than liberal democracy as it is presumed by many. First, the paper reviewed the Iron Law of Oligarchy and The Elite Theory and highlighted some of their most prominent advocates. Next, by briefly reflecting upon the definition of the oligarchs and the elites, the paper placed the concept of corporate power and political influence it exerts in context. Subsequently, the paper surveyed an eminent empirical study that found a vast discrepancy in the U.S. government s responsiveness to the majority preferences as opposed to the preferences of the elites. Last, the paper illustrated how studies confirming ostensibly desirable levels of government s responsiveness to the preferences of the average citizen neglect the reflection of those preferences to those of wealthy citizens .Continue this article and see all footnotes at Global ResearchREAD MORE NWO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NWO Files | 0 |
20,515 | Boiler Room #64 – GLADIO! Come Out and Play! | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 11 AM PST | 2 PM EST this Saturday July 9th. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Randy J and Patrick Henningsen of 21Wire and Branko Mali from Kali Tribune. Tonight the Boiler Gang discusses the Clinton FBI results, CA legislature s war against the people on behalf of a tyrannical government gone mad and whatever else floats into our air space during the show!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! Reference Links: | 0 |
20,516 | China pushes Hong Kong not to 'shirk duty' to enact contentious security law | HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese official admonished Hong Kong on Thursday for failing to introduce a national security law, ramping up pressure on the former British colony to enact the contentious Article 23 that critics say will further choke its freedoms. The global financial hub has been ruled under a one country, two systems principle since it returned to China in 1997, guaranteeing freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including an independent judiciary and freedom of expression. Those freedoms are outlined in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law , a document that also demands the city pass its own laws preventing treason, secession and subversion against Communist Party rulers in Beijing. Hong Kong leaders have in the past decade put off passing Article 23, possibly their most sensitive political task, especially as tensions ran high after the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014. But Beijing officials have not forgotten, and on Thursday Li Fei, who chairs the Basic Law Committee under the Chinese parliament s standing committee, said it was a duty that cannot be shirked . I believe we can all see the harmful effects from this legal vacuum, he said in a speech in Hong Kong. I d like to emphasize, (Hong Kong should) safeguard national sovereignty and security through legislation and strict implementation of the law. An earlier planned national security law for Hong Kong was shelved in 2003 after an estimated 500,000 people marched against it. In his hour-long speech, live-streamed in some schools and at times directed at students, Li also lashed out at a nascent independence movement, which has gone largely underground after most of its figureheads were charged for what the government called a riot in 2016. Their behavior is absurd, the nature of it is illegal, and emotionally speaking it s absolutely impermissible, he said. We must resist and oppose them without any hesitation. Li s remarks came after Chinese President Xi Jinping took what some saw as a harder line on Hong Kong s future during his visit in July to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1997 handover. Xi warned then that any attempt to endanger Chinese sovereignty and security, challenge China s power, or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration or sabotage would be acts that cross the red line and were absolutely impermissible . The city s new leader, Carrie Lam, bent on mending the damaged trust between Beijing and the Hong Kong public, has repeatedly said the timing is not right to introduce security laws, just three years after the youth-led demonstrations directly challenged Beijing s authority. Even without any new local laws, some Hong Kong lawyers, diplomats and activists believe Beijing may make its own attempt to outlaw independence debates through a formal interpretation of the Basic Law, or extending national laws to cover Hong Kong. Such moves would have to be followed by Hong Kong s courts, deepening fears over the strength of Hong Kong s vaunted rule of law and freedom of speech. Some experts note that Beijing has lowered the threshold for such action after its preemptive interpretation of the Basic Law last year, which effectively disqualified lawmakers who did not take their oaths properly. It also ruled last month to outlaw mockery of the national anthem and decided the law would be extended to Hong Kong, which will take effect after it s been put to the city s legislature. | 1 |
20,517 | At least five killed in east Congo clashes: Human Rights Watch | KINSHASA (Reuters) - At least four civilians and a police officer were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday in clashes between security forces and protesters demanding the departure of President Joseph Kabila this year, Human Rights Watch said. The national electoral commission announced this month that an election to replace Kabila, whose mandate expired last December, cannot take place until April 2019. The delay has raised fears of an escalation of violence in Congo, which is Africa s biggest copper producer. Activist groups in the eastern city of Goma had called for a general strike on Monday to protest against the election delay. Unrest broke out by 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) between police and protesters, who barricaded roads and burned tires, local residents and the police said. Security forces killed at least four civilians and one police officer also died in the clashes, said Ida Sawyer, central Africa director at New York-based Human Rights Watch. A spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Congo said it had documented 37 arrests but could not yet confirm a death toll. Provincial police commissioner Placide Nyembo said that the police officer was beaten to death by protesters and one demonstrator was killed by a stray bullet. The police also said in a statement that they broke up a planned demonstration in the northern province of Tshopo by protesters with jerrycans filled with petrol. Deteriorating security across Congo this year, including a spike in militia violence, has prompted fears the country could slip back to the multi-sided civil wars of the turn of the century, when hundreds of thousands were killed in violence and millions are believed to have perished of hunger and disease. Kabila says the election delays are due to challenges registering millions of voters. His opponents say he plans to change the constitution to remain in power, as other African leaders have done. | 1 |
20,518 | U.S. Senate Judiciary chairman to call ex-Trump aide Manafort to testify | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said on Wednesday he intends to call former Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, to testify before the panel, an Iowa newspaper reported. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said Manafort would be subpoenaed if necessary and could be questioned on anything including his presence in a June 2016 meeting in New York involving the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer, the Des Moines Register said. “We’re working very close on this and we’ve already agreed that we’re going to bring Manafort before our committee,” the paper quoted Grassley as saying in a call with reporters, describing his cooperation with Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the committee. | 1 |
20,519 | In campaign trail debut with Clinton, Warren says Trump driven by greed | CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Liberal Elizabeth Warren attacked Republican Donald Trump on Monday during her first campaign appearance with U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling him an “insecure money grubber” who is driven by greed and hate. Warren, a leader of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and a potential vice presidential pick, said Clinton had spent her career fighting for liberal values while Trump, a wealthy real estate developer, was focused on boosting his bottom line. The U.S. senator from Massachusetts appeared with Clinton before a raucous, enthusiastic crowd in Cincinnati, Ohio, targeting a battleground state in a potential preview of a Clinton-Warren campaign team. She repeatedly accused Trump of looking out for himself instead of for average Americans. “When Donald Trump says he’ll make America great, he means make it even greater for rich guys just like Donald Trump,” Warren said, standing shoulder to shoulder with a cheering Clinton. Clinton has struggled to win over some liberal backers of rival Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist U.S. senator from Vermont, since beating him for the Democratic nomination this month. She hopes the support of Warren can help her in that effort as she campaigns against Trump for the Nov. 8 election. Warren, who has vigorously attacked Trump in recent weeks, called him “a small, insecure money grubber who fights for no one but himself” and warned: “He will crush you into the dirt to get whatever he wants. That’s who he is.” The capacity crowd repeatedly roared its approval, and a line of supporters who could not get inside stretched out the door and down the street. At one point, Warren stopped her speech to turn and applaud Clinton, a former secretary of state. “She knows what it takes to beat a thin-skinned bully who is driven by greed and hate,” said Warren, known for calling for reining in Wall Street and eradicating income inequality. WARREN ‘A SELLOUT’ - TRUMP In a statement, Trump called Warren “a sellout” for backing Clinton, who has taken donations from Wall Street interests and once backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Asian trade deal. Clinton has since reversed her trade stance. In an interview with NBC News, Trump called Warren “a fraud” and “a racist,” accusing her of making up claims about her Native American heritage to advance her career. He again called Warren “Pocahontas,” the name of a 17th-century Native American figure, to draw attention to a controversy first raised during Warren’s 2012 Senate race in Massachusetts. “She is one of the least productive senators in the United States Senate,” Trump told NBC. “We call her Pocahontas for a reason.” Two other potential Clinton vice presidential picks - U.S. senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio - rejected Trump’s assertion and defended Warren’s record. “That’s what he does, he attacks people. He acts like he’s attacking their character - he’s attacking his own character when he does that,” Brown told Reuters. “You can’t believe anything Donald Trump says. Period,” Kaine told Reuters. Taking the microphone in Ohio, Clinton said she liked Warren’s aggressive approach to her Republican rival, who has sprayed rivals and critics with insults throughout his campaign. “I just love how she gets under Donald Trump’s skin,” Clinton said. Clinton’s decision to campaign with Warren for the first time in Cincinnati, a city on Ohio’s southwestern border with Kentucky and Indiana, underscored the swing state’s vital role in the November showdown with Trump. Ohio has backed every successful presidential nominee since 1964 and no Republican has won the White House without carrying the state. Warren’s calls to rein in corporate excess could resonate with two groups Clinton must court in the election - Sanders supporters and those anxious about the economy who are drawn to Trump’s promise to toss out international trade deals. Ohio’s manufacturing base has taken a hit in recent economic slowdowns, and Trump has identified it as a state where his anti-free trade rhetoric could resonate with alienated blue-collar voters. Since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, Clinton has repeatedly tried to portray businessman Trump as fundamentally unfit for the presidency. Clinton said Warren’s long history of fighting for progressive economic values made her a perfect messenger for that critique. | 1 |
20,520 | NSA ARCHITECT: NSA SNOOPING EXPIRES BUT FEDS WILL CONTINUE SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICANS’ PHONE RECORDS | This NSA whistleblower has some very interesting things to say about what will happen now that the right to snoop has expired:The AP had this to say about what s happening now with the NSA:Eight days after blocking it, Senate Republicans have agreed to begin debate on a House bill that would overhaul the National Security Agency s handling of American calling records while preserving other domestic surveillance provisions.But that remarkable turnabout didn t happen soon enough to prevent the laws governing the programs from expiring at midnight Sunday as Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a presidential contender, stood in the way of extending the program, angering his GOP colleagues and frustrating intelligence and law enforcement officials.Now, the question is whether the Senate will pass a bill the House can live with. If so, the surveillance programs will resume, with some significant changes in how the phone records are handled. If not, they will remain dormant.The Senate vote on the measure known as the USA Freedom Act can come no earlier than 1 a.m., Tuesday. Senate Republican aides said they expected some amendments, but no major revisions to the bill. Having gone past the brink, the Senate must now embrace the necessity of acting responsibly, said Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, in a statement after Sunday s Senate vote.The high-stakes drama played out as Congress debated the most significant changes prompted by the disclosures of Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who revealed the phone records collection and other main surveillance programs. With no deal reached in time, the NSA stopped collecting American phone records at 3:59 p.m. EST Sunday, officials said.Other authorities that expired allowed the FBI to collect business records in terrorism and espionage investigations, and to more easily eavesdrop on a suspect who is discarding cell phones to avoid surveillance. | 0 |
20,521 | no title | source zero hedge
by tyler durden
oct
last night a leaked memo was revealed indicating fbi director james comeys stated reasons for reopening the clinton email probe upon discovering what now appear to be tens of thousands of huma abedin emails located on anthony weiners notebook comey revealed two core reasons for the action a sense of obligation to lawmakers and a concern that word of the new email discovery would leak to the media and raise questions of a coverup what he did not reveal and as has emerged overnight from a report by the new yorkers jane mayer is that comey also acted in contravention to doj practices and more importantly acted contrary to the preference of doj head loretta lynch whose infamous meeting with bill clinton on the phoenix tarmac at the end of june will likely be reassessed in light of these latest revelations
according to the new yorker comeys decision to make public new evidence that may raise additional legal questions about clinton was contrary to the views of the attorney general according to a wellinformed administration official lynch expressed her preference that comey follow the departments longstanding practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations and not taking any action that could influence the outcome of an election but he said that he felt compelled to do otherwise
traditionally the justice department has advised prosecutors and law enforcement to avoid any appearance of meddling in the outcome of elections even if it means holding off on pressing cases one former senior official recalled that janet reno the attorney general under bill clinton completely shut down the prosecution of a politically sensitive criminal target prior to an election she was adamantanything that could influence the election had to go dark the former official said please go to zero hedge to read the entire article | 0 |
20,522 | British lawmakers urge May to tackle Trump on climate change | LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers have written to Prime Minister Theresa May, urging her to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump on his views on climate change when the two leaders meet on Friday. Trump has dismissed climate change as a “hoax” and vowed during his presidential campaign to pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. “As one of the world’s largest emitters ... his approach to reducing emissions could determine whether we, in the UK and people round the world, experience or avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” the letter from the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee said. May is set to be the first foreign leader to meet the new U.S. President on Friday, with the talks expected to focus on trade. Environmental Audit Committee chair Mary Creagh said that May should use the opportunity to demonstrate Britain’s commitment to fighting climate change. “The Prime Minister has said she won’t be afraid to challenge the new President. So she should start by telling him climate change is not ‘a hoax’,” Creagh said. Scientists warn that rising global temperatures must be stalled to stave off the worst effects of climate change, including floods, droughts and rising sea levels. | 1 |
20,523 | WATCH: Catholic Nun Gives Paul Ryan A Biblical Beatdown | In House Speaker Paul Ryan s Ayn Randish views, the way to fix the economy is by starving the poor to death. It s also totally going to help the poor somehow. Ryan, a Catholic, was challenged by a nun during his first town hall in two years on Monday evening. After angry constituents filled the room, Sister Erica Jordan, a Dominican nun and retired school principal took Ryan s faith and his actions toward the poor to task. I know that you re a Catholic, as am I. And it seems to me that most of the Republicans in the Congress are not willing to stand with the poor and working class, as evidenced in the recent debates about health care and the anticipated tax reform, Sister Jordan said. So I d like to ask how you see yourself upholding the Church s social teaching that has the idea that God is always on the side of the poor and dispossessed, as should we be. In response, Ryan said, Sister, you may this may come as a surprise to you, but I completely agree with you. Where we may disagree is on how to achieve that goal. As you know, we all exercise prudential judgment in practicing our faith. And for me, the preferential option for the poor, which is something that s a key tenet of the Catholic faith, that means upward mobility, that means economic growth, that means equality of opportunity, he continued. That to me means working with this guy over here at Gateway Tech to make sure that we can close the skills gap, to make sure that every person who wants a career and job can get the benefits. Except that Ryan is wrong but at least he s consistent. Republicans do not want to make higher education affordable so the skills gap claim doesn t hold water. The poor are being marginalized and misaligned, in many ways, because a lot of the programs that we have, well-intentioned as they may be, are discouraging and disincentivizing work, he continued. I think we need to change our approach on fighting poverty, he said without one bit of irony. Instead of measuring success on how much money we spend or how many programs we create or how many people on those programs, let s measure success and poverty on outcomes. Watch:The budget produced by Ryan s House Of Representatives would cut education and job training programs by 25 percent.Math still matters, Mr. Ryan.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
20,524 | The Internet Hilariously Reacts To Picture Of Trump’s Hideous Victory Cake (TWEETS) | Donald Trump is counting on a big win tonight, although most pollsters indicate a victory for Hillary Clinton. Still yet, we re sure he s prepared a concession speech. Joking! In preparation for Donald s victory party, he has a cash bar set up for guests, according to Ben Jacobs of The Guardian on Twitter. We do hope Donald has paid the bar staff in advance. Also, his baker. A picture of Trump s hideous victory cake was just released.The bizarre cake featuring Donald s head was just wheeled into Trump Tower.A Donald Trump cake being wheeled into Trump Tower @abc #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/HSkHChfUSA Jason Volack (@jasonvolack) November 8, 2016The response from Twitter was quick..@jasonvolack @ABC pic.twitter.com/aZU6U8QbtA Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) November 8, 2016Trump s little hands.so lifelike tbh jason@jasonvolack @ABC pic.twitter.com/7BZiaNMj5v darth ? zero day (@darth) November 8, 2016u just know trump spent more time posing for this cake than he did preparing for any of the debates ?@jasonvolack @ABC darth ? zero day (@darth) November 8, 2016pic.twitter.com/hdyyRMjtFp darth ? zero day (@darth) November 8, 2016 never talk to me or my son ever again pic.twitter.com/dUIMDLFIVc darth ? zero day (@darth) November 8, 2016@jasonvolack @pbump @ABC pic.twitter.com/2AkSOmoz4O Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) November 8, 2016@tomtomorrow @bshoup @jasonvolack @pbump @ABC pic.twitter.com/uDOeyAoHUr Renato Pagnani (@rennavate) November 8, 2016@jasonvolack @ABC That baker is SO not getting paid. Anne_Boerner (@anne_boerner) November 8, 2016@jasonvolack it s got that Christie thousand-yard stare Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh) November 8, 2016@jasonvolack @ABC Good god, really? that s terrifying. Four Legsgood (@4lgsgood) November 8, 2016@jasonvolack @ABC they ve made him a cake of Angela Lansbury? Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) November 8, 2016@jasonvolack @ABC ghoulish his head on a platter are you sure it s not for Hillary s event? Margaux Nasty Gray (@RedGray) November 8, 2016As we wait in anticipation for the results to come in tonight, exit polling shows that Hillary Clinton s ground game is far superior to that of Donald Trump s. But, Donald has a cake and a cash bar!Image via Twitter. | 0 |
20,525 | The Pathetic List Of Supplies The Oregon ‘Patriots’ Brought With Them To Last The Winter | To the modern conservative revolutionary, the men dubbing themselves the Citizens For Constitutional Freedom aka the morons who have laid siege to an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere may appear to be a well-organized militia worthy of the name. To normal people, they are a group of radicalized right-wing extremists who have taken up arms against their government in the commission of a felony on taxpayer-owned land.Nothing could possibly prove this point more effectively than the statement made by Ammon Bundy himself that his movement would be there for years if necessary coupled with the desperate plea for snacks we heard Monday after only 3 days in the woods.That s not even close to the best part. The Bundy militia allowed The Guardian to photograph their storeroom, which looks more like a pile of stuff ready to be tossed in the trunk for a weekend camping trip:Courtesy of The GuardianRemember that this stash is not just supposed to keep the 12-15 people there fed during the revolt, but also provided sustenance for anyone who shows up armed and ready to die for no good reason. The Guardian did an actual inventory of the items in the room:It included a cardboard box of apples and oranges, a few dozen pots of instant ramen, 24 cans of chicken noodle soup, a similar number of cans of sweetcorn, peas, beans and chili, and 20 boxes of macaroni and cheese.There were also three sacks of potatoes, one bag of flour, another of rolled oats, boxes of raisins, a single bag of pretzels and one granola bar.Not very impressive. Fish and Wildlife Services, the agency that runs the wild bird reserve the militia is intent on giving to ranchers, miners and loggers, is planning on shutting down the power to the building, which will leave the criminal trespassers in the cold of the Oregon forest.They say they re prepared, but shutting the power down is just the first step. The FBI is reportedly working on its own plan to shut off any and all access to the outside world to flush out the armed insurrectionists.Hopefully, when the federal government does show up, the imbeciles will throw down their weapons and surrender. It s not like they have a lot of food to survive on.Featured image via The Guardian | 0 |
20,526 | What's wrong with a joke? Macron defends air-conditioning gag in Africa | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has a reputation for disarming hostile audiences with repartee and humor, but his latest verbal jousting on a trip to Africa has drawn criticism at home. In an interview broadcast late on Wednesday, Macron dismissed as ridiculous suggestions he had offended Burkina Faso s President Roch Marc Kabore when he quipped with students that Kabore had left the room to fix the air-conditioning. The exchange came during a boisterous 90-minute question-and-answer session at Ouagadougou University earlier this week that followed Macron s promise of a new era in relations between France and Africa. When one of the students in the audience grilled Macron over what he would do about Burkina Faso s constant power cuts, the 39-year-old replied: You speak to me like I m a colonial power, but I don t want to look after electricity in Burkina Faso. That s the job of your president. Earlier heckles turned into laughter and applause. When Kabore later left the hall, Macron joked: You see, he s gone. He s left to fix the air-conditioning. Shortly after, a smiling Kabore returned to his seat. Macron s remark touched off a social media frenzy, splitting those who defended it as lighthearted banter and others who complained of paternalistic overtones. Far-right rivals accused him of bordering on racism . That s ridiculous, Macron said in an interview with France 24. We have a relationship of equals, that means we can joke with one another. Macron has courted trouble with his language before. He was widely criticized this summer after saying that Africa faced civilisational problems. In France he has provoked anger by describing opponents as slackers and urging workers to stop kicking up a bloody mess . Firing back at his critics, Macron said it was those who deemed it inappropriate to joke with an African leader who were guilty of patronizing the continent. I would have had a laugh about it with any European leader with whom I have this kind of relationship. I don t with (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel, but I do for example with (European Commission president) Jean-Claude Juncker, he said. (Fixes typo in para 9, adds TV in media identifier) | 1 |
20,527 | CHAIRMAN OF DEMS FOR TRUMP: My Party is Suffering from ‘Trump Derangement’ [Video] | We have to agree that the left is suffering from Trump derangement because just about anything the POTUS does is met with derision from the Democrats. There is no middle ground but only division that continues with the leaders of the left stirring the pot. Think about it. Without the division, the left has nothing Well, the The chairman of Democrats for Trump reacted to repeated calls for the president s impeachment and obstructionist behavior by members of his party. I think it s Trump derangement, former New York City Council President Andrew Stein said on Fox & Friends. Ed Henry played video of Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) introducing articles of impeachment and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) telling a crowd that President Trump s motives and actions are contemptible. Impeach 45 every day, she later said.Stein said he doesn t know why his fellow Democrats think Trump is a bad guy. Stein thinks President Trump should just continue to take his message to the people. We have to agree that the president needs to go around the lying media to deliver his message.The latest example of lying from the media is the poor treatment of First Lady Melania Trump. The media bombarded Melania with fake news about a tree that needed to be cut down. The press made it seem like evil Melania demanded that the tree be removed. In reality, the 200-year old tree had become a hazard. The media conveniently left that part out.Via Fox News Insider: | 0 |
20,528 | Russian TV says U.S. missile strikes on Syria destroyed nine planes | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state TV said on Friday that U.S. air strikes on a Syrian air base had destroyed nine planes, but had left the main runway relatively unscathed. The Rossiya 24 channel showed footage of the base after it was struck by U.S. cruise missiles. Craters, debris and rubble was visible, but the main runway looked largely intact. It was unclear whether the channel was showing all or just part of the base. | 1 |
20,529 | White House adviser Rhodes to meet with Cuban Americans in Miami next week | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes will travel to Miami next week to meet with leaders from the Cuban-American community to allay concerns about Obama’s historic trip to Cuba later this month, a White House official told Reuters. “Miami has long been at the heart of the Cuban-American community, and this trip will provide an opportunity to continue the important dialogue about the president’s efforts to normalize relations with Cuba,” the official said. Rhodes, who helped negotiate the thaw in Washington’s relations with the island nation, will meet with human rights advocates, religious leaders, and private sector representatives during his March 11 trip. Obama goes to Havana in mid-March in what will be the first visit by a U.S. president to the Caribbean nation since 1928. Republicans and some leaders in the Cuban-American community oppose the trip, believing it will give legitimacy to the island’s Communist government. Rhodes will seek to allay those concerns and discuss what the president hopes to achieve by going to Havana, the official said. Obama plans to meet with dissidents as well as President Raul Castro during his stay in Cuba. | 1 |
20,530 | Indonesia president nominates air chief to replace controversial military head | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo has nominated the chief of staff of the air force to be the new head of the armed forces (TNI), to replace a controversial general who is due to retire in April. Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto has close ties to the president and was previously in charge of an air base in the city of Solo, on the island of Java, when Widodo was its mayor. Since then, Tjahjanto has been promoted a number of times including to inspector general of the defense ministry and the president s military secretary. Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto is considered capable and qualified to become TNI commander, presidential spokesman Johan Budi told reporters on Monday after confirming the nomination. The proposal had been sent to the parliament, which needs to approve it, he said. Abdul Kharis Almasyhari, chairman of a parliamentary commission with oversight of defense and security, said the commission would do a fit and proper assessment of the nomination, which hopefully could be completed by a Dec. 14 recess. The outgoing armed forces chef, General Gatot Nurmantyo, who will step down at the end of his term in April, has often courted controversy over what analysts see as his political ambitions. He has been accused of whipping up nationalist sentiment by promoting the notion that Indonesia is besieged by proxy wars waged by foreign states looking to undermine it. In October, Widodo said the armed forces should stay out of politics and ensure their loyalty was only to the state and the government - a statement many believed referred to Nurmantyo s actions. There has been speculation that Nurmantyo would seek to run for vice president or even president in 2019. Nurmantyo has not confirmed any political ambitions. He told a briefing in October the military was neutral in practical politics . | 1 |
20,531 | Trump Went ‘BALLISTIC’ When Sessions Recused Himself From Russia Investigation | Donald Trump reportedly flew into a fit of rage when Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to recuse himself from the investigation into Russia.Sessions resigned on Thursday after it was revealed that he had met with the Russian ambassador and then lied about it during his confirmation hearing. Sessions made the choice after officials at the Justice Department advised him to recuse himself, but Trump didn t take the news well at all.Robert Costa, a reporter for the Washington Post, tweeted that Trump stormed out of the White House in a fury on Friday, fuming about [Jeff] Sessions recusal and telling aides that Sessions shouldn t have recused himself. Trump left WH in a fury on Friday, fuming about Sessions s recusal and telling aides that Sessions shouldn t have recused himself Robert Costa (@costareports) March 4, 2017President remarked to staff that Sessions/WH/DOJ should have done more to counter Sessions story, that it was bull, per aides familiar Robert Costa (@costareports) March 4, 2017According to ABC News, Trump went absolutely ballistic when he found out that Sessions was going to recuse himself.Before leaving for Mar-a-Lago yesterday, Pres. Trump summoned some senior staff to the Oval Office and went ballistic, sources tell @ABC. Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) March 4, 2017Trump expressed his full support of Sessions just hours before the attorney general announced that he was recusing himself from the investigation. Trump has defended Sessions unwaveringly and continues to dismiss the accusations against him.Trump s reaction isn t exactly surprising. At this point, more people close to him have met with Russia (and lied about it) than haven t. Chances are slim to none that Trump himself wasn t involved. As the investigation continues, evidence keeps mounting up and the list of Trump officials who have been in contact with Russia continues to grow.Trump s former national security adviser was forced to resign after it was revealed he told Russia not to worry about the sanctions imposed by President Obama before Trump was sworn in. In recent days, Trump s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has also been caught meeting with Flynn and the Russian ambassador.Featured image via Jim Lo Scalzo Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
20,532 | STUNNING: Hillary’s Own Numbers Show Her Tax Hike Proposals Will Cost American Workers Additional $1 TRILLION | Wow! If I were Hillary, I d stop sending people to her website during the debates as a way to deflect from actual issues. They may find out something pretty horrifying like maybe a TRILLION dollar tax hike! Trillion dollar tax hike Hillary s tax hike proposals will raise taxes on the American people by over $1,000,000,000,000 over the next ten years, based on her campaign s own numbers.Payroll Tax Hike Hillary said she would not veto a payroll tax increase on all Americans should such a bill reach her desk. She said she would set her middle class tax pledge aside. This took place Jan. 12 in Iowa, and it s on video:Moderator: Democrats have introduced a plan that Senator Sanders supports that you ve come out against because it is funded by a payroll tax. If that were to reach your desk as President, would you veto it in order to make good on your tax pledge? Hillary Clinton: No. No. Soda Tax Hike Hillary endorsed a steep new soda pop tax in Philadelphia. This will cost soda purchasers an extra $2.16 per 12-pack. Bernie Sanders called out Hillary s violation of her middle class tax pledge: Frankly, I am very surprised that Secretary Clinton would support this regressive tax after pledging not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. This proposal clearly violates her pledge, he said.Sanders also said: The mechanism here is fairly regressive. And that is, it will be increasing taxes on low-income and working people. 25% National Gun Tax Hillary endorsed a new national 25% retail sales tax on guns. I am all for that, she told the Senate in 1993. On June 5, 2016 she was asked about her gun tax endorsement by George Stephanopoulos on ABC s This Week. She acknowledged her gun tax endorsement and did not disavow it, saying she wanted the gun tax money to pay for Hillarycare. If you have any doubts about her strong desire to impose a new gun tax, watch her face in the video.Doubling of federal excise tax on guns Hillary also endorsed a doubling of the existing federal excise tax on guns.65% Death Tax Hillary is now pushing a 65% Death Tax. And her own finances are arranged to shield herself from death taxes.Capital Gains Tax Hike Hillary has proposed the most complex and Byzantine capital gains tax regime in American history, with ten different rates. She raises the top capital gains tax rate from 23.8% to 43.4%.No Corporate Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone Hillary offers no income tax rate reduction for any business. The USA has the highest corporate income tax in the world, which kills jobs and makes us less competitive. Even Bill Clinton understands the need to cut the corporate rate.No Personal Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone Hillary offers no income tax rate reduction for any American.Carbon Tax Hillary s campaign has opened the door to a carbon tax if she wins the White House. Democrat Senate Leader Chuck Schumer is also fantasizing about a carbon tax under Hillary, and a carbon tax is part of the official 2016 Democrat party platform.To learn more about Hillary s tax hike plan, visit ATR s dedicated website: www.HighTaxHillary.com | 0 |
20,533 | Catalan leader Puigdemont set to call regional election | BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is set to call a snap regional election, political allies said, a move that could help break a one-month deadlock between the Madrid government and separatists seeking a split from Spain. The uncertainty remained high however as Puigdemont who had announced he would deliver an address at 1.30 p.m. (1130 GMT), first delayed it by one hour and then canceled it, triggering speculation he could still change his mind. Several members of his pro-independence coalition said he would dissolve the regional parliament and call the vote. The regional broadcaster said he would deliver a speech in the assembly at 5 p.m., as had initially been planned. Barcelona-based La Vanguardia said he would call the vote for Dec. 20 and was taking the decision in a bid to persuade the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy not to enforce direct rule in the region, which he might do as soon as Friday. The Catalan secessionist drive is Spain s worst political crisis since the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco ended in 1975. It has fractured society and hundreds of companies have left the region. It is also the most serious challenge to the integrity of a Western European country since an independence referendum in Scotland in 2014, when voters in the end chose to stay part of the United Kingdom. European leaders fear it could spur secessionist ambitions in other parts of the continent. But cracks appeared late on Wednesday in the independence coalition as some members backed an election while others said there was no alternative to independence. Within minutes of Thursday s developments, several pro-secession lawmakers and mayors announced they were stepping down. I don t share the decision to call an election. I am resigning as a lawmaker and a member of PdeCat (Puigdemont s Catalan Democratic Party), said Jordi Cuminal on Twitter. Several hundred people also took to the streets and gathered on Placa Sant Jaume, in front of the Catalan government s headquarters in central Barcelona. Puigdemont traitor, a big banner read. Far-left party CUP, a key support for Puigdemont s minority government, said it would oppose a vote. Until now, pro-independence supporters had one problem: the Spanish state. If elections are called, they will have two, it said on twitter. Demand for Spanish debt and shares jumped when it emerged Puigdemont could call an election. Spain s 10-year government bond yield - which moves inversely to price - fell 6 basis points to 1.58 percent on the news. The stock index IBEX rose 1.9 percent to a four-week high. This news is positive for Spain because it looks like Puigdemont is looking for ways other than declaring independence, said ING strategist Martin van Vliet. It sounds like he is calling these elections so that Madrid does not have to invoke article 155, that would allow central government to suspend the wealthy region s autonomy. It is not yet clear whether Rajoy will impose direct rule as planned or simply seek the Senate s authorisation to do so but stop short of making it effective. His government said earlier this week that calling a snap election would not be enough, and Puigdemont would also have to withdraw an ambiguous declaration of independence he made on Oct. 10. An election could either strengthen Puigdemont s mandate if pro-independence parties won, or allow him a graceful exit if they did not. An opinion poll published by the El Periodico newspaper on Sunday showed a snap election would probably have results similar to the last ballot, in 2015, when a coalition of pro-independence parties formed a minority government. | 1 |
20,534 | What Ted Cruz Said In Church Sounds Like Sharia Law For America (VIDEO) | Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) visited a South Carolina church on Sunday and in a message broadcast to several other houses of worship, made an argument for a government based on the principles of the religious far right, rather than the American Constitution.Echoing Middle Eastern extremists who believe that the law of God trumps existing laws, Cruz told the crowd what they wanted to hear about where a candidate like himself would take America.Cruz, an avowed evangelical, made his case in front of a packed house of nearly 2,000 churchgoers.His sermon, titled Faith in Action, pressed a range of conservative hot buttons, from religious liberty to abortion rights to the Second Amendment.Cruz warned that a radical left-wing majority on the Supreme Court could result in unlimited abortions on demand across this country with taxpayer funding and no parental notification. He called the high court s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide fundamentally illegitimate, lawless, unconstitutional and wrong. Cruz has previously demonstrated that he believes religious faith trumps the law of the land, with his support for rogue clerk Kim Davis in Kentucky. Cruz was among the woman s most vocal supporters as she refused to grant marriage certificates for same-sex couples, even after the Supreme Court had ruled that same-sex marriages were legal in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.Over his campaign, Cruz has tried to appeal to the faction of conservative Republican voters who have a view of the role of government that is similar to Middle Eastern sharia, where religious texts and beliefs have more sway than the written rule of law. Cruz found success, when those voters backed him in the Iowa caucus and led to victory for his campaign. He had a setback with New Hampshire s less religious and more independent primary voters, where he finished in third place. Cruz is hoping that more religious extremist voters in South Carolina will allow him to regain the momentum he may have lost.Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
20,535 | Trump met Fed's Yellen in Fed chair search: White House official | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump met on Thursday with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, a White House official said, as he considers whether to give Yellen a new term or nominate someone else. Yellen was the fifth of five people on the president’s short list to get a formal sit-down with Trump as he considers whom to pick for Yellen’s job when her current term expires in February. The others consist of his chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, along with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, Fed Governor Jerome Powell and Stanford University economist John Taylor. Trump is expected to announce his decision on who to nominate by Nov. 3, the day he leaves on a tour of Asia. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he likes all five candidates. “I’ll make a decision over the next fairly short period of time,” Trump said. | 1 |
20,536 | ARTIST OF OBAMA HOPE POSTER Weighs In On Obama’s Presidency | Remember the HOPE poster that became a huge hit? Well, the artist responsible for it is speaking out on the past two Obama presidencies. Some might say that Shepard Fairey is partly responsible for the election of Obama. Who DIDN T want some hope and change in 2008? Now we know the rest of the story we got no hope and the change is a disaster! So you would think that Shepard Fairey has seen the light and is voting like many Democrats are for Trump. No, he hasn t learned anything after all. As much as he says Obama s agenda was a disaster, he s going to vote for Bernie. Liberal lunacy for sure!Shepard Fairey, who s now a Bernie Sanders supporter, says that after Obama won the presidency, he went quiet on a lot of things he promised while running for office. I think history will be fairly kind of his presidency but I want things to move further in the direction that he promised as a campaigner, he said. He s been more outspoken in the last 18 months. I think he s going out having done some good things and said some good things, but there were about six years there where I think he could have done more. Fairey said he had high hopes for Obama and that the president couldn t blame his failures entirely on congressional gridlock. If he had been as outspoken as he was as a campaigner, I would give him a pass on not being able to push through some of the progressive things I hoped he would, but he was quiet on a lot of things, he added. That to me was unfortunate. Similarly, German journalist Klaus Faissner pointed out that Obama transformed from an electrifying candidate into a Bush on steroids who promoted drone strikes, mass surveillance, and a totalitarian relationship with the media. Obama signed more orders for drone assaults than Bush Jr. had done in the entire eight years of his presidency, he said. These were drone strikes which caused catastrophic levels of non-combatant casualties, which America simply wrote-off under the euphemism of collateral damage. Via: Progressives Today | 0 |
20,537 | Michigan governor expects no charges over Flint crisis: newspaper | (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said he had “no reason to be concerned” he would be charged in connection with the Flint drinking water crisis that exposed city residents to high levels of lead, the Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday. Snyder made the comments to the newspaper on Wednesday, the day after two Flint emergency managers appointed by the governor were indicted on felony charges of conspiring to violate safety rules. “I have no reason to be concerned,” Snyder was quoted as saying, while acknowledging he could not speak on behalf of state Attorney General Bill Schuette. Both Snyder and Schuette are Republicans. Snyder told the paper much of the $3.5 million in taxes he is using for his criminal defense was being spent to find and prepare records requested by Schuette and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is also investigating the water scandal. Schuette has filed 43 criminal charges against 13 current and former state and local officials, including the emergency managers this week. Snyder’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the interview. Flint has been at the center of a public health crisis since last year, when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the poor, predominantly black city of about 100,000 residents. Critics have called for charges to be brought against the governor, who has been in office since 2011, as well as other high-ranking state officials. Snyder has said he believes he did nothing criminally wrong. Asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether the investigation would lead to charges against senior state officials, Schuette said no one was excluded from the probe. Flint’s water contamination was linked to a switch of its source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014, a change made in an attempt to cut costs, while the city was under state-run emergency management. | 1 |
20,538 | WATCH: Trump Threatens Saturday Night Live During Today Show Appearance | Matt Lauer gave Donald Trump a chance to stop acting like a petulant child but he only doubled down.On Wednesday morning after bragging about somehow being picked by Time Magazine as their person of the year, Trump was asked by Lauer if he would be better off not watching Saturday Night Live. You know, because Trump has more important shit he should be dealing with like the presidency. Can we agree, Mr. President-elect Trump, that at this stage it would be better for you to simply stop watching SNL? Lauer asked. As opposed to watching it and then complaining about it? As we all know, Trump has repeatedly thrown a temper tantrum every time he watches Alec Baldwin s perfect impersonation of him on the longtime comedy skit show.After Baldwin s latest performance, Trump took to Twitter to whine.Just tried watching Saturday Night Live unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can t get any worse. Sad Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2016But Trump refused to answer Lauer s question and proceeded to trash the show instead. There s nothing funny about it, Trump claimed, even though millions of Americans watch the show because it is hilarious. The skits are terrible. I like Alec but his imitation of me is terrible. But you can t bring yourself to stop watching it? Lauer tried again.And this time, Trump made a veiled threat suggesting that he ll try to force Saturday Night Live off the air once he gets into office if the show doesn t stop mocking him. Frankly, the way the show is going now and when you look at the work they re doing who knows how long that show s gonna be on? It s a terrible show. Here s the video via YouTube.When Trump talks like this it needs to be taken seriously. Freedom of speech is in serious jeopardy and Trump is actng like a typical dictator who can t handle being the butt of a joke.Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi also whined about being the the subject of satire, and that led to Bassem Youssef, who hosted a Daily Show-like political satire program, to be arrested and persecuted. His show was eventually forced off the air. It sounds like Trump is laying the groundwork to do the same to shows that make fun of him.Featured Image: Ty Wright/ Getty Images | 0 |
20,539 | EPIC BACKFIRE: The Left Makes Video Warning Followers About Possible Cruz Victory…Ends Up Looking Like Cruz Promo | Does anyone remember a time in recent history that candidates in the Republican party caused so many hissy fits by the Left?// <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Is Ted Cruz Scarier than Donald Trump?Trump may get the headlines, but Ted Cruz has got the game.Posted by AJ+ on Friday, 18 December 2015h/t Gerald Ewing | 0 |
20,540 | CNN Host Calls Out Trump’s Uncle Tom Spokeswoman And It Is GLORIOUS (VIDEO) | Katrina Pierson is a black woman. She is also a top spokesperson for unabashed racist Donald Trump. She apparently buys into Trump s horrible ideas and rhetoric, though, as she defends him at every turn. Hell, she might be just as crazy as he is, as she even went so far as to appear on national television wearing a necklace made out of bullets in order to tout Trump s staunch support for the second amendment.However, it is about time someone took this black woman to task for her blind support of a clear racist, and, finally, CNN pundit and GOP strategist Tara Setmeyer did so. The pundit absolutely blasted Pierson, and said that she is simply one of the blacks he likes since he pays her to clean up his mess everyday on television. When Setmeyer pointed out how Trump is under fire for refusing to firmly toss aside an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, Pierson dodged the question, saying: Mr. Trump said, look, I don t even know what you re talking about. So, I think this has really been blown out of proportion. And it really does highlight more media bias when no one has asked Barack Obama to disavow Sen. Robert Byrd, who was not just a klans [sic] member, but a leader in the Klan when he endorsed him in 2008. The thing is, though, Pierson, like so many ignorant Trump supporters, failed to notice the fact that Byrd had a BIG change of heart a hell of a long time ago, according to a book he wrote. So, completely different kettle of tripe entirely, as Duke is still very much an avowed racist.Setmeyer pushed Pierson, and plowed on: He brags about how he can manipulate folks. We sit and we watched this play out over the weekend, where Donald Trump took five different positions because he got pressured into having to actually admit to what was going on. David Duke absolutely came out and said it s against your heritage if you don t vote for Donald Trump, okay. That s an endorsement. Give me a break. And then to say, I couldn t hear what was going on, they gave me a [bad] earpiece. Anyone who watched the interview with Jake Tapper, Donald Trump clearly heard everything that Jake Tapper said. He responded to it. He didn t say, Oh, I can t hear you, this isn t a good earpiece. Clearly getting angry, Pierson yelled at the hosts: The Democrats have called the Tea Party racists! Should we have him disavow the Tea Party too? Absolutely not! But Setmeyer, in the end got the best of Pierson, and called her out for what she is: We aren t even talking about Donald Trump s questionable history with race back to when the DOJ sued the Trump organization for racial discrimination. Or when Donald Trump came out and said how much he loves quote the blacks or we can go down the list of very questionable things Donald Trump has said. But I don t know. Maybe Katrina Pierson is one of the blacks he likes since he pays her to clean up his mess everyday on television. And that s just it. Trump is fine with black folks, just since they bow, turn their backs on their own race, and go YASSA MASSA! when he comes running. They help assure the ignorant and blind people that he is somehow not racist no matter what he says.Of course, in the end, Pierson lamely went back to what Trump and all of his supporters say: He s winning. That s all that matters. He s winning. The sad thing is, though, is that Katrina Pierson, and so many other Trump supporters, seem to actually believe that.Watch the video below via Raw Story:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
20,541 | While Everyone Was Distracted, Here Are Five Ways Trump Just Moved To F*ck Over Middle America | The Donald Trump administration is desperate and like a cornered wild animal, Trump is lashing out at everyone, hoping he ll land a bite that will stick. Over the weekend, the target of Trump s delusional Twitter rant was President Obama, who Trump accused of wiretapping him. There s zero evidence and even conservatives are beginning to question Trump s sanity.Now, I won t go so far as to say Trump is crazy like a fox no, he s just plain crazy but he also uses his Twitter account in an almost clever way. He uses it to distract from the real damage and flat out destruction he and his Republican cohorts are doing to this country.Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer outlined three ways in which Trump is giving the country a legislative middle finger and because of Trump s ridiculous tweets, the media is ignoring almost all of them.Donald Trump put as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a man who has sued the agency a total of 13 times. Trump wants to all but gut the agency, leaving us with filthy air, water and ultimately, food, but hey, those polluting industries will see hefty profits.No, the administration doesn t want to stop global warming. They just don t want us to study it or hear about it. In fact, they don t even want us to know about the weather. The administration wants to cut the funding of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency by more than half a billion dollars.In some ways, the second ban is worse than its predecessor. It signals that the Trump Administration is determined to pursue its anti-Muslim, extremist agenda and will not be hindered by courts nor by the showing of public concern which followed the first ban. That remarkable cultural moment symbolized by the immediate airport protests and sustained by the solidarity of faith groups, civil rights figures and celebrities who ve spoken out repeatedly over the last month seems to have gone unheeded by the Trump Administration.Source: Time.comWe have a couple to add.This is true of Trump s tax proposals, which redirect wealth from the poor to the ultrarich. No one who supports repealing the estate tax can credibly be called a populist. It s also true about his health care proposals, which slash benefits for low-income people while cutting taxes on the well-to-do. And it looks like this pattern will hold with respect to Trump s forthcoming budget proposal, in which the populist president will ask for a big hike in defense spending while inflicting painful cuts on social programs.Source: SalonDonald Trump, Jr. told The Washington Post that he and his brother Eric were inspired by many places they visited while with their father on the campaign trail. While Trump has not divested from his company, he s turned over management of the Trump brand to his sons. The plan now is to build new properties, starting with a more affordable chain of hotels, Scion, in a number of cities across the nation, many of which the brothers became acquainted with while on the long road to the White House.Source: Vanity FairTrump hasn t divested himself from his businesses, so if his sons are profiting, so is he.The point of this is to not let ourselves become distracted by the latest shiny object, even if it is an absurd series of tweets. Donald Trump might not last a full term, but he can do a lot of damage before he leaves. He s already started. Let s focus on that as well.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
20,542 | PNG says Australia responsible for hundreds of asylum seekers when detention camp closes | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will not be allowed to walk away from legal, financial and moral responsibility for nearly 800 men when it closes its asylum seeker detention center in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Tuesday, PNG s immigration minister said. Human rights advocates are warning of a looming humanitarian crisis when the Manus Island center closes if the men are not properly resettled, with hundreds of the detainees refusing to leave the center for fear of being targeted by locals. PNG Immigration Minister Petrus Thomas said late on Sunday that Australia will remain responsible for the welfare of the men that have been detained in the Australian-funded center for more than four years. Australia refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, detaining them in camps in PNG and Nauru in the South Pacific. The United Nations and rights groups have for years cited human rights abuses among detainees in the centers. It is PNG s position that as long as there is one individual from this arrangement that remains in PNG, Australia will continue to provide financial and other support to PNG to manage the persons transferred under the arrangement until the last person leaves or is independently resettled in PNG, Thomas said in an emailed statement. Australia has already said it would spend up to A$250 million ($195 million) housing the nearly 800 refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea for the next 12 months after its controversial detention center closes. The Manus center is scheduled to close on Tuesday, after being declared illegal by a PNG court, with 600 men set to be moved to three new transit camps. Just under 200 men have already relocated. Despite threats that basic services like electricity and water will be cut off, the remaining detainees are refusing to move, citing fears for their safety. Fears of violence have been stoked further after PNG sent extra security forces to the camp. The relocation of the men is designed as a temporary measure, allowing the United States time to complete vetting of refugees as part of a refugee swap deal. The United States has agreed to take up to possibly 1,250 refugees from Australia s two Pacific detention centers, but so far only 25 men from Manus have been resettled. In exchange, Australia said it will resettle Central American refugees. Australia has said those detainees not resettled in the United States will be allowed to stay in PNG or the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. But nearly all have refused invitations to settle permanently in both locations. Thomas said PNG will not force anyone to remain. It is the responsibility of Australia to pursue third country options, he said. Australia s acting Prime Minister Julie Bishop said on Monday that Canberra was exploring possible deals for resettlement, but added those who have found not to be refugees should go home . They ve been found by the (United Nations) not to be owed protection so they should return to their homes, she said. The bulk of the detainees come from war-torn countries such as Syria and Afghanistan, and Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. | 1 |
20,543 | Trump, in Oval Office, signs first order on Obamacare | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump directed government agencies on Friday to freeze regulations and take steps to weaken Obamacare, using his first hours in the White House to make good on a campaign promise to start dismantling his predecessor’s healthcare law. Heading into the Oval Office shortly after the conclusion of his inaugural parade, Trump signed an order on the Affordable Care Act that urged government departments to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation” of provisions that imposed fiscal burdens on states, companies or individuals. It also called for efforts to give states greater flexibility in implementing healthcare programs while developing “a free and open market in interstate commerce for the offering of healthcare services and health insurance.” Health experts had speculated that Trump could expand exemptions from the so-called individual mandate, which requires Americans to carry insurance or face a penalty, or the requirement that employers offer coverage. Experts also believe the administration could try to reduce the “essential benefits,” such as maternity care and mental health services, that insurance plans must cover. The White House did not provide further details about the executive order. Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer said the White House also directed an immediate regulatory freeze for all government agencies in a memo from Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus. He did not offer details. Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, one of former President Barack Obama’s signature laws, was a central pledge for Trump during the presidential election campaign. Republicans in the U.S. Congress have not yet laid out a plan to recast the insurance program. In a hastily arranged ceremony, surrounded by some of his aides, Trump sat behind the presidential Resolute Desk and signed the order. He also signed commissions for his newly confirmed defense secretary, James Mattis, and his homeland security secretary, John Kelly. Trump spoke briefly about his day with reporters. “It was busy, but good. It was a beautiful day,” he said. Vice President Mike Pence then swore in Mattis and Kelly in a separate ceremony. There were other signs of change in the Oval Office, which Obama vacated on Friday morning. Golden drapes hung where crimson ones had earlier in the day and new furniture dotted the room. | 1 |
20,544 | Trump's stop in Vietnam a poignant one for U.S. veterans | DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - Whether they like President Donald Trump or not, the U.S. veterans who gather at Hoa s Place in Danang show little concern that he avoided the war that marked their lives. Trump flies into the Vietnamese resort of Danang on Friday for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, landing in a city that for many Americans of his generation was their first sight of Vietnam - and of war. He ll finally be able to put on his resume that he was in Vietnam, said David Clark, 68, who is originally from Akron, Ohio and calls Trump a joke . After serving in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969 with the Marine Corps, he has now returned to help with projects to address the legacy of the war. Trump never served in the military. He received five deferments during the Vietnam War, including one for bone spurs in his heel, the New York Times reported last year. The paper quoted Trump as saying the bones spurs had been temporary . Everyone I know tried to avoid it, said draftee Keith Soukkala, sipping a beer at Hoa s Place, a favored bar of veterans near Danang s China Beach . I stayed out as long as I could but I didn t have any bone spurs, said Soukkala, who splits his time between Vietnam and Alaska and said he voted for Trump. At 73, he is two years older than Trump and recalls landing in Danang to the humid heat and a certain smell in the air at the start of a 13-month tour with the Marine Corps dodging bombs hidden by the communist Viet Cong guerrillas. The seaside resort of Danang has a special place in U.S.-Vietnamese history: it was here that the first U.S. ground troops disembarked in 1965 in the escalation of a war that would last another decade before the communist victory. Close to some of the heaviest fighting in central Vietnam, Danang had a big U.S. air base. China Beach was a relaxation spot for U.S. soldiers back from combat. Now, Danang s beachfront hotels draw tourists from around the world. Gleaming office towers mark it out as one of Vietnam s most modern cities and one the communist government sought to showcase with the hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit which Trump will attend. It s also home to a community of U.S. veterans who returned to a country where a recent Pew Research survey showed the United States was viewed favorably by 84 percent of people. Clark came back in 2013 for a year and is still in Danang, busy with projects to destroy unexploded U.S. bombs and help families affected by the Agent Orange defoliant linked to illness and deformity. Mark O Connor, 67, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and once part of a helicopter assault team, visits as often as he can to provide bicycles to children in hill villages. On this visit, though, he said he had come back in the hope of seeing Trump - his support unaffected by the fact the president had not served in Vietnam. You know, more power to him, he said. You can t feel bad about him and not feel bad about everyone who went to Canada to avoid the draft. | 1 |
20,545 | Congress could undo Obama-era student loan relief | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress could as soon as January start to dismantle President Barack Obama’s transformation of student loan rules by blocking freshly minted regulations designed to help students who say they were defrauded by for-profit colleges. The new measures, which lay out loan relief procedures for the students, were issued by the Department of Education just days before the election. That is recent enough to allow the new Republican-led Congress to disapprove them under a 1996 law called the Congressional Review Act. It gives Congress 60 legislative days to reverse regulations with a simple vote. Republicans opposed the rule when it was proposed. Lamar Alexander, who chairs the Senate committee on education, is considering introducing a resolution that would overturn the so-called “Borrower Defense” rule, according to a spokeswoman. Even without a legislative reversal, president-elect Donald Trump, who ran on an anti-regulation platform and started his own for-profit school, could instruct agencies to be more restrictive in how they interpret this rule and others aimed at easing student loan burdens. Students who attended the now-defunct Trump University did not qualify for federal loans and are not eligible for loan relief. Trump is facing civil lawsuits alleging fraud related to the school. After he was elected president, the stocks of for-profit education companies rose. The borrower defense rule was inspired by the meltdown of Corinthian Colleges Inc. in 2015, according to Rohit Chopra, who worked on the Corinthian case at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and later moved to the Department of Education as a special adviser. In recent months, ITT Tech. Inc. has also folded, leaving students adrift. By law, students at struggling technical and professional colleges are already allowed relief on federal loans, but the new rule creates a path for getting that relief. Students can make a fraud claim to the Education Department and then apply for a refund of federal money they borrowed and then paid to the school. It is the payment on a fraud complaint - sometimes made in the absence of any actual conviction - that rankles Republicans. They also dislike that the rule leaves students free to file class action suits against the schools, instead of arbitrating all disputes, said Neal McCluskey, who follows higher education at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. It is not clear how many students - or how much in loans - would be affected by the new rule. The Education Department says it has already approved $250 million in relief to more than 15,000 applications from students who borrowed to attend Corinthian. The projected 10-year federal government expenses associated with the rules total $16 billion. Congressional disapproval resolutions have failed in the past, because Obama vetoed them. But in 2017, anti-regulation Republicans will control the House, the Senate and the White House, and it takes only a simple majority of both chambers to reverse a rule. Education Secretary John King defends the rule, saying his department went through a very thorough rule-making process and addressed thousands of comments in the final version of the regulations. “The fact remains that students need some sort of process for student loan discharge in the case of a school closure or fraud,” said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “I’m not sure it’s as easy as simply voiding the entire regulation.” There are other higher education reforms a Trump administration might undo, said Elizabeth Baylor, director for post-secondary education at left-leaning Center for American Progress. Many borrower programs instituted under Obama are at the education secretary’s discretion, and Trump could appoint someone stricter on granting relief. A new secretary could also simply discontinue programs, she said. In the same vein, Steve Gunderson, president of Career Education Colleges and Universities, says Congress could block the new rule without a resolution, either through an upcoming budget bill or education legislation. | 1 |
20,546 | Reagan’s Son SLAMS Trump: If My Father Was Alive He Wouldn’t Vote For GOP Nominee (TWEETS) | Yet another conservative is openly expressing his support for the #NeverTrump movement and it s none other than Michael Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan.On Monday, Michael took to Twitter to tell his followers that he would not be voting for The Donald on Tuesday, and that he firmly believes that his father would also refrain from voting for the business mogul if he was still alive. Of course, Reagan was immediately attacked by Trump s die-hard followers, who tried to argue his claim that the former President wouldn t have backed Trump if he were here today. Here s how that went:TwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterReagan is one of an overwhelming amount of Republicans abandoning the GOP solely because Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. No one can forget that when Trump was announced as the leader in the GOP race, conservatives all across the country reacted by burning and tearing up their voter registration cards. In some cases, GOP voters left their affiliation with the party altogether.Reagan has spoken against Trump before, with the assertion that his father would not approve of the business mogul being the GOP nominee. A few months ago, during an interview with Newsmax, Reagan slammed Trump s campaign, and the Republicans who support it: My father would be appalled by what s going on with this campaign. Are you a Trump Republican, or are you a Reagan Republican? Because you cannot be both. The words of Reagan s son are particularly humorous considering that Trump has compared himself to Reagan before, when he claimed he evoke[s] the name Ronald Reagan. Trump said on CBS s Face The Nation: Ronald Reagan was a fairly liberal Democrat, and he evolved over years and he became more and more conservative. And he was not a very conservative person, but he was pretty conservative. And he ended up being a great president. Clearly, no one else sees the similarities besides The Donald, and many GOPers such as Reagan s son don t have any faith in Trump to be a great president .Featured image via Wikimedia | 0 |
20,547 | CRAZED LEFTIST Tweets Video Stabbing Trump Piñata 56 Times…Is a Visit from the Secret Service in Her Future? [Video] | A Mexican columnist just repeatedly stabbed a President Trump pi ata She got it on film thinking it would be funny but Trump supporter Marco Gutierrez shared the video with the Secret Service in hopes that they would visit this nut job to let her know how serious this is.Please make sure you visit @gloaeza & let her know how #USA feels of this acts of hers @FBI @ALT_DOJ @SecretService @infowars @seanhannity pic.twitter.com/zRKuXfutAl Marco Gutierrez (@MarcoGutierrez) August 17, 2017Others in the video laughed as Loaeza furiously stabbed and stabbed.She stabbed the Trump pi ata at least 56 times before stopping to catch her breath and the video ended.Marco Gutierrez notified the Secret Service of Loaeza s stunt let s hope she gets lots of blowback from Trump supporters! This is ridiculous and disrespectful!TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME! | 0 |
20,548 | Florida legislature approves controversial abortion restrictions | TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida legislators on Wednesday approved abortion restrictions that include requirements for physicians similar to a Texas law currently under review by the Supreme Court and prohibited state funding for routine care at abortion clinics. The measure imposes regulations that could force clinics to close, provider Planned Parenthood said. Supporters argue it aims to protect women’s health, while opponents called it an attack on groups assisting women in terminating pregnancies. “Let’s get Florida out of the abortion business,” said State Senator Aaron Bean, a Republican from Jacksonville, during a heated debate. “That’s what this bill does.” The legislation passed largely along party lines in the Florida House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans. Republican Governor Rick Scott did not immediately say if he will sign it. Florida is among many states adopting new abortion laws as conservatives seek to chip away at the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion. Another Florida law passed last year requiring women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion recently took effect. The newly passed legislation requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, a type of formal affiliation that can be difficult to obtain, while tightening rules on disposal of aborted fetal tissue. Clinics would have to meet the more stringent safety standards of ambulatory surgery centers and also face annual inspections. The legislation blocks state funding for low-income women receiving routine care, such as sexually transmitted disease screening and birth control, at clinics that perform abortions. “What we’re doing is pulling the rug out from under women who have enough problems in life,” said State Senator Gwen Margolis, a Miami Democrat. The bill is similar to a 2013 Texas law that included admitting privilege requirements for doctors and stringent regulations for clinic buildings. It is under review by the Supreme Court, considering its first major abortion case in years. A ruling is expected by late June. “Florida would, in one bill, do the damage it took Texas years to inflict on women,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement. The high court has temporarily blocked a similar Louisiana law that had closed clinics in the state. The Florida legislation would not stop anyone from ending a pregnancy, argued state senator Kelli Stargel, a Republican from Lakeland. “This legislation makes certain that our limited taxpayer dollars are not being used to support organizations that provide elective abortions,” she said. | 1 |
20,549 | U.S. citizen recaptured after Bali jail break | DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian police have recaptured a U.S. citizen who escaped a week ago from an overcrowded prison on the holiday island of Bali, the jail s second breakout of foreign inmates this year. Cristian Beasley from California was rearrested on Sunday, Badung Police chief Yudith Satria Hananta said, without providing further details. Beasley was a suspect in crimes related to narcotics but had not been sentenced when he escaped from Kerobokan prison in Bali last week. The 32-year-old is believed to have cut through bars in the ceiling of his cell before scaling a perimeter wall of the prison in an area being refurbished. The Kerobokan prison, about 10 km (six miles) from the main tourist beaches in the Kuta area, often holds foreigners facing drug-related charges. Representatives of Beasley could not immediately be reached for comment. In June, an Australian, a Bulgarian, an Indian and a Malaysian tunneled to freedom about 12 meters (13 yards) under Kerobokan prison s walls. The Indian and the Bulgarian were caught soon after in neighboring East Timor, but Australian Shaun Edward Davidson and Malaysian Tee Kok King remain at large. Davidson has taunted authorities by saying he was enjoying life in various parts of the world, in purported posts on Facebook. Kerobokan has housed a number of well-known foreign drug convicts, including Australian Schappelle Corby, whose 12-1/2-year sentence for marijuana smuggling got huge media attention. | 1 |
20,550 | Factbox: Austrian parties' red lines and preferences on coalitions | VIENNA (Reuters) - No party is likely to obtain a majority of votes in Austria s parliamentary election on Oct. 15. A coalition between two of the three biggest parties the conservative People s Party (OVP), the Social Democrats (SPO) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) will probably be needed to govern. Below is a breakdown of polling, positions and comments the parties have made about potential coalitions. Since 31-year-old Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz took over as leader of the OVP in May, his party has consistently attracted support in polls of around 33 percent on a platform dominated by tough rhetoric on immigration. That has dislodged the Freedom Party from the top position in polls it reached in the aftermath of the refugee influx of 2015 and 2016. The Freedom Party is competing with Chancellor Christian Kern s Social Democrats for second place, both at around a quarter of votes in most polls. Polls put the Greens, the liberal Neos and a new party founded by former Greens lawmaker Peter Pilz all on around 5 percent of the vote, above the 4-percent threshold for entering parliament. OVP leader Kurz called an end to the centrist coalition with the Social Democrats, triggering a snap parliamentary election. He has not ruled out any party as a potential coalition partner and has said he will hold talks with all parties if his party comes first. Kurz has avoided setting conditions before the vote apart from saying that any potential partner must be pro-European and not merely stand by Europe, but also have the desire to shape Europe . His plans on cutting immigration, reducing the corporation tax burden and streamlining the EU overlap with the Freedom Party s. The OVP wants a slimmer EU that focuses on its core competences such as trade and securing its external borders. In contrast to the FPO, however, Kurz is in favor of more European defense cooperation, which he says would not threaten Austria s neutrality. The FPO says it would only go into a coalition if it were given control of the Interior Ministry. It also would like to secure the post of foreign minister, but has not made that a fixed condition. FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache has said the FPO will not enter a coalition with the SPO until a full SPO party conference has lifted the ban on coalitions with his party. The decision to lift the ban was taken by the SPO party leadership. The FPO has also said it would only enter a coalition that results in more referendums or direct democracy , which is part of the OVP program. Strache has rowed back from the FPO s former stark euroskepticism, but he has called the idea of a European army a red line. He says Austria is at the heart of Europe but also wants a referendum on Austria s future in the EU if it hands more powers to Brussels or if Turkey accedes to the bloc. Strache has also ruled out that the FPO will sign up to a coalition headed by the third-placed party if it comes second, as it did in 2000 when it became a junior partner to the OVP. Under Chancellor Christian Kern, the SPO has lifted self-imposed ban on national coalitions with the Freedom Party (the two parties already govern together in Burgenland, one of Austria s nine provinces). The ban was replaced by a values compass , which makes principles such as a pro-European position and gender equality pre-conditions for cooperation. Kern has also said the FPO must leave the far-right faction in the European Parliament, which France s National Front is also part of, if it wants to join a coalition with the Social Democrats. In a recent debate with Strache, Kern said the two parties are still worlds apart . The Social Democrats favor closer European integration on issues like economic and monetary union and social policy. | 1 |
20,551 | WATCH RELATIVES SPEAK OUT After Teen Caught In Robbery Is Shot And Killed: “how he going to get his money to have clothes to go to school?” | The attitudes of the family members defending this thug who violated an innocent woman when he broke into her home is astounding. After eight long years of listening to a President justify why minorities should be able to break laws with no penalties, get in line in front of people who are white or have more income when it comes to college acceptance or employment opportunities, this is the result. Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton will only perpetuate this un-American, entitelment behavior. The family of a teenager who was shot and killed while committing an armed robbery is speaking out today.Seventeen year old Trevon Johnson was shot by a homeowner who came home to check on an alarm at her home. She saw Johnson leaving the home and altercation ensued. During the altercation, Johnson was shot once. He died of his wounds. I don t care if she have her gun license or any of that. That is way beyond the law way beyond, said Johnson s cousin Nautika Harris to local media outlet WFOR. You have to look at it from every child s point of view that was raised in the hood, she said. You have to understand how he going to get his money to have clothes to go to school? You have to look at it from his point-of-view. He was not supposed to die like this. He had a future ahead of him. Trevon had goals he was a funny guy, very big on education, loved learning. Via:Controversial Times | 0 |
20,552 | Most South Koreans doubt the North will start a war: poll | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has ratcheted up international tension and fear with its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sunday, but South Koreans feel increasingly doubtful it would start a war, a poll showed on Friday. A Gallup Korea survey found that 58 percent of South Koreans felt there was no possibility North Korea will cause a war, while 37 percent said they thought it would. Gallup Korea began asking South Koreans the question in 1992, and the percentage of respondents this time who thought the North would not start a war was the second highest since then. In the first poll in 1992, 69 percent of those questioned thought the North would start a war while only 24 percent thought it would not. The survey released on Friday showed South Koreans were considerably less concerned about war compared with June 2007, nine months after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, in September 2006. In 2007, 51 percent of respondents said they expected a war, while 45 percent did not. North Korea says it needs to develop weapons to protect itself against U.S. aggression. It has been steadily pursuing its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of international condemnation and has threatened more action in response to any new U.N. sanctions and U.S. pressure. Despite the North s fiery rhetoric, South Koreans are generally calm, going about their lives with no sign of panic. The survey results show South Koreans have likely grown accustomed to its repeated threats of provocation after over 60 years in a ceasefire state, Gallup Korea said in a statement. South Korea and the United States are technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty. The poll also found that 60 percent of those surveyed believed South Korea should arm itself with nuclear weapons while 35 percent disagreed. Those in their twenties were most opposed to the idea of acquiring nuclear weapons, while respondents 50 and above said the South should have them. Gallup also said 59 percent of respondents were against the idea of the United States attacking North Korea first should North Korean provocations continue, while 33 percent said it should. Gallup Korea said the poll was carried out from Sept. 5 to 7. A total of 1,004 South Koreans over the age of 19 were polled by telephone, it said. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent. | 1 |
20,553 | Sacked Catalonia leader calls for opposition to Madrid's rule | MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Sacked Catalonian president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday called for peaceful democratic opposition to the central government s takeover of the region following its unilateral declaration of independence from Spain. Puigdemont, whose regional government was dismissed by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday, accused Madrid of premeditated aggression against the will of the Catalans. Rajoy removed Puigdemont, took over the administration of the autonomous region and called a new election after Catalonia s parliament declared itself an independent nation on Friday. The bold if to all appearances futile action marked a potentially dangerous escalation of Spain s worst political crisis in the four decades since its return to democracy. It s very clear that the best form of defending the gains made up until now is democratic opposition to Article 155, Puigdemont said in a brief statement he read out in the Catalan city of Girona, referring to the legal trigger for the takeover. But he was vague on precisely what steps the secessionists would take as the national authorities are already moving into Barcelona and other parts of Catalonia to enforce control. Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said it would welcome Puigdemont s participation in the regional elections it has called for Dec. 21. I m quite sure that if Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise this democratic opposition, Mendez de Vigo told Reuters TV in an interview. European countries, the United States and Mexico have rejected the Catalan declaration and expressed support for Spain s unity. Puigdemont signed the statement as President of Catalonia, demonstrating he did not accept his ousting. We continue persevering in the only attitude that can make us winners. Without violence, without insults... and also respecting the protests of the Catalans who do not agree with what the parliamentary majority has decided, he said. The secessionists say a referendum on Oct. 1 gave them a mandate for independence. However, less than half of eligible voters turned out for the ballot, which Madrid declared illegal and tried to stop. Opinion polls show that more than half of the 5.3 million people eligible to vote in the wealthy northeastern region, which is already autonomous, do not want to break from Spain. But emotions are running high and the next few days will be tricky for Madrid as it embarks on enforcing direct rule. Calling a new regional election is something of a gamble by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as it could increase the numbers of pro-independence supporters in a new parliament. But Mendez de Vigo said it would give Catalans the final say about how they felt. Asked what would happen if Puigdemont had to face prosecution, Mendez de Vigo said judicial and political powers were separate in Spain and that no one is above the law. He did not comment further. Catalonia s police force told its officers to stay neutral, a step towards averting possible conflict following doubts over how the Mossos d Esquadra, as they are called, would respond if ordered to evict Puigdemont and his government. The force is riven by distrust between those for and against independence and also estranged from Spain s national police forces, Mossos and national officers have told Reuters. Some Catalan officers stood between national police and those trying to vote during the referendum. Given that there is it is likely to be an increase in gatherings and rallies of citizens... and that there are people of different thoughts, we must remember that it is our responsibility to guarantee the security of all and help these to take place without incident, an internal memo said. Government buildings, the headquarters of national political parties, ports, airports, courts, and the Bank of Spain were being guarded, the Interior Ministry said. Units of the regional force could be replaced if events made that necessary, it said. The Madrid government also sacked the Mossos chief, Josep Lluis Trapero, who became a hero to the secessionists after his force took a much softer stance than national police in enforcing the referendum ban. Spain s High Court barred Trapero from leaving the country and seized his passport as part of an investigation for alleged sedition, although it has not ordered his arrest. In Barcelona, thousands of independence supporters packed the Sant Jaume Square in front of the regional headquarters on Friday night, waving Catalan flags and singing traditional songs in the Catalan language as bands played. But there was no trouble overnight and the streets were quiet on Saturday. The main secessionist group, the Catalan National Assembly, has urged civil servants not to follow orders from the Spanish government and to mount peaceful resistance while a pro-independence trade union, the CSC, called a strike. The government said it would ensure a minimum service. About 1,000 people took part in a pro-unity rally in Madrid on Saturday and others turned out in the northern city of Valladolid an indication of the resentment the independence drive has caused in the rest of Spain. Aitor Sanchez, a 30-year-old worker, said he was saddened the government had taken control of Catalonia but it had no choice. These are delicate moments in our country. But I believe we must respect the law. The chaos has prompted an exodus of businesses from Catalonia, which contributes about a fifth of Spain s economy, the fourth-largest in the euro zone. Tourism in hugely popular Barcelona has been hit, and markets have shown signs of concern. European leaders have also denounced the push, fearing it could fan separatist sentiment around the continent. | 1 |
20,554 | U.S. to search Russian consulate in San Francisco, says Moscow | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The U.S. special services have said they will carry out a search of Russia’s consulate building in San Francisco, soon to be closed in retaliation for a similar measure by Russia, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Friday. The closure by Sept. 2 of the consulate and buildings in Washington and New York that house Russian trade missions is the latest in tit-for-tat actions by the two countries that have helped push relations to a new post-Cold War low. In July, Moscow ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people to match the number of Russian diplomats in the United States, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia. “The American special services intend to conduct searches on Sept. 2 in the general consulate in San Francisco, including in the houses of employees who live in the building and who have immunity,” the spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said. Families, including children and toddlers, had been told they would have to leave the building for 10-12 hours, she said. Zakharova said Russia reserved the right to take retaliatory measures. The U.S. sanctions were imposed in response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and to punish Russia further for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. | 1 |
20,555 | Rubio says tax bill likely to include expanded child credit | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that tax legislation is likely to include an expanded child tax credit, adding that any reform without such a change would not truly provide relief for the middle class. “My sense is it will be in the underlying bill,” Rubio told reporters, adding that he would try to ensure that the credit could be refunded against payroll taxes, not just federal income taxes. “It looks like it’s settling back to about $2,000 and that’s about as low as we can go.” | 1 |
20,556 | Kenyan President Kenyatta wins 98 percent of vote in repeat election | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta won 98 percent of the vote in a repeated election in which an opposition boycott helped lower turnout to 39 percent, the electoral commission said on Monday. The announcement touched off small protests in a few opposition strongholds but also celebrations in pro-Kenyatta areas. Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga said the Oct. 26 election was a farce. Civil society groups also cited problems with the vote. The violence has for the most part seen protesters clash with police but some Kenyans fear it is starting to take on ethnic overtones after two deaths in clashes between rival groups at the weekend. At least 66 people have died in overall election violence. On Monday, the U.S. ambassador said Washington was profoundly concerned by the outbreaks of violence since the re-run. Kenya is east Africa s richest economy and a key security ally of the West against militant Islam. It also a key regional trade, logistics and trade hub. In his victory speech, Kenyatta repeated his belief that his victory in the original Aug. 8 election was legitimate and said dialogue would have to wait if the opposition was going to lodge court cases again. The Supreme Court nullified the Aug. 8 vote on procedural grounds. My victory today is just part of a process that is likely to once again be subjected to a constitutional test through our courts ... I will submit to this constitutional path regardless of the outcome, Kenyatta said. Those who are going to ask me: Are you going to engage in dialogue? ... Let them (the opposition) first and foremost exhaust all their constitutional options. Kenyatta took 98 percent of the vote, results from 266 out of 291 constituencies showed. The electoral commission said 7,616,217 valid votes were cast, representing 39 percent of the 19.6 million registered voters. Protests by Odinga s supporters prevented polling stations from opening in 25 constituencies. The election commission said poor security prevented voting in those areas but the final announcement could go ahead as it would not materially affect the result. In the pro-Kenyatta area of Dagoretti North in Nairobi, cars honked and crowds of supporters in red T-shirts ran through the streets. I m so happy the president has got his seat back, said Peterson Njau. Now the economy is going to lift up again. Another resident, Kennedy Okeyo, said he cared more about football than politics but that ethnic clashes in his home this weekend had unnerved him. You can t get to work, and even if you get to work, you can get attacked because of who you are, he said. But just down the road in Nairobi s Kawangware slum, around 100 youths listening to the results on mobile phones chanted No Raila No Peace . They lit a bonfire in the middle of the street and began taunting riot police with cries of the people want teargas . Earlier, police dispersed protesters there with teargas when they tried to block a visit by Interior Minister Fred Matiang i. Another Nairobi shanty town, Mathare, the scene of deadly clashes between police and protesters immediately after the August vote, was largely calm although a handful of protesters lit a small fire. And in the western city of Kisumu, Odinga s political heartland, around 50 youths began to block the road at the Kondele roundabout, the epicenter of protests, while others banged metal poles together. But the protest was small. What can I do? They ve already announced it. Even if I burn tires, nothing will change, said 25-year-old laborer Kennedy Omondi as he watched young men set a barricade alight. Odinga pulled out of last week s vote, saying the electoral commission had failed to institute reforms to forestall the kind of illegalities and irregularities that scuppered Kenyatta s victory in the August election. Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu, a coalition of civil society organizations with 2,000 election observers, said there were multiple cases where results from polling stations differed from results on the forms posted on the election portal after last week s vote. In a report, they supplied a photo taken by their observers of the tally sheet for Bashaal market center in Garissa. It showed 133 votes for Kenyatta while the form displayed online showed 433 votes. Another form posted on the election website, from Tumbeni primary school in Kakamega, showed four votes for Odinga and two for another minor candidate but recorded the total number of votes cast was 77 votes cast. | 1 |
20,557 | It’s About Time! Twitter Just Kicked Off A Bunch Of Alt-Right Accounts For Hate Speech | Twitter has finally decided to take action against the white supremacists running rampant on the social media platform. The same day the company vowed to take a stronger stance against hate speech, they suspended numerous alt-right accounts.Richard Spencer was one of those who was suspended. He runs the National Policy Institute, an alt-right think tank, and has said he wants blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews removed from the U.S. On Tuesday, Twitter removed his personal verified account, the account for the National Policy Institute, and his online magazine.Naturally, Spencer is losing his shit. USA Today reports: This is corporate Stalinism, Spencer told The Daily Caller News Foundation. In a YouTube video, entitled Knight of the Long Knives, an apparent reference to the purge of Nazi leaders in 1934 to consolidate Adolf Hitler s power, Spencer said Twitter had engaged in a coordinated effort to wipe out alt-right Twitter. I am alive physically but digitally speaking there has been execution squads across the alt right, he said. There is a great purge going on and they are purging people based on their views. Paul Town, Pax Dickinson, Ricky Vaughn and John Rivers were also banished by the Twitter gods.Heidi Beirich, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the organization had contacted the social media platform and asked that more than 100 white supremacists accounts be removed for their incessant hate speech, which clearly violates Twitter s terms of service. They have done nothing, Beirich said on Monday. It appears that on Tuesday, Twitter finally decided to do something.Beirich also pointed out that two of the alt-right accounts, including Spencer s, had been verified. This means Twitter has decided it is an account of public interest. Twitter has stood up against the vitriol of the alt-right before, but this is the first time they have purged so many accounts in one fell swoop.Featured image via CS Monitor | 0 |
20,558 | Puerto Rico creditors urge extension of fiscal plan deadline | (Reuters) - A group holding more than $10 billion of Puerto Rican debt wants the island’s federally appointed financial oversight board to postpone a Wednesday deadline to approve a fiscal turnaround plan for Puerto Rico, saying the U.S. territory’s creditors should have input on the plan. A bondholder group led by OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisers, which hold debt across a wide swath of Puerto Rican credits, made the request to the board in a letter made public on Monday morning, ahead of the board’s scheduled public meeting in New York. “An extension would ... allow Puerto Rico and the oversight board to work with Puerto Rico’s key stakeholders to develop a fiscal plan that makes sense to all the parties,” the group said. The turnaround plan, a requirement of the Puerto Rico rescue law known as PROMESA, must be submitted by Governor Ricardo Rossello and approved by the seven-member board in charge of managing the island’s finances. The plan is meant to serve as the basis for looming restructuring talks with holders of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion in debt. So far, Rossello and the board have disagreed about what the blueprint should look like, with the board saying an initial draft by Rossello relied on overly optimistic revenue and growth projections. The draft increased 10-year cash flows by $33.8 billion, through spending cuts and new revenues, and contemplated $1.2 billion a year in debt service - only 30 percent of what it owes next fiscal year. The board on Monday is expected to take up a revised version of the plan from Rossello, and has said it wants to approve a final version by Wednesday. But the lingering disagreements between the board and Rossello call for an extension, the Oppenheimer group said in Monday’s letter, adding that more time might give the island’s creditors a seat at the table. Oppenheimer said Rossello’s draft plan was unfeasible, saying it ignored payment priorities, offered too weak an analysis on debt sustainability, and did not go far enough on tax reform measures. Puerto Rico is trying to stem rampant out-migration, reduce a 45 percent poverty rate, and fix near-insolvent public healthcare and pension systems. Oppenheimer said it supported extending through Dec. 31 a stay on litigation arising from debt defaults, so sides can negotiate a debt restructuring without worrying about lawsuits. | 1 |
20,559 | re democrats loved jonathan gruber before they forgot who he was video | nintendo cuts fullyear sales operating profit forecasts
october by yuji nakamura and takashi amano bloomberg
httpwwwbloombergcomnewsarticlesnintendocutsfullyearsalesoperatingprofitforecasts
boost from pokemon go fails to make up for sales outlook slump
shares decline in european trading after results release | 0 |
20,560 | Kyrgyzstan accuses opposition MP of planning riots, coup | BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan s state security service said on Saturday it had detained an opposition lawmaker just two weeks before presidential elections, and accused him of planning riots and a violent coup. The GKNB security service said in a statement that deputy Kanatbek Isayev, a supporter of main opposition presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov, had conspired with criminal groups to orchestrate rioting during and after the Oct.15 vote. The impoverished Central Asian country, which is home to a Russian military airbase, has a reputation for political volatility after two previous presidents were toppled by violent riots. Incumbent leader Almazbek Atambayev, who has drawn Bishkek into Russia s orbit during his six years in power, is preparing to step down as the constitution bars him from seeking a second term at the helm of the nation of 6 million people. Instead, Atambayev s Social Democratic party, which leads a parliamentary coalition, is backing his ally, former prime minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov. Babanov, also a former prime minister, could not be reached for comment on Saturday. A February-March poll by the United States International Republican Institute showed Babanov was the most trusted politician in Kyrgyzstan and second only to Atambayev in terms of the proportion of people who viewed him favorably. | 1 |
20,561 | Senator asks ethics office to review Trump hotel payments | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate committee overseeing pensions on Monday asked the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to assess whether President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution and federal bans on conflicts of interest. Reuters reported on April 26 that public pension funds in at least seven U.S. states periodically send millions of dollars to an investment fund that owns the upscale Trump SoHo Hotel and Condominium in New York City and pays a Trump company to run it, according to a Reuters review of public records. “Trump may be profiting from the retirement plans of millions of our nation’s public servants,” Senator Patty Murray of Washington state wrote in a letter to Walter Shaub, the director of the Office of Government Ethics, citing the Reuters report. The Office of Government Ethics is the U.S. agency that oversees conduct within the executive branch and supervises ethics officials to ensure they are preventing conflicts of interest and other violations. “This looks like exactly the type of monetary flow prohibited by the Constitution,” said the senator. Murray, who is on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, asked Shaub to assess what steps Trump can take to ensure he is in compliance with Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which bars the president from receiving additional payments beyond his salary from state governments. The fees that public pension funds pay the CIM Fund III investment fund that owns the Trump SoHo may fall into that category, several constitutional lawyers have told Reuters. The White House, the Trump Organization, and the Office of Government Ethics did not respond to multiple requests for comment. At a January news conference at which Trump said he would turn over management of his companies to a trust controlled by his two elder sons, his lawyer, Sheri Dillon, said divesting from his businesses would “exacerbate” potential conflicts of interest because Trump would still be entitled to royalties from the use of his brand. Some of the pension funds have said Trump or the investment fund that owns the hotel should answer concerns about the chain because they do not have control over the assets in the investment fund’s portfolio. Others declined to comment on the payment chain between them and Trump. Other Democratic U.S. senators have criticized the president for not divesting his hotel management company and the hundreds of other businesses that make up the Trump Organization. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland said Trump was setting “an extremely dangerous precedent” by maintaining ownership. | 1 |
20,562 | BREAKING: Another Undercover Video Released of CNN Producer Mocking Cuomo and Calling voters “Stupid as Sh*t” [Video] | Project Veritas just released yet another video of the CNN producer calling voters stupid as sh*t and even mocking on of their top news anchors Chris Cuomo!The undercover reporter stroked Carr s ego saying he had just as much gravitas as Cuomo and he responded saying, Just can t stand the guy when he talks, we re like shut up. The Veritas reporter asked for clarification as to who he was talking about and he reaffirmed that he was referring to Cuomo.Carr backed up his past comments on other videos such as calling the American electorate stupid as sh-t, and admitting to pushing stories on Russia strictly for ratings. I mean granted, anything I ve said to you I would defend on the record. I don t think I ve said anything, wrong, said Carr.OUR PREVIOUS VIDEOS AND REPORTS FROM PROJECT VERITAS ON CNN:Project Veritas newest video from the American Pravda: CNN series exposes Jimmy Carr, the Associate Producer for CNN s New Day attacking President Donald Trump and admitting that CNN has a left-leaning bias. When asked by an undercover journalist if CNN is impartial, Carr plainly responded, In theory. We reported on the previous videos from Project Veritas: James O Keefe s Project Veritas reporters went undercover at CNN to investigate the #VeryFakeNews network to determine the motivation behind CNN s Trump-Russia collusion obsession. Since the inauguration, CNN has mentioned Russian story nearly 16,000 times.Project Veritas reporters can be seen in the video below having a conversation with CNN s supervising producer John Bonifield. The reporter talked to Bonifield first about the constant barrage of Trump-Russia stories on CNN. Bonifield admitted that although CNN has no evidence or proof of Trump involvement with Russia, they continue to make it their top story on CNN simply for ratings and to make money. Bonifield has worked as a journalist and as a producer for nearly 15 years at CNN, making him a pretty reliable source when it comes to how things work at CNN.Bonifield actually confessed to the undercover Project Veritas journalist that President Trump is correct when he says the media is on a witch hunt to take him down. Bonifield told the reporter: I think the President is right to say, like, look you are witch hunting me You have no real smoking gun, you have no proof. Bonifield told the undercover reporter for Project Veritas that CNN is biased and is playing to their audience by attacking President Trump, and actually admitted that Trump is good for business right now. The Project Veritas reporter asked Bonifield, But honestly, you think the whole Russia shit is bullshit? to which Bonifield replied: Could be bullshit. I mean, it s mostly bullshit right now. Like, we don t have any big, giant proof. The way these leaks happen, they d leak it. It d leak. If it was something really good, it would leak. Watch the unbelievable video here:Did the three resignations that took place at CNN today have anything to do with the impending release of O Keefe s explosive video proving that CNN manufactures Trump-Russia collusion stories for ratings, or for money?The story about the three CNN employees resigning for publishing fake news broke yesterday. Is ti a coincidence that today, O Keefe released this explosive bombshell video?Here s the story that broke yesterday: CNN employees have resigned for their role in pushing fake news about the Trump-Russia story that claimed a member of the Trump transition team was under investigation.Reporter Thomas Frank, editor Eric Lichtblau and executive editor Lex Haris all resigned from their positions following a company-wide investigation into the single-sourced story that was quickly debunked, The Washington Post first reported. CNN quickly followed up with a story of their own on the resignations. Lichtblau reportedly oversaw the false story, while Haris headed up CNN s investigative unit. In the aftermath of the retraction of a story published on CNN.com, CNN has accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story s publication, CNN s coverage quotes a company spokesman as saying.Philly.com On Thursday evening, CNN investigative reporter Thomas Frank published a potentially explosive report involving an investigation of a Russian investment fund with potential ties to several associates of President Donald Trump.But by Friday night, the story was removed from CNN s website and all links were scrubbed from the network s social media accounts. That story did not meet CNN s editorial standards and has been retracted, CNN said in an editors note posted in place of the story. Links to the story have been disabled. | 0 |
20,563 | Trump’s HHS Sec. Latest To Be Caught Spending HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS Of Tax Dollars On Luxuries | What is it with the Trump administration and spending tax dollars on things that are literal luxuries? Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, just got busted spending taxpayer dollars traveling on private planes something to the tune of $300,000 already. Private travel on the taxpayers dime is apparently the norm for Price he s been doing this since he took the helm over at HHS.According to a report from Politico, Kathleen Sebelius and Sylvia Burwell, both of whom headed up HHS under Obama, tended to travel on commercial airlines when flying domestically. Price s officials claim that he only uses private jets when commercial travel isn t feasible, but most of these flights are between big U.S. cities where many airlines regularly fly. For instance, he took a private jet from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, but there are four nonstop flights per day between those two cities, with fares as low as $202.Even if he insisted on flying first class, that flight would have been considerably cheaper with average ticket prices around $1,000. His private jet from D.C. to Nashville cost $17,760.Most of his flights are to areas where he speaks about the opioid epidemic, and these engagements are planned well in advance so he could book his flights well in advance, too. It s not like most of his travel is at the last minute due to the nature of his job, or his demanding schedule, which is another excuse HHS officials are using.His spokespeople also claimed that he was taking private jets because he was just so amazingly busy directing recovery efforts in the hurricane-ravaged areas of Texas and Florida. However, Politico says that at least 17 of these private flights happened before Hurricane Harvey. There s no way he could possibly have been needed for recovery efforts for a hurricane that hadn t happened yet.One of those flights was from San Diego to the Aspen Ideas Festival in June. That s a swanky festival in the swanky resort town of Aspen, CO, and he spent taxpayer dollars on that. While it s true that he was speaking during a panel there, he arrived 19 hours before that panel, so it s really hard for him to claim that he had to book a private jet because this was too last minute. An average of 26 percent of the flights that go into Aspen are scheduled commercial it s not like it s impossible to fly commercial into Aspen-Pitkin. Price s plane could have cost us as much as $7,100. Commercial flights cost well under half that.This administration is all about wasting taxpayer dollars, but cutting needed spending, while pretending to stand for regular Americans. It s absolutely sickening.Featured image via Chris Kleponis Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
20,564 | dr duke lauds white hero richard spencer the npi and the true alt right | the great wall streetwashington con job part of the recovery which didnt happen by david stockman during the last few days we have been debunking the notion that imperial washingtons massive monetary and fiscal stimulus caused the socalled recovery to the contrary it has actually poisoned the regenerative powers of american capitalism by causing capital and resources to flow out of the main street economy and into the speculative casinos of wall street | 0 |
20,565 | Michigan Republicans Pass Bill That Would Put Gay AND Straight Couples In Prison | Conservative lawmakers are far too obsessed with how people have sex.In defiance of the Supreme Court, Michigan Republicans have passed a bill that makes oral and anal sex felonies punishable by up to 15 years in prison.State Senator Rick Jones, an old white right-wing guy who is apparently angry about all the sex he s not having, added the anti-sex language to SB 219, which is supposed to be an animal protection bill, included in a larger package of bills known as Logan s Law.Logan s Law is designed to block convicted animal abusers from owning any pets for five years, but Jones couldn t wait to use the bill to push his own belief that consenting adults who have oral and anal sex should be left to rot in a jail cell. He slipped in language revising the unconstitutional anti-sodomy law near the very end of the bill in a move that Jones probably hoped would go unnoticed.Here s a screenshot of Section 158 of Senate Bill 219.Despite calls for Jones to remove the section, he claims that to do so would hurt the animal protection bill as a whole. The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I won t even get another hearing. It ll be done, Jones said. Nobody wants to touch it. I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. You d get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight that s not needed because it s unconstitutional. But Jones is the one who crossed the line in the first place by sneaking in his dream of outlawing oral and anal sex between humans into an animal protection bill. He s the one who willingly put the overall bill in jeopardy.Jones went on to claim that he believes the only way to repeal the sodomy ban is if the state passes a bill to do so, which he says he could probably vote for.The Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws in 2003, but conservatives across the country have been fighting to keep the laws on the books ever since. That includes Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia who tried to outlaw carnal knowledge between married couples in 2013 as he failed to become the state s governor.And just like Cuccinelli, it appears Jones is trying to insert Christian fundamentalist law into the civil law, which would create a legal clusterf*ck in this country since it would destroy privacy. In order to enforce such a law, it would take millions upon millions of dollars, a spying program, and a cop in every household to make sure women and men are only doing it missionary style and that their reproductive organs are in the place where they believe God intended them to be.In short, whenever Republicans say they support smaller government, they are full of shit, and so is Rick Jones. But I bet Justice Scalia is totally behind him all the way. Featured image from Facebook | 0 |
20,566 | Candidate Handel’s Excellent Response to Alexandria Shooter Calling Her A ‘Republican B**ch’ | We should not allow our political differences to escalate to violent attacks. We must all refuse to allow the politics of our country to be defined in this way, she wrote. Now more than ever, we must unite as a one nation under God. It is incumbent upon all of us to work together in a civil and productive way, even when we disagree. Georgia Congressional Candidate Karen HandelPLEASE NOTE THAT HANDEL AND DEMOCRAT JOHN OSOFF ARE IN A BATTLE THAT WILL TAKE PLACE ON JUNE 20TH IN THE 6TH DISTRICT GEORGIA RUNOFF GET OUT AND VOTE HANDEL!IF YOU WANT TO DONATE TO KAREN HANDEL: DONATE HEREKaren Handel, the Republican candidate for Congress in Georgia s sixth district, on Wednesday afternoon addressed that morning s shooting at a Republican congressional baseball team practice.A gunman who police identified as James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on Republican lawmakers practicing for a charity baseball game in Alexandria, Va., wounding five people including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R., La.). Hodgkinson had penned a Facebook rant against Handel last week. My thoughts are with the victims of this morning s despicable, unprovoked attack on the Republican congressional softball team, wrote Handel, Georgia s former secretary of state. Representative Scalise is a friend, and my heart goes out to him and his family. Steve and I wish him and the others wounded a speedy recovery. They remain in our thoughts and prayers. I also want to commend the heroic actions of the Capitol Police officers who clearly prevented today s attack from being a much bigger tragedy, she wrote.Handel also addressed expletive comments that Hodgkinson made about her on social media.Hodgkinson posted an article about Handel to his Facebook, calling her a Republican Bitch who wants People to Work for Slave Wages, NBC affiliate WXIA reported. Republican Bitch Wants People to Work for Slave Wages, when a Livable Wage is the Only Way to Go! Vote Blue, It s Right for You! Hodgkinson wrote on Facebook. I am aware that the suspect recently made vile comments about me on social media, Handel said in her statement. It also appears that the suspect targeted members of Congress specifically because he disagreed with their views. Hodgkinson s social media posts indicate he was a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and loathed President Donald Trump and Republican policies.Handel echoed calls by others, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), for bipartisan unity following the attack. We should not allow our political differences to escalate to violent attacks. We must all refuse to allow the politics of our country to be defined in this way, she wrote. Now more than ever, we must unite as a one nation under God. It is incumbent upon all of us to work together in a civil and productive way, even when we disagree. READ MORE: WFB | 0 |
20,567 | Sarah Palin Trashes Fox ‘News’ For Not Seeking Facts Before Reporting | Fox News is now part of the lamestream media as far as Sarah Palin is concerned, and that s not the only shot she fired at the conservative network.On Saturday, Palin responded to reports that she had dropped out of an appearance at the Wyoming Primary in support of Trump, who went on to lose all of the delegates in the state. No, despite reports, I didn t drop out of anything in Wyoming s GOP Primary today, Palin wrote on her Facebook page. I wasn t scheduled to be there, which can be verified by the Trump Campaign and our email exchanges from EIGHT DAYS AGO where it was agreed a trip to Wyoming wouldn t fit in with my prior obligations to work in DC and Nevada this weekend. Not satisfied with just accusing the media of issuing false reports, she threw an absolute temper tantrum to the point where she actually stated that she wants to put the media over her knee and spank them.But the most interesting part of Palin s rant came in the third paragraph when she threw Fox News under the bus and confirmed what we all already knew: that Fox News does not seek out the facts before reporting stories.Too bad reporters don t bother to seek facts before spewing their bull. (Here s to you even, Fox News.) I ve never had a PR team to correct the record for me, so within reason I try to keep up with constant misreporting but it s impossible to do when I have a life and don t waste precious time perusing press clippings.Here s the full post via Facebook:As you ll recall, Sarah Palin was once employed by Fox News before they gave her the ax, only for her to return and then leave the position herself. Fox News and Sarah Palin have clearly not always been on good terms but it definitely looks like the GOP civil war now includes a newly sparked battle between America s village idiot and the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Now we just need to grab our popcorn and wait for Fox News to respond.Featured Image: Flickr | 0 |
20,568 | Congress approves Trump's aid and debt deal with Democrats | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday extending the government debt limit for three months and providing about $15 billion in hurricane-related aid, bringing his surprising deal with Democratic congressional leaders this week to completion. The bill, approved in a 316-90 vote by the U.S. House of Representatives, had drawn criticism from some conservative members of Congress. But the Senate passed it on Thursday and the Republican president signed it soon after arriving at Camp David, Maryland, for the weekend. Despite controversy, lawmakers had rushed to approve the legislation, which provides $15.25 billion for emergency disaster aid, before government aid ran out at week’s end as Americans deal with two deadly hurricanes including Irma, a potentially catastrophic storm poised to strike Florida on Sunday. Hurricane Harvey, which came ashore on Aug. 25 as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, killed about 60 people, displaced more than 1 million, and the state governor has said it caused up to $180 billion in damage. The bill raised questions about the relationship between Trump, a political outsider who took office in January, and Republican Party regulars. He has frequently criticized Senate leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, and his deal on Wednesday with Democratic congressional leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi was an especially troublesome shock for conservative members. Conservatives’ souring relations with the administration are likely to remain a factor as Congress and the White House now face a Dec. 8 deadline on the debt limit and government spending. Asked about Trump working so closely with Democrats on the legislation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “I think that the president’s focus was doing what was best for the American people. I think the last thing we want to do is play partisan politics when we have people in places like Texas and Louisiana that need financial support through the federal government.” A White House statement issued after Trump signed the bill said: “The President appreciates Congress putting aside partisan politics and acting quickly to ensure that first responders, local officials, and Federal emergency management personnel have the resources they need.” Before the vote, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney had pleaded the White House’s case to Republican lawmakers at a Friday morning meeting. It was not well received by some. “There’s a lot of disappointment in the decision the president made and the way our leadership was treated,” said House Republican Representative Hal Rogers, describing a sense of “animosity” at the meeting. “That’s a sore spot. It’s not a happy camp.” “There was some hissing and I don’t know if there was some booing, but there were some groans,” Republican Representative Mark Walker said. Mulvaney told the representatives now was not the time to discuss Washington fiscal problems because of the hurricanes. Conservatives reminded him that during his days as one of the most conservative members of Congress, he had been a strong advocate for threatening government shutdowns in order to win concessions on spending. “It got a little warm for him a few times,” Walker said. More moderate Republicans welcomed the bipartisan approach. “If we can reach across the aisle, we can get things done and not be held hostage by 30 or 40 people,” said Representative Peter King. “You can’t just have one party govern.” The bill’s $15.25 billion in emergency funding includes $7.4 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $450 million for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program and $7.4 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some conservative groups had objected to coupling a debt-limit increase with the emergency funds, but McConnell moved ahead at Trump’s urging. Walker said Mnuchin gave conservatives little hope that the Trump administration would fight to include the spending restrictions they want to see in the next debt ceiling increase in December. In Wednesday’s meeting with congressional leaders, Trump had sought to work out a deal to attach to the disaster funding two short-term, three-month measures to fund the federal government at current levels and extended its borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling. Current government funding was set to expire at the end of the month, with a possible government shutdown looming, and the U.S. Treasury had asked Congress to raise the debt limit immediately. Some House Republicans balked at attaching the two crucial fiscal measures to the bill and called it a win for Democrats. Republicans had wanted to raise the debt ceiling for a longer period that would have extended past the 2018 midterm elections. Republican Senator Ben Sasse said on Thursday the deal makes Schumer “the most powerful man in America for the month of December.” The three-month term of the debt limit and spending deal could give Democrats a better chance of winning higher government spending levels in December. Republicans fear that having to deal with spending and debt again so soon will distract them from other issues, such as tax reform. | 1 |
20,569 | Trump likely to pick Fed's Powell to lead central bank: source | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is likely to pick Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next head of the U.S. central bank, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, prompting investors to push down yields on Treasury notes. The Republican president, who is considering Powell, current Fed Chair Janet Yellen and three others for the top central bank job, will announce his decision on Thursday, a White House official said separately. By picking Powell, a soft-spoken centrist and Fed governor since 2012, Trump would get the combination of a leadership change and the continuity offered by somebody who has been a part of the Yellen-run Fed that has kept the economy and markets steady in recent years. Powell, 64, has supported Yellen’s general direction in setting monetary policy, and in recent years has shared her concerns that weak inflation justified a continued cautious approach to raising interest rates. “Powell has not offended people, and that’s a huge advantage in Washington. He’s the kind of guy who can get through Senate confirmation, and this administration has so many other problems to deal with,” said John Silva, chief economist at Wells Fargo. The main challenger to Powell is Stanford University economist John Taylor, a favorite of conservative Republicans who believe monetary policy has been too loose under Yellen and want the central bank to rely more on rules when setting rates. Taylor has spent the last two decades refining and pushing for wider use of a rule that sets out where rates should be, given certain conditions of inflation and the broader economy. His rule implies they should be higher than they are now. Critics say that a Taylor-run Fed would run the risk of tightening monetary policy too fast and choking off the recovery from the 2007-2009 financial crisis and recession. The race for the Fed job has shifted between Yellen, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama to a one-year term in 2014, Powell and Taylor in recent weeks. Financial markets had pushed Treasury yields higher on talk Taylor would get the job. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR were yielding 2.37 percent in mid-afternoon trading on Monday, down from 2.43 percent on Friday. The Fed, which is holding a two-day policy meeting this week, has lifted rates twice this year and is expected to do so again in December. | 1 |
20,570 | Trump fights release of video testimony in fraud case | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday filed court papers opposing the release of video showing him being questioned under oath about his Trump University series of real estate seminars. They argued that making public the videos, for which written transcripts are already available, would prejudice Trump’s case. The video is “unnecessary, irrelevant and unjustified,” lawyers for Trump wrote in court papers filed in federal court in San Diego. In legal proceedings, evidence is considered prejudicial if it may interfere with a judge or jury’s objective consideration of the facts. Such evidence can still be presented if it is considered highly relevant to the case. The Republican candidate has already claimed the federal judge overseeing the case is biased against him because of the judge’s Mexican heritage. Trump may also have concerns about the impact the videos could have outside the courtroom. On Friday, CNN, CBS, the New York Times, and other media outlets asked for the complete deposition transcripts and videotapes to be made available. If released, the videos could provide fodder for campaign commercials against Trump. In lawsuits in California and New York, Trump has been accused of bilking students who paid as much as $35,000 for an opportunity to learn the businessman’s real estate investment strategies. Former Trump University students suing the billionaire claim that they learned little and that their instructors, supposedly hand-picked by Trump, had few qualifications. During deposition, Trump has admitted that he did not select instructors. His lawyers have argued the “hand-picked” claim amounted to mere sales “puffery” rather than fraud. In court papers arguing for the videos’ release, lawyers for the students argued the images presented nuances not available in the transcripts. “Trump’s tone, facial expressions, gestures and body language... speak volumes to... Trump’s complete and utter unfamiliarity with the instructors and ‘instruction’ that student-victims received,” they said. Trump has said the claims over Trump University are baseless and that students highly rated the programs. The case is Art Cohen v Donald J. Trump, 13-cv-2519, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. | 1 |
20,571 | Supreme Court fight gives Democrats fuel to regain U.S. Senate control | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Supreme Court nomination battle that was ignited on Saturday with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia has given Democrats an explosive new issue that could bolster their chances of regaining majority control of the U.S. Senate. The impact could be felt most acutely in “swing” states, where Republicans are trying to hold onto Senate seats, political strategists and analysts said. The high stakes are also expected to prompt greater voter turnout that could favor Democrats.ALSO ON REUTERS Trump is a ------: White House hopeful plays fill-in-the-blanks with voters Not in my backyard? Mainstream Scandinavia warily eyes record immigration With no clear idea of who President Barack Obama will nominate as Scalia’s replacement, it was way too early to know exactly how this fight will play out in already rollicking presidential and congressional elections. But, “in this hyper-polarized political environment we are currently operating in, I can only assume the battle over this (court) nominee will dominate the political debate from here on out,” said Jim Manley, a strategist and former top aide to Democratic senators. Manley noted Republicans are facing tough races for Senate seats in swing states such as Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and could find themselves in even tighter spots because of the divisive fight over Scalia’s replacement. These Republican candidates, who either already serve in the Senate or are vying for open seats, have to especially thread the needle in their politically divided states on social issues, like abortion rights, that so dominate Supreme Court confirmation fights. Democrats already enjoyed an advantage in the November Senate elections, having to defend only 10 seats while 24 Republican seats are up for grabs in the 100-member chamber. Democrats need a net gain of five seats to win back the majority they lost in the 2014 elections. Just hours after Scalia’s death at the age of 79, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proclaimed that whoever moves into the White House on Jan. 20, 2017 - and not Obama - should pick the replacement for the late conservative jurist. The Senate must confirm presidential nominees to the life-time appointments at the nine-justice high court, whose recent decisions have had a deep impact on the country, from the legalization of same-sex marriage to election campaign finance. “If the Republican leadership refuses to even hold a hearing, I think that is going to guarantee they lose control of the Senate, because I don’t think the American people will stand for that,” proclaimed Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who was interviewed on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Meanwhile, McConnell’s announcement sparked new fundraising pleas in the presidential and congressional campaigns, which already were awash in campaign contributions. Ron Bonjean, a former top Republican Senate leadership aide and current political strategist, acknowledged that Republican Senate candidates from swing states “may be placed in an awkward position” by the Supreme Court fight. While some may be pressured to join Democrats in calling for a confirmation vote depending on who Obama nominates, Bonjean also saw a potential upside for those Republicans. With anti-establishment candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders far exceeding expectations in their quest for the presidency, Republican Senate candidates in swing states could feel emboldened to break from party ranks. Senator Mark Kirk in Illinois, for example, is one of those Republicans in a swing state facing a potentially rough race. The 2016 campaigns already were generating an avalanche of voter interest with control of the White House and Congress hanging in the balance. Now, with the ideological control of the Supreme Court also to be decided, “That leads to only one conclusion: Increased turnout” of voters in November, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. Higher turnout often helps Democratic presidential candidates, which in turn could help Democratic Senate candidates. However, Sabato also noted that with the Supreme Court vacancy ascending in importance, it could rally establishment Republicans who currently oppose the anti-establishment Trump to support him if he becomes the party’s nominee. And that, in turn, could boost Republican turnout in tight Senate races. | 1 |
20,572 | BREAKING: BEN CARSON Makes Surprising Announcement After Saying He Would NOT Serve On Trump’s Cabinet [VIDEO] | #BREAKING @RealBenCarson on #foxreport: If after meeting and they (Trump Transition Team) decide they want me, then I wouldn't turn it down HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) November 21, 2016 I didn t 100% say that I would never serve. I just said that my preference would be to stay outside. Basically I ve said, my preference was to be outside, and to act as an advisor. But if after going through the process, they all conclude that, you now, that it would be much better to have me in the cabinet, I would have to give that some serious consideration. It s just not my preference. Watch here at the 1:20 mark:https://youtu.be/-zuSHm0ASNc | 0 |
20,573 | Trump administration may change rules that allow terror victims to immigrate to U.S. | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Raj, a Sri Lankan fisherman, sought refuge in the United States in 2005, he had precisely the kind of fear of returning home that U.S. asylum laws require. In 2004, he was kidnapped by the separatist rebel group the Tamil Tigers and had to pay $500 to secure his release, according to Raj, his lawyer and court records reviewed by Reuters. The group then demanded more money, which he could not pay after a tsunami destroyed his house and fishing boat. Raj, 42, who asked that only his first name be used because of the sensitive nature of his situation, decided to flee. He boarded a plane using a false Canadian passport and requested asylum upon arriving in the United States. There was a catch, however. U.S. laws ban immigration by anyone who has provided "material support" to terrorists, and the Tamil Tigers are designated as a terrorist group by the United States. A judge ruled that Raj's ransom payment to them constituted material support. (Read an excerpt of the letter petitioning the U.S. government for a waiver in this case: tmsnrt.rs/2oPsqQM) Ultimately, Raj was granted asylum in 2011 because of rules that allow for waivers for people who provided aid to terrorists under duress. He now lives in San Diego, California, works in an Indian restaurant and hopes to become a citizen. (Read an excerpt of the letter from the U.S. government granting the waiver: tmsnrt.rs/2oPy7yx) Raj said it was “a big relief” when he finally received his green card around a year after receiving asylum. “I am not a terrorist,” he said. Now the Trump administration is debating whether to rescind the waivers that have allowed Raj, and tens of thousands of others, to immigrate to the United States in the past decade (See graphic on waivers: tmsnrt.rs/2oPssIo). Some immigration hardliners are concerned the exemptions could allow terrorists to slip into the country. U.S. President Donald Trump directed the secretaries of State and Homeland Security, in consultation with the attorney general, to consider abolishing the waivers in an executive order in March. That directive was overshadowed by the same order’s temporary ban on all refugees and on travelers from six mostly Muslim nations. The bans on refugees and travel were challenged in lawsuits, and their implementation has been suspended pending full hearings in court. But the waiver review was not included in the court rulings, so that part of the order remains in effect. Rules governing the waivers have been hammered out over the last decade with both Democratic and Republican support. But in recent years they have drawn fire from some conservative lawmakers, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was a senator. A State Department official said this week the department is working with DHS to review the waivers and is “looking at actually pulling them back in accordance with the executive order.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give details on the timing of the review or its likely outcome. The Department of Justice declined to comment. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Congress expanded the definition of who could be considered a terrorist and what constituted “material support” to terrorism in rules now known as the Terrorism Related Inadmissibility Grounds. Those changes ensnared people like Raj who were coerced or inadvertently provided support to terrorists, as well as members of persecuted ethnic groups that supported rebel organizations, and even U.S.-allied groups fighting against authoritarian regimes. Without an exemption, members of Kurdish groups that battled Saddam Hussein’s forces in Iraq, Hmong groups who fought alongside U.S. troops in Vietnam, or some Cubans who fought Fidel Castro’s regime would not be allowed to immigrate to the United States. Under the exemptions, U.S. authorities have the discretion to grant people residency in the United States after they have passed background checks and are found to pose no threat to national security. Congress initially passed waivers to the terrorism bars in 2007 with bipartisan support, and in the years that followed both the Bush and Obama administrations added additional groups and circumstances to the exemptions. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has granted nearly 22,000 TRIG exemptions in total over the last decade, according to the latest data available, which goes through September 2016. The State Department also grants TRIG exemptions, but a spokesman could not provide data on how many. Refugees from Myanmar are the largest single group of beneficiaries to date of TRIG exemptions granted by USCIS, with more than 6,700 waivers. The wave of Myanmar refugees dates to 2006, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ruled that thousands of members of the Karen ethnic group, then living in a camp in Thailand, could resettle in the United States, even if they had supported the political wing of an armed group that had fought the country’s military regime. One high-profile supporter of scrapping the waivers is House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia whose staffers were instrumental in drafting Trump’s travel ban. Goodlatte told Reuters he was “pleased that the Trump Administration is reviewing the dangerous policy.” Groups favoring stricter immigration laws have also applauded the review. Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations at NumbersUSA, called the waivers “a potential security risk.” “I personally don’t think that a bureaucrat should be deciding how much support for terrorism is enough to be barred,” she said. A USCIS spokeswoman, when asked if a recipient of an exemption had ever been involved in a terrorism-related case after arriving in the United States, referred Reuters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which said it was a question for the State Department to answer. “I don’t know of any cases where beneficiaries of exemptions have gotten into trouble after arriving,” the State Department official said, noting that the department does not typically track people after they arrive in the United States. Trump’s order to review the waivers “is another example of an attempt to address a non-existent phantom problem,” said Eric Schwartz, who served in the State Department during the Obama administration. Schwartz and immigration advocates say the waivers are granted after lengthy review and are extremely difficult to get. “These are case-by-case exemptions for people who represent no threat to the United States but rather have been caught in the most unfortunate of circumstances,” said Schwartz. For Raj, the initial ruling that his ransom payment supported a terrorist group led to more than two years in U.S. immigration detention, followed by more years of electronic monitoring. His waiver allowed him to bring his wife to the United States after nine years apart. She now studies nursing. | 1 |
20,574 | SAY WHAT? LEFTISTS PLAN To Erect 45-Foot Statue Of NAKED WOMAN That Will Stare at White House…Stand Next to Washington Monument For Several Months [VIDEO] | When did our Washington DC Mall become a staging area for feminist statements? Do families traveling to DC really need to see a statue of a naked woman standing next to the Washington Monument? Don t we have a number of museums in DC that would be a more appropriate temporary home for a 45-foot statue of a naked woman?The organizers of Catharsis on the Mall are planning to have a 45-foot-tall statue of a naked woman near the Washington Monument for several months.The National Park Services confirmed to FOX 5 it received and was reviewing a public gathering permit application for Catharsis on the Mall which would include erecting a 45-foot tall statue of a naked woman.Organizers for the event said the statue, called R-Evolution, is a woman standing in her strength and power expressing her humanity; how she feels when she is safe, when she can just be. It was created by artist Marco Cochrane in collaboration with model Deja Solis and was first featured at Burning Man, an annual festival held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, back in 2015, according to organizers.Catharsis on the Mall said it would like to have the statue next to the Washington Monument looking at the White House beginning Nov. 9 and lasting through March 2018.Via: Fox5NY | 0 |
20,575 | ‘Charlottesville 3.0’: Nazis Descend Upon College Town For Another Torch-Lit Rally (TWEETS/IMAGES) | We all remember the horrific violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia in August. White supremacists, Ku Klux Klan members, and other assorted white supremacists descended upon the historic college town to do violence, and they succeeded. Their efforts began with a torch lit march the night before, and continued with a rally the next day that quickly turned violent. It eventually ended in a white supremacist driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Now, it seems that they are at it again.As of this writing, white nationalists are holding another torch lit march in Charlottesville. As despicable as that is, it s true. White supremacist leader Richard Spencer boasted that what he calls Charlottesville 3.0 was, quote, a success. Charlottesville 3.0 was as success. pic.twitter.com/c18ktP0MWD Richard ?Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) October 8, 2017Here is a photo of the horror unfolding there, courtesy of the anti-fascist website It s Going Down s Twitter:Neo-Nazis have rallied with torches again in #Charlottesville. At emancipation square. pic.twitter.com/h4EXXQsK4h It's Going Down (@IGD_News) October 8, 2017This is the face of fascism in America, folks. This is what it has come to. Likely, they have another afternoon rally planned for tomorrow, if they were able to get a permit for the torch lit march. Further, there is likely to be more violence as well. That is what they want. Hopefully, no one gets killed this time.This story is breaking. Stay tuned to Addicting Info for further updates.Featured image via screen capture from Twitter | 0 |
20,576 | Georgia GOP Official Celebrates MLK Day By Calling Civil Rights Legend John Lewis A ‘Racist Pig’ | As Trump skips out on a planned Martin Luther King Day visit to the new Smithsonian African-American history museum after a weekend of hate-tweeting civil rights legend John Lewis, others in the GOP are attempting to match, if not surpass, The Donald in horribleness.A member of Georgia s Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners decided that the weekend preceding a holiday celebrating civil rights was exactly the right moment to join Trump in layering on the hate against John Lewis. This backlash comes in response to Lewis absolutely accurate statement that Trump who is due to be sworn in as Grand Wizard of the United States of America on Friday is an illegitimate president.Now, most might look at Trump a guy who became President with the helpful input of a hostile foreign dictator s propaganda and fake news campaign (with a sprinkling of hacking of Trump s political opponents) and who represents everything we are against in our nation and at least agree that Lewis has a point. But not Tommy Hunter. Like Trump, he hopped on social media over the weekend and threw a racist tantrum. John Lewis is a racist pig, Hunter posted on Saturday, eloquently adding that there ain t one political pundit that didn t say on November 9 that this would be Demonrats EXACT response to Trump winning. Hunter explained that Demonrats DO NOT live in reality because the polls failed to predict that 48 percent of people who lived in the right place at the right time were able to successfully select a president that the majority didn t want. What a bunch of idiots, Hunter said. John Lewis district is drawn to keep him in power, he later continued. His wins are all illegitimate. How can other reps be concerned about working with him. John Lewis fought, bled, was arrested for, and dedicated his entire life to fighting for the right for all Americans to vote. Hunter? Well, he sits on Facebook and whines about politics, spams his friends news feeds with posts about Facebook, and he enjoys fishing.Gwinnett Democratic Party, Gabe Okoye, called Hunter a disgrace to Gwinnett County in particular and Georgia in general in response to the posts, calling for the Trump fan s resignation.Hunter deleted the posts along with one demanding to know if there are any white guys on the University of Alabama s football team and several other miscellaneous posts in response to the inevitable backlash. He also changed his privacy settings so he can continue to post hateful garbage in his circle of friends without anyone else knowing. While I am grateful for what the Congressman did in Selma and other times during the civil rights movement, you get respect by showing respect, Hunter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after he got caught being a racist douchebag. He is using his fame as a way to continually divide the races and in this case standing on the very much unsubstantiated claim that the guy I voted for [Trump] is racist and only won because of Russians hacking the election which, of course, we all know didn t occur. Lewis, of course, is doing none of those things but Hunter actually claiming that Russia did not hack the election demonstrates his exact mindset. Apparently, he is crazy enough to refuse to believe something even Trump has now reluctantly admitted is true yet sure enough of himself to spew racist garbage while calling an African-American civil rights hero a racist. Featured image via Facebook | 0 |
20,577 | OBAMACARE AND THE FORGOTTEN FAMILY: A Tale Of How The Middle Class Was Royally Scr*wed By Washington [Video] | In light of Republican failure to pass the American Health Care Act, Charles Krauthammer dismissed the idea that Chuck Schumer would try to work with Republicans at all, since the Democrats are moving toward a single-payer system as the country increasingly expects coverage to be an entitlement:Read more: CNN | 0 |
20,578 | U.S. senator calls for GAO probe to protect babies born drug-dependent | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate subcommittee on children and families wants a congressional watchdog agency to investigate whether states are complying with a federal law meant to protect newborns in drug withdrawal and help their families. In a letter sent this week to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Senator Robert Casey of Pennsylvania asked that the probe examine what steps Congress or the Obama Administration could take “to improve compliance and save the lives of vulnerable infants.” The request comes in response to a Reuters investigation in December that identified the preventable deaths of 110 babies whose mothers used opioids during pregnancy and were subsequently sent home to families ill-equipped to care for them. A 2003 federal law calls on states to require that healthcare workers notify child protection services when a baby is born affected by illegal substance abuse or has symptoms of drug withdrawal. Such reports are not to be used as evidence of abuse, the law says, but rather to help develop a “plan of safe care” for the newborns after they leave the hospital. Reuters found that no more than nine states and the District of Columbia appear to follow the law. Even so, no state had lost federal funding from failing to abide by the provision. More than 27,000 newborns in the United States were diagnosed with drug withdrawal syndrome in 2013 – five times the number diagnosed with the condition in 2003. “Reuters’ groundbreaking report on the condition of children born with opioid dependencies should be a call to action for all members of Congress,” Casey said in a separate statement. Cathleen Palm, executive director of the Center for Children’s Justice, a Pennsylvania non-profit advocacy group, supported Casey’s action. “By GAO and Congress saying we want states to tangibly tell us what they are doing, it’s going to force them to really look at it,” Palm said. “It just feels like we’re about to get a whole lot more motivated about these babies and their families.” Mark Weber, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees compliance with the law, said the agency will “work with the GAO when an inquiry is made.” The Reuters investigation, “Helpless & Hooked,” can be found at reut.rs/1NSc7uC | 1 |
20,579 | comment on donald trump to replace filipina white house chef with paula deen by mitch jalandoni | search for about us
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20,580 | SHERIFF ARPAIO Bombshell: Obama’s Birth Certificate Is A FAKE…Turning Over Evidence To Feds [VIDEO] | Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says a new video analysis shows that parts of Obama s birth certificate were copied from another certificate. After arguing his point for five years, Arpaio says he will turn this new evidence over to the fed. USA TODAYAt 4 p.m. sharp, Arpaio and a member of his Sheriff s Office s Cold Case Posse had a big message for the 40-odd journalists in attendance: You were wrong.Arpaio and his aides announced that a five-year investigation had proved that Obama s birth certificate from Hawaii in 1961 was a fake. An accompanying presentation highlighted what they called 9 points of forgery on the document, which focused on the angles of date stamps, typed letters and words. USA TodayREMEMBER THE WOMAN WHO VERIFIED OBAMA S Birth Certificate that was killed in a plane crash after she verified the authenticity of his birth certificate?The Hawaiian health official who verified the authenticity of President Obama s birth certificate died in a small plane crash.The plane, carrying a pilot and eight passengers, went down Wednesday in the water a half mile off the Hawaiian island of Molokai, the Maui Fire Department said. The lone fatality was Loretta Fuddy, who has served as state health director since January 2011. Tom Matsuda, the interim executive director of Hawaii s health insurance exchange, confirmed Fuddy s death.Fuddy, 65, made national news in April 2011 when she verified the authenticity of certified copies of President Obama s birth certificate. Obama had requested the release to curb claims by so-called birthers that he was born in Kenya and not eligible to be president.Makani Kai Air President Richard Schuman told Honolulu-based KITV that he spoke with the pilot of the single-engine turboprop Cessna Grand Caravan after the crash. What he reported is after takeoff there was catastrophic engine failure, Schuman said. He did the best he can to bring the aircraft down safely and he got everybody out of the aircraft. Schuman said the cause of the engine failure had not yet been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the crash; NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said that based on the location of the crash it was unlikely the plane will be recovered. USA TODAYArpaio promised to provide an update and a final conclusion to the Barack Obama Birth Certificate investigation.The Maricopa County Sheriff s Office announced they believe President Obama s longform birth certificate was forged.They cite nine points of forgery, claiming the Obama document contains stamp prints digitally lifted from a certificate belonging to a person named Johanna Ah nee. Breaking 911Chief Investigator Mike Zullo said, Forensic analysis showing the characters on the document were pieced together from secondary sources. [..] Words, letters and hand placed date stamps have been digitally copied from Ah Nee s birth certificate and pasted onto Obama s longform birth certificate [..] We re pretty confident with these results. Breaking 911 | 0 |
20,581 | Son of Sicilian mafia boss gets a year in a 'workhouse' | ROME (Reuters) - An Italian judge ruled on Tuesday that a convicted mobster and son of late boss Salvatore Toto Riina be detained for a year in a secure labor unit, a judicial source said, less than two weeks after his father died, leaving the Sicilian mafia s future uncertain. Convicted of mafia membership in 2004 and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison before being released on parole, Giuseppe Salvatore Riina, 40, has been under police surveillance in the northern town of Padua. Criminals who are deemed dangerous to society or likely to re-offend can be sent to a secure unit, known as a workhouse in Italy, with the aim of rehabilitating them into society through manual labor. In Riina s case, investigators in Rome found that he had contact with drug dealers, prompting a prosecutor in Padua to ask for him to be held under tighter security, the source said. Riina declined to comment through his lawyer. A decision has not yet been taken on which of Italy s five workhouses Riina will be sent to, the source said. The judge handed down a one-year term, rather than the three years the Padua prosecutor had requested. On state television last year, Riina said he had been happy during his childhood, when his fugitive father lived under an assumed name. Toto Riina died on Nov. 17 in a hospital in Parma, the Italian city where he had been serving 26 life sentences for murders committed between 1969 and 1992. Nicknamed the boss of bosses , Toto Riina changed the structure of the Sicilian mafia, concentrating power in his own hands. His savagery prompted hundreds of mobsters to testify against him, allowing magistrates to uncover the secrets of Cosa Nostra and prosecute its leaders. | 1 |
20,582 | Most Americans back 'just the facts' news stories: Pew survey | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans want the media to present facts in news stories without adding interpretation, a Pew Research Center survey said on Friday amid a debate in the media about its role in covering Donald Trump’s unconventional presidential campaign. Journalists face the issue of how much guidance they should provide to help their audiences make sense of the news. The question is especially keen after the 2016 election when the media grappled with challenging false statements made by Republican Trump in his campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Fifty-nine percent of U.S. adults reject the idea of adding interpretation, saying that the news media should present the facts alone, the survey showed. Four in 10 favored adding some interpretation to the facts. “Although the public prefers the news media to present ‘just the facts,’ they may not even agree on what the facts are,” Pew said in a statement. In the same survey, 81 percent of registered voters said that most supporters of Clinton and Trump not only disagreed over plans and policies, but also disagreed on basic facts. Voters who supported Trump, now the president-elect, favored a “just the facts” approach by 71 percent to 29 percent. Clinton supporters were evenly split on the issue. The survey showed strong support for fact-checking by the media. The election campaign saw a proliferation of fake news sites and articles on social media competing with news published by traditional media, although this was not included in the survey. Eighty-one percent of those who prefer facts without interpretation believe fact-checking is a major or minor responsibility of the news media. Among those who prefer interpretation, 83 percent think fact-checking is a responsibility. The survey of 4,132 adults was conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 10, before Election Day. The margin of error is 2.8 percentage points. | 1 |
20,583 | MAD MAXINE Doubles Down On Threats Against Trump: His Supporters Are The KKK [Video] | U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters attacked President Trump about 27 seconds into her speech to homeless LGBTQ youth at the Ali Forney Center in New York City earlier this month.She began her speech with: Wow, what a moving evening this is. I m sitting here listening, watching, absorbing, thinking about Ali even though I never met him. And with this kind of inspiration, I will go and take Trump out tonight, she said, pumping her fist as the crowd roared with approval.On Monday, Waters offered no apologies for her promise to take out Trump during an interview with CNN s New Day, and instead doubled down on her commitment to impeach the president. Those words have been interpreted as an attempt on the president s life, CNN s Chris Cuomo told Waters. How did you intend them? That s absolutely ridiculous, nobody believes that, Waters said. A 79-year-old grandmother who is a congresswoman and who has been in Congress and politics for all these years talking about doing any harm. The only harm I may be doing to the president is I want him impeached, Waters said.She alleged the folks who oppose her efforts to unseat the president, and the people who want her out of office, are racists. And those people who are so opposed to my leadership on impeachment are organizing the right wing, the white nationals, the KKK, they have organized an effort to try and, of course, defeat me in my election coming up and to discredit me, Waters said. Everybody knows that I m on the front lines not talking about any physical harm to anybody, but I am talking about impeachment and I m not going to stop. She then went on to name all the reasons she hates Trump, though none of them include a legal justification for removing the president. I believe this president is not worthy, she said. I believe this president should not be representing our country. He has alienated our allies. He continues to lie, day in and day out. He creates controversy. He can t get along with the members of Congress. He needs to be impeached. I want him impeached. And I m going to continue my efforts to call for his impeachment. Cuomo pointed out that Waters comments represent ugly talk, and questioned whether those who oppose Trump should be the change that you want to see and have a high level of decency in how you discuss those whom you want to criticize, especially when it s the president of the United States. Waters alleged she s been extremely responsible in laying out the case for why this president should be impeached. The problem is racists, she said. I know that the right wing, the white nationalists, all of those who have organized around this president, do not like this. And people are not accustomed to a woman, in particular an African American woman, taking this kind of leadership, she said. How dare me challenge the president of the United States, but we have never witnessed a president who has been as irresponsible and as dangerous as this president. And I think that we need to step up to the plate and tell the truth and speak truth to power and that s what I m doing and that s what I m going to continue to do. Waters has used every platform available to her to continue her crusade against President Trump It s only making her look totally unhinged. | 0 |
20,584 | With Algeria's future uncertain, Macron unlikely to dwell on past during visit | PARIS/ALGIERS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron is likely to use a visit to Algeria on Wednesday to look to the future and turn the page on the colonial past, but stop short of apologizing for his country s actions as some demand. The trauma of the 1954-1962 independence war, in which hundreds of thousands of Algerians were killed and tortured was used on both sides, has left deep scars. Former French leader Francois Hollande sought a more conciliatory tone describing his country s colonization of Algeria as brutal and unfair and Macron is unlikely to go further. With President Abdelaziz Bouteflika rarely seen in public since a 2013 stroke, Macron will focus on the generational shift and importance of enhanced economic and security within that context. On a visit to Algeria in February as a candidate, Macron, 39, already shocked many at home when he said France s 132-year colonial rule was a crime against humanity. The president had strong words. It was appreciated by Algerians, but today the idea is to turn the page and build a new relationship with Algeria, a French presidential source said, adding that youth was his key message. During a three-day tour in Africa last week Macron again addressed the colonial past. While recognizing the crimes of the European colonizers, he also pointed to the positives of the era and made clear that his generation should not be blamed. Facing high unemployment, low oil prices, austerity and political uncertainty, Algeria s youth is likely to warm to Macron s call to look to the future more than the war veterans. It s very difficult to have a relationship between one partner (Macron) that is young, vibrant and wants renewal and the other partner (Bouteflika) who represents such a severe contrast, said Pierre Vermeren, a North Africa specialist at the Paris Sorbonne university. Economic ties between the two countries have marginally progressed since 2012 and France is now behind China as the main partner. Annual trade stands at about 8 billion euros compared with 6.36 billion five years ago. More than 400,000 Algerians are given visas for France annually, almost twice as many as in 2012. If Macron makes it easier to get a visa, that will be great for me. As for the history stuff I really don t care, said Slimane Khalifa, 25 who is an engineer at a state firm. POST-BOUTEFLIKA TEST Political jostling around Bouteflika has intensified as his health has waned, fuelling questions about the transition if he steps down before his term ends in 2019. With more than 4 million people of Algerian origin in France, all with ties to the North African state, any upheaval across the Mediterranean would have a serious impact on Paris. Macron s biggest foreign policy test could be Algeria because the state of Bouteflika s health is a worry and potentially what happens after could have huge ramifications on us, said a French diplomat. Macron s friendship visit, downgraded from an official visit, is also an opportunity to appease some anger in Algiers after he traveled first to arch-rival Morocco earlier this year, a taboo for previous French leaders. Many hope Macron will go one step further when it comes to the past. France should not only apologize, but also pay for its crimes during occupation, Lakhdar Brahimi, retired diplomat and close friend of the 80-year-old Bouteflika said last week. Brahimi, like Bouteflika, belongs to the war veterans who fought against French occupation and among that generation Macron is seen as his last chance for history to remember Bouteflika as the man who obtained an official apology. However, it remains a sensitive issue across France and Macron s comments in February led to a drop in poll ratings and uproar across various strands of society forcing him to clarify his stance. With the generational change yet to take place, Macron for now needs Algeria to help resolve the crisis in neighboring Libya and to prevent Islamist militants from stoking problems in the Sahel region, where some 4,000 French troops, roam close to the Algerian border. All the Algerians want is for France and the Barkhane force to get out of Mali and away from its border, said a senior French diplomat. | 1 |
20,585 | RAW VIDEO OF ENTITLEMENT NATION: Thousands Line Up For Section 8 Housing – Need or Want? | America has become Entitlement Nation where thousands line up for housing is this a need or just a want? Those in need like the disabled or our veterans are the ones Section 8 was meant for, yet able bodied Americans started to line up TWO DAYS before the voucher giveaway. Are thousands upon thousands of people REALLY in need of free housing? My answer came in the form of a Facebook post that clearly defined for me the fact that people use these entitlements when they REALLY don t need them:The comments below this picture were very telling this is the norm for many Americans:Laura- That s awesome! Lasuzy- Wow..you should of seen the line here in Modesto Ca it never ended,lucky there was no numbers,so I assume all in line got a application its been 5 years ago,still waiting to be called Karen- Wow back when i had applied for just the LA County it took 17 years for them to send me the card telling me my packet was coming. But by the time my packet came i was already in housing out here in San Bernardino county and had been for some years Ray- My BROTHER there going to wait a long time I ve been on the waiting list 8 years. GODBLESS. Florence- I wish I can get section 8 so I can do more for my grand sons I raise .it s hard But thank God that he provides every day Jennie- Oh cool, hopefully they call all those people back quicker than LA does SOUNDS LIKE THIS HUD/SECTION 8 HOUSING IS A RACKET FOR THOSE WHO FEEL ENTITLED TO THE FREEBIES!Thousands of people lined up Monday morning for the chance to apply for low-cost, government-subsidized housing in the city of Norwalk.Officials with the City of Norwalk Housing Authority began handing out applications at 8 a.m. at the Norwalk Arts and Sports Complex. Roughly 3,000 applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program waiting list were scheduled to be distributed through Sept. 24 or until all applications were handed out, city officials said. By just past 7 a.m., a line of people could be seen going all around what appeared to be nearly a city block, according to aerial reports: A fact sheet distributed by the city prior to the event warned prospective applicants that it may be many months or several years before we are able to assist you with your rent. This is not an emergency program. The city of Norwalk has a population of just under 107,000 as of a 2013 census.HOUSING EXPENDITURES HAVE SKYROCKETED:THIS IS FROM 2005 SO JUST IMAGINE WHAT IT IS NOW! Via: CBS | 0 |
20,586 | VIOLENT PROTEST Outside Trump Rally In Pittsburgh As Cops Come Down On Black Lives Matter Thugs [Video] | You can thank the racist Black Lives Matter PAID PROTESTERS for this mayhem. They re trying to make it appear as though the people who support Trump are violent racists. The police should use their full force to stop this now because it ll set an example for future attempts to rally. Law and order comes first! You can blame Obama s buddy George Soros for stirring up this chaos. BTW-Trump has done NOTHING racist! He wants our border closed to illegals for the safety of Americans. He also wants a moratorium on Muslim refugees which is exactly what our FBI and DHS would recommend because they ve said we CANNOT vet these refugees. So what s the beef? | 0 |
20,587 | U.S. senators reach deal on Russia sanctions | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators reached an agreement on Monday on legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, including a provision that would prevent the White House from easing, suspending or ending sanctions without congressional approval. The agreement, to be filed as an amendment to an Iran sanctions bill, is intended to punish Russia over issues including its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for the government of Syria in that country’s six-year-long civil war. [L1N1J41LS] The Iran bill is due come up for a vote as soon as this week. Besides the provision setting up a process for Congress to review changes in sanctions, the measure would put into law sanctions previously established via presidential executive order, including some on certain Russian energy projects and debt financing in some industries. It would impose new sanctions on Russians found to be guilty of human rights abuses, supplying weapons to Syria’s government and conduct cyber attacks on behalf of Russia’s government, among others. The measure also would allow new sanctions on Russian mining, metals, shipping and railways. The legislation is backed by both Republicans and Democrats, and is expected to easily pass the Senate. It was introduced amid an intense focus in the U.S. capital on relations with Russia, and investigations by the Department of Justice and congressional committees of whether Russia sought to influence the 2016 U.S. elections to help elect Republican President Donald Trump, and whether Trump associates colluded with Moscow as it sought to influence the election. To become law, the legislation would have to pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by Trump. If Trump objected, some of its backers said they expected enough congressional support to override a veto. “These additional sanctions will ... send a powerful and bipartisan statement to Russia and any other country who might try to interfere in our elections that they will be punished,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. Russia has denied attempting to interfere in the U.S election, and Trump has dismissed any talk of collusion. The measure also authorizes “robust assistance” to strengthen democratic institutions and counter disinformation in European countries that might be targeted by what the legislation’s sponsors described as Russian aggression. In December, the final full month of President Barack Obama’s administration, Washington sanctioned Russian businessmen and companies for Moscow’s role in Ukraine via executive order. | 1 |
20,588 | Nikki Haley Inadvertently Supports Obama’s Refugee Policy While Exploiting The Charleston Massacre (VIDEO) | Tuesday night, after President Obama gave his final State of the Union Address, Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) delivered the Republican rebuttal. During her speech, though, she accidentally supported the Democratic Party s Syrian refugee policy while trying to exploit the Charleston massacre to take political shots at Donald Trump.After she was finished calling President Obama a failure, Governor Haley turned her attention to our immigration problem and the Syrian refugee crisis, saying: At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can t do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined. That line about refugees is one Republicans often say to justify their refusal to help the desperate families fleeing from unthinkable violence in Syria. While this comment was not surprising, later on she said something that sounded an awful lot like a contradiction.Towards the middle of her speech, Governor Haley spoke about the Mother Emanuel massacre that took the lives of nine black churchgoers when a white supremacist decided that he wanted to start a race war. She said: This past summer, South Carolina was dealt a tragic blow. On an otherwise ordinary Wednesday evening in June, at the historic Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, twelve faithful men and women, young and old, went to Bible study. That night, someone new joined them. He didn t look like them, didn t act like them, didn t sound like them. They didn t throw him out. They didn t call the police. Instead, they pulled up a chair and prayed with him. For an hour. She went on to take a not-so-subtle shot at Donald Trump: We didn t turn against each other s race or religion. We turned toward God, and to the values that have long made our country the freest and greatest in the world. So, while trying to exploit the Charleston massacre and taking shots at Trump, she accidentally supported Obama s policies. She said even though Dylann Roof did not look like the Mother Emanuel churchgoers, they embraced him because those are real American values. Haley is absolutely right! That is what our country is all about.The United States was built on the intrinsic belief that we are a free nation that welcomes everyone especially the desperate, downtrodden souls of other nations. We are also a nation the does not let the fear of others overcome us and scare us into not helping people. Obviously, by this statement, she understands that the Syrian refugees perfectly fit this description and we should open our arms just like the beautiful victims of the Charleston did. I m sure that if you ask her if she meant her comments in this way, she ll say no and THAT is what makes them so great.Thanks for the support, Governor Haley! Obama appreciates it!Watch her rebuttal below:Featured image via video screenshot | 0 |
20,589 | Congress to start undoing Obama-era regulations this month: leader | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers will begin voiding dozens of new U.S. regulations at the end of the month to fulfill their promise to undo Democratic President Barack Obama’s legacy, focusing on environmental and labor rules, the House of Representatives’ second most powerful Republican said on Thursday. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the Republicans who will shortly control both Congress and the White House for the first time in 10 years have made reforming federal regulation a top priority alongside repealing the Obamacare healthcare program and rewriting the tax code. Republicans are on a blitz to radically reform the vast federal bureaucracy, where they say appointed officials create costly, burdensome red tape that stifles economic growth. Once Republican President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, they will have a like-minded ally in the Oval Office to sign their measures into law. On the chopping block are dozens of new rules that the outgoing Obama administration has finalized since the end of May on energy, the environment, transportation, banking, finance, education and media ownership. Republicans will ax them using the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to void a single regulation for a brief window of time after it is issued. Congress will begin a two-week marathon of voting to disapprove them on Jan. 30, according to McCarthy, who House aides say will lead the process. Disapproval resolutions can pass on simple majorities, giving Senate Democrats no power to block votes with filibusters. McCarthy told the conservative-leaning Hoover Institution that two of the first votes will be on new environmental regulations. Republicans will seek to kill a contentious rule intended to protect streams and forests from the impact of coal mining and a regulation curbing methane leaks on public lands. Congress will also take aim at new requirements for employers to report their workers’ gender, race and ethnicity that are intended to help root out pay discrimination. On Wednesday, the House approved a massive bill for creating accountability in rulemaking. The next day, it passed legislation largely along party lines requiring financial regulators to tally the costs of their rules. Democrats, though, have vowed to block any reform bills, saying the many extra procedures they require will stall agencies’ work, making it impossible to create needed regulations and properly oversee special interests. | 1 |
20,590 | Protesters face off as U.S. abortion debate heats up | WASHINGTON/MARIETTA, Ga. (Reuters) - Anti-abortion protesters rallied at scores of Planned Parenthood clinics on Saturday to urge Congress and President Donald Trump to strip the health services provider of federal funding, while supporters of the organization staged counter-demonstrations around the United States. With anti-abortion groups expecting protests at up to 225 clinics, Planned Parenthood supporters organized 150 protests of their own at parks, government buildings and other sites, including clinics. At some of those clinics, the counter-demonstrators outnumbered those demanding an end to federal funding for Planned Parenthood. All told, rallies and marches were called in 45 states in cities large and small, from Washington and Philadelphia to St. Paul, Minnesota, and Orange, California As many as 6,000 people turned up for competing demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota, police said, but at other places, only a few dozen demonstrators turned out. “We expected that tens of thousands of pro-lifers will be out today sending a message that we want Planned Parenthood to be defunded,” Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and one of the national organizers of the anti-abortion rallies, said in a telephone interview. “As long as they are going stay in the abortion business, that is an organization that shouldn’t be getting one red cent of federal tax money,” Miller said. The 100-year-old organization of about 650 health centers provides birth control and other women’s health services in addition to abortion, according to its website. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling but U.S. law prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions. Anti-abortion activists say funding for other purposes acts to subsidize abortions. In some cities, the two sides in the long-simmering issue positioned themselves along the same street. Initial reports indicate the rallies were vocal and peaceful. In the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups took opposite sides of a four-lane highway, waving signs at traffic and shouting slogans. “Trump is going to hear our trumpet call,” said anti-abortion activist Sandy Prescott, 61, a homemaker from Roswell, Georgia, who was part of a group of about 100 people demanding an end to federal funding for Planned Parenthood. At the competing abortion-rights demonstration, about 50 people gathered and held signs that included: “Women’s rights are human rights.” Many wore the pink “pussy hats” that have became an anti-Trump symbol since the Republican’s inauguration on Jan. 20. David Daleiden, an anti-abortion activist who in 2015 targeted Planned Parenthood with surreptitiously filmed videos to try and show it was profiting from the sale of aborted fetal tissue, addressed a rally of nearly 500 people in rain-soaked Orange, a Los Angeles suburb. “I’m confident that together, if we keep the faith, take the next right step, at the end of the day we will soon see a day when there will no longer be a price tag put on human life,” said Daleiden, founder of the Center of Medical Progress. Daleiden and fellow activist Sandra Merritt were indicted in January 2016 for using illegal government identifications to secretly film a Planned Parenthood facility in Texas, but the charges were later dropped. A grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing. Anti-abortion activists have said they are energized by the election of Trump, who has promised to restrict abortions. He selected their long-time ally, Mike Pence, as vice president, and nominated conservative jurist Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Two weeks ago, tens of thousands converged on Washington for the 44th March for Life, where Pence became the most senior government official to speak in person at the annual anti-abortion rally, organizers said. “We finally have someone in the White House who has the power and authority to save and defend lives,” said Margie Sznajder, one of 300 anti-abortion protesters at a rally in her hometown of Aurora, Illinois, outside Chicago. Planned Parenthood leaders say abortions rights supporters also have been energized by Trump’s election, as exemplified by the hundreds of thousands who flooded Washington a day after Trump’s inauguration in favor of women’s rights, including abortion rights. In Denver, hundreds gathered outside the office of U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, urging the Republican not to pursue funding cuts. Some in the energetic but peaceful crowd carried signs with slogans like “I refuse to go back to the 1950s,” and “If it’s not your body, it’s not your decision.” The pro-Planned Parenthood events on Saturday were organized spontaneously, without the group’s initiative, a spokeswoman said. “Saturday, and every day, Planned Parenthood advocates and activists show that they refuse to be intimidated and they won’t back down,” Kelley Robinson, a leader of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Support, said in a statement. Planned Parenthood receives federal funds from Medicaid reimbursements and Title X, a federal program that supports family planning and preventive health services. Planned Parenthood says cutting off those funds would make it more difficult for women to obtain birth control, Pap smears or testing for sexually transmitted diseases. At some points in Washington, Planned Parenthood supporters formed lines to block about 50 people marching from the Supreme Court to a Planned Parenthood clinic but police officers moved them aside. “Abortion, to me, is the greatest evil of our time,” said Delia Tyagi, 36, an accountant who lives in Arlington, Virginia. “Planned Parenthood has wronged women in a lot of ways. I feel like we have the momentum to finally defund them.” | 1 |
20,591 | Ireland says wants 'agreed wording' on Brexit border before December 14 summit | LONDON (Reuters) - Ireland wants re-assurance from Britain there will be no regulatory divergence between it and Northern Ireland after Brexit, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told BBC radio on Friday. He said Ireland wanted to achieve before a Dec. 14 EU summit an agreed wording whereby we can agree the parameters within which we can find a solution that prevents the re-emergence of a border on the island of Ireland . Avoiding a so-called hard border on the island of Ireland is the last major hurdle before Brexit talks can move to negotiations on Britain s future trade relationship with the EU and a possible two-year Brexit transition deal. Coveney said Ireland cannot be asked to leap into the dark by the UK. | 1 |
20,592 | PUTIN Steals Famous President Bush Quote In Forceful Denial Of Russian Interference In U.S. Elections…Makes Surprising Announcement About Relations With U.S. | The funny thing is, we all know the media s obsession with Russia would never be happening if Hillary won the election. Where were all the rabid Russian conspiracy journalists when Hillary was selling them our uranium for favors? We re not fans of Putin, but any dummy can see that the left is clearly using Putin s alleged involvement in our elections as a means to destroy the legitimacy of President Trump s election Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. elections, and he did it by using a famous quote from a U.S. president. Watch my lips, no, Putin said.The Russian strongman made the claim when asked point-blank whether Russia had interfered and whether any evidence to the contrary would get found.He invoked former President Reagan, although the Read my lips quote was actually used by his successor, George H.W. Bush, speaking at a CNBC event on Arctic issues.Putin said claims of Russian interference were lies used for domestic American politics.All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies, Putin continued. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside. Then he delivered a friendly message to U.S. audiences. We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident And know for sure that opinion polls in the Unites States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation and I d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday in an interview with CBS News, We all knew Russia was trying to meddle with our election. And we already know right now they re trying to do it with other countries. Ryan continued: The world s super power, the American government needs to do everything we possibly can, not only to undercut what they re trying to do but to uncover what they re trying to do and help our allies prevent it from happening. Putin also said Thursday he is ready to meet with Trump if Finland hosts an Arctic summit. Finland is set to take over the rotating leadership of the Arctic Council.For entire story: Daily Mail | 0 |
20,593 | Vice President Biden to meet with Sanders on Thursday: source | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will meet with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont, at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) on Thursday, a source familiar with the plans said. Sanders met earlier on Thursday with President Barack Obama, who later endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president. | 1 |
20,594 | Trump arrives in South Korea for talks on nukes, trade | OSAN, South Korea (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump landed in South Korea on Tuesday, the second leg of his 12-day Asia trip dominated by the North Korean nuclear standoff. South Koreans are bracing for the possibility that Trump s state visit could risk further inflaming tensions with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has stepped up his pursuit of nuclear weapons that could soon be capable of striking the mainland United States. Trump will visit with U.S troops and is also expected to raise criticisms of a U.S-South Korean trade pact when he meets with President Moon Jae-in in Seoul. | 1 |
20,595 | U.S. condemns attacks on special monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Sunday condemned an attack on special monitoring missions in eastern Ukraine and called on Russia and the separatist forces it backs to immediately observe the ceasefire under the Minsk agreements. ”We condemn Friday’s targeting of OSCE special monitoring mission (SMM) monitors and the seizure of a SMM unmanned aerial vehicle by combined-Russian separatist forces,” the State Department said in a statement. “It is imperative that these forces halt their attacks on civilian infrastructure, including the Donetsk water filtration station. We call on Russia and the separatist forces it backs to immediately observe the cease-fire, withdraw all heavy weapons, and allow full and unfettered access to the OSCE monitors.” | 1 |
20,596 | Al Shabaab bomb kills 12 in Somalia's Puntland | BOSSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - An al Shabaab bomb attack killed 12 people, including five soldiers, in Somalia s Puntland region on Friday, the Puntland military said. The explosions hit Af-Urur, 100 km (60 miles) south of the city of Bossaso. Af-Urur is near the Galgala hills, an area controlled by al Shabaab Islamists who have attacked and captured the town several times and in June killed 38 people there. A bomb planted near the khat market of Af-Urur exploded, Major Mohamed Ismail, a Puntland military officer, told Reuters. So far 12 people including civilians and soldiers have died. The attack coincided with Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday. Al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda and wants to impose strict Islamic law, claimed responsibility. We are behind the attack in Af-Urur village. We killed five soldiers and injured 10 others, al Shabaab s military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters. | 1 |
20,597 | ‘Losers’: Kellyanne Conway Responds To Clinton Campaign Joining Recount Efforts | Officials in Wisconsin are preparing to conduct a full statewide recount of the votes from the 2016 election after a request was filed by Jill Stein and she s pledged to file for recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, too. The initial vote totals counted in three precincts in Wisconsin is a problem. Michigan had to revise its vote totals as well. The Clinton campaign has decided to get behind Jill Stein s efforts which now focus on three battleground states.Donald Trump said the election would be rigged and suddenly, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway disagrees. Conway spoke with Bloomberg and called the Clinton campaign sore loser and part of a ridiculous effort. What a pack of sore losers, Conway said in a statement. After asking Mr. Trump and his team a million times on the trail, Will HE accept the election results? it turns out Team Hillary and their new BFF Jill Stein can t accept reality. Rather than adhere to the tradition of graciously conceding and wishing the winner well, they ve opted to waste millions of dollars and dismiss the democratic process. The people have spoken. Time to listen up. #YesYourPresident, Conway said.Trump, too, addressed the recount, saying, The people have spoken and the election is over, and as Hillary Clinton herself said on election night, in addition to her conceding by congratulating me, We must accept this result and then look to the future. He also called it a scam. This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded, and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing, Trump added.If Trump was elected legitimately, then he should have no problem with a recount. As for scams, he knows a lot about that subject. Projection is his forte.Hillary now leads the popular vote by 2.2 million and that number is expected to increase.Photo by Kevin Hagen via Getty. | 0 |
20,598 | U.S. spy agencies probe another flank in Russian hacking | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Russian hacking of the 2016 U.S. election included sophisticated targeting of state officials responsible for voter rolls and voting procedures, according to a top secret U.S. intelligence document that was leaked and published this week, revealing another potential method of attempted interference in the vote. The month-old National Security Agency document outlined activities including impersonating an election software vendor to send trick emails to more than 100 state election officials. Analysts at the NSA believed the hackers were working for the Russian military’s General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, according to the document. The document’s publication on Monday by The Intercept, a news outlet that focuses on security issues, received particular attention because an intelligence contractor, Reality Leigh Winner, was charged the same day with leaking it. U.S. intelligence agencies have previously said the Kremlin tried to influence the election outcome in favor of Republican candidate Donald Trump through leaks during the campaign of hacked emails from Democratic Party officials, aimed at discrediting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The new revelations suggest that U.S. investigators are also still probing a more direct attempt to attack the election itself, and a federal official confirmed that is the case. However, there is no evidence that hackers were able to manipulate votes, or the vote tally. The document says at least one employee of the software vendor had an account compromised but does not cover whether any of the elections officials were also successfully compromised. If they did compromise the officials, hackers could have planted malicious software, then captured proof of the infection to suggest that there had been fraud on Clinton’s behalf, had she won the Nov. 8 election, experts said. “If your goal is to disrupt an election, you don’t need to pick the winner or actually tamper with tally result,” said Matt Blaze, a University of Pennsylvania computer science professor who has written on the security of voting machines. Simply casting doubt on the legitimacy of the results could achieve the goals of a government-sponsored hacking campaign, he said. U.S. intelligence officials had previously stated that Russian intelligence had won access to “multiple” election officials but had said that compromised machines were not involved with vote tallies. But they had not said how sophisticated and extensive the effort was or how it worked. Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly denied Russian government involvement in election hacking, though he said last week that “patriotic” Russians could have been involved. Trump has denied any collusion. SPEAR-PHISHING ON ELECTIONS OFFICIALS The newly leaked NSA report said the hackers used so-called “spear-phishing” techniques on election officials, trying to convince targets to click on links in emails that seemed to come from legitimate correspondents. The report describes just one phishing campaign, which hit state officials a week before the election, but does not give any locations or say if it was successful. Although there may have been many others, security experts said one coming so late in the game would be more likely to be about sowing chaos than trying to alter vote counts. The report did not say what the hackers were trying to accomplish, and any investigation of the computers of people who were targeted would be the jurisdiction of the FBI. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday, as did the office of the special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government. The “bait” used in the spear-phishing campaign involved software for managing voter registration rolls. The hackers might have been considering deleting some records and forcing officials to turn legitimate voters away, said elections technology security expert Alex Halderman, of the University of Michigan. There were no wide reports of mass rejections of voters, so perhaps that plan was abandoned or proved too hard to execute, he said. It is also possible that the idea was to get onto the machines of officials who oversaw both registration and voting software. Elections are run by counties in the United States. “Depending on the county’s configuration and security practices and what is separated from what, they could have access to potentially every aspect, from lists of registered voters, to voting machines, to firmware on those machines, to the ballots that are presented, to the software that controls the final tally,” Blaze said. “This is the holy grail of what an attacker would want to compromise.” Members of Congress said they hoped to learn more about the hacking attempts. “It’s important that the American people understand that the Russian attempts to break into a number of our state voting processes - we talked about this in the fall - was broad-based,” Democrat Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, told reporters. “It’s my hope in the coming days that we can get more information out about that.” | 1 |
20,599 | Florida man pleads guilty in attempted hacking of Clinton Foundation | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Florida man pleaded guilty in a case stemming from an attempted hacking of the Clinton Foundation on Thursday, months after he was sentenced to 42 years in prison in the wake of child pornography discovered on his computers during the probe. Timothy Sedlak, 43, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to attempting to access protected computers without authorization. Prosecutors accused him of trying to gain access to an unnamed New York-based charitable organization’s network. “I knew that what I was doing was wrong,” Sedlak said in court. Neither prosecutors nor Sedlak named the organization from which he tried to get access to emails. In a court filing obtained by Reuters that summarized a U.S. Secret Service interview in 2015 with Sedlak, an agent said he was questioned about notes they found referencing former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton. Sedlak, who called himself a private investigator, told the agents he was researching whether charities were unintentionally providing funding to Islamic militant groups, and said the Clintons “came up in his research,” the filing said. The filing’s description of the Clintons matched prosecutors’ descriptions of two previously unnamed individuals who were said to be executives at the charity and an “individual who has been publicly affiliated” with it. Chelsea Clinton is the vice chair of the foundation, which was started by her father, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Its full name is the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The filing was downloaded by Reuters on Feb. 3. It was later replaced by a redacted version removing the Clintons’ names. Clinton Foundation representatives did not respond to requests for comment. The investigation into Sedlak, of Ocoee, Florida, predated probes into cyber attacks on Democrats during the 2016 presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies in January released an assessment indicating that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered cyber attacks to help Republican Donald Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting Clinton. Sedlak launched about 390,000 unsuccessful attempts to gain unauthorized access to the charitable organization’s computer network, according to prosecutors. Following his arrest in 2015, authorities discovered files on his computers containing child pornography, including images depicting Sedlak sexually abusing a toddler, prosecutors said. Sedlak was separately charged in Florida, where a federal jury in Orlando in May found him guilty of charges he produced and possessed child pornography. He was sentenced in August to 42 years in prison. | 1 |
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