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20,600 | House votes to kill consumer lawsuit rule | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to erase a new rule that lets bank and credit-card customers band together in lawsuits, as the agency that drafted the measure, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, moves closer to the center stage of congressional politics. The Republican-led House voted 231 to 190 along strict party lines to kill the rule barring financial institutions from forcing customers to agree to take future disputes to arbitration, instead of the courts, as a condition of opening accounts. It now goes to the Senate. Under the Congressional Review Act, both chambers can vote to repeal a new rule with simple majorities. The Republican majority in the Senate is slimmer. If the party loses just three lawmakers the CFPB rule, finalized 15 days ago, will survive. Also, the Senate calendar is currently full with healthcare and tax reform, and lawmakers may not get around to voting on the rule. Republicans say “mandatory arbitration” works quickly to garner individuals substantial awards, while group lawsuits benefit only the attorneys who file them. Democrats contend the contract clauses rob customers of constitutional rights. Because companies hire the arbitrators and proceedings are secret, they also say the process is rigged against consumers. The Senate is being pressured on both sides by major interest groups, including the pro-business Chamber of Commerce and the workers’ rights group the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Much of the fight, though, is about the CFPB itself, which is appealing a legal decision that its structure is unconstitutional. Now that Republicans control Congress and the White House the six-year-old agency’s future is in doubt. President Donald Trump’s administration has argued against the CFPB in court, the House has approved legislation radically overhauling it, and the acting comptroller of the currency has attacked the arbitration rule. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo helped author the resolution to kill the new rule. Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, held a news conference on Tuesday rallying supporters to protect it. Warren originally came up with the idea of an agency to shield individuals from predatory lending and help prevent the type of devastation average people experienced during the 2007-09 financial crisis. During Tuesday’s fiery floor debate, Republicans lambasted the CFPB for having a single director who both writes and enforces rules and for dictating how businesses and customers interact. Democrats cited how the agency has returned billions of dollars to wronged consumers. | 1 |
20,601 | After 2016 campaign, more Americans consider Russia a threat: Reuters/Ipsos poll | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans are more concerned than they were before the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign began about the potential threat Russia poses to the country, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday. The Jan. 9-12 survey found that 82 percent of American adults, including 84 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans, described Russia as a general “threat” to the United States. That’s up from 76 percent in March 2015 when the same questions were asked. The increased concern comes after a brutal election season during which Democrats and others raised questions about President-elect Donald Trump’s financial ties to Russia and the U.S. intelligence community accused Russia of engaging in cyber attacks during the election. Trump, who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader and signaled during his campaign that he might take a softer line in dealing with Moscow, only recently accepted that Russia committed the hacks after receiving detailed briefings from intelligence officials. Trump initially criticized the findings, saying the culprit could be China or “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” The poll asked people to rate Russia and a slew of other countries on a 5-point scale ranging from “no threat” to “imminent threat.” It found that Americans were more likely to label Russia a threat than they were Iran, Syria, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba or Yemen. Only North Korea ranked higher, with 86 percent of Americans labeling it as a threat. Some 25 percent of Americans gave Russia the highest concern, labeling it an “imminent threat.” “Russia is back to the old days of the Cold War,” said Oneita Wilkins, 69, a Republican who lives in a suburb of New Orleans, who rated Russia an “imminent threat.” Wilkins did not vote in the election. She said she did not trust Trump or Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and chose to not vote for the first time in more than 40 years. The latest reports about Russian hacking lowered her opinion of Trump even further. “Trump doesn’t have any experience with other countries,” Wilkins said. “I have a feeling that he’ll be easily influenced by Putin.” Trump, earlier this week in his first news conference since the election, defended his goal of better ties with Putin, saying, “If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability.” The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,169 American adults, including 490 Democrats and 475 Republicans. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and 5 percentage points for Republicans and Democrats. | 1 |
20,602 | WIKILEAKS EMAIL SHOWS CLINTON FOUNDATION FUNDS Used For Lavish Wedding Of “Spoiled Brat” Chelsea Clinton | An email released by WikiLeaks on Sunday appears to show a former top aide to Bill Clinton arguing that an investigation into Clinton Foundation spending would show that Chelsea Clinton used foundation resources for her own wedding.The email, stolen from Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and published by WikiLeaks, shows a back-and-forth between Podesta and Doug Band, a former aide to Bill Clinton.Band said he heard that Chelsea Clinton was conducting an internal investigation of money within the foundation from cgi [Clinton Global Initiative] to the foundation. He said he was hearing more chatter about how Chelsea was talking about internal issues like that, and said it was not smart. In a later follow-up to Podesta, Band wrote, The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents I hope that you will speak to her and end this, Band added. Once we go down this road Other emails showed Band feuding with Chelsea Clinton. For instance, Clinton had warned that Band was using Bill Clinton s name without his consent to win clients to his firm, and Band replied by saying Chelsea was a spoiled brat kid. Via: WE | 0 |
20,603 | U.S. senator: Launch probe if inappropriate Trump campaign, Russia contacts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress should launch a bipartisan investigation if there were any inappropriate contacts between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian officials, fellow Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Wednesday. “If there were contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign operatives that was inappropriate, then it would be time for the Congress to form a joint select commission to get to the bottom of all things Russia and Trump,” Graham said. The New York Times has reported that members of Trump’s presidential campaign had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials before the election. | 1 |
20,604 | National Republican Just Blamed Women For Assaults — Again (VIDEO) | Republican presidential candidate and current Ohio governor John Kasich made strange remarks about sexual assault during a town hall event in New York. Kasich echoed many conservatives and laid the blame on women for these crimes.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8FqEIgQMW0Asked about the risk of campus sexual assault during a Friday campaign event, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) advised a female student not to go to parties where there s a lot of alcohol. The Republican presidential candidate was hosting a town hall in Watertown, New York when a freshman student from St. Lawrence University asked how he would help her feel safer and more secure regarding sexual violence, harassment, and rape, according to ABC News.Simply going to a party where there s a lot of alcohol is not any kind of excuse for a woman being assaulted. Yet conservatives, who repeatedly have denied that there is a rape culture on many college campuses, have regularly cited how women are dressed or what sort of parties they attend when addressing this vital issue.By comparison, the Obama administration launched the It s On Us initiative to highlight the role men have to play in stopping sexual assault on campus. Vice President Joe Biden, who helped to author the Violence Against Women Act has often served as a spokesperson for the initiative.Despite the conservative pushback, progressive groups spearheaded by women s leadership have placed campus sexual assault on the top tier of issues to be dealt with by college officials as well as elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels.Increasingly views like Governor Kasich s that put the onus of responsibility on female victims are becoming the minority, while fathers, sons, and brothers have come to realize that blame is a weak and ineffective response.Republicans have found out more often than not, that their insensitive remarks about rape, abortion, and other issues affecting women have fed into the larger story of a war on women, and they end up losing elections. Featured image via Pixabay | 0 |
20,605 | Trump Brags About Hurricane Size As Florida Braces For Disaster | Donald Trump is apparently thrilled that Hurricane Irma will be the biggest storm to ever hit the United States.Only weeks after Hurricane Harvey left a swath of devastation and death in Texas, Florida is bracing for an even deadlier and more destructive storm.People will die. Businesses and homes will be wiped off the map. Suffering and homelessness will be the reality in Florida. But Trump is too busy bragging about the size of the hurricane to actually care about the people who are in the path of the storm.In yet another Twitter rant on Wednesday morning, Trump proclaimed that his team is already in Florida preparing for the storm after bragging about what a good job they have done in Texas.Watching Hurricane closely. My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017In fact, Trump s response to Hurricane Harvey was to brag about the size of that storm, and he ended an Obama-era flood policy as Houston drowned. Trump has also proposed massive cuts to FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which predicts and tracks hurricanes.It should also be noted that Trump inherited a FEMA that took the lessons of Hurricane Katrina seriously in preparation for future storms. So, Trump and his team did nothing special.But what Trump did next on Twitter shows just how little empathy and compassion he has for the people in the path of Hurricane Irma.Hurricane looks like largest ever recorded in the Atlantic! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017Yeah, you read that right. Trump literally bragged about the size of this hurricane as if it s something to be proud of. This coming from a man who denies the very climate change that is causing bigger and more destructive hurricanes to form.As Floridians prepare for disaster, they must be wondering why Trump is so excited about watching them get slammed by the largest hurricane to ever strike the United States. If anything, Trump should be concerned about the coming destruction and death instead of bragging like he s about to win a prize.Featured Image: Jim Lo Scalzo Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
20,606 | NATO chief stresses solidarity among NATO allies | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday he would not interfere in the U.S. election campaign, but said that solidarity among allies was a key value for the group. “This is good for European security and good for U.S. security,” the NATO head said in a statement. “The United States has always stood by its European allies.” Stoltenberg’s comments came after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump raised fresh questions about his commitment to automatically defend NATO allies if they were attacked, the New York Times reported. | 1 |
20,607 | Minnesota Woman Writes Amazing F*ck Off Letter To Men Who Want To Ban Abortion (IMAGE) | Attention, conservative men. This one is for you.After reading a pair of anti-abortion letters written by men published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune in response to the Supreme Court striking down Texas s draconian abortion law, Heidi Seltz couldn t stand to sit back and take the bullshit any longer.Texas law had forced abortion clinic doctors to obtain admitting privileges at an area hospital in order to continue providing reproductive services to patients. It also required clinics to become ambulatory surgical centers or they would be forced to shut down. Both requirements shuttered many clinics that women rely on for care and would have closed many more had the Supreme Court not ruled 5-3 against the law.Apparently, some men in Minnesota were very angry that the high court blocked their ability to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies and they publicly whined to the newspaper about it.So Heidi felt she should respond so that women are represented among the opinions published. And she only needed a few sentences to rip them a new one and put them in their place. It would be nice if men would shut up and if editors would help them, she wrote. Unless you have a woman s body, I don t want to hear your opinion on what women s bodies should or should not do. In fact, it would be a delight if the Star Tribune Editorial Board ceased publishing men s letters about women s bodies entirely. Perhaps newspaper readership among young people would grow if every time we opened a paper, we didn t have to read old men s fusty opinions about uteri. Here s the letter via Twitter.Heidi is sick of your bullshit. pic.twitter.com/7TGEz5Q3TD Stacey Burns (@WentRogue) June 30, 2016More women like Heidi Seltz must speak up in this way so that men do not dominate the conversation on reproductive rights. For too long, men have spearheaded the movement to restrict the reproductive rights of women to the detriment of women s health and freedom. The men in this movement are mostly conservatives who want to control women s bodies and make them submit to their will. That s why whenever Republicans in Congress form a committee to whine about abortion and contraceptives it s very noticeable that they rarely include a woman on the panel. Usually it s old white men who think they know everything about women s bodies and how they work. That has to change and it will only change if women stand up for themselves and demand it.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
20,608 | madonna says shell give a blowjob to anyone that votes for hillary clinton video | home news fox news just exposed hillarys illegal voting scheme to the entire country fox news just exposed hillarys illegal voting scheme to the entire country fisher mins ago news comments off on fox news just exposed hillarys illegal voting scheme to the entire country fox news just exposed hillary s illegal voting scheme to the entire country
hillary clinton has taken her illegal actions to a new level with a new move that involves enlisting the help of illegal immigrants to help her beat donald trump in november
once again hillary is in violation of us code which makes it a felony to conceal or harbor any alien including any means of transportation the penalty is five years in prison ten years if it was done for commercial advantage or private financial gain could be made for that hillary and the dnc also violated this law a few weeks back at the democratic national convention when they paraded two illegal immigrants across the stage to give an anti trump speech
hillary clinton is enlisting undocumented dreamers into a new voter registration drive aimed at signing up sympathetic voters with warnings that donald trump s immigration plans could result in their deportation though the dreamers themselves cannot legally vote
clintons national voter registration program called mi sueño tu votomy dream your vote was announced sunday on the fouryear anniversary of the order that temporarily shielded from deportation some young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children
the young people known as dreamers are prohibited from voting however they remain a powerful political organizing force and the clinton campaign hopes to use them to convince latino and other households to go to the polls for the democratic nominee heres what lou had to say | 0 |
20,609 | Papua New Guinea police order protesting asylum seekers out of Australian-run camp | SYDNEY (Reuters) - About fifty asylum seekers departed an Australian-run detention camp in Papua New Guinea on Thursday after police moved into the complex, confiscating food, water and personal belongings from the roughly 310 who remained. The Manus Island center was sealed off after a three-week standoff the United Nations has called a looming humanitarian crisis as detainees defied attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to close it. Right now we have no water, one of the asylum-seekers in the camp said in a mobile telephone message. I came back to my room and they took my laptop and money and cigarettes. Video images shot and posted on social media site Facebook by Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz showed police using a megaphone to tell asylum seekers to leave because their stay at the camp, located on land used by the PNG navy, was illegal. Men boarded buses in footage he posted later on social network Twitter. The buses took the men to alternative accommodation, three sources said. In Geneva, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said it had received reports of force being used to remove the refugees and asylum seekers and called for calm. We urge both governments to engage in constructive dialogue, to de-escalate the tensions and work on urgent lasting solutions to their plight, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement noting it lacked full access to the shuttered facility. A police blockade of the camp was still in place, Tim Costello, chief advocate of aid group World Vision Australia, said by telephone from outside, adding that he had seen buses leave and that the accommodation he had visited was unfinished. PNG immigration and police officials did not return telephone calls from Reuters to seek comment. The camp in PNG, and another on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, have been the cornerstones of Australia s controversial immigration policy, which has been strongly criticized by the United Nations and rights groups. Australia opened the camps in a bid to stem a flow of asylum seekers making dangerous voyages by boat to its shores. Under its sovereign borders immigration policy, Australia refuses to land asylum seekers arriving by sea, and sends them to the offshore camps instead. At the camp, witnesses said officials in army fatigues led away Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani, a resident for four years who posts regular social media messages on conditions there. Boochani later posted that he had been released after being handcuffed for several hours and had left the camp. My understanding is that a number of people, a small number of people, have been arrested, including the individual, Australia s Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton told SKY News, referring to Boochani. Pictures sent via a messaging service showed upturned boxes of food and torn packets of rice and instant noodles and smashed furniture, including broken beds. Last year PNG s Supreme Court ruled that the center, first opened in 2001, breached its laws and fundamental human rights, leading to the decision to close it. But the asylum seekers say they fear for their safety if moved to a transit center on the island, and risk being resettled in PNG or another developing nation permanently. We don t want another prison. We want to leave this place, but they need to give a good solution for us, the first asylum-seeker said. We don t want another prison. We want a third country. Most of those in the camp are from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria. The transit centers had food, water, security and medical services, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. They think this is some way they can pressure the Australian government to let them come to Australia, Turnbull told reporters in the capital, Canberra. Well, we will not be pressured. | 1 |
20,610 | Ireland calls for realism from UK on border issue in latest Brexit talks | DUBLIN (Reuters) - Much of the future border arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland can be solved before Brexit talks enter the next phase, Ireland s foreign minister said, urging Britain to be realistic in negotiating terms to leave the European Union. British officials arrive in Brussels on Monday to push the EU towards talks about their post-Brexit ties, which the bloc refuses to do without an agreement first on London s exit bill and other divorce issues. Among those issues is the conundrum of the currently invisible border between EU member state Ireland and Britain s province of Northern Ireland, a matter fraught with economic consequences and politically complexities. We want some realism. There is a suggestion in the British government papers on Ireland that really the Irish border issues can only be solved in the context of a free trade agreement and I think there is a lot we can do in advance of that, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE. As part of a series of papers published by London this month it hopes will push forward talks with the EU, Britain said there should be no border posts or immigration checks on the neighboring island of Ireland once London quits the EU in 2019. At the same time, Britain s Conservative government intends to regain complete control over immigration as part of Brexit, raising questions how this would work if there was a back door into Britain along an open land frontier with Ireland. The Irish government, which had grown critical Britain s approach to the talks, welcomed what it called significant progress in the papers but reiterated on Monday that London now must spell out in detail how their plan could be implemented. It s up to the UK this week to outline how the position papers, particularly in relation to Ireland and the border issues, can actually work, Coveney said. Many in the EU, while they accept what Britain wants, they don t see how the negotiating approach can achieve that. The European Parliament s Brexit point-man, Guy Verhofstadt, has dismissed the British government s outline approach, calling the idea of an invisible border a fantasy . The issue of how the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland will fare after Britain leaves the EU is particularly sensitive given the decades of violence in the province over whether it should be part of Britain or Ireland. Around 3,600 people were killed before the 1998 peace agreement between pro-Ireland Catholic nationalists and pro-British Protestant unionists. | 1 |
20,611 | Trump Takes His Voter Fraud Conspiracy To A TERRIFYING New Level | Donald Trump has been obsessed with the fact that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton ever since the election results came in. Not satisfied with the Electoral College victory that handed him the White House, Trump has continued to double and triple down on an insane and unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that massive voter fraud is what cost him the popular vote.Well now, with the power of the presidency behind him, Trump has taken a terrifying step: Saying he will open a major investigation into the 2016 election. He also seems to be laying the groundwork for even more voter suppression and disenfranchisement of voters who are least likely to vote for him. He tweeted early Wednesday morning of his plans:I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017What makes this even more disturbing is that Trump s Attorney General pick, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, has a long and storied history of opposing civil rights, and specifically voting rights. This is just a way for Republicans to sow discord and deny facts, and to help assuage Trump s ego by allowing him to make himself feel better in this new world of alternative facts, that White House counsel Kellyanne Conway infamously pushed on Sunday.This is dangerous beyond anything we ever could have imagined. We have a conspiracy theorist as president, who also happens to be a narcissistic madman who cannot accept the truth. Even worse, he has people around him who are defending his antics, and who are perfectly willing to lie to the American people about the most trivial of matters. If they ll lie about this, what else will they lie about?This administration is a threat to our democracy. Regardless of political ideology, it has to be concluded that Trump is undermining the fabric of our republic before our very eyes.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
20,612 | Bernie Sanders shows strong momentum on social media | NEW YORK (Reuters) - It may be too close to call between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, but the senator from Vermont was the clear winner on social media. Sanders maintained his strong social media presence during the caucuses, commanding the majority of the Twitter mentions over Clinton. Sanders was mentioned over 77,000 times on Twitter during the caucus, while Clinton was mentioned 52,000 times, according to social media sentiment analytics firm Brandwatch. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner and former secretary of state, was in a virtual tie with Sanders with more than 93 percent of Iowa precincts reporting. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, amassed the largest number of new Facebook followers of any candidate in the race during Monday, the social network said, topping Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump by 15,695 to 10,704. Clinton had the third most new followers, with 6,210 liking her page in the past day. Among Republicans, Trump finished second in the caucuses to Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas. Sanders resonated with Millennial social media users as well. Social media platform Yik Yak, which is particularly popular among younger social media users, said Sanders was mentioned in 60 percent of all yaks that discussed a Democratic candidate during the caucuses. While social media buzz does not necessarily translate into votes, it is a good indication of the interest level surrounding a candidate. The Iowa contest was the first of the state-by-state battles to pick nominees for the Nov. 8 election to succeed President Barack Obama. Google trends data also showed strong interest in Sanders. In Iowa, Sanders was the top-searched-for Democratic candidate on the search engine, with 52 percent of queries relating to the Democratic candidates. Clinton commanded 42 percent of queries. Even so, Trump was the top most-searched for presidential candidate overall, according to the most recent Google search data available. (Reporting by Anjali Athavaley; Additional reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Peter Cooney) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 |
20,613 | WATCH: Trump’s Insult To The Troops He Didn’t Want You To See | Donald Trump has once again used images of non-American military in a campaign appeal. This time the former reality TV star used images of Communist soldiers in a web ad advertising his support of veteran s issues.The men were clearly Communists, as the detail on their medals read CCCP, the Russian initials for USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.Interesting choice for a photo of veterans in this @realDonaldTrump video: https://t.co/NdxdwpvMDD pic.twitter.com/PiagKGTP8H Josh Perry (@MrJoshPerry) January 22, 2016After he was called out for posting the Communist soldiers as Americans, the Trump campaign pulled the video. But here it is.The incident is not the first time Team Trump has tried to pass off foreign soldiers as Americans. In July, Trump tweeted out a photo of himself embedded on the American flag with a photo of soldiers. The problem is, that photo was a picture of German Nazi soldiers. As in the photo of the Communist soldiers, a cursory glance at the picture would have revealed the SS eagle logo on the side of their uniforms.As he often has done during the campaign, Trump blamed the photo on a young intern and pulled the picture.It was the same excuse he used on Friday when he re-posted a complimentary Twitter image from an account called White Genocide, who turned out to be a Trump supporter who also is a backer of the white supremacist movement.Trump s campaign is a cult of personality, built of toadies who appear to have risen in the ranks based on how much they suck up to the former reality TV star. Actual competence doesn t seem to matter at all. Even more damning, it doesn t seem to matter to Republican voters, who appear quite fine with giving their support to Trump, even as he can t show the basic respect that is due to members of the U.S. armed services.But then again, that seems to be the mindset of most of the Republican establishment, so perhaps it shouldn t be so surprising or jarring.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
20,614 | Trump to meet four candidates for FBI director: Spicer | ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday will interview four candidates for the position of director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. Spicer, who was aboard Air Force One with Trump, said the president would meet with acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and former senior FBI official Richard McFeely. The position was left vacant after Trump fired James Comey. | 1 |
20,615 | Why Is Obama Incarcerating Christian Refugees In U.S., Then Sending Them Back To Be Slaughtered? | Why should a nation founded on Christianity need to even ask that question?Why are Christian minorities, who are the most to suffer from the chaos engulfing the Middle East, the least wanted in the United States?To the Obama administration, the only real refugees are those made so due to the actions of Bashar Assad. As for those who are being raped, slaughtered, and enslaved based on their religious identity by so-called rebel forces fighting Assad including the Islamic State their status as refugees is evidently considered dubious at best.The Obama administration never seems to miss an opportunity to display its bias for Muslims against Christians. The State Dept. is in the habit of inviting scores of Muslim representatives but denying visas to solitary Christian representatives. While habitually ignoring the slaughter of Christians at hands of Boko Haram, the administration called for the human rights of the jihadi murderers.In Islamic usage, the cause of Allah is synonymous with jihad to empower and enforce Allah s laws on earth, or Sharia. In this context, immigrating into Western lands is a win-win for Muslims: if they die in the process somehow, paradise is theirs; if they do not, the locations and abundance of the West are theirs.Muslims all around the U.S. are supporting the Islamic State and Muslim clerics are relying on the refugee influx to conquer Western nations, in the Islamic tradition of Hijrah, or jihad by emigration.The fate of those Iraqi Christians who had fled from the Islamic State only to be incarcerated in the United States has finally been decided by the Obama administration: they are to be thrown back to the lions, where they will likely be persecuted, if not slaughtered, like so many Iraqi Christians before them.Fifteen of the 27 Iraqi Christians that have been held at a detention center in Otay Mesa, California, for approximately six months, are set to be deported in the coming weeks. Some have already been deported and others are being charged with immigration fraud.Many of the Iraqi Christian community in San Diego including U.S. citizen family members vouching for the refugees had hopes that they would eventually be released. Mark Arabo, a spokesman for the Chaldean community, had argued that They ve escaped hell. Let s allow them to reunite with their families. One of the detained women had begged to see her ailing mother before she died. The mother died before they could reunite, and now the daughter is to be deported, possibly back to the hell of the Islamic State.Why are Christian minorities, who are the most to suffer from the chaos engulfing the Middle East, the least wanted in the United States?The answer is that the Obama administration defines refugees as people persecuted by their government. In other words, the only real refugees are those made so due to the actions of Syrian President Bashar Assad. As for those who are being raped, slaughtered, and enslaved based on their religious identity by so-called rebel forces fighting Assad including the Islamic State their status as refugees is evidently considered dubious at best.As Abraham H. Miller argues in No room in America for Christian refugees : What difference does it make which army imperils the lives of innocent Christians? Christians are still be[ing] slaughtered for being Christian, and their government is incapable of protecting them. Does some group have to come along as Jewish groups did during the Holocaust and sardonically guarantee that these are real human beings? The Obama administration never seems to miss an opportunity to display its bias for Muslims against Christians.The U.S. State Dept. is in the habit of inviting scores of Muslim representatives but denying visas to solitary Christian representatives. While habitually ignoring the slaughter of Christians at hands of Boko Haram, the administration called for the human rights of the jihadi murderers. And when persecuted Egyptian Copts planned on joining the anti-Muslim Brotherhood revolution, Obama said no. Then there is the situation that every Arab nation the Obama administration has meddled in for example, Libya and Syria has seen a dramatic nosedive in the human rights of Christian minorities.The Obama administration s bias is evident even regarding the Iraqi Christians illegal crossing of the U.S.-Mexico border, the occasion on which they were arrested.WND correctly observes: At the same time the Obama administration [is] deporting Christians, it has over the years allowed in hundreds of Muslim migrants from Africa and the Middle East who crossed the Southern border the same way the Chaldeans did. Meanwhile, as the Obama administration nitpicks at the definition of refugee and uses it against severely persecuted Christian minorities, it turns out that four out of five migrants or 80 percent are not even from Syria.And while Christian minorities pose little threat to the United States indeed, they actually bring benefits to U.S. security Muslims all around the U.S. are supporting the Islamic State and Muslim clerics are relying on the refugee influx to conquer Western nations, in the Islamic tradition of Hijrah, or jihad by emigration. As Koran 4:100 puts it:And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah.In Islamic usage, the cause of Allah is synonymous with jihad to empower and enforce Allah s laws on earth, or Sharia. In this context, immigrating into Western lands is a win-win for Muslims: if they die in the process somehow, paradise is theirs; if they do not, the locations and abundance of the West are theirs.All the while, the Obama administration is turning away Christian refugees fleeing the same hostile Muslim forces as Muslims who are being welcomed into America and Europe.Via: Gatestone Institute | 0 |
20,616 | mainstream media ignoring lawsuits against trump to focus on clinton emails | india remains indifferent towards kashmiris problem wed oct pm kashmiris shout antiindia slogans in a protest in muzaffarabad on october afp
shahana buttpress tv indiancontrolled kashmir
more than days of street tensions in indiancontrolled kashmir and residents of the disputed region continue with protests that sparked after the death a proindependence leader in july up until now almost people have been killed at the hands of indian security forces in kashmir our correspondent shahana butt reports how new delhis indifference toward kashmiri people has strengthened their will to continue their peaceful struggle for a lasting solution to the dispute | 1 |
20,617 | Trump's Justice No. 2 rebuffs Democrats on Russia probe | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The lawyer who will take control of an investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election, if he wins Senate confirmation to become deputy attorney general, rebuffed Democrats’ demands on Tuesday for the appointment of a special prosecutor in the case. Rod Rosenstein, now U.S. Attorney for Maryland, faced tough questioning, especially from Democrats, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination by President Donald Trump to fill the Justice Department’s No. 2 job. Coming amid persistent questions about ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, Rosenstein’s nomination has catapulted him into the center of an issue that Trump has been unable to put behind him in his first six weeks in office. California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Rosenstein, “Do you support an independent, outside counsel?” He said he could not commit to that approach before learning the facts of the case. “My view is that I have a responsibility to not take the job conditional on how I [will handle] a particular case,” Rosenstein said. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the politically-charged inquiry last week after admitting he met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the campaign. Sessions had previously testified he had no contact with Russian officials. Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn last month after disclosures that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with Kislyak before Trump took office and then misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. The Kremlin has denied the allegations. Democrats at the hearing said only a special prosecutor could ensure that the investigation would be free of pressure from Trump, who has accused officials in former Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration of trying to discredit him with questions about Russia contacts. Trump called frequently during his campaign for improved relations with Russia. U.S.-Russian relations have been deeply strained in recent years over Moscow’s military interference in Ukraine, military support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and President Vladimir Putin’s intolerance of political dissent. Republicans at the hearing said it was too soon to know whether a special counsel was appropriate in the case. Rosenstein noted that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had been asked to appoint a special prosecutor when the allegations first came to light. He said she rejected the request and chose to use career prosecutors in the case. Rosenstein has experience working for a special counsel on investigations involving the presidency. In the mid-1990s he was part of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s team of prosecutors who investigated Bill and Hillary Clinton. The 26-year Justice Department veteran is seen by many current and former department officials as a politically neutral pick. “Political affiliations are irrelevant to my work,” Rosenstein told the committee. Named as Maryland’s top prosecutor by President George W. Bush, Rosenstein stayed in office through the Obama administration. “Mr. Rosenstein should commit to naming a special prosecutor to look into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia,” said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer in a statement. | 1 |
20,618 | “WITH ALL DUE RESPECT”: HHS Sec Tom Price Runs Circles Around NBC’s Chuck Todd [Video] | NBC s Chuck Todd was no match for the astute HHS Sec Tom Price in an interview today on the healthcare bill. Todd tried to get Price to badmouth Trump at the 6:45 point Not gonna happen!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIis3b-tMCUHealth & Human Services Secretary Tom Price joined NBC s Chuck Todd today to discuss healthcare but Todd tried to get Price to bad-mouth the president.Chuck Todd started out being combative on the healthcare bill and then moved on to bashing President Trump.Chuck Todd goes there: Let me ask you about the tone of the president s tweets. Many Republicans in the Senate condemned the personal attack on Mika Brzezinski and attacking on her looks. You have Lindsey Graham saying it was beneath the office. Ben Sasse, This isn t normal. Jeff Flake, Beneath the dignity of the presidency. Susan Collins begging, This has to stop. Lisa Murkowski begging, This has to stop. Does his behavior bother you? HHS Sec Tom Price wasn t about to go there and handled the uncomfortable situation beautifully: Well, what I m concentrated on is the job that he s given me. And that is to make certain that we fulfill the mission of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is to improve the health, safety, and well-being of the American people. And there are a whole array of activities that we re undertaking. One of them is this piece of legislation that s in the Senate right now. But my job is consumed by making certain that we fulfill the mission at the department. Todd follows up with this rude question: I m just asking you as a father. If your son tweeted about a woman like that, what would you say to him? Price fired back: Chuck, you know, this is really remarkable. You ve got incredible challenges across this nation, incredible challenges around the world. The challenge that I ve been given is to address the health care issues. And your program, a program with the incredible history of Meet the Press, and that s what you want to talk about? Let me suggest to you that the American people want to talk about the challenges. Chuck Todd then tried to twist and spin his way out of the corner he just painted himself into: Mr. Secretary, with all due respect, you re blaming me for what the president of the United States has spent his entire week focused on? HAHA! CHUCK TODD STEPS IN IT WITH THAT COMMENT PRICE BURIES HIM WITH THIS LAST COMMENT: No, listen to me, with all due respect. The American people are concerned about a health care system that is not providing choices, where premiums are going up, where insurance companies are vacating markets all across this land. And that s what they want us to concentrate on. And that s what they want us to fix. And that s what I and the president are working on. BOOM! | 0 |
20,619 | Kremlin says Putin, Trump to speak by phone on Tuesday: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will speak by phone on Tuesday, RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. Trump will speak with Putin on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT, the White House said on Monday night. A senior Trump administration official said the two leaders would likely discuss the civil war in Syria, where Moscow backs the government of Bashar al-Assad and the United States supports rebels trying to overthrow him. | 1 |
20,620 | Here’s How Trump’s VP Pick Lobbied To Screw The Poor (VIDEO) | The minimum wage hasn t been raised for nearly a decade, and a decade ago, the fight was just as nasty and contentious as it is now and Donald Trump s running mate was on the wrong side of the argument.In 2007, Congress raised the minimum wage from a paltry $5.15 an hour to a slightly less paltry $7.25 an hour. Mike Pence, then a Congressman, and now the Republican governor of Indiana and our potential next Vice President, opposed the raise. A 41 percent increase in the minimum wage that is brought into the well of Congress without providing any relief to small business owners and family farmers is irresponsible and unwise, he said. It will harm both the wage payer and the wage earner. An excessive increase in the minimum wage will hurt the working poor. Source: Huffington PostHere s the video:Note that the minimum wage increased occurred before Citizens United, so before the Koch brothers had such a toxic effect on our political system. Still, as the above video proves, the strawman argument about the minimum wage has been around for a very long time, and it s very wrong. According to the Department of Labor:A July 2015 survey found that 3 out of 5 small business owners with employees support a gradual increase in the minimum wage to $12. The survey reports that small business owners say an increase would immediately put more money in the pocket of low-wage workers who will then spend the money on things like housing, food, and gas. This boost in demand for goods and services will help stimulate the economy and help create opportunities. Fortunately, for the country, the 2007 increase passed in a bipartisan landslide. For small businesses, the law included tax breaks.Not surprisingly, Pence has strong ties to the Koch brothers, who have long fought any minimum wage increases, or really, any minimum wage at all. No doubt that s why Pence, even to this day, still fights raising the minimum wage, while Trump vacillates on the issue and Hillary Clinton supports raising it to $12 to $15 an hour.Featured image via Drew Angerer at Getty Images. | 0 |
20,621 | Street Performer Will Let You Punch ‘Donald Trump’ For $5 (VIDEOS) | A street performer based in New York City is giving everyone frustrated with Donald Trump and his racist, sexist, anti-immigrant presidential campaign an outlet for their anger.For a small fee, artist Kalan Sherrard will let you punch Donald Trump. For a few dollars more you can even urinate on a facsimile of the real estate tycoon. From the NY Daily News:Street performer dressed as @realDonaldTrump lets you punch him for $5, pee on him for $300 https://t.co/XQK3rsYdmI pic.twitter.com/hz4hpOUzRe New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 18, 2016Activist artist Kalan Sherrard, 28, took to Union Square Thursday dressed in a suit and Trump mask and offered up a full menu of assaults.A chance to punch the Trump-esque artist s gut will cost you $5. You can trample the GOP frontrunner s doppelganger for $10 and throttle him for $7, although the performer s cardboard sign did not elaborate on how far aggressors could take those two terms.For a whopping $300, a Trump-hater can pee on the tycoon.If you merely want a photo with the Donald it will only set you back $2.Sherrard has also posted some videos of his Beat Up Trump performance: THIS.???? #payup #beatuptrump #classic #welcometonyc #lmfao #dead #donaldtrump ??? (@mateomma)A video posted by spoiled NYC (@spoiled_nyc) on Mar 15, 2016 at 5:16pm PDT This morning HBO had a stint at The Union Square Park and Trump made use of the crowd to get beaten up. #newyorkstreets #unionsquarepark #beatuptrumpA video posted by Shravya Kag (@saxophonestories) on Mar 15, 2016 at 8:54pm PDT #NY #manhattan #donaldtrump #loqueando en #unionsquare #citylife #president #usa #420 #crazy #insane #fuck #trump #BeatUpTrumpA video posted by eclecticrunner (@koldobandini) on Mar 17, 2016 at 5:19pm PDT Hahahah I can't #beatuptrump #yesgawdA video posted by Jorge Flores (@gigi_cutina93) on Mar 17, 2016 at 2:48pm PDTThe newspaper reported that it is not yet known how many people have taken him up on his offer. Sherrard has performed other art-based stunts in the area before. In 2014, he was charged with disorderly conduct, after he set up a nihilist-anarchist puppet show in Times Square. He also was involved in an art display where he set up a series of mutilated marionettes on a train platform.In keeping with the theme of his anti-Trump show, he was previously arrested for protesting at an art event in Miami, while carrying a sex toy in his pocket. He reportedly said he was making a demonstration against the super wealthy.Trump has become notorious in a very short time for encouraging political violence by his supporters. He has made public statements expressing the idea that protesters should be beat up, and said he would be looking into providing legal aid to a Trump supporter who punched a Black Lives Matter in the face.Featured image via Instagram | 0 |
20,622 | Japan's Abe says North Korea situation needs quick action | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The crisis around North Korea requires quick action, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday, calling on world powers to press Pyongyang to abide by its U.N. obligations. North Korea must fulfil all U.N. resolutions, abandon its nuclear and missile programmes, Abe said at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. The international community must unite to force North Korea to fulfil its U.N. obligations. | 1 |
20,623 | Massa fastest as testing resumes in Barcelona | BARCELONA (Reuters) - Brazilian Felipe Massa completed two and a half race distances and put his Williams team on top of the timesheets as Formula One’s final pre-season test got underway in Barcelona on Tuesday. Massa, brought back in January after his former team mate Valtteri Bottas moved to Mercedes as replacement for retired world champion Nico Rosberg, completed 168 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya. His eye-catching tally was matched only by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who ended up third fastest (1:19.906) behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo (1:19.900). “I don’t remember before doing a day with 168 laps in my career,” said the 35-year-old Massa, whose fastest was one minute 19.726 seconds. “It was a lot of laps and I can feel it a bit on my body, but I am good. I feel in good shape for the new season,” he added. Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton, the bookmakers’ favorite for a fourth title this year, was fourth fastest with a total of 49 laps. Bottas, who took over the car in the afternoon, did 86 and was fifth. “I think Ferrari are possibly the favorites,” said Hamilton, whose running was cut short after the champions discovered damage to the floor of the car. “We can’t take our eyes off them because they have been doing such a great job at the moment. “Red Bull look like they have gone quite quick today as well. We’ll see over the next days and, most importantly, over the next weeks, but it’s going to be close in the first race, that’s for sure.” The season starts in Australia on March 26. Ferrari failed to win a race last season, when they finished third overall, and have not been constructors’ champions since 2008. McLaren’s woes continued, with an electrical issue on the power unit of Belgian rookie Stoffel Vandoorne’s car forcing Honda to replace it, costing the team more track time after a difficult first week. “Based on this testing we can expect to have a few engine changes, but they (Honda) will have addressed this before the start of the season or at least quickly into the season,” said McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier. Vandoorne completed 80 laps but was more than two seconds off the pace. Renault’s Jolyon Palmer managed only 15 laps due to a power unit problem but he handed over to team mate Nico Hulkenberg who completed 58 in the afternoon. | 1 |
20,624 | Trump vice presidential search narrowed to four or five politicians | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday said he had narrowed his search for a vice presidential running mate down to four or five unnamed establishment politicians, including one former rival who has not endorsed him, according to a Bloomberg interview. “I’d like to save it, give it the old fashioned way, right?” Trump said of not announcing his choice until the Republican National Convention in July. | 1 |
20,625 | Scooby Doo’s ‘Mystery Machine’ Involved In Crazy 100 MPH Getaway | File this one under: WTF?!A woman driving a van painted to match The Mystery Machine van from the Scooby Doo cartoon decided that solving crimes was for squares and led the police on a high-speed chase in California (NOT Florida as we would normally expect). I imagine bystanders saw the well-done replica (it even has funky hubcaps) flash by with cop cars in pursuit and wondered if someone was making a movie.Redding.com reports:Shasta County Probation Department officials contacted the Redding Police Department about a subject violating their probation sometime around 12:50 p.m. Sunday. The woman was identified as Sharon Kay Turman, 51, of Redding, Sgt. Ron Icely said in a news release.Officers spotted Turman in a 1994 Chrysler Town and Country minivan at California Shasta streets, but she fled south in the vehicle when officers tried to pull her over, said Icely.Amazingly, the 22-year-old minivan got up to speeds of 100 miles per hour during the pursuit. Even more amazingly, despite having zero concern for the safety of anyone else on the road, Turman managed not to kill anyone, although she did blow through an intersection and almost hit four cars in the process.The police called off their pursuit, presumably to allow Turman to stop fleeing in a blind panic and to avoid a fatal car accident. Instead, they followed her with a helicopter:The CHP helicopter kept surveillance of Turman s vehicle as she continued west toward Highway 36, where she was spotted abandoning the vehicle in northwestern Tehama County. Her whereabouts were unknown Sunday afternoon, police said, but her vehicle was later found and impounded.It s not clear what crime Turman was on probation for but if the police were willing to let her escape rather than risk a fatal accident, it s very likely it wasn t a violent offense.But if you live in or near northwestern Tehama County, keep a look out for empty boxes of Scooby Snacks and this woman:Sharon Kay TurmanTurman is wanted by the Redding police and Shasta County probation. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts can call the Redding Police Department at (530) 225-4200 or Secret Witness of Shasta County at (530) 243-2319.Featured image via Madidon Wade s KRCR News twitter feed. | 0 |
20,626 | Ukraine PM says review of gas price formula is under way | KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine s prime minister, Voldoymyr Groysman, said on Saturday the government was reviewing the way it sets domestic gas bills to make sure market prices are taken into account - a bid to answer demands under a $17.5-billion IMF aid program. The long-delayed disbursement of a next tranche of IMF loans depends on Ukraine adjusting gas prices, and also on pension reform and the creation of an independent judicial body to tackle endemic graft. Speaking at the annual Yalta European Strategy conference, Groysman said the gas pricing formula was being reviewed but did not say how tariffs would be affected. We believe that the gas price should be determined in accordance with the gas market and in accordance with a formula. The most important thing is for this formula to be fair, news agency Interfax Ukraine quoted Groysman as saying at the annual Yalta European Strategy conference. At the moment our technical division is working on verifying the formula that determines the gas price, he said. The IMF wants gas prices to be set by external market dynamics through an automatic formula to stop tariffs being set unsustainably low as a populist measure. Ukraine has so far received $8.4 billion from the Fund, helping it recover from a two-year recession following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the outbreak of a Russian-backed insurgency in its industrial east. On Friday, the IMF s first deputy managing director, David Lipton, said Ukraine risked undoing progress made under the program and urged the authorities to push ahead with reforms needed for the next loan tranche. Earlier on Saturday Groysman said Ukraine needed to set up an independent anti-graft judicial body quickly - adding that it did not matter if it was a separate court, as envisaged by the IMF, or a chamber to existing courts. We need to quickly establish an instrument that would allow corruptioneers to face justice and whether it s called an anti-corruption chamber or court doesn t matter, he told the conference. On Friday President Petro Poroshenko said an anti-graft chamber within the existing court system would be more feasible in the short-term - a proposal that reform activists have said would limit the independence of the body. (This story corrects headline and second para to clarify Ukraine is reviewing the gas price formula, not gas prices, which the IMF wants under its reform program) | 1 |
20,627 | Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen has been freed: Oman | DUBAI (Reuters) - An Indian priest kidnapped by gunmen in Yemen last year has been freed, Oman s state news agency ONA said on Tuesday, posting a picture of him appearing in good health after being transferred to the Omani capital Muscat. Father Tom Uzhunnalil was abducted in March 2016 when four unidentified gunmen attacked a care home in Yemen s southern port city of Aden, killing four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard. ONA said Omani authorities had coordinated with Yemeni parties to locate Uzhunnalil and transfer him to the sultanate. He will return home to India, it said, without mentioning which group had been holding him in Yemen. I am happy to inform that Father Tom Uzhunnalil has been rescued, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter. Oman has frequently helped facilitate the release of foreign nationals detained in Yemen. The ONS picture showed the white-bearded Catholic priest standing in a palatial room in front of a portrait of Oman s ruler. Uzhunnalil was last seen appealing for help in a video recording carried by a Yemeni news website in May, saying his health was deteriorating and he needed hospitalization. | 1 |
20,628 | FBI hints Iran now cooperating in hunt for missing former agent | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation hinted on Wednesday that authorities in Iran had recently been trying to help locate Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who disappeared exactly nine years ago after traveling to an Iranian resort island to meet a fugitive from U.S. justice. “We are encouraged by recent cooperation between the government of Iran and the United States, and believe that our ability to locate Bob and reunite him with his family requires a shared commitment by the Iranian government,” the FBI’s Washington Field Office said in a prepared statement. The statement quoted FBI Director James Comey saying that his agency was “doing everything in our power to investigate all leads.” The FBI statement did not elaborate further. The White House also said that finding Levinson “remains a top priority for the United States,” but added that the U.S. would “continue to call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide assistance in his case, as agreed to as part of the prisoner exchange finalized earlier this year.” Five Americans were released by Iran in January to coincide with the lifting of economic sanctions in return for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program. The White House offered clemency to seven Iranians who were convicted or facing trial in the United States. Levinson’s family continued to urge the U.S. government to press Iran for his release. In a statement, Levinson’s wife, Christine, said: “We need the United States government and the country of Iran to work together to resolve what happened to Bob and return him safely to his family.” Levinson disappeared after flying from Dubai to Kish Island in the Gulf in March 2007. There he met with Daoud Salahuddin, an American Islamic militant who fled to Iran while facing charges in the murder of an Iranian embassy official based in Washington. Levinson, working then as a private investigator, was seeking information on alleged corruption involving former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family, said sources familiar with his work. Months after he disappeared, U.S. government sources acknowledged that Levinson also maintained an unorthodox contractual relationship with the analytical branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. A handful of CIA officials were forced out of the agency and several more were disciplined after an internal agency investigation. The Iranian government has never publicly acknowledged any role in Levinson’s abduction, though at the time of his disappearance a government-affiliated media outlet broadcast a story saying he was “in the hands of Iranian security forces.” Some FBI investigators strongly believe Levinson is still alive, while officials at other U.S. agencies believe he died some time ago. | 1 |
20,629 | Cambodia's opposition puts out banners calling for leader's release | PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia s main opposition party on Monday put up banners around the country calling for the release of its detained leader Kem Sokha in a challenge to the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which has accused him of treason. Kem Sokha, the leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on September 3 and charged with plotting against the state. Western countries and human rights groups have condemned the arrest and said it raises severe doubt over whether next year s general election can be fair. In the ballot, Hun Sen could face his greatest electoral test of more than three decades in power. The party s banners, which have a picture of Kem Sokha waving from a vehicle during the last election campaign in 2013, called for the leader s immediate and unconditional release. Hun Sen has said the opposition must drop Kem Sokha and choose a new leader or face a total ban. We will put up the banners, not just here, but we will put up banners at our branches in provinces, said Pol Ham, a deputy leader of the party. Son Chhay, another senior member of the party, said the crisis was worsening and talks were needed to resolve it. The evidence presented against Kem Sokha so far is a video recorded in 2013 in which he discusses a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. Hun Sen says his rival was getting help from the United States. The U.S. embassy has rejected any suggestion of interference in politics. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the opposition party s banners amounted to pressure on the court and an attempt to interfere with its work. This is unacceptable, he said. A court is scheduled to hold a hearing to determine the legality of Kem Sokha s detention on Tuesday. | 1 |
20,630 | GOP Rep Blames Media For Trump’s Attacks On Sessions | On Thursday, GOP Rep. Dave Brat took to CNN to blame, of all people, the media for Donald Trump s relentless attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Brat represents Virginia s 7th District, which may explain his love of both Sessions and Trump, and his desire to blame someone else for their falling out. The 7th District was created in 1993 by decree of the Department of Justice, who forced the state to create at least one majority minority district in order to comply with Section 5 of the Civil Rights Act. Much of the urban areas of Richmond were carved out into a new 3rd District, and what was left the mainly white voters were left in the 7th.Being as Trump and Sessions are now the two most powerful racists in America, it stands to reason that a guy representing an area that hasn t voted for a single Democrat in more than 45 years and never elected a person of color would want them to get along.In a statement released by Brat s office on Wednesday, he decried the full-throated obsession over Russia by the media, which he said could not have been foreseen at the time of Sessions recusal from the investigation. That recusal has been the source of the recent enmity between the AG and the president. From the statement:The media s attacks have only escalated since Trump s inauguration. Fake news dominates. Anchors now make the news by opinion, instead of reporting objective reality. The President is frustrated with those who have called for his impeachment since day one.But CNN s Kate Bolduan took Brat to task for seemingly blaming the press for Trump s social media outburts. In a testy exchange, she maintained a difficult smile as she said the media s not forcing the president to tweet his attacks. Brat s response? I think you did. Bolduan was incredulous:Are you kidding me? The media did not force the president to attack Jeff Sessions.Watch the exchange in this tweet from CNN s Katerina Erbiti: I will concede the President did touch his key pad @RepDaveBrat saying the media forced POTUS to attack Sessions https://t.co/mWkvpjZKjb Katerina Erbiti (@KaterinaErbiti) July 27, 2017Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
20,631 | The Star Trek Franchise Mobilizes Against Donald Trump For A Brighter Future | Star Trek opposes Donald Trump for obvious reasons.In a lot of ways, Star Trek has predicted the future of Earth and humankind. Technologically, Star Trek has inspired many of the inventions we take for granted today such as cell phones, tablets, and laptop computers. Currently, scientists are working on developing transporters, tractor beams, and other tech found in the Trek universe.But the vision of Star Trek is a Utopian future where war, disease, hate, hunger, and sexism no longer exist and the only thing people work for is to better themselves because money is unnecessary. The nations of Earth are united and so we set out into the wider universe in search of new life and new civilizations to join us.But Donald Trump has no interest in creating a better future designed to help and unite all humans. If elected to the presidency, Trump will slam the brakes on progress and take us back to an era before Star Trek was even an idea. And that is so scary that the casts and crews across the various Star Trek series are uniting against Trump and urging people to vote for Hillary Clinton if we want to continue the path toward a brighter and more hopeful future. Star Trek has always offered a positive vision of the future, a vision of hope and optimism, and most importantly, a vision of inclusion, where people of all races are accorded equal respect and dignity, where individual beliefs and lifestyles are respected so long as they pose no threat to others, the group Trek Against Trump wrote on Facebook.We cannot turn our backs on what is happening in the upcoming election. Never has there been a presidential candidate who stands in such complete opposition to the ideals of the Star Trek universe as Donald Trump. His election would take this country backward, perhaps disastrously. We need to elect a president who will move this country forward into the kind of future we all dream of: where personal differences are understood and accepted, where science overrules superstition, where people work together instead of against each other.The resolution of conflicts on Star Trek was never easy. Don t remain aloof vote! We have heard people say they will vote Green or Libertarian or not at all because the two major candidates are equally flawed. That is both illogical and inaccurate. Either Secretary Clinton or Mr. Trump will occupy the White House. One is an amateur with a contemptuous ignorance of national laws and international realities, while the other has devoted her life to public service, and has deep and valuable experience with the proven ability to work with Congress to pass desperately needed legislation. If, as some say, the government is broken, a protest vote will not fix it. Do this not merely for yourself but for all the generations that follow, the post concludes. Vote for a future of enlightenment and inclusion, a future that will someday lead us to the stars. Those who signed the statement include George Takei, Walter Koenig, and the families of Leonard Nimoy and Jimmy Doohan of the original series, Jonathan Frakes, Wil Wheaton, and Brent Spiner of The Next Generation, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, and Tim Russ of Voyager, Scott Bakula, Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer of Enterprise, Ren Auberjonois and Armin Shimmerman of Deep Space Nine, and Chris Pine Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana from the new Star Trek film series. Along with many other Trek actors, the signatories also include writers, directors, and the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.Here s the full post via Facebook:Star Trek is the idea of the future we all want to believe can be reality one day. But letting Trump become president would be a major setback for that dream. We need a president who will boldly take America into the future, not a coward who fears it.Featured image via Wikimedia | 0 |
20,632 | Hillary Clinton says U.S. threats of war with North Korea 'dangerous, short-sighted' | SEOUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that “cavalier” threats to start war on the Korean peninsula were “dangerous and short-sighted”, urging the United States to get all parties to the negotiating table. Clinton also called on China to take a “more outfront role” in enforcing sanctions against North Korea aimed at curbing its missile and nuclear development. “There is no need for us to be bellicose and aggressive (over North Korea),” Clinton told the World Knowledge Forum in the South Korean capital of Seoul, stressing the need for more pressure on North Korea and diplomacy to bring Pyongyang to talks. Tension between Pyongyang and Washington has soared following a series of weapons tests by North Korea and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Picking fights with Kim Jong Un puts a smile on his face,” Clinton said, without mentioning Trump by name. Clinton also indirectly referred to Trump’s social media comments on North Korea, saying, “The insults on Twitter have benefited North Korea, I don’t think they’ve benefited the United States”. The war of words has seen Trump call the North Korean leader “little rocket man” on a suicide mission, and vow to destroy the country if it threatens the United States or its allies. In turn, the North called Trump “mentally deranged” and a “mad dog”. Talks between the adversaries have long been urged by China in particular, but Washington and its ally Japan have been reluctant while Pyongyang continues to pursue a goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile to hit the United States. On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said the United States did not rule out the eventual possibility of direct talks with North Korea. The situation on the Korean peninsula was now touch-and-go point “and a nuclear war may break out any moment”, North Korea’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim In Ryong had told a U.N. General Assembly committee on Monday. In Seoul, the vice foreign minister said on Wednesday South Korea was considering levying its own sanctions on the North, although no decision has been made yet. Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, said Washington’s allies have increasingly been expressing concern over the reliability of the United States, advising Washington to avoid becoming distracted with North Korean threats and be “as forcefully patient” as possible. Regarding China’s role in reining in North Korea, Clinton said Beijing would be better off trying to “tighten and absolutely enforce sanctions” against North Korea. North Korea’s relationship with its main ally and trading partner China have been strained by its rapid pursuit of weapons programs, with many of Pyongyang’s recent tests coinciding with major Chinese events. There had been fears that North Korea would conduct another test to coincide with the start of China’s five-yearly party congress on Wednesday. Instead, Pyongyang sent Beijing a congratulatory message. The central committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea said China had made “great progress in accomplishing the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics” under the guidance of the Communist Party of China. “We are greatly pleased over this,” the party central committee said in the message carried by the official KCNA news agency, adding that it “sincerely wished” the China congress “satisfactory success”. Chinese President Xi Jinping did not mention North Korea in his more than three-hour-long address at the opening of a key Communist Party Congress. Clinton said retaliatory actions by China over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, which targeting the latter’s firms doing business in China, would be unnecessary had Beijing done a better job reining in the North. China says the powerful radar of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system could be used to pierce its territory, and has taken aim at South Korea’s businesses. South Korea and the United States have repeatedly told China that THAAD aims only to defend against North Korea’s missile threats. “The Chinese can’t have it both ways,” Clinton said. “They can’t do less than they could to tighten economic pressures on North Korea and same time discount the real threat South Korea and its citizens face.” | 1 |
20,633 | Brexit campaigners accuse May of selling UK short over divorce bill | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May faced a backlash on Wednesday from prominent supporters of Brexit after reports that she is ready to pay much of what the European Union is demanding to settle the country s divorce bill to leave the bloc. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said the net bill would total 45 billion to 55 billion pounds ($53 billion to $65 billion). A government official cast doubt on those numbers and the European Commission declined to comment, but there is a growing expectation that the sides will clinch a deal on cash. Veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said Britain should walk away from the talks rather than offer such huge sums. This is a complete sell-out that is not in our national interest, said Farage, a former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) who played a big role in the 2016 referendum in which 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU. The British prime minister needs to say: Look, either start to behave reasonably, either start to behave in a grown-up way, or ... we are walking away , Farage, who remains a member of the European Parliament, told Reuters. Many businesses and investors fear such an approach, leading to a disorderly Brexit , would spook financial markets, sow legal chaos and badly harm the British and EU economies by disrupting trade ties and cross-border supply chains. Farage and pro-Brexit entrepreneurs such as billionaire Peter Hargreaves say Britain can prosper outside the EU and what they see as its onerous rules and regulations. Britain, which is due to leave in March 2019, hopes to persuade EU leaders next month that the sides have made enough progress on three key issues - the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, the exit bill and the land border with Ireland - to be able to move on to talks on a post-Brexit trade relationship. Hardline Brexit supporters in May s ruling Conservative Party have been fairly muted in recent weeks on the money issue, with British media saying the cabinet had swung behind her plans to pay more in the exit bill. On Wednesday Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the 2016 Leave campaign, said it was time to get the ship off the rocks . But Hargreaves, the second biggest donor to last year s Leave campaign, denounced the government s handling of Brexit talks, saying they showed no understanding of the sums involved. We ought to say to the EU: Thank you very much, we are never going to get a deal, goodbye and we are gone, lock stock and barrel, and carry on trading as before, Hargreaves said. Farage dismissed calls by some opponents of Brexit such as former prime minister Tony Blair that British voters might change their mind about leaving the EU. The revolution of 2016 is still rolling, he said. The European Union project is in deep trouble and it s only a matter of time until it ends. The EU s supporters say it has helped to cement peace, prosperity and stability across a continent historically ravaged by wars. Farage s opponents see him and his party - now riven by divisions and with no lawmakers in the British parliament - as dangerous populists who misled voters about the true costs of Brexit. ($1 = 0.8433 euros) (Adds information in signoff field) | 1 |
20,634 | FBI Director Just Smacked The Smug Look Off Trey Gowdy’s Face And Left Him Speechless (VIDEO) | Professional Clinton witch hunter Trey Gowdy probably expected the public grilling of FBI Director James Comey to go a lot better than it did. On Thursday, unsatisfied with the lack of prosecution of a certain person whose name rhymes with Schmillary Schminton, Republicans decided to investigate the investigators. For hours, Comey maintained a superhuman level of cool as he answered every ridiculous question Gowdy and pals threw at him as they struggled to find something anything they could use to rake the former Secretary of state over the coals.While discussing intent to commit a crime, Gowdy explained to Comey that the FBI director was a white collar prosecutor while he was a gutter prosecutor something that appears to be a dog-whistle term for black people and that the people Gowdy prosecuted were too stupid to know that murder is wrong.Gowdy told Comey that he is reading a specific-intent element into a gross negligence statute regarding Clinton s supposed willful lawbreaking and that s when Comey dropped the hammer: The question you gotta ask is why is it that the Department of Justice since 1917 has not used that gross negligence statute but charging it once in an espionage case. Whether their decision was smart or not, that is the record of fairness. So you have to decide, so I treat this person against that record, and if I do is that a fair thing to do? Even if you re not worried about the constitutionality of it, my judgment is no reasonable prosecutor would do that. That would be celebrity hunting.Picture if you will Comey picking up his microphone, flattening his palm, and dropping it on the floor. That s basically what happened. The look on Gowdy s face was priceless. Silence filled the room and Gowdy was left with nothing but his dumbfounded expression.Watch it below. It will make your day:Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
20,635 | Republican plan to repeal Obamacare would leave millions uninsured: report | (In March 13 item, corrects paragraph 7 to show uninsured rising) By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fourteen million Americans would lose medical insurance by next year under a Republican plan to dismantle Obamacare that would also reduce the budget deficit, a nonpartisan congressional research office said on Monday, throwing President Donald Trump and Republicans on the defensive as they press forward with replacement legislation. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office forecast that 24 million more people would be uninsured in 2026 if the plan being considered by the House of Representatives to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act were adopted. Obamacare, as President Barack Obama's signature piece of domestic policy is commonly called, expanded insurance to about 20 million Americans. (bit.ly/2mkdeYA) Hours after the CBO report was released, the House Budget Committee postponed its consideration of the Republican bill to Thursday from Wednesday. Prior to the report, Republicans had been planning to vote soon on the bill in the House, where it is likely to pass, and send it to the Senate, where its outlook is uncertain. The CBO projected that 52 million people would be uninsured by 2026 if the bill became law, compared with 28 million who would not have coverage that year if the law remained unchanged. Two House of Representatives committees have approved the legislation to dismantle Obamacare that was unveiled by Republican leaders a week ago, but it faces opposition from not only Democrats but also medical providers including doctors and hospitals and many conservatives. The CBO report’s findings could make the Republican plan a harder sell for lawmakers, particularly in the U.S. Senate. The CBO, however, said federal deficits would fall by $337 billion between 2017 and 2026 under the Republican bill. Some health policy experts and Wall Street analysts said the report was more draconian than expected, with the uninsured rate rising more quickly than foreseen. Doctors groups and patient advocates said the bill must be abandoned. The AARP, a nonprofit advocacy group for aging Americans, said Monday that the CBO analysis showed the financial burden of the Republican plan would fall “disproportionately” on Americans 50 to 64 years old. In a five-page letter to House members last week, the AARP has also criticized a tax cut it said would threaten the solvency of Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, cuts to Medicaid and said the bill does nothing to lower drug costs. Some Republicans worry a misfire on the Republican healthcare legislation could hobble Trump’s presidency and set the stage for losses for the party in the 2018 congressional elections. The Trump administration defended the healthcare plan, which they say will have a second and third phase that will entice consumers. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said at the White House that Trump’s plan would cover more individuals at a lower cost and it was “virtually impossible” to envision that 14 million people would lose insurance coverage by next year. Democratic leaders in Congress said the bill could result in elderly people being kicked out of nursing homes as it simultaneously gives tax cuts for the richest Americans. “How can they look their constituents in the eye when they say 24 million of you no longer have coverage and those of you who do have it, will have less coverage at more cost to you,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said. Trump himself made no comment on the report. The Affordable Care Act aimed to help restrain U.S. healthcare spending, which is about 17 percent of the nation’s economy, but it has continued to grow faster than inflation. The proposal would end the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and would replace Obamacare’s income-based subsidies with fixed tax credits for the purchase of private insurance. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center on Monday said the Republican plan would benefit the wealthiest U.S. households far more than middle-income families. A family making $51,600 to $89,400 a year, including fringe benefits like employer-provided health insurance, would get a tax cut averaging $300. The top 0.1 percent of earners with incomes of at least $3.9 million would get a tax cut of about $207,000, the study said. The CBO estimated that insurance premiums would rise 15 percent to 20 percent in both 2018 and 2019 because fewer healthy people would sign up after the repeal of the Obamacare penalty for declining to obtain insurance. But it said the hikes would be offset after 2020 by a $100 billion fund allocated to states in the bill and deregulation in the insurance market. By 2026, average premiums for single policyholders in the nongroup market under the legislation would be roughly 10 percent lower than the estimates under current law, in part because insurers will be able to offer plans that cover a lower share of healthcare costs. While the federal government would lose revenues through the repeal of Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates’ tax penalties, CBO said the loss would be surpassed by savings on insurance subsidies and Medicaid payments that Washington would no longer have to provide for people who lost coverage. At the same time, CBO said the repeal of the individual mandate’s tax penalties would mean higher health insurance premiums for those who retained coverage, because insurers would still have to cover any applicant without being free to raise premiums for older, sicker people, despite lower numbers of younger, healthier customers who are cheaper to insure. Craig Garthwaite, director of the healthcare program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said the CBO estimates made it harder for Republicans to sell their proposal. “Overall, this is a really bad number for the AHCA. Far more people are predicted to lose coverage than many estimated - and these losses are going to happen more quickly than we would have thought,” he said. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a key backer of the plan called the American Health Care Act, said the CBO estimates showed it would ultimately lower premiums. “Our plan is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage. It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford. When people have more choices, costs go down,” Ryan said. Vishnu Lekraj, an equity analyst at Morningstar, said the bill is a net negative for insurers, who would be helped by the elimination of a tax, but hurt by the shrinking individual insurance business. “The headline number will be viewed as a shock to the system tomorrow,” Brian Tanquilut, a stock analyst at Jefferies said of the 14 million losing insurance next year. “The reality of this is that the number being big makes it harder for the bill to pass in its current form.” | 1 |
20,636 | Venezuela blasts Spain's Rajoy over 'repression' in Catalonia | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday slammed his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy for trying to halt a banned independence referendum in Catalonia, saying the conservative leader was a hypocrite for supporting Venezuela s opposition while cracking down on dissent at home. Spain has been a vocal critic of leftist Maduro, accusing him of undermining Venezuela s democracy and plunging the country s 30 million people into suffering due to food and medicine shortages. Maduro seized on the images of Spanish riot police bursting into polling stations across Catalonia on Sunday, confiscating ballot boxes and voting papers, as evidence that it is Rajoy who lacks democratic credentials. Spanish riot police burst into polling stations across Catalonia on Sunday, seizing ballot boxes and voting papers to prevent a banned referendum on a split from Spain. Some 761 people were injured in clashes with riot police, the regional government said. Who is the dictator? said Maduro at the start of his hours-long Sunday television show. Mariano Rajoy has chosen blood, sticks, blows, and repression against a noble people. Our hand goes out to the people of Catalonia. Resist, Catalonia! Latin America admires you, added Maduro. Venezuela s opposition, in turn, accused Maduro of hypocrisy in attacking Rajoy, saying the Venezuelan leader violently clamped down on four months of protests demanding humanitarian aid, early elections, and respect for the opposition-led Congress. | 1 |
20,637 | Charity Is Buying Bankrupt Homophobic Pastor’s Church, Converting It To LGBT Youth Haven | In a complete 180 degree turn, a church that was the site of numerous mind boggling anti-gay rants will now be home to a shelter designed specifically to help at-risk LGBT youth. How s that for karma?Reverend James David Manning has become notorious for the awful sermons he delivers from his Harlem-based Atlah Worldwide Church. Outside, he frequently puts up massive signs denouncing homosexuality and anyone who supports gay rights. One sign claimed supporting same-sex marriage would give a person cancer or syphilis. Another declared Obama had released homo demons to attack black men.Thankfully, Manning s time being able to spew insane garbage from the pulpit appears to be over. Manning, busy as he was spreading hate, seems to have massively mismanaged his finances. His church is reportedly over $1 million in debt and the property it sits on will now be auctioned off.Enter the Ali Forney Center, an organization dedicated to providing help to homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth. Since hearing about the recent vacancy they have been fundraising to buy Manning s old church. In just 12 days they raised over $200,000. It s likely they will soon be able to acquire it. We re confident we ll be able to go into the auction with a partner that will allow us to have not just an entry-level bid, said Carl Siciliano, the Center s founder and executive director. Because the building is historic, it is subject to zoning laws that make it almost impossible for the lot to be used to erect something like luxury housing or office buildings. If the building still manages to fall into the hands of a developer, Siciliano and his colleagues have a back-up plan: they will try to rent space there for $30,000 a month.Hilariously, Manning seems to be in pure denial that his church is being sold. He insists he s not leaving. In a disturbing video, Manning took aim at his enemies that want to take him down just because he hasn t paid over a million dollars in taxes. He does, however, appear to be dimly aware that his church will soon be a homeless shelter for LGBTQ youths. All kinds of stuff is being spread around [about how] they re going to turn this church into a bathhouse. How they re going to turn it into a homeless building for the sodomites. It s mainly the sodomites. The soulful minded people aren t doing anything. It s not soulful people or sodomites doing this to Manning it s the government. In December, a judge ordered the foreclosure after over a decade of Manning s church deliberately not paying his taxes. Records show that he has a whopping nine separate tax liens against him. Some going as far back as 2002.Manning is always quick to point out parts of the bible that speak against homosexuality, but he seems to have overlooked the parts that condemn greed. Maybe he should have paid more attention.Feature image from YouTube | 0 |
20,638 | NY Teacher Gives Assignment To High School Kids: Come Up With Argument In Favor Of Mass Killings Of Jews | A pair of high school students who take classes at SUNY Oswego via a specialized program are upset at an assignment their Principles of Literary Representation class received: Defend Hitler s Final Solution.CiTi/BOCES New Vision program teacher Michael DeNobile handed out a Top Secret memorandum to the class addressed to senior Nazi party members. It asked students to put themselves in the shoes of Adolf Hitler s top aides, according to a report at Syracuse.com.Students Archer Shurtliff and Jordan April, who ended up on opposite sides of the, er, debate wondered: Does DeNobile really want students to argue in favor of the Nazis justification for genocide? Although the lesson does tell students it is not for you to be sympathetic to the Nazi point of view, and is just an exercise on expanding your point of view, Shurtliff and April allege it created a rather intolerant atmosphere.One student did a Nazi salute in class, they say, and another said he wished he d been assigned the pro-Holocaust side because Heil Hitler, duh. From the story:The students brought their concerns over the assignment to DeNobile, administrators in the New Vision program and educators at their home schools.The classroom assignment took them on a mission: To make sure no other student would be asked to argue in favor of killing Jews again.They carefully documented each meeting and conversation with their teachers. They researched other cases, including one in which a teacher was disciplined.They came up with dozens of alternate assignments and materials that didn t force kids to argue on behalf of mass killings. They contacted the Anti-Defamation League, which advocates for Jews.Within a few days, an alternative assignment was offered. Jordan wrote about America s AIDS crisis and response. Archer wrote about the internment of Japanese-Americans and compensation paid to survivors.The students said they weren t satisfied with the administration s response.They are calling for an apology, for the program to retract the assignment completely, and agree to never give it again.Despite the alternative assignment offered, many chose to stick with the original.Archer and Jordan say DeNobile and administrators defended the assignment, claiming they were told the essay was a lesson in having to do things you don t like, and in seeing the other side of an argument. But Shurtliff shoots down this rationalization rather easily: It s settled opinion. You can t say that Jews deserve to die. It should be a settled thing. In a letter to New Vision officials, Anti-Defamation League Education Director Beth Martinez wroteThere is no assignment that could ever be given to students that even hints at their [sic] being two sides to the Final Solution /Holocaust that would be pedagogically or morally sound, and we are very disturbed that students are reportedly being asked to be a part of this.Indeed, the assignment says the objective is for students to go outside [their] comfort zone and to train their brains to logistically find the evidence necessary to prove a point. High schoolers vouching for the annihilation of an entire people is merely going outside their comfort zone ? Lovely.For entire story: College Fix | 0 |
20,639 | Campaign chief to oversee Trump U.S. vice presidential search | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, will oversee the presumptive Republican U.S. presidential nominee’s search for a running mate, a campaign aide said on Tuesday. Lewandowski last week took over the vice presidential selection process and is drawing up a list of potential candidates and speaking with Republican Party figures, two top Republicans told the Washington Post, which first reported the move. The two Republicans said they expected lawyers or a law firm to help vet Trump’s short list of candidates, the Post reported. The Trump campaign aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Lewandowski is leading the effort but would not elaborate. Trump has said he is considering some of his former rivals for the Republican nomination. But some already have ruled themselves out or declared they will not support the billionaire businessman. One of those was U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who on Monday sought to quash speculation he might emerge as the running mate, saying he still has deep reservations about Trump. Trump has bristled at Republicans who publicly have taken themselves out of the running. The day after Rubio’s announcement, Trump wrote in a Twitter post, “It is only the people that were never asked to be VP that tell the press that they will not take the position.” Trump has said he plans to select a Republican with political experience as his choice for vice president. Lewandowski has been part of Trump’s inner circle since the beginning of his candidacy. Other Trump senior advisers, including Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, will concentrate on the campaign’s national field operation and planning for the Republican National Convention in July, the Post said. Lewandowski has generated controversy during Trump’s campaign for president. He was hit in March with a misdemeanor battery charge relating to an incident involving a female reporter, but prosecutors in Florida’s Palm Beach County last month decided not to prosecute Lewandowski. | 1 |
20,640 | Donald Trump Has Lowest Favorability Rating Of Any Candidate In Documented History | Who likes Donald Trump? Not Democrats. Not women, young adults, Hispanics or independents, either. Half of Republican voters don t even like him.According to a new poll conducted jointly by The Washington Post and ABC News, Donald Trump is unpopular with just about everyone in the country.In fact, The Washington Post reports that Trump has the worst favorability rating of any candidate in the survey s 32-year-long history.The poll shows that 67 percent of all voters view Trump unfavorably.Certain demographics like him less than others. For example, 75 percent of women view him unfavorably. Among young voters, 80 percent have an unfavorable view of the current Republican frontrunner. Not surprisingly, Hispanic voters like Trump the least, with 85 percent having an unfavorable view.Half of all republican voters said they view Trump unfavorably. What s more, just 20 percent of Republicans said they would oppose attempts to stop Trump from gaining the party s nomination. More than twice as many, 43 percent, said they would support such an effort.While only 34 percent of republicans surveyed said they want to see Trump become president of the United States, that number is still higher than the number of voters who support challengers Ted Cruz or John Kasich.He may manage to gain the republican nomination, but Trump s very low favorability rating is not going to carry him through a general election.According to Real Clear Politics, both democratic candidates would defeat Donald Trump in the general election.Hillary Clinton leads Trump by 10.6 points, according to the site s general election matchup predictions.Clinton s democratic competitor, Bernie Sanders, leads Trump by an even larger margin nationally, with a 15.8 percentage point lead over the republican frontrunner.It s easy to see why republicans are willing to do just about anything to stop Trump from winning the party s nomination.Trump may poll favorably among a small portion of republican voters, but you can t win a general election when democrats, independents, women, Hispanic voters, young adults, even half of the people in your own party literally despise you.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images | 0 |
20,641 | Tillerson says North Korea designation aimed at third parties | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday that the move to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism will help dissuade third parties from supporting Pyongyang. The practical effect of it is ... it may though disrupt, and dissuade some third parties from undertaking certain activities with North Korea, as it does impose prohibition on a number of other activities that may not be covered by existing sanctions, Tillerson told a White House briefing. | 1 |
20,642 | U.S. House fails to pass FAA extension, hurricane tax relief | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday failed to approve a bill to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to continue to operate and a package of tax relief bills to aid hurricane victims after ranking Democrats objected. Authorization for the FAA is set to expire on Saturday. The bill would have extended the agency for another six months as Congress debates whether to privatize the country’s air traffic control system and considers new airline passenger protections. The bill, which was considered under fast-track rules that require two-thirds of members to support it, failed on a 245 to 171 margin. House Democratic leaders on Monday had urged their colleagues to oppose the measure, citing Republican’s decision to only extend some healthcare programs and refusing to allow immigration legislation. “Democrats support reauthorization of the FAA, which is long overdue as a result of Republicans’ failure to craft a bill that can obtain bipartisan majority support,” the statement said. “It is outrageous that the majority is hijacking the must-pass FAA bill as a vehicle for its pet priorities.” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement after the vote the House will take up the issue again. “It didn’t take long for Democrats to snap back into their partisan corner. The American people can’t stand this nonsense,” McCarthy said. President Donald Trump in March proposed handing over control of U.S. air traffic control to a privately-operated board, but has faced resistance among Democrats and owners of private planes. Major U.S. carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, all back the privatization proposal. The bill would have also extended three healthcare programs, but would not extend a children’s healthcare program and Community Health Centers that are set to expire on Saturday, which is the end of the budget year. Democrats want to force a vote to reverse Trump’s decision to overturn an Obama administration order shielding from deportation immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children. The bill would make it easier for people with hurricane losses to write them off on their taxes, eliminating a requirement that personal losses must exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income to qualify for a deduction. It would also give hurricane victims penalty-free access to retirement funds and temporarily suspends limitations on the deduction for charitable contributions to hurricane relief made before year-end. The bill provides a tax credit for 40 percent of wages, up to $6,000 per employee, paid by a disaster-affected employer in certain disaster areas. | 1 |
20,643 | YES! SHERIFF CALLS OUT HILLARY CLINTON For Blatantly Inviting Illegals Into America On Your Dime [Video] | Hillary and Bernie are pandering to the Hispanic population and other Americans who are just fine with accepting illegal aliens into America. The truth is that illegals cost American taxpayers BILLIONS in tax dollars every year. We foot the bill for these people! Please listen to Sheriff Babeau speak about this injustice put on Americans every year: | 0 |
20,644 | Kenya's repeat presidential poll was free, fair: commission | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s repeat presidential poll was free and fair, the election commission said on Monday, despite opposition complaints over the vote that led to it boycotting the process. I m satisfied that we were able to meet these conditions that have enabled the commission to deliver ... a free, fair and credible election, Wafula Chebukati, chairman of the commission, said. | 1 |
20,645 | GUESS WHO’S BEHIND Sickening Ad Showing Boy Being Bullied Because His Dad Didn’t Vote [VIDEO] | This ad is disgusting in so many ways. The video shows a group of kids bullying and name calling another kid because his dad didn t vote. We ve seen these tactics used before with union members and other leftists in the Democrat Party. But at a time when schools and parents are being asked to be more vigilant about bullying, what makes this group who supports Hillary, and spends money to ensure Trump doesn t win the election think this is okay? America is starting to discover through a series of Hillary s campaign manager s emails, and undercover videos exposing the corrupt nature of Hillary s campaign, those who support her through various radical groups and organizations and of course, the Democratic Party.This video, from non-profit Civic Innovation Works, also has a Super PAC with the same name that supports Hillary to children everywhere sends a clear message: If you know of a kid who s parents aren t planning to vote, it might be a good time to start bullying them Watch:This ad was funded by a Civic Innovation Works whose officer is the same person who is named as the treasurer on the radical Civic Innovation Super PAC. Sounds pretty harmless right? Well actually, they re a group who funds ads for Hillary and ads against Trump. One of their top contributors is co-founder of Facebook, Dustin Moskovitz.The billionaire who made a fortune off of Facebook, a social media platform that was created for users of all races, ages and political backgrounds has committed to spending $20 million to defeat Trump in the upcoming election. You ll never hear about him and his desire to affect the outcome of the election by funding a campaign against Donald J. Trump.Daniel Hausman is the treasurer of the leftist group, Civic Innovation USA. Here are screen shots of a few of their recent expenditures. The organization that promotes bullying of kids by other kids supports Hillary:They also spent money to defeat Trump:How much more evidence do American voters need to see the Democratic Party is not their grandparents, or even their parents party? | 0 |
20,646 | Man Says He ‘Didn’t Mean To Offend Anyone’ With Float Featuring Trump Executing Hillary (IMAGE) | Residents in Aurora, Indiana are upset after seeing a parade float on Saturday which depicted Donald Trump flipping the switch on Hillary Clinton in an electric chair. As if that wasn t bad enough, the float also featured someone in blackface portraying President Obama as an Easter Island figure with an oversized head. The float is plastered with a Trump/Pence sign, a Make America Great Again sign and of course, something with Benghazi written on it and it also mentions Clinton s health.An Aurora mother posted a photo on Facebook of the offensive float. Who thinks this is appropriate for a fair parade where children, some of them minorities and girls, are marching and playing instruments and watching? Who thinks this is something to laugh at or be proud of? Penny Britton wrote on her Facebook page. This is disgusting. This makes me embarrassed to say I live here. This is Aurora, Indiana. Congratulations. That prompted different comments ranging from calling it disgusting and racist, to another saying Who cares! On Saturday morning, the float was featured as part of the Aurora Farmers Fair Parade.WCPO reports:It s sponsored by the Aurora Lions Club, according to its website, and touted as Indiana s oldest street festival. The theme of the parade was Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future. A Lions Club board member spoke with WCPO and said the organization was not prepared to make a statement.The parade manager did not return a call by a WCPO reporter.Meanwhile, Frank Linkmeyer, whose trailer which held the float is now in his driveway, says he didn t mean to offend anyone and he s sorry. He did a really bad job of trying to not be offensive. We re pretty sure Trump supporters will say it s being politically correct to object because children have to witness a display of racism. One man said, If anyone is offended by it, well don t look at it. It s pretty hard to change the channel on a parade you re attending. The float was right there in everyone s faces.Images via screen capture. | 0 |
20,647 | stockholms feminist snow removal program causes the entire city to shut down | home badge abuse leaked soros memo reveals potential plan to use black lives matter to federalize us police leaked soros memo reveals potential plan to use black lives matter to federalize us police matt agorist august comments
memos and documents published by dcleaks continue shedding light on billionaire globalist george soros and his progressive organization open society foundations osf due to their poor digital curation however the leaks are hard to comb through which is leading to the information slowly trickling out the latest of the documents reveals the billionaires attempt to organize a national movement to create a federalized police force
the document shows that osf saw the killings of mike brown eric garner walter scott and freddie gray as an opportunity to implement this mission of federal police guidelines osf according to the documents then held a meeting titled police reform how to take advantage of the crisis of the moment and drive longterm institutional change in policecommunity practice
the memo further documents that sorosfinanced groups and personalities influenced a task force on st century policing created by president obama last may the task force released a final report consisting of recommendations recommending protocol to local departments on how to modify policing practices
the information is from a page report of an open society us programs board meeting that took place in new york city in may of last year
states the board meeting document
the federal government is seeking philanthropic support for a number of its initiatives in addition to seeking support to advance the implementation of the recommendations of the presidential taskforce the white house recently launched the policing data initiative to explore how best to use data and technology to build trust voice and solutions to improve community policing the department of justice recently selected the first six cities to host pilot sites for the national initiative for building community trust and justice which was launched last fall to help repair and strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve by exploring strategies intended to enhance procedural justice reduce implicit bias and support racial reconciliation
we are gaining a better understanding of these efforts in order to determine how best usp can use this moment to create a national movement we have already had a set of preliminary conversations with about a dozen key stakeholders and will undertake a field scan to map the areas of work currently underway to advance police reform including an assessment of the redundancies and gaps in work and opportunities for collaboration as we proceed we will engage the funder network we helped to establish the executive alliance on men and boys of color which now includes forty foundations
us programs usp is a part of osf with the stated mission of working to further a vibrant democratic society in which all people can meaningfully participate in its civic economic and political life
according to the above excerpt usp was thinking of ways to capitalize on police killings to create a national movement to implement their agenda
the think tank also raises the question of how to properly steer the ostensible grassroots organizations such as black lives matter to achieve usp goals
the events of the past several months have understandably led to a wide range of activities including a variety of advocacy efforts to respond to the significant challenges in policing that have been exposed and the opportunity to promote meaningful and lasting change for example organized under the banner of the civil rights coalition on police reform organizations like the lawyers committee for civil rights under the law lcchr and ldf are advocating for federal reform efforts with a particular emphasis on data collection and transparency and as noted above effecting federal funding streams a variety of other national advocacy organizations including grantees advancement project policylink the center for popular democracy and the aclu are working to provide advocates with toolkits and resources to help their organizing efforts locally based groups such as the ohio student association the organization for black struggle the asian law caucus and the aclu of new jersey to name a few are advocating for specific reforms at the city and state levels another layer of grassroots and youthoriented groups like freedom side ferguson action black lives matter and million hoodies movement for justice are also advocating for specific reforms the range of efforts underway raises a number of questions and concerns about capacity the need for coordination and the appropriate prioritization of policy objectives among others which we will discuss in the policing portion of the meeting
while the intentions of reforming police in america seem noble the very idea of a sorosled initiative is chilling
another memo leaked earlier this month showed the billionaire was potentially funding the black lives matter movement to the tune of now as todays memo shows we know why
as the free thought project has pointed out many times before soros has been exposed literally manipulating the world
earlier this month in an email found within the wikileaks hillary clinton archive with the subject unrest in albania soros makes clear to clinton that two things need to be done urgently he then directs the secretary of state to bring the full weight of the international community to bear on prime minister berisha and appoint a senior european official as mediator revealing the influence he wields within the corridors of power soros then provides secretary of state clinton with three names from which to choose unsurprisingly clinton acquiesced and chose one of the officials recommended by soros miroslav lajcak
this is standard operating procedure for soros anyone familiar with the history of the soros open society foundations in eastern europe and around the world since the late s will know that his supposedly philanthropic democracybuilding projects in poland russia or ukraine in the s allowed soros the businessman to literally plunder the former communist countries wealth according to the new eastern outlook
sorosaffiliated organizations are deeply connected to numerous color revolutions such as the arab spring and a number of other uprisings across the world they have been intimately involved in the coup that took place in ukraine and subsequent ratcheting up of cold war tensions with russia
as these leaked memos and emails prove the united states is nothing more than one of soros pawns
while americans remain oblivious and argue over straw men fed to them by the mainstream media the police state is growing both here and abroad as the citizens are promised reform the only thing that actually changes are the puppets in marble buildings matt agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the usmc and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the nsa this prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the american police state agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world a classtwitterfollowbutton hrefhttpstwittercommattagorist datashowcountfalse datasizelargefollow mattagorist on twittera and now on a hrefhttpssteemitcom share google real truth stings
i think its time to end local policing for profit the police force should exist to protect and serve not to fill the county coffers we need direct oversight of the police the end of the power of their union to protect bad cops and the end of corrupt local government the downside is the federal government is so big and spread out that they can barely keep track of our military assets we can count on them to institute a public facing qualifications search for candidates randy pitts
do you really not understand that what you just said is exactly what this article is exposing
soros has indoctrinated you fools into favoring a federal police real truth stings
do you have a better idea we have localized corruption in every state if you have another way to achieve this feel free to discuss it billdeserthills
right mostly because obama has been doing everything he can to crap on the police by your thinking the tsa is doing a fantastic job huh real truth stings
you arent looking at the upsides that are possible billdeserthills
because there are no upsides except for upside yo head when those even stupider federalized cops hit you pto
replace local corruption with centralized corruption at least now some places arent corrupt billdeserthills
citizen oversight cole
soris is not favoring a national police he wabts rules and restrictions put on the police before we devolve into a police state and we already half way there he is funding blm because they are at the forefront of bringing police misconduct to lightt how do you people not see this razedbywolvs
i dont like police misconduct but i dont burn down the city yelling kill the jews to accomplish it tracy lund
what a stupid thing to say razedbywolvs
does that make you pro burring down the city to stop the who all happen to be ashkenazi jews az patriot
what are you talking about what do jews have to do with this you and some other people are on this are now blaming the jews for the mess we are in how stupid razedbywolvs
well that kind of happens when you use a lobbys to buy off every politician in a foreign country and are a big contributing factor to what appears to be a year old blood feud in the me httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvkmvhbrqi az patriot
typical jew hater there really is no hope for you or your soul why not worry about the people who are willing to blow you up razedbywolvs
would being opposed to a special interest group of saudi buying off american politicians make me a arab hater thats stupid i dont hate jews but i really wounder how you all got brainwashed as bad as north koreans i really dont think israel has a problem blowing us up they sure as hell dont care about us enough to give a heads up when they know in advance that americans are going to die httpsuploadsdisquscdncomimagesbbfbdfbeccfeddcccfbeadabbaebfbjpg httpsuploadsdisquscdncomimagesdaeccfbfdcaecbbddcdbbpng s az patriot
so you are one of those crazies who believe the jews knew about this and that the bushes did this to get oil i think you and that other loon rosie odonnell make a one team of nuts razedbywolvs
are you one of those crazies that doesnt believe official fbi documents i figured you would of been trigged by the brainwashing comment but you skipped right over it and pointed at one the few non jews in hollywood as the problem you have to have a short list for that especially since rosie odonnell hasnt been relevant for years if ever my tin foil hat is itching the immigrant absorption ministry i think your idf httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvoyuoguvb az patriot
this tape means nothing and you havent shown any shred of fbi evidence you are a crazy loon razedbywolvs
i guess the difference between loons and sane people is we read the dam reports you should try it az patriot
you read into things that arent there go away loser razedbywolvs
go away from were do you think im inside your computer or something billdeserthills
sure cause soros is such an honorable guy huh why i bet you think he does this for the good of humanity just so he can get that real special place in heaven that he so richly deserves dont you prince
local police should not existperiod steve yates
who will protect us from the criminals prince
the nd amendment jo
prince the second amendment doesnt matter if there is no government and police to enforce it duh prince
duh jo we the people enforce it with guns doodlee pigvirus
check out ideas for a copfree world carolyn
i think you can make a list of crimes in one night that chicago will commit just for a starter carolyn
mr prince when he gets robbed assaulted in anyway he wants to call razedbywolvs to help him because no one else will get real the constitution states that the states should govern themselves not let the government do it nishi
i have never been so naive as to think that smart and engaged people refrained from brainstorming solutions together according to their shared beliefs nor have i ever thought that would be a good idea cole
tell this so called journalist that he cant complain about soros trying to change the direction of our police force before it turns into a police state then at the end of the article try himself to tell us we need to be on the watchout for a police state shusei
right there is no evil plan in these memos i dont know much about soros if he is evil guy or good guy but least i can say is this article is bs and many people in here have no ability to read understand and think prince
somebody really needs to put a bullet in soros head despicable rem certified
dont leave out his son greg geitner
now its easy to see why soros was paying them to act out ricialove
as a black woman heres what i want to knowwith all that money that blm receiveswhat the heck do they do anna miller
george soros is a criminal subversive who has created havoc on a global level and for a long time his crimes are welldocumented he is the billonaire who broke the british pound in he is responsible for funding numerous revolutions including the coup in ukraine toppling a democratically elected president and moving nato closer to russian borders and funding ngos who were not really charities but subversive infiltrators he is an evil man have you noticed how many billonaire jews are involved in all kinds of evil financial schemes and or hold such high positions in both neoliberal as well as neocon both sides of the fencegovernment positions although they only make up of the populace why hasnt this criminal been arrested his aim is to deliberately stir up a race war the police are attacking people of all colors and ages yet blm seems to defend black men who were in truth guilty at least they could pick a black man or woman who was actually innocent why doesnt black lives matter defend blacks who have been murdered by other blacks which is usually the case or dont those black lives matter and how about the of black children born to single mothers with no father in the home often to siblings from multiple fathers these children often grow up to be street thugs the facts bear this out blacks do commit most of the crime in the us and commit more crimes against whites as well the issue should be on the increasing police brutality on all citizens not only focused on black lives the police target them more because blacks commit most of the crime does the truth enter this equation blm detracts from the entire populace of all races focusing together on increased police brutality against the public at large for soros and those who want to increase antiwhite sentiment and race tensions blm is mission accomplished the bastard soros should have been arrested a long time ago and imprisoned and not in one of those cushy hotel prisons either and one can only wonder who is really running this nation when soros remains unfettered dan
maybe just maybe hitler saw something that the rest of the world still can not see or simply refuses to see az patriot
what are you saying all jews should have been sent to the gas chamber so that soros wouldnt be around dan
oh right your one of those kinds of people huh next you are going to tell me that they really did make lampshades and soap out of jews huh az patriot
if i were you i wouldnt continue to show your ignorance insensitivity and anti jew sentiment go away dan
im ignorant bwahahah heres an easy one for ya whats minus carolyn
idiot must run in your family carolyn
dan you are an atheist who wants the world to believe that hitler did not slaughter millions of jews go to the holocaust museums filled with the pictures and tools the nazis used to experiment on the children pictures taken by the american soldiers when they entered into the prisons so go into a hellnory site and w her with your crap dan
so explain to me how they had to change the plaque at auschwitz in the s from claiming million died there to only just over million and its now believed that its not even million that died there
and you dare to call me the idiot keep googling im sure you can find it carolyn
i did not call you an idiot but i should have auschwitz was only one of many concentration and death camps you check it out dan
wow you have shown your level of stupid on levels in the one post good work but i digress ad hominems like yours only exist to show your own lack of a reasonable argument
auschwitz was well known to have been by far the largest concentration camp during ww with the greatest population compared to all other camps it even boasted a swimming pool inside the camp for its population how do they just lose million deaths from that camp if auschwitz could not accomodate million deaths but only closer to million how did the other much smaller camps process more deaths than alschwitz
now here is hte real kicker from back in jews were already claiming the million decades into the future its in the damn newspapers and you can freely search and find them for yourself
care to explain how that happened jew magic i guess httpsuploadsdisquscdncomimagesefadbaaaeddfeefdeedfffebacfbfjpg carolyn
dan did you read any of the small incomplete articles evidently not m was quoted to show that russia and other countries had that many jews nothing about death these prior years to were expressing the plight of how the jewish people were being treated now auschwitz was not the only camp that slaughtered jews now does that sign specifically say that auschwitz deaths were just auschwitz murders your damn newspapers need to be read by you before you put that smudge attitude in writing dan
wow your brain really is broken huh you cant see the connection between claiming the magical million prophecy which is actually about claiming the heartland in and using that same exact figure in the lies about ww the same lies that the nazis also made lampshades and soap out of jews
auschwitz plaque was obviously blatantly lying just like the lampshades and soap myths once the soviets were forced to give up the ledgers iirc in the s it was obvious that they could no longer sustain the lie that million were killed there and were forced to bring that number down to about million are you really that stupid that you can not see the pattern here
there is a hell of a lot more but i get the feeling that im talking to someone to stupid to even grasp the basics
fun fact anne frank never wrote anne franks diary otto bought the story from another novelist and changed it to reflect his daughter there was even a recent copyright case where they are now claiming that he was the author fun times carolyn
oh i see your pattern believe that crap instead of what the pictures written accounts by the liberation armies and you did not answer my question on the articles you want to point to that does not say m jews died did you pull all of the articles and read the whole story i would bet you did not you are a typical atheist marxist democrat you can pound your chest again when you check history and find out that the democraps started the kkk group and were the biggest slave owners you people amaze me how you put crap out there that you can not back up kind of like your loving candidate hellnory dan
show me a single picture of gassed jews or even of the gas chambers themselves or even the several thousand dead jews they would have to have piled up waiting for their several hours in the crematorium it actually took back then to cremate even a single body or you mean i am meant to take the word of the proven lying jews who to this day like in the video i linked above have clung to their fantasies even after they have been busted lying
as for the liberating armies you do recall that all the gas chambers were in ruins when they came through and there was zero evidence besides the lamp shades and soap of any jew holocaust that account you mean
and of course it dosnt say that million died yet only that they were in peril etc but you dont find it a mighty large coincidence you also obviously have no idea how they came up with the million at the end of ww do you go find out where that number came from the person who made it up even claimed it was completely symbolic and not to be taken literally
you are a typical atheist marxist democrat and in the face of clear defeat out with the mindless ad hominem once again a clear indicator that you are way outside of your depth you are incorrect on all counts once again do you ever get anything right
were the biggest slave owners guess who the biggest slave owners were fucking jews hahaha they owned all the slave ships and were behind every facet of the trade
kind of like your loving candidate hellnory and thats the funniest go find my twitter feed its full of anti hillary sentiment in fact its the only reason i really began using twitter was during this election cycle to keep track of whats going on because i refuse to engage in the corrupt leftist media once again mostly jew owned for fear of turning into a brainless zombie like yourself
ill give you this tho you certainly are persistent in your stupidity its no wonder you cant see anything thats going on around you in this world dan
here is a great classic you really should watch about his explaining away his lies as not really lies httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvjswiomiak carolyn
you really have a real talent referencing things dan
yea this is how you learn things you take a fairytale lets use santa as an example and you work out when your like years old how can there be santas in the same place why are my presents always in the bottom of my parents wardrobe a week before santa apparently brings them to you a week later and slowly you deduce that there is no santa clause and its just a lie that you have been fed while your brain is all still mushy
or you know you can just blindly have faith that there is still a santa you know like you do even in the face of such a mountain of evidence carolyn
you need to stop your atheistic info because you do not know what you are talking about m jews killed in all of the auschwitz camps did you know that there were large camps with large crematoriums no you did not that is just a drop in the bucket places that murdered experimented on starved gased and shooting of jews k hungary k poland k france k netherlands k greece k boheman moravia k slovakia k belgium k yugoslavia k itally norway and k from other countries k jews k poles k gypsies k soviet prisoners k czecks yugoslavs french germans did you know that hitler had built camps death camps concentration camps holding camps gas camp vans labor camps and detention camps many jews died in ghettos on trains during the death march to evade the oncoming of the russian army and us forces these camps were set up in france russia germany poland and austria one of the camps berkenau killed thousand jews per day in total m jews killed in killing centers and jews shot gased experimented on now how do you explain your decision to not believe these totals dan
of course i knew i obviously know more about the subject than you do like you i came from a place of believing the lies until i started questioning some of the facts i was taught and the advent of the internet and survivors videos where they constantly get busted telling lies made me reconsider the truth about ww
actually current scholars beleive its somewhere between k and i think its k it might be k died in all of auschwitz while i do not doubt that there was some experimenting america was doing the same thing but on its own people at the time the great majority were simply natural attrition in a time of war considering the allies were bombing supply lines constantly yet never the camps themselves because they also knew they were not death camps in fact lets invoke the story of the holocaust poster child again anne frank if they were really gassing people in some huge manner why would they even keep around a weak sickly girl long enough for her to die from typhus
and yes of course many people died many of them jews thats what happens when you have wars none of this supports gassing or mass extermination of jews stupid
but my final question is how do you blindly believe the word of people who have been shown on many occasions to be liars specially in the face of so much verifiable evidence to the contrary ie the lampshades soap diesel gassing vans eye witness stories that completely contradict everything etc specially knowing the fact that many jews chose to escape with their german captors rather than await the soviet armys rescue carolyn
of course you did not know any of the information i wrote if you profess that you know how many died then go on the holocaust site and you will see that after they checked the records that the germans kept you do know they tattooed the jews to make sure what numbers were dead or alive how would i know why they kept anne franks till she died of typhus they very cruel people the jews were at war with the nazi germans what the hell are you talking about if you go on the site you will see pictures of the gas chambers and crematories what the hell else do you want why dont you go to auschwitz and see for yourself you are so bigoted and i believe you are a lousy democrap despicable rem certified
hitler has the rothschild and other bank roll him while killing off the poor and middle class jews who hardly dominate their own street block let alone the world as a true socialist he had the pragmatic double standards so many on the left have today az patriot
you are painting all jews with a very broad brush no all jews not all billionaire jews are involved in evil schemes stop it despicable rem certified
soros is to jew as kerry kaine biden pilosi or kennedy is to roman catholic soros is to jew like ryan or beck are to conservative or and a better example soros is to jew like oblamer is to christian anna miller
yes all these people have one thing in common they claim connection to the evil hebrew yahweh the tyrannical iron age war volcano god happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks just another evil scripture found in your not so holy book psalm stop making excuses for evil despicable rem certified
howdy anna i an sorry i didnt make myself clear i was stating none of those people are believing jews or christians they believe they are god anna miller
they have no humility nor conscience tatiana covington | 1 |
20,648 | China minister warns against seduction of values by Western nations | BEIJING (Reuters) - Western countries are trying to push their culture and political values onto others, seducing them into abandoning their own, China s propaganda chief warned on Friday, saying the country must follow its own path. Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen a sweeping crackdown against civil society since assuming office five years ago, tightening control over society, media and the internet. Xi has pledged to promote what the ruling Communist Party refers to as core socialist values, which stress patriotism, Chinese traditional culture, rule of law, harmony and prosperity among others. Huang Kunming, who was appointed to the post following last month s key party congress at which Xi further cemented his grip on power, wrote in the official People s Daily that there was an intensifying surge and collision in the world between different values. There are especially some Western countries who use their technological advantages and dominance of discourse that they have accumulated over a long period to peddle so-called universal values , he wrote. Such countries, which Huang did not name, are trying to seduce people into beautifying the West and being compliant with the West, weakening or even abandoning their identification with their own spiritual culture, he added. China s special cultural traditions, unique historical destiny and national situation mean it has to protect its own values rooted in its culture, Huang said. Only by promoting core socialist values can the Chinese people stand tall in the forest of the world s people , he added. China has long railed against those it says try to impose Western concepts on the country, such as competitive multi-party democracy or the separation of powers, and the Communist Party brooks no challenge to its power. On the eve of the party congress, state news agency Xinhua attacked Western democracy as divisive and confrontational. China s constitution enshrines the party s long-term leading role in government, though it allows the existence of various other political parties under what is called a multi-party cooperation system . But all are subservient to the Communist Party. Activists who call for pluralism are regularly jailed and criticism of China s authoritarian system silenced. | 1 |
20,649 | France's Macron says U.S. interests to be harmed by climate deal withdrawal | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday categorically ruled out any renegotiation of the Paris climate accord and said U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw would harm American interests and citizens. Macron, who made a televised address in French and English, said Trump had “committed an error for the interests of his country, his people and a mistake for the future of our planet.” “I tell you firmly tonight: We will not renegotiate a less ambitious accord. There is no way,” said Macron, who took office less than a month ago. Macron’s message was particularly tough compared with comments after meeting Trump at the Group of Seven summit in Sicily last week, where he had hoped Trump’s pragmatism would lead him to stick to the deal. [nL8N1IT0MX] “France believes in you (the U.S.), the world believes in you, but don’t be mistaken on climate; there is no plan B because there is no planet B,” Macron said. In a separate address in English, Macron responded to Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, saying, “Make the Planet Great Again!” Macron called on U.S. researchers and scientists disappointed by Trump’s decision to come to work in France to fight climate change. “France will put forward a concrete action plan to increase its attractiveness for researchers and companies in the ecological transition sector and will take initiatives notably in Europe and Africa on this subject,” Macron said. Macron said that he had asked his government to immediately begin work on the issue. The newly elected president of France called on the remaining 194 signatories to the accord to reaffirm their commitments and said he had agreed with Germany and Italy to take strong decisions in the coming weeks. [nL8N1IY6V3] “Tonight the United States has turned its back on the world, but France will not turn its back on Americans,” he said. | 1 |
20,650 | Police reveal names of Orlando club shooting victims | Orlando, Fla. (Reuters) - A day before the Orlando, Florida, nightclub massacre, Luis Vielma, 22, updated his Facebook profile with a picture of himself standing with young people in front of a Disney castle and a caption that read: “True friends who become family.” By Sunday night, his profile was altered to “Remember Luis Vielma” after police confirmed he was among 50 people killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. As authorities frantically tried to notify all the relatives, the Orlando Police Department began publishing the names of victims on a city website on Sunday afternoon. Among them was Vielma, who worked part-time as a rides attendant at the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey theme park ride, while studying physical therapy at Seminole State College, according to his Facebook profile. Others included Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34, Stanley Almodovar III, 23, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20, Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36, and Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22. Police killed the gunman, who was identified as Omar Mateen, 29, a New York-born Florida resident and U.S. citizen who was the son of immigrants from Afghanistan, and officials were probing evidence suggesting the attack may have been inspired by Islamic State militants. The sheer number of deaths appeared to overwhelm officials in Orlando, a city of 270,000 people. Orlando police asked mourners to hold off on vigils as they were understaffed to police them. “We understand our community is grieving and that vigils are being planned but PLEASE hold off on vigils – they represent a serious strain on our limited resources, which we need to dedicate to law enforcement and victims,” the city posted on its official Twitter handle. Sotomayor was a marketing manager at a Sarasota, Florida-based gay-themed travel company. His boss, Al Ferguson, said Sotomayor’s partner was outside the nightclub putting something in the car when the shots rang out. He got a text from Sotomayor telling him he was safe in the bathroom and not to come back into the club. Sotomayor texted again 20 minutes later to say he was OK. That was the last his partner heard from him, Ferguson said. Sotomayor was a legend in the industry, Ferguson said. He booked tours for entertainer and drag queen RuPaul and put together the first gay cruise to Cuba last year. He was going to announce a second trip on Sunday, but was killed. “Anyone who booked gay cruises knew Sotomayor,” Ferguson told Reuters. “He was a great man.” In an Instagram post published on Sunday, RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage called Sotomayor “a joy.” “I loved you on so many levels. You were SO SO special and will never be forgotten,” she wrote. “I promise you that.” Neighbors of Almodovar, a 23-year-old pharmacy technician, said his parents had recently moved back to Puerto Rico after his mother became ill with cancer. He was the youngest in the family. The Facebook page for Almodovar, of Clermont, Florida, was flooded with shocked tributes. “We’ll miss you Stanley. You made an impact on everyone that you came around. A good person and friend,” wrote Mark Nielsen of Deltona, Florida. Images posted to Almodovar’s wall over the years showed him socializing with dozens of friends. “I will always remember you,” Jeannette Molina wrote. “Your beautiful personality and spirit.” | 1 |
20,651 | STUNNING New Report Shows HUGE Number Of Ineligible Electors – Could Put Trump Below 270 | A new report shows that we have at least 50 electors who were ineligible to cast their votes on Dec. 19. As a result, a nationwide, bipartisan legal team is preparing a 1,000+ briefing for members of Congress, who still have to certify the vote on Friday, Jan. 6. This number would bring Trump down from 306 to 256, making his election victory less-than Constitutionally legal.Republicans are absolute hypocrites they only whine about election fraud when it looks like things aren t going their way. If things are going their way, then the votes are legit and any effort to prove otherwise is partisan bullshit. It s quite similar to how Trump said he d accept the results of the election prior to Nov. 8 if he was the one who won. Otherwise, look out, is what seemed to be his message.As part of their Electoral Vote Objection Packet, an advocacy group known as Americans Take Action tells Congress in no uncertain terms that at least 50 electoral votes were not regularly given or not lawfully certified. That number could actually be over 100. The group is non-partisan they have Republicans as well as Democrats and Independents working on this.They also have 15 attorneys, legal assistants and law students who prepared the brief pro bono to deliver to Congress in a last-ditch effort to get them to object to certifying the Electoral College s votes. The illegitimate votes, according to the report, include two from Arkansas, one each from Louisiana, Michigan and Oklahoma, three from Texas, and seven from North Carolina.The report also includes electors who were ineligible because they already held public office, such as Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (who s suspect as it is given that she dropped a case against Trump after he donated several thousand dollars to her reelection campaign).Ryan Clayton, of Americans Take Action, an advocacy group that headed up the effort behind both the research and the briefing, said: Trump s ascension to the presidency is completely illegitimate. It s not just Russians hacking our democracy. It s not just voter suppression at unprecedented levels. It is also [that] there are Republicans illegally casting ballots in the Electoral College, and in a sufficient number that the results of the Electoral College proceedings are illegitimate as well.Republicans like to talk all the time about people voting illegally. We have a list of a bunch of Republicans that allegedly voted illegally in the Electoral College. Pam Bondi is the attorney general of the state of Florida and the Florida Constitution says that you cannot hold two offices. And she holds the office of Attorney General and she holds the office of federal elector in the Electoral College. That is a violation of the law. That is a violation of the Constitution. And the vote that she cast in this election is illegal. This is a last-ditch effort and we re sure everyone knows this. However, bringing this to the attention of Congress is the least anyone can do. We cannot have an illegitimate election, whether it s by hacking from a foreign power, illegitimate electoral votes, or both.Featured image by Alex Wong via Getty Images | 0 |
20,652 | Sanders would skip unsanctioned debate, campaign manager says: NY Times | (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders would not participate in a proposed debate next month in New Hampshire that would not be sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, his campaign manager was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the New York Times. Sanders does not want to participate in the debate on Feb. 4, five days before the state primary election, because he does not want to risk being denied participation in future debates, campaign manager Jeff Weaver said, according to the newspaper. It would be sponsored by MSNBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper. (Reporting by Eric Walsh in Washington; Editing by Eric Beech) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 |
20,653 | States file lawsuit challenging Trump decision on Dreamers | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to end protections and benefits for young people who were brought into the United States illegally as children. The multistate lawsuit filed by a group of Democratic attorneys general on Wednesday to protect beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program argues their state economies will be hurt if residents lose their status. The lawsuit seeks to block Trump’s decision and maintain DACA. The lawsuit claims Trump’s decision was “motivated, at least in part, by a discriminatory motive” against Mexicans, who are the largest beneficiary of the program. It points to his statements from the 2016 presidential campaign. The attorneys general also argue the government has not guaranteed DACA recipients that their application information will not be used “for purposes of immigration enforcement, including identifying, apprehending, detaining, or deporting non-citizens.” New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman took the lead filing the case in the Eastern District of New York. He said that 42,000 New Yorkers participate in DACA, and the end of the program will be “devastating” for them and would cause “huge economic harm” to the state. In commenting on the suit, the U.S. Department of Justice noted that DACA was implemented under an executive order by former President Barack Obama, not through congressional action. “While the plaintiffs in today’s lawsuits may believe that an arbitrary circumvention of Congress is lawful, the Department of Justice looks forward to defending this Administration’s position,” spokesman Devin M. O’Malley said. Trump’s decision on Tuesday to end the five-year-old program instituted by former President Barack Obama plunged almost 800,000 young people, known as “Dreamers,” into uncertainty. The move drew criticism from business and religious leaders, mayors, governors, Democratic lawmakers, unions and civil liberties advocates. Trump, who delayed the end of the program until March 5, shifted responsibility to a Congress controlled by his fellow Republicans, saying it was now up to lawmakers to pass immigration legislation that could address the fate of those protected by DACA. But the governor of Washington, whose state joined the lawsuit, criticized Trump for distancing himself from a final decision on the program. Trump said Tuesday he still has “great heart” for the dreamers. “The president has tried to shirk responsibility for this, but let’s be clear, it is his hand on the knife in these people’s backs,” said Washington Governor Jay Inslee at a press conference announcing the suit. “He can’t just put it on Congress. It is his responsibility to fix this.” Other claims in the lawsuit are based on the Administrative Procedure Act, arguing the White House did not follow the correct process in changing the policy. Legal experts have said that court challenges to Trump’s actions could face an uphill battle, since the president typically has wide authority when it comes to implementing immigration policy. | 1 |
20,654 | In edgy Kenyan slum, a rumor ends in fires and a death | NAIROBI (Reuters) - It all started with a rumor: the Mungiki, a dreaded Kikuyu tribal militia, had infiltrated Nairobi s Kawangware slum. Within minutes, local men already fired up by Kenya s divisive election had grabbed machetes and sticks to defend their turf. By the end of Friday night s confrontation, a man had been beaten to death and rows of shops and homes set alight, a worrying taste of how quickly ethnic violence can erupt in the Kenyan capital s volatile slums. Almost all the 50 deaths since August s presidential vote have been in clashes between protesters and police. The deeper fear of Kenyans is that the months of political strife, exacerbated by the courts annulling the August vote, eat away at deep tribal divisions and ignite a wave of inter-ethnic violence, as happened after a disputed 2007 vote when 1,200 people were killed. The Kawangware fighting was sparked by rumors that Kikuyu, the tribe of President Uhuru Kenyatta, had drafted in members of the Mungiki to protect them from opposition supporters. On Friday, a Reuters witness saw a group of men armed with machetes, known locally as pangas, on the streets of Kawangware. Their identity was unclear, although several residents said they were Mungiki, brought in after opposition loyalists burnt down a prominent Kikuyu-owned business the previous night. The Mungiki, notorious for castrating and decapitating victims, were blamed for hundreds of deaths in the 2007 clashes. Their relative quiet since has not diminished their reputation. They were more than a hundred, and they were carrying all new pangas, Vitalis Aloyi, a Kawangware resident, said. Another man said residents had to act to defend themselves. We had to teach them not to bring Mungiki here. If they bring Mungiki, we will destroy their property and their lives, said Kennedy Ochieng, an ethnic Luo, like opposition leader Raila Odinga. As the pro-Odinga vigilantes, also armed with clubs and machetes, swept down the muddy street they set fire to Kikuyu businesses suspected of hiding Mungiki militiamen, Ochieng said. One man was killed, and his body burned, leaving a charred spot on the road. Some Odinga supporters denounced him as Mungiki, but no one could explain how they knew. The next day, with smoke still rising from the twisted wreckage of homes and shops, the remaining traders in Kawangware began loading their wares of pipes, popcorn machines and meat onto trucks. All the other tribes are against the Kikuyu here because of the voting, said Stephen Kamau, whose fruit stall was burned down. These people will come back and burn more. Others in the district, long home to mixed communities, said the truth was more nuanced. As political tensions rose, some businesses had hired local youths for protection, said Rhoda Kungu, a market trader. She insisted the vigilantes were not Mungiki. We are all brothers and sisters. We just want to live in peace, she said. Another trader, Brian Njenga, said it may merely have been pro-Odinga youths spotting a chance to enrich themselves, demanding protection money or looting businesses before they burned them. Some people are just using this situation to get personal benefit, Njenga said to somber nods from a crowd of youths around him. Many have not worked for a long time because the economy is very down. A few hundred meters down the rubbish-strewn road, hundreds of young men milled around on street corners. Teargas from the night before lingered in the air. We want to kill Mungiki. They must know this is our territory, one man shouted. Don t think because it is quiet now that we are at peace. We are just waiting for something! | 1 |
20,655 | COMRADES IN LIBERAL MI College Town Filled With Medical Marijuana Stores IGNORE State Law To Punish LEGAL Tobacco Users [VIDEO] | University of Michigan is located in Ann Arbor, MI, and is home to over 43,000 students. Students at U of M and residents of Ann Arbor can purchase legal marijuana on just about every corner. But purchasing legal cigarettes just became a problem for anyone under the age of 21, despite a state law that allows anyone 18 years of age or older to purchase legal tobacco products in the state of Michigan. Why, and how can a city council make these kinds of emotional decisions that supersede state law? Because liberals always know what s best for you There is no room for discussion. Decisions made by progressive government officials don t have to be based on logic, or in this case, on state law; they just have to have enough emotion behind them to sway their comrades on the city council. This story is a perfect example of why Americans need to know who is running for city council in their hometowns and major cities when election time comes around The Ann Arbor City Council last week voted for an ordinance that will ban the sale of tobacco products to people under 21, making it the first city in Michigan to raise the legal purchasing age from 18.Kai Petainen, an Ann Arbor resident who attended the city council meeting, said he recently went to a funeral of a 23-year-old who died from a drug overdose. That friend used tobacco as a gateway drug, he said. It s a funeral of a person who died at only 23 and it was from an overdose. That person began using tobacco at a young age, and eventually they were using other drugs as well, he said. Tobacco use can lead to other drugs and it can and does destroy lives. Tobacco shops in Ann Arbor have said the ordinance will drive customers out of the city.The Council voted 9-2 on Aug. 4 for an ordinance sponsored by Council Member Julie Grand, a Democrat representing the city s 3rd Ward.Ann Arbor officials were explicit about their lack of concern with whether the ordinance conflicts with state law, and that they hope the rest of the state follows the city s lead. The tobacco lobby has inflicted enough misery on this country and I m happy to do anything we can to play a leadership role on this effort in Michigan, Kirk Westphal, a Democratic council member from the 2nd Ward said, according to The Ann Arbor News. It s particularly important to me, said Council Member Chip Smith, a Democrat from the 5th Ward. But really what compels me to support this is the fact that Ann Arbor is a leader in things, and this is exactly the type of thing we should be leading on, and I m very happy to support this. In addition to the apparent conflict with a state law preempting local regulations, critics of the ordinance are concerned that its effect would be to send people under 21 to neighboring cities like Ypsilanti or Canton to buy tobacco products.Jack Eaton, a Democrat from the 4th Ward, and Jane Lumm, an independent from the 2nd Ward, voted against the ordinance. According to The Ann Arbor News, they cited Michigan s Tobacco Products Tax Act of 1993 as the cause for their concern.The act says municipalities shall not impose any new requirement or prohibition pertaining to the sale or licensure of tobacco products for distribution purposes. MICapConThis new ordinance that will prohibit the sale of tobacco to anyone under the age of 21 years, goes hand-in-hand with the University of Michigan s NO SMOKING ANYWHERE ON CAMPUS law that went into effect on July 1, 2011.Watch the idiocy of this intrusive campus law explained here:Meanwhile, Michigan State University just made it ILLEGAL to SMOKE TOBACCO IN YOUR OWN PRIVATE VEHICLE as long as you are on campus property!Beginning on Aug. 15, a new tobacco-free policy at Michigan State University will make drivers subject to a $150 fine for choosing to smoke or chew tobacco while traveling on public roads that cross the school s East Lansing campus.The ordinance was passed by the board of trustees on June 17, 2015. Its effective date was set for more than a year later on Aug. 15, 2016. A new policy is an effective, cost-efficient way to protect the health of the campus community and encourage tobacco users to reduce or eliminate consumption, thus increasing life, longevity and vitality, the MSU tobacco-free website states. Most tobacco users want to quit, and tobacco-free environments encourage users to quit and help them maintain a tobacco and nicotine free status. Students and MSU employees could face additional sanctions. Students who continually violate the ordinance could face sanction through the student judicial system, and employees could face repercussions via Human Resources (just as students and employees could for violating any MSU ordinance), Cody said.The ban also extends to the use of e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco on campus, including inside a private vehicle. | 0 |
20,656 | Bernie Sanders Blocked From Speaking At Iowa High School, Guess Who They Let Speak Instead | Urbandale High School students worked hard to get a presidential candidate come to speak at their school in Urbandale, Iowa. Both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump said that they would come speak to at the high school. Trump ended up speaking during the school s homecoming. Sanders was blocked by the administration.The Des Moines Register reports on the story, saying: The billionaire Republican visited the high school s homecoming in September after students launched a month-long campaign to recruit a presidential candidate to campus. Students had also reached out to the campaign of Bernie Sanders, who couldn t make the fall homecoming dance, but expressed interest in a later visit. Campaign officials recently tried to firm up Sanders visit, but were turned down by school administrators. Students say they were told that another candidate visit would be too much of an administrative hassle. There were allegations of the school playing favoritism by only letting a Republican candidate speak to the school. The move prompted a backlash from some of the students. We let Donald Trump come as a presidential candidate, but in reality the main focus of his appearance at our school was that he was a high-profile celebrity, said Josh Ingham, a senior at the school. So we wanted a politician that is only involved in politics. So when the administration turned down this opportunity, we were kind of surprised and outraged since the campaign directly contacted our school. We had the opportunity. Ultimately, the matter was resolved with a somewhat weak compromise. Sanders wasn t allowed to speak at the school but some Urbandale students were given reserved seats at a Sanders event. They were able to meet Sanders back stage at the event.The Des Moines Register reports that Ingham who, along with other students, was about to launch a petition to get the school s administration to reverse their decision, got a very special shout out from Sanders at the event: Sanders Iowa staffers reserved prime seats at his Saturday evening appearance at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and set up a quick meet-and-greet with the candidate. About 25 Urbandale students gathered backstage behind a black curtain that separated them from the crowd of more than 1,500 waiting for the Vermont senator s arrival.When Sanders reached the venue, he handed a microphone over to Ingham and asked him to tell the group what had happened at the school. He told them standing up to their school was a very brave thing to do. It s great that those students who attended the event got to have that experience. However, it is antithetical to the idea of civics education to have only one candidate, from one party speak. Representative democracy is about having candidates present their ideas, and then letting people decide who they agree with. When an institution only lets one side of the aisle speak, all they are doing is providing another bully pulpit for that party or candidate. Which is totally not cool.At least some of those students learned a valuable lesson. When the establishment screws you over organize.Featured Image Credit:By Michael Vadon (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons | 0 |
20,657 | Merkel says three-way coalition can work, Greens skeptical | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed confidence on Friday that her conservatives can reach a coalition deal with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), but her would-be partners say the talks could still fail. After bleeding support to the far right in last month s election, and with her former coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), determined to go into opposition, Merkel must bring together three disparate blocs to secure a majority. Party leaders are slated to meet on Monday evening before the larger negotiating teams launch into more detailed talks. Difficult deliberations lie ahead of us in the coming days, Merkel told reporters on arrival for a fresh round of exploratory talks. But I still think we can tie the ends together if we try and work hard. Failure to forge a coalition would likely result in a new election that could see more gains for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which surged into parliament last month. SPD leader Martin Schulz ruled out any prospect of resuming the outgoing grand coalition if Merkel failed to reach agreement with the Greens and FDP. If Mrs. Merkel can t put a government together, there must be new elections, he said in an interview to be published Saturday by the RND newspaper chain. Marco Buschmann, head of the FDP parliamentary group and a member of the party s negotiating team, told Saturday editions of Die Welt newspaper that his party was ready to move into opposition if the coalition talks failed. A new election could strengthen the far-right Alternative for Germany that entered parliament with 13 percent of the vote, but voters might not turn to the AfD as a protest vote if the differences among the other parties were more clear, he added. The would-be allies agreed during Friday s talks on the need to relieve the financial burden on families, increase child care options and combat child poverty, negotiators said. They also agreed to support Germany s role in NATO and other multilateral organizations, to strengthen cooperation with France and to maintain good relations with Russia. But they remain at odds about immigration caps, whether to end coal production, how to combat climate change and increasing defense spending, among other issues. And the divisive issue of transport was not discussed at all on Friday. Negotiators agreed to be nicer to each other , FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki told reporters, adding: I m willing to try, but everyone has to play along. The parties will now spend the weekend distilling their priorities before Merkel meets the other party leaders on Monday. We have all the many ingredients on the table. Now we have to combine them all into a tasty dough, said Michael Kellner, a top Greens negotiator. Fellow Greens negotiator Juergen Trittin struck a less conciliatory tone, telling ARD television that, after 10 days of debate on 12 topics, the parties still haven t even managed to agree on what we disagree about . FDP leader Christian Lindner and Buschmann put the odds of a coalition being formed at 50-50. Greens foreign policy expert Omid Nouripour said the talks might fail altogether. Merkel has said she expects a stable government before Christmas, but senior conservatives close to her say it may take until next year for a new government to be formed. Horst Seehofer, embattled head of the CSU, sister party to Merkel s CDU, said he was encouraged by very constructive, trustworthy discussions among party leaders in recent days. He urged negotiators to stop airing their conflicts in public. We can hit the reset button and hope that things change in the next few days, he said. Seehofer came under fire from his party s youth wing for cancelling a speech to the group, which has called for a more youthful image ahead of Bavarian regional elections next year. Hans Reichhart, head of the CSU youth group, suggested the move could exacerbate debate about Seehofer s future after sharp losses in the Sept. 24 election. Seehofer had urged party members to put off debating the leadership until later this month, arguing that it could weaken his negotiating position in the coalition talks. | 1 |
20,658 | France arrests brother of ex-Burkina president Compaore | PARIS (Reuters) - Francois Compaore, the younger brother of former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore, was taken into custody by French authorities on Sunday in connection with the murder of a journalist, his lawyer said. The killing in 1998 of Norbert Zongo, who published Burkina Faso s Independent newspaper, became a symbol of repression during Blaise Compaore s 27-year rule, which ended in 2014 at the hands of a popular uprising. Before his death, Zongo had been investigating the murder of a driver who worked for Francois Compaore, and his killing triggered violent protests. Francois Compaore was arrested at Paris s Charles de Gaulle airport after returning to France from Ivory Coast, where his brother lives in exile, his lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur said in a statement. Compaore will appear before a judge within 48 hours, he added. Burkina Faso media said he was held on an arrest warrant issued by that country s government. His lawyer said only it was an international arrest warrant. French prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment on the case. Sur said the charges were politically motivated by a Burkinabe government unable to get its hands on Blaise Compaore, whom the Ivorian government refuses to extradite despite an international warrant for his arrest in connection with the 1987 murder of former president Thomas Sankara. Burkina Faso s uprising and subsequent elections raised hopes the country would finally reckon with past crimes, but some activists say the government of current president Roch Marc Christian Kabore has moved too slowly against former regime members, some of whom serve in the new administration. Authorities opened a trial this week against allies of Blaise Compaore accused of leading a failed coup d etat in 2015, including the alleged mastermind, Compaore s former spy chief General Gilbert Diendere. | 1 |
20,659 | Japan's Abe announces snap election amid worries over North Korea | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would dissolve parliament s lower house on Thursday for a snap election, seeking a mandate to stick to his tough stance toward a volatile North Korea and rebalance the social security system. Abe, in power for five years, had been expected to call the election for next month to take advantage of improved support and disarray in the opposition camp. I ll demonstrate strong leadership and stand at the forefront to face a national crisis, Abe told reporters, mentioning Japan s fast-ageing population and North Korea. This is my responsibility as leader and my mission as prime minister. Natsuo Yamaguchi, the head of Abe s junior coalition partner the Komeito party, said he understood the election would be on Oct. 22. Abe said he would redirect some revenue from a planned sales tax hike in 2019 to child care and education rather than paying back public debt, although he added he would not abandon fiscal reform. Rebalancing the spending would offset the potential negative effect on consumption from the tax rise, he said. We will turn Japan s social security system into one that responds to all generations by boldly diverting policy resources to resolve the two major concerns - child rearing and (elderly) nursing care that working generations confront, he said. Abe rejected criticism that holding an election would create a political vacuum at a time of rising tension over North Korea s missile and nuclear arms program. Pyongyang has fired ballistic missiles over Japan twice in the last month and conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test on Sept. 3 We must not give in to North Korea s threats. By gaining a mandate from the people with this election, I will forge ahead with strong diplomacy, Abe said, adding that now was the time to put more pressure on Pyongyang, not open dialogue. Abe, whose ratings have risen to around 50 percent from around 30 percent in July, is gambling his ruling bloc can keep its lower house majority even if it loses the two-thirds super majority needed to achieve his long-held goal of revising the post-war pacifist constitution to clarify the military s role. He said his goal was for his coalition to retain a majority in the chamber. A weekend survey by the Nikkei business daily showed 44 percent of voters planned to vote for Abe s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) versus 8 percent for the main opposition Democratic Party and another 8 percent for a new party launched by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. The Nikkei poll was more positive for Abe s prospects than a Kyodo news agency survey that showed his LDP garnering 27.7 percent support, with 42.2 percent undecided. Abe s image as a strong leader has bolstered his ratings amid the North Korea crisis and overshadowed opposition criticism of the premier for suspected cronyism scandals that eroded his support earlier this year. Given the results seen in other major developed countries, however, some political analysts are not ruling out the unexpected. Abe s big gamble could yield a big surprise, veteran independent political analyst Minoru Morita said. The prime minister had been expected to face a grilling over the cronyism scandals during a session of parliament from Thursday and opposition party officials saw the move as a ploy to avoid difficult questions. Abe on Monday asked his cabinet to compile a 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) economic package by year-end to focus on child care, education and encouraging corporate investment. He told public broadcaster NHK that diverting sales tax revenue would make it impossible to meet the government s target of balancing Japan s budget - excluding debt servicing costs and bond sales - by the year beginning April 2020. But we are absolutely not lowering the flag of fiscal consolidation, he said. He said he believed it was necessary to revise the constitution s pacifist article 9 to clarify the military s status but said the wording of a proposed change was up to his party. The main opposition Democratic Party is struggling with single-digit ratings and much depends on whether it can cooperate with liberal opposition groups. On Monday, just hours before Abe s election announcement, Tokyo Governor Koike said she would lead a new conservative, reform-minded Party of Hope to offer voters an alternative to the LDP. Our ideal is to proceed free of special interests, Koike, a former LDP member, told a news conference. An LDP internal survey showed seats held by the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito could fall to 280 from the 323 they now hold, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. Reforms adopted last year will cut the number of lower house seats to 465 from 475. | 1 |
20,660 | Greek prime minister says Turkey should continue its European orientation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday it was important for Turkey to remain part of the NATO security alliance and continue its orientation toward Europe despite current tensions between the two countries. We continue to support the Turkish course toward Europe, Tsipras said at a White House news conference after a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. We respect it as a regional power and we believe that it must stay oriented toward the European perspective. | 1 |
20,661 | UK PM May to make Brexit speech in Italy on Sept. 22: spokesman | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will make a speech on Britain s future relationship with the European Union on Sept. 22 in the Italian city of Florence, her spokesman said on Wednesday. The speech will focus on what kind of ties Britain wants to have with the EU after it leaves the bloc in March 2019 - something British negotiators have been keen to discuss with a so-far reluctant Brussels. The prime minister wanted to give a speech on the UK s future relationship with Europe in its historical heart, May s spokesman told reporters. She will underline the government s wish for a deep and special partnership with the European Union once the UK leaves the EU. Negotiations on the terms of the divorce with the EU have made limited progress since May started a two-year countdown to Brexit. That has prompted warnings from the EU that discussions on the future relationship between the two could be pushed back from their intended start time of October. The September round of Brexit talks has been pushed back by a week until the end of the month, in what EU diplomats said was a move designed to allow May to make her speech. Britain said the rescheduling was to allow both sides more time to make progress. May s speech could add weight to the British push to move talks forward, which ministers say is a crucial step in providing certainty for businesses worried about how Brexit will affect their ability to trade across borders. Her choice of venue - a city celebrated as the birthplace of the Renaissance period and made wealthy by international trade and banking - is a nod to the kind of free-trading relationship Britain wants to maintain with Europe and develop globally. Sceptics have said the British approach amounts to cherry picking the benefits of EU membership without paying for them. The UK has had deep cultural and economic ties spanning centuries with Florence - a city known for its historical trading power, the spokesman said. As the UK leaves the EU we will retain those close ties. As the prime minister has said many times, we are leaving the EU, not Europe. | 1 |
20,662 | FLAMING RINO ALERT! LINDSEY GRAHAM: ‘TRUMP IS GOING TO KILL MY PARTY’ | Graham was on CNN today and had this to say about Trump: He said something that has brought people who are frustrated about the immigration stem to life, but he also said it in a way that s going to kill my party. Here is the problem with the Republican party nationally. We are getting 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. We are getting less than 10 percent of the African-American vote and about 25 percent, 26 percent of the Asian vote. You ll never convince me that we ve gone from 44 percent of the Hispanic vote now do you to 27 percent if it were not for the rhetoric around the immigration debate. This is a moment for the party. When Donald Trump says, who has done many good things, he sponsors charities for Wounded Warriors, he s given a lot of money away to good causes, but as a presidential candidate he said the following, that most illegal immigrants are rapists and drug dealers and there may be some among them that are good. That s reinforcing a narrative within the Republican Party and the Hispanic community that is going to destroy our ability to win a presidential election. And the party needs to be clear about how we handle this. | 0 |
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20,665 | Watch Bill Maher Deliver The Hard Truth So Many Republicans Just Don’t Want To Hear (VIDEO) | Win or lose, the fact that Donald Trump was able to win the Republican presidential primary says a lot about the future of the GOP. As much as many Republicans don t want to admit it, they ve allowed their party to slip into the hands of the extreme far right, and at this point, there s really no turning back.Appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher, Former Mitt Romney adviser Lanhee Chen explained that there are Republicans, like Romney, you seek to right the ship, so to speak. He said: After this election, the Republican Party does have some soul-searching to do. But to say that it is permanently changed implies that I think [Trump] will have some permanent influence on how we think about the world, and I think, from the perspective of someone who hopes that isn t true I hope that isn t true. However, Maher pointed out that the problem isn t so much coming from within the establishment of the Republican party, but rather from the voting base it s been so desperate to attract to gain power. Maher said: I mean they didn t want Trump, a lot of them. And we see a lot of these Vichy Republicans who go along because they don t want to upset the apple cart. They know better. They know where their bread is buttered, where their voters are. But you can get rid of the Trump, you can t get rid of the voter. That s who they want. Then when Chen desperately tries to say that all they need to do is reach out to more people and attract new voters, Maher said: That s not what the base wants. The base is deplorable. The current GOP base, the base that elected Trump to be its party s nominee, wants it to be the white power organization that it has drifted into becoming. The Republican Party had the chance to oust the far-right crazy mindset, but they allowed a circus of a primary with 17 candidates. Which then led to a small majority gaining behind Trump while all the other votes were dispersed. They should have unified behind a solid candidate and Trump wouldn t have stood a chance. Talking about outreach now is way too little too late. The Republican party, as it was, is over, especially if Trump wins in November.Watch the full segment here:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
20,666 | Saudis set $500 billion plan to develop border region with Jordan, Egypt | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday a $500 billion plan to create a business and industrial zone extending across its borders into Jordan and Egypt, the biggest project yet in a series of efforts to free the kingdom of its dependence on oil exports. The 26,500 square km (10,230 square mile) zone, known as NEOM, will focus on industries including energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and entertainment, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said. Adjacent to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba and near maritime trade routes that use the Suez Canal, the zone will power itself solely with wind power and solar energy, said the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia s top sovereign fund. NEOM is situated on one of the world s most prominent economic arteries ... Its strategic location will also facilitate the zone s rapid emergence as a global hub that connects Asia, Europe and Africa. The Saudi government, the PIF, and local and international investors are expected to put more than half a trillion dollars into the zone in coming years, Prince Mohammed said. There was no immediate comment on the plan from Jordan and Egypt, both of which are close allies of Saudi Arabia. | 1 |
20,667 | HOW OBAMA USED NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) Famous For “F—k the Police” Rap To Promote His Dangerous Iran Deal On Twitter [VIDEO] | Has the Obama regime really sunk to a new low level? Is that even possible? What do hateful racist and anti-cop messages have to do with a dangerous deal with Iran?The White House is getting hammered for a tweet that was posted on Thursday using a popular hip hop theme for a meme promoting Obama s dangerous Iran deal. The meme is fashioned after a popular movie poster for the movie Straight Outta Compton about the World s Most Dangerous Group, N.W.A. who in the early 80 s used lyrics like F ck the police. This isn t your dad s N.W.A: Dre is now 50 and a mogul, Cube is 46 and a Hollywood powerhouse. And yeah, the guys who sang F tha Police and One Less Bitch have been married for decades. So what s left after you poked mainstream America out of its race slumber 30 years ago? The hot biopic Straight Outta Compton : All this shit really happened. It s crazy how we were getting criticized for this years ago, says Dre of N.W.A s provocative songs about inner-city life. And now, it s just like, OK, we understand. This movie will keep shining a light on the problem, especially because of all the situations that are happening in Ferguson and here in Los Angeles. It s definitely going to keep this situation in people s minds and make sure that everyone out there knows that this is a problem that keeps happening still today. Hollywood ReporterHere s the official White House Twitter account for the deal posted its own version:.@BuzzFeed And thanks to the #IranDeal, Iran will be pic.twitter.com/zEHN1EpEX7 The Iran Deal (NARA) (@TheIranDeal) August 13, 2015Here is the trailer to the Straight Outta Compton movie:In 1991, N.W.A. was reveling in its self-described role as the World s Most Dangerous Group, condemned by politicians and law enforcement authorities alike. Straight Outta Compton had sold some 2 million copies, and its hotly anticipated second full album Efil4zaggin (read it backwards) brought the group fresh infamy when it was released in June of that year.The album s cover showed N.W.A. now without Cube, who had left to start a solo career in 1989 after falling out with manager Jerry Heller as ghosts rising from gunned-down corpses, and its content was no less violent or nihilistic. Songs about violence and sex were punctuated with skits that were just as extreme; the band used the N-word some 249 times. Having been roundly condemned as a menace to society, the group was doing its best to live up to the label. And it worked; the album was banned from some record chains in the U.S., and British authorities, under the authority of the Obscene Publications Act, seized 25,000 copies of the album upon its release. Critics weren t impressed. TIME s Jay Cocks branded the album grotesque in a July 1991 review, not for its threat to the moral order but for its relentless negativity and misogyny:The fact is, Efil4zaggin is an entire open season for negative stereotyping. That s the classic rap posture, black male division, of course: turning the comic-book white fantasy of the black male as a murderous sexual stud into a hyperbolic reality. Rappers like N.W.A. and Public Enemy want to scare the living hell out of white America and sell it a whole mess of records by making its worst racial nightmares come true.N.W.A. s runaway success was driven not by street-seasoned bloods, Cocks wrote. Instead, he continued, the group appealed to white, middle-class teenage boys thousands of miles from South Central L.A. who were looking for a way to rebel. Via: TIMEHERE IS THE VERY EXPLICIT VIDEO F*ck The Police by NWA who our White House has chosen to tie in to their pro-Iran deal message: | 0 |
20,668 | U.S. House committee examining barriers to Puerto Rico recovery: official | (Reuters) - The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources said it will work to identify red tape and other bureaucratic hurdles to speed up Puerto Rico’s recovery and rebuilding, as the island struggles to recover from the impact of Hurricane Maria. Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said in a press call on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal partners will also likely be engaged for years in helping Puerto Rico get back on its feet. Bishop added that an emergency response will be executed through FEMA and local officials. “An emergency funding package is taking place as we speak to support those efforts,” he said. On Tuesday a White House official told Reuters the White House was preparing a $29 billion disaster aid request to be sent to Congress after hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida. The request was expected to come on Wednesday. It will combine nearly $13 billion in new relief for hurricane victims with $16 billion for the government-backed flood insurance program. Bishop said under evaluation was also the question of whether to modify or give additional power to the oversight board tasked with overseeing Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were battered by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Hurricane Maria knocked out power to Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents last month, devastating the island’s already dilapidated electric power infrastructure. Following a closed-door meeting of the committee, Puerto Rico’s Republican delegate, Jenniffer Gonzalez, told reporters there are ongoing discussions among members of Congress, White House aides and the Treasury Department over a possible short-term loan to Puerto Rico, which she said will face a liquidity crisis in November. She said it was unclear whether Trump might be able to issue an executive order, if he so desired, to provide quick financial help or whether Congress would have to act. Representative Raul Grijalva, the senior Democrat on the panel, said of PROMESA after the meeting: “I said let’s open it up and see what is working and see what is not applicable in this situation, what we need to suspend.” PROMESA is the federal 2016 rescue law under which Puerto Rico in May filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. | 1 |
20,669 | EP #19: Patrick Henningsen LIVE – SEASON FINALE – Open Phones | This is the final episode of Patrick LIVE on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX and globally at Alternate Current Radio THIS WEEK: Episode #19 This week we we wrap-up an amazing run on 1100 AM KFNX first hitting the headlines with Al Gore s hot air, BREXIT and the liberal academia s attack on 21st Century Wire and new scourge of alternative narratives . So we ask our listeners: is there any objective integrity left in America academia? We ll find out Tonight, host Patrick Henningsen is joined a Motley cast of VIP callers to hit the issues of the day, one last time Listen to EP #19: Patrick Henningsen LIVE with Open Call Line on Spreaker.For the last five months this program has been broadcasting LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm and 9pm PST, in the post-drive time slot and after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com and syndicated on the Alternate Current Radio Network. LISTEN TO MORE INTERVIEWS AT PATRICK HENNINGSEN LIVE SHOW ARCHIVES | 0 |
20,670 | Trump, India's Modi call on Pakistan to stem terrorist attacks | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries, the White House said in a statement. The two leaders, who held a meeting at the White House on Monday, also “called on all nations to resolve territorial and maritime disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law,” the statement said. | 1 |
20,671 | Trump’s Stink Poisons GOP Race That Could Decide Whether Dems Retake The Senate | Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) is fighting hard to keep her seat, but now it seems that Donald Trump is busy destroying her chances. Her opponent, Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, is leading her by a full ten points now, when before the two were virtually deadlocked. Ayotte was swept to power in the disastrous Tea Party wave of 2010, but her support for Trump has now made her look like a fool.To be sure, Ayotte is no fan of Trump. She supports him in the name of party unity, though. Her lack of a formal endorsement doesn t seem to sway the voters, who increasingly view Trump and his supporters as, well, really horribly bad people. That includes Ayotte. As one of the pollsters involved in this particular poll says: There s a very close relationship between the votes for Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump. Their support is sort of locked together. And with the direction that Donald Trump seems to be heading in, Kelly Ayotte s task is to somehow decouple those two. Trump s stock has plummeted in New Hampshire, where Hillary now commands a 17-point lead. She has also gained solid leads in Pennsylvania and Michigan two other crucial battleground states. If Trump s support is locked together with Ayotte s, then as he falters, so does she.Democrats said just three days ago that Ayotte is too much of a coward to stand up to Trump, despite the fact that she defended the Khan family against Trump s childish, classless tirades. They re right, but, predictably, her campaign said that s not true. She s merely focusing her attention on keeping her seat, and Trump is irrelevant to her race.Then they dropped this gem, which isn t going to help her in the slightest: It s just not good manners to attack the nominee of your party. Oh please. When the nominee of your party is as dark and dangerous as one Donald Trump, attacking him may well be the only way some of these Republicans keep their seats.Ayotte is one of three Republicans that Trump has refused to endorse, and he bashed her over the weekend while inexplicably and laughably saying, I m leading her in the polls. I m doing very well in New Hampshire. Just, what? It s amazing she doesn t know how stupid her support for Trump makes her look.If Trump can t get himself under control, then there are several Republicans that are done. Alas, it s impossible to call that a heartbreaking conclusion.Featured image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
20,672 | Return of defeated IS fighters 'real threat' to Russia: RIA cites FSB chief | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former militants from bandit units in Syria are now a real threat after the defeat of Islamic State, as many of them may be now planning to return to Russia, the RIA news agency cited the head of Russia s FSB security service as saying on Tuesday. The FSB head, Alexander Bortnikov, also told a meeting of Russia s National Anti-Terrorism Committee the security service had uncovered an underground cell of extremists from Central Asia planning to carry out terrorist acts during the New Year and Russia s 2018 presidential campaign in the Moscow region. | 1 |
20,673 | In shift, Merkel backs end to EU-Turkey membership talks | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she would seek an end to Turkey s membership talks with the European Union in an apparent shift of her position during a televised debate weeks before a German election. The fact is clear that Turkey should not become a member of the EU, Merkel said in the debate with her Social Democrat (SPD) challenger Martin Schulz. I ll speak to my (EU) colleagues to see if we can reach a joint position on this so that we can end these accession talks, Merkel added. The comments are likely to worsen already strained ties between the two NATO allies that have deepened since Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s crackdown on opponents in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in July of last year. There was no immediate reaction from Turkey which is in the midst of a national religious holiday. Merkel s comments came after Schulz appeared to surprise her by vowing to push for an end to the negotiations if he was elected chancellor in the Sept. 24 federal election. If I become German chancellor, if the people of this country give me a mandate, then I will propose to the European Council that we end the membership talks with Turkey, Schulz said. Whether we can win over all the countries for this I don t know. But I will fight for this. Merkel initially cautioned against such a move, saying it would be irresponsible to endanger ties with Turkey at a time when German citizens are imprisoned there. Twelve German citizens are now in Turkish detention on political charges, four of them holding dual citizenship. I do not intend to break off diplomatic relations with Turkey just because we re in an election campaign and want to show each other who is tougher, she said. But after the moderators had moved on and asked the two candidates a question about U.S. President Donald Trump, Merkel returned to the Turkey issue, suddenly throwing her weight behind an end to the membership talks. Merkel s conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has long opposed Turkish membership in the European Union. But the green light for membership talks was given months before Merkel became chancellor in 2005 and she has always said that she will respect that decision, referring to the negotiations as open ended . The accession talks have ground to a virtual halt and EU leaders have stepped up their criticism of Erdogan. | 1 |
20,674 | South African reshuffle irks ANC allies, Zuma confidant to oversee nuclear deal | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma made a close associate energy minister on Tuesday as his government tries to push through a big nuclear deal but his sacking of another minister was seen undermining his ANC party s ruling alliance. The rand currency and South African bonds fell in value after Zuma s second Cabinet reshuffle in seven months, with the rand 1 percent lower on the day against the dollar. The market is taking it slightly negative, said Rand Merchant Bank fixed income specialist Michelle Wohlberg. Zuma is unpopular with many investors after sacking respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, a move that hit South African financial assets and helped tip the country s credit ratings into junk territory. He changed six ministers in all on Tuesday, including those for home affairs, education and communications. Blade Nzimande, a fierce critic of Zuma whose South African Communist Party (SACP) is a key ally of the ruling African National Congress, was axed as higher education minister. The appointment of David Mahlobo, formerly state security minister, to head the energy ministry will heighten speculation that the 75-year-old president is trying to push through the nuclear deal before his second term ends in 2019. The appointment of Mr Mahlobo to head up the energy department needs to be seen in the context of the President wanting to push ahead with the proposed nuclear energy program, Jeffrey Schultz and Nic Borain, analysts at BNP Paribas South Africa said. South Africa is preparing to add 9,600 megawatts of nuclear capacity equivalent to up to 10 nuclear reactors in a contract that could be worth tens of billions of dollars and would be one of the biggest nuclear deals anywhere in decades. Companies including Russia s Rosatom, South Korea s Kepco, France s EDF and Areva, Toshiba-owned Westinghouse, and China s CGN are eyeing the project, which has been criticized by South African civil society groups and the opposition for lacking transparency. Investors are also worried about the potential impact of the project on South Africa s already strained public finances. Former energy minister Mmamaloko Kubayi, who was only appointed in March, was moved to the communications ministry. Contrary to speculation, Zuma did not appoint Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, his ex-wife and former African Union chair, to a Cabinet position ahead of the ANC s December conference to choose a new leader. Zuma is said to favor Dlamini-Zuma to take over from him at the party s helm, instead of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. But his removal from the cabinet of Nzimande, a vocal critic of Zuma s scandal-plagued presidency, risked widening a rift with ANC allies the SACP and trade union group COSATU ahead of national elections in 2019. Nzimande is general secretary of the SACP, which has 17 members of parliament. He has criticized Zuma over his links with the Guptas, a family of Indian-born businessman who have been accused of using their influence to secure lucrative state contracts for their companies. Zuma and the Guptas have consistently denied any wrongdoing. This is a clear declaration of war on the SACP by President Zuma, the SACP s first deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said, although he did not indicate the party would leave the ruling alliance. ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe acknowledged that Nzimande s sacking would have a negative effect on relations with the SACP and said relations within the alliance were at their lowest at this point in time . | 1 |
20,675 | New Study Proves America Keeps Getting Better And Better Under Obama | The cornerstone of Donald Trump s presidential campaign can be summed up in just a few words: Things suck and it s all Obama s fault. For Trump, this tweet pretty much optimizes his take on poverty:Our country does not feel great already to the millions of wonderful people living in poverty, violence and despair. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2016This was in response to President Obama saying during the Democratic National Convention that America is already great. So, who is correct? Are Americans trapped in a socioeconomic hell hole or are things far more optimistic? According to a study published by the New York Times, things are vastly better for Americans than they were when Obama took office in 2009.The article began by profiling Alex Caicedo of Gaithersburg, MD. A few years ago, Caicedo was struggling with odd and part time jobs. He and his family were forced to live with his mother-in-law. Today, he has a steady middle class job with benefits and the family is ready to move out of his mother-in-law s home. They are far from alone.The Caicedos are among the 3.5 million Americans who were able to raise their chins above the poverty line last year, according to census data released this month. More than seven years after the recession ended, employers are finally being compelled to reach deeper into the pools of untapped labor, creating more jobs, especially among retailers, restaurants and hotels, and paying higher wages to attract workers and meet new minimum wage requirements.What about the minorities, who, according to Trump, have never had it worse? Well, that s another Trump lie. Not only have minorities suffered much, much worse throughout history (slavery, Jim Crow), but they too have it dramatically better since Obama took office.Poverty declined among every group. But African-Americans and Hispanics who account for more than 45 percent of those below the poverty line of $24,300 for a family of four in most states experienced the largest improvement.Sorry, Republicans, but you don t get an ounce of credit for the improvements. If anything, things would be much better if Republicans weren t in office. The Times credits social programs like Social Security and food stamps for keeping people out of poverty. They also credit the fall in oil prices for people being able to commute to their jobs. One major factor, and Republicans will hate this, is that the increases in minimum wage are also taking people out of poverty.After a long period of rising inequality, Elise Gould, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in Washington, added, the benefits of the improving economy finally began to seep downward. Wage increases were even stronger at the bottom than in the middle, she said.Still, it s not enough. 43 million Americans still live in poverty. Republicans have successfully blocked poor people from acquiring college degrees or job training that might help raise people out of poverty. For those without access to computers or the internet, finding a job can be burdensome. For those who can t afford cars, a job search can be impossible.If this proves anything, it should be that it s time to continue successful Democratic policies, not cut them off at the knees, as Republicans would do.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. | 0 |
20,676 | Public Schools In Kentucky Can Now “Teach” The Bible | The Republicans are at it again this time by passing a bill that will allow public schools in Kentucky to teach the Bible.WDRB reports that the man responsible for this is Gov. Matt Bevin. It was publicly signed at the Capitol on Tuesday. The bill, which easily passed the House and Senate, gives local school boards the option of developing a Bible literacy class as part of their social studies curriculum. The course is also meant to be an elective and not required.The bill s sponsor said students need to understand the role the Bible played in American history. It really did set the foundation that our founding fathers used to develop documents like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, said Rep. D.J. Johnson (R-Owensboro). All of those came from principles from the Bible. Is actually examining the Bible truly necessary to look at American history? Will it even be an examination of the Bible? What about other religious texts? It smells more like a guise to teach the Bible as if it s Sunday School in public schools.I m not the only one that thinks so, either. The ACLU of Kentucky said it s concerned about how the law might be used in schools. A Bible literacy bill that, on its face, may not appear to be unconstitutional, could in fact become unconstitutional in its implementation, said Advocacy Director Kate Miller. We want to make sure that teachers can teach and make sure that they don t go in to preach, Miller said.Miller told WDRB News the ACLU will monitor the law closely.Honestly, if religion is that important to you, stick your child in private school. If you think you can t, find a way. The idea that we would not want this to be an option for people in school, that would be crazy. I don t know why every state would not embrace this, why we as a nation would not embrace this, Bevin told the crowd.Well, the answer should be obvious. Because public schools are not meant to be held to any one particular religion. Though people like to say this nation was founded on Christianity, it was actually founded on freedom of religion. People wanted to practice their beliefs freely without the beliefs of others shoved down their throats.Unfortunately, all we can do is watch, wait, and hope that this bill will be in the trash before long.Featured image via Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images | 0 |
20,677 | BREAKING: PRESIDENT TRUMP Signs Most Important Executive Order “To Ease The Burden” | Via: NPR | 0 |
20,678 | Trump: I Won’t Stop Tweeting Even Though The ‘FAKE MSM’ Is Trying To Stop Me | White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has previously said to take alleged president Donald Trump s tweets seriously but now, she thinks the media should stop reporting about his crazy-time messages on the social media site. Aides agree with her. Pay no attention to his mean-girl tweets. But, the former reality show star wants his tweets to be taken seriously. Trump wrote Tuesday morning, The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media. They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out. The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media. They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017That s something we can agree with Trump on. Keep tweeting, Amateur. Former FBI Director James Comey is testifying in two days and Trump s Twitter timeline is a goldmine for investigators looking into his possible collusion with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. In addition, every time White House officials are interviewed to defend their boss, Trump inevitably tweets out messages which debunk their defense.Twitter users responded because Trump is cray, that s why."Honest" like yesterday when Trump blamed Ds for obstructing confirmation of ambassadors he hasn't even nominated https://t.co/lrsAJg2ugf Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) June 6, 2017When the Mayor of London told his city to not be alarmed by the police presence following the terror attack, Trump took his words out of context on Twitter to attack our ally.Or the other moments of "honesty" when Trump insinuated that the mayor had said not to be alarmed about a terrorist attack pic.twitter.com/vLxVrDxhfz Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) June 6, 2017Trump claims to use Twitter so his honest message can be relayed to the public. You know, like his inaugural crowd size and covfefe.Unfiltered like Covfefe. Honest like 3-5 million illegal voters. Ram Prasad (@ramprasad_c) June 6, 2017Keep it up, Sport.Mate, no one wants you to stop, this is more entertaining than a pug in a squirrel suit Chris York (@ChrisDYork) June 6, 2017In the following tweet, Trump wrote, Sorry folks, but if I would have relied on the Fake News of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, washpost or nytimes, I would have had ZERO chance winning WH. Sorry folks, but if I would have relied on the Fake News of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, washpost or nytimes, I would have had ZERO chance winning WH Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017But Trump had a little help winning the election.All you needed was Russia Mike Denison (@mikd33) June 6, 2017This is all a distraction.Keep in mind that any tweet Trump does this week is intended for one purpose only: Distraction. Richard Blair (@allspinzone) June 6, 2017In all seriousness, though, we do appreciate the apology. If you had just ended it at "Sorry folks" it would have been your best tweet ever! Ben Hooper (@BenHooperWrites) June 6, 2017Do you still believe Mexico will pay for the wall? Morten verbye (@morten) June 6, 2017Whoops!In other things that were more helpful to your campaign than the media and Twitter: pic.twitter.com/17JO9VkPNK Ben Hooper (@BenHooperWrites) June 6, 2017It s D-Day Remembrance Day and our idiotic fake president is tweeting about his election win.It s D-Day Remembrance Day and all you re whining on about is winning the election. You re pathetic. Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) June 6, 2017Honestly just shut the fuck up please Brittany Van Horne (@_brittanyv) June 6, 2017He thinks D-Day stands for Donald. Buddy Winston (@BuddyWinston) June 6, 2017More gaslighting.more gas lighting, Donald, which seems to be the only thing you re good at. Joel L. Watts (@eJoelWatts) June 6, 2017The world is laughing at us.The WH also has ZERO chance of winning for America as long as you are in the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/sh3KqmG6wm Adam Best (@adamcbest) June 6, 2017Because you placate to a base that has the collective intelligence of a gravel driveway. #Trumprussia #trump #RESISTANCE pic.twitter.com/9K46ekIPKN T. Rafael Cimino (@TRafaelCimino) June 6, 2017On Monday, Trump held a signing event which was totally fake because he had no bills to sign.Don't forget yesterday's fake signing of air-traffic "legislation." Reality show realtor = terrible president. Mike Mestas (@EmmJayyMest) June 6, 2017Trump s tweets are quoted verbatim by the media and that angers him. If you want to see what fake news looks like, take a peek at his Twitter timeline every day. He s a petulant 70-year-old baby with no impulse control. Trump is plagued with scandals and he s only been on the job for 137 days.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
20,679 | Jordan says U.S. strike on Syria was 'necessary response': Petra | CAIRO (Reuters) - Jordan said on Friday a U.S. air strike on a Syrian air base was a “necessary and appropriate response” to a chemical weapons attack this week which the United States and its allies blamed on Syria’s government. The chemical incident was “an inhuman act ... which drew wide-ranging international reactions, the latest of which was the U.S. military strike. “Jordan considers this a necessary and appropriate response to the continued targeting of civilians”, government spokesman Mohammed al-Momeni said, quoted by state news agency Petra. Syria’s government denies using chemical weapons. | 1 |
20,680 | Trump says Tillerson could be tougher, but they have good relationship | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had a good relationship with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson but that Tillerson could be tougher. Trump, who made the comment to reporters at the White House, did not elaborate. NBC reported this week that in a session with Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials at the Pentagon, Tillerson had openly criticized the president and referred to him as a “moron.” Tillerson on Wednesday said he had never considered resigning and was committed to Trump’s agenda, but failed to address whether he had referred to the president as a “moron,” as NBC reported. | 1 |
20,681 | U.S. judge throws out Texas voter ID law supported by Trump | (Reuters) - A federal court judge on Wednesday threw out a Texas voter identification law that was supported by the Trump administration, but the state’s attorney general said his office would appeal the ruling. The judge’s ruling said changes to the law passed earlier this year by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature that were meant to be less discriminatory than an earlier one did not accomplish that. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the Southern District of Texas said the state did not allow enough types of photo IDs for voters, “even though the (5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals) was clearly critical of Texas having the most restrictive list in the country.” President Donald Trump campaigned on cutting voter fraud, picking up a theme of fellow Republicans across the country. Critics have said the Texas law and similar statutes enacted in other Republican-governed states are an effort to suppress voting, including among blacks and Hispanics who tend to favor Democrats. Trump has made unsubstantiated allegations that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election, in which Clinton won the popular vote but lost the decisive Electoral College count. “Today’s ruling is outrageous,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. Paxton, a Republican, added that changes to the law passed by the legislature included all those asked for by the 5th Circuit. The Justice Department filed a brief last month asking the court to halt action against the Texas voter ID law, saying the state’s new law fixed discriminatory issues of the state’s 2011 voter ID law. Texas Democrats welcomed Ramos’ ruling. “Jim Crow-era tactics have kept Texas Republicans in power,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa. “From discriminatory gerrymandering to discriminatory voter ID laws, it has become entirely clear that Texas Republicans are rigging our election system.” Ramos wrote in a 27-page ruling that voters with little education, or simply a lack of confidence, may forfeit their legitimate right to vote because of fear of being charged with perjury. She said Texas was overreaching by “threatening severe penalties for perjury,” and noted that the state’s “history of voter intimidation” led her not to accept the new voter ID law as a solution for the “purposeful discrimination” in the one it attempted to improve upon. | 1 |
20,682 | Dutch join Austria's lawsuit against German road toll plan | AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it is joining Austria s lawsuit against Germany at the European Court of Justice over plans for a road toll for foreign drivers. The toll would apply to foreign-registered cars using German highways at a cost of up to 130 euros ( 116.5) a year. German drivers will be able to recover the costs through tax deductions. At the heart of the Dutch objection is that the German toll plan is in violation of European rules, a statement said. The Dutch government believes just as Austria does that the toll plans are discriminatory and violate the basic right to free movement. The toll also will create an impediment to free trade, with 60-100 million euros in estimated annual costs for Dutch taxpayers, largely hurting people and businesses in the border region, the statement said. The German parliament approved the road toll in March, but it is unlikely to come into effect before 2019, the year a ruling by the court is expected. | 1 |
20,683 | Trump urges Senate Republicans to move ahead with healthcare reform | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump urged Senate Republicans on Monday to move ahead this week on a bid to repeal his predecessor’s signature healthcare law, saying any senator who votes against it is telling America “you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare.” “To every member of the Senate I say this: the American people have waited long enough. There’s been enough talk, and no action. Now is the time for action,” Trump said at the White House. He added that people were demanding change, saying, “You’ll see that at the voter booth, believe me.” | 1 |
20,684 | Joy Behar STUNS Audience As She Calls Donald Trump Out For Treason (VIDEO) | While discussing Donald Trump on ABC s The View, the ladies all had very strong opinions about Donald Trump, and to be honest, none of them are good, and with good reason.They discussed his blatant racism to the tragedy that unfolded at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. They also discussed Trump s horrific rhetoric surrounding the event, and how he wrongfully went after President Obama.Joy Behar then interjects with a question that should make everyone think long and hard about Trump s use of language: Do you think that because he is the recruiter-in-chief, and by his words he s getting more people to go on the side of ISIS, that he could be considered treasonous? It was then that an audible gasp can be heard from the crowd, either from those in agreement, or those stunned that she would say such a thing. But here s the thing she s not wrong.Trump s vile rhetoric is being used in recruitment videos by ISIS, so not only is he not cut out to be Commander-in-Chief, but his remarks are actually being used in an upsurge in violence against the very nation he wishes to lead.Treason, by definition, is the crime of betraying one s country, and by aiding ISIS with his language, he could be considered doing just that.So, Joy, very good question.Watch the ladies of The View go after Trump here:Our co-hosts react to Donald Trump s proposed immigration ban post Orlando shooting: https://t.co/WmNRJ4e4ZY The View (@TheView) June 14, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
20,685 | Even Indiana’s Republicans Are Trying To Erase Any Evidence Pence Ever Existed | While the entire nation is struggling with the question of who is worse, Donald Trump or Mike Pence, the state of Indiana is thrilled to be rid of the right-wing conservative Pence who was their governor until just a few weeks ago, and they re doing everything to erase his legacy and all of this is being orchestrated by the replacement that Pence picked.Governor Eric Holcomb was chosen by Pence as his lieutenant governor. Pence has often said that he s a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order. Holcomb, on the other hand is definitely a Christian, but he s a lot more pragmatic and frankly, next to Pence, anyone seems moderate, well, except perhaps the man who currently occupies the Oval Office.In just these last three weeks, Holcomb has cancelled a contract that would have leased cellphone towers to an Ohio company which would have left Indiana residents to foot the bill for construction projects.He also pardoned a wrongly convicted man who served nearly two decades in prison.Holcomb also pardoned Keith Cooper, who was wrongfully convicted of robbery nearly 20 years ago, and declared a disaster emergency for an East Chicago neighborhood where residents have been forced to relocate because of lead contamination.Pence had declined to pardon Cooper before leaving office, insisting that he exhaust his legal options despite resounding evidence of his innocence. Pence s refusal to exonerate the 49-year-old Chicago man came despite a pardon recommendation from the Indiana Parole Board and an online petition urging Pence to clear Cooper s name that had collected more than 100,000 signatures.Source: IndyStarWhile Holcomb hasn t exactly turned Indiana into a liberal haven, he does support a local needle exchange. Pence didn t. Pence preferred to take the see no evil approach and pretend that if we pray hard enough and disapprove firmly enough, people won t do drugs and they won t get sick from sharing needles. That doesn t work. To be fair, though, Pence did eventually succumb, but he still opposed giving local officials the authority to enact such an exchange.Right before he left office, Pence vetoed two bills. One gave university police departments (you know, the ones who are so often charged with investigating sexual assaults and hate crimes) total secrecy and the other prevented the state from establishing stronger environmental regulations than the feds without the General Assembly s approval. Both vetoes were overridden.House Minority Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, called the turn away from Pence s policies fascinating. The Mike Pence legacy came to a very quick end today, probably the shortest one in Indiana gubernatorial history, he said. We just saw his final two vetoes overridden. Gov. Holcomb made the very common sense decision to address the East Chicago lead problem, which has been our own Flint (Mich.) in the making. He pardoned an innocent man which seems basic human decency. And he allowed that bicentennial cellphone tower deal to die a cow s death here in the Hoosier state. Residents of Indiana aren t exactly hopeful that they ll turn blue, but it s interesting that Trump s (and Pence s) coattails seem to be non-existent, just a few weeks into the the administration. Trump is no leader and even other Republicans are beginning to see that.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
20,686 | The Trump presidency on March 9 at 9:49 p.m. EST/March 10 0149 GMT | (Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday: The Trump-backed Republican plan to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system clears its first hurdle but chances for passage in Congress look uncertain amid opposition by Democrats, conservatives and industry groups. Trump has launched a charm offensive of the type not seen before in his brief and chaotic tenure, forcefully rallying behind legislation to repeal the Obamacare healthcare law while trying to placate the bill’s opponents. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt says he is not convinced carbon dioxide from human activity is the main driver of climate change and wants Congress to weigh in on whether it is a harmful pollutant that should be regulated. Trump’s plan to boost military spending comes amid mounting evidence that potential enemies have new weapons that are able to destroy much of the United States’ expensive fleet of aircraft carriers. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will host a 68-nation meeting in Washington this month to discuss the next moves by the coalition fighting Islamic State militants, a Trump administration official says. Several states say they will move forward with legal challenges to a revised executive order signed by Trump that temporarily bars the admission of refugees and some travelers from a group of Muslim-majority countries. The Department of Justice is deploying 50 judges to immigration detention facilities across the United States, according to two sources and a letter seen by Reuters and sent to judges. Trump meets with community bankers and promises them he will to strip away some Dodd-Frank financial regulations and ensure they can continue giving small businesses access to capital. Reports that Jon Huntsman will be the next U.S. ambassador to Russia stir anxiety in Moscow, with one politician calling him a hawk and pro-Kremlin media recalling what they said was his worrying history of hostile rhetoric. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves Trump’s nominee as ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, an outspoken bankruptcy lawyer aligned with the Israeli right. CNN reports that the U.S. Senate intelligence committee wants Michael Flynn, forced out as Trump’s national security adviser, and other former Trump aides to testify in its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. EX-SPY A former U.S. spy, newly pardoned by Italy in connection with the CIA kidnap of a terrorism suspect in Milan, credits the Trump administration with saving her from an Italian jail. | 1 |
20,687 | Courts likely to probe Trump's intent in issuing travel ban | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington state’s attorney general has promised to uncover “what truly motivated” President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, an approach that could prompt a rare public examination of how a U.S. president makes national security decisions. The presidential order imposed a temporary ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, but a federal judge has barred enforcement of the order while the court considers a challenge brought by Washington state. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit left the judge’s ruling in place without deciding the ultimate merits of either side’s arguments. In its decision, the 9th Circuit cited a previous case establishing that “circumstantial evidence of intent, including … statements by decisionmakers, may be considered in evaluating whether a governmental action was motivated by a discriminatory purpose.” The Trump administration has argued that the ban is necessary to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country and is not discriminatory because the text of the order does not mention any particular religion. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson signaled on Sunday that he will move aggressively to obtain written documents and emails authored by administration officials that might contain evidence the order was unconstitutionally biased against Muslims or Islam. He also said he would also move to depose administration officials. Legal scholars say this could move the court into uncharted waters. “The idea of looking at motive has never really been applied to the president,” said John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. “It would represent a serious expansion of judicial oversight of what the president and the entire executive branch does,” said Yoo, now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. Trump has harshly criticized the federal judge in Washington for his decision and a top White House aide on Sunday accused the 9th Circuit of a “judicial usurpation of power.” “The president’s powers here are beyond question,” senior policy adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News Sunday. U.S. courts have historically been careful about probing the motives behind laws, in part out of respect for the separation of powers between branches of government. But on questions of racial or religious discrimination, they have sometimes allowed intent to be examined. In 1993, for instance, the Supreme Court found that an ordinance banning animal sacrifice in Hialeah, Florida, though neutral on its face, was actually intended to discriminate against a Santeria church, which holds sacrifice as a sacred rite. Stephen Griffin, a professor of constitutional law at Tulane University, said cases like this make it clear that the court can look beyond the words of Trump’s executive order. “Motive is relevant,” he said. One question in the current case is likely to be which, if any, of Trump’s statements should be admissible in examining the administration’s motives in issuing the order. “If you’re allowed to use evidence from the campaign, the state’s case is very strong,” said Griffin. In December, 2015, days after a mass attack by an Islamic State sympathizers in San Bernardino, California, Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our representatives can figure out what is going on.” He later said he supported only suspending immigration from areas with a history of terrorism. Stanford University Law School professor Michael McConnell, a former federal appeals judge, said the court should not consider campaign statements, because Trump only swore an oath to uphold the Constitution after he became president. In its complaint, Washington cited an interview the president did on the day the order was signed with the Christian Broadcasting Network, saying he would prioritize Christians in the Middle East for admission as refugees. Legal experts are divided on whether the state’s lawyers should be allowed to question the president’s advisers – and possibly even the president – in depositions. The White House could potentially claim executive privilege, which protects the president and other officials from subpoena, said Thomas Lee, an expert in constitutional law at Fordham University. Anna-Rose Mathieson a partner with the California Appellate Law Group said that one person who might be more easily deposed would be presidential adviser and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who told Fox News the president had asked him to put a commission together to figure out how to make a Muslim ban legal. David Pressman, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, said there are important protections in place so that the executive branch can receive national security advice. “You don’t want a situation in which courts are adjudicating intelligence that is coming to the executive when trying to formulate policy,” said Pressman. Though in this case, Pressman said he did not believe the national security argument for the order was clear, opening the door to further questioning. The next steps in the case are not certain. The Trump administration has said it is considering appealing the 9th Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court, and the 9th Circuit itself might decide to rehear the case with a larger panel of judges. The president has also said he might replace the order with “a brand new” one, which could end the current legal action. | 1 |
20,688 | Factbox: A look at U.S. healthcare spending as Obamacare repeal looms | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives have proposed a healthcare law to kick off their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. Following are some questions and answers about healthcare spending and health insurance coverage in the United States as Republicans try to throw out President Barack Obama’s signature piece of domestic policy, the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Who is covered by what insurance? The majority of America’s 323 million people are covered by either government or private insurance. Less than half of U.S. spending on healthcare is publicly financed, a contrast to the 72 percent average among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A core goal of Obamacare was to cut into the numbers of uninsured and some 20 million people gained coverage under the law. - 155 million people are covered by employer-based health plans - 70 million people are in the publicly funded Medicaid program for the poor, including 32 million children - 56 million older or disabled people receive Medicare - 15 million people are covered by military healthcare - 12 million people buy individual insurance on the online shopping exchanges created by Obamacare - 9 million people purchase unsubsidized health insurance directly - 6 million people are covered by the Indian Health Service, student health plans and other sources - About 28 million Americans remain uninsured The figures are government estimates. They do not add up to a total of 323 million because some people have more than one type of coverage. How much does the country spend? Spending on healthcare in the United States is about $3.5 trillion a year, representing about 18 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Current U.S. government estimates are for that spending to outpace economic growth and rise to 20 percent of GDP by 2025. Healthcare spending has been rising faster than inflation. The government estimated it to have risen 4.8 percent in 2016 and that it will increase at an average rate of 5.6 percent through 2025. What does America get for its money? While U.S. healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP ranks higher than for any other OECD country, Americans’ life expectancy is near the bottom in a ranking of other OECD countries, behind countries such as France, Germany and Britain. The country’s obesity rate is the highest. What was the impact of Obamacare? As the Affordable Care Act was implemented over the past six years, it made sweeping changes to the health insurance system and implemented new taxes, so gutting the law will affect most Americans at some point. The law set a series of minimum standards. It introduced free preventive care coverage, mandated most employers to offer insurance and individuals to buy it, expanded the Medicaid program to include people with higher incomes and created income-based subsidies for individuals to draw them into buying insurance. It prevented insurers from denying coverage to people based on their health status and allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies. What sectors are feeling the impact now? Republicans will tackle repealing Obamacare in multiple steps because while they control both chambers in Congress, they do not have the 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate needed to simply undo the law. The first step focuses on insurance sold to individuals and the Medicaid expansion, which could mean diminished payments to hospitals and doctors who benefited from the 20 million people covered by the ACA. They now face uncertain revenues and the possibility of increased bad debt as they lose paying patients. The impact on insurers is twofold: uncertainty over who will buy insurance could lead to them mispricing insurance plans and suffering financially as soon as this year. In the longer term, the retrenchment is changing the outlook for the growth rate of publicly backed healthcare. Which publicly traded companies does this affect? There are only a handful of publicly traded hospital companies, and the biggest one, HCA Holdings Inc, is not focused on states where Medicaid expanded, so it tends not to be involved. Tenet Healthcare Corp and Community Health Systems Inc are smaller hospital chains with high debt loads and their shares do tend to be affected by news about potential cuts to the numbers of Americans with publicly funded healthcare. The insurers that specialize in Medicaid and government healthcare such as WellCare Health Plans, Molina Healthcare Inc and Centene Corp are small but tend to move on news that the Medicaid expansion may be repealed and on proposed changes in how the federal government pays its share of all Medicaid costs to the states. Anthem Inc is one of the biggest insurers selling plans on the individual exchanges and may see shares affected by news of rules that could affect who enrolls in insurance. Sources - Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services | 1 |
20,689 | Rubio Apologizes For Questioning Trump’s Small Hands In Humiliating Interview (VIDEO) | In what was either an interview with CNN s Jake Tapper or a very public suicide note, Marco Rubio broken, sad, and tired suddenly had a lot of good things to say about Donald Trump, the man he once called a lunatic incapable of being president. Rubio, like Chris Christie and Ben Carson before him, has done a complete 180 degree turn on the issue of Trump which isn t as hard as it sounds if your spine is made of jelly.Speaking with Tapper, Rubio revealed one humiliating detail after another about his evolution. According to his own account, Rubio has privately apologized to Trump for once implying that he had small hands (and a small penis), a conversation that would have been AMAZING to overhear. I actually told Donald one of the debates, I forget which one I apologized to him for that, Rubio said. I said, You know, I m sorry that I said that. It s not who I am and I shouldn t have done it. I didn t say it in front of the cameras, I didn t want any political benefit. He also shrugged off Trump s overwhelming popularity with white supremacists. Apparently, the fact that groups as toxic and hateful as the Ku Klux Klan and various neo-Nazis adore Trump doesn t bother Rubio. Or maybe he s just come to accept that this is what the Republican Party stands for these days. As he says it: It is what it is. It is what it is might be something you say when you find a little dent on your car in the parking lot. It should NOT be what you say to dismiss widespread racism thriving within the campaign of the man you just endorsed for president. Yikes.However the most egregious demonstration of just how feckless Rubio has become came when the conversation turned towards Hillary Clinton. When Tapper asked Rubio what he thought about Trump using outrageous lies like the Clintons killed a man in the 1990s and Bill Clinton is a serial rapist, the former presidential candidate said he didn t necessarily agree with the tactic, but Trump should keep doing it because it helps him get votes. I don t think he should change if he s been successful, Rubio said when asked about Trump dredging up scandals of the 1990s to attack Hillary Clinton, which Rubio said he himself wouldn t do. I may not like that direction, but at this point, he won and this is the direction that he won on. All of this would be shocking if it weren t so obvious that this was how things would eventually play out. Ben Carson, Trump s least popular campaign surrogate, has dealt with a similar situation, only worse. He had to grovel in front of a man who once said he was little better than a child molester. At least Rubio was just called Little Marco. For the sacrifice of both his integrity and his political career, Rubio gets to look forward to a long campaign of being further humiliated by Trump. Chris Christie has been forced to endure several instances of degradation at the hands of the guy he now wants to elect president. Considering Rubio s heritage, it seems plausible that Trump will both use him a token Latino and also a punching bag when he needs to rile up his anti-immigrant flock. Dark days are ahead for Rubio and he knows it.Throughout his interview with Tapper, Rubio s face oscillated between pained expressions. Selling out is never fun.Watch a portion of Rubio s interview with Tapper see if you can pinpoint the exact moment Rubio s soul dies below:Featured image via CNN | 0 |
20,690 | Tech CEO Whitman calls Trump 'unfit' to be U.S. president | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Meg Whitman, the head of technology firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HPE.N), said on Sunday that Donald Trump was “unfit” for the U.S. presidency, and criticized New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose failed presidential bid she supported, for endorsing him. But, later in the day, Trump picked up another high-profile endorsement, from U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading conservative. Trump’s insurgent campaign has riven the Republican Party, with party leaders openly discussing how to thwart the will of the tens of thousands of members who have voted for Trump, helping him comfortably win in three of the four states that have so far held nominating contests. Party leaders are nervous that Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer from New York City who deviates from some of the central tenets of Republican conservatism, may alienate voters if he is their candidate in the Nov. 8 general election. He has proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States and declined a journalist’s invitation on Sunday to condemn the Ku Klux Klan, the violent white-supremacist group. Christie, who scrapped his own presidential bid earlier this month, became the most prominent Republican figure to break ranks with party leadership by endorsing Trump on Friday ahead of this week’s “Super Tuesday” contests, when voters in 11 states go to the polls. Whitman, who was a co-chairwoman of the national finance committee of Christie’s campaign, said in a statement to reporters that Trump would take the country on “a dangerous journey” and that Christie was aware of this. “Chris Christie’s endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism. Donald Trump is unfit to be president”, said the statement from Whitman, who is chief executive and president of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and chairman of HP Inc (HPQ.N). She called on Christie’s donors not to follow him to Trump, who has predominantly funded his campaign with personal loans. Representatives of Christie and Trump did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier on Sunday, Trump was asked repeatedly if he would unequivocally condemn the Klan and other support from white supremacists. “I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,” Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper after being asked about his endorsement by David Duke, a former Klan leader. “If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong.” Previously, Trump had seemed less uncertain about his views on Duke. “David Duke endorsed me?” he said in a response to a reporter. “Alright. I disavow. OK?” His latest backer, Senator Sessions, has had to defend his own controversial comments about the Klan in the past. In 1986, he admitted during an unsuccessful confirmation hearing to become a federal judge that he had said he thought the Klan was “OK” until he came to believe that some members smoked marijuana. He explained that these remarks were a joke and has since called the Klan “destestable.” In a separate interview on Sunday, Trump also defended posting on his Twitter account a quote sometimes attributed to Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. He told NBC News he did not realize that the quote - “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep” - was associated Mussolini but said it did not matter because it was a good aphorism all the same. Many party leaders hope U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will somehow overtake Trump before the party’s nominating convention in July, despite Rubio’s not having won any states and lagging behind in Trump in opinion polls. In recent days, Rubio has taken to adopting Trump’s habit of using adolescent insults to denigrate his rival, suggesting on Friday that Trump urinated in his trousers during last week’s televised debate. Rubio and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the only Republican to yet beat Trump in a primary election, both criticized Trump’s reticence to speak ill of the Klan on Sunday. “We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refused to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan,” Rubio told a crowd of voters in Purcellville, Virginia, MSNBC reported. (Additional reporting by Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 |
20,691 | There Are Already Four Ways Trump Could Be Impeached — Here Are The Details | Former Clinton Labor Secretary and current Berkeley economics professor Robert Reich has long been one of Donald Trump s most vocal opponents and he thinks Trump could be done. On Thursday, he took to Twitter to outline four ways in which Trump could already be impeached and he might just be beginning, at least according to Reich.Reich, along with others, is saying that Trump s unsubstantiated claims that Obama wiretapped him are enough to impeach him.Reich also cited Article 1 Section 9 of the Constitution, which forbids government officials from taking things of value from foreign governments. Trump seems to be looking at the Office of the Presidency as just another way to increase his personal wealth. He has refused to divest himself from his businesses, even while putting his children in charge. Even before he was inaugurated, foreign diplomats began to see spending money at Trump hotels as a way to cozy up to the new American leader. Almost as soon as he took office, his Florida resort and weekend White House, Mar-A-Lago, doubled its initiation fee from $100,000 to a whopping $200,000. But the most egregious offense was announced on Wednesday, when the Associated Press announced that China s Trademark Office gave preliminary approval to 38 new Trump trademarks.The third way Trump could be impeached today, according to Reich, is his violation of the First Amendment, which bars any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Trump violated this with his Muslim ban, which singles out a religion.The fourth is also a violation of the First Amendment, which also bars abridging the freedom of the press. Trump consistently labels the media as fake and even as the enemy. They are shut out of press conferences and reporters are escorted out for daring to ask tough questions.While the evidence isn t yet completely in, it s looking more and more like the ties between Trump and Russia are treason, at least according to Reich, who says: Article III Section 3 of the Constitution defines treason against the United States as adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.' Reich argues that Trump s apparent collusion with Russians helped him win the election.By my count, there are now four grounds to impeach Trump. The fifth seems to be on its way. pic.twitter.com/PfAw0a0hfU Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 9, 2017Reich isn t delusional enough to believe that impeachment will happen under the current GOP Congress. His goal is to flip the Congress in 2018, which means people have to stay engaged and stay aware. Of course, that s why Trump tries to delegitimize the media.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
20,692 | Thai police arrest 16 protesting against coal-fired power plant | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities have arrested 16 people who were protesting against the construction of a coal-fired power plant, drawing criticism of the military government from rights activists and environmentalists. The planned power plant in the southern province of Songkhla will consist of two 1,000-megawatt units, and is part of a power development plan to 2036, but activists object to its expected environmental and health impact on communities in the area. The 16 protesters were arrested on Monday as they traveled from Thepa district, the site of the plant, to the provincial capital to present a petition to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who was due in the city on Tuesday for a meeting. This incident shows the true face of Thailand s military dictators, who have committed a long list of abuses and repressions since the May 2014 coup, Sunai Phasuk, Thailand researcher for U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch, told Reuters. Six protesters were injured in a scuffle with police, said anti-coal activist Supat Hasuwannakit. The use of force was uncalled for, Supat told Reuters. A few police officers were injured, police said, adding that the 16 had been charged with blocking traffic, assaulting authorities, and resisting arrest. Police have requested that a court detains them. Tara Buakamsri, country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said in a statement the action against the protesters reflected a complete failure by the government to promote a peaceful and inclusive society. The Thepa power plant has no legitimacy to be built, the group said. The first unit of the power plant is due to begin operating in 2021. Its environmental health impact assessment was completed in August and is pending approval by the National Environment Board. | 1 |
20,693 | South Korea to announce approval of environment report for THAAD deployment on Monday: official | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s environment ministry will announce on Monday its approval of an environmental assessment report for the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in the country, a ministry official told Reuters. South Korea said in June that it will hold off installing remaining components of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) until it completes an assessment of the system s impact on the environment. The ministry will hold a briefing on the decision at 3:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) on Monday, the official said. | 1 |
20,694 | FRIDAY DOCUMENT DUMP: 300 CLINTON E-MAILS RELEASED | The Friday document dump today included 300 of the thousands of yet to be released Clinton e-mails. How convenient to release these on a holiday weekend. We re all being scammed in all this because these are the e-mails hand picked by Hillaries minions. We won t get to the truth because it was destroyed. This entire thing is smelling to high heaven The State Department released its first round of emails from Hillary Clinton s time as Secretary of State on Friday, offering a new look at her handling of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.The roughly 300 emails, about 850 pages, are part of the 30,000 that she turned over to State from her private email server, which she used almost exclusively to conduct both private and public business during her time at State. They reveal a range of correspondence from Clinton, everything from policy briefs to scheduling requests to friendly exchanges with staff.White House press secretary Josh Earnest says the new emails do not change in any way anyone s understanding of what happened in Benghazi, and the State Department reiterated the same in a tweet. The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, the department tweeted.Clinton herself commented on the release at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Friday, telling reporters she was happy they were out but was waiting for more. It s beginning. I just would like to see it expedited, so we could get more of them out more quickly, she said.Below, a collection of some of the most newsworthy tidbits from the emails:A supportive boss In one email, sent four days before Christmas in 2012, Clinton sent a note to her entire State Department staff, acknowledging a challenging week. She had fainted about a week prior and suffered a concussion, which prevented her from testifying before House and Senate committees on the attacks. We need to learn from the tragedy in Benghazi and make every possible improvement and we will, she wrote in the five-paragraph note.One day earlier, Clinton wrote in an email to two top aides headed to the Hill on her behalf: I ll be nursing my cracked head and cheering you on as you remain calm and carry on!' One of those aides, Tom Nides, hints that he s not entirely excited about the grilling.Clinton replies: Well, what doesn t kill you, makes you stronger (as I have rationalized for years), so just survive and you ll have triumphed! In most emails, she s referred to simply as H. Stress over Benghazi scrutiny One email hints at the scrutiny the State Department was facing over Clinton s response to the Benghazi attacks. In their remarks the day after the attack, both Clinton and President Barack Obama made reference to an anti-Muslim video that some intelligence initially suggested prompted the attacks, a claim that was later found to be mistaken.On Sept. 24, 2012, Jake Sullivan, Clinton s deputy chief of staff at State, forwards her a 24-page document compiling all of the statements she had made after the attacks, and reassures her that she was careful in her wording. You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives. In fact you were careful in your first statement to say we were assessing motive and method, he says.Sullivan also writes: The way you treated the video in the Libya context was to say that some sought to *justify* the attack on that basis. Advice on foreign affairs Clinton received advice on foreign affairs from a range of former advisers from outside of the department, including Sidney Blumenthal, the former Clinton White House aide who s drawn scrutiny for issuing over two dozen memos to Clinton on Libya while also advising businesses looking to break into post-Gaddafi Libya.The emails reveal that Clinton often read, commented on and forwarded Blumenthal s memos which laid out information obtained from his own sources on the situation in Libya to Sullivan. Blumenthal will comply with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee on Benghazi this week after his role in advising Clinton emerged.In a September 2012 email, Burns Strider, a senior adviser and director of Faith and Values Outreach on Clinton s 2008 campaign, forwards her a post from CNN s Belief blog by Stephen Prothero titled My Take: A deadly link between Islamic and anti-Islamic terrorists. She typically forwards these to State Department aides.Libya security concerns In the years leading up to the attack covered by the emails, there were a number of hints at the decaying security situation in Libya key sticking point for Republican critics of Clinton s performance at State. Many believe she ignored warnings that the security there was declining and showed poor judgment in failing to beef up protection for U.S. officials there.In June of 2011, Sullivan emailed Hillary warning of a credible threat against the hotel that our team is using, and told her security officials would be moving personnel to other locations.She received an update in 2011 from Stevens on how fragile the security forces were in the country. The police chief is a university professor who took on these police duties after the revolution. According to the police chief, there are only 3,000 police in the Benghazi area, down from 6,000 prior to the revolution. Many police simply did not return to their jobs after the revolution, as they feared retaliation, Another email, sent in February of 2012 by then Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, warned of concern here that continuing rivalries among the militias remains dangerous from the perspective of the havoc they can wreak with their firepower and their continued control of select turf. Congratulations and condolences on Benghazi In the days following the attacks, Clinton received a stream of condolences and congratulations from diplomats, lawmakers and world leaders on her handling of the situation.On Sept. 13, Clinton is forwarded an email from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him to offer profound condolences about the Benghazi attack. He said Israelis know too well how difficult these moments are, and he wanted us all to know that Israelis stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us at such a difficult time, Shapiro writes.Christian Brose, Sen. John McCain s national security adviser, emailed Sullivan on Sept. 12, 2012, the day Clinton gave a speech honoring those who died in the attacks, sending his boss s compliments. What a wonderful, strong and moving statement by your boss. Please tell her how much Sen. McCain appreciated it. Me too, he wrote.Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also sent his condolences.Intelligence holes? One October 2012 email underscores the limits of U.S. intelligence. Clinton emailed senior aide Cheryl Mills asking about an NPR report on the attacks. I just heard an NPR report about the CIA station chief in Tripoli sending a cable on 9/12 saying there was no demo etc., she wrote. Do you know about this? Thoughts on the media A transcript of an interview with Wall Street Journal Reporter Monica Langley was circulated among a few top aides with commentary from Philippe Reines, a longtime spokesman for Clinton.He declared the October 10, 2012, conversation as an awesome interview. But he went on to say that Langley violated Clinton s personal space, by moving her chair knee-to-knee with the secretary, comparing it to the dental hygienist rolling around the floor to get the best access to your mouth depending on which tooth she was trying to get access to. I ve never seen a westerner invade her space like that, Reines wrote. But he went on to describe the interview as wonderful. One of the best interviews I ve ever witnesses. Wish it were on live TV. Read more: cnn | 0 |
20,695 | Ahead of debate, Trump endorsed by U.S. immigration officers | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump picked up the endorsement on Monday of the union representing 5,000 federal immigration officers, a boost of support for his immigration policy ahead of his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump has laid out a hardline position on illegal immigration, proposing to build a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico and take other steps to crack down on the flow of undocumented people crossing into the United States. With immigration likely to be discussed at the debate, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union representing 5,000 federal immigration officers and law enforcement support staff, announced it would support Trump, in what was described as its first endorsement of a candidate for elected office. The union’s president, Chris Crane, outlined in a statement why his group is backing Trump, saying his union members are “the last line of defense for American communities” and that his members “are prevented from enforcing the most basic immigration laws.” A CNN/ORC poll released on Sept. 7 said that among registered voters, 49 percent said they trusted Clinton to handle immigration, a slight advantage over Trump, who was at 47 percent. Crane said the endorsement was conducted by a vote of the union’s membership and that Clinton received only 5 percent of the vote. | 1 |
20,696 | Clinton campaign says TV spot shows commitment to fight predatory drug pricing | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A television advertisement set to air on Tuesday from the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton underscores the Democratic front-runner’s willingness to take on predatory drug pricing, according to a campaign statement. The ad, set to run in nominating contests following Super Tuesday voting and titled "Predatory," shows Clinton criticizing Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.TO) for its pricing practices and making clear that she is willing to take steps to end them, according to Hillary for America. (here) Valeant shares fell as much as 21 percent on Monday after the Canadian drugmaker revealed it was under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It is also being investigated by U.S. attorneys in New York and Massachusetts. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 |
20,697 | Obama's trip aims to make Cuba opening 'irreversible' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plans to lay out his vision for U.S.-Cuba relations in a major speech during next week’s historic visit to Havana aimed at making his opening to America’s former Cold War foe “irreversible,” the White House said on Wednesday. Previewing Obama’s three-day trip, U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes expressed hope that Tuesday’s scheduled “speech to the Cuban people” would be broadcast throughout the island and said Cuba’s Communist government had not raised any objections to doing so. But Rhodes could not confirm whether the event, which will take place at Havana’s legendary Gran Teatro, would actually be carried by Cuba’s state-run media, saying, “We’ll see how that transpires.” Obama, who will be the first U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years, arrives on Sunday and holds talks on Monday with Cuban President Raul Castro, followed by what Rhodes described as a joint “press event” and a state dinner. Obama’s meeting with Cuban dissidents on Tuesday will include prominent activists of his own choosing, Rhodes said. Despite Cuban leaders’ view of such meetings as interference in the island’s internal affairs, Rhodes said there was no reason to believe the government would block any invitees from participating. “If there are any impediments to that meeting we would be very clear about this,” Rhodes said. He declined to name any of those who would attend. Obama will arrive just days after unveiling sweeping new measures to make it far easier for Americans to visit Cuba and for the island’s government to conduct international trade. Obama’s critics have accused him of giving up too much in return for too little from Cuban leaders and of now taking a premature “victory lap.” The Obama administration insists that engagement will benefit the Cuban people and open up the island to U.S. business – though Cuban leaders have been slow to make economic reforms. At the same time, the decades-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba remains, with little chance Congress will lift it anytime soon. Rhodes said Obama’s speech “will be a very important moment in the president’s trip, an opportunity for him to describe the course that we’re on, to review the complicated history between our two countries … but also to look forward to the future.” “We very much want to make the process of normalization irreversible,” he told reporters on a conference call. Obama’s aides hope that getting more U.S companies invested in Cuba and loosening up travel to the island will make it almost impossible for traditionally pro-business Republicans to roll back the thaw if they win the White House in November. Traveling with first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia, the president plans to start his visit late on Sunday with a tour of the cultural sites of Old Havana. He will also meet Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who played a key role in the U.S.-Cuba diplomatic breakthrough in December 2014, at Havana’s cathedral, Rhodes said. | 1 |
20,698 | Texas moves toward post-Harvey recovery; gas prices slip | HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas on Monday edged toward recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey as shipping channels, oil pipelines and refineries restarted some operations and authorities lifted an evacuation order for the area around a once-burning chemical plant. Port operations across the U.S. Gulf Coast oil and gas hub were resuming, although many still had restrictions on vessel draft, according to U.S. Coast Guard updates. U.S. gasoline prices fell in expectation that the area can get back on its feet after Harvey cut a path of destruction across more than 300 miles (480 km). The storm’s record rains and flooding killed as many as 60 people, according to local officials, and displaced more than 1 million. Benchmark U.S. gasoline futures fell by more than 3 percent on Monday. The Coast Guard allowed some barge traffic to enter Port Arthur, Texas, home of the country’s largest oil refinery, and is considering allowing ships to enter on Tuesday, a spokesman said. Flooding from Harvey caused fires at the Arkema SA chemical plant in Crosby, some 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Houston. But on Monday, the company said the Crosby Fire Department had lifted a 1.5-mile (2.4-km) evacuation zone around the plant, allowing people to return to their homes. The lifting of the order may help residents like Paul Mincey, a 31-year-old tugboat engineer who has been kept out of the ranch home he shares with his girlfriend, return to normal. “It could be full of snakes for all we know. We have no idea what’s in there,” Mincey said from aboard a tugboat in the Houston Ship Channel, which he said was polluted by floating railroad ties, trees and trash strewn by the storm. Like others forced from the evacuation zone, Mincey said he was eager to assess water damage and begin repairs while hoping for financial aid to deal with property damage. (To view a graphic on Harvey's energy impact, click tmsnrt.rs/2xzso1S) As the recovery from Harvey picked up speed, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard in preparation Irma, a dangerous Category 4 hurricane closing in on a string of Caribbean islands. Irma could pummel the U.S. territory on Wednesday and it also poses a threat later in the week to the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Florida, which declared a state of emergency on Monday evening. The U.S. National Hurricane Center cautioned that it was too early to forecast the storm’s exact path or what effect it might have on the U.S. mainland. But some weather models show Irma entering the Gulf of Mexico, where Harvey dealt a major blow to the most important energy hub in the United States, taking up to one-fourth of the country’s oil refining capacity offline and driving up fuel prices. Colonial Pipeline Co on Monday said it restarted one of its fuel lines shut because of Hurricane Harvey, with another line scheduled to restart on Tuesday. Colonial is the biggest U.S. fuel system, with pipelines that connect refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast to markets in the Northeast, transporting more than 3 million barrels a day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. With more pipelines coming on line, concerns about supply should ease. Most ports in Texas were open on Monday, some with restrictions on traffic and vessel size, said Colonel Lars Zetterstrom, head of the Army Corps of Engineers’ regional office in Galveston. (To view a graphic on storms in the North Atlantic, click tmsnrt.rs/2gcckz5) The question of how to pay for hurricane recovery was consuming Washington after Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday increased his damage estimate to between $150 billion and $180 billion. Abbott on Monday requested seven additional Texas counties be added to the Federal Disaster Declaration previously granted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That would bring the total number of counties receiving assistance to 43. Some 190,000 homes were damaged and another 13,500 destroyed, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. At least 33,000 people sought refuge in Texas shelters overnight, with another 1,300 doing so in Louisiana, the American Red Cross said. Republicans and Democrats returning to Washington after a month-long break will need to put differences aside in order to approve an aid package. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday challenged Congress to raise the government’s debt limit in order to free up relief spending. The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Wednesday on $7.85 billion in emergency relief funds for the FEMA and the Small Business Administration and plans another vote later this month on a separate $6.7 billion sought by President Donald Trump. In one indication of funding needs, the Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday estimated damage to public property at $382.3 million. (To view a graphic on Hurricane costs, click tmsnrt.rs/2vGkbHS) | 1 |
20,699 | Trump Gets Tired Of ‘Hamilton’ Feud, Reignites Attacks On The New York Times Instead (TWEETS) | It is not even 7 AM on the American east coast as of this writing, and Donald Trump is already up and tweeting. As per usual when we get these early morning, unhinged rants from Trump, he is on the attack this time with an old foe, The New York Times. As we all know, Trump has long had a frosty relationship with the media, and even invited them to Trump Tower only to rant at them about how he doesn t like how they covered him. Now, he has cancelled a meeting with the Times, the news organization that he had the most criticism for. Without further ado, here is all the craziness in its full glory:I cancelled today's meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with the @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016The failing @nytimes just announced that complaints about them are at a 15 year high. I can fully understand that but why announce? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016This man is literally nuts. Instead of planning his transition, he is scolding the media, picking fights with Saturday Night Live and Hamilton, and deliberately trying to undermine the free press, which is one of our most vital American institutions and is especially important when the person about to take office is an unhinged serial liar.Hopefully, the press resists the temptation to normalize Trump, and they call him out on every lie, every crazy, unAmerican idea, and every corrupt thing he does. If they don t, we can kiss our democracy goodbye, because we just elected a literal fascist. Remember, folks sowing distrust in institutions such as the free press is the first thing that happens when fascism begins to take hold. Trump is already neck-deep in that one. I shudder to think what s next.Featured image via Scott Eisen/Getty Images | 0 |
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