Unnamed: 0 int64 | title string | text string | label int64 |
|---|---|---|---|
21,300 | White House says will work with Congress to fix Dodd-Frank law | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that it will continue to work with the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress on a “legislative piece” to address the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law. White House spokesman Sean Spicer made the comment as President Donald Trump prepared to sign executive actions to direct a review of the Dodd-Frank Act and put the brakes on a retirement advice rule. | 1 |
21,301 | PRICELESS! RACE BAITER JOHN LEWIS Bombarded With Hecklers During Live MSNBC Interview [Video] | The protesters are breaking all the rules and creating total chaos at every turn during the Dem convention. It is truly a case of the liberals eating their own! Fun to watch! | 0 |
21,302 | Trump Is Already Mulling His Cabinet Picks And It’s Clear He Has No Idea What He’s Doing | Now that he s president-elect, Donald Trump has begun turning his attention to his transition, as well as beginning to build up his cabinet. It s early right now, but sources have told Politico who is in line for some top positions. If you weren t already panicking just from his win last night, now would be a good time to start.Perhaps most alarming are his potential picks for Secretary of DHS. Politico reports that Sheriff David Clarke is said to be a major contender. This is the Milwaukee sheriff who made a name for himself calling for pitchforks and torches and armed rebellion if Trump lost.But he seems to be the main contender, not the sole contender. There s also a possibility that Bridgegate Kingpin Chris Christie could be in line for the position, as could Rudy Giuliani. Putting either of these people in charge of agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and more, could potentially be very damaging.For Secretary of State, we have John Bolton, former U.N. ambassador and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Bolton was a controversial figure at the U.N., and he championed George W. Bush s insistence on one-sided foreign policy. Fan-bloody-tastic.Newt Gingrich could also be in line for this position, as could Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee.Trump is rumored to want to put his own finance chief, who s a former Goldman-Sachs exec, in as Secretary of the Treasury. Besides the blatant cronyism, a Wall Street executive in a cabinet position goes against everything Trump claimed about Hillary and her ties to the banks.Rudy Giuliani is rumored to be considered for a host of positions, including Attorney General, White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Director of National Intelligence/CIA Director. Giuliani is about as erratic and unreasonable as Trump the most benign position in this list is probably Chief of Staff.Chris Christie may also be up for Attorney General.Trump s top pick for Secretary of Energy is Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm. This guy has shaped a lot of Trump s ideas on energy policy, which includes gutting renewable energy and escalating fossil fuel use.For Secretary of the Interior, the leading candidate right now is Forrest Lucas, the founder of Lucas Oil. An oil executive and a vocal animal rights opponent is such a great pick to protect our lands and our wildlife. We can probably say goodbye to national parks, the endangered species list, and more if he s chosen.Other candidates include none other than Queen Drunken Airhead herself, Sarah Palin, as well as Trump s own son, Donald Trump Jr. No nepotism there at all.Trump wants a business leader, a.k.a. a CEO, for Labor Secretary. Interestingly enough, though, the current commissioner of the EEOC, Victoria Lipnic, is said to be a frontrunner for this job. She s one of Obama s picks and supports things like the Equal Pay Act. She wants to get rid of the EEOC s pay data collection system, though.Trump said early on that he wanted to eliminate the EPA, but has since modified that position. However, he wants to put noted climate skeptic Myron Ebell in charge of the agency responsible for ensuring we have clean air and clean water, so he might as well eliminate it.Ben Carson. Nuff said.Politico has their full list, and CNN also has a list. It s very early yet, and it s true that not every single person Trump is considering would be a bad choice. For instance, he wants someone who s already got a lot of experience with Veterans Affairs to head up the VA. However, many of his potential picks are rampant with cronyism and just plain sheer idiocy and cluelessness.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
21,303 | Oklahoma can consider PTSD in sentencing veterans under proposed law | OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma bill that allows judges to take into consideration a diagnosis of PTSD for veterans unanimously passed the state Senate on Tuesday, adding to a series of U.S. laws seeking to address mental illness among military veterans. Oklahoma House Bill 2595 allows judges to take into account a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a mitigating factor when sentencing veterans who have been diagnosed with the illness. The bill, which now goes to the governor for a decision on approval, follows similar measures in states including Alaska and California. “This is neither a Democratic or Republican issue, but just something we should have for veterans,” said state Representative Richard Morrissette, a sponsor of the legislation and a Democrat in the Republican-dominated Oklahoma legislature. “We train men and women to defend our nation in combat and then we expect, upon their return to civilian life, the trauma experienced by these individuals to be erased from their psyche. That is an unreasonable and unfair expectation,” he said. State data shows that compared to other states, Oklahoma has a higher percentage of veterans who have been deployed in danger areas overseas. More than 63 percent of the Oklahoma National Guard was deployed as of 2014 to Iraq or Afghanistan, and more than a third were deployed multiple times, the data showed. According to the National Institutes of Health, the United States had 161 bills that dealt with PTSD in 2014 and 43 traumatic stress, non-PTSD bills. In 2014, California allowed courts to consider PTSD, sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury or mental health problems as a mitigating factor in granting probation and treatment instead of jail time, it said. In 2014, Alaska passed the first law allowing judges to consider PTSD as a mitigating factor during the sentencing of veterans, it said. | 1 |
21,304 | WATCH: Adam Schiff Double Dog Dares White House To Let Sally Yates Testify | Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, just double dog dared the White House to let Sally Yates testify.Speaking to MSNBC s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday, Schiff said, the person that is in the best position to talk about the events that led up to his [Mike Flynn s] firing is Sally Yates. Schiff told Mitchell that he has asked for Yates, who was the acting attorney general until Donald Trump fired her for defying him, to testify on what she told the White House regarding the disgraced former national security adviser s interactions with Russia. She is more than willing to testify, we have asked her to testify, the White House says at least publicly they want her to testify, Schiff said. There is a letter sitting on the desk of my chairman that I ve signed, requesting that hearing to be rescheduled, and we are waiting for a response. Yates was scheduled to testify last month but Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the committee, suddenly canceled the hearing without warning. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer keeps claiming that Trump wants Yates to testify and Schiff called their bluff on Wednesday. Sean Spicer has said he would like Sally Yates to testify, so let s hold Sean Spicer to his word, Schiff said. Let s bring her in and allow her to tell the American people just what led to Michael Flynn s firing and what she may know about any conversation he had with the Russian ambassador on the subject of relief from Obama sanctions on Russia over its intervention to help Donald Trump. According to Schiff, the only thing keeping her from testifying is that Nunes hasn t rescheduled the hearing yet. You can watch him double dog dare the White House to allow Yates to testify below:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
21,305 | WATCH: JUDGE JEANINE Defends President Trump…DESTROYS NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell…DISRESPECTFUL and Violent NFL Players | Judge Jeanine tears into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is putting political correctness before the sport of football. Jeanine asks, Do we have the fortitude, courage, and determination to stand up to those who threaten our values? Judge Jeanine mentioned Trump s appearance in Alabama last night when he asked the crowd, Wouldn t you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, Get that son-of-a-b*tch off our field, right now! He s fired! NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called the President s comments divisive. Divisive? Where was Roger Goodell when Barack Obama was dividing our nation with the help of Al Sharpton?Judge Jeanine went on to call out the violent nature of so many of these players who have been accused and arrested for beating their wives and girlfriends and even homicide. Judge Piro reminded her viewers of the lack of interest in fans who want to watch the NFL or the politically motivated ESPN former sports network.Watch:.@JudgeJeanine: "All of a sudden football players are lovers of the Constitution and the First Amendment you're full of crap." pic.twitter.com/3SDkEi6b4H Fox News (@FoxNews) September 24, 2017 | 0 |
21,306 | U.S. lifts Sudan sanctions, wins commitment against arms deals with North Korea | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States lifted long-standing sanctions against Sudan on Friday, saying it had made progress fighting terrorism and easing humanitarian distress, and also secured Khartoum s commitment not to pursue arms deals with North Korea. In a move that completes a process begun by former President Barack Obama and which was opposed by human rights groups, President Donald Trump removed a U.S. trade embargo and other penalties that had effectively cut Sudan off from much of the global financial system. The U.S. decision marked a major turnaround for the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who once played host to Osama bin Laden and is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of orchestrating genocide in Darfur. However, Sudan will stay on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism - alongside Iran and Syria - which carries a ban on weapons sales and restrictions on U.S. aid, U.S. officials said. Sudanese officials also remain subject to United Nations sanctions for human rights abuses during the Darfur conflict, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The lifting of sanctions reflects a U.S. assessment that Sudan has made progress in meeting Washington s demands, including cooperation on counter-terrorism, working to resolve internal conflicts and allowing more humanitarian aid into Darfur and other rebellious border areas, the officials said. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the sanctions relief was in recognition of Sudan s sustained positive actions but that more improvement was needed. The Trump administration also secured a commitment from Sudan that it would not pursue arms deals with North Korea, and Washington will apply zero tolerance in ensuring Khartoum s compliance, one of the officials said. But they said Khartoum s assurances on North Korea were not a condition for lifting sanctions, some of which had been in place for 20 years and have hobbled the Sudanese economy. Sudan has long been suspected of military ties with North Korea, which is locked in a tense standoff with Washington over its missiles and nuclear weapons programs. But the official said Khartoum was not believed to have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang and that was not expected to change. Sudan also has recently distanced itself diplomatically from Iran, another U.S. arch-foe. U.S. officials have said that sanctions relief, which will unfreeze Sudanese government assets, could benefit a range of businesses in Sudan, including its key energy sector. The economy has been reeling since South Sudan, which holds three-quarters of former Sudan s oil wells, seceded in 2011. Sudan looks forward to building normal relations with the United States, the foreign ministry said in a statement. However, this requires lifting Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism because it does not apply (to Sudan). Central bank governor Hazem Abdel Kader said removing sanctions would allow Sudan s banking system to reintegrate into the global economy, and Agriculture Minister Abdul Latif Ajimi said it would bring exchange rate stability that would boost agricultural development, according to state news agency SUNA. Shortly before leaving office, former U.S. President Barack Obama temporarily eased penalties against the east African nation. In July, the Trump administration postponed for three months a decision on whether to remove the sanctions completely, setting up an Oct. 12 deadline. Rights groups see the sanctions removal as premature. It sends the wrong message to lift these sanctions permanently when Sudan has made so little progress on human rights, said Andrea Prasow, deputy director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch. Democratic U.S. Representative Jim McGovern said the sanctions decision legitimizes the murderous actions of the Sudanese government and warned that any back-sliding will likely result in Congress reinstating sanctions. The United States first imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997, including a trade embargo and blocking government assets, for human rights violations and terrorism concerns. Washington layered on more sanctions in 2006 for what it said was complicity in the violence in Sudan s Darfur region. | 1 |
21,307 | What Bill O’Reilly Just Said About Women Proves He’s A Certified A**hole (VIDEO) | Bill O Reilly has said some ridiculous things on his show over the years and his so-called conservatism has translated into outright bigotry and nonsense in many cases. That tradition continued with yet another nonsensical statement, this time about women. Watch the video here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za05IPc8F-U]It all started with O Reilly s interpretation of what Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton said during the Democratic debates on the issue of abortion, believing that both candidates say they want few limits on abortion. During an interview with Fox News analyst Kirsten Powers, O Reilly said: If you are going to say that the two Democrats running for president both favor pretty much abortion at any time, for any reason, and they hide behind the women s health issue, but that could be a migraine headache, you know. OK, I don t want to have the kid, my boyfriend left me, my husband left me, whatever it may be, I got a migraine, kid is going to be born next week. Let s get- Powers interrupted, saying, I don t think that many people get abortions because they have a migraine headache. O Reilly continued: OK, it doesn t matter. It s theoretical. When you have two candidates saying they don t want any limitations in the law place, they don t want any. That can happen. And we know what happened in Kansas, did that big investigation on Tiller you know what happened there. And so that s so radical and so far away from what the American people want. That s just one example. O Reilly has proven himself to lack any credibility whatsoever and his male privilege is disturbing to watch. When will people learn that a woman has a right to choose? After all, in the end, it s the woman s body and O Reilly s nonsense is typical of males believing they have authority over a woman s body as well as her choices.I m looking forward to the day when this guy s show gets cancelled.Featured image via video screenshot. | 0 |
21,308 | Ted Cruz BLASTS Trump For Alleged Mob Ties (VIDEO) | It s very hard to pick between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump in terms of who would be worse for the country if either were to become the next president. Hopefully it won t come to that. but for now, what an embarrassment for the Republican party this must be to watch the candidates go after each other. In the latest attempt to attack his rival, Texas senator Ted Cruz claimed that Trump has ties to the mob.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXyCfhtWK1k]On NBC s Meet the Press, Cruz attacked Trump over his tax returns, citing possible reasons why Trump is not making them public. Cruz went fishing on this one, saying that Trump is not revealing his taxes because he s supposedly worth less than Mitt Romney s few hundred million. Then there s the money he allegedly gives to liberal groups. He then threw in the mob tie allegation. He said: Maybe he s not s rich as he says he is. Maybe Mitt Romney is richer than Donald Trump. He can answer that by releasing his taxes. On the other hand maybe it s the case that he s given large sums of money to liberal left wing groups like Planned Parenthood. You know, he praises Planned Parenthood in the debates over and over again. Maybe he s a big financial supporter of that. All of those questions Donald Trump can put to rest. You know Chuck, maybe it s the case, there have been multiple media reports about Donald Trump s business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported regardless what the bombshell is. Chuck Todd seemed startled by the claim and asked if Cruz had any evidence. Cruz said: ABC, CNN, multiple news reports have reported about his business dealings with for example S&A Construction, which was owned by Fat Tony Salerno who is a mobster who is in jail. It is owned by two of the major New York crime families and that has been reported in multiple media outlets. It s interesting how Cruz, a lawyer, can be so dirty as to proclaim Trump s alleged mob ties simply because of reports. That s the type of dirty campaign Cruz has run thus far. However, there is no sympathy felt for Trump and the hope is that the Republican candidates can continue to make a mockery of one another.Featured image via video screen capture. | 0 |
21,309 | TWO DEMOCRATS Announce Plan To Vote For Neil Gorsuch For Supreme Court [Video] | Senators have a constitutional obligation to advice and consent on a nominee to fill this Supreme Court vacancy and, simply put, we have a responsibility to do our jobs as elected officials, Manchin said in a statement Thursday. I will vote to confirm him to be the ninth justice on the Supreme Court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csE04bREOAEHeitcamp of North Dakota also pledged her vote for Gorsuch and released a statement to confirm: After doing my due diligence by meeting with Judge Gorsuch and reviewing his record and testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I ve decided to vote in favor of his confirmation. He has a record as a balanced, meticulous, and well-respected jurist who understands the rule of law, . | 0 |
21,310 | Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Demands Sessions Resign Over Russian Perjury | For months Donald Trump and his top staffers have sworn that no one in the campaign had contact with the Russian government while it was in the middle of engaging in a cyber attack against Democrats. Trump s new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, even testified under oath that he had not spoke to Russian officials while working on Trump s campaign.And that lie just got exposed.Now high ranking Democrats including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee Elijah Cummings have both called on Sessions to immediately step down. Pelosi s statement was a scorched earth condemnation of Sessions, Trump, and the entire administration which seems hell-bent on covering up its connections to Russia no matter what. Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing before the Senate. Under penalty of perjury, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians. We know that statement is false.Attorney General Sessions has never had the credibility to oversee the FBI investigation of senior Trump officials ties to the Russians. This is why Democrats have consistently called for Sessions to recuse himself from any oversight of the investigation.Now, after lying under oath about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign. There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the Trump political, personal, and financial connection to the Russians. Cummings was equally forceful in calling for Sessions to resign, citing the fact that Michael Flynn, Trump s disgraced former National Security Advisor, had already resigned for a similar offense and Sessions was that much worse because he kept quiet about it even after that scandal.Sessions should have the self-respect to resign, because he may be also be facing a conviction. At least one former White House ethics lawyer has already stated that he believes what Sessions did could easily send him to prison.Misleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail https://t.co/qH0s6sTMJ9 Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) March 2, 2017As Pelosi noted, Sessions credibility was already zero and now it s under water. In a Trump administration bursting at the seams with corruption, Session has managed to stand out as particularly appalling. Republicans now need to join with Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Cummings and demand Sessions leave in disgrace.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Image | 0 |
21,311 | Factbox: Trump on Twitter (July 9) - G20, Putin, Syria | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - The G 20 Summit was a great success for the U.S. - Explained that the U.S. must fix the many bad trade deals it has made. Will get done! [0715 EDT] - I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I’ve already given my opinion..... [0731 EDT] - ...We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia! [0737 EDT] - Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.. [0750 EDT] - ...and safe. Questions were asked about why the CIA & FBI had to ask the DNC 13 times for their SERVER, and were rejected, still don’t.... [0757 EDT] - ...have it. Fake News said 17 intel agencies when actually 4 (had to apologize). Why did Obama do NOTHING when he had info before election? [0806 EDT] - Sanctions were not discussed at my meeting with President Putin. Nothing will be done until the Ukrainian & Syrian problems are solved! [0831 EDT] - MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! [0857 EDT] - For years, even as a “civilian,” I listened as Republicans pushed the Repeal and Replace of ObamaCare. Now they finally have their chance! [1607 EDT] - Syrian ceasefire seems to be holding. Many lives can be saved. Came out of meeting. Good! [1609 EDT] - The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t-but a ceasefire can,& did! [2045 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 1 |
21,312 | PRO-ABORTION BOOK FOR CHILDREN: My “Sister Is a Happy Ghost!” | Leftist indoctrination for toddlers How I wish this wasn t a true story A three-year-old named Lee defends the abortion of his sister in a new children s book by an author with her own ghost sister. Sister Apple, Sister Pig by Mary Walling Blackburn focuses on an adult topic: abortion. The story follows Lee as he (or she, as the author stressed) searches for his sister who might be an apple, a pig, or somewhere in a tree. Lee later decides Sister is a happy ghost! and explicitly says he s glad Sister isn t around to inconvenience his parents.The free e-book is available on art publishing platform e-flux, The Blaze reported. The author, Walling Blackburn, is assistant professor of art at Southern Methodist University s Meadows School of the Arts and founder of The Anhoek School. Lee is Papa and Mama s only child for now, although there once was a sister, the book began. Where does Sister live now? At one point, Lee explained to his Papa, Well, she used to live in Mama and doesn t anymore. After Papa agreed, Lee reiterated, She lived before me, but Mama couldn t keep her. Mama says she is a ghost. When Lee s Papa asked, [D]oes that make you sad or scared? Lee changed his tune. I m not sad that my sister is a ghost! If you kept my sister, you would be tired, and sad, and mad! When his father questioned why, Lee continued:Because we would be wild and loud and sometimes we would fight. Mama might be scared that she could not buy enough food for us. Mama might not have enough time to read to me, to paint with me, to play with me, to talk with me .Papa also noted good reasons Lee doesn t have a sister right here right now. Maybe you will have another sister when there is more time, and there is more money, Papa said.But even during story time, Lee couldn t forget about his lost sibling. He whispered the secret to his uncle: The secret is that she s she s a ghost! Lee and his Uncle pretend she s still there. The ghost girl can sit beside me, his uncle offered.Later, Lee told his uncle, Mama had an abortion before she had me, but reassures him that Sister is a happy ghost! Even the uncle s friend, Jess, wonders where the ghost sister is. Lee replied, Ghost sister has her own things to do! but that [s]he returns when I call her if I need her. And he did, as the last page read, Mama, Papa, Lee, (and sister) are about to head into the late afternoon towards home. In the acknowledgements, Walling Blackburn thanked her own ghost sister and warned Masochists, look elsewhere, because, between these pages you will not find the luxury of grief, culpability s sharp sting or salty guilt. Via: Newsbusters | 0 |
21,313 | Turkey's Erdogan defends Ottoman commander after UAE minister retweets criticism | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan leapt to the defence of an Ottoman military commander on Wednesday after the United Arab Emirates foreign minister retweeted accusations that Ottoman forces looted the holy city of Medina during World War One. Erdogan appeared to be responding to a tweet shared on Saturday by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan, which said Ottoman troops led by Fakhreddin Pasha stole money and manuscripts from Medina in 1916. The tweet also said Turkish forces abducted residents of Medina and took them to Istanbul. These are Erdogan s ancestors, and their history with Arab Muslims, read the tweet, originally posted by someone identifying themselves as an Iraqi dentist from Germany. Medina, now part of Saudi Arabia, was part of the Ottoman territory for centuries until the empire s collapse at the end of World War One. In a speech to local administrators, Erdogan said Fahreddin Pasha had not stolen from Medina or its people, but strived to protect the city and its occupants during a time of war. Those miserable people who are delirious enough to shamelessly and tirelessly say Erdogan s ancestors stole sacred items from there and brought them to Istanbul - it was to protect them from the people that came to invade, he said. The United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally, sees Erdogan s Islamist-rooted ruling party as a friend of Islamist forces which the UAE opposes across the Arab world. Relations were further strained by Ankara s support for Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on the Gulf emirate in June. Two months later, Sheikh Abdullah criticised what he called Turkey and Iran s colonial actions in Syria, even though Turkey and the UAE have both opposed Syria President Bashar al-Assad. Erdogan s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has also responded to Sheikh Abdullah s comments, saying it was a shame that he retweets this propaganda lie that seeks to turn Turks & Arabs against one another, again. Is attacking President Erdo an at all costs the new fashion now? Kalin tweeted on Tuesday. | 1 |
21,314 | Trump economic adviser Cohn says coal can be competitive again: CNBC | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser on Friday said the nation’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord will help keep energy markets competitive, allowing for a potential comeback in coal prices and the U.S. coal industry. Speaking in an interview on CNBC, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said that despite competition from cheap natural gas, “at some point in the cycle, coal will be competitive again,” adding: “We need to keep our options available to have the cheapest available energy” on a global market. | 1 |
21,315 | Prof Michel Chossudovsky discusses Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy & emerging nuclear risks | 21st Century Wire says Amid great mainstream media and Democratic Party fanfare, Hillary Clinton s candidacy has been based on a claim she is most experienced candidate in history, and highlighting her foreign policy record in particular. What would a Clinton foreign policy really look like? On Episode #158 of the SUNDAY WIRE, host Patrick Henningsen spoke with a special guest, Professor Michel Chossudovsky, founder & editor of www.globalresearch.ca about Hillary s hawks and what a Clinton presidency will look like in terms of US-backed wars around the globe, as well as Washington s current fetish with sustainable nuclear conflicts.Listen to this excellent discussion:[soundcloud url= https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/291631622 params= auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true width= 100% height= 450 iframe= true /] . See more of Michel s recent book, The Globalization of War: America s Long War Against Humanity. READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
21,316 | Trump warns Republicans against pushing a third-party candidate | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday warned Republicans against backing a third-party candidate should he win the party’s nomination, saying doing so would hand the election to the Democrats. “Democrats are going to win almost certainly,” Trump said at a news conference in commenting on the prospects of Republicans trying to coalesce around a third-party candidate to prevent him from winning office. “You can’t be that spiteful because you would destroy the country.” | 1 |
21,317 | Factbox: How the U.S. Senate and House tax proposals differ | (Reuters) - A tax plan by U.S. Senate Republicans released on Thursday diverges in several ways from legislation being pushed by Republicans in the House of Representatives, complicating Republican efforts to fulfill their goal of overhauling the tax code by the end of the year. Here are the major provisions that differ significantly. CORPORATE RATE: The House plan would immediately cut the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. The Senate would set the same rate, but delay it by one year. CARRIED INTEREST: The Senate leaves unchanged a loophole that allows private-equity fund managers and other wealthy Wall Street financiers to pay the capital gains tax rate instead of the higher income tax rate on their “carried interest” income. The House version narrows the loophole by requiring investments to be held for more than three years instead of one year currently in order to qualify for capital gains treatment. NET OPERATING LOSSES: The Senate version eliminates the carry-back and carry-forward tax strategies by businesses to reduce past and future tax liabilities using net operating losses. The House version tightens the rules around their use. PASS-THROUGHS: The House caps the maximum tax rate on small businesses and other non-corporate enterprises at 25 percent, down from the current top rate on “pass-through” income of up to 39.6 percent. The Senate version has no special pass-through rate but allows business owners to deduct about 17.4 percent of business income from individual taxes. That translates to a 30 percent tax rate for high-income filers. REPATRIATION OF OVERSEAS EARNINGS: The Senate imposes a tax of 12 percent for liquid assets and 5 percent for illiquid. The House sets the rates at 14 percent and 7 percent, respectively. TAX BRACKETS: The Senate version maintains seven tax brackets, with the top bracket’s rate at 38.5 percent. The House has four brackets with the top one unchanged from current levels at 39.6 percent and lifts qualifying income on that top rate to more than $1 million. MORTGAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION: The House caps the deduction of interest payments on mortgages of up to $500,000, and only on a primary residence. The Senate version keeps the existing limit at $1 million but eliminates the deduction of interest on home-equity loans. DEDUCTING STATE AND LOCAL TAXES: The Senate bill repeals the state and local tax deduction entirely. The House version repeals the deduction for state and local income and sales tax and caps the deduction for state and local property tax paid at $10,000. STANDARD DEDUCTION: The two versions are in line with each other, with a standard deduction of $12,200 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples, nearly double the current levels. CHILD TAX CREDIT: The Senate would expand the child tax credit to $1,650 from $1,000. The House version sets it at $1,600. INHERITANCES: While the House wants to double the exemption on inherited assets and repeal the tax over a period of six years, the Senate only wants to double the exemption. | 1 |
21,318 | With One Tweet Elizabeth Warren Lays Down The Solid Truth About This Week’s Killings | If there s one conclusion to draw from the horrific shootings that have been happening over the course of this past week, it s that we, as a society, need to have more understanding and compassion for one another. No one deserves to die, especially not for merely existing, or protecting your community.Two black men were shot and killed by police officers who didn t even try to keep them alive for reasons yet to be determined, and five police officers were shot and killed, with seven more injured while serving and protecting protesters who were out voicing their concern over police brutality.Many have been offering their opinions on the violence that s been happening, but one voice of reason seems to really get at the heart of what needs to be heard, and that is the voice of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).The simple, yet solid truth of all the killings that have occurred over the past week was summed up in this tweet by Warren: Black Americans shouldn t be killed in routine traffic stops, and police shouldn t be killed while protecting and serving their communities. Black Americans shouldn't be killed in routine traffic stops, & police shouldn't be killed while protecting & serving their communities. Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 8, 2016It s really that simple. We can be on both sides of this issue and not be against the other side. We can have compassion for the rights of Black Americans to exist without fear of being shot and killed by the police, and we can also have compassion for police officers who are merely trying to protect the community they serve.We need to stand up to and against violence wherever it is, period.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
21,319 | Two wanted men injured by Saudi security forces in Qatif | DUBAI (Reuters) - Two men wanted by Saudi authorities were injured when security officers tried to capture them, state news agency SPA reported on Friday. Mohammed Al-abdelal and Moustafa Al Subaiti were arrested on Thursday in the eastern town of Tarout in the Qatif province, where many Shi ite Muslims live, SPA reported citing a statement by the interior ministry. The statement added the detained were taken to hospital to be treated from injuries they sustained as they resisted security forces. The ministry did not say why the men were wanted. A security campaign in recent months against Shi ite Muslim gunmen in the small eastern town of Awamiya has reduced dozens of buildings in the town of Awamiya to ruins and forced thousands of residents to flee. The oil-producing region is home to a large Shi ite population and has been a flashpoint between the Sunni Muslim government and Shi ites complaining of discrimination. | 1 |
21,320 | INSIDE THE MIND OF A TRUMP VOTER | Why is he so wildly popular across so many demographics in America? Watch here for a pretty good explanation and tell us if you agree or disagree: | 0 |
21,321 | Ann Coulter Thinks We Need To Get Rid Of The ‘Utterly Useless’ CIA (AUDIO) | Conservative political analyst (and all around vile human being) Ann Coulter has decided that in the wake of the whole fiasco with Russia interfering in our election, we should just get rid of the Central Intelligence Agency altogether. Poof! Problem solved!During an interview on Sean Hannity s radio show, Coulter was asked about the recent CIA revelations that Russia interfered in our election not just to undermine confidence in U.S. elections, but in an attempt to help Donald Trump win the White House. What do you think of this effort to undermine first it was the recount, then it was the Russians hacked, even though there s no new evidence at all and the FBI and director of national intelligence disagree. And I know because I ve interviewed a number of these people, electors being harassed to change their votes away from Trump. What do you make of the effort to delegitimize him? Hannity asked.Coulter s answer was even more jaw-droppingly stupid that what we have come to expect from her.It doesn t make any sense, the FBI disputes it. One of the main proponents of this, of this Russia I mean, the articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post, they re all anonymous sources from the CIA, an agency we really need to get rid of because it is utterly useless and it eats up a lot of tax money. And this isn t something I m bringing up for the first time now; my loyal readers know I ve been making fun of US intelligence for a good decade now. We have the worst intelligence collecting in the world. Worse than Burkina Faso, it s worse than Walmart s intelligence, because the Democrats decided to destroy the CIA after Watergate.Seriously. This woman thinks that because the CIA called out Russia for their blatant meddling in our election, we should just get rid of the entire agency completely. And, of course, it s all the Democrats fault. Naturally. The CIA busted Trump s buddy Putin interfering in our presidential election, on Trump s behalf, and this is her response. You really do just have to take a step back and marvel at the mental gymnastics at play here.You can listen to the interview here, via Media Matters: Featured image via Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images | 0 |
21,322 | Ex-Russian minister says he thought bag with $2 million cash was gift of alcohol | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Russian economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev, accused of extorting a bribe, told a court on Monday he thought a bag holding $2 million in cash which he took from Rosneft (ROSN.MM) chief executive Igor Sechin held a gift of expensive alcohol. Ulyukayev faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of accepting the $2 million cash from Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. Prosecutors said the bribe was given last year on Nov. 14 in exchange for Ulyukayev approving the sale of a state-controlled oil company Bashneft (BANE.MM) to Rosneft. Police detained Ulyukayev inside Rosneft headquarters shortly after Sechin handed him the cash inside a lockable brown bag and a little basket with sausage as a gift, prosecutors said. . The next day Putin fired Ulyukayev. Ulyukayev, speaking to the court, said he had believed the package contained a gift but that a trap had been set for him. All this was an action directed against me, planned in advance, a provocation organized in advance, he said. Ulyukayev s lawyers are trying to explain to the court why he accepted the bag from Sechin given that - according to transcripts of their conversations - neither man had discussed what was inside. Ulyukayev said when he had been economy minister, Sechin had visited his ministry two or three times and usually had come to the office with a bulky bag, containing presents. During that period, Sechin personally presented Ulyukayev with a watch and a model of an oil-derrick, and he sent a food hamper on occasions such as birthdays, Ulyukayev said. Ulyukayev had also received alcoholic drinks from Sechin as gifts, a prosecutor said. That was a norm of etiquette, from Sechin s point of view, Ulyukayev told the court. The ex-minister said the bag which Sechin gave him last year at Rosneft headquarters in a law enforcement sting operation weighed about 15 kg (33 lbs) and he thought there had been expensive wine or spirits inside. Ulyukayev said that a month before, Sechin promised to present him with a wine he had never tried before in his life to mark the successful closing of the Bashneft privatization deal. For that reason it came as a surprise that the bag contained money, Ulyukayev said. Sechin has been issued with four summonses to testify in the trial, but has failed to show up, despite being a key witness. His lawyer said in a letter to the court that Sechin had been away on business trips. | 1 |
21,323 | BREAKING: Trump Tops Off INSANE Weekend By Announcing A New Muslim Ban | Donald Trump s most dangerous and offensive campaign promise was, of course, his call for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. We all saw that plan realized in late January, as Trump rolled out the ban via a chaotic Executive Order that the courts quickly struck down. Well, it seems that Trump has not given up just yet, and plans to sign a brand new Muslim ban this coming Monday.In preparation, Trump s white supremacist Chief Strategist Steve Bannon will go down to Mar-A-Lago for the weekend, along with others from the Department of Justice, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to be with Trump. The festivities at the posh resort will include an EO launch meeting. This comes after Trump s team decided to let Trump s ego be stroked by the good press he was getting from his address to a joint session of Congress. However, this didn t last, thanks to the controversy surrounding Jeff Sessions and his lying to Congress about his contacts with Russians.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has already responded, and they are definitely ready to combat Trump s bigotry in the courts. They tweeted:We're ready. See you in court (again), @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/TeNPcwZNdk ACLU National (@ACLU) March 4, 2017What is really sick about all of this is that this insanity is ratcheting up hateful sentiment toward the groups of people that Team Trump fixates on. Real people are being hurt and even killed due to the fact that the most powerful man in the world is insisting upon mainstreaming hate.Keep it up, ACLU and other groups. As for Trump #THERESISTANCE is ready.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
21,324 | Eric Trump Accidentally Exposes Who Was Behind Syria Strike And The Whole Trump Family’s In Trouble | Eric Trump sat down with the Telegraph and things quickly went off the rails. Eric for years seen as the dumb one blundered his way through the interview with such lack of self-awareness that he wound up revealing a bunch of stuff he shouldn t have. But there is one tone-deaf comment that Eric Trump made that you ll want to keep in the back of your mind throughout the rest of this story. When asked about his father s desire to make the White House a Trump family affair, Eric said: Is that nepotism? Absolutely. Is that also a beautiful thing? Absolutely. Family business is a beautiful thing. A lot of ink has been spilled speculating on what Trump s presidential doctrine is, but the answer is painfully simple: Rank nepotism. Paranoid and alienated, Trump s only allies in Washington are his own children and he s been furthering his separation from the rest of his staff by leaning on them with increasing regularity. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner has recently become the most powerful person in the country. His only qualification is getting married to Ivanka.Unfortunately, it gets worse. Donald Trump isn t just placing his close family and friends in positions they have no business being in, but also allowing those inexperienced cronies the chance to influence American military operations. According to Eric, his sister Ivanka was actually the architect of the decision to bomb Syria. Until January 20, Ivanka s career was in selling cheap jewelry made in China to fans of her father s reality tv show. She now has a seat at the table in starting a world war.[Eric] confirmed that President Trump s decision to bomb a Syrian airbase to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a nerve gas attack last week was influenced by the reaction of his sister Ivanka, who said she was heartbroken and outraged by the atrocity.That he was listening to his daughter and not his advisers explains why the Trump White House seemed chaotic and clueless in the hours after the bombing. Nobody was on the same page. Trump s UN ambassador and his Secretary of State were issuing conflicting statements about the intent of the bombings. Other staff initially bragged about destroying the airfield. Trump contradicted them by saying he intentionally didn t destroy the airfield. Nobody knew what was going on except maybe Ivanka, a person with no official job in the White House.Adding to the confusion, Trump himself once praised Saddam Hussein for using chemical weapons on his enemies. It was jarring to watch him claim that Assad s use of sarin gas was so personally offensive to him that he had to go to war. Eric s confession that it was Ivanka s decision fills in a lot of blanks.The fact that Eric would freely admit that this is how the White House is being run goes back to his observation that nepotism is beautiful. Living all his life in the shadow of his dad, it seems as though he and his siblings aren t aware of how gross this whole thing is. They are second-generation silver spooners. Their dad owes his success to their grandfather. They are so far removed from the real world that they ve forgotten they never earned anything.And they are running the country. Together.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
21,325 | Russian Photographer In The Oval Office Raises Eyebrows, Security Problems | Former U.S. intelligence officials have criticized the presence of a Russian photographer capturing President Trump s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office on Wednesday, citing the potential for a security breach. Concerns were raised after photographs of the meeting were posted on the TASS Russian News Agency website.The White House, however, is playing down the situation, with one senior administration official stating that the Russian had to go through the same screening as a member of the U.S. press going through the main gate to the [White House] briefing room. Furthermore, the official claims that the White House was misled, claiming that Russian officials had stated that the individual in question was actually Lavrov s personal photographer, concealing the fact that he was also a TASS employee, clearing demonstrating their screening of the Russian photographer was not sufficient. We were not informed by the Russians that their official photographer was dual-hatted and would be releasing the photographs on the state news agency, said the White House administration official.Former deputy CIA director David S. Cohen was one of several who expressed their concerns over the Russian photographer s presence. Cohen took to Twitter to respond to an online question as to whether or not he thought it was an intelligent decision to have the photographer present at the event, tweeting No it was not. However, Cohen would not elaborate when pressed for further opinions.Other former security officials have made their unease over the whole situation public, with some describing it as a potential security threat, claiming that White House security screenings aren t foolproof and sophisticated espionage devices could be missed. Others have noted that, not only is it not below the Russians to plant a bug in the White House, but if they managed to pull off such a feat, it wouldn t be the first time they were successful. In late 1999, a listening device that was eventually traced back to Russia was found in a White House conference room where Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had been conducting meetings.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
21,326 | Senate sets Wednesday vote on Obama veto of Saudi September 11 bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether to override President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill allowing relatives of victims in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia. The vote, which Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell set as the chamber reconvened on Monday, would be the first action in an attempt by lawmakers to override Obama’s Sept. 23 veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. A successful override requires support from two-thirds of lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives, which are controlled by Republicans. Known as JASTA, the legislation passed the Senate and House in reaction to long-running suspicions, denied by Saudi Arabia, that hijackers of the four U.S. jetliners that attacked the United States in 2001 were backed by the Saudi government. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. In vetoing the bill, Obama warned that other countries could use the law as an excuse to sue U.S. diplomats, members of the military or companies, even for actions of foreign organizations that had received U.S. aid, equipment or training. McConnell said Wednesday’s vote will follow two hours of debate divided between Republicans and Democrats. No time for the vote has been set. | 1 |
21,327 | Former GOP Policy Chief Unleashes AMAZING Tweetstorm After ‘Fragile’ Trump Cries About Jeff Flake | Arizona Senator Jeff Flake can t vote for Donald Trump. He said so on CNN. He won t vote for Hillary, either (boo), but he also can t make himself vote for someone as full of pond scum as Trump. So, true to form, Trump took to Twitter to blast Flake for having the gall to say something so horrible about him:The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as @JeffFlake, if it is going to stop illegal immigration. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016 The Great State of Arizona, where I just had a massive rally (amazing people), has a very weak and ineffective Senator, Jeff Flake. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016The GOP s former House Policy Chief, Evan McMullin, isn t having any of this at all. He unleashed a firestorm of tweets in response to Trump over his skin that s as thick as a single layer of gauze. Nobody who is, or was, a Republican, hits The Donald over the head for his repeated attacks on fellow Republicans better than McMullin just did:.@realDonaldTrump demonstrates his fragility once again by attacking @JeffFlake, one of America s most courageous leaders. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 4, 2016 Important leadership truth: Strong, conservative leaders like @JeffFlake unify us while weak, petty men like @realdonaldtrump divide us. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016I refuse to accept a bully president.https://t.co/15zpelBRKf Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016 .@realDonaldTrump is a weak, fragile, and petulant man who cannot stomach dissent or criticism. https://t.co/l0woBG3qwY Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016McMullin, who linked to a blog post he wrote about Trump in the above tweets, then finished his tweetstorm with this series:This election isn t about me, and at this point it isn t just about who will sit in the Oval Office in January. https://t.co/nMymQM2C4a Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016 It s about the character of our nation: who we are and who we aspire to be. https://t.co/1LGqrmjpVS Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016It s so important that we not only defeat @realDonaldTrump in November Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016 but that we stand up, every day, to his unacceptable attacks on our nation s most courageous leaders. https://t.co/j7DtAyNrSU Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016McMullin s Twitter profile says he s now an independent candidate for President, but he seems to know that he doesn t have a chance in hell of winning. He s a Never Trumper, and he praises other Never Trumpers for being Never Trumpers before it was cool. In his blog post about Trump s ridiculous attack on Flake, he fleshes out some of his tweets a little better: But Donald Trump is a weak, fragile, and petulant man who cannot stomach dissent or criticism. Even as he promises to be a uniter who will bring the country together, he lashes out against leaders within his own party courageous, principled conservatives like Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. [emphasis in original post]He s got it right. Other Republicans and conservatives who can t stomach a Trump presidency have it right, too. Some will vote for Hillary. Some will probably vote for Gary Johnson. But McMullin just put the man with the onion-paper thin skin in his place.Photo of McMullin by George Frey/Getty Images. Photo of Trump by Ralph Freso/Getty Images. Photos merged by Rika Christensen | 0 |
21,328 | Battleground State To Move Forward With UNPRECEDENTED Statewide General Election Recount | Perhaps the Green Party isn t so useless after all. Jill Stein s push for recounts in some battleground states is gaining momentum. Stein raised $5 million to cover the costs of recounts over the Thanksgiving holiday, and as soon as the Green Party pays its fee, the Wisconsin Elections Board is prepared to go forward with a statewide recount.The elections board has already put an internal team together, they ve been working with their county clerks, and they ve arranged for the necessary legal counsel from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Michael Haas, the election board s administrator, said: We plan to hold a teleconference meeting for county clerks next week and anticipate the recount will begin late in the week after the Stein campaign has paid the recount fee, which we are still calculating. This is unlike the Florida recounts in 2000, where the vote was so close it automatically triggered a machine recount. From there, well, we all remember how it spiraled out of control. Al Gore won the popular vote that year, but not nearly to the degree that Hillary has won this year s popular vote.Also, Wisconsin does not have an automatic recount trigger a candidate has to request a recount no matter how close the vote is.A battleground state recount isn t going to help Jill Stein any, and she knows that, so what s her game here? She says she s worried that foreign hackers skewed our votes and elected Trump for us. The Green Party is actually asking Wisconsin for a reconciliation of paper records, which goes a step beyond a simple vote recount it s an audit of paper ballots and paper trails from electronic voting machines. They re focusing on the substantial increase of absentee ballots in Wisconsin, along with the electronic voting systems that have been under scrutiny since we began seeing massive cyberattacks from parties interested in influencing our election results.Stein s fundraising website makes it clear that they know there s no guarantee any states in which the Greens are petitioning will actually move on to a recount, and she does admit that they don t have a smoking gun that proves Trump s win is illegitimate.In fact, Wisconsin actually doesn t believe a recount will change anything, despite the fact that some major vote discrepancies have already been found. Howver, provided all paperwork is filed properly, they will generally proceed with their recounts regardless.Hillary is now leading the national popular vote by 2.1 million, and is approaching a 2 percent margin. That s a greater margin than John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Grover Cleveland, James A. Garfield, and James K. Polk had when they were elected. If her lead continues to grow, she could approach Jimmy Carter s margin, and perhaps George W. Bush s margin of victory in 2004.Hillary and her campaign have stayed quietly out of the recount debate thus far. Stein and the Green Party are pushing for recounts in both Michigan and Pennsylvania as well, but it s not yet known whether those two states will actually do it. It s also not clear whether this could flip the election. What Wisconsin does in the coming days could set an interesting tone.Photo of Donald Trump by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images. Photo of Hillary Clinton by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
21,329 | Still battling for independence, Lebanon to mark national day | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon marks its independence on Wednesday with its sovereignty as compromised as ever by the agendas of foreign states that have shaped its history since the French mandate ended in 1943. The crisis ignited by Saad al-Hariri s sudden resignation as prime minister is unprecedented even by the standards of a country where loyalties have been split between countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia regionally and the United States, France and Russia globally. Hariri is due back in Lebanon on Wednesday for the first time since his resignation in a televised broadcast from Riyadh. Many believe Saudi Arabia made him quit and held him in Riyadh because he was not serving its objectives. Riyadh denies this. He will take part in independence day celebrations in Beirut after an intervention by Lebanon s former colonial power France led to him leaving Saudi Arabia for Paris last week. Can Lebanese people act the way they want? Are they free to take a decision and follow it? No they cannot. Because there are foreign powers who decide the way things go, said Antoine Mouawad, a 65-year old charity employee. We do not feel independent, said George al-Basha, 58, an unemployed barber in Beirut s Achrafiyeh district. For some Lebanese, the latest chapter in their turbulent history carries echoes of its independence in 1943, when France arrested the president and prime minister. International pressure and popular protests eventually forced their release. The parallel with Hariri s situation was drawn by one of Lebanon s major TV stations at the start of the crisis. Foreign states have often regarded tiny Lebanon as a theater for their rivalry, exploiting the fissures between Muslim and Christian sects who have also courted foreign intervention to help them in their struggles with each other. For years it was the tussle between Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon from 1982-2000, and Syria, which maintained a big military presence across much of the country from 1976-2005, that played out on Lebanese soil. The Palestine Liberation Organisation also controlled much of the country prior to 1982. Reflecting today s biggest Middle East rivalry, it is competition between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran that lies behind many accusations of foreign meddling. Critics of the heavily armed Lebanese Shi ite group Hezbollah view it as a tool of Iranian policy. Opponents of Hariri, who was thrust into politics by the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik, have similarly labeled him as an instrument of Saudi policy. But the demand for his return has united Lebanese across the political spectrum. Politicians close to Hariri say Riyadh held him against his will and forced his resignation to bust a coalition government that suited Hezbollah. Posters of Hariri demanding his return to Lebanon, even in areas dominated by his biggest political opponents, reflect widely felt anger at the perceived foreign intervention. The most important thing in a country like Lebanon is to understand that independence is a battle that does not stop, Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, a member of Hariri s Future Movement, said on Tuesday as he laid a wreath on Rafik Hariri s grave. Saad al-Hariri has also denied being held by Saudi Arabia, and in his resignation speech instead blamed Iran and Hezbollah for Lebanon s present difficulties. Wednesday s independence parade will be held near the central Martyrs Square, where reconstruction from Lebanon s 1975-90 civil war continues. In the nearby seaport are moored naval vessels belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL which was established after Israeli s first invasion in 1978, and expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. What we have seen in the last 10 days or two weeks, this is really crude intervention, said Sami Atallah of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, a thinktank in Beirut. When you have a prime minister who resigns in a capital not his own, it tells you that someone else is giving the orders. Syria s military presence in Lebanon was brought to an end in 2005 by a wave of popular protests and international pressure following the Hariri assassination. A U.N.-backed court has charged five Hezbollah members over the killing. The group denies any role. Lebanon is tied either to Saudi Arabia or to Iran. It doesn t have the ability to take actions by itself and politicians are to blame for this, said Nohad Chelhot, a retired business owner. | 1 |
21,330 | South Korea court appoints new defense team for ex-president Park | SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court on Wednesday assigned five state attorneys to defend disgraced former president Park Geun-hye, following her defense team s resignation last week in protest at the extension of her detention period until April next year. Park is standing trial accused of bribery, abuse of power and coercion, having been forced to step down in March after parliament voted to impeach her at the end of 2016. She has been held in detention since late March, although under South Korean law a defendant in a criminal trial at a lower court can be detained for a maximum of six months. Citing concerns that Park could destroy evidence if she was released, the Seoul Central District Court issued an additional arrest warrant on Oct. 13 in order to extend her detention by six months. The court s move prompted her entire defense team to quit in protest at a session on Oct. 16. Having lost her legal team, Park gave health reasons for her failure to attend a session three days later. After witnessing the collapse of the presumption of innocence and the principle of investigation without detention, we concluded that our efforts to defend Park will be meaningless, Park s former lawyer, Yoo Yeong-ha, told the court last week. The court s decision to issue an additional arrest warrant will remain as one of humiliating moments in South Korea s judiciary history, Yoo said. A Seoul Central District Court spokesman said five state attorneys had been appointed to take over Park s defense. Citing court sources, Yonhap news agency reported the new defense team would have to review about 120,000 pages of court documents to prepare for upcoming hearings. Park s supporters have asked a United Nations body to investigate whether Park was being prevented from getting proper medical treatment and possible violation of her human rights due to her detention. | 1 |
21,331 | WATCH: Trump’s Infantile Reference To His D*ck Size REALLY Shows Great Strength, Says Fox News | Fox News resident doctor, if, indeed, he can be called that, weighed in on the ancient, but immature reference that Trump made to the size of his penis after Marco Rubio made a crack about his tiny hands during a debate in Detroit, Michigan. Keith Ablow, who really has some questionable things to say on the air, let loose with the following verbal rubbish heap: When the small hands issue was raised during the debate that supposedly got the Clinton campaign very excited, they thought Man, he s off his game he wasn t off his game at all. Freud would have been standing up, like applauding. Standing ovation. Ablow the Blowhard went on with: To be able to address such an intensely personal issue and say, Listen, there s no problem in that department, to me, that showed an incredible degree of psychological strength. Or it showed an incredible immaturity something that s only been solidified as this election cycle has gone on. Trump could have, and really should have, just ignored the jab about his hands. Instead, he said: Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands if they are small, something else must be small.I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee you. Because self defense. He missed a golden opportunity to make Rubio look like an immature, tasteless idiot. As is so common with Trump, though, he slipped into insecure teenage-boy mode and bragged about his penis size, which is literally relevant to nothing. He proved he had even less class than Rubio when he did that.Watch Ablow s psychological gobbledy-gook below:Featured image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
21,332 | Gov. Cuomo Defends Not Endorsing Mayor de Blasio…Speaks Up On ‘Offensive Statues’ Of Christopher Columbus | NY Governor Andrew Cuomo made two shocking announcements regarding the Christopher Columbus Statues and about his decision not to endorse NY Mayor de Blasio.During an appearance at the West Indian Day Parade on Monday, Gov. Cuomo said statues of the famous Italian explorer should remain in the public square: The Christopher Columbus statue is really about honoring Italian Americans. I for one for obvious reasons happen to believe in the Italian-American heritage. I believe in the contribution Italian-Americans have made, just as I believe in celebrating the Caribbean and the Israel day parade. NO ENDORSEMENT? A BATTLE ROYAL BETWEEN TWO DEM HEAVYWEIGHTSGov. Andrew Cuomo said he isn t endorsing Mayor Bill de Blasio for re-election because he lives in Westchester. I don t vote in the primary election. I m a Westchester resident, he said. I m not voting in this election, so I don t have any primary endorsements at this time. The Democratic primary is Sept. 12, and de Blasio is heavily favored to win. The mayor endorsed Cuomo months before the Democratic primary in 2014.Cuomo s non-endorsement of de Blasio is just the latest example of sniping between the two Democratic Party power brokers. We didn t ask for his support, said de Blasio campaign spokeswoman Monica Klein. A FIRESTORM OF CRITICISM If this doesn t sink the mayor s reelection efforts, we don t know what will! When de Blasio announced he would form a committee of people who would decide which statues are offensive then take them down, we knew it was going to be a rough go for de Blasio. You don t tell the Italian community to take down Christopher Columbus statues! Cuomo said it best when he finally came out with a statement in support of keeping the statues: The Italian American contribution and the Italian American culture is a big part if what makes New York, New York, Cuomo said.There have been several protests regarding this move by de Blasio so he s now backtracking on his decision:Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito have come under a firestorm of criticism for mulling the removal of a Christopher Columbus statues including the 76-foot structure in Columbus Square as part of a review of offensive monuments. The mayor has backtracked following the outcry. There s no plan to remove the Columbus statue, said de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips.While the Italian explorer is revered for discovering the New World, Columbus detractors said he mistreated and enslaved native Caribbean populations and doesn t deserve to be extolled.CUOMO NEEDED TO FIRST PUT HIS WET FINGER INTO THE WIND TO SEE HOW OPINION WAS GOINGIt s the first time Cuomo has waded in on the controversy after declining comment last week. The sniping has happened before between the aides of both camps:De Blasio, Cuomo aides engage in nasty Twitter feudREAD MORE: NYP | 0 |
21,333 | Kerry confident U.S. and Philippines can 'work through' Duterte confusion | WASHINGTON/MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is confident after speaking to his Philippine counterpart that the two countries can “work through” a period of confusion caused by anti-American rhetoric from President Rodrigo Duterte, the State Department said on Monday. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry expressed concern in his conversation on Sunday with Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay about the tone of remarks by the Philippine president, who has sharply criticized President Barack Obama and talked of separation from Washington. At the same time, Kerry emphasized strong and stable ties between the longtime allies, while Kirby said Washington had seen no practical action by Manila to move away from those. Kerry’s conversation with Yasay came after Duterte provoked alarm last week by announcing a “separation” from the United States and realignment with China during a visit to Beijing. Although Duterte said later he did not really mean separation, his remarks added to concerns about the future of a U.S.-Philippine military cooperation pact seen as crucial to projecting U.S. power in Asia in the face of fast-rising China. Earlier on Monday, the most senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel, said in Manila that Washington remained a “trusted” ally to the Philippines and supported its blossoming ties with China. Russel was the first high-level visitor from Washington since Duterte’s remarks and Kirby said that both Russel and Kerry made clear the United States had every intention of continuing to meet its security commitments to the Philippines. “The tone and tenor of the discussions that they had ... and the assurances that the Philippine side gave to their commitment to keeping the relationship going was enough to lead the secretary and the assistant secretary to believe that we were going to be able to work through this,” Kirby told a regular news briefing. In his comments to reporters, Russel said he had candidly told Yasay that Manila’s friends were concerned about the high loss of life in Duterte’s campaign against drugs and reiterated the importance of due process. Russel said “a real climate of uncertainty about the Philippines’ intentions had created consternation in many countries,” including the United States. He said that worry extended beyond governments to corporate boardrooms and warned that it was “bad for business” in “a very competitive region.” Since Duterte took office on June 30, he has been scathing about U.S. criticism of his anti-drug campaign, in which about 2,300 people have been killed. But his ministers have repeatedly sought to soften his more outspoken remarks. Explaining Duterte’s “Goodbye America” remarks, Yasay said on Saturday the United States remained the “closest friend” of the Philippines but that Manila wanted to break away from a “mindset of dependency and subservience” and forge closer ties with other nations. Russel said Duterte himself had “already walked back” his remarks and added that Washington supported direct dialogue and negotiations between the Philippines and China. “We don’t want countries to have to choose between the U.S. and China,” he said. | 1 |
21,334 | WOW! SEAN SPICER Destroys BBC, New York Times Reporter…Calls Him Out For Reporting Specific “Fake News” Story…Walks Off Stage [VIDEO] | Here is the Gateway Pundit s real news account of Sean Spicer s brilliant press conference today: Jim Acosta smugly asked, Can you give me an example of FAKENEWS, Sean? That is when Spicer, never to be henpecked by the MSM, fired back: ABSOLUTELY JIM. I ll give you an example. Friday the president was having a great discussion at the G7 and someone from the BBC and then the New York times reTweeted that the President was being rude by disrespecting the Italian Prime Minister, when INFACT you all in every one of the meetings that you sit in watch the President with the one earpiece that has been used by other presidents. [ ] And that s the kind of thing that the BBC and then ultimately a reporter whose joining the New York Times push out and perpetuate with no apology! You re shaking your head Peter Peter Baker, the White House Correspondent for Carlos Slim s Blog, the New York Times, apparently disagreed with the facts.Peter Baker, the White House Correspondent for Carlos Slim s Blog, the New York Times, apparently disagreed with the facts.Sean: It s true. You did it. That is when things got more heated, and more hilarious, exposing the true hypocrisy of the MSM when Peter asked Spicer, Well don t reporters make mistakes? In that simple question, Peter Baker admitting that the BBC and NYT had lied to push an agenda, never apologized, and then tried to back track only after they were called out.Spicer was quick to confront that, That s just FAKE! Jim tried budding back in, exposing probably the most MSM hypocrisy of the entire briefing: You re making something out of ONE TWEET! he objected.OH, YOU MEAN LIKE EVERY SINGLE BRIEFING WHERE 80% OF IT IS SPENT DISCUSSING TRUMP S TWEETS???After MSM reporters kept asking for a more examples so they could try and backtrack further, Spicer said, I did not come with a list of things, [click here for list of fake news stories] before going over the Administration s recent accomplishments and storming out before the reporters could further attempt to bicker with him. | 0 |
21,335 | Senate to vote on Iran sanctions renewal this week | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate will vote this week on a bill that would renew sanctions on Iran for 10 years, Senator Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s Republican leader, said on Tuesday in remarks as he opened the daily session. If the extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) is passed as expected, it would be sent to the White House, where President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly last month for the extension of the ISA, first passed in 1996 to punish investments in Iran’s energy industry and deter the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The act will expire at the end of 2016 if not renewed. The Obama administration and other world powers reached an agreement last year in which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But members of Congress said they wanted the ISA to stay in effect to send a strong message that the United States will respond to provocations by Iran and give any U.S. president the ability to quickly reinstate sanctions if Tehran violated the nuclear agreement. White House officials have said they did not think the reinstatement was needed, now that the nuclear agreement has been in effect for almost a year. But they also have not raised concerns that a renewal would violate the deal. | 1 |
21,336 | British lawmakers debate banning Trump after Muslim comments | LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers on Monday debated a petition to ban U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from Britain over remarks on Muslims, but while describing his comments as “crazy” and “offensive”, most said the ban would go against free speech. Members of parliament said Trump should be allowed into Britain where his views could be challenged, that a ban would give him more publicity or that it was not for Britain to get involved in U.S. affairs. Trump caused outrage last month with his comments that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States. He spoke after 14 people died in a shooting spree in California by two Muslims whom the FBI said had been radicalized. His comments prompted more than half a million Britons to sign a petition calling for him to be barred from entering the country, where he has business interests. The three-hour debate saw lawmakers from all sides criticize Trump’s comments. While it was not followed by a vote, many more lawmakers spoke against a ban than for it. “I want to see Donald Trump come to this country ... I want him to get a sense of the fury and the frustration with his xenophobic remarks,” said Gavin Robinson, a lawmaker from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. Only interior minister Theresa May can issue an order banning entry into Britain and Prime Minister David Cameron has said while Trump’s comments were “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”, he does not back the idea of barring him. Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said the government did not comment on who it was considering for exclusion but said “a frank and open exchange of views” was the most effective way to influence Trump. “The U.S. remains our most important bilateral partner. It is in the UK’s interests that we engage all presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican, even though we may disagree profoundly on important issues,” he said. “I believe it is for the American people to hold him to account. It is bad politics ... to intervene in the electoral processes of other countries,” said Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat. Some spoke passionately in favor of banning Trump however, saying he should not be treated differently from others who have been banned for similar views. “Just think what would happen in the current climate if he came ... and preached that message of divisive hate,” said Jack Dromey, an opposition Labour Party spokesman on home affairs. “To have someone come to our shores who demonizes all of the Muslim community would be fundamentally wrong and would undermine the safety and security of our citizens and that is not a risk I am prepared to take ... I don’t think Donald Trump should be allowed within a 1,000 miles of our shore.” Trump has threatened to cancel over 700 million pounds ($1 billion) of planned investments in golf courses in Scotland if he is banned. Trump International Golf Links in Scotland said in a statement: “It is absurd that valuable parliamentary time is being wasted debating a matter raised as part of the American presidential election.” (Additional reporting by Stephen Addison, Editing by Michael Holden and Janet Lawrence) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 |
21,337 | Mnuchin says trade focus with China is issue specific | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s approach to improving its economic relationship with China prioritizes specific issues rather than a bilateral investment agreement. “I think what we’re looking for is, opposed to just negotiating a large agreement, we’re looking to negotiate very specific issues that deal with market issues today, deal with market fairness today, deal with opening their markets... that’s really our focus. Once we make progress on that we can turn to the bilateral investment agreement,” Mnuchin said at an event held at the U.S.-China Business Council in Washington. | 1 |
21,338 | More Californians dreaming of a country without Trump: poll | SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The election of Republican businessman Donald Trump as president of the United States has some Californians dreaming - of their own country. One in every three California residents supports the most populous U.S. state’s peaceful withdrawal from the union, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, many of them Democrats strongly opposed to Trump’s ascension to the country’s highest office. The 32 percent support rate is sharply higher than the last time the poll asked Californians about secession, in 2014, when one-in-five or 20 percent favored it around the time Scotland held its independence referendum and voted to remain in the United Kingdom. California also far surpasses the national average favoring secession, which stood at 22 percent, down from 24 percent in 2014. The poll surveyed 500 Californians among more than 14,000 adults nationwide from Dec. 6 to Jan. 19 and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of one percentage point nationally and five percentage points in California. The idea of secession is largely a settled matter in the United States, though the impulse to break away carries on in some corners of the country, most notably in Texas. While interest has remained about the same nationwide, it has found more favor in California and the concept has even earned a catchy name - “Calexit.” “I don’t think it’s likely to happen, but if things get really bad it could be an option,” said Stephen Miller, 70, a retired transportation planner who lives in Sacramento and told pollsters he “tended to support” secession. During the campaign, Trump alienated many in the Democratic-leaning state with his promises to crack down on illegal immigration, threats of creating a Muslim registry, remarks women found offensive and vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “There’s such hostility towards Trump that many citizens believe it would be smarter to leave than fight,” said Democratic political consultant Steve Maviglio, who last year ran the campaign against a proposed ballot initiative to break California into six states. ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS With 39 million residents and the sixth-largest economy in the world, California is already a nation-state, Maviglio said. In November’s election, the state broke nearly two-to-one in favor of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. In practice, secession is highly unlikely, facing political, legal and possibly even military obstacles, considering that the United States fought the Civil War over the secession of the South, Maviglio and others said. Trump’s election gave a huge boost to the quixotic campaign to remove California from the United States called Yes California, run by a former conservative turned progressive who now lives in Russia. Dubbed “Calexit” by pundits comparing the effort to “Brexit” - Britain’s vote to withdraw from the European Union - Yes California’s email list jumped from fewer than 2,500 before the election to 115,069 currently, the group’s president, Louis Marinelli, said in a telephone interview. Marinelli, who moved to Yekaterinburg, about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) east of Moscow, in September and has lived in Russia on and off for several years, said he became disenchanted with the United States after difficulties arose with the immigration process for his Russian-born wife. On Friday, activists from the group waved signs saying “California out of the United States” and “U.S. out of California” at anti-Trump protests in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Marinelli said. They have requested approval from the state to begin collecting signatures for a pro-secession ballot initiative. In Lodi, California, Democratic party activist Bruce Rubly, who told Reuters/Ipsos pollsters that he “strongly supported” California secession, said he thinks it could happen if Trump and the Republicans who dominate the U.S. Congress impose conservative policies on such issues as the environment, immigration and marijuana legalization. “There’s a whole series of things that are going to get Californians riled up,” said Rubly, 68. “And if he pushes those buttons in the wrong way, there’s going to be hell to pay.” | 1 |
21,339 | Happy Tears: Young Girl Heartbroken Over Obama Leaving Finally Meets Her Hero (VIDEO) | For many of us, electing President Obama into office was an amazing thing to be a part of, spectacular to witness, and will go down in history. However, what if you were born with this already amazing president in office where you know no difference. You wouldn t be able to comprehend a world without him as president. Most of us know that presidents come and go every four to eight years, but what if you re only six and Obama is all you know? It could end up be emotionally traumatic, which is exactly what happened with young Kameria whose video regarding Obama leaving, and her subsequent letter went viral.Well, guess what? President Obama saw Kameria s video and received her letter and she just got to meet her hero in person.In one of the most heartwarming meet and greets ever, please witness Kameria meeting President Obama. Grab your tissues. // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]> I don t want you to leave the White House. I want to meet you before you leave the White House. First grader Kameria in her letter to President Obama. This week, her wish came true.Posted by The White House on Tuesday, March 29, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
21,340 | Russia's Putin accuses U.S. of failing nuclear, chemical weapons treaties obligations | SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Washington of not fulfilling its obligations under nuclear and chemical weapons treaties. Putin said that despite calls to cooperate on global issues, the United States had demonstrated a selfishness that had seen Russia s national interests ignored in the nuclear sphere. | 1 |
21,341 | Trump's eldest son questioned in Congress about Russia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., declined to discuss with lawmakers on Wednesday a conversation he had with his father about emails related to a June 2016 meeting he attended with Trump associates and Russians, a congressional panel member said. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee investigating allegations of Russian interference in last year’s U.S. election, said Trump Jr. answered the “overwhelming majority” of questions from committee members in his hours of testimony. But Trump Jr. claimed attorney-client privilege in declining to respond to queries about that discussion with his father because a lawyer was in the room when it took place. The discussion between then-Republican candidate Trump and his son took place after the emails became public, Schiff said. Trump Jr. released the emails in July. “In my view there is no attorney-client privilege that protects a discussion between father and son,” Schiff told reporters after the closed-door testimony had ended. “We will be following up with his counsel,” Schiff said. Representative Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the investigation, said Trump Jr. had answered all of his questions. “Mr Trump was cooperative at all times,” Conaway said. Trump Jr. arrived and left without being seen by reporters. Lawmakers said they want to question him about a meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York at which he had said he hoped to get information about the “fitness, character and qualifications” of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who was his father’s presidential election opponent. It was at least the second time Trump Jr. has testified to a congressional committee investigating any Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with Moscow by the Trump campaign. He arrived shortly before 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) and was questioned for most of the next eight hours by members of the intelligence panel. A person familiar with knowledge of Trump Jr’s testimony said Trump had said repeatedly he did not remember things he was asked about, including some details about information provided by Russians during the Trump Tower meeting. Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also investigating. He has announced the first charges of Trump associates, and Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty to lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. The House intelligence panel also released on Wednesday a transcript of testimony last week of Erik Prince, a Trump supporter and founder of the Blackwater military contractor. A focus of that testimony was a report that Prince tried to set up a “back channel” for communications between Trump associates and Russia. Prince denied such a plan. Trump Jr.’s appearance coincided with criticism of the Russia probes from some of his father’s fellow Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and accuse investigators of bias against Trump. Other lawmakers, Republicans as well as Democrats, say the goal of the investigations is to guarantee the integrity of U.S. elections, not to target Trump and his associates. Trump Jr., like his father, denies collusion with Russia. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 campaign to boost Trump’s chances of defeating Clinton. Moscow denies any such effort. Some Republicans criticized Mueller, the FBI and the Department of Justice at a news conference on Wednesday, ahead of congressional testimony on Thursday by the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray. Republican House members accused the Justice Department and the FBI of bias against the president and having been too easy on Clinton during the investigation of her use of a private email server while leading the State Department. However, Clinton has made no secret of her belief that then-FBI Director James Comey’s announcement just before the election that the bureau was investigating potential new evidence in the lengthy email probe cost her the White House. Also on Wednesday, Representative Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced a hearing next week with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, citing “serious concerns” about reports on the political motives of staff on Mueller’s team. | 1 |
21,342 | AWESOME! DONALD TRUMP Slams Hillary Hecklers At Detroit Speech With The Best Line Ever! [Video] | The Hillary Campaign sent in numerous hecklers and protesters today to disrupt Donald Trump s economic speech in Detroit. Democrats think Detroit is just fine. After about the 10th protester Donald Trump mocked the Hillary hecklers,. | 0 |
21,343 | O’Malley Comes Out Swinging At DNC: ‘To Hell With Trump’s American Nightmare’ (VIDEO) | Former Maryland Gov. Martin O Malley came out swinging at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. He denounced Donald Trump as a bully and a racist who makes his followers fearful of tomorrow and feeds off of a deep-seated and dangerous anger. I say to hell with Trump s American nightmare, O Malley said. We believe in the American Dream. O Malley praised Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, saying they were as tough as they come. He compared the Democratic ticket with the Republican nominee, who turns anger into a political weapon. Anger never fed a hungry child, did it? Anger never protected a family s home or sent a kid to college. Anger never built a great republic, said O Malley.O Malley slammed Trump for his insistence that wages are too high, a stance the billionaire candidate did an about face on today even though he had argued vehemently against a minimum wage hike during a Republican presidential debate in November. Wages are too high? O Maller asked incredulously. Really Donald? I ll tell you what s too high. College tuition is too high. I ll tell you what s too high. The cost of childcare, that s too high. The number of American children who live in poverty, that s too high. Donald Trump s opinion of himself way, way too high, O Malley quipped.The former governor then ripped apart Trump s ridiculous assertion that the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese. I ll tell you what: If the Chinese were really capable of designing some kind of diabolical farce to hurt America, they wouldn t invent global warming, he said. They d invent Donald Trump. O Malley then said that Trump has been a bully his whole life. But here s what I learned on playgrounds in Catholic school: all bullies are cowards in disguise, O Malley said. But unlike that immigrant-bashing carnival barker Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton actually knows the enduring symbol of America is not a barbed wire fence, he remarked. It is the Statue of Liberty. Watch Martin O Malley bash the billionaire bully at the DNC here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THdw8sw3LO4]Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
21,344 | Brazilian Congressional committee votes to ban all abortions | BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Congressional committee led by Evangelical Christians has voted to ban abortion in Brazil in all situations, including cases of rape and where the mother s life is in danger. The decision was voted 18-1 late on Wednesday by a special committee considering a constitutional amendment to extend maternity leave for mothers of premature babies. The single vote against the ban was cast by the only woman present during the session, Erika Kokay of the Workers Party, who called the decision a maneuver by the committee s pro-life Evangelical majority. Abortion is illegal in predominantly Catholic Brazil except when the pregnancy is the result of a rape or puts the mother s life at risk. In 2012, the Supreme Court authorized the abortion on fetuses with anencephaly. More than one million abortions are carried out at clandestine clinics each year in Brazil and thousands of women end up in hospital as a result of botched procedures, according to government estimates. But even the limited circumstances where abortions are legal have been targeted by a growing Evangelical caucus in Congress that has led to a conservative trend in lawmaking on social issues. To defend abortion, like it or not, is a Satanic, diabolical and destructive act, Evangelical Congressman Pastor Eurico told the committee, brandishing a replica of a 12-week-old fetus. The move to criminalize all cases of abortion would require supermajorities, or two-thirds of the votes in both chambers of Congress, as it is part of a constitutional amendment. The measure could clear those hurdles as part of a trade-off for other legislation the governing coalition seeks to pass, such as pension reform needed to plug a gaping budget deficit. | 1 |
21,345 | Donald Trump Gets Schlonged By His Own Ghost Writer, Who Refuses To Vote For Him (AUDIO) | When Donald Trump wrote a book in 2000, he didn t think it would come back to bite him on the ass.But that book, and the man who actually wrote it, have surfaced to draw a picture of a Donald Trump who is doing the total opposite of what he said sixteen years ago.Dave Shiflett did the heavy lifting on Trump s book The America We Deserve, and during an appearance on Fox News Radio with Alan Colmes, the ghost writer slammed the Republican presidential wannabe for being a total asshole who has completely contradicted himself in an attempt to become the GOP nominee. I used to think it was my first work of fiction, Shiflett said of the book before remarking that it s hard to know where Trump stands on anything because he s a thematic person.Shiflett went on to describe how Trump used to hold very progressive views such as supporting single-payer healthcare and tax increases on the wealthy. He also mentioned how Trump ironically used to criticize Pat Buchanan for saying too many outrageous and controversial things to be considered a serious candidate for the presidency. In short, Trump once believed that being outrageous and controversial automatically disqualifies someone from being commander-in-chief, which means he would be disqualified himself since he has clearly adopted Pat Buchanan s style.And despite being Trump s ghost writer, there is no way in hell that Shiflett is voting for him.In the beginning of his campaign, Trump attacked Senator John McCain for being a POW during the Vietnam War, a war that Trump avoided by dodging the draft. McCain was captured after being shot down by enemy forces and he was then brutally tortured to the point where he can no longer lift his arms over his head. Shiflett has been angry about Trump s treatment of McCain ever since, and for good reason. I ll tell you what really bugs me about him, where it really ripped it with me and Trump was the stuff he said about McCain. McCain suffered severely, and I had a son who did two tours in Middle East during the last war and we had kids from here who went over there and some of them got hurt. They ain t gonna be the same. Here s the audio via Buzzfeed:Sounds like Trump s criticism of McCain was the last straw for Shiflett, as it probably was for many Americans. The fact is that John McCain is a war hero who sacrificed for his country, something that Donald Trump refused to do when he had the same opportunity to fight during the war. Instead, Trump chose to dodge the draft through multiple deferments, including a questionable medical deferment.Also, the fact that Donald Trump is using the Pat Buchanan playbook in his run for president is scary, especially since it appears to actually be working this time around 24 years after Americans rejected it when Buchanan sought the Republican nomination in 1992. This just shows how racist and sexist the Republican Party has become over the last two and a half decades.Featured Image: YouTube | 0 |
21,346 | CNN TRIES TO Push FAKE Story About Size Of New England Patriots’ Crowd At White House…PATRIOTS Call Them Out For Lying! | Here s CNN s tweet with pictures comparing Obama s Super Bowl event to President Trump s:Photos on social media appear to show a difference in the New England Patriots' turnout at the White House vs. 2015 https://t.co/cZgEjSCV6J pic.twitter.com/WW5mcd2MWJ CNN (@CNN) April 20, 2017Once again, CNN was busted pushing fake news about the number of Patriots who came to the White House to be honored by Trump. The Patriots actually busted them with this tweet responding to CNN from the New England Patriots Twitter account, which stated: These photos lack context. Facts: In 2015, over 40 football staff were on the stairs. In 2017, they were seated on the South Lawn. These photos lack context. Facts: In 2015, over 40 football staff were on the stairs. In 2017, they were seated on the South Lawn. https://t.co/iIYtV0hR6Y New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017The New England Patriots followed it up with another that clarified the crowd size with President Trump at the White house today vs. previous Super Bowl celebrations with the Patriots at the White House. The picture they used this time was one of George W. Bush with the Patriots. Comparable photos: The last time the #Patriots won two Super Bowls in three years, 36 players visited the White House. Today, we had 34. pic.twitter.com/Aslvf1RaXU New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017Twitter user Tennessee GOP showed CNN another picture of the New England Patriots that was taken with the entire group who traveled to the White House to be honored by President Trump. Tennessee GOP then told CNN to delete your account labeling CNN s latest scam #PhotoGatehttps://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/854865906165587968CNN for future reference, when the President of the United States is one of the closest friends of the New England Patriots owner, it s probably not a good idea to try to embarrass him by suggesting the Patriots didn t want to be there. | 0 |
21,347 | Lockheed Martin wins $582 million U.S. defense contract: Pentagon | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp is being awarded a U.S. defense contract worth up to $582 million for delivery of F-35 spares, the Pentagon said on Friday. | 1 |
21,348 | EU questions Russia's 2018 vote after Navalny decision | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Russian authorities decision to bar opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running in next year s presidential election raises questions about the vote, the European Union s foreign service said in a statement on Tuesday. The central election commission said on Monday Navalny was not eligible to run in the March 18 election due to a suspended prison sentence. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated. The decision casts a serious doubt on political pluralism in Russia and the prospect of democratic elections next year, the EU s External Action Service, or EEAS, said in a statement. Politically-motivated charges should not be used against political participation, the EEAS said. It urged the Russian authorities to ensure that there is a level playing field in the presidential vote in March and in all other votes. The EEAS said that Navalny was denied the right to a fair trial in his prosecution in 2013, according to the European Court of Human Rights, to which Russia is a signatory. Polls show President Vladimir Putin is on course to be comfortably re-elected, meaning he could remain in power until2024. Navalny has been jailed three times this year and charged with breaking the law by organizing public meetings and rallies. The European External Action Service (EEAS), set up in 2009, runs a network of diplomats around the globe, drafts policy papers for EU foreign ministers and is led by the EU s top diplomat Federica Mogherini, who visited Moscow in April this year. | 1 |
21,349 | Despite apology, Indonesia asks why U.S. blocked military chief's travel | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia said on Monday it had made urgent requests for an explanation why its military chief was barred from traveling to the United States, as anger simmered in the world s largest Muslim-majority country over the diplomatic incident. Armed forces commander General Gatot Nurmantyo was stopped on Saturday from boarding an Emirates flight to the United States, despite having a visa and an official invitation to a conference from his counterpart, the chairman of the U.S joint chiefs of staff, General Joseph Dunford. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she had accepted an official apology from the deputy U.S. ambassador in Jakarta but awaited a detailed explanation. We conveyed that we still await clarification, an explanation why this happened, Marsudi told reporters after meeting the U.S. envoy. There is a sense of urgency to this that we have conveyed to them, she said, adding that U.S. officials were trying to coordinate with relevant authorities in the U.S. to find out what really happened. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis apologized for the incident to his Indonesian counterpart, Ryamizard Ryacudu, on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in the Philippines, and the two were photographed shaking hands. I can confirm that he did a pull-aside with the Indonesian minister and expressed regret and apologized for the inconvenience, Captain Jeff Davis, a spokesman for Mattis, told Reuters. In a statement, the U.S. embassy in Jakarta said: This issue has been resolved. There is no restriction on General Gatot s travel and we look forward to welcoming (him) to the United States. Indonesia generally enjoys good ties with the United States. But relations have sometimes been strained over U.S. resource companies operating in Indonesia or alleged rights abuses involving Indonesia s military. It was not immediately clear whether Nurmantyo, who has made official visits to the United States before, would attend the conference as scheduled on Monday and Tuesday. In Washington, U.S. Homeland Security Department spokesman Dave Lapan said the U.S. embassy in Jakarta had told Nurmantyo s office that he might be delayed in boarding his flight because of unspecified U.S. security protocols. Lapan said the U.S. government was unable to resolve the problem before Nurmantyo arrived at the airport and he was denied boarding. The general was eventually cleared and booked on another flight but he chose not to travel, Lapan added. The U.S. government is dedicated to ensuring that all persons traveling to the United States are screened and properly vetted. We regret that the passenger and his wife were inconvenienced, Lapan said in an emailed statement. The spokesman declined to respond to a question about the security protocols that led to Nurmantyo being denied boarding, saying: We re not able to discuss the specifics of individual cases. Some Indonesians reacted indignantly to the incident, putting up banners around the capital calling for the U.S. ambassador to be expelled and for Americans to be sent home . Former Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Dino Patti Djalal called for a stronger government reaction. The government should not be asking for a clarification, but rather conveying a protest to the U.S. side, he said on Twitter. Nurmantyo has frequently courted controversy in Indonesia over what analysts perceive to be his political ambitions. He has been accused of whipping up nationalist sentiment by promoting the notion that Indonesia is besieged by proxy wars waged by foreign states looking to undermine the country. This month, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the armed forces should stay out of politics and ensure their loyalty was only to the state and the government - a statement many believed referred to Nurmantyo s actions. Nurmantyo is due to retire next March and many expect him to run for vice president or even president in 2019. | 1 |
21,350 | DEMOCRATS CAUGHT Paying Halfway House Patients $300 To Vote For Hillary [VIDEO] | A lawless party whose end always justifies the means Why wouldn t everyone want another lawless President residing over our nation from a party with no morals or respect for the laws of our nation?https://twitter.com/WDFx2EU7/status/792465012585406464 | 0 |
21,351 | Saudi-led air strike kills 26 people in Yemen: medics | DUBAI (Reuters) - An air strike by a Saudi-led military coalition killed 26 people at a hotel and an adjoining market in Yemen s northern Saadah province on Wednesday, according to medics and a Reuters witness. The attack, which struck the Sahar district of the vast territory that borders Saudi Arabia, demolished the budget hotel and reduced market stalls outside to a heap of twisted sheet metal. Medics retrieved corpses from the rubble. The military alliance led by Saudi Arabia has launched thousands of air strikes against Yemen s armed Houthi movement, which hails from Saadah and now controls much of the country. The coalition said in a statement carried on state news agency SPA that it was looking into media reports of the strike and would release its findings after a comprehensive review. The 2-1/2 year war effort has yet to achieve its goal of restoring to power the internationally recognized government, but the conflict has unleashed one of the world s worst humanitarian crises and killed at least 10,000 people. Saudi Arabia and its allies, which receive logistical and intelligence help from the United States, accuse the Houthis of being a proxy of Iran. The Houthi group denies those charges and says it is conducting a patriotic resistance against outside aggressors in thrall to the West. | 1 |
21,352 | Pentagon identifying new areas to pressure Iran, reviewing plans | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it was identifying new areas where it could work with allies to put pressure on Iran in support of President Donald Trump s new strategy, which promises a far more confrontational approach to Tehran. Trump struck a blow against the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement on Friday in defiance of other world powers, choosing not to certify that Tehran is complying with the deal and warning he might ultimately terminate it. He also promised to address Iran more broadly, including its support for extremist groups in the Middle East. Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Defense Department spokesman, told Reuters the Pentagon was assessing the positioning of its forces as well as planning but offered few details. We are identifying new areas where we will work with allies to put pressure on the Iranian regime, neutralize its destabilizing influences, and constrain its aggressive power projection, particularly its support for terrorist groups and militants, he said. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said his first goal would to talk with U.S. allies in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere to gain a shared understanding of Iran s actions. Certainly we intend to dissuade them from shipping arms into places like Yemen and explosives into Bahrain and the other things they do with their surrogates, like Lebanese Hezbollah, Mattis said. The U.S. military has long been a strident critic of Iran, accusing it directly and indirectly of trying to undermine the United States and its allies, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The tensions escalated in recent months in Syria, where American pilots shot down two Iranian-made drones this summer. Still, a more aggressive approach to Iran could trigger a backlash from Iran s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and forces that it backs. That includes in Iraq, where U.S. troops are fighting Islamic State and trying to keep their distance from Shi ite militia aligned with Iran. U.S. forces in Iraq are quite exposed, and coalition forces are quite exposed to the risk of attack if Iranian elements so choose, said Jennifer Cafarella, lead intelligence planner at the Institute for the Study of War, a think-tank in Washington. The U.S. military is analyzing an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, that killed an American soldier in Iraq this month. The reappearance of the device, which Iran-backed Shi ite militia routinely used to target American troops in Iraq before their withdrawal in 2011, has startled U.S. officials. CIA Director Mike Pompeo noted the device was detonated in an area controlled by a militia backed by Tehran. We do not have evidence of a direct link to Iran, but we are closely examining this tragic incident, Pompeo said on Wednesday. Cafarella said the killing of the U.S. soldier may have been a warning from Iran. I think it is possible that the Iranians have been attempting to signal their commitment to retaliate against the U.S. strategy, she said. Mattis said the United States was watching for any new provocations from Iran. Asked whether he thought Tehran might retaliate, he said: It would be ill advised for them to attack us. Reuters has previously reported that options to increase pressure on Iran include more aggressive U.S. interceptions of Iranian arms shipments, such as those to Houthi rebels in Yemen, It could also direct U.S. naval forces to react more forcefully when harassed by armed IRGC speed boats. The Pentagon on Friday detailed a series of major concern about Iran, including its ballistic missile development and cyber attacks against the United States and U.S. allies. The Pentagon promised to review U.S. security cooperation activities with allies in the region, something that could lead to alterations in U.S. arms sales and military exercises. It also signaled a willingness to re-examine the positioning of the roughly 70,000 American troops the Pentagon says are stationed in the Middle East. Still, Mattis said: Right now we are not changing our posture. | 1 |
21,353 | Trump Epically Owned Himself In A Tweet And The Internet Is Having Fun With It | Donald Trump tweets out a number of terrible opinions on a daily basis so it takes an especially boneheaded post to get people s attention. On Friday, Trump delivered with a gloriously self-indulgent tweet meant to show that he could beat Hillary Clinton in November and instead proved the exact opposite.Oops.THANK YOU! #AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/qp07UfnnjM Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2016For those of us with a rudimentary understanding of how numbers work, the poll numbers for the question If the election for President were held today, for whom would you vote? show that more people chose Hillary Clinton than did Trump. In a democracy, that s known as losing. In Trump s head, it was a crushing victory. He even thanked, er, someone (the pollsters? the voters? OAN?) for the exciting news that he is down.Aside from the obvious fact that this poll shows Trump losing, critics were quick to point out that there were a number of other hilariously stupid things at play here.For starters, this poll conducted by Fox News knockoff One America News Network was done over a month ago Bro, not only are you losing, but this is from May 10th https://t.co/ll4CF3rgea Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) June 17, 2016But also, whoever edited the graphic for Trump s tweet must have known it didn t look good because they photoshopped Trump above Clinton, as if just the positioning might make people forget the numbers. Here s the original:It s also possible that Trump is focusing on a month-old poll that shows him down by 2 points, because the news since then has been dismal. In more recent polls, Clinton is pulling away and there is talk among both conservative and liberal pollsters that this election could very well turn into a complete rout. As Clinton consolidates the Democratic Party and gets to turn her attention to the general election, her poll numbers have been slowly climbing. Trump s on the other hand are in absolute freefall In recent days, Trump has congratulated himself after a mass shooting, accused President Obama of working with ISIS, banned a major newspaper from covering his campaign, and attempted to turn gay people against Muslims. If he thought those particularly egregious actions would help him win in November, he apparently underestimated the American people.So maybe Trump should consider taking Clinton s free advice.Delete your account. https://t.co/Oa92sncRQY Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2016Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images | 0 |
21,354 | Republican Gov Wrecked Economy So Bad He’s Started Censoring Reports | Kansas is bleeding money and jobs and Governor Sam Brownback doesn t want the people to know how devastating his economic policies have been.In 2011, the Tea Party governor was so confident that his economic policy of massive tax cuts for the wealthy and reduced spending would turn Kansas into an economic powerhouse that he created a special group charged with writing reports on the results.But Brownback s experiment has failed so spectacularly that the state is billions of dollars in debt, education funding is suffering, and job growth is pathetic. So pathetic that Kansas is losing more jobs than it has gained.In January, Brownback couldn t handle a report put together by his group that admitted Kansas sometimes was faring worse than it had before Brownback became governor, so he made every effort to cover it up.In other words, he censored it because his group was supposed to report that the economy is soaring, not falling to the ground like a rock.Kansas Center for Economic Growth executive director Heidi Holliday blasted Brownback for killing the report. He specifically asked the council to hold him accountable through rigorous performance metrics. Five years later, the metrics clearly show his tax experiment has failed while business leaders and local chambers of commerce across the state openly ask him to change course. In fact, Brownback is so desperate to keep the people of Kansas from calling for tarring and feathering him in a public square that he is turning to the federal government. Instead of writing their own independent reports, the group is now restricted to getting their information from the Federal Reserve, which conservatives often claim is responsible whenever economic issues occur.That particularly surprised Kansas House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs, who was quick to point out the irony. The missed revenue marks, missed job reports, missed projections shed light on his failed policies. I kind of find it a little ironic they chose to go to a federal government report after they blamed President Obama for our economic problems. Governor Brownback s economic experiment is a complete failure and a joke. Kansas economy is now in shambles and Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. They believed that by implementing an extreme conservative fiscal policy without interference from Democrats that they would prove trickle-down economics as a total success. Instead, it failed miserably and now they want to censor any results from being reported.By all rights, Brownback should have ousted by voters in 2014. But now Kansas is stuck with him and his failed policies for at least another two years. Meanwhile, the wealthy are laughing all the way to the bank.Featured image via Liberalbias.com | 0 |
21,355 | Trump Freaks Out, Ends Interview When Reporter Asks Him To Prove Obama Wiretap Accusation (VIDEO) | In an unreal feat, Trump managed to have two humiliating interviews come out on the same day. While much of the country (and indeed, the world) was laughing at Trump for his insane screed about the Civil War, CBS News released their own interview with Trump which showed the president descending into sheer madness when pressed to support his (false) claim that President Obama wiretapped him. For those worried about the mental stability of the person currently within arm s reach of America s nuclear arsenal, it was perhaps the more disturbing of the two interviews.You can almost hear Trump s staffers groan when he, out of nowhere, brings up the wiretap claims. Sensing a moment to finally press Trump on these unsubstantiated smears of his predecessor, CBS s John Dickerson asks Trump pointblank whether he still stands by the accusations that Obama is a bad and sick guy who had committed felonies on par with Nixon s Watergate scandal. Since making the claims, Trump s arguments have been repeatedly debunked and zero evidence to support him has emerged. Has he changed his mind?Just the opposite. He appears to have become even more delusional: I think our side s been proven very strongly and everybody s talking about it and frankly, it should be discussed. Trump added, We should find out what the hell is going on. Dickerson: I m asking you because you don t want it to be fake news. I want to hear it from President Trump. Trump: You don t have to ask me. You don t have to ask me. Dickerson: Why not? Trump: Because I have my own opinions, you can have your own opinions. Dickerson points out that Trump s own opinions are kind of important because he s the president of the United States. At this point, Trump shuts down completely, ending the interview and running to his desk. The last shot the camera captures is Trump visibly fuming. Facts, it seems, irritate him.Featured image via CBS News | 0 |
21,356 | Kurdistan rejects Iraq's demand to hand over airports, Baghdad readies air ban | ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - The Kurdistan Regional Government on Wednesday rejected an Iraqi government ultimatum to hand control of its international airports to Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, reacting to the independence referendum held by the autonomous Kurdish government on Monday, had told the KRG to hand over control of Erbil and Sulaimaniya airports or else he would suspend direct international flights to and from Kurdistan on Friday. But KRG Transport Minister Mowlud Murad told a news conference in the Kurdish capital Erbil, said keeping control of the airports and keeping direct flights to Erbil was needed for Kurdish authorities and security forces as part of the fight against Islamic State militants. He expressed the hope that the crisis could be resolved by Friday as it would also hurt Kurdistan s economy. The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority has sent a notice to foreign airlines companies telling them that international flights to Erbil and Sulaimaniya will be suspended at 1500 GMT (11.00 a.m. ET) and only domestic flights will be allowed. Abadi on Tuesday said the flights will be halted at 3:00 p.m., or 1200 GMT. Iran said last week it was stopping flights to Kurdistan at the request of the Iraqi government. Lebanon s Middle East Airlines is suspending its daily flight to Erbil, which has a sizeable Lebanese community, from Friday. Among other airlines flying to Erbil are FlyDubai, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines and Austrian. | 1 |
21,357 | Factbox: Trump to meet with Linda McMahon, Gen. John Kelly, U.S. prosecutor | (Reuters) - U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump holds more meetings on Wednesday as he forms his administration before taking over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20. Trump’s transition team said he was scheduled to meet with the following people: * former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc CEO and former U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut * U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 * former Georgia governor and member of the Bipartisan Policy Center * U.S. senator from Indiana * retired Marine Corps general and former commander of U.S. Southern Command | 1 |
21,358 | IT’S TRUMP OR…It’s The End Of America | The election is Tuesday. So it s time to make my final case for Donald J. Trump. My case is pretty simple it s Trump or it s the end of America.I was raised as a middle-class kid in the greatest country in world history. A country built around mobility, opportunity and economic freedom. A country that allowed this son of a butcher to become a successful business owner, media personality, best-selling author and TV star and producer. Only in America.I was taught by my wonderful, patriotic, true red, white and blue, salt-of-the-earth, American parents that certain specific things made America great. Here they are:Faith in God, prayer, love of country, family, a belief in American exceptionalism, capitalism, Judeo-Christian values, the Constitution, limited government, personal responsibility, economic freedom, the military and police. Well don t look now. But everything from that list above everything we believe in everything that made America great has been under full-scale assault for eight long years from multiple directions. And Hillary is here to finish the job. She already publicly stated she wants to be Obama s third term.The truth is we either send a strong message heard around the world and elect Trump, or the America we know and love is gone. Forever.Because if Trump doesn t win, no other Republican will ever be elected president again. President Hillary Clinton will make sure of that. Hillary will open the borders like never before to let in millions of illegal aliens who have no love for anything that made America great.Foreigners come here not out of a love for America, but for a love of the cradle-to-grave welfare state that America has become. Eighty percent of them (or higher) will vote Democrat forever more to keep the welfare checks coming. That s Hillary s plan.Don t believe me? See California. No Republican will ever again be elected to statewide office. This was the exact formula that destroyed California. Open the borders, let in millions of foreigners, make them dependent on government welfare checks and then train them to vote Democrat to keep the handouts coming.It worked!That was the experiment. Now Democrats are onto Plan B to turn the rest of America into California.Hillary will open the borders and tie the hands of border agents in order to flood the country with millions of new illegals. Hillary will legalize the 12 million to 15 million or so already here and give them the right to vote.Hillary will also enthusiastically import millions of Muslim refugees who have no love for America, capitalism, the Constitution, or certainly Judeo-Christian values. Some will become terrorists, almost all will require cradle-to-grave welfare. Then it s over for America.So vote. Drag your friends to the polls. Make phone calls to your entire address book. Leave no stone unturned.Think of the U.S. Supreme Court.Think of open borders.Think of your children s and grandchildren s future.Then vote for Trump like it s Trump, or the end of America.Because it is.Wayne Allyn Root is a best-selling author and host of WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now. His R-J columns run Wednesdays and Sundays. | 0 |
21,359 | Scotland may give Labour another chance at British power | GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) - Britain s opposition Labour Party is poised for a resurgence in Glasgow, raising its hopes that a recovery from a disastrous election performance in Scotland two years ago can help its socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn win power in London. A Labour stronghold for decades until it rejected the party in 2015 in favor of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), Scotland s largest city is showing signs of returning to its political roots. With a 41.5 percent share of the overall British vote in recent opinion polling, Corbyn sees himself positioned to form a government if Prime Minister Theresa May s divided Conservatives falter over Britain s exit from the European Union. Winning back some of Scotland s 59 parliamentary seats is key to his plan. With this in mind, Corbyn toured target Scottish constituencies after June s national election left May s Conservatives severely weakened. There are still many people who need to be persuaded to put their trust in the Labour Party once again, Corbyn told a meeting in the Highlands ski-resort of Aviemore last month. But this is the beginning of the rebirth of Scottish Labour. Scotland, where the SNP lost seats to Labour in the west and to the Conservatives in the northeast in June, is shaping up to be a major battleground in the next British election, due in 2022. Labour winning in Glasgow, a city of one million people that backed secession from Britain in a referendum in 2014, would make the arrival of Prime Minister Corbyn more likely and reduce the chances of Scottish independence by damaging the SNP. Labour policies, such as renationalization of the railways and more funding for public services, appeal to Scots on the left though they may scare off more conservative voters with higher taxes and controls over the free market. Scottish Labour announces a new leader on Saturday, after a contest between trade unionist Richard Leonard, whom many see as favorite because his views align with Corbyn, and more centrist Anas Sarwar, the Glasgow-born son of the UK s first elected Asian lawmaker. Margaret Young, a 50-year-old nurse, lives in Glasgow East, a central district which, until the 1960s, was an industrial powerhouse and is now one of Scotland s poorest areas. Once the site of massive steel-works it is home to a shopping center called The Forge, and around half of residents here are classed by the government as income-deprived. In June, Young switched her vote to Labour from the SNP, because she thinks Corbyn will loosen the government s purse strings. The SNP held Glasgow East by just 75 votes, down from 10,000 two years ago. Young blames May s Conservatives in London for poor public services and the SNP for failing to mitigate spending cuts. Austerity is definitely what is hurting us, she told Reuters, saying it was disgusting that struggling families on welfare were being penalized. Of a dozen people interviewed by Reuters in East Glasgow, 10 said they would vote for Labour or consider it seriously. East Glasgow and seven other seats in the Glasgow area are among 21 Scottish constituencies held by the SNP that would need a swing of less than 5 percent for a Labour win, according to pollster Survation. At present Labour has 7 Scottish seats. With just a handful more votes in each marginal area, Scotland could make the difference between a minority and a majority Labour government in Britain s 650-seat House of Commons. As most of Scotland s budget is controlled by the government in London, Young believes only Corbyn can bring real change. Scots like Young now seem to blame the SNP, in power in the devolved Scottish parliament for a decade, rather than the UK government in London for not sending enough money to Scotland. Glasgow, an industrial center on Britain s northwestern coast, was a hub of left-wing radicalism and a lynchpin of Labour s political success nationwide for nearly a century. Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the party took a centrist direction and Labour started to fall out of favor in the north. Labour was spurned by Scottish voters when it campaigned with the rival Conservatives to defend the 300-year-old union of England and Scotland in the 2014 referendum. Scots rejected independence, but in a British election eight months later, Labour lost all but one of its 41 seats in Scotland. A lot of people who voted Yes during the referendum did so because they wanted a sense of change, said Kate Watson, the Labour candidate in Glasgow East. Jeremy s given us permission to be heard again. Corbyn avoids mention of Blair and Brown and namechecks Labour s first leader Keir Hardie as a mentor, appealing to old party values which play well here. Rebecca Hynam, 30, is a primary school teacher who says politicians would be shocked by shortages of staff and materials in schools. She backs Corbyn. In maths, we don t have enough calculators for my class. Glaswegians interviewed seemed to overlook the weaknesses of Scottish Labour: its flip-flops on the independence question and its wobbles on what it wants from Brexit. Nevertheless many trust Corbyn, whose personal style reminds some people of a kindly schoolteacher, to make amends. One is Andrea, a 55-year-old secretary who voted Labour for the first time in June. He seems like a neighbor next door, that s what I like about him. He seems to speak from the heart. (This version of the story was refiled to add dropped word seats in paragraph 6) | 1 |
21,360 | Campaign In Damage Control Mode After Trump Jr. BUSTED Joking About Holocaust (AUDIO) | If there s one rule in politics, it s that you never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER joke about the Holocaust but Donald Trump Jr. apparently didn t get that memo from his white supremacist friends.Sure, Trump Jr. follows numeroous prominent white supremacists on Twitter, gives interviews to Nazi talk shows, and (like his father) retweets the meth-fueled white power crowd like it s going out of style (without realizing that that sort of thing went out of style before Twitter was a thing), but no one really expected him to just joke about the Holocaust after all, even most Nazis display more tact. The media has been her number one surrogate in this. Without the media, this wouldn t even be a contest, but the media has built her up, Trump Jr said in an interview with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT in which he explained that if Republicans lied like Hillary Clinton whose fact-checked statements reveal she actually tells the truth most of the time, unlike Donald Trump there would be hell to pay:They ve let her slide on every indiscrepancy (sic), on every lie, on every DNC game trying to get Bernie Sanders out of this thing. If Republicans were doing that, they d be warming up the gas chamber right now. After the interview, Trump told NBC News that he was referencing corporal punishment, not the Holocaust, though he did not state what form of corporal punishment involves gas chambers aside from, you know, gas chambers. Like all those times Trump Jr. and his father have retweeted white supremacist imagery and propaganda, he says that this was not the least bit anti-Semitic.Hear it for yourself below: Featured image via Getty Images/Jeff Swensen | 0 |
21,361 | BREAKING: Highest-Ranking Elected Republican Says He Won’t Support Trump | The GOP implosion we have been waiting for has finally come full circle. Now that John Kasich and Ted Cruz have bowed out of the GOP race for the 2016 presidential nomination, Trump pretty much has it in the bag. There s just one problem though: not all avowed Republicans are supporting him. In fact, there s an active #NeverTrump movement, and even a #RepublicansForHillary movement. In other words, sane conservatives are willing to do all they can to stop Trump. Now, we can add another name to the list of prominent republicans to the list of those who cannot find it within themselves to back Trump: House Speaker and GOP Convention Chair Paul Ryan.The New York Times reports that Speaker Ryan insists that the GOP establishment needs a standard bearer and Trump is not that. Ryan goes on to say, I don t want to underplay what he accomplished. That being said, though, Ryan believes that the GOP needs a nominee who appeals to a vast majority of Americans. He also said: We hope that our nominee aspires to Lincoln and Reaganesque. I think conservatives want to know does he share our values and our principles. There s a lot of questions conservatives are going to want answers to. Well, Mr. Ryan, sane people, be they liberals, conservatives, or somewhere in between, definitely want nothing to do with the bigotry that Trump is spewing. He is not a man we need anywhere near any position of power. however, you and your GOP compatriots have spent eons playing to the bigotry of the Stupid People of America, and this is your result. You created this monster. Now, you handle it. Get rid of Trump at all costs, unless you want your party to die a slow and painful death sometime between now and November. You are already more than well on your way.Trump is dangerous. Your job is to put country before party, not the other way around. Perhaps your speaking sense today, Speaker Ryan, will rub off on your fellow republican politicians. We can hope and dream, right?Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr | 0 |
21,362 | Senators question Goldman Sachs on its role in Trump banking policy | (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators are seeking details from Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s (GS.N) chief executive on the extent to which the bank’s employees were involved in drafting of the recent executive orders on banking and fiduciary regulations. In a letter to CEO Lloyd Blankfein dated Feb. 9 and made public on Friday, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin asked for details on “lobbying” activities in the bank related to review of the Dodd-Frank Act and the Obama-era fiduciary rule on financial advice. Blankfein was also asked to detail the profits Goldman would make if these reforms came into effect. “We’ve had no involvement in the drafting of any executive orders,” a Goldman spokesman said on Friday. In December, Trump appointed Gary Cohn, former Goldman president and chief operating officer, to head the White House National Economic Council, a group that coordinates economic policy across agencies. Trump last week ordered reviews of major banking rules that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, drawing fire from Democrats who said his order lacked substance and squarely aligned him with Wall Street bankers. “The executive orders released by President Trump on Friday last week raise our concerns about the degree to which Cohn’s advice to Trump is good for Wall Street, but bad for Americans,” the senators wrote on Thursday. “Goldman Sachs would be a major beneficiary of these efforts to deregulate the financial industry,” they added in the letter. Trump also named former Goldman partner Steven Mnuchin as his pick for Treasury secretary in December. The senators have asked for any communication between the bank’s employees and Cohn, Mnuchin, nominee for the SEC chair Jay Clayton and chief strategist Steve Bannon. | 1 |
21,363 | New rule requires U.S. banks to allow consumer class actions | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. banks and credit card companies could be prevented from blocking customers from banding together to sue them under a rule released by the country’s consumer finance agency on Monday. In releasing the rule, which goes into full effect in eight months, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fired the first shot in a likely brutal political battle between Republicans and Democrats over regulators’ reach into banks’ workings and customer rights. Banks blasted the rule, which bars financial firms from forcing customers to agree to settle disputes only through arbitration as a condition of opening new accounts, but consumer advocates said it will make sure wronged customers have their day in court. “Mandatory arbitration” clauses that block customers from filing or joining a class-action lawsuit appear in contracts for a wide variety of products. The rule was proposed last year under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat who appointed the current director of the CFPB, Richard Cordray. Republicans now control both Congress and the White House, and are already looking into stopping it in its tracks. Just before the CFPB unveiled the final rule, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika wrote Cordray to raise “safety and soundness” concerns with a draft version he had read and asked the CFPB to share data it used in crafting the rule, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Reuters. The CFPB did not share the final rule with him ahead of the announcement, according to an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency spokesman. In the letter, Noreika, appointed by Republican President Donald Trump, cited a section of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that allows his office to set aside possibly unsafe CFPB rules. Eliminating mandatory arbitration “could result in less effective consumer protection and remedies, while simply enriching class-action lawyers,” he wrote, adding the rule “may potentially decrease the products and services offered to consumers, while increasing their costs.” In the final rule, the bureau requires financial companies to give customers the option of arbitration or of banding together to sue in class actions. Companies must also provide redacted records of claims and awards reached through arbitration, which the CFPB will post on its website beginning in July 2019. Rule critics say class actions are costly, suck up time and result in lower awards for consumers. In recent months, they have worked to undo regulations barring the fine print from contracts for nursing-homes and for-profit colleges. Supporters say Americans have the right to take complaints to court, and group lawsuits are effective in publicly correcting bad corporate behavior. They say arbitrations are secretive and rigged in favor of companies. California may soon allow state residents to sue financial institutions after clauses inserted into Wells Fargo account-opening agreements blocked customers from suing over the bank’s creation of unauthorized accounts in their names. Calling the new CFPB rule “anti-consumer,” the Republican chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Representative Jeb Hensarling said Congress should reject it under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which gives lawmakers power to kill newly minted regulations. The Consumer Bankers Association has already begun lobbying lawmakers to use the CRA on the rule, said its president Richard Hunt. Cordray, too, told reporters on a call he expects Congress to look into nullifying the rule but questioned the level of support for the move. Congress has already banned mandatory arbitration clauses for mortgages and contracts involving members of the military, he said. Meanwhile, one of Washington’s most powerful lobby groups and CFPB critics, the Chamber of Commerce, said it will “consider every approach to address our concerns,” which many interpreted as a threat to sue. | 1 |
21,364 | Texas Schools Proposed Textbooks : Mexicans Are Lazy And Want To Destroy Society | Texas textbooks are once again in the limelight. After years of asking for ethnic studies, they finally offered them. The only problem is that the books are teaching young minds the Donald Trump message that Mexicans are lazy and want to destroy the country.School textbooks in Texas have long been a source of controversy because Texas textbook writers play more than a little loose with facts. The books whitewash slavery and the Civil War, they completely ignore the existence of the KKK and of the Jim Crow era. They mention segregation, but only as a footnote and only as something that s not that bad.Texas science books teach creationism, that the earth is 6,000 years old and that there s no such thing as climate change. Now, they are teaching pure racism and xenophobia and kids across the nation could be learning those lessons.Not surprisingly, Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Texas Board of Education by two to one. Democrats have been trying for two years to create a Mexican-American studies program, which makes perfect sense since the majority of Texas public school children are Latino.Republicans on the board balked at the idea, but they finally caved, sort of. There are now Mexican-American studies, but they are as racist as a Donald Trump rally or as the GOP convention happening in Cleveland.(Attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Celina) Moreno and other activists are part of the new Responsible Ethnic Studies Text Coalition, which scrutinized the proposed textbooks and detailed what it described as multiple factual errors. The coalition said those included suggesting that Mexican culture promotes laziness, linking Mexican-Americans to immigrants who are not in the country legally, and characterizing leaders of the Chicano movement that advanced Mexican-American civil rights in the 1960s and 70s as adopting a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society. Industrialists were very driven, competitive men, the textbook says, according to excerpts. In contrast, Mexican laborers were not reared to put in a full day s work so vigorously. There was a cultural attitude of manana, or tomorrow.' Source: My San AntonioRepublicans evan admit that they did it just to piss Democrats off.You ought to be careful what you ask for. You got it, (Board member, David) Bradley, a Republican from Beaumont, said in a phone interview.He said Texas should focus on basics like reading, writing and math before worrying about more specialized courses. I m Italian, Irish and French, Bradley said. And I feel like I m being discriminated against when we only have an exclusive minority studies program in Texas. the books aren t out yet. They are up for a vote in November, but the really frightening thing is that if they are published, students around the nation could be reading that Mexicans are lazy.Featured image via Pixabay. | 0 |
21,365 | Sudan's Bashir visits Darfur ahead of U.S. sanctions decision | KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited the war-torn Darfur region on Tuesday in an effort to show his country is ready to have 20-year-old sanctions lifted by the United States just weeks before Washington is expected to issue a decision. In July the Trump administration postponed for three months the decision to permanently lift sanctions, setting Oct. 12 as a deadline for Sudan to meet conditions, including resolving conflicts and stepping up its humanitarian efforts. Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan s Arab-led government. A joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping operation, known as UNAMID, has been on the ground for the past decade. Fighting between the army and rebels in the southern Kordofan and Blue Nile regions also broke out again in 2011, when South Sudan declared independence. Sudan had announced short-term truces in these regions in June and October 2016, after which fighting eased in Blue Nile and Kordofan but carried on in Darfur. Bashir has extended a ceasefire in response to the U.S. moves. After security and stability, comes development, Bashir said in a speech. He said Darfur s security has begun recovering and insisted that arms will only be in the hands of state forces. Just before leaving office, former U.S. President Barack Obama temporarily eased penalties against Sudan, suspending a trade embargo, unfreezing assets and removing sanctions. His decision was delayed for six months to allow Sudan time to meet the conditions which also included cooperating with the U.S. to fight terrorism and improving its rights record. Gabriel Belal, the spokesman of the Justice and Equality movement, one of the main rebel groups in Darfur, criticized Bashir s two-day visit, saying it aimed to give a wrong image to the international community that the war was over. Bashir s visit is not welcomed by the people of Darfur because he personally issued direct orders for ethnic cleansing, Belal said. Security, humanitarian and political conditions are tense in Darfur and there s no prospect for a political resolution. | 1 |
21,366 | WATCH: Black Lives Matter Terrorists CRASH Stage At Conservative College Event…Black Church Minister Threatens Speaker…Female Thug Grabs Microphone…GAY CONSERVATIVE SPEAKER Gives Best Response Ever! | It s hard to tell what these Black Lives Matter crybabies hate more gays with a different opinion than them or free speech Meanwhile, security guards that were hired and paid by the speaker stood by passively as they threatened and berated the guys who were paying them Milo Yiannopoulos event at DePaul University had to be cut short Tuesday night after protesters stormed the stage, blew whistles, grabbed the microphone out of the interviewer s hand, and threatened to punch Yiannopoulos in the face.Yiannopoulos attempted to continue the event, but protesters refused to leave the stage and the group of security guards (which DePaul forced both the organisers and Breitbart to pay for) refused to intervene.The male ringleader continued to pace along the stage with his whistle, refusing to let Yiannopoulos speak for extended amounts of time, while the female ringleader forcibly snatched the microphone from the interviewer s hand and shouted at Yiannopoulos just inches away from his face.It turns out the male who threatened Milo is a minister at a local church:https://twitter.com/Nero/status/735325590438481920The good Minister following in the foot prints of Reverend Al Sharpton tried the same tactics at a Donald Trump and bragged about it on Twitter:The guy that tried to silence @Nero tonight did the same to @realDonaldTrump I hope Soros got his money's worth. pic.twitter.com/Tsv3rpi3DG Sherry (@NHLaVa) May 25, 2016The male ringleader screamed Feel the Bern and chanted against Donald Trump, whilst the female ringleader chanted Black Lives Matter .The female ringleader also claimed that she had been silenced for 200 years , prompting Yiannopoulos to question how the supposed 200 year-old protester looked so young.After an extended period of time, the crowd started to chant Do your job at security, who remained at the back of the venue for the entire event. When security refused to intervene, Yiannopoulos posed for pictures with fans in the audience, and ordered the crowd to follow him to the college president s office..@nero brought the party outside after inaction from spineless cops pic.twitter.com/0ZjljPHAp8 Furby.jpg (@duckspeakeasy) May 24, 2016Responding to the amount of black female protesters who had turned up, Yiannopoulos hypothesized that it was because he had sex with their brothers. I give it 20 minutes , announced Yiannopoulos. The black incarceration rates are about to go up . Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
21,367 | Mueller tells White House to save files on Donald Trump Jr meeting: CNN | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special counsel Robert Mueller asked the White House to save all documents related to a meeting last year between Donald Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer he was told had damaging information on his father’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, CNN reported on Friday. Mueller, who leads the criminal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to sway the November presidential election, told White House counsel Don McGahn in a letter that the June 2016 meeting was relevant to his investigation, CNN reported. It cited a copy of the letter. | 1 |
21,368 | North Carolina governor concedes election to Democratic opponent | WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Monday conceded the state’s contested gubernatorial race to Democrat Roy Cooper, almost four weeks after the Nov. 8 election that many viewed as a referendum on a law limiting transgender bathroom rights. The Republican incumbent had trailed his challenger since election night, when Cooper declared victory with a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes. McCrory refused to bow out, vowing to seek a recount and challenging the validity of votes his campaign said may have included ones cast by felons or dead people. As of Monday, the state’s unofficial election results showed Cooper’s lead had grown to 10,263 votes as counties continued to tally ballots. McCrory was entitled to a recount only if he trailed by 10,000 votes or less. In a video message issued by the governor’s office, McCrory said Cooper had won “the closest North Carolina governor’s race in modern history.” “Despite continued questions that should be answered regarding the voting process, I personally believe that the majority of our citizens have spoken,” said McCrory, who sat on a couch with a Christmas tree in the background in the video. Cooper’s win over the one-term incumbent marks the only governorship picked up by Democrats nationally, while Republicans added governor seats last month in New Hampshire, Missouri and Vermont. Cooper, the state’s attorney general, said serving as governor “will be the honor of my life.” “While this was a divisive election season, I know still that there is more that unites us than divides us,” he said in a statement after his opponent’s concession. The Democratic candidate’s bid benefited from a backlash against McCrory after he signed a state law in March that bans transgender people from using government-run restrooms that match their gender identity and limits protections for gays and lesbians. The law, the only of its kind in the United States, drew national attention. It has been blamed for hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses and the relocation of major sporting events from the country’s ninth most populous state. Opponents of the measure, known as House Bill 2, said a McCrory defeat would have national implications. “McCrory’s stubborn and reckless support of HB 2 cost him this election, and his defeat sends a powerful warning to lawmakers across the country that targeting LGBTQ people will not be tolerated,” Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (and/or questioning) individuals/identities. | 1 |
21,369 | Russia intervened to help Trump win election: intelligence officials | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help President-elect Donald Trump win the White House, and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that as the 2016 presidential campaign progressed, Russian government officials devoted increasing attention to assisting Trump’s effort to win the election, the U.S. official familiar with the finding told Reuters on Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity. The president-elect’s transition office released a statement that exaggerated his margin of victory and attacked the U.S. intelligence community that Trump will soon command, but did not address the analysts’ conclusion. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction,” the statement said. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’” Democrats and some Republicans in Congress are calling for a full investigation into Russia’s election year activities. “Protecting the integrity of our elections is hindered when President-elect Trump and his transition team minimize or dismiss the intelligence assessments themselves,” Representative Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said in a statement issued on Saturday. Citing U.S. officials briefed on the matter, the Washington Post reported on Friday that intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks. U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. 20, the White House said on Friday. Obama’s homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters the report’s results would be shared with lawmakers and others. “The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process ... and to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders, to include the Congress,” she said during an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. As summer turned to fall, Russian hackers turned almost all their attention to the Democrats. Virtually all the emails they released publicly were potentially damaging to Clinton and the Democrats, not Republicans, the official told Reuters. “That was a major clue to their intent,” the official said. “If all they wanted to do was discredit our political system, why publicize the failings of just one party, especially when you have a target like Trump?” A second official familiar with the report said the intelligence analysts’ conclusion about Russia’s motives does not mean the intelligence community believes that Moscow’s efforts altered or significantly affected the outcome of the election. Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election. A Central Intelligence Agency spokeswoman said the agency had no comment on the matter. The hacked emails passed to WikiLeaks were a regular source of embarrassment to the Clinton campaign during the race for the presidency. U.S. intelligence analysts have assessed “with high confidence” that at some point in the extended presidential campaign Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government had decided to try to bolster Trump’s chances of winning. The Russians appear to have concluded that Trump had a shot at winning and that he would be much friendlier to Russia than Clinton would be, especially on issues such as maintaining economic sanctions and imposing additional ones, the official said. Moscow is launching a similar effort to influence the next German election, following an escalating campaign to promote far-right and nationalist political parties and individuals in Europe that began more than a decade ago, the official said. In both cases, said the official, Putin’s campaigns in both Europe and the United States are intended to disrupt and discredit the Western concept of democracy by promoting extremist candidates, parties, and political figures. In October, the U.S. government publicly accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama has said he warned Putin about consequences for the attacks. “I don’t believe they interfered,” Trump told Time magazine about Russia in an interview published this week. “That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, ‘Oh, Russia interfered.’” | 1 |
21,370 | WATCH: Fox Hosts Claim Hillary Has Brain Damage Because She Wears Eyeglasses | Fox News is desperate to sabotage Hillary Clinton s campaign so they are continuing to launch outrageous lies about her health.Last week, Sean Hannity pushed an absurd claim that Hillary suffered a seizure on camera because she playfully acted like a bobble head doll while being pulled in different directions by different speakers. When the joke was over she then spoke and smiled, two things that people definitely do not do while having a seizure.As Newsweek s Kurt Eichenwald explained to Hannity earlier this week, People do not smile during a seizure while standing upright and then immediately launch into a coherent sentence. There s no smiling because, if for some reason the person experiencing the seizure has not collapsed to the ground in unconsciousness, the moment the body begins to move uncontrollably is terrifying. After a seizure, someone does not instantly jump back into a conversation, making jokes. Eichenwald should know. He has epilepsy.But Fox & Friends has picked up where Hannity left off and made a brand new claim on Thursday in an effort to cast doubt on the health of Hillary s mind.Steve Doocy, who was named in Gretchen Carlson s sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, suggested that Hillary Clinton has brain damage because she wears prism eyeglasses. Is that the fact that when we saw Hillary Clinton wearing those prism glasses, a sign of brain damage and other things, and he s worried about the care she s getting so far, Doocy said in reference to Dr. Drew Pinsky allegedly expressing concern for Hillary s health.Kilmeade then suggested that Clinton s glasses are connected to Benghazi, because conservatives will never stop talking about that. And if you want to or remember, when she was wearing those glasses, remember when she made those famous line to Senator Ron Johnson, What difference at this point does it make, that s when she had those glasses on. Here s the video via Media Matters.This kind of speculation is why Fox should drop the News part of their name.Just because Hillary Clinton is wearing prism glasses it does not mean that she has brain damage. It means she has eye problems like 75 percent of Americans do.Hillary wears Fresnel prism glasses to correct double vision resulting from a concussion she sustained in 2012 after she fainted and fell due to dehydration.This in no way disqualifies her from being president. She merely has a vision issue that needs correcting.And if wearing glasses is a sign of brain damage perhaps Fox should have performed a quick search on Google for Donald Trump. Because they would have found this.So does that mean Trump has brain damage? I mean, that would definitely explain Trump s crazy behavior over the last year.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
21,371 | WATCH: New ‘Birdie’ Sanders Ad Celebrates RESOUNDING Weekend Victories | Bernie Sanders is on fire, especially after this weekend s resounding victories in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii, which have propelled the Democratic presidential hopeful s campaign to unprecedented momentum as the Democratic primary moves forward. Speaking in front of a crowd of thousands in Wisconsin on Saturday, Sanders said: Let me begin by thanking the people of Alaska for giving us a resounding victory tonight. We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton s lead and we have with your support coming here to Wisconsin, we have a path toward victory. Alright, are you ready for a news alert? We just won the state of Washington. The crowd then erupted. Now, there s a new ad that celebrates those weekend victories with Bernie dancing to the tune of the song The bird is the word, which plays off of the bird that landed on a podium earlier in the week while Sanders was speaking in Portland, Oregon, hence the new nickname Birdie Sanders. The ad highlights the landslide victories in Washington and Alaska on Saturday, and Idaho and Utah earlier in the week.The victories are quite impressive because of the sheer number of voters who overwhelmingly supported Sanders. In Idaho, he won with 78% of the vote. While in Utah he received 79%, Alaska 81%, Washington 72%, and Hawaii with 70%.The Sanders campaign definitely seems to be gaining momentum towards the possibility getting the Democratic nomination. It will be interesting to see how this may help him going forward through upcoming primaries.Watch video here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOgd3kmaosc]Featured image via video screenshot. | 0 |
21,372 | The White House Had WAY Too Much Fun Trolling Birthers Over Ted Cruz (VIDEO) | For seven years there s been several folks, let s call them birthers, who have questioned the validity of President Obama s United States citizenship. These people refuse to believe that the president was born in Hawaii, and refuse to believe that even if he wasn t (he was), that he was born to an American citizen, his mother. When it comes down to it, it s not that they question the validity of Obama so much as they question the validity of having a black president. After all, he doesn t look like any other former president, so he must not be from here, right? Wrong.Now, if birthers really wanted to go after someone vying for the Oval Office, they, quite literally, could go after Senator Ted Cruz. You see, Cruz was born in Canada and was a Canadian citizen. However, just like Obama he was born to an American citizen, so he is, in fact, a natural-born citizen as the Constitution stipulates, but if you re going to go after anyone for being foreign-born, Cruz makes a much better target.Lately on the campaign trail, Captain Birther himself, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, has brought up the legitimacy of Ted Cruz s ability to run for president. He s even gone so far as to want Cruz to go before a judge to make a ruling on his citizenship.Getting a good giggle from all of this was none other than White House press secretary Josh Earnest, who, when asked about Cruz and this line of questioning regarding citizenship, answered: It would be quite ironic if after seven or eight years of drama around the President s birth certificate, if Republican primary voters were to choose Senator Cruz as their nominee. Somebody who actually wasn t born in the United States and only 18 months ago renounced his Canadian citizenship. Which is very true. If these Republican birthers, who were so angry at the make-believe possibility that Obama was not born in the nation actually vote for a man who, in all legitimacy, wasn t born in the country, it would not only be ironic, it would be hypocritical, and prove the entire birther movement is steeped in racism.It s impressive that Earnest was able to hold himself together as much as he did after that question was asked. Video/Featured image: ABC news | 0 |
21,373 | South Korea's Moon, China's Xi to talk North Korea, trade in Beijing summit | SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Curbing North Korea s nuclear ambitions will top South Korean President Moon Jae-in s agenda in Beijing during a visit this week aimed at breaking the ice after a furious row over Seoul s deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system. While both South Korea and China share the goal of getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and stop testing increasingly sophisticated long-range missiles, the two have not seen eye-to-eye on how to achieve this. China has been particularly angered at the deployment of U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea, saying its powerful radar can see far into China and will do nothing to ease tension with North Korea. At his third meeting this year with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in Beijing, Moon is expected to reaffirm South Korea s agreement with China in late October that they would normalise exchanges and move past the dispute over THAAD, which froze trade and business exchanges between the two. The THAAD disagreement had dented South Korea s economic growth, especially its tourism industry, as group tours from China came to a halt while charter flights from South Korea were cancelled. While China still objects to THAAD, it has said it understands South Korea s decision to deploy it. In an interview with Chinese state television shown late on Monday, Moon said THAAD s presence was inevitable due to the looming North Korean threat but assured it would not be used against China. South Korea will be extremely careful from here on out that the THAAD system is not invasive of China s security. South Korea has received promises from the United States multiple times regarding this, Moon said. Joint efforts by China and South Korea could have good results if they work together to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, he added. North Korea has shown little sign it wants to engage in formal talks, with its state media citing leader Kim Jong Un as saying on Tuesday North Korea should develop and manufacture more diverse weapons to completely overpower the enemy . Kim was addressing a rare munitions conference on Monday to laud the North s latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). North Korea last month test-launched what it called its most advanced ICBM in defiance of international sanctions and condemnation as it presses on with its mission to create a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the United States. Speaking over the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Moon had chosen to have friendly cooperation with China, and China was willing to work with South Korea to bring peace and stability to the Korean peninsula. During his first visit to China since taking office in May this year, Moon is expected to get bilateral economic exchanges back on track. According to South Korean media, Moon will be accompanied by the biggest business entourage ever with more than 220 businesses taking part in the four-day visit. | 1 |
21,374 | Trump Calls Out Anti-Fascists By Name, But FBI And DHS Say The Alt-Right Acts Like ISIS — And Goes Unmentioned | Ever since the Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia claimed the life of Heather Heyer, the entire spectrum on the Right from moderates all the way to Alt-Right terrorists has been scrambling to figure out a way to blame it on the Left. That s natural. It was a murder, after all. Nobody wants to take the blame for anything bad they re responsible for, let alone the murder of an innocent victim. But Donald Trump has been especially adept at seemingly calling out radical groups, while never actually explicitly naming the radical group that is to blame.It s not like he doesn t know the phrase Alt-Right. It s in the news every day. He sure as hell knows the word Antifa. That s the many in his many sides comment after Heyer s murder, which he doubled down on two days later. In fact, the word came out of his mouth in accusation at his Phoenix rally last Tuesday. Someone even made a joke about it: pic.twitter.com/9fANLcaXXN Chris Stephens (@ChrisStephensMD) August 23, 2017The only time I can remember Trump saying the words alt-right in reference to Charlottesville was in Trump Tower: What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, the alt-right ? Do they have any semblance of guilt? As YOU say.So why won t he address the Alt-Right? They are a terrorist group, by any definition. What s more, they identify as Christians, persecuted for their identity, justifying their actions with appeals to us over them. That s pretty reminiscent of another radicalized, religious extremist group that feels persecuted, hates outsiders and gay people, treats women like chattel, and uses terror and death to achieve their aims.Only those guys are brown.Here in America, though, ISIS and groups like them that is to say, radical Islamic terrorists have nothing on white Christian males. A joint intelligence bulletin from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security found that the group we softly label white supremacists were responsible for 49 murders in 26 terror attacks over the last decade and a half. That s more than any other group in America. That report from two agencies tasked with American safety literally says that radicalized white Christian males are the most dangerous people in the country.Part of Trump s unwillingness to name the Alt-Right as the terror group they are comes from their Goebbels-like effectiveness with propaganda. If they can make it seem like there actually are two sides to the conflict that led to Heyer s death (and countless other injuries, physical, mental, and personal), they can paint their own side as justified in opposition to it. They achieve this with troll-led petitions that seem legitimate, and by posing as members of the Left and doing horrible things. Remember that kid who would break something, then leave a piece of it in his brother s room so his parents would bust the wrong boy? That s the Alt-Right.But the other part of Donald Trump s inability to name names when it comes to the Alt-Right is simple: They are his biggest fans, and he loves them, terrorism be damned.Featured image via Stephen Maturen/Getty Images | 0 |
21,375 | Trump will speak with Japan's Abe on Saturday: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will speak by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday morning, the White House said on Friday. Abe is scheduled to visit the White House next month. A Trump administration official said on Thursday the new U.S. president will seek quick progress toward a bilateral trade agreement with Japan in place of a broader Asia-Pacific deal he abandoned this week. | 1 |
21,376 | Kansas governor vetoes Medicaid expansion bill | (Reuters) - The governor of Kansas on Thursday vetoed a bill expanding eligibility for Medicaid for the poor under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) because the measure was not fiscally responsible and would still fund Planned Parenthood. State lawmakers in the Republican-controlled senate voted in favor of the measure on Tuesday, just days after President Donald Trump’s efforts to repeal and replace the ACA, also known as Obamacare, ended with the bill being pulled from a vote. Republican Governor Sam Brownback said the bill also failed to eliminate waiting lists for disability services, did not add work requirements and was not budget neutral. “The cost of expanding Medicaid under Obamacare is irresponsible and unsustainable,” he said. He added it was “unwise to undertake such a drastic change” to the state’s Medicaid program while work on an ACA overhaul was underway in Washington. “I will not support this legislation that continues to fund organizations that undermine a culture of life,” he said, referring to groups such as Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of reproductive services including abortions. Planned Parenthood said in a statement that “the overwhelming majority of Kansans” support the health care provider and the expansion of Medicaid in the state. The Republican-controlled House, which passed the bill last month 81-44, quickly took up a debate on overriding Brownback’s veto on Thursday, but a vote was postponed. “You are going to put a dagger right through the heart of our small communities,” Republican Representative Leonard Mastroni, who voted in support of expansion, told the House in Topeka after Brownback’s veto. In the House, 84 lawmakers would need to vote in favor of the override for it to advance. The failed Obamacare replacement bill in Washington, pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, would have ended the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal and state funded insurance program for the poor and disabled. Kansas was not among the 31 states that in 2016 had opted to expand Medicaid, with the federal government footing much of the cost under Obamacare. With the ACA’s enhanced federal funding, Medicaid expansion in Kansas, effective Jan. 1, 2018, would cost the state an estimated $31 million in fiscal 2018, which begins July 1, and $67 million in fiscal 2019 with more than 180,000 additional recipients, according to estimates cited in a legislative report on the bill. Without enhanced federal matching funds, the state’s costs would balloon to $465 million by fiscal 2019. | 1 |
21,377 | PARENTS FURIOUS After Austrian Teacher Changes Lyrics In Christian Hymn From “God’s” To “Allah’s” Love Is So Great | A teacher at a school in Wels in upper Austria simply changed the hymn God s love is so wonderful to Allah s love is so wonderful .An angry father confronted the local school board, demanding they correct the lyrics, But you can not just rewrite a text! There is huge uproar in Vogelweide primary school in Wels. The 4th year class teacher (where a majority of the children are Muslim) created a text by hand: throughout the entire hymn, the word God was replaced in handwriting by the word Allah .After the incident was brought to the attention of the School Inspector Karin Lang, he immediately corrected the situation with the teacher concerned and the school principal.Via: krone.at | 0 |
21,378 | Trump's choice for national security adviser had early exposure to Iran | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As a teenager in the early 1970s retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward played football and basketball, was popular with classmates and, like many American high school students, was known for partying. But Harward, to whom President Donald Trump has offered the post of U.S. national security adviser, to succeed Michael Flynn, spent his teenage years not in his native Rhode Island, but in pre-revolutionary Iran, where his father, a Navy captain, advised the Iranian military. During his teenage years, Harward lived in an Iranian neighborhood, attended school with Iranian-American students and played sports against Iranian teams. Those experiences gave him an unusual familiarity with Iran’s culture and people in the years before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-American Shah. “During very formative years of his life, he was exposed to everything that was Iran,” said Joseph Condrill, who knew Harward, known by his classmates as Bobby, when they were students at the Tehran American School. “Iran was one of our homes, and we got to know the Iranian people very well, in a very intimate way.” The Trump administration has offered Harward the job of national security adviser, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Harward had accepted, the sources said. A White House spokesperson had no immediate comment. Harward would carry his experience into the Trump White House, charged with coordinating national security policy and responding to threats including Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for militant groups in the Middle East. While Flynn put Iran “on notice,” and Trump has tweeted that Iran is “playing with fire,” Harward’s experience with Iran is more personal. The revolution that brought Iran’s theocratic government to power forced the closure of the Tehran American School and cut short the tours of American families living in Iran. Rather than being isolated on a military base, Harward and other Americans at that time lived among Iranians, rode local buses, and were exposed to Iran’s attractions through field trips, his classmates said. “It was not a completely isolated culture for us,” said John Martin, 61, of Reston, Virginia, who was in Harward’s high school class and attended the U.S. Naval Academy with him. Harward even picked up fluent Persian while he was in Iran, Martin said. “For those of us that had once lived in Iran, there’s an after-effect, the effect of the Islamic Revolution,” Condrill said. “There is definitely a sense of suspicion, if you will ... based upon that experience of the Iran that we once knew.” It is not clear, however, how Harward’s memories might influence U.S. policy, because the national security adviser’s job is to coordinate, not make, policy. In addition, administration officials said, Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller have closer ties to the president than Harward would have and would present a rival power center. In 2012, as deputy head of the U.S. Central Command, he told a conference that “Iran’s well-established past pattern of deceit and reckless behavior have progressively increased the potential for miscalculation that could spark a regional, if not a global conflict.” At the same event, he recalled with some wistfulness his own experience living in the region. “I think back to the days when I graduated from the Tehran American School in 1974, where as a Westerner I could freely travel through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other countries in the region and be greeted, and welcomed, because of the policies and strategy the West employed in the region,” he said. “Yet I look today, we are in a much different world.” Harward did not respond to a request for comment and officials at Lockheed Martin, where he is a top executive, declined to comment. After graduating from high school in 1974, Harward returned to the United States, joined the Navy, became an elite SEAL and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East. He served there under General Jim Mattis, now the U.S. defense secretary. Earlier in his career, Harward worked on counterterrorism as a military officer on the National Security Council, an assignment seen as a marker of a rising star. Several former U.S. officials who worked with Harward described him as experienced and smart, but not known for his personal experience with Iran. He is well-liked and respected and seen as unpretentious despite his distinguished military service, according to people who have worked with him. “He was a very good and effective bureaucratic player,” said Derek Chollet, an assistant secretary of defense under the Obama administration. “He understands the role the military plays within the broader tool set of American policy.” When Harward was a commanding officer in Afghanistan, he was known for making his rounds without full body armor to send a message that Afghanistan was safe, said a U.S. official who worked under Harward there. “He had no ego,” the official said, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. | 1 |
21,379 | Trump's deportation plan could slice 2 percent off U.S. GDP: study | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s vow to round up and deport all of America’s undocumented immigrants if he is elected president could shrink the economy by around 2 percent, according to a study to be released on Thursday by conservative think tank the American Action Forum. The research adds to concerns about the Republican presidential nominee’s policy proposals, which range from tearing up international trade agreements to building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. About 6.8 million of the more than 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally are employed, according to government statistics. Removing them would cause a slump of $381.5 billion to $623.2 billion in private sector output, the Washington-based non-profit said in its analysis. The study added that removing those workers could leave potentially millions of jobs unfilled due to a lack of legal workers willing to do them. Industries with the highest share of undocumented workers include farming, construction and hospitality, according to the research. “The things Donald Trump has said are utterly unworkable,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the forum’s president, and the top economic adviser to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Asked about the study on Thursday, Trump said he thought the analysts misunderstood his immigration policy, adding he wanted people to come into the country if they came “through the system.” “I saw that report and they don’t even have it right,” Trump said in an interview on CNBC. “We certainly don’t want to shrink our economy.” Trump, who effectively locked up the Republican nomination this week, has called for the deportation of anyone living in the United States illegally, arguing foreign workers hold down salaries and contribute to unemployment. That position has drawn strong opposition from business leaders like the conservative billionaire Koch brothers as well as from human rights advocates. Trump has further angered opponents by saying Mexico was sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States, and by calling for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country to shore up national security. But his hard-line stance on immigration also has triggered strong support among many U.S. voters. Some 52.6 percent of respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in September said they want to see most or all undocumented immigrants deported, compared with 34.6 percent who want to see most or all of them stay. The American Action Forum analysis used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate the value of the output from undocumented immigrants. The study did not factor in potential impacts of mass deportations on consumption, investment and other economic factors, the group said. The U.S. economy is projected to produce some $18.7 trillion worth of goods and services in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund. A loss of $400 billion in output would amount to about 2 percent of that figure. | 1 |
21,380 | The Basque Country: Spain's effective but expensive antidote to secession | (This Oct. 9 story has been refiled to add a dropped word in the headline) By Sonya Dowsett BILBAO, Spain (Reuters) - As Spain and Catalonia head toward a constitutional collision over the region s claim to independence, lawmakers on both sides of the crisis are pointing to a way out: north, to Basque Country. Among the verdant mountains of Basque Country, which borders France, a once-violent campaign for independence has petered out, with generous fiscal autonomy from Madrid helping to keep popular agitation for independence in check. We don t have that economic resentment, Aitor Esteban, organizer for the Basque National Party in Spain s parliament, told Reuters in an interview at party headquarters in Bilbao. People don t feel that need to act upon a grievance about money; that makes a big difference. The Catalan government is not calling for a Basque-style deal, insisting instead on independence after declaring overwhelming support for secession in an Oct. 1 referendum banned by Madrid. But the most moderate lawmakers in the region s ruling coalition privately say they could drop independence claims if they were given the tax autonomy that Basque Country enjoys. In Madrid, some socialists have suggested it could serve as a model for a compromise that would defuse Spain s biggest political crisis since a failed coup in 1981, although the cost to the central government would be significant. Basque staged modest protests over Madrid s violent crackdown on Catalonia s referendum, but the crisis has failed to rekindle secessionist fervor on the streets of Bilbao, the Basque capital nestled on the banks of the Nervion. Catalan flags hang from balconies alongside the Basque flag in a sign of solidarity, but Bilbao is prosperous and peaceful. Where once unionist politicians needed bodyguards and car bombings were a constant fear, tourists now crowd the taverns of the old town and the world-famous Guggenheim museum. Just 17 percent of Basques want independence and less than half would like to hold a referendum on the issue, according to a poll carried out by the university of Deusto. Basque militant group ETA, which killed more than 850 people in a decades-long campaign to carve out a separate state, effectively ended its armed resistance this year when it surrendered its weapons. The region now has one of the highest economic outputs per capita and one of the lowest unemployment rates in Spain. The independence debate is on standby in Basque Country because of great fatigue after years of violence and uncertainty after the economic crisis, said Xabier Barandiaran, professor of sociology at Deusto University. Basque s fiscal autonomy is among the most generous of any region in Europe, dating back to the 19th century and enshrined in Spain s 1978 constitution. If it were to be extended to Catalonia, an economically more powerful region accounting for a fifth of national production, the Spanish state would lose about 16 billion euros, according to a 2014 study by research house CSIC. That would equal about 13 percent of next year s budget and affect Spain s deficit and borrowing costs. For that reason, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has ruled out such generous treatment for Catalonia. Under Basque s accord with Madrid, the region collects nearly all its own taxes, which are forecast to total 13 billion euros ($15 billion) this year. It is due to return 800 million euros to Madrid in what is known as an annual quota to cover the costs of national expenses such as defense or infrastructure. Rajoy has sweetened that arrangement since he regained power at the head of a minority government last year, as the price of securing Basque National Party support for his 2017 budget. It has proved unpopular with other regions who would almost certainly oppose any similar deal for Catalonia, as it would mean cutting their share of state revenue. Typically, regions pass taxes to Madrid which redistributes money back to them according to a formula that favors the poorer regions. Former Catalan leader Artur Mas tried to hold talks with Rajoy in 2012 about granting Catalonia powers to raise and spend its own taxes, but the prospect of negotiations in the current climate look bleak. Catalonia has long said it pays a disproportionate level of taxes to Madrid in relation to the central funding it receives. A study backed by the Budget Ministry says Catalonia pays to the state 9.9 billion euros more than it receives. The Catalan economy ministry says this is even higher. Economists say an overhaul of the fiscal relationship between Madrid and the regions is overdue because the current system has led to intense tax competition between regions. Some autonomous communities have become under-financed, resulting in cuts in public services. Now the situation is so critical, there might just be the political momentum needed to tackle it, said Antonio Garcia Pascual of Barclays Capital. | 1 |
21,381 | Equatorial Guinea leader's son found guilty of embezzlement by French court | PARIS (Reuters) - Millions of euros of assets belonging to the son of Equatorial Guinea s president were ordered to be seized by a French court that found him guilty in absentia on Friday of using money plundered from his country to buy property and luxury cars. The Paris court found Teodorin Obiang, 48, guilty of embezzlement, and ordered the confiscation of more than 100 million euros worth of his French assets. Obiang denied the charges. Obiang, eldest son of President Teodoro Obiang and a vice president himself, was also handed a three-year suspended prison sentence and a suspended 30 million euros ($34.78 million) fine. The court president cited the slow response from parts of the French banking system in contributing to those penalties being suspended and hence more lenient. The case is the first of several to reach court in a broader judicial investigation into allegations of illicit acquisitions in France by long-time leaders and family relatives in several African countries including Gabon and Congo Republic. Obiang s luxury residence on Paris Avenue Foch - a grand, sweeping road near the Arc de Triomphe often favoured by wealthy African expatriates and politicians - was among the assets scrutinised during the trial. The property, bought for 25 million euros in 2005, had 101 rooms, a gym, hair-dressing studio and disco with cinema screen. Paris prosecutor Jean-Yves Lourgouilloux said Obiang s fraudulent spending amounted to more than 150 million euros. The court was critical of Societe Generale, France s second biggest bank, and the Bank of France, deeming them complacent towards Obiang s finances and too slow to react. The role of the two banks was taken into account to justify the suspended sentences for Obiang, the court said. The attitude of Societe Generale, similar to that of the Bank of France, may have led (Obiang) to think for a long period of time that there was, in France, some kind of tolerance for these practices, Benedicte de Perthuis, the most senior judge sitting in the case, told the court. Societe Generale said it had not been a party in the trial and therefore we don t have any particular comment to make . Officials at the Bank of France did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Obiang was first put on trial in January but the case, 10 years in the works, was postponed after his lawyers argued they had not had enough time to prepare his defence. His father, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has ruled Equatorial Guinea - a former Spanish colony - for more than three decades, making him one of Africa s longest-serving leaders, and rights groups have labelled his administration as one of the world s most corrupt. | 1 |
21,382 | WHILE OBAMA VACATIONS AND HANDS OUT A BILLION DOLLAR GIFT TO KENYANS, IRAN’S AYATOLLAH TWEETS PICTURE OF BARACK WITH GUN TO HIS HEAD | Hey Barry tell us again about what a great deal for America you cut with Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran s supreme leader, tweeted a graphic Saturday morning that appears to depict President Barack Obama committing suicide by holding a gun to his head.US president has said he could knock out Iran s military. We welcome no war, nor do we initiate any war, but.. pic.twitter.com/D4Co7fVuVg Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 25, 2015 We welcome no war, nor do we initiate any war, but if any war happens, the one who will emerge loser will be the aggressive and criminal U.S., the quote attributed to Khamenei said. Khamenei oftentimes blasts the U.S. and Obama over Twitter, even after the U.S. and other world powers came together to reach a historic nuclear deal with Iran. US is the supporter& plotter of terrorism. #Iran has fought #terrorism, has slapped it,has hit in the head and will continue to do so. #ISIS Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) May 16, 2015 The term Great Satan for US was coined by @IRKhomeini ; when you consider sb or an entity as Satan then it s clear how you should behave. Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 4, 2015US Govs accuse #Lebanon s #Hezbollah and resistance who are most devoted national defense forces of being terrorists. 1/2 Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 18, 2015US Govs are supporting terrorist, child-killer #Zionist regime. How can we negotiate and agree with such policies? 2/2 Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 18, 2015I have an advice for US officials. pic.twitter.com/HK27ReHh1V Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 18, 2015US pres. said he could knock out Iran s army. Of course we neither welcome, nor begin war, but in case of war, US will leave it disgraced. Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 18, 2015 I have an advice for US officials. pic.twitter.com/HK27ReHh1V Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 18, 2015 Via: The Blaze | 0 |
21,383 | Ben Carson Campaign In Shambles After Top Aides, 20 Staffers Quit | It s not looking like much of a Happy New for republican presidential candidate Ben Carson.Carson, who has been nosediving in the polls since November, woke up on New Year s Eve to a resignation phone call from his campaign s top adviser, Barry Bennett. But that was just the beginning of the candidate s troubles.Shortly after Bennett resigned, Carson s Communications Director, Doug Watts, also handed in his resignation.That was followed by the resignation of his Deputy Campaign Manager, Lisa Coen.Just when it looked as if things couldn t get much worse, 20 additional staffers followed Carson s former top advisers out the door.The walk-out follows accusations that Carson s campaign is little more than a money-making scheme spearheaded by an unethical conservative commentator named Armstrong Williams. Williams biggest claim to fame is that he was secretly paid more than $240,000 by the George Bush administration to unethically promote the President s signature No Child Left Behind policy. Interestingly, Williams is not only Carson s campaign manager, but also his business manager.As Raw Story reported back in November, Carson began facing allegations about the sincerity of his campaign after he bypassed opportunities to engage voters in early primary states, in favor of a tour to promote his most recent book.In an article published in New York Magazine, staff writer Jonathan Chait asked whether Ben Carson is really running for president, or simply running a money-making con scheme.Chait pointed out that, Conservative politics are so closely intermingled with a lucrative entertainment complex that it is frequently impossible to distinguish between a political project (that is, something designed to result in policy change) and a money-making venture. He then went on to discuss the potential benefits of announcing that you re running for president, even if you don t actually want to be president. Declaring yourself a presidential candidate gives you access to millions of dollars worth of free media attention that can build a valuable brand. So the mere fact that Carson calls himself a presidential candidate does not prove he is actually running for president rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to build his brand. Indeed, it is possible to be actually leading the polls without seriously trying to win the presidency. What Chait discovered about Carson s campaign was that it has all the tell-tale signs of a scam. Carson is doing a lot of things that seem puzzling for a presidential campaign, but quite logical for a brand-building exercise. He is taking weeks off the campaign trail to go on a book tour. His campaign itself is structured much more like a scamming venture than a political one. An astronomical 69 percent of his fund-raising totals are spent on more fund-raising. (Bernie Sanders, by contrast, spends just 4 percent of his intake on fund-raising.) In addition to direct mail, Carson seems to have undertaken a massive phone-spamming operation. Spending most of your money to raise more money is not a good way to get elected president, but it is a good way to build a massive list of supporters that can later be monetized. Perhaps it is a giveaway that the official title for Armstrong Williams, the figure running the Carson campaign, is business manager, as opposed to campaign manager. It does suggests that Carson is engaged in a for-profit venture. Today as Carson s staffers began abandoning ship in droves, they left no doubt about their reasons.Bennett placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Armstrong. He noted that the Carson campaign has raised more money this quarter than any other Republican candidate.And yet according to the most recent polling data, Carson lags some 27 points behind Republican front runner Donald Trump.It doesn t add up, and it seems that a lot of his staffers know it.In a final stab, seemingly aimed at the lack of sincerity and professionalism within the Carson campaign, Bennett said during an interview with Reuters, I can play amateur politics at home with my 9-year-old. I don t need to do it at the professional level. Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore via Flckr | 0 |
21,384 | DR. WOLF CALLS OUT HILLARY For Lying About Pneumonia Diagnosis [VIDEO] | Dr. Milton Wolf seems to have take offense at the diagnosis of Hillary Clinton. He states in no uncertain terms that Non-Contagious Bacterial Pneumonia does not even exist. His argument can be supported by the fact that if that was indeed what she had then why the antibiotics that supposedly don t help with bacterial type infections.You may remember Dr. Wolf from stories of him being Obama s second cousin. He has been featured on a few Mainstream Media shows to discuss many different things form his familial ties to Obama to his campaign for Kansas State Senate in 2014.These screen captures are from his recent tweets concerning Hillary and her supposed diagnosis.Is it possible that Hillary, her doctor , and her staff are all lying once again to hide somethin more disturbing, like a neurological disorder? Clinton is very aware that the DNC has had meetings to discuss replacing her as the 2016 candidate, even going so far as discussing the possibility of Obama taking a 3rd term, so it is well within the possibility that she is panicking and trying hard to cover the truth.Not that we expect Hillary to ever tell the truth about anything, but it would be nice to know if someone who may be running this entire country is possibly suffering from a disease that may cause her to not be fully able to use her cognitive abilities to the fullest when making important decisions for the American people.In an ironic twist the YouTube link for this particular video clearly states that the two doctors featured have never even met Hillary. H/T [ Proud Cons ] | 0 |
21,385 | Politically charged murder trial of Mexican immigrant starts in San Francisco | (Reuters) - The trial of a Mexican man accused of murdering a woman while illegally in the United States began in San Francisco on Monday, a case that President Donald Trump has cited as an example of the dangers posed by lax border security. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, also known as Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, has said he shot Kate Steinle by accident on a pier in the California city on July 1, 2015. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, a charge that can bring between 15 years to life in prison. Court officials confirmed the trial had started but did not offer further details of the proceedings. He did not know the object in his hand was a gun, Matt Gonzalez, an attorney for the defendant, was quoted as saying by NBC Bay Area before he headed into the courtroom. He does not bear criminal responsibility. Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia declined to comment on the case. Prosecutors have accused the defendant of recklessly pointing a stolen gun at people on the pier. Prosecutors and defense attorneys were in court and not immediately available for comment. Garcia Zarate had been deported to Mexico five times since first entering the United States as a juvenile, the San Francisco Chronicle and other local media reported. Steinle has been frequently invoked by name by Trump as part of his signature pledges to halt illegal immigration and crack down on so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with certain federal immigration laws. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 228-195 to pass the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which would withhold some federal grants to sanctuary cities. By a vote of 257-167, the chamber also passed Kate s law, named for Kate Steinle, to increase penalties for illegal immigrants who return to the United States. Under the laws, immigrants in the country illegally would face mandatory detention for past convictions of an expanded number of offenses. San Francisco, like other sanctuary jurisdictions, has defended its approach as making the city safer, saying its practice of not inquiring about immigration status makes immigrants, including those in the country illegally, more willing to report crimes. | 1 |
21,386 | California lawmakers take anti-Trump stance as session ends | SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California lawmakers voted to become a sanctuary state, tussled over hot-button environmental issues and urged other states to refuse to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s Election Integrity Commission as their legislative year ended early on Saturday. The majority Democratic lawmakers headed back to their districts having positioned the state in opposition to conservative policies proposed by the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump on immigration, the environment and other issues. “It’s a purposeful positioning,” said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California. “We have a different political path and a different ideological path than the Republican-controlled Congress and White House have.” This year, California lawmakers have strengthened protections for undocumented immigrants, increased the gasoline tax and extended a program aimed at compelling businesses to reduce air pollution, all in opposition to federal policies. Early on Saturday, lawmakers gave last-minute support to a bill barring local governments from forcing undocumented immigrants to spend extra time in jail just to allow enforcement officers to take them into their custody. The bill, a compromise from a version that sought to severely restrict interactions between law enforcement and immigration officials, does allow communities to notify the federal government if they have arrested an undocumented immigrant with a felony record. It also allows enforcement agents access to local jails. It came a day after a federal judge barred the U.S. Justice Department from denying public-safety grants to so-called sanctuary cities in retaliation for limiting cooperation with the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The bill goes now to Democratic Governor Jerry Brown for his signature. Trump issued an executive order in January targeting funding for cities that offer illegal immigrants safe harbor by declining to use municipal resources to enforce federal immigration laws. A San Francisco judge blocked the order. Illinois’ Republican Governor signed a bill last month protecting people from being detained because they are the subject of an immigration-related warrant. Although California lawmakers have enacted several environmental protections this year, a measure aimed at weaning the state’s power grid entirely off fossil fuels by 2045 died for the year after lawmakers adjourned without voting on it. California’s three investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG_pa.A), Southern California Edison (SCE_pe.A) and San Diego Gas & Electric [SDGE.UL], said the bill does not protect customers from the cost of switching from fossil fuels. Assemblyman Chris Holden, who held the measure in his Utilities and Energy Committee, said he would consider it again when the legislature returns in January for the second half of their two-year session. The legislature also passed a package of bills aimed at increasing the availability of affordable housing in the notoriously expensive state, and approved a plan for spending $1.5 billion in income from the state’s cap-and-trade air quality program, which raises money by selling businesses limited rights to emit pollutants. They passed a resolution condemning the election integrity commission, calling it an effort to suppress the voting rights of minorities and others, and voted to move up the state’s presidential primary from June to March. | 1 |
21,387 | Ronald Vitiello appointed chief of U.S. Border Patrol | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ronald Vitiello has been appointed chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday, replacing Mark Morgan, who had been asked to step down as the agency moves toward tougher immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Vitiello’s appointment was announced in a memo by Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol. | 1 |
21,388 | All The Proof You Need To Realize Hillary Is Not About To Let Wall Street Get Away With Anything | Some, try as they might, to say that Hillary Clinton will be soft on Wall Street when the opposite is actually true. She knows just how much Wall Street greed had to do with the recession that began with the housing crisis in 2007. She also knows what we need to do to prevent such a crash from ever happening again. One also can t just throw blanket blame at any one company or bank or lender. The crash was a perfect storm of greed and taking advantage of those who simply didn t know better.Here are Hillary Clinton s remarks from December 5, 2007: Now, who s exactly to blame for the housing crisis? Well, that s always a question that the press and people ask and I think there s plenty of blame to go around.Responsibility belongs to mortgage lenders and brokers, who irresponsibly lowered underwriting standards, pushed risky mortgages, and hid the details in the fine print.Responsibility belongs to the Administration and to regulators, who failed to provide adequate oversight, and who failed to respond to the chorus of reports that millions of families were being taken advantage of.Responsibility belongs to the rating agencies, who woefully underestimated the risks involved in mortgage securities.And certainly borrowers share responsibility as well. Homebuyers who paid extra fees to avoid documenting their income should have known they were getting in over their heads. Speculators who were busy buying two, three, four houses to sell for a quick buck don t deserve our sympathy.But finally, responsibility also belongs to Wall Street, which not only enabled but often encouraged reckless mortgage lending. Mortgage lenders didn t have balance sheets big enough to write millions of loans on their own. So Wall Street originated and packaged the loans that common sense warned might very well have ended in collapse and foreclosure. Some people might say Wall Street only helped to distribute risk. I believe Wall Street shifted risk away from people who knew what was going on onto the people who did not.Wall Street may not have created the foreclosure crisis, but Wall Street certainly had a hand in making it worse. If anyone would bother to take the time to read her proposals to make sure a crash never happens again they d soon realize Hillary s not about to let Wall Street get away with anything. Here are her plans:She s also making sure to hold those who break the rules accountable:And if you re still not convinced, feel free to read a more comprehensive version of her plans HERE.We need comprehensive reform. We need solutions that will no only be strong, but long-lasting and unable to be manipulated by those still trying to scam others. Listening to people go after Hillary and say that she d be weak on Wall Street is not only misguided, but simply wrong. Even Elizabeth Warren supports Clinton s plan.Now, this isn t to put any other candidate down, or try to convince anyone who to vote for. This is simply just laying down the facts.Featured image via Instagram | 0 |
21,389 | Trump's surge confounds rivals, makes him betting favorite | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s chances of clinching the U.S. Republican presidential nomination shot to a record high on global betting websites on Wednesday and the billionaire businessman, long viewed as a political outsider, won his first endorsement from a member of Congress. Trump easily won the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday, giving him his third win in four early nominating contests and pressuring Republican rivals to come up with a way to stop a candidate who only last year was not seen as a serious contender for the Nov. 8 presidential election. The real estate magnate swept Nevada by a margin of 22 percentage points, winning 45.9 percent of the vote. It was the high point so far of an unorthodox campaign during which Trump has fought with Pope Francis, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and promised to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration. Trump’s Nevada win is likely to further frustrate Republican establishment figures who, less than a month ago, were hoping his campaign as a political outsider was stalled after he lost the opening nominating contest in Iowa to Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas. In his victory speech in Nevada, the former reality TV show host courted his base of blue-collar workers. “I love the poorly educated,” he said, mentioning several demographic groups among whom he said he was winning. By Wednesday, that phrase was being widely discussed online, with some finding it funny and others arguing it was a welcome, nonjudgmental embrace of a constituency that other politicians might speak of only as a problem to be fixed. Trump’s nearest rivals, Cruz and Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, have frequently attacked each other, clearing a path for Trump to the Republican nomination that includes primary elections in a slew of southern states on March 1, known as Super Tuesday. “These guys have to figure out how to turn their fire on Trump,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist in Washington. Absent that, he said: “Which one is going to get out of this field?” Rubio said Trump was only backed by a minority of Republicans. “The vast and overwhelming majority of Republicans do not want Trump to be the nominee,” he told NBC, citing the network’s recent opinion poll putting him 15 points ahead of Trump in a one-on-one match-up. “As long as there are four people running dividing up the non-Trump vote sooner, you’re going to get results like what you saw last night.” Rubio and Cruz have struggled to match the popularity of Trump, who is more ready than the two senators to deviate from the tenets of the Republican Party’s brand of conservatism, including free trade and supply-side economics. Betting venues in Britain, Ireland and New Zealand show the online wagering community coalescing around Trump, once considered an interloper, attracting long-shot odds of 200/1. Odds for Trump becoming the Republican candidate for November have tightened all the way to 1/2 in some cases. “Mr Trump has triumphed yet again, despite political analysts almost unanimously writing him off as a serious presidential contender,” said Graham Sharpe from William Hill (WMH.L), adding one customer stood to collect at least $100,000 if Trump was elected to the White House. On Wednesday, Chris Collins, a Republican congressman from Trump’s home state of New York, became the first national lawmaker to endorse Trump, saying in a statement “it’s time to say no to professional politicians and yes to someone who has created jobs and grown a business.” While more than 1,200 delegates are needed to secure the Republican presidential nomination, Trump has built a formidable head start over Rubio, who came in second in Nevada with 23.9 percent, and Cruz with 21.4 percent. Opinion polls show Trump ahead in most Super Tuesday states. The primary election next Tuesday in Cruz’s home state of Texas is looming as a make-or-break moment for him after Trump’s growing success among the senator’s core base of evangelicals and other conservative supporters. “Texans have a good ability to see through baloney, to see through a smokescreen, to see through rhetoric and to look to substance,” Cruz said at an event in Houston, the state’s largest city. “I believe that is exactly what Texans are going to do next Tuesday.” (Additional reporting by Alana Wise and Eric Walsh; Written by James Oliphant and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Alistair Bell) 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 |
21,390 | U.S. expands Central American refugee screening program | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration announced a broad expansion on Tuesday of a program to let people fleeing violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras enter the United States as refugees, and said Costa Rica agreed to temporarily shelter some of those with no other recourse. Under the plan, Costa Rica will host up to 200 applicants at a time deemed too vulnerable to remain in their homelands while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security evaluates them for possible resettlement, which could take up to six months. The United States will also expand a program for child refugees and allow some people to apply for refugee status in their home countries. The steps, after months of criticism of President Barack Obama’s handling of the crisis, are modest in comparison to plans announced by Secretary of State John Kerry in January to open several refugee processing centers in the region. “Our current efforts to date have been insufficient to address the number of people who may have legitimate refugee claims,” Amy Pope, deputy homeland security adviser at Obama’s National Security Council, told a telephone briefing for reporters. Many details, including how the program would be financed or how many people might be eligible, were unavailable. Advocates said they were pleased the administration was moving to provide the migrants, especially children, with an alternative to staying home with their lives at risk or relying on smugglers for the dangerous journey through Mexico. “It’s really the way the program should have been established from the start, but even belatedly we’re happy to see that this is the direction that they’re taking it,” said Bill Frelick, director of the refugee rights program at Human Rights Watch. Since October, nearly 80,000 children and families from the three countries have been apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico. The crisis has fueled heated debate on the campaign trail over whether to welcome migrants fleeing violence or build a wall to keep them out, a centerpiece of Republican Donald Trump’s run for president. Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, called the plan an abuse of the law. “Today’s expansion of the Obama Administration’s policy is simply a continuation of the government-sanctioned border surge,” he said in a statement. The program also met resistance in the region. Guatemalan government officials rejected the description of those seeking to leave the country as refugees. The administration also will expand its Central American Minors program, which allows those under 21 with a parent in the United States legally to seek refugee status. The program will now allow siblings, care givers or another parent to do so. Only 267 minors have entered the United States since the program began in December 2014. Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said 2,880 applicants have been approved and are awaiting resettlement. The New York Times reported in January that the United States planned to admit up to 9,000 Central American refugees. Costa Rican Minister of the Presidency Sergio Alfaro told a news conference in San Jose the government reserved the “explicit right” to ask for more information if there were doubts about those granted the six-month humanitarian visas. Carlos Maldonado of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said the UNHCR and International Organization for Migration would handle costs incurred as applicants were processed in Costa Rica. If approved, they would most likely head to the United States, but could go to Canada, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Chile or Uruguay. Convincing countries to host a center has been difficult amid concern slow processing would lead to a backlog of people with nowhere to go, U.S. sources said. Nearly 8,000 Cubans migrating to the United States were stuck in Costa Rica recently when neighboring Nicaragua closed its border. Costa Rica’s location is also a challenge. Salvadorans, Hondurans and Guatemalans seeking to move to the United States must travel south, across Nicaragua, to get there. | 1 |
21,391 | SHOCKING COMMENTS: Hillary Stirs The Pot Inciting More Racial Divide With More Lies | Hillary Clinton used a CNN interview on Friday to completely embrace the Democrats claim that white people and cops must change to help reduce the number of African-Americans killed in tense exchanges with cops. BREITBART NEWSLet s face it, Hillary needs votes from the black community come November. What better way to do it than to continue the false narrative that Obama has been using for so long.The facts are just too inconvenient for the black community and the politicians who pander for their votes. The truth is never spoken for fear of being called a racist or for fear of losing votes. The black community needs some tough love and that involves honesty. Here s a bit of truth that Hillary and Obama choose to ignore:African-American communities have a role in reducing police-encounter deaths, which usually occur in tense engagements between a few cops and a few suspects with extensive criminal histories.In general, young African-American men are far more likely to commit crimes than young white men, young Asian men or young Latino men. A November 2011 report by the Justice Department showed that young African-American men are just 1 percent of the population, yet are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of murders in the nation.Clinton suggested that people who disagree with her agenda are racists. There is so much more to be done we can t be engaging in hateful rhetoric or incitement of violence, we need to be bringing people together we need more love and kindness. White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day.- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 8, 2016Hillary Clinton used a CNN interview on Friday to completely embrace the Democrats claim that white people and cops must change to help reduce the number of African-Americans killed in tense exchanges with cops. I will call for white people, like myself, to put ourselves in the shoes of those African-American families who fear every time their children go somewhere, who have to have The Talk, about, you now, how to really protect themselves [from police], when they re the ones who should be expecting protection from encounters with police, Clinton told CNN s Wolf Blitzer. I m going to be talking to white people, we re the ones who have to start listening to the legitimate cries coming from our African-American fellow citizens, she said. We ve got to figure out what is happening when routine traffic stops, when routine arrests, escalate into killings Clearly, there seems to be a terrible disconnect between many police departments and officers and the people they have sworn to protect, she said.Federal policing guidelines are needed because we have 18,000 police departments [some of which need more training to] go after systemic racism, which is a reality, and to go after systemic bias, she said. We ve got to start once again respecting and treating each other with the dignity that every person deserves, she said.VIA: BREITBART | 0 |
21,392 | U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to criminalize ‘revenge porn’ | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced long-stalled legislation on Thursday that would make it a federal crime to share sexually explicit material of a person online without the subject’s consent. The “Intimate Privacy Protection Act” is an effort several years in the making to combat the rise in recent years of “revenge porn,” images that are shared on the internet in order to extort or humiliate someone. The practice disproportionately affects women. “These acts of bullying have ruined careers, families, and even led to suicide,” Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat and lead author of the bill, said in a statement. The legislation would allow fines and up to five years in prison for posting online or distributing sexually explicit photos or videos with “reckless disregard” for the consent of the subject. More than 30 states have enacted similar laws in recent years. Exceptions listed in the bill would allow for posting material that is in the public interest or that features a person voluntarily posing nude in a public or commercial setting. The bill stalled for years amid concerns raised by technology companies and internet freedom advocates worried that service providers such as Alphabet Inc’s YouTube could be exposed to liability for acting as third-party hosts of revenge porn content shared by users. Speier’s bill, which was introduced with support from Facebook and Twitter, exempts such companies as long as they do not promote or solicit revenge porn content. Many tech companies have tightened their terms of service in recent years to prohibit revenge porn. Those companies typically rely on users to report objectionable content to teams of human reviewers who delete content found to violate terms of service. Democratic Representatives Katherine Clark and Gregory Meeks and Republican Representatives Ryan Costello and Tom Rooney joined the bill as original co-sponsors. | 1 |
21,393 | WEEK #13 of NFL HELL CONTINUES: “Lots of Empty Seats For The Biggest Game of The NFL Week” | Here are just a few examples of the empty or mostly empty NFL stands across America today:The stands appear to be mostly empty for the Atlanta Falcons V. Minnesota Vikings game, in what NFL fans were calling the biggest game of the week on Twitter.Lots of empty seats for the biggest game of the NFL week pic.twitter.com/kQDZySMFtU Brian Handke (@brianhandke) December 3, 2017Here s another shot of the empty seats at the Atlanta vs. Minnesota game in Atlanta:Caption: "What s up with ALL the empty seats? 30% empty? Could it be tix are too expensive? Fans don t want to pay the PSL?" (https://t.co/ceK9VSHPuT) pic.twitter.com/ZftCoDwwr8 Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) December 3, 2017It appears as though Jacksonville fans found something better to do than watch the Indiana vs. Jacksonville matchup.Pic via an Indiana talking head #INDvsJAX RT @cliffWISH8: available for the Jags playoff push. I repeat. pic.twitter.com/XfcVfkh5EJ Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) December 3, 2017Here s a close up of the empty seats in Jacksonville:What are those? pic.twitter.com/SYqmwKZyBl Jags Ghost (@Battle4Duval) December 3, 2017Meanwhile, back in the Midwest, a lot of empty seats can be found again this week in Chicago s Soldier Field, that is usually a sold out venue:There are some empty seats here at Soldier Field. It looks like the Lions game two weeks ago: pic.twitter.com/rEfsrT0hD9 Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) December 3, 2017Here s a close up of the empty seats in the upper deck at the Bears game:A lot of empty seats in the upper deck today. #Bears pic.twitter.com/eqdnpdDbl7 Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) December 3, 2017The north end zone doesn t look any better:Good amount of empty seats in north end zone. pic.twitter.com/YQJwnpvwGv Jeff Dickerson (@DickersonESPN) December 3, 2017I know that I am a goat, but do I smell that bad? 49ers at Bears. Media deck. @EmptySeatsPics pic.twitter.com/7JiTEczWXh prof. goat (@ProfGoat) December 3, 2017The Buffalo Bills played the NE Patriots, 2017 Superbowl championship team, and former NFL fans didn t seem to care enough to show up and watch the game :A lot of empty seats came out to see the Bills play the Patriots today @EmptySeatsPics pic.twitter.com/NgGSwdEkqP Darin Weeks (@DarinJWeeks) December 3, 2017 | 0 |
21,394 | Trump's tougher immigration policy extends to workers post-Harvey | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration, in line with its tough immigration policy, is keeping red tape in place that could make it harder for immigrants in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey to find jobs with contractors, a decision critics say is likely to slow the Gulf Coast’s recovery. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Republican President George W. Bush temporarily exempted employers hiring Katrina victims from verifying that new employees were authorized to work in the United States. The 45-day suspension allowed survivors whose identification documents had been lost during the storm to work while awaiting new ones, but it also allowed undocumented immigrants to quickly find jobs with contractors. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a statement on Wednesday that while it will expedite the replacement of lost documents for storm victims, employment verification requirements will remain in place, a move that drew both praise and scorn from politicians and others. “With so much rebuilding needed, we should make it easier for folks to get back to work,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat whose constituency includes parts of southeast Texas. “Unfortunately, always overflowing with anti-immigrant hysteria, the Trump administration is choosing red tape and bureaucracy instead of learning lessons from past disasters.” President Donald Trump, a Republican, built a base of support in the 2016 election campaign by vowing to stop people immigrating to the United States illegally and is pushing for a wall to be built along the U.S. border with Mexico. But business leaders say immigrants make important contributions and that any effort to limit their employment will hurt economic growth and tax revenue. Representative Marc Veasey, another Texas Democrat, said the government should not penalize Harvey victims. “Providing employers with temporary leeway will allow Texans to focus on rebuilding their lives and not on pressuring potential employees to provide documents that may have been lost during Hurricane Harvey,” Veasey said. Representative Lamar Smith, a Republican congressman for south-central Texas, was critical of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decision in 2005 and thinks it should not be repeated now. Harvey came ashore last Friday as the most powerful storm to hit Texas in 50 years, flooding Houston and driving tens of thousands from their homes before moving to Louisiana. On Thursday, he said Harvey’s destruction “does not mean federal immigration laws should be ignored.” “Nor should regulations that require federal contractors to verify legal work authorization of their employees,” he said in a statement to Reuters. “These policies were put in place to protect American workers and taxpayers.” USCIS referred questions on the decision to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the division under the DHS that enforces federal immigration policy. ICE spokeswoman Dani Bennett declined to speculate about future policy changes, but said it was not ICE’s intent to conduct immigration enforcement in areas affected by Harvey. Waiving verification requirements after Katrina was aimed at citizens and legal residents who had lost documents in the storm, since employers must verify the identity of all new hires through documents, such as passports, permanent residence cards, or driver’s licenses. But several immigration attorneys said the DHS’ 2005 decision was also a tacit acknowledgment that undocumented immigrants were needed to help the rebuilding. The Pew Research Center estimated last year that 28 percent of Texas’s construction workforce is undocumented, while other studies have put the number as high as 50 percent. “In certain circumstances those are the people you desperately need to help you do things,” said William J. Manning, an immigration attorney in New York. “This is not the time to get precious about their documentation.” In the days and weeks after Katrina, contractors from inside and outside New Orleans moved to rebuild and take advantage of government reconstruction funds. But the number of workers in construction and related industries in the New Orleans area plummeted just after the hurricane, according to a 2006 Brookings Institution study. The DHS decision, and a separate decision by the Department of Labor to temporarily lift wage restrictions, were part of an effort by the Bush administration to address the labor shortage. Some worry that the Trump administration’s decision will slow down the post-Harvey rebuilding, because employers will struggle to meet the federal documentation requirements in the storm’s aftermath. “Damage is damage, and there are repairs that need to be done,” said Jorge Lopez, an immigration attorney in Florida. “Local folks are trying to hire right away because even with their existing crew they’re not going to have enough people to do all the work that needs to be done.” | 1 |
21,395 | In Virginia, Clinton tests Senator Tim Kaine as a 'safe' VP pick | WASHINGTON/ANNANDALE, Virginia (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton campaigned with potential vice presidential running-mate U.S. Senator Tim Kaine in his home state of Virginia on Thursday, testing whether the person widely seen as the “safe choice” can propel her to the White House in November. Kaine’s 16-minute introduction of the presumptive Democratic nominee in a community college gymnasium in the Washington suburb of Annandale reflected Clinton’s need to reach out to Hispanic voters with her vice presidential pick. Kaine, a former missionary in Honduras who speaks Spanish, peppered his introduction with Spanish phrases and criticism of Republican Donald Trump’s statements regarding Latinos. “He trash talks Latinos - to him it doesn’t matter if you are a new immigrant or you’re a worker who has been here for a long time or a DREAMer or if you’re a Latina governor of New Mexico or a federal judge,” Kaine said to applause. Kaine was referring to statements Trump has made about young immigrants brought to the United States by their parents, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and the judge overseeing a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump University. Kaine could help Clinton check a lot of boxes in the list of requirements for a running mate. The former civil rights lawyer is a Virginian, which could help Clinton win a battleground state in the Nov. 8 race against Trump. Such states are hotly contested because their populations can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and play a decisive role in presidential elections. Kaine is also affable, savvy about foreign policy and has executive experience as a former governor of Virginia and a former mayor of Richmond, the state’s capital. Though the Clinton campaign is keeping the vice presidential selection process tightly under wraps, many Democrats in Washington see Kaine as the front-runner. Some Democrats in Congress and in outside groups want to see Clinton make a more unconventional pick for her already historic run as the first female presidential nominee of a major party. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a fierce critic of Wall Street, and Julian Castro, a Latino who is the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, are two possibilities mentioned by Democrats who want to see Clinton go with a bold choice before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia July 25-28. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Representative Xavier Becerra of California, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and, more recently, retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis have also been mentioned as possibilities. Asked about Kaine, Artie Blanco, a superdelegate from Nevada, said he would not be her top pick. “Excited, no. OK with, you know, sure,” she said. Blanco said she likes Becerra and Perez as potential picks. She said Warren “would be fantastic” and she likes Brown’s stance on worker issues. Thursday’s event with Kaine gave Clinton an opportunity to gauge whether the 58-year-old, Harvard-educated senator would help her fire up a crowd and make for a comfortable fit on the campaign trail. Cynthia Smith, a registered nurse from Cleveland, was at the event because her nephew is a volunteer with the campaign. She said she was not familiar with Kaine and would like to hear more from him, but at this point preferred Warren. “I’d like to see two women,” Smith said. Clinton had lunch with Democratic senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday. After the session, the lawmakers were mostly mum. When Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the top Democrat, was asked by a reporter what the takeaway from the lunch was, he responded: “She’s going to be president.” Clinton spoke to the senators about returning the Senate to Democratic control and about how to create jobs in all 50 U.S. states. Some Democratic senators have been rallying around colleague Kaine, while others are holding out for a bolder pick. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Kaine, said in a brief interview: “If you look at the totality of Tim’s life and his work, I think there are elements that would bridge that divide” between progressive Democrats and more establishment Democrats who have fostered Clinton’s drive for the White House. | 1 |
21,396 | Erdogan critic held in Spain returns to Germany denouncing 'despotism' | DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Author Dogan Akhanli flew back to Germany on Thursday after he was briefly detained in Spain at Turkey s request, and lambasted Ankara for launching a failed manhunt . Turkey issued an Interpol warrant for the Turkish-German writer, a critic of President Tayyip Erdogan s government, in August. Akhanli was quickly released. But the move inflamed a row between Germany and Turkey, both NATO members. His lawyer at the time said the detention was part of a Turkish crackdown on dissidents. As Akhanli embraced loved ones at Duesseldorf airport, a man shouted at him in Turkish: This country cannot save you . The author told reporters: I would say Turkey s manhunt has failed, that might be why this man is so annoyed and feels the need to threaten me. Denouncing despotism in Turkey, he said reports that prominent activist and businessman Osman Kavala was arrested on Wednesday in Istanbul showed that if this country arrests even him, then really nobody is safe there. Akhanli, detained in the 1980s and 1990s in Turkey for opposition activities, including running a leftist newspaper, fled Turkey in 1991 and has lived and worked in the German city of Cologne since 1995. Ties between Ankara and Berlin have been increasingly strained in the aftermath of last year s failed coup in Turkey as Turkish authorities sacked or suspended 150,000 people and detained more than 50,000, including other German nationals. | 1 |
21,397 | Be careful, murdered Iranian activist's daughter tells European exiles | THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The daughter of an Iranian Arab activist killed in the Netherlands last month linked his death to political conflict in the Middle East, and warned other exiles in Europe to be on their guard. Ahmad Mola Nissi, 52, was gunned down by an unidentified assailant in front of his home in The Hague on Nov. 8 in a suspected political killing. Hawra Ahmad Nissi said her father s death was reminiscent of a string of murders of Iranian dissidents in Europe in the 1990s. Europe seems safe, but be careful, she told Reuters in an interview. The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not confined to the Middle East. It is spreading into Europe. Relations between Shi ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia have soured in recent months, with the struggle for influence between the two long-standing regional rivals played out through increasingly bitter proxy confrontations, notably in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Mola Nissi established the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA), which seeks a separate state in Iran s oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province, in 1999. Since his murder, his family have been under Dutch police protection at a safe house. We came here to be safe but we don t feel safe. European governments should do more to secure the safety of activists, Hawra Nissi, 25, said. Ahvazi Arabs are a minority in mainly ethnic Persian Iran, and some see themselves as victims of occupation and want independence or autonomy. Tehran, which has condemned Mola Nissi s killing and promised to investigate it, accuses Riyadh of funding separatist groups active in Iran, a charge the Saudis deny. A source close to Mola Nissi s family, who asked not to be named due to security concerns, said he had accepted Saudi financial support but did not want the Ahvazi cause to be used as a pawn in the proxy war. This attitude could have made him an obstacle to efforts to bring the ASMLA movement under Saudi influence, the source said. The family is open to all scenarios. Iran is a prime suspect, but not the only suspect, Hawra Nissi said. Police are exploring a possible link between Mola Nissi s killing and the unsolved murder of another Iranian near Amsterdam in December 2015, a spokeswoman said. They are looking for two suspects believed to have gunned down Ali Motamed. The police declined to comment on the circumstances of Motamed s death or a motive, but Iranian media have linked him to exiled Iranian opposition Shi ite group the People s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), which would have made him a potential target. A man detained in relation to Mola Nissi s death has since been released, the spokeswoman added. The most prominent among a string of killings and disappearances of Iranian dissidents in the 1980s and 1990s was the shooting of three Iranian Kurdish opposition leaders in Berlin in 1992, which a German court ruled had been ordered by the government in Tehran. | 1 |
21,398 | U.S. Senate Democrats seek details on possible Comey funding request | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Senate formally requested details on Thursday from the Justice Department on any additional funding ousted FBI Director James Comey may have sought to conduct his agency’s probe into possible connections between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrat on a panel overseeing the Justice Department, made the request in a letter. They sought “details of any request for increased resources made by the FBI to DOJ” and “how this request was communicated from the FBI to DOJ, and whether similar requests were made to the White House.” A congressional source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday that Comey told lawmakers within the past few days he had asked the Justice Department to make additional resources available - mainly more staffing - for the Russia probe. Trump fired Comey on Tuesday. | 1 |
21,399 | TRUMP PROMISED TO PUT AMERICANS FIRST AND D.C. TREMBLED: “Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs” [VIDEO] | This wasn t a smooth-talking politician inviting us to climb aboard his fancy word ship for a voyage beyond the stars. He did not call upon the angels. Instead, he spoke in dark tones to the forgotten man. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer, Trump said. Everyone is listening to you now. He began by punching the elites right in the mouth the bipartisan Washington establishment sitting up there with him. For too long, a small group in our nation s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost, Trump said.Trump s campaign was nothing if not audacious, but to see him say such things in front of the Capitol, right to the establishment s face as those sitting behind him wore those tight smiles, was beyond audacious. It was Jacksonian.You could feel Washington trembling. But you could also feel the establishment wise men like Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the K Street boys who buy them all with campaign checks, Democrats and Republicans smirking and telling themselves a Washington truth:Fresh presidents talk a lot about change, and finally, when they re not fresh anymore, the presidents leave town, humbled, while the insiders remain.It was that beginning that was astonishing, his declaration of war on the establishment, especially as they all sat there with him, with former Presidents Carter and Bush and Clinton and Obama looking on, outgoing first lady Michelle Obama frowning, Hillary Clinton icy and distant.Bush bobbed his head and smiled as if in pain. Bill Clinton s eyes were two frozen blue grapes, locked in a thousand-yard stare. But what he was looking at inside his own head, I wouldn t ever want to know. We ve defended other nations borders while refusing to defend our own, Trump said, and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world. The Bush Republicans and neoconservatives and European elites won t like his America First message one bit.Predictably, the left hated his speech. They love the working-class hero in the abstract, unless working-class heroes dare to support Trump. Then the left mocks them. The culture clash between liberal commentators and Trump voters has gotten so petty that I ve even seen Trump voters mocked as fools for spelling mistakes.They re not fools. They re not deplorable. They re hardworking Americans, people who sent their children to our wars, people who were pushed aside by our politics, slapped down by our economy and abused by Democrats, Republicans and the very elites who formed the establishment.They were once the forgotten. But now their guy is president of the United States.For entire story: Chicago TribuneWatch Trump s full inauguration speech here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcfrbB9hpoI | 0 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.