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21,400 | About 19.5 million U.S. viewers watched Comey testify about Trump | (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey’s dramatic testimony before Congress on Thursday brought big audiences to U.S. broadcast and cable networks, drawing about 19.5 million viewers, according to data from the Nielsen ratings agency. That is a large audience for a daytime event, though it is short of the 30.6 million who tuned in to President Donald Trump's inauguration in January. (Graphic: Ratings for big televised events tmsnrt.rs/2sLLyPJ) Nielsen’s estimates include people watching on 10 U.S. broadcast and cable television networks, but not those who streamed the congressional hearing on computers or mobile phones. Broadcasters interrupted regular programming to air nearly three hours of live coverage of Comey’s remarks about his dealings with Trump before the president fired him in May. The tally was impressive for an event that aired during the work day, when typically only events like state funerals and royal weddings draw mass viewing, said Jeffrey Jones, director of journalism’s Peabody Awards and a professor at the University of Georgia. Jones was traveling and saw crowds gathered around TVs in Atlanta’s airport to watch the hearing. “Politics is quite often about theater and drama, and this was a classic showdown,” he said. “People wanted to see it for themselves.” The television ratings do not include the many people who watched the highly anticipated hearing during at bars and restaurants or online through TV network apps or on social media sites. Alphabet Inc’s YouTube reported nearly 800,000 peak concurrent viewers across streams from 20 news outlets. Twitter Inc. said the average minute audience for its livestream of Bloomberg’s coverage was 129,000 viewers. The year’s most-watched television event is football’s Super Bowl, which attracted 111 million viewers in February. Game Three of basketball’s NBA Finals pulled in about 20 million for its primetime broadcast on Wednesday. During his appearance, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he believed Trump dismissed him to try to undermine a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign team and Russia. Trump on Friday said Comey’s testimony showed “no obstruction.” | 1 |
21,401 | NYC BOMBER’S DAD Reveals Son’s Terrorist Attack Could Have Been Stopped If They’d Listened To Him…The FBI Clearly Missed That Narrative | Two years before the bombings that Ahmad Khan Rahami is suspected of carrying out in New York and New Jersey, his father told the police that his son was a terrorist, prompting a review by federal agents, according to two law enforcement officials.The father, Mohammad Rahami, in a brief interview on Tuesday, said that at the time he told agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his concern, his son had just had a fight with another of his sons and stabbed the man, leading to a criminal investigation. Two years ago I go to the F.B.I. because my son was doing really bad, O.K.? he said. But they check almost two months, they say, He s O.K., he s clean, he s not a terrorist. I say O.K. He added: Now they say he is a terrorist. I say O.K. It is not clear if officers ever interviewed Ahmad Rahami, but as investigators turn their focus to what might have motivated, inspired or led him to plant bombs in Chelsea in Manhattan and on the Jersey Shore, new clues are emerging indicating that he may have been increasingly receptive to extremist ideology.When Mr. Rahami was captured during a shootout with the police on Monday, the authorities found a notebook, pierced with a bullet hole and covered in blood, expressing opinions sympathetic to jihadist causes, according to a law enforcement official who agreed to speak about the investigation only on the condition of anonymity.Read more: NYT | 0 |
21,402 | Libyan sides call Boris Johnson's bodies remark 'unacceptable' | BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Senior figures from across Libya s political divides protested on Thursday against remarks by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson about clearing dead bodies from the city of Sirte. Johnson told members of his Conservative Party on Tuesday that British investors had a brilliant vision to turn Sirte, a former stronghold of Islamic State, into the next Dubai if bodies could be cleared away. Lawmakers from Libya s House of Representatives (HOR), who represent political and military factions based in the east of the country, called the comments unacceptable. The HOR s foreign affairs committee issued a statement demanding a clarification from the British prime minister and an apology to the Libyan people . The head of Libya s U.N.- and Western-backed government, which is based in Tripoli and has been spurned by the HOR, also asked for clarification during a meeting with the British ambassador in the capital. Some of what was said in (Johnson s) statement is unacceptable, said a statement from Fayez Seraj, head of the U.N.-backed government. Johnson s comments led to calls for his resignation from British political opponents. He accused them of playing politics, saying on Twitter that he had been referring to the clearing of booby-trapped bodies of Islamic State militants. Local Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes fought for more than six months last year to oust militants from Sirte, which Islamic State had turned into its most important base outside the Middle East. The coastal city of about 80,000 was badly damaged during the campaign and is struggling to rebuild. The HOR has been based in eastern Libya since 2014 when a conflict in Tripoli led to the setting up of rival parliaments and governments in the capital and the east. Its cooperation is considered crucial for the progress of a new U.N. plan to stabilize Libya and the ending of turmoil that began after the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. | 1 |
21,403 | Greens say no support for Macron's EZ budget idea in German talks | BERLIN (Reuters) - None of the German parties involved in exploratory coalition talks support French President Emmanuel Macron s idea to create a separate budget for the euro zone, a negotiator for the Greens party told Reuters on Wednesday. Reinhard Buetikofer, who participated in a late-night negotiating session on European policy on Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the Free Democrats (FDP), said the Greens supported the idea of more investment in infrastructure but not a new budget. None of the participating parties support a euro zone budget, Buetikofer, a member of the European Parliament said. We Greens fully support the idea of finding ways, within the framework of the existing EU budget, to boost investment in infrastructure. We share Macron s aim of increasing investment. The news is a blow to Macron, who has called for the creation of a euro zone budget of several hundred billions of euros to help the single currency bloc cope with economic shocks. The Greens are seen as the biggest supporters of Macron s ideas among the German parties considering a coalition. | 1 |
21,404 | Italy calls confidence vote on contested electoral law | ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government called on Tuesday for confidence votes in the lower house of parliament to try to force through an electoral law that is likely to penalize the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. The new voting law, which would be used in a national election due by next May, is backed by the ruling Democratic Party (PD), former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!) and the anti-migrant Northern League. Unlike the current rules, the new system, known as the Rosatellum, would allow the formation of broad coalitions before the ballot, a factor likely to hurt the maverick 5-Star, which refuses to join alliances. The party, which tops many opinion polls, says the Rosatellum could cost it up to 50 seats in parliament. It has called for protests on Wednesday, when the lower house is due to hold two confidence motions. A third vote is set for Thursday. This is a mortal blow to democracy, a violation of democratic laws, said Luigi Di Maio, the 5-Star s candidate for prime minister. The aim is to destroy us. Italy s political landscape is highly fragmented and successive governments have failed to reduce the nation s huge debt mountain and struggled to revive the economy. Investors fear political instability here could undermine the euro. President Sergio Mattarella, the only figure with the power to dissolve parliament, has demanded new voting rules be drawn up because at present there is too much divergence between the systems for electing members of the two houses of parliament. Previous efforts at reform have all ended in failure thanks to a matrix of conflicting interests. The latest version offers a mix of first-past-the-post and proportional representation, and gives party leaders a huge say over nominating candidates. Although the Rosatellum will likely hurt 5-Star, analysts say it looks unlikely to throw up a clear parliamentary majority, with opinion polls showing the center-left, center-right and 5-Star splitting the vote three ways. A government is obliged to resign if it loses a confidence vote so only deploys the motion if it thinks key legislation might get held up or radically altered without its intervention. In this case, the government motions will sweep away dozens of secret votes on various aspects of the law, which would have allowed disaffected parliamentarians from the traditional parties to sink the bill, as happened in June during a prior attempt to introduce new electoral rules. The ruling PD dismissed accusations that it was subverting democracy, saying there would still be one final secret vote on the whole package. In this secret vote we will see if the law is good or bad, said Ettore Rosato, the parliamentary party leader of the PD who has put his name to the reform. This is the last chance we have to put in place an electoral law and we want to avoid, just weeks ahead of the ballot, any traps, he told reporters. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni hopes to get the bill through the lower house of parliament by the end of the week, after which it will go to the upper house Senate, where the government has no clearly defined majority. | 1 |
21,405 | Desperate GOP LITERALLY Spreads Trump’s Wiretap Lies To Fleece Their Supporters | It was bound to happen as soon as House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes said that he had evidence people in Trump s transition team were recorded during foreign surveillance activities, Trump and his loyal subjects within the Republican Party pounced. Never mind what else Nunes said that the information collected was incidental and probably legal the GOP saw their opportunity to clear their president s name and paint Obama as the evil, criminal, dictatorial president they always knew he was.The National Republican Congressional Committee sent out emails this morning with the subject line, Confirmed: Obama spied on Trump. They quoted Politico: Trump transition members were under surveillance during Obama administration. And they quoted Nunes: Members of the Donald Trump transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under surveillance during the Obama administration following November s election. Here s the full letter:Whoa. as flagged by the DCCC, Republicans are now fundraising on the false claim that Obama spied on Trump pic.twitter.com/AKzw3jAAQJ Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) March 23, 2017Is there context? Of course not. That s nonexistent in their letter, but here s some: The quote from the Politico story is the caption on top of the video they posted of Nunes press conference. And here s some more relevant context from that story: Nunes set off the firestorm with a news conference earlier in the day in which he described the surveillance of Trump aides through what s called incidental collection, something he noted was routine and legal. Such collection can occur when a person inside the United State communicates with a foreign target of U.S. surveillance. In such cases, the identities of U.S. citizens are supposed to be shielded but can be unmasked by intelligence officials under certain circumstances. Furthermore, Nunes himself said: This is a normal, incidental collection, based on what I could collect. It alarms him anyway, for some reason.However, more significant than that is the fact that Nunes also said yesterday that he still has no evidence Trump, his team, or his campaign were wiretapped or otherwise the target of surveillance by the Obama administration. None. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. I have said this for many, many weeks, he told White House reporters.What we have now is a party that s actively and knowingly spreading Trump s lies to gain an edge they know they re losing. Should investigations conclude that not only did a sitting president level a demonstrably false accusation against his predecessor, but also that he colluded with Russia during the election cycle, the GOP is sunk.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images | 0 |
21,406 | TOM HANKS TO JOIN Hollywood Liberals In Facebook Live Fundraiser For Fight Against Trump Agenda | Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Amy Poehler are among the notables set to appear on a telethon to benefit the ACLU that will stream March 31 via Facebook Live. Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU is billed as a modern-day telethon to raise funds for the venerable advocacy organization that has been working overtime with legal challenges to aspects of President Trump s political agenda. Our work in the courts is essential right now to hold off the worst of the abuses, said ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero. But it is also the collective will and tireless actions of we the people that serve as a bulwark against unconstitutional and wrong-headed policies and executive orders. By supporting our work through this telethon, we can fight even harder to defend the rights guaranteed by our Constitution. Here s a little Facebook promo for the event:More talent is expected to sign on in the coming days. NYP | 0 |
21,407 | 'Open Sesame:' Lobbyists cheer warmer welcome in Trump White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - During the eight years of the Obama administration, business lobbyists often found the gates to the White House closed tight. They are open now under President Donald Trump. That is not altogether unexpected as the New York real estate developer did campaign during the 2016 presidential election on a promise to elevate the needs of business, which he argued would fuel economic growth. What does surprise lobbyists, however, is the sheer number of wins in getting the Trump administration to roll back or delay unfavorable regulations in its first 10 months. And it is occurring despite White House dysfunction and distraction. The lobbyists say it is a stark departure from the approach of the Obama administration, which had a reputation for aloofness toward business and sought to limit the influence of lobbyists, whom it saw as beholden to special interests. The Trump White House is listening to them, they say. It is returning their phone calls. And it is working to eliminate regulations they view as detrimental to the ability to prosper. When 15 lobbyists and business leaders recently held talks with Trump administration officials on energy infrastructure and climate change, they were surprised by the officials' opening question: "Do you have a regulation that we could put on a list to try to eliminate? Is there something that is impeding you from growing?" In that moment, one of the lobbyists at the meeting knew it was a new era. “That as an opening was not the way the Obama administration approached meetings,” she said. “It’s night and day,” between the Trump and Obama administrations, said James Thurber, a professor in the public affairs school at American University, who studies lobbying and its effects. Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” an oath that came with plans to curb lobbying and end a “culture of corruption.” The campaign stump speech line had a populist appeal, but one person’s swamp dweller is another’s job creator. Some of the 16 lobbyists spanning nine different industries interviewed by Reuters acknowledged that many people view them as part of the problem in Washington, not the solution, and that their growing influence may be seen by those as a negative. Spending so far this year on lobbyists is on pace to exceed spending in 2016, according to the OpenSecrets website, with $2.43 billion spent over the first nine months compared to $2.38 billion at the same point in 2016. After taking office in January, Trump quickly made it easier to get into the White House. He reversed President Barack Obama’s restrictions that sought to keep lobbyists at bay by physically barring many of them from the White House - a rule that critics said did nothing more than move meetings with lobbyists to coffee shops across the street. And Trump has stopped the public disclosure of White House visitors’ logs, so now lobbyists come and go with less concern that their presence at the White House will be scrutinized. Most lobbyists refused to speak on the record because they did not want to reveal anything about their private discussions with the administration. Lobbyists are also acutely aware that anything they say will be used by critics who think Trump has tilted too much toward corporate interests. The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this article. The coal, steel, oil and gas industries are some of the clear winners, with easier access to the Trump administration and more deregulation of their industries, said Stan Veuger, a fellow at the conservative thinktank American Enterprise Institute who studies politics and the economy. That business has been given more access and even more control of certain regulatory issues is “fair criticism and praise if you want to call it that,” said Veuger. There are big losers, too. Consumer advocacy and environmental groups warning about the perils of climate change, who enjoyed easy access to the Obama White House, have largely been shut out of a Trump White House that is more skeptical of climate change and believes Obama over-reached with some of his measures to protect consumers. It was no secret that Trump wanted to greenlight the Dakota Access Pipeline to move oil from North Dakota to Illinois despite the fierce opposition of environmentalists and American Indian tribes whose land was being used. He spoke about it frequently during the campaign. Then Trump gave the energy industry more than they had hoped for. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents all the large refiners, had asked the administration to speed the permitting process for drilling and building new facilities. When Trump signed his executive order authorizing the pipeline only four days after taking office, he also granted this wish. A number of business trade groups asked the Trump administration to suspend a rule, created during the Obama years, that would require companies to disclose to the government any communications they have with employees during union disputes. In June, the Trump Labor Department did just that, citing the opposition from business. Among the other wins for business, the Labor Department delivered on a top priority of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobbying group and Wall Street brokerages when it reversed an Obama-era rule aimed at brokers who recommend inappropriate retirement investments. The administration also side-stepped the process to repeal regulations by implementing delays and holds on rules. For instance, in the final months of the Obama administration the Bureau of Land Management created a rule governing methane and waste prevention over the strong objections of groups representing oil and gas companies. API wrote to Ryan Zinke, Trump’s secretary of the interior, in May asking him to postpone implementation of the rule. The Trump administration announced it would and even cited the lobbyists’ objections as the reason. Of course, it is not perfect harmony between Trump and business. Dozens of corporate leaders abandoned advisory business councils set up by Trump after he appeared to side with white supremacists following a white nationalist rally in Virginia that resulted in the death of a protester. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent the past few weeks ringing alarm bells over Trump’s various positions on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. And yet, said Neil Bradley, one of the top lobbyists for the chamber, “I have even found in times when we may not see eye to eye with the administration on something, we have cordial, timely discussions that are substantive.” | 1 |
21,408 | Death toll from blasts in Somalia's capital Mogadishu tops 200 | MOGADISHU (Reuters) - More than 200 people were killed by twin bomb blasts that struck busy junctions in the heart of Somalia s capital Mogadishu, officials said on Sunday, marking the deadliest attacks since an Islamist insurgency began in 2007. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo declared three days of national mourning and called for donations of blood and funds to victims of Saturday s attack. At least 100 others were wounded. Today s horrific attack proves our enemy would stop nothing to cause our people pain and suffering. Let s unite against terror, he tweeted. Police said a truck bomb exploded outside a hotel in the K5 intersection that is lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks, flattening several buildings and setting dozens of vehicles on fire. Two hours later, another blast struck the capital s Medina district. We have confirmed 200 civilians died in yesterday s blast. We understand the death toll is higher than that. Many people are still missing their relatives, Abdifatah Omar Halane, the spokesman for Mogadishu s mayor, told Reuters. A spokesman for Aamin Ambulance service said it knew of more than 250 people wounded during the bombings on Saturday. Some people who searched for their relatives just found unrecognizable body parts, its director Abdikadir Abdirahman told Reuters. In our 10 year experience as the first responder in #Mogadishu, we haven t seen anything like this, tweeted the ambulance service, which is reliant on private donations and the only free ambulance service in the city. We re mourning the loss of 5 Somali Red Crescent volunteers, also killed in this attack, tweeted the International Committee of the Red Cross. Police and emergency workers searched the rubble of destroyed buildings on Sunday. They had recovered dozens of corpses the night before, most of which were charred beyond recognition. Hundreds of people came to the junction in search of missing family members and police cordoned off the area for security reasons. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which is allied to al Qaeda, stages regular attacks in the capital and other parts of the country. The group is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government and its African Union allies in a bid to topple the weak administration and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. The militants were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and have been steadily losing territory since then to the combined forces of African Union peacekeepers and Somali security forces. But al Shabaab retains the ability to mount large, complex bomb attacks. Over the past three years, the number of civilians killed by insurgent bombings has steadily climbed as al Shabaab increases the size of its bombs. | 1 |
21,409 | White House: Trump considering Powell, Taylor for either Fed chair or vice chair | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering a scenario in which he would nominate Fed Governor Jerome Powell and Stanford University economist John Taylor for the two top positions at the Federal Reserve Board, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Friday. Under the scenario, Trump would pick one or the other for the Fed chair position and the other for vice chair. “That is something that is under consideration but he hasn’t ruled out a number of options. He’ll have an announcement on that soon, in the coming days,” Sanders told reporters. | 1 |
21,410 | Germans content with national direction ahead of vote: survey | BERLIN (Reuters) - Germans are far more satisfied with the direction of their country and less politically polarized than other European nations, a survey showed on Wednesday, underscoring why Angela Merkel is expected to win a new term as chancellor this month. The survey by the Bertelsmann Foundation showed that 59 percent of Germans believe their country is headed in the right direction. Some 77 percent say their personal economic situation has improved or stayed the same over the past two years, while 80 percent describe themselves as political centerists. The results contrast with other European countries where dissatisfaction with the economy and political establishment has led to a surge in support for populist parties on the right and left in recent years. By contrast, German voters seem keen for continuity. Merkel is widely expected to win a record-tying fourth term on Sept. 24, with polls showing her center-right bloc 13-15 percentage points ahead of its closest rival, the Social Democrats (SPD). These findings point to a highly content and status quo oriented German society and contrast starkly with the situation elsewhere in Europe, the authors Catherine de Vries and Isabell Hoffmann said. In Italy, for example, just 13 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the direction of their country. In France and Britain, satisfaction levels stood at 36 and 31 percent, respectively. The average satisfaction level across the 28 countries in the EU was 36 percent. Both Germany and France showed sharp increases in satisfaction levels over the past months. In a survey conducted in March, before young centrist Emmanuel Macron was elected president, just 12 percent of French said their country was headed in the right direction. German satisfaction levels stood at 32 percent in March. Among the big European countries, France was the most politically polarized, with just 51 percent of respondents describing themselves as centrist. Some 24 percent identified as left or extreme left, while 25 percent described themselves as right or extreme right. In Germany, just 13 percent of respondents described themselves as left or extreme left, and only 7 percent as right or extreme right. The Bertelsmann survey was conducted in July and based on interviews with 10,755 Europeans in all EU member states. | 1 |
21,411 | Philadelphia passes soda tax after mayor rewrites playbook | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney scored a victory that had eluded more than 40 U.S. public officials who took on the powerful U.S. soda industry when the city council voted on Thursday to slap a tax on sweetened drinks. After a bitter, months-long battle, the city council voted 13-4 to approve a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet drinks beginning in January. The council already approved the plan in a preliminary vote last week, and the outcome had not been expected to change. The City of Brotherly Love became the biggest U.S. city to have such a tax. Much smaller Berkeley, California, was the first. Similar efforts, including several spearheaded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, were defeated after intense lobbying from organizations like the American Beverage Association, which opposes the Philadelphia move and represents Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc. Following Thursday’s vote, the ABA said it would take legal action to stop the tax. The Philadelphia vote marked a major victory for health advocates who say sugary drinks cause obesity and diabetes. But experts noted those concerns were not the focus for Kenney and other backers of the tax as they took on critics complaining that “nanny state” public health measures intrude on residents’ personal lives. Instead, Kenney rewrote the soda-tax advocate’s playbook. He played up the benefits of the cash injection from the tax for the city’s depleted coffers. In the first year, the tax is projected to raise $91 million, and he pledged to spend funds on public programs such as universal pre-kindergarten. “If you want to tax something and people know where the money’s going to go, then it’s easier for them to get behind it,” Kenney said in an interview. He noted that focusing on revenue, rather than health, was largely responsible for the measure’s passage. The strategic shift could lend momentum to movements in San Francisco, neighboring Oakland, California, and Boulder, Colorado. Residents of those cities will vote in November on similar taxes, which could deal further blows to a U.S. soft drink industry already hit by declining soda consumption. U.S. soda consumption fell for the 11th straight year in 2015, according to Euromonitor data. Bloomberg made public health a centerpiece of his tenure as New York City mayor between 2002 and 2013. He moved to limit smoking in parks and restaurants, ban transfats and require calorie counts posted in some restaurants. On soda, he pushed for a tax, then a ban on soda purchases with food stamps, and finally a much-lampooned limit on the size of sugary drinks. His efforts were ultimately rejected, with critics decrying the moves toward a “nanny state.” The strategy worked in Britain, where a new soft drinks levy was announced in March after officials emphasized the country’s obesity crisis, saying it cost the economy billions of pounds annually and was a huge burden on the state-funded health system. That approach never worked in Philadelphia. Michael Nutter, the previous mayor, twice tried to pass a soda tax as a health initiative and as a way to plug a budget shortfall. He was unable to push it through the city council. “Twice before it was used in Philadelphia and it was not successful. It was used in New York and it was not effective,” said Kenney, adding that while the health benefits of a tax are not “less important,” they are less tangible. Kenney, who became mayor in January, had made a campaign pledge to provide universal pre-kindergarten, and he kept that issue as his focus. A spokeswoman said complex state laws on taxation made enacting a citywide soda tax the best option to raise revenue for that signature proposal. Bloomberg personally contributed funding to support Philadelphia’s pro-tax campaigners. Opponents of Philadelphia’s soda tax argued that the measure will disproportionately hurt the poor and prompt Philadelphians to travel to nearby suburbs to buy soda. A spokesman for No Philly Grocery Tax, a local ABA-funded group, said it would sue the city to stop it from imposing the “unconstitutional” tax, but was still analyzing all its legal options. In a statement, it called the tax “regressive and discriminatory.” Kenney said the city was prepared to defend the tax in any litigation from the beverage industry. “It’s the precedent that they were so staunchly fighting, and that’s their problem now,” Kenney said. “You’re going to see the beginnings of a kind of domino effect relative to this specific effort.” In Colorado, Boulder hopes to use soda tax revenue on health programs, and San Francisco and Oakland officials would recommend but not require funds raised to go toward obesity and diabetes prevention. When Berkeley passed its soda tax in 2014, industry groups dismissed the measure as a fluke given the city’s largely white population and reputation as a hotbed for liberal measures. But Philadelphia is the fifth-largest U.S. city, with 1.6 million people. “No one can trivialize it as they can trivialize Berkeley,” said Larry Tramutola, a California political strategist who worked on the Berkeley campaign and is currently leading the San Francisco and Oakland efforts. | 1 |
21,412 | Trump Gets His A** Handed To Him For Whining About ‘Unfair’ Protest Against Him | Millions of Americans did not vote for Donald Trump on Tuesday night and are protesting his election. And Trump can only whine about it.It didn t take long for Trump to act unpresidential on Twitter following his election victory.Once he got his phone back from his aides, Trump took to his Twitter account to whine, bitch, and moan about the anti-Trump protest movement.Trump called the protests professional as if they are getting paid to protest and then accused the media of inciting the movement.Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016Yeah, Trump literally has not learned to keep his mouth shut and you can see the hypocrisy in this one since he s the one who incited his supporters to threaten bloody violence with guns if he had lost the election to Hillary Clinton. He definitely would not be calling that unfair. Needless to say, Twitter users found Trump s tweet amusing and proceeded to humiliate him in response.@realDonaldTrump how is this hard to understand when you lost the popular vote? many people don t like you! James Grebey (@jgrebes) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump wait we can get paid to protest you? Enrico (@The700Level) November 11, 2016@The700Level @KittyCRodriguez @realDonaldTrump I want in on this too. Need to save up money before Trump takes my health care away. Andrew Whatever (@xvszero) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump Try listening to the protesters. You might learn a lot about the nation you are about to lead. Dave Hogg ? (@Stareagle) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump I was one of those protestors. Not a professional. Did it because I believed in it. Heard about it through friends. Tom Coates (@tomcoates) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump that s democracy, dude. You re answerable to the people now. They re allowed to protest. Dan Hatch (@Daniel_Hatch) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump I will finish what you started pic.twitter.com/xsEE7mwEat Emo Kylo Ren (@KyIoR3n) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump They re still allowed to dislike you, Donald. Tom Bonier (@tbonier) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump Your deplorables are the least evolved of the human species. Big Lee ?? (@StopTrumpBigly) November 11, 2016.@realDonaldTrump We are Americans. We are allowed to protest. It s not unfair , it s in the Constitution. billy eichner (@billyeichner) November 11, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Protesting is a constitutional right. Also, now that you are President-elect, your lies are government propaganda. Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) November 11, 2016@laurenduca He got exactly what he wanted & still he s pitying himself not to mention responding to protest like a dictator. Lord love us. Rachel Vorona Cote (@RVoronaCote) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump Have you prepared a speech yet on how to tell your supporters that your wall on the border is never going to be happen? #NotMyPresident (@BestOfRaps) November 11, 2016@realDonaldTrump THIS was unfair pic.twitter.com/qg2EpVMj99 Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) November 11, 2016@jonahkeri every time I calm down for a minute, this clown reminds me of how dangerous he is. Greg Chernack (@GChernack) November 11, 2016If Hillary Clinton had won, does anyone think Trump would be calling this a very open and successful election? Please. @realDonaldTrump Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) November 11, 2016Donald Trump spent a year and a half using offensive hateful divisive language casting anyone one who isn t a white male conservative an enemy of America. People are NOT going to forget that and they certainly are not going to forgive and bow down to kiss Trump s ass. His entire campaign was unfair to the American people and now he is reaping what he sowed.Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
21,413 | Rights group voices fears over Trump refugee plan, torture | GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is “closing the door” on people fleeing Islamic State, and may try to re-open secret detention centers where torture can be used, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday, calling on Congress to intervene. A temporary ban on refugees that Trump is expected to sign this week is a “particularly ugly” policy among a range of populist initiatives that could also breach the U.S. Constitution, the rights group said. Trump looks set to “stop refugee admissions to the United States, ostensibly on security grounds,” HRW head Kenneth Roth told a news briefing in Geneva. “But in order to score a political point at home, Trump is closing the door on them. That is one particularly ugly aspect of what he is doing.” “It’s as if Trump is indifferent to the extraordinary suffering that many of these refugees have been through. Many of these people are fleeing ISIS (Islamic State), or the ISIS equivalents around the world,” he said. HRW, one of the biggest international human rights groups, based in the United States, said it feared Trump would “start refilling Guantanamo” and possibly use “dark sites” on foreign soil for detainees. “One thing we expect either today or later this week is an order from Trump to begin exploring ... the resumption of CIA dark sites,” said Roth, an American. The Washington Post published on Wednesday a draft executive order, “Detention and Interrogation of Enemy Combatants”, that could open the way for terrorism suspects to be interrogated in secret prisons abroad. “Last time, these black sites were often in democracies - they were in Poland, Latvia, Romania, if you look around the world, they were in places like Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Thailand, Afghanistan,” Roth said. “I hope all these governments and the other prospective governments say ‘no’ this time around, that they don’t want to be complicit in any new U.S. torture scheme.” Obama closed black sites and ordered a halt to waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, which experts say constitutes torture banned under international law. Trump promised during his campaign to bring back waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse”. “If Trump is going to start toying with the Army Field Manual and weakening its preclusion of torture or other forms of inhumane and cruel interrogation, that would be very problematic,” Roth said. He called on Congress to exercise oversight over the new administration and “stand up for the Constitution and international human rights law”. “Obviously people are afraid of Trump at this stage because he does have the bully pulpit, but that’s when an independent Congress standing up for principles is particularly important.” | 1 |
21,414 | Plane crash in Russia's far east kills six: report | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Six people were killed when a small plane crashed in Russia s far eastern region of Khabarovsk early on Wednesday, Russian news agencies said. There were seven people on board the L-410 aircraft including two crew, RIA said, adding that one passenger, a child, had survived the crash, but was in grave condition. | 1 |
21,415 | In 'China's Jerusalem', Christians say faith trumps official Sunday School ban | WENZHOU, China (Reuters) - When authorities in China s southeastern city of Wenzhou outlawed Sunday School earlier this year, Christian parents determined their children must still learn about Jesus and the Bible. Churches in Wenzhou started teaching children in private homes or at other venues. Some billed Sunday School classes as daycare, not education, or moved them to Saturdays, more than a dozen local Christians told Reuters. Wenzhou, sometimes known as China s Jerusalem due to its sizable Christian community, is at the forefront of a growing standoff between China s leadership and the country s devout over religious education for children. The ruling and officially atheist Communist Party has increased efforts to curb the influence of Christianity, tightening restrictions on faith classes and warning against the religion s Western ideas. But Christians say the resolve of the community in Wenzhou suggests the party will struggle to exert control over the next generation of the country s 60 million Christians. In her house, faith comes first, grades come second, said one parent surnamed Chen, asking not to use her full name due to the sensitivity of the matter. Immaculately turned out in a cream fur coat and wearing a giant turquoise ring, Chen is one of Wenzhou s numerous wealthy Christians who say their children must attend Bible classes because state education fails to provide sufficient moral and spiritual guidance. Drugs, porn, gambling and violence are serious problems among today s youth and video games are extremely seductive, she told Reuters. We cannot be by his side all the time so only through faith can we make him understand (the right thing to do). In some districts of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, an official edict has prohibited Sunday Schools since August, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Henan and the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia have barred children from faith activities including summer camp, Christian news site World Watch Monitor reported in September. Sources spoken to by Reuters were unaware if the policy was a local government initiative or centrally mandated. They also did not know of any similar bans in other regions of China. Also in September, new rules were released expanding state oversight of religious education nationwide in what officials say is an attempt to create a new generation of religious leaders loyal to the party. China s State Administration for Religious Affairs and the foreign affairs office of the Wenzhou city government did not reply to faxed requests for comment. In the last four decades of economic prosperity, China s faithful have multiplied rapidly. Official numbers say there are now around 30 million Christians, while independent estimates suggest the number is about 60 million, most of whom are Protestants. In Wenzhou, a small Christian community started by 19th century missionaries has bloomed to over one million Christians. Until recent years, they had enjoyed a relatively relaxed relationship with local officials, residents said. Then, in 2014, a government campaign to demolish illegal churches and tear down the crosses that adorned them sparked an outcry from the Christian community and sowed mistrust of authorities among believers. The campaign came shortly after President Xi Jinping, who had been communist party chief of Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007, was appointed General Secretary of the party. But attempts to stem the rapid growth of believers has struggled in Wenzhou where churches, often funded by devout local business owners, are ubiquitous. Wenzhou government does not let churches register, because there are way too many, so there are lots of house churches and it is tough for the government to manage them, Zhao Gang, the minister at Wenzhou s Church of the Rose-tinted Clouds, told Reuters. Sunday School textbooks have been especially sensitive in the clampdown in Wenzhou, teachers said. The government restricts religious publications, and churches often use translated texts from overseas. One teacher said classes resumed when they stopped using unsanctioned textbooks and avoided the words Sunday School . Chinese law officially grants religious freedom for all, including children, but regulations on education and protection of minors also say religion cannot be used to hinder state education or to coerce children to believe. Local governments in troubled areas of China, such as the far western region of Xinjiang, ban children attending religious events, but Christian communities elsewhere rarely face blanket restrictions. This year, the party has been unusually strict in warning university students, state-owned enterprise employees and officials themselves against celebrating Christmas, with admonitions such as to resist the corrosion of Western religious culture , according to state media reports. While parents in Wenzhou want to control their children s education, the government is working to create a new crop of religious leaders loyal to the party. New rules governing religious schools from China s cabinet, due to take effect in February, are necessary to meet China s pressing need for patriotic religious leaders, Wang Zuoan, the head of China s official State Administration of Religious Affairs, told Reuters in written comments in October. We hope that the talent graduating from religious schools will be up to standard in both their political and religious character and will do a good job of combining love for the country with love for religion, he said. But for many Christians allowing the party to control religious education is unacceptable, as it requires putting the party before God, according to Sarah Cook, a New York-based analyst at Freedom House, an advocacy group. As such, the party can only do so much to control faith education. There are always going to be kids at home whose bedtimes stories are from the Bible, Cook said. For Chen in Wenzhou, faith should be at the forefront of education until believers outnumber atheists in China s young. There will definitely be more Christian believers in the next generation, she said. The ability for the Christian faith to be inherited and passed on is ever growing. | 1 |
21,416 | Sean Spicer’s Twitter History Comes Back To Bite Him In The Ass, Trump PISSED (TWEETS) | No matter what Donald Trump does or where he goes, he s never actually doing the right thing and fulfilling his duties as POTUS.One might think that after suffering such a monstrous fail with his American Health Care Act, the president might double down and get right back to work on his quest to somehow improve Obamacare, which he insists is awful despite the fact the Americans overwhelmingly approve of it. But no instead, Trump decided to spend his Saturday the way he s spent pretty much every Saturday since he became president by playing golf.In the short 9 weeks of his presidency, Trump has already gone golfing 12 times which is far more than any of his predecessors and former President Barack Obama, whom Trump once criticized for taking any downtime to play golf. Trump has been getting blasted for his weekend golfing getaways, and the White House has gone to great lengths to hide it:However, Trump s cover was blown when some Instagram photographs of Trump surfaced, revealing to Americans what Trump REALLY does when he has his meetings. Pool was told Trump was in meetings at Trump National this afternoon. This Instagram photo posted from the course says otherwise pic.twitter.com/WMudqofGmO Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) March 25, 2017As you can imagine, the internet didn t take kindly to being lied to, and went after Trump. One of the gems that resurfaced from this Twitter attack was this amazing old tweet from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer which is going to basically make Trump explode:Wow. That s one tweet Spicer probably wish he d never posted during Obama s presidency, because now it s insulting HIS boss! To make this even more humiliating for Spicer and Trump, Spicer recently defended Trump s privacy when he was questioned about how often Trump golfs.Twitter is basically losing it over this hypocrisy, and we can t help but laugh along:@seanspicer ? pic.twitter.com/pw2LQVmW1h Parts Unknown (@nia_negasi) March 25, 2017 Featured images via Gage Skidmore / Flickr | 0 |
21,417 | Republicans may generate less heat at Miami debate | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidates may find themselves in a more subdued debate than usual on Thursday night in Miami, since nothing Donald Trump’s rivals have thrown at him has made a major dent in his front-running campaign. After the histrionics of last week’s gathering in Detroit, the four remaining candidates are likely to search for higher ground as they offer closing arguments to Republican voters, particularly those in Florida and Ohio, who vote next Tuesday in nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election. The burden is particularly heavy on U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich, who must do well in their home states or face pressure to exit the race. While Kasich is holding his own against Trump in Ohio opinion polls, Rubio has lagged far behind Trump in Florida. Trump’s victories in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii on Tuesday added to his momentum after a week of attacks by mainstream Republicans who are offended by his statements on Muslims, women and illegal immigrants and alarmed by his threats to international trade deals. Trump defended his calls for a tougher U.S. stance on free trade on Thursday, saying the United States has been taken advantage of in negotiations with other countries. He also cited currency devaluations as a particular problem. “I like free trade but you have to be represented by very, very good and smart and cunning people and we are not,” Trump said in an interview on CNBC. “Other countries are and that’s why they’re all taking advantage.” The tough-talking billionaire businessman told CNN on Wednesday he expected the debate to be a “nicer, softer, lighter debate, I hope.” But he added: “I’ll be ready. I’m the only one who can beat Hillary,” a reference to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. The tone could be set by Trump, 69, who forecast before several previous debates that he would take a more measured approach, only to quickly get into a verbal brawl with his rivals. The CNN-hosted debate will be held at the University of Miami at 8:30 p.m. (0130 GMT on Friday). “I would focus on a positive uplifting message that takes us back to why they’re running for president and what’s at stake in this election,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney. In Detroit last Thursday, Trump came under sustained fire from Rubio, 44, over parts of his business empire such as Trump University, a now-defunct venture that critics said offered a flimsy education. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas piled on Trump over his past support for Democratic causes. Trump blasted Rubio throughout the debate as a lightweight and Cruz as a liar. The Trump-Rubio debate clash in Detroit followed an abrupt change in Rubio’s campaign to begin raising personal questions about Trump, such as saying he had small hands, a statement Trump saw as a reference to his penis size. Rubio said he now regretted the personal insults. “In terms of things that have to do with personal stuff, yeah, at the end of the day, it’s not something I’m entirely proud of. My kids were embarrassed by it, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t,” Rubio told MSNBC on Wednesday. Cruz, 45, who would like to knock Rubio and Kasich out of the race so he could draw more support from anti-Trump Republican voters, will seek to use the debate to position himself as the best Trump alternative. “Trump is clearly trying to reach out and be a little more statesmanlike,” said Cruz backer Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. “Cruz is going to make the case as to why he can beat Trump and be the viable alternative. From our perspective, we think it’s a two-man race, we’re the only one with a path.” Rubio is fighting for survival and is facing something of a last stand in Florida. Rival campaigns said Rubio may feel a need to return to the optimistic message he stuck to for months before getting sidetracked by Trump. Rubio told Fox News on Wednesday the campaign was always going to come down to who wins Florida. “The nominee has to win Florida. You can’t be the Republican nominee if you don’t win Florida,” he said. Kasich, Rubio and Cruz have one shot at denying Trump the nomination - preventing him from assembling the required 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright, which would mean delegates would have to choose the nominee at their July 18-21 convention in Cleveland. Trump said on CNN on Wednesday that 1,237 was an “artificial number” and that if he entered the convention with more delegates than his rivals, he should be the nominee. While he has vowed to wage war against the party if he is denied the nomination at the convention, Kasich, 63, said it was possible for Republicans to have a contested convention and emerge united. “Can you go to a convention and come out united? Absolutely,” he told a Fox News town hall on Wednesday. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Megan Cassella; Editing by Peter Cooney and Bill Trott) 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 |
21,418 | Sudan to extend ceasefire through end-December: SUNA | KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan will extend a unilateral ceasefire with rebels until the end of December, state news agency SUNA reported on Sunday, just days after the United States lifted 20-year-old sanctions tied to progress on resolving ongoing conflicts. Fighting between the army and rebels in Kordofan and Blue Nile regions broke out in 2011, when South Sudan declared independence. Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan s Arab-led government. Making progress on resolving these conflicts was one of several demands made by the United States for it to lift a trade embargo, unfreeze assets and remove financial restrictions that have isolated the country for years. The ceasefire was set to expire at the end of October. | 1 |
21,419 | U.S. treads water on cyber policy as destructive attacks mount | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Trump administration’s refusal to publicly accuse Russia and others in a wave of politically motivated hacking attacks is creating a policy vacuum that security experts fear will encourage more cyber warfare. In the past three months, hackers broke into official websites in Qatar, helping to create a regional crisis; suspected North Korean-backed hackers closed down British hospitals with ransomware; and a cyber attack that researchers attribute to Russia deleted data on thousands of computers in the Ukraine. Yet neither the United States nor the 29-member NATO military alliance have publicly blamed national governments for those attacks. President Donald Trump has also refused to accept conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections using cyber warfare methods to help the New York businessman win. “The White House is currently embroiled in a cyber crisis of existential proportion, and for the moment probably just wants ‘cyber’ to go away, at least as it relates to politics,” said Kenneth Geers, a security researcher who until recently lived in Ukraine and works at NATO’s think tank on cyber defense. “This will have unfortunate side effects for international cyber security.” Without calling out known perpetrators, more hacking attacks are inevitable, former officials said. “I see no dynamics of deterrence,” said ex-White House cyber security officer Jason Healey, now at Columbia University. The government retreat is underscored by the departure at the end of July of Chris Painter, the official responsible for coordinating U.S. diplomacy on cyber security. No replacement has been named and the future of the position in the State Department is in flux. Some of Trump’s cyber officials have publicly highlighted a strategy to focus less on building global norms and more on bilateral agreements. Trump and the Kremlin have said Russia and the United States are in discussions on creating a cyber security group. But at the big Black Hat and Def Con security conferences this week in Las Vegas the U.S. government will have an unusually light footprint. Past government speakers have included a head of the National Security Agency and senior Homeland Security officials. A session featuring U.S. law enforcement officials discussing the purported theft by Russia of hundreds of millions of Yahoo account credentials was pulled at the last minute. A spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the presentation was canceled because the Yahoo expert slated to talk, Deputy Assistant Director Eric Sporre, had been reassigned to run the Tampa FBI office. The policy vacuum left by the United States is also affecting private security firms, which say they have grown more cautious in publicly attributing cyber attacks to nation-states lest they draw fire from the Trump administration. Trump suggested in an April interview that the security firm CrowdStrike, which worked on investigating the election hack of the Democratic National Committee, might not be trustworthy because he was told it was controlled by a Ukrainian. It is not. Cyber policy veterans are particularly alarmed about the lack of U.S. and NATO response to the destructive attack, dubbed NotPetya, in June that struck computers worldwide but was especially harmful for Ukraine, which is in armed conflict with Russia in the east of the country. Cyber security experts, such as Jim Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a government veteran who advised former President Barack Obama, believe Russia carried out the attack. The Russian defense ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lewis and others predicted that Trump will not publicly accuse Russia, and NATO has only said it appears to be the work of a government agency somewhere. “If you are not ringing alarm bells in an eloquent way, then I think you’re dropping the ball,” said retired CIA officer Daniel Hoffman, who worked on Russian issues. “When we fail to do enough, that just emboldens them.” | 1 |
21,420 | Trump Finally Admitted Something He Really Hasn’t Done His Whole Campaign (TWEET) | Throughout Donald Trump s entire campaign, it s been the Donald Trump show. What does that mean? He s made it all about himself. How well HE is doing. What poll numbers HE is getting. What HE can do for the country. How great HE is. He s been saying all of these things as if he s doing all of this on his own without any help from anyone.Well, in a turn of events, Trump just tweeted out something on Twitter that seems to acknowledge, at least in parentheses, that he hasn t clinched the Republican nomination for president completely on his own. There were actually voters involved.He wrote: I (we) broke the all-time record for most votes gotten in a Republican Primary by a lot and with many states left to go! Thank you. I (we) broke the all-time record for most votes gotten in a Republican Primary by a lot and with many states left to go! Thank you. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2016This is YUUGE for The Donald to recognize that he s not actually moving forward to the general election based upon himself alone. He actually needed votes to get there, and it s nice that he kinda-sorta-maybe in parentheses alongside himself acknowledged the people who got him to where he is.Trump s narcissism knows no bounds, but maybe, just maybe he finally figured out how elections actually work. And because the rest of us already knew, we need to make sure he gets nowhere near the White House come November.Featured Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
21,421 | irony redefined human rights champion suu kyi jails dissidents | by patrick wood by its very nature the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers icann is a nonprofit organization exclusively run by technocrats as | 0 |
21,422 | Republicans Want A Trump/Gingrich Ticket, Think Six Wives Will Appeal To Women | Apparently, the fact that 70 percent of women view Donald Trump unfavorably is making Republicans think that what he needs is a running mate who also treats women like shit.A top Republican consultant thinks Trump and former disgraced Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich would make the perfect political pair because their six wives combined means they understand women better than anyone else. I think Newt is lobbying to be the vice president, and I think their people are paying a lot of attention to him, Ed Rollins told the National Review on Monday. It d be a ticket with six former wives, kind of like a Henry VIII thing. They certainly understand women. Wow. Just wow.Republicans are facing an unprecedented opposition from female voters and their solution to fix that is to double down on the whole let s nominate someone who disrespects women idea.Donald Trump is on wife number three. And given his history, you can bank on him eventually seeking wife number four when Melania is no longer a 10 in his eyes.He cheated on his first wife with the woman who became his second wife and was quick to start a relationship with the third Mrs. Trump during the separation.And that relationship history is probably why Trump is so keen to count Gingrich as one of his top allies.Let s not forget that Newt Gingrich also cheated on his first wife with his second wife and callously asked for a divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery in the hospital. Then he cheated on his second wife with the woman who would become his current wife. In 1993, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek and divorced his second wife after she refused to grant him the open marriage he wanted. Keep in mind, this hypocrisy unfolded as Gingrich and Republicans sought to impeach President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.And so, Trump has included Gingrich on his short list of vice-presidential candidates and some Republicans are thrilled because they think their six marriages make them experts when it comes to women and that they ll somehow be able to make women flock to their campaign.Frankly, it s insulting.If Republicans really think this is their best strategy to persuade women to vote for the GOP in November they truly never understood women at all. Just the idea that being like Henry VIII, who had two of his wives executed, would make them somehow more appealing to women demonstrates perfectly just how terribly Republicans have treated women. They literally think emulating a womanizing 16th century English king is the best way to deal with women in the 21st century. If anything can make MORE women hate Trump and the GOP, this is it.Featured Image: Wikimedia | 0 |
21,423 | Trump and Obama set campaign rancor aside with White House meeting | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump met on Thursday for the first time, setting aside the deep rancor that dominated the long campaign season to discuss the transition to the Republican’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Their 90-minute meeting in the White House Oval Office, with no aides present, took place just two days after Trump’s stunning election victory over Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state. Obama, who vigorously campaigned for his fellow Democrat to succeed him, had repeatedly called Trump unfit for the president’s office, while the businessman had often dubbed Obama’s eight-year tenure a “disaster.” But in separate post-election remarks on Wednesday, both men appeared to seek to help the country heal from a bitterly divisive campaign, and that tone continued into the White House meeting. Seated next to Obama after their talks, Trump told reporters: “We really discussed a lot of situations, some wonderful, some difficulties.” He said Obama explained “some of the really great things that have been achieved,” but did not elaborate. “It was a great honor being with you and I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future,” Trump said, with a tone of deference. Trump, a real estate magnate who has never held political office, later met congressional leaders, including U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican who has had a strained relationship with Trump. “A fantastic day in D.C. Met with President Obama for first time. Really good meeting, great chemistry,” Trump said on Twitter late on Thursday. Amid the efforts to bury hatchets, there were protests in a string of U.S. cities against Trump for a second day on Thursday as demonstrators expressed concern that Trump’s election would be a blow to civil rights. “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!” Trump tweeted. Obama said he had offered assistance to Trump over the next couple of months, and urged the country to unite to face its challenges. “We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds,” Obama said, adding he and Trump discussed a range of domestic and foreign policy issues and details related to the transition period. “The meeting might have been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. The two men’s relaxed, cordial demeanor in front of the cameras was in stark contrast to the months of harsh rhetoric during the campaign. Trump used Obama as a punching bag during his campaign speeches, repeatedly attacking the president’s policies from healthcare to an Iran nuclear deal. Both Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attacked Trump as temperamentally unfit for the White House and dangerously unprepared to have access to U.S. nuclear codes. Asked at a White House briefing on Thursday whether the meeting had eased any of the concerns about Trump that Obama expressed during the campaign, Earnest said: “The president was never in a position to choose a successor. The American people chose his successor.” Trump went from the White House to Capitol Hill for meetings with Republican congressional leaders, most of whom had a frosty relationship with Trump during a campaign where he tore into the Washington establishment. Republicans retained control of the Senate and House in Tuesday’s election, meaning at least some of Trump’s agenda may find friendly terrain in Congress. Trump emerged from meeting Ryan, along with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, to tell reporters: “We’re going to lower taxes as you know.” He added, in reference to Obama’s signature healthcare reform of 2010 that is a common target of Trump and congressional Republicans: “We’re going to fix healthcare and make it more affordable and better.” Ryan has sought to smooth over his relationship with Trump and his spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, said he was “excited for the potential for unified Republican government and eager to get to work with Mr. Trump.” Trump also met for an hour with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying afterward that he had told the senator his top three priorities were better control of immigration and the borders, healthcare and jobs. In what seemed like a possible early pivot by Trump, controversial campaign proposals, including his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States, disappeared for a while on Thursday from the president-elect’s campaign website. His campaign later blamed a technical problem and the statements were returned to the website. Trump declined to respond when asked by reporters after meeting with McConnell if he would ask Congress to ban Muslims from entering the country. On another Trump campaign pledge, a top Trump aide, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told NPR he did not expect him to spend much time trying to make Mexico pay for a proposed wall along the U.S. southern border, but “it was a great campaign device.” Such proposals, along with his free-wheeling tone and frequent insults of critics and rivals, earned Trump the disapproval of not just Democrats but many in the Republican establishment during the election campaign. Trump’s camp also showed signs it was beginning building a government, with names for top Cabinet positions being leaked. Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign chief, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus could be named chief of staff. Trump has long hinted that his Treasury secretary could be campaign finance chair Steven Mnuchin, formerly of Goldman Sachs, but there were reports U.S. Representative Jeb Hensarling and J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon were also being considered. Thursday’s start at fence-mending also included meetings between Vice President Joe Biden and his future successor, Pence, and between the current and future first ladies. Michelle Obama met privately with Trump’s wife, Melania, in the White House residence. Michelle Obama has raised two daughters in the White House and the Trumps have a son, 10 year-old Barron. The two women discussed raising children at the White House, Earnest said. “Melania liked Mrs. O a lot!,” Donald Trump said on Twitter. | 1 |
21,424 | U.S. farm heartland lobbies to steer Trump away from Mexico trade war | GARNER, Iowa/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Farmers in the U.S. agricultural heartland that helped elect Donald Trump are now pushing his administration to avoid a trade dispute with Mexico, fearing retaliatory tariffs that could hit over $3 billion in U.S. exports. The value of exports at risk is based on a Reuters analysis of a tariff list which Mexico used in a trucking dispute six years ago and which Mexican officials have said could serve as a model if President Trump sets new barriers to Mexican goods. Pork producers contacted Trump’s transition team soon after the Nov. 8 election to stress that tariff-free access to Mexico has made it their top export market by volume, said John Weber, president of the National Pork Producers Council. The council has sent the administration multiple letters, including one signed in January by 133 agricultural organizations, and is arranging for several hog farmers to fly to Washington next month to talk to officials. “We just keep pounding them on how critical trade is to us,” said Weber, who fears Mexico could revive the list of mostly agricultural products it successfully used to push Washington into letting Mexican truckers on U.S. highways in 2011. Pork products topped that list and, if revived, the tariffs would apply to over $800 million of annual pork exports, according to data compiled by IHS Markit’s Global Trade Atlas. “We’ll be the first to take the hit,” Weber said. The lobbying effort by U.S. businesses which rely on the Mexican market shows how Mexico can press its case in Washington despite having an economy 1/17 the size of America’s and relying on the U.S. market for nearly 80 percent if its exports. In Iowa, where pigs outnumber people seven to one, hog and grain farmer Jamie Schmidt voted for Trump in part on his promise to cut regulatory burdens for businesses. Now he and others who farm the flat, rich land around Garner, Iowa, worry about trade. Schmidt gets about half of his income from hogs, earning $4-5 for each of the 425 pigs he sells per week, usually to a Tyson Foods (TSN.N) packing plant in nearby Perry, Iowa. Tariffs from Mexico could depress U.S. wholesale prices and wipe out his profits, Schmidt said. “It would be devastating.” In December, after fears of a trade dispute fueled a deep peso MXN= slump, Mexico started mapping out U.S. states that are most reliant on its market, replicating the strategy it used in the trucking dispute, said two senior Mexican officials. Mexican officials also prepared briefs, seen by Reuters, on Mexico’s own risks in a dispute, including losing much of its cost advantage in building cars, such as the Ford Fusion (F.N) made in Hermosillo, Mexico. Reuters could not verify a complete list of products and states Mexico considered targeting this time around. But the country’s foreign minister said last month tariffs could target Iowa, which raises a third of U.S. hogs and exports about a quarter of its pork production, $100 million of which went to Mexico last year. The minister also said tariffs could aim at Wisconsin, the center of U.S. cheese production, and has singled out Texas for its “notable” trade surplus with Mexico. All three states voted for Trump in the 2016 election, with the president taking Iowa and Wisconsin by slim margins. Trump has accused Mexico of destroying U.S. jobs and has vowed to leave the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico if he cannot renegotiate better terms with Mexico. United States went from running a small trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s to a $63 billion deficit in 2016. Besides pork, cheese was also a top target in the trucking dispute in which Mexico retaliated with tariffs against rules that banned its trucks from U.S. roads. Some $200 million in current annual exports of cheese would be targeted if the tariff list were revived, according to the IHS database, which the U.S. government uses to measure the impact of trade disputes. The full tariff list would apply to $3.25 billion in current U.S. exports. John Holevoet, the director of government affairs at Wisconsin’s Dairy Business Association, said he has attended multiple meetings with Wisconsin federal lawmakers this year where risks of Mexican trade were discussed. Weber of the pork producers group said he believed the Trump administration “gets it” when it comes to the vulnerability of U.S. farm exports. Republican Congressman Steve King, who represents Iowa’s agriculture-focused fourth district, also pointed out that Iowa’s role as the first state to hold presidential primaries helps keep farm interests in Washington’s view. But King told Reuters he was worried the White House is still not taking trade risks seriously enough. A possible 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, which White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said could also pay for Trump’s proposed border wall, would cause a trade war, he said. King said he has been in contact with the White House on the matter but has yet to secure a one-on-one meeting with the president. “I’m making sure that here in Washington they know what this means.” | 1 |
21,425 | At least 17 killed in gold mine dispute on Mali-Guinea border | CONAKRY (Reuters) - A two-day skirmish between Guinean and Malian villagers over control of a gold mine that straddles the countries joint border killed at least 17 people, a government official in Guinea said on Tuesday. Villagers in both countries lay claim to the zone s rich underground deposits, which have lured thousands of people to work in unregulated small-scale mines along the border. Artisanal gold mining, conducted with rudimentary tools, is a key source of income in both Mali and Guinea, but poses numerous safety risks, including frequent mine collapses. There are five dead on the Guinean side and 12 dead on the Malian side, said Cheick Mohamed Diallo, prefect of the town of Mandiana in eastern Guinea. A witness on the Guinean side of the border said the villagers fought each other with firearms and bladed weapons. The fighting has ceased, local resident Cheikh Keita said, but the situation remained tense on Tuesday. A similar incident occurred in February 2015, when Guinean miners killed three Malian nationals in a fight over a gold discovery. | 1 |
21,426 | NO KIDDING! HILLARY PANDERS TO YOUNG WOMEN By Demanding An Outrageous “Freebie” | How is it that the woman who wants to be our president is stooping so low? Demanding free tampons for all women is probably the biggest case of pandering ever! Hopefully, young women will just LOL at this! Menstrual activism is the latest effort by feminists to provide freebie tampons in the name of MENSTRUAL EQUITY . Aren t there other things to focus on? CLINTON S TWEET IS IN RESPONSE TO THIS:New York City made history today with passage of the nation s first legislative package to ensure access to menstrual products in public schools, shelters and corrections facilities.In doing so, New York has stepped out as a leader in a growing national and global movement for menstrual equity. The city s new laws acknowledge that the ability to manage menstruation falls squarely at the intersection of sound health, economic and educational policy.The need to tackle this issue is not new. While menstruation has been a taboo and off limits topic since Adam and Eve, around the world there are legions of activists working to raise awareness of the devastating impact caused by lack of access to affordable, safe menstrual products.PICTURED BELOW IS A ROUNDTABLE ON MENSTRUAL HEALTH BECAUSE SUPPOSEDLY AMERICA LAGS BEHIND IN MENSTRUAL EQUITY America has long lagged behind, but that s beginning to change. A dedicated network of activists, journalists, policy makers and others have ratcheted up national attention to the issue. Last year, menstrual activism captured so many headlines that NPR dubbed it The Year of the Period and Cosmopolitan proclaimed it was the year the period went public. READ MORE: NYT | 0 |
21,427 | Opposed from the start, the rocky history of NAFTA | (Reuters) - Negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the United States kick off an ambitious first round of trade talks on Wednesday as the countries try to fast-track a deal to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement by early next year. Following are significant moments in the history of the deal: * June 10, 1990: U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari issue a statement endorsing a new, comprehensive free trade pact between the two neighbors, ordering talks to begin. Canada would join the talks in 1991, paving the way for three-way negotiations. The United States and Canada inked a bilateral free trade deal in 1988. * Nov. 3, 1992: Running as an independent for president in the United States, Ross Perot claims the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), would lead to a “giant sucking sound” of jobs rushing to Mexico. Bill Clinton wins the election, defeating incumbent Bush. Perot wins 19 percent of vote to place a strong third. * Dec. 17, 1992: NAFTA is signed by outgoing Bush, Mexico’s Salinas de Gortari and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, creating the world’s largest free trade area. The timing was, in part, aimed at making it harder for President-elect Clinton to pursue major changes; Clinton had endorsed the deal but insisted on environmental and labor side agreements. * Jan. 1, 1994: NAFTA comes into effect, and a Mayan Indian guerrilla army in southern Mexico launches an armed rebellion against “neo-liberalism” and explicitly against the free trade deal. The declaration of war against the Mexican government leads to days of fighting and dozens of deaths before the rebels retreat into the jungle. * Nov. 30, 1999: Tens of thousands of anti-globalization protesters converge on the U.S. city of Seattle, leading to widespread rioting coinciding with a ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization, which was seeking to launch new international trade talks. The protests underscore growing, if scattered, opposition to free trade deals like NAFTA. * July 16, 2004: Senior trade officials from Canada, the United States and Mexico issue a joint statement touting a decade’s worth of expanded trade in North America. Three-way-trade more than doubled to reach $623 billion while cumulative foreign direct investment increases by over $1.7 trillion compared to pre-NAFTA levels. * Dec. 11, 2001: China formally joins the World Trade Organization, integrating the Asian giant more deeply into the global economy. Easing trade with China intensifies a trend that had been seen since NAFTA came into effect as the U.S. trade deficit soared to more than $800 billion by 2006. * Jan. 1, 2008: NAFTA is fully implemented as the last of its polices come into effect. In many sectors, NAFTA stipulates that trade barriers would only gradually be phased out, which was designed to smooth economic shocks in vulnerable industries. By this time, trade within the three North American nations has more than tripled since NAFTA began. * July 19, 2016: Billionaire businessman and political outsider Donald Trump formally clinches the Republican presidential nomination, winning the traditionally pro-free-trade party’s nod in part by denouncing NAFTA, calling it “the worst trade deal ever.” * Aug. 16, 2017: High-stakes talks aimed at “modernizing” NAFTA kick off in Washington, with both U.S. and Mexican officials aiming to conclude a new pact in early 2018 before elections later in the year in both nations might derail negotiations. A second round of talks is due to take place in Mexico in September. | 1 |
21,428 | Tillerson avoids public conflict with Trump over budget | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While he has swallowed a big budget cut and had the White House veto his chosen deputy, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is avoiding a public conflict with U.S. President Donald Trump over his department’s budget, six current and former U.S. officials said on Thursday. Instead, Tillerson privately resisted a 37-percent budget cut that some White House officials sought and he convinced Trump he needed more time to identify where savings could be made, two current and one former official told Reuters. As a result, the White House proposed on Thursday a reduction of some 28 percent on U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. “Tillerson isn’t opposed to cutting the budget at all, but he figured out that he couldn’t win head-to-head battles with the president and the people close to him, so he’s pursuing a different strategy, arguing that he can’t make wise decisions about what to cut until he’s more familiar with his department and its budget,” said one of the current officials, a State Department veteran. Tillerson said in Tokyo on Thursday that his department’s current spending is “simply not sustainable,” and that he accepted the “challenge” Trump had given him. “He is making a very sensible calculation,” said a former U.S. official, noting that Congress, not the president, holds the purse strings and is almost certain to reject many of the administration’s proposed cuts. “You state your loyalty to the president, and then you know that you will not actually have to live with the president’s budget.” It is not yet clear, however whether Trump and Tillerson have significant policy differences or if he can defend his department against some of Trump’s closest aides such as Steve Bannon who want to dismantle parts of the federal government and limit U.S. engagement with the world, said three of the current and former officials. The former Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) CEO has faced multiple challenges in his first weeks as chief U.S. diplomat, including unpredictable policy pronouncements from Trump. White House officials vetoed Elliot Abrams, Tillerson’s choice for deputy secretary, the department’s second-highest post, one of the current officials said. With that job still vacant, it has not been possible to fill the department’s other senior positions. Despite that defeat, Michael Anton, a National Security Council spokesman, said the White House holds Tillerson in high regard. “President Trump has the utmost confidence in the Secretary of State and looks forward to Mr. Tillerson implementing a bold agenda to revitalize American foreign policy,” Anton said. A White House official said Tillerson has had good access to the president, including multiple lunches, dinners and meetings. Tillerson dined with Trump on Monday, the night before he flew to Asia. Tillerson has kept a low profile since joining the administration seven weeks ago, spending little time with key State Department officials and only holding his first news conference on Thursday in Tokyo. He has drawn criticism from many State Department officials who believe he has failed to cultivate potential allies in Trump’s cabinet and on Capitol Hill. Chas Freeman, a seasoned diplomat since the Nixon administration, said Tillerson’s low-key style might be a survival tactic. “If he says something, he runs a big risk of getting crosswise with Trump,” Freeman said. “This may be a Fabian strategy,” referring to the Roman statesman Fabius who defeated the Carthaginian general Hannibal by avoiding frontal conflict. | 1 |
21,429 | wikileaks documents reveal united nations interest in ufos | bundy brothers discharged from oregon jail headed to nevada with us marshals
oregonlive
ammon bundy and his older brother ryan bundy both acquitted last thursday of federal conspiracy and weapon charges in the takeover of the malheur national wildlife refuge are no longer in custody in the downtown portland jail
the bundys were discharged from the multnomah county detention center about am wednesday to the custody of the us marshals service according to a jail spokeswoman
the two are being flown to nevada where theyre among people indicted on federal charges in the armed standoff with federal agents over grazing rights near their father cliven bundys ranch
in nevada they face felony counts including extortion obstruction of justice conspiracy to commit an offense against the united states conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer assault on a federal officer and threatening a federal officer | 0 |
21,430 | Trump defends remarks on veterans and mental health | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign defended comments he made on combat veterans and mental health on Monday, after some said his remarks implied service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were weak. At an event with veterans in Herndon, Virginia, Trump called for better mental health services for those returning from combat, saying that while many are “strong,” others “can’t handle” what they have seen on the battlefield. The response struck some as insulting to veterans struggling with PTSD, as the Republican candidate works to motivate traditionally conservative military voters to support him in the Nov. 8 presidential election. Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, a Trump adviser on military issues, said in a written statement that the candidate’s comments were taken out of context “in order to deceive voters and veterans.” Marine Staff Sergeant Chad Robichaux, whose question at the event prompted Trump’s statement, said the critical reaction was “sickening” and accused others of manipulating Trump’s words. “I took his comments to be thoughtful and understanding of the struggles many veterans have,” said Robichaux, an Afghanistan combat veteran who has been diagnosed with PTSD. Trump made his remarks at an event hosted by a political action committee called Retired American Warriors. Trump has cast himself a champion of veterans during his campaign and in July pledged to reform federal programs for war veterans. He attended a military preparatory school but did not serve in the U.S. military. Joe Donnelly, a Democratic U.S. senator from Indiana, was one of the first to criticize Trump’s remarks. “We need to dismiss the idea that mental health issues signify weakness, and reinforce that there is strength in seeking help,” Donnelly said in a written statement. PTSD was among the most talked about topics on Twitter on Monday, as many social media users responded to Trump’s comments. “@realDonaldTrump As a Veteran with PTSD, I’m stronger than you could ever be,” tweeted Kevin Plantz (@KevinPlantz). “My husband served this country honorably,” tweeted Melissa Bird (@birdgirl1001). “He has #PTSD. #Trump has officially crossed the line for me and my family.” Neither the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs nor the campaign for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, immediately returned requests for comment. | 1 |
21,431 | White House disputes multiple calls between Trump adviser, Russian envoy | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that national security adviser Michael Flynn held just two phone calls with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, amid reports that Flynn’s communications are being scrutinized by U.S. counterintelligence agents. Reuters reported earlier this month, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that Flynn had held five phone calls with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak on Dec. 29, the day then-President Barack Obama retaliated for Moscow’s interference in the U.S. presidential election. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Flynn spoke once by telephone to the envoy - he did not give the date - and discussed four topics. Those included a conference on Syria, a plane crash that killed members of a famous Russian military choir, seasonal wishes and setting up a post-inauguration call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, he said. On. Jan. 13, Spicer had said that Flynn and Kislyak had spoken on Dec. 28 and suggested the sole topic had been the logistics of setting up an eventual call between Trump and Putin. At the time, a Trump aide had said the one conversation actually had taken place on Dec. 29. On Monday, Spicer said a second call took place three days ago, apparently just before Trump’s inauguration on Friday, and dealt with arranging a forthcoming phone call between Trump and Putin. Two of the sources told Reuters earlier this month that the timing of the December calls raised a question about whether Flynn had given Kislyak any assurances to soothe Russian anger over the U.S. sanctions and other moves. The differing accounts of the number of calls could not be immediately reconciled. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Flynn’s calls with Kislyak on Dec. 29, as well as earlier calls he held with Russian figures, are under scrutiny as part of probes by the FBI, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Treasury Department into the extent of Russian government contacts with people close to Trump. It is unclear whether the inquiry produced any incriminating evidence or if it is continuing, the newspaper said. The Journal quoted White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders as saying: “We have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for such an investigation.” Asked whether there were other calls between Flynn and “members of the Russian government,” Spicer replied, “Not that I’m aware of. And when I say that, what I’m saying (is) during the transition I asked General Flynn whether or not there were any other conversations beyond the ambassador and he said ‘no.’” Flynn is a retired Army general. A Jan. 6 assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies said that Putin ordered an effort to help Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign. | 1 |
21,432 | Hillary Clinton makes surprise appearance at New York film panel | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton, who until recently had avoided the spotlight in the wake of her election defeat in November, made a surprise appearance at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday as a panelist to discuss illegal elephant poaching. The discussion followed the premiere of Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s virtual reality documentary “The Protectors: Walk in the Rangers’ Shoes.” The eight-minute film allows viewers to experience what it is like to work as a park ranger trying to save elephants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “We’ve got to bust this market,” Clinton said of the global ivory trade. The unexpected public appearance on Earth Day was one of several Clinton has made recently, following a period of silence after the former Democratic presidential candidate lost the November election to President Donald Trump. Clinton said she first began focusing on the “horrific slaughter” of elephants when she was secretary of state and later helped launch an anti-poaching initiative at her family’s nonprofit Clinton Global Initiative. More than 30,000 elephants are killed by poachers every year in Africa. In addition to endangering vulnerable elephant populations, trafficking also provides financial support to extremist militant groups, Clinton said. “When we were looking at this, we thought there were three overriding goals: stop the killing, stop the trafficking and stop the demand,” she said. While China is the world’s biggest market for illegal ivory, the United States ranks No. 2, Clinton said, requiring Americans to take a leading role in fighting elephant poaching. Clinton also mentioned the March for Science, which took place in Washington and other cities around the world earlier on Saturday. The Earth Day event was in effect a protest against what critics say has been the Trump administration’s disregard for evidence-based knowledge and research. “Here it is, Earth Day, and we are marching on behalf of science,” Clinton said to applause in the theater. In early April, Clinton granted her first interview since her defeat by Trump, breaking her silence at the Women in the World Summit in New York. In front of a live audience, she voiced support for U.S. bombing raids on Syrian airfields and said Russian interference in the presidential election was a theft more damaging than Watergate. | 1 |
21,433 | Kaspersky works with Interpol; Kremlin dismisses claims against firm | (Reuters) - Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab said on Thursday that it has expanded its relationship with global law enforcement agency Interpol, agreeing to share threat data to help police fight cyber crime. The company disclosed the agreement as the Kremlin dismissed claims by several U.S. newspapers that Israeli intelligence officials had determined that Russian government hackers were using Kaspersky s software for espionage. The reports were the latest in a series alleging the company and its founder, Eugene Kaspersky, have close ties to the Kremlin. Reuters has not been able to validate those claims. Kaspersky has repeatedly said it has not helped Russia or any other government engage in espionage. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday the Russian government believes the allegations against Kaspersky are without merit. He said that allegations, in articles in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, were absurd. The government has not had and does not have any connection to such activity, he said. The accusations are ungrounded and unproven. | 1 |
21,434 | U.N. rights boss seeks probe into Catalonia violence, political talks | GENEVA (Reuters) - The top United Nations human rights official called on Spanish authorities on Monday to investigate thoroughly and impartially violence linked to Catalonia s independence referendum, and to hold talks to resolve the secession issue. Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, voiced concern at Sunday s violence in which hundreds were injured, saying police responses needed to be at all times ...proportionate and necessary. I firmly believe that the current situation should be resolved through political dialogue, with full respect for democratic freedoms, Zeid said in a statement issued by his Geneva office. | 1 |
21,435 | Trump Tweets FAKE Photo Of Black Supporters After Racist Meltdown | The morning after getting pounded for several racial outbursts he made on Friday, Donald Trump retweeted an image of a black family with the caption American Families for Trump. The problem is, the photo of the family is not from a pro-Trump event or gathering. The picture is actually from a news story about a black family reunion in 2015.The photo fakery was pointed out by Mark Czerniec.The episode is part of a pattern with Trump, who often retweets images created by his supporters that more often than not are either conspiracy theories, complete fakes, racist or some combination of the three. They reflect a lot of the values the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has mainstreamed in his short political career.Trump has expressed strong belief in the conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in the United States, that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese, and in the idea that immigrants are mostly criminals and rapists.Pushing the photo of fake black supporters comes after a day in which Trump pointed to a black man at a campaign rally in California and referred to him as my African-American. In the same rally, Trump tripled-down on his racist assertion that the judge overseeing his Trump University case cannot be fair or impartial because he has Mexican heritage and at the same time Trump is building a wall. In response to his racial outburst, Hillary Clinton noted, It makes no sense to me. The judge was born in Indiana. Yes, he s of Mexican heritage. Donald Trump is apparently of German heritage. What does that mean? We are all Americans. The most senior Republican in the country, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, also condemned Trump s racist attack on the judge but Trump has been making the allegation for months already, and Ryan endorsed Trump for the presidency.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
21,436 | PRESIDENT TRUMP Turns C-PAC Into T-PAC: “Era of empty talk is over…I’m Not Representing the Globe; I’m Representing Your Country” [VIDEO] | President Donald Trump returned to CPAC on Friday, receiving a rock star welcome from the packed ballroom.He kicked off the speech defending his statement on Twitter that the media was the enemy of the people, vowing to fight their fake news stories. A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people, he said, criticizing their dishonest coverage of his administration.Trump admitted that the media was very upset by his repeated criticisms, but that he would continue to do so, citing the First Amendment. They get upset, they say we can t criticize their dishonest coverage because of the first amendment. They always bring up the First Amendment, he said. I love the First Amendment. Nobody loves it better than me. Here are a few of our favorite zingers from his speech: Never underestimate the people never! If our presidents would ve gone to the beach for 15 years, we would be in much better shape than we are right now. Jobs are already starting to pour back into our country. It s time for all Americans to get off welfare and get back to work You re gonna love it! You re gonna love it! Obamacare covers very few people and remember, deduct from the number all of the people that had great health care that they loved that was taken away from them. It was taken away from them. Here are a few highlights from his speech:Trump traveled to the conference center in Maryland aboard Marine One, returning to the CPAC conference where he made his first big politically themed speeches. Supporters lined up hours early to get in the conference hall, but had to go through tight security to enter the building.During his speech, the president vowed to keep his campaign promises, specifically a repeal and replace of Obamacare, building the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, building a wall on the southern border, restoring military funding. We have to, to turn things around. The era of empty talk is over, he said. It s over. Now is the time for action. Breitbart News | 0 |
21,437 | HOW REAGAN DEALT WITH RADICAL PROTESTERS At Berkeley University [VIDEO] | Reagan explains why the protesters got out of hand to the reporters: All of it began the first time some of you who know better and are old enough to know better, let young people think that they had the right to chose the the laws they would obey, as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest. Compare and contrast Reagan s decision to address the unlawful behavior of these protesters, to Barack Obama hiding from the press, yet meeting with organizers and agitators of these radical groups to offer encouragment to the violent, unlawful protesters we are seeing across the United States today.Do you agree or disagree with Reagan s approach to stopping the protesters from breaking the law: In his 1966 campaign for California governor, Republican Ronald Reagan promised to to clean up the mess at Berkeley. Reagan was referring to the unrest prevalent not just at the University of California, Berkeley, but on college campuses throughout state. Students and faculty alike were engaged in protests, demonstrations, and strikes related to issues such as the draft, civil rights, discrimination, and women s liberation.In one 1966 campaign speech, Reagan declared that many leftist campus movements had transcended legitimate protest, with the actions of beatniks, radi cals and filthy speech advocates having become more to do with riot ing, with anarchy than academic freedom. He blamed university administrators and faculty, who press their particular value judgments on students, for a leadership gap and a morality and decency gap on campus, and suggested a code of conduct be imposed on faculty to force them to serve as examples of good behavior and decency. [1]Six months after Reagan took office in 1967, he wrote this letter to Glenn Dumke, the chancellor of San Francisco State College, one of California s largest public institutions. Dumke served as the public face of the state college system, and he was a staunch opponent of radical student and faculty demonstrations. In his letter to Dumke, Reagan criticizes liberal activism on campuses. He condemns these people & this trash on campuses as well as the excuse of academic freedom & freedom of expression in allowing protests and demonstrations to go on. We wouldn t tolerate this kind of language in front of our families, Reagan writes of campus protesters. He urges Dumke to lay down some rules of conduct, promising that you d have all the backing I could give you. How far do we go in tolerating these people & this trash under the excuse of academic freedom & freedom of expression? Please understand, that question isn t made in any tone of accusation. I mean myself too in that use of the term we. We wouldn t let a LeRoi Jones in our livingroom and we wouldn t tolerate this kind of language in front of our families. Hasn t the time come to take on those neurotics in our faculty group and lay down some rules of conduct for the students comparable to what we d expect in our own families? If we do and the we this time means you d have all the backing I could give you, I believe the people of Calif. would take the state college system to their hearts.[illegible] RonVia: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History | 0 |
21,438 | Head of Zimbabwe election commission quits, source says | HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairwoman Rita Makarau resigned on Friday, months before a vote whose credibility is crucial to the new army-backed government s efforts to re-engage international lenders and lure investors, a senior government source said. Makarau, seen as an ally of 93-year-old former president Robert Mugabe, gave no reason for her resignation, the official, who declined to be named, said. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sworn in two weeks ago in the wake of the de facto military coup that ended Mugabe s 37-year rule, pledged to hold elections as scheduled next year. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa mentioned the credibility of the elections at least five times in a budget speech on Thursday, a sign of the vote s importance in shoring up Harare s democratic legitimacy. Opposition parties have demanded reforms to an electoral system they say is skewed in the ruling ZANU-PF party s favor. Makarau, who has been accused of being partisan, was overseeing an overhaul of the voters roll, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has described as shambolic . Makarau did not answer her mobile phone. A spokesman for the ZEC was unable to confirm Makarau s departure. | 1 |
21,439 | Trump to hold town hall meeting with about 50 business leaders | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump plans to hold a town hall meeting with about 50 business leaders on Tuesday at the White House to talk about ways of improving the business climate, his administration said on Monday. The meeting, which will include the chief executives of Citigroup Inc, Blackstone Group LP, JetBlue Airways Corp, Mastercard Inc and the New York Stock Exchange, will involve discussions on infrastructure, modernizing government, workforce development and creating a pro-business climate. It comes as the administration is shifting its focus to tax reform and possibly a major investment in infrastructure after suffering a major setback when a Trump-backed healthcare reform package failed to win enough support to pass the House of Representatives. The town hall is an “opportunity to discuss policies to create a pro-business climate with top Partnership CEOs from all industries,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said Trump has held a series of meetings with chief executives and other business leaders since taking office in January as he has prodded companies to add U.S. jobs and asked how government could reduce regulations to boost economic growth. The town hall is scheduled to last an hour and 45 minutes and include banking, private equity and hedge funds, insurance companies and others. Also taking part will be Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a senior adviser. Among the business leaders attending are senior executives from General Electric, Hearst, HSBC Bank USA, Interpublic Group, Vornado Realty Trust, Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co. Trump, who was a real estate mogul before entering the White House, has pledged to use his business acumen to revitalize the American economy and create millions of jobs. While the Republican president has begun the process of rolling back some labor and environmental regulations that he said were harming businesses, the administration has yet to secure a significant legislative victory to support his efforts to boost the economy. Trump has also proposed sweeping cuts in government regulations and signed an executive order to roll back some energy rules. Last week, the White House said Trump had named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, already a White House senior adviser, to take on the additional task of overseeing an effort to overhaul the federal government. | 1 |
21,440 | BREAKING: WATCH COPS Shut Down PORTLAND PUNK PROTESTERS Blocking Traffic [Video] | Portland protesters were doing the usual idiotic tactic of blocking the street and not letting traffic proceed What they didn t realize is that the police aren t taking this anymore Watch the takedown of these punks Awesome!Check out the lady with the thumbs up! Haha! | 0 |
21,441 | Facebook will help investigators release Russia ads, Sandberg tells Axios | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said on Thursday the company was committed to helping U.S. congressional investigators publicly release Russia-backed political ads that ran during the 2016 U.S. election. Things happened on our platform in this election that should not have happened, Sandberg said in an interview in Washington with Axios news that was broadcast on its website. We told Congress and the intelligence committees that when they are ready to release the ads, we are ready to help them. Axios asked Sandberg what the world s largest social network knew about the extent of Russia s use of its platform and if ads on Facebook that had been placed by Russian accounts and Donald Trump s presidential campaign had overlapped in terms of target audiences. She appeared to sidestep the questions and said only that targeting on Facebook was often very broad. The interview was the first by a senior Facebook executive since the company disclosed last month that it had found some 3,000 politically divisive ads believed to have been bought by Russia before and after the presidential campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia used cyber-enabled means in an attempt to help Trump win the White House, an allegation the Kremlin has denied. Sandberg was in Washington for meetings with U.S. lawmakers. Sandberg told the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday that Facebook planned to add an African-American to its board of directors, a source familiar with the closed-door meeting said, but she offered no details. The board has been criticized for its lack of diversity. She and two other Facebook executives, Erin Egan and Elliot Schrage, also met privately with Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat and member of the House Intelligence Committee. Facebook and other major internet companies including Alphabet s Google (GOOGL.O) and Twitter (TWTR.N) are on the defensive as they try to limit fallout from a torrent of revelations about how Moscow sought to use their platforms to sow discord in the United States and influence the election. Sandberg told Axios that Facebook began hearing rumors around Election Day last November of Russian attempts to use the platform to spread propaganda but did not give a precise timeline about when the company began its review. Sandberg said she supported the public release of those ads, and the pages to which they were connected. Information about how the ads targeted specific types of users would also be released, she said. Asked if Facebook contributed to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton s defeat last year, Sandberg, an open Clinton supporter during the campaign, did not answer directly but said it was important the website was free from abuse during any election in any country. Congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating Russian interference in the election, including whether there was any collusion between Trump associates and Moscow. Trump has denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and associates and Russia. Sandberg acknowledged that the company had erred in how it handled the issue of foreign interference last year. It s not just that we apologize. We re angry, we re upset. But what we really owe the American people is determination to do a better job of preventing foreign meddling, she said. We don t want this kind of foreign interference on Facebook, Sandberg said. She said the company had been too permissive at times in terms of how advertisers were allowed to target users. Sandberg said it was important to protect free expression on Facebook and that if the Russian ads had been bought by legitimate accounts instead of fraudulent ones, many would have been allowed to run on the site. She criticized Twitter s decision this week to remove a campaign video from Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. Twitter took down the video, saying a remark Blackburn made about opposing abortion was inflammatory. Twitter later reversed its decision. In that ad, there are a lot of things that people don t like, that I don t like. ... But the question is, Should divisive political or issue ads run? Our answer is yes because when you cut off speech for one person you cut off speech for all people, she said. Sandberg said Facebook wanted other internet companies to work toward making ad purchases more transparent, and she said Facebook was talking with lawmakers who want to introduce legislation on the issue. Representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to testify about Russian influence at hearings before the Senate and House intelligence committees on Nov. 1. | 1 |
21,442 | 13 killed in gang battles in two Mexican states | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed in battles between rival gangs in two states in central and western Mexico, officials said on Wednesday, as murders climb to record levels this year. Five people were gunned down in a bar on Tuesday night in the capital of central Guanajuato state while seven people were found dead in two different places in the western state of Michoacan, according to officials at state prosecutors offices. Three dismembered bodies, including a woman s, were found in the community of Angahuan near the drug-gang hotbed of Uruapan, the Michoacan prosecutors office said. Michoacan has been one of the bloodiest states in Mexico because of battles between rival gangs involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion of local businesses as well as mineral theft and illegal logging. Neighboring Guanajuato state has seen a spike in violence. Murders were up 37 percent in Guanajuato in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year. The murder rate has already risen above levels seen in 2011, which was the deadliest year under former president Felipe Calderon who sent the army out to battle drug gangs. Nationally, there were 14,190 murder investigations in the first seven months of the year, the highest total through July for any year in records going back to 1997. The increase in violence has hit the popularity of President Enrique Pena Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ahead of next year s presidential election. | 1 |
21,443 | BLACK PASTORS RALLY FOR SEN JEFF SESSIONS: “Charge of racism leveled at anyone with whom the left disagrees” [VIDEO] | Black pastors rally in Washington for AG nominee Jeff Sessions.RT if you also think he will make a FANTASTIC Attorney General! pic.twitter.com/Y1Uv4NSIf4 Tennessee GOP (@TEN_GOP) January 10, 2017 | 0 |
21,444 | Merkel wants progress in coalition talks in 10 days | BERLIN (Reuters) - Immigration and climate policy are the most contentious issues in exploratory negotiations between three parties seeking to form Germany s next government, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, adding that she wants proper talks to start in 10 days. Despite weeks of exploratory discussion, Merkel s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens remain far apart on climate, immigration and energy policy, and they disagree on where the blame lies for the lack of progress. For me it is clear that on the subject of finances the question is how we can use the room for maneuver (in the budget) so that everybody can have their priorities implemented while at the same time ensure that we have a balanced budget, Merkel said in a video message on Facebook. On the subject of climate protection, challenging goals for 2020 that we undertook as federal government under my leadership are not so simple to meet, she added, shortly before a meeting with other party leaders to try to nudge the talks forward. The theme that is especially important for us is the issue of immigration and integration, she said. These will be difficult issues. Party leaders are hoping for a sharper focus on policy detail to reinvigorate negotiations that have barely inched forward since a national election in September. Merkel said she wanted the exploratory talks to end on Nov. 16 after which the parties can launch proper negotiations that can conclude with a coalition agreement. The FDP and Greens blame each other for the lack of real progress. By dragging their foot on climate protection, the FDP are playing into the hands of climate change deniers like (U.S. President Donald) Trump, Greens party chair Simone Peter told a news conference. The lack of seriousness has to stop. But Greens co-leader Cem Oezdemir signaled in an interview with the Stuttgarter Zeitung that the ecologist party would be ready to relent on its insistence that the next government commit to removing all combustion engines from roads by 2030. It s clear to me that we alone would not be able to insist that 2030 will be the year when combustion engines are no longer, he said. The Greens wanted instead a clear commitment that the cars of the future are emissions-free, he added. FDP leader Christian Lindner said the hard work of finding common ground was only now beginning. There haven t been attempts to build bridges in the past two weeks because that wasn t the purpose, he said. We look forward in this phase to moving from outlines to the facts and goals that need to be harmonized - or not, as the case may be. Senior Greens complain that talks have been hamstrung by the FDP s lack of preparedness. After a four-year absence from the federal parliament, the FDP lacks the policy expertise needed to negotiate the compromises that are needed, Green officials say. But Lindner said he opposed the Greens desire to make an example of industrial Germany by forcing it to meet expensive and constraining climate protection targets, and he suggested Germany could have a greater impact on the climate by helping other countries to improve their emissions record. For Merkel, the awkward three-way negotiations, forced on her after her conservative bloc shed votes in the election, represents her best chance of securing a fourth term in office, with many believing failure would oblige her to stand aside. With her former coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), determined to go into opposition after a disastrous election, Germany could face a lengthy period of drift at a time when many in Europe look to Berlin for leadership on issues ranging from euro zone governance to trans-Atlantic ties. (This story corrects date in paragraph 7 to Nov. 16, not Nov. 14) | 1 |
21,445 | Mexican leader says respects U.S. presidential candidates | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Friday he respects both of the leading candidates to be the next president of the United States and will seek a “frank and open” dialogue with the eventual winner. Pena Nieto make the comments at a joint appearance with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington. | 1 |
21,446 | Ten Lessons We Should Learn From The Flint Water Crisis (VIDEO) | On January 16, President Obama declared a federal emergency in the city of Flint, Michigan. The president s declaration was issued even as evidence mounted that officials in the state s government had willfully and knowingly allowed tens of thousands of Flint residents to consume poisoned water for more than a year.As a result of decisions made by Michigan governor Rick Snyder, 200 children under the age of six have been confirmed to have irreversible lead poisoning. As testing continues, another 9,000 children are likely to be diagnosed with elevated levels of lead in their blood.Emails and leaked documents from the Snyder administration show that the governor and his appointed emergency managers were aware of the problem with the city s water for more than a year.As Addicting Info reported here, an in-depth report by the ACLU of Michigan shows that state officials falsified documents and rigged tests, to purposely mislead the EPA regarding the amount of lead in Flint s water.In addition to poisoning thousands of people with lead, Michigan officials, including the governor and his hand-picked emergency managers, not only ignored a massive spike in cases of Legionnaires disease, but blocked attempts by health officials to determine the cause or take appropriate steps to protect public health.Ten people died from exposure to the waterborne Legionella bacteria.In spite of the fact that state officials knew that the water was likely contaminated with this deadly bacteria and poisoned with lead, they repeatedly assured Flint residents that it was safe to drink.While it is tempting to believe that what happened in Flint can t happen to any of us, the reality is that unless we learn from this unprecedented disaster, it not only can happen to us, it likely will.Here are the ten most important things that Americans must learn from the Flint water crisis.Michigan s emergency manager law, passed by the state s republican/Tea Party legislature and signed by Governor Rick Snyder, provides for the establishment of a puppet government across the state. The law gives Governor Snyder the legal authority to remove elected officials (democrats) and replace them with a single, unelected manager. Every emergency manager in the state is hand-picked by the governor.The state s emergency managers are bestowed with unlimited power to make decisions on behalf of the local government. In the meantime, the people elected by the citizens are stripped of power, and their voices are silenced. In Flint, Detroit, Pontiac, Benton Harbor and elsewhere across the state of Michigan, local residents have been shut out of the decision-making process entirely.Make no mistake, the state s emergency manager law not only allowed the citizens of Flint to be poisoned, it allowed Snyder officials to cover up the contaminated water for more than a year.As republican governor Chris Christie advances a Michigan-style emergency manager law in New Jersey, it s vital that residents of Atlantic City understand how this law set the stage for the Flint water crisis.Flint is a horrifying example of what happens when right-wing extremists are allowed to make decisions that impact the lives of thousands of citizens.The decision to use the Flint river as a water source for the city was made by Snyder s appointed emergency manager in Flint, Ed Kurtz. There s also evidence that this decision came down directly from the governor s office.The story of how 100,000 people were poisoned by their own government is best understood in terms of right-wing ideology. The people who were charged with making decisions for Flint can be described as typical right-wing extremists. They are EPA-haters, regulation-opposers and Science deniers.These underlying beliefs allowed them to justify their illegal actions, both to each other and to themselves. To them, rigging tests, falsifying documents and flat-out lying to the environmental protection agency was just a way to get around the evil EPA with all its oppressive, costly and unnecessary regulations. Did they believe that their actions would cause harm to tens of thousands of people? It s possible they did. But it s more likely that their underlying anti-federal government, anti-regulation ideology allowed them to convince themselves that their actions would not really harm anyone. These are people who really believed that evil government regulations only exist to oppress the free market, not protect the public.Those beliefs are exactly why politicians who subscribe to right-wing ideology can never, ever be trusted to make decisions that could potentially impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.A long list of people, all appointed by Michigan governor Rick Snyder, played a role in the Flint water crisis. All of them were uneducated, inexperienced and unqualified for the positions they were appointed to. Not a single person who played a role in the switch of the city s water source to the Flint river had any knowledge or experience in this area.Nowhere is that more evident in the fact that emergency manager Ed Kurtz eliminated the use of corrosion control, to save roughly $80.00 a day.That single uneducated decision virtually destroyed the city s infrastructure, and created the lead contamination Flint residents are facing today.To understand the level of ineptitude this plummets to, bear in mind that Flint is the only city in the United States that had no plan for corrosion control whatsoever.Corrosion control for all municipal water supplies is mandatory under the Safe Drinking Water Act.In order to cover-up for the fact that corrosion control was eliminated by Snyder appointed officials, state officials lied to the EPA.As reported by Dr. Marc Edwards of the Flint Water Study program here,On February 27th, 2015, MDEQ s Stephen Busch unequivocally and falsely responded to EPA that: The City of Flint Has an Optimized Corrosion Control Program <and> Conducts quarterly Water Quality Parameter monitoring at 25 sites and has not had any unusual results. This was a flat-out lie.It wasn t until much later that the EPA learned that Michigan officials had been deceiving the agency about the use of corrosion control in Flint.As MLive reported nearly a year later, EPA officials were stunned when they discovered the truth. I was stunned when I found out they did not have corrosion control in place, Miguel A. Del Toral, regulations manager in the EPA s ground water and drinking water branch, said in an interview with The Flint Journal-MLive today, Jan. 21. In my head, I didn t believe that. I thought: That can t be true that s so basic. That s not possible. Unfortunately, it was possible.It was also the direct result of Governor Snyder appointing a list of unqualified, uneducated and inexperienced businessmen to be in charge of the city s water supply.A close examination of Michigan government shows what can happen when a single political party seizes control of all branches of government.The two-party system of government is essential to a healthy democracy. Not only is the system meant to safeguard against the kind of dictatorship being imposed in Michigan, but a second party with at least some amount of political power is necessary to keep government in check.In Michigan, the right wing has virtually succeeded in suppressing any voice that is not its own.Michigan s single party rule has eliminated from government anyone that could reasonably be expected to investigate corruption or hold state officials accountable for their actions.Michigan has a right-wing Attorney General, Secretary of State and Governor, along with a legislature that is entirely controlled by Tea Party and republican representatives. There is virtually no other party with any power in Michigan. Because of that, there is no-one to act as a watchdog for state government and there is no-one to hold state officials accountable.When Attorney General Bill Schuette finally announced an investigation into the Flint water crisis, Michigan residents laughed. No-one was surprised when Scheutte chose a private lawyer, who is not accountable to the public, to conduct the investigation. Nor was anyone surprised when it was revealed that the recently hired investigator is a republican party donor, who helped elect Rick Snyder.As Democracy Web explains it:There are ideological movements that reject the central tenets of multiparty electoral democracy but exploit the system s freedoms and processes to seek power. These include fascism, communism, and some forms of religious fundamentalism and ethnic or racial nationalism. Generally, parties with such ideologies use a utopian vision for the future to justify the imposition of a dictatorship once they reach government. While other parties are sometimes allowed to exist under their rule, real political power is exercised solely by the governing party. In these single-party systems, the ruling party is also a source of patronage, the main vehicle for personal advancement in politics and society, and a mechanism for strictly enforcing conformity to the dominant ideology. Underground parties or movements often organize against such regimes, but these are subject to severe repression.The Flint water crisis could not have happened without this total imbalance of power in the state s government.Michigan citizens apparently voted for Rick Snyder because of his business experience. That was their first mistake.Snyder s experience as a venture capitalist and corporate CEO did not make him more qualified to govern a state. If anything, it made him less qualified.Throughout his career, Snyder has been driven by the corporate doctrine of shareholder profit above all else. The only thing considered unethical in the corporate world is losing money.We got a first-hand glimpse into the corporate decision making process in 1968. That year leaked documents showed that the Ford Motor Company had compared the cost of recalling the company s Pinto to the cost of letting people die when the car s engine exploded. The company s analysis showed that it would be cheaper to let people die than to recall the car. So they did.Corporate ethics revolve around doing whatever you can get away with to protect or increase shareholder profits. This is the world that CEO s like Governor Rick Snyder live in.In relation to Flint, the media narrative has been that the source of Flint s drinking water was switched to the Flint river to save the city money. This narrative is simply not true.A feasibility study ordered by former Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon showed that switching the source of Flint s water would cost the city more. That report was thrown out by state officials.Emails released earlier this month, however, verify that it would have saved Flint hundreds of thousands dollars to stay with the Detroit Water and Sewer, even in the best case scenario.After the switch, Flint residents experienced a massive hike in their water rates. The increase in cost left many citizens unable to afford to keep water on in their homes. But those citizens who lost access to Flint s poisoned water may have been the lucky ones.If Snyder considered the citizens of Michigan his shareholders than none of these decisions make sense. He wasn t saving the city money as he repeatedly claimed. He wasn t doing the citizens of Flint any favors, either.But Snyder s decisions were never based on what was best for the city of Flint, nor the residents of that city.There s a whole different set of shareholders whose identities are not yet known.These are the people who Michigan s emergency manager law was set up to benefit.The law is formally known as Public Act 436. Embedded in the text of this law is the provision for state emergency managers to receive unlimited amounts of private cash.Section 141.1549 (f) reads:In addition to the salary provided to an emergency manager in a contract approved by the state treasurer under subdivision (e), this state may receive and distribute private funds to an emergency manager. As used in this subdivision, private funds means any money the state receives for the purpose of allocating additional salary to an emergency manager.Snyder set up a fund for these secret private donors, which he originally called the NERD fund. Cash was transferred through this fund directly into the pockets of Snyder s emergency managers.After a public outcry over the NERD fund, Snyder told the citizens of Michigan that it had been eliminated. That was another lie.Snyder simply changed the name of the slush fund from the NERD fund to the Moving Michigan Forward Fund.The same unnamed donors who have been lining the pockets of Michigan emergency managers for several years, are now footing the bill for Snyder s recently hired PR firms.Watch this video from WXYZ.The FBI and the Department of Justice criminal division are now investigating the Flint water crisis. Let s be clear, without the hope of an independent, outside investigation by federal authorities, Michigan citizens would be left without recourse.Michigan is one of two states in the country which exempts the governor and all state lawmakers from Freedom of Information requests.Any government that goes to these lengths to hide what it is doing from the public is a government that cannot and should not be trusted.Right wing lawmakers have no desire to make government work. They work to make government fail. Nowhere is that clearer than in the state of Michigan, where Snyder s appointed officials repeatedly broke federal laws, with devastating consequences. It s no surprise that republicans are now trying to use the Flint water crisis as proof that government doesn t work. There s nothing more dangerous to a corrupt government than an informed and involved citizenry.Being informed doesn t mean getting your news and information from the same source or sources all of the time, either.Sometimes being informed just means talking to other people, reaching across the aisles and stepping outside of your usual comfort zone.The people of Flint tried for more than a year to get the public s attention. We should ask ourselves why we didn t listen sooner.If we are to make sure that what happened in Flint never happens anywhere again, then we have to decide that we will not let factors like income or race or political affiliation determine whether or not we are willing to listen to our fellow citizens.If we can learn anything from the Flint water crisis, it s how important it is for each and every one of us to use our voting rights now. If we don t, we can (and almost surely will) lose them later.Right-wing politicians like Rick Snyder do not believe in democracy. They do not support your right to vote, nor your right to participate in government.Make no mistake, the only rights the people of Michigan have left are those which are protected by the federal government. At the state level, the right-wing legislature has removed the people s ability to participate in local government. These same lawmakers virtually eliminated the citizen s ability to recall their elected officials. They have also made it impossible for the voters to repeal legislation.This is what the far-right has accomplished in Michigan in just a few short years.Imagine what they will do if they gain complete control of the federal government These are certainly not the only lessons we should learn from the Flint water crisis. But if we all just learn these ten, and we truly take them to heart, our society will be so much better off going into the 2016 election. Image credit from Michigan Municipal League, via Flckr, cc 2.0 | 0 |
21,447 | 8 YEARS LATER: OBAMA TELLS Most Dangerous City In America, “I’ve Got Your Back” | Tell that to the 87 year old woman who was raped in broad daylight on the crime-ridden streets of Flint. Obama doesn t care about Flint, MI anymore than he cares about the violence and out-of-control crime in his own backyard of Washington DC. The only reason Obama and his Democrat cronies are showing any concern for the citizens of Flint today, is because they are using their water crisis as a political football. They re attempting to blame the Republican Governor of MI for the water crisis, while doing everything in their power to hold Obama s evil EPA Director, Gina McCarthy harmless. If Obama cared so much about the residents of Flint, MI, why wouldn t he be as concerned about helping them to find employment as he is about phony climate change? Flint President Barack Obama s assurances Wednesday that Flint s water is safe to drink from faucet filters was met with skepticism among residents of this predominately African-American city beset by fears of lead lingering in their pipes.Obama used his visit to the crisis-stricken city of 100,000 residents to promote the use of lead-removing faucet filters in an effort to bring some calm among residents distrustful of government. Although I understand the fear and concern that people have, and it is entirely legitimate, what the science tells us at this stage is you should not drink any of the water that is not filtered but if you get the filter and use it properly, that water can be consumed, Obama said in a speech at Northwestern High School. That s information that I trust and I believe. Via: Detroit NewsFlint, MI has been living in crisis mode for decades. It s very likely they believed that when Barack Obama took office, he would do something to improve the conditions of their hell-hole of a city. They couldn t have been more deceived: Business Insider We ve been ranking America s most dangerous cities for several years, and there s one city that keeps making the top of the list Flint, Michigan.Flint had 66 homicides in 2012, tying a record it hit two years ago.Forbes has also ranked Flint as one of most dangerous places for women. The most striking attack of 2012 occurred when an 87-year-old woman was raped outside her home in broad daylight. She decided to leave Flint. GM s Flint operations employed 80,000 people in 1978. At the time, New York City had a reputation for being the most dangerous place in America not Flint.However, the tide started to turn for Flint in the 80s. That s when GM started setting up factories in Mexico and dramatically reduced its operations in Flint. By 2006 GM employed just 8,000 people in Flint, according to Flint s city manager.With no major industry in Flint, the city s unemployment and poverty rates have soared as many people have fled the city. Here are some factors that contribute to making Flint a dangerous place:Flint only employed 122 police officers in 2012, down from 265 five years earlier because of budget cuts, Mlive.com reported. With 122 officers, Flint employs one officer for about every 830 people. Comparatively, New York City (which didn t even make the top 25 most dangerous cities) covers about 235 people per cop.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Flint s unemployment rate rests as 16.0 percent. Though not as low as Detroit s, which rings in at 17.5 percent, Flint s lack of work doesn t bode well for the local economy. More than 38% of people there live below the poverty level, according to the most recent Census numbers. Poverty and crime are known to go hand in hand.Drugs are a known accelerant for crime, including violent crime. Heroin use has increased dramatically among people between 18 and 29, the Flint Journal reported in 2011. That year, two teenagers died of overdoses within three days of each other.As things get worse in Flint, its population continues to drop off. There were nearly 125,000 people living there in 2000, but that number declined to roughly 101,000 by 2011. This decline suggests Flint is no longer a place where people want to live. | 0 |
21,448 | Leave It To Ellen DeGeneres To PERFECTLY Mock Trump And His ‘Hand’ Size (VIDEO) | When thinking about who you d likely want as the next President of the United States, one would probably think of someone who is well-versed in policy and leadership. Someone with a proven record of legislative success. Someone who you wouldn t be embarrassed of representing you and your interests around the globe. Unfortunately, when watching the GOP debates, you re not going to find any of those qualities, at least amongst the front-runners.At the most recent debate, the subject of hand size was literally brought up, and of course, hand size is actually the size of their dicks, because of course that s what these guys would be talking about. Noticing how utterly ridiculous not only bringing this subject up is, but also finding it humorous that Donald Trump in particular took such offense in what appears to be major overcompensation, Ellen DeGeneres of The Ellen Show showed us a better interpretation of what his hand size actually may be.In a modified clip of the most recent debate, Ellen had Trump s hands photoshopped into tiny little baby hands. He still waved them around like he has something to prove, but this time, it was seemingly far more accurate.Truth be told, we don t need a person obsessed with proving how large or great they personally are. We don t need someone who uses I, me, or my every other sentence. Running for president is running to serve the citizens of the United States, not yourself. It s not about being the best, it s about making sure the nation works well for all.We need someone who can lead the nation. Donald Trump is not that person.Watch the hilarity from The Ellen Show here:Featured image via image screen capture | 0 |
21,449 | Russia rebukes Trump over Iran, North Korea, accuses U.S. of missile treaty breach | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is extremely concerned by U.S. President Donald Trump s comments questioning the Iran nuclear deal and suspects that Washington itself may have violated a landmark arms control treaty, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Lavrov s comments, made to Russian reporters at the United Nations in New York and published by his ministry on Wednesday, illustrate how deeply Moscow and Washington are at odds over an array of issues and suggest any attempts to improve already battered relations face an uphill struggle. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said Iran s 2015 pact with six world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for loosening economic sanctions was an embarrassment to the United States . Washington could not abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program, Trump said. Lavrov, whose country is a signatory to the deal, said Russia strongly disagreed with that stance. It s extremely worrying, he said. We will defend this document, this consensus, which was met with relief by the entire international community and genuinely strengthened both regional and international security. Trump s threat in the same U.N. appearance to totally destroy North Korea if it had to defend itself or it allies also went down badly with Russia, which shares a border with North Korea and believes negotiations and diplomacy are the only way to resolve a crisis over Pyongyang s missile program. If you simply condemn and threaten, then we re going to antagonize countries over whom we want to exert influence, said Lavrov, referring to Trump s comments. He saved some of his harshest criticism however for what he said was a possible violation by the United States of a landmark 1987 arms control treaty which bans Russian and American intermediate-range missiles on land. A senior Trump administration official accused Russia earlier this year of violating the same pact the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty something Moscow denied. But Lavrov said it looked like it was Washington, which is in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its aging ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles, that was in breach of the same treaty. We have suspicions on at least three fronts that the Americans are creating weapons systems which violate or could violate the treaty obligations, said Lavrov, who said Moscow had relayed its concerns to the United States. Lavrov has met U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson twice in New York this week. | 1 |
21,450 | U.S. Customs give airlines green light to board all visa-holders after Seattle ruling | (Reuters) - U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) has informed U.S. airlines that they can once again board travelers who had been barred by an executive order last week, after it was blocked nationwide on Friday by a federal judge in Seattle, an airline official told Reuters. In a conference call at around 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT), the U.S. agency told airlines to operate just as they had before the order, which temporarily had stopped refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Individuals from those states who have proper visas can now board U.S.-bound flights, and airlines are working to update their websites to reflect the change, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. The judge’s temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump’s action, although his administration could still appeal the ruling and have the policy upheld. Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, made his ruling effective immediately on Friday, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted straight away. He is expected to issue a full written ruling over the weekend. CBP and Washington-based trade group Airlines for America did not immediately comment. | 1 |
21,451 | U.S. puts more pressure on Pakistan to help with Afghan war | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States suggested on Tuesday it could cut U.S. aid to Pakistan or downgrade Islamabad s status as a major non-NATO ally to pressure the South Asian nation to do more to help it with the war in Afghanistan. A day after President Donald Trump committed to an open-ended conflict in Afghanistan and singled out Pakistan for harboring Afghan Taliban insurgents and other militants, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington s relationship with Pakistan would depend on its help against terrorism. We are going to be conditioning our support for Pakistan and our relationship with them on them delivering results in this area, Tillerson told reporters. U.S. officials are frustrated by what they see as Pakistan s reluctance to act against groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network that they believe exploit safe haven on Pakistani soil to launch attacks on neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan denies it harbors militants fighting U.S. and Afghan government forces in Afghanistan. Tillerson said the United States could consider withdrawing Pakistan s status as a major non-NATO ally, which provides limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus U.S. military hardware, if cooperation did not improve. We have some leverage that s been discussed in terms of the amount of aid and military assistance we give them, their status as non-NATO alliance partner - all of that can be put on the table, he said. In a televised speech on Monday offering few specifics, Trump promised a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban insurgents who have gained ground against the U.S.-backed Afghan government and he singled out Pakistan for harboring militants. U.S.-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban s hard-line Islamist government in late 2001 because it sheltered al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington that year. U.S. forces have been bogged down since in a war that has vexed three American presidents. About 2,400 U.S. troops have died there in America s longest military conflict. (For a graphic on U.S. troops and contractors in Afghanistan click tmsnrt.rs/2xm6CxQ) The Afghan government welcomed Trump s speech, but the Taliban said it would make the country a graveyard for the American empire. Successive U.S. administrations have struggled with how to deal with nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has a porous border with Afghanistan. Washington fumes about inaction against the Taliban, but Pakistan has cooperated on other U.S. counterterrorism efforts, including against al Qaeda and Islamic State militants. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said it was disappointing that the US policy statement ignores the enormous sacrifices rendered by the Pakistani nation in fighting terrorism. As a matter of policy, Pakistan does not allow use of its territory against any country, it said. A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday significant measures were under consideration, including possibly sanctioning Pakistani officials with ties to extremist organizations. Trump also called for Pakistan s great rival India to play a bigger role in Afghanistan, a prospect that will ring alarm bells for Pakistan s generals. Trump s policy of engaging India and threatening action may actually constrain Pakistan and lead to the opposite of what he wants, said Zahid Hussain, a Pakistani security analyst. The United States has little choice but to use Pakistani roads and air corridors to resupply its troops in landlocked Afghanistan, giving Islamabad considerable leverage. U.S. officials fret that if Pakistan becomes an active foe, it could further destabilize Afghanistan and endanger U.S. soldiers. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday he was awaiting a plan from the U.S. military s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, before deciding how many more troops to send to Afghanistan. When he brings that to me, I will determine how many more we need to send in, Mattis told reporters in Baghdad. It may or may not be the number that is bandied about. U.S. officials have said Trump has given Mattis authority to send about 4,000 additional troops to add to the roughly 8,400 already in Afghanistan. The U.S. Air Force may intensify its strikes in Afghanistan and expand training of the Afghan air force following Trump s decision, its top general told Reuters on Tuesday. Most U.S. troops in Afghanistan work with a NATO-led training and advising mission, with the rest part of a counterterrorism force that mostly targets pockets of al Qaeda and Islamic State fighters. | 1 |
21,452 | White House says Iran's progress on nuclear deal must be verified | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran has made important progress in its effort to implement the international agreement to curtail its nuclear program, but its actions must still be independently verified, the White House said on Friday. “We want to make sure they don’t cut any corners,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a briefing. He said Iran would not receive sanctions relief until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms it has complied with the agreement. Earnest said he had no update on the timing of the implementation of the nuclear deal. | 1 |
21,453 | Strong chances of Brexit no deal, but UK government may collapse: Scottish minister | EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Scotland s Brexit minister believes there is a pretty strong chance Britain will leave the European Union with no deal, but that the UK government could collapse before then. Michael Russell said the devolved pro-independence Scottish administration is trying to prepare for Brexit, despite Scots having voted against it, but possible outcomes are legion . I think the chances (Brexit) happens without an agreement are still pretty strong, that there will a crashing out, Russell, who is heading Scottish Brexit talks with the UK government, told Reuters. It is also distinctly possible (...) that the government will fall and there will be another election or another government will come in, he added. British Prime Minister Theresa May is running a minority Conservative government, kept in power by a Northern Irish Protestant party. Russel said it was unclear what any new government might do. Will it start negotiations afresh, what will be its mandate, what will it be negotiating for? Russell said, describing his frustration with the process and its uncertainty. Britain s vote to leave the EU has divided the main parties over what new relationship it wants with the trading bloc after 40 years of shared ties. It has also strained the ties of the UK s four nations, because Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to keep EU membership while Wales and most-populous England voted to leave. On key issues, such as the set-up of powers devolved beyond London s parliament after Brexit and the need for fluid EU immigration, Edinburgh s Scottish nationalist administration is at loggerheads with the Conservative UK government in London. Earlier on Wednesday, Britain s First Secretary of State Damian Green said Britain believes no deal is very unlikely but was readying contingency plans just in case. As recently as Tuesday, the UK s Brexit Minister David Davis said Britain was ready to walk away with no deal. If we leave without a deal, we have to look at whether there will be democratic legitimacy in that, how would that be confirmed. Would (Britain s parliament) accept that we leave without a deal? I think that s unlikely in its present composition, said Russell, whose formal title is Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland s Place in Europe. Russell described Brexit as the existential threat to Scotland s future and said his government was preparing, to the extent that it could, for all options regarding Brexit. For that reason, he argued, Scotland should be offered a new choice which might include independence from the UK rejected by Scottish voters in 2014 by a 10 percentage point margin once it is clear what Brexit means. At some stage the people of Scotland will have to be asked whether they want to stay with something which is completely disastrous and will not produce a good result, of that I have no doubt, or whether we do something else, he said. In a June general election Russell s Scottish National Party suffered heavy losses - albeit from a very high level - and was forced to withdraw its offer of a new independence referendum as a result. | 1 |
21,454 | 5-YEAR OLD SUSPENDED FROM SCHOOL For Playing With ‘Stick Gun’…Said She ‘Posed A Threat’ | The Hoke County School school system defended its policy in a statement and said it would not tolerate assaults, threats or harassment from any student.The Hoke County School system said Caitlin posed a threat to other students when she made a shooting motion a violation of school policy, officials said. We know why it s bad, Miller told WTVD. We watch the news, but then I have to tell my kid, you re not allowed to play like that in school because people do bad things to kids your age.' The Hoke County School school system defended its policy in a statement and said it would not tolerate assaults, threats or harassment from any student.Read more: ABC | 0 |
21,455 | Rejuvenated Berlusconi lays out vote platform, eyes victory in Italy | ROME (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, marking a formal return to Italy s political stage, laid out his policy priorities on Sunday for the forthcoming election, portraying himself as a pro-European moderate. Speaking at a meeting of his Forza Italia (Go Italy) party, Berlusconi said he wanted to lead the group into the national ballot, which is expected by next March, promising hefty tax cuts if the center-right regained power. Subsumed by sex scandals and legal woes, Berlusconi largely vanished from politics after being ousted from power in 2011. But he has emerged from the shadows this year and Forza Italia, with its traditional rightist allies the Northern League and Brothers of Italy, have combined backing of some 35 percent, according to polls, making them the largest single bloc. We predict a great victory for the center-right, said Berlusconi, 81, looking thin and fit during a speech near Rome that effectively launched the Forza Italia election campaign. While his allies have repeatedly denounced the European Union, Berlusconi said he wanted more Europe, not less, calling for common defense, foreign, industrial and fiscal policies. I do not think we can leave the euro, he said, further underscoring how the anti-euro rhetoric once heard from many Italian parties is receding as the vote nears. Berlusconi, who had open heart surgery last year, cannot run for office due to a 2013 tax fraud conviction. But he hopes the European Court of Human Rights overturns this ban when it reviews his case in November. I expect that Europe completely restores my honor ... But court or no court, I promise you that I will take part in the election campaign, said the four-times premier. If Forza Italia won power, he said he would introduce a flat tax and eliminate inheritance tax, hike minimum pensions, offer pensions to housewives and give more to impoverished families. Berlusconi dismissed the chances of the ruling center-left, saying the left was in retreat across Europe, and also took aim at the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which polls say is Italy s largest single party, with support under 30 percent. The 5-Star is expected to chose the 31-year-old lawmaker Luigi Di Maio as its prime ministerial candidate next weekend. Berlusconi dismissed him as a little political meteorite with no practical know-how. Highlighting his own long experience in business and politics, he said he wanted to make a pact with the devil to take 20 years off his life. He joked this his tan, brown hair and slim figure showed a deal might have been struck. He also looked to swat down the hopes of Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, who has put himself forward as the natural prime ministerial candidate for the center-right. We have always had respect for their ideas, but we created the center-right and we have always been the leader to put its program into action, Berlusconi said. | 1 |
21,456 | SHOCK POLL In MUST WIN State Of FLORIDA: Hispanics Turn Backs On Crooked Hillary | Apparently the Black Lives Matter terror group hasn t managed to distract Florida voters from Crooked Hillary s untrustworthy record A new poll released from JMC Analytics in Florida (full pdf below) shows Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton 47% to 42%, and leading with Hispanic voters 49% to 36%.Some (particularly MSM) pundits will find these results quite shocking however, we do not. We ve repeatedly pointed out that Latino voters in Florida are very familiar with strong Patrone male figures within their family. Trump represents a very familiar cultural voice for them.This was abundantly evident in the primary race where Donald Trump won every county within Florida by exceptionally wide margins.You ll often hear the professional political punditry talk about the central (I-4) corridor and how the specific high population demographics influences elections. Central Florida, and South Central Florida are the inland growing regions for much of the state s agricultural industry. Look there and you can identify the Latino cultural support for Donald Trump.The coastal communities are diverse and representative of the larger U.S. electorate. Hillary Clinton predictably polls well in the same area where Marco Rubio won out in the Republican primary. However, Miami-Dade, while population strong, is less influential as the years have progressed and other coastal community populations have grown.Via: Conservative Treehouse | 0 |
21,457 | Republicans push back against Trump plan to cut foreign aid | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress on Tuesday assailed his proposed cuts in the diplomatic and foreign aid budget, making it unlikely the cutbacks in global health, peacekeeping and other programs will take effect. Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for diplomacy and foreign aid spending, said Trump’s proposal to cut the diplomacy and aid budget by one third would “gut soft power.” “If we implemented this budget, you’d have to retreat from the world or put a lot of people at risk,” Graham told reporters. “This budget is not going to go anywhere.” Congress sets the federal government budget, and Republicans who control both houses and Democrats have said they do not support such drastic cuts. The funding cuts in Trump’s plan for the fiscal year beginning in October would mark a stark decrease in non-military U.S. government engagement abroad as the administration pursues Trump’s “America First” world view. Trump administration officials defend the cuts by saying the rest of the world must do its “fair share” as the United States retreats from its traditional spending abroad. In all, the Trump proposal cuts about 32 percent from U.S. diplomacy and aid budgets, or nearly $19 billion. Trump’s budget would cut U.S. funding for global health programs including efforts focusing on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by about one quarter, to about $6.5 billion for 2018. The budget proposal envisions cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, a cornerstone of U.S. global health assistance, which supports HIV/AIDS treatment, testing and counseling for millions of people worldwide. Under Trump’s budget, PEPFAR funding would be $5 billion per year compared to about $6 billion annually now, the State Department said. No patient currently receiving antiretroviral therapy, a treatment for HIV, through PEPFAR funds will lose that treatment, officials said. The budget proposal also includes a steep cut to funding for international organizations, without specifying which groups might lose their funding. The NATO military alliance would continue to be fully funded. U.S. funding for international peacekeeping would fall to about $1.5 billion, a cut of over 50 percent from 2017 levels. The United States is the biggest contributor to the United Nations, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget “Given the growing threats we face, we should be supporting – not slashing – anti-terrorism, law enforcement, and humanitarian programs,” Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement. Trump’s budget would reduce funding for educational and cultural exchanges by 52 percent, including a 47 percent cut to the Fulbright Program, which enables U.S. citizens to go abroad and brings foreign students to study in the United States. The Trump proposal assumes the State Department will maintain its current structure, though Tillerson has said he wants to restructure the agency and find efficiencies. Nonetheless, the budget makes major shifts in some funding. A core, $2.8 billion development account overseen by USAID that funds agricultural, water, sanitation and other projects would be consolidated with other funding streams to create the Economic Support and Development Fund. That new account would then be cut by about 45 percent compared to current funding levels. | 1 |
21,458 | BREAKING: HILLARY CAUGHT MOCKING Bernie Sanders Supporters In Leaked Audio…Donors Laugh [Audio] | We all know by now that Hillary Clinton will morph into whatever she needs to be to win votes to get back to the White House. Here s EXHIBIT 1 on just how far she ll go While speaking to a group of donors last February, Hillary mocked Bernie Sanders supporters and admitted the free college and free healthcare are just a ploy to win the votes of millennials The Intercept had this to say about Clinton s flip flopping:Clinton has been inconsistent in the past about espousing political labels. She has at times touted herself as stalwart liberal. For instance, she said last July: I take a backseat to no one when you look at my record in standing up and fighting for progressive values. But a few months later, she told a group in Ohio: You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty. AUDIO OF CLINTON MOCKING BERNIE SUPPORTERSCLINTON: Some are new to politics completely. They re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents basement. They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don t see much of a future. I met with a group of young black millennials today and you know one of the young women said, You know, none of us feel that we have the job that we should have gotten out of college. And we don t believe the job market is going to give us much of a chance. So that is a mindset that is really affecting their politics. And so if you re feeling like you re consigned to, you know, being a barista, or you know, some other job that doesn t pay a lot, and doesn t have some other ladder of opportunity attached to it, then the idea that maybe, just maybe, you could be part of a political revolution is pretty appealing. So I think we should all be really understanding of that and should try to do the best we can not to be, you know, a wet blanket on idealism. We want people to be idealistic. We want them to set big goals. But to take what we can achieve now and try to present them as bigger goals. | 0 |
21,459 | U.S. insurer lobby group seeks delay in 2018 Obamacare deadline | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The largest lobbying group for health insurers has asked U.S. lawmakers weighing the fate of Obamacare to push back the due date for 2018 individual insurance submissions to regulators in hopes of obtaining greater clarity on the program’s future later on. Republican leaders including President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said they are keen to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance program, the Affordable Care Act, which provides coverage to millions of Americans. The process of repealing and replacing Obamacare could take two to three years, however, according to some senators. How much of the law will change and when is still unclear. Trump has said some aspects of the program are good, such as allowing young adults to stay insured with their parents until age 26. The trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, has been speaking with senators for the past few weeks, spokeswoman Kristine Grow said on Tuesday. She provided a list of issues under discussion, which touch on the individual exchanges, Medicare and Medicaid. Insurers backed the idea of high-risk pools, saying they can mitigate the risk of adverse selection and deliver effective coverage. Both Trump and his choice to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, advocate for use of the pools to insure the very sick. Two of AHIP’s largest members are Anthem Inc and Cigna Corp, both of which plan to sell Obamacare plans in 2017. Insurers also asked for funding through Jan. 1, 2019, for cost-sharing programs and making the 2016 reinsurance payments to insurers who qualify for them as planned. And they asked for elimination of two health insurance taxes, which they said would help slow premium growth. They suggested extending the deadline to file health exchange plans by a few months until the summer of 2017, when there will be less uncertainty and more insurers are likely to submit bids. Insurers are asking senators for limited changes to the Medicaid program during the transition period, and to ensure a transition period for states that have expanded Medicaid, the program for the poor jointly funded by the federal government and states. Republicans are considering changing its funding to block grants, which could cut the total amount. On Medicare, the insurers are seeking changes as soon as February, when the government will propose target rates for 2018 Medicare Advantage plans. | 1 |
21,460 | That Time Donald Trump Asked Hackers To Take Obama Down For Him | It seems that Donald Trump has a history of asking hackers for help in furthering his goals. Not only did he ask Russian hackers to find Hillary s missing emails this morning, he also once asked hackers to help him out with taking President Obama.As the nation s most famous birther, he was all in on proving that Obama was foreign-born, and therefore couldn t be president. He actually seemed upset that hackers were hacking everything except Obama s records:Obama released his long-form birth certificate in 2011, three years before Trump posted this tweet. Trump is so sure he s right about everything, though, that he wanted to keep digging and digging until he found the mother lode. Perhaps he was trying to keep Obama from making him look like the complete fool that he is?This morning, he pretty much told Russia that they would be rewarded if they hacked Hillary Clinton s email server and found those 30,000 emails that Republicans have been salivating over. Of course, his loyal subjects including those at Fox News are saying he was joking about that, and why shouldn t they? Asking a foreign government for help in winning a national election, or taking down one of our own, is treason. Republicans will not want to admit that they nominated someone willing to commit treason.Asking hackers, who engage in illegal activity in order to obtain what they want, could be considered treason as well. So Trump has a history of seeking illegal means to take down anybody he doesn t like, and he likes neither Obama nor Hillary. In fact, he s sick and disgusting.But don t tell him that asking hackers, foreign and domestic, looks bad. In his warped dimension, he s just doing what needs to be done.Featured image by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images | 0 |
21,461 | no title | snow reports from around the northland through am saturday by andrew krueger today at am brian parendo of esko shovels heavy wet show from his driveway friday morning im happy it lasted this long he said referring to the long spell of warm weather that preceded the storm bob king rkingduluthnewscom snow reports from around the northland as of am saturday as relayed by the national weather service in duluth this list will be updated if additional reports are received check back to wwwduluthnewstribunecom for updates recommended for you | 1 |
21,462 | EU's Barnier worried by UK's post-Brexit plan for Irish border | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union s chief Brexit negotiator said on Thursday he was worried by Britain s plans for the border arrangement with Ireland after it leaves the EU and urged London to come up with creative proposals . The comments from Michel Barnier highlighted the gulf between the two sides on one of the trickiest issues thrown up by Brexit - how it will affect the currently seamless movement of people and goods between the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member, and British-ruled Northern Ireland. Britain said last month that there should be no border posts or immigration checks along the 500 km (300 mile) frontier after Brexit. Some 30,000 people make the crossing each day, and businesses from farming to brewing depend on easy movement of goods between north and south. While Brussels and Dublin also say they want to keep an open border, they say Britain has failed to explain how it would square this with its stated intention to leave the EU s customs union. What I see in the UK s paper on Ireland and Northern Ireland worries me, Barnier told a news conference in Brussels. The UK wants the EU to suspend the application of its laws, its customs union and its single market at what will be a new external border for the EU, and the UK wants to use Ireland as a kind of test case for the future EU-UK customs relations. This will not happen, Barnier said. The EU is also concerned that Britain could use the border between the two Irelands as a way to circumvent tariffs that could be imposed in a post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal. Barnier s remarks coincided with the publication of a set of principles from the European Commission, the EU s executive, on how the Irish issue should be dealt with. It explicitly stated that the onus to propose solutions on Ireland fell on Britain. The paper also made it clear that a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland should be avoided to protect peace on the island. It said that any physical border infrastructure should be ruled out, but that required flexible and imaginative solutions . Nearly three months into Brexit talks, EU and Britain negotiators have made little progress on the Irish border and the other issues - expatriate citizens rights and the bill that London should pay its EU partners to settle existing financial commitments - that Brussels wants broadly solved before talks on a future trading relationship can start. The Irish government called on Britain to make substantive commitments and provide workable solutions . Prime Minister Leo Varadkar reiterated that for all sides to achieve their aim of avoiding a hard border, Britain needed to stay in the customs union or in a similar arrangement for at least a post-Brexit transition phase. Britain seized on the EU comments about the need for an open border as evidence that British and EU objectives were closely aligned . In particular the commitment to avoid any physical infrastructure at the border is a very important step forward, a government spokesman said, adding that the position papers from both sides clearly provide a good basis on which to continue to make swift progress. | 1 |
21,463 | Taliban attacks kill at least 69 across Afghanistan | KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants struck government targets in many provinces of Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 69 people, including a senior police commander, and wounding scores of others. The deadliest attack hit a police training centre attached to the police headquarters in Gardez, main city of Paktia province. Two Taliban suicide car bombers paved the way for a number of gunmen to attack the compound, officials and militants said. At least 21 police officers were killed, including the Paktia provincial police chief, with 48 others wounded, according to government officials. The attack also left at least 20 civilians dead and 110 wounded, the Interior Ministry said. Security forces killed at least five attackers. Dozens of dead and wounded were taken to the city hospital, even as many more lay where they fell during the fighting, deputy public health director Hedayatullah Hameedi said. The Taliban, seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster by U.S.-led forces, claimed responsibility. The militant group also attacked a district centre in neighbouring Ghazni province on Tuesday, detonating an armoured Humvee vehicles packed with explosives near the provincial governor s office. Provincial officials said at least 15 government security forces were killed and 12 wounded in the Ghazni attacks, with 13 civilians killed and seven wounded. The Taliban said they had killed 31 security forces and wounded 21 in those clashes. Fighting was also reported near local government centres in Farah and Kandahar provinces. | 1 |
21,464 | BREAKING UDATE: IRAN CONFIRMS $1.7 BILLION Was RANSOM Payment For Prisoners And NOT Part Of “Nuclear Deal” ORIGINAL STORY: OBAMA AND KERRY Agree To Give Iran $1.7 BILLION U.S. Taxpayer Dollars As “Settlement” | Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!The United States sent Iran $400 million in debt plus $1.3 billion in interest, and the money was disbursed as a ransom payment for four American hostages of the Islamic regime, a top Iranian commander said Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, the U.S. paid the Iranian regime $425 million dollars per American hostage, according to the commander. The annulment of sanctions against Iran s Bank Sepah and reclaiming of $1.7mln of Iran s frozen assets after 36 years showed that the US doesn t understand anything but the language of force, said Iranian Basij Commander Brig Gen Mohammed Reza Naqdi, addressing his forces in Tehran. This money was returned for the freedom of the US spy and it was not related to the (nuclear) negotiations, he claimed, according to state-controlled Fars News Agency.Four Americans who were held hostage by the Islamic Republic Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Pastor Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosrawi Roudsari (who decided to stay in Iran) were part of the deal that included the ransom payment, along with the release of seven Iranians who were sitting in American jails on charges of thwarting international sanctions, and the delisting of 14 Iranian nationals from Interpol s Red List, which seeks international criminals for extradition.A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, who was imprisoned by Tehran, was also released, but under the terms of a separate deal, according to reports.The U.S. State Department tells Breitbart News that the payment to Iran was separate but simultaneous, and not a ransom. We did not pay ransom to secure the return of these Americans. The funds that were transferred to Iran were part of a separate but simultaneous arrangement we agreed to with Iran related to the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal at the Hague, a State Department spokesperson told Breitbart News late Wednesday.State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters earlier on Wednesday in Washington that no ransom was paid, rejecting the remarks of the Iranian commander. There was no bribe, there was no ransom, there was nothing paid to secure the return of these Americans who were, by the way, not spies. We ve spoken to this in the days after their release on Sunday morning in great detail about how this process worked. There was this consular channel that was opened up to secure their release, Toner said. Via: Breitbart NewsHere is the question we posed after discovering the interesting timing of this $1.7 BILLION payment to Iran while 4 American prisoners were being simultaneously released:Was this transfer of funds to a terrorist state (via the American taxpayer), the REAL reason the prisoners (hostages) Iran was holding were suddenly released? Did the incompetent Obama-Kerry duo use this settlement as a bargaining chip to make it appear as though freeing these hostages was part of the Iran nuclear deal all along? This is absolutely sickening The United States and Iran on Sunday settled a longstanding claim at the Hague, releasing to Tehran $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest, the State Department said.The funds were part of a trust fund once used by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States but which was tied up for decades in litigation at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.The settlement announcement was made after Tehran released five American detainees in a prisoner swap as a nuclear deal was implemented. Via: Business Insider | 0 |
21,465 | Release of CIA torture details unlikely: senior Democrat | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is unlikely to release a massive report on the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” widely considered torture, a top Democrat on the congressional intelligence committee said on Tuesday. Representative Adam Schiff told reporters it was more likely, before President Barack Obama leaves office next month, that the White House might take action so the report could be released someday via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. “The most that we might expect this administration to do... is to designate it as some kind of a record that would ultimately lead to its availability through FOIA, subject to redaction,” Schiff said at a breakfast meeting with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He said he supported “as much information being shared as possible.” Senator Dianne Feinstein and other congressional Democrats have urged Obama to declassify and release the 6,700-page Senate Intelligence Committee report before Republican President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Feinstein chaired the panel as it researched and wrote the report, and she spearheaded the effort to expose the CIA’s actions. The committee, then led by Democrats, released a 525-page executive summary of its findings in December 2014. But the full report has been seen as too sensitive to release. “I don’t think the incoming administration will have any interest in publishing the greater part of the document,” Schiff said. However, he added that he did not expect that waterboarding would resume. “Within the IC (intelligence community) there would be such massive resistance to this, it just isn’t going to happen,” Schiff said. Trump promised during his campaign that he would not only revive waterboarding, but bring back “a hell of a lot worse” if elected. However, he said more recently that retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, his nominee as secretary of defense, had persuasively argued against it. A White House spokesman said he had nothing to announce about the report, but reiterated Obama’s opposition to torture. Obama ended the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” via executive order just after he took office in January 2009. Led by Republican Senator John McCain and Feinstein, Congress has since passed legislation outlawing their use. | 1 |
21,466 | UK government, including Johnson, united behind May's Brexit plan: spokeswoman | LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and the rest of Prime Minister Theresa May s top team of ministers are united behind the government s plan for Brexit, May s spokeswoman said on Monday. Johnson was accused by cabinet colleagues on Sunday of backseat driving on Brexit after setting out his own vision of the country s future outside the EU, days before May is due to speak about Britain s departure from the bloc. The foreign secretary s views are well known, he expressed them during the referendum campaign. What is important is that the foreign secretary and cabinet are united behind the government s plan for Brexit, May s spokeswoman told reporters when asked if it was helpful for ministers to set out their own visions for Brexit. The prime minister values the contributions of all of her cabinet colleagues, the spokeswoman added. | 1 |
21,467 | Democrats launch new push for Obama U.S. Supreme Court nominee | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court selection, on Tuesday launched a new push to persuade the Republican-led Senate to act on the nomination before the Nov. 8 presidential election, but their calls fell on deaf ears. With senators returning to work after a seven-week summer recess, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the refusal of Republicans to consider Garland’s nomination “disgusting and repugnant.” “Republicans have deadlocked our entire system of justice because of the Republican Senate’s dysfunction,” Reid said. Obama’s nomination of the moderate appeals court judge has been pending without action for 174 days, longer than any other Supreme Court nominee in U.S. history. The U.S. Constitution gives the Senate the job of confirming a president’s judicial nominees. In a move with little precedent in American history, Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have refused to take any action on Obama’s nominee, insisting that Obama’s successor make the pick. “The Senate is returning from the longest recess in nearly half a century, and perhaps the Republican leadership was hoping that Americans had forgotten about the unprecedented obstruction of a Supreme Court nominee,” said Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. We Need Nine, a White House-allied group, will hold a news conference in front of the Supreme Court building on Wednesday with Democratic senators and lawyers who previously worked as clerks for Garland. Republicans sounded unconvinced. McConnell “has been crystal clear for the last seven months,” an aide to the senator said on Tuesday. “The next president will select the nominee.” The nine-seat court has been one justice short since the February death of long-serving conservative Antonin Scalia. With four liberals and four conservatives now on the bench, an appointment by a Democratic president could end decades of conservative domination on the court. The White House has called Garland’s confirmation a top priority for the legislative work period that began on Tuesday and ends in early October. In remarks last month, Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley indicated he could be persuaded by a large number of senators to take action on Garland in a “lame duck” session immediately after the election. His panel would hold any confirmation hearings. Some conservatives worry that if Democrat Hillary Clinton defeats Republican Donald Trump in the election, she would nominate someone more liberal than Garland. But in a statement on Tuesday, Grassley reiterated that “the next president should choose Justice Scalia’s replacement” and said his meetings with home-state voters during the recess “only bolstered the point that Iowans should have the opportunity to have a voice in the direction of the Supreme Court for the next 40 years.” | 1 |
21,468 | gov bill weld encourges supporters to stop trump | link well that didnt go as planned anyway my first thread so i can indulge i have to admit getting to here was not easy this forum or my brain is really different than other places so hopefully i do this right i have a thread or two that i have wanted to do this is my beginning to that howdy from texas too i have to mention that edit on by recrisp because no reason given | 0 |
21,469 | Appeals court grants Trump request to delay mercury air pollution case | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday granted a request from the Trump administration to put litigation on hold in which states and industry groups are challenging an Obama administration pollution control rule for mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit canceled oral arguments that were due to take place on May 18. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it wants to review the rule. The rule, known as the MATS rule, has been in place for years and utilities have already complied by upgrading or shutting older coal-fired power plants. Current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the former attorney general for Oklahoma, was one of 15 state prosecutors to sue the previous administration to block the MATS rule, as well as its Clean Power Plan and Waters of the United States rule. | 1 |
21,470 | Young Trump’s Reason For Not Running For President Is Irony At Its Finest (VIDEO) | It s hard to believe that business mogul Donald Trump is not only in the presidential race, but actually LEADING the Republican candidates. Apparently he never saw the White House in his future, either but clearly something has changed within the last few decades that inspired him to go for it.It just so happens that Trump originally had zero desire to run for President of The United States. Thanks to footage from an hour-long interview with Rona Barrett in 1980, it s been revealed that Trump didn t want to run because he thought it would be a mean life. Ironic, yes but the real kicker comes after that, when Trump says: I also see it that somebody with strong views, and somebody with the kind of views that are maybe a little bit unpopular which may be right but may be unpopular wouldn t necessarily have a chance of getting elected against somebody with no great brain but a big smile. This clip was never aired, and it s certainly worth watching now for the ridiculous irony of it all:My, how things have changed over the last 36 years. If only Trump had stayed in this frame of mind throughout his life.For someone who didn t want to live a mean life , Trump has certainly fulfilled that prophecy and he hasn t even been elected! Trump has continued to spit out the most vile, racist, offensive rhetoric a presidential campaign has ever seen, and single-handedly continues to divide America even more. He has attacked immigrants, Muslims, women basically any minority and encouraged a terrifying brand of hate to wash over America as his supporters become increasingly violent and angry.Trump has even divided the Republican party, and his vulgar tactics continue to threaten its destruction. He s proven that he will go after anyone who threatens his ego, whether it s the President, fellow candidate, a politician, news anchor, etc. He s a bully, a racist, a misogynist and a liar who cannot be trusted with the future of America. He s probably become much of what his younger self didn t want to be, because without a doubt he is the candidate with no great brain but a big smile. Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
21,471 | Clinton attacks Trump's outreach to black voters in new ad | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton called on Friday for voters to reject the “bigotry” of Donald Trump’s White House campaign, releasing a television ad criticizing his efforts to appeal to black voters and saying she was reaching out to people from all parties who are troubled by his candidacy. The ad shows video of Trump’s controversial pitch to black voters, in which the Republican candidate urges them to support him by asking, “What do you have to lose?” It also shows headlines about a racial discrimination lawsuit the New York real estate mogul faced in the 1970s. Clinton’s presidential campaign said the ad, released a day after she gave a speech accusing Trump of fueling America’s “radical fringe,” would air in the hotly contested states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Polls give Clinton a wide margin over Trump among Hispanic voters, but he is on a pitch to reduce her advantage by stressing he would create jobs for all. Trump pressed on with trying to broaden his appeal to minority voters on Friday, as he met with Hispanic business leaders at his signature hotel in Las Vegas. “We’ve been doing very, very well with the Latinos. We’ve been doing amazing, far, far greater ... than anyone understands. They want to see jobs come in, we’re going to bring jobs. They want to see things happen,” Trump said. He said the country’s GDP growth rate of 1.1 percent in the second quarter was not a good sign for the U.S. economy. “The country has some very, very serious problems,” he said. Clinton, meanwhile, followed up on Thursday’s tough speech by saying that Trump’s temperament and divisiveness made him unfit for the White House. “I am reaching out to everyone, Republicans, Democrats, independents, everyone who is as troubled as I am by the bigotry and divisiveness of Donald Trump’s campaign,” she told MSNBC, adding she was asking “fair-minded Americans to repudiate this kind of divisive demagoguery” at the Nov. 8 election. Clinton attacks came during a difficult week for her campaign, as the release of new emails from her time as secretary of state revived criticism of her decision to use a private address and server rather than a government one. The emails also stoked scrutiny of her family’s charitable foundation, including accusations that major corporate and foreign donors gave money in hopes of securing more access to then-Secretary Clinton. Her campaign says no donors received any special favors. Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told MSNBC Clinton was only talking about Trump and race this week to deflect attention from that controversy. Trump countered her rhetoric on Friday by releasing a video showing Clinton in the 1990s discussing a crime bill and referring to “super-predators,” or at-risk youth she said needed to be brought under control. The video also shows U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s main opponent in the Democratic primary this year, calling that phrase a “racist term.” In targeting what she terms Trump’s bigotry, Clinton hopes to remind voters of controversial statements he has made over the course of the campaign. Those include describing some Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, suggesting a judge could not be fair because of his Mexican-American heritage, and proposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to combat terrorism. Trump has tried to sidestep these dust-ups by saying Democrats have failed minorities with their economic policies, leaving them living in poverty and attending failing schools. Jennifer Hochschild, a professor at Harvard University who focuses on race and immigration, said she did not think Trump could fix his relationship with black and Hispanic voters. “General cluelessness about racial dynamics will diminish any possible black support that comes from Trump’s emphasis on job creation,” Hochschild said in an email. “And Clinton has a lot of deep roots among black politicians.” Trump also has been criticized for vowing to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally. In recent days, he had appeared to hold out the possibility of toning down his hardline stance, although his precise plans on immigration have been harder to pin down. On Thursday, he denied he would loosen his proposed immigration restrictions. | 1 |
21,472 | U.S. Attorney General defends Trump on NFL protests at free-speech talk | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday denounced football players who have protested racism by kneeling or locking arms during the playing of the national anthem before games, saying that even though their speech is protected, they should be condemned for showing disrespect to the country. Speaking to an audience at Georgetown Law School, Sessions said athletes who chose to protest during the national anthem were making a “big mistake” with an action that “weakens the commitment we have to this nation.” Sessions was at Georgetown to deliver an address about free speech on college campuses. Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump called on the National Football League to ban players from kneeling in protest while the anthem is played. “The players aren’t subject to any prosecution, but if they take a provocative act, they can expect to be condemned, and the president has the right to condemn them, and I would condemn their actions,” he said. Sessions is the latest member of the Trump administration to jump into the fray over national anthem protests by National Football League teams. Trump has been fueling debate on the issue since Friday, when he spoke at a rally and said that any protesting player was a “son of a bitch” who should be “fired.” He has since kept up the pressure through a series of Twitter messages. But his comments have touched off a series of protests by NFL players, coaches and some owners at football games. The comments may play well with Trump’s conservative base at a time when the Republican president is grappling with North Korea’s nuclear threats, a humanitarian crisis in hurricane-struck Puerto Rico, an investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and a healthcare struggle in Congress. Sessions made his remarks about the NFL protests following a speech he gave on free speech, in which he said the Justice Department is going to start taking greater steps to protect the rights of speakers on college campuses whom he fears are being censored by student protesters. When asked during a question and answer session afterwards if he was concerned that President Trump was condemning players for exercising their free speech rights, Sessions said that “the president has free speech rights too.” | 1 |
21,473 | RUDY GIULIANI Won’t Accept Role In Trump’s Cabinet…Tells FOX News Why [VIDEO] | Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has removed his name from consideration for a position in President-elect Donald Trump s Cabinet, the transition team announced Friday.Giuliani, who is currently a vice chairman on the presidential transition team, had been rumored to be in consideration for secretary of state. My desire to be in the Cabinet was great but it wasn t that great and he had a lot of terrific candidates and I thought I could play a better role being on the outside and continuing to be his close friend and adviser, Giuliani told Fox News Neil Cavuto.Trump met with Giuliani on Nov. 29., when the matter was discussed. He confirmed to Fox News that he had only been interested in being secretary of state. Honestly, the other positions I didn t have an interest in, so that really was the only one I had any real interest in, he told Cavuto.Giuliani said he now intends to continue his work in the private sector. He also warned against the selection of Mitt Romney for the position, saying the former Massachusets governor had gone over the line in previous criticisms he made about Trump. I will support [Trump s] decision, but my advice would be that Mitt went a little too far. You can make friends and make up but I would not see him as a candidate for the Cabinet, Giuliani told Cavuto.Trump praised Giuliani in a statement, calling him an extraordinarily talented and patriotic American. FOX | 0 |
21,474 | Trump strongly committed to partnership with EU, says VP Pence | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is strongly committed to working with the European Union toward common objectives of peace and prosperity, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday. “Today is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continue cooperation and partnership with the European Union,” Pence said in a statement read out after his meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk. “Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. And to those objectives we will remain committed,” he continued. | 1 |
21,475 | world community fears hillary kill list | votes being switched in multiple states to clinton electronic voting machines switching votes across the country owen shroyer infowarscom
we now have reports in multiple states that a vote for donald trump is being switched to hillary clinton
as reported by infowars friday a woman in hollywood maryland came forward this week to claim that her ballot was switched to hillary clinton after she had tried to vote for donald trump get the latest breaking news specials from alex jones and the infowars crew related articles download on your mobile device now for free today on the show get the latest breaking news specials from alex jones and the infowars crew from the store featured videos featured videos victim of hillary chicago violence speaks out see the rest on the alex jones youtube channel trump responds to new fbi investigation of hillary see the rest on the alex jones youtube channel illustration how much will your healthcare premiums rise in infowarscom is a free speech systems llc company all rights reserved digital millennium copyright act notice flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce brain force off flip the switch and supercharge your state of mind with brain force the next generation of neural activation from infowars life httpwwwinfowarscomwpcontentuploadsbrainforceejpg httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce httpwwwinfowarsstorecomhealthandwellnessinfowarslifebrainforcehtmlimstzrwuutm_campaigninfowarsplacementutm_sourceinfowarscomutm_mediumwidgetutm_contentbrainforce | 0 |
21,476 | Rosie O’Donnell Thinks Martial Law is in Order to Prevent a Trump Presidency | 21st Century Wire says Arguably irrelevant Hollywood personality, Rosie O Donnell has taken to social media to support the concept of the US Government imposing Martial Law on the nation to avoid a Trump presidency. The Hollywood personality, who by all accounts of her own should be in Canada by now, seems to have very little understanding of not only politics, but of the law as well. She, in caps-lock Tweet shouting, said that the inauguration should be delayed under martial law until Trump is cleared of all charges. Obviously she s referring to the dossier that was discredited as a fake within hours of its release by BuzzFeed and subsequent republication by many left leaning mainstream media outlets. Charges implies a legal case yet there was no legal case, no victim, no crime, nothing of substance at all because it was a fake document.Have a look at her whacky, ill fated attempts at affecting the political dialog on her social media output.I FULLY SUPPORT IMPOSING MARTIAL LAW DELAYING THE INAUGURATION UNTIL TRUMP IS "CLEARED" OF ALL CHARGES https://t.co/fUn8FZ8RTj ROSIE (@Rosie) January 12, 2017As though the high horsed Hollywood liberal echo chamber didn t get enough with the caps-locked illogical rant above, she followed with yet another cry to interrupt a legitimately elected US political official with a military take over and suspension of constitutional rights.delay the day do not swear him in until it is investigated for the love of god america we must stop the inaugruation @frankielucy ROSIE (@Rosie) January 12, 2017As the final days of the Obama administration tick away we continue to bear witness to many Hollywood celebs throwing tantrums and wearing their ignorance of political realities on their sleeves (and social media feeds.) Rosie is one of the ultimate examples of the hypocrisy that we ve been shown by others of her ilk such as Meryl Streep recently. These Hollywood celebs say they support equality, tolerance, and freedom out of one side of their mouth then push for totalitarian, military enforced, martial law and disruption of free elections when the elections don t go their way.Read More Election News at: 21st Century Wire Election CoverageSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
21,477 | Boiler Room #65 – Bernie Says Vote Neocon – Pokemon No! | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 11 AM PST | 2 PM EST for this special Saturday broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along withDaniel Spaulding of Soul of the East and Jay Dyer from Jays Analysis. Tonight on the plate the Boiler gang are discussing the Dallas shooting, Bernie Sanders endorsing Hillary Clinton, a long list of false flag stagecraft, government provocateurs, Oregon standoff and the ups and downs of Pokemon Go!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! Reference Links: | 0 |
21,478 | executes iraqi civilians in hammam alalil in arij village official | yemeni army forces and allied fighters from popular committees have reportedly launched a locally designed and manufactured ballistic missile towards an area deep inside saudi arabia in response to the riyadh regimes atrocious aerial bombardments against the crisishit arab country shares
yemeni soldiers and their allies fired a borkan volcano missile towards king abdulaziz international airport located kilometers north of the western saudi port city of jeddah arabiclanguage almasirah television network reported
a military source speaking on condition of anonymity later told the official saba news agency that the meterlong missile had targeted its target accurately and left massive destruction at the airport
saudi media outlets however reported that the kingdoms missile systems intercepted and destroyed the solid propellant and scudtype missile before it could cause any damage
they said the projectile was launched at pm local time gmt on thursday from yemens mountainous northwestern area of saada
the saudi military also claimed that the yemeni missile was fired toward the holy city of mecca but the houthi ansarullah movement has rejected the claim
more yemen burns as the world yawns and a nightmare is born decapitation in sanaa wanton murder saudi arabias genocidal campaign in yemen reaches new height yemens longrange ballistic missile hits deep inside saudi arabias airbase fars news agency quote d an informed houthi source as saying that the missile was aimed at king abdulaziz international airport close to jeddah which hosts the kingdoms royal navy forces as well as a group of american troops
also on thursday the media bureau of the operations command in yemen said army soldiers had targeted a gathering of militiamen loyal to resigned president abd rabbuh mansur hadi in the aqaba district of the northern province of jawf leaving scores of the saudibacked armed men dead
an armored vehicle and battle tank belonging to the mercenaries were also destroyed in the attack
separately a number of saudi soldiers were killed and injured when yemeni forces and popular committees fighters struck alkars base in saudi arabias southwestern border region of jizan
saudi arabia has been engaged in the deadly campaign against yemen since march in an attempt to bring back the former yemeni government to power and undermine the houthi ansarullah movement
the united nations puts the death toll from the military aggression at about | 0 |
21,479 | Liberal Group Trolls Trump At Roy Moore Rally In The Best Possible Way (VIDEO) | Donald Trump held a rally for Alabama Senate candidate and alleged pedophile Roy Moore in Pensacola, Florida on Friday night which he later claimed was packed to the rafters but the venue was barely half-filled with supporters. Outside of the rally, a liberal group targeted the former reality show star and Moore by using Ivanka Trump s own words.American Bridge used a mobile billboard featuring Ivanka Trump s criticism of Moore. The truck displayed, There s a special place in hell for people who prey on children along with Trump s daughter s picture emblazoned across it.Happening now at @realDonaldTrump s rally: we re driving a mobile billboard promoting @IvankaTrump s condemnation of Roy Moore. https://t.co/XpDJYFZjzn #alsen pic.twitter.com/exQIAjZJ05 American Bridge (@American_Bridge) December 9, 2017The group s site says that the quote above and I have no reason to doubt the victims accounts by Ivanka were blasted over a loudspeaker outside of the rally.Watch:We re in Pensacola promoting @IvankaTrump s comments on Roy Moore pic.twitter.com/NJ3evTw0mw American Bridge (@American_Bridge) December 9, 2017 There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children, Ivanka Trump told the Associated Press after Moore s scandal became public. I ve yet to see a valid explanation, and I have no reason to doubt the victims accounts. Trump has given Moore his full support despite the Alabama Senate candidate being accused by multilple women of targeting them when they were teenagers and he was in this thirties and working as a district attorney.The truck was reportedly parked across the street from the rally, and was eventually driven around the crowd by American Bridge staffers, The Hill reports.Donald Trump has been accused of sexual harassment or assault by 19 women and yet, conservatives rewarded him by electing him to the highest seat in the land. Right-wing Alabama evangelicals seem to take no issue with Moore s scandalous past, which includes hating Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and allegedly creeping up on young girls.Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images. | 0 |
21,480 | MY FAVORITE EXCUSES…Featuring Hillary Rotten Clinton [VIDEO] | Enjoy: | 0 |
21,481 | Pope tells web companies: use profits to protect children | VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis told executives of leading internet companies on Friday to use their great profits to defend children from sexual exploitation and other dangers lurking online. The pontiff, speaking at a conference in Rome, said the Catholic Church needed to accept responsibility before God, victims and public opinion for its own sex abuse scandals, but wanted to share the lessons it had learned. Speaking to participants including representatives from Facebook and Microsoft, he said social media businesses had to do more than set up filters and algorithms to block harmful content. The 80-year-old pope spoke out against the spread of extreme pornography, the dangers of so-called sexting between young people and between adults and children, and cyber bullying, calling it a true form of moral and physical attack . He said heinous, illicit activities such as the commissioning and live viewing of rape and violence against minors via the so-called Dark Web had to be stopped. The Church-organized conference - called Child Dignity in the Digital World - was held two months after a monsignor was recalled from the Vatican s Washington embassy in August after the U.S. State Department said he may have violated child pornography laws. Church officials have been caught up in a series of scandals around the world - two years ago, the Vatican put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, an archbishop, on trial for child sex offences. He died before a verdict was reached. The conference, held at a pontifical university in Rome, brought together experts from digital companies, law enforcement, medicine and academia to discuss online bullying, pornography and the preying on children by pedophiles. The pope said social media businesses had to invest a fair portion of their great profits to protect impressionable minds . He said it would be a mistake to think that automatic technical solutions, filters devised by ever more refined algorithms in order to identify and block the spread of abusive and harmful images, are sufficient to deal with these problems . Businesses also had to address the broader ethical concerns associated with the growth of technology, rejecting the concept of an ideological and mythical vision of the net as a realm of unlimited freedom . He said that while the digital revolution had enormous advantages, we rightly wonder if we are capable of guiding the processes we ourselves have set in motion, whether they might be escaping our grasp . The pope acknowledged the Church s own failures in providing for the protection of children: extremely grave facts have come to light, for which we have to accept our responsibility before God, before the victims and before public opinion . Because of skills gained in the process of conversion and purification, he said the Church felt especially bound to work strenuously and with foresight for the protection of minors and their dignity . Since the Church s scandals exploded around the world about 20 years ago, it has strived to put in to place so-called best practices to protect children. It has defrocked priests, worked with local police and the pope has declared a zero tolerance where clerics could not appeal a conviction on technical grounds. But victim s groups say the Vatican and the pope have not gone far enough, particularly in making bishops accountable for covering up or mishandling cases of child abuse. A commission Francis set up in 2014 to advise him on how to root out sexual abuse has been hit by defections by two key members who lamented lack of progress and cooperation from Vatican officials. The Rome conference s 13-point Declaration of Rome called on politicians, religious leaders, law enforcement organizations to help build a global awareness of the need to protect children from exploitation via the internet. | 1 |
21,482 | Warren, Kaine, Castro on Clinton running-mate short list: AP | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Julian Castro, the U.S. housing secretary, are on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s short list of vice presidential picks, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, citing Democratic sources. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who waged a populist challenge to Clinton during an unexpectedly long primary campaign, was not on the list, the AP reported, citing one of several unidentified Democrats. | 1 |
21,483 | CEO's discussed tax, regulations and trade with Trump: Liveris | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and the chief executives of 12 large companies discussed tax, regulations and trade on Monday and the business leaders will return in 30 days with a series of actions to help U.S. manufacturing, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris said. “We listened very carefully and he listened to us about the agenda that this administration has put forward to really revitalize the American manufacturing economy,” Liveris told reporters after the meeting. “The conversation honed in on tax, regulatory and trade.” | 1 |
21,484 | OOPS: Conservatives Lose BIGLY In UK Election After Trump Attacks London Mayor | Donald Trump s bigoted attack against London s mayor just backfired spectacularly.The day after London was attacked by a terrorists, Trump launched an attack on the city s mayor by taking his words out of context and making it sound like he s a terrorist sympathizer just because of his name.At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his no reason to be alarmed statement. MSM is working hard to sell it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017Trump took a lot of criticism for his unsavory attacks on the mayor in the wake of the terrorist attack. And now conservatives in London just experienced the consequences.In a snap parliamentary election held on Thursday, UK voters booted conservatives and the extreme right-wing out of power, making it impossible for Prime Minister Theresa May to create a majority government. Trump s remarks reportedly were partly to blame for the stunning defeat.Hearing from a Labour friend that Donald s nasty attacks on the Mayor of London hurt the Tories in the closing days. Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) June 9, 2017Brexit was also a major reason why conservatives lost the vote as young Brits flocked to ballot box to correct an error made last year when voters approved of withdrawing the United Kingdom from the European Union based on bigotry and fear of Muslims. Not only did progressive Labour leader Jeromy Corbyn win the youth vote by a landslide, more people voted in this election than they did during the Brexit vote.In May 2015, just 43% of Britons 18-24 voted In Nov. 2016, just 50% of Americans 18-24 votedOn Thursday > https://t.co/Qke3NQvtIC Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 9, 2017In 2015, Miliband won the youth vote by 15 points. In 2016, Clinton won it by 18 points.Tonight s exit poll: Corbyn won it by 44 points Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 9, 2017In May 2015, just 43% of Britons 18-24 voted In Nov. 2016, just 50% of Americans 18-24 votedOn Thursday > https://t.co/Qke3NQvtIC Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 9, 2017This is a major victory that should scare the hell out of Republicans here in America. If the same percentage of Americans, especially American youths, vote in the 2018 Election, they are in serious trouble of losing the majority they currently have in Congress. And that spells doom for Trump as well. He will definitely be impeached if Democrats control Congress, and if he somehow survived until the 2020 Election, the trend away from right-wing extremism could make him a one-term loser.Let s hope what happened in the UK on Thursday crosses the pond and bites Trump and the Republican party on the ass.Featured Image: Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
21,485 | Behold, Donald Trump’s 4th-Grader Response To Obama’s ‘Zero F*cks Left’ State Of The Union (TWEETS) | It s been a lousy 24 hours for Donald Trump s campaign to Make America Great Hate Again what with President Obama giving a zero f*cks left State of the Union Address that reminded the nation of the real gap between conservative and liberal politics. It s the difference between voting for Project Fear or Project Hope.So, how did Donald Trump respond to the State of the Union address? Did he point out any errors in the president s arguments of fact? Did he share a hopeful and ambitious dream for America which we could all get behind? Did he acknowledge the achievements of the president, but call for greater progress?Sadly, Trump did none of those. Instead, he reacted like an overstimulated, under-achieving fourth-grader. Remember the ultimate fourth grade put down to a teacher or authority figure? The feigned yawn and sleep? You re so dull you ve put me to sleep, Sir.Well, that was Trump s response to the 2016 State of the Union speech.The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic very hard to watch! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016Apparently, there were too many grown up words for Trump to follow in this political event. He clearly got so bored that he stopped watching and decided to punch his GOP classmate in the arm to distract himself for a moment.Just found out that @tedcruz is spending a fortune on Iowa push polls negative to me. Not nice, but OK! New polls are great. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016By the time he came back, the speech was over and he felt the need to pass comment. Although it must be said, he may well have just passed wind.The State Of The Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time. New leadership fast! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016And with that, he ran out to the playground to pull on the pigtails of the girl he rather fancies but stands zero chance with.Numerous polls have me beating Hillary Clinton. In a race with her, voter turnout will be the highest in U.S. history-I get most new voters! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016Like any fourth-grader who can t compete in the spelling bee, or get the girl, Trump returns to the common role of playground bully. He decides that he s not satisfied with just punching that GOP classmate in the arm, so goes back to kick him in the shins too.Sadly, there is no way that Ted Cruz can continue running in the Republican Primary unless he can erase doubt on eligibility. Dems will sue! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016We ve already learned that Trump speaks at a fourth-grade level, but it looks like maybe he is just a spoiled man-child in every way that matters? America, there s a reason U.S. Presidents need to be aged 35 or over maybe we should have specified that was mental age too.Featured Image via Flickr | 0 |
21,486 | Officer Who Shot Tamir Rice Finally Fired, But NOT For Killing An Unarmed Child | After more than two years, the Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice has finally been fired. But the reason for his firing has sparked even more outrage.Timothy Loehmann, who was a rookie when he pullled the trigger on that fateful day in November 2014, was not fired for killing an unarmed child. Instead, he was given his walking papers because he lied on his application.Cleveland.com reports: Loehmann was fired not for shooting Tamir, but for lying on his application with the Cleveland police department. He was also in his probationary period as a Cleveland officer giving the department more flexibility in letting him go, Cleveland Public Safety Director Michael McGrath said. The disciplinary letter cites a letter in Loehmann s personnel file from Independence that says he was emotionally immature and had an inability to emotionally function. The letter also cites an emotional breakdown Loehmann had on the gun range in Independence.Cleveland officials said in the letter that Loehmann was supposed to disclose that information. He was also supposed to say in his application that he failed a 2009 written exam when applying to work as an officer in Maple Heights. Loehmann never mentioned the Maple Heights test.A spokesperson for Tamir s relatives said that Loehmann s firing was deeply disappointing and only added insult to the pain and grief of the Rice family. Loehmann has been fired because he should never have been a police officer in the first place but he should have been fired for shooting my son in less than one second, not just for lying on his application, Tamir s mother, Samaria Rice, said in a statement.On November 22, 2014, police got a report of a black male with a gun in a local park. The 911 dispatcher didn t bother to mention to police that the caller has said it was most likely a child and the gun was probably a fake. When Loehmann arrived with his partner, Frank Garmback, it took about three seconds for Loehmann to shoot and kill the 12-year-old, who was holding a toy gun.An Ohio grand jury decided not to incict either of the officers in December of 2015. Garmback was given a 10-day suspension because he pulled his cruiser too close to the child on the day of the shooting, which violated safety protocol. The 911 operator received an eight day suspension in March of this year for her role Rice s death. The city of Cleveland reached a $6 million settlement with the Rice family in April of last year, but still refused to admit to any wrongdoing.Featured image via Addciting Info Archives | 0 |
21,487 | UK terrorism arrests soar to record level after attacks this year | LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people arrested in Britain on suspicion of terrorism offences rocketed by 68 percent in the last year to the highest figure on record during a period when the country suffered four deadly attacks, figures showed on Thursday. Statistics from the Home Office (interior ministry) showed there were 379 arrests in the year to June, up from 226 from the 12 previous months, and the most since 2001 when the data began to be collected. Britain is on its second-highest threat level, severe , meaning an attack is highly likely and 36 people were killed in terrorist incidents in the first six months of 2017. Among the arrests, 12 came after an attack in March on London s Westminster Bridge when a man drove a car into pedestrians killing four, before he stabbed a policeman to death outside parliament. Another 23 followed a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester in May, and the following month police arrested 21 suspects after three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight. One arrest followed an attack in north London when a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque which left one man dead. Britain s most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley has said police have been arresting a suspect every day. He said this week that there had been a shift in the threat level rather than an isolated spike. In the three years until March this year, police foiled 13 potential attacks but in the next 17 weeks, there were the four attacks while the authorities thwarted six others, Rowley said. The pace has continued to be almost as challenging since then, he told a conference in Israel. The official figures showed that among the 379 arrests, 123 people were charged with an offense, of which 105 were terrorism-related, while 189 were released without charge. | 1 |
21,488 | Hot Mic Captures Humiliating Moment Trump Tells Christie To Leave Stage (VIDEO) | Thankfully, Chris Christie proved he was beyond shame when he endorsed Donald Trump for president, but this moment had to sting a little bit.In a humiliating moment for the one-time Republican presidential candidate, a hot mic captured the way Donald Trump treats his new lap dog and it isn t pretty.At a rally, Christie seemed to think he would share the stage with Trump during Trump s portion of the event, but apparently the idea of sharing a spotlight with a former rival wasn t something Trump was about to let happen. Shaking Christie s hand, Trump leans in and whispers, Get on the plane and go home. It s over there. Go home. Christie at first continues waving, then simply says Okay and walks towards the exit.Here s the video:Whether Trump was trying to be nice by sparing Christie yet another stump speech is not clear, but what is clear is that Trump would much prefer it if his friends avoided trying to take too much of the attention away from him.It s probably a tough pill to swallow, but Christie must surely realize by now that by endorsing Trump, he doesn t get to share in the Republican front-runners spotlight. Viciously jealous, astoundingly egotistical, Trump has always been a one-man operation. He will share his fame with no one.Christie, of course, knows all of this. Months ago he was loudly suggesting that Trump was not presidential material. And just 19 days before saying this There is no one who is better prepared to provide America with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than Donald Trump, Christie said, he is looking at the five people on that stage last night the clear standout and the person who will do exactly what needs to be done to make America a leader around the world again. Christie was saying this Bravado, by itself, is not a plan, he said, I like him, he s a good person, he s just not the right person to be President of the United States and not the person that we d want representing our country. Now that Christie needs to take orders from Trump, mockery was quick on social media.Trump to Christie. https://t.co/MWgqPSr2sF deray mckesson (@deray) February 28, 2016Too good. https://t.co/dtSXNDji3l Michael Moore (@MMFlint) February 28, 2016And now Trump appears to tell Christie to go home https://t.co/ePO3KdfAia Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 27, 2016Christie's face when Trump tells him to go home .Crestfallen. https://t.co/3GTvTwaqqY Peter Hasson (@peterjhasson) February 28, 2016Will Christie be relieved to go back home to New Jersey? It doesn t seem likely. Having been on the road for the last few months, Christie has gotten the luxury of forgetting the mess that he left behind in the state he is supposed to be governing. But now it appears he doesn t have much choice. Get on the plane and go home, Christie.Featured image via ABC News screengrab | 0 |
21,489 | FL Hearing Goes FULL RACIST: We Must Ban Abortion To Save ‘White Culture’ (VIDEO) | Florida Republicans have sponsored a bill that would literally ban all abortions except in cases where the woman s health and/or life is threatened by the pregnancy. If passed, the bill, HB 865, would make sure any and all abortion providers would spend up to 30 years in prison for defying the law.As if that weren t bad enough, the hearing for the bill featured a horrible racist by the name of Paul, who said that white culture was under threat due to legal abortion. The legislators in the chamber allowed this man to go on an absolutely racist rant, in which he said, in part: We see the destruction we re bringing upon ourself as a nation. The Muslims, they don t kill the babies. Paul then went on to say that white people do not live on an island and the Mexicans breed faster because they don t believe in abortions. Then this absolutely crazy man went all in with a mix of nutty religion and disgusting racism: Their race is through the breeding of having families, children. And what happens is once you see the condition we re in, we re destroying ourselves and destroying our families, we ve accepted something in this country that the Creator that we re going to pay for. You don t see us as a culture, as a white culture, pushing this agenda of abortion, women outside the home not having babies, everybody getting more and more and more? We re a sick nation and if we don t repent then the people leading our government, you are legislating morality by the laws you pass. You are legislating religion and morality by the laws that we pass as a people, and it s destroying us as a nation. After thanking the chamber for letting him speak, Paul reminded them to repent once more: It s either repent or perish America. That s the way it is. The scary part of this is the fact that the bill passed the committee with a whopping 8-3 vote. So, in other words, Florida is about to go back to the desperation of the pre- Roe v. Wade days,when women were dying in back alley chop shops and from self-administered coat hanger abortions.Watch the video of Paul s racist rant on this scary bill below:Featured image via screen capture from Raw Story | 0 |
21,490 | Trump catches up to Clinton, latest Reuters/Ipsos poll finds | (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pulled into an effective tie with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, erasing a substantial deficit as he consolidated support among his party’s likely voters in recent weeks, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll released Friday. The poll showed 40 percent of likely voters supporting Trump and 39 percent backing Clinton for the week of Aug. 26 to Sept. 1. Clinton’s support has dropped steadily in the weekly tracking poll since Aug. 25, eliminating what had been a eight-point lead for her. Trump’s gains came as Republican support for their party’s candidate jumped by six percentage points over the past two weeks, to about 78 percent. That is still below the 85 percent support Republican nominee Mitt Romney enjoyed in the summer of 2012, but the improvement helps explain Trump’s rise in the poll. The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The latest poll surveyed 1,804 likely voters over the course of the week; it had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of three percent. Different polls have produced widely different results over the course of the campaign. In part that’s because some, like Reuters/Ipsos, have attempted to measure the preferences of who’s likely to vote, while others have surveyed the larger pool of all registered voters. And even those that survey likely voters have different ways of estimating who is likely to cast a ballot. Polling aggregators, which calculate averages of major polls, have shown that Clinton’s lead has been shrinking for the past few weeks. Those averages put her advantage over Trump at between three and six percentage points. Some of the more recent individual polls, however, have the race even tighter. Voters don’t elect the American president directly, of course, but through the Electoral College, an assembly representing each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on the number of legislators they have in Congress. As of last Friday, the separate Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation polling project estimated Clinton was on track to win the Electoral College, by about 332 votes to 206. Those numbers were scheduled to be updated later Friday. In recent weeks, Clinton has come under renewed criticism over her handling of classified information while serving as U.S. secretary of state, and her family’s charitable foundation has come under fresh scrutiny for the donations it accepted while Clinton served in the Obama administration. Meanwhile, Clinton hasn’t been campaigning as actively as Trump. Trump, meanwhile, has reshuffled his campaign leadership and sought to broaden his appeal to moderate Republicans and minorities. He recently suggested that he would be a better president than Clinton for African Americans, and has taken steps, including a meeting this week with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, to reach out to immigrants. It remains to be seen whether those efforts will click. Clinton has led Trump through most of the campaign for the November election, though neither candidate appears to have inspired America. In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, more than 20 percent of likely voters opted for a choice other than the two major nominees, whether an alternative candidate, “would not vote” or “unsure.” That figure is significantly higher than the 10 percent to 14 percent of respondents who answered similarly at this point in the 2012 campaign. Both President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney enjoyed substantially stronger support at this point in the summer of 2012 than either Trump or Clinton does now. And while Trump has consolidated his support among Republicans, likely voters are expressing an increasingly sour view of Clinton: The share of likely voters with an unfavorable view of the former secretary of state has grown to 57 percent, compared with Trump’s 54 percent, her worst showing on that metric in a month. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said he remains convinced Clinton is ahead, somewhere in the range seen among the polling aggregators. “There has been a closing that’s completely natural,” Sabato said. “Every four years, you have two national party conventions that produce a bounce of varying sizes. Clinton got a substantial bounce this year that lasted for a full month. It’s usually gone around Labor Day, and by then we’ll be where we should be, which is right around four to five points” for Clinton. In a separate question in the Reuters/Ipsos poll that included alternative-party candidates, Clinton and Trump were tied at 39 percent. Seven percent supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and two percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party. | 1 |
21,491 | John Oliver Exposes The GOP’s Dirty Plan To Win The White House (VIDEO) | During a segment of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver discussed the issue of voter disenfranchisement. Republicans have everything to gain by making it harder to vote.One of the hot button issues of the day is Republicans creation of laws that force people to have valid identification when they vote. The genius behind the plan is that it seems so innocent to require people to show identification in order to vote. However, it has been shown that it can be far harder to have all the valid identification that some states are now requiring than one might think. Oliver notes how hard it can be just to get an ID due to the times that ID-issuing offices are closed: And in some parts of the country, the offices that issue IDs are hardly ever open. In 2012, a study found that in Wisconsin, Alabama and Mississippi, fewer than half of all ID-issuing offices in the state are open five days a week. And in Sauk City, Wisconsin the ID office is only open on the fifth Wednesday of every month and only four months in 2016 even have five Wednesdays, Oliver says.Those Republicans wish to see vote the least are minority voters, who traditionally back Democratic candidates. That s why during the segment, John Oliver points out how much these anti-democratic schemes disproportionately hurt Black and Latino voters. Studies have shown these restrictions tend to disproportionately impact African-American and Latino voters. In Texas, for instance, experts found that African-American voters were nearly twice as likely to lack voter ID, and Latinos were nearly two and a half times as likely. It s just one of those things that white people seem to be more likely to have, like a sunburn or an Oscar nomination, says Oliver.The Republican Party is dying due to demographic and ideological changes. Instead of changing their Party s platform, they would rather sink to these pathetic voter disenfranchisement schemes.You can watch the segment below.Featured image from video screenshot | 0 |
21,492 | Senate set to vote Thursday on limiting Supreme Court nominee debate | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is expected to vote at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Thursday on whether to limit debate and move toward the final confirmation of President Donald Trump’s choice of federal Judge Neil Gorsuch to take a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats are expected to thwart the Republican effort by denying the 60 votes needed in the 100-member chamber to advance Gorsuch. If so, Republicans are expected to take the rare step of changing Senate rules so that they can advance the nomination with a minimum of 51 Republican votes, which would clear the way for Gorsuch’s confirmation on Friday. | 1 |
21,493 | Iraq orders arrest of Kurdistan vice president for saying Iraqi forces in Kirkuk are 'occupiers' | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s Supreme Justice Council ordered on Thursday the arrest of Kurdistan Regional Government Vice President Kosrat Rasul for allegedly saying Iraqi troops which took over the city of Kirkuk were occupying forces. | 1 |
21,494 | WATCH: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson SCREAMS About Dirty Bathrooms To Avoid Talking About Trump | Fox News personalities and Trump surrogates seem to be desperate to do anything to take attention away from the fact that we ve got a treasonous bastard in the White House. Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and others, are doing absolutely everything they can to pretend that Trump is this strong, powerful, amazing and upstanding guy the best president we ve ever had. And to do so, they ll say pretty much anything.Tonight, Tucker Carlson jumped on New York City councilman Corey Johnson over his bill to try and force Trump to release his tax returns. Carlson believes that Johnson has better things to do than try to help America figure out if our president has severe conflicts of interest that prevent him from acting in the country s best interest. One of those things Carlson says Johnson ought to pay attention to is the dirty bathrooms in Penn Station: By the way, ignore the guy living under the ATM machine, or relieving himself next to- I m serious! I go there every week, and that s your- Penn Station is yours! And you re worrying about Trump s tax returns? Are you joking? Have you been in the men s room there? Then it just devolves into a shouting match with Carlson frantically trying to derail the conversation so he doesn t have to listen to more about Trump. Watch below:Tucker Carlson screaming about Penn Station bathrooms to avoid talking about Trump s Russia ties. I know this sounds fake. It s not. Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/Nlj1SPHen7 Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 17, 2017Penn Station is in Johnson s district, true. And it s very sad, but train station toilets in major cities the world over are gross. I live in Chicago they re pretty gross here, too. However, that s a massive deflection there because the fact of the matter is that it s long past time for Trump to level with us, or be forced to. Carlson is also acting like the only thing the New York City council is working on is trapping Trump that s far from true. But they have other pressing matters and limited funding, just like many other major cities here in the U.S.Trump is proving himself to be a threat, and we need to know exactly how.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 0 |
21,495 | A Restaurant Worker Has Moved Millions With This Act Of Kindness To A Disabled Customer (IMAGE) | Footage of a Georgia restaurant worker taking time out to support a disabled customer with no hands is moving millions around the world.The restaurant worker, known only as Alex, has become a viral internet star overnight after another diner at the Cinco De Mayo Mexican Grill in Douglasville, Georgia captured him helping out a disabled diner by feeding him his dinner. The image has since been shared thousands of times, to an audience in the millions.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1758406897728318&set=a.1374236599478685.1073741828.100006770730018&type=3&theaterThe diner who took the picture, Reginald Widener, could not believe his eyes as Alex took time out of a busy shift to ensure that his customer was able to enjoy the meal. He watched as Alex carefully put together forkfuls of food for the man with no hands, and then feed them to him. Widener was so moved, he took the picture and shared online on Sunday, saying: This seriously hit me right in the soul. Still good [people] in the world. Interviewed on the matter later by CBS News, Widener added: Southern hospitality is real down here. People do kind things all the time that s above and beyond what normally happens. He was also thrilled that the image had provoked such a powerful response across the country, and the world. Widener felt Alex deserved to enjoy the moment, and to be acknowledged for making a difference every day in his job. Commenters from around the world were certainly keen to make their views known.Erick Watkins wrote: That s awesome, bro. I would have gave him a tip myself just for doing that! ShanBama Ryder added: God bless him for real. That s a great dude right there. At a time when those working in America s food service industry are fighting to be paid enough to survive, this incredible moment serves as a reminder of the extraordinary people we have working the tables of the United States. Surely, servers like Alex are worth a lot more than the mere $15 federal minimum wage they are seeking?Featured image via Facebook | 0 |
21,496 | Texas Supreme Court Just Proved They Do Not Support Marriage Equality | Ever since the historic ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states in June 2015, opponents cried that it s a war against them. But, is it really? It seems like it s a war against those in a same-sex marriage, even by those in the courthouse. Rather than live and let live, people enjoy making others miserable.What should be the defenders and upholders of justice have let same-sex spouses down in Texas when the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not clearly require states to extend spousal benefits to same-sex couples. This decision came Friday. The ruling was unanimous, making it clear that they do not believe in justice or marriage equality.The Texas Supreme Court interpreted the ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges narrowly, questioning whether it compels states to treat same-sex couples equally to opposite-sex couples in any context outside of marriage licensing. I guess we shouldn t expect anything better from Texas.Friday s ruling of Pidgeon v. Turner revolves around spousal benefits for government workers. Texas law prohibits same-sex couples from receiving such benefits. How that is even possible is beyond me.Slate reports that according to the court, Obergefell did not address and resolve the specific issue of state spousal benefits. Therefore, the state appeals court erred in ordering the trial court to resolve the case consistent with Obergefell and De Leon. Instead, the Texas Supreme Court insisted, the trial court must settle the issue itself keeping in mind that Obergefell did not hold that states must provide the same publicly funded benefits to all married persons. I am flabbergasted. How can judges, meant to serve justice, deny justice? How can they interpret rulings and laws this way? They re bending the ruling to their will because on a personal level they probably don t like same-sex marriage.My heart goes out to all the same-sex spouses that are not receiving fair and equal spousal benefits.Featured image via Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis/Getty Images | 0 |
21,497 | IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF THUGS: Nashville Cop Sees Black Man Assaulting Woman In Projects…Cop Tries To Arrest Him…Crowd Attacks Cop…Crowd Cheers, “He’s going down!” [VIDEO] | ***WARNING***This video will make your blood boil. Do NOT watch it if you have high blood pressure. There is also some hood approved language that many sane may find offensive. Can someone please explain to me why any man or woman would want to risk their lives to help these people? This is only going to get worse before it gets better. As long as we have a President of the United States who is condoning this behavior by remaining silent, this situation is going to get much worse. East Precinct Officer Matthew Cammarn, who has been named Officer of the Year, should be out of the hospital soon. He was trying to arrest Brian Shannon, 22, when Shannon and a crowd attacked him in one of Nashville s projects as he tried to make the arrest.Shannon is jailed on charges of felony aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, evading arrest, criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct and drug possession. A 17-year old was also arrested.The officer, a hero cop, saw Shannon assaulting a woman when Shannon aggressively approached the officer who then tried to arrest him.While Officer Cammarn was on the ground fighting with Shannon, people in a crowd pulled and pushed Cammarn to try and free Shannon. Others stood by recording the assault on their cell phones. Via: Independent Sentinel | 0 |
21,498 | Son Of Egyptian Immigrants Hopes To Become FIRST MUSLIM GOVERNOR In U.S…Will Push For “Sanctuary State” | Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a liberal Democrat would like to become the nation s first Muslim Governor in a state that s home to the city of Dearborn, with the highest Muslim population outside of the Middle East. The state of Michigan also made news last year when Hamtramck, a city that for decades was known for it s strong Polish immigrant community, elected its first all-Muslim City Council. It s probably not that far-fetched that the son of Egyptian immigrants living in a state where tens of thousands of Muslim refugees and immigrants come to live would want to see the state of MI become a Sanctuary State . My faith is really important to me, as it is for many Americans and Michiganders, El-Sayed said. But I think we should be asking ourselves rather than how one prays, or what they pray to, we should ask ourselves what [one] prays for and what one hopes for. While El-Sayed said his Islamic values are at the center of his work as a civil servant, he wants people to know his number one priority is to serve the people of Michigan.But some residents in the state may not be ready to see a Muslim governor. In the last several years, Michigan has been a hotbed of Islamophobia. Dearborn, a predominantly Arab-American city in the Detroit metro area, has been a frequent target of anti-Muslim activists, conspiracy theories and fake news. But El-Sayed doesn t want Michigan residents to be distracted by anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence and he wants people to know that the principles of Islam are what guide his service. I am running because of the values my Islam teaches me which includes beliefs in equity, the fundamental rights of all people, a belief that we will judge ourselves as a people based on how we treat the most vulnerable, El-Sayed said. A belief in being good to others fundamentally, a belief in respect and dignity to one s neighbors and one s friends and one s family. -Business InsiderDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed is starting to propose a progressive platform that includes making Michigan a sanctuary state, providing universal preschool and offering publicly funded health insurance to any resident needing coverage.The ex-director of Detroit s health department unveiled parts of his platform Monday.I love it when the rule of law works #sanctuarycities https://t.co/3X4kJBu4WZ Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 26, 2017El-Sayed claims that a Sanctuary State will make Michiganders safer. As a Michigander, I can assure you that making our state a Sanctuary State will not only make it less safe, but it will cause many people to move away to states who have laws against law-breakers.(3/3) if elected #gov my job is protecting #Michiganders, that's what #SanctuaryState will do. Learn more: https://t.co/r56mhirYRB Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 24, 2017The sanctuary term has no legal definition and varies in application, but it generally refers to local jurisdictions that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials. US NewsEl-Sayed also made his feelings known on Twitter about a MI lawmaker, Rep. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton,MI who wants to make Sharia Law illegal in that state of Michigan. El-Sayed attempts to make the comparison of the 10 commandments and the Holy Bible to Sharia Law. What El-Sayed seems to be willfully ignoring, is the fact that the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation.Nice try I oppose banning the #TenCommandments and #Bible both came from the #MiddleEast. #religiousfreedom https://t.co/j7unpQSkiM Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 20, 2017 | 0 |
21,499 | WATCH: Trump Literally Promises To Gut Financial Regulations So His Friends Can Screw The Economy | Donald Trump was blunt when he explained why he wants to gut financial regulations. So his friends can destroy the economy and get richer from doing so.In 2009, President Obama and Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in response to the Great Recession caused by the big banks and Republican economic policies.The recession nearly collapsed the world economy because Republicans have repealed financial regulations that were put in place after the Great Depression of the 1930s to prevent such economic crises from occurring.The law prevents banks from approving loans for those who are unable to pay them back and puts restrictions on the activities of big banks so that they don t repeat the bullshit they did to get our country into such economic messes in the first place.MSN reports that Trump signed an executive order that will effectively halt an Obama-era Labor Department rule that requires brokers to act in a client s best interest, rather than seek the highest profits for themselves, when providing retirement advice. In short, it will allow big banks to swindle people and screw Americans over in the name of profit, a practice that hurt millions of Americans during the recession.But Trump wants to keep attacking Dodd-Frank anyway because he wants to help his rich buddies. We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they can t borrow money, Trump said on Friday while during a meeting with Wall Street tycoons like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan-Chase. They just can t get any money because the banks just won t let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank. Here s the video via YouTube:Again, if a bank is not letting you borrow money, it s because they have determined that you are too much of a risk.Just ask Donald Trump. He has so much trouble getting loans from banks here in the United States that he has to get loans from Deutche Bank in Germany, which has repeatedly violated Dodd-Frank regulations.Trump has repeatedly failed to pay contractors for work he has hired them to perform and his many failed business ventures over the years such as Trump Steaks and Trump Airlines has understandable caused many banks to see Trump as a risk. So if his friends are unable to get loans, it s probably because they they don t run nice businesses like Trump claims.When a bank loans money to people, they are risking their capital and if a person like Trump and his friends fail to pay that loan back, it doesn t just hurt the bank, it hurts customers of the bank. One bad loan could result in the bank having to shut down or pass the expense of the loss to customers to cover it.It s a shitty deal for banks and a shitty deal for people who trust their banks to protect their money.Donald Trump isn t doing what is best for the American people by attacking Dodd-Frank. He is doing favors for his wealthy friends and that is going to harm our economy and set the stage for another economic collapse that could be even worse than one President Obama helped our country recover from over the last eight years.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
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