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2,700 | Russians talked about influencing Trump through advisers: NY Times | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. spies learned last summer that Russian officials discussed influencing Donald Trump through his advisers Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing three current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. Russian intelligence and political officials appeared confident that Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, and Flynn, who was fired as White House national security adviser in February over his conversations with Russia’s ambassador, could be used to help shape Trump’s opinions on Russia, the Times reported. | 1 |
2,701 | Twitter to brief Congress on possible Russia-backed ads: U.S. senator | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is expected to brief U.S. congressional investigators soon on whether Russia used its advertising platform to promote divisive social and political messages during the 2016 election, Senator Mark Warner said on Thursday. The news came a day after Facebook (FB.O) said an operation likely based in Russia had placed thousands of U.S. ads with polarizing views on topics such as immigration, race and gay rights on the social media site during a two-year-period through May 2017. Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the suspected Russian placement of such ads may have gone far beyond what Facebook disclosed, and that Twitter and other technology companies should also examine the issue. “It was my belief that the Russians were using those sites to interfere in our elections, and the first reaction from Facebook was, ‘No. You’re crazy.’” Warner said at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance conference in Washington. “I think what we saw yesterday in terms of their brief was the tip of the iceberg,” Warner said. He also told reporters he expected Twitter to soon brief the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the panels investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether members of President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow. A Warner spokeswoman later confirmed that was expected to occur. Twitter declined to comment. Facebook briefed U.S. lawmakers on the issue on Wednesday and also turned over information about the ads to Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is leading his own investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. That information included copies of the ads and data about the buyers, the source said. Warner said he wanted to have Facebook brief lawmakers again and that he wanted Twitter and other companies to do the same. “As you see for example in the case of Facebook, they denied that they were being used in any way. They didn’t do anything,” Warner said. “But by the time of the French elections, Facebook was working with the French” and they shut down 50,000 accounts. Warner said legislation may be required to change how social media platforms can be used for political advertising to bring federal disclosure rules in line with those governing television advertising. | 1 |
2,702 | ANGRY LEFTIST Grills Democrat On Russia Scam In Epic Interview: “I think we should tell the people the truth” [Video] | Max Blumenthal is a known progressive who s out to get his own party for the constant Russia-Trump bashing. He confronts Rep. Jamie Raskin on the Russia scandal:This is hysterical! Blumenthal is awesome even though he s a leftist A rarity! Note at the end of the video that he calls out Raskin for saying Trump is a Russian hoax Earlier in July he proposed a panel to oust President Trump: Pointing to the outcry over President Donald Trump s latest controversial tweets, freshman Rep. Jamie Raskin is urging his colleagues to get behind a bill that could potentially oust the President if he was mentally or physically unfit.The Maryland Democrat wants to create an 11-member commission made up of mostly physicians and psychiatrists more formally called the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity. The panel would carry out a medical examination and determine whether the President was physically or mentally able to do the job. Two of the commission s members would also be former high ranking officials, such as presidents, vice presidents, attorneys general or secretaries of state. It s a provocative and long-shot effort, but Raskin is citing as his legal backup the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, which was adopted in 1967 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to establish procedure in the case a president is incapacitated. About two dozen Democrats have signed on to the effort as of Thursday. Raskin is zeroing in on one section of that constitutional amendment, which allows the vice president to assume powers if either the majority of the Cabinet or such other body as Congress finds that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of office. (The vice president would also have to agree to the assessment of the President s abilities.) Raskin is proposing his commission to serve as that body. Raskin is a freshman in Congress Let s hope the people of Maryland kick him out after one term. It s obvious he s a liar and doesn t respect the office of POTUS. | 0 |
2,703 | boycottcomedianrobert deniro wanted to punch trump in the facesupports antitrump riotersnow wants americans to support his new movie video | john mcnaughton is a special american painter because of his subject matter and the intensity in which he portrays our current governmenttroubled and corrupt the forgotten man painting is amazing in its symbolism
heres how mcnaughton describes the painting
against the background of a darkening sky all of the past presidents of the united states gather before the white house as if to commemorate some great event in the left hand corner of the painting sits a man that man with his head bowed appears distraught and hopeless as he contemplates his future some of the past presidents try to console him while looking in the direction of the modern presidents as if to say what have you done many of these modern presidents seemingly oblivious to anything other than themselves appear to be congratulating each other on their great accomplishments in front of the man paper trash is blowing in the wind crumpled dollar bills legislative documents and like a whisperthe us constitution beneath the foot of barack obama
the forgotten man
mcnaughton never sells his original paintings but he made an exception this time he sold this painting to sean hannity so hannity could give it to donald trump awesome huh
november th mcnaughton announced via facebook that he sold the original to sean hannity
sean hannity just purchased my painting the forgotten man to give to donald trump to hang in the white house
the white house | 1 |
2,704 | Obama slaps new sanctions on North Korea after tests | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama imposed sweeping new sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday intended to further isolate the country’s leadership after recent actions by Pyongyang that have been seen by Washington and its allies as provocative. The executive order freezes any property of the North Korean government in the United States and prohibits exportation of goods from the United States to North Korea. It also allows the U.S. government to blacklist any individuals, whether or not they are U.S. citizens, who deal with major sectors of North Korea’s economy. Experts said the measures vastly expanded the U.S. blockade against Pyongyang. North Korea conducted a nuclear test on Jan. 6, and a Feb. 7 rocket launch that the United States and its allies said employed banned ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch. “The U.S. and the global community will not tolerate North Korea’s illicit nuclear and ballistic missile activities, and we will continue to impose costs on North Korea until it comes into compliance with its international obligations,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Despite decades of tensions, the United States has not had a comprehensive trade ban against North Korea of the kind enacted against Myanmar and Iran. Americans were allowed to make limited sales to North Korea, although in practice such trade was tiny. U.S. officials had believed a blanket trade ban would be ineffective without a stronger commitment from China, North Korea’s largest trading partner. But with China signing on to new U.N. sanctions earlier this month, that obstacle has been removed, experts said. “North Korean sanctions are finally getting serious,” said Peter Harrell, a former senior State Department official who worked on sanctions. The new sanctions threaten to ban from the global financial system anyone, even Europeans and Asians, who does business with broad swaths of Pyongyang’s economy, including its financial, mining and transportation sectors. The so-called secondary sanctions will compel banks to freeze the assets of anyone who breaks the blockade, potentially squeezing out North Korea’s business ties in China and Myanmar. “It’s going to be very hard for North Korea to move money anywhere in the world,” said Harrell, now with the Center for a New American Security. | 1 |
2,705 | JUST IN: WASHINGTON POST Gets DESTROYED When Reporter Admits Truth About How They Cover President Trump In New Undercover Videos | James O Keefe of Project Veritas has used his incredible talents to go undercover and expose crooked organizations like ACORN and Planned Parenthood. During the 2016 election, O Keefe was able to expose the corrupt underbelly of the Democrat Party who used paid plants to incite violence at Trump rallies. O Keefe was also able to tie Barack Obama directly to their chief organizer. Of course, every major #FakeNews outlet completely ignored these horrific coordinated acts of violence against innocent Americans.Over the past several months, O Keefe has been releasing undercover videos he s used to expose the bias and unprofessional tactics used by news publications like the New York Times and now, the Washington Post.Today, the Washington Post attempted to embarrass O Keefe for allegedly setting a trap for them with a woman posing as a Roy Moore sexual assault accuser.After seeing the woman entering Project Veritas, The Post made the unusual decision to report her previous off-the-record comments. https://t.co/W05qDKlhl8 pic.twitter.com/Q0uJ9iaBoo Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 27, 2017Here s a video the Washington Post released on Twitter, of reporters from WaPo ambushing O Keefe at his Project Veritas office.The @washingtonpost attempts to ambush @Project_Veritas anticipating an imminent video release pic.twitter.com/6UV2tOeiAS James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 27, 2017Many Twitter users wondered if the Washington Post was trying to cover up a bombshell that O Keefe was about to drop on the publication owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos?O Keefe tweeted a response to the Washington Post s videotaped ambush, warning everyone to fasten their seatbelts. Hitting export on hidden camera footage into Washington Post shortly. Project Veritas vs Bezos 100mm monopoly. Fasten your seatbelts. Hitting export on hidden camera footage into Washington Post shortly. Project Veritas vs Bezos 100mm monopoly. Fasten your seatbelts. James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 27, 2017Josh Caplan suggests that WaPo reporters who hounded O Keefe were panicked. Was the ambush on O Keefe by WaPo reporters over his alleged use of a plant disguised as a Roy Moore accuser , simply a way to discredit O Keefe in advance of his expose on them?Panicked Reporters Stalk Project Veritas HQ As Rumors Swirl @JamesOKeefeIII Is Set To Expose Washington Posthttps://t.co/BV66enlqbq Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) November 27, 2017BREAKING: Undercover video inside @washingtonpost shows National Security Correspondent @danlamothe and Director of Product @josephjames discussing WaPo's hidden agenda #AmericanPravda #ProjectVeritas Full: https://t.co/2002erd3ub pic.twitter.com/o4qi8DQyAz James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 27, 2017This video allegedly shows Amazon founder Jeff Bezos direct influence in the Washington Post s newsroom:.@josephjames, who works closely with the Jeff Bezos at the Post, sheds light on Bezos's influence in the newsroom. pic.twitter.com/KJcUSCqO5F James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 28, 2017Washington Post s Dan LaMonthe calls out the New York Times and CNN for their bias in this video:Looks like @DanLamothe is a fan of our #AmericanPravda series. Here he is attacking #CNN and #NYT for their extreme bias against @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/PHv7HPFhkQ @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/p79fzIOc1T Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) November 28, 2017Here s another Dan LaMonthe video where he explains how the Washington Post works together to take down Trump following his tweets:WATCH: @washingtonpost reporter: "I can't tell you how many times we get an email at work: 'Oh did you see what (Trump) just tweeted? What are we gonna do about it?" Full video: https://t.co/2002erd3ub pic.twitter.com/OOOjE3kOx5 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 28, 2017Finally, Grant J. Kidney claims that Project Veritas just vindicated President Trump and his attack on the Amazon Washington Post. Project Veritas just vindicated President Trump in his calling of the Washington Post, the Amazon Washington Post . pic.twitter.com/FNNhNFNaRg GRANT J. KIDNEY (@GrantJKidney) November 28, 2017 | 0 |
2,706 | Uzbek leader says he will curb power of state security service | TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on Friday he would reform the Central Asian nation s state security service, adding that its power had become excessive under his predecessor Islam Karimov. The National Security Service (NSS), the local successor to the Soviet KGB, wielded sweeping powers under Karimov who died in September 2016 after a quarter century-long rule criticized for systematic abuses of human rights. Rustam Inoyatov, NSS chairman since 1995, is the only Karimov-era senior security official still in his post, one year into Mirziyoyev s presidency. Speaking to parliament on Friday, Mirziyoyev accused security bodies of rights abuses and called for deep reforms. To strengthen national statehood, sovereignty, peace and stability of the people ... it is time to reform the work of the National Security Service, he said, asking MPs to draft new legislation on law enforcement agencies. At the moment, the National Security Service bases its work on a statute passed by the government 26 years ago. The fact that this statute has remained untouched for a quarter of a century and that every problem was regarded as a threat to national security has led to a groundless expansion of this agency s powers. | 1 |
2,707 | Second prototype of China's C919 jet conducts test flight: state TV | BEIJING (Reuters) - A second prototype of China s home-built C919 passenger jet took off for a test flight in Shanghai on Sunday, state television reported, another step forward in the country s ambitions to muscle in to the global jet market. A total of six prototypes will eventually conduct test flights, China Central Television reported, with engine tests to be a particular focus. The aim was to conduct another long-distance test flight in late January, chief engineer Wang Wei was quoted as saying. More than 1,000 tests would be carried out. The narrow-body aircraft, which will compete with Boeing s 737 and the Airbus A320, is a symbol of China s ambitions to penetrate the global passenger jet market, estimated to be worth $2 trillion over the next 20 years. The C919 made its maiden flight on May 5 after numerous delays. Analysts have questioned the long periods between previous test flights. It completed its first long-distance flight on Nov. 10, flying for 2 hours and 23 minutes from Shanghai to the central Chinese city of Xi an, covering more than 1,300 km (800 miles) and reaching an altitude of 7,800 meters (25,590 feet). Its manufacturer, the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC) [CMAFC.UL], called the maiden flight a milestone that marked the plane s move into an airworthiness certification phase. COMAC is aiming to obtain certification for the plane from Chinese regulators as well as Europe s aviation safety regulator, which agreed in April to start the certification process. The plane has dozens of customers who have placed orders and commitments for 785 jets, COMAC has said. | 1 |
2,708 | Morocco expresses deep concern over Jerusalem decision, summons U.S. charge d'affaires | RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco summoned the U.S. charge d affaires to express its deep concern over the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital, state news agency MAP said on Wednesday. Morocco s foreign minister reiterated the constant support and full solidarity of the Kingdom of Morocco towards the Palestinian people so that they can recover their legitimate rights, a statement carried by MAP said. | 1 |
2,709 | Former GOP Senator BLASTS Trump: ‘I Think He’s A Sociopath’ | The list of establishment Republicans who are refusing to support Donald Trump as the 2016 presidential nominee just keeps on growing. The latest is a former GOP senator from New Hampshire, Gordon Humphrey. Sen. Humphrey says that he will not be getting behind the billionaire for the presidency for one simple reason: he believes the man is a sociopath. When asked about supporting Trump during efforts to get the party to unite behind the presumptive nominee, Humphrey said: Unequivocally, I am not supporting Donald Trump. I think he s a sociopath. Now, these are strong words coming from within the GOP, but they are also most likely correct. Humphrey isn t the only one in the anti-Trump camp, either. Paul Ryan has yet to get behind Trump, and he is currently the highest ranking Republican in Congress. Further, GOP consultant Michael Biundo said the following via Twitter: By not supporting Trump, I am supporting our country. These statements are not, of course, stopping Trump s people from trying to get GOPers to get behind the business mogul s plans to become America s facsist dictator president. Trump has a chairman in New Hampshire, Steve Stepanek, who is urging people to get behind his man. He says: I am focused on bringing the party together. I m not going to be asking for any Republican s resignation at this point in time. I m asking Republicans to unite behind Donald Trump and the entire Republican ticket here in the state of New Hampshire. The thing is, though, Trump is the most divisive force that the GOP has seen in many years, possibly ever. He is the same for the country. His violent rhetoric, unhinged supporters, and irrational, mean-spirited behavior have made all sane people run as far away from this goon as possible, regardless of political persuasion. It doesn t matter at this point who you are if you have one iota of decency or sense, you don t go anywhere near Donald Trump, and you work to stop his takeover of this great nation, no matter what it takes.Good going, Donald. You are literally destroying the Republican Party before our very eyes.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
2,710 | Republican Party backs Senate candidate Moore: official | (Reuters) - The Republican Party will resume funding the U.S. Senate campaign of Roy Moore after President Donald Trump endorsed the Alabama Republican, who is accused of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls. The Republican National Committee had transferred $50,000 to the Alabama Republican Party in support of Moore, an RNC official said on Tuesday. No RNC staff have been deployed to the state. The state party can use the money as it sees fit, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Later on Tuesday, an RNC official said a second transfer for the sum of $120,000 was made to the Alabama state Republican Party on Moore’s behalf, making the total $170,000. The RNC cut ties with Moore last month after several women accused the former Alabama judge of sexual assault or misconduct when they were teenagers and Moore was in his early 30s. Moore, 70, has denied the accusations. Reuters has not independently verified the reports. On Monday, the White House said Trump had called Moore to give him his support. In a tweet that acknowledged the president’s endorsement, Moore quoted Trump as saying: “Go get ‘em, Roy!” In a sign of the deep divide within the Republican Party around the allegations facing Moore, former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized Trump’s endorsement, as did former RNC Chairman Michael Steele. “Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation,” Romney wrote on Twitter. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last month he believed Moore’s accusers and joined other senators in urging him to quit the race. But on Sunday, the Republican McConnell said it was up to Alabama voters to decide whether to send Moore to Washington. Moore will face off with Democratic candidate and former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones in a special election on Dec. 12. “As I have said before - I believe these women. And so should you,” Jones said in speech on Tuesday. At the White House, Trump told reporters he thought Moore was going to do “very well” in next week’s election. “We don’t want to have a liberal Democrat in Alabama,” Trump said. “We want strong borders, we want stopping crime, we want to have the things that we represent. And we certainly don’t want to have a liberal Democrat that’s controlled by Nancy Pelosi and controlled by Chuck Schumer,” he added in reference to the Democratic leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. | 1 |
2,711 | Union cheers as trucks kept out of U.S. self-driving legislation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Teamsters union on Friday praised House lawmakers for keeping self-driving commercial trucks out of a proposed bill aimed at speeding deployment of the advanced technology for cars. The U.S. House Energy and Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would hasten the use of self-driving cars without human controls and bar states from blocking autonomous vehicles. The measure only applies to vehicles under 10,000 pounds and not large commercial trucks. The 1.4-million-member union, hoping to protect the jobs of truck drivers, has been lobbying at the federal and state levels to slow legislation to make it easier for companies to roll out self-driving trucks. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has said she is “very concerned” about the impact of self-driving cars on U.S. jobs, a big part of President Donald Trump’s campaign message. “It is vital that Congress ensure that any new technology is used to make transportation safer and more effective, not used to put workers at risk on the job or destroy livelihoods,” Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said in a statement, adding the union wants more changes in the House measure. Teamsters officials have been involved in talks with Senate aides, seeking to exclude commercial trucks from a similar bill setting federal regulations for autonomous vehicles, lobbyists said. The Senate proposal has not been made public yet. The House bill would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year, a cap that would rise to 100,000 vehicles annually over three years. Auto industry leaders have said 3 million commercial truck jobs could eventually be at risk if self-driving vehicles replaced human drivers. Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car unit Waymo is working on developing self-driving trucks, the company said last month. Other companies have also been working on self-driving trucks. Ride services company Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] is working on autonomous trucking through its Otto unit, which it acquired last year. Tesla Inc, which is working on self-driving technologies, plans to unveil a commercial truck called the Tesla Semi in September. The Teamsters have opposed efforts by states to approve plans by logistics companies to use platooning technology that could reduce driver jobs by allowing a pack of trucks to be digitally connected and driven in formation. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens approved a revised platooning measure this year that requires a driver in the cab of each truck. His predecessor Jay Nixon vetoed platoon testing last year. | 1 |
2,712 | Friend Of Stanford Rapist: Not Everyone Who Rapes In College Is A Rapist | Absolutely everything about the story of Brock Turner, the convicted Stanford swim team rapist, is gag-worthy. He received a particularly light sentence (more on that in a bit), his father thought he shouldn t have had any sentence because it was just 20 minutes of action. Now, a friend of Turner has spoken and her (yes her) attitude is that we are being way too politically correct because well, he s in college, or something like that.Apparently, according to Turner s childhood friend, Leslie Rasmussen, a rapist isn t really a rapist when it happens on a college campus: I don t think it s fair to base the fate of the next ten + years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn t remember anything but the amount she drank to press charges against him. I am not blaming her directly for this, because that isn t right. But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn t always because people are rapists. Then, the obligatory victim blaming: This is completely different from a woman getting kidnapped and raped as she is walking to her car in a parking lot. That is a rapist. These are not rapists. These are idiot boys and girls having too much to drink and not being aware of their surroundings and having clouded judgement. No, this was not a case of two drunk kids taking things a little too far. This was a violent sexual assault. Here s just some of it, as retold by the victim:He said he had asked if I wanted to dance. Apparently I said yes. He d asked if I wanted to go to his dorm, I said yes. Then he asked if he could finger me and I said yes. Most guys don t ask, can I finger you? Usually there s a natural progression of things, unfolding consensually, not a Q and A. But apparently I granted full permission. He s in the clear. Even in his story, I only said a total of three words, yes yes yes, before he had me half naked on the ground. Future reference, if you are confused about whether a girl can consent, see if she can speak an entire sentence. You couldn t even do that. Just one coherent string of words. Where was the confusion? This is common sense, human decency.According to him, the only reason we were on the ground was because I fell down. Note; if a girl falls down help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls down, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear, and insert your hand inside her vagina. If a girl falls down help her up. If she is wearing a cardigan over her dress don t take it off so that you can touch her breasts. Maybe she is cold, maybe that s why she wore the cardigan.Clearly, calling Turner a rapist isn t political correctness. It s simply a fact. Brock was convicted of three felony counts. While the maximum sentence for his offenses might have been 10 years, he will likely only serve three months. As horrendously unjust as that sentence is, it s still about three months longer than 97 percent of rapists serve. That s political incorrectness if I ve ever heard it.Featured image via video screen grab. | 0 |
2,713 | Ben & Jerry Tell Us Why Pulling Out Of Paris Climate Deal Was The Right Move | Ben and Jerry, the ber liberal Vermont ice cream guys, are no fans of Donald Trump and in a blistering and sarcastic op-ed, they sarcastically explained how pulling out of the Paris climate treaty was the right thing to do.The op-ed, on their website, is tongue-in-cheek, but also bitter (a terrible suggestion for a Ben & Jerry s flavor). They talk about the jobs that will be lost:We hear China is ramping up their renewable energy production and it sure looks like a lot of work. Beijing alone plans to invest $360 billion in renewables by 2020, creating more than 13 million jobs. But jobs are work! Work is hard! It s so much easier to luxuriate in the status quo, driving our fossil-fuel-powered cars and enjoying our coal-created electricity like we always have.It s also quite personal for them. The cost of cocoa beans and vanilla will rise dramatically over the coming years.Then, there s the fact that we are one of only three countries who have chosen not to participate. That means we will no longer have a seat at the table and it means that for all intents and purposes, we can no longer call ourselves a superpower.Ben & Jerry go on to talk about the wonderful ocean views we ll all soon have:Who doesn t love oceanfront property? With runaway climate change melting glaciers and causing sea levels to rise at unprecedented rates, a whole lot more of us could be seeing waves from our bedroom windows. Sure, some folks might lose their homes and businesses, and our coastal cities could see devastating changes, but a whole lot of people will also be able to learn how to surf right in their backyards. Sounds like a fair tradeoff to us.They also look forward to the impending world crises, which make life exciting. We can see it now: 13.1 Million US Homes Flooded Boat Sales Surge, World Refuses to Cooperate with US Foreign Policy, US Sulks Like Angsty Teenager, and Hundreds of Plants and Animals Now Extinct, US Says We Never Liked Polar Bears Anyway. Then, there s the fact that the world is ready to take the reins, with or without us. We are the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses and we are leaving it up to everyone else to clean up our messes.Featured image via theimpulsiovebuy/Flickr | 0 |
2,714 | 4TH OF JULY HUMOR: Brutal Cartoon Shows Difference Between Liberals And Proud Americans | Boom!Courtesy of: comicallyincorrect.com | 0 |
2,715 | German Social Democrats vow to rebuild in opposition after election drubbing | BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Social Democrats vowed to return to the opposition and push themes of social justice as they remake their party after winning less than 21 percent of the vote in Sunday s election, the worst result in their post-war history. The SPD party swiftly announced it would quit the grand coalition in which it has served alongside conservative Prime Minister Angela Merkel for the past four years. Sunday s election gave Merkel a fourth term, but she faces difficult coalition talks after her own conservative bloc also won its smallest share of the vote since the 1940s. With nearly half of voters rejecting both of the main parties that have dominated Germany since World War Two, the SPD in particular faces a difficult task of winning back support. The party would continue its fight for democracy, tolerance and respect in opposition, leader Martin Schulz told cheering supporters, announcing the decision to pull out of the coalition. We are the bulwark of democracy, he said. Germany s oldest political party and one of the buttresses of the European left for 150 years, the SPD struggled to differentiate itself from Merkel s conservatives in coalition. The SPD has been collateral damage of the dissatisfaction with the current government, said Tyson Barker, an expert on German politics at the Aspen Institute. It was not able to draw bright lines of opposition to Merkel s CDU and paid the price in lack of enthusiasm. Tim Stuchtey of the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security said he expected the SPD to move to the left after the election blowout, although he did not rule out the possibility it could change its mind about a coalition and return without Schulz if Merkel fails to find other partners. In becoming the biggest opposition party, the SPD s first task may be keeping a lid on the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which became the first far right group to win seats in the Bundestag since the 1950s. Thomas Oppermann, head of the SPD in parliament, told broadcaster Phoenix the center-left party would not shy away from legal options to block any racist statements by the AfD. The AfD opposes immigration but denies it is racist. The SPD had hoped for a resurgence under Schulz, a 61-year-old bookseller untainted by the coalition, having served in Brussels as head of the European Parliament rather than in the cabinet alongside Merkel. Schulz s nomination had briefly lifted the party to ratings of around 30 percent, sparking hopes it could win enough seats to form a leftwing coalition. But those gains evaporated steadily in ensuing months as the mild-mannered Schulz failed to drum up voter enthusiasm. Immigration has become a particularly polarizing issue in the two years since Merkel left Germany s borders open to around 1 million migrants mainly fleeing war in the Middle East. The SPD backed Merkel s stance of welcoming refugees. Schulz told supporters at the party s headquarters he would stay on to lead the party in its new role in opposition. He called the election result a bitter loss, but said the SPD s drive for social justice, equality and workers rights was more important than ever given the AfD s gains. He acknowledged that Germans were divided over the arrival of the migrants, but said the party would stick to its values. The main parties of Europe s traditional left have faced a crisis of confidence in recent years, leaving them cast out of power in all but a handful of countries. Some, such as Britain s Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, have tacked to the left to seek support among workers left behind by years of stagnant wages and government austerity policies. Elsewhere, such as in France and Spain, voters have deserted them for new parties led by centrists, populists or both. Jackson Janes, president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, said the SPD had suffered from dissatisfaction affecting all mainstream parties, and from the particular perils facing the left. The party had lost track of their demographic core group among working class voters, he said. The SPD s whole infrastructure was built around the workers, but they don t have a grasp of how the economy has changed for people. Schulz said party officials would meet on Monday to start remaking the party, but said he was encouraged by the large number of young people who joined the party this year. Compared with other Social Democratic parties in Europe, we are still firmly grounded in the middle of German democracy, he said. 20 to 21 percent of the voters is not insignificant. The most pressing challenge for the SPD is an election on Oct. 15 in the state of Lower Saxony, it lost a one-seat majority with its coalition partners the Greens, and is now trailing the conservatives in the polls. The SPD already ceded power to conservatives twice this year in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein. | 1 |
2,716 | South Korea to hold summit with China on Saturday: Blue House | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean president Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday, South Korea s presidential office said in a statement on Friday. Last week, Seoul and Beijing agreed to move beyond a year-long stand-off over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, a dispute that has been devastating to South Korean businesses that rely on Chinese consumers. The two leaders will both attend the APEC summit of Asia Pacific leaders in Vietnam s central city of Danang. | 1 |
2,717 | Lawmakers urge U.S. to craft targeted sanctions on Myanmar military | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 40 lawmakers urged the Trump administration on Wednesday to reimpose U.S. travel bans on Myanmar’s military leaders and prepare targeted sanctions against those responsible for a crackdown on the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. In a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a group of Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives called for “meaningful steps” against Myanmar’s military and others who have committed human rights abuses in an offensive that has driven more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the Southeast Asian nation. “Burma’s authorities appear to be in denial of what has happened,” stated the letter. “We urge you to do everything possible to ensure protection and security for those trapped inside Burma or willing to return, as well as oppose forcible returns from neighboring countries.” | 1 |
2,718 | Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg 'regrets' Trump criticisms | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday said she regrets making critical comments about Republican presidential contender Donald Trump. “On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them,” she said in a statement issued by the court. Ginsburg, the 83-year-old senior liberal member of the high court, inserted herself into the U.S. presidential election in recent days by making negative remarks about Trump in a series of media interviews. Her earlier remarks prompted criticism from Trump, who said she should resign. In one of a series of Twitter posts, he also said Ginsburg’s “mind is shot.” The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ginsburg’s statement. Legal ethics scholars also questioned Ginsburg’s actions, saying Supreme Court justices should stay out the political fray in order to maintain their judicial integrity. The New York Times and the Washington Post chided Ginsburg in editorial articles. “Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect,” Ginsburg said. In a CNN interview posted on Tuesday, Ginsburg called the presumptive Republican nominee “a faker.” In a separate interview with the New York Times, Ginsburg joked about moving to New Zealand if Trump wins the White House. Under a code of conduct that federal judges - but not Supreme Court justices - are required to follow, judges are forbidden from publicly endorsing or opposing candidates for public office. Supreme Court justices generally shy away from discussing politics or other divisive issues in public. Ginsburg is one of the more outspoken members of the court but had never before made such pointed remarks about a political candidate. The controversy erupted as Trump prepared for the opening of the July 18-21 Republican convention, which will formally make him the party’s presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. The Supreme Court has been ideologically split between four liberals and four conservatives since conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died in February. | 1 |
2,719 | ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL FOLLOWS KAEPERNICKS Lead In Disrespecting The National Anthem | It seems that Colin Kaepernick has become more of an influence in our youths life then any of us would have hoped for. On one hand it is amazing that an entire high school football team wanted to protest social injustices, but on the other following a move that shows nothing but disrespect to this country and the men and women that have fought for it for so long is a travesty.Recently converted muslin-Colin Kaepernick from the San Francisco 49ers decided he wanted to protest oppression of the black man in America by sitting during the National Anthem. The move is spreading like an oozing wound, and unfortunately his job a role-model and mentor has been compromised.The coach of the Garfield Seattle High School football team should be ashamed of himself for not only allowing this type of action but for joining in on it!The coach stated that they will continue this action before every game until they tell us to stop. High schools across this nation are doing the same and it is heartbreaking to watch our youth be so very misguided.Garfield High School (Seattle) student-athletes taking a knee during the National Anthem yesterday. #Seattle pic.twitter.com/o362ugXMd2 HauteHoopla (@HauteHoopla) September 17, 2016This country needs more authority figures teaching our children what the National Anthem really means. It literally is a protest for injustices, its a hymn for those that have died for us to have our freedom, its a song that will forever remember every single action taken to create this beautiful country, and as such should be stood for. This basketball coach in the video below explains it beautifully. Thankfully there are a few like him left.H/T [ Young Cons. ] | 0 |
2,720 | WHOSE CONVENTION SPEECH HAD MORE VIEWERS?…The Answer May Surprise You [VIDEO] | It would appear American voters are more interested in what the Republican party has to say about the future of our nation than the out-of-control Democrat Party driven by the Saul Alinsky disciples of chaos, division and hate It was like a political Coachella last night at the Democratic National Convention and not just because Lenny Kravitz was playing. With star turns from Vice President Joe Biden and then primetime performances from VP hopeful Tim Kaine and then President Barack Obama himself, the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia was rocking even more so when nominee Hillary Clinton made an onstage appearance at the very end to hug it out with POTUS though it didn t lead to ratings fireworks it seems in the early numbers.An estimated 24.2 million viewers watched the president address the crowd in the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Wednesday night.Those numbers are 18 percent lower compared to the ratings Ted Cruz got when he spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week. This is the first time the RNC coverage has outperformed the DNC.The numbers are surprising considering Joe Biden, Tim Kaine and Obama were the speakers Wednesday. Daily CallerHighlights of controversial Ted Cruz RNC speech: Even with all the big names onstage last night, convention-to-convention, the combined rating of the DNC stumbled against Donald Trump and the RNC. Day 3 in Philadelphia was down 18% in the fast affiliates key demo from the drama of Day 3 in Cleveland when Ted Cruz refused to endorse the candidate and running mate Mike Pence spoke. DeadlineAnd here are a few highlights from Barack Obama s speech last night: | 0 |
2,721 | Senate takes up broadband privacy repeal | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday took up a measure to repeal regulations adopted by the Obama administration requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers’ privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc’s Google or Facebook Inc. The Senate began debate on Wednesday evening under a provision that allows Congress to repeal recently approved federal regulations. Under the rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission in October under then-President Barack Obama, internet providers would need to obtain consumer consent before using precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children’s information and web browsing history for advertising and internal marketing. Earlier this month, the FCC temporarily blocked those rules from taking effect, a victory for internet providers such as AT&T Inc Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc that had strongly opposed the measure. A final Senate vote on the measure is expected on Thursday, but it was not clear when the U.S. House of Representatives might take up the measure. “Congress needs to repeal these privacy restrictions in order to restore balance to the internet ecosystem and provide certainty to consumers,” said Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican who sponsored the measure. But Democratic Senator Bill Nelson said that broadband providers build profiles “about our children from birth. This is a gold mine of data – the holy grail so to speak. It is no wonder that broadband providers want to be able to sell this information to the highest bidder without consumers’ knowledge or consent. And they want to collect and use this information without providing transparency or being held accountable.” The American Civil Liberties Union also criticized the proposal to undo the rules. “With this move, Congress is essentially allowing companies like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon to sell consumers’ private information to the highest bidder,” ACLU general counsel Neema Singh Guliani said earlier this month. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, nominated by Republican President Donald Trump to serve a second five-year term on the commission, said earlier this month that consumers would have privacy protections even without the Obama administration internet provider rules. Republican commissioners, including Pai, said in October that the rules would unfairly give websites like Facebook, Twitter Inc or Google the ability to harvest more data than internet service providers and thus dominate digital advertising. Websites are governed by a less restrictive set of privacy rules overseen by the Federal Trade Commission. Democratic Senator Edward Markey said “just as phone companies cannot sell information about Americans’ phone calls, an internet service provider should not be allowed to sell sensitive consumer information without affirmative consent.” | 1 |
2,722 | The Trump Camp May Have Just Thrown Out Every Crucial Swing State | Trump s campaign is continuing its ahem unorthodox methods following revelations that internal polling shows Trump s numbers are even worse than they re letting on. Less than five weeks before the election, the campaign has actually cancelled $1.6 million in ad buys in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, as well as New Hampshire, Maine, Iowa and Colorado.Trump only has a couple of paths to the White House, and they all involve most of these states. He doesn t win these states, he doesn t win the election. End of, so why on earth would they do this when we re nearing the home stretch? A senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, tried to spin it as a strategic move, saying: Our data-driven campaign is shifting resources from over-performing markets to new battlegrounds w/in the battlegrounds. Buy is growing. Outsiders are skeptical, though. Dan Pfeiffer, who once served as Obama s communications director, said: This is what the professionals call horseshit. Pfeiffer could have said, Total, utter and complete horseshit, but he was probably being diplomatic. The Trump campaign claimed they were going to spend $100 million on ad buys from the beginning of September through the Nov. 8 election. They ve spent less than half of that, though, and part of the problem is questions about how the campaign plans to pay for all those ads.In fact, it s bad enough that outside groups are starting to pick up the slack. It s not likely going to be enough, however, and Republicans are actually expecting Trump to write himself another check in order to keep his campaign afloat.While it s true that they aren t pulling all the ads from those states and are supposedly keeping them in bigger markets, this smacks of the disarray in the campaign following Trump s series of worse-than-usual weeks. Furthermore, there is another debate coming up, and with Trump s horrible performance in the last one, the campaign may be rearranging everything it can in anticipation of a repeat performance, to try and mitigate the damage.Regardless, this could easily backfire on them.Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
2,723 | One in five Indonesian students support Islamic caliphate: survey | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Nearly 20 percent of high school and university students in Indonesia support the establishment of a caliphate in the world s largest Muslim-majority country over the current secular government, a new survey showed this week. Indonesia has in recent years seen its long-standing reputation for religious tolerance come under scrutiny as hardline Islamic groups muscle their way into public and political life in the young democracy. The vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam and the country has sizeable minorities of Hindus, Christians, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs. Religious diversity is enshrined in its constitution. The survey by a Jakarta-based organization polled over 4,200 Muslim students, mostly in top schools and universities on Java island, home to over half the country s population. Nearly one in four students said they were, to varying degrees, ready to wage jihad to achieve a caliphate. This indicates that intolerant teachings have already entered top universities and high schools, pollster Alvara, which carried out the survey, said in its report released Tuesday. The government and moderate Islamic organizations must start taking tangible steps to anticipate this and be present in student circles with language that is easy for them to understand, the report added. A presidential spokesman declined to comment on the findings. Hardline Islamic groups late last year led mass street rallies against Jakarta s former governor, a Christian, whom they believed had insulted Islam. They eventually succeeded in derailing Basuki Tjahaja Purnama s re-election bid in April this year, and he was subsequently jailed for blasphemy. The ruling was criticized globally as unjust. Groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) call for sharia law to be imposed on the country and believe its leaders should only be Muslim. The survey showed that the vast majority of students disagree with the establishment of an Islamic caliphate and violence. But authorities have repeatedly warned against the creeping influence of radical Islamic thought among student organizations and in campus activities. President Joko Widodo and his government are trying to contain the rising influence of hairline groups, especially in universities and Islamic boarding schools. A presidential decree banning any civil organizations deemed to go against the country s secular state ideology was approved by parliament last month. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a largely peaceful organization that calls for the establishment of a caliphate in Indonesia, was the first group to be disbanded under the decree. President Widodo has made several speeches at Islamic boarding schools around the country emphasizing Indonesia s diversity and the importance of national unity. In September, Widodo called at a conference of around 3,000 university rectors for the promotion of the country s secular ideology, Pancasila , in education. | 1 |
2,724 | John McCain Completely Embarrasses His Own Party With STUNNING Admission About Russia And Healthcare Bill | It s hard not to feel that John McCain, after 30 years in the Senate, is tired of it all. On Tuesday, he made an admission that s sure to piss off Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump and the rest of the GOP Congress, and I m sure he doesn t care.McCain was asked whether he was one of the few to see the super-duper secret Republican Senate healthcare bill. His answer was no, but that wasn t even the stunning part (and in a normal world, it would be a stunning admission). It was what he said next, even if it was an off-the-cuff joke, that really highlights the state of today s Republican politics.(No, he hasn t seen the bill and) Nor have I met any American that has, he added, according to Bloomberg. I m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it. Source: The HillMcCain is not happy. He, and the rest of the Senate, are expected to vote next week on a bill they ve never seen. Note that these are some of the same people who say Obamacare was rammed through Congress with no debate, when in fact, the bill was debated and amended for over a year before becoming law. While the legislation was lengthy, every member of Congress and every American would have been able to read it before its passage. This isn t the case with the bill put forth by the Senate, which is presumably so bad that they re afraid to let even fellow Republicans see it.McCain s also not happy with the fact that Russia is freely hacking into our government. Even if Trump isn t somehow complicit, he certainly doesn t seem to give a rat s ass about it nor does he want to solve this national security threat. Instead, he pretends to bury his head in the sand. Even if that s not collusion, that s a violation of his oath of office.At least McCain, unlike most of his GOP brethren, knows that even when you refuse to see (or show) evil, evil exists. Now it s time for him to get on board with impeaching Trump.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
2,725 | NYC’S “PROGRESSIVE” MAYOR BEHAVES LIKE A 2-YEAR OLD: DeBlasio literally stares down former Mayor Giuliani | WHAT A NUT! New York s Mayor DeBlasio gives the evil eye and stares down former Mayor Giuliani or criticizing him for the liberal policies that have lead to a surge of homelessness on the streets.Mayor de Blasio couldn t hide his feelings about nemesis Rudy Giuliani, giving him a piercing stare Friday during the 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero. Only hours before they shared the stage at the solemn event, Giuliani for the second time this week criticized de Blasio for misrepresenting the city s homeless crisis. OK, here s how ignorant Mayor de Blasio is. He said that there were 40 percent more homeless people during my administration, Giuliani said on Fox 5, adding the mayor misquoted that statistic, which The New York Times put at 32 percent. Giuliani also said the spike was only in the shelter population, not in the number of homeless on the street. People who are in shelters, I would like to inform the mayor, are not homeless, Giuliani sniffed. The two mayors have been locked in a war of words since Giuliani blasted de Blasio and his progressive views for allowing vagrants to sleep on the streets in a Post op-ed last Sunday. De Blasio fired back, calling the ex-mayor delusional and saying homelessness rose by 40 percent under his watch between 1994 to 2001. [Giuliani] clearly doesn t remember the fact that he chased as he said he chased and chased people, but he also deprived families of benefits they needed and health care they needed, de Blasio said earlier this week. But Giuliani patted himself and his successor, ex-Mayor Mike Bloomberg, on the back for cleaning up the streets. All you had to do was live in this city and you know that when I was mayor, there was very little homelessness in this city. They were in shelters, Giuliani told Fox 5 on Friday.Read more: NYP | 0 |
2,726 | Samantha Bee Takes On The NRA And Its ‘Asinine’ Mascot And It Is GLORIOUS (VIDEO) | The National Rifle Association (NRA) is opposed to any and all sensible legislation when it comes to purchasing firearms. They want there to be no background checks, no questions and definitely no waiting periods whatsoever. According to this nutty group, anyone and everyone should be able to have as many guns as they want, whenever they want, and however they want. This is most curious, though, considering that they are much more strict with how difficult they make it to dress up as their mascot, a large bird-like creature known as Eddie Eagle.Investigating this phenomenon is Full Frontal host Samantha Bee. You see, this awesomely hilarious lady wanted to dress up like the mascot, only to find that the NRA forces a 20-day waiting period for dressing up as Eddie Eagle, and bans resales of the costume on the interwebs. Bee says of the experience: There s something about that costume so mockable. So asinine. I had to have one. Bee soon discovered that she d be better off just trying to get a gun online than trying to dress up as that silly bird: But you know what I could buy online without a big hassle? A used shotgun on armslist.com from a random guy down the road from the TBS headquarters in Atlanta. So I had one of my employees buy it from him in a parking lot without a background check from the trunk of his car. This just goes to show how ridiculous the NRA s stances are. They d rather you be able to buy a killing machine than dress up in their precious bird costume. None of the people running that organization need to have firearms or any sort of weapons whatsoever, because they clearly lack basic sense.Bravo, Ms. Bee for exposing this absolute insanity.Watch the video of Samantha Bee and Eddie Eagle below, via Raw Story:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
2,727 | Activists set talks with Chevron on Myanmar rights concerns | BOSTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Shareholder activists will speak with Chevron Corp (CVX.N) next week to request the energy giant use its influence with the government of Myanmar to press for a resolution of ethnic violence that has led to a refugee crisis. Joshua Brockwell, communications director for Azzad Asset Management, said the firm and other activist investors planned to press Chevron executives on Oct. 25 to discuss a letter they sent that also asked the company to consider cutting ties with governments complicit in genocide. Chevron, the second-largest U.S.-based oil producer, does business in Myanmar through a subsidiary, Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co Ltd. It has projects that include a minority interest in natural gas production and a pipeline, according to the company s website. Asked about Azzad s concerns, Chevron spokesman Melissa Ritchie said Chevron conducts our business in a responsible manner, respecting the law and universal human rights to benefit the communities where we work, including Myanmar. In our experience, peace, stability and the protection of human rights provide the best foundation for the economic development of a region and associated improvement in living conditions for communities, she said via e-mail, confirming that the company would speak to the investors. More than 536,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since Aug. 25, when coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks sparked a ferocious military response, with the fleeing people accusing security forces of arson, killings and rape. [nL4N1MR38G] In September the United Nations top human rights official accused Myanmar of conducting a cruel military operation against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, calling it a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Azzad s Brockwell said his firm was growing increasingly concerned over the lack of a constructive response from Chevron on its requests since the letter was sent, in August. Brockwell said it might also file a shareholder resolution for Chevron s next annual meeting, similar to one Azzad and others filed for its 2017 meeting in May. That resolution called for a report evaluating whether Chevron should stop doing business with governments complicit in genocide or crimes against humanity. The resolution received support from 6 percent of shares voted. In addition to Azzad, an Islamic finance firm, the other lead filer of the resolution was a Catholic religious order, the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk. Simon Billenness, executive director of International Campaign for the Rohingya, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, said it planned to send similar letters to other companies doing business in Myanmar, signed by shareholders in those companies. | 1 |
2,728 | TED CRUZ: Vilification of Law Enforcement Coming From Top…All The Way To President Of United States | Ferguson was the a launching pad for Obama s war against law enforcement Following the shooting of a sheriff in Houston, Texas by a black man as well as chants from Black Lives Matter protesters advocating violence against police, GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a statement saying he is proud to stand with law enforcement.While campaigning in New Hampshire, Cruz addressed the attacks. both physical and verbal, which have been made against police officers across America.Cruz is calling for leadership to act against this assault on all law enforcement officers, in light of the killing of Harris Country deputy sheriff Darren Goforth, which took place in Cruz s hometown. We stand with our police officers, we stand with our fire fighters, with our EMS, with our first responders, Cruz s statement began. These are brave humans who risk their lives keeping us safe. We are seeing a manifestation of the rhetoric and vilification of law enforcement that is coming form the top all the way to the President of the United States and senior administration officials. Cruz continued:Cops across this country are feeling the assault. They re feeling the assault from the President, from the top on down as we see, whether it s in Ferguson or Baltimore, the response of senior officials of the President, of the Attorney General, is to vilify law enforcement. That is fundamentally wrong, and it is endangering the safety and security of us all.I m proud to stand with law enforcement, to stand with the police and fire fighters and first responders. They are American heroes. And they need a President who doesn t attack and vilify them and who doesn t seek to tear us apart along racial lines to inflame racial divisions. Instead we need a President who works to bring us together and unify us behind shared American values. Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
2,729 | After Brexit deal crumbles, Britain's May to speak to Northern Irish party | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May and other British officials will speak to Northern Ireland s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Tuesday after a tentative deal on Brexit with the European Union over the border with Ireland was dashed at the last minute. An official at her Number 10 official residence said the British leader may return to Brussels as early as Wednesday to try to save a deal to open the way for talks on future trade after Britain leaves the EU that involved accepting regulatory alignment on the island of Ireland to avoid a hard border. | 1 |
2,730 | Factbox: Contenders for senior jobs in Trump's administration | (Reuters) - The following people are mentioned as contenders for senior roles as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump assembles his administration before taking office on Jan. 20, according to Reuters sources and other media reports. Trump already has named a number of people for other top jobs in his administration. * Sonny Perdue, former Georgia governor * Elsa Murano, undersecretary of agriculture for food safety under President George W. Bush and former president of Texas A&M University * Chuck Conner, a former acting secretary of the U.S. Agriculture Department and current head of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives * Abel Maldonado, former lieutenant governor of California and co-owner of Runway Vineyards * Tim Huelskamp, Republican U.S. representative from Kansas * Sid Miller, Texas agriculture commissioner * Navy Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency * Ronald Burgess, retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief * Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Pete Hoekstra, Republican former U.S. representative from Michigan * John Allison, a former chief executive officer of regional bank BB&T Corp and former head of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank * Paul Atkins, a former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission * Thomas Hoenig, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp vice chairman and former head of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank * Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a venture capitalist, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former Food and Drug Administration deputy commissioner * Jim O’Neill, a Silicon Valley investor who previously served in the Department of Health and Human Services * Jay Clayton, a partner at the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm * Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner who heads Trump’s transition team for independent financial regulatory agencies * Ralph Ferrara, securities attorney at Proskauer Rose LLP * Daniel Gallagher, a Republican former SEC commissioner The Trump transition team confirmed the president-elect would choose from a list of 21 names he drew up during his campaign, including Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah and William Pryor, a federal judge with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. * Pete Hegseth, CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and Fox News commentator * Navy Admiral Michelle Howard * Retired Admiral Thad Allen, former Coast Guard commandant appointed by President Barack Obama to lead government relief efforts after BP Gulf oil spill * Luis Quinonez, founder of IQ Management of Virginia and member of Trump’s National Hispanic Advisory Council * Scott Brown, former Republican U.S. senator from Massachusetts * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and Republican nominee for vice president in 2008 * Jeff Miller, a former Republican U.S. representative from Florida who was chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee * Larry Kudlow, economist and media commentator | 1 |
2,731 | BREAKING: Pope Met Privately With Enemy Of Left, Kim Davis | Is the Pope s defense of same sex marriage the straw the will break the camel s back for the godless left? Washington, DC Media is buzzing about the Pope s comments in support of conscientious objection and whether he knows about the Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk of Court who was jailed for six days for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The Pope met privately with Kim Davis and her husband, Joe, at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, September 24, which was the birthday of Kim s father. Pope Francis spoke with Kim and Joe Davis in English.During the meeting Pope Francis said, Thank you for your courage. Pope Francis also told Kim Davis to Stay strong. He held out his hands and asked Kim to pray for him. Kim held his hands and said, I will. Please pray for me, and the Pope said he would. The two embraced. The Pontiff presented Kim and Joe Davis each with a Rosary that he personally blessed. Kim s mother and father are Catholic, and Kim and Joe will present the Rosaries to her parents. Kim s mother was the elected Clerk of Court for Rowan County for 37 years until her retirement in 2014.Kim Davis said, I was humbled to meet Pope Francis. Of all people, why me? Davis continued, I never thought I would meet the Pope. Who am I to have this rare opportunity? I am just a County Clerk who loves Jesus and desires with all my heart to serve him. Kim said, Pope Francis was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable. He even asked me to pray for him. Pope Francis thanked me for my courage and told me to stay strong. The challenges we face in America regarding the sanctity of human life, marriage, and religious freedom are the same universal challenges Christians face around the world. Religious freedom is a human right that comes from God. These values are shared in common by people of faith, and the threats to religious freedom are universal. Kim Davis has become a symbol of this worldwide conflict between Christian faith and recent cultural challenges regarding marriage, said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.Speaking with reporters on board the Papal plane to Rome, Pope Francis told Terry Moran of ABC News that conscientious objection is a human right, even for government officials: Conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying this right that has merit, this one does not. It (conscientious objection) is a human right. It always moved me when I read, and I read it many times, when I read the Chanson de Roland when the people were all in line and before them was the baptismal font and they had to choose between the baptismal font or the sword. They had to choose. They weren t permitted conscientious objection. It is a right and if we want to make peace we have to respect all rights. The ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent asked if that includes government officials as well, and the Pope reiterated that conscientious objection is a human right: It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right, Pope Francis affirmed.After the above statement of Pope Francis was published, some in the media wondered if the Pontiff knew of Kim Davis. Not only did Pope Francis know of Kim Davis, he personally met with her to express his support, concluded Staver.Via: Barbed Wire | 0 |
2,732 | Kurds block Iraqi forces' access to Kirkuk oil fields; Iran shuts border crossings | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Kurdish Peshmerga fighters rejected a warning from an Iraqi paramilitary force to withdraw from a strategic junction south of Kirkuk, which controls access to some of the region s main oilfields, a Kurdish security official said on Sunday. Iran meanwhile shut its border crossings with Iraq s Kurdistan in support of measures taken by the Iraqi government to isolate the Kurdish region, the Iraqi foreign ministry said. The border closing came as an Iranian military official arrived in Iraq s Kurdistan for talks on the growing crisis between the Kurdish authorities and the Iraqi government following last month s Kurdish independence referendum. The Baghdad central government has taken a series of steps to isolate the autonomous Kurdish region since its vote for independence, including banning international flights. Baghdad s tough line, ruling out talks sought by the Kurds unless they renounce the breakaway move, is backed by neighbors Turkey and Iran - both with their own sizeable Kurdish minorities, and in Turkey s case, a long-running Kurdish insurgency. The top Kurdish leadership met on Sunday to discuss the crisis and rejected the Iraqi government s demand that it cancels the outcome of the independence referendum as a precondition for talks to resolve the dispute. The vote delivered an overwhelming Yes for independence. The Iraqi government in a statement accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of bringing fighters from Turkey s separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to Kirkuk, describing the move as a declaration of war . In the statement, published after a meeting in Baghdad, chaired by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and attended by top military and security commanders, the government said it would seek to impose its authority over Kirkuk and other disputed areas. A spokesman for KRG President Masoud Barzani, Vahal Ali, denied the Iraqi government claims about the PKK. This is false, there are no PKK in Kirkuk, only Peshmerga, he told Reuters, referring to KRG military forces. The Kurdish leadership meeting, attended by Barzani, rejected the Iraqi military threats and pledged to defend Kurdish-held territory in case of an attack. Iraqi paramilitary groups backing the Shi ite-led government in Baghdad had warned the Peshmerga to leave a position north of the Maktab Khalid junction by midnight Saturday, a KRG security official said. The Kurdish position north of the junction controls the access to an important airbase and Bai Hassan, one of the region s main oil fields, the KRG official said. Ali al-Hussaini, a spokesman for the paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation, did not give indications about their next move following the Kurds rejection of the warning . We are waiting for new orders, he told Reuters. There were no clashes reported 21 hours after the deadline but tension remained high with both sides mobilized. Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani arrived on Saturday in the Kurdistan region to hold talks about the crisis. He is the commander of foreign operations for Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards who provide training and guns to Popular Mobilisation The city of Kirkuk, the airbase and their immediate surroundings, including the oilfields, are under Kurdish control. Kurdish authorities said on Friday they had sent thousands more troops to Kirkuk to confront Iraqi threats. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has repeatedly denied any plans to attack the Kurds. Popular Mobilisation is a separate force from the regular army and officially reports to Abadi. It is deployed alongside the army south and west of Kirkuk. Kirkuk, a city of more than one million people, lies just outside KRG territory but Peshmerga forces were stationed there in 2014 when Iraqi security forces collapsed in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. The Peshmerga deployment prevented Kirkuk s oilfields from falling into jihadist hands. In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday the situation had the full attention of the United States, which was working to ensure it does not escalate. The United States has taken the side of the Iraqi government in refusing to recognize the validity of the referendum. | 1 |
2,733 | who is dr leonard g horowitz and why did he make a film actually a docucommentary for robert de niro unvaxxed a docucommentary for robert de niro | slowed healing and recovery time increased fatigue and slowed physical recovery reduced fertility acceleration of alzheimers and dementia reduced cardiovascular performance liver damage kidney damageare these the kind of effects you want to experience when the grid goes down and youre trying to survivedont be stupid stop buying toxic ingredients as a form of survival food its moronic if youre trying to store some food to keep you alive dont buy foods laced with chemicals that are designed to kill such as pesticides and herbicides i will be announcing a clean certified organic laboratory verified preparedness food line in just two days this project took six months longer than planned but its finally ready in just two days im going to be announcing a certified organic survival preparedness meal pack that will blow your mind with its cleanliness nutrition and incredibly great taste all these organic meal packs and ingredients can be turned into delicious nutritious organic meals by just adding water and heat you can cook these on a miniature camp stove if you want all current affiliates for numanna will be able to carry and sell this new line of health ranger approved organic storable food see belowheres whats included in the pack all certified organic mac n cheese crazy delicious the macaroni is made with organic milled flaxseed delivering a wholesome source of omegas very filling energy lasts for hours classic chili amazing chili thats super delicious even without using any chemical taste enhancers pancake mix incredibly delicious made primarily with organic wheat flour organic milk powder and organic whole powdered eggs cheddar broccoli soup tastes gourmet like youd get in a fancy restaurant yet all organic incredibly satisfying brown sugar oatmeal youre going to go ape over this one with organic oats organic cane sugar and organic molasses solids this will blow you away organic nonfat dry milk made from grade a pasteurized skim milk just add water to reconstitute italian pasta marinara organic wheat flour and organic flaxseed paste rich tomato taste super delicious pasta primavera a thick creamy organic pasta with organic dehydrated vegetables incredibly nutritious sweet habanero chili sweet and spicy this mindblowing recipe is a customer favorite organic black chia seeds high in omegas and magnesium can add to smoothies soups breads and more organic quinoa a complete protein makes a delicious soup by just adding eggs and onionsall this will be announced in just two days if you want a heads up just subscribe to my email newsletter link below to be alerted before everyone else certified organic ingredients and no junk no gmos no msg no hydrolyzed or autolyzed anything want to know whats in it heres the actual ingredients list for our italian pasta marinara organic pasta organic whole durum wheat flour organic milled flaxseed organic spray dried tomato organic cornstarch organic dehydrated vegetables onions tomatoes green bell peppers organic cane sugar organic garlic sea salt organic parsley organic annatto color organic spicesand our sweet habanero chili ingredients list looks like thisorganic precooked pinto organic precooked black beans organic spray dried tomato organic cornstarch organic pineapple dices organic dehydrated vegetables onions red green bell peppers organic chili powder organic cane sugar organic spices organic garlic powder sea salt organic caramel color organic onion powderyoure going to be amazed at the incredible taste nutrition wholesomeness and cleanliness of this entire line of storable emergency foodcheck natural news this thursday for details on how to order weve got thousands in stock and ready to ship but even then i suspect were going to run out very quickly all numanna affiliates will be able to start selling this breakthrough product in about two weeks this launch is historic for the food preparedness industry no one has ever created an organic labverified line of delicious emergency foods while avoiding all the toxic ingredients and total crap used by most other companies in the industry with very few exceptionsheres even more great news all distributors and affiliates of numanna storable foods will be able to start selling this certified organic food line in about two weeks im also available to be interviewed on your podcasts videos or websites to help explain this product to your viewers anyone who wants to start selling this product and earning affiliate fees should contact numanna watch this space for the full announcement in two days health ranger approved aquatru water filter back in stock
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2,734 | Governor Jerry Brown Just Made It Possible For Illegal Aliens To Vote…Coming To A State Near You? | Liberal California Governor Jerry Brown just signed the Motor Voter Act allowing non-citizens to be registered to vote. Is this coming to your state soon?Non-Citizens Will Now Vote In At Least One StateGovernor Jerry Brown just sold out the American vote in California. He signed a new version of the Motor Voter Act that will register every eligible California citizen who acquires a driver s license or renews a license at the Department of Motor Vehicles to vote.This is after he made all illegal aliens eligible for diver s licenses. Eleven states allow illegal aliens to get driver s licenses.In California, state officials specifically chose not to make noncitizen license holders searchable in their DMV database, said True the Vote spokesman Logan Churchwell, who called the newly signed bill unprecedented. The measure, Assembly Bill 1461, will effectively change the form of governance in California from a Republic whose elected officials are determined by United States citizens and will guarantee that noncitizens will participate in all California elections going forward, Election Integrity Project of California President Linda Paine said in a statement.It appears to be unconstitutional.This is what conservatives were afraid of and this is just one more example of a conspiracy theory come true. It will undoubtedly ramp up voter fraud in California.California s Secretary of State feels differently In a free society, the right to vote is fundamental, said Secretary of State Alex Padilla. The New Motor Voter Act will make our democracy stronger by removing a key barrier to voting for millions of California citizens. Via: Independent Sentinal | 0 |
2,735 | NERVOUS NANCY: Pelosi Gives Incoherent Response To Trump’s Saying Her Being Dem Leader Helps GOP | A nervous Nancy Pelosi responded Thursday to criticism from Democratic colleagues asking her to step down from her leadership post and President Donald Trump s subsequent tweet mocking her for helping Republicans politically.Some Republican members have said that it would be good for their party if Pelosi remains the top Democrat in the House. These remarks followed heavy criticism from Democratic lawmakers of Pelosi s leadership following Tuesday s special election losses in Georgia and South Carolina.Many within the Democratic party are calling for new leadership In other words, Nancy needs to go ASAP!President Trump went on Twitter to mockingly signal his support for the Pelosi:Conservatives like former speaker Newt Gingrich have been saying they hope Nancy Pelosi stays on as Minority Leader of the House She s good for the Republican Party. She s definitely on the hot seat right now but in true Pelosi fashion, she s oblivious to the reality that it s time to go. She even said she s a master legislator Um, no Check out the transcript of her comments at the press conference: So, you want me to sing my praises? Is that what you re saying? Why should I? Well, I m a uh um master legislator, I am a, uh, strategic, politically astute leader, I am a uh, uh, my, uh, uh my leadership is recognized by many around the country and that is why I m able to attract the support that I do, which is essential to our elections, sad to say. I m very pleased at the cooperation we re doing working with all the, um, social media and small donor community to change how we communicate but also how we attract resources, intellectual and financial, uh, to the party. I have experience in winning the congress. When people said to us in 05, you don t have a chance, be ready for a, uh, permanent Republican majority , I said, Harry Reid and I said, we don t accept that , so we proceeded, we took the president from 58 to 38, president Bush won the election. But the fact is, they will always make a target. Senator Reid was a target, Senator Daschle was a target, Tip O Neill was a target, I am a target, and they always want to choose our leaders, and usually they go after the most effective leaders because they want to take us diminish us uh the opportunity that we have. We have a Democratic caucus where members participate in the decisions and right now, the members are putting together our messaging as we go forward. I could have written something down on the page and said, this is what I think , but we don t do things that way, we listen to members, we re very proud of our, uh, policy and communications committee. Yikes!!!! | 0 |
2,736 | Cher Reacts To Dr. Oz Reading Trump’s Health Report, And It’s The Best Thing Ever (TWEET) | This year s election is really shaping up to be one of the most ridiculous ever in the history of the republic. And adding to this bizarre circus is the fact that Dr. Mehmet Oz, noted TV host and alleged scam artist, will be the one reading Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump s health report. However, not the whole thing.Oz told Fox News Brian Kilmeade about how Trump has instructed the release, and when Kilmeade asked, Oh, it s still going to be his decision? Oz replied: It s his decision. You know, I the metaphor for me is it s the doctor s office, the studio. So I m not going to ask him questions he doesn t want to have answered. So basically, we re only going to hear what Trump wants us to hear like a scripted reality show (which, btw, all reality shows are).Upon hearing the news of Dr. Oz releasing Trump s medical report, legendary entertainer extraordinaire Cher took to Twitter to let us all know how she feels about it.And because Cher tweets in fluent emoji, her tweet is translated here: Why is Dr. Oz letting Trump pimp him out!? Oz is bound by ethics!! Is he so hungry for ratings he ll let Trump use him like guys at a frat party. WHY IS DR OZ LETTING TRUMP PIMP HIM OUT OZ IS BOUND BY ETHICS? IS HE SO HUNGRY 4RATINGS,HE'LL LET TRUMP USE HIM,LIKE GUYS AT A FRAT PARTY? Cher (@cher) September 13, 2016Whoa. But she s not wrong. The fact that this is being accepted as legitimate by the American people should be clear evidence that the movie Idiocracy has now become reality, and it s f*cking terrifying.Featured Photo by Ethan Miller/ACMA2010/Getty Images for ACMA/Twitter | 0 |
2,737 | Hariri's Paris meeting to boost Lebanon stability: top aide | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as prime minister on Nov. 4, will see France s president on Saturday in Paris and the meeting will help resolve the Lebanese crisis and boost stability, a senior Hariri aide said. Hariri quit as prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, saying he feared assassination and railing against Riyadh s foe Iran along with its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. Hariri, a Sunni Muslim leader and long-time Saudi ally, has yet to return to Beirut. His decision to quit threw Lebanon into a political crisis. It also put the country center stage in the Middle East s overarching rivalry between Saudi Arabia and its allies and a bloc led by Iran. Prime Minister Hariri has a meeting tomorrow at the Elysee with the French president, and Lebanon will have overcome this big obstacle, said Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, a senior member of Hariri s political party on Friday. The door will open to more stability and to the ability to face all the difficulties that we have gone through, Machnouk said after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun. A Elysee Palace source has said Hariri would fly to Paris on Saturday and meet President Emmanuel Macron the same day. [nL8N1NM3WN] French officials said they did not know how long Hariri would stay before returning to Beirut but hoped his visit would help soothe the crisis by demonstrating he was not being held in Saudi Arabia. Aoun has refused to accept the resignation unless the premier returns to Lebanon, and has accused Riyadh of holding Hariri hostage. The president said this week on Twitter he hoped the crisis is over and the France visit would open the door to a solution. Top Lebanese government officials and senior politicians close to Hariri say he was forced to quit and was being held by Saudi. Politicians from all sides in Lebanon have called for his return to Beirut. Riyadh has denied forcing Hariri to resign or detaining him. In a TV interview on Sunday, his first public comments since quitting, Hariri said he is free to leave and would return home soon to formally submit his resignation. Hariri became Lebanon s prime minister last year in a power-sharing deal in which Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, became head of state. His coalition government includes Hezbollah, the heavily armed Shi ite Muslim militant group and political party. | 1 |
2,738 | U.S. appeals court rejects challenge to Trump voter fraud panel | (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court in Washington on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s decision to allow President Donald Trump’s commission investigating voter fraud to request data on voter rolls from U.S. states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) watchdog group, which filed the lawsuit, did not have legal standing to seek to force the presidential commission to review privacy concerns before collecting individuals’ voter data. EPIC had argued that under federal law, the commission was required to conduct a privacy-impact assessment before gathering personal data. But the three-judge appeals court panel ruled unanimously that the privacy law at issue was intended to protect individuals, not groups like EPIC. “EPIC is not a voter,” Judge Karen Henderson wrote in the ruling. Washington-based U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly first denied EPIC’s injunction request in July, in part because the collection of data by the commission was not technically an action by a government agency so was not bound by laws that govern what such entities can do. Kollar-Kotelly noted that the commission, headed by Vice President Mike Pence, was an advisory body that lacks legal authority to compel states to hand over the data. Most state officials who oversee elections and election law experts say that voter fraud is rare in the United States. Trump, a Republican, set up the commission in May after charging, without evidence, that millions of people voted unlawfully in the 2016 presidential election in which he defeated Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote. The commission’s vice chair, Kris Kobach, the Republican secretary of state for Kansas and an advocate of tougher laws on immigration and voter identification, asked states in June to turn over voter information. The data requested by Kobach included names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories. More than 20 states refused outright and others said they needed to study whether they could provide the data. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have said the commission’s eventual findings could lead to new ID requirements and other measures making it harder for groups that tend to favor Democratic candidates to cast ballots. EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg could not immediately be reached for comment. | 1 |
2,739 | Trump says was being 'sarcastic' in Russia hack comments | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday tried to quell the furor over his call for Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails, saying he was being sarcastic. In Moscow, meanwhile, a Kremlin spokesman pointedly told Washington to solve its own email problems. Trump on Wednesday invited Russia to dig up tens of thousands of “missing” emails from Clinton’s time at the U.S. State Department, prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging foreigners to spy on Americans. Later, he dismissed concerns raised by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that his comments raised national security concerns. “You have to be kidding. His client, his person, deleted 33,000 e-mails illegally. You look at that. And when I’m being sarcastic with something ...” Trump said in a Fox News interview broadcast on Thursday. Asked if he was indeed being sarcastic, Trump snapped, “Of course I’m being sarcastic. They don’t even know, frankly, if it’s Russia. They have no idea if it’s Russia, if it’s China, if it’s somebody else. Who knows who it is? “But you have 33,000 (Clinton) emails deleted, and the real problem is what was said on those emails from the Democratic National Committee,” he said, referring to hacked emails released last weekend by WikiLeaks. The DNC emails showed party leaders favoring Clinton over her rival in the campaign for the nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The committee is supposed to be neutral. Trump’s explanation echoed those of his campaign advisers and other supporters, who immediately tried to pass his comments off as tongue-in-cheek and not serious. But the exhortation for a U.S. adversary to use cyber intrusions against an American political candidate drew criticism from intelligence experts and other public figures, including some Republicans. Trump made the remark at a news conference in Miami that allowed him to steal some of the limelight from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton on Thursday will accept her party’s presidential nomination for the Nov. 8 election. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, told reporters. He later said on Twitter that if anyone had Clinton’s emails, “perhaps they should share them with the FBI!” The Republican presidential nominee was referring to a private email system Clinton kept in her home in Chappaqua, New York, while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. She handed over thousands of emails in 2015 to U.S. officials probing that system, but did not release about 30,000 deleted emails she said were personal and not work-related. Cyber security experts and U.S. officials have said there was evidence that Russia engineered the release of the sensitive Democratic Party emails to influence the election. But the Kremlin beat back those insinuations again on Thursday, saying they were driven by anti-Russian sentiment. “It is so absurd it borders on total stupidity,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “The Americans needs to get to the bottom of what these emails are themselves and find out what it’s all about.” Although some Democrats have wondered aloud whether Trump committed a crime in his remarks directed at Russia, the prospect of any prosecution is considered nil because of the strong guarantee of speech rights in the United States. Charging Trump for his comments about Russia would “turn campaign fluff into a crime” and would be laughable, said Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor and former U.S. prosecutor. | 1 |
2,740 | Factbox: Trump to meet with U.S. House Speaker Ryan, U.S. Senator Manchin | (Reuters) - Donald Trump was scheduled to hold additional meetings on Friday and Monday as he forms his administration before taking over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20. The Republican president-elect has held more than 85 meetings so far, according to his transition team. Trump was to meet with the following people in coming days, according to his team: * U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican * U.S. Senator from West Virginia, a Democrat * Meeting originally scheduled for Dec. 9 Technology industry leaders invited for a meeting with Trump, according to media reports citing transition officials. | 1 |
2,741 | ‘My Pillow’ CEO Mike Lindell Sending 60,000 Pillows to Houston [Video] | Who hasn t seen his commercials over and over and over for My Pillow Mike Lindell just promised to send 60,000 pillows to Houston for help with Hurricane recovery in shelters.Who couldn t use a My Pillow to help them sleep?This is just one in so many examples of wonderful Americans who are giving of their time, effort and money.WCCO Minneapolis reported:Six trucks full of 60,000 pillows from MyPillow will soon be heading to shelters and rescue organizations in the Houston area.Founder Mike Lindell says he and his employees just want to help any way they can. Everyone affected down there, I just want to get them help, a little bit, a little bit of relief some good sleep, Lindell said. Sleep is so important, and a lot of them are in shelters right now and displaced. Lindell is heading down to Houston to hand out the pillows alongside his employees.AWESOME! | 0 |
2,742 | U.S. Ambassador to U.N. blames Russia for new violence in eastern Ukraine | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley blamed Russia on Thursday for the recent surge of violence in eastern Ukraine and warned Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia will not be lifted until Moscow returns Crimea to Kiev. “I consider it unfortunate on the occasion of my first appearance here I must condemn the aggressive actions of Russia,” Haley said, making her first public remarks inside the Security Council since being sworn in as the United States’ representative to the United Nations last month. “It shouldn’t happen, or be that way. We do want to better our relations with Russia. However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.” Her remarks came amid speculation over U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions towards Moscow. Trump has praised Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and expressed a wish for improved relations between the two countries. Haley made clear that tensions over the Ukraine would not end soon, including the matter of sanctions slapped on Russia related to the annexation of Crimea three years ago. “Eastern Ukraine of course is not the only part of the country suffering because of Russia’s aggressive actions. The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea,” Haley said. “Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine.” The United States and other Western powers imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, disputed Haley’s commentary on Crimea, but welcomed his American counterpart. “It was friendly enough, given the circumstances and given the subject we were discussing,” the Russian ambassador told reporters. He noted the chance for a new start after ties between Russia and United States frayed in Obama’s second term. “If there is an opportunity to have better relations with the United States, if there is an opportunity for us to work better with the United States... then we should take this opportunity.” He faulted the Obama administration for not doing enough to end the conflict in Ukraine and called on the Trump government to bring its influence to bear. “Clearly they are the people who are listened to in Kiev.” Ukraine and Russia had blamed each other for a surge in fighting in recent days around the government-held industrial town of Avdiivka that has led to the highest casualty toll in weeks and cut off power and water to thousands of civilians on the front line. At the Thursday Security Council session, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Volodymr Yelchenko, who holds the presidency of the Security Council for February, said the strife around Avdiivka started with artillery shelling by the Russian army and Russian-backed fighters from the two suburbs they control abutting the town. Churkin blamed Ukrainian security forces for starting the bloodshed. U.N. under-secretary-general for political affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, painted a grim picture of the situation on the ground. “Hundreds of thousand of civilians on both sides of the contact line are still at risk of losing all access to water, heating and electricity, bringing the specter of further displacements closer,” Feltman said. “With every new day of fighting, the conflict becomes more entrenched and difficult to resolve. There is no military solution to this conflict.” | 1 |
2,743 | Colombia sees peace with ELN rebels harder than FARC | BOGOTA (Reuters) - Negotiating peace with Colombia s largest active rebel group, the ELN, will be tougher than the recent successful talks with FARC guerrillas due to the ELN s diffuse chain of command and radical ideology, the chief government negotiator said. President Juan Manuel Santos administration and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in February began negotiations in neighboring Ecuador that seek to end the role the group has played in a five-decade conflict that has left over 220,000 dead and millions displaced. Even though both sides have agreed to begin a three-month bilateral ceasefire from October, the road to a definitive peace accord will be long and complex, Santos negotiator, Juan Camilo Restrepo, told Reuters late on Tuesday. It s a highly radical, ideological group that totally lacks the pragmatism to negotiate that the FARC had, Restrepo, a 70-year-old former minister, said in the study of his Bogota apartment. The Santos government signed a peace deal with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016 after negotiations in Havana, Cuba that lasted four years. Restrepo, a former finance minister, said the ELN s fractured chains of command, plus its greater urban support, were further complications. All those reasons indicate the negotiation with the ELN is more difficult, he said. Inspired by the Cuban revolution and the Liberation Theology of the Catholic priests that founded it in the 1960s, the 2,000-strong ELN has sought peace before, holding talks in Cuba and Venezuela between 2002 and 2007. Both collapsed with little progress. The ELN is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union for engaging in kidnapping, assassinations, drug trafficking, attacks on economic infrastructure and extortion of oil and mining multinationals. Pablo Beltran, the ELN s chief negotiator in Ecuador, has denied there is a weak chain of command and told Reuters last month that the group is united. During the ceasefire planned from Oct. 1, the ELN has pledged to suspend hostage taking, attacks on roads and oil installations, the use of landmines and the recruitment of minors. In turn, the government agreed to improve protection for community leaders and conditions for about 450 jailed rebels. There s optimism but not overflowing optimism, said Restrepo, who returns to the negotiating table in Ecuadorean capital Quito in the next few weeks. The official warned that although Colombia s military will avoid confrontations with the ELN during the ceasefire, it will go after the group if it engages in criminal activities like illegal mining and drug trafficking. Such behavior will be repressed with all the strength of the armed forces, he said. | 1 |
2,744 | BREAKING: US SUPREME COURT RULES King Obama Overstepped Authority…Executive Amnesty For 5 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS/ Democrat Voters Not Going To Happen | Don t let the door hit ya B..b..but who will beat up innocent Trump supporters? The assertion of presidential power was remarkable in scale. With the flick of a pen just before Thanksgiving in 2014, President Obama ordered that nearly five million illegal immigrants be allowed to come out of the shadows and work legally in the United States.Standing at the same lectern where he had announced the death of Osama bin Laden three years earlier, Mr. Obama insisted in a speech to the nation that his plan for immigrants was a fully legal response to a Republican-controlled Congress that had refused his plea for an overhaul of the nation s immigration laws.But on Thursday, the Supreme Court disagreed. In a 4-to-4 decision, the justices let stand a lower court ruling that Mr. Obama had overstepped his authority. The decision freezes the president s actions for the balance of his term, leaving the future of the program and millions of undocumented workers in limbo.Mr. Obama campaigned vowing to win passage of comprehensive immigration legislation in his first year in office, but the Supreme Court defeat will force him to finish his term without securing the major progress he had promised to millions of Latino immigrants living under the threat of deportation.Instead, one of the president s chief immigration legacies will be the years of increased enforcement he ordered at the border with Mexico and in immigrant communities, hoping it would lead to a compromise with Republicans. The aggressive actions of immigration agents and local law enforcement, especially during Mr. Obama s first term, angered many family members separated by raids and deportations.Mr. Obama did earn praise from Hispanics for taking action in 2012 to help the so-called Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants who had been brought to the United States as small children. Under the president s program, more than 730,000 of them received documents allowing them to work legally without constant fear that they might be sent home.Hillary Clinton, who embraced the president s executive action programs, has said she would expand them. The court s actions could complicate her ability to do that if she is elected president in the fall.But the successful legal assault on Mr. Obama s actions may also yield some political benefits for Mrs. Clinton and Democrats by helping to motivate and energize Hispanic voters who are angry with the court s decision. Activists have promised to punish Donald J. Trump and other Republicans who opposed the president s actions by registering more Hispanic voters and getting them to vote. Mr. Trump s rhetorical assault on immigrants, especially Mexicans, is also likely to help energize Hispanic activists on behalf of Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic candidates.The court s action comes after nearly eight years of largely futile attempts by the president to make good on his promise.Mr. Obama had resorted to executive actions in 2014 after years of fighting to get Congress to act. In 2013, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration overhaul that the White House said the president could support. But House Republicans blocked any consideration of the legislation, accusing the Senate and Mr. Obama of supporting amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States.For most of his presidency, even Mr. Obama said he did not have the power to act unilaterally. He repeatedly told Hispanic activists that he could not use the Dreamers program as a model to expand similar protections to a much larger pool of illegal immigrants. If we start broadening that, then essentially I ll be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally, Mr. Obama told Jose Diaz-Balart in an interview in September 2013, after it was clear that House Republicans were blocking the Senate s immigration measure. So that s not an option. NYT | 0 |
2,745 | Senators seek to stop expansion of airport facial scans | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators on Thursday urged federal authorities to halt the planned expansion of a $1 billion airport facial scanning program, saying the technology used to identify travelers on some flights departing from nine U.S. airports for international destinations may not be not accurate enough and raises privacy concerns. Congress has approved the use of the program for non-U.S. citizens, but never expressly authorized its use for Americans. The Department of Homeland Security has said the system is needed to prevent travelers from leaving the country using someone else’s identity and to prevent visitors to the United States from overstaying their visas. Senators Mike Lee, a Republican, and Edward Markey, a Democrat, in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, raised concerns that too many travelers would be inconvenienced by faulty scan results and questioned why Americans are being subjected to the screens, known as biometric exit detection technology. In the letter, they raised objections to expanding the program beyond the nine airports where it is already in use. “We request that DHS stop the expansion of this program and provide Congress with its explicit statutory authority to use and expand a biometric exit program on U.S. citizens,” the senators wrote. “If there is no specific authorization, then we request an explanation for why DHS believes it has the authority to proceed” They cited a report released Thursday by Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy & Technology that found DHS is conducting the scans “without basic legal and technical safeguards - or any meaningful justification of its billion-dollar cost.” Congress in 2016 authorized spending up to $1 billion over 10 years on the facial scans. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), on its website, says the program collects “facial images from all travelers from the United States” on a flight and uses the images to verify identities. It says the images are stored for no more than two weeks and says that “CBP is dedicated to protecting the privacy of all travelers.” The government said Thursday that U.S. citizens may opt out of the facial screening and instead have a separate review of their ID documents. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said the government is working to establish the biometric exit program “in a way that’s most efficient and secure for the traveler and that is least disruptive for the travel industry.” Airports using the system include Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York’s John F. Kennedy, Washington Dulles, both Houston airports, Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta. The senators want DHS to provide data that the program will not unduly burden travelers. DHS said previously its goal is a 96 percent “true accept rate,” meaning the technology can positively identify 96 percent of the faces it scans. The senators, however, said this meant “there would still be a false denial for one in 25 travelers. Further there is evidence that certain face scans exhibit different error rate depending on the race or gender of the person being scanned.” DHS has said travelers who cannot be verified are escorted to another area where Customs and Border Patrol uses other methods to verify their identity. The Georgetown Law report also noted that DHS has not established any rules governing the program. “It’s as if DHS has hired a billion-dollar bouncer to check IDs but never checked how good he is at spotting a fake,” said Laura Moy, deputy director of the center and co-author of the report. “They also don’t know if he’s biased against certain groups of people.” The senators said DHS also needed safeguards to ensure facial data is not shared with other U.S. agencies. | 1 |
2,746 | YOU WON’T BELIEVE HIS PUNISHMENT! HISPANIC STORE OWNER Swindles Tax Payers Out Of $1,116,924.27 In Latest Food Stamp Scam | How did this man come to OWN this store? There is no information on much about this fraudster except that he stole from Americans and is getting just a slap on the wrist. It s no wonder these people are repeat offenders!A hispanic store owner testified in court through a Spanish translator (Why no English?) that he swindled the American tax payers out of millions via food stamp fraud. Eduardo Leonardo plead guilty to stealing from the USDA by illegally exchanging over a million dollars of food stamp benefits for cash for over two years. I stole from the USDA and the Food and Nutrition Service, Eduardo Leonardo said slowly in Spanish through a translator in Brooklyn Federal Court. It was an exchange of benefits for cash. Leonardo, 57, admitted to committing food stamp fraud between Oct. 2015 and March 2017 by giving customers cash in exchange for running their EBT cards for a higher amount, which the federal government would later reimburse.In one instance, an undercover witness from the USDA went into Super Economic and picked up a jar of peanut butter and jelly and crackers, totaling $5.48. The witness then asked Leonardo to exchange benefits for $200 cash and Leonardo charged an undercover EBT card $287.89 and gave the witness $200 in cash, making a $82.41 profit.The USDA lost a total of $1,116,924.27 in the transactions.The scammer has run his store, Super Economic One Way Supermarket out of 104-21 Glenwood Road in Canarsie since Dec. 2011. It became a registered SNAP business on May 25, 2012. Specifically I gave a discounted rate in cash in exchange for them [customers] allowing me to ring up the full amount, Leonardo said to Judge Ann Donnelly.Remember Ann Donnelly?Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) previously called the food stamp program, uses federal tax dollars to aid low-income households in buying affordable and nutritious food. EBT cards are used like debit cards, to swipe at special terminals in retail food stores to use the benefits in exchange for food.Between Nov. 2015 and Jan. 2017, Super Economic conducted more than 57,000 SNAP transactions totaling more than $1.5 million, according to court documents.About 8 transactions were made for $50 or more, an amount that USDA officials say is high for a store that size, which would normally conduct $15 average transactions.Leonardo is set to be sentenced on Oct. 31 and could face a maximum five years in prison WHAAAAT????THIS IS WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING!A man swindles more than a million dollars from Americans yet he gets only 5 years in prison? The punishment does not fit the crime!Via: Brooklyn Eagle | 0 |
2,747 | China says envoy to North Korea will exchange views on matters between two countries | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that a senior diplomat traveling to North Korea as a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping will exchange views on matters between the two countries and parties. Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at a daily news briefing, adding that he was not aware of specific arrangements on who the Chinese envoy, Song Tao, will meet while in the North. He did not specify what matters would be discussed. The official Xinhua news agency earlier said Song, who heads the ruling Communist Party s external affairs department, would leave for North Korea on Friday. | 1 |
2,748 | no title | lately gunfree zones and gun control laws are all the rage among the globalists and liberals of all shapes usually circular and sizes
those measures solely aimed at disarming the people and depriving them of the sacred right to defend themselves has shown its vast ineffiency with gun victims and terrorist attacks on the rise in those zones since no honest citizen can shoot back to stop the massacre
here is why i propose once a conservative government reaches the white house to create fat control laws fcl and obesityfree zones ofz as obesity is indeed a more serious threat to the lives of americans than honest citizens carrying legally purchased guns here are six potential benefits
simple philanthropy
obese people are delusional thinking that it is great to be a useless sack of shit nowadays they get fed a distorted reality saying that big and round is beautiful when the natural reaction deeply branded in our dna is disgust mockery and suspicion
fat and sedentary lifestyles kill much more than guns the war against obesity is as important as the war on crime or drugs bovine people not only harm themselves but others too by creating measures to prevent them from becoming fat or exhorting them lose weight we are helping our common man to preserve his dignity as a human being
in their case sugar and salt create a dopamine rush and an addiction loop very similar to an addiction to opiates we must show our potbellied or barrelbellied junkies the way as they cant take the steps themselves
just like with restrictions on cigarettes if they are stupid enough to gorge themselves on calories we must conclude that there is a severe lack of judgement on their part and prevent them from purchasing the source of their misery
preserving aesthetics and other senses
no more eyesore of seeing fatties rolling around everywhere you go imagine a beach with a plethora of more feminine attractive and thin women by banning whales in bikinis
our nostrils would also be free of the olfactory offence that they throw in our faces say goodbye to the pungent smell of fat rolls sweat at your local grocery store
no more lb sjw land whales with laboured breath sounds in waiting rooms or uncontrolled farting in the public transport like you are in a cattle train it could be tomorrow
positive impact on children
i do not want these people to roam free and that my future progeny can witness it and think that this is normal worse if the pc politburo tells them it is beautiful to be a beached whale lets send them far until they get better out of sight out of mind as they say
legal elements should be implemented against pernicious publicity aired on television and directly aimed at children whether by the time chosen to air it or the promotion it makes of unhealthy eating
of course with fat control policies kids will get bullied at school some will cut themselves for being called fattie so what adapt and overcome or crawl in a ball and cry the weakest has to be left behind if he does not want to save himself
a healthier population you are under arrest for being an immovable gargantuan arsehole
fat is not a silent killer hundreds of thousands of people die with a loud thud every year of obesityrelated diseases a largely preventable cause of death worldwide today in americans and in britons dies from being a fat arse with no selfcontrol
it is a fact that obesity causes death by cardiac arrest diabetes coronary and liver diseases cancer and hypertension among others promoting a healthy lifestyle and physical activity will create a longer life expectancy
physically healthier people are mentally healthier too boost of selfesteem and confidence fat control laws will reduce mental health issues such as depression inferiority complex or suicidal tendencies caused by obesity that is also less money spent by the taxpayer
a boost for the economy
according to a report ham planets cost the economy billion a year and that is for the american economy alone the number of human cattle is still growing exponentially it inflicted more than a billion loss to the economy in
in we can reasonably assume that the number of obese people has grown and has impacted the wallet of your average american even harder
a fitter population with its nutritional choices would result in a more natural higherquality food industry smaller amounts of food produced and needed resulting in reduced resources and materials wasted during and after its production
we could see the end of excessive fossil fuel used to transport land walruses and their fat arse across long distances and hogging the space that could be use by three normal individuals
healthier more active people are happier more productive and successful since the cogs of the machinery are not coated in fat an age of stronger selfgoverned highenergy men bringing a healthier society its yuge
a new sexual and romantic market
it will bring a more balanced sexual arena to limit the accumulation of fat a radical answer to the phenomenon of plummeting testosterone levels caused by high fat percentage trimming the numbers of plump omegas and sexual market voluntary rejects
lets impose a healthier diet for higher numbers of attractive thin and pretty women greater numbers of quality girls to choose from reduces aggressive competition which decreases the bitch shields of thin entitled girls
endless supplies of betas queuing to capture crumbs of their attention would be a thing of the past as i said it before male thirst is the root of all evil when it comes to romantic competition
sexier citizens means more relationships a peak in libido and reproduction of physically and mentally balanced individual helping nations suffering from low birth rate
one more element for the protection of western society being the most affected one and its people cementing the bases of a strong future fighting globalism and the myth they try to sell us about global overpopulation
by logical natural process bronies corpulent manchildren and manga conventions should also disappear soon
the fat control laws segregated obesityfree zones
our diabetic mammoths must be isolated from further propaganda and tasty treats
this is why we should create large very large fenced areas to protect the healthy subjects as fat is more dangerous than guns
lets pen the bigboned rejects in separated zones where access to junk food and other harmful products would be forbidden fresh water open spaces salad and treadmills as far as the eye could see
build that fence
we shall call it the david fatrelle center for porcine rehabilitation
permits
a permit would have to be issued similar to a guncarrying permit for the purchase of junk food highcarb snacks soda drinks etc after a doctors physical exam of the patient slim citizens would be delivered a permit with a stamp of approval granting them access to supermarkets or venues where processed or junk food is served
mandatory workouts
compulsory exercise would be imposed to obese people to reach a standard bmi we could bring it up a notch where a fine could be issued after a determined period of time if the weight loss target has not been reached
a steps counter activity tracker would have to be worn or installed on their smartphone and a quota of physical activity would have to be reached on a day to day basis
just like the programs for convicted criminals or drug abusers with reports to the local police station on a regular basis the stubbornly chunky would be followed during a rehabilitation stage and their progress monitored
fat shaming
fat shaming works great as we have seen before remember the shitstorm of the beach body campaign immediately declared thought criminals by the body positive lobby or islamic thought tribunal of londonistan
or the coldblooded leaflets given by anonymous though criminals to particularly adipose london tube passengers yuge success
pourquoi ça nexiste pas
fat people are a dead weight to society in all senses of the term and to compensate this burden they must chip in one way or another and repair the harm they cause
fitter people means a selfaware powerful mass that strives for greatness
but the liberals in charge dont want that this is why they produce massive amounts of harmful processed food and encourage the pleb by manipulating publicity and promoting makebelieve to remain fat weak and above all docile
its all part of a plan fat control laws are the answer to that great evil
read more reasons to date an obese girl | 0 |
2,749 | Trump calls for firm response to North Korea, targets Seoul on trade | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump called for a determined response to North Korea after talks with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Friday where he stressed the importance of their alliance but took aim at Seoul over trade and sharing the cost of defense. Trump said the United States was renegotiating what he characterized as a “rough” trade deal with South Korea agreed to five years ago by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and reiterated that an era of “strategic patience” over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs had ended. “Together we are facing the threat of the reckless and brutal regime in North Korea,” Trump said as he stood alongside Moon in the White House Rose Garden. “The nuclear and ballistic missile programs of that regime require a determined response.” Despite the tough rhetoric, it remains unclear how Trump will find a way forward on North Korea, which is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has warned the consequences of any military solution would be “tragic on an unbelievable scale.” Trump had pinned his hopes on persuading China, North Korea’s neighbor and main trading partner, to do more to rein in Pyongyang, although he has lately grown frustrated that Beijing has not taken stronger action. Trump called on regional powers to implement sanctions and demand North Korea “choose a better path and do it quickly.” Moon, who warned of a “stern response” to any provocations, urged Pyongyang to return promptly to talks. “Our two leaders will employ both sanctions and dialogue in a phased and comprehensive approach,” Moon said of South Korea and the United States. Trump and Moon have said they are open to renewed dialogue with North Korea but only under circumstances that would lead to Pyongyang giving up its weapons programs. Moon told an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank that moves by North Korea that could create conditions for dialogue could include a freeze on its nuclear and missile tests, or the release of three Americans it is holding in the country. To be successful, talks would have to involve North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and have as their ultimate aim the complete dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program, he added. Trump sought to woo China since a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April but the honeymoon period appears to be over. On Thursday, the United States targeted a Chinese bank and sanctioned Chinese individuals and a firm for dealing with North Korea and approved a $1.42 billion arms deal with Taiwan - decisions that angered Beijing. South Korea is a long-standing American ally but Trump has spoken harshly about U.S. trade imbalances and threatened to tear up the bilateral trade pact. “We will do more to remove barriers to reciprocal trade and market access,” Trump said, adding that the two leaders had talked about the thorny trade areas of steel and autos. Trump said he was encouraged by Moon’s assurances that he would seek a level playing field for American workers and businesses, particularly automakers. A joint statement said the two sides had agreed to work together to reduce over supply of basic materials such as steel and non-tariff barriers. It also said Trump had accepted an invitation from Moon to visit South Korea this year. Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said it was unwise for Trump to air the trade issue so publicly. “Public complaints by Trump about unfair trade and inadequate defense spending provide opportunities for China and North Korea to drive a wedge between the allies,” she said. Trump also emphasized the need to ensure equitable sharing of costs for defense, returning to a theme he raised during his campaign and brought up with other allies, including NATO countries and Japan. A senior U.S. official said in a briefing before the president’s meeting with Moon that South Korea was in many respects a “model ally,” given its spending of 2.7 percent of GDP on defense and Moon’s plan to grow capabilities. “We shouldn’t view South Korea as somehow laggard on that front,” the official said on condition of anonymity. The U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea has more than doubled since the U.S.-Korea free trade pact known as KORUS took effect in 2012. The agreement was forecast to boost U.S. exports by $10 billion a year, but in 2016 they were $3 billion lower than in 2011. At the start of Friday’s talks, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the largest component of the deficit was automotive trade and many non-tariff barriers to U.S. auto exports to South Korea remained. “I think the way to address it is to deal product by product with what we can do to change the export side and what we can do to reduce the bad imports side,” he said. Ross said later on Friday that some progress had been made in the talks. The current pact was agreed to despite protests by supporters of Moon, who was then in opposition. But analysts have suggested that given the need to preserve a unified front in the face of a hostile North Korea, there could be compromise on both sides to resolve issues. | 1 |
2,750 | Hillary Throws The PERFECT Amount Of Shade At Trump In Year-End Message | Despite having to deal with an absolute imbecile as her challenger for several months, Hillary Clinton was always poised, gracious and respectful during the election and that hasn t changed, even after an undeserving Donald Trump won.However, Clinton hasn t forgotten that SHE was actually the candidate that the American people truly wanted. In her final 2016 message to her supporters, the former Secretary of State made sure to note the fact that she d won the popular vote by almost 3 million more than Trump. Of course, Clinton s supporters know very well how badly she beat him, but the President-elect and his followers are still in a disturbing amount of denial so it s useful to remind them of the facts once in a while. True to form, Clinton did this in a subtle, classy manner.In her thank you note to her supporters, Clinton wrote: Before this year ends, I want to thank you again for your support of our campaign. While we didn t achieve the outcome we sought, I m proud of the vision and values we fought for and the nearly 66 million people who voted for them. Sixty-six million a number that Trump certainly cannot claim, as he just scraped by winning the election purely because of the Electoral College votes. Knowing that she still has a responsibility to be an example and to fight for the American people, Clinton rallied her supporters to continue being stronger together. She wrote: I believe it is our responsibility to keep doing our part to build a better, stronger, and fairer future for our country and the world. The holidays are a time to be thankful for our blessings. So let us rejoice in this season and look forward with renewed hope and determination. Clinton closed her message by wishing her supporters a great new year, suggesting that this would hardly be the last time they hear from her. She made it clear that she s going to continue working on America s behalf because that s REAL Presidents do, and that s what she s always done through her decades of service to this country: I wish you and your family health, happiness, and continued strength for the New Year and the work ahead. I look forward to staying in touch in 2017. Onward! Featured image via Drew Angerer /Getty Images | 0 |
2,751 | Islamic State killed more than 60, dozens missing in Syrian town: governor | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State killed more than 60 civilians and left 100 others missing in a town in Syria s central Homs province over three weeks before the Syrian army recaptured it on Saturday, the provincial governor said. Syrian troops and allied forces regained control of al-Qaryatayn town after eliminating terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) groups that had infiltrated it, state media said on Saturday. A Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Islamic State had killed at least 128 people in the town. Homs province governor Talal Barazi told Reuters by phone that More than 60 were dead, while more than 100 others are missing, either kidnapped or killed . Searches in the area had uncovered 13 bodies on Sunday, of whom four had been identified, he said. Barazi said all the civilians who were killed were public employees and pensioners with their families. Earlier this month, the Observatory said IS fighters had seized the town from government forces, part of a counter-attack by the jihadists whose territory in eastern Syria has been whittled down. At least 83 people were killed in the 48 hours before the Syrian army retook the town, the war monitor said, adding that IS had accused the civilians of being agents of the regime . Syrian state TV showed Barazi and state officials touring al-Qaryatayn on Monday. Barazi said that more than 4,000 civilians there needed urgent supplies, and promised restore essential services in the coming few days. The town lies nearly 300 km (190 miles) west of Deir al-Zor city, the current focus of the government offensive, with Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, against Islamic State. | 1 |
2,752 | Carrier Employee Speaks Out On Trump: ‘He Blew Smoke Up Our A**es’ | At a rally last year, Donald Trump said there was a 100 percent chance he would save the jobs at Carrier, the heating and air-conditioning manufacturer. The deal wasn t a very good one because Indiana taxpayers will shoulder some of the costs of Trump s unfortunate attempt to promote himself. At the same Carrier factory where Trump boasted of having crafted the deal to save jobs, it has begun laying off workers. 338 employees were just laid off. One female employee did an interview with The New Yorker and she didn t hold back.Brenda Darlene Battle, 55, worked at the Carrier Corporation for the past 25 years. Trump came in there to the factory last December and blew smoke up our asses, Battle told The New Yorker. He wasn t gonna save those jobs. And, if that s the case, he would have saved us and Rexnord, a company around the corner from us that makes parts. She said that Trump supporters at the factory have gone quiet since the layoffs began. We had a mix of Trump supporters and Clinton supporters at the factory, I d say. The ones that really supported him are quiet right now, she said. Some of them got let go yesterday, too. She said that some of them wore the hats. Not anymore, though, in reference to the red Make America Great Again hats. Personally, I think the President is a rubber room politician. He s crazy. He needs a straitjacket. He s in there for his self. He s not in there to help America keep jobs. Because if he was we wouldn t be in the predicament that we re in every day, she continued. He keeps howling, Make America great. But he can t make America great if all the jobs are leaving the States and going to Mexico. People can t support their families. As for Trump s visit last December to Carrier, she said she thought it was all for show. I think the C.E.O. of Carrier and Trump was in bed together the whole time, she said. That day Trump came to Carrier, those two were too chummy. The way they sniggled and giggled. That sneaky kind of sh*t-eating grin. As for Ms. Battle s plans now, she said she s going to be taking it very easy for a few months and do some of the things that my dad wants to do. She added that her 77-year-old father thinks Trump blew smoke up our asses, too.The layoffs must really sting for the Trump supporting Carrier employees during Made in America week.Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images. | 0 |
2,753 | Merkel scolds ally to shield coalition talks from weedkiller row | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel scolded a minister on Tuesday in a bid to shield talks on forming a coalition government from a dispute between cabinet colleagues over an EU license for a weedkiller. Conservative Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt angered the center-left SPD on Monday by breaking protocol to back a European Union proposal to extend the use of glyphosate in the bloc for another five years, a measure opposed by the SPD. The matter is sensitive because only last week the SPD reversed its decision to go into opposition after suffering its worst result in 70 years in a September election. They are expected to launch talks next year with Merkel s conservatives on forming a coalition government. The SPD are junior partners in Merkel s caretaker government, which includes her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) of which agriculture minister Schmidt is a member. As for the vote of the agriculture ministry yesterday on glyphosate, this did not comply with the instructions worked out by the federal government, Merkel said. I expect that such an incident will not be repeated. It is usual practice that Germany abstains in EU votes if ministers from different parties disagree on a policy. Schmidt s decision has strained relations between the two camps before they even launch exploratory talks on renewing their alliance. (The chancellor) must do something to heal the loss of trust. You can t govern like that. It simply doesn t work, SPD Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks told Deutschlandfunk radio before Merkel made her comments. Merkel said even though her stance on glyphosate use was closer to Schmidt s than to Hendricks he should not have voted in favor against the wish of his colleague and in breach of government instructions. Hendricks did not say whether the SPD wants Merkel to fire Schmidt, but the ecologist Greens said she should do just that. Merkel turned to the SPD after failing to form a coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, which created an impasse unseen in the post-World War Two era. Schmidt defended his decision to vote in favor of the five-year extension in Brussels on Monday, saying the European Commission would have probably decided on a longer extension if the vote had been indecisive. I took the decision on my own, Schmidt told German public television. It falls under my responsibility. Hendricks said she had called Schmidt two hours before the tight vote in Brussels, which Germany tipped in favor of an extension by defeating its key ally France. She expressed her opposition to the continued use of the weedkiller, which some of the EU s 28 member states fear causes cancer. Christian Schmidt took the chestnut out of the fire for the Commission in breach of our consultations, Hendricks said. French President Emmanuel Macron had wanted a shorter extension and a rapid phasing out of glyphosate, which is a mainstay of farming across the continent. After the vote, he said he would take all necessary measures to ban the product, originally developed by Monsanto, as soon as an alternative is available and at the latest within three years. Germany s Bayer plans to take over Monsanto for $63.5 billion. | 1 |
2,754 | Sacked Catalan president calls for opposition to Madrid | MADRID (Reuters) - Sacked Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday called for a democratic opposition to Madrid s takeover of the region following its declaration of independence. It s very clear that the best form of defending the gains made up until now is democratic opposition to article 155, Puigdemont said in a brief statement. | 1 |
2,755 | 'Like a roar': Dozens killed in blasts at Indonesia fireworks plant | KOSAMBI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Two explosions tore through a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Indonesia s capital on Thursday, killing at least 47 people and injuring dozens. It was one of Indonesia s worst industrial disasters and is likely to cast a new spotlight on lax safety standards in the Southeast Asian country, where rules are often ignored or weakly enforced. Workers had no time to escape from the plant in Tangerang, an industrial and manufacturing hub to the west of Jakarta, after the explosions that one neighbor described as a roar that could be heard miles away. A video of the scene inside the warehouse, widely shared on social media, showed charred bodies sprawled about the burnt-out factory, and Reuters reporters at the scene saw grass scorched over an area about 10 meters (33 feet) from the site. People were burned so badly you couldn t see their faces ... It was really bad, said search and rescue official Deden Nurjaman, who expected the death toll to climb as more bodies were found inside the factory. Fireworks are frequently used in Indonesia for religious and other celebrations, and are widely available. There have been a series of major fires in Indonesia this year, including one that engulfed one of Jakarta s main markets. Thick, dark plumes of smoke billowed from the factory through the afternoon as an inferno took hold. As night fell, the PT Panca Buana Cahaya Sukses warehouse was still smoldering and there was a stench of chemicals and burning plastic. Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono told Metro Television that 47 bodies had been discovered, 46 people were injured and 10 people were unaccounted for. He said the missing might have left with light injuries or not have been working at the time. One of the first policemen on the scene, Raymond Masengi, told Metro TV that he and other officers had to smash holes in the factory wall to help the injured escape. Fiza, a doctor in the emergency unit at Tangerang General Hospital, said he was treating seven people, some of them with burns to more than 80 percent of their bodies. Three were in critical condition. A nearby mosque held prayers for the victims. Forensic police worked in fading light to examine the debris, setting up a few floodlights to try and establish the cause of the blaze. Yuwono said police were looking into the permit of the factory, which was close to a school and housing and - according to media reports - had been operating for only two months. A witness who lives around the corner from the factory said she heard an explosion like a roar . I dressed and stepped outside the house, and saw the flames, they were almost in my face. The smoke, the heat was in my face. I panicked, I was scared, I picked up my son and ran away from the fire, said Kartini, 40, who uses one name, like many Indonesians. Hundreds of children at a school just 100 meters (yards) from the factory jumped in terror over a wall as the explosions boomed, dropping books and bags in their haste to get away. Science teacher Asep Mahmud, 47, said: There were several small explosions and then one really big one that shook our buildings and desks. (This story has been refiled to correct typo in second paragraph) | 1 |
2,756 | BREAKING: FL MUSLIM TERRORIST Worked For Security Company Who Quietly Transports And RELEASES Van Loads Of ILLEGAL ALIENS Away From Border For U.S. Government | As a side note, the illegal aliens who are being dropped off across America in vans are OTM s or Other Than Mexicans. Can the mainstream media PLEASE start doing their job and exposing this corrupt administration? In a surprising discovery, the Palm Beach Post first reported that according to state records, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen who as we reported earlier was licensed as a security guard and also holds a firearms license was employed by the US subsidiary of G4S plc, a British multinational security services company, whose US-headquarters are located in Jupiter, Fla, and which also happens to be the world s largest security company by revenue.Shortly thereafter, G4S confirmed that Omar Mateen has worked for the company since 2007. This is the statement released from G4S: We are shocked and saddened by the tragic event that occurred at the Orlando nightclub. We can confirm that Omar Mateen had been employed with G4S since September 10, 2007. We are cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the friends, families and people affected by this unspeakable tragedy. In other words, Mateen who according to preliminary reports, had been on a terrorist watchlist, and who still managed to obtain weapons thanks to his various licenses and permits just last week, was employed by one of the world s largest security companies, where he may have had extensive clearances well above his pay grade, not to mention access to sophisticated military weapons and equipment.But where it gets more disturbing is that as Judicial Watch reported several days ago, in a post titled, DHS Quietly Moving, Releasing Vanloads Of Illegal Aliens Away From Border , border patrol sources said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was quietly transporting illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to Phoenix and releasing them without proper processing or issuing court appearance documents. As a reminder, the government classifies them as Other Than Mexican (OTM) and this week around 35 were transferred 116 miles north from Tucson to a Phoenix bus station where they went their separate way. Judicial Watch was present when one of the white vans carrying a group of OTMs arrived at the Phoenix Greyhound station on Buckeye Road.And this is where the Mateen-G4S link emerges: as JW reported previously, a security company contracted by the U.S. government is driving the OTMs from the Border Patrol s Tucson Sector where they were in custody to Phoenix, sources said. The firm is the abovementioned G4S, the world s leading security solutions group with operations in more than 100 countries and 610,000 employees. G4S has more than 50,000 employees in the U.S. and its domestic headquarters is in Jupiter, Florida.Judicial Watch noted that it had filed a number of public records requests to get more information involving the arrangement between G4S and the government, specifically the transport of illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to other parts of the country. The photo below shows the uniformed G4S guard that transported the OTMs this week from Tucson to Phoenix.Outraged Border Patrol agents and supervisors on the front lines say illegal immigrants are being released in droves because there s no room to keep them in detention. They re telling us to put them on a bus and let them go, said one law enforcement official in Arizona. Just move those bodies across the country. Officially, DHS denies this is occurring and in fact earlier this year U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske blasted Border Patrol union officials for denouncing this dangerous catch-and-release policy. Kerlikowske s scolding came in response to the congressional testimony of Bandon Judd, chief of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union that represents line agents. Judd told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that illegal immigrants without serious criminal convictions can be released immediately and disappear into the shadows. Kerlikowske shot back, telling a separate congressional committee: I would not stand by if the Border Patrol was releasing people without going through all of the formalities.Meanwhile, the Hill reported that Mateen s employment, and gun licenses, were untouched even though the FBI confirmed it had interviewed the 29-year-old three times before the shooting took place early Sunday morning. An official said that the FBI first became aware of the suspect, Omar Mateen, 29, in 2013 when he made inflammatory comments to coworkers alleging possible terrorist ties. In the course of that investigation, Mateen was interviewed twice, but the FBI was unable to verify the substance of his comments. Via: Zero HedgeShares in G4S have fallen heavily after the UK security services company said Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was an employee.G4S said Mateen was an armed security officer and that it was trying to establish whether weapons used in the attack on the Pulse gay nightclub were related to his work. The company supplies its armed employees with guns in the US and does not allow them to use their own.G4S shares dropped by as much as 7.5% and were the biggest fallers among leading UK shares. The company employs 620,000 people in more than 110 countries and the US is one of its biggest markets.Jasper Lawler, an analyst at CMC Markets, a City spread betting firm, said it did not look good for G4S to have employed Mateen while he was being investigated by the FBI. G4S has more than 50,000 employees in the US, a large proportion of which are involved in government contracts. If the name of G4S starts getting dragged through the mud, US contracts may become harder to come by. Via: Guardian | 0 |
2,757 | This Bank Ripped Us Off In a HUGE Way, Now Obama Is Making Them Pay Millions For It | If you listen to conservatives, big money interests like the banks have been unfairly attacked by progressives like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. According to them, the system isn t rigged and progressives are just being conspiracy theorists.But now a massive plot inside one of America s biggest banks has been exposed, and the Obama administration is going to make them pay for what they ve done.5,300 Wells Fargo employees are going to be fired, after it was exposed that they have been secretly signing up thousands of customers for accounts they didn t ask for. They did it so they could collect fees and add to their earnings. From CNN Money:The phony accounts earned the bank unwarranted fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales figures and make more money. Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses, Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement.Now, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a government agency created by President Obama and in part credited to Senator Warren, is stepping in to make the bank pay. Wells Fargo will have to pay full restitution to the victims of its greed, including annual fees, interest charges, and overdraft-protection fees that it deceitfully collected.The bank has entered into an agreement with CFPB to pay $185 million in fines, and $5 million in a refund to its customers.It s worth remembering that Republicans backed by donations from the banking and financial industry have tried repeatedly to attack and defund CFPB. Despite the agency being solely dedicated to consumer rights (as opposed to industry concerns, as in other government departments like the notoriously pro-industry Department of Interior), the supposedly populist right has still opposed it.To his credit, not only has Obama defended CFPB, he has argued again and again that Congress should fund it and allow it to stand up for consumers.Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
2,758 | Germany investigating reports of refugees forced into prostitution | BERLIN (Reuters) - German authorities are investigating reports that asylum seekers in a Berlin refugee camp were forced into prostitution, officials said, adding that they had not been able to confirm that such incidents had taken place. The allegations come amid heightened concern at Germany s ability to integrate the 1.1 million refugees who arrived in 2015 and 2016. The political parties negotiating to form a new national coalition government are arguing over whether to impose a cap on immigration numbers. Broadcaster ZDF reported on Tuesday that employees of a security company that runs several refugee camps in Berlin were luring asylum seekers, some of them minors, into prostitution. Both national government and Berlin city officials said they were investigating the allegations, and Berlin said its staff would be given further training to help them identify such cases. If the allegations of security staff profiting from and driving refugees into prostitution are true, these would be very serious charges, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. Exploiting the material hardship in which many refugees and immigrants live is totally unacceptable. Forcing people into prostitution is morally reprehensible, he said. | 1 |
2,759 | WOW! CHILD RAPE VICTIM That Hillary Laughed About Comes Forward: “I can never forgive her” [Video[ | The audio of Hillary Clinton laughing about getting a child rapist a lighter sentence is pretty shocking for a couple of reasons: The accent on Hillary is very different from the many other accents she s presented to the public. It s strange because she s from Illinois! What the heck! Check it out and tell us what you think. The other thing that s so shocking is Hillary s blatant disregard for the victim in this case. It s actually really sickening to hear her speak of the 12-year old with such disregard. It s rare that we get a glimpse into the REAL Hillary so here it is in all its glory pretty scary huh?A child rape victim says she cannot forgive Hillary Clinton for defending her rapist in court 40 years ago, saying the Democratic presidential candidate attacked her credibility despite knowing that her assailant was guilty and later laughed about it in a taped interview.Kathy Shelton was just 12 years old when a 41-year-old drifter raped her on the side of a desolate Arkansas road in 1975.Now, four decades later, she has agreed to be named and pictured for the first time in this Daily Mail Online exclusive because she is furious that her rapist s defense attorney Hillary Clinton has been portraying herself as a lifelong advocate of women and girls on the campaign trail. It s put a lot of anger back in me, said Shelton, now 54, in an exclusive interview at her Springdale, Arkansas, home in August. Every time I see [Clinton] on TV I just want to reach in there and grab her, but I can t do that. In 1975, Clinton served as the defense lawyer for Thomas Alfred Taylor, a 41-year-old factory worker accused of raping Shelton after luring her to his car.Taylor pleaded down to unlawful fondling of a minor and served less than a year in prison after Clinton was able to block the admission of forensic evidence that linked her client to the crime.In a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail Online, Shelton said Clinton is lying when she claims to be a lifelong defender of women and girls. HILLARY LAUGHS WHEN DISCUSSING GETTING CHILD RAPIST OFF WITH LIGHT SENTENCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tor00iWUhDQRead more: Daily Mail | 0 |
2,760 | France says progress in Brexit talks shows common sense prevailing | PARIS (Reuters) - Common sense is prevailing in Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union, France s foreign minister said on Friday, as he welcomed signs that talks were moving into a new phase after an initial breakthrough. The European Commission said on Friday enough progress had been made in Brexit negotiations with Britain and that a second phase of discussions should begin, ending an impasse over the status of the Irish border. The work that has been done on negotiations ... is gradually leading us to common sense, Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Inter radio. We wanted the conditions for (Britain s) withdrawal to be clearly defined to be able to move into another phase. That s what s going to happen now, I hope. | 1 |
2,761 | HOW MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS HAVE DESTROYED BRITAIN’S PRICELESS HERITAGE: [VIDEO] Why Generations Of Brit’s Will Pay Dearly For Their Naive “Open Arms” Policy For Muslim Immigrants | The result of Britain s willingness to allow Muslims to immigrate in massive numbers to their country is shocking. This video is a real eye opener and should be viewed by every American:https://youtu.be/KilJkG5Ndks | 0 |
2,762 | China says hopes U.S. can abandon bias, view China objectively | BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday it hopes the United States can abandon its bias and see China objectively, following U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson s call for a broader alliance to check instances of Beijing s disadvantageous influence in Asia. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters China steadfastly upheld the international order with the United Nations at the core. Tillerson said on Wednesday ahead of a visit to India the Trump administration wants to dramatically deepen cooperation with New Delhi, adding U.S. seeks constructive relations with China but will not shrink from instances where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries and disadvantages the U.S. and its friends. | 1 |
2,763 | As Germans clip Merkel's wings, Brussels braces for turbulence | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Cheers from Angela Merkel s conservative allies in Brussels at her re-election on Sunday belie wider unease at how the German chancellor will deal with an awkward new coalition and a surge in support for the far-right. With Angela Merkel, Germany remains the strong and reliable partner in Europe, tweeted Manfred Weber, a Merkel ally who leads the biggest party bloc in the European Parliament. But one source in the European People s Party saw trouble ahead in her need to replace her battered Social Democrat grand coalition partners with an alliance of both the left-leaning Greens and the resurgent, economically hawkish liberals of the FDP. Things worked very smoothly with the socialists, the EPP source said. Now, you don t know what s going to happen. The broad expectation is for a Jamaica coalition the country s flag comprises the three parties colors. Martin Selmayr, German chief-of-staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, sent a tweet consisting only of three flags: Jamaica s green, yellow and black flanked by two blue EU banners a reflection of hope in Brussels of continued EU commitment from Berlin that some fear may now be problematic. One casualty of Merkel s weakness may be a rapid move to deepen integration of the euro zone along lines that new French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to outline on Tuesday. Those plans, as with reform proposals floated this month by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, may run into increased scepticism in Berlin, where many are wary of what they see as more demands for German bailouts of states like Greece. Resistance may come both from Merkel s Christian Democrats, spooked by the surge on their right flank, where Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered parliament as the third biggest party, and from the Free Democrats (FDP), whose leader Christian Lindner ruled out Germany contributing to a shared euro zone budget. The liberal leader in the European Parliament, committed federalist and former Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt, said he hoped for a pro-European coalition to push EU integration. The FDP leader in the EU legislature, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, said it was an open-minded, pro-European party . The European Greens German co-chair Reinhard Butikofer said his party wanted to strengthen the European Union, making use of the window of opportunity that exists ... between Paris, Brussels and Berlin . He was referring to a keynote speech by Juncker 10 days ago in which the EU chief executive said anti-EU populists were in retreat and called for deeper EU integration. But Guntram Wolff, the German director of the Brussels think-tank Bruegel, questioned Juncker s thinking. He forecast a rightward shift in Germany due to the AfD and resistance from the FDP that would stymie Macron and Juncker s grand visions. Populism definitely not dead, Wolff tweeted. Juncker speech completely miscalculated the situation. | 1 |
2,764 | WMD FRAUD: Sexed-up UN ‘Chemical Weapons’ Report on Syria Contrived to Trigger More Sanctions, Intervention | 21st Century Wire says When the UN released its summary of their chemical weapons report on August 30th, the usual suspects led by the US, UK and France, immediately rushed to their media pulpits to claim that this was proof that Syria, under the leadership of President Bashar al Assad, was somehow guilty (again) of the charge of using chlorine bombs against its own people. This latest UN report was the result of a year-long joint inquiry with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Before the full report was even released, western officials and their media surrogates began hysterically claiming that it was imperative for the UN Security Council to move for more sanctions against Syria, to impose a Safe Zone (No-Fly Zone) and to possibly give more license to increasing US-led military intervention in Syria. When confronted with the summary of the yet-to-be released report, Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, came straight out of the gates, stating it was wrong to jump to conclusions before actually reading the report, replying simply, There are a number of questions which have to be clarified before we accept all the findings of the report. Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin.This week the full report was finally released, and as it turns out Russia s Churkin was 100% correct. The report, as with many other US-led attempts to fabricate cases of weapons of mass destruction against governments it wishes to depose, seems at the very least to be sexed-up, and at most a completely fraudulent assessment of events on the ground in Syria. The only real conclusive findings in this report point to ISIS using sulfur mustard gas in Syria. Once again, the West, led by the United States, has attempted to position what appears to be another fabricated case against the Syrian government and place that in the same report next to real findings of a malicious ISIS chemical weapons attack in a somewhat crude attempt to conflate the two (ISIS and Assad) in the court of public opinion.Even worse than attempting to falsely attribute chemical weapons attacks to Syria and Assad, the UN is also guilty of ignoring witness testimonies that have said chlorine attacks were in fact staged by western-backed rebels (see details and assessment of the UN report below). POWELL & POWER: Same WMD fraud, different target nation. You could tell that a desperate agenda was in play judging by the over-the-top and leading statements made by US, UK and French representatives before the report was released two weeks ago.Of course, leading the charge, with a her summary of the yet-to-be released fraudulent assessment in hand, was R2P hawk and US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, who insisted that Syria must pay a price . She added, It is incumbent on the council to act swiftly to show that when we put that Joint Investigative Mechanism in place we were serious about there being meaningful accountability. Once again, just like Colin Powell before her, and as with Iraq the west brazenly touts another dodgy dossier, custom-made for yet another humanitarian stitch-up. British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft also joined-in the diplomatic pantomime, saying the UK is calling for the imposition of a sanctions regime and some form of accountability within international legal mechanisms. French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre demanded a quick and strong security council response and said, We need a resolution with teeth. Back in August 2013, Western and Saudi-backed rebels launched an elaborate media-driven WMD hoax also designed to assign blame to the Syrian Government for sarin gas attacks in East Ghouta, Damascus. Western newspapers ran photos of Assad with headlines like, Now They re Gassing Their Own Children (image, above). On the back of that stunt, both the US and the UK even went so far as to press for a declaration of war vote in both their parliaments. Unfortunately for their military industrial complexes, the public did not buy it, but that hasn t discouraged them to keep on trying.What s more shocking however, is why the United Nations would allow its name to be attributed to such a fraudulent and misleading document one that is clearly designed to bolster another bogus case for western military intervention. In the end, this type of self-interested abuse and manipulation by certain UN Security Council members only serves to damage the credibility of the UN as an international arbiter and the institution as a whole (maybe that s part of the West s agenda too).Verdict: The evidence presented in the UN report derives hearsay reporting only from activists and rebels (listed terrorist groups), in effect, lowering the bar so that absolutely no burden of proof is required by accusing parties.Considering what is at stake, and knowing full-well just how the US, UK, France and its NATO allies have demonstrated they are willing to conjure any report of chemical attacks by the regime and will hold this up as a violation of Barack Obama and Washington s ethereal Red Line this is leads immediately to calls to mount another humanitarian intervention.Joining in the party also, are the West s new instruments of war: high-profile human rights charities with links the US State Department. One such organization, Human Rights Watch, whose CEO Ken Roth has already been seen on multiple occasions tweeting fake Syria images in order to build the case for regime change , called on the UN Security council to renew its resolution referring Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch stated, Russia and China don t have a leg to stand on by continuing to obstruct the Security Council, he said, The Security Council diminishes its importance if it doesn t take strong action against demonstrated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government. To learn more about Human Rights NGOs are being used to support western imperial objectives read 21WIRE s detailed report on this subject:AN INTRODUCTION: SMART POWER & THE HUMAN RIGHTS INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXMore on the Washington s latest dodgy dossier from award-winning journalist Robert Parry Robert Parry Consortium NewsUnited Nations investigators encountered evidence that alleged chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian military were staged by jihadist rebels and their supporters, but still decided to blame the government for two incidents in which chlorine was allegedly dispersed via improvised explosives dropped by helicopters.In both cases, the Syrian government denied that it had any aircraft in the areas at the times of the purported attacks, but the U.N. team rejected that explanation with the curious argument that Syria failed to provide flight records to corroborate the absence of any flights. Yet, if there had been no flights, there would be no flight records.The U.N. team also dismissed out of hand the possibility that jihadist rebels who had overrun some air bases and thus had operational helicopters at their disposal might have used them as part of a staged event designed to incriminate the Damascus regime and thus justify U.S. or other outside military intervention.Another problem with the U.N. team s findings is that the home-made chlorine bombs had minimal military value, inflicting relatively few casualties and only a handful of deaths.Why the Syrian government, which was under intense international pressure regarding alleged chemical weapons use and was in the process of surrendering its stockpile of such weapons, would have jerry-rigged a handful of homemade bombs and dropped them for no discernible military effect makes little sense.However, since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been thoroughly demonized over his harsh reaction to an uprising that began in 2011, pretty much any accusation against him no matter how unlikely or implausible is widely accepted in the mainstream Western media and political circles. In other words, the U.N. team was under pressure to reach a guilty verdict.Accusations of StagingYet, the evidence from at least one of the incidents examined by the U.N. team suggests that an attack on Al-Tamanah on the night of April 29-30, 2014, might well have been staged by rebels and then played up by activists through social media. Seven witnesses stated that frequent alerts [about an imminent chlorine weapons attack by the government] had been issued, but in fact no incidents with chemicals took place, the U.N. report stated. While people sought safety after the warnings, their homes were looted and rumours spread that the events were being staged. [T]hey [these witnesses] had come forward to contest the wide-spread false media reports. Accounts from other people, who did allege that there had been a government chemical attack on Al-Tamanah, provided suspect evidence, including data from questionable sources, according to the U.N. report.The report said, Three witnesses, who did not give any description of the incident on 29-30 April 2014, provided material of unknown source. One witness had second-hand knowledge of two of the five incidents in Al-Tamanah, but did not remember the exact dates. Later that witness provided a USB-stick with information of unknown origin, which was saved in separate folders according to the dates of all the five incidents mentioned by the FFM (the U.N. s Fact-Finding Mission). Another witness provided the dates of all five incidents reading it from a piece of paper, but did not provide any testimony on the incident on 29-30 April 2014. The latter also provided a video titled site where second barrel containing toxic chlorine gas was dropped tamanaa 30 April 14 Some other witnesses alleging a Syrian government attack offered curious claims about detecting the chlorine-infused barrel bombs based on how the device sounded in its descent.The U.N. report said, The eyewitness, who stated to have been on the roof, said to have heard a helicopter and the very loud sound of a falling barrel. Some interviewees had referred to a distinct whistling sound of barrels that contain chlorine as they fall. The witness statement could not be corroborated with any further information. As in other cases that were investigated, the U.N. team demanded that the Syrian government provide flight records to support its denial that any of its aircraft were in the air in that vicinity at the time of the attack. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic stated that no military activities were conducted from land or air in Al-Tamanah on the dates of the incidents, but did not provide any records of flight operations to support this statement, the U.N. report said.In the Al-Tamanah case, the U.N. team judged the evidence insufficient to reach a firm judgment regarding who was responsible. However, in two other cases, in Talmenes in April 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015, the U.N. team accused the Syrian military of dropping chlorine-infused barrel bombs. Investigative LimitationsYet, regarding all eight cases that were examined, the U.N. team acknowledged significant limitations on its ability to investigate.The report said, As was the case with the Fact-Finding missions, the lack of access to the locations under investigation due to the dire security situation on the ground affected the manner in which the Mechanism [a committee from the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] was able to conduct its investigation. Visits to certain locations would have facilitated the ability of the Mechanism to (a) confirm and access specific locations of interest; (b) collect comparative environmental samples; (c) identify new witnesses; and (d) physically evaluate the material of interest to the Mechanism (e.g., remnants). Other challenges and constraints include the following factors: (a) the time period that had elapsed since the incident (i.e. in some cases, more than two years since the incident); (b) the lack of chain of custody for some of the material received; (c) the source of information and material was of secondary or tertiary nature; (d) some of the information material, including those depicting the size and nature of the incident, were misleading; (e) finding independent sources of information that could provide access to individuals and information material proved difficult; and (f) the impact locations were not preserved and were compromised by the time they were recorded (e.g., the videos and photographs of the impact locations were taken days after the incident and in many cases after the remnants had been removed from the impact location). In other words, the U.N./OPCW investigation was compromised by its inability to conduct an effective on-the-ground assessment and was forced to rely on witnesses who were often allied with the rebel forces or sympathetic to the political opposition to President Assad.This problem is reminiscent of what happened inside the U.S. Intelligence Community in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq when some 18 witnesses supposedly defectors from Saddam Hussein s regime became walk-ins who presented claims about the Iraqi government s supposed weapons of mass destruction.CIA analysts debunked some of these bogus claims and traced some of the deceit to the machinations of the pro-invasion Iraqi National Congress (INC), but given the political-and-media hatred of Saddam Hussein the CIA analysts were under intense pressure to accept some of the dubious accounts that were then incorporated into U.S. intelligence products and used to justify a war under false pretenses.As with Iraq where the U.S. government had helped fund anti-regime groups such as the INC a similar situation exists inside Syria where U.S. officials have assisted the opposition in organizing politically and mastering propaganda skills. So, the means and opportunity for depicting regime atrocities through social media are there, along with the motive.These activists as well as the radical jihadists and other armed rebels have become increasingly desperate to induce the United States to intervene militarily against the Syrian army and thus make their desired regime change possible. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Aug. 30, 2013, claims to have proof that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21, 2013, but that evidence failed to materialize or was later discredited. [State Department photo]Obama s Red LineThe emphasis on creating a chemical weapons casus belli increased when President Barack Obama set the Syrian government s possible use of such weapons as a red line that might cause him to intervene directly with U.S. forces.That comment and the political pressure for instituting another Mideast regime change were the backdrop for the sarin gas attack outside Damascus on Aug. 21, 2013, which anti-Assad activists, the mainstream U.S. press, and the U.S. State Department immediately blamed on government forces.In the ensuing days, Obama came to the edge of authorizing a retaliatory military strike before hearing from U.S. and other Western intelligence services that they had doubts about who had actually pulled off the attack.Since then, the sarin case against Assad has largely collapsed (although to defuse the crisis he agreed to a Russian plan for Syria to surrender all its chemical weapons). The evidence now appears to indicate that radical jihadists released the sarin with the goal of goading Obama into joining the war on their side, i.e., a false-flag operation.As the sarin case fell apart in 2014, the U.S. government shifted its emphasis toward chlorine-gas allegations. I first encountered this bait-and-switch tactic when I pressed a senior State Department official to back up or back off the increasingly discredited sarin gas claims.While sidestepping the sarin case, the official asserted that the Syrian government almost surely was responsible for the more recent chlorine-gas incidents, citing the bombs delivery by helicopter and arguing that only the Syrian government possessed such aircraft.According to the U.N. report, however, that belief regarding the government s monopoly of helicopters may not be true, since rebel forces had captured air bases where operational helicopters were present. That means, at least theoretically, the jihadists could have staged the night-time attacks complete with prior alarms spread by activist first-responders, known as white helmets, about the imminent arrival of government helicopters with chlorine bombs.But the more nettlesome question, which the U.N. report does not address, is why would the Syrian government launch these strange attacks while realizing that any chemical weapons incident could prompt U.S. military intervention that could tip the war in favor of the jihadists and other rebels, especially since the chlorine attacks had virtually no military value.Few FatalitiesWhile the makeshift chlorine bombs may have sent scores of civilians to get medical attention, very few of the casualties were fatal, according to the U.N. report. By contrast, the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin attack killed hundreds, with the U.S. government putting out an even higher (and almost surely exaggerated) number of 1,429 dead Continue this report at Consortium NewsREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria Files | 0 |
2,765 | GOP Congressmen Storm Out Of Meeting When Fellow Republican Bashes Homosexuality | Dozens of Republicans walked out of a meeting being held in the Capitol basement on Thursday after one of their fellow conservatives suggested that they d sinned by supporting a proposal to protect the LGBT community from discrimination.The bill was focused about government spending, but contained an added provision that read: Nothing in the underlying spending bills can undermine President Obama s executive order barring discrimination by government contractors based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Many Republican congressmen had actually been in support of this provision, which was unbearable to a bigot like Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA). Incapable of accepting the fact that LGBT individuals should have the same protections that the rest of the American population is afforded, Allen tried to make the congressmen change their minds about backing the anti-discrimination proposal through one of the GOP s favorite tactics: shame. Allen decided to accomplish this by reading a Bible verse that condemned homosexuality, emphasizing that anyone who was pro-LGBT and supported the proposal were opposing Christianity . Completely shocked and disgusted by what one of their own fellow conservatives had done, the Bible reading disturbed the meeting and prompted an epic walkout by dozens of Republicans.After storming out of the meeting, one anonymous Republican that was in attendance vented about Allen and told The Hill, It was f*cking ridiculous. An aide noted that, A lot of members were clearly uncomfortable and upset. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also spoke on the incident, saying: House Republicans thirst to discriminate against the LGBT community is so strong that they are willing to vote down their own appropriations bill in order to prevent progress over bigotry. This incident truly proves just how important bigotry and denying people their human rights is to the GOP. It s a party that is clearly incapable of moving forward to modern times, even as some members of their party denounce the old school hateful rhetoric. Republicans like Allen represent the worst of conservatives, and are willing to shame their own in order to block this country from moving forward. We may not like what the Republican party stands for, but the GOPers who voted for LGBT equality and turned their backs on a fellow conservative s hateful rhetoric ought to be commended. Hopefully Allen will learn something from this.Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
2,766 | Nobel peace laureate group tells U.S., North Korea to negotiate | OSLO (Reuters) - A survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and the leader of the group that won this year s Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday urged the United States and North Korea to tone down their rhetoric and negotiate together to avoid a nuclear strike. Tensions have risen markedly in recent months over North Korea s development, in defiance of repeated rounds of U.N. sanctions, of nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States. A missile test last week prompted a U.S. warning that North Korea s leadership would be utterly destroyed if war were to break out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after North Korean tests. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was awarded this year s Nobel Peace Prize by a Nobel committee that cited the spread of nuclear weapons by countries like North Korea and the growing risk of an atomic war. Graphic of Nobel laureates: tmsnrt.rs/2y6ATVW Setsuko Thurlow, an 85-year-old survivor of the Hiroshima bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, and Beatrice Fihn, ICAN s executive director, will receive the prize together on Sunday at Oslo City Hall in front of King Harald and Queen Sonja. No human being should suffer what we suffered, Thurlow, who was 13 at the time of the attack and is now an ICAN campaigner, told reporters on Saturday. I deeply and strongly urge the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. never to use nuclear weapons ... Negotiate. A diplomatic solution is the only solution. ICAN s Fihn said that the risk of a nuclear war had increased over the past year. There is an urgent threat right now, she told reporters. I would very strongly urge the leaders (of North Korea and the U.S.) to back down from their very dangerous rhetoric. Stop threatening to use weapons of mass destruction. Engage in a diplomatic solution. ICAN is a coalition of grassroots non-governmental groups in more than 100 nations that began in Australia. It has campaigned for a U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by 122 nations in July. It needs to be ratified by 50 states to come into force. So far only three have done so: the Holy See, Thailand and Guyana. The treaty is not signed by - and would not apply to - any of the states that already have nuclear arms, which include the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France, as well as India, Pakistan and North Korea. Israel is also widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it neither confirms nor denies it. The U.S., Britain and France are sending second-rank diplomats to the award ceremony, which Fihn said was some kind of protest . | 1 |
2,767 | Trump says tariffs on steel imports 'could happen' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, asked by a reporter on Wednesday if he would impose tariffs on steel imports, said it “could happen.” Trump initiated a ‘Section 232’ review of the U.S. steel industry that allows for the imposition of tariffs or quotas on imports if they are found to threaten national security. His Commerce Department has not yet issued its findings. | 1 |
2,768 | Debt limit showdown looms sooner as wealthy bet on Trump tax cut | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress may be headed for a reckoning with the federal debt limit within weeks, thanks to wealthy Americans and corporations deferring tax payments in the hope that they would benefit from the lower tax rates promised by President Trump. Trump promised tax cuts during his election campaign last year and has reiterated those promises in recent months leading some wealthy Americans and businesses to shift accounting for income into the future, betting that lower tax rates will arrive, perhaps in 2018, wealth managers told Reuters. “Everyone wants to talk about deferring income,” said Mark Copeland, senior partner at Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC in Newport Beach, California. The U.S. stock market has also rallied since Trump’s election victory in November, partly on hopes for lower corporate tax rates. “We are starting to prepare clients for potentially lower taxes in 2018,” said Julia Carlson, chief executive and at Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group LLC in Oregon. Trump promised to cut taxes as far back as September 2015 in a four-page plan and reiterated those promises in a two-page “Contract with the American Voter” before last November’s election and again in a one-page document in April, but Republicans in Congress remain divided on tax reform. The delay to tax payments could help to explain why tax receipts this fiscal year are coming in more slowly than projected, said tax experts and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), an arm of Congress. “Taxpayers may have shifted more income than projected ... to later years, expecting legislation to reduce tax rates to be enacted this year,” the CBO said in a monthly report on Wednesday. The weaker tax revenues this year have forced the U.S. Treasury to borrow more money than expected to cover the federal budget deficit and that is putting the government on track to hit its legal debt limit sooner than expected, experts said. The U.S. government has a legal limit on how much it can borrow, currently set at about $19.8 trillion and the limit can only be increased by a vote of Congress. The need to raise the debt limit usually creates partisan debate in Washington. Conservative Republicans like to use the debt limit issue as leverage to demand cuts in spending but Democrats and moderate Republicans usually oppose such ultimatums on the grounds that the borrowings are used to fund spending approved previously by Congress. This year, with Trump’s legislative agenda stalled and Congress preoccupied by Trump’s firing of former FBI director James Comey, the House Republicans known as the House Freedom Caucus along with outside conservative groups are again demanding spending cuts for support to raise the debt limit. In 2011 the failure to raise the debt limit in a timely way and the possibility that the U.S. government might default on its obligations led to the U.S. losing its prized triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poor’s. Since mid-March the U.S. Treasury has been using emergency funding powers to postpone hitting the debt limit and those measures had been expected to last until about October, but lower tax receipts so far this year may mean the debt limit will be hit sooner-than-expected. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress last month to raise the debt ceiling before lawmakers break for a long August summer recess, a call echoed last week by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. | 1 |
2,769 | MSNBC Host Has PERFECT Response To Coughing GOPer Who Mocked Clinton’s Health (VIDEO) | Ever since Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was forced to leave the 9/11 memorial in New York City yesterday due to health concerns (she was diagnosed with pneumonia), conservatives have been giddy and going insane with accusations that the former Secretary of State is in no condition to be president.MSNBC host Thomas Roberts had the perfect response to all the hype about Clinton s health on Monday when he had Republican National Committee (RNC) Communications Director Sean Spicer on his show and it s going to make the GOP furious while the rest of us laugh. During the live interview with Spicer, Roberts suggested that the Republican might have pneumonia because he coughed a nod to the obsession conservative media has had with Clinton s health ever since she recently had a coughing fit during a rally.Roberts had been questioning Spicer about Republican nominee Donald Trump s charity work when Spicer coughed and cleared his throat. Without skipping a beat, Roberts jumped in and asked, Is that pneumonia? Spicer insisted that it was just a cough and Roberts moved on, asking Spicer if Trump would ever dare to release his taxes. Roberts asked, So before election day, yes or no, do you think we ll get them? Spicer replied, That s up to him to decide, and Roberts followed up by asking the RNC official, Do you care? Spicer gave basically the same response Trump did several days ago, by saying, I don t think that s really top of mind for the American people right now even though it definitely is. Even Trump s own supporters have been begging him to release his tax returns!Robert wrapped up the interview with yet another subtle dig at the GOP. He said, Alright, Sean, good to have you with me. I m glad that the cough is just that: a cough. You can watch Roberts throw some epic shade at Spicer and conservatives below:Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
2,770 | Poland's ruling party tightens grip on big state firms | WARSAW (Reuters) - When presidential aide Malgorzata Sadurska joined the board of Poland s biggest and oldest insurance company this summer, her lack of business experience was no obstacle. Her main qualification to help run state-owned Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU) was something else loyalty to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. What PZU needs is a person who knows the PiS program and is a guarantee that it will be implemented, parliamentary deputy Marek Suski told radio RMF FM as the conservative PiS took to the airwaves to explain her appointment in June. Her task, he said, was to implement the program of the government, which is to repair Poland. Sadurska, 41, is one of hundreds of loyalists brought in to state companies by PiS to tighten its grip on big business and help it implement its conservative, nationalist-minded policies since it returned to power in 2015 after an eight-year absence. The aim is not only to ensure loyalty in major companies and give PiS a say in their personnel, investment and policy decisions. It has also enabled PiS to use such firms as vehicles to buy out foreign interests in the banking and energy sectors, with a U.S.-owned news channel, TVN24, seen by some business leaders as a likely next target because it is critical of the government. Opponents fear public procurement and financing rules are being blurred, giving PiS access to large advertising budgets which can be used to fund publicity campaigns or events that promote the party s agenda. This, they fear, will deepen the concerns of Poland s European Union partners about what they see as an assault on the rule of law and democracy since PiS set its sights on asserting its power over the economy, the judiciary and the media. Aleksander Laszek, chief economist at the Civil Development Forum (FOR), a Warsaw-based economic policy think tank known for its liberal view on the economy, said the PiS moves to assert control of big business were exceptionally strong and brazen. Sadurska s responsibilities at PZU include real estate, strategic partnership programs and bancassurance, under which an insurance company can sell its products to a bank s client base, PZU said. PZU officials gave no further details of what she has done since joining the board. Before her appointment, she had no experience in insurance, finance or business beyond an MBA in business management from her native Lublin region in eastern Poland. But she had won a reputation for dedication to the PiS cause since first being elected to the lower house of parliament in 2005. She has served as secretary of state responsible for labor and social policy and was chief of President Andrzej Duda s chancellery for almost two years from August 2015. Contacted by phone, Sadurska directed Reuters to the PZU press office, which declined to answer emailed questions about her appointment or PZU business policy. Suski also declined to give any details to Reuters. Asked whether Sadurska had been appointed to PZU to implement PiS policy, he said: She is a very good professional . PZU has not said how much Sadurska is paid. Her predecessor, according to PZU financial records, received the equivalent of just over 22,000 euros ($25,850) a month. After a series of personnel changes in the past two years that appear to reward political loyalty, the government now has greater control of the more than 200-year-old firm than at any time since four decades of communist rule ended in 1989. PZU s chief executive officer, Pawel Surowka, is among the recent appointees. An experienced manager who also worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, he was named CEO in April and had been brought in to head PZU s life insurance arm in 2016. Surowka has said it is normal that a company such as his would try to fit in with government economic policy. Government influence has not had any discernible impact on the price of PZU insurance, but PZU s share price has risen by 39 percent this year. The PiS business policy has attracted less attention than its overhaul of the judiciary but the heads of most big state firms have been replaced in the last two years, sweeping away officials appointed under the previous, centrist government. Politics and business rarely act in isolation in any country, and it is not unusual for politicians to cross from parliament to boardroom. But the extent of political control over big state business in Poland alarms government critics. PZU, with 27,000 employees and a market value of about $10.9 billion, has a pivotal role to play in the PiS plans. Late last year, PZU teamed up with the state-run Polish Development Fund to buy back state control over Poland s second-biggest bank, Bank Pekao SA, from Italian UniCredit. Other state firms have also been used as buyout vehicles. In March, state-controlled utility Enea closed a deal to buy a power plant from French Engie and in May Poland s biggest power producer, PGE, announced it would buy French group EDF s local power and heating plants. Some business leaders expect PiS, in tandem with Poland s biggest bank, state-run PKO Bank Polski, to move soon to buy out TVN24 and silence its criticism. A PKO BP spokeswoman dismissed the speculation, saying: There are no such plans ... We don t have this (buying media) in our statute. But a manager at PKO BP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said such a move was likely. Most probably it will be PZU along with PKO that will buy TVN, though no decision has been made, the manager said. Discovery Communications Inc, which is acquiring TVN24-owner Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., said: Our policy is to not comment on market speculation or rumors. PZU has also become a big sponsor of events and campaigns that dovetail with PiS policy. When a publicity campaign began last month in support of the government s planned judicial reform, it was launched by a foundation funded by state-controlled companies including PZU. On Aug. 1, PZU s Warsaw headquarters were illuminated with a symbol of Poland s underground resistance to mark the anniversary of the failed 1944 Warsaw Uprising against occupation by Nazi Germany. PiS has put promotion of Polish wartime victimhood at the center of its appeal to nationalism. Last month, PZU sponsored a picnic organized by an outspoken Catholic priest, Tadeusz Rydzyk, with whom PiS has built an increasingly close alliance. | 1 |
2,771 | Jake Tapper Burns Trump With Bill Maher: He Is ‘Empirically Indecent’ (VIDEO) | A lot about America has changed since the rise of Donald Trump. People thought that his coarse language, his clear racism and misogyny, and just generally appalling behavior would render him unacceptable to the American public. Yet, here we are. Donald Trump is president, and his young administration has fundamentally changed how the world views America, its citizens, and its government. One thing that hasn t changed though is the way some strident and brave media personalities continue to speak truth to power and insist on making sure that Trump s disgusting ways, his incompetence, and his lies don t fundamentally change who we are as a people. Perhaps the breakout star in that regard is CNN s Jake Tapper.Tapper hosts The Lead during the week, and State of the Union on Sunday mornings. On Friday night, the fiery host stopped by HBO s Real Time to have a chat with host Bill Maher. Of course, Maher had to ask about the changes Tapper has had to make now that there s the biggest liar on earth occupying the Oval Office. Tapper responded: You ve been covering politicians for a long time. Politicians lie. It wasn t invented on Jan. 20. I ve never seen this level of falsehood, quantitatively. Tapper went on to distinguish between what happens with say, falsehoods that happened with the Obama Administration such as, If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. He says of the lies coming out of the Trump White House: It s conspiracy theories based on nothing that have members of his own party distancing themselves from him. Then the conversation turns to Trump s vulgarity and other fundamental affronts to basic human decency in public discourse. Tapper says of the way Trump behaved on the campaign trail and how he continues to behave: The truth of the matter is that there is no bias when it comes to facts and there s no bias when it comes to decency. It s empirically indecent to make fun of the disabled. That s just indecent. My children know better than that. The two hosts then went on to reference what we all know which is that most of the fundamental things that make Trump so awful, we all learn not to do in grade school. Maher says:I always think about that book Everything I Needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten. He violates every rule. Don t lie, don t accuse people of things they re not guilty of. Don t boast. Pay your taxes. Serve your country. Don t be a racist, don t insult like you say the handicapped people or other people who are not as lucky to be as great looking as you are, Donald. And yet, in spite of all of these things, people still voted for this fundamentally indecent, sorry excuse for a human being. That says things about this nation that we really need to examine, should we survive this nightmare of a presidency. Watch the video below:Featured image via Scott Eisen/Getty Images | 0 |
2,772 | Michigan Silently Gave Clean Water To State Employees For Months Before Flint Crisis Broke | Starting an entire year ago in January of 2015 long before the Flint water crisis broke into mainstream public awareness the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget determined that state employees needed an alternate source of clean drinking water. They began stocking water coolers on each floor of their offices for employee use.Flint residents were sent a notice that the level of trihalomethanes, which can cause liver and kidney problems, were exceeding federal limits yet the city insisted the water was still fine and no actions needed to be taken to correct it. The notice followed two separate boil advisories in August and September of 2014. Despite assuring the citizens of the city that the water was safe, officials at the capitol gave state employees clean water to drink from coolers, instead of municipal sources like fountains and faucetsAccording to documentation, the coolers were to remain for employees to use as long as the public water does not meet treatment requirements. via Progress MichiganThe residents of Flint, as you know by now, did not deserve such consideration. It took nearly an entire year for them to start being taken seriously by the state government. This came only after the story finally broke loose in the national media in a huge and embarrassing spectacle for state Republicans. If the media had not forced state Republicans hands on this issue, people would still be drinking poison today. Water only started being distributed in January of 2016 in any kind of substantial way in the city, by the national guard.Even the excuse of saving money which was given by the Governor has been called into doubt. Recent emails which were released by Governor Rick Snyder under intense pressure by the media show that if Flint had simply stayed with Detroit water the city would have saved as much, if not more money, anyway.Featured image via pixabay | 0 |
2,773 | REEBOK JOINS The Left’s War Against President Trump…Berates Him On Twitter For Complimenting French President Macron’s Wife | Brigitte Macron is 24 years older than her husband. She is 64-years old and is in great shape for a woman of her age. As a female, who is younger than Mrs. Macron, I would be thrilled if the most powerful man in the world shook my hand and offered me a sincere compliment about what great shape I was in. Mrs. Macron didn t likely wake up one morning and decide she wanted to be a stunning 64-year old woman. She likely had to work at it. Being a 64-year old woman who is married to a charismatic 39-year old man, who is also the newly elected leader of France is probably not that easy. She likely has a rigorous workout schedule, and if she is like most women, she appreciates it when someone notices how hard she works to stay in great shape. It is possible that Macron has simply been gifted with great genes and does nothing at all to stay in great shape , but either way, a compliment about her appearance was likely appreciated by the 64-year old stunner. The Daily Mail ran a wildly popular article in May about Brigitte Macron titled:How DOES Macron s wife defy her age? Experts claim hair extensions, veneers, designer style and some very subtle cosmetic surgery keep Brigitte Trogneux, 64, looking so youthfulHmmm We don t remember the outrage from the media over the Daily Mail article that explored every possibility that could explain Macron s age-defying look, that ran just prior to France s election. There will, of course, always be critics. After all, the compliment didn t just come from any man, it came from the man who was not supposed to defeat the media s candidate, Hillary Clinton.Many on social media have criticized the Macron couple s difference in age. Macron s campaign was very aware that the age difference could be a turn off to some voters, as the media was quick to dispel any thoughts that Brigitte was some sort of pedophile or cougar. They shared the Macron s unusual story of how Emmanuel Macron fell in love with his wife Brigitte while she was his high school drama teacher. They talked about how he pledged his love to her early on, promising he would come back some day and marry her. (How quickly everyone forgets the criticism Donald Trump got on social media for marrying the much younger Melania.)In case the world hasn t noticed, President Trump doesn t play the same game as other politicians. He s genuine and honest. He says what he feels and most importantly, he says what s in his heart. He s not a career politician, and for that, most of us are grateful. When President Trump greeted Brigitte Macron for the first time, he shook her hand, looked her straight in the eye, and complimented her on how great she looked. Trump simply told her, You re in such great shape and then followed it up by telling her she was beautiful . The media and those on the left went nuts. It wasn t just individuals on social media and leftist journalists who attacked Donald Trump. One major athletic apparel and accessory company took to Twitter to mock our sitting President.For some reason, someone at Reebok thought it would be a good idea to tweet a chart to President Trump to let him know whether or not he should compliment the 64-year old Macron. When did Reebok become the arbiter of free-speech? Who, at Reebok decided it would be a good idea to mock our President on social media? Is Reebok really such a powerful athletic wear company that they can afford to lose half of their customer base over a stupid tweet? In case you were wondering when it IS appropriate to say, "You're in such good shape beautiful," THIS: pic.twitter.com/Z1cnnRD8Ut Reebok (@Reebok) July 14, 2017Note to Reebok: We don t care that President Trump offended French liberals and leftist American journalists. We don t care that he offended Democrat lawmakers, who are constantly looking for a reason to discredit our president. We care that President Trump loves America, and that he wakes up every day thinking about how he ll continue to bring more jobs back to Americans. We admire him for his commitment to putting America first and for his dedication to keeping our nation safe. We don t give a damn if you re offended over President Trump s compliments to Brigitte Macron.The Macron s spent several hours with the Trump s, after President Trump offered his sincere compliments to Brigitte. Many of the photos taken after the first meeting with the Macron s and Trump s defy what the media would like you to believe about Trump s relationship with the French president and his wife. In fact, quite to the contrary, Mr. and Mrs. Macron appeared to be enjoying their visit with America s first couple quite a bit. | 0 |
2,774 | Spain 2018 economic growth forecast at risk due to Catalonia: deputy PM | MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish economy could grow less than initially expected in 2018 due to uncertainty over Catalonia, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sainz de Santamaria said on Friday. The wealthy region s intention to break away after a referendum has plunged Spain into its worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981. The events that we are experiencing in Catalonia make us more prudent, Sainz de Santamaria said after the weekly cabinet meeting. In fact, if there were no quick solution to this issue we should be forced to lower expectations of economic growth for the year 2018, she said. The government expects Spain s economy to grow 2.6 percent in 2018. The deputy prime minister also said that hotel reservations in Catalonia were currently falling 20 percent to 30 percent. | 1 |
2,775 | Iraqi forces retake border crossing with Syria from Islamic State, Shi'ite militias say | ERBIL (Reuters) - Iraq s security forces retook a border crossing with Syria from Islamic State militants on Friday, according to Iran-backed Shi ite militias who are taking part in the offensive. The road, which runs through al-Qaim in Iraq and Albu-Kamal in Syria, was recaptured after Iraqi forces entered al-Qaim on Friday, one of the last remaining towns in the country still held by the militants. | 1 |
2,776 | Trump Is Pretending He Doesn’t Want To Sue The New York Times (TWEET) | Donald Trump reverted to his usual grouchy, unlikable self in another Twitter meltdown on Saturday, ripping into both Maureen Dowd of The New York Times and the paper itself. Dowd told CNN that Trump once told her that the violence at his rallies adds excitement, and the Times ran a separate piece on the nearly $1 billion in tax breaks Trump s real estate empire got from the State of New York. Both seem to have hurt Trump s widdle feewings.In this latest meltdown of his, he posted the following tweet:My lawyers want to sue the failing @nytimes so badly for irresponsible intent. I said no (for now), but they are watching. Really disgusting Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2016That s a load of hogwash if there ever was one. First off, irresponsible intent isn t a crime and his lawyers ought to know that (if they don t, they re terrible lawyers). This is something that Trump himself just made up to sound smart.Besides, if it were a crime he likely would have been locked up for all eternity already.Secondly, Trump is sue-happy to the point that he often gets what he wants in business simply by threatening to sue those who don t do what he wants. He hates the press and has banned outlets from his rallies, in addition to saying he ll open up libel laws after he s elected so that we can sue the media and win lots of money. This also isn t the first time Trump s lawyers have threatened to sue the Times. Earlier this year, the Times ran a story with quotes from an old girlfriend, who later claimed they misrepresented her badly. For its part, the Times issued a statement saying she was quoted accurately, fairly, and at length. Trump s lawyers withdrew their lawsuit threat.So it s not especially likely that Trump doesn t want his lawyers to sue now it s more likely that tweet is a showy lie. He wants to make the threat, but he might want to make it look like he s got hard-hitting lawyers that are somewhat roguish, whom he has to rein in. He s conniving and his image is everything. This might make him look like he s in control.As for us, we can see right through him.Featured image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 0 |
2,777 | DC CHIEF OF POLICE DENIES CONCEALED WEAPONS PERMITS…NO JAIL…Christian Clerk Refuses To Issue Same Sex Marriage Licenses…Guess Where She Ends Up | This is a perfect example of how the left is able to decide which laws they follow and which laws the rest of America follows Kim Davis, the Democrat Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses because of religious objections, was ordered to jail for contempt of court last Thursday. She suggested a compromise of removing her name from the licenses, but Federal District Court Judge David Bunning wouldn t even grant that reasonable compromise.Contrast this with Cathy Lanier, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, refusing to issue concealed weapons permits to people unless they can arbitrarily show a good reason, nothing required by law. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in May stopping her from denying the permits, although notably he did not send Lanier to jail for contempt.Similarly, county sheriffs in California had been denying concealed weapons permits to applicants who failed to show a need beyond self-defense. Last November, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the sheriffs were violating the law. None of those sheriffs were sent to jail, despite the fact that people around the country have died unable to obtain a permit to carry concealed.Or contrast it with the irony of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordering clerks to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2004, contrary to state law. The California Attorney General sued him and the California Supreme Court ultimately put an end to the practice, but Newsom was never sent to jail.Newsom also violated federal law by making San Francisco a sanctuary city in 2007, contrary to existing federal law, but nothing happened to him. The city s sanctuary status resulted in the death of Kate Steinle in July, who was shot by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times and had seven felony convictions. This is a far more drastic result than a clerk who merely does not want her name on marriage licenses, yet nothing is being done to the current mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee. In 2012, Tonya Parker, a lesbian judge in Texas said she would not issue marriage licenses to heterosexual couples until same-sex marriage was legalized. She wasn t put in jail for violating the law, nor does it appear she was even disciplined at all.Not everyone would have taken the position Davis did, some Christians might have resigned rather than deal with a huge battle. Others might not have had such strong objections, viewing matters of sexuality best left alone and without government interference. When I was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona, I represented agencies like the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Philosophically, I disagreed with its very existence. But I was able to separate my personal views from government laws to perform my job.The one thing all reasonable people can agree upon is that Davis was singled out and punished disproportionately compared to other public officials who didn t comply with controversial laws.This isn t about same-sex marriage, nor is it even about gay issues. It is merely one tactic in a larger goal to remove Christianity from the public sphere. There are reasonable compromises that could have been made between those Christians with conscientious objections and the LGBT community plenty of gays consider themselves Christians but the left is deliberately pushing for maximum conflict between the two groups in order to push one out of society.An Oregon judge announced on Friday that he will not perform same-sex marriages. Unlike the lesbian judge who said she would not perform heterosexual marriages, Judge Vance Day was immediately put under an ethics investigation by the Oregon Commission of Judicial Fitness and Disability, which plans to hold a hearing in November.This won t end with public employment. As the public sphere goes, so goes the private sphere. If companies balk, anti-discrimination laws can be used to force them to comply. The left intends to stamp religion out of society, until Christians are left secretly worshiping in their homes, hiding their status outside of the home. This is because the left fundamentally disagrees with Judeo-Christian ethics, which contradict its foundation of anything goes.Until conservatives wake up and start realizing the judicial branch, controlled by the left, has become the most lethal branch, the biggest threat of the three branches to our country and freedom, it will continue abusing the legal system to stamp out conservatism and religion from society. Via: Townhill | 0 |
2,778 | SENATE ‘LIFER’ Caught On Tape Complaining About Trump Hurting His Chances For Reelection [Video] | Senate lifer John McCain was caught on tape complaining about what a Trump candidacy would do to hurt his chances for yet another reelection: | 0 |
2,779 | Preet Bharara Hilariously Trolls Donald Trump Jr. For Failing At Grade School Level Spelling (TWEETS) | If there s one thing that has become abundantly clear over the past year or so, it s that the Trump family isn t all that bright especially when it comes to spelling. They can manage to misspell even the simplest of words and seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that spell check is a thing.On Tuesday, which was the Fourth of July, Donald Trump Jr. sent out a tweet asking what exactly are Big Govt, opprressive taxation, anti 2A left wing socialists celebrating today? Out of curiosity, what exactly are Big Govt, opprressive taxation, anti 2A left wing socialists celebrating today? Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 4, 2017Former United States Attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired while investigating Trump after repeated assurances that his job was secure, responded to Junior s misspelled tweet by hilariously trolling him for failing at grade school level spelling. Also we might celebrate the ability of immigrant spelling bee contestants to know that oppressive has only one r. Build a wwallll, Bharara tweeted back at Trump s son.Also we might celebrate the ability of immigrant spelling bee contestants to know that oppressive has only one r. Build a wwallll. https://t.co/zAed69PxYM Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) July 5, 2017Bharara wasn t the only one to point out Junior s error.I dunno, try literacy? #opprressive Mike Denison (@mikd33) July 4, 2017People who can fucking spell. Gwen Ihnat (@gwenemarie) July 5, 2017Freedom of education and that includes spelling. Also the dream of civil rights, women s rights, and equality for all Americans. Shannon Stirone (@shannonmstirone) July 5, 2017Public education for one. Your education failed you, Junior. Heather Whaley (@HeatherWhaley) July 5, 2017Not free health care and a world class education system that s for sure HanAssholeSolo (@KomptonMusic) July 4, 2017Oppressive *. Your phone literally has spellcheck. Joe Port ?? (@JoePort) July 4, 2017*oppressive They re probably figuring out a way to teach you English Joey Ayoub ? (@joeyayoub) July 5, 2017The freedom to spell oppressive correctly? Chris Lowell (@mrchrislowell) July 5, 2017You would think that since these people are supposed to be the First Family, they would try a little harder to avoid making themselves look like complete morons. Alas, we are asking too much. The Trump s would be an embarrassment at a third-grade spelling bee, so is it any wonder that they humiliate the United States on a daily basis?Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
2,780 | Thailand's political activity ban stays for now: PM | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand s military government on Tuesday said it will not yet lift a ban on political activity, despite a general election scheduled for next year and growing pressure from political parties to lift it. The ban on political party gatherings has been in place since the military seized power in a 2014 coup but there have been growing calls from all political groups to end the ban. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha cited persistent political divisions and mud-slinging as reasons why the ban should stay. We will not lift the ban today but don t be frustrated, Prayuth told reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Today we are still speaking evil. You must stop this so that everyone is at ease, Prayuth said, urging all sides to put aside their differences. Earlier this month, Prayuth said Thailand would hold a general election in November 2018 - the news was largely welcomed by investors in Southeast Asia s second-biggest economy. There has been little opposition to junta rule since 2014, partly because authorities have arrested and jailed dozens of critics. The government had said that parties needed to wait until after the funeral of Thailand s late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was cremated last week, for a decision on when normal political life will resume. Tensions have been festering in Thailand since 2006 when a coup removed then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Since then, the country has witnessed bouts of unrest including deadly street protests. Thailand is divided broadly between those who align themselves with Thaksin and his sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose government was removed in the 2014 coup, and the elite in the capital Bangkok. Thaksin is credited by some as being the first Thai prime minister to tap into the potential of the rural electorate. But he made many enemies among the elite who accuse him of corruption - which he denies. Both Thaksin and Yingluck live abroad. Yingluck fled Thailand in August ahead of a verdict against her in a negligence trial for which she was later found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Thaksin fled to avoid a 2008 jail corruption sentence. Politicians from major parties were upset about the decision not to lift the political activity ban on Tuesday. I want the junta to show some sincerity about the election by lifting the ban, Sunisa Lertpakawat, a member of Thaksin s Puea Thai Party, told Reuters. We haven t got much time. | 1 |
2,781 | HILLARY LIES THROUGH HER TEETH: Defends Paying for Fake Trump Dossier During Campaign [video] | Hillary Clinton told Trevor Noah on the Daily Show that of course there is a difference between paying for that information and colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 election WHAT A LOAD OF BS! She s trying to say that it s a forgone conclusion that Trump colluded with Russia. Clinton said the dossier was simply opposition research and pointed to the fact that it was not public knowledge during the election MORE BS! THE DOSSIER WAS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE DURING THE ELECTION: The NYT even states that, The document, a dossier prepared by a former British intelligence officer hired by Mr. Trump s political opponents, had been circulating among high-ranking politicians and some journalists since last fall. Mother Jones, a left-leaning publication, published an article in late October about the existence of the information. Newsweek also published some of the allegations.It s what she doesn t say that s more important Tonight at 11/10c, Trevor and Hillary Clinton discuss the Steele dossier and Trump's ties to Russia. pic.twitter.com/dxJoAPTj8D The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 1, 2017What she didn t talk about is the fact that this dossier is totally fabricated and was never confirmed to be true but they shopped it around to the media anyway! She funneled millions into the payment for this dossier instead of using it for legal services . She faces an investigation from the Federal elections commission for misusing funds.Clinton said: It was research that started by a Republican donor during the primary, and then when Trump got the nomination for the Republican Party, the people doing it came to my campaign lawyer and said, would you like us to continue it? He said yes. He s an experienced lawyer, he knows what the law is, he knows what opposition research is.DIRTY DOSSIER:The dossier circulated in Washington last year and was turned over to the FBI for its review. It contends that Russia was engaged in a long-standing effort to aid Trump and had amassed compromising information about the Republican.Among its wild claims was that Russian officials have videos of the president cavorting with prostitutes, filmed during Trump s 2013 visit to a luxury Moscow hotel for the Miss Universe contest It also contains a highly unusual and unsubstantiated report that the call girls performed a golden shower routine that involved them urinating on a hotel bed as a sign of disgust for then-president Barack Obama.It is claimed that Barack Obama s campaign organization, Obama For America, paid Perkins Coie almost $1million to fund the research. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the disgraced former DNC chair, has also denied any knowledge of how the dossier was put together.Read more: Daily Mail | 0 |
2,782 | Emperor Hirohito's memoir bought by Japan surgeon criticized for praising Nazis | TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese cosmetic surgeon criticized for praising Nazis and playing down Japan s wartime atrocities won an auction for a memoir by Emperor Hirohito that chronicles the nation s slide into World War Two, paying $275,000 for the document. Katsuya Takasu, who often appears on TV shows in Japan, has been blasted by a Jewish human rights body, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, for violating all norms of decency by dismissing as fabrications the Holocaust and the Nanjing massacre in China. I think both Nanjing and Auschwitz are fabrications, Takasu said in a message on social network Twitter in October 2015. There was no doubt that the Jews were persecuted, he has tweeted, but also praised Nazi scientists contributions to science, medicine and other fields. Contacted by Reuters on Thursday, Takasu said he bought the handwritten document, known as the Emperor s Monologue , because he thought it contained a message to royals and the Japanese people, and should be kept in Japan. The document record events dating from the 1920s, such as Hirohito s stated resolve not to oppose future cabinet decisions. It caused a sensation when made public in 1990, reigniting a debate over the emperor s responsibility for the war. The account was dictated to one of Hirohito s aides in 1946, when a defeated Japan was occupied by Allied forces and the emperor faced the possibility of being tried as a war criminal - a step that ultimately was not taken. In a telephone interview, Takasu said his social media posts had been intentionally misunderstood. It (the criticism) is from those who have skillfully picked out some of my tweets and maliciously interpreted them and it is a misunderstanding, he said. If you look at all my tweets, I am clearly against Nazism. But I do highly evaluate the wonderful medicine of that era. But Takasu added that he thought the number of people killed in the Holocaust and the Nanjing massacre had been exaggerated - a stance common among Japanese ultra-nationalists. China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in Nanjing between December 1937 and January 1938, while an Allied tribunal put the death toll at about half that. What I wanted to say was that it is said that six million or seven million were killed (in the Holocaust) but was that not several tens of thousands? Takasu asked. It is said that 300,000 were killed in the Nanjing massacre but was that not 6,000 to 7,000 people instead? That is what I meant by fabrication. Hirohito s memoir ends with his statement that if he had vetoed the decision to go to war, it would have resulted in a civil conflict that would have been even worse and Japan would have been destroyed, auction house Bonhams said on its website. Academics say Hirohito s responsibility for the war has never been fully pursued in Japan, largely due to U.S. occupation authorities decision to retain the emperor as a symbol of a newly democratic nation. Asked about Hirohito s responsibility for the war, Takasu said that, in his view, the late emperor was absolved when he said he would give his life for the Japanese people. At the point the emperor made that comment, he had no sin, he added. | 1 |
2,783 | Hillary Clinton willing to add more presidential debates | (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton agreed on Thursday to some of the terms laid down by an opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders, in his call to increase the number of public debates as they vie to become the Democratic candidate in November’s U.S. presidential election. Clinton’s two main Democratic challengers, Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, have long called for more debates. They have complained that the relatively skimpy schedule of only six encounters was designed by the party to protect Clinton’s position at the top of opinion polls. But the call for more debates intensified this week after a hastily arranged debate next Thursday in New Hampshire was announced, organized by a news channel and a state newspaper. Both Clinton and O’Malley said they would attend if all the candidates agreed, despite risking the ire of the Democratic National Committee, which has forbidden candidates from taking part in unsanctioned encounters. On Wednesday evening, the Sanders campaign called for three more debates, in March, April and May. The campaign also stipulated that none be held on a Friday, Saturday or holiday weekend, when the number of potential viewers typically dips. If Clinton would commit to this, his campaign said, then Sanders would also agree to join Clinton and O’Malley at the Feb. 4 debate convened by MSNBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, just days before the state becomes the second in the country to vote for Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. “Senator Sanders is happy to have more debates, but we are not going to schedule them on an ad hoc basis at the whim of the Clinton campaign,” Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said in a statement. Weaver said Clinton had only agreed to next week’s debate because Sanders has been gaining on her in polls. The response from the Clinton camp on Thursday acceded to some of these conditions, saying it would discuss adding debates only in April and May. “We have always been willing to add additional debates beyond the six that had been scheduled and look forward to starting discussions on scheduling debates in April and May,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in an email to reporters. Spokesmen for Clinton and Sanders did not respond to emails asking if the two campaigns were now in agreement. It remains unclear if any additional debates will come to pass. The Democratic National Committee has said it will not sanction the debate organized for next week, though it seems unlikely it will ban all three candidates from the remaining two sanctioned debates. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 |
2,784 | Erdogan says Turkey will close Iraq border and air space soon | ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey would soon close its border with northern Iraq and shut its air space in response to last week s Kurdish independence referendum. Erdogan, who held talks in Tehran on Wednesday with Iranian leaders, also said Turkey would decide jointly with Iran and Iraq s central government in Baghdad whether to cut oil exports from Kurdish northern Iraq. His comments came 10 days after Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly for independence, alarming Baghdad, Iraq s neighbors and Western powers who fear the vote could trigger further conflict in the Middle East. Turkey tightened controls at its main border crossing into Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the vote and suspended flights to northern Iraq. It has also held joint military exercises with Iraqi troops on the border. But it has not yet implemented threats to impose wider sanctions on the Kurdish region or to cut off the hundreds of thousands of barrels of Kurdish oil exported daily via Turkey to world markets. Flights to northern Iraq have already been suspended, the air space and borders will also close soon, Erdogan said in a speech in the Turkish capital, Ankara. He said the decision to hold the referendum showed the perfect ingratitude of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq, after years of close commercial and political ties with Turkey. Earlier, Erdogan told Turkish media on his return from Iran that Ankara, Tehran and Baghdad would jointly decide on whether to close the taps on the Kurds oil export pipeline, adding that it was time for the KRG to take a step back. The northern Iraqi leadership is drunk with the result of the referendum, it s not aware of what it is doing or what kind of steps it s taking, he said. Erdogan also criticized the inclusion of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the referendum, saying that Kurds had no legitimacy there and that they were invaders in the region. During a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey was considering further measures against northern Iraq, and the two leaders promised to work together against the independence drive. The Kurds are the region s fourth-largest ethnic group, spread across Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. All of those oppose any moves toward a Kurdish state, but the Kurds have been building strong international ties. Last month, Russian oil major Rosneft clinched a gas pipeline deal in Iraq s autonomous Kurdistan to help it become a major exporter of gas to Turkey and Europe. The pipeline will be constructed in 2019 and exports will begin in 2020. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it was in no-one s interest to cut off oil supplies from Iraq s Kurdistan, which would raise oil prices. Erdogan, however, brushed off those concerns, saying the final decision would be made by Turkey, Iran and Iraq. | 1 |
2,785 | Trump Just Got A Secret Intel Briefing From A Foreign Power, And It’s Not Who You Think | While Trump says he s like, a smart person, and so doesn t need the President s daily intelligence briefings, he s taking security and intelligence briefings from spy agencies from other countries. In this case, he actually got a secret briefing from one of Israel s spy chiefs, Yossi Cohen, Director of the Mossad. The Mossad is Israel s top intelligence agency, analogous to the CIA in many ways, and none other than Benjamin Netanyahu organized this secret meeting with Trump and his people.As if that wasn t suspicious enough, the meeting included discussions of the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel claims is a clear and present threat to its existence; along with discussions of Syria s civil war and terrorism.This is all stuff he could and should be getting from our own intelligence officials, but he s alienated our intelligence community twice now first by shunning briefings, and second by insulting the CIA after they said they were confident that Russia hacked our election to help Trump win.It s quite clear that he looks upon our intelligence community with severe disdain. That s problematic, because if he s planning on getting a lot of intelligence this way, then it s also clear that he doesn t realize these foreign envoys don t have our best interests at heart. They have their own, and they will take advantage of him this way if they can.When it comes to the Russian hacking scandal, Trump is getting most of his intel from military generals who probably don t have the complex knowledge of digital espionage that Trump needs to be able to put a solid cybersecurity plan forward. So it wouldn t be surprising to find that he s getting more intelligence briefings from more sources, like this secret one from the Mossad.(What s worse is wondering what role Trump s ego played here. It wouldn t be surprising to find out that Trump took that meeting more because it made him feel special, and less because it was something he truly believes in.)For reference, the Mossad secretly helped supply Iran with weapons in their war against Iraq as part of the Iran-Contra Affair that embroiled President Reagan s administration in a deep scandal. Now they re reaching out to our president-elect not just for help with Iran and Syria, but also for help with Palestine. As Netanyahu has said in the past, Israel must occupy all the land for the foreseeable future. They see this as essential to their security (it s actually essential to their expansion, but they d never say that).Israel also wants Trump to stand against Obama on a U.N. resolution that Israel and its supporters see as advocating pro-Palestinian rights.The horror.It s just terrible when someone wants equal rights a problem with which we here in the U.S. have some experience. And Obama is expected to speak out in support of this resolution and of restarting peace talks between Israel and Palestine.Trump has tapped his own bankruptcy lawyer, David Friedman, as the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Friedman a hardliner who doesn t believe in a two-state solution and wants to declare Israel s settlements in the West Bank legal. No wonder Israel sent a secret envoy to meet with Trump.Regardless, Trump needs to get his intelligence briefings on these subjects from U.S. intelligence officials, because he needs to see these things from our point of view. Israel isn t thinking about us, they re thinking about themselves, and could seriously undermine any efforts we re making in the Middle East. This meeting was for them, not for us. If this is how Trump plans on getting intelligence, then we re in a lot of trouble.Featured image by Drew Angerer via Getty Images | 0 |
2,786 | Cruz says consumer choice, health savings accounts in Senate bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Thursday his proposal for allowing insurance companies to offer policies with less coverage than under Obamacare – if they also offer the higher-quality coverage – will be included in the new Senate healthcare bill. “It is also very significant that the bill includes my amendment to allow individuals to use health savings accounts to pay for premiums. It’s a big deal for lowering premiums, as is the consumer freedom amendment,” Cruz told reporters before closed meeting of Senate Republicans. Several other Republican senators entered the meeting saying they did not yet know what would be included in the retooled bill. | 1 |
2,787 | Hillary Clinton to propose $10 billion manufacturing investment | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Friday will propose a $10 billion investment in partnerships to encourage the growth of the U.S. manufacturing sector as part of a national push to discourage outsourcing in the industry. The proposal would work with a broader campaign to encourage companies to build and expand their U.S. manufacturing operations. Clinton is slated to roll out the proposal on Friday in Syracuse, New York, ahead of the state’s nominating contest on April 19. New York has long been a hub of the manufacturing industry, but suffered significant declines in the sector in recent years. From 2000-2008, upstate New York alone lost nearly 105,000 manufacturing jobs, according to the state government. Clinton maintains a lead in the state, which she represented in the U.S. Senate, over rival Bernie Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont and a New York native. Sanders was born and raised in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn. The Clinton campaign is headquartered there. The campaign said the proposal’s multi-billion dollar price tag would largely be covered by Clinton’s proposed “clawback” tax, which would rescind tax relief for companies that outsource jobs or facilities abroad. | 1 |
2,788 | Tax reform framework will appear end-Sept.: Congress source | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional leaders and White House officials will release a document during the week of Sept. 25 outlining the framework for tax reform, a congressional source said on Wednesday. Afterward, the goal is for Congress to finish the budget process by mid-October, the source said. | 1 |
2,789 | presstvclintons worked with us enemies | in this image provided by the pairi daiza park giant panda holds her newborn baby in her mouth at the park in brugelette belgium on june ap
belgium and china have celebrated years of diplomatic relations with a panda themed painting contest an award ceremony marked the th anniversary of bilateral relationship between china and belgium as well as the birth of a giant panda in the latter
the ceremony held by belgium pairi daiza zoo included a contest on giant pandathemed artworks to strengthen friendship and peopletopeople exchange between the countries
after speeches circling around sinobelgian relations the event concluded by announcing the winners of the contest the competition had accepted entries including paintings and photos of outstanding artistic quality loading | 1 |
2,790 | Factbox - Battle for Raqqa, Islamic State's Syrian HQ near end | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The battle for the city of Raqqa, which Islamic State had used as its headquarters in Syria, is drawing to an end. Islamic State militants have lost swathes of land to various offensives across Syria and Iraq, forced into a diminishing foothold along the Euphrates river valley. Their defeat in Raqqa would be a milestone in the fight to roll back the theocratic caliphate Islamic State declared in 2014 in both countries. Following are some facts about Raqqa: Raqqa sits on the Euphrates river around 90 km (56 miles) from the Turkish border in north central Syria. Hardline Sunni militant group Islamic State overran Raqqa in January 2014, seizing control from rebel factions opposed to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The United States has said Islamic State planned and sent teams from Raqqa to carry out attacks on cities including Paris, Brussels and Istanbul. THE ANTI-IS OFFENSIVE The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab militias, began to advance towards Raqqa city in November 2016. After encircling the city, they launched the offensive to take it, facing tough resistance. The United States-led coalition supports the SDF with air strikes and special forces on the ground. The battle for Raqqa has taken a severe toll on civilians. The United Nations said in March the city contained around 200,000 people, just under its pre-war population. Since late last year, fighting around and in Raqqa has displaced tens of thousands of people. Many have fled the city to camps in surrounding territory now under the control of the SDF and its strongest component, the Kurdish YPG militia. Civilians trapped inside the Islamic State enclave in the city have endured miserable conditions for months, lacking water, power, food and healthcare. Parts of Raqqa that the SDF captured have mostly been cleared of residents. Air strikes, fighting and Islamic State snipers and mines have killed many hundreds of people. The coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs in Syria and Iraq. But the U.N. human rights office and rights group Amnesty International have raised concerns about reports of high civilian deaths. Islamic State has imposed its very strict interpretation of Islamic law on Raqqa s residents. The fighters have carried out public executions, lashings and violent punishments for infringements of their rule. The Raqqa campaign has stirred tension between the United States and NATO-ally Turkey. Potential Kurdish influence in the future of the mainly Arab city is sensitive both for some activists from Raqqa and for Turkey. The YPG has become the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria. Ankara views it as a Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency within Turkey, and fears growing Kurdish power along its border. The SDF s political allies have set up a Raqqa Civil Council of people from the city, which the SDF says it will hand control to once its fighters have defeated Islamic State. This echoes the pattern in other towns and cities that the SDF captured. The U.S.-led coalition has helped train a new police force for the city. Islamic State has made enemies of all sides in the more than six-year Syrian conflict, with separate offensives now trying to clear it from its last foothold in the towns along the Euphrates river in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. Besides the U.S.-backed SDF, the Syrian army, with Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, is also waging its own campaign against Islamic State in eastern Syria. A modern-day provincial transport hub and market town, Raqqa was built by the Abbasid Islamic Caliphate in the eighth century, serving as its capital at one point. It has been inhabited since antiquity and contains important archaeological and architectural sites. The United Nations has said they have been extensively looted during the war and religious buildings have been damaged. Islamic State militants released a video of them bombing a large part of the Uwais al-Qarani shrine complex in March 2014. | 1 |
2,791 | Risks to Brazil's Temer subside after bungled JBS plea bargain | BRASILIA (Reuters) - The arrest on Sunday of Joesley Batista, a billionaire meatpacker who implicated President Michel Temer in a corruption scandal, has actually improved the Brazilian leader s prospects of surviving graft allegations and serving out his term through 2018. But the three-month political crisis triggered by the plea bargain allegations by Batista, formerly chairman of meatpacker JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), has consumed precious time that Temer has to pass legislation to overhaul Brazil s costly pension system and avoid a fiscal crisis in Latin America s largest nation. Temer and his coalition allies in Congress are confident they can block a second corruption charge that Brazil s top prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, is expected to file against the president by the end of the week. A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday authorized a new probe of Temer for suspected corruption involving a decree regulating ports, a day after a separate police probe into Temer s allies kept pressure on the president. Yet as long as Temer is in office, any charges against the president must be approved by the lower house of Congress in which he has retained enough backing to avoid trial by the Supreme Court. Temer s political standing in Congress has improved a lot, because the economy is starting to grow again and the pressure of another corruption charge is falling, said the government s deputy whip in the lower house, Beto Mansur. The prosecutor s case has been weakened and the next charge will arrive here with little credibility, he told Reuters. A new poll by Arko Advice consultancy, however, shows that most lawmakers do not expect pension reform to clear Congress until 2018, and passing the unpopular measure in the run-up to next year s elections may be an uphill struggle. A proposed overhaul of the pension system, the main contributor to Brazil s record budget deficit, was headed for approval in the lower house of Congress until accusations against Temer in May derailed his plans. In a bombshell plea bargain agreement in May, Batista confessed to bribing hundreds of politicians and gave prosecutors a taped conversation of the president. The recording appeared to show Temer condoning hush money payments to silence a witness in a sprawling corruption scandal. Just two weeks ago, however, another tape inadvertently submitted to prosecutors by Batista with other documents appeared to show he had been helped by a close aide to Janot in crafting the deal. The Supreme Court revoked his immunity and ordered his arrest for concealing other crimes. Beyond the embarrassment to Janot in his last days in office - he steps down as top prosecutor on Sunday - the revelation has given Temer s lawyers an opening to try to dismiss evidence provided by Batista, while strengthening the president s hand in Congress to fight any further charges. The credibility of Temer s accuser was further undermined on Wednesday by the arrest of Batista s brother Wesley, the chief executive officer of JBS SA, for alleged insider trading to avoid hefty losses related to the May plea bargain. Temer mustered enough support to block Janot s initial corruption charge from putting him on trial, in a 263-227 vote in the lower house on Aug. 2. That margin is expected to widen if a second charge comes before the house. There is no motivation in Congress to remove president Temer. Many of the politicians who will vote are being investigated, so why would they empower the public prosecutors at this time? said Lucas de Arag o, a political scientist and partner at Arko Advice. Still, Arag o said fighting the next charge will cost Temer more pork barrel and patronage for lawmakers and at least a 30-day delay for pension reform, leaving the Senate with little time to pass the bill in 2017. No less than 83 percent of lawmakers believe pension reform will not be passed this year, according to an Arko poll of 201 Congressmen last week. Temer has ordered his minister to restart the pension reform debate in Congress immediately so that it can be put to the vote in the house my mid-October. The country lost 90 days. The economy could be recovering faster and growth would have been more robust if it had not been for this artificial crisis, said a Temer aide who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Speaker Rodrigo Maia is expected to expedite the pension bill after Temer signed off on a bailout for his bankrupt state of Rio de Janeiro, a source on the economic team said. | 1 |
2,792 | Pence hires his own lawyer for Russia probes | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has hired a lawyer known for defending government officials in high-profile investigations to help him with probes into whether there were ties between the election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia, his office said on Thursday. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow interfered in last year’s presidential campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. Trump, who hired his own lawyer last month for probes by a special counsel and congressional committees, lashed out on Thursday after a report that he was under investigation for possible obstruction of justice. He dismissed as “phony” the idea that his campaign colluded with any Russian effort to sway the 2016 election. Moscow denies meddling in the campaign. Pence hired Richard Cullen, chairman of law firm McGuireWoods, to help him respond to inquiries from special counsel Robert Mueller, a spokesman said. Cullen is a former federal prosecutor who has long ties to former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired on May 9. He represents former FIFA President Sepp Blatter in the corruption probe into world soccer’s governing body. U.S. prosecutors have not accused Blatter of wrongdoing. Cullen, who supported Trump’s rival Jeb Bush during the race for the Republican presidential nomination, also represented Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican and former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, during the investigation into corrupt Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. DeLay was not charged. Pence had been looking at hiring his own counsel for several weeks, and made his decision earlier this week after interviewing several candidates, his office said. “The vice president is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the president’s agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this matter,” Pence spokesman, Jarrod Agen, said in a statement. Pence has seldom addressed the Russia issue, which has overshadowed Trump’s efforts to overhaul the healthcare system, cut taxes and boost jobs - priorities that Pence has worked on intensively with Republican lawmakers. The Washington Post first reported the Cullen hire. Just before the story broke, Trump wrote a pair of angry tweets, suggesting that Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the election, should be under investigation instead of him. Earlier on Thursday, Trump called the probe a “witch hunt” on Twitter. “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” Trump wrote. Mueller is investigating whether anyone on Trump’s campaign, or associated with it, with him or any of his businesses, may have had any illegal dealings with Russian officials or others with ties to the Kremlin, said one U.S. official familiar with the rough outlines of the probe and who spoke on condition of anonymity. That includes the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and is a senior adviser at the White House, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter. Mueller is also looking at a second line of inquiry: whether, if any potential offenses were committed, Trump or others attempted to cover them up or obstruct the investigation into them, the source said. An examination of possible obstruction of justice charges was “unavoidable” given testimony by Comey, although the issue may not become the main focus of the probe, the source said. Comey told a Senate panel last week he believed Trump fired him to undermine the FBI’s Russia probe. He also told the Senate Intelligence Committee in his June 8 testimony that he believed Trump had directed him to drop a related agency investigation into the president’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. White House officials, including Pence, initially gave differing reasons for Comey’s dismissal, including that he had lost the confidence of the FBI. Pence said on Twitter on May 10 that Trump had “made the right decision at the right time to remove Comey as the head of the FBI” and praised him for showing “strong & decisive leadership to restore trust & confidence of the American people in the FBI.” Trump later contradicted his own staff, saying on May 11 he had the Russia issue in mind when he fired Comey. Examining the possibility of obstruction charges will allow investigators to interview key administration figures including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and possibly Trump himself, said the source familiar with the Mueller investigation. While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment. Any such step would face a steep hurdle as it would require approval by the U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans. | 1 |
2,793 | Saudi foreign minister says Iran main sponsor of global terror | MUNICH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Sunday rejected Iranian calls for dialogue saying Tehran was the main sponsor of terrorism in the world, a destabilizing force in the Middle East and wanted to “destroy us.” “Iran remains the single main sponsor of terrorism in the world,” Adel al-Jubeir told delegates at the Munich Security Conference. “It’s determined to upend the order in Middle East ... (and) until and unless Iran changes its behavior it would be very difficult to deal with a country like this.” Al-Jubeir said Iran was propping up the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, funding the Houthi separatists in Yemen and violent groups across the region. He said the international community needed to set clear “red lines” to halt Iran’s actions. | 1 |
2,794 | U.N. ends month-long Libya talks in Tunisia without proposing new date | TUNIS (Reuters) - Month-long U.N.-backed talks aimed at bridging differences between rival Libyan factions ended on Saturday with no discernable progress towards stabilizing the country and paving the way for elections. A month ago U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame, the latest in a series of Libya envoys since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi s 42-year rule, announced a one-year action plan for a transition toward presidential and parliamentary elections. Since then the U.N. has hosted in Tunis delegations from rival parliaments from eastern Libya and Tripoli, which are meant to draw up amendments to a previous U.N.-mediated plan signed in December 2015. But at the end of a second round of talks Salame said only that discussions would continue, without giving a new date. There are some area of consensus ... but there are parts which need discussions with the political leaderships inside Libya, Salame told reporters, without giving details. Delegates will return to Libya on Sunday, the U.N. mission said in a statement. Salame will go to Tripoli next week to discuss how to move the talks forward, a U.N. source added. The North African country has been in turmoil since Gaddafi s downfall gave space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe. Political and military fractures have left the country mired in conflict and the OPEC member s economy in freefall. Rival parliaments and governments have vied for power. The U.N. tried a similar approach in 2015 of hosting Libyans in luxury hotels abroad but the deal never won support from the power-brokers and factions aligned with military commander Khalifa Haftar that control eastern Libya. Haftar is just one of many players in Libya controlled by armed groups divided among political, religious, regional and business lines. A U.N. source said a major obstacle at the Tunis talks had been how to integrate Haftar, who is opposed by many in western Libya, in any deal and whether he would control a future national army. Western states have tried to work with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, but it has been hamstrung by internal splits and been unable to halt a slide in living standards or tame the power of armed groups. Under the new U.N. plan, once amendments have been agreed a national conference is meant to approve the members of a transitional government that would run the country until elections. | 1 |
2,795 | Paul Ryan TRASHES Trump On RNC’s First Day: He Is ‘Not My Kind of Conservative’ | Donald Trump is only one day into his Republican National Convention, and it s already not looking good for him. Not only did several delegates and a fundraiser walk out or resign from his convention, but he also got dissed by House Speaker Paul Ryan all in a matter of a few hours.According to The Hill, Ryan didn t mince his words when discussing Trump at a Wall Street Journal lunch in Cleveland, stating that the business mogul was not my kind of conservative. Ryan said: He s not my kind of conservative, but I come from a different part and wing of the party. I think he is a conservative. There are different kinds of conservatives, that s for darn sure. This is just another comment in a long list of critical remarks Ryan has made about Trump. Ryan has made a point to distance himself from Trump s hateful rhetoric as much as possible even when trying to get the GOP to stand behind the candidate. Previously, Ryan has slammed Trump for his textbook racist comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel s Mexican heritage, tweeting anti-Semitic images and proposing an all-out ban on Muslims.Over and over, Ryan has made it clear that he disagrees with Trump s views so much that basically the only reason why he is (reluctantly) endorsing the disgraced candidate is that he thinks anything is better than handing the election over to a Democrat. In doing so, Ryan showed America that to him, furthering the Republican party s intolerant values and laws were more important than saving the country from an untrustworthy, dangerously unqualified reality TV star. At the same lunch, Ryan said: What I do know for sure is if we disunify, then we hand the left the country by default for another four years. I just don t want to be a party to that. I don t want to be complicit to that. So, instead, Speaker Ryan wants to be complicit to handing the country to an unqualified bigot. Got it.Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
2,796 | CHILLING TESTIMONY Of Brave 7th Grader At TX School Board Meeting: “Today I was given an assignment at school that questioned my faith and said that ‘God is not real'” [VIDEO] | This indoctrination into a godless society is happening at every stage in our child s development. From grade school through college and even in grad school, educators are working overtime to remove God, values and morals from our children s lives. They are blurring the lines between right and wrong in an effort to make everyone the same. The end result will be callous, heartless, self-centered human beings with no moral compass and no purpose in life. How long will we remain quiet and chose to ignore this abomination?KATY, Texas A Texas seventh-grader is standing up for her religious beliefs after she alleges her teacher forced students to deny that God is real, and threatened them with failing grades if they don t agree.Jordan Wooley, a seventh grade student at West Memorial Junior High School in the Katy Independent School District, testified at a school board meeting last night about an assignment in her reading class that caused a serious controversy, and expressed frustration about her teacher s atheist indoctrination. Today I was given an assignment in school that questioned my faith and told me that God was not real. Our teacher had started off saying that the assignment had been giving problems all day. We were asked to take a poll to say whether God is fact, opinion or a myth and she told anyone who said fact or opinion was wrong and God was only a myth, Wooley told board members.Students immediately objected, Wooley said, but the teacher refused to consider their position.The teacher, started telling kids they were completely wrong and that when kids argued we were told we would get in trouble. When I tried to argue, she told me to prove it, and I tried to reference things such as the Bible and stories I have read before from people who have died and went to heaven but came back and told their stories, and she told me both were just things people were doing to get attention. I know it wasn t just me who was affected by it. My friend, she went home and started crying. She was supposed to come with me but she didn t know if she could because she was so upset, Wooley said.The teen explained she spoke with other students in the class who were marked down because they believe God is real, as well as compromises proposed by students to avoid rejecting their faith. Another student asked the teacher if we could put what we believe in the paper, and she said we could but you would fail the paper if you do, Wooley told the board. I had known before that our schools aren t really supposed to teach us much about religion or question religion. When I asked my teacher about it she said it doesn t have anything to do with religion because the problem is just saying there is no God. Wooley was accompanied to the meeting by her mother, Chantel Wooley, who texted with her daughter about the assignment earlier in the day and posted a video to Facebook about the incident after school. Hey mom so in reading we were required to say that God is just a myth, Jordan texted her mother shortly before 3 p.m. Monday. I thought if a question was against our religion that we could put what we think is true but we got in trouble for saying He is true. Wait what? Myth? Chantel Wooley replied. We had to deny God is real. Yeah, we had to say he was just a myth, Jordan wrote. You got in trouble? Chantel questioned. Yeah she told me I was wrong bc I put it was fact, Jordan wrote. What did you say? Chantel texted. I said he is real and she said that can t be proven, Jordan replied. And what happened? Chantel wrote. I still put fact on my paper, Jordan texted.Jordan told school board members her family contacted the school principal, who promised to speak with the teacher and investigate the incident. Board members also vowed to look into it, but said school administrators should first focus on addressing the issue.They also thanked Wooley for voicing her concerns.In a Facebook video posted to Chantel Wooley s profile, Jordan explained the situation in more detail.// <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Jordan Wooley addresses Katy ISD re: controversial assignment Bravery!Posted by Education Action Group on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 Basically, a lot of people said it was true and real, and she told us we were all wrong, Jordan said. She told us it was a commonplace assertion, just a myth, and lot of people got upset about it. I called my friend to see how she felt about it, and she was just crying, Wooley continued. And how did that make you feel? an off-camera voice questions. Like she was taking away my religion, what I believe is true, the teen replied.Texas education activist Alice Linahan told EAGnews the incident, and how district officials respond, could be an especially important indicator of things to come in the Lone Star state.Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey, president of the national American Association of School Administrators, was a central figure in crafting the state s education standards as the former president of the Texas Association of School Administrators.Frailey is now working to expand similar standards nationally, Linahan said, and is reportedly on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott s short list to replace education Commissioner Michael Williams, who resigned last week.Linahan pointed to standards Frailey help craft that require a teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues, as evidence that the state standards and closely aligned national Common Core standards divert focus from core subjects to less important issues. Will Texas students get a good job when they grow up because they can read well, write well, do math and know history? Linahan questioned. Or, will they get a good job, without strong academics, but an emotional attachment and classroom experience to save the world on a global level from a humanist viewpoint, without a belief in God? Parents, it is time to step in like Jordan s mom and say NO! Via: EAG News | 0 |
2,797 | Hispanic coalition asks Trump to stop 'attacks' | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda on Thursday asked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to stop attacks on Hispanic communities, inviting him in a letter to meet with the group’s leadership. “As we have expressed numerous times, your rhetoric of relentless attacks against our community is an issue of serious concern and has had a significant impact, fueling an alarming trend in our nation,” the group, a coalition of 40 Latino nonpartisan advocacy organizations, wrote to Trump. “We call upon you to consider the consequences of your disparagement of our community and to cease propagating this rhetoric immediately,” they added. | 1 |
2,798 | indian princess watches over rare paleontological remains | eu refugees wait to disembark from a ship on october in palermo italy photo by afp
more than refugees have died across the world since the beginning of says the international organization for migration iom
the organization which is based in geneva said on friday that of a total of deaths people died trying to cross the mediterranean sea by boat indicating a person increase compared to
on wednesday the united nations high commissioner for refugees unhcr made a different account with more than deaths in the mediterranean since january also noting that it was a new record compared to
over asylum seekers trying to reach the european union died off the libyan shores recently according to the iom
the eu said on thursday it had begun training the libyan coast guard how to curb the influx of asylum seekers
today we are starting the training of the libyan coast guard in operation sophia which is a very important step said the eu foreign affairs chief federica mogherini as she arrived for a meeting with nato defense ministers in brussels
nato secretary general jens stoltenberg said the western military alliance had just launched its own operation sea guardian in the mediterranean to help support operation sophia
the eu launched operation sophia last year after hundreds of asylum seekers died when their rickety boats sank off southern italy
the central mediterranean route has seen more asylum seekers risk their lives in recent months after the eu reached an accord with turkey in march to halt an influx of refugees crossing the aegean to reach europe
stoltenberg further said within two weeks ships and aircraft would be provided by nato allies to help back up operation sophia loading | 1 |
2,799 | Exclusive: McConnell expects bipartisan support for bill reauthorizing FDA user fees | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told Reuters on Wednesday he expects bipartisan support for approval of a bill authorizing taxpayer and industry funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The bill to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act would let the FDA continue to collect hundreds of millions of dollars from drugmakers and medical device companies to partially cover the cost of reviewing new products, with U.S. taxpayers funding the remainder. “It’s an extremely important bill that I think we’ll be able to move on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell said in an interview. [L1N1IQ1CH] The FDA has been charging companies to review their products since 1992. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump proposed in his 2018 budget that the industry pay the full cost of drug and medical device reviews. The industry at present pays about 60 percent. That proposal is unlikely to be approved in this cycle. Reauthorization of the user fee bill is typically negotiated between the FDA and industry over a period of several years. Earlier this month, the bill was approved by a Senate panel by a 21-2 vote. It must be renegotiated every five years. The FDA reviews drugs for approval or rejection for many companies, including major ones such as Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co Inc and Johnson and Johnson. Pharmaceutical companies based overseas, including Roche Holding AG and Novartis AG, also pay these fees for U.S.-approved drugs. | 1 |
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