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2,900 | China's probes of rights lawyers 'alarming': Human Rights Watch | BEIJING (Reuters) - China has launched more rigorous investigations into the activities and finances of rights lawyers and law firms that take on politically sensitive issues, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, in its multi-year campaign to stifle dissent. China has arrested, jailed or detained thousands of rights lawyers and activists since President Xi Jinping launched a sweeping crackdown in the summer of 2015. Judicial officials and police are investigating the cases and finances at seven law firms that often work on rights abuses, lawyers at the firms told the New York-based Human Rights Watch. With unusually high-level officials performing scrutiny on site for days, the duration of investigations has exceeded that of previous regular checks on such firms, it added. While China s human rights lawyers are no strangers to official harassment, these sudden, invasive probes send an alarming message, Sophie Richardson, the group s Washington-based China director, said in a statement. China s justice ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment from Reuters. China has defended the new measures against critics by saying it is a country with the rule of law, and that those found guilty are criminals who damaged social stability and endangered national security. There has been an open attack on rights lawyers under Xi, and the probes should be considered in the context of the attack, said Maya Wang, a China researcher for HRW based in Hong Kong. It is meant to tell lawyers that this is not over, that they had better be on their best behavior for the 19th Party Congress, Wang said, referring to a five-yearly leadership reshuffle of the ruling Communist Party set to begin on Oct. 18. Political checks and requirements for law firms have also been tightened under Xi, making it harder for lawyers to take sensitive cases, activists say, especially as law firms can be held jointly accountable for individual violations. Chinese law firms are required to explicitly support the party and to set up an internal party branch, while lawyers are banned from expressing opinions that endanger national security or reject China s political system. In the run-up to the party congress, Xi has also urged public security officials to ensure stability and maintain the party s authority and unified leadership. [nL4N1M11EY] | 1 |
2,901 | WATCH: DESPERATE FOR RATINGS, Megyn Kelly Goes On Ellen Degeneres Show…Blames Trump For Her Exit From FOX News…Claims She Was “Never A Political Person”…Ellen’s Not Buying It | Ahead of the launch of her daily morning show, Megyn Kelly Today, the NBC News journalist stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she explained how Donald Trump influenced her decision to leave Fox News after 12 years. THRIt s pretty clear by Ellen s reactions to Kelly s answers that she s not a fan, and that as an employee of NBC, she s being forced to take one for the team with this very forced interview of the very unpopular Megyn Kelly prior to the debut of her new show.Watch, as Kelly attempts to convince Degeneres that after several years of making a fortune on FOX News where she became popular for what appeared to be her passionate political views, that she was never a political person . LOL! :Kelly spent a good time of her interview with Degeneres deflecting from her unpopularity with the general public by blaming President Trump for her decision to accept $17 million from NBC to make the move to fluff journalism. Donald Trump has a way of clarifying one s life choices and that was true in my case, too, Kelly said, explaining how she was struck by how her primetime news coverage became all political. When Kelly contemplated if Fox News was the right place for her, the universe came and sort of shone a light and it was clear to me what I wanted to do. DeGeneres asked if any of Trump s infamous tweets targeted at Kelly were particularly what motivated her move, but Kelly said it was more than just the tweets: The country s so divided right now and it s so political. It s like politics has become like race, you can t discuss it at all. Degeneres, who is known for being funny, only appeared to laugh twice during the entire segment. The first time was when Kelly wasn t honest with the audience when she claimed her ratings at FOX went up after she disrespected the President. (See chart below from Oct. 13, 2016, following her full-blown feud with then-candidate Donald Trump:)The second time was when she made Kelly look like a complete jackass by suiting her up in a sumo wrestler costume, to which Megyn responded in a very awkward and NOT funny way. Watch: | 0 |
2,902 | Senate panel sets November 28 confirmation hearing for Fed chair nominee Powell | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on Nov. 28 for Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump’s nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve, the committee said in a statement on Wednesday. Trump last week tapped Powell, 64, a Fed governor since 2012, to become head of the U.S. central bank, breaking with precedent by denying Janet Yellen a second four-year term but signaling a continuation of her cautious monetary policies. Powell is quickly garnering support from Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who met with Powell on Tuesday and said he looked forward to “supporting his nomination.” Republican Senator Mike Crapo, who chairs the Banking Committee, said on Wednesday that Powell was “well-equipped to lead our economy and the country in a positive direction.” Powell is widely expected to continue to raise interest rates gradually, as Yellen began to do in late 2015, and to shrink the central bank’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet. | 1 |
2,903 | WHOA! BLOOD, SEMEN AND BREASTMILK…Hillary’s Campaign Chairman’s Most Disturbing Email Leak [VIDEO] | ***WARNING***Video is disturbing**** What is even more disturbing is that Hillary s Campaign Chairman and closest advisor was invited to partake in this event by his brother. These people are off the charts bizarre and sick In perhaps the most disturbing Wikileaks release to date, Tony Podesta (John Podesta s brother) is invited to a Spirit Cooking dinner with performance artist Marina Abramovic.Dinner with a famous artist might sound deeply mundane, but there is far more to this story.Abramovic, 69, is a fairly famous Serbian performance artist, who now lives in New York.In an email dated June 28, 2015, Abramovic wrote:Here s a video showing Marina Abramovic mixing vat of what appears to be concealed blood with fresh breast milk and fresh semen to drink on earthquake nights Keep in mind, these are the same Podesta brothers responsible for helping Hillary to obtain up to $25 million in donations from Saudi Arabia.Abramovic is known for her often-gory art that confronts pain and ritual. Her first performance involved repeatedly, stabbing herself in her hands. The next performance featured her throwing her nails, toenails, and hair into a flaming five-point star which she eventually jumped inside of, causing her to lose consciousness. During the next, she ingested a medication to treat people who are catatonic, which caused violent muscle spasms.Perhaps most famously, in 1974, Abramovic placed 72 objects on a table, including a rose, a feather, honey, a whip, olive oil, scissors, a scalpel and a gun and a single bullet. Alongside the items was a sign informing the audience that the items could be used on her in any way that they chose.For six hours, she remained at the mercy of the audience, allowing them to do as they pleased. During that time, she was stripped, cut, and one audience member even held the gun to her head. What I learned was that if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you. I felt really violated: they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the audience. Everyone ran away, to escape an actual confrontation, she later said of the performance. wearechange.orgIt will probably come as no surprise to see Hillary supporter, Lady Gaga partaking in such a disgusting and gruesome event: https://twitter.com/WDFx2EU7/status/794530179267727360She s with Hillary: | 0 |
2,904 | Flynn declines Senate subpoena in Russia probe | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn declined on Monday to comply with a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee as it investigates possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Flynn invoked his Fifth Amendment constitutional protection against self-incrimination, according to a letter to the Senate committee from his attorney, which was seen by Reuters. Flynn’s attorneys did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The retired lieutenant general is a key witness in the Russia probe, which has roiled the first months of President Donald Trump’s presidency with a spate of negative news reports. Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner, the top Republican and Democrat on the intelligence panel, said in a statement they were disappointed by Flynn’s decision, but would “vigorously pursue” his testimony and documents related to the investigation. The committee is conducting one of the main congressional probes into U.S. intelligence agency reports of Russian meddling in the election and whether there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations and Trump denies any collusion. Separately on Monday, the Washington Post reported that Trump asked two of the country’s top intelligence officials, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers, to help him deny any collusion between his team and Russia during his presidential campaign. Coats and Rogers declined the request, the Post reported. Flynn apparently misled Pentagon investigators about his foreign connections when he sought to renew his security clearance in early 2016, according to a document obtained by congressional Democrats and released in part on Monday. Interviewed as part of the clearance renewal process, Flynn said all of his foreign trips as a private citizen “were funded by U.S. companies,” according to excerpts of a March 14, 2016, report compiled by security clearance investigators. In fact, a trip Flynn made to Moscow in December 2015, where he attended a gala dinner and sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was paid for by Russia Today, which U.S. officials consider a state-run propaganda arm, according to documents previously released by the House Oversight Committee. The document is the latest to shed light on how Flynn received a clearance and was hired as Trump’s national security advisor. He was forced to resign in February after less than a month for failing to disclose the content of his talks with Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, and misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Excerpts were released by Representative Elijah Cummings, ranking Democrat on the House committee. Flynn’s decision to decline to comply with the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena was first reported by the Associated Press. His attorney wrote to the committee that “the context in which the Committee has called for General Flynn’s testimonial production of documents makes clear that he has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him.” Flynn’s legal team said he was rejecting the subpoena because the committee spurned his offer, made by the retired Army general in a May 8 letter, “to give a full account of the facts and to answer the committee’s questions, should the circumstances permit, including assurances against unfair prosecution. We stated that, absent such assurances, General Flynn would respectfully decline your request for an interview and for production of documents.” It was not clear what the committee would do if Flynn decided not to comply. Burr and Warren did not elaborate. Several panel members said they were waiting to learn more before coming to any conclusion about what might come next. “We’ll see what the future brings,” Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told reporters, adding: “ This may portend that (Flynn) faces something serious.” Senator James Lankford, a Republican panel member, said Flynn was within his rights to invoke the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “We will get to the truth one way or another,” Lankford said on Twitter. “We need facts, not speculation & anonymous sources.” A Congressional Research Service report outlined three main options if Congress decides to enforce the subpoena: seeking criminal prosecution through the executive branch, asking the courts for a civil judgment and using a dormant power of “inherent contempt” to detain and imprison an individual. The latter option has not been used in 75 years. Congress has more often relied on the criminal contempt statute recently. Reuters reported on Thursday that Flynn and other advisers to Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the U.S. presidential race. Two other former Trump associates - one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Republican operative Roger Stone - have turned over documents the Senate panel had requested, while a third - campaign adviser Carter Page - had not yet complied, NBC News reported, citing a congressional source. Flynn has acknowledged being a paid consultant to the Turkish government during the campaign. | 1 |
2,905 | U.S. hedge fund managers pour money into 2016 race and Trump is a factor | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major U.S. hedge fund managers are on pace this year to more than double the amount they gave in the 2012 election campaign, with independent fundraising groups backing Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Ted Cruz receiving the most so far. About $47 million has been lavished on presidential candidates and lawmakers and the political action committees that support them by two dozen of the industry's top managers in the first 13 months of this election season, according to a Reuters review of Federal Election Commission filings. (For a list of the top givers see tmsnrt.rs/1nlPYZv) Most of the hedge fund support going to Cruz and Clinton has come from a handful of people out of the two dozen managers studied. Robert Mercer, co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies, for example, has given $11 million to Keep the Promise I, a Super PAC that supports Cruz. Mercer is an enigmatic computer programmer who is a powerful financial force in conservative politics. Cruz wants to abolish the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, slash income and payroll taxes and impose a new “business transfer tax.” Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, is a Goldman Sachs executive in Houston. Clinton’s main benefactor is billionaire George Soros, a long-time patron of Democratic and humanitarian causes and chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros alone is responsible for $7.3 million of the $11.7 million that has gone to Super PACs and other committees supporting Clinton. The hedge fund managers’ spokespersons either declined to comment or did not respond to queries from Reuters. But Whitney Tilson, a hedge fund manager who runs Kase Capital, said one reason fellow managers are spending more this election is Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. “There are some pretty heated emotions about Donald Trump,” said Tilson, who plans to support the Democratic Party nominee. Trump, who says he is self-funding his campaign, supports closing a loophole that lets some hedge fund managers pay less than the usual income tax rate on performance fees they get known as “carried interest.” Clinton supports this, too. The Managed Funds Association, an industry lobbying group, declined to comment on policy aims under the next president. There are other worries, too, about a Trump presidency.After months of campaigning and debates, Trump’s economic and financial policy positions are still sketchy or unknown. A Trump presidency could bring “tremendous uncertainty and instability,” said Gregory Wawro, a political science professor at Columbia University. Wawro speculated that Trump’s popularity with blue-collar and middle-class voters could prompt the Republican Party to reassess an approach to taxes and economic issues that has favored top earners and major corporations in recent years. The surge of hedge fund donations has had little effect on the Republican race so far. Cruz is running well behind Trump while U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is seen by establishment Republicans as their best hope to stop Trump winning the nomination, is a distant third. Conservative Solutions, a Super PAC that backs Rubio, received $2.5 million from Paul Singer, the long-time Republican fundraiser who runs Elliott Management, and another $2.6 million in contributions from hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment Group. Two other Republican candidates with major hedge fund backing, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, have dropped out of the race. Christie’s Super PAC, America Leads, received about $3 million from Steve Cohen of Point72 Asset Management, while Right to Rise, a PAC that supports Bush, drew $450,000 in donations from managers including Citadel’s Griffin, David Tepper of Appaloosa Management and Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital Management. In the Democratic race, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has eschewed donations from Wall Street. He has racked up a string of wins in early state nominating contests with attacks on Wall Street and calls for a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth. Overall, hedge fund contributions to 2016 presidential candidates and lawmakers and the PACs supporting them favored Republicans over Democrats by about 3 to 2. For a list of the top hedge fund donors in 2016: tmsnrt.rs/1nlPYZv | 1 |
2,906 | Russia accuses U.S.-led coalition of 'barbaric' bombing of Syria's Raqqa | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused the U.S.-led coalition in Syria on Sunday of wiping the city of Raqqa off the face of the earth with carpet bombing in the same way the United States and Britain had bombed Germany s Dresden in 1945. The Russian Defence Ministry, which has itself repeatedly been forced to deny accusations from activists and Western politicians of bombing Syrian civilians, said it looked like the West was now rushing to provide financial aid to Raqqa to cover up evidence of its own crimes. Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Defence Ministry, said in a statement that around 200,000 people had lived in Raqqa before the conflict in Syria, but that not more than 45,000 people remained. U.S.-backed militias in Syria declared victory over Islamic State in Raqqa, the group s capital, last week, raising flags over the last jihadist footholds after a four-month battle. Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments, said Konashenkov. Most of the German city was destroyed in Allied bombing raids just before the end of World War Two. Though he said Russia welcomed Western promises of financial aid to rebuild Raqqa, Konashenkov complained that numerous Russian requests for the West to give humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians in other parts of the country had been rejected in previous years. What is behind the rush by Western capitals to provide targeted financial help only to Raqqa?, said Konashenkov. There s only one explanation - the desire to cover up evidence of the barbaric bombardments by the U.S. air force and the coalition as fast as possible and to bury the thousands of civilians liberated from Islamic State in the ruins. The U.S.-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs against Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, and investigates any allegations. It has previously denied killing civilians in air strikes on Raqqa, saying its goal is zero civilian casualties. | 1 |
2,907 | Blocking Internet oversight transition a 'gift to Russia': Obama administration | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delaying or blocking a planned transition of oversight of the Internet’s technical management from the U.S. to a global community of stakeholders would be a “gift to Russia” and other authoritarian regimes, a senior Obama administration official said Wednesday. The comments before a congressional panel came as several Republican lawmakers are attempting to thwart the changeover, due to occur on Oct. 1, arguing it would stifle online freedom and has not been appropriately vetted. “I urge you: Do not give a gift to Russia and other authoritarian nations by blocking this transition,” Lawrence Strickling, administrator of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, told a Senate subcommittee. The plan, announced in March 2014, to transfer oversight of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is expected to go forward unless Congress votes to block the handover. The California-based corporation operates the database for domain names such as .com and .net and their corresponding numeric addresses that allow computers to connect. The U.S. Commerce Department currently oversees the Internet’s management largely because it was invented in the United States. Its contract with ICANN will lapse on October 1. Senator John Thune, a senior Republican from South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday he expected lawmakers would add language to delay the Internet transition to a bill to fund the government past the end of September. Strickling’s testimony were an attempt to rebut concerns raised by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who convened and chaired Wednesday’s hearing on the Internet, and other Republicans who have argued in recent weeks that the transition would be a “giveaway” of Internet control to Russia, China, and other governments that censor Internet content. “When ICANN escapes from government authority, ICANN escapes from ... having to worry about protecting your rights or my rights,” Cruz said. ICANN does not have the ability to censor the Internet, the corporation’s CEO Goran Marby said during the hearing. Tech companies, technical experts, academics, have said the transition is overdue and necessary to keep the Internet open and globally oriented, and that the proposal includes safeguards against any potential abuse by any one country. Delaying the transition to the multistakeholder global community may also weaken U.S. credibility in future international negotiations at the United Nations and elsewhere about Internet standards and security, thus empowering countries like Russia and China, experts have said. | 1 |
2,908 | Gerry Adams: Face of IRA who helped cement Northern Ireland peace | DUBLIN (Reuters) - As the public face of the Irish Republican Army during its bombing campaigns, then peacemaker and mainstream politician, Gerry Adams has been a defining figure of Northern Ireland s 50-year journey from sectarian torment to relative stability. Adams announced his intention to step down as leader of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party on Saturday with his ultimate goal of a united Ireland still elusive. But the party he leaves is not only the dominant Irish nationalist force in the British-ruled province, but also strong enough across the border in the Irish Republic to have a chance of entering government there, too. During the 1970s and 80s, at the height of an IRA bombing campaign to end British rule over Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein operated as the IRA s political wing. As its leader from 1983 onwards, Adams thus became, for many in Britain and Northern Ireland, the face of the IRA. As a result, he was loathed by pro-British unionists and the British government, but lionized in equal measure by Irish nationalists. Yet when the prospect of political progress arose, he showed himself ready to compromise, working with late former IRA commander Martin McGuinness to swing the IRA and the province s Roman Catholic minority behind a 1998 deal with the pro-British Protestant majority. The Good Friday agreement gave the province s Catholics a share of power and largely ended a conflict in which some 3,600 people had been killed, many at the hands of Irish republican groups such as the IRA, and others by pro-British unionist paramilitaries and British security forces. Since then, Adams has helped to build Sinn Fein into the dominant Irish nationalist party in Northern Ireland, overseeing its agreement in 2007 to share power with its bitter rival, the Democratic Unionist Party and, in recent months, its efforts to restore power-sharing after it collapsed in January. Adams also announced on Saturday that he would not stand for re-election to the Dublin parliament, where he has sat since 2011, moving Sinn Fein from the fringes to become the Irish Republic s third party and its main left-wing force. Adams was born into a Belfast family steeped in revolutionary politics, several of his relatives having been involved in armed republicanism. At 20, he left his job as a barman to help defend fellow Catholics from what they saw as a hostile British state, and to fight for Northern Ireland to split from the United Kingdom and unite with the Irish Republic. Like his father, Adams was interned - held without trial - on suspicion of being a senior IRA commander. He has always denied membership of the IRA, although accusations from former IRA fighters that he was involved in its campaign of killings have dogged him throughout his career. Between 1988 and 1994, Adams was banned from speaking on British airwaves. While his oversized glasses and red-tinged beard were instantly recognizable, his voice was unknown as broadcasters had actors dub his words. Former British conservative prime minister John Major, one of the architects of peace in Northern Ireland, once said the thought of sitting down to talk with Adams had turned my stomach . But Adams was at the time walking a political tightrope - between IRA hawks who argued that only a continuation of violence would chase Britain from the island, and doves who said that negotiations were the route to a united Ireland. He emerged from the political cold in October 1997 when he shook hands with the new Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, at their first meeting. Sinn Fein had polled 17 percent in Northern Ireland s elections and returned Adams to the British parliament, although he refused to take his seat. Within a year, Adams and McGuinness had helped to broker a peace deal that largely ended the violence in the province. Since that deal, his role as statesman has grown, and he has made several visits to the White House. He was arrested in 2014 as part of an investigation into one of the province s most controversial murders, but no charges were brought. Latterly he has used social media to create a grandfatherly image in the Irish Republic, with posts about his dog and his taste in cartoons. | 1 |
2,909 | Trump urges U.N. reform to make U.S. investment worthwhile | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump complained on Monday that the United States is shouldering an unfair burden of the cost of the United Nations, but said if the world body reforms how it operates, the investment would be worth it. Trump, who has frequently criticized the cost to the United States of supporting the NATO alliance, took his concerns directly to the ambassadors of the U.N. Security Council, who joined him at the White House for a lunch. “If we do a great job, I care much less about the budget because you’re talking about peanuts compared to the important work you’re doing,” Trump told the 15 council envoys. The United States is the biggest U.N. contributor, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget. These assessed contributions are agreed by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. Trump said the U.S. share of those budgets was “unfair.” He has proposed a 28 percent budget cut for diplomacy and foreign aid, which includes an unspecified reduction in funding for the United Nations and its agencies, as well as enforcement of a 25 percent cap on U.S. funding for peacekeeping operations. “We need the member states to come together to eliminate inefficiency and bloat and make sure that no one nation shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden,” he said. Trump’s remarks came as the General Assembly prepares to negotiate in the coming months the U.N. regular budget for both 2018 and 2019 and the peacekeeping budget from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met briefly with Trump at the White House on Friday for the first time since both took office earlier this year. The United States currently owes the United Nations $896 million for its core budget, U.N. officials said. The United States is also reviewing 16 U.N. peacekeeping missions as the annual mandates come up for renewal by the Security Council in a bid to cut costs. U.N. agencies such as the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the children’s agency UNICEF, and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), are funded by governments voluntarily. The State Department said this month it was ending funding for UNFPA, the international body’s agency focused on family planning, as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. Guterres warned that the cut could have “devastating effects” on vulnerable women and girls. In 2016, the United States was the top contributor to the UNDP’s core budget, with an $83 million donation; the leading donor to UNICEF’s core budget in 2015 with $132 million; and the fourth-largest donor to the UNFPA, giving $75 million. | 1 |
2,910 | Iran says Tehran, Ankara to confront disintegration of Iraq, Syria: TV | Ankara (Reuters) - Iran and Turkey will work together to confront the disintegration of Iraq and Syria to ease tension in the crisis-hit region, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday after meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Tehran. We want security and stability in the Middle East ... the independence referendum in Iraq s Kurdistan is a sectarian plot by foreign countries and is rejected by Tehran and Ankara, Rouhani told a joint news conference with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. | 1 |
2,911 | Trump seeks to bar personal conduct claims from Trump University trial | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s attorneys asked a U.S. judge to bar accusations about his personal conduct that have arisen during the presidential election campaign, which would include allegations of sexual misconduct, from the upcoming civil trial over Trump University. Students at Trump University claim they were defrauded by its real estate seminars. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has faced allegations from women that he inappropriately touched them. Trump denied those accusations. In a court filing late on Thursday, attorneys for Trump said evidence and statements from the election campaign should be barred from trial because they could unfairly prejudice the jury. The trial is set to begin on Nov. 28. Evidence including Trump’s campaign speeches, tweets, his tax issues and controversy over his personal charity should not be considered by jurors, the filing said. All audio and video recordings publicized during the campaign should also be barred, the filing said, along with evidence about Trump’s beauty pageants, casinos and corporate bankruptcies. “Before trial begins in this case, prospective members of the jury will have the opportunity to cast their vote for president,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “It is in the ballot box where they are free to judge Mr. Trump based on all this and more.” A spokeswoman for the plaintiffs declined to comment. Trump’s lawyers had argued that the lawsuit, filed in 2013 in a San Diego federal court, should be dismissed because the New York real estate mogul, while personally involved in developing the concept and curriculum, relied on others to manage Trump University by the time the plaintiffs purchased seminars. Trump set off an uproar earlier this year when he accused the judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, of being biased against him because of the Trump’s pledge to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Curiel was born in Indiana and is of Mexican descent. Trump is trailing in the polls to Democrat Hillary Clinton with less than three weeks until Election Day. Trump’s lawyers also asked Curiel to exclude evidence about students’ finances from the trial, saying the affordability of Trump University was not relevant to the trial. Lawyers for the students asked in separate court filings to bar other evidence, including testimonials attesting to the value of the seminars, partly because they are irrelevant to whether Trump University misrepresented the qualifications of its instructors. | 1 |
2,912 | Obama in Cuba on historic visit | HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama arrived to small but cheering crowds on Sunday at the start of a historic visit to Cuba that opened a new chapter in U.S. engagement with the island’s Communist government after decades of hostility between the former Cold War foes. The three-day trip, the first by a U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years, is the culmination of a diplomatic opening announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014, ending an estrangement that began when the Cuban revolution ousted a pro-American government in 1959. “It’s a historic opportunity to engage directly with the Cuban people,” Obama told staff at the newly reopened U.S. Embassy who were gathered at a hotel, his first stop after arriving in the afternoon. Groups of Cubans watched the motorcade from balconies and backyards as Obama was driven downtown, where a small crowd of Cubans braved a tropical downpour and tight security. They chanted: “Viva Obama, Viva Fidel,” as the president and his family left after eating dinner in a rundown neighborhood. Obama, who abandoned a longtime U.S. policy of trying to isolate Cuba, wants to make his policy shift irreversible even if a Republican wins the White House in the Nov. 8 election. But major obstacles remain to full normalization of ties, and the Democratic president’s critics say the visit is premature. U.S. officials concede the trip may not yield immediate concessions from Cuba on rights and economic freedom. On Sunday, one bystander shouted: “Down with the blockade,” in reference to the U.S. embargo in place for 54 years that remains the top irritant for Cubans. Obama, who responded to the shout by raising his right hand, has asked Congress to rescind the embargo but has been blocked by the Republican leadership. Underscoring the ideological divide that persists between Washington and Havana, Cuban police, backed by hundreds of pro-government demonstrators, broke up the regular march of a leading dissident group, the Ladies in White, detaining about 50 people just hours before Obama arrived. Obama arrived at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport in Air Force One, the presidential jet with “United States of America” emblazoned across its fuselage, a sight almost unimaginable not long ago on the island, just 90 miles (145 km) off the coast of Florida. He was met by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the top Cuban official present. The formal welcoming ceremony will be on Monday when Obama meets the Cuban president at the presidential palace. U.S. officials appeared unfazed by Castro’s absence from the airport welcome, even though he personally met and greeted Pope Francis in September. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump tweeted that Obama’s visit was a “big deal” but that he got “no respect.” Obama will hold talks with Castro – but not his brother Fidel, the revolutionary leader - and speak to entrepreneurs on Monday. He meets privately with dissidents, addresses Cubans live on state-run media and attends an exhibition baseball game on Tuesday. The trip carries both symbolism and substance after decades of hostility between Washington and Havana. Traveling with first lady Michelle Obama, her mother and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, Obama took in the sights of the colonial-era neighborhood and was given a tour of Havana’s 18th century cathedral by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who played a role in secret talks that led to the rapprochement 15 months ago. The Obamas dined at the San Cristobal restaurant, run by an Afro-Cuban as part of a cautious opening to private enterprise since Fidel Castro handed power to his brother in 2008. The trip makes Obama the first sitting American president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge arrived on a battleship in 1928 and may help chip away at barriers to U.S.-Cuba trade and travel. Since rapprochement, the two sides have restored diplomatic ties and signed commercial deals on telecommunications and scheduled airline service. Obama has used executive authority to loosen trade and travel restrictions to advance his outreach to Cuba, one of his top foreign policy priorities along with the Iran nuclear deal. Cuba still complains about U.S. control of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay under a 1934 lease agreement that Havana says is no longer valid and that Obama has said is not up for discussion. Havana is unhappy with U.S. support for dissidents and anti-communist radio and TV programs beamed into Cuba. Speaking to reporters, Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment minister Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz said before the U.S. president’s arrival that Obama’s regulatory moves “go in the right direction.” But he added: “We can’t reach a normalization of relations with the blockade still in effect.” The Americans in turn criticize one-party rule and repression of political opponents, an issue that aides said Obama would address publicly and privately. Obama’s critics at home accuse him of making too many concessions for too little in return from the Cuban government and of using his trip to take an unearned “victory lap.” Obama’s first words to the Cuban people came in a message on Twitter, a social media service that few Cubans can use regularly because of government restrictions on Internet access. “¿Qué bolá Cuba?” he said, using Cuban slang for “what’s up?” “Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.” Little progress on the main issues is expected when Obama and Castro meet on Monday or at a state dinner that evening. Instead, the highlights are likely to be Obama’s speech on live Cuban television on Tuesday, when he will also meet dissidents and attend an exhibition baseball game between Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba’s national team. | 1 |
2,913 | Sacked Catalan leader Puigdemont says accepts snap election, not seeking asylum | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday said he accepted the snap elections called by Spain s central government in Catalonia and he was not seeking asylum in Belgium at a press conference given in Brussels. Puigdemont said he was not trying to escape from justice after the state prosecutor recommended charges for rebellion and sedition be brought against him. He did not clarify how long he would stay in Belgium, adding he would return to Catalonia when given guarantees by the Spanish government. | 1 |
2,914 | U.S. President Trump arrives in Israel on flight from Riyadh | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Israel on Monday on a flight from Saudi Arabia and will meet separately with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an attempt to revive peace talks. Air Force One landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport after what is believed to be the first direct flight to Israel from Riyadh, where Trump spent two days. His nine-day trip through the Middle East and Europe, his first foreign tour since taking office in January, ends on Saturday after visits to the Vatican Brussels and Sicily. | 1 |
2,915 | Pence, Trudeau discuss U.S.-Canada trade disagreements | (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed ongoing trade disagreements between their two countries on Friday on the sidelines of a gathering of U.S. governors. President Donald Trump plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada and Mexico with talks to begin in mid-August. Trump feels the two allies and neighbors are taking advantage of lax American trade policies. Pence and Trudeau met on the fringes of the National Governors Association meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. “On behalf of President Trump, the vice president recognized the importance of the beneficial U.S. trade and investment relationship with Canada, while expressing the need to work together to address lingering trade disagreements,” a White House statement said. It added the two leaders also expressed “their shared commitment to update and modernize NAFTA through constructive renegotiation.” | 1 |
2,916 | Stop-gap bill to avoid government shutdown fails Senate procedural vote | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A stop-gap funding bill to avoid a federal government shutdown later this week failed to garner enough votes to move forward in the Senate on Tuesday, with Democrats and Republicans both opposing the measure. The must-pass continuing resolution, or CR, which would keep federal agencies operating from Saturday through Dec. 9, received only 45 of the 60 votes needed to limit debate and be considered for passage by the 100-seat Republican-controlled Senate. Forty Democrats and two independents opposed the CR because it lacked a $220 million aid package to address the drinking-water crisis in Flint, Michigan. It also drew opposition from 13 Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz, the former presidential candidate. Senate leaders said they would explore alternatives to avoid a shutdown. Without an extension, many federal agencies will run out of operating funds when the government fiscal year expires at midnight on Friday. The bill includes $1.1 billion to combat the Zika virus and $500 million for flood relief in Louisiana and other states. “This is a 10-week funding bill. Its contents command broad support. It contains zero controversial riders,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said before the vote. Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives vowed to oppose the resolution until Republicans agree to a Flint aid package that the Senate passed by a 95-3 margin this month as part of a separate water resources bill. Flint, a city with over 100,000 people, has had lead-tainted drinking water for more than two years. Democrats, who say it is unfair to aid flood-ravaged areas and not Flint, want Republicans to include Flint aid in the CR or a version of the water resources bill that the House will vote on this week. Republicans say they will consider Flint later. Both sides say the aid package is paid for. “There is no excuse - none - for not including this provision,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat. McConnell told reporters he would consider the possibility of removing the flood-relief provision from the CR to win support from Democrats. “Let’s see him do it,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said when asked about McConnell’s remarks. Reasons for Republican opposition ranged from disapproval of Zika funding in the measure to frustration over the absence of provisions to boost the U.S. Export-Import Bank and block international oversight of the internet. | 1 |
2,917 | Yemen's Houthis blow up ex-president Saleh's house | SANAA (Reuters) - Fighters from Yemen s armed Houthi movement blew up house the house of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the center of the capital Sanaa on Monday, residents reported, as his whereabouts remain unknown. His loyalists have lost ground on the sixth day of heavy urban combat with the Iran-aligned Houthis, his former allies in nearly three years of war with a Saudi-led military coalition. | 1 |
2,918 | Mexico accepts Israeli offer to help develop Central America | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday that his country had accepted Israel s offer to help it and the United States develop Central America, as Israel and Mexico seek to deepen business ties. Speaking at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pena Nieto added that the two nations had agreed to update their free trade agreement, which was signed in 2000. We have agreed to establish and begin the ... negotiations to look over this agreement so that the commercial relationship between both nations intensifies and grows, he said. Netanyahu was joined by a business delegation including representatives from communications firm AudioCodes Ltd, cyber security firm Verint Systems Inc and Mer Group, which specializes in telecommunications and cyber security. In Central America, Pena Nieto said Israel s assistance could bolster the United States and Mexico s efforts in the region, particularly in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. He noted that Israel brings experience from carrying out development projects in Africa. The United States and Mexico have been seeking to encourage investment in infrastructure improvements in Central America s so-called Northern Triangle in an effort to stem migration to the United States. Netanyahu s trip marked the first visit to Mexico by a sitting Israeli prime minister, Pena Nieto said. At the close of the news conference, Netanyahu invited Pena Nieto to Jerusalem. The relationship between the nations was strained earlier this year by a tweet in which Netanyahu appeared to praise U.S. President Donald Trump s plans to build a wall on the Mexican border. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin later issued a statement apologizing for any misunderstanding. | 1 |
2,919 | Six farmers killed in apparent land dispute in Peru's Amazon | LIMA (Reuters) - Six farmers were shot dead in the Peruvian Amazon by a group of masked men in an apparent dispute over land rights, a police officer and a tribal leader said on Thursday. Five bodies, one with hands and feet bound, had been thrown in a river and a sixth was found by the side of an unpaved road in the jungle region Ucayali, police officer Raul Huari said. The victims were part of a community of peasant farmers that had refused to leave the lands they work on when pressured by oil palm growers, said Robert Guimaraes, the head of an indigenous federation in Ucayali. Witnesses testified that a group of between 30 and 40 men carrying shotguns tried to kill some 20 farmers altogether, Huari said. They said they showed up, surrounded them and just started shooting. Fortunately, some managed to escape, he said. In my 24 years of working I ve never seen anything like this. Huari said the murders appeared to be linked to a land dispute, and a special police unit and prosecutors were carrying out investigations. The murders occurred on Sept. 1, marking the three-year anniversary of the killing of four indigenous activists who had faced threats from loggers in a different part of Ucayali. After the 2014 murders, which came as Peru was hosting a global environmental summit, the government promised to do more to protect remote Amazonian villages that often lack land titles from violent clashes with squatters. Guimaraes said native communities continue to face violent threats in Ucayali and that no one has been convicted for the 2014 murders. Peru s culture and interior ministries did not respond to requests for comment. The native Shipibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, which lives near where the farmers killed, has tried to repel oil palm growers from their lands for years, said Guimaraes. | 1 |
2,920 | James Clapper Just Publicly Said Trump Is Destroying Our Democracy (VIDEO) | Donald Trump has been throwing around the false claim that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that there was no evidence of collusion between him and his campaign and Russia recently, but a CNN interview just destroyed any hope of Trump ever using that again.On Sunday, Clapper told Jake Tapper that Donald Trump and his Russian friends are attacking our democracy: I think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally and that s the big news here is the Russian interference in our election system and I think as well our institutions are under assault internally. Asked if he meant Donald Trump, Clapper responded with one word: Exactly. The founding fathers, in their genius, created a system of three co-equal branches of government and a built-in system of checks and balances, Clapper said, adding, I feel as though that is under assault and is eroding. I think each Senator or Congressman has got to, I hope, will think in terms of their own conscience, Clapper told Tapper. I hope they speak up. Clapper also said that Trump is wrong to use him to exonerate himself. The bottom line is I don t know if there was collusion, political collusion, Clapper said. I don t know of any evidence to it. So I can t refute it, and I can t confirm it. Watch the interview below: | 0 |
2,921 | Trump says Brexit to be 'a great thing', wants quick trade deal with UK | LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said that Brexit would turn out to be a great thing and other countries would follow Britain out of the European Union but promised to strike a swift bilateral trade deal with the United Kingdom. Speaking in an interview with The Times of London newspaper five days before his inauguration, Trump described himself as a big fan of Britain and endorsed last year’s vote to leave the European Union. “I think Brexit is going to end up being a great thing,” Trump said. “I’ll tell you, the fact that your pound sterling has gone down? Great. Because business is unbelievable in a lot of parts in the UK.” The June 23 vote took many investors and chief executives by surprise, triggering the deepest political and financial turmoil in Britain since World War Two and the biggest ever one-day fall in sterling against the dollar. Sterling has since fallen further against the U.S. dollar as traders, businesses and investors fret about the type of relationship Britain will have with its biggest single trading partner after it leaves the bloc. Trump’s election campaign seized on the Brexit vote as an example of disillusioned voters rising up against the political establishment, and he forged a friendship with leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage - a fierce critic of Prime Minister Theresa May. Trump’s election has raised questions over the future of the so called ‘special relationship’ that has underpinned close British-American ties for decades. But in Sunday’s interview Trump played up his ancestral ties to Britain, saying his Scottish mother was “so proud” of Queen Elizabeth, and said he was eager to get a trade deal done. “We’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly. Good for both sides,” Trump said. “I will be meeting with [May]. She’s requesting a meeting and we’ll have a meeting right after I get into the White House ... we’re gonna get something done very quickly.” However, he predicted that more countries would seek to follow Britain’s example and quit the EU. “I believe others will leave,” he said. “If refugees keep pouring into different parts of Europe . . . I think it’s gonna be very hard to keep it together because people are angry about it.” He singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel - whose open-door policies have allowed about 1.1 million refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere into Germany since mid-2015 - calling her immigration policy a catastrophic mistake. | 1 |
2,922 | Republicans try to pick up the pieces after healthcare defeat | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The seven-year Republican quest to scrap Obamacare, a major campaign vow by President Donald Trump, lay in ruins on Friday after the Senate failed to dismantle the healthcare law, with congressional leaders now planning to move on to other matters. John McCain, the maverick 80-year-old senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, cast the deciding vote in the dramatic early-morning showdown on the Senate floor as a bill to repeal key elements of Obamacare was defeated, 51-49, dealing Trump a crushing political setback. McCain, who flew from Arizona this week after being diagnosed with brain cancer and was heading back for further treatment starting on Monday, joined fellow Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski in voting with Senate Democrats unified against the legislation. “It’s time to move on,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose reputation as a master strategist was diminished, said on the Senate floor after the vote at roughly 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT). While House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said fellow Republicans should not give up on healthcare, he cited other pressing issues that needed attention, including major tax-cut legislation sought by Trump. “We have so much work still to do,” Ryan said in a statement. The Senate’s healthcare failure called into question the Republican Party’s ability to govern even as it controls the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. Trump has not had a major legislative victory after more than six months in office, and his administration is mired in investigations into contacts between his election campaign and Russia and high-level White House staff infighting. He had promised to get major healthcare legislation, tax cuts and a boost in infrastructure spending through Congress in short order. Also on the legislative agenda are spending bills for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 to avoid a government shutdown and raising the U.S. debt limit. Speaking in Brentwood, New York, on Long Island, Trump expressed dismay at the bill’s failure, saying, “I said from the beginning, let Obamacare implode and then do it (pass legislation). I turned out to be right. Let Obamacare implode.” Trump, who earlier on Twitter said the three Republicans who voted no “let America down,” again took aim at lawmakers in his own party. “Boy, oh boy, they’ve been working on that one for seven years,” he said in Brentwood. “Can you believe that? The swamp. But we’ll get it done.” Some lawmakers urged a bipartisan effort to buttress the existing healthcare system. With the partisan divide as wide as ever in Washington, it remained to be seen if a bipartisan approach can get off the ground. McCain said the defeated bill did not offer meaningful reform and that its defeat presents “an opportunity to start fresh” on legislation crafted by lawmakers in both parties. “I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to trust each other, stop the political gamesmanship and put the healthcare needs of the American people first,” McCain said. Top congressional Democrats urged a bipartisan effort to fix problems in the Obamacare law without repealing it. “Change it, improve it, but don’t just take a knife and try to destroy it and put nothing in its place,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said. Democratic Senator Bill Nelson said he was working with Republican Collins on a bipartisan effort on healthcare. While Ryan was able to secure House passage of a comprehensive bill to gut Obamacare in May, McConnell earlier in the week was unable to win passage of similarly broad healthcare legislation amid intraparty squabbling and competing demands by hard-line conservatives and moderates. On Friday morning, he failed to get even a stripped-down, so-called skinny bill over the finish line. Killing the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement dubbed Obamacare, has been a passion for Republicans since its 2010 enactment over their unified opposition, and was a key campaign promise by Trump last year. Republicans lawmakers, some of whom have been gleeful about razing Obama’s presidential legacy, now fear a backlash from their conservative political base that could affect the 2018 congressional elections. For the moment, the Affordable Care Act, which extended health insurance to 20 million people and drove the percentage of uninsured people to historic lows, remains in place and must be overseen by an administration that is hostile to it. This leaves health insurers unsure of how long the administration will continue to make billions of dollars in Obamacare payments that help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans. Schumer warned against any efforts to sabotage the law. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which represents insurers across the country, said it would work to ensure a smooth open enrollment period from Nov. 1-Dec. 15 and stabilize the individual insurance market under Obamacare for the long term. Shares of health insurers, which had fought against the bill’s proposed repeal of the mandate that Americans obtain insurance, were up. Aetna Inc rose 0.9 percent, Anthem Inc gained 2.3 percent and Humana Inc edged up 0.2 percent. On Wall Street, shares of hospitals were mostly higher because of the dwindling prospects for big cuts in the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and disabled. Community Health Systems Inc rose 2.2 percent, HCA Healthcare Inc gained 0.6 percent and Tenet Healthcare Corp edged up 0.1 percent. Republicans have long denounced Obamacare - which expanded Medicaid and created online marketplaces for individuals to obtain coverage - as an intrusion by government on people’s healthcare decisions. Veteran House Republican Tom Cole said he thought there were “a number” of other Republican senators who were uncomfortable with the Senate’s healthcare legislation but were able to vote “yes” knowing McCain’s vote would kill it. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close friend of McCain, met on Friday with Trump to discuss Graham’s proposal to take tax money raised by Obamacare and send it back to the states in the form of healthcare block grants, the senator’s office said. The skinny bill, released just three hours before voting began, would have retroactively repealed Obamacare’s penalty on individuals who do not obtain health insurance, repealed for eight years a penalty on certain businesses that do not provide employees with insurance and repealed a tax on medical devices until 2020. | 1 |
2,923 | Florida Republicans pick Marco Rubio for Senate race: AP | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marco Rubio, who dropped out of the Republican presidential race earlier this year, was chosen on Tuesday as the Republican Party nominee for a second U.S. Senate term from Florida, according to the Associated Press. Rubio was projected to win the party nominating contest in Florida over novice politician Carlos Beruff, a wealthy homebuilder. Rubio could face Democratic U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, who was expected to win his party’s nominating contest, in the Nov. 8 election. | 1 |
2,924 | Hamas will reverse Trump's Jerusalem move, leader tells Gaza rally | GAZA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Palestinians including hundreds of gunmen rallied in Gaza on Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of Hamas s founding and its chief vowed to reverse U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Earlier in the day, Israel shut its border crossings with Gaza in response to daily rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled enclave since Trump s announcement on Dec. 6, which stirred anger across the Arab and Muslim world and concern among Washington s European allies as well as Russia. We will knock down Trump s decision. No superpower is capable of offering Jerusalem to Israel, there is no Israel that it should have a capital named Jerusalem. Our souls, our blood, our sons and our homes are a sacrifice for Jerusalem, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told the rally in Gaza City. With gunmen from other Palestinian militant groups showing support for Hamas, Haniyeh added, We are marching towards Jerusalem, sacrificing millions of martyrs along the way, and the crowd repeated his chants. Israeli aircraft struck three Hamas facilities before dawn after the latest rocket salvo, Israel s military said. It said it targeted training camps and weapons storage compounds. Hamas usually evacuates such facilities when border tensions rise. Two of the rockets fired by militants were intercepted by Israel s Iron Dome anti-missile system and a third exploded in an open area of southern Israel. There were no reports of casualties on either side of the frontier. The military said in a statement that due to the security events and in accordance with security assessments , Kerem Shalom crossing - the main passage point for goods entering Gaza - and the Erez pedestrian crossing would be shut as of Thursday. It did not say how long the closure would last. Around 15 rockets have been fired into southern Israel since Trump s announcement. None of the projectiles has caused serious injury or damage. The attacks have drawn Israeli air strikes that have killed two Hamas gunmen. Two other Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with Israeli troops during stone-throwing protests along the border. Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on Israel Radio that while Hamas, which last fought a war with Israel in 2014, was not responsible for the rocket fire, it needed to rein in militants from breakaway groups or it would find itself in a situation where it has to contend with the Israeli military. In Istanbul on Wednesday, a summit of more than 50 Muslim countries condemned Trump s move and urged the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem, captured by Israel along with the West Bank in a 1967 war, as the capital of Palestine. Palestinians want East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state they seek in Israeli-occupied territory. Trump s declaration has been applauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a recognition of political reality and Jews biblical links to Jerusalem, a city that is also holy to Muslims and Christians. Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where Jesus is thought to have been raised, has canceled some Christmas celebrations in protest at Trump s move, officials there said. There was no word from Bethlehem, the Palestinian West Bank town that is Jesus s traditional birthplace, whether it was also weighing a cutback on its celebrations at a crucial time of year for the its tourist trade. | 1 |
2,925 | Florida congresswoman indicted in fraud scheme | TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A federal grand jury indicted U.S. Representative Corrine Brown of Florida and her chief of staff on fraud charges and other crimes, accusing them of funneling money for a bogus education charity to personal use, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday. The 69-year-old Democrat from Jacksonville, Florida, denied that she had used her political position to help raise more than $800,000 that donors believed supported college scholarships and other educational purposes. According to the 53-page indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida this week, funds donated to the group One Door for Education were used to pay for a golf tournament honoring Brown, luxury box seats at a Beyonce concert, a football game and other personal expenses. Prosecutors noted that the organization was not properly registered as a non-profit group and awarded only two scholarships totaling $1,200. “I am innocent of the charges announced today, and intend to vigorously defend myself in court against these politically motivated allegations,” Brown said in a statement. She said she would temporarily step down from her role as the Ranking Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans’ Affairs due to House rules. The 24-count indictment also accuses her chief of staff, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons, 50, of multiple counts of fraud. There was no immediate response from Brown’s office to requests for comment from Simmons. During a court appearance on Friday, Brown and Simmons pleaded not guilty, local media reported. “It is incredibly disappointing that an elected official, who took an oath year after year to serve others, would exploit the needs of children and abuse the charitable hearts of constituents to advance her own personal and political agendas and deliver them with virtually nothing,” Michelle Klimt, special agent in charge of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation division in Jacksonville, said in a statement. Brown was elected to Congress in 1992 as one of the first three black members of Florida’s congressional delegation since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. Now seeking re-election, she faces a primary challenge in a redrawn district. Her indictment follows the June conviction of U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah of Philadelphia for orchestrating multiple frauds to enrich himself and preserve his political career. He subsequently resigned. Prosecutors said Simmons misused his position to help a relative obtain government employment and receive more than $735,000 without doing work. They said he diverted more than $80,000 of his relative’s salary for his own personal use. Brown is also accused of falsifying her tax filings. | 1 |
2,926 | SICK REASON Historic City With “Off the charts” Crime Rates Passes Disgusting Ordinance Putting Criminals Before Cops | The Providence (RI) City Council voted Thursday to give first passage to the Community Safety Act, a far-reaching ordinance designed to curb profiling by the city s police but the odd benefits it gives to criminals and specifically gang members has many in law enforcement shaking their head.The council voted 12-0 to approve the ordinance as hundreds of supporters cheered. Mayor Jorge Elorza has already said he intends to sign it into law.After reading the details of this ordinance, the only ones that will be cheering in a few months will be the criminals.While the politicians covered up the terrible provisions in this act by saying that it was simply designed to curb profiling, what was really inside it will create one of the most lawless cities this country knows.The violent crime rate in Providence is already 134% higher than the state average and the passing of this ordinance will be the best thing that Rhode Island criminals have seen in some time.Developed by activist groups, the Community Safety Act is weighed heavily towards giving benefits to the criminal element. If you don t believe us, just look at the official logo (above) of the Act. It shows the police at the bottom, which is exactly where the politicians have placed them by passing this ordinance.No one in law enforcement will argue that racial profiling should not be eliminated but this Act uses that premise to handcuff law enforcement from simply doing their job.The international and extremely violent gang MS-13 that initiated in El Salvador and contains a large number of illegal immigrants here in the United States, has been thriving in Providence, RI for several years. This new Safety Act will go a long way in helping this gang, that uses many of the same practices as ISIS to grow and prosper in Providence:Here are some of the items that the future victims of Providence Crime need to be aware of:And of course, the ordinance ends with an entire page on how police will be prosecuted and sued for any violation of anything in the ordinance of which must goes far and beyond any case law or practice that any agency in this country is currently doing. Actually, the piles of paperwork that the Act requires of a police officer after they stop someone is done in another city .Chicago. Hasn t that worked out well there?Now there will be some that are not educated in the dynamics of what this ordinance will cause that say we oppose this because we want police to racially profile others. That is ridiculous. It is against the law for race to be the sole indicator on profiling and no one in the profession agrees with racial profiling but passing this ordinance because a small section prohibits racial profiling is like eating a salad with a milk shake. Any of the benefits of the salad go away after you drink the 1000 calorie shake.Let us be clear. The City of Providence is in deep trouble. Their crime rate is already off the chart and this Act gives all of the rights to criminals and in an odd way, gang members?Via: LawOfficerJesse Waters takes a look at Providence, RI to help understand why the unemployment is so high. Perhaps instead of passing laws to protect criminals and illegal aliens, Providence should address the root cause of their problems, like fatherless children and an entire generation of drug dealers and slackers (***Warning***this video may make you miss Bill O Reilly and his honest assessment of our inner cities): | 0 |
2,927 | U.S. to send over 3,000 troops to Afghanistan: Mattis | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday the United States would send over 3,000 troops to Afghanistan and that most were either on their way or had been notified of their deployment. It is exactly over 3,000 somewhat and frankly I haven t signed the last of the orders right now as we look at specific, small elements that are going, Mattis told reporters. Reuters previously reported that the United States would send about 3,500 additional troops to Afghanistan. | 1 |
2,928 | Factbox: Short list of potential Trump administration picks | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has announced the two top White House advisers but still has many key administration positions to fill ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump announced on Sunday he will hire Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff and named Stephen Bannon, former head of the conservative website Breitbart News, as his chief strategist and senior counselor. Below are people mentioned as contenders for senior roles. Leading the list: * Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Trump’s campaign finance chairman Under consideration: * Jeb Hensarling, Texas representative and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee * Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer * Tom Barrack, founder and chairman of Colony Capital Inc * Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City * John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush * Bob Corker, Tennessee senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee * Newt Gingrich, former U.S. House Speaker * Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq * Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency * Jeff Sessions, senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee * Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush * Jon Kyl, former senator from Arizona * Duncan Hunter, representative from California and early Trump supporter, member of House Armed Services Committee * Jim Talent, former senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee * Kelly Ayotte, outgoing senator from New Hampshire and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee * Rudy Giuliani * Jeff Sessions, senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who takes a hard line on immigration * Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, who advises Trump on immigration issues * Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General * Trey Gowdy, representative from South Carolina who headed the House committee that investigated the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya * Chris Christie, New Jersey governor * Newt Gingrich * Tom Price, representative from Georgia who is an orthopedic surgeon * Rich Bagger, former pharmaceutical executive and former top aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie * Bobby Jindal, former Louisiana governor * Michael McCaul, representative from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee * David Clarke, Milwaukee county sheriff and vocal Trump supporter * Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump * Jeff Holmstead, energy lawyer, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Mike Catanzaro, energy lobbyist, former EPA official during George W. Bush administration * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors * Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas attorney general * Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, CEO of Continental Resources Inc * U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota * Robert Grady * Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp * James Connaughton, CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor who ran for vice president in 2008 * Jan Brewer, former Arizona governor * Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil * Harold Hamm * Robert Grady * Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, chairman of Invesco Ltd subsidiary WL Ross & Co * Linda McMahon, former world Wrestling Entertainment executive and two-time Senate candidate * Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, former Defense Intelligence Agency chief * Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Pete Hoekstra, former representative from Michigan * Lieutenant General Michael Flynn * Pete Hoekstra * Lieutenant General Michael Flynn * Stephen Hadley * Kelly Ayotte * Richard Grenell, former spokesman for the United States at the United Nations * Peter King, representative from New York * Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of steel producer Nucor Corp * Jeff Miller, retiring representative from Florida and chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee | 1 |
2,929 | Ben Carson Home Vandalized with Anti-Trump Graffiti, CNN Accuses Him of Lying | 21st Century Wire says The culture wars continue to ramp-up after events in Charlottesville. White House Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson reported on Wednesday that his Virginia home was vandalized by people who also wrote hateful rhetoric about President Trump. We were out of town, but other kind, embarrassed neighbors cleaned up most of the mess before we returned, he said.Carson issued a statement in which he noted a personal experience of an incident which took place after he and is wife previously purchased a farm in Maryland: One of the neighbors immediately put up a Confederate flag. A friend of ours who is an African-American three-star general was coming to visit and immediately turned around concluding that he was in the wrong place. Interestingly, all the other neighbors immediately put up American flags shaming the other neighbor who took down the Confederate flag. In both instances, less than kind behavior was met by people taking the high road We could all learn from these examples. Hatred and bigotry unfortunately still exists in our country and we must all continue to fight it, but let s use the right tools. Unfortunately, Carson s comments were met with a cynical and disrespectful response from the divisive gatekeepers at CNN, who proceeded to insult the African-American Republican cabinet minister. Incredibly, CNN s national political reporter Maeve Reston implied he was lying, saying that Carson s anecdote is worth a FACT-CHECK :This Ben Carson anecdote is worth a fact-check .. https://t.co/CvJSDSkfxW Maeve Reston (@MaeveReston) August 16, 2017Along with the criminal act of vandalism, CNN s attack on Carson also proves that the New Left in America do not accept the presence of an African-American, or black conservative in politics, and will seek to undermine him simply for being in the wrong party. READ MORE CHARLOTTESVILLE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Charlottesville Files SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
2,930 | Obama defends choice of white male jurist for Supreme Court | CHICAGO (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his pick of a white man to fill a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy against criticism he could have chosen someone from a more diverse background, saying Merrick Garland was “indisputably qualified” for the post. Obama was speaking at a town hall-style event at the University of Chicago Law School, where he once taught, as part of a White House campaign to pressure the Republican-led Senate to approve Garland, a centrist appellate court judge. Responding to a question from a student about what kind of “diversity” Garland brought to the job, Obama joked that he came from Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. “At no point did I say: ‘Oh, I need a black lesbian from Skokie in that slot ... can you find me one?’ That’s just not how I’ve approached it,” Obama said, noting he had transformed the federal court with diverse picks. “Yeah, he’s a white guy, but he’s a really outstanding jurist. Sorry,” Obama said of Garland, 63, calling him “indisputably qualified to serve on the highest court in the land.” Obama’s first two Supreme Court picks were women, including Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Hispanic justice. Some groups had hoped Obama would this time nominate appeals court judge Sri Srinivasan to be the court’s first Indian-American member. Garland faces an uphill fight being confirmed in the face of Republican opposition. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has insisted the next president, who will take office on Jan. 20 after the Nov. 8 election, should fill the vacancy created by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Before the event, McConnell dismissed Obama’s Chicago event as political theater. “I’m sure he’ll gloss over the fact that the decision about filling this pivotal seat could impact our country for decades, that it could dramatically affect our most cherished constitutional rights like those contained in the First and Second Amendments,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech, referring to gun rights and freedom of speech and religion. The high court is now split 4-4 between conservatives and liberals. Garland, if confirmed, could tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades. Obama told the law school audience that the partisan fight over the nomination threatened to erode the “institutional integrity” of the courts. “We are going to see the kinds of sharp partisan polarization that have come to characterize our electoral politics seeping entirely into the judicial system, and the courts will be just an extension of our legislatures and our elections and our politics,” Obama said. “At that point, people lose confidence in the ability of the courts to fairly adjudicate cases and controversies,” he said. Most Republican senators have backed McConnell’s stance. Only two of the 54 Republicans in the 100-seat Senate have said Garland deserves hearings and a vote. Some others have said they will meet with Garland privately for a “courtesy visit.” That includes Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who is set to have breakfast with Garland next Tuesday, but only to explain why he will not consider his nomination. On Thursday, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, announced he would have a courtesy meeting with Garland. But Graham’s spokesman said the senator had not changed his opposition to holding hearings and a vote on the nomination. | 1 |
2,931 | Google supports U.S. efforts to disclose buyers of online political ads | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google unit told U.S. election regulators in a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday that it “strongly supports” tightening rules on online political advertising as part of efforts to curtail “foreign abuse and influence” in elections. Federal lawmakers have criticized Google, Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc for not doing enough to identify and block Russian agents from buying ads on their services. U.S. authorities say the ads were intended to influence voters during the 2016 presidential election. U.S. law permits foreign entities to advertise about certain issues if they disclose such spending, but it is unlawful for them to interfere in elections. In September, the Federal Election Commission, which sets campaign finance rules, voted to consider ensuring that those disclosure rules apply to online activity. It opened a public comment period that is set to expire Monday. In the letter, Google on Thursday offered its formal response to the FEC’s deliberation. “Now more than ever, we must work together to improve transparency, enhance disclosures and reduce foreign abuse and influence in U.S. elections,” the company wrote. The stance marks an about-face from 2010 when Google sought an affirmative exemption from a requirement that an ad should state who purchased it. The commission did not reach a consensus on the exemption at the time. Google now is calling on the commission to extend disclosure rules that apply to TV and print ads to the Web. “Google strongly supports the commission’s proposal to proceed with a rulemaking so that the commission can provide the clarity that campaigns and other political advertisers need to determine what disclaimers they are required to include.” The company, which is the world’s top seller of online ads, also asked federal regulators and lawmakers to expand restrictions on foreign participation in elections to cover content distributed and advertised on the Internet. Ratifying such provisions could give tech companies guidance on how to treat soft influence, or content from organizations such as RT, a Russian news outlet that has drawn concerns from lawmakers for peddling propaganda on Facebook and Google’s YouTube service. In its letter, Google also reiterated plans to offer the public a database of election ads purchased through its service. In addition, the company has said information about buyers would be more accessible. Technology news website Recode first reported the Google letter. | 1 |
2,932 | France's Macron condemns missile test conducted by North Korea | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron condemned on Tuesday what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile test conducted by North Korea and called for greater pressure on Pyongyang. I condemn the new ballistic irresponsible trial of North Korea. It reinforces our determination to increase the pressure on Pyongyang and our solidarity to our partners, Macron said on Twitter. | 1 |
2,933 | Texas Church Rejects Man For Being Gay, But He Gets The Last Laugh A Year Later | This church congregation should be ashamed.After all, it was a year ago that Watermark Community Church sent a letter to Jason Thomas formally rejecting him as a member of the church simply because he is gay. In our attempt to shepherd you, we have recognized a destructive pattern that prohibits us in caring for you and playing the role you desire for us to have in your life, the letter stated. Specifically, your desire to actively participate in a same-sex relationship with another man, and your unwillingness to heed biblical counsel from your church to turn from that relationship, has made it exceedingly difficult to shepherd you during this time. The church goes on to claim in the letter that they value the way God has uniquely formed you, but wants him to change by following the church s counsel and to meet a person named Brandon who has similar homosexual feelings. Notice how the church literally outed Brandon?Anyway, Jason clearly was not welcome back to the church unless he agreed to be someone he is not so he stayed far away. One year later, Jason is happy and is comfortable with who he is and with his sexuality. So he wrote a reply to Watermark Community Church informing them that their choice to reject him was the best thing that could have happened to him.Here s is the full letter via Pink News.Dear Watermark Community Church,Today I celebrate a very interesting anniversary with you. It was exactly one year ago when you told me that I was no longer worthy to serve, be in a community group, and be a member of your church.I spent years in your church battling against my homosexuality. I believed with all my heart that God would change me; I prayed for change almost daily. But when I wasn t able to change, you turned your back on me.You say our sin is not unique, but you treat us in a unique manner; this is unacceptable behaviour. We are actual people that have actual feelings.Here we are a year later and you are still doing to others what you did to me. You are tarnishing the name of God to Christians and non-Christians alike; you should be ashamed of yourselves! Do not forget, Jesus was angry with people just like you who said certain groups of people were not worthy to be followers of Him.Thank you for removing yourself from my life! I am who God made me to be. I cannot change my sexual orientation and nor would I want to. I now have internal peace and happiness unlike ever before.Jason ThomasIndeed, while this church is busy persecuting people for being gay, there are almost certainly many members of the church who commit adultery or other sins on a daily basis who are not being rejected by the church like Jason. Even the church elders are not without sin yet they are busy hypocritically casting stones at people who are gay.Watermark responded to Jason by telling the Dallas News that, An individual s formal relationship with us as a member is only changed when someone no longer desires to resist sin and refuses our help, care and encouragement. Even if someone s formal membership status is removed, they are always welcome to attend Watermark and be reminded of the grace and truth of our savior Jesus Christ. Yeah, that s complete bullshit and is exactly why more and more people are no longer attending church. Jesus said love thy neighbor as thyself, but apparently this church isn t a fan of Jesus teachings, which did not include ostracizing gay people.Featured Image: i.ytimg.com | 0 |
2,934 | U.S. considering wider Iran threat as part of its policy on nuclear deal: Tillerson | LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is continuing to develop its policy on Iran and will consider the wider threat it poses beyond its nuclear capabilities, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday. In April, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a review of whether a suspension of sanctions on Iran related to a 2015 nuclear deal, negotiated under President Barack Obama, was in the U.S. national security interest. He has called it the worst deal ever negotiated. The Trump administration is continuing to review and develop its policy on Iran ... no decision has been made, Tillerson said during a news conference in London following a meeting with British foreign minister Boris Johnson. President Trump has made it clear ... we must take in to account the totality of Iranian threats, not just Iran s nuclear capabilities, that is just one piece of our posture towards Iran. Tillerson also said Iran was clearly in default of the expectations of the 2015 deal. | 1 |
2,935 | HOUSE DEMOCRATS MAKE STUNNING Move To Implement Sharia Law In America | While US citizens are outraged over the removal of Christ from pretty much every aspect of our lives, including Christmas, Democrat members of Congress are working fast and furiously to implement America s first Sharia Law...If they get their way They will be stripping us of our basic rights, and we need to be prepared for their TERRIFYING hope and get Americans aware of what is happening!On December 17, Democrat Congressmen quietly sponsored House Resolution 569, a resolution that asks lawmakers to condemn violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States. The resolution specifically mentions Muslims, no other religious groups, and will serve as a test by which further criminalizing of Islamophobia may be introduced.Democrats have shamelessly lumped together hate speech with violence in an effort to compare criticism of Islam to physically harming Muslims. H. Res. 569 threatens to restrict our right to even report facts that tarnish Islam s reputation, a law that all Sharia-governed countries already have in place.According to Congress.gov, the resolution reads: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives denounces in the strongest terms the increase of hate speech, intimidation, violence, vandalism, arson, and other hate crimes targeted against mosques, Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslim; urges local and Federal law enforcement authorities to work to prevent hate crimes; and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those perpetrators of hate crimes Muslims are slaughtering innocent people more than any other religious groups combined, all while refusing as a whole to condemn this barbaric Islamic terrorism, yet we are working to ensure these silent, consenting moderates have special protection protection that they have never allowed religious minorities in their own countries.In another passage, Democrats laughably purport that Muslims have contributed to the fabric of American society, but we re assuming they don t mean terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, countless frivolous CAIR lawsuits, whitewashed Islamic education in public schools, or whining about pork products and a lack of taxpayer-funded prayer rooms. Whereas this Muslim community is recognized as having made innumerable contributions to the cultural and economic fabric and well-being of United States society Still, the bill is purposefully vague in that it mentions prosecuting the perpetrators of hate speech, yet gives no definition for what it considers hate speech. Of course, we who have spoken out about the intolerant fundamentals of Islam understand that this means uttering anything critical of Islam or its followers, regardless of facts or relevance to the Quran.In conclusion, the bill ridiculously compares criticizing Islam as a violation of Muslims civil rights, as if disagreeing or even openly mocking someone s beliefs is unconstitutional. Our forefathers had exactly political and religious mockery in mind when they penned our amendments, having experience the violation of limited speech and worship by their own King George III.Indeed, free speech was never intended to defend inoffensive speech, because inoffensive speech needs no protection. Freedom of speech is solely for the offensive, meant to prevent those who would limit it because of their opposing beliefs. Via: RWN | 0 |
2,936 | Trump: Healthcare, infrastructure, welfare reforms up next after taxes | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he plans to take up healthcare, infrastructure and welfare reform issues soon after Republicans’ tax overhaul is finalized, which the party has pledged to complete by the end of the year. “We’ll be submitting plans on healthcare, plans on infrastructure and plans on welfare reform, which is desperately needed in this country, soon after taxes,” he told reporters at the White House ahead of a meeting with his Cabinet secretaries. | 1 |
2,937 | Trump adviser accuses U.S. of disregarding Russia's interests | MOSCOW (Reuters) - A foreign policy adviser to U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has accused Washington of contributing to an atmosphere of mutual contempt with Moscow by disregarding Russia’s interests. Carter Page, a former investment banker whose views on Russia have caused controversy in the past, made the comments in an opinion piece for Russia’s state-controlled Sputnik news agency that was published on Thursday. “From Syria to Ukraine to world energy policy, Russia remains an essential piece in the puzzle for solving many of Washington’s most pressing geostrategic challenges,” Page wrote in the article. The U.S. government had shown a “complete disregard for Russia’s interests”, Page said, saying this had fueled a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations. Trump, the Republican nominee for next month’s U.S. election, named Page as being among five foreign policy advisers in March. Both Trump and Page are known for their more conciliatory stance toward Russia, in contrast to the views of many prominent Republicans. In a speech in Moscow in July, Page criticized Western countries for what he said was their “hypocritical focus on democratization” in the post-Soviet world. | 1 |
2,938 | Naked Donald Trump statue up for auction, could fetch $20,000 | (Reuters) - A life-sized nude statue of U.S. Republican presidential contender Donald Trump is going up for auction, with profits from the sale going to an immigrant support group. Julien’s Auctions said on Wednesday that the statue, called “The Emperor Has No Balls,” is expected to fetch $10,000 to $20,000 at the Oct. 22 auction in Los Angeles. The statue is one of a series that appeared unannounced in public spaces in New York and four other U.S. cities earlier in August. The orange-tinted likeness showed Trump with a massive belly, small fingers and some missing genitals. Most were confiscated or destroyed by local authorities and the Los Angeles statue is the only one remaining, Julien’s said. The statues were created by an anonymous artists collective called INDECLINE. A portion of the auction profits will go to the National Immigration Forum, which campaigns for the rights of immigrants. Trump has pledged to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico to keep immigrants out and to deport the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, should he be elected. He is due to give a speech on Wednesday as he seeks to find a balance in his immigration stance. Trump is not the only politician to be represented in the October auction of street and contemporary art. American pop artist Knowledge Bennett’s “Hillary Clinton Cojones,” featuring the Democratic White House hopeful wearing a tuxedo, is expected to fetch up to $15,000, Julien’s said. | 1 |
2,939 | Clinton Camp Just Obliterated Trump’s ‘Shameful’ Excuse For Black Outreach | Hillary Clinton s camp took aim at Donald Trump and his recent efforts to lure black voters into backing him, slamming his minority outreach efforts as shameful, insulting and cowardly. Marlon Marshall, Hillary for America s Director of State campaigns and Political Engagement, released a statement on Thursday in response to the latest update on Trump s upcoming visit to an African-American church in Detroit. Not only will Trump not be speaking to the congregation, but the one-on-one interview he will be having with the pastor after the service will be carefully scripted. Donald Trump s latest gimmick to act as if he cares about the black community is downright shameful, insulting and cowardly, Marshall wrote. After 14 months of neglecting us, Donald Trump is once again dodging substantive conversations and ducking questions about the issues that impact our community. Not surprisingly, Trump s ignorance on issues like the economy, criminal justice reform, the meaning of quality health care or systemic racism, has forced him to resort to scripted conversations and staged engagements with our communities. According to the leaked script, the questions that will be asked by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson will be written in advance and the GOP nominee s answers will be carefully prepared ahead of time as well. Marshall slammed Trump for this bogus attempt at scripted outreach to the black community. The problem is, our community can see through this: outreach to African Americans cannot be scripted; leaders ought to be prepared to address the hard truths about race and justice in our country, Marshall wrote. And Trump s discomfort on addressing these issues only reinforces that he s unfit to be our president. Trump s so-called minority outreach has not been going over as well as he hoped. What was his master plan to woo black voters and make them forget that he is endorsed by the KKK? Tell them that their lives suck so bad already that they don t have anything to lose by voting for him. Gee, I simply can t imagine why bedbugs and the Bubonic plague are polling better than Trump among blacks and Hispanics right now.Featured image via Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images | 0 |
2,940 | BOOM! Ivanka’s Line Ranked #1 On Amazon Bestseller List…Who Needs Nordstrom or TJMAXX? | It seems that with each new retail store that removes Ivanka Trump s line, conservatives come out in force to support the First Daughter.Ivanka s fragrance is now the #1 on Amazon Best Sellers list, even above big name brands like Estee Lauder and Jennifer Lopez. Apparently the adage there s no such thing as bad publicity has held true for Ivanka since her business seems to be doing better than ever.(Source: Truth Feed) | 0 |
2,941 | SAY WHAT? RACIST, GUN-TOTING FLAG STOMPER WHO CAUSED MONTH LONG MAN HUNT THREATENING: “I am a terrorist toward white people” IS RELEASED ON BOND | Remember the racist, Black Panther punk who started the #EricSheppardChallenge which involved stomping on the American flag? Yeah well, after ADMITTING he is a terrorist to white people, he s out on bond and living in his mother s home. Apparently, being black and threatening terrorist acts against whites doesn t hold the same water as say a white cop doing his job. Eric Sheppard was originally denied bond after he was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Tampa Bay, Florida, but his attorney appealed the decision, and a Lowndes County Magistrate Judge granted Sheppard a bond of $25,000 last week.Sheppard will be required to live with his mother in Cobb County, Georgia and will be subjected to a 7 p.m. curfew, along with several other conditions of his bond.Sheppard ignited controversy when he and several other VSU student protesters walked on an American flag on the VSU campus on April 17th.Four days later, police found what they said was a gun inside a backpack belonging to Sheppard on campus. Via: WALBSheppard s flag stomping activities on the campus of Valdosta State University were brought to light when USAF veteran Michelle Manhart attempted to stop these racist, anti-American students from stomping on our flag and was arrested by the Valdosta police:Just as an FYI: (a)(1) Whoever knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground, or tramples upon any flag of the United States shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.April 22, 2015SHEPPARD ON THE RUN:Valdosta, GA Tensions rise at Valdosta State University as a manhunt continues for one of its own.Eric Sheppard is accused of bringing a handgun to an anti-flag protest on the University s campus Tuesday.Arrest warrants were signed by a Lowndes County Judge charging Sheppard with bringing weapons in a school safety zone, which is a felony. Authorities say Sheppard is also being investigated by the FBI for possibly making Terroristic Threats on social media.The VSU Student became the face of the anti-flag protest, after he was seen wrestling Air Force Veteran, Michelle Manhart, for an American flag; a flag protestors had been walking on.Tuesday, as anti-flag protests continued, a backpack was found abandoned on campus, that according to VSU Police, who say the gun was linked to Sheppard. Since then, Sheppard has been on the run.Eric Sheppard Jr. was the organizer of the event, and is an advocate for a militant Black Supremacy movement. He is pictured throughout his social media profile with alarming messages supporting violence and carrying numerous weapons.This afternoon, a perimeter was formed between Williams and Slater Streets near the University s campus after two citizens reported seeing Sheppard, but he was not found.Now, Sheppard s parents and police, are begging him to turn himself in. Son, you know we love you, and have always taught you to do the right thing and to make wise decisons. Please make the right decision and turn yourself in to either the authrorities, or to me, and we will handle this together , pleaded Eric Sheppard Sr. on the steps of West Hall, standing beside VSU President, William McKinney. He has not done anything to outright hurt anybody, so I m asking him and looking at cameras when I m telling you, Eric, come on in. Your parents want you to come in. We want you to come in. Come talk to us. Come talk to the police. We ll get this sorted out , said Valdosta Police Chief, Brian Childress, at the scene of the perimeter.Valdosta Police say Sheppard is considered armed and dangerous. If you see Eric Sheppard, dial 911.April 29, 2015ONE WEEK LATER AND ERIC SHEPPARD IS STILL ON THE RUN:Valdosta, GA It s been more than a week since Valdosta Police issued an arrest warrant for anti-flag protestor, Eric Sheppard. He s accused of bringing a gun onto the VSU campus.Local civil rights activist, Reverend Floyd Rose, says that s when Sheppard lost the right to call himself an activist.Reverend Rose has been arrested four times for civil disobedience during the civil rights Era. He says Sheppard lost the title of activist when he brought the gun on campus, and again when he ran. I think now, he s put himself in a position where if he doesn t turn himself in, then they go after him. And they ll get him eventually. They may know where he is now, I don t know, but I do know this; you end up with more charges when you run. If he turns himself in, he s going to be better off. And then face the music, says Reverend Rose.MAY 29, 2015:BREAKING U.S. Marshals have arrested Eric Sheppard Jr., in Tampa Florida after a month long manhunt. Sheppard was originally wanted for firearms violations, threats against students, and most recently terrorism threats specifically against white people in Georgia . | 0 |
2,942 | Trump fans in Iowa cheer his debate performance | WAUKEE, Iowa (Reuters) - It was not hard to tell how the Donald Trump fans who jammed the back room at Jethro’s BBQ restaurant in Waukee, Iowa, felt about their candidate’s debate performance on Thursday night. The cheering and clapping as the real estate mogul skewered his rivals, President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave it away. With only a few weeks before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest on Feb. 1, more than 75 supporters showed up for a Trump debate watch party at the barbecue spot. They listened intently as the front-runner squared off against six Republican challengers, verbally urging him on at times. Shouts of “You tell ‘em, Donald!” and “Amen!” greeted Trump’s best punch lines, although the crowd freely applauded several other candidates as long as they were directing insults at Obama, Clinton or Clinton’s chief Democratic rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “He did very well, he came across as very strong,” Georgia Hasan, a Pentacostal minister from Des Moines, said of Trump. “He is saying the things that need to be said and some people are afraid to say.” Several attendees said they regularly came to debate watch parties at Jethro’s, where the waitresses wore red shirts urging patrons to “Vote Jethro.” Pat and Mariann Duff drove for more than 30 minutes from Indianola, Iowa, to join their fellow Trump supporters. “I admire his honesty. He says the same sort of things I say,” said Mariann Duff, who first became a Trump fan from watching his reality TV show “The Apprentice.” A few of Trump’s rivals did not fare so well. “Drop Out, John!” shouted one patron when Ohio Governor John Kasich was introduced. When the broadcast lost sound at one point, a man calmed the crowd by shouting “(Jeb) Bush is on, it doesn’t matter.” Trump narrowly trails U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in recent opinion polls in Iowa. The crowd grew quiet and listened closely when the two clashed over Cruz’s Canadian birth and what Cruz called Trump’s “New York” values. Eric Durbin, a software developer in Stuart, Iowa, said he would probably back Trump because he thought he had the best chance of stopping Cruz. “I really don’t like Ted Cruz,” Durbin said, citing the candidate’s work for George W. Bush and Cruz’s wife’s work for investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. “He’s part of the cartel. I don’t trust him.” Lonnie Creveling, a housecleaner from Des Moines, said Trump would stand up for her conservative social values - and she liked his pugnacious style. “I like his toughness,” she said. “You can tell people won’t be able to push him around.” | 1 |
2,943 | dr david duke and prof kevin macdonald on dukes overwhelming victory in the debate | david duke launches new powerful tv spots across louisiana november at am
thanks to all those who are donating these closing downs for our latest important ad buys for the campaign thanks to those who have contributed and those will do so now in the closing days of the election | 1 |
2,944 | Special counsel asks White House to save Trump Jr., Russian meeting documents | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The special counsel investigating possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia has asked White House officials to preserve any records of a meeting last year between the president’s eldest son and a Russian lawyer, according to a source with knowledge of the request. Special counsel Robert Mueller sent a document preservation request to the White House, saying the June 2016 meeting that Donald Trump Jr. had at Trump Tower in New York is relevant to his investigation, the source said on Friday. The White House counsel’s office relayed the request, a routine part of the early phase of any investigation, to other members of the White House staff on Wednesday, the source said. News earlier this month of the meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer whom he was told had damaging information about his father’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, fueled questions about the campaign’s dealings with Moscow. The Republican president has defended his son’s meeting as simple politics. Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting. The Senate Judiciary Committee has called for Trump Jr. and Manafort to testify next Wednesday at a public hearing in its Russia probe. The committee said in a statement late Friday that Trump Jr. and Manafort had agreed to negotiate with the panel over whether they will be interviewed by committee members and over documents it is seeking. The committee said it had not issued subpoenas for them to appear at Wednesday’s hearing but reserved the right to do so. The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said it would interview Kushner on Tuesday. Mueller, appointed by the Justice Department in May, is probing allegations of Russian interference in the election and potential collusion by Trump’s campaign, an issue that has engulfed the six-month-old administration. Trump has long expressed frustration with a probe that he has called a political witch hunt, and he has denied any collusion. Moscow has denied it interfered in the election campaign to try to tilt the November 2016 vote in Trump’s favor. Document requests of the type sent by Mueller generally cover emails, text messages, voicemails, notes or records. The counsel is looking for any indication that the president knew the meeting his son had was planned and might have suggested topics for discussion, the source said. Mueller would also be inquiring into whether Trump was briefed on the meeting afterward, as well as what was discussed, the source said. Mueller would be interested, the source said, in topics such as any discussion of U.S. economic sanctions on Russia, possible Russian investments in the United States or elsewhere, or a possible lifting of a Russian ban on Americans adopting Russian children. Russia imposed the adoption ban to retaliate for the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on Russian individuals to punish Russia for human rights violations. Russia’s ambassador to Washington was overheard by U.S. spy agencies telling his bosses that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Trump adviser Jeff Sessions last year, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing current and former U.S. officials. Sessions, who was a U.S. senator at the time and is now the attorney general, initially failed to disclose the contacts with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and then said they were not about the campaign. Under pressure over having not disclosed the meetings with Kislyak, Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe in March. The recusal angered Trump, who said in a New York Times interview this week that he would not have chosen Sessions for attorney general if he had known Sessions would recuse himself. [nL1N1KB0UN] Newspaper reports said Trump’s lawyers are reviewing ways to limit or undermine the special counsel. The Washington Post and The New York Times on Thursday cited unidentified people familiar with the strategy. A Trump attorney contacted by Reuters, John Dowd, denied the reports and praised Mueller. “We think he’s a straight, honest guy,” Dowd said. Dowd said communications with Mueller were productive and “we have confidence he’s going to do the right thing.” Another Trump lawyer, Jay Sekulow, told the Times that addressing possible conflicts of interest in Mueller’s team would be appropriate but declined to comment on specifics. Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway referred on Friday to reports that members of Mueller’s team have made donations to the Democratic Party. “People should know what folks’ paths and motivations and political motivations are,” she said in a Fox News interview. According to the Post, Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the Russia probe. Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers, a second person told the newspaper. Dowd dismissed the pardon report as nonsense. “It’s just not true,” he said. Separately, the spokesman for Trump’s legal team, Mark Corallo, confirmed his resignation on Friday. And lead attorney Marc Kasowitz will take on a reduced role on the outside legal team, according to media reports. Other recent changes included the hiring of veteran Washington lawyer Ty Cobb to a White House job to handle responses to the Russia probe. [nL1N1K60C4] | 1 |
2,945 | 'Big Bang Theory' trumps TV audience for latest Republican debate | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some 11.9 million Americans watched Thursday’s unusually restrained Republican presidential debate on CNN, the network said on Friday, a sharp drop from the 16.9 million who tuned in last week when the Republican contenders faced off on a much rowdier evening. Thursday’s figure marked the second-smallest audience for a Republican presidential encounter since the 2016 campaign debates began in August 2015, according to Nielsen data. More people on Thursday tuned in to popular CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory,” which drew 14.5 million viewers, than watched the debate in Miami, the ratings data showed. The CNN-hosted debate at the University of Miami came just five days before voters in Florida and Ohio will determine whether U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich will be able to continue with their increasingly long-shot candidacies for the party’s nomination to run in the Nov. 8 general election. With previous assaults on front-runner Donald Trump having failed to knock him down, Rubio and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas chose a more civil approach on Thursday, raising questions about Trump’s policy positions without attacking him personally. Trump’s presence has boosted TV audiences for presidential debates, helping to attract a record 24 million viewers for his first official outing as a candidate in August last year. Since then, however, audiences have dropped off, with only the raucous March 3 Republican encounter coming close to the interest seen last year. Democratic TV debates have fared less well with the public and have struggled to attract audiences of more than 10 million since January. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Grant McCool and Matthew Lewis) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 |
2,946 | White House communications director Scaramucci leaves in order to 'clean slate' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that Anthony Scaramucci, named by President Donald Trump as communications director only 10 days ago, was leaving the post. The change comes days after Scaramucci delivered a profanity-laced tirade against other top Trump aides - and hours after Trump swore in John Kelly, a new chief of staff, to bring discipline to his West Wing. “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team,” the White House said in a statement. | 1 |
2,947 | Obama says U.S. government must improve cyber security | MADRID (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the U.S. government has to improve its cyber security practices for the modern age of smart phones and other technology, saying that hackers had targeted the White House. “I am concerned about it, I don’t think we have it perfect. We have to do better, we have to learn from mistakes,” Obama told a news conference in Madrid. “We know that we have had hackers in the White House,” he added. Concerns have been raised about the security of government information after the head of the FBI said presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s email servers may have been accessed by foreign actors when she was Secretary of State. | 1 |
2,948 | SHOCKING: DNC Contractor Caught in Voter Fraud Sting Visited White House 342 Times | 21st Century Wire saysFollowing a wave of hidden camera sting operations captured by the investigative non-profit Project Veritas, it has now been revealed that the Democratic consultant Robert Creamer of Democracy Partners, met with White House officials some 342 times over the past year. SCANDAL (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)The DailyMail reported the following as it relates to the Democratic campaign bombshell: A convicted felon caught up in a pair of stinging political expos s has visited the Obama White House 342 times, according to the administration s records, including several visits to the Obama family s residence and one, in October of last year, to the Oval Office.Robert Creamer was caught on one hidden-camera video discussing ways to commit large-scale voter fraud, and talking in another about paying liberal activists to start fights and otherwise disrupt Donald Trump rallies.Democracy Partners, the community organizing firm that until Tuesday employed Creamer, works hand-in-hand with Hillary Clinton s presidential campaign. CAUGHT ON FILM Robert Creamer resigns over massive Democratic Party controversy. (Image Source: CNN)Creamer s visits to the White House also included his wife, a 9-term Illinois Democratic congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.White House visitor records show that Schakowsky took 47 private meetings with Obama or his senior staff, also over the past year. The consultancy Democracy Partners appears to have applied Schakowsky as a political buffering point, possibly in the event of a fallout over their operations at a grassroots level. The impetus of this type of procedural separation is to keep certain high ranking officials of the hook in case of a massive upheaval over various underhanded campaign tactics.Creamer, a convicted felon, (in 2005, Creamer plead guilty $2.3 million in bank fraud and tax violations) was promptly shoved out of the Hillary Clinton campaign s inner circle, following a heavily publicized sting that caught the Democratic consultant discussing how to commit large-scale voter fraud, while also apparently outlining how to incite violence at campaign rallies.Scott Foval, the former national field director at Americans United for Change also discussed controversial and apparent criminal campaign methods, prompting him to be fired after the Project Veritas video footage went viral. Whatever your political persuasion and whether or not Wikileaks may or may not be just another western intelligence asset masquerading in public, some of the emails recently released have raised some interesting questions. Notably, the dissent among the Clinton campaign, the Clinton Foundation s perceived misconduct in Haiti, an email disclosing that ISIS received clandestine financial and logistic support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which was a story that dovetailed another possible Pay-for-Play scheme, in the form of an attempted Qatari gift to Bill Clinton for $1 million in 2012.Other Wikileaks of importance, presented the collusion between the Clinton campaign and media arms the Associated Press and The New York Times, the latter of which in the last 24 hours, has provided damage control for Hillary Clinton s sycophantic Wall Street speeches that outline an amnesty-laden open borders strategy as well as a rights dissolving trade deal like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP trade deal has been covered extensively at 21WIRE over the past few years and is under the guise of a so-called free-trade agreement. The international trade law for new trade treaties appears to be a way for private corporations to exempt themselves from the laws of sovereign nations, something which belies a truly free market the world over.Despite the Democratic candidate s timely flip flop shift over the TPP deal during the election cycle she provided a lot of vocal support for the deal while seating as the Secretary of State.Indeed, as released in the Wikileaks batch #12, Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, is quoted as stating the following, the reality is HRC is more pro trade than anti and trying to turn her into something she is not could reinforce our negative [sic] around authenticity. This is an agreement that she pushed for and largely advocated for. Interestingly, one of the most impactful and potentially criminal docu-dumps to come out recently was released by the FBI this week, which according to Real Clear Politics, outlined the following quid pro quo allegations: Notes from an interview with a now-retired FBI agent suggest that the State Department tried to get the FBI to declassify a Benghazi-related email found on Hillary Clinton s private email server, in exchange for the State Department allowing the FBI to place more undercover agents in certain countries. The conversation allegedly took place while the State Department was engaged in a review to prepare emails from Hillary Clinton s private server for public release. The Washington Post added the following on the matter: The purported quid pro quo between [Brian] McCauley and [Pat] Kennedy was first reported over the weekend by Fox News and The Weekly Standard and confirmed Monday when the FBI released dozens of interview summaries from its criminal investigation into Clinton s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. According to FOX News: Undersecretary [Patrick] Kennedy s attempt to barter away American national security interests for plainly political purposes is appalling, and may rise to the level of a federal crime, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., wrote in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday.In the heavily redacted files, known as 302s, an FBI official described the incident with Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy as a quid pro quo. According to the files, in exchange for marking a particular email unclassified, the State Department would reciprocate by letting the FBI place more Agents in countries where they are presently forbidden. If true, these FBI and State Department files could reveal yet another glaring example of collusion that may have provided political protection for presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.Both the FBI and State Department deny any arrangement was made. However, records show that Kennedy attempted to reduce the number of classified emails linked to Clinton s personal server.In early October, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped all charges against an American arms dealer named Marc Turi, whose weapons made it into the hands of radical Libya militants.According to federal court records obtained by Politico: The deal averts a trial that threatened to cast additional scrutiny on Hillary Clinton s private emails as Secretary of State, and to expose reported Central Intelligence Agency attempts to arm rebels fighting Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi. It also worth mentioning again that over the summer we discussed how the 2016 s DNC convention was the latest in a long line of sordid political productions. Bernie Sanders delegates staged a mass walkout after a series of email leaks disclosed that a Clinton lawyer gave the DNC strategy advice on how to sideline the Sanders campaign.Expect the Clinton campaign and the White House to whitewash the DNC voter fraud fallout and other FBI allegations as another scandal replaces them. Something to watch for will be the case of former Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman General James Cartwright, who plead guilty this week to felony charges of lying to the FBI after allegedly leaking classified material about covert operations against two Iranian journalists.Here s another look at one of the many DNC operatives outlining how to disrupt a Trump political rally through intimidation. More from Zero Hedge below Why Did Vote-Rigging Robert Creamer Visit The White House Over 200 Times During The Obama Admin?Zero HedgeEarlier today we wrote about a new Project Veritas undercover video that uncovered several democratic operatives openly discussing, in explicit detail, how to commit massive voter fraud. One of the operatives was a person by the name of Robert Creamer who is a co-founder of a democratic consulting firm called Democracy Partners. Within the video, an undercover journalist details a plan to register Hispanic voters illegally by having them work as contractors, to which Creamer can be heard offering support saying that there are a couple of organizations that that s their big trick (see: Rigging Elections For 50 Years Massive Voter Fraud Exposed By Project Veritas Part 2 ).Unfortunately, the embarrassing video caused Creamer to subsequently resign from consulting the Hillary campaign as he issued a statement saying that he was stepping back from my responsibilities working the [Hillary] campaign over fears that his continued assistance would be a distraction for the campaign.Zero Hedge continues here READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 0 |
2,949 | Northern Ireland won't stay in EU market, customs after Brexit: UK | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Northern Ireland will not stay in the European Union s single market or the customs union after Brexit, a British government official said, adding that arrangements for the border with Ireland must not eat into the United Kingdom s integrity. Allowing Northern Ireland to retain some access has been floated by the European Parliament s Brexit pointman, Guy Verhofstadt. We will leave the European Union in 2019 as one United Kingdom, the British minister for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, said on Monday. We need to ensure that nothing is done that undermines the integrity of the UK single market. I find it difficult to image how Northern Ireland could somehow remain in while the rest of the country leaves. I find it impossible, he told a seminar in Brussels. Brokenshire reiterated Prime Minister Theresa May s insistence that the United Kingdom would be exiting both as a result of the 2016 referendum. London has proposed an invisible border without checkpoints or immigration controls between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit. But it has given no firm ideas on customs arrangements and the EU has mostly been critical, seeing these plans as unrealistic. Dublin has said it will not let Brexit negotiations move from the divorce talks to discussions about future trade relations between Britain and the EU - as London is pushing for - without more guarantees on the border. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has demanded more guarantees that the Irish issue would be solved even if the future trade talks between Britain and the remaining 27 EU states collapse. Show us how it could be done in practice, how can you be outside of the single market and customs union and not have border infrastructure at the same time, one EU diplomat said in Brussels. It s about where and how you will carry out checks. With London reluctant to accept controls between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, and both sides declaring determination to avoid a hard border between the two Irish communities, the person said the only remaining option would be to run checks between Ireland and the rest of the EU. That would complicate Ireland s exports to the EU as everything would be checked as if it were coming from Northern Ireland, but maybe that would still be a less bad option for them than having a border on the island, the diplomat added. Brokenshire said some agricultural laws in Northern Ireland which is trying to reach agreement on how to relaunch its regional executive that is ruled at arm s length from London were already different than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. After meeting the EU s top agriculture official in Brussels, Irish Commissioner Phil Hogan, Brokenshire signaled Belfast could keep some of its laws closer to those of the EU after Brexit to minimize trade disruptions across the future border. He also said London was keen to preserve the common travel area Ireland has with Britain, as well as the single electricity market on the island of Ireland. He hoped for close cooperation with Dublin, including on security matters, after Britain leaves, as is now due to happen in March, 2019. British and EU negotiators will meet in Brussels again this Thursday and Friday for more Brexit talks that have been grinding slowly, unnerving investors and businesses who seek clarity to plan their operations. Brussels is growing skeptical that there will be enough progress in time for another gathering of all EU leaders in mid-December on the three main issues the bloc wants to settle before opening trade talks. The question of the Irish border is one. The most politically contentious one is agreeing Britain s divorce bill. Most progress has been achieved in the third - setting mutual safeguards for Britons living in the EU after Brexit and EU citizens residing in the first country to ever decide to leave the bloc - but that is not yet settled either. | 1 |
2,950 | REMEMBER WHEN Democrat Operatives Were Caught Bragging About Their Voter Fraud Operation In WI? [VIDEO] | Watch:. @Jordanfabian If there is no #VoterFraud, how come 2 #DNC operatives resigned/ were fired over the @PVeritas_Action hidden cam videos? pic.twitter.com/7vHuQPejC0 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 28, 2016 | 0 |
2,951 | Michael Moore LAYS WASTE To Anyone Who Says They Are ‘Christian’ Yet Supports Trump’s Bigotry | If you claim to be a Christian but support Donald Trump and all the hate and bigotry he embodies, you re a hypocrite.And that s exactly what Michael Moore told Joy Reid during her Saturday morning show on MSNBC.Ever since Trump won the election on Tuesday night his deplorable supporters have been terrorizing minorities and women across the country, causing fear and panic in communities to the point that a movement has begun in which people wear safety pins to signify to others that they are safe to be near.But Moore believes more has to be done, particularly by white people. White people, no matter how painful, have a responsibility to reject anybody who stands in front of a camera who spews racism. Who spews sexism, misogyny. Who brags about being a sexual predator. I don t care what your race is, but especially if you re white. Because that means that you belong to the race that s been in power forever. This a country that was founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves. So you have a special responsibility as a white person to always object to anybody who uses racism, who spews this hatred. Moore the wondered how white Americans will feel when they wake up one morning and realize that they ve been shitty human beings because they did nothing when they had a chance to stand against the hate. And that led to Moore calling out white people who call themselves Christian. And do not call yourself a Christian if you are not willing, literally, to put your body in front of whoever is coming to hurt the other the people who are not you. Here s the video via Twitter.MMFlint on the special responsibility he says white people have during #DonaldTrump presidency #AMJoy https://t.co/Ih87pHq8AB AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) November 12, 2016Moore is absolutely right. Because of Trump, the responsibility falls on white people to stand up against the racism, sexism, bigotry, and hate that he has incited against any American who isn t white or Christian. So whenever we see these behaviors we need to be brave and take a stand because being silent isn t an option.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
2,952 | Close Trump Ally Just ADMITTED He Communicates With Wikileaks | Trump s supporters, and some in the press, believe that if it wasn t for Trump being a disgusting sexual predator, Hillary Clinton would have been done when Wikileaks released a bunch of emails from her campaign. However, an aide to Hillary, John Podesta, has made an interesting connection, too. One of Trump s close allies, Roger Stone, communicates with Wikileaks.And Stone has just admitted to it. I do have a back-channel communication with Assange, because we have a good mutual friend, Stone told CBS4 News [Miami] Wednesday evening. That friend travels back and forth from the United States to London and we talk. I had dinner with him last Monday.' He claims he doesn t have direct communication with Assange, though, and he insists he has nothing to do with their email dump. Democrats and U.S. officials believe that Wikileaks might be working with Russia on this, which wouldn t be surprising since they hacked the DNC over the summer and are showing interest in trying to rig our election.Podesta has also accused Stone of having advance knowledge of what was going to be in Wikileaks email dump an accusation that Stone flatly denies: I have a back-channel communications with WikiLeaks, Stone told NBC News. But they certainly don t clear or tell me in advance what they re going to do.' What s the point of the communication, then? Given what Wikileaks is busy doing trying to expose Hillary as corrupt, which could tilt the election in Trump s favor it s not really all that difficult to imagine that this back-channel communication is actually collusion directly between Stone and Assange.In fact, back in August, Stone said he was in direct communication with Assange and that they were actively working to bring down Hillary s campaign. Speaking to the Southwest Broward Republican Organization, Stone referred directly to the so-called October surprise, saying, according to Mediaite: Well, it could be any number of things. I actually have communicated with Assange. I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation but there s no telling what the October surprise may be. Lately, it seems that everything anyone involved with Trump tries to do to bring Hillary and the Democrats down backfires. If Stone communicates with Wikileaks, that implicates the Trump campaign. He s admitted to back-channel communication. He has said he s spoken to Assange, although he denies it now. This won t look good for Trump s already faltering campaign.Featured image via Ben Jackson/Getty Images for SiriusXM | 0 |
2,953 | U.S. secretary of state to make first trip to Asia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will make his first trip to Asia next week and meet with senior officials to discuss North Korea’s recent missile tests and U.S. economic and security interests in the region. He will arrive in Japan on March 15, continue on to South Korea on March 17 and visit China from March 18-19. The trip comes after Pyongyang’s latest missile launches and the assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother have added urgency to the region’s security situation. U.S. President Donald Trump faces a growing test of resolve after vowing while campaigning to get tough on North Korea. Trump’s aides are pressing to complete a strategy review on how to counter Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear threats. Trump has attacked China on issues ranging from trade to the South China Sea and what he perceives as China’s lack of interest in reining in nuclear-armed North Korea. Last month, Trump held his first face-to-face talks with a member of the Chinese leadership, top diplomat Yang Jiechi who outranks Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and the White House said it was a chance to discuss shared security interests and a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping. Wang and Tillerson met last month in Germany on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers of the G20 top economies. “I think that Secretary of State Tillerson is a person who is willing to listen and is a deep communicator,” Wang said at his annual news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, on the sidelines of China’s parliament. “I believe we can establish a good working relationship,” he added. | 1 |
2,954 | no title | did everyone see where a construciton worker took out his drill and damaged mr trumps star on hollywood walk of fame boy what a bunch evil doers and you can bet they are hillary and obama thugs wonder how much she paid for that balloney obama just visited california yesterday what a coindence such poor losers | 1 |
2,955 | EPA abandons changes to U.S. biofuel program after lawmaker pressure | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has backed off a series of proposed changes to the nation’s biofuels policy after a massive backlash from corn-state lawmakers worried the moves would undercut ethanol demand, according to a letter from the agency to lawmakers seen by Reuters. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the letter dated Oct. 19 that the agency will keep renewable fuel volume mandates for next year at or above proposed levels, reversing a previous move to open the door to cuts. The move marks a big win for the biofuels industry and lawmakers from corn-states like Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, while dealing a blow to merchant refiners like PBF Energy Inc and Valero Energy Corp who hoped the administration of President Donald Trump would help provide regulatory relief. The White House issued a statement hours after the Pruitt letter was delivered to lawmakers expressing the president’s support for maintaining the renewable fuel plan. “President Donald J. Trump promised rural America that he would protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and has never wavered from that promise,” the White House statement said. Trump’s second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses in early 2016 gave credibility to his candidacy and he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state in the Nov. 8 election. It was the first time a Republican had won Iowa since George W. Bush in 2004 and provided Trump a key takeaway. The letter could end uncertainty about the future of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard that has roiled commodity and energy markets for months. The program, which requires refineries to blend increasing amounts of ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply or buy credits from those who do, appeared on the verge of a massive overhaul. The most popular form of program credits hit two-month highs on Friday on the EPA news, traders said.. The so-called D6 credits sunk to 68 cents last month as EPA considered cost-cutting measures, but prices have rebounded in recent weeks and approached 90 cents on Friday, traders said. Pruitt said the EPA would not pursue another idea floated by EPA leadership that would have allowed exported ethanol to be counted toward those volume quotas. Pruitt also said the EPA did not believe a proposal to shift the biofuels blending obligation away from refiners was appropriate. That plan is backed by representatives of a handful of independent refining companies who have warned the cost of the program will bankrupt plants and cost thousands of jobs. Those ideas would have eased the burden on some in the refining industry, who have argued that biofuels compete with petroleum, and that the blending responsibility costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But Midwestern lawmakers, including Republicans Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, had vocally opposed all those ideas, calling them a betrayal of the administration’s promises to support the corn belt. They were concerned the moves would undercut domestic demand for ethanol, a key industry in the region that has supported corn growers. “It’s a great day for Iowa and a great day for rural America. Administrator Pruitt should be commended for following through on President Trump’s commitment to biofuels,” Grassley said in a statement. In the letter, Pruitt said the EPA was prepared to work with Congress to examine the possibility of a waiver that would allow the sale of E15 gasoline, containing 15 percent ethanol, year-round - something currently not permitted during the summer due to concerns about smog. Renewable Fuels Association President and Chief Executive Bob Dinneen said in a response to the letter on Friday morning that the U.S. ethanol industry was “grateful for Administrator Pruitt’s epiphany on the road to the RFS.” The program disproportionately hurts mid-sized refiners and mom-and-pop gas stations that are the backbone of the nation’s energy infrastructure and needs to reformed, said Greg Blair, a spokesman for the Fueling American Jobs Coalition, a group of merchant refiners formed to seek changes in the program. “If the administration follows the course set out in Administrator Pruitt’s letter, manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states – jobs President Trump promised to protect – will be at risk,” Blair said. | 1 |
2,956 | U.S., Germany urge China to release jailed activist | BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States and Germany called on China to immediately release a prominent human rights activist who was jailed for eight years on Tuesday for subversion, the harshest sentence passed in a recent crackdown on activism. Wu Gan, a blogger better known by his online name Super Vulgar Butcher , regularly championed sensitive cases of government abuses of power, both online and in street protests. He was detained in May 2015 and charged with subversion. In a separate case, also on Tuesday, rights lawyer Xie Yang avoided criminal punishment despite being found guilty of inciting subversion, because he admitted to his crimes. We call on the Chinese authorities to release Wu immediately, the U.S. and Germany embassies in China said in a joint statement. As Xie has been exempted from punishment, we urge China to allow Xie to resume his professional activities without preconditions and be free of any restrictions. China s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Beijing frequently denounces foreign concern about rights cases as an interference in internal affairs and says China is a country with rule of law. Wu, in a statement released by his lawyers late on Tuesday, said he considered the sentence an honor as it proved that he had not become a slave or accomplice to the China s autocracy . I got eight years, but I feel no grief or despair. This was my choice, because opposing autocracy means you are already on the road to jail, Wu said in the statement. I call on the international community to pay attention to China s deteriorating human rights situation, he added. Wu s sentence was the most severe in what rights groups have called an unprecedented attack on rights activists and lawyers, known as the 709 crackdown, which began in full force on July 9, 2015. The hardline approach has shown no sign of softening as President Xi Jinping enters his second five-year term in office, and has drawn widespread concern in Western capitals. Germany has been particularly outspoken, to China s irritation. Speaking at a daily news briefing on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed displeasure at comments last week by the German ambassador on China s failure to set up a previously agreed upon cyber consultation mechanism. China had, in fact, invited Germany to send representatives to talks, but the Germans kept putting China off, Hua told reporters. China hoped the ambassador stops saying such irresponsible remarks , she added. | 1 |
2,957 | Kaine accuses Trump of inciting violence against Clinton | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine on Sunday accused Donald Trump of inciting violence against Hillary Clinton after the Republican candidate said Clinton’s security detail should be disarmed given her support for tighter gun rules. Kaine, speaking on Fox News Sunday, called Trump’s remarks irresponsible. “When you look at a series of these comments that he’s making, I do believe it is an incite or at a minimum an expression of indifference to whether violence would occur,” he said. On Friday, Trump said at a campaign rally that Clinton’s “bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm.” “Take their guns away, she doesn’t want guns. Take them, let’s see what happens to her. Take their guns away, okay. It will be very dangerous,” he added. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a top adviser to Trump, told Fox News Sunday that Trump’s comments had been misinterpreted and demanded that Kaine apologize to Trump for suggesting he had a malicious intent. “Senator Kaine should be ashamed of himself for saying that Donald Trump would like to have violence perpetrated against Hillary Clinton but it just shows how desperate and scared the Clinton-Kaine campaign is now because this race now is a dead heat and they can’t believe it,” Christie said. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, called any interpretation of Trump’s Friday remarks as a call to violence “absolute nonsense.” “His comment was that if she didn’t have all that security, she’d change her attitude about the right to keep and bear arms. And I’ll bet that’s probably true,” Pence said on ABC’s “This Week. Trump was criticized by opponents last month when he suggested that gun rights activists could act to stop Clinton from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices, a comment some interpreted as encouraging a political assassination. “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks,” Trump told a rally in North Carolina on Aug. 9. “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,” he said. In that case, Trump’s campaign also insisted that his comments were not intended to incite violence. | 1 |
2,958 | Fed up with Washington, Trump's 'deplorables' shake up the elite | MIAMI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fed up with Washington and feeling left behind, supporters of Republican Donald Trump upended the U.S. presidential race, electing a political newcomer they say offers the country a shot at dramatic change. Once dismissed by Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as “deplorables,” supporters interviewed on Tuesday shrugged off his late-night tweeted insults, allegations against him of sexual misconduct and dire warnings from many in the Republican establishment that the businessman-turned-reality-television-star would throw U.S. economic and foreign policy into disarray. The economy, terrorism and healthcare ranked as the top three concerns facing Americans casting ballots in Tuesday’s election, according to an early reading from the Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll of about 35,000 people. “The freedom-loving Americans pushed back against the elites and the globalists. They might win in the long run, but we’re not dead yet,” said Andrew Dye, 48, of Dexter, Michigan. “I think this big country is getting a little too far left a little too quickly and some people finally woke up and said enough,” said Dye, a partner in a small management consulting firm. Cuban-American Sarah Gird, 67, described herself as an independent who had felt let down after twice voting for Democratic President Barack Obama. “I’m not conservative at all,” she said. But Obama “didn’t produce anything.” In contrast, she said she trusted Trump would fix the economy. “I think he’s sincere, he’s truthful, he means what he says,” said Gird, adding she thought Trump would address poverty and jobs in African-American neighborhoods. For many, the vote was a rejection of Clinton, whose use of a private email server during her time in government came to symbolize what is wrong with Washington. “All the corruption. I’m tired of business as usual, being sold out all these years,” said Kevin Barrett, 57, in Nashville. Tom Kipp, 53, an architect also of Nashville, said he voted for Trump because “we need somebody in there not beholden to anyone.” “Our checks and balances system is beyond being compromised. I don’t say he’s my prime candidate, but he’s my best option,” Kipp said. Others found Trump’s promise to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico appealing. “Last-minute decision: I changed my mind to Trump,” said Lisa Ciafone, 48, of Madeira Beach, Florida, citing her concerns about illegal immigration and the rising costs of health insurance. “It made me lean towards Trump.” Vicki DeLira, 54, a dental hygienist from Schererville, Indiana, grew up a Democrat but voted for Trump because it was time for change even if it means “a little bit of chaos.” “It will be a little different atmosphere for a non-politician to be in the White House,” DeLira said. “But I think there’s enough politicians around him to help round them out.” Todd Recknagel, managing partner of private equity firm Three20 Capital Group, said the caricature of Trump as a “monster” was overdone. “He is an effective business man at the end of the day. So things are never quite as good as they appear and things are never quite as bad as they appear in life and I think he can make a decent president,” said Recknagel, 52, from Panama City Beach, Florida. As Trump became the projected winner in state after state, fans from Arkansas, Texas and Virginia sitting on velvet sofas in the lobby of his new Washington luxury hotel just down the street from the White House celebrated as waiters popped champagne. Preston Parry, 20, had bet all along that Trump would defy the pollsters who predicted a Clinton victory. “These were shadow voters, people who had never, ever voted before that the polls didn’t pick up. Unlikely voters. Like him or hate him - look, he did something right.” | 1 |
2,959 | DICK DURBIN Clashes With Pelosi: You can only be a Dem if you support abortion [Video] | Dick Durbin might want to have a chat with Nancy Pelosi He says as long as the Democrat says they re for Roe v Wade then they can play in the sand box with other Democrats Oops! Nancy Pelosi just said the opposite about abortion and Democrats. Which is it? To kill or not to kill? DICK DURBIN:NANCY PELOSI: | 0 |
2,960 | Treasury's Mnuchin: Difficult not to cut taxes for top 10 percent | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that it was difficult for the Trump administration’s tax plan not to cut taxes for the wealthiest earners. “If you’re cutting taxes, it is hard to create a system where you’re not going to also cut taxes on the top 10 percent,” Mnuchin said at an Institute for International Finance event in Washington on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank semi-annual meetings. “I’d also say that 10 percent invests a lot of money so what we’re trying to do is not create disproportionate tax cuts to the top,” he added. Mnuchin said he still expects tax reform legislation to reach President Donald Trump’s desk for signature in early December. | 1 |
2,961 | The World’s Buildings Turn Purple In Honor Of Prince (TWEETS) | The world is mourning the loss of a legend, as Prince Rogers Nelson known around the globe simply as Prince has died at the very young age of 57. Tributes have poured in all over social media and around the world. Block parties blasting his music could be seen roaring late into the night everywhere from his home state of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to New York City. There is another way the public is playing tribute to the iconic artist though: by bathing buildings in purple.Social media site Twitter is alight with images and tweets of various buildings alight in Prince s signature color, from his famous and timeless hit, Purple Rain. Here are just a few of those tweets, from the hashtag #PurpleForPrince:#PurpleForPrince today pic.twitter.com/lBunkN7xRI York Theatre Royal (@YorkTheatre) April 22, 2016It should be noted in the following tweet that Niagara Falls was actually scheduled to turn purple for Queen Elizabeth s birthday long before the beloved star s death, but what a weird coincidence that it collided with this tragic day.Melbourne's Arts Centre spire is purple tonight. We love you #Prince ??? #PurpleForPrince #PrinceGoneTooSoon pic.twitter.com/mdolY4tJex Lily (@AussieDDubGirl) April 22, 2016It's fascinating to observe the nations uniting when a loved and respected icon leaves this world #PurpleForPrince pic.twitter.com/eaGX9KYf4U Tait Grindley (@TaitGrindley) April 22, 2016Now US Capital building goes #PurpleForPrince! pic.twitter.com/Fix310ko50 Benny Polatseck (@BPolatseck) April 22, 2016White House goes #PurpleForPrince tonight. pic.twitter.com/wqH7ZsUr4g Benny Polatseck (@BPolatseck) April 22, 2016The world is going #PurpleforPrince #GoneTooSoon #YouWillBeMissed pic.twitter.com/5dLbrri4pw .i'm in tears! https://t.co/UWOj9SElg8 Besha (@beshakinski) April 22, 2016Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember a music legend. #PurpleForPrince pic.twitter.com/ncCG24fTtG The High Roller (@HighRollerVegas) April 22, 2016And this is just a small sampling of these tweets, which are still pouring in. It really is a testament to how absolutely influential and loved this man was worldwide, and how much he is already missed. When you loved Prince, hated him, or were indifferent to him, there is no denying that Prince is iconic, and that his amazing talent, artistry, and body of work changed the world. It is my belief that he changed it for the better.Rest in Peace, Prince Rogers Nelson. You are truly missed.Featured image via The Estate of David Gahr/Getty Images | 0 |
2,962 | Native Americans move to frontlines in battle over voting rights | BELCOURT, North Dakota (Reuters) - Elvis Norquay, a member of the Chippewa Indian tribe, has lived most of his 58 years on North Dakota’s remote Turtle Mountain reservation and says he’s never had a problem voting. That was before 2014, when he hitched a ride with a friend to cast a ballot in local and congressional elections and was turned away. Embarrassed, he asked why he couldn’t vote. He was told he lacked proper ID under new state requirements. He has no phone, no current driver’s license and his tribal ID lacks a street address. “When we left, my friend said, ‘that’s not right’,” said Norquay, who has lived on disability since 2002 in a rural county near the Canadian border. Norquay is among a growing number of Native Americans embroiled in court battles over changes to voting laws that could influence the outcome of some tight races in the November 2016 presidential and congressional elections. While the Native American population is small nationally, lawsuits involving tribes over voting problems have proliferated since the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, a signature legislative achievement of the 1960s civil rights movement. North Dakota is one of 17 states that have new voting restrictions in place since the last presidential contest, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Many of these changes have sparked lawsuits and accusations that black, Hispanic and other minority voters could be disenfranchised. Five federal lawsuits involving Native Americans have been filed since the Supreme Court decision, including three this year alone. Suits in North Dakota, Utah, South Dakota and Arizona claim new voting rules passed in majority Republican states are discriminatory and could reduce voting by tribal members, who tend to back Democrats. A suit in Alaska, for example, claimed the state violated federal rules by failing to translate voting materials for tribal voters. The tribes say changes to voting rules in those states disproportionately affect Native Americans, an allegation the states and counties deny. The Native American vote is not big enough to flip a safe Republican state such as North Dakota into the Democrat column in this year’s presidential election, but Native Americans are a growing proportion of the population and a majority in some counties where increased voter turnout in recent years has tipped the balance in some congressional races. In many states, the number of Native Americans is growing faster than the population as a whole. Between 2000 and 2010, the Native American population rose by 26.7 percent to 1.1 million, compared to 9.7 percent growth in America’s overall population, census data showed. Recent changes to voting laws, such as North Dakota’s new voter ID law, are part of “a much broader, deliberate, and concerted effort by Republicans to reduce turnout among particular groups of voters on election day,” said Pratt Wiley, head of voter protection issues at the Democratic Party in Washington. “Those voters are more vulnerable today than they were before the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013,” he said of Native Americans. Republicans deny that voting law changes passed by Republican-dominated legislatures are discriminatory and say they are intended to reduce fraudulent votes. “These are popular common sense laws to protect elections from fraud,” said Lindsay Walters, national spokeswoman at the Republican National Committee. At issue in North Dakota are revisions pushed largely by Republican state legislators in 2013 and 2015 to a 2003 state elections law that eliminated a provision that had allowed people without proper identification such as Norquay to vote if they were recognized by a poll worker or if they signed an affidavit swearing to their identity. Norquay and six other members of his tribe sued the secretary of state in January in U.S. District Court in North Dakota. They said they were refused the right to vote in November 2014 because many old tribal IDs such as Norquay’s don’t list a current residential address. It says some tribal members can’t afford a new tribal ID or struggle to obtain proper identification because there are no state offices that provide driver’s licenses on the reservations. Richard McCloud, chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, said widespread unemployment and poverty among tribal members meant that some struggle to afford the $10 needed to obtain a new tribal card. “Ten dollars is three pounds of hamburger and some macaroni for a family,” said McCloud at the tribe’s headquarters on the reservation of about 4,274 people a few miles (km) south of the Canadian border. “Maybe it’s no big deal if you work, but it’s a big deal to people that don’t have access to $10,” he said. North Dakota’s secretary of state, Al Jaeger, the only defendant in the suit, said in an interview that the law is not discriminatory and simplifies the voting process in the only state in the country that does not require voters to register ahead of an election. He said his office has spent heavily on ad campaigns to educate voters about what IDs are accepted. Jaeger’s deputy, Jim Silrum, said the ID requirements are not a barrier for the 97 percent of state residents with driver’s licenses, an accepted form of ID, so the number of people affected by the changes is miniscule. Those with no driver’s license, can get a non-driver state ID allowed at the polls from the motor vehicle department for free. Jaeger and Silrum said they could not respond directly to an assertion in the lawsuit that residents on reservations have to travel long distances to obtain a state ID. Republican state Representative Jim Kasper from Fargo repeated his party’s argument that the changes were aimed at reducing the risk of voter fraud, but Silrum said there was little evidence of such irregularities. In the 2012 presidential election, there were only nine cases of people voting twice, but that was because they used the same ID rather than a lack of proper identification, he said. State Representative Kylie Oversen, a Democrat from Grand Forks, said the changes could alter tight elections in favor of Republicans. She said Republicans pushed for the bill after Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 by less than 3,000 votes. In sparsely populated states such as North Dakota, with just 739,000 people, congressional elections have been decided by just a few thousand votes. Rolette County, surrounding Norquay’s reservation, is one of two counties in the state where about 75 percent of the population is Native American. Those two counties were the only places in North Dakota that gave President Barack Obama more than 70 percent of the vote in 2012. After the changes in the ID law were implemented in North Dakota, voter turnout in Rolette County dropped by more than 12 percentage points between the 2010 and 2014 mid-term elections, more than any other county in the state, election data from the secretary of state’s office shows. “What has happened is the Native American vote has become something that can tip elections,” said Jean Schroedel, a professor at Claremont Graduate University in California who studies Native American voting. The Native American Rights Fund, a non-profit law firm representing Norquay and other members of his tribe in the lawsuit against the state, plans to file a motion by June 30 requesting that the court invalidate the changes to the ID law ahead of November’s election, according to court documents. | 1 |
2,963 | During Russia Meeting Trump Explicitly Bragged He Fired Comey To Kill ‘Pressure’ Of Investigation | In a meeting Trump held with two Russian officials at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump is said to have bragged about firing FBI Director James Comey and boasting that it eased great pressure on him in how he deals with Russia. Comey had been actively pursuing an investigation into the Trump campaign s involvement with Russian interference in the 2016 election that ultimately put him in office. Trump, it seems, felt that the investigation was preventing him from cozying up to Putin.The New York Times reported that they had obtained a summary of the meeting which documented the exchange: I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job, Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to the New York Times by an American official. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That s taken off. Mr. Trump added, I m not under investigation. Trump s overt statement that the pressure on him had been taken off confirms Trump did, in fact, knowingly fire Comey in order to obstruct the investigation into his Russian connections. The word bombshell gets thrown around a lot but that s a bombshell.The world might never have known about this frank confession of guilt because the White House prevented U.S. reporters from attending. The only journalist in the room was a Russian government-backed photographer whom American officials said lied about his credentials. He has kept his mouth shut.Meanwhile, the heat on Trump actually turned up since his firing of Comey. A special counsel has been assigned to look into the matter. And then there is this, a scoop by the Washington Post:The law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign has identified a current White House official as a significant person of interest, showing that the probe is reaching into the highest levels of government, according to people familiar with the matter.There is someone currently working for Trump that investigators believe either was or still is coordinating with Russia. What s more, thanks to the report by the New York Times, we know Trump knows this investigation isn t going to go his way. That s obstruction of justice wrapped in obstruction of justice topped with more obstruction of justice.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
2,964 | Australia to discuss North Korea, Islamist terrorism at Manila talks | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday said he would discuss North Korea and Islamist terrorism as threats to regional stability, ahead of his arrival at an East Asia leaders summit in the Philippines. North Korea was a criminal regime and the single largest threat to the region, Turnbull told a televised news conference in Hong Kong. They are very cunning operators, he said, urging a tightening of economic sanctions. Islamist terrorism in the southern Philippines is the other key security issue Turnbull aims to discuss with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila. Australia said in September it would send troops to train Philippines armed forces engaged in a 154-day battle with Islamic State fighters in the southern city of Marawi, in the country s biggest security crisis in decades. Turnbull stressed the importance of help by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in defusing Islamist extremism as the leader of the world s largest Muslim-majority country, which is also a democracy. He speaks with great authority when he says Islam is compatible with democracy and moderation, Turnbull added. He s a powerful voice for moderation in the region. Australia s embattled prime minister will attend the high-powered regional summit at the same time as a citizenship crisis at home has destroyed the parliamentary majority of his ruling center-right coalition. The constitution bars dual nationals from parliament, and Turnbull s government was thrown into disarray last month by a High Court ruling that five parliamentarians, including his deputy, Barnaby Joyce, were ineligible to be lawmakers. The resignation of another MP on Saturday has left Turnbull as the head of a minority government, with his position guaranteed only by the votes of two independents. Turnbull said he expects Joyce to be returned to Parliament following a Dec. 2 by-election. | 1 |
2,965 | BAM! LIBERAL THUG Tossed From Trump Rally…Crowd Goes Nuts! [Video] | Donald Trump was in Waterbury, Connecticut speaking to a huge group of supporters when a disgusting thug interrupted his speech. He was promptly tossed but you know the liberal media will blame Trump somehow | 0 |
2,966 | AMERICAN WORKERS IGNORE GAG ORDER: Speak Out On Being Replaced By Foreign Workers | The H1-B Visa program is being used and abused by American companies like Disney and Abbott Labs in Illinois. Disney was in the spotlight recently for an ex-employee s tearful testimony before Congress about being replaced by a foreign worker only after being forced to train the new employee. Talk about adding insult to injury! More and more displaced employees are speaking out and shining a light on the practice of bringing in foreign workers at cheaper prices in place of Americans. The argument many corporations make is that there s a shortage of people in the particular field they re hiring foreign workers for. This is a fallacy and is NOT TRUE! LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. American corporations are under new scrutiny from federal lawmakers after well-publicized episodes in which the companies laid off American workers and gave the jobs to foreigners on temporary visas.But while corporate executives have been outspoken in defending their labor practices before Congress and the public, the American workers who lost jobs to global outsourcing companies have been largely silent.Until recently. Now some of the workers who were displaced are starting to speak out, despite severance agreements prohibiting them from criticizing their former employers.Marco Pe a was among about 150 technology workers who were laid off in April by Abbott Laboratories, a global health care conglomerate with headquarters here. They handed in their badges and computer passwords, and turned over their work to a company based in India. But Mr. Pe a, who had worked at Abbott for 12 years, said he had decided not to sign the agreement that was given to all departing employees, which included a nondisparagement clause.Mr. Pe a said his choice cost him at least $10,000 in severance pay. But on an April evening after he walked out of Abbott s tree-lined campus here for the last time, he spent a few hours in a local bar at a gathering organized by technology worker advocates, speaking his mind about a job he had loved and lost. I just didn t feel right about signing, Mr. Pe a said. The clauses were pretty blanket. I felt like they were eroding my rights. Leading members of Congress from both major parties have questioned the nondisparagement agreements, which are commonly used by corporations but can prohibit ousted workers from raising complaints about what they see as a misuse of temporary visas. Lawmakers, including Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-highest-ranking Senate Democrat, and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, have proposed revisions to visa laws to include measures allowing former employees to contest their layoffs. I have heard from workers who are fearful of retaliation, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. They are told they can say whatever they want, except they can t say anything negative about being fired. Lawyers said the paragraph Mr. Pe a and other workers object to in their separation agreements is routine in final contracts with employees who are paid severance as they leave, whether they were laid off or resigned voluntarily. It s a very, very common practice, said Sheena R. Hamilton, an employment lawyer at Dowd Bennett in St. Louis who represents companies in workplace cases. I ve never recommended a settlement that didn t have a clause like that. Read more: NYT | 0 |
2,967 | Trump nominee to lead FDA questioned on ties to pharmacy industry | (Reuters) - Democratic senators questioned President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, over his ties to the pharmaceutical industry on Wednesday, with one citing “a level of discomfort” over his nomination. Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions questioned whether Gottlieb’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry would compromise his ability to act impartially, ahead of a vote on whether to advance his nomination to the full Senate. Gottlieb, a former FDA deputy commission who is a partner at a large venture capital fund and sits on the boards of multiple healthcare companies, has advocated loosening requirements needed for approval of new medical products. His nomination is generally expected to be approved. The hearing also covered Gottlieb’s views on issues ranging from clinical trials to the opioid epidemic and vaccines. Senator Chris Murphy said Democrats had “a level of discomfort” with Gottlieb’s nomination, not just because of his private industry background but also because of his prior activity as a political adviser to Republican presidential candidates and opposition to the Affordable Care Act. “The worry about impartiality is certainly connected to the private sector experience but it’s also to your very deep political involvement as well,” Murphy said. Gottlieb, 44, acknowledged the concern, but said he would “work hard to make sure I preserve my impartiality.” In an ethics disclosure form filed last month Gottlieb said he would resign from multiple corporate boards and divest his healthcare company holdings. Republicans on the committee said Gottlieb’s background would provide him with valuable insight into the industry that the FDA regulates. Gottlieb said his goal was to implement the provisions in the recently passed 21st Century Cures Act that among other things require the FDA to consider ways to streamline the clinical trial process. He said he would be in favor of “clinical trial constructs that don’t require the tight randomization that current clinical trials do.” Gottlieb also said he would be willing to challenge the view that vaccines cause autism, a theory that has been widely debunked by vaccine experts. In January Trump’s transition team floated the idea of forming a panel on autism. In 2014 Trump said in a tweet that he believed in vaccinations “but not massive, all at once, shots” and that “Govt. Should stop NOW!” Gottlieb said the question of whether vaccines cause autism “is one of the most exhaustively studied issues in medicine” and that there is no causal link between vaccines and autism. Pressed on whether he would challenge contrary views, Gottlieb said he has a history “of not being shy about speaking truth to power and making my views known.” Gottlieb called the opioid epidemic “a public health emergency on the order of Ebola and Zika.” He said it is the biggest health crisis facing the FDA and that solving the problem would require a broad public health response. Gottlieb, who held a financial interest in the vape shop Kure, said some e-cigarettes may have the potential to wean smokers off combustible cigarettes and be less harmful. “An e-cigarette or vaping product might be a good smoking cessation tool while a chocolate chip-flavored e-cigarette might not be,” he said. Ultimately, he said, science will tell where to draw that line. | 1 |
2,968 | only geniuses schizophrenics can pass this question quiz david avocado wolfe davidwolfecom | posted on october by michael depinto
for anyone who has heard about but not yet had a chance to learn the details about the undercover operation produced by james okeefe s project veritas about the inner workings of the democrat party youre in luck i have written two different posts covering the subject from different angles and this will be the third covering hillarys response each post include at least some if not all of the undercover recordings released so far by james okeefe
for over a year okeefe risked his life by going deep undercover into the democrat partys factory of corruption and just this week after everyone laughed at trump for calling the election rigged okeefe began releasing portions of the shocking video he took while undercover in the videos some of the highest ranking members of the dnc make some of the most jawdropping admissions of guilt youve ever heard in your lives not the least of which is we have a call with hillarys campaign every day to go over what areas need more focus
in the first post i wrote titled george soros master blueprint to conquer the west gets caught on camera i go into detail about how the money funding all the illegal operations caught on film comes from hillary clinton s largest donor none other than george soros one very high ranking democratic operative explains what happens with the money once it comes in upon receipt
the campaign hillary clinton campaign pays the dnc the dnc pays democracy partners democracy partners pays the foval group and the foval group goes and executes the sh on the ground
wow then when questioned about the legality the response was
it doesnt matter what the friggin legal and ethics people say we need to win this motherfker
thats just the beginning the evidence gets infinitely worse then in the second post i wrote titled this video guarantees a trump win even with hillarys fraud machine i present an honest look at both candidates and how they operate the post contains of the released undercover footage so far so you learn exactly who is prescribing what to whom and i assure you that nothing can prepare you for what james managed to catch on film youll be sick
then i contrast the criminal enterprise hillary is running with a montage of videos taken over a year span of donald trump and in each of the clips spanning all those years trump is asked about potentially running for the presidency some day some of the answers are years old and all are spontaneous unlike the scripted and now we know totally false statements we consistently get from hillary it is painfully obvious the answers trump gives are genuine and from the heart
love him or hate him good luck arguing that trump isnt authentic in the video you get a good look at who would be in the oval office and its not the caricature that team hillary has tried so hard to create on the other hand team hillarys behavior is utterly indefensible and she knows it which is why she runs like hell in the video below the second reporters begin to ask her about the recordings
theres nowhere to run now though hillary you and your staff have a lot to answer for much of which is criminal in nature go figure
article posted with permission from the last great stand
michael depinto is a member of the fast growing unsilent american majority that is sick of the insanity going on in this country right now he has been accused of being vitriolic bombastic sarcastic to the extreme and probably worse behind his back michael is sick of being branded a right wingextremist racist homophobe warmonger or whatever other asinine adjectives liberal progressives have for the words common sense these days michael is also a blogger at the last great stand and an attorney dont forget to follow the dc clothesline on facebook and twitter please help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks share this | 0 |
2,969 | Burundi says U.N. office break-in may have been fabrication | GENEVA (Reuters) - A break-in at the U.N. human rights office in Burundi s capital may have been an attempt to smear the government, a presidential aide told reporters on Friday in Geneva. U.N. staff in Burundi filed a complaint with police after a group of armed men broke into the office in Bujumbura at around 2.30 a.m. on Wednesday, a U.N. spokeswoman said. Nobody was hurt and there was no damage in the attack, which came a week after a U.N. human rights inquiry said Burundian officials at the highest level should be held accountable for crimes against humanity. Willy Nyamitwe, senior communications officer in the office of the president, said the two guards at the office had been arrested and it was probably not a simple burglary. What the police have already said is apparently there was no attack coming from the outside, which certainly means the guards would seem to be complicit. But ... we should wait for the final conclusions of this investigation. Nyamitwe is expected to respond to the allegations at the U.N. Human Rights Council next week. Burundi has rejected the findings of the U.N. inquiry, which Nyamitwe said was a puppet of the European Union. U.N. human rights spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell called for an investigation of the break-in that complied with international legal procedures. | 1 |
2,970 | Trump taps Fed centrist Powell to lead U.S. central bank | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday tapped Fed Governor Jerome Powell to become head of the U.S. central bank, breaking with precedent by denying Janet Yellen a second term but signaling a continuation of her cautious monetary policies. Powell, 64, a lawyer and investment banker appointed to the Fed board in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama, emerged as Trump’s choice from a slate of possible nominees that included Yellen and others who may have pursued a sharp policy shift. In an announcement at the White House, Trump described the soft-spoken Powell as a smart and committed leader who would build on Yellen’s achievements in steering the U.S. economy after the recovery from the 2007-2009 financial crisis. “If we are to sustain all this progress, our economy requires sound monetary policy and prudent oversight,” Trump said as Powell looked on. “We need strong and steady leadership at the U.S. Federal Reserve ... He will provide exactly that.” Powell has worked alongside Yellen for the past five years, backing her direction on monetary policy and, in recent years, sharing her concerns that weak inflation justified a continued cautious approach to raising interest rates. Yellen’s four-year term as Fed chief ends in early February 2018. She will be the first U.S. central bank chief not to be renominated to a second term since 1979. Trump on Thursday lauded Yellen’s stewardship but did not say why he decided to pass her over for another term. The Republican president said he was impressed by Powell’s experience in the private-sector and “real-world perspective” to government. “He understands what it takes for our economy to grow,” Trump said. Powell, who in the last 25 years has done a prototypical Washington circuit of government, private, and think tank jobs, pledged to be attuned to emerging financial risks and the impact the Fed has on average Americans. He will take over an economy that has been expanding for more than eight years and one that boasts an unemployment rate at more than a 16-1/2-year low. “Monetary policy decisions matter for American families and communities. I strongly share that sense of mission and am committed to making decisions with objectivity and based on the best available evidence,” Powell said in brief remarks after Trump’s announcement. His nomination now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate for confirmation. “I’m encouraged by President Trump’s choice,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that pledged “timely” consideration of the nomination. There was little apparent market reaction to Powell’s nomination, which had been expected. Investors were largely focused on the release of details of a Republican plan to broadly change the U.S. tax code. By setting benchmark short-term interest rates, the Fed broadly influences borrowing and lending conditions in the economy. Since the crisis, the central bank has gained more power over the financial sector, while becoming more concerned about issues like income inequality. Yellen, a Fed veteran who has served at all levels of the sprawling central bank system, said in a written statement that she would work with Powell “to ensure a smooth transition.” Trump’s decision, after a broad and very public search, offers what analysts said was a classic compromise, allowing him to select his own Fed chief while getting continuity with the policies of the Yellen-run central bank. “The kernel of what this boiled down to is that in selecting Powell, (Trump) has all but selected Yellen,” said Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University and author of a recent book on Fed politics. “There is not really much daylight, if any.” In June, Powell laid out both a defense of the Fed’s gradualist path and a critique of those, including some of his competitors for the Fed job, who argued the central bank had increased the risk of high inflation and other problems. Trump on several occasions has said he would prefer rates to stay low, a position apparently at odds with some of those who were on his short list, particularly Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. Top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn also was a contender. Powell has been a reliable supporter of the consensus forged by Yellen on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, and likely will be seen as a less risky choice with the economy growing solidly and U.S. stock markets near record highs. The Fed has raised rates twice this year and is widely expected to do so again next month. But Powell has gone further than his colleagues in calling to relax some of the stricter regulations imposed after the crisis, also important to Trump. Powell can now pursue that end along with Trump appointee Randal Quarles, the Fed’s new vice chair for supervision. Though he will be the first Fed chief since the late 1970s without an advanced degree in economics, Powell brings market insights, Fed board experience and Republican ties that analysts say will likely make for a smooth confirmation and transition. Under President George H.W. Bush, Powell oversaw policy on financial institutions and debt markets as an undersecretary of the Treasury. From 1997 to 2005 he was a partner at the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, and focused on public debt dynamics while at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank. Yellen is entitled to remain as a Fed governor until 2024, though previous central bank chiefs have traditionally not stayed once a successor was in place. | 1 |
2,971 | Trump hasn't sued a newspaper for libel in decades, records show | (In this Oct. 13 story, corrects description of legal standard regarding Trump in paragraph 15) By Alison Frankel and Dan Levine (Reuters) - Donald Trump hasn’t sued a newspaper for libel in three decades, despite the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly threatening to do so over the course of his business career, according to databases of state and federal court records. A lawyer for the New York real estate developer demanded on Wednesday The New York Times retract a story in which two women accused Trump of inappropriately touching them. If the newspaper did not comply, Trump, who says the allegations are fabricated, would “pursue all available actions and remedies,” the lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said in a letter. Trump said at a rally on Thursday he was preparing a lawsuit. An attorney for the Times, David McCraw, said the story was of national importance and the paper would “welcome the opportunity” to defend it in court. Over the years, media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, the New York Post and Fortune Magazine have reported receiving similar threats from Trump or his representatives in advance of unflattering articles. However, Trump rarely makes good on those threats, according to a Reuters review of court dockets in the database of online legal research service Westlaw, a unit of Thomson Reuters. The last time he sued a news organization for libel was apparently in 1984. Trump filed the case after the Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic called his proposed 150-story Manhattan skyscraper an “atrocious, ugly monstrosity.” In 1985, a federal judge in Manhattan dismissed the suit, ruling the critic had a First Amendment right to express his opinion. The skyscraper was never built. In the 32 years since Trump brought that suit, he has not taken similar action against another news organization, although he or his companies have sued at least three individuals and a book publisher. He was successful in one of those cases. Book author and former New York Times reporter Timothy O’Brien defeated a Trump libel lawsuit in 2011, after Trump underwent a grueling deposition by O’Brien’s lawyers. Trump’s suit against O’Brien, which also named O’Brien’s publisher, Time Warner Book Group, alleged the author deliberately underestimated the businessman’s net worth. A New Jersey state judge found in 2009 that Trump had not established O’Brien’s actual malice. Former Miss Universe contestant Sheena Monnin was hit with a $5 million default judgment after she failed to appear for arbitration in a case in which Trump claimed she falsely denigrated the pageant as “rigged.” The arbitration judgment was upheld by a federal judge in Manhattan in 2013. The court record indicates the judgment was paid in 2014. The same year, a San Diego federal judge ruled Tarla Makaeff, who was lead plaintiff in a class action against Trump University, did not act with malice when she said in letters to her bank and the Better Business Bureau that Trump University engaged in fraudulent business practices. The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, dismissed Trump’s defamation claim. Trump’s attorneys, as well as a spokeswoman for his campaign, did not respond to requests for comment on his libel litigation record, including requests for information on any suits the Reuters docket search may have missed. U.S. courts have routinely deemed Trump a public figure in libel lawsuits. That means he has to show not only that the story is false, but also that the media outlet knew that it was false or published it in “reckless disregard” for the truth. If Trump were a private person, he would have to show the paper was negligent in failing to learn the allegations were false, which is a lower standard of proof. The New York Times attorney, David McCraw, wrote that the paper carefully vetted the allegations in the story. Any Trump claim will be difficult because Trump’s accusers were on the record, said Jane Kirtley, a media law expert at University of Minnesota Law School. That would bolster the newspaper’s argument that it didn’t act recklessly in publishing their accounts. Trump has vowed to “open up our libel laws,” if he wins the presidency on Nov. 8, to make it easier to sue news organizations. In reality, he would not be able to unilaterally change the laws because they are generally governed by individual states and court precedents. Court records show that Trump or his businesses have themselves been sued several times for libel or defamation. Most of those suits, including a complaint by a former tenant of a Trump condominium and another by a former dealer at a Trump casino in Indiana, were dismissed. One defamation suit against Trump survived dismissal, however. Stock analyst Marvin Roffman sued Trump for $2 million in federal court in Philadelphia in 1990, claiming he was fired from his job after publicly predicting the failure of the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Roffman alleged Trump defamed him in critical statements to numerous newspapers and magazines. After a federal judge refused to toss the case, the Trump Organization settled in 1991. An attorney for Roffman declined to comment. | 1 |
2,972 | Six Ugandan MPs ejected in rowdy debate to extend rule of aging Museveni | KAMPALA (Reuters) - A move to change Uganda s constitution to allow President Yoweri Museveni to rule beyond the age of 75 provoked rowdy scenes in parliament on Monday in which six legislators were ejected from the chamber. Museveni, 73, has ruled the east African country for 31 years. Under the current age cap, the constitution would bar him from standing again as president in 2021. Parliament on Monday began debating a bill, presented by a Museveni loyalist, that proposes removing the stipulation a presidential candidate cannot be more than 75 years old, something which opposition activists and rights groups say opens the door for him to be president for life. Religious leaders and even some MPs from Museveni s National Resistance Movement (NRM) party have criticized the proposed bill, which needs two thirds of all voting house members to pass. But the NRM is expected to easily muster enough votes. Protests against the move have been put down with detentions, teargas and live bullets, leaving at least two dead in October. On Monday, debate proceeded amid heavy deployments of police and military personnel at parliament. After jeering and heckling erupted in the chamber, the six lawmakers were suspended for a single session and ordered out for undermining the authority of the speaker [and] undermining decorum in the house, parliament spokesman Chris Obore told Reuters. The MPs had heckled speaker Rebecca Kadaga and ignored her orders to be seated, Obore said. House proceedings were adjourned for several hours after the MPs were sent out and resumed later in the afternoon to hear a report from a parliamentary committee that conducted public hearings on the bill. A report by the majority of the MPs on the committee endorsed the proposal to scrap the age cap and also recommended that the length of a presidential term be extended to seven from the current five years. Some legislators on the committee disagreed and wrote a minority report. It s our view that the proposal...only seeks to promote life presidency as well as negate modern practices of constitutionalism, MP Monicah Amoding, who read the minority report, said. In the mostly acrimonious debate, legislators often shouted each other down and jeered. Opposition MPs, who dominated the debate, tried unsuccessfully to stall the process. The speaker adjourned the session to Tuesday after she said the chamber s microphones were experiencing a glitch. In late September, lawmakers brawled in parliament for two consecutive days as MPs opposed to the bill attempted to filibuster it but were defeated. At least 25 MPs opposed to the proposed constitutional amendment to prolong Museveni s tenure were forcibly ejected on orders of the speaker for involvement in fighting. Museveni initially won broad international support for his embrace of market economics and restoring political order after years of turmoil in the east African country. But in recent years he has come under a growing spotlight for a range of rights violations, corruption and his unwillingness to give up power. Democracy advocates have expressed alarm at the reemergence of a trend by leaders in the region to seek to change laws, delay elections or use other tactics to extend their tenures. In Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo such maneuvers have provoked instability. | 1 |
2,973 | Zimbabwe's Mugabe has drafted resignation letter, CNN says | HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has agreed to stand down and his resignation letter has been drafted, CNN said on Monday, citing a source familiar with his negotiations with the generals who seized power in Harare last week. Under the terms of the deal, Mugabe and his wife Grace would be granted full immunity, CNN said. Two senior government sources told Reuters late on Sunday that Mugabe had agreed to resign but did not know details of his departure. | 1 |
2,974 | [VIDEO] SHOCKING CONSEQUENCES OF OPEN IMMIGRATION: Christians Organize To Fight Back Against Islamization Of Britain | This video shows what happens when a large population of muslim immigrants refuse to assimilate with the culture of residents living in the country where they have immigrated. Instead, muslims in Britain and in countries all over the world are demanding the citizens who have been living there for centuries conform to their extreme radical religious views. In May, new census data published by the British government showed that Islam is set to become the dominant religion in Britain within the next generation.On being informed that the girl did not want to get married, Mohammed Shahid Akhtar, Imam of Birmingham s Central Jamia Masjid Ghamkol Sharif Mosque, said, She s 14. By Sharia, grace of Allah, she s legal to get married. The Muslim population of Britain topped 3.3 million by the end of 2013 to become around 5.2% of the overall population of 63 million, according to figures extrapolated from a recent study on the growth of the Muslim population in Europe.At the same time, opinion surveys consistently show that voters in Britain view Islam and the question of Muslim immigration as a top-ranked public concern. The British public, it seems, is increasingly worried about the establishment of a parallel Muslim society there.But government efforts to push back against the Islamization of Britain have been halting and half-hearted.What follows is a chronological review of some of the main stories involving the rise of Islam in Britain during 2013.In January, Muslim gangs were filmed loitering on streets in London and demanding that passersby conform to Islamic Sharia law. In a series of videos, the self-proclaimed vigilantes who call themselves Muslim London Patrol are seen abusing non-Muslim pedestrians and repeatedly shouting this is a Muslim area. One video records the men shouting: Allah is the greatest! Islam is here, whether you like it or not. We are here! We are here! What we need is Islam! What we need is Sharia! The video continues: We are the Muslim Patrol. We are in north London, we are in south London, in east London and west London. We command good and forbid evil. Islam is here in London. [Prime Minister] David Cameron, Mr. Police Officer, whether you like it or not, we will command good and forbid evil. You will never get us. You can go to hell! This is not a Christian country. To hell with Christianity. Isa [Jesus] was a messenger of Allah. Muslim Patrol will never die. Allah is great! Allah is great! We are coming! In a January 23 interview with the online newspaper International Business Times, Anjem Choudary, a radical preacher who has long called for Sharia law to be implemented in Britain and other European countries, defended the gang, saying: This is a wake-up call for society to ask, where are we headed? There is a clash between Islam and liberal democracy in hotspot areas of London. Choudary has previously led a campaign, known as the Islamic Emirates Project, to turn twelve British cities including what he calls Londonistan into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves, ruled by Sharia law and governed entirely outside British jurisprudence.In February, Choudary was filmed urging his followers to quit their jobs and claim unemployment benefits so they have more time to plan holy war against non-Muslims.Excerpts of the speech, published by the London-based newspaper The Sun on February 17, drew renewed attention to the growing problem of Muslims in Britain and elsewhere who are exploiting European welfare systems.In the video, Choudary is recorded as saying that Muslims are justified in taking money from non-Muslims, whom he mocks for working in nine-to-five jobs their whole lives. He says: You find people are busy working the whole of their life. They wake up at 7 o clock. They go to work at 9 o clock. They work for eight, nine hours a day. They come home at 7 o clock, watch EastEnders [a British soap opera], sleep, and they do that for 40 years of their life. That is called slavery. . . . What kind of life is that? That is the life of the kuffar [a non-Muslim]. Choudary urges fellow Muslims to learn from revered figures in Islamic history who only worked one or two days a year. The rest of the year they were busy with jihad [holy war] and things like that, he says. People will say, Ah, but you are not working. But the normal situation is for you to take money from the kuffar. So we take Jihad Seeker s Allowance. In March, the London-based newspaper The Independent reported that at least 100 British Muslims are currently active as jihadists fighting in Syria, which has replaced Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia as the main destination for militant Islamists seeking to obtain immediate combat experience with little or no official scrutiny.Also in March, St. John s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, became the first church in the United Kingdom to share its premises with Muslim worshippers. Church officials now welcome hundreds of Muslims praying five times a day in their building because the nearby mosque is filled to overcapacity and Muslim worshippers are forced to pray outside. Via: American Renaissance Here is how muslims treat homosexuals walking through muslim areas in Britain:https://youtu.be/yYRl_9QUjk4Britain First is a Christian organization committed to stopping the Islamization of Britain. | 0 |
2,975 | Louisiana Governor Blasts Trump Over His Photo-Op Exploitation | While Republicans try to make Louisiana s deadly floods Obama s Katrina, there is only one person getting flack for being a raging opportunist you guessed it Donald Trump.Louisiana s Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, blasted the Republican nominee for president after he showed up to Louisiana for a photo opportunity. While citizens are dying and being displaced by the thousands, Trump has decided he would exploit the carnage in an attempt to undermine President Obama.Remember when President Obama was chided by the GOP for not calling Gov. Rick Scott for two days after the Orlando massacre? Well, flooding has been going on in Louisiana for a week and still, Donald Trump has not reached out to the governor or any state leader tasked with handling the crisis. A spokesman for the governor pointed out:Donald Trump hasn t called the governor to inform him of his visit. We welcome him to LA but not for a photo-op. Instead we hope he ll consider volunteering or making a sizable donation to the LA Flood Relief Fund to help the victims of the storm.Trump, the self described billionaire and charitable man, should donate.While Republicans continue to bash President Obama, Edwards has gone on the record asking that President Obama not travel to Louisiana for at least a week until the state is more secure out of respect and timeliness of those working to aid the state.Trump s newest campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said the trip is a decidedly nonpolitical event, no press allowed, going to help people on the ground who are in need. And what did Trump do as soon as she said that? He took questions from the press and said President Obama would rather play golf than help those affected in Louisiana. Even though President Obama has secured the relief funds for the state and has expressed his support and thoughts for those affected, the Trump train has decided to use the opportunity to smear him and once again make Trump look like the unsung hero of the day.So much for no media and not being political.Once again, Trump is exploiting and using people s pain for personal gain. He s done that his entire life, so why stop now.Featured image via Joshua Lott/Getty Images | 0 |
2,976 | MALIA OBAMA CAUGHT Smoking Pot On Video…How Very Classy! [Video] | A video from a Chicago concert may show Malia Obama smoking a joint is she following in her father s footsteps? She was also seen pulling her dress up and twerking at the same concert: MALIA OBAMA Flashes Her Booty In Front Of Huge Crowd At Chicago Concert | 0 |
2,977 | ‘Russia Did It’ – The New Age of McCarthyism | Robert Parry Consortium NewsMake no mistake about it: the United States has entered an era of a New McCarthyism that blames nearly every political problem on Russia and has begun targeting American citizens who don t go along with this New Cold War propaganda.A difference, however, from the McCarthyism of the 1950s is that this New McCarthyism has enlisted Democrats, liberals and even progressives in the cause because of their disgust with President Trump; the 1950s version was driven by Republicans and the Right with much of the Left on the receiving end, maligned by the likes of Sen. Joe McCarthy as un-American and as Communism s fellow travelers. The real winners in this New McCarthyism appear to be the neoconservatives who have leveraged the Democratic/liberal hatred of Trump to draw much of the Left into the political hysteria that sees the controversy over alleged Russian political meddling as an opportunity to get Trump. Already, the neocons and their allies have exploited the anti-Russian frenzy to extract tens of millions of dollars more from the taxpayers for programs to combat Russian propaganda, i.e., funding of non-governmental organizations and scholars who target dissident Americans for challenging the justifications for this New Cold War.The Washington Post, which for years has served as the flagship for neocon propaganda, is again charting the new course for America, much as it did in rallying U.S. public backing for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and in building sympathy for abortive regime change projects aimed at Syria and Iran. The Post has begun blaming almost every unpleasant development in the world on Russia! Russia! Russia!For instance, a Post editorial on Tuesday shifted the blame for the anemic victory of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the surprising strength of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) from Merkel s austerity policies, which have caused hardship for much of the working class, or from her open door for Mideast refugees, which has destabilized some working-class neighborhoods, to you guessed it Russia!The evidence, as usual, is vague and self-interested, but sure to be swallowed by many Democrats and liberals, who hate Russia because they blame it for Trump, and by lots of Republicans and conservatives, who have a residual hatred for Russia left over from the Old Cold War.The Post cited the Atlantic Council s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which has been pushing much of the hysteria about alleged Russian activities on the Internet. The Atlantic Council essentially is NATO s think tank and is financed with money from the U.S. government, Gulf oil states, military contractors, global financial institutions and many other sources which stand to gain directly or indirectly from the expanding U.S. military budget and NATO interventions.Blaming RussiaIn this New Cold War, the Russians get blamed for not only disrupting some neocon regime change projects, such as the proxy war in Syria, but also political developments in the West, such as Donald Trump s election and AfD s rise in Germany.The Atlantic Council s digital lab claimed, according to the Post editorial, that In the final hours of the [German] campaign, online supporters of the AfD began warning their base of possible election fraud, and the online alarms were driven by anonymous troll accounts and boosted by a Russian-language bot-net. Of course, the Post evinces no evidence tying any of this to the Russian government or to President Vladimir Putin. It is the nature of McCarthyism that actual evidence is not required, just heavy breathing and dark suspicions. For those of us who operate Web sites, trolls some volunteers and some professionals have become a common annoyance and they represent many political outlooks, not just Russian.Plus, it is standard procedure these days for campaigns to issue last-minute alarms to their supporters about possible election fraud to raise doubts about the results should the outcome be disappointing.The U.S. government has engaged in precisely this strategy around the world, having pro-U.S. parties not only complain about election fraud but to take to the streets in violent protests to impugn the legitimacy of election outcomes. That U.S. strategy has been applied to places such as Ukraine (the Orange Revolution in 2004); Iran (the Green Revolution in 2009); Russia (the Snow Revolution in 2011); and many other locations.Pre-election alerts also have become a feature in U.S. elections, even in 2016 when both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton raised questions about the legitimacy of the balloting, albeit for different reasons.Yet, instead of seeing the AfD maneuver as a typical ploy by a relatively minor party and the German election outcome as an understandable reflection of voter discontent and weariness over Merkel s three terms as Chancellor the Atlantic Council and the Post see Russians under every bed and particularly Putin.Loving to Hate PutinIn the world of neocon propaganda, Putin has become the great b te noire, since he has frustrated a variety of neocon schemes. He helped head off a major U.S. military strike against Syria in 2013; he aided President Obama in achieving the Iran nuclear agreement in 2014-15; Putin opposed and to a degree frustrated the neocon-supported coup in Ukraine in 2014; and he ultimately supplied the air power that defeated neocon-backed rebel forces in Syria in 2015-17.So, the Post and the neocons want Putin gone and they have used gauzy allegations about Russian meddling in the U.S. and other elections as the new propaganda theme to justify destabilizing Russia with economic sanctions and, if possible, engineering another regime change project in Moscow.None of this is even secret. Carl Gershman, the neocon president of the U.S.-government-funded National Endowment for Democracy, publicly proclaimed the goal of ousting Putin in an op-ed in The Washington Post, writing: The United States has the power to contain and defeat this danger. The issue is whether we can summon the will to do so. But the way neocon propaganda works is that the U.S. and its allies are always the victims of some nefarious enemy who must be thwarted to protect all that is good in the world. In other words, even as NED and other U.S.-funded operations take aim at Putin and Russia, Russia and Putin must be transformed into the aggressors. Mr. Putin would like nothing better than to generate doubts, fog, cracks and uncertainty around the German pillar of Europe, the Post editorial said. He relishes infiltrating chaos and mischief into open societies. In this case, supporting the far-right AfD is extraordinarily cynical, given how many millions of Russians died to defeat the fascists seven decades ago. Not to belabor the point but there is no credible evidence that Putin did any of this. There is a claim by the virulently anti-Russian Atlantic Council that some anonymous troll accounts promoted some AfD complaint about possible voter fraud and that it was picked up by a Russian-language bot-net. Even if that is true and the Atlantic Council is far from an objective source where is the link to Putin?Not everything that happens in Russia, a nation of 144 million people, is ordered by Putin. But the Post would have you believe that it is. It is the centerpiece of this neocon conspiracy theory.Silencing DissentSimilarly, any American who questions this propaganda immediately is dismissed as a Kremlin stooge or a Russian propagandist, another ugly campaign spearheaded by the Post and the neocons. Again, no evidence is required, just some analysis that what you re saying somehow parallels something Putin has said.On Tuesday, in what amounted to a companion piece for the editorial, a Post article again pushed the unproven suspicions about Russian operatives buying $100,000 in Facebook ads from 2015 into 2017 to supposedly influence U.S. politics. Once again, no evidence required.In the article, the Post also reminds its readers that Moscow has a history of focusing on social inequities in the U.S., which gets us back to the comparisons between the Old McCarthyism and the new.Yes, it s true that the Soviet Union denounced America s racial segregation and cited that ugly feature of U.S. society in expressing solidarity with the American civil rights movement and national liberation struggles in Africa. It s also true that American Communists collaborated with the domestic civil rights movement to promote racial integration.That was a key reason why J. Edgar Hoover s FBI targeted Martin Luther King Jr. and other African-American leaders because of their association with known or suspected Communists. (Similarly, the Reagan administration resisted support for Nelson Mandela because his African National Congress accepted Communist support in its battle against South Africa s Apartheid white-supremacist regime.)Interestingly, one of the arguments from liberal national Democrats in opposing segregation in the 1960s was that the repression of American blacks undercut U.S. diplomatic efforts to develop allies in Africa. In other words, Soviet and Communist criticism of America s segregation actually helped bring about the demise of that offensive system.Yet, King s association with alleged Communists remained a talking point of die-hard segregationists even after his assassination when they opposed creating a national holiday in his honor in the 1980s.These parallels between the Old McCarthyism and the New McCarthyism are implicitly acknowledged in the Post s news article on Tuesday, which cites Putin s criticism of police killings of unarmed American blacks as evidence that he is meddling in U.S. politics. Since taking office, Putin has on occasion sought to spotlight racial tensions in the United States as a means of shaping perceptions of American society, the article states. Putin injected himself in 2014 into the race debate after protests broke out in Ferguson, Mo., over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an African American, by a white police officer. Do you believe that everything is perfect now from the point of view of democracy in the United States? Putin told CBS s 60 Minutes program. If everything was perfect, there wouldn t be the problem of Ferguson. There would be no abuse by the police. But our task is to see all these problems and respond properly. The Post s speculative point seems to be that Putin s response included having Russian operatives buy some ads on Facebook to exploit these racial tensions, but there is no evidence to support that conspiracy theory.However, as this anti-Russia hysteria spreads, we may soon see Americans who also protest the police killing of unarmed black men denounced as Putin s fellow-travelers, much as King and other civil rights leaders were smeared as Communist dupes. Ignoring RealitySo, instead of Democrats and Chancellor Merkel looking in the mirror and seeing the real reasons why many white working-class voters are turning toward populist and extremist alternatives, they can simply blame Putin and continue a crackdown on Internet-based dissent as the work of Russian operatives. Already, under the guise of combating Russian propaganda and fake news, Google, Facebook and other tech giants have begun introducing algorithms to hunt down and marginalize news that challenges official U.S. government narratives on hot-button issues such as Ukraine and Syria. Again, no evidence is required, just the fact that Putin may have said something similar.As Democrats, liberals and even some progressives join in this Russia-gate hysteria driven by their hatred of Donald Trump and his supposedly fascistic tendencies they might want to consider whom they ve climbed into bed with and what these neocons have in mind for the future.Arguably, if fascism or totalitarianism comes to the United States, it is more likely to arrive in the guise of protecting democracy from Russia or another foreign adversary than from a reality-TV clown like Donald Trump.The New McCarthyism with its Orwellian-style algorithms might seem like a clever way to neutralize (or maybe even help oust) Trump, but long after Trump is gone a structure for letting the neocons and the mainstream media monopolize American political debate might be a far greater threat to both democracy and peace.***TO READ MORE ON THE NEW COLD WAR: THE 21WIRE COLD WAR FILESSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
2,978 | Congressional Black Caucus Formulates Battle Plan For Trump Resistance | Despite claims to the contrary, Donald Trump has made it crystal clear that he is no friend to minorities. But members of the Congressional Black Caucus intend to fight him tooth and nail to protect people of color. As such, they have formulated a battle plan to resist policies that may be harmful to these communities The stakes are incredibly high and our community is counting on us as the last line of defense between Donald Trump and the worst of what America could offer, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said.Throughout his campaign, Trump proposed policies targeting specific minority groups, such as banning all Muslims from entering the U.S. and building a wall to keep out all the rapey Mexicans. He was also the champion of the birther movement, which was nothing more than a racially motivated attack on the country s first African-American president. The campaign that we saw over the last 12 months is very frightening. And there s been no effort on his part to even temper his comments since being elected, said outgoing CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.). It s going to be very contentious, I suspect, if Mr. Trump even follows through on half of his promises during the campaign. Incoming CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) plans to lay out the CBC s plan in more detail when he officially takes office on Tuesday. But he says that the people Trump has appointed to his cabinet are highly concerning. We speak for vulnerable people, we speak for the disenfranchised and we take that seriously, Richmond said. And those appointments seem to be tone-deaf to sensitivity and to, I think, just common sense. At the top of the worrisome list of cabinet appointments are Alabama senator and open racist Jeff Sessions, who is Trump s attorney general pick, and alt-right hero and former Breitbart bigwig, Steve Bannon, Trump s senior adviser. The appointments should concern not just minorities but all Americans, said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). When you look at Sessions, I mean he doesn t have the most stellar reputation for civil rights and voting rights. It s rough. Members of the CBC note that this is a first. Having a battle plan to resist the racist policies of an incoming president is hardly business as usual. This is not the normal incoming president, added Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). We had no plan for George Bush. I think Charlie Rangel and John Conyers would tell you they didn t even have a plan for Richard Nixon. But this is not the norm. Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
2,979 | WILL TAYLOR SWIFT “Bestie” AND LEFTIST WHO LIED ABOUT BEING RAPED BY A REPUBLICAN Ruin Her Wholesome Image? | Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born Taylor Swiftmi sog y ny m s j n /Submit noun dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. Becoming friends with Lena without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for has made me realize that I ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so, she said at the time.Taylor Swift has decided to use her platform as Maxim magazine s June cover girl to address feminism, and says her music is unfairly categorized as whiny because of society s systematic misogyny.The 25-year-old singer, who has won seven Grammy s and is worth an estimated $200 million, explained to the men s publication why she believes there is a double standard when it comes to how others analyze her music. A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; A woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining, she said. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it s just basically another word for equality, she added.The seemingly impressionable mega star, who hadn t previous identified as a feminist, told the Guardian last August how one of her closest friends, Lena Dunham, put it into perspective for her.Approximately two months after she spoke to the Guardian, Swift told David Letterman how empowering Dunham was, while explaining how the two became friends. She direct messaged me, and she said We need to be best friends. I feel like you ve been my best friend in my head for months and almost years now. So, I need to see you in person; then I will lavish you with complements in person, Swift recounted.Fortune Magazine named Swift as the world s most influential female leader in March, citing her savvy business nature.While Swift speaks of a double standard surrounding her music, it has yet to affect her album sales or stop her from selling out two or three stadium shows every week.Just this past Sunday, the Shake it Off singer nabbed eight recognitions at the Billboard Music Awards, including top female artist, top artist, top Billboard 200 artist, top Billboard 200 album, top streaming song, and top Hot 100 artist.Watch: Taylor Swift Likes Lena Dunham- David Lettermanhttps://youtu.be/jFZsQKdR20UWhat was supposed to be Her Year has in fact turned out to be five-alarm disaster for Lena Dunham, the creator of HBO s Girls. A year ago, closing out 2014 had to look pretty exciting to the 28 year-old. No matter how good or bad it was, her memoir would be released to guaranteed critical acclaim (she is Lena Dunham after all), there were two major Golden Globe nominations, and the publicity surrounding the 4th season premiere of Girls was going to be bigger than anything anyone could have ever imagined.2014 was going to be Dunham s breakthrough; the year she went mainstream. Along with the gushing reviews of her memoir and slavish coverage from The New York Times, there would be countless magazine covers, talk show appearances, and a thousand slathering articles obsessing over her every tweet and utterance. The entertainment media was on board. The mainstream media was on board. And at first it all went according to plan.Things went so well there was even talk of Lena Dunham starring in a Ghostbusters remake. You don t get any more mainstream than that. And you certainly don t get any more mainstream than having a best friend forever like Taylor Swift.Then, in three words, it all fell apart: Hypocrisy, lies, children. Hypocrisy: Dunham demanded people vote then it was discovered she did not vote.Lies: Dunham claimed in her non-fiction memoir that she had been raped in college by a campus Republican named Barry. She lied. And in the process indicted an innocent family man as her alleged rapist. Worse, Dunham and her publisher Random House stood silent for two months even after they knew the memoir had placed a cloud of suspicion over an innocent man.While attempting to run to Dunham s defense, Gawker tripped over itself and was forced to report their belief that Dunham s alleged rapist is wait for it, wait or it a Democrat.No one is questioning whether or not Dunham was raped. Something no one else is questioning, though, is that her behavior in this matter was breathtakingly selfish and craven.Children: Dunham s unnatural sexual behavior towards her much younger sister creeped everyone in America out not named Jimmy Kimmel.Those are just the top 3. The Wrap dug up 3 more PR disasters. The mainstream media desperately tried to save Dunham from herself, especially the cowardly and wildly dishonest Savannah Guthrie and Bill Simmons. But they just ended up sullying their own reputations.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
2,980 | Obama warns Trump not to spread details of security briefings | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama confirmed on Thursday that Donald Trump will get national security briefings ahead of the November election, but he warned the Republican candidate, whom he has called “unfit” for office, that information from the meetings must be kept secret. Obama, a Democrat who endorsed his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House race, has made clear his dismay over Trump, a New York businessman who has proposed temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States and building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. On Tuesday Obama questioned why leading Republicans have not withdrawn their support for their presidential nominee. On Thursday he dismissed as ridiculous Trump’s claims that the election may be rigged. “Of course the elections will not be rigged. What does that mean?” Obama said with exasperation. “If Mr. Trump is up 10 or 15 points on Election Day and ends up losing, then maybe he can raise some questions. That doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment.” Trump is trailing Clinton in polls. Despite his disdain, Obama said Trump would get the top secret briefings on world crises and security threats to which he, Clinton and their respective vice presidential running mates are entitled. Some Republicans have said Clinton should be denied access to such briefings because of her handling of classified material on a private email server while she was secretary of state. Obama on Thursday, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, made clear that both candidates would be treated equally. “We are going to go by the law, which is that, in both tradition and the law, that if somebody is the nominee ... they need to get a security briefing so that if they were to win, they are not starting from scratch in terms of being prepared,” Obama said. “What I will say is that they have been told these are classified briefings,” he added, in response to a question about whether he was concerned about Trump obtaining the classified information. “And if they want to be president, they got to start acting like president, and that means being able to receive these briefings and not spread them around.” Trump has placed blame on Clinton and Obama for the rise of Islamic State, also known as ISIS. “The Obama-Clinton foreign policy gave rise to ISIS, made Iran flush with cash, and is now admitting vast numbers of refugees and migrants into the United States from some of the most volatile regions in the world,” Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said in a statement. “But none of this is surprising from an Administration that allowed its Secretary of State to threaten the country with a private email server, delete her records, and lie about it to us all,” Miller said. Obama, who was meeting with his national security advisers about the fight against Islamic State, also made a subtle jab at Trump for his dispute with a Muslim couple whose U.S. Army captain son died in Iraq. Obama lauded “patriotic Muslim Americans” who fight in the U.S. armed forces. | 1 |
2,981 | democrats are going back into florida with millions of dollars to retire marco rubio | by adalia woodbury on sun oct th at pm a trump supporter sporting a hillary for prison tshirt chanted jews sa in support of his candidate during a rally in arizona on saturday the target was the pen of reporters who have been fodder for trumps rhetoric at every rally share on twitter print this post
a trump supporter sporting a hillary for prison tshirt chanted jews sa in support of his candidate during a rally in arizona on saturday
the target was the pen of reporters who have been fodder for trumps rhetoric at every rally
the context while the crowd was chanting usa one man chanted jews sa words like that cant be spun or read into the intent and meaning were obvious to everyone
watch here on video obtained by the huffington post
this sort of thing comes as no surprise considering that donald trump spent the last year spewing hate filled venom in every possible direction it may seem superfluous to restate every category of people for which trump has shown contempt but it is not
muslims jews immigrants labor taxpayers latinos hispanics mexicans africanamericans women pows veterans people with disabilities gold star families and the military have felt the sting of trumps words and the disdain in his heart
throughout this campaign season the vitriol against hillary clinton saw no limit signs and tshirts too disgusting to quote in this article chants of lock her up at the republican convention and since trump promised his base of thugs lowlifes and haters he would weaken the first amendment strengthen the second and establish the altright utopia
hillary clinton was already the most qualified candidate in this race she also proved to have more stamina than any previous candidate needed not only was she competing against a vicious and pathological liar she was competing for who we are and who we could be for all the trump claims that the media is rigged in clintons favor it was trump who got free advertising who framed the narrative and whose words were the primary news stories of the campaign
there is no doubt that hillary clinton will keep her promise to fight for us she has been doing it from the beginning of this campaign every time hillary clinton called out donald trumps sexist comments she was fighting for all women who were attacked humiliated and sexually abused by men like trump every time clinton shamed trumps horrific and disgusting comments about the khan family she was standing up for every gold star family she was also standing up for every muslimamerican the same is true every time clinton condemned trump for mocking a disabled reporter or resorted to altright stereotypes about africanamericans innercities and africanamerican communities
every time trump spewed hate in whatever direction hillary clinton defended the target
so no this isnt about choosing the lesser of two evils like every election this is about choosing our next president more importantly its about voting for who we are and who we aspire to be
image screengrab from video | 1 |
2,982 | Trump to study tougher Russia sanctions bill: White House | ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will examine whether a bill toughening sanctions on Russia is offering the “best deal” for the American people, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Monday. “He’s going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like,” Sanders told reporters during a briefing on Air Force One, when asked whether Trump would support the legislation. | 1 |
2,983 | McCain RIPS GOP Brass Over Russian Hack Response, Accuses Them Of Threatening Democracy (VIDEO) | At this point, there is no doubt that Vladimir Putin s Russian regime hacked the 2016 election, and they did it with one purpose: To elect Donald Trump President of the United States. Now that this effort has been successful, many Republicans are doing all they can to pretend that this isn t as serious as it is, since it benefits their party and chosen American leader. However, one American hero is FURIOUS with his fellow Republicans over their response to these Russian hacks, and that is former prisoner of war and Arizona Senator John McCain.Senator McCain appeared on CNN s State of the Union on Sunday morning, and had some very strong warnings for those who refuse to take the fact that Russia hacked our elections for the threat to this great republic that it is. McCain said to host Jake Tapper: This is the sign of a possible unraveling of the world order that was established after World War II, which has made one of the most peaceful periods in the history of the world. This is serious business. If they re able to harm the electoral process, they may destroy democracy, which is based on free and fair elections. Because of the gravity of this situation, McCain is going up against his fellow Republicans and calling for a special committee to investigate the activities of the Russians and especially Vladimir Putin, and insists that it must be done in a timely and bipartisan fashion, without regard for political gains or consequences. Thus far, McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham are the only ones being forceful here, as the two most powerful Republicans in Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are instead choosing to roll over for Donald Trump. However, McCain isn t letting up. He has written a letter to McConnell, signed by fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D-NY) and Democratic Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). The letter said, in part: Cyber is the rare kind of all-encompassing challenge for which the Congress s jurisdictional boundaries are an impediment to sufficient oversight and legislative action. Only a select committee that is time-limited, cross-jurisdictional, and purpose-driven can address the challenge of cyber, the letter said. We believe it is justified by the extraordinary scope and scale of the cyber problem. This is what bipartisan patriotism looks like. Direct threats to our democracy like what Russia has done is nothing to play with simply because it benefits one s own party. I never though I d say this, but why can t more Republicans be like John McCain and Lindsey Graham?McCain continued to Tapper: There s no doubt they were interfering and no doubt it was a cyber-attack. The question now is how much and what damage and what should the United States of America do? And so far, we ve been totally paralyzed. I m sure that when Vladimir Putin was told quote cut it out unquote, I m sure that Vladimir Putin immediately stopped all cyber-activities. The truth is, they are hacking every single day. So true. This is a threat that must be met head on, and with as much force as possible, party politics be damned. Our very way of life depends upon it.Watch McCain s remarks below:[ad3media campaign= 1398 ]Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
2,984 | Bond between Trump, Xi in meetings played role in China abstention: U.S. official | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday that the positive bond developed between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Florida helped lead to China’s abstention from a U.N. Security Council vote on Syria. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, would not say whether Trump personally asked Xi that China not veto the resolution. The official said Xi’s decision not to veto the resolution spoke to China’s determination not to obstruct the U.N.’s ability to sanction Syria for a chemical weapons attack last week. | 1 |
2,985 | UK seeks arrest of Manchester bomber's brother, asks Libya to extradite him | LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Wednesday they had issued an arrest warrant for the brother of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people in an attack on a pop concert in Manchester in May and prosecutors had asked Libya to extradite him. Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents, blew himself up at the end of a show by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in the deadliest militant attack in Britain for 12 years. His victims included seven children among the victims while more than 500 were injured. Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, who is responsible for counter-terrorism in northwest England, said police had now applied for and been granted an arrest warrant for Abedi s younger brother Hashem for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion. Hashem Abedi is currently detained in Libya and the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) has now requested that Libyan authorities consider his extradition back to the United Kingdom, Jackson said. We are grateful for the Libyan authorities considering this request. He added that detectives had not found any evidence of the involvement of any wider network. Islamic State said it was responsible in the immediate aftermath of the bombing but security services have always treated the claim with scepticism. Days after the attack Libyan counter-terrorism investigators arrested Hashem Abedi and the brothers father Ramadan. In June, the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), a counter-terrorism force aligned with the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, said Hashem Abedi had told them that his brother had been radicalised in Britain in 2015. They had both flown from Britain to Libya in April and Hashem said he had helped buy the equipment necessary for the attack although he had not known that Salman was planning a bombing, Rada said. British police say Salman Abedi returned to Manchester on May 18, four days before his attack. The family had emigrated to Britain during the rule of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, moving from London to the Fallowfield area of south Manchester where they lived for more than a decade. The brothers parents returned to Libya during the country s 2011 revolution. Jackson said their investigation was still running at a very fast pace and the inquiry had involved a trawl through 16,000 hours of closed circuit TV (CCTV) footage and more than 8 million lines of telephone communications data. Police have previously said they believed Salman Abedi had built the bomb himself and CCTV showed him buying nuts from a hardware store that were used as shrapnel as well as the tin that was believed to contain the explosives. | 1 |
2,986 | BREAKING: Who’s Laughing Now? House GOP Members Introduce Resolution To Impeach IRS Commissioner | Does this mean Republicans in the House are FINALLY going to start standing up for the Americans who elected them to be their representatives in Washington DC? Does this action represent the change we re all desperate to see now that Boehner is vacating his seat? House Republicans on Tuesday introduced a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, accusing him of making false statements under oath and failing to comply with a subpoena for evidence.In case you ve forgotten, here are two of the most powerful testimonies exposing the tyranny of our government we have ever posted on our website:Our friend Becky Gerritson (who is currently running for a seat in our US Congress):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE4_MT8MkIAAnd then there was the powerful testimony by Founder and Chairman of True the Vote, Catherine Engelbrecht:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db21AQu30XwHouse Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and 18 other committee members introduced the resolution to begin impeachment proceedings. In doing so, they followed through on a threat first made over the summer, when Republicans accused the IRS leader of making inaccurate statements to Congress regarding the Tea Party targeting scandal and its aftermath. Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust, Chaffetz said in a statement Tuesday. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled. Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress. The IRS issued a statement later Thursday saying, The IRS vigorously disputes the allegations in the resolution. We have fully cooperated with all of the investigations. The announcement of the impeachment resolution comes on the same day Koskinen testified before the Senate Finance Committee, and after the Justice Department on Friday decided to close its investigation of the targeting scandal without pursuing criminal charges. Via: FOX News | 0 |
2,987 | Abe hopes to avoid landing in rough in golf outing with Trump | (Reuters) - With golf long regarded as a stern measure of character and a natural setting for deal-making, U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s weekend outing in Florida could be viewed as more than a leisurely bonding exercise between two world leaders. U.S. President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe will form a twosome for their round of golf on Saturday, presumably at the Trump International Golf Club near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Details are still under wraps. Trump told a local sports radio station last weekend golf was a better way to get to know someone than lunch and saw his match-up with Abe as a “fun” meeting between partners rather than adversaries. Abe might feel the occasion carries more weight. His prime minister grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower played near Washington in 1957, a round newspapers described as a “triumph of diplomacy” between former World War Two enemies. Abe teed off the latest round of golf diplomacy in November, giving Trump an expensive, gold-colored driver during their meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he sought assurances about the future strength of the decades-old alliance between the two nations. With anxiety over Trump’s tough talk on currency, security and trade with Japan, some in Tokyo have expressed concern Abe might be too generous in any haggling on the fairways when pitted against the real estate mogul and author of “The Art of the Deal”. In purely a golfing sense, Abe is likely to find Trump a formidable opponent. “He is pretty remarkable for a 70-year-old guy,” Jaime Diaz, editor-in-chief of Golf World and a senior writer for Golf Digest, told Reuters. “As I understand it, his handicap is 2.8. That seems a little low but I think he is very capable of playing to a five or six handicap. “He is a legitimate good player. It’s not a ‘trumped-up’ claim that he is somebody who shoots in the 70s.” Trump says he has won 18 club trophies and said such a winning pedigree made him the ideal man to run the country during the election race. “See how beautiful my hands are, look at those hands. Those are powerful hands,” Trump said at a Detroit rally last year during the Republican primaries. “(They can) hit a golf ball 285 yards.” Retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya questioned Trump’s trustworthiness on the golf course while speaking to reporters in Las Vegas in May 2016 during the build-up to the WBC middleweight title clash between Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan, according to the AP. Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson did the same in an interview he did with United Airlines’ Rhapsody magazine in January 2016. Reuters could not independently confirm these accounts. After the Jackson interview, Trump issued a tweet that said in part: “I don’t cheat at golf.” The White House did not return a request for comment on the cheating allegations. Diaz who has twice played with Trump, at Trump National Golf Club Charlotte in North Carolina in 2013 and more recently at the Doral resort in Florida, described the President as someone who would not need to resort to cheating to beat most players. “I know he has won all these club championships at golf courses that he owns and a lot of people are suspect about that. But he would be a tough guy to beat with a five handicap,” the golf writer said. “He addresses the ball with good body language ... confident and flowing and fluid. He just looks like he is going to hit a good shot.” It is far harder to find allegations of cheating or boastfulness directed at the more circumspect Abe, who is a member of the ultra-exclusive Three Hundred Club in Kanagawa Prefecture, south-west of Tokyo. The club, confined to only 300 members, charges some 70-80 million yen ($625,000-$715,000) for membership fees and 50,000 yen for green fees. The 62-year-old Abe takes the game very seriously and local media have reported that rounds with his wife can get tense if he is playing poorly. “When he is playing golf, he concentrates. So everyone else becomes intense as well,” a company president who plays Abe once or twice a year, told Reuters on condition of anonymity. He was unsure of Abe’s handicap but confirmed reports that the Prime Minister usually shoots between 90 and 100 over 18 holes, which would place him squarely in the field of average weekend hackers. A straight driver with a “stable” game all round, Abe is generally smartly turned out, sometimes in short pants and knee socks and always with a baseball cap on his head. “I was impressed that Abe holds the flag on the green, while other players are putting,” the source said. “People in a high position like him do not have to do that for others. He is very polite.” The conservative politician is not so reserved as to shun refreshments at the ‘19th hole’ back at the clubhouse, however, where he might indulge in a couple of glasses of beer or red wine after a bath to freshen up, added the source. For graphic on the Trump/Abe scorecard, click tmsnrt.rs/2ltvfm7 | 1 |
2,988 | Thanks Obama! The 99 Percent Are Doing Better Than In 17 Years | The very cornerstone of Bernie Sanders campaign is income inequality, and there s a very good reason for that. The statistics are mind-blowing. After all, those in the top one percent make 184 times those in the bottom 90 percent. Yes, it s that bad, but for the first time in 17 years, the bottom 90 percent have seen some gains. Unfortunately, the top 1 percent have seen more gains.The top 1 percent income earners in the United States hit a new high last year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The bottom 99 percent of income earners registered the best real income growth (after factoring in inflation) in 17 years, but the top one percent did even better. The latest IRS data show that incomes for the bottom 99 percent of families grew by 3.9 percent over 2014 levels, the best annual growth rate since 1998, but incomes for those families in the top 1 percent of earners grew even faster, by 7.7 percent, over the same period.Source: Equitable GrowthThat might sound like a mixed bag, and it certainly is, but it does mark the first time since the Clinton administration where those who are struggling have seen real growth. Since the beginning of the 2009 recession, those below the top 10 percent have been seeing anemic 1.1 percent growth.While this news is pretty good, it s not great. To this day, the non-wealthy have only recovered 60 percent of lost wealth from the Great Recession. Things have been much, much better for those at the top:Income inequality in the United States persists at extremely high levels, particularly at the very top of the income ladder. Figure 1 shows that the incomes (adjusted for inflation) of the top 1 percent of families grew from $990,000 in 2009 to $1,360,000 in 2015, a growth of 37 percent. In contrast, the incomes of the bottom 99 percent of families grew only by 7.6 percent from $45,300 in 2009 to $48,800 in 2015. As a result, the top 1 percent of families captured 52 percent of total real income growth per family from 2009 to 2015 while the bottom 99 percent of families got only 48 percent of total real income growth. This uneven recovery is unfortunately on par with a long-term widening of inequality since 1980, when the top 1 percent of families began to capture a disproportionate share of economic growth.With Sanders all but out of the race, our attentions have to turn to what Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump might do to correct the problem.Trump plans very little, other than tax breaks for people making less than $25,000 a year. That does little to solve income inequality, but it could take enough money from the IRS that Republicans could claim that we, as taxpayers, can no longer afford food stamps or health care supplements.Clinton s plan is to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour, middle class green job creation, small business incentives, college assistance and tax assistance.Of course, don t look for any real improvements in income inequality until the Supreme Court rules that corporations are no longer people. Donald Trump is not going to give us that Supreme Court. Hillary Clinton vows that she will.Featured image via Alex Wong at Getty Images. | 0 |
2,989 | Michael Douglas urges Obama to think of his legacy at Hiroshima | GENEVA (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Michael Douglas, a U.N. “messenger for peace”, wants President Barack Obama to issue a strong message against nuclear weapons when he visits Hiroshima in Japan later this month. Douglas told reporters at the United Nations in Geneva, where nuclear negotiations have been stuck for 20 years, that the nuclear danger was greater than during the Cold War, largely due to a “huge escalation” in U.S.-Russia tensions and increasing recklessness in their close-quarter contacts. “There’s this kind of crazy tension between U.S. and Russia. We have our issues but I don’t quite see that all of this posturing is helping anybody,” he said. “The number of weapons that are on trigger alert is frightening. So the time for somebody to possibly make a mistake and correct it is very very short.” Douglas said he “found religion” in the anti-nuclear cause after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979, within days of the opening of his film The China Syndrome, which dealt with an emergency at a nuclear plant. Standing beside Joseph Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security organization, Douglas recalled Obama’s 2009 speech in Prague, where the president promised concrete steps to wards a nuclear-free world. “I think we could say he’s been a disappointment because there’s not been follow through, and I do hope now for his legacy as he begins to leave office, that he’s going to have something strong to say at Hiroshima.” Cirincione said Obama had made good early progress on nuclear non-proliferation, but had made only modest cuts in arsenals and was leaving $1 trillion in new nuclear contracts in the pipeline for his successor. “Every single weapon in the nuclear arsenal is now due for replacement or an upgrade. It’s a looming disaster,” he said. Douglas, 71, said he was also a friend of Donald Trump, but he was not confident the United States would make any advances in nuclear disarmament if Trump won the presidency. “I guess one of his strengths, or weaknesses depending how you look at it, is his unpredictability,” he said. | 1 |
2,990 | Suspected cholera cases in Yemen hit one million: ICRC | DUBAI/GENEVA (Reuters) - Yemen s cholera epidemic has reached one million suspected cases, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday, with war leaving more than 80 percent of the population short of food, fuel, clean water and access to healthcare. Yemen, one of the Arab world s poorest countries, is embroiled in a proxy war between the Houthi armed movement, allied with Iran, and a U.S.-backed military coalition headed by Saudi Arabia. The United Nations says Yemen is suffering the world s worst humanitarian crisis, and eight million people are on the brink of famine. The cholera figure is almost certainly exaggerated, but that does not diminish the scale and complexity of the humanitarian crisis, said Marc Poncin, Yemen emergency coordinator for aid agency M decins Sans Fronti res. Cholera flared up in April and spread rapidly, killing 2,227 people. The death rate has fallen dramatically, and without laboratory confirmation, recent cases are probably diarrhea, Poncin said. A new wave of cholera is expected in March or April. It s probably unavoidable. We need to be ready to face another big epidemic, said Poncin, adding that cholera may become a long-term burden as it has in Haiti. The places where the war is active are the ones most at risk for increase of disease. The latest emergency is diphtheria, a disease not seen in Yemen for 25 years, which has affected 312 people and killed 35. It has not spread explosively, as cholera did, but diphtheria outbreaks can affect many thousands, and there is a global shortage of diphtheria anti-toxin. Yemen has enough for 200-500 patients, Poncin said. An urgent diphtheria vaccination campaign early in 2018 will complicate the WHO s hope of doing mass cholera vaccination at the same time, especially given the problems with security and accessing remote areas, Poncin said. The Houthis, who control much of the country, are also suspicious of vaccination drives, he added. Yemen s troubles have been aggravated by the Saudi-led coalition s blockade of its ports, which has caused a fuel shortage and a spike in food prices. The health system has virtually collapsed, with health workers unpaid for a year, although the WHO gives incentive payments for cholera work. The ports were closed in retaliation for a missile fired from Yemen by the Houthis. On Wednesday, despite a fresh missile attack on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia said it would allow the Houthi-controled port of Hodeidah, vital for aid, to stay open for a month. | 1 |
2,991 | HILARIOUS: Team Trump PANICKING As Pop Stars Reject His Hate, Refuse To Show Up For Inauguration | Donald Trump s transition effort has already been an embarrassing, chaotic affair. It s been more like a reality show and a quest for public humiliation and revenge than the dignified affair that it has been for presidents past. Now, Team Trump has another problem: The inauguration. You see, usually, presidents-elect have pop stars and other A-list stars from around the globe scrambling to get a spot at the plum event. For instance, Barack Obama had the likes of Beyonce and Aretha Franklin celebrating his swearing in. Not the case, however, for Donald Trump. In fact, the opposite seems to be true.According to BBC News, the Trump team is so desperate for inaugural talent that they are actually offering to pay the stars to come something that never happens. Of course, Trump s Inaugural Committee is denying this, saying via spokesman Boris Epshteyn: No one with any official position at, or official relationship with, the presidential committee is engaging in the conduct described. Of course, this is likely a lie, since another mouthpiece from Trump s inaugural clown car lied and said that Sir Elton John would be showing up. As soon as that news was out of the box, Sir Elton s publicist released a strongly-worded rebuke of Team Trump that said: Incorrect. He will NOT be performing. There is no truth in this at all. Further, a source close to the inaugural efforts said of the team s desperation: They re calling managers, agents, everyone in town to see who they can get and it s been problematic. They are willing to pay anything. Other stars weighed in as well. Singer John Legend says that he is not surprised at all, and continued: Creative people tend to reject bigotry and hate. We tend to be more liberal-minded. When we see somebody that s preaching division and hate and bigotry, it s unlikely he ll get a lot of creative people that want to be associated with him. Queen frontman and American Idol star Adam Lambert said of the potential gig, even if there was lots of cash involved: I don t think I would take the money on that one. I don t think I d be endorsing that. They might struggle. Less well-known singer Matt Healy, who fronts The 1975, seemed to think the whole thing might be good for a laugh: I ll do it if they give me cash up front. Then watch what would happen. It would be a riot. Even the comedy isn t enough for Healy, though, as he continued: What do I want? Well, he s got gold seatbelts in his plane so at least a million quid. Well, this ought to be an interesting affair. It will probably look like the Republican National Convention did, with people like Pastor Mark Burns and Sheriff Clarke giving hateful, hellfire and brimstone speeches, with Chris Christie once again prosecuting Hillary Clinton from the stage, protesters outside, and with the only musical talent being people like Kid Rock and Ted Nugent.Get ready for another national disgrace courtesy of Donald Trump, folks. Murica.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
2,992 | German war reparations 'matter of honor' for Poland | KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Demanding reparations from Germany for its actions in Poland during World War Two is a matter of honor for Warsaw, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Saturday. The issue of reparations, revived by Poland s eurosceptic PiS after decades of improving relations with Germany, could escalate tensions between the two European Union members. In September Polish parliamentary legal experts ruled that Warsaw has the right to demand reparations from Germany, although Poland s foreign minister indicated that no immediate claim would be made. The French were paid, Jews were paid, many other nations were paid for the losses they suffered during World War Two. Poles were not, Kaczynski said. It is not only about material funds. It is about our status, our honor ... And this is not theater. This is our demand, a totally serious demand, added Kaczynski, Poland s de facto leader. The PiS government, deeply distrustful of Germany, has raised calls for wartime compensation in recent months but Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has said further analysis was needed before any claims were lodged. Six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war, and the capital Warsaw was razed to the ground in 1944 after a failed uprising in which 200,000 civilians died. | 1 |
2,993 | Will Trump block Comey testimony? White House does not know yet | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House officials said on Friday they did not know yet whether President Donald Trump would seek to block former FBI Director James Comey from testifying to Congress next week, a move that could spark a political backlash. “I have not spoken to counsel yet. I don’t know how they’re going to respond,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. Comey was leading a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign when the president fired him last month. Critics have charged that Trump was seeking to hinder the FBI’s investigation by dismissing Comey. The former FBI chief is due to testify on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its own Russia-related investigation, and his remarks could cause problems for the Republican president. Comey is widely expected to be asked about conversations in which the president reportedly pressured him to drop an investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whose ties to Russia are under scrutiny. Critics have said that such pressure could potentially amount to obstruction of justice. Presidents can assert executive privilege to prevent government employees from sharing information. However, legal experts say it is not clear whether certain conversations between Trump and Comey that the president has talked about publicly would be covered, and any effort to block Comey, who is now a private citizen, from testifying could be challenged in court. Democratic lawmakers sent White House counsel Donald McGahn a letter warning that invoking executive privilege “would be seen as an effort to obstruct the truth from both Congress and the American people.” In an interview with ABC News, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared to indicate the president would allow Comey to testify. “We’ll be watching with the rest of the world when Director Comey testifies,” she said. But asked directly whether Trump would invoke executive privilege on Comey’s testimony, she added: “The president will make that decision.” Amid a political firestorm touched off by Comey’s firing, the Justice Department appointed a special counsel last month to take the lead on the Russia investigation. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Russian government sought to influence the U.S. election in Trump’s favor, a charge Russia has denied. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, said on Thursday some Russians may have acted on their own. Trump, who has raised doubts about the U.S. agencies’ findings and denounced the continuing Russia probes, has denied any collusion. | 1 |
2,994 | SECRET GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE Program In Public Spaces EXPOSED: “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees” [VIDEO] | Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded Hidden microphones that are part of a clandestine government surveillance program that has been operating around the Bay Area has been exposed.Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded without you knowing. It happens all the time, and the FBI doesn t even need a warrant to do it.Federal agents are planting microphones to secretly record conversations.Jeff Harp, a KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there s microphones that are planted in places that people don t think about, because that s the intent! FBI agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011.Federal authorities are trying to prove real estate investors in San Mateo and Alameda counties are guilty of bid rigging and fraud and used these recordings as evidence.Harp said, An agent can t just go out and grab a recording device and plant it somewhere without authorization from a supervisor or special agent in charge. The lawyer for one of the accused real estate investors who will ask the judge to throw out the recordings, told KPIX 5 News that, Speaking in a public place does not mean that the individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy private communication in a public place qualifies as a protected oral communication and therefore may not be intercepted without judicial authorization. Harp says that if you re going to conduct criminal activity, do it in the privacy of your own home. He says that was the original intention of the Fourth Amendment, but it s up to the judge to interpret it. Via: SF CBS Global | 0 |
2,995 | U.S. anti-missile system 'should be decision for next South Korean government' | SEOUL (Reuters) - The spokesman for the front runner in South Korea’s upcoming presidential election said on Friday that the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile defense system should be “immediately suspended” and await a decision by the next government. “As stressed again, the issue of THAAD deployment should be handed over to the next (South Korean) government,” Youn Kwan-suk, a spokesman for Moon Jae-in, said in a statement responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks during an interview with Reuters that South Korea should pay for the system. | 1 |
2,996 | Children Will Suffer: Trumpcare Would Cut $46B In Healthcare Funds For Kids | Children, the most vulnerable of Americans, will feel the brunt of the new Obamacare replacement bill by the House GOP. The Hill reports that the new bill would result in $43 Billion being cut in Medicaid coverage for children over the next 10 years, according to a recent study.The study conducted by Avalere, a healthcare consulting firm, found that coverage for non-disabled children would be cut due to a per capita cap. This new cap is the GOP s way to implement new cuts to an already strained Medicaid fund that provides health care to millions of American children who don t have access to anything else. Over time, per capita caps could significantly reduce the amount of funding that goes towards Medicaid coverage for children, Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere, said in a statement. While local control and more efficient operation of Medicaid programs are laudable goals, coverage and access for low income children are ultimately dictated by federal funding, and reductions of this magnitude could disrupt access. The GOP argues that these cuts are necessary to control what they see as too much spending on Medicaid.The Congressional Budget Office discovered that overall, $839 billion will be cut from Medicaid over 10 years. These enormous cuts will be achieved through the new Medicaid per capita cap and ending extra funds to ObamaCare s Medicaid expansion.Parents across the country are afraid of what will happen when their child s health coverage is cut. The fear is being felt across the board.With cuts this astronomically huge, there s absolutely no way kids can stay out of harm s way, says Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center on Children and Families.Let s hope the House bill doesn t get any further, for the sake of our country and our children.Featured image via Getty/Chip Somodevilla | 0 |
2,997 | Bernie Sanders: When you’re White, you don’t know what it’s like to be poor…to live in ghetto” [VIDEO] | Bernie Sanders is so focused on pandering to blacks, trashing whites and bashing police officers, he doesn t even notice when he s stuck his decrepit old foot in his mouth Hillary and Bernie are so busy pandering to the black vote, they almost forgot the majority of Americans are not black and their constant barage of disparaging remarks and insults directed at white voter just might make some white Americans NOT want to support them Being a white person in the United States of America, I know that I have never had the experience that so many people in this audience have had, Clinton said. I think it s incumbent upon me and what I have been trying to talk about is to urge white people about what it is like to have the talk with your kids, scared that yours or daughters even could get in trouble for no good reason whatsoever, like Sandra Bland and end up dead in a jail in Texas. That is what I will try to do to deal with what I know is the racism that stalking our country, she said. When you re white, you don t know what it s like to be living in a ghetto and to be poor, Sanders said. You don t know what it s like to be hassled when you walk down the street or get dragged out of a car. I believe as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear: We will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system. Via: National Review | 0 |
2,998 | msnbcs scarborough zings the media is aggressively taken sides and theyve admitted to it | home this month popular airbnb goes full sjw and demands users host deviants of every kind in their home airbnb goes full sjw and demands users host deviants of every kind in their home david g brown
david is a lifelong dissident and intellectual rebel he despises political correctness which replaces real needy victims with narcissistic leftists out for a free meal though still a young man he has watched society descend into its present morass with great sadness combined with a determination to help make things better he tweets when theres something worth tweeting here october news
you commit to treat everyoneregardless of race religion national origin ethnicity disability sex gender identity sexual orientation or agewith respect and without judgment or bias
airbnbs new sjw diktat
shortterm residential accommodation network airbnb is forcing its providers to adhere to a new nondiscrimination policy including a requirement to accept transgender people the policy takes effect on november and is accompanied by a slew of other recent or impending changes which airbnb says are designed to make its community more inclusive those who refuse to accept the main nondiscrimination policy will barred from listing their properties with airbnb
the major problem with airbnbs new nondiscrimination provisions is that they really just represent an euphemismbowing to a customers feelings rather than proven discrimination the overall framework of the companys policy alterations assumes that those accommodation providers accused of discrimination are actually guilty of it this rush to judgment gives little or no recourse to those who depend on airbnb to generate an income it also makes it very easy for certain protected groups most notably transgender people to falsely or very loosely claim discrimination when in fact the issue is likely to be the prospective guests temperament or perceived reliability in respecting the property
secondly the policy changes ignore the unique nature of sharing economy sites like airbnb accommodation providers are often accepting guests into their literal homes or their sole investment property whereas hotels have roundtheclock staff including security airbnb properties are much more informal and unsupervised providers therefore have good reasons to be very judicious about who exactly they let into their residences airbnbs open doors policy treats any discrimination complaint as gospel truth brian chesky mustve drank the same poisoned water as fellow tech sjw jack dorsey of twitter
well be implementing a new policy called open doors starting october st if a guest anywhere in the world feels like they have been discriminated against in violation of our policy in trying to book a listing having a booking canceled or in any other interaction with a host we will find that guest a similar place to stay if one is available on airbnb or if not we will find them an alternative accommodation elsewhere
brian chesky airbnb ceo and cofounder
in addition to dictating what kinds of guests can enter their providers properties another one of airbnbs new policies which is already in force treats those accused of discrimination as immediately guilty rather than determining whether discrimination has occurred airbnb has made it clear that it will bend over backwards to find those claiming discrimination other accommodation within its network or more strangely still alternative accommodation outside its network the second arm of this discrimination response will become very interesting indeed should privatelyowned airbnb decide to go public it is hard to see how shareholders would acquiesce to a company offering customers thirdparty accommodation options that effectively deprive it of money
airbnb is simply trying to have its cake and eat it too on the one hand it wants to create as wide a market for itself as possible now having providers offering listings in cities around the world on the other hand however it wants to assume total control for determining what is and what is not discrimination despite having no ability to verify pretty much any of the accusations airbnb are mere gatekeepers providing a rudimentary service that makes its bucks by the sheer volume of providers these same providers should not suffer because of the companys thinlyspread business model allegations of discrimination have been scant at best we dont question the right of people to be selective about new housemates so why not airbnb providers and their guests
various news articles reporting on the shift in airbnb policies have only been able to point to isolated instances of even alleged let alone proven discrimination the best that sjw enablers can offer is a deeply flawed harvard study which claimed that prospective guests with stereotypical africanamerican names like latoya and darnell were percent less likely to be approved by the companys accommodation providers considering that a guests profile provides a lot more information than just their name the harvard research leaves a lot to be desired
moreover names like cletus and marysue would arguably garner even less approvals both these white names and the aforementioned africanamerican names usually dovetail with some of americas least sophisticated and worldly types the exact kinds of people least likely to be allowed into someones home it has precious little to do with race and almost everything to do with runofthemill decisions about how to safeguard ones own property by entrusting it to the right people such decisions are routinely accepted when new housemates are sought so why not with airbnb has airbnb signed its own execution order bookingcom is better than airbnb cheaper prices always instant booking tons of apartment listings better interface and no sjw crap
roosh rooshv october
just as roosh swears by bookingcom there are plenty of other options you can take in avoiding airbnb from now on like twitter the company is quickly falling under the spell of the sjw crowd it seems certain that minus a backtrack airbnb and its reputation will follow jack dorseys company into the abyss unlike twitter though airbnb may never make the jump to publiclylisted company
we live in very sad times for freedom but theres one freedom we can all exercise nowstaying the hell away from airbnb and its sjw madness | 0 |
2,999 | Trump pushes drugmakers for lower prices, more U.S. production | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on the pharmaceutical industry to boost U.S. production and lower prices, while also vowing to speed up approval times for new medicines and appoint a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration leader soon. Shares of five of the six drug companies at the White House meeting with Trump were up more than 1 percent on average following the president’s remarks, compared with a 0.5 percent drop in the broad S&P 500. The Nasdaq Biotech Index was up 1.1 percent, reversing earlier losses, and the S&P 500 health care index gained 0.7 percent. Attending the meeting were the CEOs of Novartis AG, Merck & Co Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Celgene Corp, Eli Lilly & Co and Amgen Inc as well as the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America lobbying group. Trump told the drugmakers that pricing had been “astronomical.” “We have to get prices down for a lot of reasons. We have no choice, for Medicare and Medicaid,” Trump said at the meeting, citing the nation’s government insurance programs for the elderly, the poor and the disabled that together are the largest U.S. purchaser of medications. Trump also said currency devaluation by other countries had increased drugmakers’ outsourcing their production and called on the companies to make more of their products in the United States. He added that foreign countries must pay fair share for drug development costs. “We’re going to end global freeloading,” Trump said. Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez, who is chairman-elect of the industry lobbying group, said last week that he wanted to talk to Trump about efforts to develop pricing models that would pay for clinical results rather than a flat price per pill, as well as plans to replace the Affordable Care Act, which is popularly known as “Obamacare.” Trump spooked investors in the pharmaceuticals and biotech sectors by saying on Jan. 11, before his inauguration, that drug companies were “getting away with murder” on what they charged the government for medicine and that he would do something about it. That prompted the pharmaceutical lobbying group to unveil a new TV marketing campaign last week to improve its image by focusing attention on strides in research. Company executives, meanwhile, have tried to tread a careful line in defending their industry while expressing optimism that the United States would continue to reward scientific advances. | 1 |
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