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3,200 | WATCH: Fox Host Chris Wallace Just SHREDDED Priebus’ Defense Of Trump’s ‘Enemies’ Tweet | Reince Priebus appeared on Fox News Sunday and got his ass handed to him by Chris Wallace.On Friday, Donald Trump posted a tweet in which he referred to the media as an enemy of the American people just because they are reporting information provided to them by sources inside the government.Chaos and infighting have plagued Trump s administration and his inept handing of national security and his ties with Russia have caused some intelligence officials to withhold information from the White House out of fear that Russia will get it as well.Of course, Trump denies all of the reports, claiming that his administration is running smoothly and that while the leaks are real, the news about them is fake. The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017Basically, Trump accused the media of committing treason, a step closer to arresting journalists, something Wallace informed Priebus is what dictators do. We don t have a state-run media in this country, Wallace said. That s what they have in dictatorships. Priebus whined that the media is using anonymous sources in their reporting, which is what journalists do to protect their sources from reprisals. If the media were to name their sources you can bet that Trump would retaliate against that person or persons who are speaking to the press. In other words, he would silence them to make sure the American people never find out what he is really doing.In his denial of the reports, Priebus hypocritically used an anonymous source to make his claim, which drew a rebuke from Wallace.Priebus then whined that the media isn t covering what Trump wants them to cover. Wallace bluntly told him that he doesn t get to tell us what to do and the fact is that all of the networks covered the things Priebus mentioned. Priebus and Trump are just mad because their effort to distract the media isn t working. And as a nail in Priebus s coffin, Wallace humiliated him and Trump by pointing out that while President Obama often criticized Fox News, at least he didn t do what Trump is doing. You don t get to tell us what to do any more than Barack Obama did. Barack Obama whined about Fox News all the time, but I gotta say, he never said we were an enemy of the people. Here s the video via YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyipRvdPyLE&feature=youtu.beDonald Trump is the true enemy of our country. He opposes the free press and would rather the media be his propaganda machine. That s something that Putin has in Russia.This is a slippery slope towards state censorship and jailing journalists for doing their jobs. That can t be allowed to happen and that means this administration has to be put to an end before it s too late.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
3,201 | The Android Affair: Humanity Outsourced | Randy Johnson 21st Century WireThe future is coming and technology is coming with it. Are we adapting to the future or holding on to the old ways ? Is a future of technology with circuit boards, screens, and machines something that can be weaponized or used to shape and control society no different than gunpowder, nuclear energy, and marketing?To many, often considered great minds, technology and artificial intelligence has had an ominous role in science fiction in film and literature. George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, and Philip K. Dick are some of the giants of this genre. Their work has inspired countless Hollywood movies and television programs and can often get someone wondering if life is imitating art, or vice versa. Another option is that nearly everything has an element of design all along. ANDROID AFFAIR: Big business and robotics (Image Source: WikiCommons)As far back as the 1927 film Metropolis, robotics, class segregation, industry, and even humanity itself, appear on a collision course. Some might even argue that humanity, technology, and robotics, are already into an integration phase.Since then we know the not all inclusive list of characters. The Space Odyssey 2001 s HAL 1000, Star Wars human cyborg relations C-3PO, Blade Runner s Nexus 6 Replicants, and the infamous Terminator. HOLLYWOOD REALITY: 1980s science fiction comes to life (Image Source: WikiCommons)Martin Ford, author of Rise of The Machines, is a highly sought after speaker across the globe. He is often utilized as a consultant, for corporations and industries with regards to robotics. In the 2015 Business Book of The Year, in his acceptance speech Ford stated Even people that do everything they are supposed to do [to get a good job] may find it difficult to get a foothold in the economy. Piling on to the prospects of a bleak future, Wired Magazine states, Oxford University researchers have estimated that 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be automated within the next two decades. And if even half that number is closer to the mark, workers are in for a rude awakening. The impact of robotics in industry and its effects in the workforce has also been reported on here at 21st Century Wire.It is a foreboding thing to contemplate, but are we being outsourced?A robot will not call in sick or ask for a wage increase. It will not fight with others unless programmed to. It will not complain, throw a fit, collect unemployment, leave early, or join the workers union to fight the corporation. Once integrated and a part of industry, it will save money. It will not require an annual review. When it becomes irrelevant to newer technology, it will be replaced.Getting to a robotic future will even create new jobs no doubt. A small industry of technicians and favored class of people who monitor, fix, and improve the technology could hold the coveted jobs for those selected and chosen to deserve them.Too far away? Not in our lifetime?Watch the below video of Boston Dynamic s 5 9 180 pound Atlas robot interact with its surroundings and perform the labor its makers designed it to do. READ MORE ON ROBOTS: 21st Century Wire Robot Files | 0 |
3,202 | In meeting, Trump to push a reluctant Xi to rein in North Korea | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will further pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping in talks next week to take tougher measures against North Korea, as the United States compiles information for possible new sanctions on Chinese banks working with Pyongyang. Senior administration officials say Trump will try to convince Xi when they meet in Beijing to squeeze North Korea with steps such as limits on oil exports, coal imports and financial transactions. It is the latest attempt by Trump to have China, North Korea s only major ally, rein in Pyongyang s nuclear weapons ambitions but it is far from clear if Xi, who has just consolidated his power at a Communist Party congress, will agree. China says its leverage over Pyongyang is exaggerated, and points to its support in the U.N. Security Council for recent sanctions on North Korea as evidence that it is trying to curtail the isolated nation s nuclear and missile tests. North Korea this year conducted a powerful nuclear test detonation and has test-fired intercontinental ballistic missiles that, if perfected, could reach the U.S. mainland. Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea gaining that capability. Two U.S. officials said the threat of additional U.N. and other economic sanctions on North Korea is another option to solicit greater cooperation from China, by playing on Beijing s concerns that deeper poverty in North Korea could prompt an exodus of refugees across its border. The officials said the United States and its allies have been collecting detailed information on Chinese bank transactions with North Korea to try to identify institutions with the most egregious records of doing business with Pyongyang. The objective, the officials said, is to craft a proposal for escalating sanctions on Chinese financial and other entities that stops short of sanctioning the People s Bank of China central bank. Washington so far has mostly held off on new sanctions against Chinese banks and companies doing business with North Korea, given fears of retaliation by Beijing and possibly far-reaching effects on the world economy. In a brief statement on Thursday formally announcing the visit from the Chinese end, the country s foreign ministry said China was ready to work with the United States to achieve important results for Trump s visit. It did not elaborate. Trump s stop in Beijing is part of a Nov. 3-14 tour of five Asian nations in which North Korea will be a major focus. The visit includes U.S. allies Japan and South Korea who have watched with increasing worry as the United States and North Korea have exchanged bellicose rhetoric. To prepare for his trip, Trump met with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a key player in President Richard Nixon s opening to China in 1972. And over lunch last week at the White House, Trump asked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for his opinion about North Korea and its unpredictable leader, a participant said. Lee told him that Kim sees his nuclear weapons program as essential to his survival after the U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi s downfall. Lee said it s probably impossible for Kim to become convinced that the United States doesn t want to overthrow him, a participant at the lunch said. They re super-paranoid. While part of the U.S. strategy on North Korea is to deprive Kim Jong Un s government of resources, Trump has left open the threat of military force. U.S. officials, while emphasizing they want a diplomatic solution, have highlighted military preparedness to counter a North Korean threat and there are three U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the region. Trump has threatened to totally destroy North Korea and has derided Kim as a Rocket Man on a suicide mission, to the dismay of some U.S. military and intelligence officials who fear such rhetoric could backfire. As well as pressuring China, the United States is quietly pursuing direct diplomacy with North Korea, using a New York channel to get in contact with diplomats at Pyongyang s United Nations mission. Analysts in Asia are skeptical Trump s pressure on China will work. I don t think China will seriously change its existing policy on North Korea simply because of more pressure from the United States, said Zhao Tong, a North Korea expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing. China s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, told reporters on Monday it will take a broad effort to pressure North Korea and China alone cannot solve the problem. China has been doing everything we can on the Korean issue, he said. In Japan, the threat from Pyongyang hit close to home after tests this year in which two ballistic missiles flew over its territory. But there is concern in Tokyo that the Trump administration lacks a clear North Korea strategy. The biggest worry is that Trump s grand Asia policy, North Korea policy, is not well defined... but responds to circumstances instead... , said Toshihiro Nayakama, a professor at Keio University. They turn to China to exert pressure but the question is to what extent there is Chinese pressure. I believe this is not yet evaluated by the U.S. administration, he said. The Trump administration has considered threatening China with trade actions over its resistance to do more on North Korea. While some advisers from outside his administration have urged Trump to pursue this course, he has been persuaded against it by his own advisers who have warned of a trade war, U.S. officials said. | 1 |
3,203 | John McCain’s Granddaughter SHREDS Donald Trump, Declares Support For Hillary | In one of the best takedowns of Donald Trump yet, John McCain s granddaughter did NOT hold back as she explained why she is voting for Hillary Clinton in November.Caroline McCain has been against Donald Trump since last July when he mocked her grandfather for getting captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War. I like people who weren t captured, Trump said about John McCain, who was tortured to the point where he is incapable of lifting his arms above his shoulders.John McCain is a war hero and Donald Trump insulted him and every other American veteran who has ever been a POW.Fast-forward a year later and Trump is now the Republican nominee, and Caroline McCain has made her decision to go from being #NeverTrump to declaring her support for Hillary Clinton.In an amazing post on Medium, Caroline McCain took Donald Trump to the woodshed.Following a line of other right-wing wacko birds, Trump insulted a man I esteem and love, a man who has risked his life in service of his country. He insulted my grandfather and attacked the very qualities loyalty, bravery and selflessness that he and countless other POWs embody. He mocked the sacrifice many have given and the anguish families have endured when their heroes have suffered alone miles away.My grandfather responded with grace and forgiveness as only a man who was held in captivity for years can. But I ve been nursing a grudge ever since. Trump s statement, in my view, is unforgivable, and speaks to the kind of man he is: a coward who has never faced danger in his life, an insecure brat who shirked duty for comfort, and a man who is wholly unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.Indeed, while John McCain was suffering in Vietnam for his country, Donald Trump dodged the draft and never saw a day of military service in his entire life.And Caroline McCain wasn t done ripping him a new one.He lacks the temperament and the wisdom to navigate our ever-increasingly dangerous world. Policy decisions aside, being President of the United States requires a steady hand and never more so than now. A competent commander-in-chief must respond to threats to the Republic, but Trump only responds to threats to his ego.She goes on to trace her journey to becoming a Hillary supporter, and one of the moments that helped her make her decision was when President Obama spoke at the DNC Convention earlier this week.He could have pointed blame at the GOP for enabling Trump s rise. He could have taken party leadership to task for falling in line behind Trump. But he didn t. He instead presented the election as a choice between democracy and demagogue. He gave Republicans the option to abandon Trump rather than blaming them for his rise.There are so many things I disagree with President Obama on, but this is a moment I will always respect him for. And maybe this was the moment I needed to fully own the choice I would have to make in November.McCain then ripped the Republican Party for betraying her and others by supporting a racist homophobic misogynist who only cares about himself.The party chose for its king a demagogue who wears a wig instead of a crown, and a celebrity in pursuit of fame and fortune rather than service and sacrifice Loyalty to party can never trump loyalty to country. And loyalty to party means nothing when the party has been poisoned.And because the Republican Party is poisoned, Caroline McCain wants Trump to lose by a landslide in November to force the GOP to change, which is why she is voting for Hillary.I wanted a different candidate. I wanted a New American Century. I wanted an election with good ideas and good discourse. I wanted to win. But now I want my party to change. I want fresh leaders, of good character, in both parties. And I want Donald Trump to be humiliated in November and driven far from the political arena for the rest of his life.So I m not a Democrat at least not yet. But this year, I m With Her.The Republican Party should be very afraid right now. Because if John McCain s own conservative granddaughter is willing to vote for Hillary to defeat Trump, surely there are many other Republicans out there who are willing to do the same.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
3,204 | Falwell Jr. endorses Trump for U.S. president: campaign statement | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday won the endorsement of evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination, the Trump campaign said. Falwell, the president of Liberty University in Virginia and son of late televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., picked Trump because he believes the billionaire businessman could “lead our country to greatness again,” the campaign said in a statement. Trump has been vying with his chief rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for the evangelical vote as the nomination race nears its first contest, the Iowa caucuses, on Monday. On Tuesday, Trump celebrated the endorsement on Twitter. “Great honor- Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. of Liberty University, one of the most respected religious leaders in our nation, has just endorsed me!” tweeted Trump, who is a Presbyterian. The endorsement came a week after Falwell introduced Trump before a speech he gave at the Christian university. In his introduction, Falwell said he saw similarities between Trump and his father, including a penchant to “speak his mind.” Trump’s speech at the university was not without controversy. Trump was criticized by many evangelicals for mistakenly referring to a book of the Bible as “Two Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians.” Critics said the misstep called into question Trump’s Christian credentials. Cruz, the son of a Baptist preacher, made a joke of his opponent’s flub during a speech on Monday with a riff on an old Chrysler auto commercial: “Two Corinthians walk into a bar - Ah, yes, Ricardo Montalban - genuine Corinthian leather!” (Reporting by Megan Cassella; Additional reporting by Amy Tennery and Eric Beech; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 |
3,205 | Japan to build four radar stations for the Philippines to counter piracy surge: sources | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will build four coast guard radar stations on islands in the Sulu Celebes Seas separating the Philippines and Indonesia to help Manila counter a surge in piracy by Islamic insurgents, two sources said. An agreement to fund the facilities and provide training to local coast guard personnel may be signed as early next week by Japanese Prime Minister and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila, the sources said. The seas in that area are an important waterway for merchant ships traveling to Japanese ports, one of the people with knowledge of the plan said. The sources asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to talk to the media. Of 30 acts of piracy reported in the first half of 2017 six involved the use of guns, of which three were crew abductions from ships underway in the Sulu Celebes Seas, according to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). Four attempted abductions in the waters were also logged. Japan will fund construction of the radar stations through its Overseas Development Aid (ODA) budget, the sources said. Japan is aware of the need to counter piracy in the region and is keen to help, but we can t discuss individual projects, said an official at Japan s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which overseas ODA spending. The radar stations are part of a wider aid package that include helicopter parts for the Philippines military, financing for infrastructure projects such as rail lines and help to rebuild conflict-torn southern Marawi city after five months of military operations against Islamic State rebels. By providing such aid Tokyo is aiming to deepen economic and security ties with Manila as it looks to contain China s growing power. Japan sees the Philippines, which lies on the eastern side of the South China Sea, as a key ally in helping prevent Beijing s influence spreading into the western Pacific. Abe will travel to the Philippines on Monday following a two day gathering of regional leaders at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vietnam. | 1 |
3,206 | Trump urges future government shutdown, easier passage of laws | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump came to office promising that he would produce so much winning that Americans would be sick of it. As he struggles to produce wins, some signs of frustration are starting to appear. Democrats’ gleeful declarations that they outsmarted Republicans in a battle over a spending bill that avoided a government shutdown drew the ire of the president. Democrats were happy that funding for Trump’s Mexico border wall was not included. Trump tweeted on Tuesday that maybe a government shutdown would not be so bad and that Republicans should consider changing Senate rules to make it easier to pass spending and other bills without any Democratic support. “Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!” he wrote. His comment frustrated some of his fellow Republicans in Congress, who chafed at the suggestion that the White House could dictate Senate rules, or send a message that a shutdown, which costs the economy millions, was desirable. “I think it would be a good thing at this point if the iPhone was put in a safe, locked away and maybe returned in four years,” Republican Senator Bob Corker, who was once on the short list to be Trump’s vice president, told reporters. “That’s just not constructive. Those are the kinds of things that should never happen, and... it’s damaging to our credibility. It’s damaging to trust here within the (Capitol) building,” Corker said. Trump marked his 100th day in office on Saturday and used last week to argue that he has made major progress in rolling back federal regulations and improving the climate for job creation. But with his healthcare reform effort flagging, Trump has been unable to get a major piece of legislation through a Congress controlled by his own Republican Party, leaving him without a signature victory. With Democrats celebrating concessions they extracted in the spending bill, Trump used a Rose Garden ceremony honoring the Air Force Academy’s football team to declare he and Republicans got more from the legislation than might appear. “After years of partisan bickering and gridlock, this bill is a clear win for the American people,” Trump said. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney gave three news briefings to promote Trump gains from the bill, the first on Monday night and the second on Tuesday morning in a conference call for reporters. The conference call was marred by technical issues at times, with Mulvaney straining to be heard over orchestra music that mysteriously began playing. “All right,” Mulvaney told reporters at one point. “I’ll try to answer it one more time, and clearly we’re having a lot of background noise here.” Later, in the White House briefing room, Mulvaney said he understood Trump’s frustration, accusing Democrats of trying to “spike the football” by publicly celebrating the budget deal as a Democratic victory in an effort to make the president look bad after he negotiated in good faith. He said Democrats were thwarted by Republicans in their attempt to add bailout money for Puerto Rico. “We’ve got a lot to do between now and September. I don’t anticipate a shutdown in September, but if the Democrats aren’t going to behave any better than they have in the last couple of days, it may be inevitable,” Mulvaney said. Democrats quickly denounced Trump’s musings about closing the federal government. “Here we saw Democrats and Republicans working together in the best traditions of the Senate, and the president disparages it in a way that’s destructive,” Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would debate the funding bill this week and that most Republicans did not favor a change in the rules to make it easier to pass legislation without Democratic support. Trump said his fellow Republicans had to acquiesce to Democratic demands in spending bill because the party’s majority was too slim to win the 60 Senate votes needed to advance the legislation without them. Republicans hold 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats. “The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%,” Trump wrote on Twitter Republicans last forced a government closure in 2013 for 17 days. Democrats said Trump would shoulder the blame for any shutdown now. | 1 |
3,207 | Britain says 'conceivable' Manchester attack might have been stopped | LONDON (Reuters) - A suicide attack at a pop concert in Manchester that killed 22 people in May might have been prevented if the security services had responded differently to intelligence in the months before the attack, a government report has found. 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. A government-commissioned report by David Anderson, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, found security services were passed two pieces of information on the bomber earlier this year. The report said security services did not consider the intelligence terror-related at the time, but now says it was highly relevant . It is conceivable that the Manchester attack in particular might have been averted had the cards fallen differently, the report said. The finding follows a review of the roles of the security services in four attacks in London and Manchester between March and June this year that left 36 innocent people dead. Three of the six attackers were known to the security services, but only person was under active investigation, the report said. Overall, it said Britain s security services had performed well amid a growing threat from Islamist militants. It is not the purpose of the internal reviews, or of this report, to cast or apportion blame. But though investigative actions were for the most part sound, many learning points have emerged, the report said. Britain has thwarted nine plots in the last 12 months, Prime Minister Theresa May s spokesman said on Tuesday. Interior minister Amber Rudd told parliament the intelligence services and counter-terrorism police are currently carrying out over 500 live investigations, up a third since the beginning of the year and are investigating over 3,000 people. The review found that Abedi was one of a small group of former suspects of interest whom Britain s security services were considering investigating further. A meeting was due to be held to discuss the potential threat on May 31 - nine days after the attack on the Manchester Arena. | 1 |
3,208 | Election campaigning underway in Japan as Abe takes on Hope | TOKYO (Reuters) - Election campaigning in Japan began in earnest on Tuesday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeking to repel an upstart new party that has pledged to rid the government of cronyism in a challenge to Abe s near-five year hold on power. The Oct. 22 lower house election pits Abe s Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition against the less than one-month-old Party of Hope headed by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, a former LDP lawmaker often floated as a possible first female premier. Abe says he needs to renew his mandate to tackle a national crisis stemming from North Korea s nuclear and missile threat and the demographic time-bomb of Japan s fast-ageing population. The 63-year-old Abe called the poll amid opposition disarray and an uptick in approval ratings that had slid due to a series of scandals over suspected cronyism. But the sudden emergence of Koike s party, which also appeals to conservative voters, could upset Abe s calculation. The main opposition Democratic Party imploded last month and a big chunk of its candidates are running on the Party of Hope ticket. In his first campaign speech Abe attacked the opposition for using populist slogans. What creates our future is not a boom or slogan. It is policy that creates our future, Abe said in Fukushima in northeast Japan. We just cannot afford to lose. The LDP-led coalition is defending a two-thirds super majority in parliament s lower house, so losing its simple majority would be a major upset. Abe s LDP had 288 seats in the lower house before it was dissolved for the election, while its junior partner the Komeito had 35. The total number of seats has been cut to 465 from 475. Recent opinion polls show the LDP in the lead and some analysts think Abe could still pull off another landslide victory. A poll of 3,119 voters by public broadcaster NHK released on Tuesday showed 36 percent had positive expectations for the Party of Hope, down from 47 percent in a survey a week ago. Support for Abe s government was unchanged, at 37 percent. A soggy performance for the LDP, however, could stir calls from inside the party to replace Abe or deny him a third term as LDP leader in September 2018, ending his chances of becoming Japan s longest-serving premier. Koike, who defied the LDP last year to run for governor, calls her fledgling party a reformist, conservative group free from the fetters of vested interests an often popular campaign slogan in Japan. We have a surplus of things in this country, but what we don t have is hope for the future, said Koike, 65, kicking off her campaign outside one of Tokyo s major train stations. Koike decided not to run for a lower house seat needed to make her eligible for the premiership and has declined to say whom her party would support for the post, leaving the door open to a variety of possible tie-ups including with Abe s LDP. The Party of Hope looks a lot like the LDP, but doesn t have the same problem with vested interests, said Koji Sasaya, 82, a U.S. resident and longtime LDP supporter who traveled to Japan to vote in the election for Koike s new party. Others outside the station were less convinced by Koike s talk of cleaner politics, while trusting Abe to safeguard national security. I doubt she can deliver politics free from vested interests, said Minori Hiramatsu, a 28-year-old mother of one who was on her way to a job interview. Abe has problems domestically, but he is the best person to protect us from North Korean threats. The Party of Hope echoes Abe s LDP on security and diplomacy - it backs tough sanctions on North Korea and controversial security measures adopted in 2015 to expand the military s role overseas. Koike also agrees with Abe that Japan s post-war, U.S.-drafted, pacifist constitution should be amended, though not necessarily on the changes needed. On economic policies, Koike s party has sought to differentiate itself by demanding an end to nuclear power by 2030 and a freeze on a sales tax hike planned for 2019. Abe wants to keep nuclear power as a key part of Japan s energy mix, and raise the sales tax and spend more of the revenues on education and child care. A center-left Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, formed from the liberal wing of the failed Democratic Party, is wooing voters dissatisfied with both conservative options. | 1 |
3,209 | In Illinois homecoming, Obama calls for improved tone in U.S. politics | SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama paid a nostalgic visit on Wednesday to the place that launched his political career and made a renewed call for better relations between Republicans and Democrats to create a more positive tone in U.S. politics. Obama won the White House in 2008 partially on a promise to overcome partisan divides in Washington. He has called his failure to do that, seven years after taking office, a regret. On the ninth anniversary of his 2007 announcement in Springfield that he was running for president, Obama addressed Illinois lawmakers at the state Capitol where he once worked as a state senator in what he described as a collegial, friendly atmosphere. “I was able to be part of that here, and yet I couldn’t translate it the way I wanted to in our politics in Washington,” he said. Obama said reducing the influence of money, making it easier to vote and ending the way voting districts were drawn politically would help solve the problem. “We’ve got to build a better politics,” he said. “When I hear voices in either party boast of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself, I’m not impressed.” Congressional Republicans have said the Democratic president is often unwilling to work with them to pass legislation. “”The central premise of the Obama presidency was to unite the country, and that’s been an unquestionable failure,” Doug Andres, a spokesman for Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan, said in a statement. Obama has made clear he views Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s rhetoric as corrosive. Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, won the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday as the parties hold state-by-state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Obama. The chamber in which Obama addressed Illinois lawmakers also became a microcosm of the challenges he was hoping to address. Democrats stood and clapped when Obama said the country was better off since he became president. Republicans stayed seated. The situation was similar to what occurred at his annual State of the Union addresses in Washington. Obama chided both sides, however, and said he believed Republicans shared some of his values even if they disagreed on how to enact them. He noted the importance of basic governance such as fixing roads and passing budgets, a reference to a crisis facing his home state. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has refused to sign a spending plan for Illinois’ 2016 fiscal year without winning Democratic concessions that would weaken collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions, impose term limits, freeze property taxes and make it harder for workers injured on the job to collect damages from their employers. Democrats, who control both of Illinois’ legislative chambers, have resisted his demands, setting up a stalemate that has left the state’s public universities and social-service programs starved for funding. Chicago State University, for example, last week declared a financial emergency, and furloughs have been imposed at other public universities. Obama’s trip was aimed both at solidifying his legacy in a familiar place and making good on a promise to spend his last year working toward healing partisan wounds. Shortly after arriving, he stopped at a restaurant he frequented as a state senator, then shook hands with onlookers outside the Old State Capitol, where Obama announced his bid for the White House exactly nine years ago. | 1 |
3,210 | President Obama Smacks Down Trump’s Bullsh*t — Claims ‘Don’t Jibe With The Facts’ (VIDEO) | Donald Trump made a lot of bullshit claims during his speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention. On Friday, President Obama fact-checked the GOP nominee and said that the fears he expressed at the RNC simply don t jive with the facts. The president was answering questions during a press conference following a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. He was asked about his reaction to the RNC. Obama wasn t about to let the lies and twisting of facts Trump tried to pass off as truth go unchecked.During his speech accepting the Republican nomination, Trump tried to claim that crimes rates, particularly homicides, had risen under Obama. The president took the opportunity on Monday to smack this down. Some of the fears that were expressed throughout the week just don t jive with the facts, said President Obama. When it comes to crime, the violent crime rate in America has been lower during my presidency than any time in the last three, four decades. And although it is true we ve seen an uptick in murders and violent crime in some cities this year, the fact of the matter is the murder rate today, the violence rate today is far lower than when Ronald Reagan was president, and lower than when I took office. Obama also noted that intentional killings of police officers are also lower than they were when Reagan was in office and when he took office.You can watch President Obama give Trump a dose of reality here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXOOhJMZMEw]Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
3,211 | its harder for clinton supporters to respect trump backers than vice versa | poll how millennials view blm and the altright susan page and karina shedrofsky usa today october
most millennials have a positive view of the black lives matter movement a usa todayrock the vote millennial poll finds but attitudes are more mixed about the less wellknown altright
in the survey of americans to years old say they have a favorable opinion about black lives matter an activist movement that grew from protests over the shooting deaths of unarmed african americans among blacks an overwhelming have a favorable view including who are very favorable just of blacks have an unfavorable opinion
whites have a positive impression of the movement by hispanics by and asian americans by
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the online poll of young adults including an oversample of minorities was taken oct by ipsos public affairs snip
the altright movement which includes groups on the far right has gained attention recently because of the support for donald trump by some white supremacists and antisemites but it is much less wellknown among millennials nearly half of those surveyed say they dont know enough about the altright to have an opinion of it compared with just who say that of black lives matter
among those who express an opinion say they have a favorable opinion of the altright an unfavorable one
among whites the favorableunfavorable divide is among african americans it is among hispanics among asian americans
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3,212 | Danny Glover Is ‘Appalled’ That Trump Is Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year | The nation was in an uproar on Wednesday, after learning that Donald Trump, the most divisive person in modern history to be elected president (and yes, I m including Richard M. Nixon) was chosen as Time Magazine s Person of the Year. Actor Danny Glover is one of the people who spoke out about the cover.Image via Time MagazineNow, to be fair, the honor isn t always an honor. Hitler once graced the cover of the Man of the Year issue. As for Trump, Time said this:For those who believe this is all for the better, Trump s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class; for those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism. To his believers, he delivers change broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Dixie cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.The revolution he stirred feels fully American, with its echoes of populists past, of Andrew Jackson and Huey Long and, at its most sinister, Joe McCarthy and Charles Coughlin. Trump s assault on truth and logic, far from hurting him, made him stronger. His appeal part hope, part snarl dissolved party lines and dispatched the two reigning dynasties of U.S. politics. Yet his victory mirrors the ascent of nationalists across the world, from Britain to the Philippines, and taps forces far more powerful than one man s message.The article neglected to mention that Clinton won the popular vote. It barely mentioned Trump s racism, his xenophobia and his sexism. For that, and for the very fact that Trump is on the cover, Glover is p*ssed! It s irresponsible to make him person of the year, Glover told reporters gathered at the Freedom Plaza rally. Based on what? Based on the fact that he won the Electoral College? Based on the fact that he lied to people? Based on the fact that all the stories of all he s done to women and what he thinks about women. Based on his racism? the actor continued. A racist as Person of the Year? Glover added. I m appalled, I m appalled. I m angry now that Time magazine would name this person Person of the Year. It s incredible, the actor went on.Source: Daily MailGlover went on to talk about the fact that Trump ran on a campaign of racism and xenophobia. He called the magazine cover, disrespectful, and a slap in the face. As for giving the President Elect a chance, no way. Give him a chance what? the actor mused. You know what happens here. We fight harder. We push harder. We know who he is. We know exactly who he is. (W)e have to fight him every inch. We have to fight him every moment. Glover is right. Since the election, and even before, the media has bent over backward to normalize Trump and even his white nationalist followers. There is no both sides, not now. There is no alt-right. They are neo-nazis. The media needs to step up and do its job. We need journalists and media sources who aren t afraid to tell the truth about Trump. Time Magazine should be ashamed.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
3,213 | Samantha Bee Invited Trump Fans To A Party, And All Hell Broke Loose (VIDEO) | Full Frontal host Samantha Bee braced herself and attempted a dialogue with Trump fans away from the mud-slinging happening across the internet. She gave Trump s followers a chance to show a better side of themselves and they blew it. Bee didn t cheat. She didn t walk into a roadside bar and grab a couple drunks with KKK t-shirts on. She invited a diverse array of Trump supporters: women, gay, black, Asian, college graduates, bi-partisan. All were represented. The common theme: none of them were able to put forward a single coherent response when asked the most simple questions about their candidate. And when pressed, all hit the hot button of anger.The host begins by showing footage of some of the racist violence spilling out at Trump rallies across the country. This includes the moment John Franklin McGraw of North Carolina sucker-punching a black protester and threatening to kill him (Trump later stated he would pay the attacker s legal bills, and those of anyone arrested for violence at his rallies).While Trump pinned the blame for violence on Bernie Sanders supporters, Bee showed footage of Trump fans telling bystanders to go to Auschwitz. Go to f**king Auschwitz. Clearly, not a Sanders fan.But, Bee states, surely the millions of Trump supporters across the country can t be hysterical racists? There must be some sane, rational, people who are choosing to back Trump too. So she picked a sample and offered to put on a lavish party for them in exchange for an open conversation about their candidate and their views.It s actually more terrifying than the racist violence. What you see is smart, open-minded people choking down their own souls to belong. Bee starts by asking the group how they feel about their candidates statements on banning muslims from the country. Temporarily! they say, almost in unison. For our national security. As if this somehow resolves the dilemma. They take no issue with lumping the world s 1.7 billion Muslims together as terrorists.However, when Bee asks them how they feel about white supremacists backing their candidate, they are up in arms at the lumping together of themselves with other Trump fans. One supporter doesn t even look remotely convinced of her own argument as she mumbles: We all love America, I guess. If there s something we can come together on, we want this country to be great, I think everyone can get behind that. Getting angry at the clear embarrassment this question has caused the group, one supporter strikes out with: It s clearly illogical to play the guilt-by-association game because we could do this all day long, To which Bee points out that they have no problem playing that game against Muslims.Silence.Bee moves on, asking the group how they feel about the racist violence breaking out at Trump rallies. They argue that the media is continuing to quote Trump out of context. So Bee plays the video of Trump inciting the crowd to attack a protester, stating that he would do it himself. She turns to the group and asks: Can you acknowledge that it is literally impossible, as a member of the media, to ignore a person when they say they would punch a protester in the face? One supporter dismisses the question out of hand, stating that if you get enough people in a space, somebody is always going to get punched in the face. Ok.Bee mingles around the the party, and chats to the woman who stated that Trump would bring America together. She tells Bee she really wants the wall, to keep out undesirables. When asked who will pay for it, the woman states with glee that Mexico will. Bee s fact checker points out that Mexico is on the record as stating they will not pay for the wall. To which the woman replies, wide-eyed: And you know what Trump said? The wall just got 10 feet taller! Her final chat at the party is with a man clearly on the verge of rage. Bee states that he is making her feel uncomfortable because although he is smiling, there is real anger in his eyes. With another burst of barely suppressed rage and pointing a finger in Bee s face, the man states: There s no anger, it s passion. Don t mistake that. Bee signs off with a resigned sigh that we have to withstand 8 months more of this passion , while a rolling a montage of violence at Trump rallies.What is clear from the footage is that there s no way of holding a rational argument with a zealot. And what s clear from the Trump fan party is that he is encouraging zealotry, the unquestioning evangelism of Trump, in groups that might otherwise display all the signs of being critical thinkers and evidence-based voters. That is way if anything, this bizarre party is more terrifying than the hysterical scenes at the rallies because these people know better, and they re choosing to be sucked into the dark world of Donald Trump anyway. Featured Image via Flickr/Screengrab | 0 |
3,214 | Scarlett Johansson Rips Republicans A New One For Trying To Kill Planned Parenthood | The Black Widow just delivered a super smackdown of Republicans for messing with women s health.Republicans on the federal and state level have repeatedly assaulted Planned Parenthood for years now, with some GOP-controlled states actually going so far as to strip funding from the women s healthcare provider, rendering them helpless to provide services that women need.The attacks against Planned Parenthood stem from the Republican effort to ban abortion and punish anyone who gets one or performs one, even though the procedure is legal and a constitutionally protected right.But in trying to destroy Planned Parenthood, Republicans are also taking away crucial medical serives such as cancer screenings. STD treatments, and access to the contraception that would prevent abortions in the first place by preventing unwanted pregnancies.And that makes Republicans a bunch of evil anti-women villains who need a serious ass-kicking.During an interview with Cosmopolitan on Thursday, Johansson provided that ass-kicking by defending Planned Parenthood.She began by criticizing Republicans for focusing so much on defunding Planned Parenthood when there are so many problems in the world that need immediate attention. There are countries at war, there s terrorism, global warming, and we re like, We should definitely cut the budget for Planned Parenthood. Let s take away the availability of women s health initiatives! It s nuts, Johansson said. We re talking about preventing cervical and breast cancers. Johansson also explained that she and some of her friends have relied on Planned Parenthood for their healthcare needs and blasted Republicans for trying to take away the only healthcare that millions of women have access to and can afford, and if they lose it, women who need an abortion will risk their lives to get one. Growing up, I used [PP s] services. All my girlfriends did not just for birth control but for Pap smears and breast exams. You read about the rise of back-alley abortions, women having to mutilate themselves and teenagers having to seek help in unsafe conditions, and for what?! We re moving backward when we re supposed to be moving forward. Johansson just stood up on behalf of women and wiped the floor with Republicans in real life and you can watch her kick ass on the big screen as the Black Widow when Captain America: Civil War arrives in theaters on May 6, 2016.Featured image: Pinterest | 0 |
3,215 | Alabama to certify Democrat Jones winner of Senate election | (Reuters) - Democrat Doug Jones’ surprise victory over Republican Roy Moore in this month’s special U.S. Senate election will be certified on Dec. 28, Alabama state officials said on Friday. Jones will be the first Democrat sent to the Senate from Republican stronghold Alabama in a quarter century. When he takes office, Republicans’ majority in the chamber will narrow to 51 of the 100 seats. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall and Secretary of State John Merrill will meet to certify Jones’ win, Merrill’s office said in a statement. Jones’ margin of victory was 1.5 percentage points. Moore has not conceded defeat in the Dec. 12 vote, despite being urged by President Donald Trump to do so. Calls and emails to Moore’s campaign spokeswomen were not immediately returned on Friday. Moore was a controversial candidate whose campaign was beset by allegations that he sexually assaulted or pursued teenage girls while he was in his 30s. He denied the misconduct allegations, saying they were a result of “dirty politics.” | 1 |
3,216 | House Speaker Ryan backs swift action on Iran, Russia sanctions | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he supported efforts to quickly act on legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and Iran that passed the Senate nearly unanimously but has stalled in the House. Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “has indicated he wants to get moving on this quickly, and we want to honor that,” Ryan said at his weekly news conference. The Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes new sanctions against Russia, passed the Senate 98-2 last week, a vote that looked like it might complicate President Donald Trump’s desire for warmer relations with Moscow. The measure must pass the House before it can be sent to Trump to sign into law or veto. The House parliamentarian found that the legislation violated a constitutional requirement that any bill affecting government revenues must originate in the House, something known as a “blue slip” violation. Democrats said they were skeptical about the explanation, noting that previous “blue slip” issues had been resolved in a matter of minutes. Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters he had sent the Senate a solution clearing the way for it to take the bill back, change it and move it forward. Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters the change did not appear to substantively alter the legislation and that staff was reviewing it to determine how to move ahead. Senior Senate Democratic aides said any bill involving sanctions or fines could be interpreted as affecting U.S. revenues. Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a larger majority in the House than in the Senate. Some lawmakers and congressional aides said the White House was concerned about a provision that would require Trump to obtain Congress’ approval before easing any sanctions on Russia. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Congress last week to ensure that any sanctions package would give Trump the flexibility to adjust sanctions. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration would not take a position before the bill advanced through the House. However, he acknowledged the White House needed to work with Congress on some areas of the measure. Ryan said he did not yet know if it would go through the formal markup debate and amendment process. Democrats have said that process could delay the bill for months. Asked if he supported the policy in the bill, Ryan said he supported sanctions. | 1 |
3,217 | UK's Johnson: Russia veto of chemical weapons inquiry 'appalling' | LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it was appalling that Russia had blocked a U.S.-drafted resolution to renew an international inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. It is appalling that the UN Joint Investigative Mechanism has been closed down, Johnson said in a statement. The United Kingdom will not let the end of the Joint Investigative Mechanism stop work with international partners to identify and hold accountable those responsible for using chemical weapons. The vote at the United Nations on Thursday sparked a war of words between Russia and the United States in the Security Council. | 1 |
3,218 | Factbox: Trump on Twitter (July 28) - Obamacare, Republicans, healthcare | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - 3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch! [0225 EDT] - If Republicans are going to pass great future legislation in the Senate, they must immediately go to a 51 vote majority, not senseless 60... [0946 EDT] - ...Even though parts of healthcare could pass at 51, some really good things need 60. So many great future bills & budgets need 60 votes.... [1000 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 1 |
3,219 | Bernie Sanders Was Once A Talk Show Host – Here Are His Finest Moments (VIDEO) | Bernie Sanders has done plenty of things in his life. From civil rights activist to U.S. senator and now to presidential candidate, Bernie has always figured out a way to create a platform that allows him to advocate for issues that are important to America. What many of us didn t know was that while mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders was also a host of a cable access show.NBC s Late Night host Seth Meyers reminded Bernie of those days when he showed a reel of the former mayor out and about talking to constituents. Meyers said: I want to ask you one last thing. If you were elected president, would you do what you did when you were mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and would you host a public access show? Before you answer, we actually have footage of a show you hosted as mayor in Burlington. Watch video here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YBQHXMfFhY]Of course, Sanders couldn t keep a straight face and it was hilarious watching Bernie introduce himself as Dan Rather in one of the clips or have an awkward but funny moment with one interviewee.It would be great to see Sanders go out into the public once in a while and do similar interviews with constituents if he becomes president of the United States, a proposition that is becoming more likely as of late as Sanders has surged in the polls, winning many states to date.Featured image via video screenshot. | 0 |
3,220 | The Strange Reason Donald Trump’s Skin Has Gone From Normal To Orange | Generally, it s considered rather unprofessional to comment on someone s looks rather than their actions or words, but it s hard not to notice one very strange and unusual occurrence. Throughout the decades, Donald Trump skin pallor has turned from the normal white guy shade of beige to a color which is best represented by a pumpkin.Now, the rings around his eyes pretty much prove that Trump either spends time in tanning beds or he is a fan of fake spray tans, either of which would involve tiny goggles. Well, according to a Mother Jones expose, it could be either, but that s not the news. The news is why Trump seems to be such a fan of fake tans and it gives you a glimpse into the type of cronyism we could expect if Trump were to become president.Trump is good friends with an Indiana businessman named Steve Hilbert. In 2006, Hilbert became the CEO of New Sunshine, a company that makes tanning beds, spray tanning booths, tanning lotions, and bronzers.Trump and Hilbert have a lot in common. They are the same age. They are both rich. They both change wives about as often as Trump supporters change underwear (sorry) and they both have hideous, garish taste in decorating. Hilbert, when he was an insurance CEO, was one of the country s highest paid and he even helicoptered to work a whole two miles.The businessman reportedly met his sixth and current wife in the early 1990s, when she jumped topless out of a cake at a party for one of his stepsons. The cake story may be apocryphal, but Tomisue Hilbert, who is the same age as Melania, was indeed a 23-year-old topless dancer and a single mother when she married Steve.The Hilberts once lived in a three-story, 23,000 square-foot faux-French mansion dubbed Le Chateau Renaissance, which was located on a 33-acre compound outside Indianapolis that included a 15,000-square-foot sports barn with a full-size reproduction of the Indiana University basketball court. The mansion, once valued at $25 million, featured Trumpesque gold-plated bathroom fixtures and French crystal chandeliers. Hand-painted murals adorned a dome above the entryway, including one depicting a toga-clad Steve Hilbert as an ancient deity.The men had been friends for nearly 20 years when they entered into a business deal together. They bought the General Motors Building in Manhattan for $800 million. Hilbert put up far more money than Trump did ($200 million vs. $11 million plus there was a third partner) but somehow, Trump received a 50 percent interest in the building. He also put his name on the building.The two men, along with their wives du jour, also socialize together. They stay in each other s vacation homes. They attend each other s multiple weddings.After a disastrous departure from his company, Conseco, Hilbert started the tanning business. While Mother Jones doesn t know for sure that Trump uses his products, they do say this:This is also around the time that Trump started to turn orange. Did the Hilberts get Trump into tanning? Does he use New Sunshine spray tans or tanning bed bronzers? (Reviewers have suggested that turning orange a rich shade of burnt orange, in the words of one can be a distinct side effect of using such products.) The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about whether Trump used New Sunshine tanning products. Questions sent by email and FedEx to Hilbert s Indiana home went unanswered. It s clear, though, that Trump is familiar with New Sunshine s wares. He promoted the company s tanning products on The Celebrity Apprentice in two episodes.There s more to the story, which includes some pretty shady business deals, but at least we might now know why Trump is that awful shade of orange.Featured image via John Sommers II/Getty Images | 0 |
3,221 | Trump Says One ‘Exception’ To Muslim Ban Is His ‘Very Rich’ Middle Eastern Business Partners | Donald Trump s trainwreck interview with Chris Matthews wasn t just notable for his abhorrent views on abortion, but also because he took the time to remind people that he hasn t stopped being a horrible racist, too.In a window into what a Trump presidency might realistically look like, Trump told Matthews that he wasn t above playing favorites for his friends when he imposed his ban on Muslims entering the United States. While the majority of Muslims would be blocked regardless of circumstance, his very rich Muslim friends (i.e. the ones he has business deals with) can get a pass. He trusts them because they make him money. I have actually believe it or not, I have a lot of friends that are Muslim and they call me, Trump said, when asked about his plan by MSNBC s Chris Matthews, the event s moderator. In most cases, they re very rich Muslims, OK? Matthews then asked Trump if his rich Muslim friends would be able enter the country under Trump s Muslim ban. They ll come in, Trump said. You ll have exceptions. Trump has often brought up his Muslim friends who he routinely claims call him non-stop to tell him what a great job he s doing at being xenophobic towards Muslims. It might be tempting to claim that these Muslims are fictions of his imagination, a cheap talking point to justify his reprehensible plans for very real Muslims. However, it appears he really does have a few Muslim friends, but not exactly salt-of-the-earth types. He means autocrats in Middle Eastern nations. As the Daily Beast wrote about in late 2015:There s one type of Muslim Trump really loves: The ones that make him big bucks. You see, if a Muslim can show Trump the money, then all those concerns he has with Muslims go right out the window of his private jet as he jets off to the Gulf to cash in.For example, Trump loves Hussain Sajwani, head of the Dubai luxury real estate company Damac Properties. Trump has called the Muslim Sajwani a good friend and a great man, among other accolades. And in May 2014, The Donald even flew off to Dubai to spend time with his Muslim friend as they announced the massive real estate project they were teaming up to create in the United Arab Emirates.Trump, of course, has no qualms with working with Muslims if they can make his bank account grow. Suddenly, the people whose faith he thinks is hellbent on destroying America, aren t so bad. This duality makes his bigotry that much worse he s really not that committed to it. Like any good hate-monger, Trump scapegoats Muslims to rile up his deeply anti-Muslim base. It s led to vicious hate crimes against innocent Muslim Americans, including assaults and arson. It s also led to Trump s surge in the polls. But underlying the smears and falsehoods, is a calculated stab at winning an election via exploitation of fear and hate.So of course he would let his very rich Muslim friends in. His Islamophobia isn t personal. It s business.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
3,222 | “They Will Kill Him Before They Let Him Become President” | This letter was originally attributed to well-known conservative commentator and radio talk show host, Bill Bennett. Bennett has since denied ever writing this letter. Some are saying this letter was written by Wayne Allen Root, however we can find no evidence to verify that Root wrote this letter either. We believe the letter has some outstanding points and should be read by every voter as they consider the candidate they will support for President in 2016.Here is the letter that was sent to 100% FED Up:What I see happening in a Trump Presidency:They will kill him before they let him be president. It could be a Republican or a Democrat that instigates the shutting up of Trump.Don t be surprised if Trump has an accident. Some people are getting very nervous: Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and Jon Corzine, to name just a few.It s about the unholy dynamics between big government, big business, and big media. They all benefit by the billions of dollars from this partnership, and it s in all of their interests to protect one another. It s one for all and all for one. It s a heck of a filthy relationship that makes everyone filthy rich, everyone except the American people. We get ripped off. We re the patsies. But for once, the powerful socialist cabal and the corrupt crony capitalists are scared. The over-the-top reaction to Trump by politicians of both parties, the media, and the biggest corporations of America has been so swift and insanely angry that it suggests they are all threatened and frightened.Donald Trump can self-fund. No matter how much they say to the contrary, the media, business, and political elite understand that Trump is no joke. He could actually win and upset their nice cozy apple cart.It s no coincidence that everyone has gotten together to destroy The Donald. It s because most of the other politicians are part of the a good old boys club. They talk big, but they won t change a thing. They are all beholden to big-money donors. They are all owned by lobbyists, unions, lawyers, gigantic environmental organizations, and multinational corporations like Big Pharmacy or Big Oil. Or they are owned lock, stock, and barrel by foreigners like George Soros owns Obama or foreign governments own Hillary and their Clinton Foundation donations.These run-of-the-mill establishment politicians are all puppets owned by big money. But there s one man who isn t beholden to anyone. There s one man who doesn t need foreigners, or foreign governments, or George Soros, or the United Auto Workers, or the teacher s union, or the Service Employees International Union, or the Bar Association to fund his campaign.Billionaire tycoon and maverick Donald Trump doesn t need anyone s help. That means he doesn t care what the media says. He doesn t care what the corporate elites think. That makes him very dangerous to the entrenched interests. That makes Trump a huge threat to those people. Trump can ruin everything for the bribed politicians and their spoiled slave masters.Don t you ever wonder why the GOP has never tried to impeach Obama? Don t you wonder why John Boehner and Mitch McConnell talk a big game, but never actually try to stop Obama? Don t you wonder why Congress holds the purse strings, yet has never tried to de-fund Obamacare or Obama s clearly illegal executive action on amnesty for illegal aliens? Bizarre, right? It defies logic, right?First, I d guess many key Republicans are being bribed. Secondly, I believe many key Republicans are being blackmailed. Whether they are having affairs, or secretly gay, or stealing taxpayer money, the National Security Agency knows everything.Ask former House Speaker Dennis Hastert about that. The government even knew he was withdrawing large sums of his own money from his own bank account. The NSA, the SEC, the IRS, and all the other three-letter government agencies are watching every Republican political leader. They surveil everything. Thirdly, many Republicans are petrified of being called racists, so they are scared to ever criticize Obama or call out his crimes, let alone demand his impeachment. Fourth , why rock the boat? After defeat or retirement, if you re a good old boy, you ve got a $5 million-per-year lobbying job waiting. The big-money interests have the system gamed. Win or lose, they win.But Trump doesn t play by any of these rules. Trump breaks up this nice, cozy relationship between big government, big media, and big business. All the rules are out the window if Trump wins the Presidency. The other politicians will protect Obama and his aides but not Trump. Remember: Trump is the guy who publicly questioned Obama s birth certificate. He questioned Obama s college records and how a mediocre student got into an Ivy League university. Now, he s doing something no Republican has the chutzpah to do. He s questioning our relationship with Mexico; he s questioning why the border is wide open; he s questioning why no wall has been built across the border; he s questioning if allowing millions of illegal aliens into America is in our best interests; he s questioning why so many illegal aliens commit violent crimes, yet are not deported; and he s questioning why our trade deals with Mexico, Russia and China are so bad.Trump has the audacity to ask out loud why American workers always get the short end of the stick. Good question! I m certain Trump will question what happened to the almost billion dollars given in a rigged no-bid contract to college friends of Michelle Obama at foreign companies to build the defective Obamacare website. By the way, that tab is now up to $5 billion. Trump will ask if Obamacare s architects can be charged with fraud for selling it by lying. Trump will investigate Obama s widespread IRS conspiracy, not to mention Obama s college records. Trump will prosecute Clinton and Obama for fraud committed to cover up Benghazi before the election. How about the fraud committed by employees of the Labor Department when they made up dramatic job numbers in the last jobs report before the 2012 election?Obama, the multinational corporations and the media need to stop Trump. They recognize this could get out of control. If left unchecked, telling the raw truth and asking questions everyone else is afraid to ask, Trump could wake a sleeping giant. Trump s election would be a nightmare. Obama has committed many crimes. No one else but Trump would dare to prosecute. He will not hesitate. Once Trump gets in and gets a look at the cooked books and Obama s records, the game is over. The goose is cooked. Holder could wind up in prison. Jarrett could wind up in prison. Obama bundler Corzine could wind up in prison for losing $1.5 billion of customer money. Clinton could wind up in jail for deleting 32,000 emails or for accepting bribes from foreign governments while Secretary of State, or for misplacing $6 billion as the head of the State Department, or for lying about Benghazi. The entire upper level management of the IRS could wind up in prison.Obamacare will be de-funded and dismantled. Obama himself could wind up ruined, his legacy in tatters. Trump will investigate. Trump will prosecute. Trump will go after everyone involved. That s why the dogs of hell have been unleashed on Donald Trump.Yes, it s become open season on Donald Trump. The left and the right are determined to attack his policies, harm his businesses, and, if possible, even keep him out of the coming debates. But they can t silence him. And they sure can t intimidate him. The more they try, the more the public will realize that he s the one telling the truth . | 0 |
3,223 | Kremlin says not yet known if Putin will seek re-election | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday it was not yet known if Russian President Vladimir Putin will run for re-election when his term ends next year. Peskov said Putin met former finance minister Alexei Kudrin to talk about a strategy for economic development up to 2024. Asked if Kudrin was helping draft Putin s program for the next term, Peskov told reporters: It is now yet known if Putin will run for the next presidential term. The next six-year term expires in 2024. | 1 |
3,224 | Mexicans respond with faith and charity as hope fades for quake survivors | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tears flowed at Our Lady of Carmen and Saint Joseph Parrish on Thursday night as the families of two dead children killed when a powerful earthquake toppled their school a few blocks away interred their ashes The crushed victims, 7-year-old Eduardo Diaz and 8-year-old Francisco Quintero, were two of the 286 people reported killed by the quake, Mexico s deadliest in 32 years. All told, 17 of the dead came from the parish which worshipped at Our Lady of Carmen, a Roman Catholic church near the Enrique Rebsamen School. Nineteen children and six adults died in the collapsed school, one of the earthquake s most emblematic tragedies. Family and friends leaned on each other during and after the Mass. Outside, Mexicans by the thousands, if not millions, have found another way to combat the sadness, coming to the aid of total strangers by offering their time to earthquake recovery. Volunteers have overwhelmed the more than 50 collapsed building sites in Mexico City, many bearing food and water, others offering a pair hands and a will to go to work. The good deeds have helped lift the spirits of grieving families, said Father Genaro Chavez, the priest at Our Lady of Carmen. First with their faith. And secondly, through the tremendous solidarity that people are showing. All of Mexico is gathering here, focusing on this place right now, Chavez said from the back steps of his church, which were filled with palates of bottled water and foodstuffs. A few blocks away at the school, hundreds of rescuers labored against all odds to find survivors more than 48 hours after the quake. Many were police and army personnel, but others were average citizens who showed up in hard hats. Human chains were taking rubble out of the disaster site. Teams of men were hauling heavy beams and laminates of steel in to prop up the weakened structure. The volunteers included doctors and psychologists, trash-sweepers and sandwich-carriers. One man handed out chocolates to anyone in his path. All expressed a desire to help Mexico in its hour of need. At a makeshift medical station on the grass median of a closed street, doctors and physical therapists tended to rescue workers who were injured on the job, patching them up and sending them back to work. Physical therapist Jose Juan Galvan applied ultrasound treatment to the back of a doctor who was injured moving a patient the day before. Next to them a doctor in a white coat taped of the knee of man in a hard hat. We re treating them to send them back into action, Galvan said. Psychologists Fabiola Jimenez and Paulina Bustos came to aid any parents, teachers or rescue workers dealing with emotional trauma. They counseled three fathers who showed up on Thursday, one whom lost a daughter and the other of whom had a son rescued. Bustos said it was normal for parents to return to the scene, hoping to find any of their children s belongings or recreate their final moments before tragedy. They re confused, they re in shock, they re in mourning, Bustos said. It s part of the process. Less lionized were the trash sweepers who also donated their time. A group of six sat on a curb eating sandwiches, taking a break after hauling away barrels of litter. There s a lot of trash, said Ana Ramirez, who said her group convinced her boss to allow the cleaning staff to report to the rescue site instead their regular job. Mexico needs us here. | 1 |
3,225 | U.S. FCC chairman plans fast-track repeal of net neutrality: sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is moving quickly to replace the Obama administration’s landmark net neutrality rules and wants internet service providers to voluntarily agree to maintain an open internet, three sources briefed on the meeting said Thursday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, met on Tuesday with major telecommunications trade groups to discuss his preliminary plan to reverse the rules, the sources said. The FCC declined to comment but Pai previously said he is committed to ensuring an open internet but feels net neutrality was a mistake. The rules approved by the FCC under Democratic President Barack Obama in early 2015 prohibited broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane”, to certain internet services over others. As part of that change, the FCC reclassified internet service providers much like utilities. Pai wants to overturn that reclassification, but wants internet providers to voluntarily agree to not obstruct or slow consumer access to web content, two officials said late Tuesday. The officials briefed on the meeting said Pai suggested companies commit in writing to open internet principles and including them in their terms of service, which would make them binding. It is unclear if regulators could legally compel internet providers to adopt open internet principles without existing net neutrality rules. As part of that move, the Federal Trade Commission would assume oversight of ensuring compliance. Three sources said Pai plans to unveil his proposal to overturn the rules as early as late April and it could face an initial vote in May or June. Internet providers like AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Comcast Corp have argued net neutrality rules would make it harder to manage internet traffic and investment in additional capacity less likely. Websites worry that without the rules they might lose access to customers. AT&T and major trade groups sued the FCC in 2015 over the net neutrality rules. Democrats and privacy advocates say net neutrality is crucial to keeping the internet open. Pai in December predicted that net neutrality’s days were numbered. He told Reuters in February he believes “in a free and open internet and the only question is what regulatory framework best secures that.” Pai and congressional Republicans have moved quickly to dismantle Obama-era telecommunications rules. Trump on Monday signed a repeal of Obama-era broadband privacy rules a victory for internet service providers and a blow to privacy advocates. Politico Pro reported some details of the meeting with trade groups on Thursday. | 1 |
3,226 | Myanmar military says investigating mass grave in Rakhine state | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar s army said on Monday that security forces have discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Rakhine State, and have launched an investigation. A violent crackdown by the security forces in response to attacks by militants in the state has caused around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh in recent months. In a statement posted on the Facebook page of the military s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army said the unidentified bodies had been found at the cemetery in the village of Inn Din, about 50 km (30 miles) north of state capital Sittwe. It did not say how many bodies were uncovered. A preliminary investigation was done by the security forces following a report, by someone who asked not to be named, of people being killed and buried, the army said. As a result of the investigations, unidentified bodies were found at the Inn Din village cemetery and a detailed investigation is being conducted to get to the truth, according to the statement on Facebook, which the army often uses to make announcements. When contacted by Reuters, military spokesman Colonel Myat Min Oo declined to give further details. The village is in Maungdaw township, one of the areas worst affected by the violence that has prompted the United Nations top human rights official to allege that Myanmar s security forces may have committed genocide against the Rohingya. Myanmar s armed forces launched what they termed clearance operations in northern Rakhine, where many of the stateless Muslim minority lived, after Rohingya militants attacked 30 police posts and an army base on Aug. 25. Rights monitors have accused troops of atrocities, including killings, mass rape and arson during those operations. The United States has said it amounted to ethnic cleansing . The Myanmar military has said its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities. Myanmar s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced fierce international criticism for failing to do more to protect the Rohingya. The civilian government, which has no control over the military, has said the army was engaged in legitimate counter-insurgency operations. It has promised to investigate allegations of abuses in Rakhine if it is given evidence. | 1 |
3,227 | Trump: decision on immigrant children coming Friday or this weekend | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, who is considering ending a program that allowed young immigrants who came to the United States with their parents illegally to stay in the country, said he would have a decision on the issue later on Friday or over the weekend. “We love the Dreamers,” he told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to the young men and women who are covered by the program known as DACA. | 1 |
3,228 | Trump Just ADMITTED He Mindlessly Parrots Russian Propaganda And Twitter Kicked His Teeth In (TWEETS) | Donald Trump once said that he loves the poorly educated, and he skips his intelligence briefings regularly, so it is reasonable to assume that he is not a fan of intelligence in any form. But on Thursday, the Donald took to Twitter to assure everyone that this isn t true and to backtrack on his agreements with Julian Assange so fast that one is forced to wonder what information he learned about Russia s hack of the election in the past 24 hours. The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people, Trump tweeted, apparently forgetting that his vapid, meth-addled Nazi followers prefer him to use the word L genpresse, to make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against Intelligence when in fact I am a big fan!The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017to make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against "Intelligence" when in fact I am a big fan! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017The hacked emails were not just distributed by Assange, who is currently hiding out from rape charges in an embassy, but by Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks as well two web sites run by actual, bona fide, Russian agents. Nevertheless, though he admits he doesn t look into who gives him information, Assange claims that he didn t receive the emails from Russia. On Wednesday, Trump mindlessly parroted the claim because it supports his nonsensical decision to spend every waking moment doing the Twitter equivalent of dropping to his knees in front of Putin and, well, you get the idea.In his nonsensical morning tweet, Wednesday Edition, Trump informed the world that his intelligence (yes, he put the word in quotes again) had been delayed by a few days and attacked intelligence agencies (he could have meant any of the more than a bakers dozen who say that Russia absolutely hacked us, and Putin led the operation, but he seems to mean the CIA). This was a lie.He followed that up by spreading Assange s nonsensical claim that their friend Vladdy Poot didn t give him the information and by attacking the DNC for getting hacked.But even though The Donald regularly tweets out agreements with Assange including the false claim that Russia had nothing to do with the hack (something he would know if he actually attended intelligence briefings) he says his tweets should not be construed as agreement with the sexual predator behind the release of some of the hacked documents Russian hackers stole. Naturally, Twitter stepped in and did the online equivalent of beating Trump with a broom handle:@realDonaldTrump Only you would use "Intelligence" in quotes as if it's always theoretical. pic.twitter.com/bhav5ZqAAb Kristina Wong (@mskristinawong) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump bullshit, name three of Intelligence's albums maura quint (@behindyourback) January 5, 2017https://twitter.com/treypearson/status/817007161859567616@realDonaldTrump Next you're going to tell us Putin isn't smart, it's just the media taking your comments out of context pic.twitter.com/FuBJJVBovS Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) January 5, 2017.@realDonaldTrump you "state what he states" but you disagree w/ our intelligence officers who sacrifice their lives to defend us? MMMMk. Isaac Saul (@Ike_Saul) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump Same thing when you retweeted Nazis throughout your campaign? That was "for the people"? Jon Bershad (@JonBershad) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump So you quote Julian Assange but not FBI and CIA ??? CoryBooker2020 (@CBooker2020) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump "Retweets and politically beneficial relationships with dictators and hackers are not endorsements!" our president Jon Bershad (@JonBershad) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump Why would you "simply state what he (Assange) states?" You are PEOTUS now. YOUR WORDS MATTER! Stop tweeting nonsense! RJ Palacio (@RJPalacio) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump This is literally the definition of agreeing with him. https://t.co/QhWEYH9ITu Chris Jackson (@ChrisCJackson) January 5, 2017@realdonaldtrump If you state the same thing, you're in agreement. Accepting Russian propaganda as truth makes you a traitor & a puppet. karen munro (@BaileyPittipat) January 5, 2017.@realDonaldTrump so you are saying you simply parrot what he wants you to parrot? So you admit to being a puppet? Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump So you state what Assange states, but you completely ignore what the U.S. Intelligence Agencies say? Doesn't add up buddy! Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) January 5, 2017#MRGA @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/xlvYH2uJdD Cheeto Jesus ? (@Blob_Fish) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrumpSo you are in agreement with what he says, but the media is wrong for saying you agree with him. Got it. Doody Giuliani (@DoodyGiuliani1) January 5, 2017.@realDonaldTrump No, you literally agreed with him Get some more sleep buddy. pic.twitter.com/ZvxFqK9IG1 David Snodgrass (@webdevgeek) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump Listen, buddy, piece of advice, never defend #Assange while your head is resting on Putin's shoulder. You lose credibility. Lida Piompino (@lidapiompino) January 5, 2017You're so right. The media is dishonest, they quoted you verbatim. Shame on the media. (rolling eyes) @realDonaldTrump Chico Delainky (@ChicoDelainky) January 5, 2017Is there anyone anyone at all who doesn't believe @realDonaldTrump is a wholly-owned pawn of Vladimir #Putin and #Russia? Anyone? #Trump pic.twitter.com/iRT7GLyjaK {[(Mad John)]} (@John_de_Vashon) January 5, 2017@realDonaldTrump um, so you state what he states but you are not in agreement? I don't think you know what you want to say. for the people Billy Spillwater (@BillySpillwater) January 5, 2017Interestingly, in 2010, Trump didn t agree with Assange so much as he wanted to have him murdered. You see, before Russia and Wikileaks teamed up to hack and release information about his opponent in what the intelligence community agrees was an effort to install him in office, The Donald said that Assange is disgraceful and that there should be like death penalty or something for his new rapist friend.Putin, on the other hand, Trump has just always loved. A few years back, The Donald tweeted that he hopes the brutal Russian dictator becomes his new best friend. It s nice that we re all friends now, and that Assange and Trump are bonding over the dishonest press, but if Trump is getting his intelligence from Russia and some rapist, it s time we talk about peacefully removing him from the White House and what was that thing he wanted to do to his opponent, who had legitimately not committed a crime? Oh, yes, locking him up. Featured image via Getty Images (Christopher Furlong)/screengrab | 0 |
3,229 | Michael Savage:”Black Lives Matter Are Obama’s Shock Troops, Like Hitler’s Brown Shirts”[Video]…FLASHBACK Video: Obama’s Troops 2008 | Michael Savage is 100% correct. If you think he s crazy, take a stroll down memory lane to 2008 and watch Obama s troops extoll the virtues of Obama and Obamacare Savage also weighed in on the recent violence in Israel, the Black Lives Matter movement, the open border policy in parts of Europe with regards to Muslim refugees, as well as GOP and Democratic races. This was an amazing interview!The conservative radio host said the latest Iowa polls with Carson leading are due to white guilt. Michael Savage: The only solution is a patriot who is nationalistic. That is Donald Trump.Steve Malzberg: You believe Donald Trump is the answer. Are you concerned, not only is he behind in three polls in Iowa but a New York Times-CBS poll today shows him, I think, four or five points behind Ben Carson nationally for the first time?Michael Savage: The New York Times, CBS, Pravda means nothing. Do you think they interviewed one conservative voter? No. Polls don t mean anything. In Iowa, as I say, God Bless Iowa, I m on a big station in Iowa. The fact of the matter is Iowa is not America. Iowa is a very different place. If they are going to use their white guilt to elect a man simply because he s an African-American who speaks really quietly, we re in real trouble.Michael Savage went on to tell Steve that the Black Lives Matter movement is Obama s shock troops.Michael Savage: The establishment does not want Trump. The establishment would rather work with Hillary Clinton than with Donald Trump.Steve Malzberg: Let me ask you quickly about the Black Lives Matter. We have another incident in a school in South Carolina Now the FBI is investigating. Black Lives Matter they chant in the street. Put pigs in a blanket. Where the heck are we heading?Michael Savage: The black lives matter movement, and I m going to say it like it is, are Obama s shock troops. They re the brown shirts that Hitler had in Germany. How s that? Does that work for you? Via: Gateway Pundit | 0 |
3,230 | donald trump may have broken the law to avoid paying federal income taxes | interviews james clapper director of us national intelligence agency speaks at the council of foreign relations in new york city on october afp photo
james clapper the us director of national intelligence has warned that the establishment of a nofly zone in syria could prompt russia to shoot down us planes this comes as hillary clinton the democratic nominee for the us presidential election has called for establishing a nofly zone in the arab country russia has recently deployed mobile s and s missile batteries to western syria which are ready to shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft
gordon duff a senior editor with the veterans today told press tv that james clapper who spoke out against former secretary of states emphasis on a nofly zone over syria is responsible because the american officials obtain their intelligence on the syrian conflict from the spy chief
the public position of the united states visàvis syria was established based on intelligence supplied exclusively by james clapper duff noted adding he clapper is the one that talks about the gas hes the one who talks about the barrel bombs and everything thats been disproven
he said every crazy scheme that the us comes up with to blame syria for killing its own people or the russians for slaughtering people in hospitals it all comes from james clapper the director of the national intelligence agency who fed that information to secretary clinton who fed that information to president barack obama
clinton said that she favored a nofly zone only if acceptable for both russia and damascus and after negotiations which is a very different story than the one said by the spy chief for political purposes duff said
duff added that the imposition of nofly zone obviously is going to help no one but alnusra front and isis daesh terrorists
damascus and moscow carry out airstrikes against terrorist groups who wreak havoc in the arab country but the us and its allies push for imposing a nofly zone on syria to pursue their agenda in the warridden state
since march syria has been gripped with foreignbacked militancy which has left hundreds of thousands of people dead or wounded and millions of others homeless loading | 1 |
3,231 | Aide tries to refocus tax debate after Trump's corporate rate remark | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s weekend remark about a scaled-back tax cut for corporations sparked behind-the-scenes debate in the U.S. Congress, with a White House aide trying on Thursday to minimize the impact of the president’s comment. Two rival tax bills, passed separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives, propose cutting the U.S. corporate tax rate to 20 percent, but they differ in other areas that Republicans are trying to merge into final legislation. Speaking to reporters after the Senate approved its tax bill on Saturday, Trump said the corporate tax rate in the final legislation, expected soon from lawmakers, “could be 22 (percent) ... it could also be 20 (percent).” The remark whetted the interest of some Republicans who see a slight upward bump in the proposed corporate tax rate as capturing needed federal revenue that would help solve other problems with the legislation, according to lobbyists. “The 20 percent rate ought to be our goal,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, who is expected to head a bicameral House-Senate negotiating committee. “My view is the president is giving us flexibility in that area if it’s needed. No decision’s been made on if that’s needed,” the Texas Republican told reporters. But White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told Reuters on Thursday that Trump was not voicing support for a higher proposed corporate rate. Instead, he may have been only expressing views conveyed to him by Republican senators. “I think he was just reflecting what conversations he had heard from them, but that ... wasn’t intended to signal: this is an endorsement of raising the corporate rate,” Short said. “We believe that 20 percent is the right number ... 20 percent is about as high as we feel comfortable going,” he said in an interview. Trump and his Republican allies have plenty riding on what happens over the next few weeks. A sweeping U.S. tax overhaul, which has not been achieved since 1986, would give Republicans their first major legislative victory of 2017, after their failure to overturn former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. Without a win, Republicans fear they could lose their control of the House and Senate in the 2018 congressional elections. But it may be too late to avoid confusion over priorities as the tax debate moves forward in Congress. Lobbyists said many perceive that Trump and his advisers would accept a corporate rate higher than 20 percent. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Thursday that a 22 percent corporate rate would not undermine the economic boost that Republicans say tax cuts will create. Analysts say the corporate income tax rate could be a ready source of revenue for lawmakers, as they move toward a final bill that can lose no more than $1.5 trillion in revenue over the next decade under Senate rules. Republicans are considering a more costly deduction for state and local taxes than the $10,000 property tax deduction contained in the House and Senate bills. One version would allow taxpayers to choose a $10,000 deduction for either property or income taxes. House lawmakers also want to adopt the House bill’s repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax, which would cost about $40 billion in revenue over a decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Senate retained the tax. A House limit on the amount of debt interest payments that businesses can deduct from their income would also cost about $136 billion more than the Senate version, the JCT said. Analysts say a one percentage point change in the corporate rate equals about $100 billion in revenues over a decade. | 1 |
3,232 | why obama will win | tim kaine cheers end of white majority in spanish address julia hahn breitbart november
during an arizona speech delivered in spanish sen tim kaine cheered the demographic transformation of the united states caused by the nations federal immigration policies telling his latino audience on thursday you are the future of america
by communities of color will represent the majority of our population kaine said so of course latinos will help shape the future of america because you are the future of america
as the pew research center has documented this demographic transformation is largely the result of the changes to visa issuance policies enacted into law in that lifted the immigration controls put in place by calvin coolidge during the s snip
snip
yet during his remarks kaine laid out how a clinton administration plans to hasten the demographic transformation through expansive immigration policies that would essentially bring about the dissolution of national borders kaine explained how a clintonkaine administration would end family detention close private detention facilities freeze deportations and would give citizenshipand by extension voting privileges and access to federal benefitsto the illegal population
kaine also doubled down on his pledge to expand president obamas executive amnesty
a few months ago the supreme court put dapa on hold that was devastating for millions of families but its important to note that the court didnt actually rule on the substance of the case hillary and i have always said that dapa is squarely within the presidents authority and we will keep fighting for it
snip | 0 |
3,233 | FUNNY FLASHBACK: “Donald Trump will NOT be the nominee” [Video] | This is a great flashback of all those who claim to have a crystal ball on who the nominee for the RNC will be Donald Trump will not be the nominee | 0 |
3,234 | One Group Of GOP Voters May Vote Blue For The First Time In 60 Years Because Of Trump | Polls have shown for awhile that Donald Trump has a solid lead among white voters without a college education. What about those with a college education? That group tends to vote Republican in presidential elections, but it looks like Trump will lose that group of voters for the GOP for the first time in 60 years.This is huge, because it means he s not polling as well with white voters as he thinks he is. In fact, he could lose the white vote as well as every minority vote and the women s vote this year. So he might be able to keep it sort of semi-close, depending on what happens with the white vote, but His Royal Narcissism won t understand that.Since May, our wannabe Fascist-In-Chief has trailed by about six percentage points with this group, and has trailed an average of five points with the general electorate. It seems that his xenophobic policy proposals, along with his insistence that sexism and racism are just political correctness run amok and not actual problems, just don t sit well with people who are educated enough to know how to think for themselves. Education is King Donnie s number one enemy.Romney won this same group by six points in 2012. Romney also held solid leads in states that Trump is putting into play for the first time in years, if not decades. Much to the GOP s dismay, Hillary Clinton is actually competitive in states such as Georgia, Arizona, Utah and Kansas. Romney won these states by an average of 21.5 points. While we can easily expect Utah not to favor His Royal Dishonesty as much as Romney, they could actually turn blue this year because they can t stand Trump.Hillary is polling much better with this group than the Dunce-in-Chief, even though overall, they re fairly close together. It seems that the wannabe President-who-would-be-King may have to rely heavily on circumstances beyond his control to gain ground in the opinion polls again, like Obama losing popularity, an economic crisis, or Hillary getting scandalized due to another witch-hunt.That s a sucky position to be in, although our not-so-broken hearts only bleed pink carbonated peanut butter for him over this. For now, Hillary s growing popularity among white, educated voters could easily give her the presidency.Featured image by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images | 0 |
3,235 | Unwavering Trump voters say they will not miss Steve Bannon | CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s firing has been met with a collective shrug by some of President Donald Trump’s most committed supporters who argue the controversial nationalist became an obstacle to the administration’s agenda. In interviews in multiple cities this weekend, Americans who voted for Trump said Bannon’s departure on Friday was the removal of an unnecessary distraction for the Trump presidency, while others saw his role as largely inconsequential and possibly overblown. Many expected Trump to stay the course without him. “Bannon was becoming too big of a story and taking the spotlight from President Trump,” Bob Janda, a 67-year-old small business owner, said in a bar in Chicago. “When that happens, your days are numbered. I think Trump will be fine.” At the same bar, Frank Cardone, 67, pointed out that Bannon had a brief tenure in Trump’s inner circle, having joined the Republican businessman’s presidential campaign as its chief executive less than three months before the Nov. 8 election. “Bannon wasn’t with Trump for too long so it’s no big loss,” said Cardone, a retired electrician. Before hitching himself to Trump, Bannon was the executive chairman of Breitbart News, a hard-right site. He immediately returned to that role after his exit from the White House, vowing to use it as a platform to defend Trump. Bannon, 63, has touted Breitbart as a conservative counterpoint to what he views as the liberal bias of U.S. news outlets and a platform for the so-called alt-right, a loose confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. He played a key role in some of Trump’s most contentious policy moves including the travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority nations, departure from the Paris climate accord and rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Bannon’s exit gives Trump a chance to distance himself from “fringe” politics, said Mike Corbitt, a machinist from Florida’s West Palm Beach. “He (Trump) needs to be more center-right because the far right and the far left is not where America is,” Corbitt, 48, said at a Fort Lauderdale bar. “Steve Bannon was great for getting Trump elected, but now the president needs someone who can get his policies enacted.” Bannon joined a string of senior officials who have left the Trump administration in the past five weeks, leading to the appointment of retired Marine general John Kelly as the new White House chief of staff. While some observers have characterized the moves as a sign of chaos in the White House, others see it as a sign that Trump is running his administration like a well-oiled corporation. “All these shakeups mean is that Trump is doing his job,” Liz Lingafelter, a 60-year-old nurse, said in Fort Lauderdale. “He’s a businessman and is doing what’s best for the organization.” That view was echoed by Rick Weatherly, a 61-year-old Denver maintenance technician. “I voted for Trump, not Bannon,” he said. | 1 |
3,236 | BALTIMORE’S OVERZEALOUS PROSECUTOR BUSTED “FAVORITING” RACIST TWEETS [Video] | B b..but she s a victim (Mosby claims her account was hacked).Earlier this month, two controversial tweets were favorited by a personal Twitter account belonging to Baltimore City State s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. The first tweet referred to the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray as those 6 THUG cops and the other praised Mosby and claimed she INFURIATES a certain kind of white person. But Mosby s office is now claiming that the two favorited tweets were the work of a hacker. Both Mosby s official Twitter account and her personal account were hacked, the Baltimore City State s Attorney s Office reportedly told The Kelly File on Wednesday. We do not know how long it s been going on, we are working with Twitter. Mosby revealed on May 23 that her official government Twitter account had been hacked, but did not mention her personal account being compromised. Further, the tweets in question were favorited by her personal account weeks before her government account was reportedly hacked.Fox News host Megyn Kelly expressed cynicism that a hacker would take over her account and only randomly favorite two tweets.Watch the segment via The Kelly File below: The Five co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle said Mosby is behaving like an activist when she is supposed to be an impartial evaluator of the facts of the case. The officers charged in the Gray case have asked for a change of venue because it doesn t appear they can get a fair and impartial trial in Baltimore.Via: The Blaze | 0 |
3,237 | BOOM! MARCO RUBIO Has Best Line Of The Day At Comey Hearings [VIDEO] | He may not have been President Trump s biggest fan during the primary season, but Senator Marco Rubio exposed the truth behind the unfounded witch hunt today, as he landed a right hook to former FBI director Jame Comey during the hearings this afternoon. The mainstream media s been working overtime to impugn President Trump s character and question his involvement in Russia s interference in our election. Senator Rubio exposed their baseless claims with one great line Watch Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) deliver the best line of the day: The only thing that hasn t leaked is that Trump wasn t under investigation. -US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) | 0 |
3,238 | Supreme Court rejects union appeal over Trump casino bankruptcy | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a union’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that allowed Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino, founded by Donald Trump but now owned by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, to break its contract with union workers to secure a bankruptcy rescue deal. The high court’s decision not to hear the appeal by Unite Here Local 54 leaves in place a January decision by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that cleared the way for the casino to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The struggling casino has since emerged from bankruptcy and is now owned by Icahn Enterprises LP. It was the New Jersey city’s largest casino when Trump opened it in 1990 but it later fell on hard times along with other Atlantic City casinos. Trump, the billionaire real estate developer and presumptive Republican U.S. presidential nominee, founded the casino and it bears his name, but he has said he no longer has a stake in it. In 2014, the casino’s owner, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc, filed for bankruptcy. Last year, it convinced a U.S. bankruptcy judge that it had to impose a new lower-cost contract on unionized workers in order to secure Icahn’s rescue deal. The union appealed, arguing that because the collective bargaining agreement expired before the bankruptcy, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court lacked jurisdiction. The appeals court sided with Trump Entertainment, saying a bankruptcy judge must be free to evaluate a labor contract that may determine the fate of a business. | 1 |
3,239 | Scooter fire in western Paris triggers Jordan explosion scare | PARIS (Reuters) - A scooter was set on fire in front of the Jordanian military attache s office in western Paris on Wednesday, police sources said, after Jordan s foreign ministry had earlier issued a statement saying a motorbike had exploded. According to the Paris police department the fire spread to a diplomatic vehicle early in the morning, but there was nothing that corresponded to an explosion. An embassy official said the incident did not appear to intentionally target Jordan. A motorbike exploded in front of the building where the military attache s office is. The police are investigating, an embassy official said. It doesn t seem to be an intentional act that targets Jordan. Jordan s Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted by the Jordanian state-run Petra news agency earlier saying that a motorbike exploded in front of Jordan s military mission, but that no staff were injured in the explosion. The Paris police department said an investigation had been opened, but there was nothing to suggest the incident was related to terrorism. | 1 |
3,240 | FULL INTERVIEW: Judge Jeanine Pirro’s In-Depth Interview With President Trump [Video] | JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO S INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP:President Donald Trump doubled down on his threat to end the White House daily press briefing, calling it a good idea. In an interview with Jeanine Pirro, Trump reiterated what he had tweeted. You don t mean that, Pirro responded. Unless I have them every two weeks and do it myself, we won t have them. I think it s a good idea, he answered.Trump said there s an incredible level of hostility from reporters toward Press Secretary Sean Spicer and his deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He agreed with Pirro s assertion that he moves so quickly, his communications staff cannot keep up.He declined to answer directly when Pirro asked whether Spicer will continue as press secretary. He s doing a good job, but he gets beat up, said Trump.Trump also discussed a report that he asked Comey whether the former director would be loyal to him:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2FUG4o5i70Great interview! | 0 |
3,241 | TUCKER CARLSON DESTROYS Smug Elector Who Refuses To Vote For Trump [VIDEO] | https://youtu.be/7oOhwHG2Gb4 | 0 |
3,242 | WATCH: George Clooney Is A Complete Idiot | One month before the election, political activist and Hillary supporter Amal Clooney traveled to Texas to warn Americans about our elected President Donald J. Trump and his tough immigration policies. Today, she and her open-borders, Hollywood liberal husband George, who arrogantly claimed There will never be a President Trump, are reportedly moving back to the U.S. According to Breibart, a Clooney insider says they no longer feel secure in England. What could possibly make them feel unsafe about living in a country overrun by Muslim refugees from terror-hotbed nations?Actor and immigration activist George Clooney will be moving to Los Angeles with his wife Amal and newborn twins Ella and Alexander citing security concerns at his England estate, according to a report.Life & Style magazine reported last week that the 56-year-old Oscar-winner will move his newly-expanded family to his mansion in Studio City, California, after deeming his 17th century mansion in Sonning, England to be not sufficiently safe for them.Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars DESTROYS the embarrassing hypocrisy of Hollywood leftist George Clooney in this brilliant video: | 0 |
3,243 | Business leaders say no NAFTA better than bad deal | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Business leaders attending a U.S.-Mexico CEO conference said on Wednesday that no North American Free Trade Agreement would be better than a bad deal, as industry braces for the end of a treaty that drives $1 trillion in annual trade. The CEO meeting ran in parallel to talks near Washington aimed at refreshing the 1994 agreement, with Mexico, Canada and businesses united in opposition to a number of radical U.S. proposals they say would damage the North American economy. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be open to bilateral trade pacts with Mexico or Canada if a deal cannot be reached to substantially revise NAFTA. “We are all much worse off with a bad agreement than with no (NAFTA),” said Guillermo Vogel, who co-chaired the Mexico City event and is a vice president at Tenaris, a steel company. The meeting, part of a bilateral “CEO dialogue” that meets a couple of times each year, included a closed-door discussion on the NAFTA negotiations addressed by Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Economy Minister Idelfonso Guajardo, who are in charge of the negotiations for Mexico. On the U.S. side the event was co-chaired by Fedex Freight’s CEO Michael Ducker and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue. The event’s organizers declined to say who else attended. American Express, AT&T, GM and Delta were listed on publicity material for an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Mexico on Tuesday, where Donohue warned that several U.S. proposals in the NAFTA talks were “poison pills” that risked dooming the agreement. The process of renegotiating NAFTA has turned increasingly sour. Mexico accuses Trump of spoiling for a “protectionist war” with proposals aimed at balancing trade. Those proposals include removing dispute resolution mechanisms, limiting trade in fresh produce and introducing minimum quotas for U.S. parts in autos. While better than a bad deal, Vogel said the failure of NAFTA would be a “lose-lose” situation, and that U.S.-Mexico trade without it could lead to a U.S. trade deficit larger than the current $64 billion. Without NAFTA, Mexico trade experts say U.S. products would face higher tariffs to enter Mexico, which could further skew the trade balance. “The clear focus was that we have to send a message to all the different constituencies about how much of an error it would be to cancel NAFTA, or make a bad NAFTA,” Vogel said in an interview with Reuters. He said content rules for auto parts were still negotiable, despite shock in Mexico at suggestions half of all parts in cars should be made in the United States. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday he expected an agreement would be reached on that issue. On Tuesday, Donohue also singled out a “sunset clause” that would automatically terminate NAFTA every five years unless there were fresh negotiations. “Clearly, a clause that cancels the agreement every five years totally defangs it,” Vogel said. “Starting to play with a non-market economy would be terrible for us.” Vogel said U.S. and Mexican businesses still believed NAFTA talks would produce a good deal and said they would continue to lobby their governments and lawmakers to negotiate a good deal. “With an agreement, in 10 years I see a strong region that can face Asia or China, without an agreement I see a weaker region in the medium and long term.” | 1 |
3,244 | BREAKING: CRUZ WINS BIG IN WISCONSIN…But Can He Get 1,237 Delegates? | The big question is whether or not Cruz can get the necessary 1,237 delegates?Senator Ted Cruz soundly defeated Donald J. Trump in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, breathing new life into efforts to halt Mr. Trump s divisive presidential candidacy and dealing a blow to his chances of clinching the Republican nomination before the party s summer convention.On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in a much closer contest.Mr. Trump s loss was his most significant setback since Mr. Cruz narrowly defeated him in Iowa, the campaign s first nominating contest. And after largely dominating the Republican field from the moment he announced his candidacy last June, Mr. Trump now faces a fresh challenge: bouncing back in the face of searing attack ads by Republicans bent on stopping him, persistent questions about his demeanor and campaign organization, and a single ascendant challenger in Mr. Cruz.In winning Wisconsin so convincingly, Mr. Cruz, of Texas, showed he was capable of appealing to more than just the hard-line and religious conservative Republicans who have been the foundation of his campaign. But he faces daunting tasks of his own. One is consolidating the anti-Trump vote. Another is capturing more moderate Republicans in a series of primaries in Northeastern states that are likely to be favorable territory for Mr. Trump, beginning with New York on April 19.Standing in Mr. Cruz s way is Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who finished a distant third on Tuesday despite spending considerable time in Wisconsin.While Mr. Trump won among moderates, exit polls showed, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich received roughly equal support among those voters in Wisconsin. Mr. Cruz not only took nearly two-thirds of very conservative voters, he also won among voters who called themselves only somewhat conservative. Notably, Mr. Cruz also won among those who did not call themselves born-again Christians a group with which he has struggled in earlier contests.Most striking, though, was how many Wisconsin primary voters still harbored deep discomfort with Mr. Trump despite his wide lead in the race for delegates. In exit polls, 55 percent said they would be concerned or scared if he were elected, higher than the other two Republican hopefuls. And 35 percent of those who voted in the Republican primary said they would support Hillary Clinton, a third-party candidate or no one at all if Mr. Trump were the Republican nominee.Mr. Cruz s strong showing will make it more difficult for Mr. Trump to wrap up the 1,237 delegates needed for the GOP nomination before the primary season ends on June 7, when California allocates the largest number of delegates.Next up on the GOP calendar is the April 19 primary in New York, Mr. Trump s home state, where polls show him enjoying a commanding lead of more than 30 percentage points over Mr. Cruz, who in some surveys runs behind Mr. Kasich.New York awards 95 delegates, most of which are allotted proportionately by congressional district. Mr. Trump travels to Long Island on Wednesday to kick off his campaign. Trump has more support than anyone else in New York and always had, said state assemblyman Bill Nojay of Pittsford, in north-central New York. If the vote was held today, we expect he would win every single congressional district. A week later, a swath of other East Coast states vote Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Mr. Cruz s best hope is in states farther ahead in the calendar Indiana on May 3 and Nebraska on May 10.Wisconsin with its GOP electorate dominated by the kind of working-class, white voters who have been drawn to Mr. Trump elsewhere was long seen as fertile ground for the New York businessman. But it turned into a hotbed of anti-Trump sentiment. Via: WSJTuesday s stakes were the greatest for the Republicans since March 15, when five large states cast ballots and Mr. Trump s victory in Florida drove Senator Marco Rubio out of the race.Many Republicans hoping to defeat Mr. Trump saw Wisconsin as perhaps their last chance to thwart his march to the nomination. With no other Republican contests in the two weeks before or after, Wisconsin made for an isolated showdown.For Mr. Trump, it was an opportunity to add to his wide delegate lead and score an important psychological victory just as the race turns to his native Northeast. A win in Wisconsin, the sort of Democratic-leaning Midwestern state he has vowed to carry in November, would restore his momentum and undercut those most resistant to his candidacy. Via: NYT s | 0 |
3,245 | Clinton Emails: How Google Worked With Hillary to Try and Overthrow Syria’s Assad | 21st Century Wire says The Silicon Valley s technotronic oligarchy has been exposed as a mere extension of the CIA in terms of playing a role in Washington s state policy of regime change in Syria.This latest email release reveals how then US Secretary of State, and now Democratic presidential favorite Hillary Clinton colluded with executives at Google to launch a digital PR onslaught against the president of Syria, Bashar al Assad. This is all part of Google s color revolution business, and also part of the Smart Power Complex used to manufacture public consent for humanitarian interventions globally.The leak also reveals how Qatari network Al Jazeera played an active role in this plot too. Al Jazeera has already been caught repeatedly manipulating international news throughout the Middle East.In a just world, Hillary would be held to account by the mainstream media for this revelation, but it seems that it s just being ignored by the mainstream gatekeepers Rudy Takala Washington ExaminerGoogle in 2012 sought to help insurgents overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to State Department emails receiving fresh scrutiny this week.Messages between former secretary of state Hillary Clinton s team and one of the company s executives detailed the plan for Google to get involved in the region. Please keep close hold, but my team is planning to launch a tool that will publicly track and map the defections in Syria and which parts of the government they are coming from, Jared Cohen, the head of what was then the company s Google Ideas division, wrote in a July 2012 email to several top Clinton officials. Our logic behind this is that while many people are tracking the atrocities, nobody is visually representing and mapping the defections, which we believe are important in encouraging more to defect and giving confidence to the opposition, Cohen said, adding that the plan was for Google to surreptitiously give the tool to Middle Eastern media.Hillary Emails: Google tried to boost Assad defections https://t.co/lyma4eJp9a More: https://t.co/ZUfh7WDAT5 pic.twitter.com/nvNG0lFJWt WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 19, 2016 Given how hard it is to get information into Syria right now, we are partnering with Al-Jazeera who will take primary ownership over the tool we have built, track the data, verify it, and broadcast it back into Syria, he said. Please keep this very close hold and let me know if there is anything [else] you think we need to account for or think about before we launch. We believe this can have an important impact, Cohen concluded The message was addressed to deputy secretary of state Bill Burns; Alec Ross, a senior Clinton advisor; and Clinton s deputy chief of staff, Jake Sullivan. Sullivan subsequently forwarded Cohen s proposal to Clinton, describing it as a pretty cool idea. Cohen worked as a low-level staffer at the State Department until 2010, when he was hired to lead Google Ideas, but was tied to the use of social media to incite social uprisings even before he left the department. He once reportedly asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to hold off of conducting system maintenance that officials believed could have impeded a brief 2009 uprising in Iran Continue this story at Washington ExaminerREAD MORE SMART POWER NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Smart Power Files | 0 |
3,246 | Trump Steals $100K from Children’s Cancer Charity To Line His Own Pockets | In another despicable headline focused on the actions of President Trump, Forbes reported on Tuesday that Trump has funneled over $100,000 in St. Jude Children s Hospital donations into Trump Organization revenue.Trump s son Eric hosts an annual golf tournament to raise millions for the St. Jude children s Research Hospital. The Eric Trump Foundation reportedly funneled $100,000 of the donations right back to Trump s golf courses to take care of incurred expenses instead of going to the charity where the donors had been promised they would go.To top this off, over the past 10 years $500,000 of donated money was conveniently re-donated to different charities, including ones connected to family members of Trump. Most of these organizations were using the Trump golf courses for the fund raising tournaments, meaning Trump could have been making additional hundreds-of-thousands off of charities over the yers.The order to bill the Eric Trump charitable foundation for obscene amounts of donated money came directly from Trump himself, says the report. This means that not only did Trump swindle charity money, he also broke federal and New York state laws on misleading donors and self-dealing.The President had announced that he would dissolve his charitable foundation to avoid what people might consider conflicts of interest, but he has yet to act on that promise. New York state s attorney general isn t going to allow him to do anything of the sort while a criminal probe of the charity is on-going. The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete, said Attorney General spokesperson Amy Spitalnick, in December.Really? Hundreds-of-thousands from kids with cancer? Speechless.Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
3,247 | U.S. wants U.N. vote on new North Korea sanctions next Monday | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States wants the United Nations Security Council to vote next Monday to impose the strongest possible sanctions on North Korea over its sixth and largest nuclear test, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Monday. North Korea said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting global condemnation and a U.S. warning of a massive military response if it or its allies were threatened. China s U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi pushed North Korea on Monday to stop taking actions that are wrong, deteriorating the situation and not in line with its own interests and truly return to the track of solving the issue through dialogue. Haley said the 15-member council would negotiate a draft resolution this week. She described North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as begging for war and that while the United States doesn t want conflict, our country s patience is not unlimited. Enough is enough, Haley told the council. Only the strongest sanctions will enable us to resolve this problem through diplomacy. Since 2006, the Security Council has unanimously adopted eight resolutions ratcheting up sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Haley said the council s incremental approach to sanctions had not worked. The council last month imposed new sanctions over North Korea s two long-range missile launches in July. The resolution aimed to slash by a third Pyongyang s $3 billion annual export revenue by banning exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood. Diplomats have said the council could now consider banning Pyongyang s textile exports and the country s national airline, stop supplies of oil to the government and military, prevent North Koreans from working abroad as well as add top officials to a blacklist to subject them to an asset freeze and travel ban. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. Typically, China and Russia only view a test of a long-range missile or a nuclear weapon as a trigger for U.N. sanctions. China has not publicly said it will back new sanctions. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he would consider a U.S. draft resolution but questioned whether further sanctions would make a difference. Whatever measures we are planning now, I m not sure that they will influence the other side to abandon what they have been doing. This is not the way to get parties at the table ... to seek for a political solution, he told reporters. He told the council there was an urgent need to maintain a cool head and avoid escalating tensions, and called for a return to dialogue, including by leveraging mediation efforts of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Both Russia and China pushed their proposal to kick-start talks with a joint suspension of North Korea s ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the military exercises by the United States and South Korea. Liu said he hoped it would be seriously considered by the parties. The idea that some have suggested of a so-called freeze-for-freeze is insulting, Haley told the council. When a rogue regime has a nuclear weapon and an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) pointed at you, you do not take steps to lower your guard. No one would do that. We certainly won t. Through sanctions, the Security Council has tried to choke off funding and support for North Korea s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, though some Western states have expressed doubt about Russia and China s commitment to implement them. Haley said in July that cutting off oil supplies to the North Korean government and military was an option. China supplies most of North Korea s crude. According to South Korean data, Beijing supplies roughly 500,000 tonnes of crude oil annually. It also exports 200,000 tonnes of oil products, according to U.N. data. The U.N. resolution adopted last month capped the number of North Koreans working abroad at the current level. Diplomats said a new resolution could impose a complete ban. Some diplomats estimate that between 60,000 and 100,000 North Koreans work abroad. A U.N. human rights investigator said in 2015 that North Korea was forcing more than 50,000 people to work abroad, mainly in Russia and China, earning between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year. The council could ban textiles, which were North Korea s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Nearly 80 percent of the textile exports went to China. The military-controlled airline, Air Koryo, could be banned. It flies to Beijing and a few other cities in China, including Dandong, the main transit point for trade between the two countries. It also flies to Vladivostok in Russia, but flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Kuwait have ended. | 1 |
3,248 | Syrian Kurdish leaders back longer U.S role in Syria | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish leaders voiced support on Wednesday for a longer-term role for U.S. forces in Syria once Islamic State is defeated, after the United States signalled it would not pull out before there was progress towards a political solution. Comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday have drawn heavy criticism from the Iran-backed Syrian government, which says Washington is making up a new excuse for keeping its illegal occupation forces in Syria. Limiting Iranian influence in Syria and Iraq is a key U.S. aim. Syrian Kurdish groups have emerged as the main partner on the ground for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in northern and eastern Syria, areas which the Syrian state and Iran have vowed to take back. Kurdish fighters, with Arab allies, U.S. advisers and coalition jets, have driven Islamic State from swathes of territory including their former headquarters in Raqqa city. The Kurdish YPG militia and its political allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north, and now control nearly a quarter of Syria. Their influence angers neighbour Turkey, which considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party that has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil. The main Syrian Kurdish political party, the PYD, welcomed a longer-term U.S. role in Syria. The U.S. presence should continue until there was a political solution to the Syrian crisis which erupted in 2011, it said. In a written message to Reuters, the PYD s co-chief, Shahoz Hasan, agreed this would be beneficial. Without achieving a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and with the continuation of the Turkish and Iranian intervention in Syria, and with the continued presence of al Qaeda groups in Syria, the continued operation of the coalition is better, Hasan said. Senior Syrian Kurdish politician Fawza Youssef said a U.S. role would be very important for the future. The United States and the coalition forces played a major role in fighting Daesh, and to reach a fair political settlement, we see a need for international guarantees, said Youssef, a senior member of the Kurdish-led authority running the cantons in northern Syria. She pointed to an increase in humanitarian aid to northern Syria by Washington and the coalition since the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Raqqa - a sign of a widening U.S. role. Turkey said on Monday the United States had 13 bases in Syria and Russia had five. As all sides in Syria battled Islamic State, the U.S.-backed forces have mostly avoided direct confrontation with the Syrian government, backed by Iran and Russia. But Iranian and Syrian officials are now signalling their intention to take back areas captured from IS by the SDF. Syria s main Kurdish groups say they want a federal system for the whole country, and hope for negotiations with Damascus to shore up their autonomous rule. Their territorial grip has expanded since joining forces with the United States to fight IS, though Washington opposes their autonomy plans. Mattis described this week a role for American troops long after Islamic State militants lose control of all the territory they hold. Mattis said the U.S. military s longer-term objective would be to prevent the return of an ISIS 2.0 . But he also suggested that U.S. forces aimed to help set the conditions for a diplomatic solution in Syria. We re not just going to walk away right now before the Geneva process has traction , he said, a reference to U.N.-backed peace talks. The U.S.-led coalition has repeatedly said it does not seek to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s military. In response to the Mattis comments, the Syrian government said on Tuesday that Washington was presenting a new excuse to keep its forces in Syria by linking this presence to a political settlement, having previously said its goal was to fight IS. Foreign ministry comments affirmed the government s position that the presence of U.S. and other forces in Syria without government approval was an act of aggression. | 1 |
3,249 | Rivals of incumbent seek to sway Czech policy towards west in presidential election | PRAGUE (Reuters) - A host of pro-western candidates met Tuesday s deadline to run for Czech president, seeking to unseat incumbent Milos Zeman who has leaned toward Russia and China. Czech presidents wield limited day-to-day power but have large informal influence and play a key role in forming governments - now under way following elections last month. The winner of the January presidential election will fuel or tame euroscepticism that has taken hold despite the country s economic success and stability since joining NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. Zeman, 73, former Social Democrat leader and prime minister, is one of the major figures in the country s recent history, along with predecessors Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus. He remains the favorite to win a second five-year term according to bookmakers, despite limited public appearances in recent months due to diabetes and difficulty walking. So far the most serious rival to Zeman is chemist and former chief of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiri Drahos who is running as an independent. Drahos, 68, is pro-EU and pro-NATO with a reserved and sober manner, a contrast to Zeman who has a reputation for swiping out at media and opponents. If Drahos wins, it would mean a pro-western, pro-European course, said political analyst Josef Mlejnek jr. Under Zeman, our politicians have often had to remind foreign partners that it is the government and not the president who is in charge of foreign policy, and that does not make a good impression especially if there is such an east-west discord between the two lines. Zeman took a sharp anti-EU turn when he took Russia s line in the Ukraine conflict and opposed EU sanctions. He also has adopted a sharply anti-immigration stance and said Islam was anti-civilisation . Zeman has also given support to Andrej Babis, a billionaire businessman whose ANO party won the parliamentary election last month and who Zeman promised to become prime minister. ANO did not field its own presidential candidate, which removes one of the potential threats to Zeman. Another pro-western contestant is Michal Horacek, 65, founder of betting firm Fortuna which he sold in 2004 and a recognized lyricist for pop music stars. Former centre-right prime minister Mirek Topolanek, whose cabinet collapsed during the country s EU presidency in 2009, also joined the race at the last minute. A eurosceptic, Topolanek s former right-hand man, Marek Dalik, started a 5-year jail sentence on Monday for corruption in army procurement while Topolanek was in office. In a poll published on Monday, Zeman led with 34 percent, followed by Drahos at 22 and Horacek at 13 percent. Another poll on Tuesday gave Drahos a 51-49 percent edge over Zeman in a hypothetical run-off. | 1 |
3,250 | no title | hell thats a good speech maybe there is more to him than we know he only needs to puts clips of that speech on tv everywhere on the net and he will succeed now he just has to watch out for the ugly un who is behind it all what are those who were behind ron paul etc waiting for this is the guy you have to vote for this time | 0 |
3,251 | TUCKER CARLSON Rips The Left On Gun Control Hysteria: “Let’s stop lying about this” [Video] | Tucker Carlson weighed in on the hysteria over gun control and where the blame lies for the school shooting in Florida. The left has grabbed onto this story with an iron fist and won t let go. They are beating to death the theory that less guns means less crime. Not so fast! Look at the city of Chicago! Tucker Carlson calls them out on their lies: Let s stop lying about this. The calls we are hearing today for gun control have nothing to do with protecting Americans from violence. What you re witnessing is a kind of class war. The left hates rural America, red America, gun-owning America, the America that elected Donald Trump. They hate them. Progressives are still in charge of most of the major institutions in this country, and they despise the autonomy of an armed population. They want collective punishment for the sins of a few. They seek to obliterate a core constitutional right rather than trying to mitigate its downsides. They call it gun control, but it s not. It s people control. For the left, voters who can t be controlled, can t be trusted. <span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"> </span> | 0 |
3,252 | Hashtag politics: Merkel tries to get in with Germany's kids | BERLIN (Reuters) - After 12 years in power, Chancellor Angela Merkel is presenting herself as more than just Germany s Mutti , campaigning in cyberspace to get in with younger voters and win their support for long after elections this month. Merkel, whose nickname means Mummy , appears to be cruising toward a fourth term with strong backing from older Germans. But the 63-year-old, who unlike some Western leaders has no personal Twitter account, wants to mobilize the almost 3 million first-time voters behind her conservative CDU party on Sept. 24. To this end, Merkel has fielded questions from four YouTube video bloggers, attended Europe s biggest computer games convention and set up a walk-in campaign center in Berlin s hip start-up district. Diana Kinnert, a 26-year-old who helped draft proposals to modernize the CDU, said parties should use new communication tools to make young people put off by sterile politics more politically engaged in the long term. It would be a shame if it turned out to be just election noise, Kinnert, who wears both tattoos and a baseball cap, told Reuters at the walk-in center. The CDU, which is unlikely to win an overall parliamentary majority, needs the youth vote to strengthen Merkel s hand in coalition negotiations that will follow polling day. To some bemusement, the party has created a Twitter hashtag #fedidwgugl. Rather than the result of a malfunctioning computer keyboard, it is an acronym for the CDU campaign slogan: Fuer ein Deutschland In Dem Wir Gut und Gern Leben ( For a Germany in which we can live well and gladly ). So the Berlin walk-in center, where themed rooms bring the CDU manifesto to life, is called #fedidwgugl House . In Britain, young people turned out in droves in June to vote for the opposition Labour party, stripping the ruling Conservatives of their majority and showing how youth can twist the fate of governments even if they are less numerous. With German society rapidly aging, older people still dominate the country s agenda. There are more than twice as many eligible voters aged over 60 as there are under 30. The CDU secured the highest share of the youth vote in 2013 but its support remains skewed toward pensioners. At the last election two-fifths of its backers were aged over 60 while just 5.4 percent were under 25. Kinnert, who has posted on Instagram wearing a T-shirt reading Keep Calm and Vote for Angie , says Merkel never stops learning and is future-orientated despite her lengthy tenure. One of Merkel s top priorities is the digitization of German industry. She has Facebook and Instagram accounts and has made efforts to show she is up on social media even if it sometimes comes across as clunky. Asked about her favorite emoji during the YouTube interview, Merkel said it was a smiley: If things are good, even one with a little heart, she joked. Merkel s main challenger, Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, has not shied away from cyberspace either. This week he was grilled on YouTube on topics such as legalizing cannabis, animal welfare and rolling out broadband internet. While the CDU was mocked for causing confusion with the #fedidwgugl hashtag, the media attention drew eyeballs to the CDU s agenda. Efforts to campaign over new media also play well with older voters who want the best for their children and grandchildren, said Stefan Marschall of Duesseldorf s Heinrich Heine University. Merkel is the only chancellor most first-time voters can recall. This helps CDU to portray her as an anchor of stability in the turbulent era of Donald Trump and Brexit. An opinion poll by Forsa in June found 57 percent of 18 to 21-year-olds backed Merkel compared with 53 percent of the wider population. Just 21 percent of the young supported Schulz. Forsa s managing director Manfred Guellner said younger Germans have become more conservative than their peers in other countries: Young people here are pragmatic; they worry about their pensions. | 1 |
3,253 | Virginia School Has Black Kid Arrested For Drinking Milk | Seriously. This actually happened in America.Milk costs 65 cents at Graham Park Middle School in Prince William County, Virginia. But like millions of other children across the country, Ryan Turk is enrolled in the free lunch program because his family can t afford his meals.One day after going through the lunch line, Turk sat down and realized that he had forgotten to grab a milk so he went back and grabbed one like any other kid would do.Except that Ryan Turk is black, so the school security guard automatically assumed he stole it. He confronted Ryan, accused him of a crime, and demanded that he go to the principal s office. Ryan refused because he did nothing wrong.Rather than check out Ryan s story, which would have been as simple as looking at his tray and realizing that he only had one milk (which he would have known was free for Ryan if he had bothered to check if he is enrolled to get free school lunches), the security officer arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct and petty larceny, charges that will now be on Ryan s record.The school gave Turk a choice, enroll in a diversion program by admitting to a crime he didn t commit, or face a trial in a courtroom.Again, this is all because Ryan went back for the milk he forgot as part of his lunch. It s a 65-cent milk for crying out loud, not the Mona Lisa.Rightfully so, Ryan s mother rejected the first choice. My son is not going to admit to something he did not do, she told the Washington Post.Turk and his mother also contend that race has something to do with the incident because Ryan has seen many other students do the exact same thing he did without being confronted by school security.The school has dismissed the accusation that racism had anything to do with the situation because the security guard and the principal are both black. But Turk s attorney Emmett Robinson begs to differ. It s not the players, it s not the people who discriminate; it s the whole system, Robinson said, The system is set up now so that school resource officers get to determine the impact on a person s life. Indeed, treating black kids like criminals has ended up creating a vicious cycle that has resulted in the disproportionate imprisonment of blacks in this country.There is little doubt that if Ryan had been white he would have never been approached by the security officer.The fact is that Ryan Turk was entitled to have a milk with his lunch, which is FREE. He just forgot it and merely did what he has seen other students do. Security did not have a problem with those other kids going back for their forgotten milk. So why did the security officer treat Ryan differently? Race must have played a role. And even if it didn t, having a child arrested over a 65-cent carton of milk is absolutely ridiculous. It s a waste of resources and a waste of the court s time.Surely, the school and the judiciary must have more important things to deal with.Featured image via Wikimedia | 0 |
3,254 | Once credited with Trump's success, Bannon quickly fell from grace | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Donald Trump fired White House chief strategist and former campaign manager Steve Bannon on Friday, it was almost like bidding goodbye to a part of himself. Trump’s most polarizing stances on matters such as immigration and national security closely tracked Bannon’s “America First” anti-globalist worldview. Despite their close alignment, Trump was always reluctant to credit Bannon with the stunning electoral victory of November 2016, often noting Bannon, 63, came late to the campaign, joining only after Trump had secured the Republican nomination. He rewarded Bannon, nonetheless, giving him a top job in the administration. But as the White House grew increasingly chaotic in the early months of Trump’s presidency, Bannon clashed with more mainstream advisers, including, most crucially, the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump was reportedly unhappy with the attention that Bannon got early on as the architect of Trump’s campaign, and with Bannon’s tendency to promote himself, as he operated an almost independent power center within the West Wing. Ultimately, Bannon wore out his welcome. Trump fired him at the urging of his new chief of staff, John Kelly, who has been working to reorganize the White House and limit access to Trump. The dismissal could have political repercussions. Bannon was viewed as the administration’s conduit to Trump’s rabid political base. Bannon’s departure may antagonize some of Trump’s most passionate supporters, who fear that without Bannon, Trump will move closer to the Republican political establishment. “We are extremely disappointed,” Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, a conservative advocacy group, said in a statement. On specific policies, Bannon was credited with helping craft the administration’s “travel ban,” which restricted emigration to the United States from some mostly Muslim countries, as well as Trump’s opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and the Paris global climate accord. Bannon has been seen as wary of U.S. intervention abroad, arguing against sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. In recent months, Bannon has battled for influence inside the White House with Trump’s national security adviser, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, a tension that was destabilizing Trump’s team of top advisers, senior officials have told Reuters. Trump himself has suggested Bannon’s influence was overstated. While Bannon was viewed as perhaps responsible for Trump’s initial response to the violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, when he blamed both sides for the confrontation, Trump said this week that he never spoke to Bannon about the matter. Bannon may return to the provocateur role he played at the right-wing Breitbart News website, where he spearheaded its shift into a forum for the “alt-right,” a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. Under Bannon’s leadership, the Breitbart site presented a number of conspiracy theories about former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as well as Republicans deemed to be lacking in conservative bona fides. Whether he returns to Breitbart and uses it to challenge the so-called “cucks” and “globalists” he disdains - and perhaps Trump himself - will be closely watched in coming weeks. Bannon is a former U.S. Navy officer, Goldman Sachs investment banker and Hollywood producer. Almost immediately after Bannon’s departure became public, Breitbart published a piece calling him “the conservative spine” of the administration and questioning whether Trump would now move in a more moderate direction. Another Breitbart editor, Raheem Kassam, posted a picture of Bannon on Twitter with the caption Bannon 2020, seemingly suggesting that Bannon, not Trump, should be president. | 1 |
3,255 | no title | in obamaland | 1 |
3,256 | NANCY PELOSI’S WORST EVER: Latest Gibberish-Filled Hot Mess Of A Speech Even Botches Names Of Countries [Video] | Here we go again! What in the world is wrong with this woman? Is it her age or something like cocktails before dinner? Wonder how much they paid her for that hot mess!PELOSI HAS HAD HER SHARE OF RANTS LATELY HERE ARE A FEW OF THE LATEST: ATTACKS TRUMP ON THE BORDER WALL:House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was on Meet the Press and let out another gibberish laden response to a question. Does anyone out there understand what she meant by her comments about the wall. How does it mean Trump is weak if he wants a wall? Twisted reasoning is all that comes from Pelosi these days especially when in 2006 most prominent Democrats voted to build a barrier at the border. Immoral and unwise ? How is it immoral and unwise to want to protect your people? You have to understand this part of the country. There s a community going through it. ATTACKS IVANKA TRUMP:House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) implied during a Wednesday press conference that President Donald Trump s daughter, Ivanka Trump, has been complicit in her father s actions, which the lawmaker described as not acting in the interest of the American people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUL3-iB5_pM | 0 |
3,257 | GOOGLE Apologizes After Changing Name Of Trump Tower And Trump Hotel On Google Maps | Google Maps was alerted to a mysterious change in name on Trump Tower and the Trump Hotel by users and immediately changed the names back. Some small-minded vindictive person changed the name to Dump Tower:Was this the work of a hacker or an inside job by a rogue Google employee? Google didn t say in their statement: Some inappropriate names were surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologize for any offense this may have caused. Our teams immediately took action and have fixed the issue, a statement released by Google Maps said.Could the left be any more petty and immature? What they don t realize is that when they do things like this it only turns people off to them. Keep it up!Read more: bpr | 0 |
3,258 | Trump on best behavior as he woos Republicans but differences remain | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump went on a charm offensive on Thursday to try to win the party establishment’s support for his insurgent candidacy, but top Republican Paul Ryan stopped short of endorsing him. Trump was on his best behavior on a day of meetings with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He listened patiently as they raised concerns about his tone and the need to try to appeal to Hispanic voters. He avoided strident language, like the frequent criticism he has lobbed from the campaign trail that many lawmakers are awestruck by the corridors of power and forget why they were sent to Washington. “The whole discussion was very solid, reasonable and a warm and winning discussion,” said Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. “I think you’re going to find he’s going to be better and better all the time.” The U.S. budget deficit and debt were among the issues Trump and Ryan discussed, sources familiar with the meeting said. Trump’s day in Washington was aimed at laying to rest some of the concerns that persist among Republicans about his incendiary tone and some policy proposals at odds with party doctrine. The New York billionaire, who needs the party behind him to bolster his chances at winning the Nov. 8 election, has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants, temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and impose trade protectionist policies. Trump held an hour-long session with Ryan, who as speaker of the House of Representatives is the top U.S. elected Republican and can hold sway with many establishment Republicans leery of Trump. “This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification,” Ryan and Trump said in a joint statement. Trump told Fox News in an interview that he had a “very, very good meeting” with Ryan. “I think Paul felt the same way and everybody else did also,” Trump said. Trump said he and Ryan largely agree on issues of border security, trade and beefing up the U.S. military. Party leaders are normally eager to rally around a presidential nominee to combine forces for the battle leading up to the general election. But Ryan has withheld his endorsement of Trump out of concern over the businessman’s conservative credentials. In remarks to reporters after the meeting, the congressman said he was encouraged by the session but that more work will be needed. “There’s no secret that Donald Trump and I have had our differences. We talked about those differences today,” Ryan said at his weekly news conference. “I do believe we are planting the seeds in getting ourselves unified.” Ryan, who may harbor aspirations of running for president in 2020 or later, noted that he represents a wing of the conservatives and that it is positive that Trump is bringing new voters into the party. Despite his problems in winning over senior Republicans, Trump received a boost on Wednesday when a Reuters/Ipsos national poll showed him pulling even with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The online survey found 41 percent of likely voters supporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump. Later on Thursday, Trump went into a meeting with Senate Republican leaders, where he posed for photos with them and heard concerns about his campaign rhetoric but appeared to make some progress in tempering concerns about him. “Everyone here wants you to win,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told him at the Senate session, a source said. Senator Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia urged Trump to be careful in his tone. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a former U.S. trade representative, urged caution on his rhetoric against trade deals. “The issue of tone did come up,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who said he gave some advice to Trump on “the importance of the Hispanic vote and the whole idea of distinguishing between illegal immigration and legal immigration.” In a meeting at a Washington law firm, Trump sat down with James Baker, who served as secretary of state for Republican President George H.W. Bush. Earlier in the day, Baker had testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Under questioning from Senator Marco Rubio, a former Republican presidential candidate, Baker said the world “would be far less stable” without a strong NATO, a slap at Trump’s idea of reconfiguring the Western alliance and getting European nations to foot more of the bill. “Secretary Baker had a meeting with Donald Trump that was requested by his campaign,” a Baker spokesman said. Even Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina softened a bit. Graham dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year and had said the choice between Trump and rival Ted Cruz was like trying to decide between being “shot or poisoned.” Graham said he had a “cordial, pleasant conversation” on the phone with Trump on Wednesday. “I know Mr. Trump is reaching out to many people, throughout the party and the country, to solicit their advice and opinions. I believe this is a wise move on his part,” said Graham. | 1 |
3,259 | JUST IN: Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile Accuses Hillary of CHEATING To Win Election, Laundering Money Through DNC…Drops Major BOMBSHELL About “CANCER” Barack Obama | After months of lying about passing debate questions to Hillary before the presidential debate that was hosted by her employer, CNN, the former DNC Chair Donna Brazile, finally came clean. During an interview with Trevor Noah of the Daily Show, Brazile arrogantly excused her dishonest behavior by telling Noah: Well, first of all, I didn t have my hands in the cookie jar. I m an operative, I m a strategist, and part of what my role was, in addition to being a political pundit, was to help advance the cause of justice and equality Today s a new day, however, and Donna Brazile has decided to emerge from the shadows to promote her new bombshell, tell-all book that is sure to ruffle a few feathers in the Democrat Party Her book is about the chaos at the DNC during the 2016 campaign. On Thursday, she revealed a section of it at Politico. What emerges from the excerpt is a picture of Brazile as a heroine (of course), Hillary Clinton as the villainess, Debbie Wasserman Schultz as incompetent and lazy, and Barack Obama as the unnamed cancer that ate away at the center of the party.Ouch.In Brazile s book, she claims that Obama cleaned out the Party. Brazile writes that by the time she took over, the Democratic Party was broke and $2 million in debt. According to Brazile, Obama left the party $24 million in debt hey, sort of like the country! and his campaign wouldn t pay off that debt until election year. Furthermore, Wasserman Schultz had grown staff and allowed the DNC to pick up the check for Obama consultants.Brazile also claims that Hillary ran the Party. Hillary used that debt to pick up power they pledged to fill in the funding gap for the DNC so long as they got to run operations. Gary Gensler, CFO of the Hillary campaign, apparently described the party as fully under the control of Hillary s campaign, which seemed to confirm the suspicions of the Bernie camp. The campaign had the DNC on life support, giving it money every month to meet its basic expenses, while the campaign was using the party as a fund-raising clearinghouse. Hillary Essentially Laundered Campaign Money Through The DNC. Hillary raised an enormous amount of money for the DNC, but virtually all that money went to Hillary s campaign. Less than half of 1 percent of all money Hillary raised from her fundraisers went to the states. Brazile explains:When the Politico story described this arrangement as essentially money laundering for the Clinton campaign, Hillary s people were outraged at being accused of doing something shady. Bernie s people were angry for their own reasons, saying this was part of a calculated strategy to throw the nomination to Hillary.The party ran as an adjunct to the Hillary campaign long before the primaries, meaning that Bernie was at a severe disadvantage. Brazile admits as much:The funding arrangement with HFA and the victory fund agreement was not illegal, but it sure looked unethical. If the fight had been fair, one campaign would not have control of the party before the voters had decided which one they wanted to lead.For entire story: Daily Wire | 0 |
3,260 | U.N. braces for more Rohingya to flee, seeks access to Rakhine, Myanmar | GENEVA (Reuters) - Muslim Rohingyas continue to flee Myanmar to Bangladesh and the United Nations is bracing for possible further exodus , the U.N. humanitarian aid chief said on Friday. Mark Lowcock, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, reiterated the world body s appeal for access to the population in northern Rakhine state saying that the current situation was unacceptable . This flow out of Myanmar has not stopped yet, it s into the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya (who are) still in Myanmar, we want to be ready in case there is a further exodus, he told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday. Half a million people do not pick up sticks and flee their country on a whim. An estimated 2,000 Rohingya are escaping Rakhine daily for Bangladesh, where 515,000 have fled since violence erupted on Aug. 25, Joel Millman of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told a separate briefing. | 1 |
3,261 | Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump paid $38 million in taxes on more than $150 million in income in 2005, the White House said on Tuesday, responding to an MSNBC report that the network had obtained two pages of the returns. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said she received the documents from journalist David Cay Johnston, who said on her show that he received them in the mail. The returns, which MSNBC posted on its website, showed Trump paid an effective federal tax rate of 25 percent in 2005 after writing off $100 million in losses. The White House said in a statement that Trump took into account “large scale depreciation for construction.” Trump has repeatedly refused to release his tax returns, drawing criticism throughout his campaign last year and speculation from his political rivals he was hiding something. A New York Times report in October said Trump, a New York real estate developer, declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns. The newspaper said the large tax deduction could have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years. But the returns posted by MSNBC on Tuesday showed that he did pay taxes in 2005. The returns do not indicate whether he paid taxes in other years or how much he might have paid. The Washington Post reported last year that Trump paid no federal income taxes for at least two years in the late 1970s. The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that Trump, as head of the Trump Organization, had a responsibility “to pay no more tax than legally required.” Presidents and major candidates for the White House have routinely released their income tax returns. Trump says he has not released his tax returns because they are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. Experts say an IRS audit does not bar someone from releasing the documents. During a September presidential debate, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton criticized Trump, a Republican, for paying no federal income taxes. “That makes me smart,” he responded. Trump has feuded with the media since his inauguration, often accusing it of promoting “fake news” intended to undermine his presidency. “The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans,” the White House said on Tuesday. | 1 |
3,262 | MALE PAKISTANI IMMIGRANT Dresses As Woman In Burqa…Lures 11 Yr Old Boy From Mosque…Rapes, Strangles Him To Death | A man disguised himself in a burka in order to lure an 11-year-old boy whom he then raped and strangled to death, according to police in Abu Dhabi.The accused was aware that the boy would not accompany him if he knew he was a man, the Gulf News reported.The suspect, a Pakistani immigrant to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, is said to be known to the family of the victim, whose father is Pakistani and mother is Russian.He is accused of raping the boy and strangling him to death with a rope after picking him up from Ramadan prayers at a mosque.Azan Majid Janjua was reported missing last week after failing to come home from the mosque.He was later found by air-conditioning technicians on the roof of the building where he lived.He was reportedly found partially unclothed with his Quran lying beside him.The suspect was arrested within 48 hours of the discovery of the body, police said, after forensic evidence linked him to the crime.They declined to give any further details about the suspect or the evidence incriminating him.The murdered boy s father, Dr Majid Janjua, 38, told the local news site that his son was not in the habit of going off with strangers. He never went outside without our permission, said Dr Janjua. It is fate; Allah s decision. We have to accept it. The boy s mother is understood not to live in the Gulf state but was visiting at the time of the incident, which took place in the first week of the Islamic holy month Ramadan.For entire story: Daily Mail | 0 |
3,263 | Republican senator to propose eliminating mandates in Obamacare bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul said on Sunday that the Obamacare replacement bill he plans to unveil would get rid of some of the mandates for health insurance coverage with the aim of bringing down the cost of insurance. Speaking on the CNN program “State of the Union,” Paul also said his proposal would overhaul healthcare regulations to allow small businesses to band together to buy insurance. | 1 |
3,264 | DC IMAM: “Zionists Brought Trump, Like Hitler, To Power; We Have To Rescue The Dumb Americans” [VIDEO] | A DC Imam was caught on camera spewing hatred for Jews and saying the Muslims have to rescue the dumb Americans . This Imam is probably saying things just like this every week in his Mosque. It s no wonder we have terror and hate coming from the Muslims who want to kill us .do you think we need Mosque surveillance for hate speech just like this?Washington D.C. Imam Abdul Alim Musa: Zionists Brought Trump, Like Hitler, to Power; We Have to Rescue the Poor Dumb Americans pic.twitter.com/oZHXkjrjkJ MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 23, 2016It s when Imam s get caught saying things like this that you see the real agenda We went to this Imam s Facebook page and found this post: Mahmoud Abdul Rauf and Collin Kaepernick continuing the legacy! Notice that Kaepernick is wearing a Malcolm X t-shirt The Imam s Facebook page has several photos of his visits to speak in Iran He has several pictures with the president. He has this photo with the caption Greatness above it: So he s pro Iran and pro Cuba What does that tell you??? | 0 |
3,265 | Saudi's Al-Tayyar says work continues despite board member reportedly detained | KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s Al Tayyar Travel said on Monday that its business was continuing despite media reports that one of its non-executive board members had been detained. The company named the board member as Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar and said he had direct and indirect stakes in the company totaling 29.72 percent. The company confirms the continuation of its business to serve the interests of its shareholders and customers, it said in a stock exchange statement, without giving details or revealing why he was reportedly held. Saudi authorities have detained dozens of senior officials and businessmen in recent days in an anti-corruption probe. | 1 |
3,266 | Russia accuses U.S. of trying to provoke North Korean leader 'to fly off handle' | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused the United States on Thursday of trying to provoke North Korean leader Kim Jong Un into flying off the handle over his missile program to hand Washington a pretext to destroy his country. In some of his most robust comments on the subject to date, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also flatly rejected a U.S. call to cut ties with Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile program and said U.S. policy towards North Korea was deeply flawed. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have flared after North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday in a breakthrough that put the U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. Russia has condemned the test, like others before it, as a provocation, but Lavrov said the way the United States was handling the situation was dangerously provocative. The latest U.S. actions look designed to deliberately provoke Pyongyang into taking new extreme action, Lavrov told reporters in Belarus, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry transcript. Lavrov said he was referring to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises planned for December, which he said U.S. officials had intimated to Russia would not take place until spring to open a window for tensions to be defused. We were encouraged by that approach. And then suddenly ... they announced large-scale exercises in December. We have the impression that it was all done specially to get Kim Jong Un to fly off the handle and take another reckless step. The air forces of the United States and South Korea are scheduled to hold a regular joint drill early next month with six U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighters taking part. The Americans need to explain to us all if they want to find a pretext to destroy North Korea. Let them say it directly ... then we can take a decision about how to react, said Lavrov. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday called for other countries to sever all ties with Pyongyang, including cutting trade links and expelling North Korean workers. Moscow sells oil products to North Korea and thousands of North Korean workers toil in Russia, sending remittances back to the authorities in Pyongyang. Lavrov said Haley s call for the world to isolate North Korea was wrong. We regard this negatively, Lavrov said. We have already said many times that sanctions pressure has exhausted itself. He also complained that the United States was totally ignoring a U.N. demand for talks with North Korea. I think it s a big mistake, said Lavrov. | 1 |
3,267 | U.S. touts military ties in Philippines as Duterte courts Russia, China | CLARK, Philippines (Reuters) - The timing of U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis trip to the Philippines this week couldn t have been better, coming just as it celebrated a victory against Islamist militants in Marawi City - with a critical dose of help from the U.S. military. But as Mattis met President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, five Russian warships were parked off the Philippines and Moscow was preparing to formally hand over thousands of assault rifles, a million rounds of ammunition and 20 army trucks at a public ceremony on Wednesday. Duterte, known for his strident anti-American rhetoric, has made no secret of his plans to cultivate ties with America s rivals, Russia and China. Those efforts appear to be starting to bear fruit. Just before he met Mattis, Duterte sat down with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday, who, like Mattis, was attending a gathering of Asian defense ministers north of Manila. Shoigu signed two military deals, including the procurement of unspecified equipment. On Wednesday, Duterte was scheduled to visit a Russian anti-submarine ship, the Admiral Pantaleyev, docked in Manila. U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim played down any U.S. concerns about Duterte s outreach to China and Russia and noted that the United States, a former colonial power, was the country s only treaty ally, with far deeper ties in the Philippines. I m not really threatened by this notion that China or Russia are providing some military equipment to the Philippines, Kim told a small group of reporters traveling with Mattis. We have been providing very important equipment to the Philippines for many, many years. The fact that the Chinese and the Russians have provided some rifles, I m not sure is really such a cause for concern for the United States. Duterte s often profanity-laden tirades against the United States have become his trademark during his year-old presidency, and he has chided Washington for treating his country like a dog, despite the longstanding U.S. assistance. Still, Duterte s rhetoric has been inconsistent, and he warmly greeted visiting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in August, calling himself a humble friend of the United States at the time. On Tuesday, he cautiously kept to scripted dialogue at the start of his meeting with Mattis, as he welcomed him to the Philippines and spoke warmly of ties. I want to be (as) politically correct as possible and I want to be understood. So reading this speech will be good, he said before reporters were escorted out of the room. Ahead of a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to the Philippines, the U.S. envoy cited an improvement in tone and substance in bilateral ties over the 10 months since he s been in his post. President Duterte has made clear that even as he pursues improved relations with countries like China and Russia, he will continue to focus on making sure that the U.S.-Philippines alliance remains strong, Kim said. The same day that Mattis landed in the Philippines, Manila announced the end of five months of military operations in a southern city of Marawi held by pro-Islamic State rebels, after a fierce and unfamiliar urban war that marked the country s biggest security crisis in years. The rebel occupation stunned a military inexperienced in urban combat and stoked wider concerns that Islamic State loyalists have gained influence among local Muslims and have ambitions to use the island of Mindanao as a base for operations in Southeast Asia. Mattis, on his flight to the Philippines, commended Manila on the operation and on Tuesday discussed ways to deepen U.S.-Philippines military ties in talks with the Philippine defense minister. It was a tough fight, Mattis said during his flight, adding he thought the Philippines had sent a very necessary message to the terrorists. Kim said the U.S. military assistance made a huge difference in the battle in Marawi, particularly its intelligence support, including with the deployment of Gray Eagle and P-3 Orion aircraft. I think all of us were surprised by the extent of infiltration by the terrorists into Marawi City, he said. When you encounter a situation like that, you obviously need good intelligence to be able to target key areas and I think that s where our support was quite critical. On Monday night, Philippine military chief General Eduardo Ano said the U.S. technical support tilted the balance because we had a very hard grasp of the situation in the early days until information flowed and helped defeat the militants. The United States also provided information Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave $1.5 million in January for the attack on Marawi, Ano said. But even on Marawi, Duterte has also credited U.S. rival China for its assistance. Duterte said it was one of the 100 sniper rifles donated by China that fired the bullet that killed Isnilon Hapilon, Islamic State s emir in Southeast Asia, on Oct. 16. The ranger unit conducting the operation said the shot was fired from a heavier weapon mounted on an armored vehicle. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters on Tuesday about the receipt of heavy equipment from China to help rebuild Marawi, and also noted the receipt of rifles and ammunition from Beijing. He expected to receive four fast boats from China before the end of the year. The United States has for decades been the Philippines defense treaty ally and its biggest source of hardware and training, providing about $1 billion in equipment since 2000. | 1 |
3,268 | U.S. 'not winning' in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary tells Congress | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is “not winning” the war against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress on Tuesday, promising to brief lawmakers on a new war strategy by mid-July that is widely expected to call for thousands more U.S. troops. The remarks were a blunt reminder of the gloom underscoring U.S. military assessments of the war between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Islamist militant group, classified by U.S. commanders as a “stalemate” despite almost 16 years of fighting. “We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. And we will correct this as soon as possible,” Mattis said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mattis acknowledged that he believed the Taliban were “surging” at the moment, something he said he intended to address. Some U.S. officials questioned the benefit of sending more troops to Afghanistan because any politically palatable number would not be enough to turn the tide, much less create stability and security. To date, more than 2,300 Americans have been killed and more than 17,000 wounded since the war began in 2001. The Afghan government was assessed by the U.S. military to control or influence just 59.7 percent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts as of Feb. 20, a nearly 11 percentage-point decrease from the same time in 2016, according to data released by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. A truck bomb explosion in Kabul last month killed more than 150 people, making it the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a NATO-led coalition after ruling the country for five years. On Saturday, three U.S. soldiers were killed when an Afghan soldier opened fire on them in eastern Afghanistan. Reuters reported in late April that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was carrying out a review of Afghanistan, and conversations were revolving around sending between 3,000 and 5,000 U.S. and coalition troops there. Deliberations include giving more authority to forces on the ground and taking more aggressive action against Taliban fighters. Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate committee, pressed Mattis on the deteriorating situation, saying the United States had an urgent need for “a change in strategy, and an increase in resources if we are to turn the situation around.” “We recognize the need for urgency,” Mattis said. | 1 |
3,269 | Trump says he'll decide on national security adviser in next few days | (This story corrects year to 2001 in paragraph 17 in the February 18 story.) By Jeff Mason MELBOURNE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will interview four candidates for the position of U.S. national security adviser on Sunday and expects to make a decision in the coming days, he told reporters on Saturday. Trump will interview acting adviser Keith Kellogg, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “I’ll make a decision over the next couple of days,” Trump told reporters later on Air Force One. He said he was leaning toward one of the candidates he was interviewing on Sunday. Trump, who has been searching for a new national security adviser after firing his first one, Michael Flynn, could add a couple more candidates to the list, Spicer said. Retired general and former CIA chief David Petraeus is no longer a candidate. The retired four-star general, who resigned as head of the CIA in 2012 after it was revealed he was having an affair with his biographer, had been on a short list for the job after Flynn was let go. Spicer said Trump’s finalists include Kellogg, Bolton, Caslen, who is the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and McMaster, who holds a senior post with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Former U.S. National Security Agency head Keith Alexander, and former Army chief of staff Ray Odierno were also thought to be in contention for the job. Flynn stepped down early this week after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Finding a replacement has been a challenge for Trump. Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, the president’s first choice to take over for Flynn, turned down the offer, citing family and financial reasons. A source familiar with the matter said Petraeus, like Harward, wanted control over staffing decisions within the NSC, and Trump was reluctant to grant that authority. Trump is spending the weekend at his properties in Florida. “Will be having many meetings this weekend at The Southern White House,” he wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning. The president spent the morning at the Trump International Golf Club before returning to his Mar-a-Lago resort. He later held a political rally in Melbourne, Florida. The tumult in Trump’s security team stretched into other areas of the National Security Council, the president’s main forum for decision-making on security and foreign affairs. The White House dismissed Craig Deare, the NSC’s senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, after receiving reports that he had criticized the president and top aides, Politico reported. An NSC spokesman declined to comment. McMaster is a highly regarded tactician and strategic thinker with a PhD, who as a captain in 1991 commanded a small troop of the U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment that destroyed a much larger Iraqi Republican Guard force at a place called 73 Easting, for its map coordinates, in what many consider the biggest tank battle since World War II. Caslen, a West Point graduate, was serving in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and joined others after the attack in rushing into the damaged part of the building to search for survivors. He served in the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The Pentagon Inspector General found that he and other generals violated Defense Department ethical guidelines by appearing in a video promoting Christian Embassy, a non-profit evangelical group previously known as the Campus Crusade for Christ. | 1 |
3,270 | Dem Presidential Candidate Asks: What If Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists Were Black, Muslim? | Democratic presidential Martin O Malley just got real about the response to the right-wing domestic terrorists who are occupying federal land in Oregon.Speaking to an Iowa radio station, O Malley, the former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, was blunt about the ongoing situation. This is not the way we act as Americans and I dare say that the federal government s exercising a lot of restraint here, said O Malley. It s hard to fathom or it s hard to imagine if the people taking over buildings by armed force were Muslim or black, as some commentators have said, it would be the same reaction. So hopefully this will get resolved peacefully. They are not militia, they re acting in criminal ways, this is criminal behavior. Since the militia members led by the son of rogue rancher Cliven Bundy illegally took over the federal facility, the mainstream media has fumbled over what precisely to call the men. First they were called peaceful protesters, and then they were called armed protesters in dispatches from ABC News and the Associated Press.Even after one of the men, who are white, made a public statement that he would be willing to die while occupying the government land, the bulk of the mainstream media has been unwilling to apply the label of terrorism to their activities.The kid gloves treatment being afforded to the gang recently federal law enforcement said they could come and go as they please has led people to compare the treatment to situations like 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Rice, who was black, had the police called on him while he played with a toy gun. Instead of being talked down and negotiated with, he was shot and killed in the street and led by the prosecutor a grand jury declined to indict the police officer who did the deed.In addition to the disparity in treatment, Republican presidential candidates have condemned the specific gun-wielding tactics of the occupiers while also heaping praise on the principles behind their gripes, which are complaints about the federal government collecting money for the use of land owned by the government.These men and other militia affiliated groups have tried to argue that the government cannot own the land in question, and that they should be allowed to raise profit-making livestock on it without paying anyone.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
3,271 | Starbucks, Univision, Democracy Works aim to boost U.S. voter turnout | (Reuters) - Democracy Works Inc, a non-partisan, non-profit group trying to encourage more Americans to take part in elections, said on Wednesday it is joining forces with Starbucks Corp, Spanish-language television network Univision and others in an attempt to boost U.S. voter turnout to 80 percent by 2020. The project, called the TurboVote Challenge, comes during one of the most contentious and unpredictable U.S. presidential races in many years, marked by strong participation in both Republican and Democratic primary elections and caucuses. Democracy Works, which aims to create “a more representative and inclusive democracy,” said voter turnout had not been above 80 percent since 1888. An estimated 57.5 percent of eligible citizens voted in the 2012 presidential election, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The project’s other founding partners include lodging web service Airbnb, Arizona State University, the Fusion TV network, ride-sharing company Lyft, news company Mic, online music service Spotify, email newsletter theSkimm, retailer Target Corp, mall operator Westfield Corp, shared workspace provider WeWork and the Video Game Voters Network. The parties will promote voter registration and encourage participation in local and national elections, among other things. Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz, who previously has weighed in on U.S. politics, government gridlock and social issues, said the dysfunction and polarization he first spoke about two years ago has only worsened. “We must do everything we can to reclaim and reimagine the American dream,” Schultz said at Starbucks’ annual meeting in Seattle on Wednesday. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos made headlines this political season for being one of the first high-profile journalists to publicly challenge Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. “Univision is committed to informing and empowering Hispanic, millennial and multicultural audiences to reach their full potential in the United States,” Univision Chief Executive Randy Falco said in a statement. | 1 |
3,272 | JUDICIAL WATCH INVESTIGATOR: Here’s why we’re becoming a ‘FAILED STATE’ [Video] | Chris Farrell is the Judicial Watch Director of Investigations who let it rip last night on the direction America is going in. Lou Dobbs got an earful from Farrell who discussed the paralyzed Justice Department:FARRELL LET IT RIP: It s really a giant socialist organ operating that protests itself. Offense after offense and you find laws are for the little people. The Clinton gang walks away. People say, Hey where s the Department of Justice investigation? Where s the FBI? Half the time they re complicit.FARRELL CONTINUED: The people with direct firsthand knowledge, they re the ones who kept their mouths shut for years. This is evidence that we are becoming a failed state. And I m not exaggerating when I say that. When the entire Justice Department is paralyzed. When the entire Justice Department is compromised when there is no investigations. There s these make-believe congressional hearings that are nothing more than soundbites.He s spot on about everything! Is anyone else out there sick to death of the congressional hearings that just give the Democrats a chance to create soundbites for the news? They get nothing accomplished at these hearings that really have become useless. Why not interview people without all the cameras? Having the cameras there just makes it a sideshow with drama queens like Al Franken.Farrell s assessment of the Justice Department and other agencies like the FBI couldn t be more spot on. They are compromised therefore paralyzed into inaction. | 0 |
3,273 | GOP’s ANTI-COP CANDIDATE? Video Shows JOHN KASICH Calling Police Officer “An IDIOT” For Enforcing The Law | The one-state wonder sides with the Left on a number of issues from his views on gay marriage, his flip-flopping on gun control to his support for Communist Common Core. Sheriff Clarke has now unearthed a video showing us the anti-cop side of Governor John Katich.Most of us have been pulled over by law enforcement and many of us have been frustrated after receiving a ticket we didn t think we deserved. We re not all governor s however, and we don t stand up in front of a crowd where we likely have some influence, and call law enforcement officers idiots. Too bad this video wasn t exposed before he narrowly won his home state of Ohio. Have you ever been stopped by a police officer that s an idiot? He s an idiot! You just can t act that way. And what people resent is people who are in the government who don t treat the client (client?) with respect. Who knew that the person being pulled over by the police for potentially breaking the law is considered a client? Here is the original Tweet from the awesome Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke:https://t.co/LXDIrZtj3r @JohnKasich is anti gun and anti cop and people,say Trump is not conservative? Seriously? https://t.co/IHR5wLWIev David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) March 17, 2016 | 0 |
3,274 | WATCH: TRANS ARTIST DEMONSTRATES How She Collected 200 Gallons Of Pee To Make Resist Trump “Art” While Crowd Watches | So much hate. So much anger. So much time on their hands. But oh yeah Trump s the one the left just doesn t get A trans artist has turned 200 gallons of her urine into an art exhibit to protest against President Trump.A Vice News video shows artist Cassils, who goes by the pronoun they, preparing for their Monumental art exhibit that allegedly takes aim at President Trump rescinding former President Obama s rule on trans bathrooms. The Obama administration rule had mandated schools allow trans students to choose the bathroom they prefer to use instead of using one based on their anatomy. Under the Trump administration s new guidance, the states can choose their own bathroom policies.According to Cassils website, the PISSED sculpture of the Monumental exhibit involves all of the urine Cassils has passed since the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era policy. Audio from the Gavin Grimm case is also played in the background.***WARNING***This video can t be unseen.Via MRCTVFor anyone who s interested the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York City, that proudly features Resist Trump artwork will be displaying and promoting the trans artist and her giant cube of pee in their gallery. Here are just a few screenshots promoting they s work on their Facebook page : | 0 |
3,275 | HOLLYWOOD ‘HAS BEEN’ HYPOCRITE Danny DeVito Tells America: “We Are A Bunch Of Racists” [VIDEO] | If you can t get an acting role in Hollywood, you might want to grab a microphone and make an asinine statement. 15 seconds of fame progressive propaganda is apparently better than no fame all A quick look at DeVito s producer credits reveals that he is speaking primarily for himself. This is an individual with the actual power to cast black actors, make black films, and instead goes the full-whitey.DeVito even co-opted the Civil Rights-era Freedom Riders to make a white bread movie called Freedom Writers where the top four actors are white and the patronizing story is about whitey swooping in to save poor minority kids.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
3,276 | U.S. House committee 'may reconsider' WHO cancer agency funds | LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional committee members warned on Friday that Washington’s funding of the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency could be halted unless it is more open about its operations. In a letter to the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - a semi-autonomous unit of the WHO - the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology (SST) Committee warned it “may reconsider U.S. taxpayer funding” if IARC “does not demonstrate transparency”. No-one at IARC, which is based in Lyon, France, was immediately available to comment. Since 1985, IARC has received more than $48 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, $22 million of which has gone to IARC’s “monograph” program, which assesses whether various substances can cause cancer in people. Friday’s letter is the latest twist in an ongoing feud between IARC and two congressional committees. They began an investigation in 2016 after a number of IARC’s assessments - that substances as diverse as coffee, mobile phones and processed meat cause cancer - sparked controversy. The lawmakers said their concerns were also fueled by the cancer agency’s review of glyphosate, the primary ingredient of Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup. A Reuters investigation in October found that a draft of a key section of IARC’s assessment of glyphosate underwent significant changes before the report was made public. In their letter, SST Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, Vice Chairman Frank Lucas, and Chairman of the Environment Subcommittee, Andy Biggs, repeated an earlier request to IARC’s director, Christopher Wild, to provide potential witnesses for a hearing before their committee. “If IARC does not provide a full response to the request for potential witnesses, the committee will consider whether the values of scientific integrity and transparency are reflected in IARC Monographs and if future expenditures of federal taxpayer dollars to this end need to continue,” they wrote. Smith and Biggs had last month written to Wild asking him for more information about IARC’s operations and a list of potential witnesses for a hearing. Wild responded in a letter on Nov. 20 in which he defended IARC’s monographs as “consensus evaluations developed by working groups of independent experts, free from vested interests”. He declined to provide a list of potential witnesses for the hearing, but said Smith and Biggs would be welcome to visit IARC and question him and his staff. In Friday’s letter, the lawmakers said their concerns about IARC were of a “serious nature” and “should not be disregarded by IARC”. They asked Wild to respond by Dec. 15. | 1 |
3,277 | UK's Johnson opposes adopting any new EU rules during Brexit transition | LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson will oppose any move to adopt European Union regulations made after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported, risking reigniting divisions over Brexit. Johnson, who campaigned to leave the EU in last year s referendum, is one of Britain s highest-profile politicians and seen as a possible replacement for Prime Minister Theresa May. On Friday, he praised a speech by May in which she set out her plan for a roughly two-year transition period after Brexit. But the Telegraph reported that Johnson had set out a new set of demands, reviving talk of a split among May s senior ministers which has the potential to destabilize her minority government. Boris will be one of those Cabinet ministers pushing to make sure we don t have any new EU rules and regulations during the transition, a cabinet source was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Johnson had fueled talk of a leadership challenge ahead of May s speech by publishing his own 4,000-word plan for Brexit which was seen as a criticism of May s more cautious approach. May s transition plan, set out in the Italian city of Florence in a speech that sought to break an impasse in negotiations with the EU, underlined the importance of regulation to the future economic relationship with the bloc. She highlighted the fact that Britain and the EU start with identical regulatory standards and said she wanted a practical approach to regulation that enables us to continue to work together in bringing shared prosperity to our peoples . She did not say whether she thought EU regulations passed during the transition period would be matched by Britain but said, on EU law, that British courts would be able to take European Courts of Justice rulings into account. May s Brexit minister David Davis said he did expect British and EU regulations to diverge over time after Brexit. | 1 |
3,278 | Trump: Cerberus CEO offered services, hopes he not needed for intel review | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he hopes he will not have to bring in an outside adviser to review the structure of U.S. intelligence agencies. “I hope that we’ll be able to straighten that out without using anybody else,” Trump said at a press conference. Trump said Stephen Feinberg, the chief executive of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management [CBS.UL], had offered his services, but he did not think he would be needed. | 1 |
3,279 | GOP Billionaire Issues HARSH Message To Congress: Impeach Or I’m Done | A billionaire GOP donor is fed up with Donald Trump and he s fed up with Republicans in Congress who refuse to do anything about Trump. Now he has a very strongly worded message for Congress he wants them to do something about the monster in the White House or he ll stop writing them checks. In fact, it might be too late.Florida Cuban-American billionaire Mike Fernandez is disgusted by Trump and in an interview posted on Thursday by Politico, he expressed (shall we say) frustration at Republicans who balls to impeach Trump. All the Republicans who hide behind the flag and hide behind the church, they don t have the f balls to do what it takes, Fernandez told POLITICO Florida in a telephone interview on Thursday.Fernandez has long been a huge supporter of Republicans, especially at the state level in Florida. He supported Mitt Romney, Florida Governor Rick Scott, Jeb Bush and several others, but he s no longer a Republican because of Trump. In 2016, he spent $3.5 million in an effort to defeat Trump. I am out of the political process. Too disgusted, too expensive, too supportive of ego maniacs whose words have the value of quicksand, he wrote in an email to a Republican fundraiser seeking political contributions. It is demoralizing to me to see adults worshipping a false idol. I can t continue to write checks for anyone, he said. I know what it s like to lose a country. It gets worse. Fernandez called Trump one of the worst words in the English language for forced-birth Republicans. He called Trump an abortion of a human being. If I was the doctor and knew what that baby would do, I d have made sure it never would have seen the light of day, he said of the president.The most interesting thing about all of this is that this might be what it takes for Republicans to wake up. Face it, they aren t going to grow a set of balls (to paraphrase Fernandez) any time in the near future, but they will be terrified of losing their donor base.Billionaires, more than anyone, care about how our country is perceived on the world stage. Chaos means market uncertainty, which is never a good thing for the moneyed class. If Trump continues down his current path, he will soon start losing the confidence of the GOP donor base. If Congress doesn t do something about him, look for all of the Trump sycophant members of Congress to be primaried, by the people who have all the money.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
3,280 | WATCH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S MOST SAVAGE MOMENTS….Plus Our Favorite! [Video] | Here s a compilation of President Trump s most savage moments and we mean that in the best possible way! We love his honestly and his ability to fearlessly take anyone down. Wolf Blitzer has been a target many times but we have just one we really like that we posted below these videos:Enjoy!BEST COMEBACKS:WOLF BLITZER GETS THE SAVAGE TREATMENT | 0 |
3,281 | How to rebuild Puerto Rico: Rubio asks Trump to call in experts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Marco Rubio said on Thursday he has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to create a high-level task force to provide ideas and advice for helping Puerto Rico to rebuild after Hurricane Maria, and that the president was receptive to the idea. Rubio, a Republican from Florida who has been deeply involved in discussions over the response, told Reuters that the task force could be a sounding board for Trump “as we move beyond the initial recovery phase to the broader long-term recovery phase.” Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico three weeks ago, killing at least 43 people and leaving much of the Caribbean island, a U.S. territory, without electricity or safe drinking water. Disaster costs are expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars. Prior to the hurricane, Puerto Rico was already struggling with $72 billion in debt, a flight of residents to the U.S. mainland and aging infrastructure, including a decrepit power grid that was incapacitated by the storm. Rubio said he suggested forming an advisory group during a conversation with Trump on Sunday. “He was asking me, ‘What do we need to do next?’” Rubio told Reuters. “My argument to him was, I have some ideas, but there are people who have even more, better ones, because they live or lived in Puerto Rico, they understand its politics, its economics, its pre-existing challenges and its long-term opportunities,” he said. “He seemed to like the idea, and said they would follow up and see what that would look like,” Rubio said. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the discussions. Trump came under fire on Thursday for a series of tweets about the island’s economic problems. He said federal responders could not stay in the territory “forever.” Rubio said federal responders would likely be on the island longer than during a “conventional” disaster on the mainland but agreed they would not be there forever. “I’m not sure the timing is ideal given the fact that they’re in the midst of this challenge that continues to evolve,” he said. Rubio, who visited Puerto Rico on Sept. 25 to survey hurricane damage, said he was confident the island would get the help it needs in the short term through emergency legislation. “The bigger concern is in the long term,” he told Reuters in a 30-minute telephone interview as the House of Representatives moved ahead with a $4.9 billion loan for Puerto Rico as well as billions more in disaster relief. The House easily passed the bill, with the Senate expected to do so later month and send it to Trump for signing into law. Puerto Rico’s economy ground to a halt in the storm. Its government is poised to run out of money for payroll and essential services at the end of October. That left Congress with little choice but to help fill the gap, Rubio said. “Businesses aren’t functioning, taxpayers aren’t generating any sort of revenue or income to be paid to their coffers, so yeah, I think there’s a big question about whether that’s a loan that will ever be repaid. But what’s the alternative?” he said. Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, also has asked for $4.6 billion in block grants and other types of funding. The White House is looking at how to address the long-term needs, including how to rebuild the power grid. The lack of electricity has been the biggest problem for Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents. “They’re basically three weeks now living in the 19th century,” Rubio said. Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, are likely to continue to flee to the mainland United States unless conditions improve, with Florida one of their top destinations. Rubio said it is up to the oversight board charged with resolving Puerto Rico’s debt crisis to determine how to address the island’s debt, noting that private debt owed to investors with legal recourse cannot simply be “forgiven” by the federal government. “I don’t think there’s going to be a federal bailout in which billions of dollars are spent to bail out Puerto Rico. Quite frankly I’ve never had anyone in Puerto Rico’s government ask for that,” Rubio said. The island is also running out of money for Medicaid, the U.S. health insurance program for the poor, which about half its residents counted on even before the storm threw many people out of work. The exodus to the mainland could accelerate unless the perennial funding gap is addressed, Rubio said. In the meantime, he said he thinks Congress will find money to help Puerto Rico avert the cliff. On healthcare and many other structural issues, the hurricane could be the turning point “for better, or for worse,” Rubio said. The nation could “rally” to focus on Puerto Rico’s long-neglected economic problems. “Or it could be one of those moments when you have this horrible storm and it took so long that things never really got better, and a lot of people left and never came back,” he said. | 1 |
3,282 | 37 Mental Health Workers Are BEGGING Congress To Impeach Trump | It s been a very, very bad day for the newly elected Donald Trump administration. First, amid revelations of Russian connections, his National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign. Now, others may soon follow, but it s the big guy himself that has mental health professionals concerned and in an open letter in the New York Times, they begged that Congress and the media do something about it.The 37 mental health professionals, ranging from social workers to psychologists and psychiatrists have all violated the ethical code called the Goldwater Rule, which is a self-imposed ban on diagnosing public officials. Frankly, though, there hasn t been such a high-level politician who s been putting us in as much danger as Trump is (at least not since the resignation of Richard M. Nixon), so they felt it was time to speak out.While the letter doesn t diagnose Trump with a specific mental illness (like malignant narcissism), they are more generally concerned with Trump s delusions of grandeur.Mr. Trump s speech and actions demonstrate an inability to tolerate views different from his own, leading to rage reactions. His words and behavior suggest a profound inability to empathize. Individuals with these traits distort reality to suit their psychological state, attacking facts and those who convey them (journalists, scientists).In a powerful leader, these attacks are likely to increase, as his personal myth of greatness appears to be confirmed. We believe that the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president.Others have gone even further.In a bid to warn the public, psychologists are publishing their diagnoses of Trump. Most recently, John D. Gartner said Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president. He believes Trump shows signs of malignant narcissism, which is defined as a mix of narcissism, antisocial personality disorder, aggression and sadism in Campbells Psychiatric Dictionary.In December, three psychiatry professors wrote to President Obama, calling Trump mentally unstable. His widely reported symptoms of mental instability including grandiosity, impulsivity, hypersensitivity to slights or criticism, and an apparent inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality lead us to question his fitness for the immense responsibilities of the office, the professors from Harvard Medical School and the University of California wrote to the then President, urging him to order a full medical and neuropsychiatric evaluation of the then President-elect.Unfortunately, Obama, who was probably aware that Trump was mentally unfit, had no legal recourse to do anything. Trump, however, is a clear and present danger to our country. His refusal to accept even the tiniest amount of dissent, his business conflicts and his Russian associations make it too dangerous for him to remain in office for another day. Unfortunately, we have a Republican Congress that puts party before country. They d rather see it burn down than to damage their mission of complete corporate reign.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images. | 0 |
3,283 | Donald Trump Jr Tweets Unintentionally Humiliating Photo, Blocks People Who Mock Him | Donald Trump Jr gets more from his dad than just his name, of all the Trump kids, Don seems to be most obsessed with appearing macho. Unfortunately, it never works out for him. And even worse, when he faces the inevitable mockery for his hamfisted attempts to appear tough, his first response is to hide.Twitter got to see a perfect example of this on Saturday, after Don Jr. thought he d take a dig at the mainstream media and walked right into a pretty hilarious self-own. Donald Trump Jr., hot off of tweeting that his critics were triggered, got triggered himself after posting this tweet onto his social media account:I'm going to have to buy 5-10,000 of these to pass around to our buddies in the #MSM. In the meantime I'll model it for them?. #yourewelcome pic.twitter.com/Hnn3Z5Pspm Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 15, 2017Any normal person would look at this picture and go please delete this and never show it to another human being. Everything about it was sad. The weird thumbs up. The pained expression on his face that was presumably supposed to signal toughness. The shirt oh god, the shirt. Instead of deleting the photo in shame, Don tweeted it with an equally embarrassing caption.Playing into his father s rabid base of right-wing fanatics, Don promised to send 10,000 shirts reading Very Fake News to his friends in the mainstream media. Like the rest of the Trump family, Don hates the media because they have repeatedly debunked Trump s lies. Don has retreated into his own conservative bubble, recently praising a pro-rape white nationalist blogger named Mike Cernovich, suggesting the conspiracy theorist deserves a Pulitzer.But Don couldn t take it after he dished it. Soon after tweeting, he started facing relentless mockery.@DonaldJTrumpJr HAHAHA LOL !!! LMAO #gotem ? christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 15, 2017pic.twitter.com/ZSVbu5GXT6 Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 15, 2017@DonaldJTrumpJr it is a very nice shirt pic.twitter.com/1DmgXGVYzx Matt Binder (@MattBinder) April 15, 2017What a monumental embarrassment. https://t.co/QVh8Kv71k2 Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) April 15, 2017@ditzkoff God he is such a tool!!!!!!!!! Omg Can you imagine being so oblivious to what an idiot you are. andy lassner (@andylassner) April 15, 2017Donald Trump Jr doesn t handle getting made fun of well. The last message in particular must have stung, because he blocked Andy Lassner, which Lassner discovered when he tried to go to Don s Twitter page.Oh for fuck's sake pic.twitter.com/TjA6YLlmAn andy lassner (@andylassner) April 15, 2017Donald Trump Jr is obsessed with blocking people who make fun of him, while still pretending he s a tough guy.Apparently, Donald J Trump Jr has me blocked! ? #lifegoals TRUMP DRINKS PISS! (@JamesJJacksonJr) April 14, 2017Donald Trump Jr. blocked me! I must have said the right thing. Good Witch of Emma (@joan_moon) April 1, 2017@AltUSPressSec @DonaldJTrumpJr Oh, Junior blocked me. Tsk tsk. (Ab)Cynthia (@Ab_Synthia) April 15, 2017Unfortunately he may have inadvertently started a movement. People are now actively trying to burn Don so bad that he blocks them, too.@andylassner I clearly have some work to do. Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) April 15, 2017Goals @DonaldJTrumpJr block me https://t.co/wIiyqYNCSh Mycol Wever (@Mycolw12) April 15, 2017I think it s safe to say that Donald Trump Jr spent this Easter weekend, to use his phrase, extremely triggered.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
3,284 | FBI Agent Indicted In Killing of Lavoy Finicum, Hires High-Profile DC Lawyer | 21st Century Wire says Back in January of 2016, 21WIRE reported how the Oregon Standoff protesters convoy was intercepted in a ambush by federal forces, and how Lavoy Finicum was executed by a rogue agent. The mainstream media was silent. Running point on the government s propaganda campaign was the Oregonian newspaper s supposed award-winning reporter Les Zaitz who shamefully referred to the planned federal ambush as a traffic stop. As it turns out the mainstream media was completely wrong while we were right. This was an elaborate federally managed cover-up from the beginning.21WIRE reported at the time the obvious contradiction; without any audio track to synch with the FBI s aerial footage it was impossible to know when shots were fired and if the official story was actually true. As part of the federal cover-up, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Greg Bretzing, insisted that their footage provided an honest and unfiltered view of what happened. It wasn t and new evidence told a completely different story, exposing the official story as a lie from the onset.Finicum was shot three times in the back An autopsy revealed with one of the bullets piercing Finicum s heart.The obvious problem with how these latest legal proceedings are being framed is this: Finicum is execute with three shots to the back after a pre-planned federal ambush, while the hired federal gunman who pulled the trigger is indicted for lying. Will his family and friends get justice this time around? EXECUTED:Robert LaVoy Finicum (January 27, 1961 January 26, 2016) Conrad Wilson OPDThe FBI agent indicted for allegedly lying about a pivotal moment during the 2016 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation has hired a high-profile Washington D.C.-based attorney to defend him.Indicted FBI Hostage Rescue Team member W. Joseph Astarita has retained Robert Cary, who is well known in the nation s capital for his defense of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.In 2008, the Department of Justice indicted the Republican senator on corruption charges. Years later, the case was dismissed and found to be an example of gross prosecutorial misconduct. If what happened to Sen. Ted Stevens, a powerful Senator a few blocks from the Supreme Court of the United States, a few blocks from the United States Capitol if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody, Cary said in a 2015 speech to an American Bar Association gathering.Cary will serve as co-counsel in the Astarita case with Portland based attorneys David Angeli and Tyler Francis, according to Angeli.Federal prosecutors have accused Astarita of lying to investigators about firing his gun during a traffic stop that left Malhuer occupation leader Robert LaVoy Finicum dead.Though neither of Astarita s shots hit Finicum, prosecutors have charged the FBI agent with several felonies for allegedly failing to disclose them. Those charges include making false statements and obstruction of justice Continue this story at OPDREAD MORE BUNDY RANCH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Bundy FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
3,285 | Vice President Biden chides Turkey over freedom of expression | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday that Turkey, once vaunted by Washington as a model of Islamic democracy, was setting a poor example for the region in intimidating media, curtailing internet freedom and accusing academics of treason. On a two-day visit to the NATO ally, part of the U.S.-led alliance against Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, Biden said the strength of Turkey’s democracy had a direct impact on its ties with the United States. Turkey is a vital partner for both Washington and Europe in efforts to combat Islamic State, end Syria’s civil war, and curb the flow of migrants and refugees. Opponents of the government have accused the West in the past of pulling its punches over the country’s human rights record as a result. “The more Turkey succeeds, the stronger the message sent to the entire Middle East and parts of the world who are only beginning to grapple with the notion of freedom,” Biden said, flanked by members of Turkish civil society groups. “But when the media are intimidated or imprisoned for critical reporting, when internet freedom is curtailed and social media sites...are shut down and more than 1,000 academics are accused of treason simply by signing a petition, that’s not the kind of example that needs to be set,” he told reporters. Turkey was cited by Washington as an example for the Middle East of a functioning Islamic democracy in the early years of then prime minister Tayyip Erdogan’s rule. More recently, reforms have faltered and Erdogan, now president, has demonstrated a more authoritarian style. Last week, he denounced as “dark, nefarious and brutal” more than 1,000 signatories, including U.S. academic Noam Chomsky, of a declaration that criticised Turkish military action in the largely Kurdish southeast. Security forces briefly detained 27 academics on accusations of terrorist propaganda. Dozens face investigation by their universities. Biden met members of the Turkish parliament from the ruling AK Party, the secularist opposition CHP and the pro-Kurdish HDP, largely to discuss the southeast. Biden, who laid roses at the site of a suicide bombing blamed on Islamic State that killed 10 German tourists last week, will meet Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday. Talks are expected to focus on Syrian border security and the role of Syrian Kurdish fighters, backed by Washington in the campaign against Islamic State. Turkey fears their advances will fuel separatist sentiment among its own Kurds. Turkish media reports said Biden also met the wife and son of jailed journalist Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper, arrested in November over the publication of footage purporting to show the state intelligence agency helping send weapons to Syria. He also met prominent journalists fired over the past year following critical coverage of Erdogan and the government. The government says journalists are held for promoting terrorism or for anti-state activities, not their journalism. It denies intimidating media bosses, many of whose parent companies hold lucrative government contracts in other areas of industry. “If you do not have the ability to express your own opinion, to criticise policy, offer competing ideas without fear of intimidation or retribution, then your country is being robbed of opportunity,” Biden said. | 1 |
3,286 | Austrian president to insist on pro-EU government after election | VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will insist that the coalition government formed after next month s parliamentary election should be pro-European, he said on Tuesday, but he stopped short of saying that ruled out the far-right. Van der Bellen, a former Greens leader, ran on a pro-European Union platform and beat an opponent from the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) in last year s presidential election. As head of state, he is mainly a figurehead but he does have the power to appoint and dismiss governments. The eurosceptic FPO initially cheered Britain s vote last year to leave the European Union but has since watered down its criticism of the bloc as polls have shown that a clear majority of Austrians want their country to remain a member. I will ensure after the election that the new government, whatever its composition, does not lose sight of one thing: Austria should also in the future be a country at the heart of Europe, at the heart of the European Union, Van der Bellen said in a speech to the nation ahead of the Oct. 15 vote. Van der Bellen has said he would aim to prevent FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache from becoming chancellor if the anti-immigration party won the election. That outcome appears increasingly unlikely as polls show the conservative People s Party (OVP) led by Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has a significant lead, with Chancellor Christian Kern s Social Democrats (SPO) or the FPO in second place. The SPO and OVP have dominated post-war politics and are in coalition together, but tensions between them have grown, making it more likely the election winner will turn to the FPO to obtain a parliamentary majority and form a government. In his address, Van der Bellen called on Austrians to inform themselves on political parties and their policies and to shun short-term thinking. He also said parties should avoid clashing so fiercely that they could not hold talks after the election. When asked after his speech if he would prevent the FPO from entering government, he did not give a direct answer. I have always said clearly, and I stand by it and I think I have also made clear today, that I place the greatest importance on Austria having a pro-European government, he said. | 1 |
3,287 | Instant View: House approves biggest tax overhaul in 30 years, Senate next | (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved sweeping, debt-financed tax legislation on Tuesday, sending the bill to the Senate, where lawmakers were due to take up the package later in the evening. Story: The biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system in more than 30 years could be signed into law by President Donald Trump as soon as Wednesday, if both chambers of Congress approve it. The bill passed the House by a vote of 227-203, overcoming united opposition from Democrats and 12 Republicans who voted against it. “The bond market today is reassessing the whole thing now that it looks like it’s going to pass. We’ve had a pretty significant rise in yields - we’re back up close to the highs for the quarter. “Stocks on the other hand have been in front of this for a long time, I think initially because lower taxes means more earnings are retained and then companies can distribute those to shareholders or not. But either way, it’s likely to be beneficial to stock prices.” JACK ABLIN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, BMO PRIVATE BANK, CHICAGO “The tax rate we’ve certainly priced in (in stocks), though I certainly expected smallcaps to do a little bit better coming into this vote. What I think is not priced in yet is the economic impact of the incentives. It still remains to be seen what businesses will actually do. Will they buy equipment, invest in technology, hire more workers?” “The assumption right now is financial engineering, buybacks, dividend increases, is where the incentives will go. Redeploying cash, recapitalizing balance sheets, maybe debt repayment.” “I do think there’s a fair amount of skepticism these benefits will ultimately result in expansions. I’m getting a sense investors are pricing in the one-time tax pop, we’ll see if there’s any follow through next year.” On the rise in Treasury yields: “It’s been a monetary policy-led expansion, now we get a fiscal boost and some may be concerned (that) the boost on the fiscal side (may) be offset by monetary tightening. “The big question (for the dollar) is how other central banks will respond to this (U.S.) fiscal stimulus package. That’s probably what’s weighing on investors’ minds right now - celebrating the tax package but recognizing that what central banks have given us in the last years they could begin to take away.” JIM PAULSEN, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, THE LEUTHOLD GROUP, MINNEAPOLIS “As we look back on this a little bit, I really think it might be buy the rumor sell the news. Wall Street has had long enough to vet this thing. And it has been known for a long time that something was going to pass here, at least for the last 30, 45 days. Whether it was going to be 21 percent rate or 20 percent rate is not that significant. It’s more the general parts of it were pretty much known and vetted and I think implemented into the market... If you look at the relative performance in the market today, it’s fairly clearly more of a shot towards better economic growth or even inflation... I think the biggest move today of anything is bond yields. That’s the big story.” AARON KOHLI, INTEREST RATE STRATEGIST, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS, NEW YORK “They seem to have locked up all the necessary votes... I think the markets are still trying to figure out how much should we expect, will people react right away, what will be the second order effects? “There are a lot of questions that still haven’t answered. The first one is, assuming it goes into effect Jan. 1, when is the first time people start seeing any changes in their pay checks? And the answer is it could be a couple of months. Even then for most of middle America you aren’t going to see the savings until tax time, which means you may not see it until April 2019. I’m not sure that’s early enough to help midterms and I think that’s really where the markets’ are going to start to focus next. How do we handicap what it does for Republicans in the midterms? Does it help them? Does it do nothing for them? Or it may even hurt them.” BRIAN PEERY, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, HENNESSY FUNDS IN NOVATO, CALIFORNIA “The market is taking kind of a breather, digesting the news. The market is off a little bit, maybe because the bill is not as popular as the GOP hoped it would be in the public opinion. The overall market looks still really strong and healthy.” “Looking at companies in our portfolio, (the tax bill) will be great for domestic small- and mid-cap companies paying a 30, 35 percent effective tax rate. A lot of them do not have the ability to move profits offshore... I’ll wait and see how much, but I can see another 5 percent rise (in the market) in the next few months as the tax bill kicks in.” ALICIA LEVINE, DIRECTOR OF PORTFOLIO STRATEGY AT BNY MELLON INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, NEW YORK: “The effects of the tax cuts will be immediately accretive to corporate earnings which will support equity markets. Also, the tax package will be positive for growth in the real economy. “The tax cuts add $10 to baseline S&P earnings for 2018 putting 2018 expected earnings at $156 or a 19 percent growth rate over 2017 earnings... This is supportive of equity markets; sectors to focus on would be small caps, value and financials.” PAUL NOLTE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AT KINGSVIEW ASSET MANAGEMENT IN CHICAGO: “It’s pretty much along party lines. The takeaway is more buy the rumor, sell the news. The market has been rallying over the last week or so in anticipation of this vote. We’re (now) going to be looking toward the government funding bill.” “It’s going to take time to see how the general population reacts to it (tax). The expectation is companies are going to bring back a lot of dollars back to the United States and put it into plant and equipment. It very well may go into stock buybacks and dividend increases. There’s no certainty we’re going to get the promised economic gain everybody’s been talking about.” CHUCK CARLSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, HORIZON INVESTMENT SERVICES, HAMMOND, INDIANA “I think the market had been pretty well expecting this. I don’t think there’s any ... surprise here to the market. The momentum had been pretty strong in the last two weeks in terms of getting this done, and I think the market has pretty well anticipated getting it done.” “You may see some reactions going forward in certain sectors and subcategories. Maybe you see smallcaps pick up a little bit more. Maybe you see the transports, which have lagged large caps, start to do a little bit better. But in the main, the market had already been factoring this in.” “It has a lot of potential ramifications. It’s going to certainly play a role in the midterm elections next year, and people are going to have some time to try to evaluate whether their plight in life is better because of it before they go to the voting booth next year. So from a political standpoint it has impact.” OMAIR SHARIF, SENIOR U.S. ECONOMIST, SOCIETE GENERALE, NEW YORK “This seems like it’s a done deal especially if Corker and Collins end up on board on the Senate side. They will get across the finish line by Christmas after moving the goal post a number of times. “I think for more than a few days now, this was likely going to pass. This has been baked in the cake with the markets. They have been expecting this for a long time. It’s a few days before Christmas, so trading is quite thin. I wouldn’t read too much into any market reaction. The real telling thing for this is the second half of next year, whether this actually lifts growth above 3 percent on any sustained basis on capital spending and consumer spending. It’s more a political achievement than an economic achievement.” Stocks trimmed losses slightly, but then dipped back. The S&P 500 Index was last down 0.3 percent. Treasury yields hovered near session highs and the dollar held its gains against the yen. | 1 |
3,288 | Trump Just Closed The Office That Coordinates Russia Sanctions | With Donald Trump late on implementing the new sanctions against Russia, he knew he had to spring into actions. Did he do his job? No. Did he implement the sanctions like a big boy? Nope. What he did was close the office that coordinates said sanctions. Foreign Policy reports:Secretary of State Rex Tillerson eliminated the Coordinator for Sanctions Policy office, which had been led by a veteran ambassador-rank diplomat with at least five staff, as part of an overhaul of the department, former diplomats and congressional sources told Foreign Policy.Instead, the role of coordinating U.S. sanctions across the State Department and other government agencies now falls to just one mid-level official David Tessler, the deputy director of the Policy Planning Office. The Policy Planning Office, which previously operated as a small team providing strategic advice to the secretary but did not manage programs or initiatives, has grown in power under Tillerson s redesign of the department.While the sanctions office was dissolved, the administration missed a key Oct. 1 deadline to implement new penalties against Russia adopted by Congress in August. The move reinforced concerns among both Democratic and Republican lawmakers that the Trump White House is mismanaging the State Department and undercutting the role of U.S. diplomacy.While the administration had time to create chaos by eliminating the sanctions office, they for some reason could not expend the effort to actually enforce the sanctions, which have been repeatedly condemned by Donald Trump.Interesting stuff, that.Featured image via Getty Images/Alex Wong | 0 |
3,289 | Bill O’Reilly Appears ‘Stumble Drunk’ As He Tries To Interview Candidates After The GOP Debate (VIDEO/TWEETS) | Fox News veteran Bill O Reilly is being slaughtered on Twitter today for appearing stumble drunk as he attempted to interview the candidates after Thursday night s GOP debate.Reviewing the footage, it is clear that O Reilly appears to be tired and emotional, tripping over words and making many long and uncomfortable pauses as he gazes off into the middle distance. Patton Oswald took to Twitter to accuse the host of being drunk.Holy shit. I want to turn away but Bill O'Reilly is TRUMAN CAPOTE TALKSHOW DRUNK. #wow Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) March 4, 2016But a quick search of Twitter reveals that Oswalt was far from the only viewer that found O Reilly s performance somewhat suspicious. During an interview with Ted Cruz, O Reilly had particular trouble attempting to pronounce words of more than two syllables.@SamSeder Why on earth do you think O'Reilly is drunk? pic.twitter.com/41Flj5J9bn Kram Otrop (@mark_esque) March 4, 2016And during an interview with Donald Trump, O Reilly seemed barely able to keep his eyes focussed, or stand up straight.So sociable that Trump pic.twitter.com/wZBabwcPhN Brownette (@beach41st) March 4, 2016John Ross Bowie drew an amusing comparison to this moment below @wilw @pattonoswalt O'Reilly stumble drunk is the only way this could be sadder. Gerry Duggan (@GerryDuggan) March 4, 2016The host also seemed, at one stage, to be incapable of remembering the name of his own show.Is this how Bill O'Reilly always sounds or did the #GOPDebate go a bit too long? https://t.co/pdqIEwsM9y Alex Konrad (@alexrkonrad) March 4, 2016It did also appear that O Reilly was ready to break into song. Perhaps a lament at the demise of his beloved Republican Party?Bill O'Reilly just almost shouted "Live from NY it's Saturday night" https://t.co/lZNw6uunwA Alex Konrad (@alexrkonrad) March 4, 2016Whether O Reilly was over-tired, or simply hammered it s hard to blame him considering the car crash that is unfolding within the GOP. Both the front runners are radical extremists. On the one hand, the old-style vainglorious authoritarian Donald Trump who has all but won the nomination. And his nearest rival, the fire and brimstone creationist theocrat Ted Cruz who would be every bit as dangerous were he to gain access to the White House.The whole election cycle has descended into a playground brawl amongst toddler tyrants. A gang of extremists so far beyond the pale that Mitt Romney is being wheeled out as a moderate.If O Reilly is drinking, we find it hard to blame him. Someone has to toast the end of the Republican Party.Featured Image via Screengrab | 0 |
3,290 | Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Sept 22) - North Korea, Ads on Facebook, Luther Strange | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as “the Republican who saved ObamaCare.” [0619 EDT] - Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before! [0628 EDT] - The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? [0644 EDT] - The greatest influence over our election was the Fake News Media “screaming” for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Next, she was a bad candidate! [0726 EDT] - Will be in Alabama tonight. Luther Strange has gained mightily since my endorsement, but will be very close. He loves Alabama, and so do I! [0739 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 1 |
3,291 | U.S.-backed militias say they take major Raqqa position from ISIS | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has taken the National Hospital in Raqqa, one of Islamic State s last remaining bastions in its former Syrian capital, a militia spokesman said on Tuesday. The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, is now fighting Islamic State in the area around Raqqa stadium, said the spokesman Mostafa Bali in a message. During these clashes, the National Hospital was liberated and cleared from the Daesh mercenaries, and 22 of these foreign mercenaries were killed there, said Bali. The stadium is the last major position held by Islamic State after four months of battle in Raqqa and the departure of some of its fighters under a deal on Sunday, leaving only foreign jihadists. Islamic State has lost swathes of its territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession Mosul, and in Syria it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding areas of desert. The SDF has been supported by a U.S.-led international coalition with air strikes and special forces operating on the ground since it started the fight for Raqqa in early June. | 1 |
3,292 | BREAKING: FBI Suspects Jared Kushner Of Being A Russian Stooge (DETAILS) | It was recently reported that someone within the highest ranks of the Trump White House was being looked at in the Trump-Russia investigation. Now, NBC News is reporting that it is indeed Donald Trump s son-in-law and closest adviser, Jared Kushner, who the FBI suspects of having a hand in the potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in an effort to fix the 2016 presidential election.It seems that the agents probing this incredibly complex and sprawling case believe that Kushner knows more than he is letting on when it comes to what happened between the Russians and the Trump campaign in the efforts that very likely had a significant effect on the outcome of this election, and thus undermined our democracy and changed the course of history. Despite all of this, it is important to note that the investigation does not put Kushner on the same level as people like fired campaign chair Paul Manafort and disgraced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Both of those former Trump confidantes are actually targets in this investigation; in fact, Flynn has even defied Congress on the issue of subpoenaed documents. Still, though, Kushner is a Senior Adviser to Trump, and has the highest security clearance, which allows him access to the nation s most sensitive secrets. If he is potentially compromised by the Russians, this is a very serious situation indeed.As is always the case in such situations, Kushner s legal representative, Jamie Gorelick, has released the following statement: Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry. This is more than just an inquiry. Someone in the highest levels of our government, in the inner circle of this alleged president, inside our White House, is somehow possibly connected to the meddling in our democratic process by a foreign adversary.Jared Kushner needs to be removed immediately, with his security clearance revoked. Of course, with the GOP controlling everything, that won t happen, because they put party before country, and they don t care how dangerous this is.Be very, very afraid, America.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
3,293 | U.S. Senate candidate Moore's spokesman resigns as allegations roil campaign | (Reuters) - The communications director for U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore has resigned amid the Alabama Republican’s efforts to combat allegations of sexual misconduct that have roiled his campaign. News of the departure of John Rogers came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump defended Moore from accusations by multiple women that Moore pursued them as teenagers when he was in his 30s, including one who has said he initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14. Moore has denied any wrongdoing and has accused the women of conspiring with Democrats, media outlets and establishment Republicans in an effort to tarnish his reputation. Reuters has not independently confirmed any of the accusations. “As we all know, campaigns make changes throughout the duration of the campaign,” campaign Chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement on Wednesday. “John made the decision to leave the campaign last Friday - any representations to the contrary are false - and we wish him well.” Fox News journalist Dan Gallo said on Twitter that Brett Doster, a Moore campaign adviser, told him: “Unfortunately John just did not have the experience to deal with the press the last couple of weeks, and we’ve had to make a change.” Doster did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moore, 70, a conservative Christian and former Alabama chief justice, won the nomination for the Dec. 12 special election in a hotly contested primary against incumbent Senator Luther Strange. Strange, who was appointed to fill the Senate vacancy left by Jeff Sessions, now U.S. attorney general, was backed by Republican leaders, including the president, while Moore’s campaign attracted support from insurgent right-wing figures like former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. Trump told reporters on Tuesday, however, that he might yet campaign for Moore, who he said “totally denies” the misconduct allegations, and that Democratic nominee Doug Jones was a liberal who should not be elected. The president’s stance stood in contrast to the reactions from most Republicans in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who have called on Moore to step aside. Jones released a campaign advertisement on Wednesday featuring the nine women who have accused Moore of improper conduct. “They were girls when Roy Moore immorally pursued them,” the narrator says, as photos of the women as young girls flash on the screen. “Will we make their abuser a U.S. senator?” | 1 |
3,294 | Singaporean blogger released after winning U.S. ruling for asylum | CHICAGO (Reuters) - A young Singaporean blogger who says he was persecuted for his political opinions in the Southeast Asian country was released on Tuesday from U.S. detention in Chicago after a federal immigration panel ruled in his favor. The federal Board of Immigration Appeals upheld a March decision by a Chicago immigration judge granting asylum to Amos Yee, 18, who had been jailed twice in Singapore for social media postings critical of government officials, his attorneys said on Tuesday. Now I can criticize the Singapore government without being sent to prison, Yee told Reuters after his release. Yee s trials in Singapore were closely watched by rights groups and the United Nations, and fueled debate in Singapore over censorship, the limits of free speech and political correctness. Yee had been in U.S. immigration detention since December 2016 when he arrived seeking asylum, according to Yee s attorney Sandra Grossman. The court made its ruling on Sept. 21, but Grossman said she only learned of the outcome this week. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which opposed Yee s asylum application and argued the Singapore government had legitimately prosecuted him, could not be immediately reached. The department could appeal the ruling to a circuit court but Grossman said she believed it was unlikely. Chicago immigration Judge Samuel Cole found Yee s prosecution, detention and treatment by Singapore authorities constitute(s) persecution on account of Yee s political opinions. Officials at Singapore s embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. In March, the country s Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement in which it quoted Yee s remarks against Muslims and Christians and noted Yee had pleaded guilty to charges against him. In September last year, Yee pleaded guilty to six charges of deliberately posting comments on the internet - in videos, blog posts and a picture - that were critical of Christianity and Islam. He was sentenced to six weeks in jail. In 2015, Yee was convicted on charges of harassment and insulting a religious group over comments he made about former premier Lee Kuan Yew and Christians soon after Lee s death. His sentence at the time amounted to four weeks in jail. The case now goes back to a Chicago immigration court to complete any security investigations or exams as part of the asylum process. | 1 |
3,295 | 9 Amazingly Racist And Bigoted Things Trump Supporters Actually Believe (VIDEO) | Many Americans have suspected that the rise of Donald Trump, who launched his campaign attacking Latinos and has gone on to demonize blacks, Muslims, women and even Catholics, is tied to bigoted beliefs among a segment of Republican voters.Despite the protests from some on the right and even the mainstream media claiming that Trump supporters are backing their man solely due to economic insecurity, some new polling data has begun to confirm that the movement behind Trump is simply a white supremacist movement.Mr. Trump s popularity with white, working-class voters who are more likely than other Republicans to believe that whites are a supreme race and who long for the Confederacy may make him unpopular among leaders in his party. But it s worth noting that he isn t persuading voters to hold these beliefs. The beliefs were there and have been for some time.Mr. Trump has reinvigorated explicit appeals to ethnocentrism, and some voters are responding.Based on the results of those polls, here are nine of the amazingly racist things Trump supporters seriously believe:When Trump says Make America Great Again, it seems like many of his followers really mean Make America White Again. Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
3,296 | Six bodies hung from bridges near Mexico's Los Cabos tourist resort | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The bodies of six men were found hanging from three different bridges near the Mexican tourist resort of Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula on Wednesday, local authorities said. The authorities did not give details on what happened to the men, but drug gangs often hang the bodies of their murdered victims in public to intimidate rivals. Drug gang violence is set to make 2017 Mexico s deadliest year in modern history. Two bodies were found on a bridge in Las Veredas, near Los Cabos International Airport, and two on a different bridge on the highway between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, local prosecutors said in a statement. In a separate statement, the prosecutors said two further bodies were found on a third bridge near the airport. An official from the prosecutor s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bodies of the men had been hung from the bridges. Violent crime has spiked in Baja California, particularly around the once peaceful resort of Los Cabos visited by million of foreign tourists every year. Los Cabos police chief Juan Manuel Mayorga was shot dead last week. Mexico is on track for its most violent year since records began, with the rise of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, now one of the country s most powerful, and disputes between other criminal groups fueling murder rates. On Tuesday, authorities in the northern state of Chihuahua said 12 people were killed in clashes between armed groups. The governor of the state of Baja California Sur, Carlos Mendoza Davis, said that authorities were investigating the incidents near Los Cabos. I condemn these acts and any expression of violence. Today more than ever in #BCS we should be united, he said via Twitter, using the hashtag for the state s initials. Homicides have more than doubled in Baja California Sur this year, with 409 people killed through October, from 192 in all of 2016. In June authorities said they had found a mass grave with the bodies of 11 men and three women near Los Cabos. More than 4.4 million passengers, mostly international, have passed through Los Cabos Airport so far this year, according to operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico. | 1 |
3,297 | Trump Gets Trashed For Justifying Don Jr’s Collusion With Russia: ‘That’s Politics!’ | For someone that ran on the Drain the Swamp platform, the current occupant of the White House has a funny way of showing it. Donald Trump Jr. has found himself in the middle of an email scandal (the irony is palpable, isn t it?) in which he included Trump s son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort in the messages. Junior wanted to gather damaging information in 2016 against his Dad s opponent, Hillary Clinton. The problem is that he sought to collude with a hostile foreign government to get that info in order to get his father elected. It s unethical and possibly illegal. But, to Donald Trump that s politics! Which brings us full circle back to that drain the swamp campaign vow the former reality show star made. Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That s politics! It tweeted.Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That's politics! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2017No, Amateur, most people would not have met with Russians to obtain information. Most of them would call the FBI after a Russian made contact in order to arrange a meeting.One Twitter user wrote, Many people supported you because you weren t the stereotypical politician . And now, look! You ve become that stereotype. Many people supported you because you weren't the "stereotypical politician". And now, look! You've become that stereotype Luke Waltham (@lukewaltham) July 17, 2017We ve been lied to repeatedly about that meeting.If the meeting Don Jr. went to was normal, why did he lie about it over and over? Why did Kushner lie about it on his security application? Adam Best (@adamcbest) July 17, 2017Most politicians would NOT have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That's TREASON! Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 17, 2017The FBI should have been called in. That s a no-brainer.No! Most people would have reported the proposition to the FBI.Only the Trumps would be fool enough to take the meeting. #NiceTryTrump val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) July 17, 2017lol no they wouldn't, this must be your team right about now. pic.twitter.com/XWA7unH0rL Brandon Keating (@BrandonTalks) July 17, 2017Meeting with Russian spies is not opposition research. Robert Caruso (@robertcaruso) July 17, 2017No, not really. True, most politicians are scumbags, but your kind is on a whole other level. You're swine, pal. pic.twitter.com/ipixj00r4Q Michael Roffman (@michaelroffman) July 17, 2017You really are off your rocker. The whole lot of you is guilty as hell and I hope you burn for it. You and your dumb son. cx (@cxcope) July 17, 2017So, is it still a witch hunt? pic.twitter.com/Uthscbr5Fm Vic Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) July 17, 20177 in 10 americans think the fbi should arrest his cel phone first because he's just making this worse the entire world is laughing at don anton newcombe (@antonnewcombe) July 17, 2017So much for draining the swamp Charles Capel (@CharlieCapel) July 17, 2017Team Trump can t even come up with a defense over Junior s scandal. When Trump was on the campaign trail, he called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton s emails. Donald is so defensive and the signs are there that he possibly knew about the meeting before it even took place in his own building. Junior was well aware, according to the emails he released on Twitter, that the information was coming from the Russian government that the Kremlin-connected lawyer was offering him. Again, this is a no-brainer but we re dealing with the Trump administration here, and they do not understand that attempting to collude with Russia is as bad as colluding with Russia. Welcome to Amateur Hour at the White House.Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images. | 0 |
3,298 | european media jihad against geert wilders | why time magazines joe klein is so wrong about hillary clinton rebutting the absurd claims of my namesake november joseph klein
time magazines joe klein has just penned an article entitled why hillary clinton is the only choice to keep america great i feel duty bound to respond to at least the most absurd of the comments made by namesake and author of primary colors the novel based on about bill clintons first presidential campaign in
the other joe klein laments that hillary has been so severely damaged in the course of the year battering shes received at the hands of extremists and the media sorry but hillarys wounds are selfinflicted her lies greed and corruption go back decades and have now reached a crescendo with the dual scandals of her use of a private server for state department business while she was secretary of state and of the payforplay clinton foundation
there is one part of trump that is indisputably real his ego the other joe klein wrote as if hillary were the epitome of humility and grace
those who would put clintons failings in the same league as trumps depravities are delusional declared klein i agree with his statement but for precisely the opposite reason that he advances trump did not abuse a public office for personal gain he did not hand pick hillarys word an ambassador to serve in one of the most dangerous countries in the world and then never respond to his multiple requests for enhanced security let alone pick up the phone and contact ambassador chris stevens directly the government was not able to save four lives to keep four lives safe how can you keep a country safe asked stevens former fiancé in a rhetorical question that hillary would be unable to answer trump did not lie to the families of those slain in benghazi as hillary did trump did not put national security at risk by using a private server for government emails in order to evade the freedom of information act as hillary did
in short anyone who thinks that hillarys proven record of recklessness mendacity and indifference is not more troubling by several orders of magnitude than trumps depravities is delusional
the other joe klein complains that trump deals in stereotypes the blacks the hispanics the muslims the women and yes even the veterans yet much of hillarys pitch is genderbased elect her because she is a woman and she attacks millions of people who support her opponent with vile epithets deplorable racist sexist homophobic xenophobic islamaphobic and for good measure irredeemable
the other joe klein charges that trump is about all that has gone wrong in our society and nothing of what has gone right to paraphrase bill clinton that would depend on what your definitions of wrong and right are is hillary clinton really right when she parrots black lives matters stereotypical attacks on what she herself has characterized as white privilege and systemic racism in this country is she right when she leaps to conclusions about police brutality aimed against africanamericans before the evidence in specific cases is carefully examined i dont think so
hillary also represents the political correctness and antireligious bigotry of the secular left elite that many americans believe are what truly have gone wrong in our society at the women in the world summit last year for example hillary said that in order to fully secure the reproductive rights of women deepseated cultural codes religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed hillary demeaned the sincerely held religious belief in the sanctity of life held by millions of americans reminiscent of president obamas contemptuous clinging to religion quote back in
hillarys key supporters and top aides have targeted the catholic church in particular for their notion of progressive reform there needs to be a catholic spring in which catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the catholic church wrote sandy newman president of voices for progress in an email to clintons campaign chairman john podesta in response podesta picked up on the spring theme he wrote we created catholics in alliance for the common good to organize for a moment like this but i think it lacks the leadership to do so now likewise catholics united like most spring movements i think this one will have to be bottom up
when time magazines joe klein talks about what is right or wrong in american society he should get out of his washington dc bubble more often and actually speak with the american people about their daytoday concerns even if hillary clinton ends up winning the election the country will remain divided and she will have no mandate whatsoever to advance her progressive agenda | 1 |
3,299 | Replacing, repealing Obamacare at same time 'ideal': top Trump aide | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Repealing and replacing the U.S. Affordable Care Act in one action would be “ideal,” but it “may take time” to get all elements of the heath care law’s alternative ready, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming chief of staff said on Sunday. A full repeal and replacing of Obamacare may not happen immediately but it will happen “as quickly as possible,” Reince Priebus said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” | 1 |
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