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3,800 | Matchmaker Merkel seeks awkward three-way embrace | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened what promised to be marathon coalition talks on Friday, hoping to bring three opposing political camps into a stable government despite signs there would be less money to paper over differences. Merkel said she was optimistic as she entered talks between her conservative bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, despite an assessment by her own party that the next government would have less fiscal room than expected. The outcome of the talks is keenly awaited both at home and across Europe, with many fretting that the European Union could be rudderless with the bloc s longest-serving leader too busy to grapple with crucial issues like euro zone governance reform. Highlighting the challenge, a report by Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) found that there would be only 30 billion euros free for new projects over the next four years if parties stuck to their commitment to taking on no new debts. The shortfall will make all the more difficult the tricky three-way pact, dubbed a Jamaica coalition because the three parties colors - black, yellow and green - match those of the Jamaican flag, which is untried at national level. Higher EU contributions as a result of Brexit and lower central bank profits might reduce spending room by some 15 billion euros, according to calculations seen by Reuters, an obstacle to the FDP s demands for tax cuts or the Greens hope for environmental and infrastructure spending. The talks between Merkel s conservative bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens are styled as exploratory , but negotiators aim to get down to details of tax and budget policy in their first full meeting together. There will be many differences, she said on her arrival at the Berlin talks, adding: There is readiness on my side to think about this creatively. Party delegations each made five-minute presentations before breaking ahead of further discussions due on Tuesday. FDP chief Christian Lindner had earlier said that no matter how good the atmosphere and seriousness the parties were far apart on 85 percent of the material to be discussed. After, FDP secretary-general Nicola Beer said she continued to believe there was a 50:50 chance of a Jamaica coalition resulting. Merkel, weakened by a surging far-right in last month s national election, needs to make the awkward alliance fly as her previous grand coalition partners - the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) - say they want to rebuild in opposition after their worst election result in more than half a century. Merkel has been able to steer Europe through its euro zone and refugee crises in part due to her dominance at home. Now that dominance is waning - her conservatives last month had their weakest election showing since 1949. Voters have given these parties the task of governing, wrote newspaper Die Welt. These possible partners should not be giving the impression that they are inching warily toward each other like strangers in a crammed lift. An Infratest Dimap poll for ARD showed 83 percent of Germans wanted the parties to find a compromise deal. Merkel, 63, has suffered two further setbacks since the national election: the CDU was defeated in a regional election in Lower Saxony on Sunday, and the party s premier in the eastern state of Saxony resigned on Wednesday, saying younger, fresher leadership was needed to revitalize the conservatives. Should the three party groups fail to form a coalition, some in their ranks fear this could lead to public disenchantment and fuel further support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which entered parliament for the first time last month. If she cannot clinch a three-way coalition pact, Merkel could try to form a minority government, or else call fresh elections - an unprecedented scenario. Alternatively, she could try to team up again with the SPD. The Social Democrats reject that option, though senior party official Thomas Oppermann has indicated they could reconsider on one condition: Merkel steps aside. | 1 |
3,801 | NEW: Kushner Lied About MILLIONS In Assets On Disclosure Forms, Over 70 Items Discovered Missing | Jared Kushner, Donald Trump s son-in-law, has already lawyered up, but maybe he should get more lawyers because he might be in a bit of trouble right now. It s not just Jared, but a senior White House adviser, too. You see, most of us don t simply forget about millions of dollars, or thousands, or hundreds. In fact, for a guy who owes a fuckton of money, we re pretty sure he didn t forget about it either.On Friday, Jared and a senior White House adviser released a revised version of his personal financial disclosure which now shows that his initial filing omitted dozens of assets, including commercial real estate, bonds issued by the New York water and sewer authority, a personal art collection and a New Jersey liquor license, the Wall Street Journal reports.Hey, we re not talking about one or two assets that Jared omitted from his earlier form; we re talking about 77 of them.Ivanka Trump s form hasn t yet been certified by the ethics office, as required by law. Details schmetails! Jared and Ivanka have followed each of the required steps in their transition from private citizens to federal officials, Jamie Gorelick, a lawyer for the couple, said in a statement.Drain the Swamp, Donald Trump said, then he filled it up with his swampy family members:The new disclosure shows Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump collectively hold between $206 million and $760 million in assets. Mr. Kushner s initial disclosure put the value of their assets between $240 million and $740 million. The changes in values may reflect divestments since the last filing and the broad range of valuation for assets.Well now! That s not a lot of money. Oh wait, Don Fox, who served as the ethics office s general counsel from 2008 to 2013 and as acting director from 2011 until 2013, says otherwise.Fox said the number of omissions on Jared Kushner s initial form was unusually high. That strikes me as a lot, he said.You don t say.The Wall Street Journal reports:In his initial disclosure, Mr. Kushner didn t identify business relationships with Goldman Sachs Group and billionaires George Soros and Peter Thiel through a real-estate tech startup called Cadre that Mr. Kushner co-founded and currently partly owns, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year. An investment in Cadre valued at between $5 million and $25 million was included on the new disclosure, which showed Mr. Kushner intended to resign from his position with Cadre in January but didn t do so until May.According to Kushner s lawyer, it was simply an administrative error. We re sure his art collection valued at between $5 million and $25 million was merely an oversight, too. But, according to the lawyer, the art collection was just for personal enjoyment, and had nothing to do with investment purposes.And then there s the Kushner s $1 billion in loans that he failed to disclose previously. Those loans were from more than 20 lenders.It gets worse:Mr. Kushner has also filed revisions to a form required to obtain a security clearance that, in its initial form, didn t list contacts between him and foreign government officials. He subsequently submitted information about over 100 calls or meetings with representatives of more than 20 countries, Ms. Gorelick has said in a statement. Those contacts weren t made public.The Trump Crime Family s mounting conflicts of interest are being paraded out after more and more information is revealed. The Trumps seem to suffer from selective memory issues. As for Jared, it s always the quiet ones that you should watch. We re sure that Mr. Mueller is watching this spectacle, too.Photo by Olivier Douliery Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
3,802 | Watch Rudy Giuliani Forget He Was The Mayor Of NYC During 9/11 (VIDEO) | Appearing on Fox News, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani decided to make the bold claim that the world is more dangerous than ever after citing shootings like Orlando. He even went so far as to say: Do you ever remember the world as dangerous as this? I don t. It s like, c mon man, you were the mayor of NYC during 9/11/01, but I get it, that happened under a Republican president, and you don t want to dare insinuate your own party is weak on terror. Got it.Now, to be completely honest, it s not so much that Giuliani forgot he was mayor of NYC during the worst terrorist attack on American soil, but he seems to be playing completely ignorant to that fact, and is just trying to throw President Obama and Hillary Clinton under a bus.To his credit (of which he should get none) he did mention 9/11 in passing, but as if only to glaze over the fact that it was a terrorist attack on our nation, but he seems to think that what s happening now is worse than the day nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives.His political pandering clearly knows absolutely no bounds, and should enrage us all.Watch Giuliani go on Fox News to feign complete ignorance here.Giuliani: "Do you ever remember the world as dangerous as this? I don't." https://t.co/uaKE0p3SjRhttps://t.co/fa9gGz91u6 Fox News (@FoxNews) July 23, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
3,803 | N KOREA JUST REVEALED Plans To Unleash An Unimaginable Attack That Could Lead To Electronic Armageddon | WFB North Korea for the first time this week revealed plans for using its nuclear arms for space-based electronics-disrupting EMP attacks, in addition to direct warhead ground blasts.The official communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, published a report Monday on the EMP might of nuclear weapons, outlining an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack produced by detonating a nuclear warhead in space. In general, the strong electromagnetic pulse generated from nuclear bomb explosions between 30 kilometers and 100 kilometers [18.6 miles and 62 miles] above the ground can severely impair electronic devices, electric machines, and electromagnetic grids, or destroy electric cables and safety devices, said the article authored by Kim Songwon, dean of Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang. The discovery of the electromagnetic pulse as a source of high yield in the high-altitude nuclear explosion test process has given it recognition as an important strike method, he stated.The official discussion by North Korea of plans to conduct EMP strikes will likely fuel debate over the threat. Former CIA Director James Woolsey has said North Korea is capable of orbiting an EMP nuclear weapon in a satellite.Some liberal arms control advocates have dismissed the EMP threat from Pyongyang as far-fetched, such as arms control advocate Jeffrey Lewis, who in April dismissed the threat of an EMP attack by laughing at a reporter s question. This is the favorite nightmare scenario of a small group of very dedicated people, he told NPR.Disclosure of North Korea s intention to use its nuclear force for EMP attacks comes as U.S. intelligence agencies are continuing to analyze the latest underground nuclear test by North Korea on Sept. 3 that the regime said was its first hydrogen bomb explosion.Senior administration officials said initial assessments of the nuclear blast in northeastern North Korea indicate it was the largest test detonation so far, and much larger than an underground test carried out last year. It was the regime s sixth nuclear test.U.S. nuclear technicians have not made a definitive conclusion about the specifics of the device. Specialists are trying to determine if the test involved a hydrogen bomb, as Pyongyang asserted, or a device designed for EMP attack. They are also assessing whether the test used boosted fission technology.Hydrogen bombs are advanced devices that use a two-stage explosion process to produce a massive explosion. Boosted fission devices are less sophisticated technologically and require more nuclear fuel. We re highly confident this was a test of an advanced nuclear device and what we ve seen so far is not inconsistent with North Korea s claims, a U.S. intelligence official said.However, a final conclusion on the type and yield of the blast is not expected for several days. Data from the test is being analyzed by nuclear weapons experts at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.Also, the large explosion perhaps more than 100 kilotons, or the equivalent of 100 tons of TN likely produced significant venting of radioactive particles into the air.Special U.S. intelligence aircraft, including the WC-135 nuclear sniffer jets, are conducting flights near the test zone to gather samples of particles from the test.EXPERTS ARE SAYING AN EMP ATTACK BY N KOREA IS A VERY REAL AND DARK POSSIBILITYAccording to the Business Insider, some experts believe that the more realistic threat at this point in time is an EMP attack. To make that happen, all North Korea has to do is launch a low-yield nuclear missile from a submarine, ship, or even by balloon and explode it at high altitude, above the atmosphere.The potential result: a blackout of the Eastern grid that supplies 75% of power to the United States.If an EMP attack did take place, it would be beyond anything we have seen before. The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, which was established by Congress in 2001, estimates that within 12 months following a nationwide blackout, up to 90% of the US population could perish from starvation, disease, and societal breakdown. Electronic ArmageddonIn practical terms, a catastrophic blackout would be worst in cities, because it would instantly deprive the population of access to drinking water, refrigeration, heat, air conditioning, and telecommunication. Food stores would be looted within a matter of days, and gas stations would cease to function without electricity.Without Internet access and power, all commerce and advanced methods of communication would stop. There would be no TV, radio, phones. Credit card transactions and cash withdrawals at banks would be impossible. Paper money would become worthless, and Bitcoin would cease to exist, along with the stock market.Newt Gingrich, speaking at the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources earlier this month, said an EMP attack would send us back to the 18th century. But that s not the only problem. If no outside help arrives, within days, chaos begins to reign. Civilization is a rather thin veneer that humans have acquired over centuries, a mask covering our hard-wired survival instincts. Once the mask slips, it could mean the end of the world as we know it.We are Ill-Prepared For An EMP AttackUS politicians and major utilities have kicked the can down the road when it comes to EMP preparation. Edison Electric estimates that shielding transformers for the US grid system could cost $20 billion.Granted, American power companies have been studying ways to protect our electronic grids against attack, but tangible results are slow in coming.The only current option after an EMP attack would be to replace damaged or destroyed transformers. However, says Scott Aaronson, managing director for Cyber and Infrastructure Security at Edison Electric, replacements for those transformers must be procured from foreign suppliers, which could take up to 18 months.Peter Vincent Pry, leader of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, believes North Korea is closer to launching an EMP attack than many analysts believe. He wants Congress to work harder and cut the red tape to allow the innovation necessary to mitigate the threat.In Pry s opinion, an EMP attack would ultimately kill more Americans than a direct nuclear blast could. His book, The Long Sunday, describes several plausible EMP attack scenarios.Pry thinks that the first nation to use nuclear weapons today even a rogue state like North Korea or Iran will immediately become the most feared and credible nuclear power in the world, a formidable force to be reckoned with, and perhaps the dominant actor in a new world order. Is there a sensible way to prepare for an EMP attack?Maybe not, but stocking some food, water, fuel, and batteries for emergencies is always a good idea as well as owning a stash of gold coins as hard assets.While you can t eat gold, as some preppers say, it is the only kind of money that has prevailed over the millennia. Kim, the North Korean technical university dean, stated that high-altitude explosions can be conducted in the stratosphere or in space where the blast wave is limited by the lack of air or the thinness of air. In explosions occurring at such altitudes, large amounts of electrons are released as a result of ionization reactions of high-energy instant gamma rays and other radioactive rays, he said. These electrons form a strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) through interaction with the geomagnetic field. The detonation would create a strong electric field of 100,000 volts per meter when it approaches the ground and that is how it destroys communications facilities and electricity grids, the report said.The EMP report was published Monday, a day after the same state-run outlet reported on a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to a nuclear weapons facility that also mentioned plans for using nuclear weapons in EMP attacks. Our hydrogen bomb whose power as a nuclear bomb can be adjusted at will from tens of kilotons to hundreds of kilotons according to the targets of strike is a multifunctional thermonuclear warhead which not only has enormous lethality and destructibility, but also can even carry out super-powerful EMP attack over an expansive area through detonation at high altitudes according to strategic goals, the report said. | 0 |
3,804 | China-made truck used in North Korea parade to show submarine-launched missile | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea used Chinese-made trucks to display missiles at a massive military parade last week, according to photographs released by state media, underlining the difficulty in enforcing U.N. sanctions against the isolated state. At Saturday’s parade to mark the 105th birth anniversary of founder president Kim Il Sung, North Korea displayed six Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) for the first time, towed behind trucks painted in North Korean navy camouflage. In the photographs, the logo of Chinese firm Sinotruk can be seen on the vehicles. Last year, Reuters reported that North Korea was using Sinotruk HOWO trucks to display a new mobile artillery system. A Sinotruk sales official said on Tuesday he was not aware the company’s trucks had been used in this year’s parade. “From my understanding, we haven’t had any business with the North Korean market since last year; North Korea has never been a major focus of ours,” said the official, who gave only his last name, Gu. “It may have been from before then and they refitted it themselves.” China and North Korea maintain “normal contacts, including normal business contacts”, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, when asked about the trucks. “At the same time, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China strictly adheres to its international responsibilities, including those from Security Council resolutions,” Lu told a daily news briefing. Since 2006, it has been against United Nations sanctions to ship military hardware into North Korea but control of equipment and vehicles that have “dual-use” military and civilian applications has been far less stringent. It is also much harder to track. North Korean state media has in the past released images of Sinotruk chassis and cabins in propaganda related to construction or mining. A U.N. report which noted the use of the trucks in the display of mobile artillery last year did not name Sinotruk, but said that the Chinese seller had included a “clear clause” in its deal with the North Korean buyer that the trucks were to be for civilian use only. North Korea also appeared to reveal two new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) during Saturday’s parade. One was mounted on a large off-road truck which was identified in an earlier U.N. report as being of Chinese origin. In a 2010 statement sent to China, North Korea’s forestry ministry said the trucks were bought to transport timber, according to the U.N. report. The second of the two ICBMs was mounted on a North Korean-branded “Taekpaeksan” military truck which used tyres made by China-based Triangle Group, according to photos of the parade seen by Reuters. Triangle Group, a major tyre manufacturer headquartered in Weihai, a port city in eastern Shandong province, said it was not aware its tyres had been used in the military parade. “It’s possible they were resold from somewhere else,” an official from Triangle’s export department said. | 1 |
3,805 | Sanders raises more cash but Clinton makes campaign dollars go further | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has spent about $15 per vote so far in the race for the party’s nomination, less than her rival Bernie Sanders, who spent $22, according to campaign finance reports filed on Wednesday. Clinton’s efficiency with money could offset concern among some of her backers that Sanders, the U.S. Senator from Vermont, has outraised her in each of the last two months as he wages a fierce fight to get onto the presidential ballot. The former first lady’s campaign has spent a total of $157.8 million since launching last April and has yielded a total of 10.4 million votes in state nominating contests. That includes $28.7 million for 8.7 million votes in March, the filings show. Sanders, in turn, has spent $168.4 million since launching his bid for the White House, while netting 7.7 million votes. Sanders’ campaign has often touted its ability to tap a large number of small donors to outraise Clinton. In March, Sanders pulled in nearly $46 million from 900,000 people, with an average donation of just over $26, it said. That compared to $29.3 million for Clinton in March, from 400,000 people. Some 96 percent of Sanders’ donors have given less in total than the $2,700 maximum, according to his campaign, meaning he can go back to them for more funds. Some of Clinton’s backers say they are nervous about her campaign’s fundraising strategy of relying heavily on donors who are able to write big checks, and who max out more quickly. “I think we’re going to see her doing more small dollar fund raisers,” said Lorraine Hariton, who has raised more than $100,000 for the campaign. But the Clinton campaign’s spending efficiency has helped it preserve a warchest. At the end of March, Clinton had $29 million left in the bank — more than anyone else running for president. Sanders had just $17 million. Preserving the war chest is crucial for Clinton’s chance of winning the White House in the general election against a Republican, letting her campaign effectively in swing states, attack her opponent’s vulnerabilities and defend her own. Should she face off against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, she will need a bank account sufficient to compete with a candidate who has mastered the knack of earning free coverage. Approaching the end of the primary campaign with a surplus is a far different scenario from the one in which Clinton found herself at the end of her failed 2008 bid for the nomination against Barack Obama, when she ended up $9.5 million in debt. An example of the campaign’s frugality: it cut advertising spending by $5 million to $12 million in March, a month heavy with primaries and caucuses, by using more digital advertising instead of television ads. Clinton spent only $1.6 million on digital ads. The campaign also reduced real estate costs and limited increases in payroll as it staffed up. “We set ambitious goals to ensure we’d have the resources we need to win a competitive primary and we’ve blown past every goal, recently surpassing the million-donor mark,” spokesman Josh Schwerin said. | 1 |
3,806 | GERMAN COURT RULES “Sharia Police” Patrolling City Streets Did NOT Break Law…INSANE Video Shows Muslim Men Patrolling Streets | These videos are very disturbing. Americans are headed down this path if we don t fight back against the Left who put political correctness before our national security A German court has ruled that Islamists who patrolled a city s streets as Sharia police did not break the law and will not be prosecuted.Here is what a Sharia Patrol looks like:Nine were arrested in September 2014 after patrolling streets in Wuppertal, western Germany. They wore bright orange jackets with the words Sharia police . They told passers-by not to frequent discos, casinos or bars.The court said they had not violated laws on uniforms and public gatherings.Prosecutors have now lodged an appeal.The group of Salafists ultra-conservative Islamists included Sven Lau, a preacher whose passport was seized this year after he visited Syria and a photo surfaced, showing him posing on a tank, with a Kalashnikov rifle slung around his neck. He is suspected of trying to recruit Muslims to join jihadists fighting in Syria or Iraq and has spent some time in prison previously. He said he had gone to war-torn Syria in 2013 on a humanitarian mission.Sharia, the revealed, sacred law of Islam, governs all aspects of a Muslim s life.The group s appearance at night in Wuppertal, in the industrial Ruhr region, triggered sharp criticism in Germany. A film of their patrol appeared on YouTube:The action was condemned by the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, who said it was harmful to Muslims .The group also carried notices proclaiming in English a Sharia Controlled Zone . The notices spelled out prohibitions like those in force in some Gulf Arab countries, outlawing alcohol, drugs, gambling, music and concerts, pornography and prostitution. Activists in the anti-Islam Pegida movement campaigning to stop immigration to Germany demonstrated in Wuppertal last year. They have staged regular marches against the Islamisation of Germany nationwide. Via: BBC | 0 |
3,807 | Cruz & Kasich Quit: Trump Crushes Elite Establishment, #DropOutHillary Now Trending | 21st Century Wire says The field is now clear for Trump to become the GOP presidential nominee.Watch a video of this report here:Ted Cruz and John Kasich have both now bowed out of the presidential race, leaving Donald Trump as the last Republican candidate standing.The two failing candidates made their decision after Trump swept to victory in Indiana last night.Dr. Inderjeet Parmar, Head of the Department of International Politics at City University London, says that, it has exposed a deeply divided Republican party whose leadership has lost all credibility and whose conservative philosophy, which it has held dear since 1980, is in tatters. It is, indeed, the elite leadership of both political parties that appears to have provoked this realignment in US politics towards outsiders and those not embroiled in what many see as a corrupt and broken system.Bernie Sanders, the Democratic outsider, also shocked the world with a victory over Hillary Clinton last night.Just two weeks ago Cruz and Kasich were publicising that they had made a deal to stop Trump, yet even their combined efforts were useless.Yesterday, a Rasmussen poll emerged showing that Donald Trump can indeed beat Hillary Clinton at the general election, and that scenario is looking ever more likely with the political establishment in such dramatic retreat.It is possible that Bernie voters will not support Hillary in the general election, and in many ways their anti-establishment position gels much better with the politics of Trump than it does with Wall Street insider Clinton.Immediately after Kasich s announcement today, #DropOutHillary began trending on Twitter. At the time of writing it is the number two trending hashtag in the US with 102,000 tweets.With such an immediate response taking aim at another establishment figure, the chances of Trump, or perhaps even Sanders, taking the presidency seem higher than ever.GET THE FULL STORY ON THE ELECTION: 21st Century Wire 2016 Election Files | 0 |
3,808 | Just FOUR Home Loans Were Given To African-Americans In This Major City In A Whole Year | The City of Oakland California has a population of over 390,000 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. 28 percent of the population is African-American, yet the top 12 lenders in the nation helped African Americans borrow to purchase a home just four times in the entire year of 2013. Hispanic borrowers received only seven home loans, according to a recent study by the Greenlining Institute and Strategies Council.Big Banks have been ridiculed for racist lending practices since the 2008 economic recession partially caused by the collapse of the housing market. Countrywide Financial, a subsidiary of Bank of America, overcharged 200,000 African-Americans and Latinos for mortgages at the height of the housing boom. Bank of America settled with the Justice Department in 2011 to pay $335 million dollars in claims against the company. In those circumstances, discrimination was profitable, wrote Jordan Weismann for the Atlantic in 2011. Greed fueled a system that created a pattern of racial bias. Post 2008 economic recession, the racial bias in mortgage lending has gone from overcharging to turning down mortgage applications of African-Americans. Racial disparities were discovered across the state of California, as African-Americans make up just 2 percent of mortgage lending originations while consisting of 6.5 percent of the state s population. As the nation recovered from the recent economic crisis, the majority of Californians were locked out of the 2013 housing market missing the most affordable time to buy a home, wrote the study authors. 44 percent of California s residents the combined African American and Hispanic populations obtained just 10.5 percent of total mortgage dollars lent by the top 12 lenders statewide. Sadly, these disparities were more pronounced in three cities where African Americans and Hispanics averaged 56 percent of the population. Racism in mortgage lending isn t a phenomenon unique to California, but rampant across the United States.In September 2015, Evans Bank settled a $825,000 lawsuit with New York State for racist lending practices. JP Morgan was sued by the City of Miami for discriminatory practices in 2014, along with Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. PNC Bank was asked by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to pay $35 million in restitution for the discriminatory practices between 2002 and 2008 of a bank they bought, National City Bank.In the City of Denver, the National Fair Housing Alliance exposed racist practices by U.S. Bank in 2014. These are just a few examples of the banks who were caught conducting discriminatory practices as these trends remain persistent among the largest and smallest banks in the country, while minority communities continue to suffer from being denied the right to purchases a home, or the exorbitant extra fees they are charged because of their race. Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
3,809 | Flanders premier calls on EU to take action on Catalonia | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The premier of Belgium s Flanders region, which has itself seen separatist frictions in the past, denounced Spanish authorities on Friday for arresting sacked separatist Catalan officials and urged the EU to mediate in the dispute. Carles Puigdemont, dismissed by Madrid as Catalan leader after the region s unilateral declaration of independence, traveled to Belgium and failed to appear in a Spanish court on Thursday to answer charges of rebellion. But nine associates were remanded in custody in Madrid pending possible trial. Locking up democratically elected leaders is more than a bridge too far, Flanders premier Geert Bourgeois said in a statement. I m perplexed that something like that is possible in today s Europe. Flanders, home to more than half of Belgium s inhabitants, has also seen separatist campaigning in past decades but a series of constitutional reviews has given broad autonomy to the regions and kept a lid on tensions. Bourgeois, of Flemish nationalist party N-VA which is also part of Belgium s federal government, called on European institutions to mediate; a proposal it has already rejected. Once again I m urgently calling on all European entities to finally take action and look for democratic solutions with both Spain and Catalonia, he added. The European Commission reiterated on Friday it fully respected Spain s internal political and judicial order. | 1 |
3,810 | Sergeant Bergdahl says 'fantastic' plan crumbled hours after leaving post | (Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had devised what he told a military investigator was a “fantastic plan” to leave his post so he could inform higher-ups about problems in the ranks, but that fell apart when he realized he took on more than he could manage. Bergdahl, 29, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and became a Taliban prisoner for five years, is facing a court-martial with a potential life sentence on charges of desertion and endangerment of U.S. troops. In a 371-page interview made public on Wednesday, Bergdahl said he was frustrated and concerned about the command at his post in Afghanistan, seeing it as incompetent, immoral and putting soldiers’ lives in danger. He devised a scheme to leave and travel by foot to a military command about 20 miles away, with his disappearance causing a full-scale search. When he arrived, he thought this would get him an audience with a general to air his grievances. “I came up with a fantastic plan,” he told the military investigator in 2014 about three months after his release. “I was seeing things heading in a very dangerous direction. So, I had to do something.” He left at night and was captured the next day by the Taliban. “By daylight, I will admit I was in over my head,” he said in the transcript released by Bergdahl’s lawyer Eugene Fidell, of an interview with Army investigator, Major General Kenneth Dahl, in 2014. At the end of the interview, Dahl mentioned desertion, AWOL and fraudulent enlistment offenses to Bergdahl but made no mention of the more serious charge of endangering U.S. troops, which carries up to a life sentence, according to the transcript. At an evidentiary hearing in Texas in September 2015, Dahl said he did not believe Bergdahl should be jailed for what he did. He said Bergdahl was not a Taliban sympathizer and characterized him as an unrealistically idealistic soldier. Dahl also said no soldiers directly involved in the search for him were killed. U.S. military prosecutors have said Bergdahl sneaked off his post, resulting in a 45-day search that put soldiers’ lives at risk and diverted attention from the fight against the Taliban. Bergdahl was freed in a prisoner swap in May 2014 involving the release of five Taliban leaders held by the United States. The deal drew heavy criticism from Republicans. | 1 |
3,811 | Cambodia's opposition gives up posts after ban | PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Elected officials of Cambodia s banned opposition party have begun handing over their duties after a court ordered the party dissolved, the government said on Monday. The Supreme Court outlawed the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) last week at the request of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen s government in a move that prompted the United States to cut election funding and threaten more punitive steps. The party was banned after its leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested for alleged treason. The government says he sought to take power with American help. He rejects that allegation as politically motivated, to allow Hun Sen to extend his more than three decades in power in next year s general election. Among those told to give up their positions were councillors elected to communes in June, when the CNRP gained control of 40 percent of local councils, showing the electoral threat it posed to Hun Sen. The implementation has been going smoothly, the Interior Ministry s spokesman, Khieu Sopheak, told Reuters on Monday, adding that he did not know how long handover completion would take. The ruling Cambodian People s Party (CPP) will take over nearly all of the communes won by the opposition. The CNRP s 55 seats in the 123-member parliament will be shared among six minor parties, the National Election Committee (NEC) said. It had been unable to contact one of the parties entitled to a seat because its headquarters was shut, it added. Three NEC members submitted a letter of resignation from the electoral body in protest at their party s dissolution, saying the redistribution of seats to other parties was unconstitutional and against voters will . The court has also banned 118 CNRP party members from politics for five years. Mu Sochua, a senior CNRP member who moved abroad shortly before the ban, said party officials met over the weekend outside Cambodia to put together an action plan for the immediate future. We reject the decision of the court, she said, adding that Kem Sokha remained president and the party s former leader, Sam Rainsy, had rejoined it. Sam Rainsy had resigned in February, saying he feared the party would be banned if he did not, because of defamation convictions that he calls politically motivated and which pushed him to flee Cambodia in 2015. Across Cambodia, police took down CNRP signs outside party offices and on the streets. The interior ministry spokesman said the CNRP had helped by taking down its Phnom Penh headquarters sign itself. Rejecting the criticism from the United States over the dissolution of the opposition party and a crackdown on local rights groups and independent media, Hun Sen said on Sunday that Washington should cut off all aid for Cambodia. | 1 |
3,812 | Democrats amass support to force showdown over Trump Supreme Court pick | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on Monday corralled enough support to hold up a Senate confirmation vote on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee but Republicans threatened to change the Senate rules to ensure conservative judge Neil Gorsuch gets the lifetime job. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 along party lines to send Gorsuch’s nomination to the full Senate, setting up a political showdown this week between Trump’s fellow Republicans and the opposition Democrats that appears likely to trigger a change in long-standing Senate rules to allow his confirmation. Democrats, portraying Gorsuch as so conservative he is outside the judicial mainstream, have amassed 42 senators in support of a procedural hurdle called a filibuster requiring a super-majority of 60 votes in the Republican-led, 100-seat Senate to allow a confirmation vote. Even before the panel voted, committee member Christopher Coons put the Democrats over the threshold as the 41st senator backing the filibuster bid. (GRAPHIC - Where senators stand on bid to block Gorsuch vote tmsnrt.rs/2ov6ko0) The Senate’s Republican leaders insist Gorsuch will be confirmed on the Senate floor on Friday regardless of what the Democrats do. Republicans hold a 52-48 Senate majority. In the face of the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be expected to force a confirmation vote by having the Senate change its rules and allow for a simple majority vote for confirmation of Supreme Court justices, a move sometimes called the “nuclear option” that Trump favors. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, leading the filibuster effort, said McConnell should have the “vision and courage to see past this impasse” and not “go nuclear,” suggesting that Trump replace Gorsuch with a new consensus nominee chosen after meeting with Democrats. Senate confirmation of Gorsuch, 49, would restore the nine-seat high court’s conservative majority, fulfilling one of Trump’s top promises during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump in January nominated Gorsuch, a conservative appeals court judge from Colorado. He could be expected to serve for decades. On the Senate floor, McConnell called the Democratic strategy “a new low,” saying there was no principled reason to oppose a judge as well qualified and widely respected as Gorsuch. He did not explicitly say he would use the “nuclear option,” but several Republicans said that would happen. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the decision would be McConnell’s. Republican Senator John McCain, a long-time opponent of Senate rules changes, told reporters he would support the move. Judiciary Committee Republicans blasted Democrats for pursuing what they called the first “partisan filibuster” of a Supreme Court nominee - there was a successful bipartisan filibuster five decades ago against a Democratic president’s nominee - and said it would come to naught because of the threatened rule change. But it was Senate Republicans who last year refused to even consider Democratic former President Barack Obama’s nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland to fill the same high court vacancy that Trump has selected Gorsuch to fill. “Democrats, including me, are still furious at the way Judge Merrick Garland was treated last year. But the traditions and principles that have defined the Senate are crumbling, and we are poised to hasten that destruction this week,” Coons said. Gorsuch was nominated to fill a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Democrats have accused Gorsuch of being insufficiently independent of Trump, evading questions on key Supreme Court rulings of the past including on abortion and political spending, and favoring corporate interests over ordinary Americans. Republicans control the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade. The inability of Senate Republicans to coax enough Democratic support to avoid the “nuclear option” reflected the intense partisan divide in Washington and the Trump administration’s failure to win the cooperation of the opposition party. Senators Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s top Democrat, and panel member Patrick Leahy, along with fellow Democrats Mark Warner and Ben Cardin, also announced filibuster support on Monday. Spicer accused Democrats of partisan obstruction that sets “a very dangerous precedent” and told a briefing that “we’re obviously disappointed that the overwhelming majority of them are still playing politics with the nation’s highest court.” The actual confirmation vote would be by a simple majority if the filibuster is stopped. To date, four Democrats oppose a filibuster, four short of the eight that Republicans needed. With the failure of Republican healthcare legislation in Congress and with courts blocking the president’s ban on people from several Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States, winning confirmation for Gorsuch has taken on even more importance for Trump. The 60-vote super-majority threshold that gives the minority party power to hold up the majority party has over the decades forced the Senate to try to achieve bipartisanship in legislation and presidential appointments. Republican committee member Lindsey Graham said, “If we have to, we will change the rules, and it looks like we’re going to have to. I hate that. I really, really do.” While Gorsuch’s opponents would fight a Senate rule change, it was the Democrats who in 2013 changed the Senate rules to limit filibusters after Republicans used the procedure against Obama’s appeals court nominees. The Senate, then led by Democrats, barred filibusters for executive branch nominees and federal judges aside from Supreme Court justices. Even if Republicans do change the rules, legislation, as opposed to appointments, would still need to meet a 60-vote threshold. | 1 |
3,813 | On trip abroad, Trump stays on script, but will it last? | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - He still has a chance for missteps, but so far on his maiden international trip, Donald Trump has managed to avoid major stumbles and has stuck to the script in a way his advisers have wanted him to do for months. The U.S. president’s rare display of discipline is in part a result of a desperate need for some smooth sailing. He began the trip in scandal mode, accused of impeding justice by firing former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey for not stopping a federal probe into his campaign’s Russia ties. Whether it will hold is unclear. He is in a portion of his nine-day trip, in Brussels for a NATO summit and later in Sicily for a Group of Seven conclave, where he will meet with European leaders who are at sharp odds with him on many issues. Trump’s change comes after increasingly loud alarm bells sounded from Republican congressional leaders, who say he must tamp down the tirades and tantrums that have contributed to a dismal public approval rating of about 38 percent. Just in the past month alone, Trump used Twitter to issue a veiled threat to Comey, warning that he “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” And when he fired Comey, White House aides said the move was based on a Justice Department recommendation that said Comey had mishandled the investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information last year. Trump blew up that reason the next day, saying he had already decided to fire Comey when the Justice recommendation came in because the FBI man was a “showboat.” Trump’s advisers planned the overseas journey trip in such a way as to keep the president busy with back-to-back meetings and appearances. This has given him little time for tweet storms and cable news watching. It sometimes has left him fatigued, as manifested when he canceled an evening forum with young people in Riyadh. As they normally do when he travels, staff members have managed to provide him with some creature comforts, like keeping bags of potato chips at easy reach. The president has limited his interactions with reporters, taking few questions. As a result, the Russia issue came up only once – during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Initial plans for an end-of-the-trip news conference in Sicily have been set aside, meaning there are fewer chances for him to veer off script, but less opportunity to promote his achievements. When Trump has talked to the news media, his responses to questions have been fairly brief and non-substantive. Asked about his meeting with Pope Francis on Wednesday at the Vatican, Trump kept it simple despite the differences between him and Francis on issues like climate change. “Great...We had a fantastic meeting...We are liking Italy very much, and it was an honor to meet with the pope,” Trump said. He has also reined in some of his hyperbole. After boasting earlier this year that finding a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians should not be all that hard, Trump acknowledged that maybe it would be hard after all. “I’ve heard it’s one of the toughest deals of all,” he said. “But I have a feeling we’re going to get there eventually. I hope.” Aides said most every word spoken was written carefully with some thought of the message that would be sent. Most speeches were performed with a Teleprompter to keep Trump from drifting off into his own ad libs. “He understands that even the slightest phrasing can have big implications,” said a senior White House official. “He’s worked really hard on being directly involved in the preparation.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that behind the scenes, Trump has been calibrating his style to fit the leader who he is meeting and the urgency of the issue he is discussing. “He tends to dial the urgency up and therefore the style dials up,” Tillerson, noting that when talking to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, “He was very energized because he does feel there’s a certain sense of urgency for these parties to finally get on with it.” Trump has been on script before only to lapse. Privately, aides realize this could happen again. “He is who he is,” one aide said. “He’s definitely someone who speaks his mind.” Trump has found himself on this trip increasingly reliant on a core group of his inner circle: Son-in-law Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser; daughter Ivanka, who is Kushner’s wife; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; economic adviser Gary Cohn; national security adviser H.R. McMaster and deputy national security adviser for strategy, Dina Powell. The more disciplined Trump was a victory for Kushner, who organized the trip around some specific objectives, such as a $110 billion arms deal for Saudi Arabia and Trump’s visit to holy sites in Israel, including his visit to the Western Wall, a first for a U.S. president. “We’re very focused on the substance of the actions and then ultimately on delivering results,” said a senior administration official. | 1 |
3,814 | Tiger tips Clinton, bear backs Trump in Siberian zoo's mock vote | (Reuters) - A tiger and polar bear in a Siberian zoo made contrasting predictions of the outcome of Tuesday’s U.S. election when invited to choose between pumpkins representing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Female tiger Yunona favored a pumpkin carved with the image of Clinton, the Democratic nominee, while polar bear Felix opted after some deliberation for one bearing the name of Republican candidate Trump. The Royev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, which released a video of the two, said the animals faced a tough choice as the pumpkins had been filled with fresh meat and fish, both favorite treats with Yunona and Felix. | 1 |
3,815 | NOT SO FUNNY GUY, WILL FERRELL Throws His Support Behind Cankles… | Supporting Hillary is about as funny as an ebola outbreak in America Will Ferrell no longer feels the Bern. The 48-year-old actor-comedian appeared alongside former President Bill Clinton in Nevada on Saturday to urge residents to caucus for Hillary Clinton despite being one of the earliest celebrity endorsers of her rival for the Democrat presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)16% .On Saturday, Clinton s campaign tweeted a short video of Ferrell asking Nevadans to caucus for Hillary ahead of the state s nominating contest, a contest Clinton ultimately won by a narrow margin.Will Ferrell has a message for you, Nevada: Caucus for Hillary today at 11AM. Your location: https://t.co/39foMYsmhfhttps://t.co/FGIu9RkgXg Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 20, 2016 It s really important that everyone shows up to caucus, the comedian tells Clinton supporters in the short clip. Ferrell is also seen sampling amazing chocolate custard frozen yogurt and reminding supporters of the 11 a.m. caucus start time.Ferrell s name was among those listed at Artists for Bernie, a coalition of more than 120 entertainment industry figures who are publicly supporting Sanders s presidential run.Ferrell s name, which had been on the list since its release in September, has now disappeared and a spokesperson for Clinton s campaign told CNN that the funnyman has donated to Clinton and will co-host a fundraiser for the former Secretary of State in Los Angeles on Monday.Ferrell joins other celebrity Clinton supporters including Lena Dunham, Katy Perry, Elton John, Tom Hanks and Barbra Streisand, while Sanders has earned the support of some of the Hollywood community s more progressive stars, including Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Silverman, Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon and members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
3,816 | Kansai Electric to scrap two reactors in latest blow for Japan's nuclear sector | TOKYO (Reuters) - Kansai Electric Power Co said on Friday it will decommission two 38-year-old reactors at its Ohi nuclear plant as Japan s electricity industry struggles to cope with new safety standards imposed after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The widely expected announcement brings to 14 the number of reactors being scrapped since the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. More than six years on, Japan is still turning away from nuclear power in the face of technical problems, public opposition, court challenges and unfavorable economics. Most of Japan s reactors remain shut, with only four operating, while they undergo relicensing processes in a bit to meet new standards set after the Fukushima crisis highlighted shortcomings in regulation. Kansai Electric will now scrap the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Ohi plant, some 86 kilometers (53 miles) from Osaka, western Japan, where the utility is based. Shut since 2011, the reactors have capacity of 1,175 megawatts each, began operations in 1979 and were near the end of their standard operating life of 40 years. A Kansai Electric spokeswoman said that costs in meeting the new safety standards were not a factor behind the decision, but technical difficulties were. The containment vessels of these reactors are smaller than other reactors in Japan, and a need to beef up the walls to meet the standards would make the work zones even more cramped, making it difficult for prompt repairs in case of troubles, the spokeswoman said. The move means Japan is likely to soon be eclipsed by China as the third biggest nuclear power sector in the world - by reactor numbers - after the United States and France. Japan now has 42 reactors, including the two to be decommissioned at Ohi, compared with 38 in China, which has nearly 20 more under construction, while the U.S. and France have 99 and 58 respectively, according to the International Energy Agency. Kansai Electric was the most reliant on nuclear energy among Japan s atomic operators, using reactors for nearly half of its electricity generation before the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011, when reactors melted down following a giant earthquake and tsunami. Two other reactors at the Ohi site remain closed. While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s government is keen to restore a power source that provided about a third of electricity supply before the Fukushima crisis, Japan s public remains deeply skeptical over industry assurances on safety. Anti-nuclear campaigners and residents are increasingly using courts to block restarts and push for plants to close. A Japanese court last week ordered Shikoku Electric Power Co not to restart one of its reactors, overturning a lower court decision in the first instance of a higher court blocking the operation of nuclear plant. Residents have lodged injunctions against most nuclear plants across Japan. | 1 |
3,817 | Patrick Henningsen and Don DeBar Discuss Trump’s ‘Immigration Ban’ and the Media Reaction | Sputnik Radio s new program Trend Storm is hosted by American geopolitical analyst and writer Andrew Korybko. This week, Andrew explores what s really driving the media uproar and political protests surrounding President Trump s executive order on immigration Andrew Korybko Trend StormUS President Donald Trump s controversial Executive Order to temporarily limit the entrance of select foreign nationals to the US is becoming a larger-than-life scandal of epic proportions.Following through on yet another of his campaign promises, America s new leader has banned people from seven countries from entering the US, building off of the list of supposedly terrorist-prone countries that his predecessor first identified. The immediacy of the order caught many people off guard, and there was confusion about whether it would apply to permanent residents (green card-holders), already-vetted refugees, and individuals in transit. Almost immediately after the announcement was made last Friday, thousands of people across the US flocked to their local airports to protest the measure. In doing so, they defied what are ordinarily strict security measures, which during regular times would prohibit such large-scale gatherings at locations considered essential to the nation s infrastructure.The protesters claimed that Trump had banned Muslims from entering the US, and the hashtag #MuslimBan instantly started trending on Twitter. In defense of the motion, Trump and his surrogates said that most majority-Muslim countries were untouched by the temporary border restrictions, pointing out that Indonesia the world s most populous Muslim country isn t on the list, for example. Moreover, in a cynical retort to the critics, they reminded the public that Obama had earlier suspended the US refugee program for Iraqi nationals for half a year back in 2011, though no such protests erupted at that time. Nevertheless, it s hard for the Trump Administration to shake the social media stigma that this is a Muslim Ban , no matter how convincingly they may argue that it amounts to nothing more than a brief review period for high-risk countries prior to the implementation of what s being called extreme vetting. This is because the mainstream US media is very sympathetic to what Trump and his spokespeople have termed the political opposition, namely, the Democratic Party.The perception management and narrative-building that these two institutions are known for was seen vividly and on full display during the presidential campaign, but it s gotten even more intense since Trump s election. Just like back then, however, it doesn t seem to be doing its intended job, since a Reuters poll released on Tuesday found that 49% of Americans are in favor of the President s action, while 41% are against it.Patrick Henningsen, Founder and Executive Editor of 21stCenturyWire.com and the host of the Sunday Wire Show, and Don DeBar, host of a syndicated daily radio newscast CPR News heard across the US, commented on the issue . READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
3,818 | Pope's comments on Trump's Christianity spark jokes on Twitter | (Reuters) - Pope Francis’s remarks on Thursday that U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is “not Christian” due to his views on immigration sparked jokes on social media, and the pope quickly trended on Twitter in the United States. The businessman and former reality TV star called the pope’s comments “disgraceful” and said he was proud to be a Christian. Twitter users poked fun at the brouhaha. “Watching Trump fight with the Pope might be the most fun you can have with your clothes on,” tweeted actor Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks). Television comedy writer Wendy Molyneux (@WendyMolyneux) joked about the controversy by attributing a fake quotation to Trump that mocked the presidential candidate’s penchant for bawdy exaggeration. “‘You know, a lot of my friends are Popes, and they love what I’m doing. This one Pope is such a loser. And fat.’ - @realDonaldTrump,” Molyneux wrote Thursday. Paul Begala (@PaulBegala), a political consultant who is an adviser to a Super PAC helping Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, said: “How long before realDonaldTrump says the Pope is totally broke. Doesn’t own a single golf course. Never even dated a supermodel. #Loser.” “How dare the pope be concerned with the poor & disenfranchised! I mean Jesus never was!” tweeted actor Rainn Wilson (@rainnwilson). “The Late Show,” hosted by comedian Stephen Colbert, tweeted a poll Thursday in which it asked “How can Donald Trump get back in the Pope’s good graces?” The options listed were “Cabinet position,” “Purchase indulgences,” “Evict Protestants” and “Sensual back rub.” Trump, long the leader in national opinion polls, and five Republican rivals face off on Saturday in South Carolina’s primary. While the pope and Trump are now at odds, the real estate developer had previously praised the pontiff. In 2013, the year Francis began his papacy, Trump compared himself to the pope favorably. On Christmas Day 2013: Trump tweeted, “The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!” The pope was not the only powerful figure to run afoul of the Republican candidate on Thursday. Media titan Rupert Murdoch weighed in on Twitter to contest Trump’s claims that Fox News is biased against him after a national poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal showed Senator Ted Cruz inching ahead of Trump. “Trump blames me for WSJ poll, fights FoxNews,” tweeted Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch), executive chairman of both Fox News parent 21st Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) and Journal owner News Corp (NWSA.O). “Time to calm down. If I running anti-Trump conspiracy then doing lousy job!” For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales from the Trail” (here). | 1 |
3,819 | BRITISH COLUMNIST KATIE HOPKINS Has BRUTAL Reaction To “Trans” H.S. Student Beating Girls In Wrestling Matches [VIDEO] | Mack Beggs, the transgender wrestler from Euless Trinity High School, is halfway home to capturing the Class 6A state girls wrestling championship in the 110-pound weight class.Beggs dismantled two opponents on Friday s opening day, earning a major decision over League City Clear Spring s Taylor Latham 18-7 and then improving his season record to 54-0 with a major decision over Mya Engert of Amarillo Tascosa 12-4.Both of Beggs opponents managed to avoid being pinned, but neither provided enough resistance to make the match close at the UIL Wrestling State Tournament.Beggs advanced to Saturday s 10:30 a.m. semifinal against area rival Kailyn Clay of Grand Prairie. Beggs defeated Clay in the semifinals of last week s regional tournament in Allen.For the most part, Friday s action was routine despite the sudden swirling controversy around Beggs, whose gender transition from female to male became a news story after the regional tournament.At the regional tournament, two wrestlers forfeited rather than grapple with Beggs. One, Coppell s Madeline Rocha, who had already qualified for state, lost her opening-round match Friday in Cypress.After losing to Beggs, who has has been on testosterone treatments since October 2015, Engert left the mat in tears and her coach tersely declined an interview request for her wrestler. Many of the coaches have said they re not upset at Beggs, but just the predicament of their girls having to wrestle against an athlete on testosterone.Conservative British actress and talk radio host Katie Hopkins is not one to shy away from a controversy. After reading about a trans high school student who takes regular testosterone treatments, beating non-testosterone enhanced females, she tweeted this brutal response:You want to be a boy. And are still prepared to fight girls. Forgive me if I don't applaud. Nasty narcissist. https://t.co/feLK1YqPuO Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) February 25, 2017Watch the video of trans student Mac Beggs wrestling a non-enhanced female student:But at least one wrestling parent, Patti Overstreet, yelled cheater at Beggs. Look at how beefed up she is, Overstreet said. It s because she s taking an enhancement. Whether she s a boy, girl, wants to be purple or blue it doesn t matter. When you re using a drug and you re 10 times stronger than the person you re wrestling because of that drug, that shouldn t be allowed. One athletic director watching the action, who asked for his name not to be used because of the sensitivity of the issue, said he believes there is cause for concern because of the testosterone, adding, I think there is a benefit. Star Telegram | 0 |
3,820 | WATCH: Colbert’s Takedown Of ‘Cuck’ Steve Bannon Is Nothing Short Of BRILLIANT | By now, everyone knows that the Jared Kushner vs. Stephen K. Bannon infighting in the White House is coming to a head. It has resulted in the removal of Bannon from the National Security Council. Apparently, Kushner had a hand in getting Bannon s hands off our national security, so, for this one, go Jared. We now have a much more secure nation, thanks to his removal. One person who couldn t wait to mock the white nationalist s takedown by his own was Late Show host Stephen Colbert.Colbert started that part of his monologue by mocking Bannon s resistance to being taken off the NSC, saying: Today we re learning more about a huge event yesterday when Steve Bannon was removed from the National Security Council. It s so nice to have Bannon fans here to night. They re so rare, so rare. It was not easy to remove Bannon. They held a hot match to his back until he released his pincers. And, they think the head might still be in there. He might get an infection. Colbert then went on to express disbelief that this was not a demotion: I m not sure if he accomplished his goal. There are still some Muslims in America. There s still some, right? Can you check on that? Still a couple.Word on the street is that Jared Kushner helped push Bannon out. How many jobs does that kid have? I m not sure I m surprised by this. I m not surprised at all in fact, because there is known friction between these two.Whenever Kushner s not around, Bannon calls him a cuck. And Bannon tried to stop the demotion, threatening at one point to quit if it went forward. Wait, wait a second, Steve Bannon, you threatened to quit if you got kicked off the National Security Council? Then you got kicked off and you didn t quit? That s a TCM, bro! TOTAL CUCK MOVE! This is absolutely brilliant. There is so much goodness in that clip, that it has to be watched repeatedly to be fully appreciated.Watch below via The Late Show Twitter:Tonight: Steve Bannon, forced off the NSC by White House rival Jared Kushner, commits what some are calling a 'TCM.' #LSSC #TCM pic.twitter.com/AllTUQt2aI The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) April 7, 2017Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
3,821 | U.S. sanctuary cities weigh response to Trump's threat to curb funding | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Officials from so-called sanctuary cities met in New York on Tuesday to discuss their response to threats from the Trump administration to cut off some funding to cities and states that fail to assist federal authorities in arresting illegal immigrants. Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatened on Monday to strip U.S. Justice Department grants from cities and other local governments that choose to shield illegal immigrants from deportation efforts under President Donald Trump. His remarks were aimed at dozens of cities and other local governments, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, that have joined a growing “sanctuary” movement aimed at protecting immigrant communities. Tuesday’s meeting in New York marked the second straight day of brainstorming on the immigration issue by leaders of some of America’s biggest urban centers. Public officials, liberal activists and academics from around the country shared information on a host of issues. Topics discussed included when and how to challenge requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold illegal immigrants under arrest, for separate local offenses. Attendees came from California, Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington State and elsewhere. Sanctuary cities in general offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Sanctuary city is not an official designation. Federal records show the Justice Department doled out $1 billion to state governments and $430 million to nonprofits in 2016, but only $136 million directly to cities and counties. Crime is generally lower in sanctuary counties, according to a study presented by University of California San Diego assistant professor Tom Wong. He said the findings echoed those of law enforcement officials themselves, since they have found they are more effective when they can focus on day-to-day policing instead of immigration enforcement. Chicago City Council member Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said that although his city is a sanctuary jurisdiction, immigration agents raided a home there on Monday where eight people, including three children, were sleeping. The agents shot and wounded Felix Torres, though he was not the person agents were seeking, Ramirez-Rosa said. “This guns blazing raid ... is exactly why my city should refuse to comply with ICE, under all circumstances,” he said. | 1 |
3,822 | Why French Legal System Turned Down Village’s Request For “Christian Only” Refugees Day Before Attack | Christians don t decapitate their bosses Well, you can t argue with that logic Maybe they ll re-think their open-minded decision post-radical Islam massacre On Thursday the administrative tribunal of Grenoble suspended a judgement of the municipality of Charvieu-Chavagneux, in Is re, which said it only wanted to accept Christian refugees because they don t decapitate their bosses . The judgement was pronounced after a request for summary suspension filed by the prefecture of Is re, the latter declared in a statement.The prefect initially asked the mayor to withdraw his judgement then initiated legal action when he refused to comply with his request. The Charvieu-Chavagneux judgement seems to me to be liable to a double criticism on the basis of discrimination and the infringement of equality. In this judgement approved unanimously by the municipal council on 8 September, Charvieu-Chavagneux town council said it wanted to mitigate the irresponsible foreign policy of the state by welcoming a family of refugees, on the express condition that it is a Christian family. The municpality explained its choice by declaring that Christians don t jeopardise the security of anyone else, they don t attack trains armed with Kalashnikovs, they don t shoot journalists in editorial meetings and they don t decapitate their bosses as we saw happen only a few kilometres away from our town. Via: Diversitymachtfreiblog | 0 |
3,823 | Minnesota governor to undergo surgery for cancer in March | (Reuters) - Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton will undergo surgery early next month for prostate cancer, he said in a statement Tuesday. Staff for Dayton, 70, said last week he was weighing treatment options after saying he had cancer in late January. A day before he announced the diagnosis, Dayton collapsed while delivering his state-of-the-state address in St. Paul, but later said he did not think the fainting episode was related to his illness. Dayton will have surgery to remove his prostate on March 2, he said in the statement. The operation will be done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dayton said he will need to spend one night in the hospital. The cancer has not spread beyond his prostate, Dayton said. Dayton, a Democrat, served six years as a U.S. senator from Minnesota before he was elected to his first term as governor in 2010. His current term runs until early 2018. | 1 |
3,824 | Trump distances himself from remarks on Putin over election meddling | HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday attempted to clear up confusion over whether he accepts Russian President Vladimir Putin s denials of meddling in the U.S. election last year. At a news conference in Vietnam, Trump distanced himself from remarks he made on Saturday in which he suggested he believed Putin when he said there had been no Russian meddling in the election that took him to the White House. The comments had drawn criticism at home because U.S. intelligence agencies have long since concluded there was Russian meddling. As to whether I believe it or not, I m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted, Trump said at a news conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang. As currently led, by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies. He was careful to make clear he sided with the intelligence agencies under his own leadership. Former U.S. intelligence director James Clapper had told Reuters: The fact the president of the United States would take Putin at his word over that of the intelligence community is quite simply unconscionable. The Russian issue has clouded Trump s first year in office and his comments on Saturday were a distraction from his five-nation Asia tour. Trump said he still believed Putin did not think there had been Russian meddling. I believe that President Putin really feels, and feels strongly, that he did not meddle in our election, Trump said, while adding: What he believes is what he believes. Trump said he was not interested in arguing with Putin over meddling and wanted to get on with Russia to work on world problems including North Korea, Syria and Ukraine. Trump has called allegations of campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax. A special counsel, Robert Mueller, is conducting an investigation that has led to charges against Trump s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates. U.S. intelligence agencies have also concluded Russians interfered to tip the election in Trump s favour through hacking and releasing emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and spreading social media propaganda. | 1 |
3,825 | Family of Lebanon PM Hariri visit French president in Paris | BEIRUT (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday received members of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s family in Paris, days after intervening to facilitate Hariri s departure from Saudi Arabia, Hariri s press office said. Hariri resigned as prime minister in a video broadcast from Riyadh on Nov. 4. After intervention by France he returned to Lebanon this week and postponed his resignation at the request of Lebanese President Michel Aoun while a dialogue takes place. Top Lebanese officials have said Riyadh was holding Hariri against his will and forced him to resign. Saudi Arabia has denied this. Hariri s office said his wife Lara, daughter Louloua and one of his two sons, Abdelaziz, arrived in France on Thursday for a holiday and will stay in Paris for a few days. Hariri is a dual Saudi-Lebanese citizen and the two children attend schools in Saudi. Hariri thanked Macron and his wife on Twitter for inviting them to the Elysee Palace. | 1 |
3,826 | Flint, MI: Ten Dead, Eighty-Seven Infected With Deadly Waterborne Bacteria (VIDEO) | On January 13, 2016, Michigan governor Rick Snyder held a press conference to announce the discovery of an outbreak of Legionnaire s Disease in the city of Flint.According to officials in the Snyder administration, there have been 87 confirmed cases of the disease. Ten people have died as a result.Legionnaire s disease is caused by a deadly waterborne bacteria, called Legionella.Unlike lead poisoning, the other major water-related health crisis now facing the people of Flint, Legionnaire s disease is not caused by drinking contaminated water. Instead, the bacteria enters the body through the lungs, via water droplets in the air.On Wednesday Snyder officials claimed that they can neither confirm or deny that the outbreak is linked to the city s contaminated water supply.As The Atlantic reports here, the outbreak began shortly after the Snyder administration switched the city of Flint s water supply to the Flint River.According to the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) an outbreak of Legionnaire s Disease occurs when two or more people are infected with the bacteria.In Flint, almost ninety people are known to have been infected by the disease between June 2014 and November 2015.What s infuriating about the Legionnaire s outbreak in Flint is that officials in the Snyder administration certainly knew about it long before Wednesday s press conference. Yet they said nothing until now.As reported here, between June 2014 to March 2015, the number of confirmed cases of Legionnaire s Disease in Flint skyrocketed.During the previous five years the city saw a fairly steady number of cases of the disease, which averaged about eight to ten cases during a ten month reporting period.But by March of 2015, the number of confirmed cases had spiked to 4x the prior average. Between June 2014 and March 2015, there were 45 confirmed cases of the disease. Seven people died from Legionnaire s Disease during that ten month period.Yet after seeing this sudden increase, officials in the Snyder administration took no action. There was no effort made to identify a possible source, although the Center for Disease Control provides specific guidelines for doing so. The public was also not notified that there was an outbreak, although the state health department knew, or should have known, at least by March of last year, if not sooner.Between March of 2015 and November of 2015, another 42 cases of Legionnaire s Disease were confirmed in Flint. Three more people died after being exposed to the waterborne bacteria.Still there was no mention of an outbreak until January 13, 2016.Snyder s press conference on Wednesday was the first time any official made mention of a Legionnaire s outbreak in the city, although at least ten deaths have been caused by the disease.State officials virtually ignored this deadly outbreak for almost a year. Then all of the sudden, on Wednesday, Governor Snyder called a press conference to inform the public that there is an outbreak of Legionnaire s Disease in the city.The question of how state officials could have just now discovered something that has been going on for this long may not be difficult to answer.Last week the federal government announced a Justice Department probe into the Flint water crisis. The announcement followed an investigation by the ACLU, which revealed that state officials had falsified documents and rigged tests to cover up the fact that the city s water is contaminated with lead.Over 200 children are confirmed to have lead poisoning because of the actions of Snyder and his appointed representatives. An additional 9,000 children are likely to be impacted. The number of adults who are affected is currently unknown, but likely stretches into the thousands.A Justice Department investigation into the Flint water crisis would undoubtedly reveal that the Snyder administration concealed information on the Legionnaire s outbreak from the public.What else has Rick Snyder s administration been hiding and lying about? We may never know.Just as the Snyder administration was coming under intense scrutiny over the city s toxic water, someone allegedly broke into Flint City Hall. As Addicting Info reported here, the break-in conveniently targeted the vacant office where Flint s water records are stored.According to the CDC, a state health agency is responsible to conduct an investigation into the source of an Legionnaire s outbreak. Such an investigation is advised by the CDC any time there is an increase in the number of people who are diagnosed with the disease or an increase in the severity of cases (such as when the disease causes hospitalizations and deaths.)Outbreaks of Legionnaire s disease, such the one happening in Flint, would require an immediate investigation to determine the source as well as an urgent response from the state health department.Because of the timing and severity of the outbreak, which directly coincided with the switch of the water source, public health officials should have started an investigation into the source of the bacteria months ago. Instead they did nothing.State officials say they haven t made a direct connection between the city s contaminated water and the outbreak of the disease. That s more than likely because they never tried to identify the source of the outbreak. They just ignored it.Watch this video, recorded by club937 in January of last year, which shows the quality of the city s water. We know that the water in Flint is contaminated with lead, a substance that causes a wide range of physical and mental disabilities, especially in children. We also know that the citizens of Flint were repeatedly told by the governor and members of his administration that the water was perfectly safe to drink.What s most frightening about the possibility that the city s water is the cause of the outbreak of Legionnaire s Disease is that people do not have to drink it to be exposed to the bacteria. This bacteria is associated with inhaling water particles, meaning that people can become deathly sick from simply bathing, showering, washing their hands or performing other tasks that most of us take for granted.Handing out bottled drinking water and lead filters isn t going to cut it.I cannot think of a single reason why the people of Flint would trust anything that Governor Snyder or members of his administration tell them about the water. They have been told lie after lie by this administration, ever since the city s water source was switched to the Flint River.What we can already say about the Legionnaire s outbreak is that state officials were aware of it months ago, yet they took no steps to protect public health. Ten people are dead.Snyder says he s not sure if the city s water is responsible for those deaths. That acknowledgment alone is enough to cause public outrage. It is his job to know. It was his job to know back in March, when there were already seven deaths attributed to this disease. But he didn t give a shit back in March. You know why? Because the federal government was not investigating Flint s water crisis back in March.Snyder and every member of his administration has got to go. Every shred of trust the public may have had in this administration is gone. It will never be back. No amount of PR from the governor s office is ever going to repair this.These are life and death issues for Flint residents. They need answers that they can trust, and they deserve to have representation that they can trust as they try to navigate their way through this incalculable nightmare.It was bad when they couldn t drink the water. Now there s a new threat looming over their heads, and that threat comes from the possibility that any contact with the water whatsoever could cause them to become deathly ill.These citizens cannot be expected to look to the same people who caused this disaster for answers now. They cannot be asked to trust the same administration that has lied to them over and over in the past, to tell them the truth now.Snyder and his administration are now saying they aren t sure if the city s water killed ten people. They don t exactly know if the water is safe to shower in, bathe in, wash your hands in. That s what they re saying now, when last week they said they were sure the water was safe for all of those things.At least a dozen petitions to recall Governor Rick Snyder have been filed in recent days. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers continues to throw the recall Snyder petitions out.Oddly enough the right wing majority board had no problem approving two Tea-Party backed recall petitions targeting state legislatures who voted in favor of a tax increase to help repair the state s dangerously neglected roads.To the citizens of Michigan I would ask, how many people have to get sick, and how many children have to be poisoned, and how many deaths have to be counted, before partisan political bullshit takes a backseat to the health and safety of your fellow citizens?You need to get this man, and every member of his blatantly corrupt administration out of office.*Featured image credit: Video screen capture club937.com | 0 |
3,827 | Alabama Lawyer Laughably Files Lawsuit Against Five SCOTUS Justices For Same-Sex Marriage Ruling | A bigoted conservative attorney in Alabama is suing the five Supreme Court Justices who voted to legalize same-sex marriage across the nation.The whining lawyer, named Austin Burdick, is after $6 million in damages because he says he can no longer do his job because the Constitution has been destroyed by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kegan. Defendants goes beyond a manipulation, twist, strain, or unique perspective on the text and crosses over in to an abandonment of the Constitution, Burdick claims in the lawsuit. For centuries the Constitution has been the instrument of protection for the rights of citizens against government intrusion, specifically, since the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868, interpreted the plain language of the Constitution and that amendment to be a guarantee of freedom from government interference in individual liberty. Clearly, Burdick probably should not have been able to pass the bar, because his argument is ridiculous. The ruling made by the high court in Obergefell v. Hodges is the perfect demonstration of the Supreme Court ruling precisely because the Constitution protects the rights of citizens, which includes the rights of gay people. But Burdick claims the Justices rewrote the Constitution. The opinion in fact rewrites the 14th Amendment to read: Every state must make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States; further, each state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law under the guise of extending tax benefits or some other license; and any person within its jurisdiction may be deprived of the equal protection of the laws when it is fashionable to do so.' Seriously, how did this idiot get a law license?The fact is that the 14th Amendment guarantees every American citizen equal protection and due process, something that bigots like Burdick have been denying to LGBT people for decades. He is literally whining because he thinks the Constitution should allow him to discriminate against gay people.The Constitution was not rewritten and there is no reason why Burdick cannot continue to practice law, although there are reasons why he should not be allowed to do so. Suing the highest ranking judges in the nation is frivolous and a waste of the judiciary s time. The Supreme Court has the final say on what is constitutional and what is not. It says so right in the very Constitution Burdick claims has been destroyed.Burdick has apparently felt threatened by same-sex marriage since last May when he wrote on his website that all same-sex couples are after is benefits while claiming that same-sex couples haven t been denied anything at all.No same sex couple is prevented from proclaiming that they are committed to each other. No same sex couple is prevented from conducting a ceremony of their own choosing or design to add dignity to their relationship. No same sex couple is prevented from exchanging rings and vows. No same sex couple is prevented from endeavoring to live happily ever after. No same sex couple is prevented from referring to their partner as their spouse. Further, no same sex couple is prevented from announcing to the world that they are married. In fact, many of the same people who have rushed to the courthouse for a license state that they have been married for years.Make no mistake, this lawsuit is just another part of Burdick s temper tantrum. He claims same-sex couples already have the right the get married when in reality many states, including Alabama, banned same-sex couples from getting married before the Supreme Court ruling. In fact, Alabama is still trying to deny same-sex couples that right.Any self-respecting judge should laugh Burdick out of court since this is clearly just another desperate ploy by conservatives to keep their anti-gay hate alive. Featured image from Wikimedia | 0 |
3,828 | Russia Probe’s New Leader Disqualified Himself MONTHS Ago With One IDIOTIC Statement | With Devin Nunes recusal from the House Intelligence Committee s Russia investigation, the committee needs a new leader, and that new leader is Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas. If that name sounds familiar, it s likely because Conaway made some waves earlier this year by saying something so stupid it should have automatically disqualified him from running this investigation.Conaway is the man who made the ridiculous comparison between Russia s meddling in our election, and Mexican celebrities performing for Hillary Clinton. Oh yes, to Conaway, they are one and the same: Harry Reid and the Democrats brought in Mexican soap opera stars, singers and entertainers who had immense influence in those communities into Las Vegas, to entertain, get out the vote and so forth. Those are foreign actors, foreign people, influencing the vote in Nevada. You don t hear the Democrats screaming and saying one word about that. When he was pressed on whether Mexican performers are really on par with Russian hackers, he said: Sure it is, it s foreign influence. If we re worried about foreign influence, let s have the whole story. Two things, idiot: First, foreign performers aren t working in secret. Second, foreign performers aren t working to obtain and release thousands of internal party documents specifically damaging to one campaign.Foreign performers are more like surrogates belonging to a certain demographic. Foreign hackers are more like spies working to sabotage something.And the man now leading the Russia probe tried to downplay it into nothing by claiming they re the same thing. It was the dumbest thing he could ever have said as next in line for the chairmanship because it proves he s both too partisan to run an investigation that should be as non-partisan as possible, and also that he s just plain too stupid to know what he s doing.Things just got very interesting here, and not in a good way. Can House Republicans offer up anybody capable of running this investigation the way it needs to be run? It s just gotten ridiculous now.Featured image by Lance Cheung, CC BY 2.0 via Flickr | 0 |
3,829 | U.S. top diplomat to visit Asia as part of Trump trip: State Department | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Myanmar as part of President Donald Trump s trip to Asia starting on Friday, the Department of State said on Thursday. In a statement, the department said Tillerson would represent Trump at the East Asia Summit in Manila before traveling to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on Nov. 15 to address the humanitarian crisis and discuss U.S. support for its democratic transition. | 1 |
3,830 | China sanguine as Trump-Xi 'bromance' sours over North Korea, Taiwan | BEIJING (Reuters) - China reacted relatively calmly on Friday after a series of diplomatic broadsides by the United States, expressing anger over new arms sales by Washington to Taiwan but hoping ties could soon be brought back on track. U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inability to restrain North Korea’s arms and missile programs. This week, the United States imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea’s weapons programs, announced a $1.4 billion arms sale for Taiwan, and said it would like sick Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to be treated “elsewhere”. It has also placed China on its global list of the worst offenders in human trafficking and forced labor and senior U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is considering trade actions against Beijing, including tariffs on steel imports. Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the United States, India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at China. It’s a long way from the “bromance” that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to have at their first summit in April. Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties in the meeting at his Florida residence and subsequently called Xi a “good man”. While China said it was “outraged” at the arms sales for Taiwan, and upset with the North Korea-related sanctions, it did not make specific threats of retaliation. In 2010, Beijing threatened to sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to Taiwan after Washington announced a much bigger $6.4 billion arms package. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he hoped the United States can correct its mistakes and get ties back on track “so as to avoid cooperation in important areas being impacted”. He did not elaborate. Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and who has advised the government on foreign policy, cautioned against interpreting recent events as indicating a shift in China-U.S. relations, saying it was still too early to tell. “We had a good first summit and a good beginning but the relationship in the long run is characterized by not just cooperation but also conflict,” Jia said. “Arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Sea and East China Sea, and other problems in the relationship will appear. It’s a question of how much the two countries will be able to manage these conflicts, whether they can manage them better than the previous administration.” Trump and Xi are expected to meet next week on the sidelines of a G20 summit in the Germany city of Hamburg. China has long been cautious about Trump, China-based diplomatic sources say, believing he is unpredictable and needs to be handled with care. “How does the Chinese government view Trump? We’re still discovering who he is. He often does things we can’t predict. We’re not clever enough to predict what he’ll do,” said Shen Dingli, a professor at Shanghai’s elite Fudan University. Trump upset China even before taking office, taking a call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, overturning decades of precedent of no high-level official contacts between the United States and an island China considers to be a wayward province. While China has worked hard to get Trump to understand the importance of Taiwan to the China-U.S. relationship, it has never seriously expected Washington to stop selling it weapons, provision for which is explicitly made in U.S. law. “The U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan is routine,” said Shen. “They’re selling much less than before, and that’s much better. So I don’t think there’s anything too terrible about that.” Still, the risks around Taiwan are profound. China’s Defense Ministry, responding to the U.S. weapons sales, said Taiwan was the “most important, most sensitive core issue” between the United States and China. The arms sale came hot on the heels of a U.S. Senate committee approving a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the U.S. Navy for the first time since Washington ditched Taipei and established ties with Beijing in 1979. While China’s Defense Ministry registered its opposition to the bill on Thursday, spokesman Wu Qian pointed out that as long as they respect each other’s core concerns, the Chinese and U.S. militaries can be an “engine of stability” for the two countries. Shi Yinhong, who heads the Center for American Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University and has advised the government on diplomacy, said it was important people are realistic about the challenges China and the United States face. “Perhaps people appraised too highly the Xi-Trump meeting. Although the atmosphere was very good, there were still real problems there,” Shi said, referring to the Florida summit. “Maybe you can say that China-U.S. relations have gone back to being normal,” Shi added. “Trump has no patience, and nobody can be surprised that he’s pushed certain issues to the fore.” | 1 |
3,831 | THREATS TO BUSINESS TO REMOVE TRUMP SIGN Prompts Even Better Pro-Trump Display [Video] | Please go to the BEST MULCH Facebook page and give them a thumbs up!Thank you all for the overwhelming support! We have gone viral! Please feel free to stop by and take pictures with Hillary! She will be out from dusk until dawn!Originally I only had the TRUMP sign posted in front of my business, within 2 hours of the sign being placed out front we received a voice mail from a blocked phone number which is played during the video. I will not be bullied into removing the TRUMP sign simply because it offended someone. My Country is just as important as my business, I will assume that the sign was to large and to high for her to destroy or steal. The voicemail was what prompted me to make the sign more noticeable and take an even more dramatic approach by adding Hilary to the jail cell. #Trump2016 Video by: Michael J Makowski Multimedia | 0 |
3,832 | Trump Fans Don’t Care If Melania Broke Immigration Laws Because She’s White (VIDEO) | Recently, reports have been circulating that Melania Trump may have been working illegally during her first five years in the United States, including while the GOP presidential nominee and his latest in a string of wives were dating a huge no-no to Donald Trump s idiot supporters. So Buzzfeed decided to get out there and ask Trump supporters what they thought about this new development.None of the Trump supporters Buzzfeed asked about the new information that Melania Trump s nude photographs from 1995 revealed she had actually been in the United States longer than the has previously claimed were informed about it, but few actually cared that she broke the law. After all, she isn t a Mexican rapist or a Muslim terrorist. I haven t heard about this before, but it s not true, one woman told the publication. But if, but if It doesn t matter anyway. Another explained that Hillary used to be a Republican and Trump used to be a Democrat, things change! He failed to explain how one s immigration status at a particular time can change. Another said that the media shouldn t pick on Trump s wife because Obama has gotten a pass on proving his citizenship, which is well-documented.Another man said we shouldn t pick on Trump s wife when Obama s gotten a pass on proving his citizenship. pic.twitter.com/xiwbX3bqWC Ema O Connor (@o_ema) August 4, 2016One supporter says she doesn t care about the issue. She just wants a wall and what is going on with Obama. Most of the Trump supporters I asked about Melania s questionable immigration story did not know and did not care. pic.twitter.com/aXgOv3liZX Ema O Connor (@o_ema) August 4, 2016One man decided to cut past the bullsh*t and simply explained that he and other supporters don t care if she worked here illegally because they re fine with Europeans coming here. He did not explain what he meant by that, but European-Americans is white supremacist slang for white people, so there s that.Some supporters said they wouldn t care of Melania worked illegally because they re fine w/ Europeans coming here pic.twitter.com/Mf3tWe05R6 Ema O Connor (@o_ema) August 4, 2016Trump fans love his immigration policies, but only so far as they would keep more brown people, Muslims, or others they consider undesirables from entering the country. Need evidence? Just listen to them.These people will be voting in November. Will you?Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
3,833 | Factbox: How U.S. states responded to Trump panel's voter data request | (Reuters) - Most U.S. states have rejected full compliance with requests for voters’ private information by President Donald Trump’s commission investigating possible election fraud. The following is a rundown of how states responded to the requests for information such as names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories: Alabama: Will release publicly available data if “convinced that the overall effort will produce the necessary results.” Alaska: Will provide public information, not including voters’ dates of birth, Social Security or driver’s license numbers. Arizona: Refused to comply. The secretary of state has “serious privacy concerns.” Arkansas: Will produce public information, not including Social Security or driver’s license numbers, military or felon status. California: Refused to provide “sensitive voter information.” The Secretary of State called effort “a waste of taxpayer money.” Colorado: Will provide publicly available information, but not Social Security numbers and full dates of birth. Connecticut: Refused to immediately comply with an “overly broad” request and has asked for clarification on commission’s intent. Delaware: Refused to comply. District of Columbia: Refused to comply. The mayor said commission’s request “serves no legitimate purpose.” Florida: Will release public information, which does not include Social Security numbers. State records lack felony status. Georgia: Will provide basics like name, address, polling place and party preference for $250 fee, but not sensitive voter data. Hawaii: Still awaiting formal request, but based on news reports governor stated, “I don’t think we should share these records.” Idaho: Reviewing request, but the Secretary of State noted limits to public data, which does not include Social Security numbers. Illinois: Refused to comply. State elections board said law limits the release voter data, which is not generally public. Indiana: Will provide names, addresses and congressional districts, which are publicly available, but not other private information. Iowa: Willing to supply publicly available information, but highlighted a formal request process needed under state law. Kansas: Will provide publicly available information, which does not include Social Security numbers, according to local media. The Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach, is vice chair of Trump’s commission. Kentucky: Refused to comply. Louisiana: Refused to comply, but has limited public information available for purchase. Maine: Refused to comply due to state law protecting data. Maryland: Refused to comply, found state law prohibited release. Massachusetts: Refused to comply because voter data is not public record. Michigan: Will supply publicly available information which does not include date of birth, social security or driver’s license numbers. Minnesota: Refused to comply, said commission “risks becoming a partisan tool to shut out millions of eligible American voters.” Mississippi: Refused to comply. The Secretary of State told commission to “go jump in the Gulf of Mexico.” Missouri: Will release limited public information, which does not include Social Security numbers, felon or military status. Montana: Will provide public information, does not include birth dates or Social Security numbers. Nebraska: Reviewing. The Secretary of state will provide public information if law permits and once assured of data security. Nevada: Will provide publicly available information, but not Social Security numbers and other private data. New Hampshire: Will produce publicly available information, according to local media reports. New Jersey: State officials are reviewing the request but say they will not release information that is not public. New Mexico: Refused to comply. Secretary of State not convinced data is not to be used for “nefarious or unlawful purposes.” New York: Refused to comply. The governor said it would not “perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election.” North Carolina: Will provide public information, including names, addresses, political affiliation and voter history. North Dakota: Refused to comply, because state law does not permit. Only state without voter registration. Ohio: Will provide publicly information, but not confidential data such as Social Security numbers. Oklahoma: Will provide publicly available information, but not Social Security numbers. Oregon: Will provide public information for a $500 fee. This does not include Social Security and driver’s license numbers. Pennsylvania: Refused to comply but will supply limited, public data for $20 fee. Rhode Island: Will provide public information, not including Social Security numbers and felon status. South Carolina: Refused to comply because the state does not have authority, according to its elections office. The state Republican party chair offered to purchase the data for the commission, according to local media reports. South Dakota: Refused to comply, local media reported. Tennessee: Refused to comply because state law does not allow. Texas: Will release public voter information, including birth dates and voter history, according to local media reports. Utah: The state will only provide public information, which does not include Social Security numbers. Virginia: Refused to comply with request based on “specious and false notion” of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election. Vermont: Refused to comply, after not receiving a response to initial concerns raised about providing publicly information. Washington: Will provide public information, including birth dates and addresses, but not Social Security numbers. West Virginia: Will provide public information for a $500 fee, not including sensitive data. Voter history available for another $500. Wisconsin: Will provide public information for $12,500 fee, which does not include birth dates and social security numbers. Wyoming: Refused to comply, concerned about “federal overreach.” Sources: State elections officers, the National Association of Secretaries of State, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. | 1 |
3,834 | EU's Juncker hails Macron speech as 'very European' | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hailed Emmanuel Macron s major speech on EU reform on Tuesday as very European and thanked the French head of state for his support for the EU s efforts in Brussels. A very European speech from my friend Emmanuel Macron, the EU chief executive wrote in French on Twitter. Europe needs courage. Thank you for your support for the work of the EU institutions. What we need now is a roadmap to advance the Union at 27. We have to openly discuss all ideas and decide before May 2019, Juncker added, referring to his call in a keynote address of his own two weeks ago for a summit after Britain leaves the Union in March 2019 to decide the future for the remaining 27 members. Juncker s chief-of-staff Martin Selmayr, who kept up a stream of tweets throughout Macron s address at the Sorbonne highlighting similarities between his proposals and those of Juncker, tweeted: Rarely Europe saw such convergence of views between a French president a Commission president. Some nuances, yes. But also strong commonalities. Among key proposals made by Juncker and Macron was for the euro zone to have its own budget and finance minister. However, Juncker has warned against Macron s suggestion that euro zone states create their own separate institutions. Juncker says that may renew divisions between the richer west and poorer east of the continent and wants countries like Poland to be encouraged to join the euro zone and for a euro zone budget to managed by existing institutions of the whole EU. | 1 |
3,835 | Republican Senator Considers Obstruction Of Justice Investigation Against Trump (DETAILS) | Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hinted at the possibility of laying obstruction of justice charges down against Donald Trump in a conversation with CNN s Manu Raju yesterday.Raju relayed a message to Grassley from Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat out of California, in the Senate s hallways. According to Raju, Feinstein says that she wants the Judiciary Committee to investigate potential obstruction of justice. Raju was referring to a letter Feinstein wrote to Grassley on Friday in which she begged the committee to investigate all issues that raise a question of obstruction of justice. These issues should be developed by our legal staff, presented to us, and be subject to full Committee hearings. Grassley s response was one that we all wanted to hear. Let me give you a process answer because this is where we are, Grassley replied to Raju. Sen. Feinstein wanted to talk to me by phone today. I sent word back that I d like to have her and I sit down face-to-face and we ll work out all of the subpoenas and all the stuff we have to do in the future and work out a whole program. Raju pressed for more details, asking, Are you okay, though, looking into the potential of obstruction of justice? Is that something for your committee? We re going to leave that to a conversation with Feinstein, was Grassley s answer.Dianne Feinstein s letter to Grassley mainly focussed on fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who, on January 26 and 27, warned White House counsel that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had lied about his contact with the Russian Ambassador, leading to Flynn s forced resignation. She also mentioned that, if necessary, the committee could subpoena Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Administrator Mike Rogers following their unforthcoming responses when questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee.These could be the subpoenas that Chuck Grassley was referring to, but you can make up your own mind by reading Feinstein s letter and watching Raju and Grassley s exchange, here.GRASSLEY says he's meeting soon with Feinstein to discuss subpoeanas on Russia, FBI, Comey probes. https://t.co/wgNDVuy29D Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 13, 2017Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
3,836 | U.S. lawmakers reintroduce bill to end restrictions on Cuba travel | HAVANA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators reintroduced legislation on Thursday to repeal all restrictions on travel to Cuba, this time attracting far more co-sponsors in a sign of growing support for U.S.-Cuban detente even as its future looks uncertain. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act was introduced in 2015 by eight Republican and Democratic co-sponsors but never made it to the floor. The latest measure attracted 55 co-sponsors. While efforts to ease the decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba have been gathering strength and 55 votes would be a majority in the 100-member Senate, that number falls short of the 60 needed to advance the legislation. There was no indication the chamber’s Republican leaders would allow the measure to come up for a vote. Republican President Donald Trump threatened during his 2016 election campaign to reverse a normalization of ties with the Communist-run, Caribbean island initiated in 2014 by Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump’s administration is reviewing U.S. policy toward the country’s former Cold War foe. Obama eased trade and travel restrictions, fueling a boom in American visits to Cuba, although tourism was still not officially allowed. On Wednesday, more than 40 U.S. travel companies and organizations urged Trump not to roll back expanded U.S. travel to Cuba. “It is Americans who are penalized by our travel ban, not the Cuban government,” said U.S. Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who with Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy led the group that co-sponsored the bill. Flake added that lifting the ban would give Americans more freedom but also benefit the Cuban people. “This is certain to have positive benefits for the island’s burgeoning entrepreneurial and private sector.” The number of U.S. visitors rose 74 percent last year, boosting business for Cuban hotels, BnBs, restaurants and taxis but also U.S. cruise operators and airlines that entered the market over the past year. “We applaud Senators Flake and Leahy for their leadership in supporting the American and Cuban people by eliminating archaic, outdated policy,” said James Williams, president of the Washington-based Engage Cuba group. There is still strong congressional opposition to any ending of Cuba’s isolation, led by anti-Castro Cuban-American lawmakers including Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. They say the United States should not make travel to Cuba easier before the Havana government moves toward democracy. | 1 |
3,837 | Red Cross appeals for keeping Yemen borders open to food, medicines | GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on Tuesday for all borders with Yemen to be kept open to allow vital food, health and medical supplies to enter the country reeling from war and a major cholera epidemic. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting against the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea ports to the Arabian Peninsula country to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The ICRC said a shipment of chlorine tablets to prevent cholera did not get clearance at Yemen s northern border, and it voiced fears for 50,000 vials of insulin for diabetics due to be delivered by next week, which require constant refrigeration. | 1 |
3,838 | Trump Just Demanded The New York Times APOLOGIZE For Exposing Treason; It Didn’t Go Well For Him (TWEETS) | Donald Trump s slow and visibly painful meltdown over his administration (and campaign) getting caught colluding with the Russian government continued Thursday, with The Donald once again attacking the media for reporting it. Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize! Trump demanded.Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2017The New York Times was instrumental in bringing much of the information we know so far about the Trump administration s criminal dealings with Russia to light. Naturally, the LOSERS on Twitter were quick to BIGLY Point out that he s full of Bannon:.@realDonaldTrump Remember when you said that @nytimes was "very nice"? https://t.co/B7ymYb33Yb Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump @nytimes Just as soon as you apologize for your *light treason* Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) February 16, 2017.@jules_su true: pic.twitter.com/Rj66MLFOA4 Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump ALSO, are you now verifying everything the Times reported about your Russia contacts? Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) February 16, 2017.@realDonaldTrump No, you should apologize for your collusion with the Russians! Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump @nytimes You are blaming a check engine light for a blown motor. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump @nytimes do you think the press apologized for watergate leaks?? Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump @nytimes I'm confused. Why should the press apologize for reporting facts from solid sources? Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 16, 2017@realdonaldtrump Facts > your lies. pic.twitter.com/LuXBVzfZBl Ben Lang (@benln) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump The @nytimes is still not failing. Record subscriptions since the election. Stock STILL at a 52 week high. KILLING IT! pic.twitter.com/XITt2JJe1H MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) February 16, 2017@realDonaldTrump @nytimes When you keep asking whistleblowers to apologize, that means you're hiding something. We'll find it! Ben Berkon (@BenBerkon) February 16, 2017But Trump wasn t done. He vowed that he will catch those responsible for exposing the corruption in his administration:The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2017And, of course, The Donald slammed the fake news media for writing stories using sources. FAKE NEWS media, which makes up stories and "sources," is far more effective than the discredited Democrats but they are fading fast! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2017Ultimately, Trump says, this whole Russia thing the one that has been confirmed by 17 U.S. intelligence agencies is just fake news made up by the Democrats to explain away Hillary Clinton s massive popular vote win (and Trump s victory-by-technicality):The Democrats had to come up with a story as to why they lost the election, and so badly (306), so they made up a story RUSSIA. Fake news! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2017Pay attention to the way he is acting. When Trump wakes up and rambles incoherently, it means that he is worried. It means that he is lying.He also thinks he will get away with it. It is up to us to make sure he doesn t. Never stop leaking. Never stop telling the truth. Never stop resisting. Never submit.Featured image via Getty Images (Chip Somodevilla)/screengrab | 0 |
3,839 | Teacher’s Resignation Letter A Heartbreaking Reminder Of What We’re Doing To Kids | Wendy Bradshaw became a teacher because she wanted to help children learn and prepare them to succeed in life. Sadly, however, Bradshaw s Master Degree, with a focus on childhood behavioral disorders, could not have prepared her for the reality of today s classrooms.After being forced to make her students cry every day in class, Bradshaw resigned from Polk County schools last October.Her resignation letter goes straight to the heart of the problem with America s schools.She writes:The children don t only cry. Some misbehave so that they will be the bad kid not the stupid kid , or because their little bodies just can t sit quietly anymore, or because they don t know the social rules of school and there is no time to teach them.The teacher s background in childhood behavior disorders helped her understand that these weren t problem children . They were just normal children trapped inside a problematic system. While they may not have arrived at school with behavioral disorders, they were likely to leave with them.Bradshaw s letter goes on to explain:I can say with confidence that it is not the children who are disordered. The disorder is in the system which requires them to attempt curriculum and demonstrate behaviors far beyond what is appropriate for their age.This is what happens when lawmakers, not teachers and parents, get together to decide what s best for children whom they will never spend a single day with.It s also what happens when the power to educate is taken out of the hands of educators.Bradshaw writes:The disorder is in the system which bars teachers from differentiating instruction meaningfully, which threatens disciplinary action if they decide their students need a five minute break from a difficult concept, or to extend a lesson which is exceptionally engaging.She adds that:The disorder is in a system which has decided that students and teachers must be regimented to the minute and punished if they deviate. The disorder is in the system which values the scores on wildly inappropriate assessments more than teaching students in a meaningful and research based manner.All across the US, teachers and students are being subjected to this kind of strict regimine, which many, like Bradshaw, believe is doing more harm than good.Rather than improving student performance, student test scores are declining.As the Washington Post reported here in November:Fourth-graders and eighth-graders across the United States lost ground on national mathematics tests this year, the first declines in scores since the federal government began administering the exams in 1990.Reading performance also was sobering: Eighth-grade scores dropped, according to results released Wednesday, while fourth-grade performance was stagnant compared with 2013, the last time students took the test.Testing of students in 2013 also showed a decline from previous years.While some might be willing to support high-stakes testing if there were evidence that teaching to the tests was improving student performance, the opposite is true.Under No Child Left Behind, which ties teacher pay and school funding to student test results, kids and teachers are subjected to an enormous amount of pressure. The consequences of this failed experiment stretch beyond the academic, as Bradshaw s letter illustrates.All across the country, educators report rising numbers of children struggling to manage their emotions in an academic environment. The problems are most pronounced among the youngest students, teachers say.As Oregon Live reports here, in recent years more students are coming to school unprepared or unsettled, which can lead to tantrums, running from the classroom, despondent behavior or physical aggression. As Bradshaw points out in her resignation letter, it is not the children who are disordered. It s the system.Photo by Bill O Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images | 0 |
3,840 | Italy's Berlusconi sent to trial accused of bribing witness: source | SIENA, Italy (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was ordered on Thursday to stand trial accused of bribing a witness in a 2013 under-aged prostitution case, a legal source said. Berlusconi, leader of the center-right Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party, is charged with paying a piano player at his wild Bunga Bunga parties to give false witness at that trial, at the end of which he was eventually acquitted. The new trial will begin in the Tuscan city of Siena in February, the source said, not long before a national election which must be held by May at the latest. The 81-year-old four-times prime minister denies all wrongdoing in the case, and has always maintained that the parties at his plush residence near Milan were nothing more than elegant dinner parties. The new case will lead to unwelcome publicity for Berlusconi but may not have much impact on his prospects at the election. He has already undergone numerous trials on various charges and with a range of outcomes, and most of his supporters either care little about his legal problems or believe his assertion that he is the victim of politically motivated prosecutors. Forza Italia is the lynchpin of a center-right alliance which is set to win most seats at the election, according to opinion polls, although they suggest no party or coalition will secure an absolute majority, leading to a hung parliament. Berlusconi is accused of paying pianist Danilo Mariani to lie in the 2013 trial when he was accused of having sex with 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known in Italy by her stage name, Ruby the Heartstealer. Mariani, who was also sent to trial for alleged perjury, is one of numerous people whom prosecutors believe Berlusconi paid to give false testimony at that trial. The alleged payments to various witnesses are being handled in different courts around the country according to the location of the banks that received the money. Berlusconi was originally found guilty of paying to have sex with a minor and sentenced to seven years in jail, but the verdict was overturned in 2014 by an appeals court, which ruled that there was no proof he had known Mahroug s age. Berlusconi s political career has been dogged by non-stop legal battles. After a conviction for tax fraud in 2013, he was barred from office, but this month he asked the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the ban. | 1 |
3,841 | Photo Woman Posted Of Unsuspecting Target Cashier Goes Viral (IMAGES) | A Target employee in Indiana has just gone viral for showing the utmost care, patience and kindness to a customer who was struggling to pay for her items.Ishmael Gilbert was an employee at the Glendale, Indiana Target store and had only been a part of the store s team for a short time when the 19-year-old had to ring up an elderly woman. Gilbert had no idea that what happened next would make him an internet star.When it came time to pay for her items, the woman revealed she d be using coins to pay. Gilbert didn t hesitate to help the woman add up her change and remained patient, even as some customers huffed off to find a shorter line. Gilbert said: She was all worked up because the line was getting longer and she was moving so slow. She was shaking. Behind the elderly woman was 35-year-old Sarah Owen Bigler, who was watching Gilbert s encounter with his elderly customer. Bigler was originally annoyed that her trip to Target was now going to be longer than planned, but she decided to stay when her young daughter took an interest in what Gilbert was doing. When Bigler s daughter asked Gilbert about the change he was counting, Bigler knew the wait would be worth it. She said: Part of me, the part that had a long day at work, the part of me who had a 1 1/2 year old having a melt down in the cart, the part that had set an unnecessary timeline for Target and getting home, was frustrated with this woman and the inconvenience she had placed on me.BUT then I watched the young employee with this woman. I watched him help her count her change, ever so tenderly taking it from her shaking hands. I listened to him repeatedly saying yes, mam to her. When she asked if she had enough to buy a reusable bag, he told her she did and went two lines over to get one for her and then repackaged her items. Never once did this employee huff, gruff or roll his eyes. He was nothing but patient and kind.As I was watching him, I saw that Eloise was too. She was standing next to the woman, watching the employee count the change. I realized I hadn t been inconvenienced at all. That my daughter was instead witnessing kindness and patience and being taught this valuable lesson by a complete stranger; furthermore, I realized that I too needed a refresher on this lesson. Bigler was so blown away by what she witnessed that she took a photo and posted it on her Facebook page, where it quickly went viral. The post has now gained over 25,000 shares.// < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Yesterday Matt was sick. I picked up Archie from the sitter and Eloise from school and decided to run to Target for a Posted by Sarah Owen Bigler on Wednesday, January 13, 2016When he woke up the next day, Gilbert still had no idea. He said: I was asleep at home and everyone was texting me, check Facebook, check Facebook.' When he finally realized that his moment with the elderly woman had gone viral, he was stunned. I never thought it d blow up this big. Her post, I guessed it touched a lot of people. On Friday, Bigler and her daughter came back to the Glensdale Target to meet with the media and see Gilbert again. Gilbert said: It just feels good to be recognized for good work. But this isn t something new. I treat all customers the same, the way I want to be treated. And it turns out, Gilbert s lesson on patience and kindness to Bigler s daughter wasn t lost on him. Gilbert has a daughter of his own, who just turned one. It felt like a daddy-and-daughter moment a little. She asked, what s that? I said that s a penny. It felt good because that s the kind of example I want to be for my daughter. Since his overnight fame, Gilbert has been offered money and other job offers, although he plans to stay where he is for now. Glendale Target Store Team Leader Todd Davis has said that Gilbert s actions will have a positive impact on his career at the store. Davis said: Very rarely you get the opportunity to talk about something that s a positive impact in the community. You never know who s watching. Featured image via Facebook | 0 |
3,842 | Miley Cyrus Scores Huge Points With This Brutal Attack On Donald Trump (IMAGE) | Being a middle-aged man whose only experience with Miley Cyrus is a daughter raised on Hannah Montana and a dislike for her music, I was surprised to find out what an incredible person she s grown into. It wasn t until I came across a post on her Instagram account about one Donald J. Trump that was less than flattering that I decided to take a look at just who she s become.It wasn t long before I found myself feeling terrible about the way I ve allowed a pre-conceived notion about a pop/country singer whose voice I don t like stand in the way of admiring an absolutely remarkable young woman. Ms. Cyrus currently supports 41 charities and 30 causes, most of which are favorites of liberals like me. On top of that, Miley is possibly the most outspoken voice against Donald Trump I ve heard to date.Miley s Instagram account is chock full of shots at the Donald, which he apparently isn t taking seriously considering his lack of drunken rants towards her on Twitter. Little does The Donald know that Miley Cyrus may seem like a mere nuisance to be swatted away, but her age and popularity paint the picture of a youngster who can impact The Donald s ability to secure the youth vote. Her latest post, for example, is pushing 200K likes on the increasingly popular social media platform, showing that this is one woman not to be trifled with: Trump can't stop won't stop saying stupid ass sexist shit!!!! Comparing two women! Are you fucking kidding! We will not allow you to destroy everything we have overcome as women! I feel as though we are stronger than ever as a unit. We have an understanding and respect for one another (more than trump can say about anyone, his fellow candidates, other races and religions , other public figures , just HUMAN BEINGS in general, and of course animals! Check out his family hunting photos!!!!) it's absolute insanity that this has gone on this long and far! Wake me up from this nightmare someone PLEASE!A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Mar 25, 2016 at 4:56am PDTTo listen to her speak makes me sorry I haven t paid more attention to what I must now consider an incredible voice. Does that mean I ll be downloading Wrecking Ball from iTunes? Certainly not, but the next time my now teenage daughter asks me if she can buy a Cyrus song, the answer will be: Absolutely, but before you do I d like you to take a look at the person behind that song; she s pretty fantastic. Tolerance and the ability to learn is what separates liberals from conservatives. If you re not a Miley Cyrus fan because you don t her music or her antics at the Video Music Awards, have a look into how she spends her time outside of work and you ll find a woman whose ideologies will hopefully help inspire a generation to better the world they live in.Featured image from Instagram | 0 |
3,843 | Matt Damon Did NOT Hold Back His Anger Against Rick Snyder Over Flint’s Water Crisis | What s happening in Flint, Michigan is absolutely criminal. Not only is the water there poisoned and leading to children being diagnosed with lead poisoning, but those who are ultimately responsible are not being held accountable. This needs to change, and several people have been calling for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) to resign. He s the man who put the officials in charge who changed Flint s water source. Officials who insisted the water was safe to drink.One person stepping up and demanding accountability is actor/producer Matt Damon. He has been involved, for a while now, in providing clean water around the globe and co-founded Water.org with Gary White. Both men are absolutely appalled over whats happening in Flint, because as they work hard to bring fresh water to third world nations, people in our own nation are going without clean water. Damon told the Daily Beast: At the very least he should resign! At the very least. Listen, everybody s entitled to a fair trial in the United States of America, but that man should get one. And soon. That s just my personal opinion In terms of the work that we do, to see it happening in Flint, every parent in America feels it on a visceral, deep level, because we ask the question, What if that was my child? It s unconscionable in Flint, and it s unconscionable that 663 million people around the world are dealing with that every day in the developing world. Those are the communities we interact with, and that s the mission of Water.org: to end that suffering for those children, and those parents. Gary White continued that sentiment, saying: We should be outraged about Flint. That shouldn t be happening in the United States, but it also drives home the point that it shouldn t be happening anywhere. Flint is the reality for many developing countries around the world. And knowing that race and socioeconomic status definitely play a role in how certain communities are treated not only here in the United States, especially in Flint, but also around the world, Damon added: My sincere hope for our country and our world is that this greater connectivity is going to lead to a greater empathy and an awakening to the plight of our fellow citizens. These are huge systemic injustices we re talking about that hopefully everybody is waking up to. The question then is, what do we do about it? It will be interesting to see where we go from here. The first step in doing that will be to hold those responsible for this outrageous neglectful act accountable, starting with Gov. Snyder. Many, including filmmaker Michael Moore are even calling for his arrest, and asking for a thorough investigation. Unfortunately, for the people of Flint, MI, the damage is done. The harm from the lead poisoning is irreversible. Justice must be served, and resources allocated to the people of that community to deal with any and all ongoing issues. We also need to make sure this never ever happens again, not only in Flint, but everywhere in this nation and around the globe.Featured image: Wikimedia/Wikimedia | 0 |
3,844 | Humans Of New York Photographer PUMMELS Donald Trump In Scathing Open Letter (IMAGE) | Brandon Stanton, the world-renowned photographer behind the brilliant Humans of New York Facebook page, usually stays out of politics but this particular election has him all riled up thanks to Republican front runner Donald Trump.Knowing full well that the rise of the business mogul could be the absolute downfall of America, Stanton decided that he could no longer stay silent and penned an open letter to Trump on Monday. The photographer shot to fame six years ago by photographing people on the streets, documenting and sharing a small piece of their lives with the public. Since then, his popularity has grown tremendously and Stanton has photographed and interviewed notable figures such as President Barack Obama and Syrian refugees using his tremendous influence to make a statement. Stanton s letter to Trump is no different, but carries an entirely different tone as the photographer has labeled the offensive candidate hateful and racist. First admitting that he was hesitant to become involved in the election, Stanton explained why he was choosing to speak out against the front runner now: I try my hardest not to be political. I ve refused to interview several of your fellow candidates. But I realize now that there is no correct time to oppose violence and prejudice. Because along with millions of Americans, I ve come to realize that opposing you is no longer a political decision. It is a moral one. In the letter, Trump was also called out for the racism and violence that he encourages not only in his Twitter rants, speeches and interviews, but at his rallies as well. I ve watched you retweet racist images. I ve watched you retweet racist lies. I ve watched you take 48 hours to disavow white supremacy. I ve watched you joyfully encourage violence, and promise to pay the legal fees of those who commit violence on your behalf. Stanton also spoke about the people he s gotten to interview around the world such as Muslims in Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan, and Syrian and Iraqi refugees the very people that Trump warns his supporters about. Stanton blasts the GOPer for comparing refugees to snakes , claiming that Islam hates us and gleefully tell stories of executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pig blood. The photographer railed against Trump s hateful rhetoric and lies: Over the last two years I have conducted extensive interviews with hundreds of Muslims, chosen at random, on the streets of Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan. I ve also interviewed hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi refugees across seven different countries.And I can confirm the hateful one is you. Stanton ends his scathing letter by saying that even if Trump changed his tone, he will never be able to truly rebrand himself as presidential or a unifier because he s not. Stanton wrote: Though your words will no doubt change over the next few months, you will always remain who you are. You are a man who has encouraged prejudice and violence in the pursuit of personal power. The post has now been shared over 590,000 times, and you can read it in full below:HONYStanton s message is such a powerful one, and a reminder of what Trump truly stands for. He s a man that cannot change, and supporting him is one of the most dangerous things an American can do to their country. Featured image via Tumblr and Gage Skidmore | 0 |
3,845 | Trump says U.S. economy in a 'bubble' he doesn't want to inherit | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, casting doubt on the nation’s economic health, said on Tuesday the U.S. economy is in a bubble he fears will burst and he does not want to deal with a financial collapse if he is elected to the White House. The billionaire real estate mogul cited the economy as one of the toughest assignments he would face as president if he wins the Nov. 8 presidential election, along with the Iran nuclear deal. “It’s a very daunting task, and we’re in deep trouble. The country’s a mess,” Trump told ABC’s “Good Morning America” program. “We’re in a bubble,” added Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. “And, frankly, if there’s going to be a bubble popping, I hope they pop before I become president because I don’t want to inherit all this stuff. I’d rather it be the day before rather than the day after, I will tell you that.” Recent U.S. job growth has been strong and the latest government data showed that the nation’s unemployment rate held steady last month at a 7-1/2-year low of 5 percent even as more people entered the labor force, a sign of confidence in the job market. The U.S. economy is growing at about a 2 percent annual pace, but the manufacturing and industrial sectors have shown weakness. Slumping oil prices and slowing growth in China have cast a pall on the outlook for the global economy. World markets have slumped amid worries over China’s debt. “Look at the stock market today, look at it for the last week,” Trump said. “ ... We’ve gone down so much.” In November, Trump accused the U.S. Federal Reserve of keeping interest rates low to help Democratic President Barack Obama, saying higher rates would burst the U.S. economic bubble. Obama took office in January 2009 amid the biggest U.S. financial crisis in decades, leading to bank and auto industry bailouts and a multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom; Editing by Will Dunham) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 |
3,846 | Trump picks white-collar crime lawyer to replace Comey at FBI | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday ended a fraught month-long search for an FBI chief after firing James Comey by selecting Christopher Wray, who has prosecuted and defended white-collar crime cases and represented New Jersey’s governor in a political scandal. Wray, who must be confirmed to the post by the Senate, and Comey served together in the Justice Department under former President George Bush, and both worked on the government’s case in the Enron Corp fraud scandal in the early to mid-2000s. Trump’s announcement that he will nominate Wray as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation came a day before Comey’s eagerly anticipated public testimony before a Senate committee. In written testimony released by the panel on Wednesday, Comey said Trump told him on Jan. 27 that “I expect loyalty,” and in a Feb. 14 meeting asked him to back off from a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties with Russia. The Republican president’s search for a replacement for Comey after firing him May 9 was difficult. Leading candidates including former Senator Joe Lieberman took their names out of consideration, and Trump interviewed a series of contenders. In a statement, Trump called Wray “an impeccably qualified individual” who will serve “as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity.” The White House has given shifting explanations on why Trump fired Comey during an FBI investigation into whether Trump campaign associates colluded with the Russians to help him with the 2016 presidential election. Trump has said he was thinking of “this Russia thing” in dismissing Comey. Wray served from 2003 to 2005 at the Justice Department under Republican former President George W. Bush as an assistant attorney general in charge of its criminal division and oversaw the department’s Enron task force. Wray and Comey helped bring the case against Kenneth Lay, the former Enron chairman convicted in 2006. Also involved in the Enron matter was Robert Mueller, then FBI director and now special counsel named after Comey was fired to investigate the Russia affair, as well as Andrew Weissman, who is now working for Mueller. The web of Enron connections underscores the reliance in Washington, even under a president who vowed to “drain the swamp,” on an elite corps of corporate lawyers whose varied careers often intersect and who sometimes present conflict-of-interest issues. For instance, after he left the Justice Department and joined top international law firm King & Spalding, Wray represented Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the so-called Bridgegate scandal over massive traffic jams created as political punishment for a local mayor. That case and others taken on by Wray while in private practice could pose problems, said American Civil Liberties Union National Political Director Faiz Shakir in a statement. “Christopher Wray’s firm’s legal work for the Trump family, his history of partisan activity, as well as his history of defending Trump’s transition director during a criminal scandal makes us question his ability to lead the FBI,” Shakir said. Wray represented Christie in a scandal that resulted in two of the governor’s aides being convicted. Christie, who was a close adviser to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and whose name was floated as a possible Comey replacement, was never charged. Christie on Wednesday called Wray “an outstanding choice, a non-political choice” to head the FBI. Wray works as a King & Spalding litigation partner and represents companies and individuals in a white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters. King & Spalding has represented Russian companies including state gas monopoly Gazprom, according to its website. According to the website, the firm’s energy practice also has represented businesses taking part in deals involving Russian entities including state-owned oil major Rosneft. The firm has previous ties to Trump. Bobby Burchfield, a partner in its Washington office, serves as ethics adviser for the trust set up in January to isolate Trump from the day-to-day operations of the Trump business organization. The agreement has been criticized by some ethics experts as inadequate. Apart from possible conflicts, another question about Wray is whether the longtime white-collar lawyer is equipped to take over an agency that is increasingly focused on detecting and combating terrorism, espionage and cybercrime. “There are questions about whether he is experienced enough in intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, computer crimes, and issues like that,” said one senior U.S. law enforcement official who asked not to be identified. “The biggest test the bureau is likely to face is not another Enron,” the official said. Trump announced his selection of Wray in a surprise, early-morning Twitter message. Some Democratic lawmakers said the president’s timing seemed intended to distract from Comey’s scheduled testimony. “It is imperative that the next FBI director be of unimpeachable integrity and independence,” Nancy Pelosi, the top House of Representatives Democrat, said. “In light of the president’s constant efforts to block the truth, the nomination of Christopher Wray should be subject to the utmost scrutiny.” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wray’s “impressive credentials make him more than ready” to lead the FBI. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said he did not know Wray but that his resume suggests he is “the perfect kind of person” for the job. | 1 |
3,847 | RNC Official Retweets Article Calling For Sen. John McCain to ‘F*cking Die Already’ | Just imagine the deafening outrage from conservatives if a Democrat shared an article calling for the death of Sen. John McCain. The 80-year-old Republican Senator is recovering from brain surgery after a 2-inch blood clot was found over his left eye. A Nevada official tried to explain why she shared an article which literally calls for McCain s death in which she added Amen to the now-deleted tweet.Diana Orrock, the Republican national committeewoman for Nevada, shared the article on Monday which called for Sen. John McCain s death over his hawkish foreign policy views, CNN reports. Amen, Orrock wrote in the tweet from a post on Medium titled Please Just F***ing Die Already. The tweet was deleted but the Internet is forever.Orrock told CNN that she was not a big fan of McCain s approach to foreign policy, then she went on to deny that she wanted the Senator to die. To my knowledge, die still means die but she denied her intentions.Orrock said she was simply agreeing with the sentiments of the article, even though the author of the post explicitly called for McCain s death.At one point in the article, it states, If you re waiting for the part where I say I m just kidding and would never wish death on anybody, please allow me to make myself clear: I sincerely, genuinely hope that Arizona Senator John McCain s heart stops beating, and that he is subsequently declared dead by qualified medical professionals very soon. Nevertheless, Orrock claimed repeatedly claimed that she just did not want McCain to be in the Senate, and then said people were reading things into things. People are going to read things into things, Orrock said of her sharing the article calling for McCain s death.Diana, when you say Amen to a post literally calling for someone s death, that means you support that.Orrock has served as the Nevada committeewoman for the RNC since 2012 and she supported Donald Trump s campaign in 2016. As national committeewoman, I am supposed to keep my personal beliefs to myself, but I have never been a party-over-principles type of person, she said of then-Rep. Joe Heck, who was running for the Senate and did not back Trump after the Access Hollywood tape was released. I have always been a principles-over-party individual, she said at the time.While we disagree with McCain over some of his politics, we wish him a speedy recovery. He served this country in the military and in office. We can disagree without wanting people to die. It s a simple concept.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
3,848 | Italy seizes 100 tonnes of diesel on ship sailing from Libya | ROME (Reuters) - Italian police said on Saturday they had seized more than 100 tonnes of contraband diesel from a ship which set sail from Libya and arrested the captain for smuggling and money-laundering. The ship, which was flying a Togolese flag, carried the fuel in several hidden cisterns, together with some 11 tonnes of contraband cigarettes, a statement from finance police in the Sicilian town of Syracuse said. The ship s captain, a 25-year-old Indonesian has been put under house arrest. The other four crew members, also from Indonesia, were not arrested. The ship was intercepted in Sicilian waters on Oct. 26 and prosecutors in Syracuse are still investigating exactly where the fuel was taken from and where it was intended to be sold, the statement said. Last month Sicilian police arrested six people, including a suspected mobster, and issued warrants for three others for running a Libyan fuel-smuggling ring in which at least 30 million euros ($35 million) of diesel was sold in gas stations in Italy and Europe. | 1 |
3,849 | Bill proposes letting U.S. lawmakers carry guns anywhere except Capitol | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Warning that members of Congress have a “bull’s eye on our backs,” a U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday he had introduced a bill to make it legal for senators and representatives to carry guns anywhere in the country, except the U.S. Capitol building. Representative Jody Hice of Georgia said his proposal was an important step to ensure the personal safety of lawmakers “in light of recent events,” an apparent reference to an attack last week in which a gunman opened fire on Republican members of Congress practicing for a charity baseball game. “Personal protection and being able to defend oneself against an assailant is part of the fabric of our Constitution, which is why I am an ardent believer in the Second Amendment,” Hice said in a statement, referring to U.S. legal guarantees of the right to keep and bear arms. “While members of Congress are all average Americans, it is clear that we also have a bull’s eye on our backs,” Hice added. “In light of recent events, it’s incredibly important that congressmen and women maintain the ability to provide for their own safety, regardless of the city or state.” Hice said he introduced the measure on Tuesday, less than a week after a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers at the baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb. U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, was wounded in the attack, along with a Republican aide, a lobbyist and a Capitol Police officer in Scalise’s security detail. The gunman, a former volunteer campaign worker for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders who was said to be angry with Republicans, was killed in a gunbattle with police. Scalise underwent several surgeries to treat internal injuries caused by a wound to the hip. His condition was upgraded to “fair” on Wednesday. | 1 |
3,850 | Vehemently Anti-Gay Pastor Arrested On 70 Counts Of Child Porn | On May 9, Pastor David Reynolds, formerly of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church in Sherwood, Arkansas, was arrested on 70 counts of child pornography.According to the Sherwood Police Department, Reynolds arrest followed a lengthy investigation which began with a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in December.KARK reports that Reynolds had at least three social media accounts which were registered under assumed names. He used those accounts to distribute and receive child pornography.Sgt. Keith Wilson of the Sherwood Police Department told KARK that police also found a large number of pictures on Reynolds computer. One of the photos was of a 13-year-old girl who was identified as a member of Reynold s church. The girl was able to help police identify other children who were in photos stored on Reynold s computer.Reynolds was removed from all duties with the church on March 7, after he admitted to church members that he had a problem with pornography. Church elders released a statement regarding his removal, saying:On March 7th the elders of Cornerstone removed Dave Reynolds from all responsibility at Cornerstone. Dave had informed two of the elders that he was engaged in pornography and thought the elders might learn of this from another party, hence he decided to inform us of his involvement in this sin. Those two elders specifically asked Dave if he had viewed under age pornography to which he replied that he had not knowingly done so.Reynolds plead not guilty to the charges and is currently being held on a $250,000 bond.Queerty reports that Reynolds sermons were often vehemently anti-gay. According to the website, the former pastor preached against same-sex marriage and consensual same-sex relationships of any kind, saying that all LGBTQ relationships are sin. How anyone can preach that a relationship between two consenting adults is sin while at the same time sending and receiving images of innocent children for their own sick sexual gratification is beyond comprehension.Image credit: Marine Glisovic KATV via Twitter | 0 |
3,851 | Republican Senator Corker blasts Trump for 'castrating' Tillerson | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Bob Corker stepped up his public feud with Donald Trump on Friday, saying the U.S. president’s undermining of his top diplomat was like castrating him in public. Corker told the Washington Post in an interview that Trump had undercut Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s efforts to enlist China in reining in North Korea’s nuclear program by denigrating the diplomat. “You cannot publicly castrate your own secretary of state” without limiting the options for dealing with North Korea, Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, told the Post. Tillerson told a news conference in Beijing two weeks ago that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but it had shown no interest in dialogue. Trump took to Twitter the next day, saying Tillerson was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “The greatest diplomatic activities we have are with China, and the most important, and they have come a long, long way,” Corker said. “Some of the things we are talking about are phenomenal.” “When you jack the legs out from under your chief diplomat, you cause all that to fall apart,” Corker told the Post, adding that working with China was the key to reaching a peaceful settlement with North Korea. “When you publicly castrate your secretary of state, you take that off the table.” | 1 |
3,852 | Food Stamp Rap Song About EBT Card Only One Of Many Ways SNAP is Glamorized [Video] | The monthly cost for the feds to pay for food stamps is sickening. We re at an all time high for people receiving help with SNAP. You might think it s because there are so many people who need it..WRONG! It has become a debit card for some to just buy whatever they want with it. Yes, it s not just for cheese and milk anymore. You can buy fast food and so many other things with your government issued debit card. This is NOT good news for the hardworking Americans out there who pay for this fraud, waste and abuse. The abuse is bad enough but what if I told you major corporations partner with the feds to PROMOTE food stamp use? Three powerful industry sectors benefit from SNAP: 1) major food manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Mars; 2) leading food retailers such as Walmart and Kroger; and 3) large banks, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, which contract with states to help administer SNAP benefits. The number of individuals receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, has exceeded 45 million for 53 straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture.THE EBT RAP GLAMORIZES USING THE EBT: There were 45,415,445 beneficiaries of the food stamp program in September 2015, the latest month for which data is available. The number declined by 48,988 from August to September.The USDA has been tracking data on participation in the program since fiscal year 1969, at which time average participation stood at about 2,800,000. This means that since then, participation in the program has increased by roughly 16-fold.Maura Corrigan, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says that despite improvements in the economy, the program remains large and too few adults who benefit from the program are working. As a former state human services director who administered more than 70 federal means-tested welfare programs, I believe that one track is especially important for reforming welfare programs she said. Our nation s simple three-word mantra should be: Better Off Working. Social safety-net programs, including SNAP, should expect and encourage work and the dignity and responsibility that accompany it from those who are able to do so. Additionally, she says that the program promotes adding beneficiaries to its rolls. Rather than promoting self-sufficiency, SNAP s predominant track record over the past decade has been to add participants to its rolls. Also, its eligibility definitions are in many cases vague, allowing it to deny fraud, waste, and abuse in the program, despite the reports of such behavior from citizens and caseworkers. The number of food stamp recipients first exceeded 45 million in May 2011. Since then, the number has consistently exceeded 45 million, hitting a record high of about 47,790,000 in December 2012.Households on food stamps received an average benefit of $255.51 in September 2015, and total benefits for the month cost taxpayers $5.72 billion.Read more: WFB | 0 |
3,853 | Trump Just Got RAZED After His Painfully Stupid Attack On The ‘Fake’ Media (TWEETS) | Here s a news flash for Donald Trump: Mexico won t be paying for his racist little wall Not now, not tomorrow, not six months from now, not ever. On Friday, Trump made himself the subject of mockery after inexplicably claiming that Mexico will pay for the wall later if American taxpayers foot the bill first, and that he would seek repayment through a negotiation of NAFTA. In other words, you re paying for the wall and Mexico will still not be paying for it later, but at least Trump can get it built.Trump s team has made a number of wacky proposals related to paying for the wall, including amending the Patriot Act to include wire transfers as accounts that could be frozen and otherwise punishing Mexico for their refusal to fund what could possibly be the most fiscally irresponsible undertaking since, well, any of the bazillion businesses Trump has bankrupted. They have even discussed tying it to the appropriations process, which could force Democrats to agree to funding to keep the government from shutting down but, once again, don t worry, Mexico will totally pay us back. Dishonest media says Mexico won t be paying for the wall if they pay a little later so the wall can be built more quickly, Trump tweeted, once again attacking the well, his followers seem very fond of the phrase Lugenpresse, or lying press. He ended this rant with a phrase that certainly appeals to a crowd that calls everything they hate fake news, but makes the rest of us question his sanity: Media is fake! Dishonest media says Mexico won't be paying for the wall if they pay a little later so the wall can be built more quickly. Media is fake! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017If you think this sounds like a night out at the bar with a drunk friend of a friend of a friend who lost his wallet but assures you his roommate Chubbs will reimburse you for his beer later minutes after Chubbs told him to buy his own f*cking beer, that wasn t lost on the rest of the world. You re never getting your beer money back. He knows it, you know it, and Chubbs knows it because he s not giving the dude a cent. Naturally, Twitter was all over this:@NewsOnPictures @Prairies @DaveSFoley He sure does live in his own fantasy world. Like thinking Mexico will pay for the wall. pic.twitter.com/rUirFiJZrq Just Me :) (@COsChildren) January 9, 2017@JordanUhl @realDonaldTrump Trump discrediting all stories critical of him as "fake" is deeply disturbing. The beginning of state run media #UnapologeticBitch (@isabellegirlxo) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump Career journalists are fake! Game show host who claims he can force foreign country to pay for our infrastructure is real! Jon Bershad (@JonBershad) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump I'm sure Mexico will pay for it. Just like I know you're going to drain the swamp and release your taxes. bob clendenin (@bobclendenin) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump A Quagmire in the sheets & a Nelson in the tweets! pic.twitter.com/pkvkHh6gIY Mike Denison (@mikd33) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump how about YOU pay for your wall. Mexico will pay you back a little later + interest! Media will be shocked by your SMARTS! Andy Sternberg (@andysternberg) January 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump is straight channeling Wimpy: "I'll have a hamburger, for which I will gladly pay you on Tuesday." https://t.co/Trt0X5WnXA Andy Sternberg (@andysternberg) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump Mexico is not going to pay for your stupid wall. Ever. They've said as much. Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump No Mexico said they won't be paying for the wall. You know Mexico. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump until you show a check Mexico wrote for that wall or a contract to pay later, the only fake thing is you saying they'll pay Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump BTW, I joined Twitter to just call you out on your bullsh*t. It helps me sleep at night. #trumpswall #notmypresident pic.twitter.com/3t76vGZoSm jeff (@fisherjf729) January 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump if you want the wall built so quickly, put your hands in your own pockets and pay for it. Ceindreadh (@ceindreadh) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump I'm mexican and the only wall I'd build is one made of tacos! Tacos for everyone cabrones! Gerardo Perry (@gerardoperry) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump This tweet doesn't even make sense. But if Mexico says they won't pay, I trust them. That has nothing to do with the media. pinkieBEAN (@pinkiebean) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrumpWTF? HOW CAN ANYONE NOT REGRET VOTING FOR YOU? Cobblestone Creative (@hankpena) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump The only wall you should be building is the one between you and your conflicts of interest. tim simon (@TimFlight57211) January 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump asking people to believe Mexico will pay layer is the lamest political trick ever. Mario Ferro (@Mario4change) January 9, 2017Following Trump s new Mexico will pay for the wall later claim, former President of the country Vicente Fox Quesada called the wall another promise Trump can t keep:Trump may ask whoever he wants, but still neither myself nor Mexico are going to pay for his racist monument.Another promise he can't keep. Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 6, 2017Former Mexican ambassador to China Jorge Guajardo explained that it would be better for Mexico to scrap NAFTA and find a trade agreement with a country that doesn t expect them to pay for such a monumental waste.After meeting with Trump last year, President Enrique Pe a Nieto made it very clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall a stance repeated later by then-foreign minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu, who told a TV station Paying for a wall is not part of our vision. Look, Trump, Mexico isn t paying for the wall, and your incessant claims to the contrary only make yourself and our nation look stupid. Let s make one thing crystal clear: Mexico will not be paying for the wall, nor will we. Build it your damn self.Featured image via Getty Images (Drew Angerer)/screengrab | 0 |
3,854 | Obama Celebrates Iran Deal As Senior Iranian Officials Say They Will NOT Uphold Their End Of Deal…Ayatollah: “Negotiation with America is Forbidden,” | Ever feel like a headline you re reading is too unbelievable to be true? I wish we could tell you that was the case. Read on Senior Iranian officials continue to lash out against the recent nuclear deal even as the Obama administration begins to implement it, according to a series of statements by the Islamic Republic s leaders.The aggressive rhetoric comes as the Obama administration celebrated on Sunday the implementation of the deal, hailing it as a milestone in U.S. diplomatic history. However, Iran has balked.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to his Twitter and Facebook pages to post an announcement titled, Negotiation with America is Forbidden, according to translations of the documents provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.Other Iranian officials have demanded that the U.S. completely terminate economic sanctions, rather than suspend them, per the nuclear deal.Some Iranian leaders have stated that President Obama will announce this week the full termination of sanctions, a move that would likely spark anger on Capitol Hill.The White House said on Sunday that it would move forward with sanctions relief, even as Tehran insists it will not uphold its own end of the accord. Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful going forward, Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. I have directed that the heads of all relevant executive departments and agencies of the United States begin preparations to implement the U.S. commitments in the JCPOA, in accordance with U.S. law, including providing relief from nuclear-related sanctions as detailed in the text of the JCPOA once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified that Iran has completed all of its nuclear steps, Obama said.Critics of the deal maintain that Iran s continued threats of violence against America and Israel could derail the agreement. Iran also has, in recent days, tested ballistic missiles, which is prohibited under United Nations resolutions and potentially a violation of the accord. For America negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran means penetration. This is their definition of negotiation and they want to open the way for imposition, Khameniei declared on October 16, just two days before the deal went into effect. Negotiation with America is forbidden, because of its countless detriments and because of alleged advantages of which it has none whatsoever. The institute, among others, has warned that these statements could mean that Iran will not honor the deal, even as the United States waives sanctions and releases more than $150 billion to Iran.It is unclear whether Iran will officially announce its adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the institute said in an analysis of Khamenei s remarks. It is also not clear whether the U.S. will announce its suspension of sanctions and the E.U. will announce its termination of sanctions, as per the agreement, the institute said.Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a senior Iranian cleric who is secretary general of Iran s Guardian Council, said that declarations by the U.S. administration do not mean Iran is ready to begin upholding the agreement. There are those who think that approval by the [Iranian Parliament] means approval of the execution of the agreement in Iran. This is not so, Jannati said on Friday in Tehran. Approval regarding the nuclear agreement is not [approval of] its execution. The nuclear agreement was discussed in the Supreme National Security Council and council members expressed their opinion about it and gave their approval regarding its execution, he continued. But Leader [Khamenei] still has not signed it. Iran continues to insist that sanctions be fully terminated and not reimposed in any manner going forward. The termination of the sanctions must be taken seriously. If they are terminated, it is a sign that the nuclear talks and agreement have yielded results, Jannati said. But if the other side breaks its promises and instead of terminating the sanctions [merely] freezes or suspends them, this shows that the nuclear agreement was useless. Nejatollah Ebrahimian, a spokesman for the Guardian Council, said on Saturday that the joint plan remains a political document, not a legal one because Iran has not officially approved it.Jannati and other leaders have expressed concern that the U.S. will try to force Iran to end its support to terror groups such as Hezbollah. If we do not stand fast against the other side, then the next day they will say that we must officially recognize Israel, give equal rights to men and women, cancel executions, sever relations with Hizbullah, and so on, he said.Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, also said in recent days that Iran has not approved the accord. We have not approved the [joint plan] in the way that the other side has said, Larijani was quoted as saying by the institute. We also have not said that it should be executed as is, but rather that the [plan] should be placed in the framework of the steps taken by the Supreme National Security Council. Ultimately, this council s approvals are sent for the approval of the Leader. Via: WFB | 0 |
3,855 | Trump Demands Investigation Into His Political Enemies And Gets Torn Apart By Twitter (TWEETS) | Brace yourself, people. Senator Charles Schumer once had a donut and coffee with Vladimir Putin during an official 2003 state visit to a Russian gas station chain that opened in New York. Sure, Schumer wasn t running for President and this was a public meeting. He also did not perjure himself like Attorney General Jeff Sessions but according to Donald Trump, the lies he and his administration have told the American people and the crimes they have committed right in front of us mean nothing because Schumer was once photographed doing his job when Vladimir Putin happened to be a part of it.Oh, yes, and he should be investigated, for asking questions about Trump and friends clearly treasonous actions. We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin, Trump tweeted Friday. A total hypocrite! We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017Now any idiot can see that one of these things is not like the other, but Trump and his fanbase lost the right to be called idiots long ago. Fortunately, most Americans are not brainwashed, and many of them showed up to share their thoughts with our middle-schooler-in-chief.@realDonaldTrump How was your visit to Moscow? pic.twitter.com/g42z92JGR8 Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump "Trump has no financial relationship with any Russian oligarchs?"Manafort: *mumbles into oblivion*pic.twitter.com/6fy7ioG0vY Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump the obvious ties of your administration to the country that is seeking to destroy our democracy is nothing short of treason Cole Ledford (@ColeLedford11) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @SenSchumer pic.twitter.com/P0djCRmGwb ((Molly Jong-Fast)) (@MollyJongFast) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump *I may have colluded with the Russians, but Schumer ate a donut with Putin! Al x Young (@AlexYoung) March 3, 2017.@realDonaldTrump What about a posthumous investigation of Reagan while we're at it! pic.twitter.com/d5Bkq25j3I Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump The fact that you tweet this from Drudge shows how gullible you are. That was taken in '03 during a PUBLIC OFFICIAL visit. Chet Powell (@ChetPowell) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @SenSchumer So, Donutgate? ?? Is this how you're going to try & distract from the truth of your treason? #trumprussia MErider (@roadchickie) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @SenSchumer This is a photo of them meeting publicly. Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @SenSchumer eating in public isn't the same as a covert meeting during your campaign and lying about it under oath! #treaon Ryan Chase (@radioryanchase) March 3, 2017Later, Trump demanded an investigation into Nancy Pelosi because she was once photographed with Russian ambassador Kislyak in 2010. Pelosi apparently mistakenly said that she didn t meet this Russian ambassador on Friday. She is seen in the photo sitting across the table from the current ambassador.I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. https://t.co/qCDljfF3wN Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017Pelosi later clarified that she, unlike Trump s people, has never met with the current ambassador privately. Naturally, people were there again to remind Trump that he s an idiot, particularly because it took him three tries to spell one word correctly:In the middle of THREE attempts to correctly spell "hereby" in an attack tweet, Trump tweeted about the importance of education. Irony. pic.twitter.com/v53dPnrTEY Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @politico I hereby declare that you are SO BAD AT DEFLECTING OUR ATTENTION FROM YOUR OBVIOUS COLLUSION WITH RUSSIA Kristina Wong (@mskristinawong) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @politico hereby, hearby, or here by??? Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump How many times are you going to try to get this tweet right? Why don't you try presidenting instead of angry tweeting? Laura Packard (@lpackard) March 3, 2017@realDonaldTrump @politico She wasn't sneaking them in the back door of trump tower and lying about it. Big difference Donnie! Scarlet Pimpernel (@ScarletPimper17) March 3, 2017Sorry, Mr. Trump, the American people are not all morons, nor will they fall for whatever you hope to gain from Donutgate. A Public visit that lasted about 10 minutes is not in any way like multiple secret meetings and perjury.Featured image via Getty Images (Mark Wilson)/screengrab | 0 |
3,856 | Trump wants to work with Schumer, Pelosi on tax reform: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will host Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives’ top Democrat Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday night to discuss tax reform and other items on the legislative agenda, the White House said. The president will meet the two top Democrats “for bipartisan discussions on the upcoming legislative agenda, with a focus on tax reform,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. | 1 |
3,857 | 9-YEAR OLD TRUMP FAN FOUND After Liberal Media Tries to Prove His Letter to Trump is Fake [VIDEO] | After Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a letter from a little boy to the press (see below), liberal media like the Washington Post tried to prove that it was fake by using a handwriting analyst! It s NOT! Meet Dylan:Dylan aka Pickle from Stockton, CA came out to speak up about why he wrote the letter to President Trump. Sarah Huckabee Sanders read Dylan s letter on Wednesday to the press They immediately tried to prove the letter was fake:Dylan aka Pickle thank you for your letter and hope to meet you soon! pic.twitter.com/XZlJARZ9cs Sarah Huckabee (@SarahHuckabee) July 26, 2017THE LIBERALS TRY THEIR BEST TO PROVE THE LETTER IS FAKE:The Washington Post reported: Handwriting and children s cognitive experts were called and asked whether the letter appeared to be written by a child. We called one ourself. Two, actually.Deborah McCutchen is a professor at the University of Wisconsin who studies cognitive processes in reading and writing ability. She looked at the letter. She noted that the handful of small spelling errors followed the phonetic sounds of words pitcher instead of picture which would be common in the writing of a young child. Then again, the letter also included a hyphen, which seemed sophisticated for a 9-year-old.Sheila Lowe, president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, said she didn t see anything that would be inconsistent with a 9-year-old s writing, but she also clarified that she did not specialize in analyzing the writing of children. She noted that the margins on the right side of the paper were very wide, which can indicate a feeling of concern about the future.#PickleTruther suddenly appeared on twitter as the lefty media furiously tried to prove that the letter was fake.We hope Dylan has a chance to meet President Trump and isn t bullied for his support of Trump like so many adults are. He s adorable! | 0 |
3,858 | Lebanon interior minister says thinks PM Hariri could return in days | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said on Monday he was under the impression that Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation while in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, would return to Beirut within days. Machnouk said Hariri s meeting with Saudi King Salman in Riyadh on Monday showed rumors were untrue, in an apparent reference to speculation in Lebanon that Hariri had been detained in Saudi Arabia or forced to quit. | 1 |
3,859 | WATCH: Donald Trump Tells Russia To Commit Espionage Against America And CNN NAILS Him For It | Once again, the Republican Party should be embarrassed that Donald Trump is their nominee.During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump answered questions about his ties to Russia and Vladamir Putin. He denied it, of course, but openly urged Russia to commit an act of espionage against Hillary Clinton and the United States Government.First, Trump condemned the hack of the DNC that gave him ammunition to use against Democrats and then he urged Russia to do even more. Russia, if you re listening, I hope you re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, Trump said. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Here s the video via YouTube.Well, the media certainly did not reward Trump for calling upon Russia to continue their cyber attacks against Hillary Clinton and our government institutions.David Gregory compared Trump to a child playing with matches and said he has run out of words to express his shock at the things Trump says and does.CNN panelist Christine Quinn ripped Trump a new one for urging Russia to continue the attack against his political opponent. The man who thinks he s going to be the president of the United States stood in front of the world and called on Russia and Putin to hack the emails of the former Secretary of State. I mean, it s honestly, and I know I m partisan in this clearly, but it s almost treasonous! Former Republican South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer responded by going even further than Quinn by claiming Clinton committed treason outright because 30,000 emails went missing. But if that s the case, former President Bush should have been tried and imprisoned for treason years ago when millions of emails were deleted during his administration. Bauer also didn t seem to have a single problem with what Trump said and defended him.Here s the video via YouTube.The bottom line is that Donald Trump just told a repressive Russian regime to continue hacking a former high-tanking government official who could very well be the next president of the United States. This hack is a serious breach in national security and Trump is egging it on as long as it helps him gain politically.It s treason and those who commit treason are not allowed to hold office in this country.This is outrageous and shows that Republicans are totally incapable to leading this nation and only further solidifies the fear that Donald Trump would be nothing more than Putin s puppet if he wins in November.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
3,860 | Pelosi says Republicans showed 'true colors' in ethics to-and-fro | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday slammed Republican lawmakers for their plan, reversed the next day, to weaken the outside ethics watchdog charged with investigating lawmakers’ behavior. “House Republicans showed their true colors last night, and reversing their plans to destroy the Office of Congressional Ethics will not obscure their clear contempt for ethics in the People’s House,” Pelosi said in a statement after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Republicans had withdrawn their proposal to weaken the panel. | 1 |
3,861 | France's Hollande congratulates Trump, warns of period of uncertainty | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump on his shock victory in the U.S presidential election, but warned the result would open up a period of uncertainty. “I congratulate him as is natural between two democratic heads of state,” said Hollande. “This American election opens a period of uncertainty.” France would be vigilant and frank in its talks with the new administration on international issues, he said, adding that Trump’s victory showed that France needed to be stronger and that Europe needed to be united. A presidential official said Hollande had spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel before making his declaration. | 1 |
3,862 | U.S. defense chief urges Pakistan to redouble efforts against militants | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders on Monday and urged them to “redouble” their efforts to rein in militants accused of using the country as a base to carry out attacks in neighboring Afghanistan. Mattis, on a one-day visit to Pakistan, said the South Asian nation had made progress in the fight against militancy inside its borders but needed to make more. More than 100 days since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a South Asia strategy that calls for a firmer line toward Islamabad, U.S. officials and analysts say there has been only limited success and it is not clear how progress will be made. U.S. officials have long been frustrated by what they see as Pakistan’s reluctance to act against groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network that they believe exploit safe haven on Pakistani soil to launch attacks in Afghanistan. “The Secretary reiterated that Pakistan must redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists operating within the country,” the Pentagon said in a statement. Mattis, who visited Pakistan for the first time as defense secretary, said before the trip that the goal for his meetings with Pakistani officials would be to find “common ground”. In his discussion with Mattis, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the two allies shared objectives. “We’re committed (to) the war against terror,” he said. “Nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan.” Mattis also met with high-ranking officials from Pakistan’s powerful military, including army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Lieutenant-General Naveed Mukhtar, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency that U.S. officials say has links with Haqqani and Taliban militants. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ conversations had been “straightforward” and specific. The official said one of the topics of conversation was getting Pakistan to help bring the Taliban to the negotiating table In August, Trump outlined a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, chastising Pakistan over its alleged support for Afghan militants. But beyond that, the Trump administration has done little to articulate its strategy, experts say. U.S. officials say they have not seen a change in Pakistan’s support for militants, despite visits by senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “We have been very direct and very clear with the Pakistanis ... we have not seen those changes implemented yet,” General John Nicholson, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, said last week. Pakistani officials have pushed back on the U.S. accusations and say they have done a great deal to help the United States in tracking down militants. U.S. official expressed hope relations could improve after a U.S.-Canadian couple kidnapped in Afghanistan were freed in Pakistan in October with their three children. While the Trump administration has used tougher words with Pakistan, it is has yet to change Islamabad’s calculus. Some experts say the United States loses clout in Pakistan when it is seen as bullying. While Mattis traveled to the region earlier this year, he did not stop in Pakistan, but visited its arch rival, India, a relationship that has grown under the Trump administration. “There is not an effective stick anymore because Pakistan doesn’t really care about U.S aid, it has been dwindling anyway and it is getting the money it needs elsewhere ... treat it with respect and actually reward it when it does do something good,” said Madiha Afzal, with the Brookings Institution. Mattis’ brief visit to Islamabad comes a week after a hardline Pakistani Islamist group called off nationwide protests after the government met its demand that a minister accused of blasphemy resign. Separately, a Pakistani Islamist accused of masterminding a bloody 2008 assault in the Indian city of Mumbai was freed from house arrest. The White House said the release could have repercussions for U.S.-Pakistan relations. “I think for Pakistan, the timing is very bad. There is talk about progress being made against extremists and here you have a situation where religious hardliners have basically been handed everything they wanted on a silver platter,” said Michael Kugelman, with the Woodrow Wilson think tank in Washington. | 1 |
3,863 | top toxins that are poisoning your kids | according to quinnipiac university fourway races which list both presidential and vicepresidential candidates except georgia and north carolina where green party candidate jill stein is not on the ballot show
georgia trump at percent to clintons percent with percent for libertarian party candidate gary johnson this compares to a percent trump lead september
iowa a percent clintontrump tie with percent for johnson and percent for green party candidate jill stein trump led clinton percent september
north carolina clinton edges trump percent with percent for johnson on october clinton had percent to trumps percent
virginia clinton tops trump percent with percent for johnson and percent for stein clinton was up percent september
contrary to some republican hopes donald trumps slide has not stopped trump continues to lose support with men in iowa and georgia north carolina appears to be slipping away from trump and the republican nominee has blown his leads in iowa and georgia
the trump campaign has gone as far as to admit that if they lose florida they will lose the election but the signs are evident in the polling that the republican party is much closer to experiencing a landslide than they are to winning the white house in november
a trump landslide defeat could trigger a disaster for republicans that leads to additional democratic senate pickups beyond the four seats needed to take back the majority republicans could see their current record house majority gutted in a clinton landslide
the election is not getting better for republicans the landscape is getting worse if this polling continues for another week at the state level democrats could be looking at their best case scenario of a democratic white house house and senate being in play | 0 |
3,864 | Sanders supporters seethe over Clinton's leaked remarks to Wall St. | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday expressed anger and vindication over leaked comments made by Hillary Clinton to banks and big business that appeared to confirm their fears about her support for global trade and tendency to cozy up to Wall Street. Clinton, who needs Sanders’ coalition of young and left-leaning voters to propel her to the presidency, pushes for open trade and open borders in one of the speeches, and takes a conciliatory approach to Wall Street, both positions she later backed away from in an effort to capture the popular appeal of Sanders’ attacks on trade deals and powerful banks. The excerpts of remarks by the former secretary of state, made in 2013 and 2014 in closed-door meetings where audiences paid to attend, were published online on Friday by WikiLeaks, which sourced them to the email account of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the speech transcripts. Clinton has previously declined to release any such transcripts. “This is a very clear illustration of why there is a fundamental lack of trust from progressives for Hillary Clinton,” said Tobita Chow, chair of the People’s Lobby in Chicago, which endorsed Sanders in the primary election. “The progressive movement needs to make a call to Secretary Clinton to clarify where she stands really on these issues and that’s got to involve very clear renunciations of the positions that are revealed in these transcripts,” Chow said. The revelations were quickly overshadowed by the release of an 11-year-old recording of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, making lewd comments about women. Clinton has worked hard to build trust with so-called progressives, adopting several of Sanders’ positions after she bested him in the primary race. The U.S. senator from Vermont now supports his former rival in the Nov. 8 general election against Trump. Still, Clinton has struggled to win support from young “millennials” who were crucial to Sanders’ success, and some Democrats expressed concern that the leaks would discourage those supporters from showing up to vote. “That is a big concern and this certainly doesn’t help,” said Larry Cohen, chair of the board of Our Revolution, a progressive organization formed in the wake of Sanders’ bid for the presidency, which aims to keep pushing the former candidate’s ideas at a grassroots level. “It matters in terms of turnout, energy, volunteering, all those things.” The Clinton campaign said it would not confirm the accuracy of the documents released by WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange. “We are not going to confirm the authenticity of stolen documents released by Julian Assange, who has made no secret of his desire to damage Hillary Clinton,” said Glen Caplin, a campaign spokesman. “Guccifer 2.0 has already proven the warnings of top national security officials that documents can be faked as part of a sophisticated Russian misinformation campaign,” he said, referring to the hacker or hacking group that altered some data stolen from the Democratic National Committee before making it public earlier this year. The U.S. government on Friday formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the election. The origin of the leaks did not dampen social media criticism of the speeches by some. “Bernie was right about Hillary,” wrote Facebook user Grace Tilly, “she’s a tool for Wall Street.” “Clinton is the politicians’ politician - exactly the Wall Street insider Bernie described,” wrote Facebook user Brian Leach. Spokesmen for Sanders did not respond to requests for comment. NBC News quoted a statement from Sanders saying he would work to advance the Democrats’ policy platform. “Whatever Secretary Clinton may or may not have said behind closed doors on Wall Street, I am determined to implement the agenda of the Democratic Party platform which was agreed to by her campaign,” the statement said. Democratic strategist Steve Elmendorf said progressive voters would still choose the former first lady, even with misgivings. “I’d like to meet the Bernie Sanders supporter who is going to say, ‘Well I’m a little worried about her on international trade, so I’m going to vote for Donald Trump’,” he said. | 1 |
3,865 | California Senator Dianne Feinstein to face Democratic challenge in 2018 race | (Reuters) - Democrat Kevin de Leon, president of the California State Senate, announced on Sunday he would run for the U.S. Senate in 2018, challenging incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein. The Los Angeles Democrat’s announcement did not mention Feinstein, 84. Feinstein, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992, is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the first woman to hold that role. She is also a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and was the first woman to lead that panel, from 2009 through 2015. Feinstein said last week that she would run for her fifth term. She is the oldest U.S. senator but among several octogenarians, including Republicans Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Richard Shelby, Jim Inhofe, Pat Roberts and John McCain. | 1 |
3,866 | U.S. Congress votes to apply Magnitsky human rights act globally | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation expanding the 2012 U.S. Magnitsky human rights act from Russian citizens to cover abusers in any country passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday as part of an annual defense policy bill, leaving the landmark measure on the verge of becoming law. The legislation was included in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, setting policy for the Department of Defense, despite the recent election of Republican Donald Trump as the U.S. president. Trump has signaled a softer line against Russia, which vehemently opposes the original Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, and its expansion. The Magnitsky Act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the 2009 death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian whistleblower. Backers of the bill have pushed for years to expand its impact to every country, and to make “significant” acts of corruption sanctionable offenses. “Visiting the United States and using our financial institutions are privileges that should not be extended to the worst actors in the international system,” Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. Cardin pushed the measure along with Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by an overwhelming margin on Dec. 2. The Senate vote sends the measure, including Global Magnitsky, to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law. A White House spokesman said shortly after the NDAA passed that he could not yet say how the president would proceed. | 1 |
3,867 | BOOM! KELLYANNE CONWAY Shuts Down CNN’s Cuomo: “Why do you care?” [Video] | Kellyanne Conway defends Trump s Hamilton twitter scrap: Why do you care https://t.co/11UIp8cKFi https://t.co/vnk4rOhY4m CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2016 | 0 |
3,868 | U.S. top court denies bid to block mercury air pollution rule | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Obama administration on Thursday in rebuffing a bid by 20 states to halt an Environmental Protection Agency rule to curb emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants. The action came about a month after the high court put on hold federal regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat climate change. Chief Justice John Roberts denied a petition made last week by the states, led by Michigan, to put the rule on hold after a federal appeals court decided in December to leave it intact while the EPA reassessed costs of implementing the regulation. The states had argued that a stay was necessary because the Supreme Court had “already held that the finding on which the rule rests is unlawful and beyond the EPA’s statutory authority.” The Supreme Court ruled last June that the EPA should have considered compliance costs when it decided to limit emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants mainly from coal-fired power plants, and returned the case to the appeals court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit subsequently said the regulations could remain in place while the government responds to the high court’s June ruling. The appeals court gave the EPA until April 15 to come up with compliance costs. The EPA rule, which went into effect last April, applies to about 1,400 electricity-generating units at 600 power plants. Many are already in compliance. EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said the agency was “very pleased” with Roberts’ action, noting that power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States. “These practical and achievable standards cut harmful pollution from power plants, saving thousands of lives each year and preventing heart and asthma attacks,” Harrison said. Environmental groups and 15 other states that had asked the court to reject the stay request applauded Roberts’ action and called on the attorneys general in the group of states led by Michigan to end their legal challenge to the rule. The rule is “safeguarding millions of American children from poisons such as mercury, arsenic and acid gases,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund anti-pollution advocacy group, a party to the case. | 1 |
3,869 | Czech PM Babis takes office but so far lacks parliamentary backing | PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a billionaire businessman who ran on an anti-establishment ticket, took office with his cabinet on Wednesday, but it was unclear whether his tenure will survive a confidence vote next month. Babis, who built a business empire in food, farming, chemicals and media before entering politics in 2011, will have one month to gain confidence under the constitution for his minority government. He said after being formally appointed by Czech President Milos Zeman, that the confidence vote should take place on Jan. 10. Running on pledges to fight immigration and make the state more efficient, Babis s ANO party won 29.6 percent of the vote in an October national election that saw the rise of other parties preaching against the establishment. As finance minister over the past three years, Babis saw the central state budget swing to a surplus and has vowed to further cut public debt ratio to GDP, currently at a half of the European Union average. His problem is that ANO holds just 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house and does not have the firm backing of any of the other eight parties. The far-right, anti-EU SPD party and the far-left Communists have lent ANO support in initial parliamentary votes in return for committee posts, but no deal has been announced on their backing for the cabinet. Babis will need a few parties to either support the cabinet or leave before the confidence vote to lower the threshold the government needs to pass. Babis s government includes non-partisan ministers, in line with his pledge to bring more managerial style to governance. His first tack will be representing the country at the European Union summit on Thursday and Friday, where he will push for strengthening EU borders and stopping illegal migration. If Babis loses the confidence vote, his government will stay in power until an alternative is formed. Zeman reiterated on Wednesday his willingness to give Babis a second try if the first attempt fails, and signaled this may be the way forward. (I have) the impression that several (parties) wanted to be coaxed, but in order not to lose their dignity or prestige, they will want to be coaxed only in the second round, Zeman said. Most parties have called for Babis himself to stay out of the government due to a police case looking at whether he illegally hid ownership of a farm and conference center a decade ago to get a 2 million euro ($2.35 million) EU subsidy meant for small businesses. Babis has denied any wrongdoing. Some parties also criticize Babis for conflicts of interest as an owner of two national newspapers and a businessman whose firms have numerous contracts with the state and benefit from public aid. He placed his firms into a trust fund earlier this year, overseen by his close collaborators and his wife. Daily Hospodarske Noviny reported on Wednesday that the outgoing ruling party, the leftist Social Democrats, could support a Babis-led government in a second round of talks, if his first cabinet fails. It cited unnamed sources within that party. The other member of the outgoing coalition, the Christian Democrats, have also said they could negotiate with ANO. | 1 |
3,870 | Conditions not ripe for role in Spain-Catalonia talks: Swiss | ZURICH (Reuters) - Neutral Switzerland is in touch with Spain and Catalonia about resolving a row over the region s moves towards independence but conditions for promoting talks are not yet ripe, the foreign ministry in Bern said on Friday. Facilitation can only be provided if both parties request it. Switzerland is in contact with both parties, but the conditions for facilitation are not in place at this stage, a spokesman said by email in response to a query. He described the situation in Catalonia as an internal Spanish political matter and said Switzerland respected the sovereignty of Spain. | 1 |
3,871 | Greek police fire teargas at protesters on anniversary of riots | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired teargas on Wednesday at youths marching in Athens to mark the ninth anniversary of the killing of a teenager by police in an incident that sparked the worst riots for decades in a country with a history of street violence. Before Wednesday s march, Reuters witnesses saw young people wearing hoods smashing paving stones to use as projectiles and street poles to break window displays. A few hundred students, among them dozens of black-clad youths, marched through central Athens chanting Resist! , waving red and black flags in a tribute to 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos who was shot dead in 2008. Some of the protesters set garbage containers on fire and hurled stones at police who responded with teargas and had formed protective cordons outside parliament and hotels in central Athens. More than 2,000 police were deployed in Athens, a day before a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Wednesday evening, hundreds of protesters marched outside parliament chanting This bullet did not fall by accident, keep your hands off the youth and held banners reading These days belong to Alexis . After the march, police clashed with protesters hurling petrol bombs at them in the bohemian Exarchia district, where the unarmed boy was shot dead. There were more demonstrations in other cities across the country. Clashes broke out during protests in the northern city of Thessaloniki. On the night of December 6, 2008, hours after Grigoropoulos was shot dead, thousands took to the streets of Athens, torching cars and smashing shop windows. The riots, that were also fueled by anger over unemployment and economic hardship in the prelude to Greece s debt crisis, lasted for weeks. | 1 |
3,872 | Frankfurt to evacuate thousands as huge WWII bomb defused | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Frankfurt city officials have warned that Germany s financial capital could grind to a halt on Monday if residents don t heed orders to vacate their homes to allow the defusing of a massive World War Two bomb. On Sunday, the city will evacuate some 60,000 people in the nation s biggest such maneuver since the war while officials disarm the British bomb discovered on a building site this week in Frankfurt s leafy Westend, where many wealthy bankers live. Fire and police chiefs, at a hastily called press conference on Friday, said they would use force and incarceration if necessary to clear the area of residents. An uncontrolled explosion of the bomb would be big enough to flatten a city block, Frankfurt fire chief Reinhard Ries told reporters. This bomb has more than 1.4 tonnes of explosives, he said. It s not just fragments that are the problem, but also the pressure that it creates that would dismantle all the buildings in a 100-metre (yard) radius. . The HC 4000 bomb is assumed to have been dropped by Britain s Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 war. Such finds are not unusual, but rarely are the unexploded bombs so large and in such a sensitive position. The compulsory evacuation radius of 1.5 km (roughly a mile) around the bomb includes police headquarters, two hospitals, transport systems and Germany s central bank storing $70 billion in gold reserves. Officials on Friday called on Frankfurt s residents to clear the area by 8 a.m. on Sunday and warned the effort could take at least 12 hours. Police said they couldn t begin defusing the bomb until they were sure everyone had left the area. They would ring every doorbell and use heat-sensing technology from overhead helicopters to help them identify stragglers, they said. Roads and transport systems, including the parts of the underground, will be closed during the work and for at least two hours after the bomb is defused, to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals without traffic. Air traffic from Frankfurt airport could also be affected if there is an easterly wind on Sunday, air traffic control told Reuters on Friday. Also, small private planes, helicopters and drones will be banned from the evacuation zone, they said. Frankfurters can spend the day at shelters set up at the trade fair and the Jahrhunderthalle convention center, police have said. In addition, most museums are offering Frankfurt residents free entry on Sunday, and a few of them will open their doors earlier in the morning than usual, the city said on its website. | 1 |
3,873 | video beautiful listen to these doctors talk about the first time they learned about stomachs | email ever wonder whats on the mind of todays most notable people well dont miss our unbelievable roundup of the best and most talked about quotes of the day my friends have somehow gotten it into their heads that im attracted to ghosts so every day ill get texts saying i just met a great handsome ghost i want to set you up with for marriage i want to lay this rumor to rest i think ghosts are as ugly as rats mindy kaling on ghosts the second my successor swears in im going to start chasing my secret service members and they know it barack obama on what hell be doing on january at pm i just remembered another fact about jaws the sharks mouth is called jaws not the shark itself steven spielberg | 0 |
3,874 | The Most Hated Man In Corporate America Wants Scaramucci’s Job, Because Why Not? | After the teeny-tiny tenure of Anthony (the Mooch) Scaramucci, the gates of hell have opened. Now that we ve had a foul-mouthed Sopranos extra leading the communications team (even if ever so briefly), pretty much anything goes when it comes to Trump s performance art installation previously known as the White House.Why should it surprise anyone that the poster child for corporate greed and everything everyone hates about Millennials, Pharma-bro Martin Shkreli, now wants Scaramucci s job? Oh, and did I mention that Shkreli is currently on trial for federal securities fraud? Score!While Shkreli hasn t yet appeared to make an official pitch for the job, on Monday, he posted this rather cryptic message on Facebook, In for comms director. Some thought it was a completely appropriate idea:This might be a little premature, though, even by Trump standards. The man who s been dubbed the most hated man in America for price gouging AIDS patients with a 5,000 percent price increase for a drug commonly used to treat AIDS, could be headed to prison, but not for that. he has been accused of defrauding half a dozen investors about the size and performance of his hedge funds, and how well qualified he was to manage them. He was also accused of using his pharmaceuticals company, Retrophin, as a piggy bank to pay investors back and cover personal debt.Source: IndependentIf found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison. If found not-guilty, he could be a natural as the face of the White House. According to a former co-worker, Shkreli shares some of the same *um* personality quirks as BLOTUS:A former co-worker, Caroline Stewart, testified that he was a scam artist and mentally unstable . One of his hedge funds imploded after a short trade failed and he ended up owing Bank of America Merrill Lynch $10 million.And as with Dear Orange Leader, Shkreli suffers from a persecution complex which he defends with accusations of a witch hunt. Do you think he could be the Communications Director from prison?Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
3,875 | Saudi Arabia will help Syrian opposition come out unified from Riyadh meet: Jubeir | DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Wednesday his country will lend support to the Syrian opposition to come out unified from talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh ahead of peace talks in Geneva. We will provide help and support for them in all what they need, Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh after he attended the opening session of a Syrian opposition conference aimed at unify their ranks ahead of peace talks in Geneva. We hope they can come out of the conference unified, he added. | 1 |
3,876 | WATCH: This Is What Happens When Media Asks Bernie Sanders Idiotic Questions (VIDEO) | During an on interview on This Week, Bernie Sanders had to deal with some seriously weak interview questions. The interviewer, Martha Raddatz brought up an allegation that Sanders surging campaign has been unsettling the markets. That accusation is as ridiculous as it sounds.Here is how the interview went.Martha Raddatz: Senator Sanders, you said something to your supporters yesterday that caught my ear, you quoted with pride a Wall Street Journal article calling you a viable candidate, saying it appears that we are making Wall Street a little bit nervous and that s a good thing. The article was quoting Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman who said the markets are unsettled because of you, a slowdown in China and geopolitical risks. You re laughing, but I want to know why is it a good thing that the markets are in turmoil? People have their pension funds in the market? Lots of middle class people have their 401(k)s invested in stocks. It s not just Wall Street. Everybody is affected by this. Bernie Sanders: The reason that I am laughing is I fully admit to having a big ego, like many other politicians. But the idea that Bernie Sanders candidacy, because it has growing support all over this country, is unsettling world markets is absolutely absurd. The point I was making is we are getting the attention of Wall Street. Wall Street s greed and recklessness and illegal behavior drove this economy into the worst recession since the Clutch Plague. Millions of people lost their homes, their life savings and their jobs. And yes I believe that we have to break up the major financial institutions. We have to reestablish Glass-Steagall. And that we are now gaining the attention of Wall Street tells me that our campaign is doing very well. Here s the interview:For those not in the know, the Blackstone Group is one of the largest and most powerful private entities on the planet. They currently manage over $300 billion dollars in assists. Stephen Schwarzman currently has a net worth of $9.8 billion dollars. If anyone has been a beneficiary of the deregulation of Wall St., it s Schwarzman. It isn t surprising that he, the WSJ, (who notoriously published a completely debunked hit piece on Sanders) and the mainstream media would be pushing this kind of nonsense. They just want to make it sound like Sanders is coming after people s 401(k)s, etc.Which couldn t be further from the truth. As Sanders pointed out, people lost everything under our current system of Wall Street-take-all finance.Featured Image Credit: Video Screenshot via YouTube h/t Egberto Willies | 0 |
3,877 | LAVAR BALL: Here’s Why President Trump Was Under No Legal Obligation To Help Release Your Shoplifting Son From Chinese Prison | Before Lavar Ball, the ungrateful father of accused criminal, and UCLA basketball player, LiAngelo Ball, goes off on a public rant about how unappreciative he for President Trump s help, when he interceded on behalf of his son and 2 other UCLA basketball players, who were caught shoplifting at a Louis Vuitton store in China, he may want to consider, that without the help of President Trump, his son could be sitting in a Chinese prison for the next 10 years.Lavar Ball might also want to consider that President Trump was under no obligation to ask President Xi to get involved in the public relations nightmare that took place while our President was a guest in China, to help negotiate their release, and here s why Days after President Donald Trump touted his role in the release of three UCLA basketball students who were arrested in China, LaVar Ball, the father of one of those players, suggested the President had little to do with the matter. Who? Ball told ESPN when asked about Trump s involvement in the situation. What was he over there for? Don t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out. They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. I m from L.A. I ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. LaVar Ball, father of UCLA player with sticky fingers Law Newz Our Tweeter-in-Chief lashed out on Twitter Sunday after Ball, a businessman, and ex-basketball player, downplayed POTUS role in helping release son LiAngelo Ball from Chinese custody.Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017 I should have left them in jail, Trump wrote. That s a hell of thing to tweet, and it grabbed a lot of attention. Outlets like Mediaite, The NY Times, Fox News, and ESPN were all over it. But as with many things in this administration, it s always helpful to review a president s role in situations like this.To recap, we have three Americans UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley arrested by Chinese authorities for alleged shoplifting. Trump took credit for their return to the states, saying he asked the country s president Xi Jinping for help. Now we have that same president saying he should ve done nothing.What does it mean if provable spite motivated a president s decision to refrain from helping an American held in custody on foreign soil? Law&Crime reached out to Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman for his take on the matter and asked if such behavior, or something like it, could be impeachable. Not impeachable, Feldman wrote in an email. He was under no duty to help and no duty to be nice about it after the fact. | 0 |
3,878 | Pakistani peace activist reported missing, police say | Karachi, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani peace activist has been reported missing over the weekend from eastern city of Lahore, police and one of his friends said on Tuesday. Raza Mehmood Khan, 40, a member of Aghaz-i-Dosti (Start of Friendship), a group that works on peace building between arch-rivals Pakistan and India, hasn t been heard from since he left home on Sunday, said Rahim-ul-Haq, a friend and an associate. He said the group has offices in both countries. Police official Shehzad Raza said Khan s family reported he had been missing since Saturday. No one has been accused in the report, he said. We re investigating. Several social media activists critical of the army and the country s extremists and militant groups have gone missing in Pakistan in recent months. Four of them were released nearly a month after they disappeared early this year. Two of them - Ahmad Waqas Goraya and Asim Saeed _ later alleged in interviews with BBC and their social media posts that Pakistani intelligence abducted and tortured them in custody. Pakistan s army has denied the accusations. Haq said Khan spoke at a discussion on Saturday on the topic of extremism. Everyone discussed their views and, of course, Raza was very critical, he said. He said that Raza s recent Facebook posts were critical of Pakistani military, especially in view of a recent sit-in protest by hard-liners that paralyzed Islamabad for over two weeks. The extremists won almost all of their demands, including resignation of a minister they accused of blasphemy, in an agreement brokered by the army. | 1 |
3,879 | Eric Holder Just Hilariously Called Trump Out On Arpaio: Obama Never Asked Me To Drop A Case | Former Attorney General Eric Holder responded to a report that Donald Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to drop the charges against Joe Arpaio (aka America s most racist sheriff) by throwing shade at the crooked administration on Twitter.The Washington Post published an article on Saturday claiming that Trump had personally asked Sessions to abandon the case against Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt charges after ignoring a federal court order. Holder tweeted out that in all the years he had worked as Attorney General under former President Obama, he had never once been asked to drop charges against anybody, ever. Number of times over six years that President Obama called and asked me to think about dropping a case: ZERO, Holder tweeted on Sunday, with a link to the article written by the Post included.Number of times over six years that President Obama called and asked me to think about dropping a case: ZERO https://t.co/je7dhk7R28 Eric Holder (@EricHolder) August 27, 2017According to the Post, Trump s advisers told him that asking Sessions to drop the Arpaio case would be a mistake but naturally, he did it anyway. When the charges against Arpaio moved forward, Trump decided that it didn t matter because he was just going to pardon him if he was convicted anyway. What are friends for? Right?Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt charges after a federal court ordered him to stop the racist policing practices he employed as sheriff of Maricopa County, which included jailing suspected illegal immigrants in a tent city. Despite the court s ruling that his practices were discriminatory and violated the Constitution, Arpaio basically gave a middle finger to the judge and continued his bigoted tactics.Trump pardoned his loyal supporter on Friday night while the nation was being ravaged by Hurricane Harvey. He was promptly condemned for this move by both Democrats and Republicans alike. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke out against Trump s decision to pardon Arpaio on Saturday.Featured image via Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images | 0 |
3,880 | U.S. monitoring Saudi situation amid post-purge wealth deals: U.S. Treasury chief | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is closely watching the situation in Saudi Arabia amid reported asset agreements between Saudi authorities and some detainees in an anti-corruption crackdown, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday. Asked about the agreements to hand over wealth for detainees freedom, Mnuchin told CNBC I think that the Crown Prince (Mohammed bin Salman) is doing a great job at transforming the country, adding that the United States was obviously monitoring the situation. | 1 |
3,881 | BOOM! SHAREHOLDER Confronts Liberal Starbucks CEO Over Damage To Stock Value After Saying He’ll Hire 10,000 Refugees…Questioned Why Schultz Ignored Obama’s Travel Ban [VIDEO] | Americans who are sick and tired of leftist CEO s using their public positions to attack President Trump and his efforts waged a huge boycott against Starbucks and the Starbucks brand: Kudos to this shareholder for standing up and confronting Schultz over his selfish decision to publicly shame President Trump in his efforts to keep terrorists from entering our country With Starbuck s stock underperforming, its about time someone questioned Starbucks s liberal agenda. Just don t expect the media to care.A conservative think tank, The National Center for Public Policy Research, confronted outgoing controversial Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. As an owner of Starbucks stock, the group sent its General Counsel Justin Danhof to Starbucks s annual shareholders meeting on March 22. There, he questioned Schultz for his public liberal opinions that may have hurt the company s stock price.In reference to Schultz s Jan. 29 decision that Starbucks would hire 10,000 refugees, Danhof asked Schultz How much will Starbucks investors have to spend so that the company can properly vet refugees that the federal government admits it can t afford to vet? He also asked Schultz why he condemned President Donald Trump s immigration order but lacked the courage to speak out against the Obama-Clinton travel ban? Watch: | 0 |
3,882 | Boiler Room #103 – Smoking Gunz | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East, Funk Soul, Randy J, Stewart Howe (ACR/21WIRE contributors) and Andy Nowicki, author of Conspiracy, Compliance, Control & Defiance, for the hundred and third episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.Listen to Boiler Room #103 Smoking Gunz on Spreaker.Direct Download Episode #103Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links: | 0 |
3,883 | Trump Throws All-Caps Tantrum After Appeals Court’s Unanimous Decision To SHUT DOWN Muslim Ban (TWEETS) | If there s one takeaway from Thursday, it s that Donald Trump is probably going to lay in bed in that bathrobe he doesn t own and cry himself to sleep for days. In yet another blow to Trump s ego and victory for the Constitution, a federal appeals court became the third in the nation to tell The Donald to take his Muslim ban and shove it up his big orange ass.Trump s DOJ lawyers tried everything from claiming that the ban, which blocked people from seven predominantly Muslim countries that have not been tied to a deadly terrorist attack within our borders since 9/11 from entering the United States, is necessary to protect our nation, to actually attempting to get the court to agree that President Asterisk s decisions are absolute and unreviewable by any court. The Supreme Court has made clear that the Government s authority and expertise in [such] matters do not automatically trump the Court s own obligation to secure the protection that the Constitution grants to individuals, even in times of war, the court said. There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy. Even though he had just been to court, Trump lashed out on Twitter with twelve schadenfreude-laden, ALLCAPS words: SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017Naturally, the Internet responded with joy upon hearing this amazing news because whenever Trump is sad, justice has won..@realDonaldTrump you just did see them in court Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump I'm afraid court already saw you, dear. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump are you tired of winning yet Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 9, 2017@MattBinder @realDonaldTrump Just can't stop winning! Austin Braun (@AustinOnSocial) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump Says the guy who goes to war w/ Nordstrom, Hamilton, Meryl Streep & SNL but can't acknowledge a terrorist attack in Quebec! Kristina Wong (@mskristinawong) February 9, 2017"SEE YOU IN COURT!" @realDonaldTrump yells to the second highest court in the land. David G. McAfee (@DavidGMcAfee) February 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump The appeals court actually said the government had provided no evidence that the security of the nation WAS at stake. Jim Roberts (@nycjim) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump This is so embarrassing for you! President Bannon is going to be so mad! Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump Trump thinks checks and balances are when his contractors check their bank accounts and see the balance at zero. Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump I'm wondering the same thing ?? pic.twitter.com/xXyl2R46Rg sam (@SamTheCobra) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump You sound like you're about to rage quit. eBaum's World (@ebaumsworld) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump You know who else did everything in their power to delegitimize the judiciary system? pic.twitter.com/TABwMPvuQk #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump didn't you justnever mind Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) February 9, 2017The Justice Department says it is considering its options in the wake of this very, very bad news for Trump and his Deplorables.This battle will likely end in the Supreme Court which means it is up to our elected officials to refuse to confirm any Trump nominee. Five justices would need to agree to reverse the 9th Circuit Court s decision and the empty spot Merrick Garland should be occupying leaves Trump in extreme danger of a tie, which would effectively uphold the lower court s decision.Today is a great day for America, but the battle is far from over. Resist.Read more:Featured image via Getty Images (Win McNamee)/screengrab | 0 |
3,884 | Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 13 in Nigeria: officials | BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers have killed at least 13 other people in an attack on a market in the northeast Nigerian town of Biu in Borno state, officials said on Saturday. The blasts struck while aid workers were distributing food to people affected by the eight-year conflict with Boko Haram, said Aliyu Idrisa, a community leader. In addition to the 13 victims, 53 people were injured and two bombers were killed, said Victor Isuku, police spokesman for Borno state. Saturday s attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which uses suicide bombers, often women and girls, to attack crowded public spaces. Last week, a suicide bombing at a mosque in the northeastern town of Mubi killed at least 50 people, one of the deadliest attacks in recent years. The government has said its long-term plan for the northeast is to corral civilians inside fortified garrison towns and effectively cede the countryside to Boko Haram. That plan and a string of deadly attacks have raised questions about assertions by the Nigerian government and military that Boko Haram s Islamist insurgency has been all but wiped out. | 1 |
3,885 | Supreme Court temporarily blocks Louisiana abortion law | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court, two days after hearing a major abortion case from Texas, on Friday temporarily blocked a Louisiana law imposing regulations on doctors who perform abortions in a move that would allow two recently closed clinics to reopen. In a brief order, the court granted a request by abortion providers seeking to reinstate a lower-court injunction that blocked the Republican-backed 2014 law, which required doctors to obtain a formal affiliation with a local hospital. The abortion providers contend the law was designed to shut down abortion clinics by requiring hospital “admitting privileges” that are difficult for their doctors to secure. Louisiana will now have four clinics in total. The order noted that one of the eight justices, conservative Clarence Thomas, said he would have denied the application. The order said the court’s action was in line with its decision in June to temporarily block part of a Texas abortion law that was challenged by abortion providers in a high-profile case. The justices heard oral arguments in that case on Wednesday. The Louisiana law mandates that physicians who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of the abortion clinic. The regulation matches one in the Texas law. U.S. District Judge John deGravelles in January granted a preliminary injunction sought by abortion providers, finding the law violated the constitutional right to an abortion established by the Supreme Court in 1973. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that decision on Feb. 24, allowing the law to go into effect. The high court’s action sent mixed signals on how it might rule in the Texas case, in part because the justices previously allowed the Texas admitting privileges provision to go into effect. The action could suggest the court has greater concerns about admitting privileges requirements than were indicated during Wednesday’s argument in the Texas case. Friday’s move effectively put Louisiana’s law on hold while the justices prepare a ruling, expected by the end of June, in the Texas case. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers in both cases, welcomed the court’s action. “These underhanded tactics to cut off women’s access to safe, legal abortion simply cannot stand,” Northup said. The Texas case also involves a separate provision that requires clinics to have costly, hospital-grade facilities. The Louisiana law was signed by Republican then-Governor Bobby Jindal in 2014. | 1 |
3,886 | Zimbabwe police charge U.S. citizen with anti-government plot | HARARE (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen was charged on Friday with attempting to overthrow the Zimbabwean government, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, after police earlier accused her of insulting 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe. Martha O Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, which describes itself as Zimbabwe s leading producer of political satire, was picked up in a dawn raid on her Harare home, her lawyer said. O Donovan, who denies both charges, was expected in court on Saturday, lawyer Obey Shava said. Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba could not be reached for comment on the new, much more serious, charge. O Donovan was first charged with insulting and undermining the president, according to a police charge sheet, which accused her of last month calling Mugabe a selfish and sick man on Twitter, the first such arrest since the creation of a Ministry of Cyber Security last month. That charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail, her lawyer said. Shava said police then accused O Donovan of setting up Magamba, being behind a shadowy Twitter character called @matigary and setting up another Twitter account @OpenParlyZw for the sole purpose of overthrowing the government through unconstitutional means . The government has been particularly uneasy about social media after activists such as pastor Evan Mawararire and his #ThisFlag movement last year used social media to organize a stay-at-home demonstration, the biggest anti-government protest in a decade. A national election is due in 2018. The police search warrant showed that central to its investigation was a post on O Donovan s Twitter feed referring to a Goblin whose wife and step-sons had imported a Rolls-Royce, an apparent reference to Mugabe, though he was not named. In a statement to police seen by Reuters, O Donovan said: I deny the allegations being leveled against me as baseless and malicious. That is all I wish to say. The U.S. embassy in Harare confirmed an American citizen had been arrested and said it was monitoring the situation closely. Shava said his client had refused to sign a new document known as a warned and cautioned statement with the fresh charge. The document sets out the government s case and signing it signals a suspect understands the charge. She had signed the statement on the lesser charge. Police seized her computers, cellphones and other electronic devices in the raid on her home. | 1 |
3,887 | Iraq's Kirkuk province to vote in Kurdish independence referendum | KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq s oil-producing region of Kirkuk will vote in a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25, its provisional council decided on Tuesday, a move that could increase tension with Arab and Turkmen residents. The ethnically mixed region is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The vote is definitely happening on Sept. 25, Kirkuk Governor Najmuddin Kareem told Reuters after a majority of the provincial council voted in favor of taking part. Only 24 of the 41 council members attended Tuesday s vote, with 23 voting in favor of participating in the referendum. One abstained. The remaining council members - all Arabs and Turkmen - boycotted the vote. Instead, they issued statements denouncing the vote as unconstitutional. The KRG had said it was up to the local councils of Kirkuk and three other disputed regions of Iraq to decide whether to join the vote on the independence of the Kurdish region. The vote in the disputed regions would amount to deciding whether to join the KRG or remain under the jurisdiction of the Shi ite Arab-led government in Baghdad. Baghdad says the referendum is unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters following a meeting of his council of ministers, Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi denounced Tuesday s decision as wrong . Issues are not handled like this, he added. Sunni MP Mohammed al-Karbouli told Reuters that Tuesday s decision would help trigger ethnic fighting in the region and would also extend the life of Islamic State in the country. It s a stark violation of the constitution and a determined move to confiscate the rights of the Arab and Turkmen in Kirkuk. The government should intervene to stop this violation, al-Karbouli said. The United States and Western nations fear the vote could lead to conflicts with Baghdad and neighboring Turkey and Iran, which host sizeable Kurdish populations, diverting attention from the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. A senior Kurdish official has said Iraq s Kurds might consider postponing the referendum in return for financial and political concessions from the central government. Those who ask for a postponement - including Baghdad and the U.S. and Europe and whoever - should give us a time, Kareem said. Why don t they propose a date? Kurdish peshmerga fighters seized control of Kirkuk in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled from Islamic State s offensive across northern and western Iraq, preventing the region s oil fields from falling into the hands of the militants. The Kurds have been seeking an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East and left Kurdish-populated territory split between modern-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. | 1 |
3,888 | HOUSE DEMOCRATS DISPLAY THE WRONG FLAG DURING SPEECHES ON HOUSE FLOOR AGAINST THE CONFEDERATE FLAG | This is just too much! Protesting the flag that they don t even know has 13 stars unreal!House Democrats referenced the wrong Confederate flag Thursday during a debate over the controversial symbol.A photo from floor debates shows a Confederate flag with 17 stars, according to a post on CSPAN s Instagram account.The actual Confederate battle flag had 13 stars, one for each of the states that seceded from the Union before joining the Confederacy as of late 1861.CSPAN s photo shows a number of House Democrats speaking by a cutout of the incorrect version on Thursday morning.Reps. James Clyburn (S.C.), Al Green (Texas), Keith Ellison (Minn.), David Cicilline (R.I.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas) and Terri Sewell (Ala.) all missed the apparent mistake.VIA: THE HILL | 0 |
3,889 | Russia's Putin says Iran, Turkey back proposed Syrian peoples' congress | SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - The leaders of Iran and Turkey on Wednesday supported the convocation of a Syrian peoples congress as one of the first steps to establish inclusive dialogue in the war-ravaged country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Speaking after meeting his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and Turkey s Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said the three leaders had instructed their diplomats, security and defense bodies to work on the composition and date of the congress. Syria s leadership is committed to the peace process, constitutional reform and free elections, Putin said after the trilateral meeting held in the southern Russian city of Sochi. The three presidents agreed to step up efforts to finish off terrorist groups in Syria, he said. | 1 |
3,890 | Republicans Block Young Voters From Participating In Ohio Primary | In Ohio, the District of Columbia, and 21 other states this election year, 17-year-old citizens are allowed to vote in their state s caucus or primary as long as they turn 18 by the time of the general election in November.The rule allows thousands of 17-year-olds to participate in the Democratic process of voting for the very first time in their lives, but Ohio s Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted reversed the rule, revoking the rights of the 17-year-olds from voting in the state s primary on March 15th. It will be a key battleground state between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary, and among the Republican presidential candidates, as current Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich will try to make his mark on the primaries by winning his home state.His argument was the primaries were electing delegates who will eventually elect a nominee for their party at a the party conventions later this year. Husted is distorting the language surrounding the rule which allowed 17-year-olds to vote early by alleging the 17-year-olds can nominate a candidate, but not elect one for office.The Secretary of State before Jon Husted, Jennifer Brunner, allowed 17-year-olds to participate in the 2008 primary election. Ohio s pro-voter practice that welcomes young adults into the process has been on the books since 1981, said State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) in a statement on Husted s recent change in the rules. Secretary Husted s latest underhanded, backroom attack on our most fundamental freedom should have us all concerned about this and about his repeated claims he has made it easier to vote in Ohio when in fact he continues to find ways to make it harder. This is not the first time Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has tried to restrict voter access in Ohio. He was sued last year by students for restricting voter rights, put restrictions on early voting in the state, and continues to impede on voters rights in the state of Ohio. The right to vote should be facilitated, not restricted, but leave it up to the Republicans to try to make distorted arguments and reasoning for making what should be a no brainer of opening up young people to the Democratic process and encouraging voting, an issue legislators have to waste time arguing over.Featured image via Addicting Info | 0 |
3,891 | U.S. lawmakers may change September 11 law after rejecting veto | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers expressed doubts on Thursday about Sept. 11 legislation they forced on President Barack Obama, saying the new law allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia could be narrowed to ease concerns about its effect on Americans abroad. A day after a rare overwhelming rejection of a presidential veto, the first during Obama’s eight years in the White House, the Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives opened the door to fixing the law as they blamed the Democratic president for not consulting them adequately. “I do think it is worth further discussing,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, acknowledging that there could be “potential consequences” of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, known as JASTA. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress might have to “fix” the legislation to protect U.S. troops in particular. Ryan did not give a time frame, but Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he thought JASTA could be addressed in Congress’ “lame-duck” session after the Nov. 8 election. The law grants an exception to the legal principle of sovereign immunity in cases of terrorism on U.S. soil, clearing the way for lawsuits seeking damages from the Saudi government. Riyadh denies longstanding suspicions that it backed the hijackers who attacked the United States in 2001. Sept. 11 families lobbied intensely for the bill, getting it passed by the House days before the 15th anniversary of the 2001 attacks earlier this month after years of effort. “We have to understand the political environment we’re in right now and the tremendous support the 9/11 victims have in the United States,” said Robert Jordan, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is one of Washington’s longest-standing and most important allies in the Middle East and part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. The Saudis lobbied furiously against JASTA, and the Saudi foreign ministry condemned its passage in a statement on Thursday. “The erosion of sovereign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States,” said the statement, which was carried on state news agency SPA. Still, the new law is not expected to have a lasting effect on the two countries’ strategic relationship. Saudi-U.S. ties have endured “multiple times of deep outrage” over 70 years, said Thomas Lippman of the Middle East Institute. “The two countries need each other as much today as they did before the day before yesterday,” he said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest mocked lawmakers for shifting “within minutes” from overwhelmingly voting to override Obama’s veto to wanting to change the law. “I think what we’ve seen in the United States Congress is a pretty classic case of rapid onset buyer’s remorse,” Earnest told a White House briefing. Corker said he had tried to work out a compromise with the White House, but Obama administration officials declined a meeting. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, who championed JASTA in the Senate, said he was open to revisiting the legislation. “I’m willing to look at any proposal they make but not any that hurt the families,” he said at a news conference. He said he would oppose a suggestion that the measure be narrowed to only apply to the 2001 attacks on Washington and New York. “You know what that does? It tells the Saudis to go ahead and do it again, and we won’t punish you,” Schumer said. Corker said another suggestion was establishing an international tribunal so experts could determine whether there was culpability. He said the Saudis were been willing to work on a compromise, and denied they had threatened retaliation. Trent Lott, a former Republican Senate Majority Leader now at a Washington law firm lobbying for the Saudis, said attorneys would look carefully at JASTA’s language. “I do feel passionately this is a mistake for a variety of reasons, in terms of threats to troops, diplomats, sovereignty, there’s serious problems here. Hopefully we can find a way to change the tenor of this,” Lott said. | 1 |
3,892 | No Congo election until mid-2019, vote commission says, angering opposition | KINSHASA (Reuters) - An election to replace Congolese President Joseph Kabila cannot take place before April 2019, the electoral commission said, a delay that the opposition said would cause an impatient population to take matters into its own hands . The schedule outlined by the electoral commission would torpedo an agreement between Kabila s camp and his opponents to hold the election - originally scheduled for November 2016 - before the end of this year. Dozens of people were killed last year in protests against Kabila s refusal to step down at the end of his term. Parts of Democratic Republic of Congo are in the hands of insurgents who say they will not stop fighting while he remains in power. The electoral commission, CENI, said in a statement following a meeting with civil society representatives on Tuesday that it would need at least 504 days to organize the poll once voter registration is completed. Enrolment began in parts of Kasai, a region ravaged by insurrection, in mid-September and will take about three months, the commission says. That means the vote could not be organized until April 2019 at the earliest. CENI is expected to announce election dates this month. What the CENI has announced is not an electoral calendar but an election-killing agenda, opposition leader Claudel Lubaya told Reuters. Everything now rests on the shoulders of the population, which must take matters into its own hands. The opposition suspects Kabila is trying to cling to power by postponing elections until he can find a way to remove term limits that prevent him from standing for re-election, as presidents in neighboring Rwanda and Congo Republic have done. Kabila, who took power after his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001, denies that, and says the election delays are due to difficulties enrolling millions of voters and mobilizing hundreds of millions of dollars in financing. His spokesman has repeatedly said that the electoral commission operates independently and that Kabila has no control over the timing of elections. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, Maman Sidikou, said CENI was badly underfunded. International donors have contributed only 6 percent of the $123 million that the United Nations had been expecting, he told the U.N. Security Council. Congo has never experienced a peaceful transition of power and Kabila s refusal to step down has fueled mounting insecurity across a country where millions died in regional conflicts between 1996-2003, most from hunger and disease. An insurrection in Kasai has killed up to 5,000 people and displaced 1.4 million since August 2016, and militia violence has also spiked in the eastern borderlands, where dozens of armed groups are active. | 1 |
3,893 | Former Director Of National Intelligence Says Russia Interference Casts Doubt On Trump’s Win | James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence under President Barack Obama, appeared on CNN s Erin Burnett Out Front on Friday night, and he told Burnett just what many Americans have suspected since January. Speaking about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, Clapper told her that the intelligence community had met with Donald Trump prior to his inauguration. In that briefing, he and other intel chiefs discussed with Trump a joint assessment by the CIA, FBI, and NSA that concluded that the interference was significant enough to warrant concerns over the outcome of the election: Our intelligence community assessment did, I think, serve to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his victory in the election. Although Clapper didn t say it in the interview, the unspoken implication is that this message may have prompted Trump s ridiculous overreactions to his inaugural crowd size, the myth that millions of illegals voted in the election, and any number of other actions and statements that led to the creation of Trump s laughable Commission on Election Integrity, which has, thus far, served only as a vehicle for promoting voter suppression.Clapper s CNN appearance was timely. It came just a short while after Trump went back to his favorite outlet, Twitter, to vent his frustrations for the millionth time:The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017Unfortunately for Trump, the fact is that the Facebook ads purchased by Russia weren t even part of that discussion with Clapper. Those weren t discovered until recently, after Facebook combed through their ad sales records and discovered hundreds of fake Russian profiles buying pro-Trump and pro-conservative ads on the social media platform during the campaign. That means that completely independent of any allegations about ad buying, the intelligence community had already concretely agreed that Russia helped Trump win the election.Even after the transition to Trump s administration and Cabinet, the investigation into Russian interference produced the same responses from different intel chiefs. When Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Trump s own CIA head and his new Director of National Intelligence whether they believed that Russian intelligence agencies were responsible for the hacks and leaks that led to the investigation, both Mike Pompeo and Dan Coats agreed.Clapper told Burnett that Trump s demeanor during the January briefing has been completely different than his behavior since he was inaugurated, calling the earlier Trump solicitous, courteous, [and] even complimentary when he sat down with the agencies.Trump is getting more than a little nervous now, and this interview with James Clapper sheds light on his renewed efforts to brush aside the Russia investigation.Watch:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
3,894 | Kenyans entitled to rebel if vote goes ahead: Kisumu governor | KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) - The governor of Kenya s Kisumu county, an opposition stronghold, said people would be justified in rebellion if a presidential election goes ahead on Thursday, given concerns over preparations for the vote. If the government subverts the sovereign will of the people ... then people are entitled to rebel against this government, Anyang Nyong o told reporters on Wednesday. | 1 |
3,895 | HOW TO PUT THE SCREWS TO LEFTIST ESPN AND SAVE TONS OF MONEY ON YOUR CABLE BILL IN 3 EASY STEPS | Brilliant just brilliant Remember when Disney s ESPN punished Trump for his remarks about illegal aliens and moved their annual golf outing from Trump s golf course as a punishment for his views?Do you remember when ESPN cut Hank Williams theme song from Monday Night Football after making an analogy to Adolf Hitler when talking about Barack Obama?Remember when their own little ESPN barbie made international news after berating a woman in a parking garage for simply doing her job?https://youtu.be/Pz1XY18_D3gRemember when ESPN decided to give the Arthur Ashe Courage Award to Bruce (refers to himself as Caitlyn ) Jenner only months after killing an innocent woman in a car crash over a young girl who stole the hearts of America when she played college basketball with terminal cancer to inspire others to keep fighting?Remember when Bob Costas was hailed by ESPN s Pardon the Interruption, co-host Michael Wilbon, who gave NBC Sports Bob Costas a standing and loud ovation for using his Sunday Night Football halftime show to espouse his pro-gun control views?Well Now it s Red Sox great, Curt Schilling s turn to feel the wrath of ESPN, as he s been fired for a tweet about muslims by the sports propagandist arm of the Disney Corporation.Because my enemies are legion (and not terribly bright), let s get this out of the way: It is wrong to compare Muslims to Nazis. Baseball great Curt Schilling did not do that. In a Tweet that resulted in a pandering suspension from the left-wing sports network ESPN, Schilling compared Muslim extremists to Nazis.Comparing Muslim extremists to Nazis is not wrong, it is science.ESPN knows this but ESPN (which is owned by Disney) has grown into an increasingly ugly, left-wing propaganda machine. What should be America s Pleasure Island away from political division sports has been destroyed by ESPN. All that Disney money is now being used to buy all that sports programming that makes tens of millions of sports fans captive to The Realpolitik.Have you had enough?How much of this abuse are you going to take?How much of this abuse are you going to take before you do something?Oh, you didn t know you had The Power to do something?Well, you do because your cable company and ESPN have been playing you for a sucker for decades.Before I get to The Three Easy Steps, here s how the cable television/ESPN racket works:If ESPN is part of your cable package and it most likely is whether you watch or not, this leftwing propaganda outlet soaks you for $6.61 a month.No, for real.By working out a pay TV system (cable and satellite) that forces you to pay for dozens of networks you do not watch, ESPN (and other left-wing networks like CNN, MTV, and MSNBC) gets a piece of your obscenely-overpriced cable bill.Moreover, no other cable network makes more money this way than ESPN. And with somewhere around 90 million subscribers, that adds up to close to $7 billion annually.And $80 a year comes from you.In other words, you can t hurt ESPN by not watching ESPN. Ad revenue based on the number of viewers is only a part of ESPN s revenue stream.ESPN s got you in a box. Watch or no, they make buku off you.There s only one way to send a message to ESPN, and you have the power to do it in just Three Easy Steps.Call your cable company. Cancel your cable. Sit back and watch ESPN implode.Listen, I m not a sports guy, so I can t answer the question of whether or not watching The Games are worth funding The Apparatchik. What I can tell you is that with the purchase of a $49 Roku (which is essentially a cable box) an extraordinary Streaming world awaits a world that is a whole lot cheaper than cable.For $20 you can subscribe to Netflix and Amazon. Not only is there more TV than you could watch in a lifetime, unlike cable, there is not 20 minutes of catheter ads every hour.You have the power to send ESPN a message.Make the call.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
3,896 | ACTORS QUIT “FERGUSON” PLAY DAYS BEFORE OPENING Because They Want Media’s Bogus “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” Version To Replace Actual Court Transcripts | These are people who claim to love diversity, and they don t love diversity they just want people to agree with them. Ferguson playwright Phelim McAleerVeteran actor Philip Casnoff hadn t read the full script yet when he arrived for the first rehearsal of Ferguson, a play chronicling the shooting of Michael Brown by a Missouri police officer.Casnoff thought he knew what the play, set for a four-day staged reading starting Sunday at the Odyssey Theater, would be about: the wilderness of testimony the grand jury navigated while investigating the day Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot the unarmed 18-year-old. Casnoff presumed a variety of viewpoints, the fog of truth.Then he read the script, which tells the story that Brown didn t have his hands up and that he charged at Wilson.Now, in a case of art imitating life, the play is experiencing the kind of ill will and mistrust that erupted from the city it attempts to portray. Part of the 13-member cast is in revolt Casnoff and four others have quit as the playwright and actors are locked in a fundamental disagreement over how to tell the story of Brown s death.Though the grand jury declined to indict Wilson after some witnesses and physical evidence supported his account of events, the tone of the play shocked some actors. It felt like the purpose of the piece was to show, Of course he was not indicted here s why,' Casnoff said. He said that after he learned who the play s author was, Casnoff, who describes himself as very liberal, left-wing-leaning, thought, Whoa, this is not the place for me to be. Through testimony taken from grand jury transcripts, the play ends with a witness telling a prosecutor that Wilson was justified in killing Brown. The audience is then supposed to vote on whether Wilson should have been indicted.The cast members who quit questioned the motivations of the playwright, Phelim McAleer.McAleer, a conservative filmmaker and journalist from Ireland now living in Marina del Rey, said he s just interested in the truth. The truth is the truth. If it doesn t fit in with their beliefs, they need to change their beliefs, said McAleer, who declined to say whether Wilson should have been indicted but said his research shows the hands-up claim is bogus. All the people who testified that he had his hands up, it was pretty much demolished in grand jury testimony. If the rest of the decidedly more liberal cast resigns some actors are leaning that way McAleer said he ll find a new cast. He also hopes to put the show on YouTube and bring the production to Ferguson itself. There s got to be some actors in L.A. who aren t scared of controversy, he said.During the Ferguson rehearsal, the performers balked after realizing the only witness in McAleer s play who says Brown had his hands up is immediately discredited by an FBI agent.(Although some witnesses told investigators that Brown had his hands up, a Department of Justice report said many of those witnesses accounts were recanted, debunked or inconsistent with physical evidence.)McAleer s play also ends with a damning exchange between a witness and prosecutor. Do you feel like this could have ended up any other way? the prosecutor asks. Yeah, it could have, if Michael Brown had just stopped running toward Wilson, says the witness, who is identified as Witness 48 in the grand jury transcripts, but who is given a pseudonym in the play and cast with a young black actress. It could have ended another way. The officer had no other choice. No other choice, in other words, but to shoot Brown.After those lines were read by actors Deborah Puette and Sydney A. Mason, a kind of awkward quiet fell over the cast members, whose bodies had been bent like question marks as they stared down at their scripts in a rehearsal space near Culver City.The cast questioned the balance of the 55-page script, and even debated the justification for the shooting. Why not shoot him in the leg? asked one actress, Donzaleigh Abernathy, cast to play a witness, her voice booming through the small, windowless space. He didn t have time! responded a younger actor, also playing a witness.Several members requested changes to the script that would include adding another account more sympathetic to Brown to balance out the final witness dramatic testimony. McAleer has rejected those requests, spurring some of the actors departures. He claims that he wrote this to try to get to the truth of it, but everybody s truth is totally subjective, said Veralyn Jones, an African American cast member who resigned. When you come to the matter of what really happened, nobody really knows for sure, because everybody has a different take on it. It just didn t feel right to me. One of the script s most heated critics has been Abernathy, who is the daughter of civil rights movement leader Ralph David Abernathy, who was with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he died. Abernathy, who is black, has not decided to leave the cast yet at least not before she has the chance to meet McAleer at a cast meeting scheduled for Thursday night. I want to hear what he has to say face to face. I actually want to know, on a moral level, how can you do something like this that you know will divide America? Abernathy asked. Does it make you feel good? Obviously he has a personal agenda. What is his personal agenda? McAleer was unapologetic, and waved away criticism. These are people who claim to love diversity, and they don t love diversity they just want people to agree with them, he said.So with or without his cast, McAleer said, the show will go on.Via: LA Times | 0 |
3,897 | DEMOCRAT LAWMAKER WILL BE PUNISHED For Putting Jobs Before “Climate Change”: “They are after me” | Tow the party line or pay a heavy price. There is no room for dissention in a party where thugs who cut backroom deals with climate change related lobbyists in DC dictate what is best for America. There s probably a very good reason that the Democrats have an avowed Socialist and a career criminal running neck in neck in their presidential primaries In a shocking exchange on Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Loony Liberal Senator Sheldon Whitehouse discussed whether the DOJ had considered civil action against climate change deniers. This tells you just how out of control this DOJ is. If you don t buy into the climate change scam then you will be punished. That s fine if you live in San Francisco and can afford a Tesla, said Husing. It s not fine if you re a poor family living in downtown San Bernardino and the folks that stopped that deserve a welcome thanks. What happens when a Democratic lawmaker strays from party leaders on a key piece of Gov. Jerry Brown s policy agenda? One assemblywoman who held back support for a sweeping climate-change bill last year is starting to find out.Rep. Cheryl Brown (D-San Bernardino) was among a group of business-aligned Democrats who objected to a provision in the bill, SB 350, that would have cut California s motor vehicle petroleum use in half by 2030.Now Brown, a moderate, is facing what could be a bruising reelection fight against an intraparty challenger from the left, attorney Eloise Gomez Reyes. The race raises a question: What does it mean to be a Democrat in San Bernardino, where concerns over jobs often compete with those about the environment?Some early signs indicate Brown could be in trouble. Protesters have showed up at her local events. Some of her supporters have defected, endorsing Reyes early in the fight. Do you ever feel that something is not going quite right? Brown said in a recent phone interview. They are after me, and I still don t know why. I don t know who they are. But I will find out soon. Last week, Brown s suspicions began to crystallize when a dozen students in breathing masks from San Bernardino Valley College threw themselves on the floor of a town hall meeting she hosted.Brown was there to discuss the region s logistics industry and its vast network of trucking and distribution centers, which deliver everything from headphones to heads of lettuce to big-box retailers and Amazon customers throughout Southern California.At the event, Brown supporter John Husing, an economist with the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, discussed SB 350 s scrapped petroleum provision, which was removed after Brown and other Democrats objected to its inclusion. Husing came to Brown s aid, arguing that lower-income families might have been harmed by potential rising energy costs that may have resulted from implementation of the provision. That s fine if you live in San Francisco and can afford a Tesla, said Husing. It s not fine if you re a poor family living in downtown San Bernardino and the folks that stopped that deserve a welcome thanks. A group of twenty-somethings interrupted him, calling Brown a corporate hack. They held up signs that read People over Profits and Don t Sell Us Out. Via: LA Times | 0 |
3,898 | Ohio VFW Bans NFL’s Cleveland Browns Viewing After Anthem Protest: “We like our Browns…We love our flag more” | The VFW in Strongsville, Ohio has it right. They re exercising their freedom to turn off the TV when the Cleveland Browns are on. What do you think about this ban? We think two can play this game Stand up for our flag and national anthem!THE STRONGSVILLE, OH VFW GETS IT!The Cleveland Browns anthem protest continues to reverberate through the region as residents take sides for and against the on-field activism.On Thursday, VFW Commander Tim Zvoncheck posted a message to his Facebook page, informing the public that his Strongsville post would no longer air games on Sundays.Zvoncheck s message reads: So tonight, I asked the membership of my post, VFW 3345, what they thought of the Cleveland Browns players kneeling during the National Anthem and the coaching staff backing their decision. Just as I suspected, the boos nearly tore the roof off. Effective immediately, VFW Post 3345 will no longer televise any Cleveland Browns games! We will never support any person or organization who disgraces the flag or the anthem that we fought for and so many or our brothers and sisters have died for! Until a formal apology by this organization is publicized and the utter disregard to America ceases, we, as veterans of this great country will not stand for this! We love our Browns, but we love our flag more God bless America and damn those who think differently! #RespectOurFlag A group of Browns players protested during the national anthem prior to Monday night s preseason game against the New York Giants.The sign outside of the VFW hall is fantastic!Read more: Clevland19 | 0 |
3,899 | UNREAL! RAW VIDEO: Looting During Milwaukee Riot Captures Thugs Destroying Store [Video] | The Milwaukee riots provided an opportunity for thugs to ransack and destroy small businesses in their own community Unreal! A longer version of the looting: | 0 |
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