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7,500 | Outrageous! Apparently $68 Billion Isn’t Enough For A Cali Train Project | Does anyone else see the lunacy in this? You have a broke state that s trying to build a massive bullet train system and is over budget only in America s big government system where the goofballs think money grows on trees Is anyone else 100% FED Up! with this bullish*t? I know I am! The monumental task of building California s bullet train will require punching 36 miles of tunnels through the geologically complex mountains north of Los Angeles.Crews will have to cross the tectonic boundary that separates the North American and Pacific plates, boring through a jumble of fractured rock formations and a maze of earthquake faults, some of which are not mapped.It will be the most ambitious tunneling project in the nation s history.State officials say the tunnels will be finished by 2022 along with 300 miles of track, dozens of bridges or viaducts, high-voltage electrical systems, a maintenance plant and as many as six stations. Doing so will meet a commitment to begin carrying passengers between Burbank and Merced in the first phase of the $68-billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco.However, a Times analysis of project documents, as well as interviews with scientists, engineers and construction experts, indicates that the deadline and budget targets will almost certainly be missed and that the state has underestimated the challenges ahead, particularly completing the tunneling on time. It doesn t strike me as realistic, said James Monsees, one of the world s top tunneling experts and an author of the federal manual on highway tunneling. Faults are notorious for causing trouble. The California High-Speed Rail Authority hasn t yet chosen an exact route through the mountains. It also is behind schedule on land acquisition, financing and permit approvals, among other crucial tasks, and is facing multiple lawsuits. The first construction began in Fresno in July, 21/2 years behind the target the rail authority had set in early 2012.A confidential 2013 report by the state s main project management contractor, New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, estimated that the cost of building the first phase from Burbank to Merced had risen 31% to $40 billion. And it projected that the cost of the entire project would rise at least 5%.Parsons Brinckerhoff briefed state officials on the estimate in October 2013, according to the document obtained by The Times. But the state used a lower cost estimate when it issued its 2014 business plan four months later.Jeff Morales, the rail authority chief executive, said he was not aware of the Parsons Brinckerhoff projection. A spokeswoman for the authority declined to discuss the differences in the estimates.Public opinion polls taken over the years have shown that support for the project has ebbed as costs have risen and at $68 billion, the budget is already more than double the $33-billion estimate made by the rail authority before California voters approved bonds for the project seven years ago.Via: LA Times | 0 |
7,501 | Trump’s Treasury Secretary Pick Made Money Betting On When Elderly People Would Die | This is despicable and morbid.Donald trump has clearly chosen a piece of human excrement as his Secretary of Treasury.Former Goldman Sachs executive and hedge fund manager Steven Mnuchin has been heavily and rightfully criticized ever since Trump made the announcement. Not only did Mnuchin s OneWest Bank fail to disperse desperately needed Hurricane Sandy to people affected by the disaster, it tried to take a 90-year-old woman s home away from her over a 27 cent bill.Now another firm owned by Mnuchin is coming under fire for betting on when elderly people would die.Yeah, you read that right.Mnuchin firm Dune Capitol Management bought life insurance policies through a third party from elderly people who needed the cash, betting that they would die soon so they could collect the payout. Seriously.According to the New York Times,Dune had plans to package the insurance policies called life settlements into bonds that could be sold to investors. Life settlements represent one of the most macabre actuarial bets that Wall Street has dreamed up. It s a wager that the elderly person selling the policy will die sooner rather than later, meaning the hedge fund does not have to make many premium payments to keep the insurance policy in force and collect the payout upon that person s death.That s pretty f*cked up and proves that Trump picked a terrible and greedy human being to be Treasury Secretary. A guy who is all sorts of shady who would stab you in a back or sell his own mother into the sex trade if he could profit from it.Trump s selection of Mnuchin is so bad that many of his supporters now regret voting for himIn fact, one woman who voted for Trump now regrets doing so because he picked Mnuchin, who foreclosed on her house a few years ago.Clearly, the Senate should protect the American people from such a predator. But they re already protecting Trump and he s an economic predator n addition to being a sexual predator, so they probably won t have a problem confirming Mnuchin.Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
7,502 | HEY CHUCK, WE WON! CRYBABY SCHUMER Leads Chant “Dump Trump!” During NYC Protest | What a putz! Senator Chuck Schumer was out chanting Dump Trump with the crowds in NYC The only thing is the election is over! | 0 |
7,503 | An ANGRY Morning Joe SKEWERS Trump Minion General Michael Flynn For Sharing Fake News | In the wake of a gunman terrorizing a pizza place in response to a fake story about Hillary Clinton, Joe Scarborough strongly condemned General Michael Flynn for helping these conspiracies grow.Right-wing conspiracy nut Alex Jones first pushed the claim that Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of the Comet pizza place in Washington DC. It s a totally false story with zero evidence to support it. But conservatives spread it anyway.And Michael Flynn, who is about to become Donald Trump s national security adviser spread the false story.U decide NYPD Blows Whistle on New Hillary Emails: Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc MUST READ! https://t.co/O0bVJT3QDr General Flynn (@GenFlynn) November 3, 2016Flynn s own son also pushed the lie and still refuses to admit that the story is false.Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it ll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many coincidences tied to it. https://t.co/8HA9y30Yfp Michael G Flynn?? (@mflynnJR) December 5, 2016On Monday, a visibly angry Joe Scarborough demanded that Flynn apologize for all the harmful fake news and tweets he has shared or posted to attack Muslims, Jews, Hispanics and Trump s political opponents. He has left a trail of crap behind him with retweets, retweeting something about Jews, retweeting something about Muslims, retweeting fake news. He needs to clean this up. He needs to step up and clean this up. He needs to apologize to Americans. He is in one of the most important positions in the White House. On Jan. 20, he needs to apologize for what he has done, unrelated to this fake news story but with the other fake news stories, the retweets about Jews, the retweets about Muslims. Mark Halperin agreed with Scarborough and said Flynn needs to explain all of this in a way that s detailed, because again, he s not subject to Senate confirmation. Here s the video via Twitter..@JoeNBC on Gen. Flynn s controversial tweets: He needs to clean this up He needs to apologize to Americans https://t.co/bkNY13ocnx Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) December 5, 2016Once again, false stories pushed by conservatives drove a right-winger to grab his gun and start shooting up a place. This is the danger Trump and right-wing media pose to this country. They will make up any lie to attack political opponents and then push followers who are already on the edge to commit acts of violence. This is right-wing terrorism and it s going to happen more over the next four years.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
7,504 | Estonia arrests suspected Russian FSB agent | TALLINN (Reuters) - Estonia has detained a man suspected of being a Russian agent operating against the Estonian state, the prosecutor s office said on Tuesday. The man was stopped at the weekend as he prepared to leave Estonia for Russia from the north-east border town of Narva. He was formally charged on Monday in a Tallinn court. A person, who is a Russian citizen, is suspected of acting as an FSB agent in the preparation of a computer crime against the Republic of Estonia, the prosecutors office said. The target of his action against Estonia was the Estonian state authorities. No further details were given. Russia s Federal Security Service, or FSB, is a successor to the KGB, the Soviet Union s security service. Neither the FSB nor the Russian Foreign Ministry immediately replied to requests for comment. Estonia, occupied by the Soviet Union until 1991 but now a member of NATO and the European Union, has a strained relationship with its powerful neighbor. In May this year, Estonia expelled two Russian diplomats posted at Moscow s consulate in Narva for contacts with local officials that were considered inappropriate for diplomats. Earlier in the same month, an Estonian court handed out a five-year prison sentence to a Russian national for spying for the foreign intelligence unit of the Russian armed forces. | 1 |
7,505 | HERE’S HOW CROOKED HILLARY Deleted The “Money Trail” Of Millions In E-mails | Here s just one more piece to the puzzle Hillary was able to delete the money trail with bleach bit The owner of BleachBit was tipped off that his product was used by Clinton when Trey Gowdy mentioned it in a TV interview: Gowdy said Clinton s emails had been so thoroughly scrubbed that even God can t read them. How transparent of her!BleachBit s creator says Hillary may have chosen that program to scrub emails because it doesn t leave a money trail .Hillary Clinton s decision to use BleachBit to scrub her private email server could have been based on the fact that the free software can be downloaded and used with complete anonymity, the program s developer said.Andrew Ziem, the creator of BleachBit, pointed to a recent CNN report about his software in which a computer security expert had speculated that Clinton s team would have selected a more expensive, more sophisticated service if it truly sought to conceal records. While there may be some merit to that, there is also an argument to be made for hoping that this doesn t leave a money trail. :Ziem said he was not aware Clinton had applied BleachBit to her server until Rep. Trey Gowdy said so on Fox News Thursday, because downloads of the program are anonymous and untraceable.Gowdy said Clinton s emails had been so thoroughly scrubbed that even God can t read them. It seems probable that the intent was to erase information, Ziem said of Clinton s use of BleachBit.The open-source software can also be used to clear space on a computer with a cluttered memory, the BleachBit creator said.But in a post on his website Saturday, Ziem noted the program is an effective way to delete emails beyond recovery short of the physical destruction of servers with a hammer or blow torch. Millions of people have downloaded BleachBit since its creation in 2008, Ziem said. He noted his website has experienced a spike in traffic since Clinton s use of BleachBit was revealed.Read more: Washington Examiner | 0 |
7,506 | video trump voter dragged from his car brutally beaten and robbed by gang of hillary supporters daily wire | students at the university of texas ut at austin took to marching across their school campus in response to tuesdays election outcome | 1 |
7,507 | CA Cops Brutally Beat Man Accused Of Jaywalking, Charge Him With Assault (VIDEO) | Bystander footage shows a group of Bakersfield, California police officers brutally beating a man in the street.The video begins with the man, now identified as Robert Woodson, lying in the street with an unidentified officer standing over him. He can be heard screaming that he thinks his leg is broken.Two more officers arrive on the scene.The video shows the officers repeatedly striking Woodson with a police-issued baton.Throughout the brutal assault the officers can be heard shouting, Stop resisting! Stop resisting. The person recording the incident responds by sayinm He s not doing nothing, and He s not resisting. While it s clear that Woodson wasn t complying with police commands, at no time does the video show him trying to get up off the ground, making threatening moves or gestures toward police.In spite of this, the cops use a taser on him.His screams of pain can be heard throughout the encounter.According to KERO Woodson was eventually taken to a local hospital where he was treated for injuries sustained during the episode.The police watchdog organization Photography Is Not A Crime reports that the man suffered an injury to his arm which required a cast.Police charged Woodson with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.If that s not disturbing enough, during an interview with KERO, Bakersfield police sergeant Gary Carruesco stated that police acted appropriately, in part because they were concerned Woodson had mental issues. The video, combined with the disturbing response from sergeant Carruesco, provides a bleak picture of how law enforcement officers respond to people with mental illness.While police assessed Woodson s behavior as willful noncompliance, it s unknown whether the man was physically or mentally capable of following officer s commands.In Woodson s case, officers expressed their concern for him with tasers and batons.Here s the video, courtesy of KERO.Featured image via ideo screen capture via KERO | 0 |
7,508 | FBI chief sought more funds for Russia probe days before he was fired: NYT | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey had requested additional funding and personnel for the agency’s probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election just days before he was fired, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. Comey, fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, had asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last week for a significant boost in resources and later briefed U.S. lawmakers on the request, the New York Times said, citing three unnamed officials. | 1 |
7,509 | Britain's May heads to Middle East | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to the Middle East this week to lend her support to economic reforms in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, her spokesman said. Her trip comes as Britain is looking for new relationships around the world, to replace those it will lose after it quits the European Union in a little more than a year. She will meet Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where she will also discuss the crisis in Yemen and the dispute in Qatar. In Jordan, she will meet King Abdullah and Prime Minister Hanu Mulki. The London Stock Exchange is competing now to host part of Saudi Aramco s [IPO-ARMO.SE] initial public offering. Britain said this month it would provide $2 billion in credit guarantees to the energy company so it can buy British goods more easily. On Tuesday, British foreign minister Boris Johnson hosted officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the United States to discuss humanitarian aid in Yemen, where aid agencies have complained about a port blockade. Aid agencies say it has worsened the crisis in Yemen where war has left an estimated 7 million people facing famine and killed more than 10,000 people. | 1 |
7,510 | AWESOME PHOTOS CAPTURE A “Badass” Trump And His Retired Navy Seal Cabinet Member On Horseback | While visiting the USS Gerald R. Ford today docked at Newport News in Virginia where he gave a wonderful speech, President Trump was given an awesome new hat and bomber jacket. We think he looks pretty spectacular, and would go as far as to say that he looks like a pretty badass Commander In Chief. President Trump started his speech by saying: They just gave me this beautiful jacket. They said here Mr President, please take this home . I said let me wear it . Here are a few photos from our Commander in Chief s visit aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford:We re pretty sure that most Americans are grateful that after 8 long years of the me first Commander in Chief, we re ready for someone who truly respects and honors the men and women who wear the uniform: And in other news, Trump s new badass Interior Department secretary and retired Navy Seal Ryan Zinke, caused quite a stir today when he showed up on horseback in DC on his first day on the job.On his first day on the job, the new Interior Department secretary, Ryan Zinke, proved he knows how to make an entrance: arriving high in the saddle on Tonto, an Irish sport horse. Mounted police escorted him a few blocks through Washington.Mr. Zinke, a fifth-generation Montanan who now oversees the country s 500 million acres of public land, including 59 national parks, showed up to work to a grand reception.Officers from various agencies under the Interior Department lined the steps to the administration building. A drummer from his home state s Northern Cheyenne tribe performed. The department is the liaison with federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native nations.Mr. Zinke, 55, served nearly two dozen years with the Navy SEALs before entering politics in 2008 as a Republican. After two terms in the Montana legislature, he was elected in 2014 as the state s at-large representative in the House, before his nomination to the cabinet by President Trump. He was confirmed on Wednesday by the Senate with a vote of 68-31. NYT s | 0 |
7,511 | U.S. judge reverses order requiring vote recount in Michigan | (Reuters) - A federal judge in Michigan on Wednesday revoked his order requiring a recount of the state’s presidential vote sought by Jill Stein, siding with a state appeals court that found the Green Party candidate had no grounds to mount the challenge. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith’s ruling has the effect of halting the recount in Michigan, at least for now, following conflicting rulings a day earlier by federal and state appeals courts. The Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered the recount stopped, while the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Goldsmith’s earlier decision and said the process should proceed. The dueling rulings had both sides claiming victory but left the future of Stein’s bid unclear. Goldsmith, in deferring to the Michigan appeals court, said Stein had not presented valid reasons for him to override that court’s decision, which found that she was not an “aggrieved” candidate with standing to demand a recount. The Stein campaign said in a statement following Goldsmith’s ruling that it had appealed again, to the Michigan Supreme Court, and sought to disqualify two justices there because they had been mentioned by Republican President-elect Donald Trump as potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. “In a huge victory for Michigan taxpayers and the rule of law, this recount is stopped,” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican who opposes the recount, said in a statement. In addition to Michigan, Stein is trying to have the votes from the Nov. 8 presidential election recounted in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All three states were key to Trump’s victory. The recounts are extremely unlikely to change the outcome of the election. But Stein, who got only about 1 percent of the vote, has said that they are necessary to ensure the integrity of voting systems. Losing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign has said it will take part in the recounts. Stein sued in federal court in Pennsylvania on Monday to try to force a statewide recount of presidential votes there. In a setback for Stein’s team, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday denied a full forensic analysis of the city’s voting machines and their software. Stein’s team had argued that such an analysis was the only way to guarantee the accuracy of the city’s election results. “The court’s decision will deny voters the chance to know the truth about this election,” Ilann Maazel, lead counsel for Stein’s campaign recount effort in Pennsylvania, said in a written statement. | 1 |
7,512 | Canada to make fighter jets announcement on December 12: official | OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will make an announcement about fighter jets at 1 pm ET (1800 GMT) on Tuesday, a government official said on Monday, declining to give more details. Sources told Reuters last week that the Canadian government is scrapping a plan to buy 18 Boeing Co Super Hornets and will instead acquire a fleet of second-hand Australian jets. | 1 |
7,513 | bill clintons lover he called ruthless hillary the warden | the most important concepts the manosphere taught me the most important concepts the manosphere taught me lessons that make the world of men a better place jeanbatave poqueliche
jeanbatave is a martial artist from the viking stronghold of normandy france he travels the world looking for new fighting techniques and new beautiful women eastern europe taught him everything he knows and is his second home his column runs every thursday october masculinity
an interesting thought recently crossed my mind what would have happened if i stumbled across the manosphere in my late teens
back when i was a bluepill high school greenhorn clueless about women and with a mind set on neutral i was destined to be just another cog in the big government machine simply put i would have been the dogs bollocks
but having all these resources served on a silver platter would not have given me the hunger that i have for life today i would take this things as granted instead of considering every opportunity as the last one
dwelling on those thoughts is not good what i can do is to keep writing so other young people and lost men turn their life around for the better if i must condense the most useful things i have learnt on game logistics are key
get a private room or an apartment within minutes walk of the date location or party district check that the security will not cockblock you have alcohol and music ready at your place clean it have condoms stashed get taxi numbers a local sim card etc
related how bad logistics can ruin your game keep an abundance mentality
stop overpursuing as quintus puts it the sheer number of women cruising around prevents you from being needy showing this weakness to women never works in your favour
next the time wasters if it is not her it will be another stop dwelling in the past stop keeping the number of dysfunctional girls from previous bangs keep moving forward
related major signs that she is using you a bad approach is better than none
this should be carved in every mans brain what is the worst than can happen you have balls use them who cares if you mumbled a bit smirk and carry on
if you dont act the opportunity is gone dont count to three you see you jump
related how to get over your anxiety when approaching women always escalate
never apologise for being a man with a healthy sex life or hesitate to be sexual if she calls you out double down fuck it you are not here for a peck on the cheek or listen about her output on life
one of the sentence that stayed with me and still is in a corner of my head to this day is think of it as the last time you see her
related | 0 |
7,514 | Four Republican senators say they cannot support healthcare bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four conservative U.S. Republican senators said on Thursday they are not prepared to vote for the Senate Republican healthcare proposal unveiled on Thursday when it comes to the floor, probably next week. “Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor,” the senators — Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, and Ted Cruz — said in a joint statement. The draft bill would not repeal Obamacare and lower healthcare costs, they said. If legislation is to prevail, Republicans can only lose the support of two of the Senate’s 52 Republicans, assuming all 48 Democrats and independents oppose the bill as expected. | 1 |
7,515 | SHOCKING PHYSICAL ABUSE REVEALED: Former Secret Service Agent Says Agents Faced Predicament About How To Protect Bill From Physical Violence By Hillary [VIDEO] | Trump was 100% correct when he said, Hillary doesn t have the temperament to become President. Gary Byrne, author of Crisis Of Character tells Sean Hannity about the unusual position Hillary put the Secret Service in by having to protect Bill from Hillary s violent behavior. He also spills the beans about the phony front Hillary puts on for the cameras.WATCH his shocking story here: | 0 |
7,516 | Civil Rights Icon Drops Mic On Incoming Trump Presidency; Trump Sure To Attack (VIDEO) | Georgia Congressman John Lewis is an American civil rights icon. He was nearly beaten to death at the infamous Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama, and has since risen through the ranks of Congressional prominence. On Friday, he sat down with NBC s Chuck Todd for an interview, and when asked if he will be able to forge a relationship with Trump as he has done with presidents past, Rep. Lewis said the one thing no one else in prominent positions of power has been brave enough to say: that Trump is not a legitimately elected president. He told Chuck Todd:I don t see the president-elect as a legitimate president. I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected, and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. After Chuck Todd tried to warn Rep. Lewis off of sending that kind of message, Lewis plowed on: I think there was a conspiracy on the part of the Russians and others to help him get elected. That s not right, that s not fair. That s not the open, democratic process. Representative Lewis is correct. Trump was not duly elected, and should not be taking office. Aside from that, he is the very demagogue our founders warned us of. He is dangerous, likely compromised by the Russians, and an unqualified bigot to boot. We should definitely be listening to Representative Lewis on this one.Of course, the one thing a wannabe strongman like Trump cannot stand is anyone questioning his legitimacy. He is sure to show his true colors once again by attacking Rep. Lewis for what he said. It is only a matter of time.Watch the video below:Featured image via Rick Diamond/Getty Images | 0 |
7,517 | THE CHIEF IS HERE! JOHN KELLY Surprises White House Press…Rips Their Fake News [Video] | This is great! Gen. John Kelly surprised the White House Press today when he walked out to speak with the them. He set them straight and told them Trump s biggest problem is their fake news stories. He asked them to get better sources for their reporting LOL!The press has been speculating that Kelly will quit his job as Chief of Staff I m not quitting today I don t think I m being fired today He came out and put that to rest! He s NOT quitting but went on to say the job is not easy: This is the hardest job I ve ever had. This is, in my view, the most important job I ve ever had. "I'm not quitting today," White House chief of staff John Kelly says adding, "I don't think I'm being fired today." https://t.co/FCaNzUHqsW pic.twitter.com/w2o6uwpf1E ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 12, 2017What we got today with this Chief of Staff is a take down of the liberal media like there is finally an adult in the room telling the children to knock it off.Kelly to White House press corps on Trump s frustrations: One of his frustrations is you. All of you. Not all of you. But many of you. Kelly to White House press corps on Trump's frustrations: "One of his frustrations is you. All of you. Not all of you. But many of you." pic.twitter.com/on6tt5a9wd ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 12, 2017ENTIRE PRESS CONFERENCE:Sarah Sanders introduces Chief of Staff Kelly at a little after the 12 minute mark:This is a brilliant strategy because Kelly was able to address the most recent fake news being put out about him. No, he is not resigning and he scolded the press to get new sources for their information. | 0 |
7,518 | WATCH KARL ROVE Get Called Out On The GOP Establishment’s Plan To Deny Trump At Convention [Video] | Karl Rove gets called out by Eric Bolling in a tense exchange where Rove calls Bolling paranoid . This interview tells you no matter what candidate you support that the establishment plans on denying Trump no matter what. | 0 |
7,519 | DON’T BELIEVE MEDIA LIES…Wildly Unpopular Hillary Gives Speech In NH…Here Are Uncensored Facebook Users Responses From Live Feed…LOL! | This Facebook user s comment about Donald Duck is in reference to new video that was just released today by Project Veritas, showing direct collision with Hillary Clinton and underground Dem group who admits to committing massive voter fraud: While you re at it Hillary, you may want to look into an assisted living arrangement. We re pretty sure neither one of you are in any shape to be without constant medical supervision | 0 |
7,520 | U.S. Senate panel still negotiating with Flynn over documents: congressional aides | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Intelligence Committee is still negotiating with President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to obtain documents for its investigation into Russia and the U.S. presidential election, congressional aides said on Thursday. Earlier on Thursday, the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Richard Burr, told reporters that Flynn’s lawyers said he would not honor a subpoena for the documents. A lawyer for Flynn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | 1 |
7,521 | Peru's president pardons ex-leader Fujimori, citing his health | LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned former authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori late on Sunday, clearing him of convictions for human rights crimes and graft before completion of a 25-year prison sentence. Kuczynski s office said in a statement that a medical review showed that Fujimori, 79, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, suffered from a progressive, degenerative and incurable disease. The pardon comes just days after a faction of Fujimori s supporters in the opposition-controlled Congress saved Kuczynski from a motion that would have forced him from office in the wake of a graft scandal. [nL1N1OL160] | 1 |
7,522 | Senate approves Trump administration job for author of 'torture' memos | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former government official criticized for being the principal author of the legal justifications for “enhanced interrogation techniques” was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday as the top lawyer for the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Trump administration. Steven Bradbury, a Washington lawyer at Dechert LLP who was a senior Department of Justice lawyer under President George W. Bush, was criticized by both Republican and Democratic senators before being confirmed by a 50-47 vote. “Mr. Bradbury’s memos were permission slips to torture,” Republican Senator John McCain, who was a Vietnam War prisoner for 5-1/2 years after his plane was shot down over Hanoi in 1967, said on the Senate floor. “This is a dark, dark chapter in the history of the United States Senate.” Bradbury, who was nominated to the transportation post by President Donald Trump, defended his work in June before a Senate panel. He said the “questions we addressed raised difficult issues about which reasonable people could disagree” on interrogation techniques and the memos represented his “best judgment of what the law required.” On Tuesday, Bradbury could not immediately be reached for comment. Described by the government at the time as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the methods were used between 2001 and 2006 on detainees held during the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” following the Sept. 11 attacks. McCain, who was the unsuccessful Republican Party presidential nominee in 2008, said the memos written by Bradbury provided a legal framework for the “inhumane interrogation” of detainees using methods such as “forced nudity and humiliation, facial and abdominal slapping, dietary manipulation” and “more than 48 hours of sleep deprivation.” Senator Rand Paul, another Republican who opposed Bradbury, said on Twitter “you shouldn’t get to author memos on torturing people & then get another government job.” Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, in a separate speech, also criticized Bradbury for what she termed “a troubling history of disregard for United States and international law and seems unable to offer objective legal analysis.” She said he “helped justify the CIA’s torture program.” “During a time when we needed independent voices in government to check the CIA’s actions, Bradbury failed to rise to the occasion. He failed to fulfill the responsibilities of his position,” Feinstein said. | 1 |
7,523 | Trump praises Turkey's Erdogan as a friend | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday praised Turkey s President Tayyip Erdogan as a friend despite tensions between the two countries over Turkish security officials involved in street fighting with protesters during a visit to Washington in May. Meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump hailed Erdogan s leadership in Turkey and said Erdogan has become a friend of mine. I think now we re as close as we ve ever been, he said. Eleven people were hurt in what Washington s police chief described as a brutal attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the Turkish ambassador s residence. Ankara blamed the violence on groups linked to Kurdish militants fighting an armed campaign in southeastern Turkey. | 1 |
7,524 | COMEDY GOLD! Clinton Gaffe While Reading Off Of The Teleprompter Is Darn Funny [Video] | Hillary reads off of the teleprompter an emotion that was meant to be a sigh and not the word sigh too funny! | 0 |
7,525 | Greek top court clears way for U.S. extradition of Russian cybercrime suspect | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece s top court cleared the way on Wednesday for the extradition to the United States of a Russian man, also wanted in Moscow, suspected of having laundered billions of dollars in the digital currency bitcoin. A final decision on where Alexander Vinnik is extradited to now lies with the Greek justice minister, who steps in to resolve competing requests. Vinnik, the alleged mastermind of a $4 billion bitcoin laundering ring, is one of seven Russians arrested or indicted worldwide this year on U.S. cybercrime charges. U.S. authorities accuse him of running BTC-e a digital currency exchange used to trade bitcoin to facilitate crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking since 2011. He denies the charges against him and says he was a technical consultant to BTC-e and not its operator. Since Vinnik s arrest in a village in northern Greece in July, Moscow has also requested he be returned home, as it has done before with other nationals wanted by the United States. Vinnik has agreed to be returned to Russia, where he is wanted on lesser fraud charges amounting to 10,000 euros, but he appealed to the Greek Supreme Court against a ruling that he be extradited to the United States. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal on Wednesday. Bitcoin was the first digital currency to successfully use cryptography to keep transactions secure and anonymous, making it difficult to subject them to conventional financial regulations. The price of bitcoin has soared this year and hit another all-time high on Tuesday, two days after the launch of the first bitcoin futures contract on a U.S. exchange. | 1 |
7,526 | BREAKING REPORT: ANTIFA THUGS PLACE BOUNTY On Head Of Black Patriot Defending Confederate Monuments [VIDEO] | The next time you hear someone talk about how it s a shame our country is so divided, make sure you tell them to thank a Democrat. We got a glimpse of the underbelly of the Democrat Party during the presidential election when the founder of Project Veritas James O Keefe went undercover to expose the Democrats plan to create chaos and violence and blame it on Trump supporters. The man in the video, Robert Creamer who bragged about his organizing skills had visited Obama s White House over 340 times. He is also the husband of a Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of IL. Once the real riots got rolling in NYC and Chicago, and Antifa was gaining steam in Berkeley, CA, it was discovered that billionaire radical Democrat George Soros was actually paying to keep the riots going. So it really shouldn t come as any surprise that these basement dwellers have put a bounty on a black man s head simply for having a different political opinion than that of the one he was told he must follow Andrew Duncomb, aka Black Rebel has been an outspoken advocate of southern history, and specifically of the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments. We published an article about two great black patriots, the Black Rebel and Arlene Dunham, who have bravely stood in the face of hate and insults to defend for what their beliefs. But tonight, new information is coming out about a bounty that has been placed on the head of Duncomb, who according to friends in New Orleans, has gone into hiding.Here is Black Rebel telling viewers on his Facebook page about how they can t get any help or protection from police. Black Rebel says they won t be intimidated and will continue to fight for what they believe in:Here are fellow patriots in New Orleans explaining how Antifa has allegedly placed a bounty on Black Rebel s head and that he s gone into hiding. Another unidentified black Confederate monument supporter was threatened on Facebook by an alleged Antifa member Gene Black, who threatened the black Confederate statue supporter s family while he s in New Orleans on his wall 4 days ago:The image above appears to be of the man standing in the front with the red, white and blue t-shirt. The Black Rebel can be seen standing behind him as they are being threatened by the opposition. | 0 |
7,527 | Bosnian Croat war crimes convict dies after taking 'poison' in U.N. court | THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A former Bosnian Croat military commander swallowed what he said was poison in a U.N. war crimes courtroom on Wednesday and died shortly after losing an appeal against his 20-year prison term. Slobodan Praljak s apparent courtroom suicide, which was broadcast on a video feed, came in the final minutes of the last judgment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which closes next month after 24 years. The white-bearded Praljak, 72, was taken to hospital after drinking from a flask or glass as an ICTY judge read out appeals rulings against him and five other convicted Bosnian Croat war criminals, tribunal spokesman Nenad Golcevski said. I just drank poison, the ex-general told the stunned court. I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction. After gulping down the drink, he sat back down and slumped in his chair, said a lawyer who was in the courtroom at the time. Praljak drank a liquid in court and quickly fell ill, Golcevski said. He was treated by tribunal medical staff, but passed away today at the HMC hospital in The Hague , he said. Presiding Judge Carmel Agius hastily suspended the hearings and the courtroom was declared a crime scene by Dutch authorities. As a forensic investigation got under way, the chamber was sealed off and the public told to leave. Don t take away the glass! Agius said, instructing the guards to lower blinds and block a glass-partition separating the court from the public. In the chaotic moments that followed, guards and paramedics raced in and out of the courtroom, and ambulances sped away. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, whose country was the patron of separatist Croat forces in Bosnia s 1992-95 war, said he regretted Praljak s death and offered condolences to his family. His act tells the most about deep ethical injustice toward the six Bosnian Croats and the Croatian people. The ICTY upheld on appeal Praljak s conviction on charges of crimes against humanity over persecution, murders and expulsions of Bosnian Muslims from territory captured by nationalist Bosnian Croats and the brutal imprisonment of 1,000 Muslims. A reading of the judgment, which was also ruling on appeals against convictions and sentences against five other Bosnian Croat convicts, resumed more than two hours after Praljak drank the apparent poison. The incident upstaged the appeals rulings, which were important for Croatia - it suspended a session of parliament so lawmakers could follow the hearing. In the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, where Bosnian Croats and Muslims fought each other in the war and now co-exist in an uneasy peace, cafes closed to avoid incidents. Praljak was acquitted of some charges of wanton destruction related to the Bosnian Croat militia s shelling of Mostar s iconic, Ottoman-era Old Bridge because the judges ruled that it had been a legitimate military target. About a thousand Bosnian Croats gathered in a Mostar square late on Wednesday to light candles in support of Praljak. A mass in his honor was held in a packed Catholic cathedral, where churchgoers draped themselves in Croatian flags. I came here to support our generals and pay respect to General Praljak who could not bear injustice and made his final verdict. He is our pride and hero, said Darko Drmac, a Bosnian Croat war veteran. Fikret Kurtic, a Mostar Muslim who was detained in a Croat-run detention center during the war, said the verdict could not change the past but may serve as an example for others in this divided country that crimes cannot go unpunished. Kasim Brkovic, an unemployed Bosnian Muslim war veteran and former prisoner, said: The same people are in power today and we still live in a camp, it s just they don t beat us anymore. The ICTY also upheld the convictions of Jadranko Prlic, former political leader of the breakaway Bosnian Croat statelet during the war, along with military and police figures Bruno Stojic, Milivoj Petrovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic. Judges ruled there had been a criminal conspiracy, with the involvement of Croatia s government under then-President Franjo Tudjman - who died in 1999 - aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population of parts of Bosnia to cement Croat domination there. The defendants on Wednesday received sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years. The decision cannot be appealed. The chairman of post-war Bosnia s shaky, Muslim-Serb-Croat presidency, Dragan Covic, a Croat, said: (Praljak) showed before the whole world what kind of sacrifice he is ready to make to prove that he is not a war criminal. Previously, two defendants awaiting their ICTY trial, both Serbs, committed suicide by hanging themselves in their U.N. cells, according to court documents. Slavko Dogmanovic died in 1998 and Milan Babic was found dead in his locked cell in 2006. The ICTY indicted 161 suspects in all from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo in connection with atrocities in the ethnic wars there during the 1990s. Of the 83 convicted, more than 60 of them were ethnic Serbs. The court s lead suspect, former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, died of a heart attack in March 2006 months before a ruling in his genocide trial. Last week, former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for mass killings and expulsions of Muslims and the siege of Sarajevo, and sentenced to life in prison. Mladic s lawyers tried to delay the verdict mid-reading by saying he was too ill to continue, and Mladic was then removed from the courtroom after shouting that judges were liars . | 1 |
7,528 | Brexit transition deal will require new UK legislation: minister | LONDON (Reuters) - The British government is planning to pass a separate piece of legislation through parliament to approve the terms of the transitional period it wants to smooth its exit from the European Union, a junior Brexit minister said on Thursday. Asked by a parliamentary committee if the government would require separate legislation to enact the so-called implementation period, he said: That is our position, yes. | 1 |
7,529 | Cost of modernizing U.S. nuclear weapons to fall to next president | MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (Reuters) - In this flat, windy expanse just south of the Canadian border, U.S. Air Force pilots fly the same bombers their grandfathers flew, using mid-20th century cables and pulleys. Each spring, the airmen and airwomen must clear melting snow from the steel and concrete doors of the silos that house 150 nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles scattered across thousands of square miles of the upper Great Plains. The U.S. nuclear arsenal, patched, welded, and re-skinned countless times, was built between 25 and 62 years ago when the United States found itself locked in an arms race with a rival superpower, the Soviet Union. Now, its future is an issue in the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has said she would call for a nuclear posture review, last completed in 2010, as one of her first acts upon taking office. Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he would be open to reversing decades of U.S. policy and allowing allies such as Japan and South Korea to acquire their own nuclear weapons to deter a strike from North Korea, which carried out its fifth and largest nuclear test this month. On Monday, in his first visit to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota as U.S. Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter said America’s nuclear deterrence was the “bedrock” of its security, and the Pentagon’s No. 1 priority. “If we don’t replace these systems, quite simply they will age even more, and become unsafe, unreliable, and ineffective,” Carter said, speaking at a lectern in front of a B-52 bomber loaded with cruise missiles. “The fact is, most of our nuclear weapon delivery systems have already been extended decades beyond their original expected service lives. So it’s not a choice between replacing these platforms or keeping them - it’s really a choice between replacing them or losing them,” Carter said. Russia, he said, had built new nuclear weapons systems, raising questions as to whether its leaders were cautious enough when it came to atomic weapons. And North Korea presents a sustained threat, Carter said. Carter’s speech coincides with a growing realization among defense officials and experts that budget constraints almost certainly will force the next president to decide whether and how quickly to proceed with the Obama administration’s plans to maintain and modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The crunch comes in the next decade as American ballistic missile submarines, bombers, and land-based missiles – the three legs of the nuclear triad – reach the end of their useful lives. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the total cost of nuclear forces through 2024 at $348 billion, but that does not include some of the costliest upgrades, scheduled for the latter half of the next decade. Independent estimates have put the cost of maintaining and modernizing the arsenal at about $1 trillion dollars over 30 years. “There’s a bipartisan commitment to doing that upgrade, so we have to assume those funds will come through,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told Reuters on Sept. 20. “But it will be a significant budget increase, especially in the next decade.” The Energy Department shares responsibility with the Pentagon for the nuclear arsenal, and some of its research and production facilities are 73 years old. The next administration could abandon or delay some aspects of modernization to cut costs. Or it could raise taxes, increase the budget deficit, or cut domestic programs, all unpopular steps with American voters. The most vulnerable elements of the modernization plans are a long-range standoff weapon, or LRSO – a nuclear-capable cruise missile launched from an aircraft – and new land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Ten U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, called on President Barack Obama in July to cancel the LRSO, saying it “would provide an unnecessary capability that could increase the risk of nuclear war.” Some Pentagon officials and defense experts have said the cruise missile would be a hedge against improved air defenses that are difficult for even a stealthy bomber to penetrate. A Clinton or Trump administration also could cut the number of land-based ballistic missiles below the 400 currently planned or delay a new missile by extending the life of the current Minuteman IIIs, which each carry a warhead with an explosive yield of at least 300 kilotons, 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which killed an estimated 140,000 people. The United States is one of five nuclear weapons states allowed to keep a nuclear arsenal under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The others are Russia, Britain, France and China. The U.S. Air Force has estimated the cost of a new ground-based system – including missiles, command-and-control systems and launch control centers – to be more than $60 billion. Some former U.S. officials, including former defense secretary William Perry, have argued that land-based missiles are not essential and should be phased out; proponents say they are more important in the face of potential nuclear threats by Russia and North Korea. Much of the planned modernization is nearly locked in because of the need for new weapons and because some of it is so far along, said Evan Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington-based research group. The B-21 long-range strike bomber and the replacement for the Navy’s 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines are “the two most expensive items, and they’re arguably the two safest in a lot of ways,” Montgomery said. The bomber can deliver both conventional and nuclear weapons, and the submarine is considered a priority because it would survive any first strike by an adversary. The Navy plans to replace its Ohio-class submarines, first commissioned in 1981 and armed with up to 24 Trident missiles with multiple independently targeted warheads, with 12 boats costing about $100 billion. In his speech on Monday, Carter said that most people do not realize that spending on the nuclear program is a small percentage of total defense spending. At its peak, nuclear spending would make up about five percent of the Pentagon’s budget, which is now around $600 billion annually, defense experts said. Still, the funding gap means that despite the Pentagon’s massive budget, the next president will face an unavoidable dilemma. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re tens of billions of dollars short in that time frame from what it takes to execute a global strategy,” said James Miller, a former undersecretary of defense for policy in the Obama administration. “It’s not a rounding error anymore.” | 1 |
7,530 | Cutting Pentagon's acquisition chief post may raise costs: Carter | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposal by a U.S. Senate committee to cancel the Defense Department position of acquisition chief could lead to an increase in costs, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Tuesday. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act aims to cancel the position of under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics because it slows innovation. The committee is proposing to divide the responsibilities between a new office in the Pentagon that deals with research and another which would address business management. If the acquisition chief position, currently held by Frank Kendall, was cut, it would separate research and engineering from manufacturing and could derail progress made on lowering growth in contract costs over the last three decades, Carter said at the Sea-Air-Space conference. “Separating these functions makes no sense, as procurement and sustainment costs are controlled by decisions made during development,” Carter said. The proposal still has to take a number of steps before it becomes law. The Senate version of the defense bill must be reconciled with the House’s version before being voted on in both chambers. If passed, that version would be sent to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature, or veto. On Monday, the White House said it would veto the House’s version of the bill because it would shift $18 billion of wartime Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, funds to avoid automatic budget cuts to military programs. | 1 |
7,531 | One Of Trump’s Closest Allies Just Called For Banning Women And Poor People From Voting (AUDIO) | This is why no one should vote for a Republican ever again. Period.Donald Trump becoming president would be one of the scariest times in our history. And that s because democracy itself would be shattered if conservatives like Wayne Allyn Root have their way.During an interview with radio host Rob Schilling on Monday, Root, who is often the opening speaker and Master of Ceremonies at Trump rallies, openly called for stripping welfare and Medicaid recipients of their right to vote and said women who get free contraception should be barred from voting as well so that Republicans can win every election in this country by a landslide. So if the people who payed the taxes were the only ones allowed to vote, we d have landslide victories, Root said, but you re allowing people to vote. This explains everything! People with conflict of interest shouldn t be allowed to vote. If you collect welfare, you have no right to vote. The day you get off welfare, you get your voting rights back. The reality is, why are you allowed to have this conflict of interest that you vote for the politician who wants to keep your welfare checks coming and your food stamps and your aid to dependent children and your free health care and your Medicaid, your Medicare and your Social Security and everything else?Social Security should not, Medicare should not, because you paid into the system. But all the other stuff, all the other goodies, free Obama phones, free contraception, you know what, you can get them but you shouldn t be allowed to vote, it s a conflict of interest. Take that away, we d win every single election in this country. Here s the audio via Right Wing Watch:This is definitive proof that Donald Trump is too dangerous to be be president. And it is proof that conservatives are hell bent on taking away voting rights so they can gain absolute power.But there s a big problem with Root s plan. You see, Root s idea is based on the premise that minorities and liberals make up most of the people who take federal aid.In reality, Republicans would be stripping their own constituents of the right to vote if they listen to Root.According to Pew Research, the states where the most Americans are on welfare are red states, including, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Maine, and Arkansas. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, which are considered battleground states but are also run by Republicans, are also on this list.And why are these states on this list? The answer is because Republican economic policies like the one Wayne Allyn Root supports, have swept more and more people into poverty, thus increasing the need for food assistance.In other words, Root s plan would have the opposite effect because it would keep many conservatives from voting in red states, which would devastate Republican majorities in those state legislatures.Furthermore, as Right Wing Watch points out, women don t actually get free birth control. The insurance companies are mandated to cover contraception in their health plans. In short, taxpayers are not paying for it, the women are paying for it every time they pay their premiums. One would think a businessman like Root would understand that, but who ever said Root was a competent businessman. After all, he s hanging out with Donald Trump. But the idea that we should strip women of their right to vote just because they get contraception is outrageous. And now we can add another reason why women should never vote for Republicans.In fact, the idea that we should strip any citizen in this nation of their right to vote is an affront to democracy and should by all rights lead to a landslide victory for Hillary Clinton in November.In other words, it s time to vote like it could be the last time we ever get a chance to do so, because if Republicans like Root have their way, it will be.Featured Image: Ralph Freso/Getty Images | 0 |
7,532 | obama slams trumps rigged election claims as dangerous | email
leading republican presidential hopeful suggests israelipalestinian peace accord may be impossible sometimes agreements cant be madeafter being asked by a voter at a charleston south carolina town hall event hosted by msnbc about what steps he would take to broker an accommodation between the sides in the conflict the gop contender vowed to give it one hell of a shot and called it probably the toughest agreement of any kind to makebut when pressed by host joe scarborough over whether he ascribed fault to either israelis or palestinians over the failure to reach a lasting accord trump declined to take sides
you know i dont want to get into it because if i win i dont want to be in a position where im saying to you and the other side now says we dont want trump involved trump said
let me be sort of a neutral guy he continued a lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal so i dont want to say whose fault is it i dont think it helpstrump also expressed skepticism over the possibility of achieving a twostate solution given the conditions of the conflict and the need for any agreement to be sustainable over time
its possible its not makeable because dont forget it has to last its wonderful to make it and it doesnt work but it has to last he said to make lasting peace there probably the toughest deal of all but im going to give it a shot
though he was not asked directly what he considers the most substantial obstacles standing in the way of a peace agreement he suggested that growing hostility between the two peoples was contributing to the current stalemate and what he considers the root of the conflict
a lot of people say an agreement cant be made which is okay i mean sometimes agreements cant be made not good but you know you have both sides really but one side in particular growing up and learning that these are the worst people he said i was with a very prominent israeli the other day he says its impossible because the other side has been trained from the time theyre children to hate jewish peoplein the past trump has questioned israels commitment to peace while at the same time suggesting the jewish state does not have a negotiating partner in the palestinians he has also called prime minister benjamin netanyahu a good friend
at a presidential candidates forum hosted by the republican jewish coalition in december the real estate magnate said i dont know that israel has the commitment to make it and i dont know that the other side has the commitment to make it
he made the same point in an interview with ap earlier that day a lot will have to do with israel and whether or not israel wants to make the deal whether or not israels willing to sacrifice certain things he said they may not be and i understand that and im okay with that but then youre just not going to have a deal
trumps comments wednesday came hours after a dramatic upset in polls saw trump fall behind texas sen ted cruz for the first time in consecutive polls coming in at of registered republican voters nationally two points behind cruz at | 0 |
7,533 | Trump backers' disparate hopes coalesce around promise of change | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pomp and circumstance were like any big Washington celebration: a regal backdrop, the patriotic music, the military precision of the ceremony. But the throngs who attended Friday’s inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump came for change. Dramatic change. Some came to hear about changes in America’s world view or a desire for stronger borders. Some wanted to hear how change would ripple into their hometown. Some hankered for u-turns in policies; some wanted an entirely new approach to governing. Trump, like President Barack Obama in 2008, tapped into a desire for change and cast himself as a challenger to the Washington establishment. But, this time, the demands came from a slice of America that feels neglected during the Obama administration. “Obama’s had eight years and I can see my neighbors in worse shape than they were eight years ago,” said Carol Reiller, 66, a retiree who drove seven-plus hours from Buffalo, New York, with her grandchildren to see the swearing-in ceremony. Many of the inauguration attendees were focused on economic issues. In dozens of interviews with supporters, they pinned their hopes and expectations on everything from job creation to improved border security to a revival of American manufacturing. Christian Early, 37, said many of his friends have lost work in the construction industry and he is looking for Trump to turn that around. He wants quick approval of the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada through the United States, pressure on U.S. companies to repatriate cash in offshore tax havens, and an immediate loosening of financial regulations. “If he does those things, he will be creating jobs,” said Early, a bank officer from Annapolis, Maryland. “If he’s not making an earnest effort within one year, he’ll just be another politician.” Like thousands in the crowd, Early wore one of Trump’s signature “Make America great Again” baseball caps, a bright red sign of solidarity in an audience overwhelmingly opposed to just about everything symbolized by the city they had come to visit. For his part, Trump’s inaugural address channeled the resentment of the white working class in an echo of his fiery campaign speeches, darkly portraying a dysfunctional country riven by unemployment, poverty and crime that he would change in a movement of nationalism and trade protectionism. George Weber, 51, a car dealer who traveled from Missouri, said he voted for Trump with the hope that he will get Washington “working for the people…. I want to see him shaking things up right away.” Even veterans of previous inaugurations felt the mood this time was different. Marie Quinn, 76, from Richmond, Virginia, said she’d attended Republican inaugurations since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, but felt this one promised to bring more historic change. “This one will probably be much bigger,” she said, predicting that Trump would put the country on a new course. Many attendees said they were eager for Trump to fulfill his promises of a crackdown on illegal immigration. Joshua Rojas, 25, a Mexican-American graduate student who worked as a bank teller to fund his trip, said he understood some of the immigrant community’s concern about Trump, since his own father, a minister, was brought to America as an illegal immigrant. “Trump isn’t popular among Hispanics and sometimes he takes it a little far, but what he’s saying he will do still excites me,” Rojas said. “Illegal immigration is a big burden to local government.” Not everyone who attended the ceremonies was keen on the change Trump is promising. Lani Lutar, 39, a small business owner from San Diego, came for the Women’s March on Washington, an event scheduled for Saturday and expected to draw large crowds. She supported neither Trump nor his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but she got an inaugural ticket from her congressman’s office. Lutar wanted to “appreciate the significance of this amazing ceremony of the best country in the world.” But even the impressive pageantry did not erase her misgivings about Trump. “I worry a lot about a lot of things, his treatment of people of different religions, of women, his racist comments, there’s a lot,” she said. Some of Trump’s supporters echoed those concerns, talking hopefully about the need to unify a nation bitterly divided by a combative and controversial campaign. Francie Keener, 37, wearing a lipstick-red dress to match the ubiquitous Trump cap, thought the new president’s speech was a good start. It showed that “he supports everybody,” the New Yorker said. “I hope people can rest a little easy now.” Susan Suhovsky, 64, a Catholic school teacher from New York, suggested, however, that Trump still has a way to go in softening his often combative rhetoric. “I hope when he speaks, he cleans up how he talks,” she said. “That is a concern, because you represent our country…. He talks like a New Yorker.” | 1 |
7,534 | OBAMA STEALING To Keep His Pet Program Afloat | Helloooo! Where the heck is Congress? $7 billion dollars stolen from the Treasury because our Congress has no clue and is just letting this lawless president rob us blind! How did this fly under the radar last year? Because no one especially members of Congress has read the law. Insurance companies weren t about to object to getting more money than the law allows. The Obama administration will tell any lie and break any law to prevent the president s signature health-care program from collapsing.Insurance companies such as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna are losing billions trying to sell ObamaCare plans, and the risk is they ll drop out at the end of 2016. No insurance companies means no ObamaCare.In 2014, the White House tried to avert that disaster by promising insurers a taxpayer-funded bailout, but public outrage and quick action by Sen. Marco Rubio put a stop to it. Now the administration is at it again.Desperate to keep insurers on board, the administration scrambled to find another pot of money. Unfortunately, once again, a big part of that money pot belongs to the public.President Obama doesn t seem to care. On Feb. 12, the administration announced that the money will be handed out to insurers a whopping $7.7 billion this year alone. But it s not just expensive: That huge handout to the insurance industry is also illegal.This is money you and everyone else who already has insurance are forced to pay, called a reinsurance fee. You pay the fee whether you buy your own plan or get covered at work, even if your employer self-insures. You may be clueless about it, but the fee is buried in your premium or taken out of your compensation.The text of the Affordable Care Act is clear as a bell on what this money can be used for.Some of these annual fees adding up to billions a year belong to the public, not the insurance companies. The law states a fixed share shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States and may not be used to offset insurance companies losses.But the administration gave all of it to the insurance companies last year, and got away with that heist. So now they re trying it again.Anyone in the corporate world who misused funds that way would be headed to prison. This rogue administration is going to any length including running afoul of the law to keep insurers hooked into ObamaCare.In the words of University of Houston law professor Seth Chandler, who tried to call attention to the crime several months ago, this is an illegal diversion of funds . . . to enrich insurers. Last year alone, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas got $549 million of these reinsurance funds, while Anthem Blue Cross of California got $401 million.How did this fly under the radar last year? Because no one especially members of Congress has read the law. Insurance companies weren t about to object to getting more money than the law allows.Read more: NYP | 0 |
7,535 | TWELVE ON TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM Announced Today…It’s All In The Family! | Donald Trump values loyalty in a big way so who better than his incredible children to lead the team for his transition to the presidency. If you ve been following the children of Trump on the campaign trail then you know they re smart and very business savvy.Trump moved away from Christ Christie and chose VP Mike Pence as the leader of the team another great choice!The list of 12 via the NYT:The president-elect told advisers he wanted to tap Mr. Pence s Washington experience and contacts to help move the process along, according to people familiar with the discussions. An executive committee including members of Congress will advise Mr. Pence as the process moves forward.Mr. Christie, along with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, and Michael T. Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who has been a top campaign supporter, will serve as vice chairmen of the transition, the sources said.The transition team is adding 12 members, including a Republican donor, Rebekah Mercer; Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump s campaign chairman; Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee; Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal; Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee; and three of Mr. Trump s adult children and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. | 0 |
7,536 | Former Obama Adviser BLASTS Trump, Calls Him Out For Attracting All The Racist Idiots (VIDEO) | Donald Trump has helped America s racists feel good about showing their true colors in all their bigoted glory. Furthermore, amazingly, the more racist Trump s remarks get, the higher he goes in the polls. Things that would be political suicide for almost anyone else seem to work wonders for Trump s numbers. Well, there is yet another person who is calling Trump out: Former adviser to President Obama, Van Jones.What has Jones so upset is most ominous indeed. It seems that a think tank of white power types that go by the name American Renaissance is so impressed with Trump s racism that they are now making robocalls on behalf of his bid for the presidency. The calls focus specifically on Trump s ban all Muslims plan. The horrible message says: We don t need Muslims. We need smart well-educated white people who can assimilate to our culture. Van Jones appeared on Face the Nation on Sunday, and he blasted the dangerous, bigoted rhetoric that has made Trump so popular with racists: This is troubling. If I were [Donald] Trump, this is a time to look in the mirror. Who am I inspiring? Who am I attracting? Why will horrible racist groups say I m the only candidate that speaks for them? This is what is my deep concern is that Donald Trump is beginning to legitimate some of the dark things that have been in our country for a long time, and now starting to let them elevate, let them rise. Jones is right, of course, but, unfortunately, Trump doesn t care. All he cares about is numbers, and if it takes being bald-faced racist to get them, then, by God, that s what he ll do. The GOP s base is full of ignorant bigots, and Donald Trump has done a perfect job of courting them. Help us all if he actually gets anywhere near the Oval Office.Watch the interview with Van Jones below:Featured image via video screen capture from Raw Story | 0 |
7,537 | Ivanka Trump Whines After Interviewer Points Out That Her Dad Thinks Pregnancy Is Bad For Business | Ivanka Trump s maternity leave plan hit a wall during an interview with Cosmopolitan when she was asked about her father s belief that pregnant women are an inconvenience.Republican nominee Donald Trump is clearly pandering to women by suddenly coming out in support of paid maternity leave in a desperate ploy to get women to vote for him.As it stands, over 70 percent of women view Trump unfavorably and Hillary Clinton would win the women s vote by an even wider margin than President Obama did in 2012.So, Trump is hoping that women will automatically switch their allegiance to him if he offers maternity leave to the country, something he hasn t even offered to his own female employees unless their name is Ivanka Trump.According to the Huffington Post:Employees at the Trump SoHo, New York and Miami hotels, as well as the Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, all said that they do not offer workers paid maternity leave. Instead, they said that the company complied with the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that requires companies to give employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for the adoption or birth of a child.That little hypocrisy combined with The Donald s past comments about women and pregnancy is exactly why Ivanka s interview with Cosmopolitan was so disastrous.Prachi Gupta asked Trump s daughter about a remark he made back in 2004 when he called pregnancy an inconvenience to business. It s certainly an inconvenience for a business, he said. And whether people want to say that or not, the fact is it is an inconvenience for a person that is running a business. Donald Trump said that pregnancy is an inconvenient thing for a business, Gupta informed Ivanka. It s surprising to see this policy from him today. Can you talk a little bit about those comments, and perhaps what has changed? Ivanka responded by accusing Gupta of being negative and then bragged about how her dad is a champion for women in the workplace. So I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions, and I think my father has put forth a very comprehensive and really revolutionary plan to deal with a lot of issues. So I don t know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this if you re going to make a comment like that. My father obviously has a track record of decades of employing women at every level of his company, and supporting women, and supporting them in their professional capacity, and enabling them to thrive outside of the office and within. To imply otherwise is an unfair characterization of his track record and his support of professional women. So the policies at our company reflect that, and the diversity of our workforce, from a gender perspective, and in all perspectives, reflects that. So my father has been a great advocate for the women in the workforce, and that s part of why he recognized that reform is so necessary. Except that Trump doesn t even offer women paid maternity leave at his own hotels and resorts. Instead they have to take unpaid leave and even to get that they have to use vacation and sick days. In other words, in order for a new mother to get unpaid leave, she would have to sacrifice her paid vacation and sick days to get it.When pressed, Ivanka claimed ignorance of the comments. Well, here s the video of Trump saying it via NBC.Ivanka then cut the interview short rather than stick around any longer to answer hard questions.Donald Trump does not care about women. He is only pretending to because he wants their votes. If he gets elected there is no way he would fight for paid maternity leave. It would require him to give it to all of his female employees and he won t do that because it would mean having to give up money that could go towards buying himself a gold-plated toilet or another luxury jet.If he really cared about women he wouldn t have been treating them like shit over all these years and he wouldn t be treating them like shit now. But Trump thinks women are stupid and that they ll support him just because he suddenly supports a policy that he has always opposed.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
7,538 | HILARIOUS! WHITE HOUSE Totally Punks Rabid Liberal MSNBC Host Rachel Maddow, After She Announces Bombshell Release Of Trump Taxes On Tonight’s Show | The White House published what they claim is Donald Trump s 2005 tax information 25 minutes before Rachel Maddow aired it on her show Tuesday night.BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.(Seriously). Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 14, 2017Speaking on background, a White House official said, You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago. Before being elected President, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required, the official continued. That being said, Mr. Trump paid $38 million dollars even after taking into account large scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million dollars, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that. Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans. Daily Caller | 0 |
7,539 | Trudeau sees no flood of Americans to Canada if Trump wins | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday joked that he is not expecting an influx of unhappy Americans across the border if firebrand Republican Donald Trump becomes president. As Trump’s popularity builds in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Internet search providers have noted a spike in queries from Americans about moving to Canada. Trudeau told students on the third day of an official visit to the United States, however, that the idea of emigration by voters who feared ending up on the losing side was common during U.S. election campaigns. “If over the past decades that had been the case, we’d have more people in Canada than in the United States ... It becomes an easy thing to cry out,” he said during a discussion at Washington’s American University. Canada’s population is just over a tenth the size of that of the United States. Trudeau said Canadians and Americans continually crossed the border to live in the other country. “That’s just the nature of our friendship and relationship and to link it too much to politics is humorous ... There will always be flows back and forth and one must never fret or be disappointed with that,” he said. Migration data from after Republican George W. Bush’s 2000 election and 2004 re-election - other times when some liberal Americans pledged to move to Canada in protest – suggests few followed up on their promise. Trudeau, whose Liberals took power in Canada last November, had previously largely avoided questions about the consequences of a Trump victory, saying he will work with whomever wins. Earlier this week he said he would neither fight Trump nor support him but understood his appeal for people fed up with politics. Trudeau made his comments a day after talks at the White House that set the seal on better ties with the United States. Trudeau and President Barack Obama agreed joint steps to combat climate change and make it easier for people and goods to flow back and forth across their countries’ long border. Trump has in the past mused about tearing up the North American Free Trade Agreement, which could cripple the Canadian economy. Keeping good relations with the United States is critical for Canada, which sends 75 percent of its exports to its southern neighbor. | 1 |
7,540 | Democrats question independence of Trump Supreme Court nominee | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. senators on Monday sharpened a potential line of attack against Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court by questioning whether he would be sufficiently independent as a justice in light of President Donald Trump’s vigorous use of unilateral presidential power including his travel ban. Their comments came after Trump criticized James Robart, the U.S. district court judge who put on hold the Republican president’s Jan. 27 order temporarily barring entry into the United States of people from seven Muslim-majority nations and halting the U.S. refugee program. Trump called Robart a “so-called judge” who made a “ridiculous” decision. Democrats have expressed worry that Gorsuch, nominated by Trump last week, could act as a rubber stamp for the Republican president’s policies on a nine-seat Supreme Court poised to revert to a conservative majority. “It’s a serious concern with a president who attacks the judiciary and seems to not respect the rule of law and the Constitution that you have a really independent justice,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, set to meet with Gorsuch on Tuesday, told Reuters. Gorsuch, continuing a series of private meetings with senators ahead of his Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, met on Monday with Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the panel’s top Democrat, at her Senate office. Afterward, she said Gorsuch is “clearly very smart, caring, and he’s well thought of in Colorado,” where he serves as a federal appeals court judge. But Feinstein said she will make up her mind after the hearing about whether or not to support his confirmation. “What we would like to see is an independent judge, and the hearing will determine that,” Feinstein told Reuters. Gorsuch must be confirmed by the Senate to the lifetime post on the high court. “It’s incumbent upon Judge Gorsuch to make it clear to the American people that he does not believe in ‘so-called judges,’ that he thinks it’s imperative that the judiciary has to be respected as an independent one-third of our government,” said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year. “I would look forward to hearing him speak out on that issue,” Sanders added. Conservative lawyers and Republican senators who are favorable toward Gorsuch cite his record of supporting limited federal powers and his skepticism about courts deferring too much to executive branch interpretations of the law when issuing regulations as signs he would be willing to stand up to Trump. “I have zero concerns about his independence being compromised,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, another Republican, said Gorsuch “has a trail of decisions and publications a mile long that suggest how talented he is, that are instructive as to how he would rule on any number of issues.” With four liberals and four conservatives now on the court, Gorsuch’s confirmation would restore the conservative majority that had existed for decades until the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia. Gorsuch’s supporters point in particular to a recent case in which Gorsuch criticized a landmark high court ruling known as Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. That 1984 ruling directed judges nationwide to defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of laws that may be ambiguous. Gorsuch in a concurring opinion called that doctrine the “elephant in the room” that concentrates federal power “in a way that seems more than a little difficult to square with the Constitution.” If Gorsuch is confirmed to serve on a court that would have five conservatives and four liberals, Democrats have expressed concern about setbacks for their positions on divisive issues such as abortion, gun control, environmental regulation and transgender rights. | 1 |
7,541 | DNC Chair Not Holding Back On GOP: ‘They Don’t Give A Sh*t About People’ (VIDEO) | Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez didn t mince words when he called out the GOP for their appalling health care plan. Their plan would have resulted in tens of millions of Americans being without insurance coverage by the end of the next decade. Perez made his point loud and clear when he explained that the reason Republicans are okay with this plan is because they just don t give a sh*t about people. Perez made the comments at an event for the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, which was broadcast live on Facebook. While speaking to the crowd, he discussed Republicans failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act last month.The DNC chair said that Trump wants his name on everything, but for some reason, he didn t want his name associated with the GOP s Make America Sick Again plan in any way, shape, or form. Well I ll tell you my idea, because you know what embodies their program? I don t care, Perez said of the GOP s health care plan, prompting a round of applause from the crowd. Because they don t give a s about people. Perez served as former President Barack Obama s Labor secretary and was elected as chairman of the DNC in February. His first act in this new role was to nominate Rep. Keith Ellison, who had run against him for the position, as his deputy.You can watch Perez slam the GOP and their wealth care plan in the video below, via the New Jersey Working Families Alliance: Featured image via Pete Marovich/Getty Images | 0 |
7,542 | Palestinian factions agree to hold general election by end-2018 | GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian factions, including rival groups Hamas and Fatah, have agreed to hold a general election by the end of 2018, a joint statement by several groups said on Wednesday following talks in Cairo. Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in October in Cairo-backed talks after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of Gaza, including the key Rafah border crossing, a decade after seizing the enclave in a civil war. The Palestinian groups in Cairo said they would defer the choice of a final date for the general election to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Western-backed mainstream Fatah party lost control of Gaza to Hamas, considered a terrorist group by many in the West and by Israel, in fighting in 2007. But last month Hamas agreed to cede powers in Gaza to Abbas Fatah-backed government in a deal mediated by Egypt. Salah Al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official involved in the talks, called Wednesday s agreement vague and expressed concern that it was unable to progress on key issues such as lifting sanctions imposed by Abbas and secure full opening of the crossing between Gaza and Egypt. The talks also failed to address security responsibilities in Gaza, which have so far remained in the hands of Hamas-backed security services. Abbas has said previously that upon assuming control of Gaza he would move to lift sanctions imposed on the impoverished enclave that have included power cuts and salary reductions of 30 percent to some 60,000 Gazans employed by his Palestinian Authority. We worked hard to reach practical results ... such as opening crossings and lifting the sanctions and advancing the issue of reconciliation but unfortunately it did not happen, said Bardaweel. Azzam Al-Ahmed, head of Fatah s delegation to the Cairo talks, said his group insisted Hamas completes full handover of Gaza control to the government by Dec 1. He added that another meeting with Hamas will be held later in December to evaluate further reconciliation steps. Palestinian officials said Egypt is expected to send a security delegation to Gaza in the coming days to oversee the implementation of the agreement. | 1 |
7,543 | Bush Attorney General: Obama ‘Has An Obligation’ To Fill Scalia’s Seat (VIDEO) | Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is still dead and the Republican Party is still pledging to block any nominee for the vacancy that President Obama puts forth. According to right-wingers like Ted Cruz, the president doesn t have the right to elect a new justice because in the distorted minds of the imbeciles in the GOP the American people only elect Democratic presidents for three years, not the four Republicans get. However, not everyone on the crazy side of the aisle believes this nonsense, actually a very high-ranking member of the Bush Administration, former-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, thinks that it is President Obama s obligation to appoint someone to the court.On Monday, AG Gonzales appeared on CNN s New Day to discuss the controversy surrounding the vacancy on the highest court in the country: I know there s a big debate going on right now about whether or not Obama should nominate someone. From my perspective having worked at the White House and the Dept. of Justice, there s just no question in my mind that as president of the United States, you have an obligation to fill a vacancy. I suspect President Obama is going to do his job, he continued. And after he does his job and nominating a hopefully qualified individual, the Senate will do its job eventually on its own calendar. The president absolutely has an obligation to fill the court, it is one of his most important duties as president. Of course, I don t really expect Ted Cruz and his buddies to understand anything about duties, after all, these are the imbeciles that refused to do their jobs and shut the government down in 2013. Their most important job is to keep the government running and they couldn t even do that.If they decide to be the jackasses we expect them to be, they will once again cripple the government because they are literally incapable of governing. The Republican Party doesn t feel an obligation to perform their duties, they only feel obligated to obstruct Obama at any cost.Watch:Featured image via video screenshot | 0 |
7,544 | U.S. State Dept keeps hiring freeze as Tillerson looks to downsize | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has maintained a hiring freeze at the State Department even though it was lifted for the rest of the federal government, a spokesman said on Thursday, as the agency begins to downsize before Congress approves funding cuts. Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed that the hiring freeze would remain until the plan to downsize and reorganize had been fully developed. He could not give a timeline for the reorganization. “We can’t be onboarding people when we don’t know what our reorganization is going to ultimately look like,” Toner told a briefing for reporters. Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 would cut 28 percent of the budget for U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. Republicans and Democrats in Congress, which approves the budget, have rejected the prospect of such cuts. It was not known whether the White House directed Tillerson to keep the hiring freeze in place for the State Department or whether other agencies would also refuse to lift the hiring ban. Two State Department officials said Tillerson plans to downsize staff over a period of two to three years. Tillerson informed State Department employees of the decision on Wednesday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. While Trump’s original hiring freeze notice on Jan. 23 excluded political appointees, it has stopped the hiring of rank-and-file workers and the replacement of others who have resigned or retired. William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, said the Trump administration may have to seek congressional approval if the hiring freeze changes the function of programs congress explicitly voted to fund. Hoagland said the administration would have to send what is known as an impoundment resolution if the State Department “jeopardizes what that agency is there to begin with by not filling positions that are vacated.” Congress would then have to approve the resolution, Hoagland said. The State Department’s Toner said Tillerson was not breaking any federal rule by maintaining the hiring freeze. “My understanding is that (Tillerson) has the jurisdiction to keep this freeze in place as we go about this presidentially-mandated” reorganization, Toner said. The Office of Management and Budget, which handles federal budgeting, did not respond to a request for comment. Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Tuesday that the hiring freeze would be lifted but that agencies will be asked to remain mindful of Trump’s goal to reduce the federal work force. Tillerson said in March that the State Department’s current spending was “simply not sustainable.” | 1 |
7,545 | Mattis plays down split between Trump, Tillerson on North Korea | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday played down an apparent split between the U.S. president and his top diplomat over outreach to North Korea, saying America’s focus was still on finding a diplomatic solution to the dispute with Pyongyang. President Donald Trump, who has traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks, said on Sunday Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. Tillerson, during a trip to China on Saturday, said the United States had direct channels of communication with the North and was probing Pyongyang to see if it was interested in dialogue. He expressed hope for reducing tensions with North Korea, which is fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. “I do not see the divergence as strongly as some ... have interpreted it,” Mattis said. Both Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, broadly backed Tillerson’s efforts as they testified at the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “President Trump’s guidance to both Secretary Tillerson and me has been very clearly that we would ... pursue the diplomatic effort to include with the various initiatives with China,” Mattis told a Senate hearing. “I believe that Secretary Tillerson is accurately stating that we are probing for opportunities to talk with the North. All we’re doing is probing. We’re not talking with them, consistent with the president’s dismay about not talking with them before the time is right.” Trump has vowed to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and tensions have escalated in recent months, with Pyongyang conducting its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3. It has also threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. Dunford, the top U.S. military officer, strongly backed Tillerson’s efforts to tighten an economic squeeze on North Korea. The international community’s sanctions will need to be strong enough to convince Kim he cannot survive in power unless he changes course, he said. Dunford said Kim sees possession of ballistic missiles and a nuclear capability as inextricably linked to regime survival, adding: “What I think Kim Jong Un needs to realize is that he cannot survive with ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons because the international community will not allow him to survive.” Dunford said Kim was particularly sensitive to the flow of oil into North Korea, saying when there has been a cut-off in the past “there’s been a change in Kim Jong Un’s behavior.” “The fact is he needs economic resources external to the country to survive,” he said. U.S. Senator Jack Reed questioned whether some degree of communication was vital between Washington and Pyongyang, given the risks of miscalculation by either side that could lead to conflict. Mattis suggested that the Trump administration was exploring a host of ways to influence the North, including through diplomacy. “I think the president dispatching Secretary Tillerson to Beijing here within the past several days to carry messages and to look at the way we can work with them is the most accurate answer to your question, that in fact this is part of a whole ... integrated effort that we have underway right now,” Mattis said. It was not the first time the White House and State Department have seemed at odds on policy issues, but the White House has said Trump still had confidence in Tillerson. Trump has vowed to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and tensions have escalated in recent months, with Pyongyang conducting its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3. It has also threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. The fate of Americans held in North Korea is also a bone of contention. The Trump administration has demanded North Korea release three U.S. citizens it has detained: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song. The Trump White House and State Department have taken divergent stances on other foreign policy issues. When a dispute over Qatar erupted this year, Trump strongly backed Gulf Arab leaders who accuse Qatar of supporting Iran as well as Islamist militants. Trump accused Qatar of being a “high-level” funder of terrorism even as the Pentagon and Tillerson cautioned against the military, commercial and humanitarian effects of a boycott imposed by Arab states. Months into the dispute, Trump adopted a position more in line with that of the State Department. | 1 |
7,546 | Boiler Room EP #69 – CULTure Club | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Andy Nowicki of Alt Right Blogspot, Jay Dyer from jaysanalysis.com, Randy J, and Shawn Helton of 21Wire for the 69th episode of BOILER ROOM. Dim the lights, dawn the headphones and indulge in some Boiler Room with the crew. Tonight we re further deconstructing Cointel Pro with Jay and Shawn, discussing cults & Zen Gardner s recent admission of his involvement with the Children of God. A scathing analysis of the mainstream media being remiss in talking about the new Russian deal with Iran as well as the theater of absurdity that is the US State Department and much more.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY!Reference Links: | 0 |
7,547 | Obama thinks regular U.S. tourism to Cuba could happen 'very soon': ABC | (Reuters) - Regular tourism to Cuba by U.S. citizens could happen “very soon,” President Barack Obama said on Monday in an interview in Havana. “Inevitably it’s going to happen,” he told ABC News during his historic visit to the Communist-led island, noting that direct flights and visits by cruise ships from the United States were to begin soon. Current U.S. regulations limit most visits by U.S. citizens to Cuba to educational or cultural exchanges. | 1 |
7,548 | Virginia Senate approves electric chair amid drug shortage | RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - The Virginia state Senate on Monday approved a bill making the electric chair the default method of execution if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. The bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate by a 22-17 vote. The Republican-dominated House has already approved the measure. After a lower chamber vote on a minor amendment, the measure will go to Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe for approval. A spokesman for the governor said the measure would be reviewed when it arrived. Virginia is one of eight states that allows electrocution as a method of execution, letting condemned inmates choose between it and lethal injection. If they do not choose, lethal injection is used. Virginia, along with other states, has struggled to get lethal injection drugs because pharmaceutical companies have protested their use in executions. The last death row inmate in Virginia to choose the electric chair for execution was in 2013. Inmate Ricky Gray, who killed six people in Richmond in 2006, had been scheduled for execution on March 16, adding urgency to the legislative debate. Gray’s execution has been postponed by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court about whether to hear the case. Gray has not indicated which method of execution he preferred. The legislation has fueled debate in Virginia over whether capital punishment, especially the electric chair, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. “The electric chair is outdated and barbaric,” Senator Scott Surovell, a Democrat from northern Virginia, said during a floor debate. He lost an effort to amend the bill by requiring the Virginia Department of Corrections to explain in detail why it was not able to obtain lethal drugs before opting for electrocution. State Senator Mark Obenshain, a Republican from the Shenandoah Valley, argued that if the amendment passed it would have further delayed execution of death row inmates. “Some (people) just have black hearts. They’re beyond redemption,” said Obenshain, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for state attorney general in 2013. | 1 |
7,549 | Trump not now considering value-added tax or carbon tax: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday said it not currently considering a value-added tax and a carbon tax as part of a planned tax code overhaul as it searches for ways to fund a major tax cut. The Washington Post had reported the White House was considering the VAT and carbon tax reforms Tuesday, citing an unidentified administration official and a person briefed on the matter. “The president’s team is hearing input from experts on all sides of the tax reform debate as we formulate what will ultimately be the president’s plan to enact the first significant tax reform since 1986. As of now, neither a carbon tax nor a VAT are under consideration,” said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters. The administration is looking for funding for ways to pay for President Donald Trump’s promised cuts in middle class and corporate taxes. This is the second time the administration has played down the chances of a carbon tax. On Feb. 8, officials met with a group of Republicans who called for a $40 per ton tax on carbon emissions to fend off global climate change. Many Republicans have opposed a carbon tax arguing it would cut jobs and hike energy costs. The Washington Post said the new options reflect the challenges presented by a possible border adjustment tax that Republicans have been considering. A House panel has been working on a plan since mid-2016 that would cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, end taxing foreign profits for U.S.-based multinationals and cut other tax rates for businesses and investors. The plan has divided businesses, prompting import-dependent industries to warn of higher prices for consumer goods from clothing and electronics to gasoline. | 1 |
7,550 | Failed vote to oust president shakes up Peru's politics | LIMA (Reuters) - Peru s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski could end up the surprise winner of an attempt to oust him from power this week, after some opposition lawmakers broke ranks with party leaders to support him, opening a divide that might strengthen his hand. Despite having a Congressional majority, the rightwing opposition party Popular Force was unable to push through a motion to remove Kuczynski from office on Thursday, after 10 of its own lawmakers broke ranks to save the president. The vote cemented a growing divide in the opposition and looked to threaten its control over Congress, potentially aiding Kuczynski as he tries to restore political stability and revive investments in one of Latin America s most robust economies. The surprise defection was the result of a deal struck between Kuczynski and Popular Force rebel lawmaker Kenji Fujimori to get his father and ex-president Alberto Fujimori out of prison, alleged Popular Force secretary general, Jose Chlimper. Over the past year, Kenji has courted Kuczynski s center-right government while challenging his sister Keiko s leadership of the rightwing populist movement that their father formed in the 1990s. In defiance of his sister, Kenji threw his support behind Kuczynski ahead of the vote on whether to remove him from office over unproven graft allegations. Nine other Popular Force lawmakers followed his lead. This is the birth of a serious and formal split (in the Fujimori movement), said Guillermo Loli, the head of political research for pollster Ipsos Peru. Everything points to a pardon, he added. Kuczynski s government denied that a pardon for Fujimori was part of its political negotiations. In an address to the nation late on Friday, Kuczynski said he would spend the coming days reflecting on his year and a half in office. I ll be announcing to you changes to make sure 2018 is not just a year of greater growth, but politically different, Kuczynski said. Efforts to reach the Popular Force lawmakers who defected were not successful. One, Clayton Galvan, said on local TV channel Canal N that Alberto Fujimori called them from prison to ask them to help Kuczynski stay in power. Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for graft and human rights crimes, is a deeply divisive figure in Peru. While many consider him a corrupt dictator, others credit him with ending an economic crisis and bloody leftist insurgency during his 1990-2000 term. Freeing him would likely anger the well-organized foes of the Fujimori clan - a mix of technocrats, leftists, human rights activists and academics. The day (Kuczynski) signs a pardon, he loses all of those guys. Permanently, said Harvard University political scientist Steve Levitsky. Support from the anti-Fujimori crowd was key to Kuczynski s razor-thin victory over Keiko in last year s presidential election, and to keeping the motion to oust him from succeeding. Kuczynski was saved by two diametrically opposed political groups: Kenji s group and the left, which opposes a pardon. He can t please both of them, said Levitsky. Kuczynski, a 79-year-old former investment banker, took office amid hopes he would usher in cleaner government and faster economic growth. Instead, a graft scandal roiling Latin America has stalled investments and ensnared him in allegations of wrongdoing. Before the vote on Thursday, Kuczynski fanned fears of a return to Peru s authoritarian past and described the motion as part of a legislative coup attempt by Keiko s supporters. Popular Force denies the charge and says the bid to remove him was part of its fight against corruption and within the bounds of the constitution. A hardline Popular Force lawmaker loyal to Keiko, Hector Becerril, said the Kenji faction represented traitors. If they have any sense of decency after this vote, the least they could do is present their resignations, Becerril told journalists on Friday. Hopefully today. With 10 votes fewer, Popular Force would command 61 seats in the 130-member, single-chamber Congress, less than an absolute majority, though it would still be the biggest voting bloc. The political crisis has cost Kuczynski his interior minister, Carlos Basombrio, who announced his resignation on Friday. Kuczynski could make a decision about other Cabinet changes in coming days, his government said. | 1 |
7,551 | 'Lone hacker' claims responsibility for cyber attack on Democrats | (Reuters) - A “lone hacker” has taken responsibility for a cyber attack on the U.S. Democratic National Committee, which the DNC and a cyber-security firm have blamed on the Russian government. The DNC and cyber firm CrowdStrike disclosed the attack on Tuesday, saying that hackers working for Russia broke into the DNC’s computer network, spied on internal communications and stole research on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. A Russian government spokesman responded by saying that Moscow had not been involved. On Wednesday, an individual using the moniker Guccifer 2.0 took responsibility for the attack in a post on the blogging site WordPress.com, saying the DNC was “hacked by a lone hacker.” The DNC did not respond to a request for comment late on Wednesday evening on Guccifer 2.0’s claim. CrowdStrike said it stands by findings that the Russian government was behind the attacks. Guccifer 2.0’s blog includes images of documents it claims were stolen from DNC servers, including one titled “Donald Trump Report,” which was dated Dec. 19, and spreadsheets purportedly containing information about party donors. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the documents, which the blog said were among “thousands of files and mails” removed from DNC servers that would soon be published on WikiLeaks. CrowdStrike issued a statement saying it “stands fully by its analysis” that two groups affiliated with Russian intelligence were discovered in the DNC’s network last month. The company said it was reviewing the documents published by Guccifer 2.0 to determine whether they were authentic. | 1 |
7,552 | Putin says Trump hampered from delivering electoral promises | SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that if President Donald Trump is unpredictable, it is because his domestic opponents are stopping him from delivering on many of his election promises. | 1 |
7,553 | Q&A: Did Sessions break the law by denying knowledge of Russia contacts? | (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday denied that he misled legislators when he previously failed to disclose a meeting he attended with then-candidate Donald Trump and aides where campaign connections to Russia were discussed. Sessions testified in Congress that, following a guilty plea by Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos, he now remembers a March 2016 meeting at which Papadopoulos was present and suggested he could arrange a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Democratic Representative Ted Lieu, who sits on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, said on Twitter on Tuesday he believes Sessions committed perjury when he previously denied knowledge of contact between Trump’s campaign and Russia. The following describes the crime of perjury and whether it would apply to Sessions’ conduct. What is perjury? A person can be convicted of perjury only if they intentionally make a false statement under oath about a fact pertinent to a relevant investigation or criminal case. Under federal law the penalty for perjury is a prison sentence of up to five years or eight years in terrorism-related cases. “You can’t x-ray people’s minds to see what they were thinking and what they knew, so perjury can be a difficult crime to prove,” said Bennett Gershman, a professor of criminal law at Pace Law School. Did Sessions commit perjury? Some legal experts said there is a strong argument that Sessions committed perjury at an Oct. 18 oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During that hearing, Democratic Senator Al Franken asked Sessions whether “surrogates from the Trump campaign had communications with the Russians.” Sessions responded, “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.” Gershman said that Sessions’ failure to disclose the Papadopoulos meeting could amount to perjury. Perjury prosecutions based on congressional testimony are rare, in part because lawmakers often ask circuitous questions. But in this case Franken asked a straightforward question and the response Sessions gave was misleading, Gershman said. However, Stuart Green, a professor of criminal law at Rutgers University School of Law, said Sessions would have a plausible argument that Papadopoulos’ communications were not the type of contacts Franken was asking about since they were with Russian government intermediaries rather than Russian officials. “There’s a bit of wiggle room there,” Green said. What if Sessions says he forgot about Papadopoulos’ remarks? Sessions said at the hearing on Tuesday that he forgot about the March 2016 meeting because the Trump campaign was “a form of chaos” from the beginning. “We traveled all the time, sometimes to several places in one day. Sleep was in short supply,” he said. A prosecutor could use circumstantial evidence to undermine such a defense, lawyers said. Gershman said Sessions’ statement that he did not recall Papadopoulos’ remarks at the meeting would raise skepticism since Sessions led the meeting, Trump attended it and important national security matters were discussed. “It’s something a person would be hard-pressed to claim they don’t remember,” he said. Who could prosecute Sessions for perjury? Any charges against Sessions would likely be brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Green said that Mueller’s mandate clearly encompasses looking into whether Sessions tried to conceal the extent of Russia’s influence in the election. But Gershman noted that Mueller may be reluctant to charge Sessions with perjury because the case would not be solid. “When you bring a charge against a high-profile figure you don’t want to lose because then it looks like a witchunt,” he said. | 1 |
7,554 | American Liar: Wingnut Icon Chris Kyle Wasn’t The Hero He Made Himself Out To Be | There s nobody your standard issue right-wing nutjob loves more than Chris Kyle. His story is the stuff of ammosexual dreams. Not only did he join the military to go fight terrorists, he scored more kills than anyone in Iraq. He also told some blatantly fictitious stories about things he did here at home, but his military career? Not even those darned lefties who think glorifying killing women and children for any reason is wrong could deny what s written in black and white. Ultimately, it seems, it s those same records that will cheapen the legacy of Chris Kyle.An investigation by The Intercept reveals that while Kyle does have a remarkable military record, it wasn t enough for his ego. In his book, American Sniper, Kyle said: All told I would end my career as a SEAL with two Silver Stars and five Bronze [Stars], all for valor. That s awfully impressive. Unfortunately, it s a lie. According to internal Navy documents, Chris Kyle received one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars. Why anyone would need to embellish a career already that impressive is truly baffling, but Kyle did. Is it really that big of a deal, though? So the guy told a little fibsky what s the harm in that? Apparently, when it comes to Navy SEALS and valor, there is little that is worse. According to The Intercept:Kyle was warned at least once before American Sniper was published that its description of his medal count was wrong, according to one current Navy officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the case. As Kyle s American Sniper manuscript was distributed among SEALs, one of his former commanders, who was still on active duty, advised Kyle that his claim of having two Silver Stars was false, and he should correct it before his book was published.Current and former Navy SEALs interviewed for this article, who agreed to speak on background because they feared being shunned by their close-knit community, did not dispute Kyle s heroism in combat, but saw the inflation of his medal count as significant because they consider battlefield embellishments to be dishonorable.Not only did Kyle lie, he was called on it. It may have been one thing if he could have claimed he thought he had medals or that, aw, gee there were so many I got mixed up, but that time came and went. Not only do Kyle s lies about shooting looters after Katrina or killing carjackers with his 2nd Amendment now get the pants on fire rating his military career is now in question as well. Who is to say that he didn t embellish other things? The man was obviously constitutionally incapable of telling the truth.Maybe it s a good thing. Maybe a few fewer women and children met their end with what Kyle called 180 grains of justice. Featured image by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Getty Images | 0 |
7,555 | Trump Goes On DELUSIONAL Tweet Storm About Democratic Party Chair Election (DETAILS) | Donald Trump has no reason to give a shit about what is happening with the Democratic Party right now. He got elected president as a Republican, and right now the Democrats are trying to rebuild and elect new leaders. Of course, we all know that Tom Perez got elected Chair, and immediately named Keith Ellison his Deputy Chair in a clear effort to unite the two wings of the party.There s no reason for a GOP president who also has the benefit of controlling much of the nation s governorships and state legislatures, as well as the federal government, to address this. However, it s Trump, so of course he had something to say. In a classic early morning set of tweets, Trump used the DNC elections to talk about a rigged 2016 electoral process:Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017The race for DNC Chairman was, of course, totally "rigged." Bernie's guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 26, 2017Now, how who is chair of the Democratic National Committee affects the Republican Party at this point is beyond me. As a Democrat, it is hard for me to admit this, but we are in a very weak position right now. So, the GOP really shouldn t give a shit about what is going on in our party. However, Trump is a narcissist, so he MUST make himself become the story, no matter what the story is. This guy is a nut, so it s useless trying to make his words or actions make sense.At the end of the day, this is REALLY about his continuing inability to admit that he legitimately lost the popular vote by numbers never before seen in modern presidential history, while winning the Electoral College and thus the White House.This guy is a delusional nutcase, and must be removed post haste, for the safety of the republic.Featured image via Tama/Getty Images | 0 |
7,556 | TOO FUNNY! CHUCK SCHUMER Tries To Lead Liberal Chant… It’s An Epic Fail Just Like His Effort To Block Neil Gorsuch! [Video] | In recent weeks, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has threatened to lead his caucus in filibustering President Donald Trump s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, often citing a rule that a Supreme Court nominee needs a 60-vote supermajority in order to be appointed.The alleged rule has been debunked by fact-checkers, but Schumer is still holding out, arguing that Republicans would be violating the established norms of the Senate if they were to subject Trump s Supreme Court nominee to a simple up or down vote. If Judge Gorsuch fails to earn 60 votes and fails to demonstrate he is mainstream enough to sit on the high court, we should change the nominee not the rules, Schumer said in a Wednesday press conference. When pressed by Sinclair Broadcast Group, he acknowledged that there was no hard and fast rule subjecting every Supreme Court nominee to approval by a supermajority, but we believe in a 60-vote threshold. That belief is different from a rule. And Republicans are now arguing that even though the last four nominees to the Supreme Court were forced to overcome the 60-vote threshold for their lifetime appointments, it is not the standard.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday that his Democratic colleagues are invoking a mythical 60 vote standard that doesn t exist, because of their 2016 electoral loss. A 60-vote threshold has never been the standard for a Supreme Court nomination. The 60-vote standard was even debunked by the Washington Post fact-checker two months ago, saying Democrats were using misleading and slippery language. The claims by Schumer and other leading Democrats earned Two Pinocchios.Via: FOX 57 | 0 |
7,557 | Chile's presidential hopefuls wrap up campaigning ahead of Sunday vote | SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile s presidential hopefuls wrapped up campaigning on Thursday in a race that has pitted billionaire Sebastian Pinera s promise for change against center-left candidate Alejandro Guillier s defense of a recent raft of progressive reforms. With their six rivals trailing far behind, Pinera and Guillier are widely expected to place first and second, respectively, in Sunday s election, allowing them to move on to an eventual Dec. 17 run-off. Pinera, a 67-year-old former president, has portrayed himself as the best bet for reviving growth that has slowed in recent years in the world s No.1 copper producer. He has vowed to cut the corporate tax rate and scale back outgoing President Michelle Bachelet s tax, labor and education reforms that Guillier has vowed to deepen. Bachelet cannot run for office again because of term limits. Chileans face an important decision. They re going to have to choose between change or continuity, Pinera told journalists on Thursday on the last day for campaigning before the election. Guillier, a bearded former journalist-turned-Senator, has tapped concerns that Pinera would mark a setback for gains made in Bachelet s government for students, women and workers - from lowered university fees to laws that have empowered unions. This is an election to define the two Chiles, Guillier said. Support for education, health care and rights, or a return to the market. Neither candidate marks a sharp departure from the historically moderate leaders that have governed Chile since the country s transition to democracy from dictatorship in 1990. But if Pinera wins as expected, this year s election would mark another rightward shift in South America following the rise of conservative leaders in Peru, Argentina and Brazil. Pinera s and Guillier s rivals passed out leaflets and chatted up voters in a final bid to shore up support, or at least help their parties win seats in the next Congress. Analyst group Tresquintos said leftist candidate Beatriz Sanchez, a distant third in opinion polls, has zero chance of catching up to Guillier. The probability of Pinera securing at least 50 percent of votes needed to avoid a runoff election was only slightly better at 0.001 percent, it added in an email. Still, riding high with more than double Guillier s support in recent polls, Pinera urged Chileans to make it short and vote for him on Sunday to give him an outright win. | 1 |
7,558 | SHOCKING VIDEO CONNECTS BEYONCÉ And OBAMA TO DALLAS COP KILLER | Because Bob Price at Breitbart News had the courage to attend and film an unbelievable Black Panther rally aimed at threatening cops in Houston last year, America was able to see just exactly how hateful and dangerous this group really is. Obama s celebrity bestie, Beyonc promoted the Black Panthers to a staggering 114.4 MILLION viewers in her anti-cop, anti-white performance during her Super Bowl 2016 halftime act. Her over-the-top performance included Black Panther clad dancers who proudly displayed the divisive black power fist.The mainstream media ignored her hateful performance. Impressionable young Americans who ve been watching Obama s race war unfold didn t. Beyonc wasn t promoting the Girl Scouts of America, she was promoting a HATE group who openly vocalizes their desire to KILL COPS! Thanks to Bob Price, we now know the Dallas cop killer was part of that group.Only hours before the Dallas cop killer took the lives of 5 innocent American law enforcement officers, Beyonc posted this rant to her website:Dallas cop killer Micah X. Johnson was a member of the radical, violent Black Panthers, the same group that Beyonce promoted at the 2016 Super Bowl. Our current President marched with them in 2007. Obama s AG, Eric Holder gave them a pass, after they were caught in the act of blatantly intimidating voters during the 2008 election. Micah X. Johnson was a member of the Houston New Black Panther Party for a short period of time. He was reported to be a member for about six months a few years ago.Quanell X told reporters at KPRC NBC2 in Houston that Johnson was a member of the Houston Chapter of the New Black Panther Party for a short time a few years ago. He said he parted ways with Johnson after about six months because Johnson would not follow the chain of command.During negotiations with the Dallas Police Department Friday morning during the ambush shooting that left five officers dead and seven other people shot, Johnson said he was not part of any group. He stated he wanted to kill white people and white police officers.WATCH this shocking video showing the Black Panthers (including Dallas cop murderer) openly calling for the killing of cops: Breitbart Texas was present at an armed march carried out by the Houston New Black Panther Party in Waller County last summer. This writer took photos and video of the armed marchers at that time. One of the members holding an AR-15 style rifle appears to be Micah Xavier Johnson.During the march, the armed members of the New Black Panther Party stood off against Harris County Sheriff s Deputies who came to Waller County responding to a request for assistance from Sheriff Glenn Smith.This writer stood between the protesters and the deputies to take these photos and video. Via: Bob Price, Breitbart NewsNot surprisingly, Barack Obama also has a history with the vile, racist Black Panther group. Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Ala., in March 2007.BigGovernment.com posted the photographs, reporting the images were captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before they were scrubbed.Among the people visible in the pictures with Obama is NBPP Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz, a defendant in the voter intimidation case that Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed in 2009.Shabazz himself has given scores of speeches condemning white men and Jews.The NBPP s official platform states white man has kept us deaf, dumb and blind, refers to the white racist government of America, demands black people be exempt from military service and uses the word Jew repeatedly in quotation marks. WNDIt should come as no surprise to anyone that Beyonc has endorsed the pandering Hillary Clinton. Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton paid a surprise visit to Beyonc during last week s fundraising trip to Los Angeles. Hillary praised Beyonc while speaking to a crowd at a town hall in Iowa City, Iowa in December. I want to be as good a president as Beyonce is a performer, Hillary responded after she was asked if she would rather be Beyonc or president. Breitbart NewsThis hateful movement promoted by our President and supported by celebrities and hate groups across America is growing. America needs to wake up to this hate and division and stop supporting those who are working behind the scenes to promote it. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX. | 0 |
7,559 | WOW! HERE ARE FOUR LAWS Hillary Clinton Appears To Have Broken [Video] | Former Attorney General Michael McKasey lists 4 laws Hillary Clinton appears to have broken: There s one that says you can t put classified information in an unclassified setting. That s the one that General Petraeus was convicted of on his own plea. There s one that says that you can t expose national secrets through gross negligence. Then there s one that says you can t destroy government information. And then there s one that says you can t obstruct justice. | 0 |
7,560 | Chinese ambassador to U.S.: Sovereignty not a 'bargaining chip' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a veiled warning to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, China’s ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday that Beijing would never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity. Ambassador Cui Tiankai, speaking to executives of top U.S. companies, said China and the United States needed to work to strengthen their relationship. “The political foundation of China-U.S. relations should not be undermined. It should be preserved,” Cui said. “And basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored, certainly not be seen as something you can trade off,” he said. “And indeed, national sovereignty and territorial integrity are not bargaining chips. Absolutely not. I hope everybody would understand that.” He did not specifically mention Taiwan, or Trump’s comments last weekend that the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its nearly four-decade policy of recognizing that Taiwan is part of “one China.” Cui’s remarks were in line with recent protests from China’s Foreign Ministry, which regards the “one China” principle as the “political basis” for U.S.-China ties.. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. China considers Taiwan independence a red line issue. On Thursday, China’s influential state-run tabloid the Global Times said China needed to take the lead in deciding the island’s future. “It is hoped that peace in the Taiwan Straits won’t be disrupted. But the Chinese mainland should display its resolution to recover Taiwan by force. Peace does not belong to cowards,” it said in an editorial. Trump, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” suggested that the U.S. position on Taiwan could become part of his pledge to negotiate more favorable trade terms with China. “I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said. Trump’s comments came after he prompted a diplomatic protest from China over his decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s president on Dec. 2. U.S. corporate executives are increasingly pessimistic about their business prospects in China in light of tough restrictions on foreign investment in the country’s vast service sector, new cyber-security regulations that favor domestic technologies and weak enforcement of intellectual property protections. Earlier on Wednesday, news that Chinese officials may penalize a U.S. automaker for monopolistic pricing behavior pushed down shares of General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N). Cui did not mention the autos case, but said: “China will ensure that there is a level playing field, for all companies, in China, both domestic and foreign.” | 1 |
7,561 | Maine GOP Governor’s Statement On Drug Overdoses Proves ‘Pro-Life Republicans’ Don’t Exist | If I were to tell you that Republicans simply hate regular American citizens, that wouldn t be news. To suggest that they just wish the poor, criminals, and other less advantaged segments of society would do them a favor and just die already, wouldn t come as a shock either.However, what is a bit shocking is to hear a Republican SAY IT so boldly and in such a smug and self-righteous manner.Maine s Republican governor, Paul LePage, just vetoed a bill that would allow pharmacists to provide anti-overdose drugs for use on victims without a prescription. If that isn t bad enough, wait till you read his reason why.Pro-life? Yeah right.LePage proudly announced his support of increased overdose deaths, saying that using anti-overdose drugs serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction. LePage said that the drug, Naxolone, doesn t save lives it only extends them until the next overdose.A governor of a U.S. state just literally said that he would rather his own citizens DIE than be able to get assistance with a drug that could prevent death long enough to get them to a hospital. HOW THE HELL IS HE STILL IN OFFICE?Why stop there? Why not just say ALL medical treatment or medicine should be made unavailable because it only extends life? Got meningitis? Tough luck, you will only grow old and die anyway some day. Cancer? Screw you. Go die in the corner.It s important to remember too, that there is currently a serious heroin use epidemic going on in northeastern states, Maine in particular. Having this drug available without a prescription, to be kept in the case of an emergency, could mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people who struggle with addiction.Paul LePage is the perfect personification of all the hate, contempt, greed, and joy in the harm of others that is at the rotten heart of modern American conservatism. Pro-life, my ass.Watch Rachel rip the hell out of a genuinely terrible Republican below:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
7,562 | A Must Watch Video! Brilliant Take On How Hillary Clinton’s Lawlessness Gets Ignored | Hillary Clinton breaks the law, gets people who work for her killed, lies to the American people and she s still a media darling? How is that possible??? | 0 |
7,563 | Croatia wants to adopt euro within 7-8 years: prime minister | ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia aims to become a euro zone member within the next seven to eight years, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday. We don t want to specify the exact dates, but we want Croatia to become a euro zone member within two government terms in office, Plenkovic told an economic conference devoted to the introduction of the euro in Croatia. The centre-right government came to power a year ago. Plenkovic said Croatia wanted to enter the European exchange rate mechanism II (ERM-2) within the next three years, before the country takes the presidency of the European Union in 2020. EU members that have not yet adopted the euro are expected to participate for at least two years in ERM II, a mechanism aimed to ensure currency stability before joining the euro zone. The Croatian central bank already keeps Croatia s kuna currency in a narrow fluctuation band, roughly at between 7.3 and 7.7 to the euro, occasionally intervening on the local foreign exchange market mostly to ease appreciation pressures. Croatia s major challenge before adopting the euro is expected to be the reduction of public debt which is slightly above 80 percent of gross domestic product. Our goal is to reduce the public debt to 72 percent of GDP by 2020 ... We are undertaking a major fiscal consolidation and this year the budget gap will be even lower than last year s 0.9 percent of GDP, Plenkovic said. Central Bank Governor Boris Vujcic said Croatia was the most euroised EU country of those that had not yet adopted the euro. Some 75 percent of local deposits and 67 percent of local debt is denominated in the euro. Some 60 percent of Croatia s trade exchange is related to the euro zone, while 70 percent of tourism receipts comes from the euro zone countries, Vujcic told the conference. The most important benefits of euro adoption would be the removal of currency risk and lower interest rates, he said. Croatia took an obligation to adopt the euro when it joined the EU in 2013, but without a defined timetable. Vujcic said any fears among the population about prices soaring when the euro is adopted could be tackled by an obligation to display prices in both kunas and euros six months before an agreed euro zone entry date. | 1 |
7,564 | THE WHITE HOUSE RELEASES Portrait Of First Lady Melania Trump…And It’s Spectacular | From the White House website:First Lady of the United States Melania Trump is the wife of President Donald J. Trump, and was born on April 26, 1970 in Slovenia.The official White House portrait of the graceful and elegant First Lady Melania Trump: Melania Knavs began her modeling career at the age of sixteen. She would pursue a degree at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, but paused her studies to advance her modeling career in Milan and Paris before moving to New York in 1996. As a model, Melania has appeared in high profile ad campaigns and worked with some of the top photographers in the fashion industry, including Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, Arthur Elgort, Ellen Von Unwerth, Peter Arnell, Antoine Verglas and Mario Testino. She has graced the covers of Vogue, Harper s Bazaar, British GQ, Ocean Drive, Avenue, In Style, and New York Magazine. Her major layouts include the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Allure, Vogue, Self, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Elle. In addition, Melania has appeared in numerous television commercials and television programs, including co-hosting The View with Barbara Walters.With a penchant and passion for the arts, architecture, design, fashion and beauty, Melania has thrived on the cultural diversification of New York City. This passion can only be surpassed by her dedication to helping others, and her generosity has been noted. She was Honorary Chairwoman for Martha Graham Dance Company in April 2005, is an active member of the Police Athletic League which honored her with Woman of The Year 2006, has been an Honorary Chairwoman for The Boy s Club of New York for five consecutive years, and in 2005 The American Red Cross awarded her with Goodwill Ambassador which she has proudly served for four years. In April of 2008, she was asked by Love Our Children USA and NASDAQ to participate in the Fifth Annual National Love Our Children Day and the beginning of National Child Abuse Prevention month by ringing the closing bell at NASDAQ. In 2010, Melania was the Chairwoman for The American Heart Association which raised $1.7 Million for research. Melania s philanthropic interests represent her humanitarian side, and she remains an indefatigable and dedicated New Yorker.Melania married Donald Trump in January 2005. In March of 2006 they welcomed their first child, Barron William Trump.Melania is also a successful entrepreneur. In April 2010, Melania Trump launched her own jewelry collection.In 2006, Melania Trump proudly became a citizen of the United States of America. She is only the second First Lady born outside of the United States. The first was Louisa Adams, wife to John Quincy Adams, the nation s sixth president.Mrs. Trump cares deeply about issues impacting women and children, and she has focused her platform as First Lady on the problem of cyber bullying among our youth.We don t recall seeing Michelle Obama s official portrait, but we re guessing it looked something like this:The scowl on her face pretty much symbolized Michelle Obama s 8 torturous years, as the most angry First Lady to ever occupy our White House. | 0 |
7,565 | Labor nominee Puzder faces uncertainty as confirmation hearing looms | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. Republican senators have not yet said whether they will support labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder, raising suspense about whether he will survive an initial confirmation hearing this week. The four senators - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Johnny Isakson of Georgia - all sit on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which will on Thursday hold the first confirmation hearing for Puzder, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Labor Department. Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which franchises restaurants, including Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has faced staunch opposition from Democrats and protests from union-backed groups about policies at CKE’s food chains. Along with now-confirmed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, he has been one of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks. Through statements and spokespeople on Monday, the four Republican senators indicated they have some outstanding questions for Puzder but stressed they had not made a final decision. They would not say whether they had specific concerns. If a committee majority backs Puzder’s nomination, he will come up for a vote before the full, Republican-controlled Senate, where his confirmation could only be derailed if at least three Republicans break with their party. Puzder’s committee hearing has been postponed several times amid delays with his ethics paperwork. Fast food worker advocates say they are concerned about his prior criticism of an overtime rule proposed by the Obama administration and his opposition to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current $7.25 rate. Puzder’s nomination has sparked protests by workers who allege CKE has stolen their wages and violated other labor laws at Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. locations around the country. Puzder has also come under fire for racy restaurant ads featuring bikini-clad women eating burgers, and for his admission to previously hiring an undocumented worker. In addition, a non-profit group plans to ask a Missouri court on Tuesday to unseal Puzder’s divorce records, after the news media reported on old court records in which Puzder’s ex-wife accused him of physical abuse. Puzder has denied those allegations, and his ex-wife has since retracted them. Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Charles Schumer, are expected to vigorously oppose Puzder’s nomination, and Schumer has repeatedly called on Puzder to withdraw his name from consideration. But the 48 senators who caucus with the Democrats can only defeat him if they are able to convince three Republicans. Last week, both Collins and Murkowski joined with Democrats to oppose DeVos’ nomination, but Vice President Mike Pence was called in to break the tie and she was confirmed. “I’ve had two conversations with Mr. Puzder. I think there are outstanding questions that I’m sure will be delved into at his hearing,” Collins said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Murkowski said the senator “wants to know more” about Puzder, while a spokesman for Isakson said he is “taking all the facts under consideration before making his decision.” A spokeswoman for Scott said he has consistently declined to comment on all nominees in advance of their hearing. Puzder, meanwhile, has no plans to withdraw his name from consideration, according to his spokesman George Thompson. “Andy is so looking forward to his hearing. He will finally have an opportunity to express his commitment to workers and to businesses and to ensure that folks know his true record for protecting workers and creating jobs,” Thompson said. | 1 |
7,566 | Food and drug chief Gottlieb skirts health secretary talk, says most effective at FDA | (Reuters) - U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, considered a potential successor to recently departed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, said on Tuesday he believed he could best serve the Trump administration in his current role. “I feel like I want to continue to follow through on the policies we’ve put out and it’s where I think I can be most effective,” Gottlieb told Reuters in an interview in New York. He declined to say whether he had been approached about the job by the White House. “I’m not going to get into private discussions I might have had around that,” he said. Gottlieb is one of several potential candidates for the top job at HHS, a post vacated by Price last month following an uproar over his use of private jets for government business. Other names mentioned by health policy experts include Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Gottlieb has won mostly positive reviews since taking over as FDA commissioner in May. He has introduced policies tackling some of the country’s biggest health challenges, including opioid and tobacco addiction and rising prescription drug prices. The top post at the FDA has always been difficult to fill, Gottlieb noted, and there have been long stretches where the agency has operated under an acting commissioner. Gottlieb once served as senior adviser to FDA commissioner Mark McClellan, who left the agency in 2004 after just two years to run CMS, a move that Gottlieb said was detrimental to the agency. “It’s always challenging to move an FDA commissioner,” he said. “Continuity of leadership there is important.” In a wide-ranging interview, Gottlieb said the situation on the ground in Puerto Rico, where 10 percent of drugs prescribed in the United States are made, was “very bad” and that shortages of some drugs could emerge within as little as two to three weeks. He also said the agency is going to more clearly define regulations around cell therapies. The law currently states that if a cell is extracted from a patient’s body and more than minimally manipulated it is a drug subject to FDA regulation. “Historically the FDA hasn’t vigorously enforced around that line because it didn’t have the implementing guidelines to do that,” he said. At the same time, the agency plans novel measures to make it easier for small academic centers to apply for FDA product approval by pooling data generated from similar work. “If academicians working at different academic sites are doing a similar procedure with stem cells, if they are all following the same protocol, then they’re going to be able to pool their data to submit it for regulatory approval,” he said. | 1 |
7,567 | Clinton Wins Big In New York Democratic Primary (IMAGE/VIDEO) | New York loves Hillary Clinton, and they really turned out to show her that in tonight s primary. Her 56.7% to Sanders 42.4 percent means a huge delegate and popular vote win, with Clinton picking up 129 delegates. This also means that she breaks the 7-state winning streak that Bernie Sanders has enjoyed over her. The results were called a mere 40 minutes after voting ended at 9 PM EST.Here is a map of how the delegate counts shook out for tonight s Democratic Primary in New York, via Raw Story:Always classy, Secretary Clinton tried made sure that people understood that there is more that unites us as Democrats, rather than divides us, whether you supported her or Senator Sanders.Congratulations, Madame Secretary! No matter who wins this nomination, vote BLUE in November!Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | 0 |
7,568 | Alleged ringleader of 2010 migrant massacre in Mexico arrested | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The alleged mastermind of one of the worst massacres of migrants in Mexico s long drug war was detained on Tuesday in an operation led by federal police. Mexican security authorities said in a statement that the suspect whom they named only as Martiniano de Jesus N allegedly coordinated the massacre of 72 migrants in the town of San Fernando in northern Tamaulipas state in August 2010. The 56-year-old suspect, also believed to be involved in more recent violent crimes, was detained at a hospital in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital of Tamaulipas, according to the statement. In one of the worst atrocities in Mexico s prolonged drug war, the 72 bodies were found in an empty building at a remote ranch some 90 miles (145 km)from the Texas border. The victims were mostly Central and South American migrant workers and appeared to have been blindfolded and bound before they were lined up against a wall and gunned down. | 1 |
7,569 | GERMANY KICKING RESIDENTS OUT To Make Way For Refugees: Nurse Shocked After Being Kicked Out Of Same Flat For 16 Years | Stories of governments removing citizens from their homes and apartments in European nations and replacing them with migrants in need of government subsidized housing is becoming more and more common. The Obama regime set the ball in motion for fair share housing or social engineering. Will our legislators be able to stop the insanity of displacing citizens who are receiving housing subsidies from our government in favor of refugees or illegal aliens? Having lived in the same flat for 16 years, a German woman is being forced to move out to make way for refugees, because building a new shelter is too expensive. The 51 year-old nurse, who has helped asylum seekers in the past, was shocked by the news.Bettina Halbey, who lives alone in the small town of Nieheim, received a letter from her landlord and the local municipality at the start of September, Die Welt newspaper reported on Thursday. I was completely shocked and I can t even begin to find the words to describe how the city has treated me, Halbey told the German publication. I have had to go through a lot of difficulties recently, and then I get this notice. It was like a kick in the teeth. Halbey will have until May 2016 to find a new place to live, along with her dog and her cat. The three-story building, where she rented a 90 sq/m flat will now be turned into accommodation for refugees, who are seeking to make Germany their new home.The mayor of Nieheim, Rainer Vidal, which has a population of just over 6,000, defended the decision to send the nurse packing, saying converting the building would be the cheapest option. A new residential unit for 30 refugees in Nieheim would cost 30,000 ($33,600). This solution will cost me nothing, he told Die Welt.Over half the population of Germany lives in rented accommodation and the country has laws to defend the rights of tenants. Normally, only a private individual can terminate the terms of a contract for personal use. A municipality cannot move into a flat as a legal entity, so the process is legally highly questionable, Ulrich Ropertz, spokesman of the German Tenants Federation, told the Telegraph. Via: RT News | 0 |
7,570 | White House budget chief expects delay in hitting debt limit | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said on Monday he expects the Treasury secretary to use extraordinary cash management measures after the government’s current debt ceiling extension expires on March 15. “The secretary of the Treasury actually makes the decision and I expect him to do what all previous secretaries of the Treasury have done, at least all the ones that I’m familiar with, to use those measures to extend that date,” Mulvaney said in an interview on Fox News. “But we will deal with it,” he said, “certainly” before Congress recesses in August. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at his Senate confirmation hearing last month that he would like to see an increase in the debt ceiling “sooner rather than later” to avoid another standoff with Congress that could upset financial markets. The United States is one of few nations in which the legislature must approve periodic increases in the legal limit on how much money the federal government can borrow. Rather than setting a specific dollar limit on the debt, Congress in 2015 simply suspended the ceiling until March 15, allowing normal borrowing to continue. The debt ceiling will reset at the total debt level outstanding on that day, but Congress will need to approve a new debt ceiling or extension. As of Feb. 23, the federal debt stood at about $19.88 trillion, according to Treasury data. But analysts estimate that Treasury can continue to borrow and avoid a payment default for several months past March 15 even with no action from Congress as it deploys its extraordinary cash management measures. In the past, the Treasury has been able to stave off depletion of its cash reserves with steps such as temporarily halting investments in some pension funds for federal workers and suspending sales of certain securities to state and local governments. Although such steps are known as “extraordinary measures,” they are routinely used by Treasury during debt ceiling debates. In 2011, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time after a gridlocked Congress waited until the government was possibly within hours of defaulting on its debt to raise the ceiling. | 1 |
7,571 | MAJOR Ad Vendor Bans Breitbart For Hate Speech, Trump LIVID | You know how Donald Trump has been trying to convince us that Steve Bannon is a great guy and his publication, Breitbart, is just a news website that isn t a haven for white supremacists, white nationalists, and a diverse array of racists, bigots, and people who are fine with racism? Well, that s going to be just a teensy bit harder now after the publication was banned by an ad vendor for hate speech. Breitbart is just a publication, Trump said in a recent interview with the New York Times. They are certainly a much more conservative paper, to put it mildly, than the New York Times. But Breitbart really is a news organization that has become quite successful. It s got readers, and it does cover subjects on the right, but it covers subjects on the left also. It s a pretty big thing. There s no question that Breitbart is a big thing, but that s not exactly a good thing when it s something that Bannon himself described Breitbart as the platform for the alt-right, a term used to describe white supremacists who took a day off of abusing methamphetamines to throw on a suit and complain about the plight of white people in a seemingly legitimate setting. Nevertheless, Trump says he would never have hired Bannon had he any indicator (like an admission from Bannon that he runs a large platform for white supremacists) that he was alt-right: I ve known Steve Bannon a long time. If I thought he was a racist, or alt-right I wouldn t even think about hiring him. The Donald says that he intends to get to the bottom of what is energizing the extreme Right (him) and find out why (because he appeals to racists).Trump s decision to appoint a white nationalist to a high-level position spurred AppNexus, a major advertising technology provider, to look into what sort of operation Bannon had birthed and they didn t like what they found:AppNexus Inc., a major advertising technology provider, has barred Breitbart News from using its ad-serving tools because the conservative online publisher violated its hate speech rules.AppNexus scrutinized Breitbart s website after U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump tapped Steve Bannon, former executive chairman of Breitbart, to be White House chief strategist last week. The digital ad firm decided the publication had breached a policy against content that incites violence, said AppNexus spokesman Joshua Zeitz. We did a human audit of Breitbart and determined there were enough articles and headlines that cross that line, using either coded or overt language, he said.Bloomberg notes that while Breitbart does not buy ads from AppNexus directly, the ban means that they will not receive ads from the ad server the company runs and this will likely lower the price of ads on the site which means less money for the modern day Neo-Nazis.Will more advertising companies follow suit? Only time will tell but the pressure is certainly on!Featured image via Getty Images (Ben Jackson) | 0 |
7,572 | RUDE! WATCH MEGYN KELLY Ask Pastor Who Supports Moore: ‘Aren’t You Worried About the Teenage Girls in the D.C. Area?’ | WOW! MEGYN KELLY IS CLEARLY DESPERATE FOR RATINGS You won t believe this interview. Megyn Kelly keeps attacking Alabama Pastor Mike Allison in a cringe-inducing interview. She should be ashamed of herself for this interview. It s awful!KELLY: Aren t you worried at all about the teenage girls in the D.C. area if it is true?ALLISON: No. I m not worried about the teenage girls in the D.C. area because of Roy Moore. There s absolutely no record of him carrying on like this at all. And these allegations, from what I understand, are all 30 and 40 years of age. I believe if he was that type of an individual, there would be a strong string of this stuff going on. It hasn t happened.Pastor Mike Allison is fantastic in his commentary against a clearly desperate Kelly. She s embarrassing herself!OUR LAST REPORT ON MEGYN KELLY SHOWS SHE S JUMPED ON THE BANDWAGON OF THE ME TOO CROWD ALL FOR RATINGS:Last week, it was NBC s Never-Trump Megyn Kelly s chance to exact revenge on President Trump, who after attacking him during his first debate, lost her conservative Fox News fanbase and basically saw her promising career come to a screeching halt. NBC picked up Kelly in a $23 million per year contract in a gamble that liberals would warm up to the formerly conservative host. NBC has since found out that conservatives no longer want anything to do with Kelly, and liberals despise her for her past performances as a top-rated host on conservative-leaning FOX News.Twitter users were on fire after Megyn Kelly did her part to help tear down President Trump (again):Megyn Kelly,You and your employer need to smear Trump but there's nothing left to accuse him of so you're going to re-interview Trump accusers who've already been proven pos liars?How desperate you must be. Philip Schuyler (@FiveRights) December 11, 2017Megyn Kelly traipsed out a trio of Donald Trump accusers on her failing show. Rest assured, there will be many more liberal accusers who come out against Donald Trump, as racism appears to have lost its glow, as a means to draw voters into the Democrat Party, as Americans have become tired of watching Democrats constantly drawing from the bottom of the deck, as a way to cloud Trump s Make America Great Again agenda of a pro-growth economy, jobs, education, lower taxes, and America first.Megyn Kelly, who is desperate for ratings, must have been incredibly disappointed when breaking news of a botched suicide bomber attack in New York City was reported at the same time her Democrat Donald Trump accuser was telling her story on her show.Daily Mail A trio of the president s accusers reemerged on Monday to hound him for sexually harassing them.Samantha Holvey, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks had previously made allegations against Trump and appeared on Megyn Kelly Today to demand justice as the White House resumed its claim that the issue had been litigated in last year s election. All of a sudden, he s all over, me, kissing and groping and groping and kissing, said Leeds, a self-proclaimed Democrat, who says she revealed her story because I wanted people to know what kind of a person that Trump really is what a pervert he is. This is the same Jessica Leeds that accused Trump of sexual harassment.Think Megyn Kelly will bring this picture up?Think she ll bring up the time that Jessica Leeds was in a two year property law suit with Trump? pic.twitter.com/AvdEyYu8Ew WhiteNitemare (@Carl_Anthony215) December 11, 2017Leeds claims that Trump assaulted on a plane in the 70s and called her a c*** when he ran into her some time later at a party in New York while he was still married to his first wife Ivana.Megyn Kelly asked former Trump accuser Jessica Leeds what she wants other women to know about sexual harassment. Leeds replied, We have a problem in that we have been enculturated all of this time for all of this time, for years and years and years, to be compliant. Leeds went on to say, For the woman who voted for Trump, they just didn t want to vote for a woman It became reasonably difficult to believe a single work Leeds had to say when she used the word enculturated when referring to her alleged meeting with Donald Trump. It became impossible to believe a word she said when Leeds followed up her comment by exposing her bitter feelings towards women for not voting for Hillary. The only thing missing from Leeds during her appearance on the Megyn Kelly show was her pussy hat and an I m a committed Democrat Feminist tattoo on her forehead. Watch:WATCH: "If there are other women out there, what do you want them to know?" Megyn asks Trump accusers Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey & Rachel Cooks on #MegynTODAY pic.twitter.com/YPt1CxieUA Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) December 11, 2017Watch Crooks tell Megyn her alleged story here: Is it true he [Trump] asked for your phone number? @megynkelly Yeah I remember saying, What do you need that for? Trump accuser Rachel Crooks on @MegynTODAY pic.twitter.com/OCX1ZpnV2J TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 11, 2017Watch the obvious excitment of Megyn Kelly to be able to pretend as though she s relevant with a breaking news announcemnt with the official White House response to the allegations:WATCH: Statement the @WhiteHouse just provided to #MegynTODAY pic.twitter.com/0hahP6goW1 Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) December 11, 2017Daily Mail The two other women said that Trump s conduct while he was a businessman left them shocked and devastated and feeling very gross and very dirty. I was so uncomfortable, and a little, yeah, threatened, like I didn t have a choice, Crooks on Monday said.Kelly s program was preempted in New York as an explosion went off in Manhattan. Her show aired in other parts of the country, however, including Washington.Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant, said that Trump came backstage in 2006 and reviewed the women while they were indecent.She recalled thinking at the time that it would be a meet and great with Trump. But it wasn t.The former Miss North Carolina says Trump was just looking me over like I was just a piece of meat. I was not a human being. I did not have a brain I did not have a personality. I was just simply there for his pleasure. It left me feeling very gross, very dirty, like this is not what I signed up for. Here s how Twitter responded to Megyn s show: You know the Russia narrative is over when Megyn Kelly is having Trump accusers on her show.It will be never ending the next 3-7 years.The media is becoming the little boy that cried wolf.If they ever did find REAL dirt on Trump, no-one will believe them. Josh (@JoshNoneYaBiz) December 11, 2017Megyn Kelly is interviewing the lying 3 blind mice Trump accusers to save her failing show. Hope it s the final blow revealing to all that it s all about Megyn, for Megyn & nothing but Megyn s self serving ass who owes Trump gratitude for her relevancy. Tiff (@LATiffani1) December 11, 2017 | 0 |
7,573 | Temer warns pension reform failure will hurt Brazil's credibility | BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil s President Michel Temer warned on Friday the country would face economic volatility and loss of international credibility if a bill overhauling its costly social security system is not passed by Congress early next year. Speaking to reporters, Temer acknowledged that corruption accusations had undermined his popularity and delayed passage of a pension reform bill that is now scheduled to be put to a vote on February 19. He said his government would not support a candidate in the 2018 presidential elections that does not back pension reform. | 1 |
7,574 | Iraq to declare final victory over Islamic State after desert campaign | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday Islamic State had been defeated from a military perspective but he would only declare final victory after IS militants were routed in the desert. Iraqi forces on Friday captured the border town of Rawa, the last remaining town under Islamic State control, signaling the collapse of the group s caliphate proclaimed after it overran much of Iraq s north and west in 2014. Securing desert and border areas is what remains in the campaign against Islamic State, military commanders say. From a military perspective, we have ended the presence of Daesh in Iraq, Abadi said while addressing a weekly news conference, referring to Islamic State by an Arabic acronym. God willing we will announce very soon after the end of the purification operations victory over Daesh in Iraq. Abadi s comments came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared the end of Islamic State while a senior Iranian military commander thanked the thousands of martyrs killed in operations organized by Iran to defeat the militant group in Syria and Iraq. Political disagreements will pave the way for the Sunni militant group to carry out attacks, however, Abadi said. He was referring to the central Baghdad government s dispute with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government over the latter s declaration of independence following a Sept. 25 referendum. Any disagreement between political factions will encourage Daesh to carry out terrorist attacks, he said. I call on our Kurdish brothers to avoid fighting. Hours before Abadi spoke, at least 23 people were killed and 60 wounded when a suicide bomber set off a truck bomb near a crowded marketplace in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmatu, south of the oil city of Kirkuk. Abadi praised a federal court verdict that ruled the Kurdish referendum unconstitutional and called on Kurds not to resort to violence. Iraq s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Monday that the referendum was unconstitutional and the results void, bolstering Baghdad s hand in a stand-off with the Kurdish region watched closely by neighbouring Turkey and Iran. I hail the federal court s decision to void the Kurdish region s referendum, he said. Kurds voted overwhelmingly to break away from Iraq in the referendum, defying Baghdad and alarming neighboring Turkey and Iran who have their own Kurdish minorities. The Iraqi government responded to the referendum by seizing Kurdish-held Kirkuk and other territory disputed between the Kurds and the central government. It also banned direct flights to Kurdistan and demanded control over border crossings. | 1 |
7,575 | TOP DETECTIVES GIVE REASONS They Are Shocked No Autopsy Will Be Performed On Justice Scalia: “I took a look at the report and I almost fell out of my chair” | The drum beat keeps getting louder. More and more Americans are questioning why there was no official investigation into the circumstances surrounding US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia s death. One of the most influential Justices in our nation was found dead (and alone) in a hotel room with a pillow over his head, yet the officials whose responsibility it should have been to conduct a formal investigation into his death, chose not to. Shouldn t a few alarm bells be going off? Veteran homicide investigators in New York and Washington, DC, on Monday questioned the way local and federal authorities in Texas handled the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It s not unreasonable to ask for an autopsy in this case, particularly knowing who he is, retired Brooklyn homicide Detective Patricia Tufo told The Post. He s not at home. There are no witnesses to his death, and there was no reported explanation for why a pillow is over his head, Tufo said. So I think under the circumstances it s not unreasonable to request an autopsy. Despite the fact that he has pre-existing ailments and the fact that he s almost 80 years old, you want to be sure that it s not something other than natural causes. Bill Ritchie, a retired deputy chief and former head of criminal investigations for the DC police, said he was dumbstruck when he learned that no autopsy would be performed. I took a look at the report and I almost fell out of my chair, Ritchie told The Post from his home in Maryland. I used to be an instructor in the homicide school. Every death investigation you are handling, you consider it a homicide until the investigation proves otherwise, Ritchie said. How do you know that person wasn t smothered? How do you know it s not a homicide until you conduct an investigation? You have to do your job. Once you go through that process, you can conclude that this is a naturally occurring death. Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara said she declared Scalia dead via telephone based on what cops and marshals at the scene told her that there were no signs of foul play. How in the world can that Texas judge, not even seeing the body, say that this is a heart attack? Ritchie wondered. A US marshal can t tell you. You need a medical professional. If this was Joe Blow, you say OK, 79 years of age, health problems, maybe natural causes. But this is a sitting justice of the Supreme Court! Guevara also spoke by phone with Scalia s physician, who told her Scalia had several chronic medical conditions and had gone to the doctor s last week for a shoulder problem, reports say.Scalia s family did not want an autopsy, she added. Via: NYP | 0 |
7,576 | podcast the serenity of stoicism | former united states department of state official dr steve pieczenik is a psychiatrist who has over years experience in resolving international crises for four us administrations
pieczenik was deputy assistant secretary of state under henry kissinger cyrus vance and james baker his expertise includes foreign policy international crisis management and psychological warfare he served the presidential administrations of gerald ford jimmy carter ronald reagan and george hw bush in the capacity of deputy assistant secretary
he has come forward with a series of videos that expose the clintons explains that they coopted many central facets of our government including the white house the judiciary the cia and the fbi and claims that the corrupt couple belongs to a highlevel pedophile ring
pieczenik explains that it was not the russians who provided information to wikileaks us intelligence offered the data to julian assange this countercoup is working against hillary clinton and her campaign
here pieczenik discusses the clintons connections to anthony weiner jeffrey espteins lolita express and more
in this video pieczenik reveals the details regarding democratic party fixer jeff rovin
dr pieczenik tells us the second american revolution is happening
i hope hes correct because we certainly need it delivered by the daily sheeple
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contributed by lily dane of the daily sheeple
lily dane is a staff writer for the daily sheeple her goal is to help people to wake the flock up | 1 |
7,577 | International observers will watch U.S. vote closely | VIENNA (Reuters) - Amid charges from Donald Trump that the U.S. presidential election could be “rigged” and concerns of rights activists that black voters may face undue obstacles, the head of an international observer team pledged a full review ranging from voting machines to racial bias as it began work on Tuesday. The team from the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that will monitor the Nov. 8 presidential and Congressional elections is set to be the biggest the organization has sent to the United States, tasked with checking the vote meets international standards. Republican candidate Trump’s apparent suggestion that the vote might not be free and fair has drawn an angry response from his opponents, who say it is baseless. Democrat Hillary Clinton has led Trump in national opinion polls in recent months. On Tuesday, an average of polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics website showed her with 48.1 percent of support compared to Trump’s 44.3 percent. Civil rights advocates have also said voters are more likely to face racial bias at this election than they have in 50 years, because of voting laws that several states passed after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the landmark anti-discrimination 1965 Voting Rights Act three years ago. “We do have concerns about voter registration, voter identification and also electronic voting,” the head of the OSCE mission, British lawyer and diplomat Audrey Glover said in a telephone interview, adding that the mission is impartial. “We always let the facts speak for themselves, so let’s see what happens,” she said. Allegations such as Trump’s, however, were for the U.S. authorities to follow up on while the OSCE observed, she added. “We’re not policemen.” The Shelby County v Holder Supreme Court ruling in 2013 struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act that was used to determine which areas with a history of discrimination had to obtain special permission before changing their voting laws. That has raised concerns among rights groups that laws on issues like voter identification have since been changed to make it more difficult for poor and minority voters to take part. The OSCE, which comprises much of Europe, Central Asia and North America, has also suggested that all electronic voting machines be required by law to leave a verifiable paper trail, though many states do not provide one. Glover said her team would seek to clarify where it legally can and cannot go, adding that states’ and counties’ stance on international observers was often not clear. Texas also threatened OSCE observers with prosecution four years ago, which the organization called “unacceptable” at the time. Glover, however, struck a conciliatory tone. “If the law says international observers are not allowed, then obviously we won’t try and go. We’re not going to try and make any sort of a scene,” she told Reuters. But the biggest hindrance might be self-inflicted. The OSCE had hoped to deploy 100 so-called long-term observers in the coming week, but OSCE states - including Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Finland, Bosnia - have only provided 26. Up to 400 short-term observers will begin work close to Election Day. “We’ll do what we can with what we’ve got,” Glover said. “We will try and make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear and we will try and cover the whole of the United States, or to the extent that is feasible.” | 1 |
7,578 | PORTRAIT OF HILLARY Sets Off Security Dogs…Briefly Shuts Down Art Tent | A portrait of Punk Hillary set off two security dogs at an Art Miami tent we think they know a criminal when they see one. The truth is that the police still don t have an answer of on this mystery. We just want to know who would pay $4,000 for such a horrendous portrait of Crooked Hillary .Via Tampa Bay Times:When two security dogs reacted to a suspicious crate before an Art Miami tent opening early Saturday morning, Miami police officers briefly shut down the area for a few hours to investigate the possible threat.But when they opened up the offending crate, officers found something else instead: a punky portrait of Hillary Clinton in a studded jacket and shaggy pink haircut, in a neon picture frame to match.Fair director Nick Korniloff said that the two dogs reacted to the crate during a pre-show check shortly after 8 a.m., prompting organizers to clear the site. Both the Art Miami tent and a tent for Context, connected by a tunnel, were closed off. The package was then searched and the painting of the former Democratic presidential candidate was found inside.Police officers ran the 16 inch by 20 inch acrylic-on-wood artwork through an X-ray machine, which turned up no suspicious material. We had to err on the side of caution, Korniloff said. Both tents eventually reopened around 10 a.m.After the delay Saturday morning, both paintings were hung side-by-side in the Context tent, in a booth for a gallery called Spoke Art based in both New York and San Francisco.Gallery owner Ken Hashimoto said police still were unsure Saturday morning what about the art had caused the dogs to react.WE THINK THEY KNOW A CRIMINAL WHEN THEY SEE ONE READ MORE: TAMPA BAY | 0 |
7,579 | Canada works to counter protectionist mood of U.S. campaign | OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian diplomats are fanning out across the United States to talk up the benefits of trade with state and local leaders and counter what senior officials see as a worrying mood of protectionism swirling through the U.S. election campaign. Amid voter anger about the supposed harm done by international trade deals, both Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton have talked about altering the three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement. That could have calamitous results for Canada, which sends 75 percent of all its exports to the United States. From trade forums in Kentucky, California and Illinois addressing state legislators and small-business owners to meetings with mayors, labor unions and interest groups, a team of diplomats has gone coast to coast to explain how important Canada is as a trading partner. The diplomatic offensive comes amid concerns in Ottawa about both candidates, who opinion show are in a tight race ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Trump has talked about renegotiating the NAFTA treaty with Canada and Mexico to secure more favorable terms for the United States. But he has also said he would revive TransCanada Corp’s cross-border Keystone XL pipeline project, which Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration blocked over environment concerns. Clinton has said she opposes Keystone XL. Current and former government officials in Ottawa said a Clinton presidency posed its own challenges for Canada. They see the Democrat as tough on trade and more hawkish than Democratic President Barack Obama, who quickly struck up a warm relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. While tough talk on trade has occurred in previous U.S. election campaigns, “there is an undercurrent and a mood here which is concerning me,” said David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to Washington. A Clinton campaign representative declined to comment when asked about her approach to Canada if she were elected. Trump’s campaign could not immediately be reached for comment. MacNaughton, who took up the job in March, has already visited Denver, Colorado Springs and Boston and plans trips to Massachusetts, Michigan and California next month. An embassy spokeswoman said diplomats were intensifying their outreach effort and doing more events than usual. At every meeting, they hand out tip sheets showing Canada is the top export destination for 35 U.S. states and that 9 million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Canada. Trudeau will not say which candidate he favors, stressing he is happy to work with whomever U.S. voters elect. But his center-left Liberals have more policies in common with U.S. Democrats. Elected last October, he and Obama have become close, exchanging visits to each other’s countries. “Some of the issues that we are going to be facing will be very much the same regardless of who wins. ... I think we have to prepare to deal with some pretty difficult situations on the trade front,” said MacNaughton, adding that some Americans had little idea about the size of the U.S. trading relationship with Canada. Roland Paris, who served as Trudeau’s foreign policy adviser until late June, said Trump had tapped into some very strong anti-trade sentiment. “Those feelings aren’t going away any time soon ... we may be heading into some protectionist headwinds, even with a Hillary Clinton presidency,” he said. Trump and Clinton also oppose a proposed Pacific trade deal that could benefit Canada. One person with day-to-day knowledge of the U.S.-Canada trade file also predicted strains over Canadian exports of softwood lumber, as well as Canada’s system of protection for its dairy industry, which U.S. producers strongly dislike. Another potential area for concern is Canada’s defense spending, which is 0.98 percent of gross domestic product, far below the 2 percent commitment agreed on by NATO members. MacNaughton said that in his talks with Republicans and Democrats, both had raised the issue of “U.S. allies stepping up to the plate” in military terms. Trump stirred concerns among allies and even some Republicans earlier this year by saying he would decide whether to come to the aid of Baltic NATO allies in the event of Russian aggression only after reviewing if they “have fulfilled their obligations to us.” Former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson, who had several postings in the United States, also predicted hard discussions with Clinton administration officials over defense. “We will be circled because we are at 0.98 percent,” said Robertson, vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. That may not sit well with Trudeau’s government, which is pledging to run large budget deficits for at least the next five years to fund investment in infrastructure and social programs. A government source said Canada had taken part in a number of high-profile NATO missions and was ready to push back on demands to increase spending in the military. “We’re quite prepared and proud to stand up on our record and explain why there might be a discrepancy between numbers ... and our actual contribution,” said the source, who asked not to be identified given the sensitivity of the topic. | 1 |
7,580 | Viral Video Of ‘Liberal Redneck’ Hilariously DESTROYING Transgender Bathroom Laws Is MUST SEE | There s stupid, and then there are those who write laws based off their ignorance and stupidity. It d be nice if people could just keep their stupid to themselves, but alas, we have jerks writing laws to ban transgender men and women from using the bathroom.Calling out this stupid in the most real and raw way ever is Trae Crowder, who has dubbed himself in a very viral video The Liberal Redneck. He absolutely decimated the ignorance surrounding the law in a magical one minute and forty-five seconds.After describing some of the lame arguments given why the law is needed to protect kids, Crowder says: These are the same motherf*ckers that put Mountain Dew in sippy cups and beat a six-year-old with a wire hanger for standing in front of the TV during Dr. Oz. Adding: What do you think is gonna happen? You do know that transgender people have existed forever, right? What bathrooms you think they been using? Then, after saying that the majority of sex offenders are actually grown men, Crowder throws out this zinger: Unless you re also suggesting we have separate bathrooms for Catholic priests, I think you need to cut the shit. Then brilliantly, Crowder gets to the heart of it, and that s just that those writing the laws, or those who want the laws, simply just don t like the idea of transgender individuals. He said: Because like most things that disgust you, you lack the capacity to understand it. You know, h*mos, algebra sh*t like that. He closes by saying that whether these bigots like it or not, people like himself and those who actually have the capacity to embrace those different from ourselves, are going to ensure the world is a better, more accepting place for generations to come.Well done, Crowder, you got to the heart of it, called it out, and said it like it is.Watch the video here:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
7,581 | JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO: “We’re tired of being lectured to by the fat cats in Washington” [Video] | Next stop after BREXIT is the US! Judge Jeanine nails it and says we need to know the facts to fight this elitist agenda. We re tired of being lectured to by the fat cats in Washington . | 0 |
7,582 | Tillerson to discuss North Korea crisis, trade in China | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit China this week for talks that will include the crisis over North Korea s nuclear and missile programs and trade, the State Department said on Tuesday. Tillerson s trip, from Sept. 28 to 30, will also lay the groundwork for President Donald Trump s visit to China in November, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Tillerson s visit comes at a time of high tension between the United States and North Korea, China s neighbor and ally, which is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. President Donald Trump warned North Korea on Tuesday that any U.S. military option against North Korea would be devastating for Pyongyang, but said the use of force was not Washington s first option. China has urged a return to dialogue. Nauert called China s steps to implement tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea after its recent missile and nuclear tests significant. We have a good relationship with China, she told a regular news briefing, adding that this was evidenced by what would be Tillerson s second visit to China in nine months in office. China has taken enormous steps in the right direction. There is always more that countries can do, but at this point we want to thank China for the steps it has taken in the right direction. In Beijing on Wednesday, asked for details of Tillerson s visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing only that he would meet China s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. While backing U.N. sanctions, China, North Korea s main trading partner, opposes unilateral U.S. steps and has been worried Washington might move to freeze its banks out of the global financial system unless they cut ties to Pyongyang. On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against 26 more individuals as part of its non-proliferation designations for North Korea, as well as nine North Korean banks, including some with ties to China. Tillerson s visit to Beijing follows one by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who said on Monday China needed to guarantee fair and reciprocal treatment for U.S. firms, as he tried to strike an upbeat tone amid bilateral trade tension. China-U.S. ties have been strained by Trump s criticism of China s trade practices and by demands that Beijing do more on North Korea. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump met for the first time at Trump s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April. Trump has since played up his personal relationship with Xi, even while criticizing China over North Korea and trade. In August, Trump authorized an inquiry into China s alleged theft of intellectual property - his first direct trade measure against Beijing, a move China called irresponsible. | 1 |
7,583 | WATCH: Cartoon DESTROYS Trump, Shows Why He Shouldn’t Be President | Donald Trump is winning states and if his momentum continues, he will be the Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States. That statement is hard to write, harder to say, and the idea of Trump becoming the most powerful man in the world is the hardest to fathom. That s because Trump is textbook demagogy at its finest and he is decisive and narcissistic.Trump doesn t want to be president to help America. Proof for that statement is the fact that his call for violence, his racism, and his divisive nature have already hurt America. Rather, Trump wants to be president so he can be called president.Mark Fiore sums up Trump s demagogy very well in his new cartoon. He said: I m not saying he s Hitler or anything, but there is definitely something chilling about his cadence, his toying with demagoguery and longing for the days when we could sic the dogs on protestors and be done with these unseemly interruptions. This used to be funny but is now getting a little too close for comfort. (Although tactically, this may be the best thing for a more reasonable alternative because people in the United States would never vote for this guy for real, right? Right?) After watching this cartoon, one can t help but be puzzled at how this individual, who does not seem bright by any stretch of the imagination, and is clearly dangerous, has a shot at the most powerful position on earth. It s a frightening prospect. That s why it s so important to vote in November.Here s the video: [vimeo 159170550 w=500 h=281] Featured image via video screenshot. | 0 |
7,584 | Trump blasts states for refusing to hand over voter data | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump lashed out on Saturday at the growing number of states refusing to give voters’ names, addresses and sensitive personal information to a commission he created to investigate alleged voter fraud. “Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL,” he wrote on Twitter. “What are they trying to hide?” More than 20 states, including Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York and Massachusetts, have declined to provide some or all of the information, saying it was unnecessary and violated privacy. “This commission was formed to try to find basis for the lie that President Trump put forward that has no foundation,” Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes told Reuters previously in an interview. The Republican president has made unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election. Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, created in May, sent a letter to 50 states asking them to turn over voter information including names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories. The request from commission Vice Chairman Kris Kobach has caused a backlash from state election officials. Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson said in a statement on Friday that while certain voter information is available to the public, the media, and any other person who requests the information, “the information is restricted to name, address and congressional district assignment.” Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann had said in a statement that he did not see the letter but would rebuff the commission. “They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” he said. Trump won the White House through victory in the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states, but he lost the popular vote to Clinton by some 3 million votes. He has claimed he would have won the popular vote had it not been for voter fraud. Civil rights activists say the commission will encourage voter suppression by justifying new barriers to voting, such as requiring identity cards to vote. | 1 |
7,585 | Family Values: Eric Trump Says His Sister Is Hot Enough To Be His Dad’s Vice President (VIDEO) | Like father, like son. Eric Trump didn t miss a beat when he was asked whether or not his sister Ivanka could make a good vice president. Of course, he mused, she s got the looks.Eric was on Fox and Friends doing a fluff piece about his father when the discussion of vice presidential picks came up. Contrary to much of the information leaking out of the Trump campaign, the younger Trump was adament that people were begging his dad for the chance to be his vice president. Eric didn t mention a single actual name, which makes sense because it was a lie.According to many people the New York Times spoke to, the answer would be an emphatic no: Never, said Chris Schrimpf, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. No chance. Hahahahahahahahaha, wrote Sally Bradshaw, a senior adviser to Jeb Bush, when asked if he would consider it. Scott Walker has a visceral negative reaction to Trump s character, said Ed Goeas, a longtime adviser to the Wisconsin governor.Or, as Senator Lindsey Graham put it, That s like buying a ticket on the Titanic. Likewise, many of Trump s own top choices have since publicly rejected the offer including Iowa Senator Joni Ernst and Tennessee Senator Bob Corker.So Fox and Friends were left floating hypotheticals with Eric. They brought up Ivanka, whose only qualification appears to be that she briefly made a business out of selling scarves that were dangerously flammable. Eric was smitten with the idea in his own creepy way. I agree, she s got the beautiful looks. She s got she s smart. She s smart, smart, smart, she s certainly got my vote. She s got the beautiful looks?It appears Eric has taken after his dad in routinely objectifying and sexualizing the women in the Trump family. Donald Trump has spoken at length about the attractiveness of both of his daughters, including musing about the eventual size of daughter Tiffany s breasts while she was still an infant. For Ivanka he s said (joked?) several times that she is so attractive that he would be dating her if she weren t his own offspring. Yeah, she s really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren t happily married and, ya know, her father It s unclear whether Trump actually fantasizes about sleeping with his own daughter or if his own worldview is merely so warped by misogyny and sexist gender ideals that his only pride for a woman like Ivanka is that she grew up to be attractive. Neither option should instill confidence in this man. The fact that his son is showing the same tendency to reduce his sister to a sex object is equally troubling.And these are the people who are to represent the family values crowd. Good grief.Featured image via Fox News | 0 |
7,586 | Uganda denies corruption allegations against its foreign minister | KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda on Wednesday denied its foreign minister had engaged in corrupt activities with a Hong Kong man who has been charged with bribery and other violations by U.S. authorities. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, who heads the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), a charity based in Hong Kong and the U.S. state of Virginia, was charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ho was accused of among other issues of being involved with bribes and promises of other benefits to Sam Kutesa, Uganda s foreign affairs minister, in exchange for promises of business contracts for an unnamed Chinese firm. Kutesa is also a former president of the U.N. General Assembly. The Ugandan foreign ministry said the interaction and engagement that Kutesa had with Ho was in fulfilment of his official functions as president of the U.N. General Assembly . It is therefore erroneous to insinuate or infer that Hon. Sam Kutesa, from references made to him and CEFC...is linked to the bribery allegations, a statement said. Ho s attorney has declined to comment to Reuters on the charges. | 1 |
7,587 | Lebanon parliament speaker proposes vote by year-end | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s parliament speaker on Monday proposed holding a legislative election before the end of the year, bringing it forward from May 2018. The proposal supports the national interest ... (and is) in the spirit of the law where elections must be held as soon as possible, Nabih Berri said in a televised statement. The current parliament s mandate would, under the proposal, end on Dec. 31 with the election to take place before that date, he said. Lebanon s parliament has extended its own mandate three times since current lawmakers were elected in 2009 for what was meant to be a four-year term. In June the cabinet approved a new law which extended parliament s term for 11 months for technical reasons , tentatively setting elections for May 2018. Sectarian divisions have long plagued politics in Lebanon, exacerbated by the Syrian conflict and complicated by rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which back different groups in the country. Lebanese activists accuse politicians of using regional upheaval as an excuse to dodge elections. Political wrangling left the country without a president for 29 months before Michel Aoun was elected in October last year. | 1 |
7,588 | BREAKING BOMBSHELL: State Department Busted In Cover Up Regarding Hillary’s Server | They knew! Can you believe these people? FOX News reported earlier that the release of this report was delayed twice today. Now we know why they released it late. These people are sickening! Please never forget these American heroes left to die by this woman. The U.S. State Department told a watchdog group in 2013 that it didn t have any information about former secretary Hillary Clinton s emails, even though dozens of senior officials knew she was using a private server for all her electronic communications.A report released Thursday by the agency s inspector general a powerful and impartial internal investigator described a cavalier culture about transparency inside Clinton s agency, saying that 177 requests for documents about Clinton are still pending nearly three years after she left office. The Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to respond to requests for information within 20 business days. The botched FOIA request, filed in December 2012 just before Clinton left office, specifically asked whether or not Clinton used an email account other than one hosted at state.gov. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal group, was reacting to news that former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson had used an alias Richard Windsor to send and receive emails in a way that couldn t be tied to her when FOIA requests came in. In May 2013 the State Department responded to CREW s request, saying it had no records related to what the group asked for. By then, Clinton had spent four years emailing department employees from her private home-brew account, but had never turned the messages over to the State Department. That CREW request was filed in December 2012, just before Mrs. Clinton left office, and specifically asked whether Mrs. Clinton used anon-State.gov email account for government business. At the time the request was received, dozens of senior officials throughout the Department, including members of Secretary Clinton s immediate staff, exchanged emails with the Secretary using the personal accounts she used to conduct official business, the Office of Inspector General concluded. OIG found evidence that the Secretary s then-Chief of Staff was informed of the request at the time it was received and subsequently tasked staff to follow up. However, OIG found no evidence to indicate that any of these senior officials reviewed the search results or approved the response to CREW. The employees responsible for searching the State Department s records, the report says, never searched any email records, even though the request clearly encompassed emails. State has received an unprecedented crush of requests for Clinton-related documents 240 in all, a number bigger than those related to secretaries Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and John Kerry combined. But the inspector general found that the agency cut the number of people processing those FOIA requests as they poured in. Clinton s emails sat on her private server for years until the State Department asked her in 2014 to turn them over. She deleted more than half of the messages, calling them personal in nature, before complying. In the meantime, however, her emails were out of reach when federal employees searched for records that might satisfy FOIA requests.Read more: Daily Mail | 0 |
7,589 | GEORGETOWN University Will Track Down, Recruit And Admit Students Who Are Descendants Of Slaves They Sold in 1838 | Georgetown University has a 16.4% acceptance rate. That number just got smaller with their latest announcement to use the admissions office as a way to atone for their racist actions in 1838. The same Catholic university that invited Planned Parenthood s president, Cecile Richards to speak to their students in March, 2016, is now offering preferential treatment (reparations) for students related to slaves they sold almost 200 years ago. Social justice warriors have replaced religion in the majority of our Catholic universities and colleges. Our government is using political correctness to strip away the faith of the citizens and replace it with government dependency. They are determining what our values should be, as defined by government officials, like those of our radical President, Barack Obama and his radical predecessor Hillary Clinton Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to the descendants of slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits as part of its effort to atone for profiting from the sale of enslaved people.Georgetown president John DeGioia told news outlets that the university in Washington will implement the admissions preferences. He says Georgetown will need to identify and reach out to descendants of slaves and recruit them to the university.On Thursday morning, a university committee released a report that also called on its leaders to offer a formal apology for the university s participation in the slave trade.In 1838, two priests who served as president of the university orchestrated the sale of 272 people to pay off debts at the school. The slaves were sent from Maryland to plantations in Louisiana. NYP | 0 |
7,590 | Racism Wins The Day As S.C. Prepares To Vote For Trump | The New York Times reports that Donald Trump is going to win the South Carolina Republican primary and remind everyone just how unbelievably racist Southern Republicans are:With a campaign message about cracking down on illegal immigration and fighting Middle Eastern terrorism with methods including torture, Mr. Trump has built a commanding lead in South Carolina polls. His results in the two early-voting states so far have alarmed more traditional Republicans, who fear that a Trump nomination would solidify for nonwhite voters an image of Republicans as an angry and intolerant party. More traditional Republicans means the Republicans who are perfectly fine with their base being rabidly racist as long as they keep it out of sight. But after 50 years of the Southern Strategy in which Republicans appealed, almost nonstop, to the racial resentment and petty entitlement of white people in order to secure their vote, the base of the Republican Party has no room left for diversity.In other words, they built that.Just to be clear on how screwed Republicans are, Nate Silver s 538 predicts an 81% chance of a Trump victory in South Carolina. He s currently projected to win with 32% of the vote with Rubio and Cruz coming in at 19.4% and 18.8% respectively.The Times, like much of the media, is trying really, REALLY hard to blame the racism of the GOP base on Trump as if he summoned it from thin air. This is part and parcel of the unspoken pact to pretend that the Republican Party is not an angry and intolerant party. But anyone who s paid the slightest attention to what Republicans say and what they do is very aware that the rest of the party is exactly as racist as Trump, they re just smart enough not to say it out loud. As long as they use dog whistles and coded language, Republicans, aided by the corporate media, were able to pander to their racist base while still appealing to low-information independents that didn t pay attention. Trump is a threat because he s exposing them for who they really are and that will make them toxic to the majority of the country.If Trump, a pro-choice New Yorker that is not religious in any meaningful way can win big in Bible-thumping South Carolina, it shows that racism is, indeed, the prime motivating factor of the Republican Party.Good luck spinning that, corporate media!Featured image via AI archives | 0 |
7,591 | Reince Priebus Just Said ‘Every Single Thing’ Trump Does Is ‘Factual’ (VIDEO) | Reality show star turned president-elect Donald Trump earned himself Lie of the Year by PolitiFact and he s broken almost every campaign promise before being sworn in. The swamp is being filled with terrifying creatures, Mexico is not paying for the wall, Hillary Clinton won t be locked up and Obamacare won t be fully repealed. And that s just the short list. Still yet, incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus claims that every single thing Trump has done has been factual and he further said he is supported by 80 percent of Americans. By the way, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.86 million.Trump responded on Twitter Saturday to China s seizure of a U.S. naval drone by tweeting, [W]e don t want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it! Fox News host Chris Wallace called Priebus out over Trump s tweet. To defend Trump, Priebus said, I don t think it s all that provocative. You mean the One China policy is up for grabs? Wallace asked. We re not suggesting we re revisiting One China policy right now, Priebus said with a straight face. And he s not president right now and he s respectful to the current president. The Chinese ripped a drone out of the water, Priebus continued. President-elect said this is an unprecedented act, totally inappropriate. He didn t quite use those words, but that s essentially what he said in a tweet. Actually, Trump said it was unpresidented and he was mocked for that.Priebus said the U.S. military should not want that drone back after it was handled by the Chinese government. I think every single thing he s done has been factual and has been in line with where 80 percent of the American people are, Priebus said.Watch:Reince, lookie here:With Trump, consistency is king. pic.twitter.com/4RC6nSrA3L Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) December 18, 2016Last Sunday, Trump said in an interview on Fox News Sunday: I fully understand the One China policy, but I don t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade. Trump changes his mind like the wind. It just depends on what he wants to distract us from. And Priebus just lied about Trump s lies.Image via screen capture | 0 |
7,592 | Factbox: Global carmakers' operations in Mexico | (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump warned German car companies he would impose a border tax of 35 percent on vehicles imported to the U.S. market from Mexico, singling out luxury carmaker BMW for criticism following previous broadsides aimed at General Motors, Ford and Toyota. Mexico accounts for a fifth of all vehicle production in North America and has attracted more than $24 billion in auto investment since 2010, according to the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research. Auto assembly is projected to more than double in size between 2010 and 2020 as carmakers invest around $13 billion to move 3.3 million units of capacity from Japan, Germany and South Korea. Carmakers are attracted by Mexico’s unique free trade position as well as lower labor costs. Below are some facts on the operations of the main global carmakers with plants in Mexico. Production figures are according to the Mexican Automotive Industry Association. NISSAN (7201.T) 2015 production: 822,948 vehicles Nissan is the largest automaker operating in Mexico. It built its first overseas plant in Mexico 50 years ago and now produces mainly its entry-level Versa and Sentra sedans there. It exports roughly half of its output to the United States, where it also has production plants. Nissan and Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said this month he was watching the incoming Trump administration closely and would respond to whatever policies it adopts. GENERAL MOTORS (GM.N) 2015 production: 690,446 Trump has criticized GM for building cars in Mexico while laying off workers in the United States. GM said in 2015 it would invest $350 million to produce its next-generation Chevrolet Cruze compact cars in Mexico, as part of a $5 billion investment in its Mexican plants announced in 2014, creating 5,600 jobs. It has defended the arrangement as part of its strategy to serve global customers. In November, GM said it planned to lay off 2,000 employees at two U.S. auto plants in early 2017. When asked earlier this month about the company’s plans for investments in Mexico, GM CEO Mary Barra said she could not comment, but emphasized a willingness to cooperate with the incoming Trump administration. FIAT-CHRYSLER (FCHA.MI) 2015 production: 503,589 Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said this month that uncertainty over Trump’s trade and tax policies could lead automakers to delay investments in Mexico, and confirmed plans to create 2,000 jobs at his company’s U.S. factories with an investment of $1 billion. He said he had not made a decision on whether to move production of certain Ram heavy-duty pickups from Mexico to the Unites States. “If tomorrow morning President-elect Trump decides to impose a border tax on anything that comes up from Mexico, then we’ll have to adjust,” he said. VOLKSWAGEN (VOWG_p.DE) 2015 production: 457,517 Volkswagen has had a plant in Mexico for 50 years and is not shifting any jobs to Mexico from the United States. It has around 16,500 employees in Mexico, who built 345,000 engines as well as cars in 2015. In the United States, it has around 3,200 workers at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee which built 87,000 cars in 2015. It plans to invest $7 billion in the United States between 2015 and 2019. Its Audi luxury car brand opened a $1.3 billion factory in Mexico last year, its first in the country and eventually slated to be its only source globally for its Q5 SUVs. It plans initial production of 150,000 cars a year. FORD (F.N) 2015 production: 433,752 Ford scrapped a planned $1.6 billion Mexican car factory this month and added 700 jobs at a cost of $700 million in Michigan following criticism by Trump. It said it was a response to a decline in North American demand for small cars like those that would have been made at the plant, and CEO Mark Fields said Ford would have made the same decision even had Trump not been elected. Ford still plans to shift production from Michigan of its Focus compact car to an existing plant in Mexico. HONDA (7267.T) 2015 production: 203,657 Honda has two auto plants in Mexico, which together build around 100,000 motorcycles a year as well as cars. Vehicles made in Mexico comprise less than 10 percent of Honda’s total U.S. vehicle sales. Honda said in October it was shifting production of the new generation of its CR-V sport utility vehicle to the United States from Mexico. But its president said it had no immediate plans to curb production in Mexico, preferring to wait until after Trump’s inauguration. MAZDA (7261.T) 2015 production: 182,357 Mazda began producing cars in Mexico in 2014, with production of the Mazda3 sedan for the United States. Vehicles made in Mexico comprise around 30 percent of Mazda’s total U.S. vehicle sales. TOYOTA (7203.T) 2015 production: 104,810 Toyota plans to raise output from its plant in Baja California, Mexico to around 160,000 units by 2018. It is also building a plant in Guanajuato city which will have an annual capacity of 200,000 when it comes online in 2019. Trump took on Toyota earlier this month, warning the world’s largest automaker that it would face a “big border tax” if it exported Mexico-built cars to the U.S. market. Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in response: “We’re always considering ways to increase production in the United States, regardless of the political situation.” Vehicles made in Mexico comprise less than 10 percent of Toyota’s total U.S. vehicle sales. But it has said its Guanajuato plant under construction in Mexico will produce the entry-level Corolla sedan, a vehicle segment currently produced at its plants in Mississippi, Missouri, and Ontario, Canada. Toyota plans to invest $10 billion in the United States over the next five years, the same as in the previous five years. KIA (000270.KS), HYUNDAI (005380.KS) Kia is building a $1 billion plant in Mexico, with a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year, to cater for demand from North and South America. Affiliate Hyundai also plans to build its Accent small car at the Kia factory this year, two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters, shifting output out of high-cost South Korea. It will be the first Hyundai car to be made in Mexico. BMW (BMWG.DE) BMW is building a new plant in Mexico, where it plans to invest $2.2 billion by 2019 for annual production of 150,000 cars, with the output intended for the world market. It also has sizeable factories in the United States, where it builds higher-margin SUVs for export to Asia and Europe. DAIMLER (DAIGn.DE) Daimler has said it plans to begin assembling Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 2018 from a $1 billion facility shared with Renault-Nissan (RENA.PA), (7201.T) in Aguascalientes in Mexico. | 1 |
7,593 | Obama vetoes Sept. 11 Saudi bill, sets up showdown with Congress | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed legislation allowing families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia, which could prompt Congress to overturn his decision with a rare veto override, the first of his presidency. Obama said the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act would hurt U.S. national security and harm important alliances, while shifting crucial terrorism-related issues from policy officials into the hands of the courts. The bill passed the Senate and House of Representatives in reaction to long-running suspicions, denied by Saudi Arabia, that hijackers of the four U.S. jetliners that attacked the United States in 2001 were backed by the Saudi government. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Obama said other countries could use the law, known as JASTA, as an excuse to sue U.S. diplomats, members of the military or companies - even for actions of foreign organizations that had received U.S. aid, equipment or training. “Removing sovereign immunity in U.S. courts from foreign governments that are not designated as state sponsors of terrorism, based solely on allegations that such foreign governments’ actions abroad had a connection to terrorism-related injuries on U.S. soil, threatens to undermine these longstanding principles that protect the United States, our forces, and our personnel,” Obama said in a statement. Senator Chuck Schumer, who co-wrote the legislation and has championed it, immediately made clear how difficult it will be for Obama to sustain the veto. Schumer, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, issued a statement within moments of receiving the veto, promising that it would be “swiftly and soundly overturned.” He represents New York, home of most of the Sept. 11 victims. Both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, said they would have signed the bill into law if they were in the White House. If two-thirds of the lawmakers in both the Senate and House vote to override, the law would stand, the first such override since he became president in 2009, and possibly the last. Obama leaves office in January. Friday’s veto was the twelfth of his presidency. An override has been expected, despite some lawmakers saying they had doubts about the measure. In a letter seen by Reuters on Friday, Republican Representative Mac Thornberry, chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, said he would oppose the override. “My primary concern is that this bill increases the risk posed to American military and intelligence personnel, diplomats and others serving our country around the world,” Thornberry wrote in a letter encouraging his fellow Republicans to sustain the veto. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday he thought there were enough votes to override a veto, but had concerns. “I worry about trial lawyers trying to get rich off of this. And I do worry about the precedent,” he told reporters. The “9/11 Families & Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism” group, which has pressed Congress to uphold the legislation, called Obama’s veto explanation “unconvincing and unsupportable.” The Saudi government has lobbied heavily to stop the bill, the European Union has formally opposed it and Gulf States have condemned it. Major U.S. corporations such as General Electric and Dow Chemical have also pressed lawmakers to reconsider. “The bill is not balanced, sets a dangerous precedent, and has real potential to destabilize vital bilateral relationships and the global economy,” GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supports the bill. | 1 |
7,594 | Senate panel rescinds subpoena for Trump's ex-campaign head: sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel has rescinded a subpoena that would have forced Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager of President Donald Trump, to appear at a hearing on Wednesday as part of its probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Manafort is going to “continue discussions” with Senate investigators, a source familiar with the issue told Reuters. Another source said the subpoena was rescinded because the Senate Judiciary Committee was still negotiating with Manafort on document production and a later appearance. | 1 |
7,595 | JUDGE JEANINE: “America is Back but the President has ONE HUGE PROBLEM he needs to fix” [Video] | Judge Jeanine Pirro s Opening Statement focused on the one big problem she says President Trump needs to fix..THE LEAKERS!Pirro called on Trump to make every effort to find the leaker in the White House:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53eulMbi9x8LEAKERS FOUND AND WILL BE DEALT WITH BY THE PRESIDENT:The latest report on the White House leakers raises many questions. The main question to ask is why there are ANY Obama holdovers left working at the White House. Trump should fire them all because it s turning out that they just want to sabotage his presidency!BREITBART NEWS IS REPORTING that at least two separate news organizations have credible information that three distinct leakers have been identified at the White House and that President Donald Trump is expected to fire them when he returns from his first overseas trip. CBS News has confirmed from two sources that three leakers of classified information at the White House have been identified and are expected to be fired, CBS News reported this week, adding, Officials within the Trump White House believe leaks of Mr. Trump s conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are a deliberate attempt by officials who are holdovers from President Obama s administration and are trying to damage the Trump presidency. In addition, this week, chief One America News Network (OANN) White House correspondent Trey Yingst also reported that three White House leakers have been identified and referred to the proper authorities.Yingst wrote on Twitter that the three leakers have been carelessly leaking classified information to hurt President Trump politically and that Trump is expected to fire multiple people connected with the network of leakers upon his return to the White House. | 0 |
7,596 | Justice Department changes social media policy after rogue tweet criticizing CNN | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is changing its social media policy following a tweet mistakenly sent from the department’s official account on Tuesday that called CNN “the biggest troll of them all,” a department official said. In a statement, the staff member in the public affairs office “erroneously used the official Department of Justice Twitter handle to post a tweet that was intended for a personal account.” The statement did not identify the staff member, but said the person’s access to the department’s social media accounts had been revoked. Going forward, the Justice Department’s public affairs office will implement “procedural changes” around the use of social media accounts and provide additional training to its employees, the statement said. The tweet was sent early on Tuesday in response to a CNN story about the campaign of Donald Trump denying his wife Melania’s speech at the Republican Nominating Convention was plagiarized from a 2008 speech by first lady Michelle Obama. “CNN is the biggest troll of them all lmao #petty,” said the tweet, which was later deleted. The Justice Department said, “the tweet does not represent the department’s views and was inappropriate for the Department of Justice’s official account.” “The Justice Department takes this matter very seriously and will continue to take the appropriate steps to prevent it from happening in the future,” said the statement. | 1 |
7,597 | Spy agencies say Clinton emails closely matched top secret documents: sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. spy agencies have told Congress that Hillary Clinton’s home computer server contained some emails that should have been treated as “top secret” because their wording matched sections of some of the government’s most highly classified documents, four sources familiar with the agency reports said. The two reports are the first formal declarations by U.S. spy agencies detailing how they believe Clinton violated government rules when highly classified information in at least 22 email messages passed through her unsecured home server. The State Department has already acknowledged that the emails contained top secret intelligence, though it says they were not marked that way. It has not previously been clear if the emails contained full classified documents or only some information from them. The agencies did not find any top secret documents that passed through Clinton’s server in their full version, the sources from Congress and the government’s executive branch said. However, the agency reports found some emails included passages that closely tracked or mirrored communications marked “top secret,” according to the sources, who all requested anonymity. In some cases, additional classification markings meant access was supposed to be limited to small groups of specially cleared officials. Under the law and government rules, U.S. officials and contractors may not transmit any classified information - not only documents - outside secure, government-controlled channels. Such information should not be sent even through the government’s .gov email network. The front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president and former secretary of state has insisted she broke no rules. Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, did not respond to a request for comment. Clinton campaign spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Two sources said some of the top secret material was related to the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes against Islamist militants in the Middle East and South Asia. That campaign has been widely reported by Reuters and other media outlets, but it officially is classified as a “Top Secret/Special Access Program” (SAP), meaning only a limited number of people whose names are on a special list are allowed to learn details about it. One source said the reports identified some information in messages on Clinton’s server that came from human sources, such as confidential CIA informants, and some from technical systems, such as spy satellites or electronic eavesdropping. The Clinton campaign criticized the State Department’s decision last month to withhold the 22 emails containing top secret information from the public, blaming it on “bureaucratic infighting” and “over-classification run amok.” “As we have previously made clear, we are not going to speak to the content of the emails,” a State Department official said on Wednesday when asked about the intelligence agency reports. Clinton’s use of a private server in her New York home for her government work is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department’s and spy community’s internal watchdogs and several Republican-controlled congressional committees. Two of the sources told Reuters that one of the reports on the emails came from the CIA. Three sources said the other report came from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), which analyzes U.S. spy satellite intelligence. A spokesman for NGA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CIA spokespeople declined to comment. The two spy agencies’ reports were sent to Congress in the past few weeks by the intelligence community inspector general, an official government watchdog for multiple spy agencies. The inspector general’s office has confirmed that it requested the reports from two intelligence agencies, but didn’t identify them. It was unclear what the congressional committees that received the classified reports, the House and Senate intelligence and foreign relations panels, will do with them. The contents cannot be discussed publicly. The committees requested intelligence reports in connection with their efforts to ensure that government secrets are appropriately protected. (Editing by Stuart Grudgings) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 |
7,598 | Trump’s Inner Circle Reveals BIZARRE New Goal In Light Of His Dwindling Odds | Trump seems to think he can easily garner the minimum 270 electoral votes that he would need to win the presidency, and then some. He s delusional, but he thinks it. However, Politico s Glenn Thrush says that two people in Trump s circles say that they re increasingly looking to simply beat the mere 206 votes Romney won in 2012.Trump wants to win. But two people in his orbit have told me in last week that decisively beating Romney s 206 EVs is increasingly a goal. Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) November 5, 2016So, basically, even members of Trump s inner circles are looking at his dim odds and admitting that he probably can t win this. In fact, Politico reports that his few remaining paths to the White House are narrow, defined and unforgiving. He has to sweep North Carolina, Ohio, and Florida, and he has to win Utah, Arizona, and Georgia.If he wins all of those and the rest of Romney s states, he would either also have to win Pennsylvania, eke out wins in Maine, New Hampshire, Nevada and Iowa, or he would just have to pull off a shocker in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, etc.Not much of that is bloody likely each of these paths requires overcoming Hillary s leads, and his campaign knows that. So now, all they want is to avoid embarrassment.RealClearPolitics has Hillary leading in most polls, and even though that lead has shrunk, it s still pretty frightening for people close to Trump.And while FiveThirtyEight says that Trump is just 3.3 percent behind Hillary, polls are often off in one direction or the other by roughly two percentage points. Even if these polls end up having Hillary too far ahead, she still beats Trump by 1.3 percent, as things stand right now.In short, Trump s chances are growing ever-bleaker for everyone except the delusional Trump (who, behind the scenes, doesn t actually seem to care whether or not he wins) and his equally delusional followers. If Trump suffers the humiliating defeat that seems imminent, the whole campaign looks as stupid as they are for signing onto this circus.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
7,599 | Influential Australian Senator Nick Xenophon resigns | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, a key independent lawmaker, said on Friday he was resigning from national politics, potentially complicating Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull s efforts to pass legislation. Turnbull does not have a majority in the Senate and has relied on Xenophon s party, the fourth largest bloc in the upper house, to pass legislation. Xenophon s replacement will come from his party, which bears his name, but is likely to be a far less experienced compared with Xenophon s nine years as a Senator. Xenophon was a known quantity, he was experienced and as he saw, Turnbull could work with him, said Peter Chen, senior lecturer in politics at the University of Sydney. His potential replacement will be inexperienced, and that can be unpredictable. This will not be Turnbull s preferred choice. Xenophon s future as a Senator was under a cloud due to him holding possible dual citizenship with Britain. Under the constitution a lawmaker must only hold Australian citizenship to be eligible to be elected to the national parliament. Xenophon had renounced his Greek citizenship, which he received from his mother, but had not been aware he held possible British citizenship. While he was born in Australia, his father was born in Cyprus, which was a British colony until independence in 1960. Xenophon s citizenship issue was due to be determined by Australia s High Court. Australia s High Court will next week rule on the eligibility of seven politicians, including Xenophon and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Should Joyce be ruled ineligible, Turnbull will lose his majority in the lower house. In announcing his surprise resignation, Xenophon said he would stand for election in his home state of South Australia next year. State parliaments do not have the same citizenship rule as the national parliament. I have increasingly concluded that you can t fix South Australia s problems in Canberra without first fixing our political system at home. South Australia politics is broken and politically bankrupt, Xenophon told reporters in Adelaide. | 1 |
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