Unnamed: 0 int64 | title string | text string | label int64 |
|---|---|---|---|
7,600 | Anne Frank Center SAVAGES Spicer After He Said Hitler Didn’t Gas Jews At ‘Holocaust Centers’ (TWEETS) | It s no secret that a large percentage of the Trump administration thinks the Holocaust didn t happen (or, if they do, they think Hitler had it right), but even The Donald s harshest critics didn t expect the White House Press Secretary to openly deny the Holocaust during a press briefing. But, of course, this is the Trump administration where up is down, taking food from the poor is compassionate, and Hitler didn t gas the Jews.On Tuesday, White House Propaganda Minister Sean Spicer attempted to defend Trump s seemingly pointless (unless the point was to make himself a whole lot of money through investments in the company that makes the missiles used) bombing run in Syria that he authorized because Ivanka was having a sad day. According to Spicer, Assad is much worse than Hitler becauseat least he didn t use chemical weapons on his people like Syria s president does. We didn t use chemical weapons in World War II. You had a, someone who is as despicable as Hitler who didn t even sink to using chemical weapons, Spicer told a room full of almost certainly stunned reporters. In other words, Zyklon B didn t exist and concentration camps Spicer called them Holocaust centers were just fun places where stuff happened that totally didn t involve chemical weapons being used on Jewish people.Shortly after Spicer said the Holocaust didn t happen, the Anne Frank Center stepped up to take his words and shove them down his throat with such force that they traveled through time and shot out the seat of his great grandson s pants in the middle of his Speech final. (He ran out of the room and received an Incomplete )..@POTUS @realDonaldTrump MUST FIRE SEAN SPICER NOW FOR ENGAGING IN HOLOCAUST DENIAL. OUR STATEMENT BELOW. #Antisemitism #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/4dB9ESCaZr AnneFrankCenter(US) (@AnneFrankCenter) April 11, 2017 On Passover no less, Sean Spicer has engaged in Holocaust denial, the most offensive form of fake news imaginable, by denying Hitler gassed millions of Jews to death, the organization s executive director, Steven Goldstein, said in a statement. Spicer s statement is the most evil slur upon a group of people we have ever heard from a White House press secretary. Sean Spicer now lacks the integrity to serve and President Trump must fire him at once, Goldstein says.Though many would disagree with the idea that Spicer had integrity at all at any point in his life, the sentiment is true: Spicer must resign, or Trump must fire him. Or there will be hell to pay.Watch Spicer s remarks below, and happy Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month, everyone!Here s Spicer s answer about Hitler not using chemical weapons (he gassed millions), and his attempt at a clarification, which made it worse pic.twitter.com/gcJGhASVK2 Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 11, 2017Spicer, trying to clarify his Hitler answer makes it worse: He was not using the gas on his own people in the same way that Assad is doing pic.twitter.com/SSA1P680z5 Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 11, 2017Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
7,601 | Catalonia's independence leader wages his own battle for unity | BARCELONA (Reuters) - Moments before Catalonia s leader, Carles Puigdemont, baulked at declaring independence from Spain this week, cracks were already appearing in his secessionist ranks. Some members of his political alliance say they were waiting for him at Barcelona s 18th-century regional parliament building on Tuesday evening, fully expecting him to call for an independence vote in the chamber that night. Instead, after arriving late, to the cheers of thousands of supporters, the former journalist and lifetime advocate of independence told his allies an hour before entering the chamber that there had been a late change of plan, according to one of those present. There would be no vote. Instead, Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence, then suspended it and called for negotiations with Madrid. We are annoyed, we are hurt, we are angry because he came up with a strategic change one hour before the parliamentary session, said Carles Riera, a member of the Catalan parliament from the far-left CUP party, which backs an unequivocal declaration of independence and whose support keeps Puigdemont s minority government alive. A spokesman for Puigdemont s party denied he had surprised all of his own political allies, saying his core coalition had agreed the plan in the morning. The CUP was not included in that morning meeting but was informed afterwards, the spokesman said, without saying when. The CUP s claim of betrayal reveals the shaky political foundations upon which Catalonia s independence movement is built, a jumble of parties ranging from anti-capitalists to free marketeers whose only common cause is to split from Spain. There are now doubts over Puigdemont s ability to survive the worst confrontation between Catalonia, a former principality with its own language and culture, and Madrid in 40 years. Members of the CUP say Puigdemont lost his nerve at the crucial moment. One CUP lawmaker present at the meeting, Eulalia Reguant, quit the day after, citing his reversal. Instead of persuading Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to accept talks, his gesture was met with an ultimatum: renounce independence by Thursday or Madrid will use its constitutional power to take control of the region directly. Now Puigdemont, 54, finds himself in a struggle with not only Madrid, but also internally with the CUP, which may end up being the bigger danger for his political career and for his prospects of winning another regional election on a pro-independence platform. The small CUP party had ousted Puigdemont s predecessor as Catalan president, Artur Mas, in 2015. It refused to back the mainstream independence coalition, Junts pel Si, unless Mas stepped down. If Puigdemont backs down and says we tried but this is not working, unilateral secession isn t doable, I don t think CUP will support him again, said Eurasia analyst Federico Santi. He said Puigdemont s party was already sliding in opinion polls. In the final hour before Puigdemont stood up in the regional parliament to announce that he was suspending the independence push, he also made it clear to those in his political circle that their voices were not the only ones that mattered. I am talking to the world, he told them when pressed for an explanation, according to two people who were present. Some in the room said they suspected he had taken a phone call from a senior EU figure in Brussels, though the heads of the two main EU political institutions, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, said it was not them. One EU official, however, said there was reason to believe that an emotional personal appeal Tusk had made publicly to Puigdemont a couple of hours before he was due to speak had weighed on the Catalan leader s decision. Puigdemont has always considered world opinion as crucial to Catalan independence: as a journalist in the 1990s, he traveled Europe to research media impressions of Catalonia and wrote a book, Cata ... que? (Cata ... what?). A supporter of the European Union, he switches easily from Catalan to Spanish, French or Romanian, the native language of his wife, whom he met at the Catalan News Agency he founded. The president made a speech which was very much addressed to EU institutions and governments, a Catalan government source said on condition of anonymity. Puigdemont also made clear that he considered it would be Spain s responsibility if it rejected his offer of dialogue. Several neighboring countries criticized Spain s use of force to disrupt Catalonia s Oct. 1 independence referendum, which had been banned by Madrid. Hundreds were injured when police used batons and rubber bullets on voters. The crackdown, though, fired up independence supporters and hardened expectations among Puigdemont s base that he would unilaterally declare independence in parliament. When he didn t, supporters watching his speech on large screens outside the assembly buried their heads in their hands, some wept, and they rolled up their Catalan flags and went home. Inside, the recriminations were well underway. Some lawmakers in Puigdemont s Junts pel Si coalition said they, too, had only been informed of his tactic at the 11th hour, though the spokesman for Puigdemont s party denied this. The government source said Catalan companies leaving the region in the days before his speech had also weighed on Puigdemont s mind. Several firms, including Catalonia s two major banks, moved their legal headquarters to other parts of Spain. Some anxious Catalan depositors traveled to neighboring regions to open bank accounts there. Jordi Alberich, director of Barcelona-based business association Cercle D Economia, met Puigdemont on Oct. 7. He seemed to be very conscious of the consequences of a unilateral declaration of independence, Alberich said. He was very worried about companies fleeing. | 1 |
7,602 | Britain could still reverse Brexit, former minister Heseltine says | LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit could be reversed if economic pain prompts a change in public opinion that brings a new generation of political leaders to power in Britain, former Conservative minister Michael Heseltine said. Heseltine, who helped topple Margaret Thatcher in 1990 but ultimately failed to win the top job, said that Britain could face another election in just two years and that Prime Minister Theresa May would not lead the party into that election. A supporter of EU membership, Heseltine said he saw a scenario in which Britain would not leave the European Union as scheduled in late March 2019. There is now a possibility that Brexit will not happen, but it will need a change in public opinion, Heseltine, 84, told Reuters in an interview. There may be indications but there is no really substantive evidence of public opinion moving but I think that it will happen. My guess is that public opinion will move, he said. Heseltine said the shift in Brexit policy by the opposition Labour Party - including staying in the European single market and customs union for a transitional period - indicated Labour had sensed the wind of a change in public opinion. May, who quietly opposed Brexit ahead of the referendum, has formally notified the bloc of Britain s intention to leave and divorce talks are under way. Some European leaders have suggested Britain could change its mind, while former Conservative prime minister John Major has said there is a credible case for giving Britons a second vote on the Brexit deal. His successor, Labour s Tony Blair, has said repeatedly that Brexit can and should be stopped. In the June 2016 referendum voters in the United Kingdom backed leaving the EU by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. The world s fifth-biggest economy initially withstood the shock of the Brexit vote, but growth began to slow sharply this year as inflation rose on the falling value of the pound and hit households. May, who has insisted that Britain will leave the European Union, said last month that she wanted to fight the next parliamentary election, not due until 2022. Heseltine, though, said that seemed unlikely given her botched gamble on a snap election in June which lost her party its majority in the lower house of parliament. I don t think she will fight the next election, but there is no agreement on her successor. All the people indicated as possibles are singing the same song, and in my view the song is unattractive and will become less attractive, he said. Ousted is a specific word, but there are many ways in which the Tory party operates - what it will quite look like I am not going to say. But I think there will be a change to a new leader before the next election. They have two years before the next election. Heseltine said he was waiting for a politician to emerge with the courage to challenge the Brexit consensus of British politics and explain to voters the full import of the divorce. Within a relatively short period of time, the Brexit negotiations will sour even more than they already have, and the Tories will be left holding the baby. Everybody else will have moved away from Brexit, Heseltine said. Brexit, he said, was a monumental mistake that would make Britain a spectator of 21st century history, bleed its wealth and relegate it from the league of leading global powers. The idea that we are not European is just to spit in the wind: Anyone who has read Shakespeare knows just how European we are, said Heseltine, who the Sunday Times says has a fortune of 300 million pounds ($390 million). He said Brexit was far more significant than the 1956 Suez crisis, when British forces were forced by the United States to withdraw troops from Egypt in a blunt illustration of Britain s lost imperial power. Heseltine said the EU was unlikely to give Britain the beneficial divorce deal it wanted because to do so would risk unraveling the EU itself. It is difficult to see how the Brexit negotiations can be anything other than discordant. The issues are huge and they come down to a very simple question: Can the Europeans agree to someone leaving the club on the cake and eat it basis? I don t think they can. And they have made it clear they don t intend to. If they were to change their mind so that we have our cake and eat it, well of course I will be wrong. But I don t think they are going to do that. | 1 |
7,603 | Norway plans to send armored unit close to Russian border | OSLO (Reuters) - Norway said on Friday it planned to send an armored battalion near its arctic border with Russia and buy more tanks and artillery to respond to growing threats. Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide did not mention Russia as she described her minority government s defense plan, and said she did not see a specific, current military threat. But the NATO member and other nearby countries have grown increasingly alarmed about Moscow s ambitions, particularly following its annexation of Ukraine s Crimea region in 2014 and its naval and air force maneuvers in the region. The security situation has become more challenging and less predictable. This has consequences for how we organize the military, Soereide told journalists. The plan calls for the armored unit - still referred to as a cavalry battalion - to be stationed in the remote Porsanger district, in the far north on the edge of a long fjord leading into the Barents Sea, which also borders Russia. It also includes more investment in tanks, artillery and long-range precision weapons in the area and other locations further south, together with an extension of the time people have to spend in some national service positions to 16 from 12 months. We must be able to defend all parts of our country ... this is a clear signal that we have a particular responsibility in the north, Soereide said. The Russian embassy in Oslo was not immediately available for comment. Norway s minority government will need to get support from other parties to get the proposals through parliament, but there is a broad consensus on strengthening defenses in the Arctic north. In June, Russia said Norway s decision to extend the presence of U.S. Marines on its soil would worsen relations and could escalate tensions on NATO s northern flank. | 1 |
7,604 | Exclusive: Clinton ally Warren weighs potential VP role, sees hurdles - sources | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has considered the idea of serving as Hillary Clinton’s running mate but sees obstacles to that choice as she prepares to endorse the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, several people familiar with Warren’s thinking told Reuters. While her thinking could evolve, Warren has concerns about joining a Clinton ticket, including the question of whether running two women would give the Democrats the best shot at defeating Republican Donald Trump, one source said. Advisers to Warren, a fiery critic of Wall Street and a popular figure among progressive Democrats, have been in close contact with Clinton’s campaign team and the conversations have increased in frequency in recent weeks, the sources said. Warren has signaled to people close to her that she is intrigued by the possibility of being Clinton’s No. 2 but has not discussed the role with Clinton, 68, or anyone else from her campaign, the people said. Warren, 66, has been one of the Democrats’ most outspoken critics of Trump, 69, and her priority is helping to defeat the presumptive Republican nominee in the Nov. 8 presidential election, the sources said. Warren is also committed to advancing her own political agenda, which they described as “more progressive” than Clinton’s more centrist positions. Warren fears that as vice president, or in a cabinet position, her voice could be less heard than it is in the U.S. Senate on her priority issues such as addressing income inequality, the sources said. In the past, Warren has accused Clinton of abandoning her support for stronger bankruptcy legislation to try to appease Wall Street. An endorsement of Clinton could come within a week or two, one of the sources said. Clinton has been appealing for Democratic Party unity. On Twitter over the weekend, Warren echoed that call and emphasized the importance of the party coming together to beat Trump. “Get ready, Donald,” Warren tweeted. “We’re coming.” Warren, who represents Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate, has stayed neutral in the Democratic primary race, notably remaining the only woman senator not throwing her support behind the first woman presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party. Were she to join the Clinton ticket, she could help energize progressives and win over supporters of Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist U.S. senator from Vermont. Sanders’ calls for reining in Wall Street and breaking up big banks dovetail with Warren’s views. An ongoing feud with Trump gained steam on social media with a series of posts in which she labeled the celebrity businessman racist, sexist and xenophobic and said she was going to fight to make sure his “toxic stew of hatred and insecurity never reaches the White House.” Warren joined Clinton late last month in criticizing Trump for rooting for the 2008 financial crisis and delivered a 10-minute invective on the subject at an annual Washington gala two weeks ago. “What kind of a man roots for people to get thrown out of their house? I’ll tell you exactly what kind of man does that,” Warren said. “It is a man who cares about no one but himself - a small insecure money-grubber who doesn’t care who gets hurt so long as he makes a profit off it.” Trump has ridiculed Warren by calling her Pocahontas in a mocking reference to her having said in the past that she had Native American ancestry. Pocahontas was a famous Native American in early colonial Virginia. Warren is due to speak to the American Constitution Society, a progressive legal group, on Thursday at a time when Democrats and some Republicans have criticized Trump’s comments about Mexican-American Judge Gonzalo Curiel. | 1 |
7,605 | Factbox: Trump fills top jobs for his administration | (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump named Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive Gary Cohn on Monday to head his White House National Economic Council, a group tasked with coordinating economic policy across federal agencies. The following is a list of Republican Trump’s selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser, the White House chief of staff, White House director of the National Economic Council and White House strategist require Senate confirmation: Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country-store owner, the Alabama senator and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. U.S. Representative Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government’s sweeping collection of Americans’ communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran. Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname “Mad Dog.” He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: “It’s fun to shoot some people.” DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of President Barack Obama’s measures to stem climate change, Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists. But he fits with the president-elect’s promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top state prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011, and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. U.S. Representative Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. The final leadership role of Kelly’s 45-year career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 66-year-old retired Marine general differed with Democratic President Barack Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States’ southern border with Mexico. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. McMorris Rodgers, a 47-year-old U.S. congresswoman from Washington state, is the fourth most senior member of the House of Representatives leadership. A member of the House Energy Committee, she has supported efforts to expand the U.S. energy industry such as the recent repeal of the decades-old ban on oil exports and efforts to reject the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the United States Act. She has also expressed skepticism about climate change. Before joining Congress in 2004, McMorris Rodgers served for a decades in the Washington state legislature, eventually becoming the first woman there to serve as minority leader. Cohn, 56, president and chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, had widely been considered heir apparent to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the Wall Street firm. Trump hammered Goldman and Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a “global power structure” that had robbed America’s working class. Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc, which runs the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, has been a vociferous critic of government regulation of the workplace and the National Labor Relations Board. Puzder, 66, has argued that higher minimum wages would hurt workers by forcing restaurants to close, and praises the benefits of automation, so his appointment is likely to antagonize organized labor. Retired Lieutenant General Flynn, 57, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama’s foreign policy. McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former chief executive of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012, and was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. Mnuchin, 53, is a successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California’s largest bank. Housing advocacy groups criticized the bank for its foreclosure practices, accusing it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. Recently re-elected to serve as Republican National Committee chairman, Priebus will give up his party post to join Trump in the White House, where the low-key Washington operative could help forge ties with Congress to advance Trump’s agenda. The 44-year-old was a steadfast supporter of Trump during the presidential campaign even as the party fractured amid the choice. CHIEF WHITE HOUSE STRATEGIST, SENIOR COUNSELOR: STEVE BANNON, The former head of the conservative website Breitbart News came aboard as Trump’s campaign chairman in August. A rabble-rousing conservative media figure, he helped shift Breitbart’s into a forum for the alt-right, a loose confederation of those who reject mainstream politics and includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. His hiring signals Trump’s dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington. As White House chief of staff, Bannon, 63, will serve as Trump’s gatekeeper and agenda-setter. | 1 |
7,606 | PORTLAND POLICE Call Violent Anti-Trump Protesters “Anarchists”…Upgrading Protests To Full-Blown “RIOTS…One Person Hit By Car…KILLED | Here s what the election map for Crooked Hillary vs. Trump in Oregon looked:Due to extensive criminal and dangerous behavior, protest is now considered a riot. Crowd has been advised. Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) November 11, 2016Those not wanting to be associated w/anarchists should leave the area immediately. Peaceful protesters encouraged to go to Pioneer Square Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) November 11, 2016Finally .police are not saying the woman who was hit by a car and killed was part of the anti-Trump protests, but the accident did happen near area of protests according to Twitter users. | 0 |
7,607 | Santilli Freed Under Plea Pact as Vegas Shooting Casts Shadow on Bundy Trial | LONG SHADOW: The wake of the recent mass tragedy in Las Vegas has overtaken various current events, including the Bundy Trial (Image: Mandalay Bay Hotel & Resort) By Mark Anderson The TRUTH HOUNDLAS VEGAS Although the ongoing Bundy trial in the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada has had its share of dramatic changes, that s especially true lately.A major twist is that internet-radio personality Pete Santilli one of seven defendants in the trial that had been set to begin with jury selection on Oct. 10th before it was delayed again plead guilty (on Friday, Oct. 6) and was released pending sentencing, confirmed his attorney, Chris Rasmussen of Las Vegas.Rancher Cliven Bundy held without trial for over 18 months.In that highly anticipated trial, with Santilli now excluded due to his plea, the federal government is trying elder rancher Cliven Bundy (image, left), his sons Ammon and Ryan, and militia leader Ryan Payne. Two other defendants, O. Scott Drexler and Eric Parker, who are being retried for a third time from earlier proceedings will join the others in this second of three planned trials.Another development affecting the trial is concern that the Oct. 1st mass shooting at Mandalay Bay Hotel might prevent the defendants from getting a fair shake. According to Ryan Payne s attorney, the Vegas shooting has the potential to bias jurors, and has asked that the trial be moved to Nevada s second largest city, Reno, located seven hours north of Las Vegas.But while moving the proceedings 450 miles away to Reno s federal court appears unlikely as of this writing, the Las Vegas federal court issued yet another delay in this complicated trial. Therefore, the previously announced Oct. 10 date for jury selection for the second trial will be changed to on, or around, Oct. 30th.And even that could be subject to change again, given the already bumpy track record of this multiple-defendant case in which the federal government has had a hard time making its allegations stick.Only Gregory Burleson, who s wheelchair-bound and reportedly has developed blindness, has been sentenced to 68 years, no less. He was convicted in the first trial that began in early February. A co-defendant in that trial, Todd Engel, is expected to be sentenced Dec. 22, though several other defendants have been cleared of numerous charges.SANTILLI S JOURNEYSantilli, who shot extended livestream video footage at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building near Burns, Oregon, was held on remand for his role in that latter-2015, early-2016 affair.The controversial internet radio personality has had his share of critics, both in and out of the court room. Some critics alleged that his some of the journalistic coverage shot in Oregon enabled the government to more closely monitor the Bundys and their supporters who had peacefully occupied the abandoned building to protest onerous federal land controls and the unlawful arrest of the Hammonds, local ranchers who had fallen foul of federal agents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Others, however, felt his coverage would have provided a helpful account of events had federal agents decided to take the building by force. During the Oregon hearings, his defense attorney argued that much footage which he had broadcast on his YouTube channel should be considered as protected speech under the First Amendment.On the eve of last September s Oregon trial Santilli had all charges dismissed against him.Although later cleared of Oregon-related charges, Santilli remained in federal custody and was transferred to Nevada to stand trial for his role in the famous spring 2014 standoff at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada an event that saw Cliven Bundy, his sons and other supporters gather to protest the policies of the BLM and other agencies.Federal agents unsuccessfully attempted to confiscate Cliven s cattle over alleged claims that he owed significant federal grazing fees, and concerning a EPA court order over a contested environmental mitigation policy concerned the relocation of the Desert Tortoise. From the onset of the controversy, Cliven Bundy has maintained the federal government lacks jurisdiction in that part of southern Nevada and that the fees don t apply, citing legal and historical matters.Santilli: released before the trial.In Nevada, Santilli pleaded guilty to Count 2 a single felony count of obstruction of justice, based on the government s claim that he used his own vehicle to impede the movement of an approaching BLM convoy during the attempted cattle impoundment. Interestingly, during that incident, after the convoy stopped, federal agents and their guard dogs were then confronted by members of the Bundy family and their supporters. Santilli then filmed the altercation including federal agents tasering Ammon Bundy, and posted it on YouTube, which went instantly viral, garnering nearly 1.5 million views in just a few days. The video was then syndicated on FOX News and other national outlets. Many had credited Santilli s original video entitled, Ranch Riot as one of the key catalysts for the one thousand or so supporters and militia who then arrived at Bundy Ranch over the following 72 hours before the standoff on April 12, 2014.Like all the other defendants, he was initially charged with all 16 counts contained in the original federal complaint which carried a potential maximum sentence of life in prison, upon conviction for all or most of those counts.Interestingly, Santilli s attorney, Mr. Rasmussen, motioned in court, and later told this writer, that the government may consider the prison time that Santilli has already served behind bars since Jan. 26, 2016 as either sufficient punishment for that felony charge in a best-case scenario, or the court may at least consider giving him credit for that time served, even if he s given a longer sentence at his expected sentencing hearing on Jan. 11, 2018 at 8 a.m.PLEA BARGAIN DETAILSA reading of the plea agreement shows that the government reserves the right to impose a longer prison term, possibly six years, on Santilli.Also, Rasmussen noted that residing Judge Gloria Navarro is not bound by the agreement s recommendations, meaning she could choose to alter them when she sentences Santilli.Meanwhile, two pending defense motions one to exclude Oregon-related evidence in the government s Nevada case against Santilli, and another to challenge the government s claim that Santilli could not excuse his Nevada actions because of his journalistic background have become moot due to this plea bargain, Rasmussen added.The agreement s terms may raise the question of whether the other defendants actions will be seen in a more negative light, given the fact that Santilli s guilty plea to the felony-obstruction charge requires under penalty of perjury that he accept the following government-sourced narrative as true and correct. The maximum penalty for Conspiracy to Impede or Injure a Federal Officer, as this count against Santilli is formally named under 18 U.S.C. 372, is six years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both.But in the shifting sands of these proceedings, the understanding at this juncture is that Santilli will owe neither a fine nor restitution, nor will there be forfeiture of his assets provided he meets the terms of his release until he s sentenced. Although according to Rasmussen, Santilli will not be electronically monitored, despite speculation that he would be tagged.RETURNING TO INTERNET RADIONotably, Santilli, who is expected to return to his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, during the week starting Monday Oct. 16, will reportedly be allowed, at least for the time being, to resume broadcasting his news content.Asked if Santilli would be able to comment on the Bundy trial itself, Rasmussen replied in writing: He can do whatever he wants as long as he s not committing crimes. The First Amendment allows him to comment on anything unless it is threatening or inciting violence. Furthermore, attorney Rasmussen said that Santilli is under a self-imposed gag order, not a government-imposed one, meaning he has chosen not to talk to reporters.Also, Santilli will not testify against the other defendants and will not have to turn over his journalistic work products, but only raw discovery information from court proceedings. And the plea bargain stresses he must remain crime-free regarding federal, state and local laws and among other things must avoid any known association with anyone who s breaking any law. The plea agreement also restricts him from significant travel initially only between southern Nevada and Cincinnati, Ohio.Nor can Santilli possess a gun or any other item deemed by the government as a weapon. Just failing to show up for a hearing or some other procedural matter, let alone larger infractions, could result in this deal being dissolved.STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATESREAD MORE BUNDY RANCH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Bundy Ranch FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
7,608 | go back to where you claim home kansas lawmaker tells protester | ers fans care more about victories than kaepernick elliott almond mercury news october
colin kaepernicks first home start in a year didnt stop the pessimism that has left redjerseyed ers patrons in a football funk
thousands of empty red seats at levis stadium underscored san franciscos freefall that continued unabated sunday in a defeat to the tampa bay buccaneers
few were thinking about kaepernicks seasonlong activism in which he again kneeled during the national anthem to protest oppression against minorities these days fans just want to see their team win a game after six consecutive defeats
snip
after leading the ers to a promising firstquarter lead kaepernick and the offense sputtered he completed just of passes for yards with one touchdown and one interception
kaepernicks scramblinghe led the team with rushing yards on nine carriesand occasional flashes of accurate downfield passing werent enough even with the ers firmly in the game midway through the fourth quarter
snip
kaepernick donned a tshirt sunday paying tribute to the black panther party an oakland activist group that celebrated its th anniversary this weekend the quarterback said the shirt was a gift from his girlfriend mtv host nessa diab
last week he wore a shirt with muhammad alis face before the game at buffalo
kaepernicks protest against police shootings of unarmed african americans has been divisive because some say it is disrespectful to veterans a recent survey by yahoo sports and yougov found that a decline in nfl ratings partially is attributed to the quarterbacks action
i dont know much about ratings and how they are affected he said in a postgame interview but i dont understand why ratings would go down fighting for justice for people to try to stop oppression especially in the league that is predominately black
snip | 0 |
7,609 | what donald trumps victory means for men | leave a reply aa michael when you are attuned to the midthdimensional frequencies of light you relinquish the idea of being human as you have known it in the past it is a time of the emergence of your soul consciousness as you allow it to become the reigning influence within your life this means you begin to listen to the wisdom of your body elemental and the signals it sends as to what is appropriate for your physical and emotional wellbeing your dna and the cells of your body begin to integrate the higher frequencies of light and gradually you begin to vibrate and attune to the refined energy of the new age this period of the transformation process could be likened to a death of your old selfconsciousness which is really the process of removing the veils of illusion as you integrate each new level of your oversoulhigher self you absorb the wisdom and illumination of that facet of your vaster being you are in the process of shedding the multiple layers of density which you have absorbed within your auric field down through the many ages of earthly experience the saying the light shall set you free is a true statement for the light is dissolving the layers upon layers of negativity that you have carried for such a very long time you begin to function within an auric field of refined light of your own creation as you turn inward and learn to stay focused and centered within your sacred heart in the power of the now moment over time you as light transformers begin to draw forth and integrate the maximum amount of adamantine particles of creator light and you then consciously radiate forth the remainder out to humanity and to the world when you achieve a certain level of harmony within you open the physical body gateways or portals to the higher dimensions the ascension chakra or the medulla oblongata and the vagus nerve at the base of the skull and also the back portal of your sacred heart and your sacred mind these are major steps in the ascension process when this process is complete you are well on your way to gaining access to the first sublevel of the fifth dimension where your entrylevel sacred triad is waiting to welcome you the adameve kadmon body is your original individualized seed atom godself in a fully conscious light body form created by the elohim lords of lightbuilders of as the archetype of humanity the adam kadmon embodies the original complete divine and spiritual nature of manwoman it is not the same as your personal oversoul body of light which is itself evolving towards divine consciousness your higher selves your spiritualoversoul body and your sacred triads are refracted facets of your god self your original light body the kadmon light body has the ability to take on any form necessary to create and experience all forms of creation in your fathermother gods plan for this universe the adameve kadmon is a spiritualphysical creation which incarnates in the planetary worlds during all cycles of divine creation physical body in the beginning awakening process there is a desire to turn inward and to listen to the inner wisdom of the soul this soul awareness includes your body elemental the memory seed atom which contains the perfect blueprint for your original adameve kadmon light form emotional body first you become aware that your emotions control you through your wants needs and desires which in the long run do not bring you a sense of happiness or satisfaction you begin to turn inward and to question your life choices asking awhat have been the results of your actions you begin to seek answers for the pain and dissatisfaction in your life the voice of your superconscious mind becomes stronger as you gradually take heed and follow your souls guidance as you become comfortable and begin to rely on this voice of higher wisdom the egodesire body gradually relinquishes control and the soulself becomes the director and guiding influence in your life you begin to align your will with the will of your higher self for you have gradually learned to trust the inspirational and intuitive thoughts from your sacred mind eventually you begin to view all interactive events in your life from a higher vantage point you develop emotional detachment through a more refined view of human interactions having experienced most of the important tests of the emotions you develop a better understanding of the human emotional nature again you learn to go with the flow and you view your tests and challenges as gifts and opportunities for growth you have learned to make peace with the past and to script your future as you endeavor to live and focus on the now moment gradually over time the vibrational patterns of the emotional body are lifted above the magnetic pull of the physical realm the mental body you begin to realize the limitations of your subconscious and conscious minds and you see how rigid limited and stuck you have been in the mass consciousness belief structure you willingly begin a selfanalysis process whereby you reevaluate your attitudes judgment and programmed concepts you begin to feel a burning desire to expand your knowledge beyond your physical reality as you seek to learn why you are here on earth and the greater meaning of life your instinctive mind gives way to your higher intellectual mind and gradually you gain access to your sacredintuitive mind as your soulself becomes the director of your destiny your life begins to change dramatically for the better then faith and trust become an inborn certainty that all is happening in divine order you also know with certainty that you are on an upward spiraling path to a more refined harmonious and loving reality all you have to do is stay in the moment and take one step at a time as the way is opened before you a selfmaster is selfdetermined selfconditioned selfaware soulconscious a selfmaster is responsive to the surrounding environment while being the observer of mundane life experiences from a higher vantage point being in the world but not of it a most profound event is when you first experience the abounding loving energy and joy radiating forth from within your sacred heart and soul the souls nature is love and while residing within the limitations of the rdthdimensional environment it is through the soul self that you connect with the love essence of your motherfather god a selfmaster stands firmly centered within the sacred heart within the midst of chaos and change holding fast to the wisdom of the sacred mind while gathering strength from our fathermother god as the illusions of the lower dimensions slowly fade away an adept an adept is a person who is firmly centered upon the path of light and whose point of focus is from within the sacred mind and the sacred heart heshe has balanced harmonized and integrated all the facets of the soul self from within the rdthdimensional planes of consciousness heshe is now directly connected to hisher overlighting sacred triad which resides at least within the entry level of the th dimension in order to reach this stage an aspirant must have completed the first four stages of enlightenment and have attained selfmastery of the first four dimensions this is the level of ascension open to humanity at this time and it can and will be accomplished by many brave souls while in the physical vessel a disciple a disciple is a person who has heeded the whisperings of the soul self and who is actively seeking enlightenment wisdom selfrealization and ultimately selfmastery sacred mind higher mind the human sacred mind is an etheric crystalline seed atom stored within the upper back portion of your brain there is a membrane of light protecting your access to the portal into and to the contents of your sacred mind until you have raised your frequencies to the appropriate level of the higher th dimension your sacred mind contains a condensed version of your ancient past history and a portion of the wisdom and vital information you have integrated during your many past lives in this universe becoming a selfmaster on earth involves gaining access to and integrating the requisite portion of the attributes qualities and talents stored within your sacred mind the mental aspect of your higher self or the wisdom you tap into when you connect with many facets of your vaster oversoul will ultimately connect you with your i am presence god ray godseed atom which has access to the wisdom of your fathermother god or the collective intelligence of this subuniverse divine mind the divine mind is the totality of your divine godseed atom at an ever higher level ultimately the sacred minds of our fathermother god for better understanding you could say that the higher mind is a refined frequency of your consciousness and you obtain higher consciousness levels with each download of a facet of your oversoul higher self as you traverse the path of ascension and move into an accepted spectrum of light and shadow your goal is to develop the ability to stay centered within your sacred mind and sacred heart you learn to consciously maintain a higher perspective about what is going on around you as you express compassion and unconditional love for everyone that is the goal of a selfmaster as you become attuned to the higher frequencies of light you will become accustomed to the flow of sacred fire breath which has been called the river of lifelovelight or the antakarana in ancient teachings there is a hidden powerful radiant current of knowledge encoded within this living river of life it is a code of creative genius however you must tap into the wisdom of the sacred mind and your soul self in order to access this inborn power you are called star seeds for a reason for as you return to selfmastery you will initiate the process of creating crystalline life code seed atoms c a new advanced evolutionary process which will eventually be used by life forms within the next forthcoming golden galaxy we ask you to study what we have revealed and endeavor to get the universal schematic we have created firmly within your mind so that you will understand the next phase of the wondrous cosmic events which are unfolding before your eyes as a bearer of light you promised to be our representatives on earth within you have all that you need to complete your earthly journey through the remainder of the thdimensional realms as doubts arise remember all of your experiences of the past whether they were successful or seemingly failures have given you a wealth of experience to draw upon shine your light for all to see call on us and we will assist you in every way possible know that i am with you always and you are loved most profoundly i am archangel michael transmitted through ronnasacred scribe sf source ronna star | 1 |
7,610 | As Republicans anoint Trump, party grapples with identity crisis | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - On the floor and corridors of the basketball arena hosting the Republican National Convention, in restaurants and bars, hotel lobbies and conference rooms across Cleveland, the talk was of the rise of Donald Trump, whose unlikely presidential candidacy has caused seismic fractures in the Republican Party. While the venues changed, the question didn’t: Where do we go from here? This was the week that Trump was officially nominated as the Republicans’ 2016 presidential candidate and was effectively given control of a party whose leaders have criticized him for his incendiary rhetoric, personal attacks on fellow Republicans, and tendency to stray from decades-old party orthodoxy. He packed the convention hall with his grassroots army of supporters, who seemed almost completely disinterested in his policy positions, even though they could reshape the party for years to come on core issues like trade, immigration and foreign policy. Those who were interested - party veterans, lawmakers, donors and lobbyists - found little clarity in any of the speeches delivered from the convention stage or in conversations with members of the Trump campaign. Are we still a party that embraces free trade and free markets, they asked. Are we still committed to ending abortion rights? Do we want to create a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants or ship all of them out of the country? Paul Ryan, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the most powerful elected Republican, acknowledged that Trump has transformed his party. But he hedged on whether he believes Trump’s impact will be lasting or simply a temporary phenomenon that will dissipate if he loses on Nov. 8. “I don’t know the answer to that question. I really have no idea,” Ryan said at an event in Cleveland. Trump had changed the party, he said, but “how specifically and in what direction, I don’t know.” Even after two days of speeches, Utah delegate Matt Throckmorton was still trying to figure out what a Trump presidency would mean for the Republican Party. “What happens next?” asked Throckmorton. In many way the uncertainty about Trump reflects the conflict within the Republican electorate. The party has struggled to find consensus on a number of key issues, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling during the 2016 campaign season. For example, when asked in March about international trade, the same number of Republicans said it “creates jobs” as said it “causes job losses.” When asked about abortion in June, the number of Republicans who wanted it to be illegal “in all cases” was matched by those who wanted it to be legal “in most cases.” Trump had his biggest stage on Thursday night, when he officially accepted the party’s nomination, to spell out his vision of where he would take the Republican Party if he won the presidency. But his speech, rich in rhetoric, offered scant detail beyond sweeping promises to put “America first.” “If this Trump speech - and this GOP platform - defines what a Republican is today, then it’s hard to say I’m one. Hard for a lot of us,” tweeted Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman under President George W Bush. A week earlier, Republican activists were celebrating the adoption of a deeply conservative political platform that condemned gay marriage and opposed abortion with no exceptions, among other things. Trump’s lineup of speakers at the convention this week barely referenced it. “It’s a little bit frightening,” said Chris Herrod, another Utah delegate, explaining that the platform was one of the main ways delegates could help shape party policy. “And he seems to have an attitude of just completely disregarding it.” Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump was “the future of the Republican Party.” Away from the floor, some anti-Trump Republicans were quietly debating whether it would be better in the long-term interests of the party to lose the White House in November. “This week we’re having some real anguished discussions,” said Vin Weber, a former congressman from Minnesota. “People are falling in line” with Trump, Weber said, “but what does this party believe?” Take trade, for example. Republicans have long been the party of free trade, but Trump has said current trade deals have impoverished American workers and wants to renegotiate them or in some cases block them altogether, like President Barack Obama’s signature Trans-Pacific Partnership. Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and a close Trump ally, worked to ease fears that a Trump administration would derail the U.S. economy by scrapping trade alliances. “He has no interest in breaking up the world market,” Gingrich told a group of diplomats, adding that Trump was, in fact, committed to free trade with some added protections for American companies. “Now how Trump will work this out, I have no idea,” Gingrich added. Some attendees at the convention expressed the hope that Trump would align himself with many of their cherished conservative values but admitted they just didn’t know what he would do once he was in office. They would have found little solace in Gingrich’s remarks to the diplomats. “You will not know what he’s doing every morning, because he will not know what he’s doing every morning,” Gingrich told them, suggesting a Trump presidency would be similar to his candidacy - reactive, spontaneous and centered almost entirely around Trump’s instincts. But Trump’s instincts are sometimes at odds with key elements of the party. For example, he has been more accepting of gay rights and has see-sawed on abortion rights, first defending them and then saying he opposes abortion. “Conservatives are prepared to believe Trump might be wrong 20, 25, maybe 30 percent of the time,” Richard Viguerie, a veteran Republican activist, told Reuters at an anti-abortion event. But, Trump’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, “will be wrong 100 percent of the time.” Asked if Trump supported the conservative social values espoused in the platform, he laughed. “Well, I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.” Some lawmakers at the convention dismissed some of Trump’s most provocative proposals, like his vow to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, as unlikely to be implemented. “Full-blown deportation is not going to sell politically and I don’t think a Republican Congress, or any Congress, would stand by and watch it happen,” Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma told a group of convention attendees. Some Republicans believe should Trump lose, the party will simply return to its more traditional conservative principles. “The Republican Party is bigger than any one candidate, even a presidential candidate,” said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster. But Trump supporters said those Republicans were in denial and that Trump had permanently wrested control of the party away from the establishment elites. “Where’s Mitt Romney, where are the Bushes?” said Mary Lou McCoy, who had traveled to Cleveland from Buffalo, New York, referring to the 2012 Republican nominee and the Bush political dynasty. “The people have spoken.” | 1 |
7,611 | SAY “HELLO” TO YOUR NEW NEIGHBORS! Clooney Begged For Open Borders…Now Massive Refugee Camp Is Erected In His Front Yard | Karma it s a beautiful thing A massive makeshift refugee camp has been established in Lake Como, the popular and secluded celebrity hideaway in Italy where Hollywood A-lister George Clooney keeps a home.The migration of hundreds of people from Arab nations, Africa, and Asia was triggered following the Swiss government s decision to close its southern border with Italy.Now, waiting for smugglers to lead them into northern Europe, groups of migrants are camping out in tattered tents around the Lake Como resort.https://twitter.com/ScatterBrainPOD/status/753134667490930688Flimsy dwellings, clothes and trash are scattered around the Northern Italian town s railway station, where dozens of new families and refugees have flocked.https://twitter.com/PatriceArnold25/status/753183423573794825The migrant camp is, oddly enough, just steps away from the front door of immigration activists George and Amal Clooney s multi-million dollar lakeside mansion in Lake Como, according to the Daily Mail.The power couple has spent some time talking about the migrant crisis. The Clooneys met privately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in February and praised and thanked her for her leadership during the crisis.The Clooneys have taken refuge from the Hollywood spotlight in their summer home in Italy for years. Last year, Page Six reported that Clooney was mulling putting his Lake Como villa on the market due to ever-present and intrusive paparazzi.It is unclear if the recent deluge of refugees pouring into town will have an affect on Clooney s decision to sell or not. BreitbartRead more: Daily Mail | 0 |
7,612 | Sexual misconduct allegations may roil 2018 U.S. congressional elections | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spate of sexual misconduct accusations against U.S. politicians and other powerful men will force candidates for the November 2018 congressional elections to weigh more carefully than ever whether their past behavior could doom their chances. Following allegations against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, Democratic U.S. Representative John Conyers and Democratic U.S. Senator Al Franken, campaign operatives from both parties warned that past behavior that might once have been excused may now be disqualifying. “This is a game-changer,” said Democratic strategist Dane Strother. “Every man who wants to run for office needs to give some serious thought to his past.” Politicians have been among a growing number of prominent men, including in the entertainment and media fields, accused of sexual harassment. There will be increased pressure on candidates to undertake “self-vetting,” where, as one Republican strategist said, they are willing to subject themselves to a “trial on what the other side will put them through.” But he cautioned: “A lot of this is still dependent on what the candidate is willing to talk about and how forthcoming they are.” In next year’s elections, Democrats will seek to wrest one or both houses of Congress from Republican control. Thirty-three U.S. Senate seats and all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be contested. Sex scandals have long been a part of U.S. politics, but in the current environment, operatives are encouraging candidates and office-holders alike to level with advisers about past conduct, even behavior that might in the past have fallen into a gray area. “You may have to press the candidate particularly aggressively to be sure that he confronts what he may have passed off as a failed advance and not have imagined would come back to haunt him,” a veteran Democratic lawyer who advises campaigns told Reuters. Sonia Van Meter, a Democratic opposition researcher, said candidates would have to think carefully about “their demeanor, their offhanded remarks, the way they carried themselves. Everything will be under more scrutiny.” If candidates are not careful about self-vetting, operatives said, researchers working for opposing candidates would do it for them. Verifiable facts - court documents, voting records, speeches and more - usually form the backbone of opposition research conducted by rival campaigns. Such research may expand into behavior that has not been documented, Strother said, adding that might include conversations with former female staffers to find out if there are any issues. Tracy Sefl, a strategist in Chicago who has directed opposition research for the Democratic National Committee, said workplace relationships between a male candidate and women could now be targeted by opposing campaigns. “In the context of employment: Was a man supervising women? Were those women younger, older, or his peers?” Sefl said. “How long did those women tend to work there? What do they have to say about their experience there and about him, specifically?” But Alex Conant, a Republican consultant who worked for presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Marco Rubio, doubted opposition research would see a dramatic shift, largely because most campaigns cannot afford it and must instead rely on public records, internet searches and news reports. “Opposition research in early stages of congressional campaigns is not going back and interviewing every single person who has worked with a candidate,” Conant said. There are also limits on the effectiveness of opposition research in identifying potential misconduct. Rumors surrounding Moore’s alleged interest in teenage girls had circulated in Alabama politics for years, but it took reporters from the Washington Post, not researchers from campaigns, to persuade his accusers to go on the record. Moore, who is running against Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election, has denied the allegations, which Reuters has been unable to independently verify. Republican lawmakers in Washington, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, have distanced themselves from Moore and urged him to quit the race. Self-vetting is all the more important, operatives said, because the national parties have little capacity to weed out problematic candidates. In 2016, the insurgent White House bids of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders highlighted the limited ability of parties to hand-pick candidates for major public offices. Trump won the presidency despite himself being accused by several women of having in the past made unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate personal remarks about them. Trump denied the allegations, saying they were part of a smear campaign. In the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, Moore prevailed in the Republican primary over Luther Strange, the incumbent backed by the party establishment. While the parties still vet some candidates for Congress and big-ticket donors, they largely rely on local party officials to screen and refer them. Van Meter said the string of scandals had altered the landscape because victims now felt empowered to go public, which may topple some candidates and keep others from running at all. “What has changed is the culture, the number of women coming forward,” she said. “We’re going to see more of these cases.” | 1 |
7,613 | Maine Gov. LePage Says He’s ‘Tired Of Being Caught,’ So He’s Never Speaking To Press Again | Maine Governor Paul LePage has made quite a name for himself with his casual, yet blatant, racism. But when someone calls him out on his bigoted remarks, he apparently gets his feelings hurt because he is such a sensitive guy underneath his hardened exterior. Well, what does he do when someone tells the truth and his feelings? Why, he throws a temper tantrum of course.LePage said on Wednesday that he was just downright crushed when he heard the news that Maine lawmaker Drew Gattine had called him a racist. Turns out this wasn t even true, but LePage, being ever so devastated that he was called a racist for saying racist things, decided to respond by leaving a voicemail for Gattine calling him a c*cksucker and a son of a b*tch. Don t forget, though, Lepage is the one we should feel sorry for. He s the sensitive soul who just happens to say incredibly insensitive, racist stuff. But dammit, calling him a racist just goes too far. It hurts his feels! I may not supposed to be that sensitive to these things, but I am, LePage confessed. I lose sleep over this, and it s frustrating when you hear people talk about cheap political stunts to hurt their opponent and not do the right thing. Being called a racist was a horrible thing for me. It was enormously hurtful. It hurt my family. So just what does the good governor plan to do about all this? Maybe try to stop spouting all the disgustingly racist things that have a habit of pouring out of his mouth? Nope. He s sensitive. Just like a baby. So he s throwing a temper tantrum and has announced that he isn t going to talk to the press anymore so that he doesn t get caught saying these racist things. That ll teach the media! I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today, LePage said. And I m serious. Everything will be put in writing. I am tired of being caught the gotcha moments. LePage made headlines when he said that all black people are drug dealers with names like D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty who come to his great state to impregnate young white girls. He has ranted about immigrants working in restaurants, saying he needs an interpreter to understand them. Then last week he declared that he is at war and naturally, he outright declared that blacks and Hispanics are the enemy. Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
7,614 | Republicans Sabotage Obamacare So They Can Claim It Doesn’t Work | Did your Obamacare premiums go up this year? Blame Republicans.In their effort to destroy President Obama s signature legislative achievement, Republicans voted to repeal the law a bazillion times since taking over the House. They ve also filed lawsuit after lawsuit hoping that a federal court will see things their way and strike it down.However, both efforts have failed miserably as the Supreme Court has ruled against Republicans in two major cases. Plus President Obama would simply veto any repeal bill should it reach his desk.Republicans desperately want to use Obamacare as a campaign talking point this year. The only problem is that Obamacare is turning out to be a successful healthcare program that is becoming as ingrained in our society as Medicare and Medicaid as more and more Americans sign up and get health insurance.According to the Washington Post, more than 11.3 million Americans have signed up for Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act.Furthermore, CNBC reports that fewer than 1 in 10 Americans lacked health insurance in 2015, the first time ever in the nation s history that the uninsured rate has fallen so low, and a clear sign of Obamacare s impact. It s a stunning victory for a program that has only been in full effect since 2014. Much of that success is due to the Medicaid expansion part of the law, which means even less people would be uninsured if Republican-controlled states had not refused to expand Medicaid for their own citizens.Obamacare has also created jobs despite Republican doomsday predictions.All of these successes not only makes Obamacare more popular, they make it harder for Republicans to repeal it without suffering major consequences on Election Day.That s why Republicans have devised an underhanded new strategy in their continuing obsession to kill Obamacare.Talking Points Memo reports:In late 2014, Republicans inserted a provision in budget omnibus legislation that tinkered with what s known as the risk corridors program, which buoys insurers who spend more money than they planned for on covering populations that are sicker than anticipated.The provision resurfaced in the political discourse last fall when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) took it on a victory tour during his presidential campaign, bragging that he stopped a health insurance bailout. The legislation did not so much end the program as screw up the mechanism by which money can be carved out to fund it. The risk corridors can now only be funded by transferring profits from insurers whose populations cost them less than expected, and the government can no longer pull from savings elsewhere in the law to make up the difference.Washington and Lee University School of Law health law expert Timothy Jost explained to TPM that while the tweak isn t near enough to destroy the law, it has caused significant problems, and is a major factor contributing to premium increases this year. Basically, Republicans are deliberately making minor tweaks to Obamacare mechanisms so that certain parts of the program become weaker than they were originally. New reports then come out showing that premiums went up. Then Republicans use those new reports to brag about how Obamacare is broken even though they were the ones who broke it in the first place.So if you discover that your healthcare premiums have risen this year, you can blame Republicans for that and you can make sure they never screw with your healthcare again by punishing them at the voting booth this November.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
7,615 | Clinton leads Trump by 2 points in Fox News poll | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by 2 percentage points in a four-way race, according to a Fox News opinion poll released on Friday. The poll of 1,211 registered voters was conducted Tuesday to Thursday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2-1/2 percentage points, Fox News said. Clinton had 45 percent support and Trump 43 percent. Clinton was up by 3 points a week ago and by 6 points in mid-October, Fox News said. | 1 |
7,616 | Clinton, Trump draw battle lines for ill-tempered campaign fight | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump kicked off a fierce general election battle, with Democrats accusing Trump of erratic behavior and the Republican threatening to bring up old Clinton scandals. Clinton, the former secretary of state, made history when she became the first woman to lead a major political party in its quest to capture the U.S. presidency. Big primary election wins on Tuesday in California and elsewhere catapulted her to victory over Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders. If elected on Nov. 8, the 68-year-old former U.S. senator from New York would return the Clinton family to the White House 16 years after her husband, Bill Clinton, completed two terms as president. All signs point toward a negative campaign as Clinton accused Trump of being temperamentally unfit to serve and the New York businessman charged that Clinton had a dark past and a weak record as President Barack Obama’s first-term secretary of state. Clinton told NBC on Wednesday she would not run a “campaign of insults,” but she sought to portray the 69-year-old Trump as not fit for the Oval Office after the real estate developer repeatedly accused a Mexican-American judge of showing bias against him because of his ethnic heritage. The Clinton campaign has pointed to criticism from leaders in Trump’s Republican Party to make this case. “I’m going to talk about why he’s unqualified to be president based on his own words and his deeds. And I’m going to continue to make the case he is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief,” she said in the interview. Trump gave a carefully crafted primary race victory speech on Tuesday laying out his own plan of attack. To keep from straying off message, he used a Teleprompter and avoided his typical stream-of-consciousness delivery. Trump said money given to the Clinton Foundation charity from foreign donors had earned the Clintons millions of dollars and had a corrupting influence when Clinton was secretary of state. “Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund - the Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese - all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return. It’s a sad day in America when foreign governments with deep pockets have more influence in our own country than our great citizens,” Trump said. He said he would give a speech next week “discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.” A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Clinton leading Trump by 10 percentage points nationally, little changed from a week earlier. [nL1N18Y1Z2] Both Clinton and Trump must unite their parties but the Democrat appeared to face the easier path with Sanders, a leftist U.S. senator from Vermont, nearly out of options to challenge her. Trump has an uphill battle. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan described Trump’s remarks about the judge as a “textbook definition of a racist comment,” but said he would still support him. Trump said on Wednesday he was “disappointed and surprised” by charges of racism from Republicans. “I had just won more votes than anyone in the history of the party,” he told Time. “But you know, they have to say what they have to say. I’m a big boy. They have to say what they have to say.” Ryan met behind closed doors on Wednesday with House Republicans. An aide said Ryan “discussed with his members the thinking behind his endorsement (of Trump) and how to move forward” and reiterated he had confidence Trump would support the House Republican agenda. “I’d say the general attitude is, ‘Good. Now let’s just move on,’” said U.S. Representative Chris Collins of New York, a Trump supporter. “The irony here and the frustration was that he’s not racist.” Others said Trump needed to stop engaging in petty battles with former rivals and build a fundraising organization. Trump will meet on Thursday in New York with top fundraisers of the Republican National Committee, a party official said. Hopes flickered among some anti-Trump Republicans that there would be a revolt against him when delegates convene to nominate him formally in Cleveland from July 18 to 21. Representative Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican, said that was unlikely but that Trump needed to improve as a candidate. “Don’t step into the cow pie,” Griffith said. “He can’t afford to be stepping into any more controversies like that.” Clinton edged Sanders out in a rough-and-tumble battle that stretched over four months and 50 states. She won support, especially among older voters, with a more pragmatic campaign focused on building on the policies of fellow Democrat Obama. Clinton said she had spoken to Sanders on Tuesday to congratulate him on his campaign. “I am looking forward to working with him to unify the Democratic Party against the threat that Donald Trump poses to our country,” she told PBS on Wednesday. “So we are talking. We will be having an opportunity to discuss in greater detail in the days ahead how we can best work together.” Democratic Party elites are lined up squarely behind Clinton, including most likely Obama, who may endorse her as early as this week. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that Obama would not endorse until after he meets with Sanders on Thursday. Obama and Sanders have spoken three times in the past month, Earnest said. The president’s eventual endorsement would put pressure on Sanders to exit graciously and throw his support to Clinton. Sanders is also due to meet with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. | 1 |
7,617 | BEAUTIFUL BLACK WOMAN Verbally Attacked For Wearing Trump Hat BUT She Opens Up A Can Of Woop A** [Video] | Melissa wore her Trump hat to a coffee shop and immediately was verbally attacked. She came back with facts and a great argument for Trump. Awesome!Wearing my #MAGA hat 2 the coffee shop sparked a Trump debate. ?Trump will Veto the #TPP #Americafirst #ImWithYou pic.twitter.com/mp1a6M2s96 Melissa (@Sweetatertot) June 23, 2016 Check her out on Twitter:https://twitter.com/Sweetatertot | 0 |
7,618 | Trump administration touts plans to reduce regulation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday touted its effort to roll back federal regulations by targeting a range of government rules ranging from a “paperwork burden on outdoor enthusiasts” to plans to regulate oil and gas development on Indian reservations. The White House Office of Management and Budget plans to release a fuller update about its de-regulation plans on Thursday. In a preview released on Wednesday, it said the Department of Interior planned to cut down on paperwork required for using federal lands by people who enjoy the outdoors, “sport fish restoration programs,” and Native American tribes. It also said the Environmental Protection Agency would stop pursuing a “costly and premature” plan to regulate oil and gas development in the Uintah and Ouray Indian reservations. | 1 |
7,619 | May's spokesman says report UK will raise Brexit bill offer is speculation | LONDON (Reuters) - A newspaper report that British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to offer up to 20 billion pounds more to the European Union as part of Brexit divorce bill is speculation, her spokesman said on Thursday. The EU has told Britain to spell out what it will pay when it leaves the bloc in 2019 or it may miss a deadline next month to move the talks to a discussion of future trade ties, which businesses say is vital for them to make investment decisions. We want to make progress as quickly as possible and we want to move onto talks about the future relationship as quickly as possible, the spokesman said. Of the 20 billion pounds report he added: I would say it is yet more speculation. | 1 |
7,620 | IRAQ 1991: US Carpet Bombs ‘Highway of Death’ | ROAR MagI want to give testimony on what are called the highways of death. These are the two Kuwaiti roadways, littered with remains of 2,000 mangled Iraqi military vehicles, and the charred and dismembered bodies of tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers, who were withdrawing from Kuwait on February 26th and 27th 1991 in compliance with UN resolutions.US planes trapped the long convoys by disabling vehicles in the front, and at the rear, and then pounded the resulting traffic jams for hours. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, said one US pilot. The horror is still there to see.On the inland highway to Basra is mile after mile of burned, smashed, shattered vehicles of every description tanks, armored cars, trucks, autos, fire trucks, according to the March 18, 1991, Time magazine. On the sixty miles of coastal highway, Iraqi military units sit in gruesome repose, scorched skeletons of vehicles and men alike, black and awful under the sun, says the Los Angeles Times of March 11, 1991. While 450 people survived the inland road bombing to surrender, this was not the case with the 60 miles of the coastal road. There for 60 miles every vehicle was strafed or bombed, every windshield is shattered, every tank is burned, every truck is riddled with shell fragments. No survivors are known or likely. The cabs of trucks were bombed so much that they were pushed into the ground, and it s impossible to see if they contain drivers or not. Windshields were melted away, and huge tanks were reduced to shrapnel. Even in Vietnam I didn t see anything like this. It s pathetic, said Major Bob Nugent, an Army intelligence officer. This one-sided carnage, this racist mass murder of Arab people, occurred while White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater promised that the US and its coalition partners would not attack Iraqi forces leaving Kuwait. This is surely one of the most heinous war crimes in contemporary history. The Iraqi troops were not being driven out of Kuwait by US troops as the Bush administration maintains. They were not retreating in order to regroup and fight again. In fact, they were withdrawing, they were going home, responding to orders issued by Baghdad, announcing that it was complying with Resolution 660 and leaving Kuwait. At 5:35 p.m. (Eastern standard Time) Baghdad radio announced that Iraq s Foreign Minister had accepted the Soviet cease-fire proposal and had issued the order for all Iraqi troops to withdraw to postions held before August 2, 1990 in compliance with UN Resolution 660. President Bush responded immediately from the White House saying (through spokesman Marlin Fitzwater) that there was no evidence to suggest the Iraqi army is withdrawing. In fact, Iraqi units are continuing to fight. . . We continue to prosecute the war. On the next day, February 26, 1991, Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad radio that Iraqi troops had, indeed, begun to withdraw from Kuwait and that the withdrawal would be complete that day. Again, Bush reacted, calling Hussein s announcement an outrage and a cruel hoax. Eyewitness Kuwaitis attest that the withdrawal began the afternoon of February 26, 1991 and Baghdad radio announced at 2:00 AM (local time) that morning that the government had ordered all troops to withdraw. The massacre of withdrawing Iraqi soldiers violates the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Common Article III, which outlaws the killing of soldiers who are out of combat. The point of contention involves the Bush administration s claim that the Iraqi troops were retreating to regroup and fight again. Such a claim is the only way that the massacre which occurred could be considered legal under international law. But in fact the claim is false and obviously so. The troops were withdrawing and removing themselves from combat under direct orders from Baghdad that the war was over and that Iraq had quit and would fully comply with UN resolutions. To attack the soldiers returning home under these circumstances is a war crime.Iraq accepted UN Resolution 660 and offered to withdraw from Kuwait through Soviet mediation on February 21, 1991. A statement made by George Bush on February 27, 1991, that no quarter would be given to remaining Iraqi soldiers violates even the US Field Manual of 1956. The 1907 Hague Convention governing land warfare also makes it illegal to declare that no quarter will be given to withdrawing soldiers. On February 26,199 I, the following dispatch was filed from the deck of the USS. Ranger, under the byline of Randall Richard of the Providence Journal: Air strikes against Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait were being launched so feverishly from this carrier today that pilots said they took whatever bombs happened to be closest to the flight deck. The crews, working to the strains of the Lone Ranger theme, often passed up the projectile of choice . . . because it took too long to load. New York Times reporter Maureen Dowd wrote, With the Iraqi leader facing military defeat, Mr. Bush decided that he would rather gamble on a violent and potentially unpopular ground war than risk the alternative: an imperfect settlement hammered out by the Soviets and Iraqis that world opinion might accept as tolerable. In short, rather than accept the offer of Iraq to surrender and leave the field of battle, Bush and the US military strategists decided simply to kill as many Iraqis as they possibly could while the chance lasted Continue this story at ROAR MagazineREAD MORE IRAQ NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iraq Files | 0 |
7,621 | As Brexit deal takes shape, Juncker to meet MEPs | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission added to mounting confidence in Brussels that it is set for a Brexit deal with London when it scheduled talks with EU lawmakers ahead of a crunch meeting on Monday with Theresa May. However, EU officials and diplomats cautioned on Sunday that it was still unclear that a deal would be struck with the British prime minister when she meets the EU executive. Two hours before they sit down for lunch with May in Brussels, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will brief Guy Verhofstadt and his European Parliament Brexit team, an official said. Verhofstadt and his colleagues wrote to the EU negotiators last week to sound an alarm at what they said were stalled talks on EU demands that the rights of EU citizens in Britain be guaranteed directly by the European Court of Justice after Britain leaves the European Union. They also voiced concern about Northern Ireland. Parliament must ratify any treaty on Britain s withdrawal from the European Union before Brexit in March 2019 in order to create the smooth transition period May wants, and so it will be vital to both sides to keep the legislators on board. Senior EU officials and diplomats said work was continuing on Sunday. One person close to the discussions said the situation was delicate . It s still quite fluid, said a second person involved. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and strong critic of Brexit, declined to comment. The German leader of the center-right group in the EU parliament warned that lawmakers were not yet satisfied. On Brexit negotiations, money is one of the problems, but it is not the biggest one, Manfred Weber said in a statement. We are much more concerned about the fact that so far negotiations are stalled on the protection of EU citizens rights after Brexit and on the Irish case, he said. The EU wants outline accords on three critical divorce terms before it will open negotiations on the transition and a future free trade pact that would follow. May s lunch on Monday is a deadline for the EU to have her final offers before EU leaders consider whether to agree at a Dec. 15 summit to launch Phase 2. Britain and the EU aim to sign a joint declaration setting out progress toward final deals which the Commission, as the EU executive, would say was sufficient for opening trade talks. EU officials say terms have been agreed for a financial settlement long resisted by hardline supporters of Brexit. The Irish prime minister said on Saturday that would essentially cover all the 60 billion euros the EU had demanded. On the second key issue of a deal to avoid a hard border on land between Britain and the EU across the island of Ireland, diplomats say the joint document will set out rules for reaching a border deal aimed at avoiding disruption to peace in the north but leaving open many of the details. The third issue, of citizens rights, has long seemed the least problematic, but the European Parliament s concerns were a reminder of how far the insistence on the ECJ having the final say in whether London was respecting the withdrawal treaty conflicts with British demands to be free of EU courts. It was not immediately clear what compromise, if any, has been found. EU governments had also been pressing London to give better terms to EU expatriates on bringing in future family members and on moving social welfare benefits across borders. One suggestion in Brussels has been to limit clearly any ECJ involvement as a last resort and clearly only available to those EU citizens who choose to go on living in Britain before Brexit, not to any who arrive later. There are 3 million of them today. Looking to show skeptical pro-Brexit allies that she has secured something in five months of negotiation that seem set to end with London broadly accepting the EU s original terms, May has insisted that Brussels make a simultaneous and reciprocal commitment to transition and trade talks if she accepts a deal. That seems set to be the case with the joint declaration. Everyone knows we have to honor politically what the Brits have accepted on money, a senior EU diplomat said. So on Monday they will sign this document. If all goes to the plan, 27 EU leaders would give the official green light on Dec. 15, a day after May has joined them for a routine summit on other EU business.. The deliberately vague concept of sufficient progress gives the political leaders the option to leave plenty of room for future negotiation. The key thing for many in Brussels is that it should mark the establishment of trust that both sides are willing to work for a separation that is not too disruptive. | 1 |
7,622 | No. 2 Democrat in Senate calls on Franken to resign | (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said on Wednesday that fellow Democrat Al Franken should resign in light of sexual misconduct allegations against him. “Senator Franken’s behavior was wrong. He has admitted to what he did. He should resign from the Senate,” Durbin said on Twitter. Durbin marked the 15th Democratic senator, including third-ranking Democrat Patty Murray, to call on Wednesday for Franken to step down. | 1 |
7,623 | BOILER ROOM – EP #51 – Social Rejects & Political Pessimists 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 every Wednesday. 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 Randy J of 21Wire, Andy Nowicki from Alt Right Blogspot and Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East. Tonight the Boiler Gang brings the internet show with more twists and turns than Space Mountain! Listen in as we discuss the absurd social agendas rampant in universities that project the concept of inanimate objects being racist. We break down Andy Nowicki s hypothesis that the Ted Cruz sex scandal could actually be a PR stunt to improve his alpha male cred and talk about the CIA influence in movements like the 60s counter culture and a thought provoking conversation about the perils of 3rd wave feminism. If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! REFERENCE LINKS: | 0 |
7,624 | Does not make sense to keep Charter of Fundamental Rights post-Brexit: UK minister | LONDON (Reuters) - It does not make sense for Britain to retain the European Union s Charter of Fundamental Rights after it leaves the bloc, Britain s Brexit minister David Davis said. Parliament began debating legislation on Thursday to sever political, financial and legal ties with the EU, but the opposition Labour Party has said it cannot support the bill without it being amended to better protect workers rights. We also do not believe it would make sense to retain the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Davis told parliament. The charter only applies to member states when acting within the scope of EU law. We will not be a member state nor will we be acting within the scope of EU law once we leave. He added: The charter catalogues the rights found under EU law which will be brought into UK law by the bill. It is not, and never was, the source of those rights. | 1 |
7,625 | no title | more cover ups and lies i do not trust any of them our current government officials from the top to the bottom and everyone in between needs to go | 1 |
7,626 | Obama says Trump immigration move 'cruel,' not 'required legally' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a program Obama instituted to protect from deportation illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children was “cruel,” “self-defeating” and “wrong.” “Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally,” Obama said in a post on Facebook. “It’s a political decision, and a moral question.” “Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us,” he wrote. | 1 |
7,627 | Saudi Prince Lectures America On Democracy, Calling For ‘NEVER TRUMP’ | 21st Century Wire says Well, isn t this interesting. Saudi Arabian princes are giving lessons in democracy?Incredible. The headline reads: Saudi Prince Begs America to Reject Trump. In summary: here we have a hereditary monarch, from a Wahabi theocratic dictatorship now lecturing Americans on who they should vote for in their elections. During his recent dinner speech at the Washington Institute For Near East Policy at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, Prince Turki- al-Faisal (photo, below), a graduate of Georgetown University, made his passionate plea to the American electorate not to elect Donald J. Trump as president.NOTE: The word election is a treasonous concept in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and if you are ever caught asking for it you will not only be jailed, but will likely face capital punishment. The Mail Online reported:A Saudi prince has urged Americans not to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming general election. Turki al-Faisal, who served as Saudia Arabia s ambassador to the US from 2005 to 2007, spoke against the presumptive Republican nominee during a foreign policy dinner in Washington, DC on Thursday.He blasted Trump s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, which the billionaire first formulated in December last year before renewing his vow on Wednesday. For the life of me, I cannot believe that a country like the United States can afford to have someone as president who simply says, These people are not going to be allowed to come to the United States, Turki said according to the Huffington Post.Prince Turki currently serves as the chairman of the Saudi Arabian-funded Washington DC-based think tank, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. Interestingly, the Saudi Prince was sharing his Washington DC event stage with none other than Israeli general Yaakov Amidror, the former national security advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Amidror presided over a number of violent operations against the native Palestinian population, including the slaughter of over 500 civilians in Gaza in 2012Whether or not one likes (or loathes) the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, it s important to consider the Prince s comments in perspective So who is a greater threat to peace and stability in the Middle East and Central Asia, and elsewhere Donald Trump or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Let s quickly examine some of Saudi Arabia s progressive and democratic credentials.Oil-based MonarchyThe current ruling family in Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud, was installed into power by the British in the early 20th century. Since the development of Saudi Arabia s oil fields, mainly by US and UK firms, tribal elites have had the luxury of having money on tap , amounting to many trillions of dollars in continuous energy revenue, with almost all of the wealth channeled into the hands of hereditary and royal elites. Saudi s repression of democracy is not limited to its own borders, however. When a true Arab Spring event broke out in neighboring Bahrain in 2011, Saudi Arabia deployed its army to put down any popular uprising, and still patrols those streets today.More recently, their vast oil fortunes have been channeled into building-up a militarized state, and recently, with the backing of the US and PR cover by the UN, have openly waged war on its neighbor, Yemen.Regressive SocietyEven in the 21st century, Saudi Arabia still manages to win the near submissive support of the US and the UK, despite the fact that it is running an openly regressive, medieval theocratic autocracy, where hundreds of its citizens are executed in the street, many via beheading. Last year, in 2015, was a record year for beheadings under the newly crowned King Salman. PATRONAGE: President Obama paying tribute to the new King Salman of Saudi Arabia.No Religious FreedomThe Kingdom is also actively repressing its own native Shi ite population, as well as others who are not born into the right royaly-favored religion or tribe. Practicing Christianity is also forbidden in the Kingdom and any attempted conversion from Islam is punishable by death.Genocidal Military StateFor the last 14 months, and with the assistance of the US, Saudi Arabia and its GCC allies have been waging an illegal and highly brutal military war of aggression against its neighbor Yemen killing tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians and displacing millions more.World s Premier Supporter of Islamic Extremism and TerrorismHistorically, it is now accepted as fact that Saudi Arabia the world s leading financial supporter of Islamic extremist terrorism in the Middle East and beyond. This has been the case for many decades starting from the Kingdom s central role, together with the CIA and others, in supporting Mujadhedin militants and al Qaeda in Afghanistan from the late 1970 s and all the way through to their involvement in 9/11. This trend continues today, with Saudi, along with its tribal monarch cousin, Qatar, as the primary source of funding and support for terrorist fighting groups like Jabhat Al Nusra (al Qaeda in Syria) and also Islamic State (ISIS), as well as a direct financier of radical Mosques all over the world.Saudi Nuclear Weapon PlansIn the same interview this week, Prince Turki also dropped another bomb , so to speak, by announcing Saudi Arabia s somewhat disturbing ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons:Saudi Arabia has accepted the Iran nuclear deal, which lasts 10-15 years, Prince Turki said. But what happens after that is open to question. That s why I ve always maintained that we must consider all options, including the acquisition of nuclear weapons, the prince added though he emphasized his preference for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region.So who is the real threat in the region and beyond? One thing should be certain by now it s not Iran, or Donald Trump.READ MORE SAUDI NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Saudi Arabia Files | 0 |
7,628 | Things Get Really Awkward When Fox Host Talks About How He Likes His ‘Meat’ (VIDEO) | Things got really awkward on the set of Fox & Friends on Sunday when host Brian Kilmeade surprised his fellow co-hosts by saying that he liked his meat tight. Here is the full quote below: I like my meat tight not loose. Tighten up my meat! The only response they could muster was: Okay. Thanks for that information, by the way.Now, it s not like he just started talking about his meat out of nowhere. The exchange began when co-host Steve Doocy stated to Kilmeade that he s got to try the loose meat sandwich when he goes to Iowa later today. It s like a sloppy joe with no tomato sauce. The look on his co-workers faces is priceless because they just weren t expecting him to come back with something like that. Anything that includes the phrase my meat probably isn t the best way to say it, especially with that kind of enthusiasm.In any case, Kilmeade is never going to live this one down. He s already becoming an internet sensation for it, and not in a good way.Does anyone else like their meat tight, and not loose? I mean, there is a difference. And, no not that kind of meat. Get your head out of the gutter. This really is a thing. And as Steve Doocey was trying to say Iowa s loose meat sandwiches are world famous. Anytime a sandwich is that good you have to try it no matter how you like your meat. Kilmeade needs to stop being so uptight and try a good sandwich every once and a while. Featured image via screen capture. | 0 |
7,629 | Fight night: Rubio, Cruz gang up on Trump in debate ploy | HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz ganged up on front-runner Donald Trump at a raucous debate on Thursday in a last-ditch bid to keep the billionaire from winning victories next week that could set him up to clinch the presidential nomination. The CNN-hosted debate at the University of Houston was the two first-term senators’ last, best chance to try to shake up the race for the Republican nomination. The contest is dramatically shifting toward Trump, who is leading in opinion polls in nearly all 11 states set to make their choices on next Tuesday. Rubio and Cruz landed blows on Trump, took some withering fire in return and may wonder why they did not pursue such a strategy in the debates of past weeks and months when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, now out of the race, was the lead Trump attacker. A confident-sounding Trump was unbowed and dismissed the attacks from his center-stage position. He declared Rubio a “choke artist” for a faltering debate in New Hampshire, again labeled Cruz “a liar” and urged his rivals to take their best shot. “Swing for the fences,” he said, wielding a baseball metaphor. Rubio, who got some momentum with a second-place finish to Trump in South Carolina last Saturday and has picked up some Bush supporters, gave his most aggressive performance to date. The senator from Florida wants to be the last Trump opponent standing and perhaps stretch the contest to the Republican nominating convention in July. He brought up Trump’s four past bankruptcies and his use of imported Polish workers to work at a Florida resort, and pointedly suggested the New Yorker would not be where he is today in the real estate business without a family inheritance. Without the family money, Rubio said, “You know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan.” Significantly, Rubio sought to raise doubts about the depth of Trump’s policy knowledge, a point of attack that Trump’s critics in the Republican establishment have been urging candidates to pursue for months. Rubio pointed out that Trump’s sole plan to replace and repeal Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law is to allow insurance companies to operate across state lines. When Trump repeated the same point twice, Rubio interrupted. “Now he’s repeating himself,” said the senator, who was skewered at a debate in New Hampshire last month for robotically repeating his talking points. Trump fired back: “I watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago, and I gotta tell you it was a meltdown. I watched him melt down on the stage like I’ve never seen anybody.” Cruz, who needs to win his home state of Texas when it votes on Tuesday, also piled on Trump, saying his rival would be a weak Republican opponent to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 general election because he had donated to the Clinton Foundation founded by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Cruz said Hillary Clinton would say to him, “‘Gosh, Donald you gave $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. I even went to your wedding.’ ... He can’t prosecute the case against Hillary.” Trump ridiculed Cruz for his inability to win more than the early voting state of Iowa and taunted him for being behind Trump in opinion polls in Texas. Since a second-place finish in Iowa, Trump has won New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. “If I can’t beat her (Clinton), you’re really going to get killed aren’t you? ... I know you’re embarrassed, but keep fighting,” Trump said. The crossfire was so intense that CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer lost control of the proceedings at times. Among the other two candidates on the stage, Ohio Governor John Kasich turned in a positive performance with an optimistic message, hoping Rubio and Cruz will falter and he will end up as the central Trump alternative. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, flagging in the polls, provided some comic relief. He said that, as president, when considering potential Supreme Court nominees he would look at “the fruit salad of their life” and asked plaintively for more time to talk: “Can someone attack me please?” Even with his bombast, Trump turned in a more measured performance than usual, defending his moderate positions on Planned Parenthood and retaining popular parts of the Obamacare law, perhaps mindful that he is closing in on a victory in the Republican race. He said he would not support a ceasefire deal about to go into effect in Syria and declared that Libya would be better off had Colonel Muammar Gaddafi not been toppled from power by a U.S.-backed uprising in 2011. Pressed on whether he would release his tax records as 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney said he should do, Trump said he would eventually do so after a “routine audit” is completed. This did not satisfy Romney, who tweeted that there was no legitimate reason for withholding them even if they were under audit. Rubio went after Trump hard on illegal immigration. He said Trump may talk tough on illegal immigration now, but previously said Romney lost his race against Obama by promoting the idea that illegal immigrants should self-deport. “A lot of these positions that he’s taken now are new to him,” Rubio said. Trump said Romney lost in 2012 because he was a terrible candidate. “Excuse me, he ran one terrible campaign,” Trump said. While Trump has scored early victories and is well ahead in national opinion polls, he has some ways to go to clinch his party’s nomination, which is decided by the number of delegates sent to the July party convention following the state-by-state nominating contests. So far Trump leads the race with 81 delegates, with Cruz and Rubio well behind at 17 apiece. To secure the nomination, a candidate needs 1,237 delegates. Super Tuesday will be critical because there are nearly 600 delegates at stake in Republican races that day. (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson and Valerie Volcovici in Washinton; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney, Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis) 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 |
7,630 | Electoral Map Is Changing As Deep Red Arizona And Georgia Go For Clinton | The electoral map is being redrawn in Hillary Clinton s favor as Donald Trump plunges into near total self-destruction.While the American people continue to wake up to what Trump is a loud, vile, jackass the more they flock to Hillary Clinton, and the evidence is striking when taking into consideration two states where Republicans have dominated for decades, Arizona and Georgia.Georgia hasn t voted Democrat since 1980 (when Jimmy Carter ran against Ronald Reagan) and Arizona hasn t voted Democrat since 1996 (when Bill Clinton trounced Bob Dole).So for over thirty years these states have not been friendly to Democrats. But thanks to Donald Trump, they could come back around.A recent poll from OH Predictions based out of Arizona has Clinton beating Trump by three points, 45-42, the second poll from the same nonpartisan organization to show Clinton ahead of the blowhard billionaire. When factoring in the two polls from OH, with others showing a close competition, RealClearPolitics has the two evenly tied in their average for winning. In 2012, Romney won Arizona by 9 points.And how is it that Clinton could be beating Trump in Arpaio-Brewer county? His feud with the Khan family.Across the country, in Georgia, a new poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump in the state by four points, which is still within the margin of error, but a surprising lead nonetheless in a southern red state run by Nathan Deal.A poll from July 31 showed the two tied, and when coupled with the new poll showing Clinton ahead, the RealClearPolitics average has Trump leading by 2.4 percent. In 2o12, Romney won Georgia by eight points.While facing a loss in the swing-state of Colorado, Politico has summed up the issue currently facing Trump:For Trump, it s a worrisome sign of a narrowing electoral path to victory. At the outset of the election cycle, the GOP nominee already confronted what appeared to be a Democratic advantage in the Electoral College. The potential loss of a key Western swing state leaves even less margin for error in November, increasing the urgency of winning the big prizes of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.With a loss in Arizona and Georgia, and losing Colorado, Trump is looking at a prospective tail spin in the American electoral process, and it s glorious.Imagine how much of a surprise the Trump campaign would get if they lost Georgia and Arizona on election day, completely throwing off their trajectory? Karl Rove would have the mother of all meltdowns on live national television. That alone, Democrats, is worth getting out to vote.Featured image via David Becker/Getty Images | 0 |
7,631 | U.S. wants 'new era' in Zimbabwe: official | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is seeking a new era for Zimbabwe, the State Department s top official for Africa said on Thursday, implicitly calling on long-time President Robert Mugabe to step aside as a political crisis mounts. In an interview with Reuters, acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto appeared to dismiss the idea of Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, remaining in a transitional or ceremonial role. It s a transition to a new era for Zimbabwe, that s really what we re hoping for, Yamamoto said. Zimbabwe s army seized power this week, in an apparent effort to prevent Mugabe, 93, from handing power to his wife. He has not resigned or been formally deposed, however, and he was pictured on Thursday shaking hands with the military chief, Constantino Chiwenga. Yamamoto, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with African Union officials at the State Department in Washington, described the situation in Zimbabwe as very fluid. The United States would discuss lifting multiple U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe if it began enacting political and economic reforms, he said. In a message for Zimbabwe s political leaders, he said: Our position has always been that if they engage in the constitutional reforms, economic and political reforms, and move forward to protecting political space and the human rights, then we can start the dialogue on lifting sanctions. The United States has not given aid to Zimbabwe s government for many years, but provides development aid to nongovernmental groups, particularly for healthcare. Now whether we give to the government, that depends on what happens in Zimbabwe, Yamamoto said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to meet on Friday in Washington with 37 African foreign ministers. | 1 |
7,632 | Mike Pence Breaks Silence, Responds To Being ‘Misled’ By Trump Team And Flynn (VIDEO) | After suffering the massively humiliating experience of being led on by the White House over former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn, Vice President Mike Pence has finally broken his silence and shared his feelings over being made to look like a total idiot in front of America.On Monday in Brussels, Pence spoke alongside the NATO Security General, where he was asked the one question he probably didn t want to answer. The Associated Press Ken Thomas flat-out asked Pence if he felt misled by the Trump administration over Flynn s communications with Russia, particularly after Pence viciously defended Flynn in January. Thomas asked: Do you feel like your were misled by members of the Trump administration or were you frustrated that you were left out of the loop on this situation, and what assurances have you received from President Trump that something like this will not happen again? He may be spending a lot of time with Trump, but Pence has not yet learned how to distract, lie, and bullsh*t his way out of answering questions like his boss yet. Pence gave a measured, careful response, but ultimately revealed that he had been let down. The former governor of Indiana said: Let me say I m very grateful for the close working relationship I have with the President of the United States and I would tell you that I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate. Pence also addressed Flynn s resignation, where he gave another cautious response: We honor General Flynn s long service to the United States of America, and I fully support the president s decision to ask for his resignation I have great confidence in the national security team of this administration moving forward. You can watch Pence squirm below:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images | 0 |
7,633 | WATCH: Fox Women SHRED Male Colleague For Calling Trump The ‘Ultimate Feminist’ | Even the women of Fox News refuse to buy Trump s bullshit claim that he is a feminist.That why when Fox Business contributor Bernard McGuirk referred to the Republican nominee as the ultimate feminist on Tuesday all four women of Outnumbered immediately lit him up for it.Fox host Sandra Smith asked if Senator Susan Collins refusal to endorse Donald Trump will hurt him even more among women, a demographic Trump is struggling to gain support from because he has repeatedly attacked them throughout his campaign and has generally treated them like shit his entire life.Indeed, Trump thinks that women are objects who are nothing more than sexual conquests and incubators.Nevertheless, McGuirk still had the gall to declare that Trump is a feminist because he attacks men and women equally, which drew the ire of the four female hosts around him. If a woman attacks Donald Trump, he ll attack her back just like he would with a man! McGuirk continued. He doesn t look at her as a delicate little flower. We can t you let you get away with that, Smith said before Meghan McCain gave McGuirk a piece of her mind, informing McGuirk that Trump desperately needs women right now more than he needs white men. Facts are a stubborn thing. He s doing very poorly with women, specifically college educated women, which is a demographic that normally just easy for Republicans to scoop up. He s got you, Bernard, he needs me. He needs Sandra. I like you, I respect you. In all fairness, it s directed at us! It s not directed at you. He s already got white men. McCain and her fellow hosst were particularly outraged by McGuirk s claim because Trump has relentlessly attacked New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte for criticizing his attacks on a Gold Star family who lost their American soldier son when he sacrificed his life to save his fellow brothers-in-arms. I don t know Kelly Ayotte, Trump said. I know she s given me no support zero support and yet I m leading her in the polls. I m doing very well in New Hampshire. We need loyal people in this country. We need fighters in this country. We don t need weak people. We have enough of them. Clearly, Trump attacked a woman for rightly standing up to him rather than admit he was wrong.One Fox host concluded that Trump may be an equal opportunity attacker but that doesn t make him a feminist.Here s the video via YouTube.And women overwhelmingly agree, which is why over 70 percent of women view Trump unfavorably and why Hillary Clinton is poised to win the women vote by an even larger margin than President Obama did in 2012.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
7,634 | OBAMA’S ARMY: BLACK LIVES MATTER TERRORIST SHOUTS, “Burn Everything Down” IN LARGE ACTIVIST MEETING, AS CO-FOUNDER CHEERS [VIDEO] | And why is this person not up on domestic terrorism charges? Can you imagine a white person being caught on camera making such claims in a crowded room of white racists? Lorretta Lynch s DOJ would have already descended on them if the color of their skin was anything but black. We are witnessing something very ugly taking place in America, orchestrated by a man the majority of Americans voted for as their two-term president, because they actually believed he would make our country even better In rarely seen angle on the Black Lives Matter mob takeover of a NetRoots Nation Presidential Town Hall last weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, activists from the group scream explicit calls for violence and chaos, using an Occupy Wall Street style call-and-response technique to advocate burn everything down, shut this shit down, and rise the f*ck up. By the way, it s worth mentioning that spineless, pandering Democrat presidential candidate Martin O Malley was on the stage witnessing this whole scene unfold. Does anyone remember O Malley apologizing to the crowd following this event for having the audacity to say: All lives matter ?The shouted manifesto lays bare the theory behind the burning, looting, and rioting that have transpired in recent months in Baltimore and Ferguson, and it also lays out the group s agenda on current news events like immigration reform, transgender activism, and the fables about the death of convicted criminal Sandra Bland that the group is spreading through the media.The nascent Black Lives Matter movement cannot claim that these statements were made by a few fringe members: the entire rant was orchestrated by Black Lives Matter Founder Patrisee Cullors, who can be seen in the video enthusiastically pumping her fist and shouting along with every incendiary statement.Nor is Black Lives Matter a fringe group; they have been embraced and given fealty by the highest levels of the Democratic power structure. Cullors told a British interviewer, We re going into halls of power now. Many of us are meeting with mayors or meeting with local government. Some of us have met with President Obama himself to talk about the demands. Ms. Cullors name appears on White House visitor records.Last week, Breitbart News exposed that convicted cop killer Assata Shakur is one of the heroes of the Black Lives Matter founders. Black Lives Matter pays homage to Cuban exile Shakur and quotes the Communist Manifesto at every single Black Lives Matter event.In one of the only cases of any coverage of the Black Lives Matter shrieks of angry poety at Netroots, CNN glossed over some of the crowd s chants in their reporting, but just as they did with Occupy movement, most of mainstream media has completely ignored the radical and revolutionary agenda revealed in Black Liver Matter s scripted call-and-response at NetRoots Nation. Even though the horde of screamers is surrounded by cameras, there has been no public criticism of Cullors and her folloers shouting burn everything down, nor any calls for her to apologize for her group s offensive statements.That media fail is unfortunate, because every American should hear who Black Lives Matter is, what they stand for and what they want, in the group s own words.Guided Transcript of What Black Lives Matter Said The group starts by pointing out that both leftist journalists like CNN s openly gay Don Lemon and mainstream racer baiting Democrats like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson are actually too moderate for them:If I die in police custody do not let my parents talk to Don Lemon, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson or any of the motherfuckers that would destroy my name. Let them know that my sisters got this.Then another activist links the group with the LGBTQ political left. Black Lives Matter was founded by Cullors and two other women who self-identify as queer.The speaker makes reference to being called by the name I choose, not the name I was given ; a familiar demand for anyone who has followed the recent Bruce Caitlyn Jenner controversy.If I die in police custody say my name, say my name the name that I chose, not the one I was given. If I die in police custody make sure that I m remembered. Make sure my sisters are remembered. Say their names. Say their names. Marsha P. Johnson. [Unintelligible] Say their names! Say that Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter!https://youtu.be/raK8kI7oKW0Marsha P. Johnson is name used by Malcolm Michaels, Jr., a New York drag queen who died in 1992 in a death ruled a suicide. Johnson / Michaels was not in police custody.The group then turns to its pro-illegal immigration position. Two of Black Lives Matter s founders head up pro-Illegal alien groups.If I die in ICE custody say I am not a criminal. Stop funding prisons and detention centers! Shut ICE down and (unintelligible) jails and our prisons! Not one more deportation!The line about ending all deportations got huge applause and cheers from the Netroots.The group then begins to turn their screeched narrative into an emotional and paranoid attack on white people. In strident language, they shout their fear that white supremacy wants to kill black Americans en masse.If I die in police custody, know your silence helped kill me. White sumprecacy helped kill me. And my child is parentless now.If I die in police custody know that I want to live! We want to live! We fight to live! Black lives matter! All black lives matter!Then the mob makes a thinly veiled reference to Sandra Bland, a woman whose death the group has been exploiting and spreading false information and conspiracy theories about for several weeks.Bland s death in jail after she was arrested for assaulting a police officer was ruled a suicide, and an autopsy confirmed that suicide finding with physical evidence. The autopsy also revealed that Bland had a large amount of marijuana in her system.Additionally, Bland had made a previous suicide attempt, had spoken about depression in a video she d posted on social and during intake at the jail had written herself that she was very depressed that day. Further, Bland had had at least ten prior run-ins with law enforcement that had resulted in numerous conviction and over $7,500 in outstanding fines.Despite the mountain of evidence about Sandra Bland s sad history, the Black Lives Matter movement has continued to push the idea that Bland was an activist who was the victim of murder by the police. They push this narrative at Netroots with a series of calls to violent action:If I die in police custody don t believe the hype, I was murdered! Protect my family! Indict the system! Shut that shit down!If I die in police custody. Avenge my death! By any means necessary!If I die in police custody burn everything down! Because no building is worth more than my life! And that s the only way motherfuckers like you listen!If I die in police custody make sure I m the last person to die in police custody by any means necessary!If I die in police custody do not hold a moment of silence for me! Rise the fuck up! Because your silence is killing us!At this point, the group is interrupted by Netroots Nation official.As National Journal reported in a story that mentions none of these calls to violent action Netroots Nation itself announced plans to work with Black Lives Matter.For its part, Netroots declined to criticize the protest. Although we wish the candidates had more time to respond to the issues, what happened today is reflective of an urgent moment that America is facing today, the group said in a statement. In 2016, we re heading to St. Louis. We plan to work with activists there just as we did in Phoenix with local leaders, including the #BlackLivesMatter movement, to amplify issues like racial profiling and police brutality in a major way. As the old song goes, see you in St. Louis. Bring a fire extinguisher.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
7,635 | Despite tensions, U.S. sees value in New START treaty with Russia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sees value in the New START arms control treaty with Russia, despite Washington’s concerns about Moscow’s track record on arms control and other issues, senior U.S. officials said on Friday. The remarks by the Trump administration officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, suggest the treaty will remain in force and the door remains open to pursuing an extension of the accord, which is set to expire in 2021. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty gives both countries until February 2018 to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550, the lowest level in decades. It also limits deployed land- and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bombers. Reuters has reported that President Donald Trump, in his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticized the New START treaty, saying it favored Moscow. But one of the Trump administration officials said on Friday the United States was not looking to discard New START. Senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, have questioned Russia’s reliability on arms control, citing longstanding U.S. allegations that Russia has violated the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Russia denies treaty violations and accuses the United States of them. The accusations come amid a nosedive in U.S.-Russian relations. U.S. intelligence agencies accuse Russia of meddling in the U.S. presidential election, which Moscow denies, and recent tit-for-tat exchanges between Washington and Moscow include moves to slash each others’ diplomatic presence. The tensions have reached Syria, where the United States and Russia are backing different forces that are scrambling to claim what is left of Islamic State-held territory. Russia warned the United States on Thursday it would target U.S.-backed militias in Syria if Russian troops again came under fire. Still, a second senior Trump administration official said Friday the United States was seeking ways to improve communication with Moscow and build some degree of trust, which the official described as non-existent. Trump took office saying he wanted to improve ties strained since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, which led Washington to impose sanctions on Russia. Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko met Trump on Thursday and said afterward that they had a shared vision of a “new level” of defense cooperation. But the second senior Trump administration official said there had been no decision on whether to provide defensive arms to Ukraine, something Kiev has long wanted. | 1 |
7,636 | South Africa's Zuma seeks to appeal ruling on influence-peddling | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s President Jacob Zuma has sought leave to appeal a court ruling ordering him to set up a judicial inquiry into influence-peddling in his government, local television channel eNCA reported on Friday. The High Court ruled on Dec. 13 that Zuma must set up a judicial inquiry into influence-peddling within 30 days and that he should pay costs for an earlier legal challenge. Zuma s spokesman could not immediately comment when contacted by Reuters. Zuma was seeking leave to appeal the High Court ruling on 20 grounds, including that he should pay legal costs, eNCA reported. The influence-peddling inquiry was recommended in a report released a year ago by South Africa s Public Protector, whose job is to uphold standards in public life. Zuma also sought to block the release of the report, entitled State of Capture , which focused on allegations that Zuma s friends, the businessmen and brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, had influenced the appointment of ministers. Zuma and the Guptas have denied all accusations of wrongdoing. The 75-year-old president has faced and denied numerous corruption allegations since taking office in 2009 and has survived several votes of no-confidence in parliament. | 1 |
7,637 | CNN’s Hostile Treatment of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard after revealing US are arming, funding Terrorists in Syria | 21st Century Wire says Recently, Democrat Hawaii Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, went on CNN s The Lead hosted by Jake Tapper, to talk about Donald Trump s foreign policy, and more importantly, to discuss the disturbing reality of US taxpayer support for armed militants and terrorists in places like Syria. Instead of adulation for doing the honorable thing, she received a hostile reaction from one of CNN s many highly paid onscreen propagandists. When asked by CNN s Jake Tapper (photo, right) about US Representative Tulsi Gabbard s recent visit to Trump Tower, she replied, My goal in going there, in receiving the invitation to speak to President-elect Trump was to speak specifically about the situation in Syria, the dangerous consequences of escalating the regime change war that the United States is fuelling there along with countries like Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and Turkey are escalating that through a so-called no-fly zone or safe zone. And urging him to end our regime change war there to stop funding both directly and indirectly groups that are working with Al Qaeda and ISIS. And to stop funneling those dollars and weapons and other assistance through these others countries like Saudi Arabia who are directly supporting these terrorist groups who are supposed to be our enemy, who we re supposed to be fighting to defeat. Visibly agitated by her answer, Tapper then asks Gabbard, herself an Iraq War veteran and a current member of the Hawaii National Guard, about her recent Bill introduced on the House floor last week entitled, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, which proposes severe legal repercussions to any US officials or persons involved in the arming or funding, either directly or possibly indirectly, of terrorists overseas including the US-backed rebel terrorists currently operating in Syria. What s key is that Gabbard points out that this activity is funded by the US taxpayer. Not surprisingly, CNN has never before reported this side of the clandestine issue before. Here s how their fascinating conversation transpired:TAPPER: And tell me about legislation. You have a bill that you introduced today that would address loopholes.GABBARD: Yes.TAPPER: You say have allowed American taxpayer dollars to fund terror groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria. Are you are you suggesting that the U.S. government is funding these terrorist groups?GABBARD: I m not only suggesting it. This is this is the reality that we re living in.TAPPER: Not directly, though.GABBARD: Most Americans you know, if you were I were to go and provide money, weapons, or support or whatever to a group like Al Qaeda or ISIS, you would immediately be thrown in Jail. However, the U.S. government has been providing money, weapons, intel assistance and other types of support through the CIA, directly to these groups that are working with and are affiliated with Al Qaeda and ISIS.TAPPER: So, you re saying the CIA is giving money to groups in Syria, and those groups are working with Al-Nusra and ISIS.GABBARD: There are there have been numerous reports from The New York Times to the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets who have declared that these rebel groups have formed these battlefield alliances with Al Qaeda, that essentially is Al Qaeda groups are in charge of every single rebel group on the ground fighting in Syria to overthrow the Syrian government.Tapper goes on to act stunned and befuddled, insinuating that Gabbard is wrong as if Gabbard were somehow making up her accusations, as he becomes somewhat confused trying to manage CNN s complicated contrived narrative. Tapper then insists that Obviously, they (US-funded rebel terrorists) are all fighting Assad. Gabbard quickly calls out Tapper s clear attempt at US State Dept propaganda talking points management Here s the latter exchange:TAPPER: And the U.S. government says they vet the groups that they give money to very, very closely. And that you re wrong, there are not alliances between groups at the American taxpayers fund and these other groups. Obviously, they all are fighting Assad.GABBARD: I beg to differ. Evidence has shown time and time again that that is not the case, that we are both directly and indirectly supporting these groups who are allied with or partnered with Al Qaeda and ISIS, in working to over throw the Syrian government of Assad. And we ve also been providing that support through countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar to do that. Gabbard s brave new legislation might be the most important and explosive development regarding Syrian Foreign Policy in Washington, but instead of pursuing this discussion, CNN s Tapper predictably tried to change the subject to Michael Flynn instead.Watch this incredible exchange here: 21WIRE has reported previously on the possibility that CNN is serving as a media adjunct to either the State Department, the Pentagon, NSA or the CIA (or a combination of the four). Judging by Jake Tapper s dismissive reaction to the facts on the ground, and his attempt to discredit Gabbard live on air, only strengthens the case that CNN is peddling an agenda for those US departments and agencies.21WIRE also reported previously how CNN has clearly chosen to only air coverage favorable to what the network has claimed to be rebels in Syria, when in reality these were mostly terrorist fighting groups. CNN s star reporter Clarissa Ward even went so far as to characterize terrorist suicide bombers in a sympathetic manner in her reports clearly designed to give positive PR to terrorists groups like Al Nusra Front who have been occupying East Aleppo since 2012. Other actors in the field seemingly employed by CNN who are operating in clear support of terrorists in East Aleppo include one Bilal Abdul Karim an apparent US asset promoting jihadist extremism, together with Ward, producing what are clearly staged reports, alongside CNN s endless airing of unvetted, staged White Helmets imagery, passing it off to the viewing public as authentic video and photos supplied by nameless Syria activists . 21WIRE has recently revealed additional terrorist-links with the White Helmets, who are a US State Dept, British Foreign Office and EU-funded pseudo NGO.Throughout the west s proxy war against Syria, CNN has only reported the rebel/terrorist perspective, shamelessly portraying militant terrorists as moderate rebels and freedom fighters, while systematically demonizing any Syrian or Russian who is defending the nation-state of Syria. This might explain Tapper s near contempt for Gabbard s accurate statements regarding US arming and funding of known terrorist groups in Syria.2016 was the year that CNN was exposed as perhaps the most corrupt mainstream media outlet in the United States. A number of other leaked emails revealed an unprecedented level of media corruption and systematic partisan collusion between operatives at CNN and the Hillary Clinton Campaign a naked violation of every fundamental principle of nonobjective press practices. In the leaked email exchanges, one could see gleeful Clinton campaign officials boasting about getting favorable news coverage from compliant mainstream media journalists with CNN being perhaps the worst offender. Clinton staffers even went so far as to circulate names of journalists who were deemed friendly to their candidate.Among the notorious Wikileaks email dump was a CNN request to DNC staffers asking for questions to ask during a Wolf Blitzer interview with then GOP candidate Donald Trump.In another email on April 28, CNN operative Jason Seher, a writer for Jake Tapper s show The Lead on CNN, emailed DNC media coordinator Pablo Manriquez thanking him for working behind the scenes with CNN.In a separate conversation CNN s Seher, then thanked DNC insider Martinez for facilitating Luis coming on today, and bearing with us through a meelee of GOP nonsense and cancellations and all that. Any particular points he ll want to make? We re gonna stay Dem focused Perhaps the worst CNN violation of press independence was when the network s supposed chief political analyst , Gloria Borger, tried to get an interview with Clinton chief of staff John Podesta by assuring him of essentially softball questions. I know John will have an exalted place in the campaign, and would love to chat with him about HRC, in a general way, not in a gotcha way re HRC, said Borger. It would be about 10 mins, very general, about her as a person and a candidate. What is most amazing about all of this, is that CNN executives refused to consider firing any of their personalities who have been implicated in open collusion with the Democratic party during one of the most crucial political contests in US history.In another leak provided to The Intercept by the source known as Gucifer 2.0, other CNN reporters discovered on the DNC s VIP List of media operatives counted on by the Clinton campaign included Kate Bouldan, Brianna Kielar, Jeff Zeleny, Sam Feist, David Chalian, John Berman, and Mark Preston.The only person who lost their paid position with CNN was the now disgraced political operative, Donna Brazile, currently still holding onto her gifted position as interim Chairwoman of the DNC who was also moonlighting for extra cash as contributor for CNN. Brazile was also a Super Delegate for Hillary Clinton. Podesta Email dumps exposed the fact that Brazile, a CNN contributor was caught giving Hillary s campaign debate questions in advance of CNN s Town Hall debate event.As a result, CNN s reputation as a trustworthy media outlets has been held in question by most of the public.When it comes to coverage of both the 2016 Election and the Syrian War, CNN has been on the wrong side of history and should not be trusted to give accurate and fair reporting regarding serious and important issues. READ MORE MSM LIES AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch Files READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
7,638 | War-ravaged South Sudan may scrap expensive oil subsidies | JUBA (Reuters) - War-ravaged South Sudan is considering scrapping state subsidies on oil because it hasn t been able to pay civil servants for four months and diplomatic staff abroad are being evicted over unpaid rent, the deputy finance minister said. Ending the subsidies would free up desperately needed cash, Mou Ambrose Thiik told Reuters in an interview. Nearly four years of civil war have destroyed South Sudan s economy. Inflation was at 165 percent in August, the 21st consecutive month of triple-digit growth. The government depends on oil revenues, but attacks have slashed production to less than a third of pre-war levels. The government expects to receive $820 million from oil this year. Out of that, $453 million will go to neighboring Sudan as payment for using its infrastructure for export; $183 million on the oil subsidy; and $166 million is allocated to the budget, which has a gaping deficit. We were thinking that we would lift subsidies on the oil and will be able to cover this (deficit) and pay our salaries more easily, said Thiik. But we have some resistance from the parliament. Lawmaker Nailo Mayo, the chair of the finance committee, said parliamentarians just wanted more information on who might be affected by ending the subsidies. The committee ... is concerned about the social cost, I mean the suffering that could accrue to the poorer section of the community, and also we are afraid of the political cost, that is stability, arising from lack of transport, he said. State-subsidized oil sells at 22 South Sudanese pounds (SSP) per liter, but severe shortages mean many people buy it on the black market for 300 SSP per liter. The SSP trades at about 17.5 to the dollar on the black market and 17.68 at the central bank. The process for allocating subsidized fuel, which is purchased with government-issued coupons, is unclear. South Sudan s conflict began in 2013 after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer. The conflict degenerated into ethnic fighting marked by widespread sexual violence. Out of an original population of 12 million, 4 million have fled their homes. More than half of those who remain in South Sudan need food aid and nearly three-quarters of children are out of school. Thiik acknowledged social services were dire and said the finance ministry was trying to save money. It wants to reduce the number of embassies by a third, he said, because it is unable to fund them. They (embassy staff) didn t get their salary for seven months and also they have arrears in their premises, he said. Asked about civil servants who had not been paid for four months, he said: it is true that we have not secured money to pay salaries. | 1 |
7,639 | Two Republican senators seek to slash legal U.S. immigration | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican senators proposed steps to slash the number of legal immigrants admitted into the United States by half on Tuesday, but the legislation, developed with the Trump administration, faces an uphill climb to get through Congress. Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue said their bill would cut the number of immigrants granted U.S. residency each year to 500,000 from 1 million, through measures including cutting far back on which relatives can be brought into the country and eliminating a diversity visa lottery. The legislation does not address visas specifically tied to employment, such as the H-1B visas for skilled workers used by many technology companies. Cotton and Perdue said they had consulted Republican President Donald Trump, who vowed to crack down on both illegal and legal immigration during his campaign for the White House. Cotton said he had spoken to Trump about the bill by telephone as recently as Tuesday morning. The measure faces stiff opposition in Congress. Although Trump’s fellow Republicans control majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, several back comprehensive immigration reform, not a tough crackdown. Republican Senator John McCain said he disagreed with the bill. A long-time advocate for immigration reform, McCain praised the contribution of immigrants to the United States. “We need more Sergey Brins and people like that who were born outside of this country and came here, received an education and made enormous progress for all mankind,” McCain told reporters, referring to the Google co-founder, who came to the United States as a refugee from Russia. Any measure also would need Democratic support to advance in the Senate, and Democrats, who cite studies showing that immigrants boost the U.S. economy, are strongly opposed. Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen called it “wrong and senseless” to separate families and cut successful visa programs. Perdue and Cotton acknowledged the bill would not come up any time soon, saying they hoped for a Senate vote this year. Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Congress first needed to address border security, but said the new measure “will be a helpful constructive proposal.” The bill would admit only immediate family members of immigrants, eliminating preferences for adult siblings or adult children. Cotton said it would exclude parents unless they were sick and the family promised not to rely on public benefits. The proposal came amid a larger immigration fight over Trump’s travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees. Cotton said his goal was to stop competition that lowers wages for workers without high school or college degrees. “Unless we reverse this trend, we are going to create a near-permanent underclass for whom the American dream is always just out of reach,” he said. Asked if the White House would support the legislation and whether it was working with the senators, a spokesman said, “We are reviewing it.” U.S. companies often argue in favor of immigration. More than 100 filed a legal brief opposing Trump’s travel ban. | 1 |
7,640 | Fierce firefight as Philippines' toughest urban war down to last building | MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine troops were locked in an intense urban firefight on Sunday with the last remnants of a pro-Islamic state alliance, as the army sought to declare an end to the country s biggest internal security crisis in years. An estimated 30 people, including militants and some of their family members, were battling to hold a fortified, two-storey building next to Marawi City s vast Lake Lanao, and appeared ready to fight to the death, according to the deputy commander of the operation. There s just one building and they re inside, Colonel Romeo Brawner told a news conference. We believe these are ones who decided to fight it out, because they believe that if they die there they will go to Heaven. Brawner said soldiers were using loudspeakers to urge them to surrender, and anticipated the gunfight could go on until midnight. They did not know how many people in the building were alive or dead, he said. The siege of Marawi has stunned the Philippines and stoked wider concerns that Islamic State loyalists have learned how to thrive in impoverished Muslim areas of the island of Mindanao and use its jungles and mountains as staging posts to launch attacks. Those fears are compounded by the Marawi rebels ability to recruit young fighters, stockpile huge amounts of arms and endure five months of ground offensive and government air strikes that have devastated the city. The military made a significant gain with last week s killing of Isnilon Hapilon, Islamic State s emir in Southeast Asia and Omarkhayam Maute, a leader of the Maute militant group. Another leader and possible bankroller of the operation, Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad, was likely killed also, the military said. Brawner said the authorities believed foreign operatives were among those still fighting and it was clear there was now a leadership vacuum. At this point we don t know who is really the leader, he added. Our government forces will try to do everything to finish the firefight today. Troops have started a phased withdrawal and the authorities may soon allow some residents to return to homes not damaged by the fighting, which displaced at least 300,000 people. More than 1,000 have been killed, mostly militants. The government estimates the rebuilding of Marawi could cost at least 50 billion pesos ($971 million). | 1 |
7,641 | comment on will michelle obama be the replacement nominee if the fbi email investigation ends hillary clintons campaign by marlene | arrested at protest of the dakota access pipeline shares by ike mclean october society
by late thursday and early friday morning police dressed in riot gear with armored vehicles were forced to intervene with activists protesting the dakota access pipeline pipeline would run within a halfmile of the standing rock sioux reservation
by midnight authorities arrested protesters during a standoff that lasted more than sixhours on property that sits in the pipelines path
protesters blockaded roads and bridges by setting fire to bales of hay and construction equipment police also said some protesters threw rocks and fire bombs and one women even fired three shots from at police but nobody was hit
more than police officers were called in to stop the protests and were forced to use pepper spray and bean bag guns humvees two helicopters and an airplane were also called in to assist law enforcement
authorities said the protesters left the officers with no choice but to intervene
were trying to avoid confrontation but they drew the line in the sand today cass county sheriff paul d laney told reporters thursday
the protesters were a group of native americans and environmental activists who have camped on the property since sunday oppose the billion pipeline because they say it could adversely impact drinking water and would disturb sacred burial sites
pictures from the protest can be seen below
sign up to get alerts about dennis michael lynchs upcoming donald trump film and breaking news subscribe | 0 |
7,642 | Creationist Ken Ham Is Building A $101M Noah’s Ark In Kentucky, And He Wants You To Pay For It (VIDEO/TWEETS) | Australian-born Creationist Ken Ham and his fundamentalist Christian organization Answers in Genesis (AiG) are looking to build a $101m Ark Adventure in Kentucky, with the centerpiece of a reconstructed Ark. The problem is, they want you the taxpayer to pay for it.Ham, AiG and their so-called Young Earth Creationist movement believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible when it comes to the age and creation of the Earth and all life that ever inhabited it. They believe the Earth and all life was created in 6 days, by an omnipotent God, just 6,000 years ago. They believe dinosaurs and man inhabited the planet at the same time, because everything that is was created in those same 6 days. So yes, there will be a pair of dinosaurs on the ark.According to Newsweek, AiG purchased a 99-acre plot of land just outside Williamstown, Kentucky got the city for just a dollar five years ago. But since then, the project has hit one hurdle after another. Many of Ham s own making.The principal issue at stake now, is that Ham and AiG want the taxpayer to pick up the bill for around a quarter of the construction costs of the project in the form of tax rebates. The group sought to exploit subsidies provided by the state to boost tourism through the Tourism Development Incentive program. Projects of $1 million and upwards can recover 25% of project development costs by recouping their sales taxes.After much debate on their initial application, Kentucky approved the site for the scheme so long as AiG agreed to non-discriminatory hiring practices. This means, they could only recover the cash if they recruited people of all faiths and none. They could not specifically hire Creationists.A few bumps down the road later, and Ham and AiG had to significantly strip back their pans for the park. They were unable to gather together the funds and investment to create the full theme park. Due to the substantial changes to the plans, they had to resubmit their application to Kentucky for the tax rebate. This time is was denied. Why? Because apparently, honesty and integrity mean nothing to this group of creationists.Despite their reluctant agreements to get their hands on state cash, AiG had released a decidedly discriminatory recruitment policy for the Ark Adventure. The website demanded a salvation testimony and a creationist statement of faith from all prospective job applicants clearly ruling out non-believers.So now, Ken Ham and AiG are suing Kentucky for the money claiming religious discrimination. Greg Lipper, senior litigation counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State points out the muddled-thinking that AiG is applying in this case. AiG is confusing what they have the right to do as a private organization with what taxpayers are required to fund, They re saying Kentucky taxpayers should pay for them to expand a religious ministry. That kind of argument would make Thomas Jefferson turn in his grave. No one is telling Ham as a private citizen, who or how he can hire. It is only as a recipient of state funds, which he is free to enter or not, that he is required to follow the stipulations that would be applied to any organization or individual doing the same. Just like chances of his theory of genesis being true, Ham s chances of getting his lawsuit through are slim to none.And his Ark hasn t escaped the attention of social media users either I just realised that America's immigration policy doesn't weed out Australian Ark Building Lunatics. #kenham Gotapulse (@gotapulse) January 3, 2016If #KenHam could get a 500 yr old dude & his kids to build the Ark themselves w/o modern technology I would give the park more credit. Uncle John (@azmoderate) January 18, 2016If Ken Ham wants to replicate the trials and tribulations of biblical Noah, then he should probably cease seeking to exploit tax loopholes to make up for his lack of fundraising skills. Religious freedom requires that if a man wants to spend $101 million of his own money to build a giant ark in Kentucky he is free to do so. However, he has no right under religious freedom to expect you and I to pay for him to do so.Featured Image via YouTube Screengrab | 0 |
7,643 | (VIDEO) COLLEGE STUDENTS REACT TO NEW BIZARRE GENDER NAMES THEY’RE TOLD TO USE ON CAMPUS | Young Americans for Freedom at the University of Tennessee, where administrators have suggested students use a new set of gender neutral pronouns, asked their peers to react to the news. How do you think they responded? | 0 |
7,644 | Bosnian experts find 86 skulls at scene of 90s war massacre | SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Forensic experts have found 86 skulls in a mass grave near the scene of a massacre of Bosnian Muslims and Croats by Serb forces early in the 1992-95 war, officials said on Friday. The skulls and more than 50 other body parts were found covered with rocks in a remote spot near a ravine in central Bosnia, the country s Missing Persons Institute said. Experts began searching on Sept 7, hours after the Bosnian war crimes court ordered the exhumations at Mount Vlasic. At the time, the teams said they were only expecting to find the remains of around 60 people. On Aug. 21, 1992, Bosnian Serbs told prisoners from detention camps for non-Serbs near the town of Prijedor that they would be released in a prisoner exchange. But instead they drove them away by bus, lined them up by the edge of a ravine and shot them. Only a dozen survived what has become known as the Koricani Cliffs massacre, by tumbling or jumping down the steep ravine. The 1992-95 war claimed 100,000 lives. The killings were part of a wave of ethnic cleansing by Bosnian Serb forces who were trying to create a Serb statelet by removing Bosniaks - Bosnian Muslims - and Croats from the area. Forensic experts have already identified 117 victims of the massacre in several other mass grave sites. We hope that the search for the victims of this massacre has completed today, said Lejla Cengic from the Missing Persons Institute. Eleven Bosnian Serb ex-policemen were convicted for the ravine killings, including Darko Mrdja who was jailed for 17 years by the Hague-based U.N. war crimes court. The remainder were convicted by the Bosnian war crimes court. | 1 |
7,645 | Tillerson takes tough line on Russia, open to peacekeepers | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday there could be no normal relations with Russia until Moscow ended its support for separatists in Ukraine and returned Crimea, in comments likely to reassure Western allies. Speaking after a dinner where he discussed Russia with NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday, Tillerson took a tougher stance than U.S. President Donald Trump, who has sought better relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said last month after meeting Putin in Vietnam that he believed Putin s denial of accusations that Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. election. That was despite U.S. intelligence agencies evidence of Russian interference. At NATO, Tillerson criticized Russia s continued use of hybrid warfare and its attempts to undermine Western institutions in a reference to the mix of state-sponsored computer hacks and Internet disinformation campaigns that NATO allies intelligence agencies say is targeted at the West. This stands as a significant obstacle to normalizing our relations, Tillerson told reporters. At the NATO dinner with ministers, Tillerson also blamed Russia for interfering in the U.S. election, said a diplomat who was present. Russia has denied meddling. Trump, whose former aides are being investigated after accusations that Putin influenced the election that brought him to the White House, has repeatedly emphasized that it would be better if Russia and the United States could work together. Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil chief executive, has spent much of his time as secretary of state trying to smooth the America First foreign policy that has alarmed Trump s allies, but the president has publicly undercut the secretary of state s diplomatic initiatives. His trip to Europe this week was partly overshadowed by reports the White House had a plan to replace him, which Tillerson denied on Wednesday. [L8N1O63LC] Tillerson stressed to ministers that the Ukraine crisis, which was sparked by Moscow s 2014 annexation of Crimea, was the central issue that blocked better U.S.-Russia ties because seizing sovereign territory was unacceptable, according to a second diplomat present. The conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists has claimed more than 10,000 lives since it erupted in 2014. Russia denies accusations it fomented the conflict and provided arms and fighters. People are still dying every day from that violence, Tillerson said. Tillerson, who in 2013 as head of Exxon Mobil was awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin, a Russian state honor, said he hoped to agree to deploy U.N. troops to eastern Ukraine, an idea the Russian president floated in September. With an internationally-agreed ceasefire long broken and efforts to revive a 2015 peace deal stalled, peacekeepers could end hostilities and allow trade to resume between Russia and Ukraine. But Tillerson warned there was still a significant difference between the mandate that a peacekeeping force would be given and the scope of their mandate . We hope we can close those gaps, Tillerson said. Russia is keen to see the end of Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis but European officials fear U.N. peacekeepers would freeze the conflict rather than solving it. Tillerson also cautioned against treating Russia as a partner, saying all meetings with Moscow should be based on issues, not agreed on the basis of a calendar, quashing any hopes of a detente in Moscow s relations with Washington. I think there is broad consensus among all the NATO members that there is no normalization of dialogue with Russia today, he said. | 1 |
7,646 | ADMIRAL “ACE” LYONS: “Why would an American President embrace the Muslim Brotherhood?” [Video] | THIS MAN IS A GREAT PATRIOT! Retired General Ace Lyons rips into the Obama regime like no other and it s honestly pretty frightening. | 0 |
7,647 | Roadside bomb kills four in Thailand's troubled south: security official | BANGKOK (Reuters) - A roadside bomb planted by suspected Muslim insurgents killed four army rangers and wounded six, including a civilian, in southern Thailand on Friday, a security official said. A decades old-separatist insurgency in predominantly Buddhist Thailand s largely Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat has killed more than 6,500 people since 2004. The bomb was planted under a road that was being built in Pattani, the security official said. The group that planted the bomb is using old techniques in order to create instability in the region. They planted the bomb under a road currently under construction, said Pramote Prom-in, a spokesman for security forces in the region. Friday s blast followed roadside bombs last week that killed two soldiers and wounded more than 20 people in Yala. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast, which is usually the case in Thailand s deep south, where insurgents are fighting for secession. Thailand s three southernmost provinces were part of an independent Malay Muslim sultanate until they were annexed in 1909. | 1 |
7,648 | Ivanka Trump’s Hypocritical Mother’s Day Message Got DEMOLISHED By Women | Ivanka Trump really should stop talking about these issues if she is going to continue to be complicit in her daddy s administration.Despite the fact that her dad s policies hurt women and children, Ivanka posted a Mother s Day message on Twitter focusing on pay inequality.Today, on Mother s Day, we must confront that motherhood is now a greater determinant of pay inequality than gender. https://t.co/n1HhF8PyVc Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 15, 2017Pay inequality is a major problem in this country. Women currently make around 77 cents for every dollar a man makes for the same job and amount of work. At the same time, women also have to deal with the fact that maternity leave is often not a benefit offered by employers, nor is childcare. So it becomes even harder for women to make enough money to take care of their families.But while Ivanka may really care abut these issues, the problem is that she has mostly been a bystander whenever her dad signs legislation or an executive order that hurts women.For example, the Trumpcare bill would take healthcare away from millions of women. Just being a woman would be considered a pre-existing condition. So would sexual assault and pregnancy. Not only would a lot of moms suffer under this bill, their children would suffer as well.That s why Ivanka has been repeatedly accused of being complicit.She s a complete hypocrite who pretends to a be a feminist icon but she s not. And women had no problem calling her out on Twitter for it.@IvankaTrump You care nothing about women! You blindly support your father who is a misogynistic sexist bully. AND YOU DO NOTHING! #impeachTrumpnow Rena Sofer (@RenaSofer) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump pic.twitter.com/TuBYZTYkHs cmerry (@cmerry) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump Did you know your father & the GOP want to make C-sections & sexual assault pre-existing conditions? I don t think they) like women too much KMG365 (@starbucksgirl51) May 15, 2017@starbucksgirl51 @IvankaTrump Her father has provided preexisting conditions to 13 women . (((Wendy)))#Resist (@NstyWmnWendy) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump Where were you when it came to speaking out and defending women when healthcare was on the table?! Go home Ivanka! You re drunk!! Maren (@blsdx7) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump But not for u, right Ivanka? Your father doesn t support moms and he also thinks troubled girls such as Lindsey Lohan are better in bed.. Michelle Jackino (@DJackino) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump Have you met your father, apparently the man you speak highly of isn t @POTUS. Help us remove this imposter & save our country from travesty LisaP (@lspesq53_lsp) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump @Fleurdelisazure But you don t want to cover pregnancy for women? You words are empty! #traitor Brayz (@BrayleegirlK) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump Far from what the statistics show. If your going to be a role model get your facts straight.@MAGAtrump5 Michelle (@mmbarricelli) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump Ivanka: Stop talking. If u cared anything abt women, u d have stepped away from daddy long ago. Bonnie Rand (@musicalwhisper) May 15, 2017@IvankaTrump You condone your father s locker room talk, his desire for incest among other atrocities against women. You, lady, have no credibility. Paulaann (@Paulaann8) May 15, 2017It should also be pointed out that Ivanka Trump pays Chinese workers pennies to manufacture her shitty products and clothing line. Yet she still claims to care about pay inequality here in America.If she really cared about women she would try to convince her dad to do something that helps them for once in his pathetic life.Featured image via Sean Gallup/Getty Images | 0 |
7,649 | Factbox: Latest Obamacare repeal bill would block grant money to states, gut Medicaid | (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans are making one last attempt to overhaul Obamacare before a special parliamentary procedure allowing the bill to pass with a simple majority expires at the end of this month. The latest proposal, called the Graham-Cassidy bill and sponsored by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Dean Heller and Ron Johnson, would give states money in the form of block grants, allowing them to design their own healthcare systems while maintaining some regulations of the Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. The federal funding would run out by 2027, and after that would need to be reauthorized. The bill gained momentum this week as Republicans aim to deliver on a seven-year campaign promise and one of President Donald Trump’s top campaign pledges. The bill’s sponsors say they are close to the 50 votes needed for passage, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote if necessary. Here are some of the main provisions of the proposal: Like previous repeal bills, the Graham-Cassidy proposal retroactively repeals the so-called individual mandate, the requirement that everyone purchase health insurance or else pay a fine. It also retroactively repeals the mandate that certain employers provide health insurance for their workers. Health policy experts say the individual mandate is needed to induce young, healthy people who may otherwise forgo coverage to buy insurance and offset the costs of sicker, more expensive patients. The bill’s authors say states could maintain Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, if they choose to. But the legislation repeals enhanced federal funding for the expansion beginning in 2020. It then limits Medicaid spending beginning in 2020 by implementing a per capita cap. The proposal aims to distribute equal funding to states for Medicaid by providing block grants based on the number of enrollees in each state. The block grants, coupled with the repeal of the Medicaid expansion, would slash funding to the 31 states that expanded the government program while states that did not expand would see a short-term boost in federal funding. States would also be allowed to introduce Medicaid work requirements for many eligible adults to receive benefits, a fundamental change to the government program. The bill maintains the Obamacare rule that children be allowed to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26, one of the law’s most popular provisions and one that is favored by Trump. But the legislation allows states to opt out of the requirement that insurers charge sick and healthy people the same rates. States would be able to set up high-risk pools for expensive patients to purchase coverage, while healthier individuals would be able to purchase cheaper bare-bones health plans. It would also enable states to waive the Obamacare requirement that all insurers cover 10 essential health benefits, such as maternity and newborn care, prescription drugs, and mental health and addiction treatment. The proposal repeals some Obamacare taxes that are supposed to help pay for the law in the future, including the so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost employer-sponsored insurance and a tax on medical device manufacturers. It repeals fewer taxes than most previous repeal efforts. The bill would also in 2020 repeal income-based tax credits that help low-income people purchase health insurance. The bill defunds Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization that conservatives oppose due to its abortion and birth control services, for one year. | 1 |
7,650 | Watch Malcolm Nance WIPE THE FLOOR With Breitbart Editor In Bill Maher’s Overtime | The bright side of the Russian/Trump investigation, if you can find one, is that a lot of political stars are being born. Al Franken, while not a newbie to most, is separating himself from the chaff, as are Adam Schiff, Kamala Harris and a handful of other Democrats. One major rising star, though, isn t a Democrat at all he s a former counter-intelligence officer. He considers himself a Colin Powell Republican and if he were to run for President, there s little doubt he d be a force to be reckoned with, regardless of party.After Friday night s Overtime with Bill Maher (the part of the show that s on YouTube instead of on TV), Nance confirmed his badass status when he stood up to Breitbart Editor in Chief, Alex Marlow, demanding an apology for a story that ran a few years ago that resulted in death threats to Nance and his family.On the subject of fake news, which Marlow tried to redefine as a liberal invention, Nance said this: There was this article about a 35-year counterterrorism expert who claimed they wanted Trump Tower attacked that was written in Breitbart, Nance began. I got 31 death threats and that came from your website you gonna apologize to me? Marlow responded that he respected Nance and his service to the country, but Nance shot back by saying, Your followers threatened my family, my children, my wife. The Breitbart chief tried turning the tables. Are you really suggesting that Breitbart doesn t get death threats? That our lives aren t put in danger? Marlow claimed he didn t remember the story, but if Nance would show it to him, he d apologize. Apparently, Marlow hasn t heard of the Google.Nance responded that he will come to (his) office and see that retraction. Marlow then called Nance, who is incredibly calm, hysterical, which seems to be the go-to insult for anyone speaking out against the Trump administration.Here s the video:Featured image via video screenshots | 0 |
7,651 | Trump says 'nothing funny' about 'Saturday Night Live,' but audience soars | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on his scorn for satirical TV show “Saturday Night Live,” whose popularity has soared since Alec Baldwin began impersonating him in the final weeks leading up to the election. Trump, a guest host on “Saturday Night Live” in November 2015 when he was running for the Republican presidential nomination, has vented his anger on Twitter in recent weeks, calling the NBC show “totally unwatchable” and a “hit-job.” In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he had considered no longer watching it, given his complaints. “I hosted ‘SNL’ when it was a good show, but it’s not a good show anymore,” Trump responded. “First of all, nothing to do with me, there’s nothing funny about it. The skits are terrible.” The show’s audience has jumped 33 percent since Baldwin began impersonating Trump in October, according to NBC. The network said some 11.4 million people on average are watching the program this season, starting Oct. 1, making it the most-watched season since 1992. Trump on Wednesday attempted to cast doubt on the future of “Saturday Night Live,” which has lampooned presidents and politicians from both parties since it first aired 41 years ago. “Frankly, the way the show is going now, if you look at the kind of work they’re doing, who knows how long that show’s going to be on. It’s a terrible show,” Trump said. The Republican businessman and former star of NBC’s reality TV show “The Apprentice” also said Baldwin’s depiction of him was “really mean-spirited and not very good.” “I do like him and I like him as an actor, but I don’t think his imitation of me gets me at all,” Trump added. Baldwin, who has portrayed Trump as unprepared for office or tweeting during security briefings, tweeted back to Trump last week, “Release your tax returns and I’ll stop. Ha.” Trump broke with decades of tradition followed by both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates by refusing to release his tax returns. Baldwin, 58, the former star of NBC’s comedy “30 Rock,” told celebrity magazine Hola! in an interview, that he was glad other people found his impressions funny after a divisive election. “There are bad feelings on both sides, so to have the opportunity to give people a chance to talk and laugh about it is a good thing,” Baldwin told the U.S. edition of the magazine in an interview released on Tuesday. | 1 |
7,652 | Britain's "Madame Brexit" tells Poland: Your constitution is your own matter | WARSAW (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May gave Poland a rare dose of big power support on Thursday by saying that its constitution was its own affair, a sharply different tone to that of the European Union which has scolded Warsaw over judicial reforms. The EU executive launched an unprecedented action against Poland on Wednesday, calling on other EU member states to prepare to sanction Warsaw if it fails to reverse judicial reforms that Brussels says pose a threat to democracy. When asked about the Commission s move to deploy the nuclear option under Article 7 of the 2009 Lisbon treaty, May said: These constitutional issues are normally, and should be primarily a matter for the individual country concerned. Speaking alongside Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw, May said: Across Europe we have collective belief in the rule of law. I welcome the fact that Prime Minister Morawiecki has indicated that he will be speaking with the European Commission and I hope that that will lead to a satisfactory resolution. While the EU executive has censured Polish ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski s push to have control of judicial appointments, May is seeking to court Poland as an ally in Brexit negotiations and key military partner against Russia. Poland has said reforms are necessary while like-minded allies in Hungary have indicated they will veto the ultimate sanction of suspending Poland s voting rights in the bloc. At one point, a translator s slip made Morawiecki appear to cast May as Madame Brexit , though in fact he said in Polish: as Madame PM said, Brexit is Brexit . May said Britain and Poland had signed a defense and security cooperation treaty which deepens cooperation on training, information sharing and capability development. On the eve of a visit by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to Moscow, May said Vladimir Putin s Kremlin was trying to weaponise information and undermine a rules-based international system. We are both deeply concerned by Russia s attempts to weaponise information, she told reporters. The Kremlin is seeking to undermine the international rules-based system and it will not succeed. Morawiecki said he hoped France and Germany were aiming to work out the best solution with Britain as it leaves the EU I have deep hopes and conviction that our French and German partners aim to work out the best solution in this new, not easy situation that we are in with respect to Brexit, Morawiecki said. | 1 |
7,653 | China says North Korean businesses in country will shut within 120 days of U.N. resolution | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s commerce ministry said on Thursday that North Korean firms or joint ventures in China will be shut within the 120 days of the latest United Nations Security Council sanctions passed on Sept.12. Overseas Chinese joint ventures with North Korean entities or individuals will also be closed, the ministry said in a statement on its website, not giving a timeframe. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Sept.12 to boost sanctions on North Korea, banning its textile exports and capping fuel supplies. The U.N. action was triggered by North Korea s sixth and largest nuclear test this month. It was the ninth Security Council sanctions resolution over North Korea s ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006. | 1 |
7,654 | Carly Fiorina Ambushes Preschoolers On Field Trip To Prove Point About Abortion (VIDEO) | It gets weirder and more exploitative with the Republicans on a daily basis. This time, a party of preschool kids on a field trip to the Greater Iowa Botanical Garden unwillingly served as a backdrop to Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina s anti-abortion speech. One parent said: The kids went there to see the plants. She ambushed my son s field trip. The former Hewlett Packard executive embarked on a day of campaigning in Iowa in an attempt to save her ailing campaign. The ambush occurred when Fiorina hosted a right to life forum at the Greater Des Moines botanical garden. She entered the rally before a crowd of about 60 and directed 15 kids to a makeshift stage. The problem, according to one parent, is that Fiorina did not get permission from any of the parents to sit with her in front of a huge banner bearing an image of an unborn fetus while she talked about the harvesting of organs from aborted babies. Chris Beck, the father of four-year-old Chatham, said: Taking them into a pro-life/abortion discussion [was] very poor taste and judgment. I would not want my four-year-old going to that forum he can t fully comprehend that stuff. He likes dinosaurs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers. The discussion about abortion and the vivid images are difficult for adults, but such a heavy topic with its images weighs more on young kids. During the rally and with children present, an anti-abortion activist carried a scale model of a four-month-old fetus sucking its thumb. This is the face of abortion, said the activist as Fiorina looked on.Fiorina s campaign apparently doesn t see anything wrong with what she did . A campaign spokeswoman said: We were happy that these children chose to come to Carly s event with their adult supervisor. So four-year-old children chose to come to an event to hear about abortion? Is she nuts? It s no surprise that Fiorina s campaign is foundering, polling at 1.5% in Iowa. Her opportunist approach to using little kids for political purposes, exposing them to pictures and rhetoric they don t understand, all without permission from their parents, is alarming and tells us a lot about her.Watch the video below:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giv4p1HXyhE]Featured image via YouTube screen capture | 0 |
7,655 | GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MARCO RUBIO CASTS DECIDING VOTE ON OBAMATRADE…Never Even Read It | One more Republican doing his part to aid Obama in his fundamental transformation of America Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) cast the deciding vote for Obamatrade on Tuesday as it squeeked through the U.S. Senate 60-37, and his Senate office is still outright refusing to answer whether he even knew what he was voting on.Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate, was the deciding vote necessary for the U.S. Senate to clear the final 60-vote threshold and eventually, later this week, send to President Barack Obama s desk the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill that would fast-track at least three highly secretive trade deals that Obama has been negotiating for years.TPA will, now that it s going to pass, effectively ensure the congressional approval of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). The text of the TiSA and T-TIP agreements is currently entirely secretive, even to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and their staffs, though WikiLeaks did uncover several TiSA documents that leaked and prove the deal would surrender congressional power over U.S. immigration policy to the executive branch and perhaps to a newly created transnational entity.The TPP text for the Pacific Rim trade deal that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)80% notes would give the Sultan of Brunei who has implemented Sharia Law in his nation and banned Christmas, literally an equal vote to that of the United States, on the other hand, is available for members of Congress to read. The only catch is they have to go to a secret room inside the Capitol basement for classified readings to read it in person, they can t take notes, and only their staffers with enough high enough security clearances can go with them to read it and their staff can t go without them.Before the Senate voted on TPA to fast track these deals the first time back in May, Breitbart News asked every Senate Republican if they read the text of the TPP before voting to fast-track it. Only a handful said they did.Sens. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)93% , Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)93% , Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)80% , Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)60% and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)100% went to go read it. Rubio, on the other hand, was one of many who has consistently and repeatedly refused to answer whether he read the deal text. His office refuse to answer yet again on Tuesday whether he went to go read it before the first time he voted for TPA or before the second time he did on Tuesday s cloture vote and that means he s again choosing to give the public impression he did not read the text of the deal before he voted to fast track it through Congress.This could have significant implications for Rubio on the campaign trail as he seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency as activists in early states are furious with his decision to support Obamatrade when it s clear he doesn t know what he s talking about.New Hampshire conservative and Merrimack Councilman Bill Boyd, who s endorsed Paul for president, told Breitbart News while on a recent reporting trip to New Hampshire that he s upset that Rubio didn t read the deal before he voted to fast-track it. He s been the biggest advocate against Obamacare and the ACA, and for all the time Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)9% kept on saying we have to pass this bill to find out what s in it, Boyd said.You re telling me Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)80% voted for a bill without reading it? Are you kidding? You know what, we elect people to go down there to represent us. At a bare minimum you have staff. Staff should be providing some kind of an executive summary. If it s a thousand pages, you should be cutting it up and giving it to staff and get 10 or 20 page synopses. If your staff can t bring a particular issue on in a two page memo than they have no idea what they re talking about. For Sen. Rubio to admit that, that s kind of surprising. That s kind of surprising not to read a document and make an opinion without even looking at it. You need to be able to formulate an opinion. If somebody gives you the cliff notes version of a bill, that s at least better than not reading it at all. So that s kind of surprising. For entire story by Matthew Boyle: Breitbart News | 0 |
7,656 | (VIDEO) PRICELESS! DETROIT SINKHOLE TURNED INTO SOMETHING TOTALLY OUTSIDE THE BOX | The sinkhole never got repaired so the people in this Detroit neighborhood decides to make lemonade out of lemons. Only in Detroit! | 0 |
7,657 | Trump picks former U.S. Senator Coats as director of national intelligence | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked former U.S. Senator Dan Coats as his director of national intelligence, two senior transition officials said, as he puts his stamp on a U.S. intelligence community that he frequently criticizes. The official announcement was expected this week as Trump makes decisions on some of the remaining major positions he must fill as he prepares to take over the White House on Jan. 20. Coats, 73, is a traditional conservative from Indiana who just finished a six-year term in the U.S. Senate. He was also U.S. ambassador to Germany for Republican President George W. Bush. Coats “would be an excellent choice,” Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, told reporters. “Because Dan’s got the experience, he’s got the leadership skills having been an ambassador and I think his time on the committee has served him to understand what that role entails.” One Democratic official familiar with Coats’ background and views described him as a “very reasonable guy.” Another U.S. official familiar with intelligence matters said he was “very well respected on both sides of the aisle.” A source close to the transition said Trump had also considered New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for the job but that Christie had chosen not to take it. Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had a hand in hacking during the presidential campaign. The Democratic official said Coats knew a lot about Europe and Russia and might “butt heads with Trump over Russia.” The president-elect was to get a briefing about the intelligence community’s findings on the topic from senior U.S. officials on Friday at Trump Tower in New York. Some U.S. intelligence officials on Thursday welcomed Coats’ selection, saying they hoped his appointment was a sign that Trump was seeking to mend fences with the intelligence community after months of enmity over its assessment that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election through hacking. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a domestic political issue, said he hoped that if confirmed by the Senate, Coats could negotiate what he called “a truce” between the intelligence community and Trump’s choice for national security adviser, retired Army Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, who was fired as Defense Intelligence Agency director by the current director of national intelligence, James Clapper. Coats has been a vigorous defender of government surveillance programs, having voted against congressional reforms to the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of U.S. call records in 2015. While on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Coats also joined other Republican members in 2014 in approving a minority report that defended the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation methods against detainees in secret foreign prisons, saying the program “saved lives and played a vital role in weakening al Qaida.” The conclusion contrasted with the majority report that found the program failed to produce significant intelligence and that the CIA misled the Bush administration, Congress and the American public about the use of so-called Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. The techniques included waterboarding, which simulates drowning and was condemned as torture by President Barack Obama, other senior officials and lawmakers, and human rights experts Trump was also nearing decisions on two other Cabinet positions, agriculture secretary and secretary of veterans affairs, with announcements expected soon, the source close to the transition said. The leading candidate to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture was former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, although one source said Idaho Governor Butch Otter was also in the mix. For Veterans Affairs, Trump met on Tuesday with Leo Mackay Jr., a former deputy secretary for veterans affairs and a senior vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), about the Cabinet post. | 1 |
7,658 | Meeting on North Korea crisis to be in Canada after Christmas: source | OTTAWA (Reuters) - A planned meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the North Korean crisis is not scheduled to take place before the Christmas break in late December, a Canadian official said on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Canada would co-host the meeting with the United States on Canadian soil. At least a dozen foreign ministers will be involved, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the situation. U.S Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, condemning a North Korean missile test earlier in the day, said the meeting would include South Korea, Japan and other affected nations, to discuss how the global community can counter North Korea s threat to international peace. Freeland had been discussing North Korea with counterparts in recent months, including those from the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia and China, said the Canadian official. Canada was a good choice to host a meeting because it was less directly involved in the crisis than the United States, Japan, South Korea or China, said the official. There are fewer implications to us convening a constructive conversation, added the official, saying no decisions on a venue or who would be invited had been made. | 1 |
7,659 | Two Republican Senators say 'no' to straight Obamacare repeal | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senators Susan Collins and Shelley Moore Capito said on Tuesday they will not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement healthcare plan. The senators spoke out shortly after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Senate Republicans planned to vote on a straight repeal of President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act after efforts to overhaul the law collapsed on Monday. “My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians. With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians,” Capito said in a statement. Collins made her comments to reporters at the Capitol. | 1 |
7,660 | Activist dedicates rights award to 'tortured, imprisoned' Egyptians | CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian activist who is under criminal investigation for his human rights work on Tuesday dedicated an international rights award to the thousands of Egyptians he said had been tortured or imprisoned since veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. Mohamed Zaree, 37, the Egypt office director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, won the Martin Ennals Award, a prize given each year by a jury of 10 global rights groups. He is banned from traveling abroad so could not collect the award in person in Geneva, but spoke to the audience on Tuesday by video conference. I do not view this honor as recognition of my work alone, Zaree said. Instead, this award belongs to the tens of thousands of Egyptian citizens who have been tortured, imprisoned, disappeared or killed over the last six years for nothing more than standing up to corruption and tyranny through peaceful means. Egyptian rights activists accuse President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of erasing freedoms won in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ended Mubarak s 30-year rule. Last year authorities reopened an investigation into non-governmental organizations that document abuses, which the government accuses of receiving foreign funding to spread chaos Since seizing power in mid-2013 from the Muslim Brotherhood, Sisi has presided over a crackdown on his Islamist opponents that has seen hundreds killed and many thousands jailed. But the dragnet has since widened to include secular and liberal activists at the forefront of the 2011 uprising. Egypt says the measures are necessary for national security and that hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. Zaree s seat was empty in the audience but his wife, Shymaa Abd El Aziz, and two school-age daughters received the award presented by Kate Gilmore, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, on his behalf. He faces charges that could carry a life in prison sentence for receiving funds from foreign entities to harm national security and has been banned from travel since May 2016. His wife tearfully said the last time he was interrogated they lied to their daughters and said he was going somewhere for work. She said that him winning the award gave them the courage to tell them the truth if he was arrested. Within the context of the renewed crackdown on Egyptian human rights organizations, he has become a leading figure in Egypt s human rights movement, the awards jury said. Government pressure forced the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies to relocate its headquarters to Tunisia in 2014. The runners-up for the Martin Ennals Award were Karla Avelar, who founded El Salvador s first organization of transgender women, and FreeThe5KH, five Cambodian human rights activists who were recently released. The award s first recipient in 1994 was Chinese dissident Harry Wu. | 1 |
7,661 | LOL! $45 MILLION DOLLAR WHOOPI Complains Conservatives Prevented Her From Making A Living [VIDEO] | She s pulling down a cool $2 Million a year as the race-baiting host of ABC s flailing The View talk show.Watch Goldberg take a line from Hillary s dead broke book during this segment: | 0 |
7,662 | Acclaimed Documentarian BLASTS Christians For Supporting Trump: He Lusts After His Own Daughter | Anyone following this election can easily see that Donald Trump is no angel. From his bigotry, racism and misogynistic behavior and comments, it s hard to make the case that Trump is a man of virtue and worthy of running a country. Acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns was quick to point this out in a recent interview with the Daily Beast, where he spoke at length about how awful of a human being Trump is.Although Burns was promoting his films, the filmmaker couldn t help but get carried away when the conversation turned to race relations in the United States, and the topic of Trump came up. Burns had been talking about his film The Central Park Five, which is about five African-American teens that were wrongly convicted in the assault of a white woman in Central Park when he reminded everyone how Trump reacted to that case. He said: He shamefully took out a full-page ad in all of the New York dailies asking for a restoration of the death penalty for two 14-year-old, two 15-year-old, and one 16-year-old innocent children. While New York State laws would not have permitted their execution, just the fact that there was a rush to judgment ought to be complete evidence of how temperamentally unsuited he is for the office he now seeks. After his slam of Trump s racism, Burns went off on another anti-Trump rant, labeling Trump as a super-predator and going after the business mogul for being a bigot that has benefitted from the speed of social media and an amoral internet. Burns said: I find Donald Trump more of a super-predator. This idea that he can attack and attack and attack whole groups of people, and that we live in a media culture where that s permitted to be tolerated it s the spectacle and not the truth of it. An amoral internet permits a lie to travel around the world three times before the truth can get started, and we live in a place where lying is OK where a lassitude develops where it doesn t matter what the truth is and that s how it s possible for someone like him to be advanced who is so clearly temperamentally unsuited and has no idea about governing. Then, Burns turned to the GOP and the Religious Right. Bringing up Trump s long history of sexism, misogyny and his utterly creepy obsession with his daughter Ivanka, Burns criticized Evangelicals that are somehow able to justify voting for Trump. The Republican Party has been extraordinarily successful at getting many groups of people to vote against their self-interest. Evangelicals are voting for Donald Trump. What part of Donald Trump reminds you of Jesus Christ? Trump lusts after his own daughter on national radio, talks about women s bodies and breasts in such a disparaging way, and mocks them. How is this in any way Christian? When you make the other the enemy, how is that Christian? There has been incident after incident, past and present, of Trump saying things about his daughter Ivanka that no father should ever say. Most notable is what Trump said in a 2006 interview where he said, I don t think Ivanka would do that [pose for nude photographs] inside the magazine [Playboy]. Although she does have a very nice figure. I ve said that if Ivanka weren t my daughter, perhaps, I would be dating her. There have been several other instances, and it s amazing that Burns pointed this out. If racism and bigotry weren t enough to convince America s more religious voters that Trump doesn t live the values of Christianity, his obvious sexual attraction to his own daughter should certainly raise some red flags.Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
7,663 | YIKES! ACADEMY AWARD WINNING Actor Starring In Harvey Weinstein’s New Batman Movie: “Children UNDER 16 Are Immensely Attractive” | Batman fans who have been looking forward to the upcoming Batman sequel, Justice League , a Harvey Weinstein produced movie, that is set to be released before Christmas of 2017, have taken to social media, demanding that the studio replace the Batman actor Ben Affleck. A close friend of the now disgraced Hollywood kingpin producer and sexual predator, Harvey Weinstein, Ben Affleck, has received quite a bit of criticism after women in the industry came forward to accuse him of being complicit in Weinstein s behavior, and have even accused him of disgusting and inappropriate sexual behavior toward women in the industry.The lone female superhero, Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman in the upcoming movie, recently came out with a statement of support for fellow actresses who have been victims of sexual abuse and condemnation for their sexual harassers: Ben Affleck, who stars as Batman in the Harvey Weinstein Batman Vs. Superman movie is not the only actor who should be shunned by moviegoers. It s time for the spotlight to be shined on a few of the other actors in the Weinstein movie, including Justice League actor Jeremy Irons.Actor Jeremy Irons, who won a Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Reversal of Fortune , is set to play the role of Batman s butler, Alfred J. Pennyworthy in Weinstein s Batman sequel Justice League . Hollywood has clearly been ignoring sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen, and Ben Affleck for decades, so it s not too surprising that Jeremy Irons has somehow managed to escape scrutiny by the media, and by his fellow Hollywood actors, after the disgusting remarks he made following his lead role as a pedophile in the controversial Lolita movie.In 1998, Jeremy Irons starred as a pedophile in the movie Lolita, that was based on a 1955 novel written by Russian American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator a middle-aged literature professor called Humbert Humbert is obsessed with the 12-year-old Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. Lolita is his private nickname for Dolores.Telegraph The actor Jeremy Irons, who starred in the film Lolita, says the hysteria sweeping the country over pedophilia is damaging relations between adults and children.Irons, who has two sons with his wife Sinead Cusack, says it is important to uphold a rigid social morality but also vital that adults are allowed to show affection to children.Pedophilia should be treated as a disease, he says in a BBC interview to be screened next week. But it must also be recognized that children are attractive and that parental love has a sexual element. It is very difficult because children under 16 are immensely attractive, he says. Any father will tell you. I think our children have to be protected. But I don t think we need to have hysteria. In the interview, Irons says his character was not a pedophile in the strict sense, as he knew that what he was doing was wrong . Referring to his family, he describes the difficulties of judging the line between natural affection and pedophilia. I remember when my son was 12 and he was like a god. He just went through that sort of golden time for about 18 months. I don t have a daughter but they do the same. Parental love is sexual. Children practice on their parents. Girls will flirt outrageously with their fathers because they are practicing. But we should know that that is practice. Boys will flirt outrageously with their mothers in a different way. His comments were seized on by child protection charities. The NSPCC said: Such comments are ambiguous and could be interpreted by sex offenders as a justification for their behavior. Esther Rantzen, the chairman of ChildLine, said: The words immensely attractive are not the best thing to say about children under 16. Appealing or charming are more appropriate. Irons, 56, made the remarks when asked about his portrayal of Humbert Humbert, the lecturer who falls for a young girl in the film of Vladimir Nabokov s novel Lolita. When the film came out in 1998, he suggested that child abuse did not always ruin the life of the victim.In the video below, Jeremy Irons arrogantly discusses his own brilliance as he portrays a pedophile in Lolita . Go to the 7:50 mark to hear Irons tell the interviewers how devastatingly attractive many 15-year-old girls are. The greatness of the performance that Dominique Swain gives, is that she is all of our daughters. Funny, wacky, silly, attractive, because many girls of 15 are devastatingly attractive. WATCH:Irons also once posed the question about whether or not a son should be able to marry his father:NYDN -Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons said Wednesday that while he doesn t have much of a strong opinion either way on same-sex marriage, he believes it poses interesting questions, including whether allowing same-sex marriage would open the door for interfamilial relationships. Could a father not marry his son? Irons asked HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps. Irons argued that it s not incest between men because incest is there to protect us from inbreeding, but men don t breed, and wondered whether same-sex marriage might allow fathers to pass on their estates to their sons without being taxed.Jason Momoa who plays Aquaman in in Weinstein s Justice League movie was recently attacked on social media after a video was being circulated of him making a disgusting joke during a public forum, where he bragged about the benefit of being able to play Khal Drogo on the Game of Thrones series, and how he is able to rape beautiful women and get away with it . Weinstein s Justice Leauge movie, surfaced on Twitter, where he was seen discussing as far as sci-fi and fantasy, I love that there s so many things you can do like rip someone s tongue out of their throat and get away with it and rape beautiful women. Watch the video below:tw: rapea horrific clip of jason momoa saying he loved working on #gameofthrones bc he "got to rape beautiful women." men are trash. pic.twitter.com/K2RBmsWEt6 bella goth (@peeanofreek) October 12, 2017After the video of the Game of Thrones actor went viral, he apologized for his truly tasteless comment on Instagram. | 0 |
7,664 | 'One China' principle must be maintained, China's Xi says | BEIJING (Reuters) - The One China principle must be maintained, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, referring to a core Chinese government policy that states Taiwan is part of China. | 1 |
7,665 | U.S. agency scraps unused telegraph regulations in Trump rules purge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is scrapping rules on telegraphs even though carriers no longer exist, part of the Trump administration’s effort to slash regulations, the Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday. The last Western Union telegram in the United States was sent in 2006 and the commission had stopped enforcing the rules in 2013. The last major telegram service worldwide ended in India in 2013. The FCC said in a notice it was removing “outmoded regulations” on telegraphs effective in November to “further our goals of reducing regulatory burdens, eliminating unnecessary rule provisions, and making the agency as efficient and effective as possible.” There are close to 1,000 pages of FCC media regulations alone. AT&T Inc, originally known as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in 2013 lamented the FCC’s failure to formally stop enforcing some telegraph rules. “Regulations have a tendency to persist long after they outlived any usefulness and it takes real focus and effort to ultimately remove them from the books even when everyone agrees that it is the common sense thing to do,” the company said. The telegraph was demonstrated in 1838 in New Jersey and by the 1860s was widely used in the United States, marking the first communication that traveled faster than a physical message. Telegrams were popular in the 1920s in part because they cost less than a long-distance phone call. FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in May he wanted to remove outdated rules, striking irrelevant regulations as “just a matter of good housekeeping” and others that stand “in the way of innovation and investment that would benefit consumers.” Also in May, the FCC voted to start a “comprehensive review” of media regulations. The FCC meets next week to vote to end a 1939 requirement that each AM, FM, and television broadcast station maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license. The rule was to “ensure that stations would be accessible and responsive to their communities. However, a local main studio is no longer needed to fulfill these purposes,” the FCC said. | 1 |
7,666 | What Sarah Palin Just Asked Us To Do With Trump’s Nomination Will Make You Vomit (VIDEO) | Like a stubborn cold that just doesn t seem to go away, Sarah Palin, for some reason or another, is still around and apparently relevant in our media. You know, the same lame stream media that she likes to claim silences her or mixes up what she says when they just quote her verbatim. The same media that asks her gotcha questions, which are really just questions she doesn t know the answer to and caught her looking like an idiot.Now, while appearing with Donald Trump at a rally in San Diego, California, Palin told the crowd that despite the media treating Trump like a joke at the beginning, he s still here, and not only is he here, he s going to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States.Honestly, I don t know why she s complaining about the media and Trump considering it s been a non-stop Trump show media circus since he announced his candidacy last summer.However, it was what Palin told the media, and everyone else who thought Trump was a joke, to do with Trump s nomination that was utterly nauseating to say the least.She said of her, and apparently our golden wrecking ball after trashing the media: Weeelll, he is now though. He is now we the people s nominee. So, suck it up, cupcake. Okay, first of all, he is not we the people s nominee, he is the Republican nominee, not representative of all of the nation s people. Secondly, telling us to suck up anything in regards to Trump will have most of the nation reaching for a barf bag.Oh, and Palin also said Trump wrecked what needed to be wrecked in order to shine light on the shenanigans. Well, he certainly wrecked the Republican Party and any hope of ever respecting them again, so sure, he wrecked what needed to be wrecked. However, he s not at all what the country needs, and he needs to stay as far away from the Oval Office as possible. It s up to us to make sure he s stays out of the White House.Watch her words in no particular order here:https://www.facebook.com/politico/videos/10153565461001680/Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
7,667 | Asylum seekers refuse to leave Papua New Guinea camp despite loss of power, water | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hundreds of asylum seekers refused to leave a detention center in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, even after power and water were cut and food supplies dwindled, in a stand-off that human rights groups warn could become a humanitarian crisis. Australia and PNG are trying to close the Manus Island center, one of two remote Pacific camps that Canberra uses to detain asylum seekers who arrive by boat. The camps have drawn widespread international condemnation. The remote Manus island center has been a key part of Australia s disputed Sovereign Borders immigration policy under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, detaining them instead in PNG and Nauru in the South Pacific. Around 600 detainees on Manus island are defying the attempts to close the camp, saying they fear violent reprisals from the local community. The men refused to board a bus to a transit center on the island on Wednesday, three of the asylum-seekers told Reuters, frustrating Australia s plans to dismantle part of its costly offshore detention program. They took generators this morning and they cut the main pipes, there is no power in the whole center and no water, Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz told Reuters. People are extremely anxious. The asylum seekers, warned that utilities would be cut, had begun to collect rainwater in bins. However, without running water, advocates fear a rapid decline in sanitary conditions of the camp. The loss of power also threatens to dampen morale of the detainees, nearly all of whom are suffering from mental health issues, according to a United Nations report in 2015. Mobile phones are a lifeline for these men, said Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch in Australia. They are completed isolated and they need phones to get real-time information about what is happening elsewhere on Manus, as well as to stay in touch with their families. The detainees were sharing what food remained but some of the men Reuters spoke to by phone said supplies were running low. They had been given enough meals to last only until the camp s official closure on Tuesday. Acting Australian Prime Minister Julie Bishop said the men should move to the new centers, which Australia has said it would support with A$250 million ($195 million) worth of food and security for the next 12 months. The relocation of the men is designed as a temporary measure, allowing the United States time to complete vetting of refugees as part of a refugee swap deal that Australia hopes will see it no longer responsible for the detention of nearly 1,400 asylum seekers who have been classified as refugees. Those not accepted by the United States would likely be resettled in PNG or in another developing country, dashing hopes of coming to Australia. Vehement opposition among Manus residents to the asylum seekers has raised fears within the camp of potential violence, stoked further by the departure of Australian-employed private security guards on Tuesday. We did not sleep, about 30 guys at one time would keep watch for potential attacks, said an asylum seeker who asked to be identified only as Imran, due to fears his application for U.S. resettlement could be jeopardized. Lawyers for some of the 600 men filed a last-minute suit in PNG s Supreme Court on Tuesday to prevent the camp s closure and for services to be returned. A ruling is expected later on Wednesday. PNG s High Court ruled last year that the Manus center, first opened in 2001, was illegal. The United Nations and rights groups have for years cited human rights abuses among detainees in the centers. | 1 |
7,668 | Italian left's efforts to stop migrants may backfire at election | ROME (Reuters) - A deal with Libya that has slashed the number of migrants reaching Italy could scupper the ruling center Democratic Party s (PD) already dwindling hopes of staying in power next year as it is opposed by the PD s potential coalition partners. The deal, struck in February, is popular with the Italian public and with right-wing and anti-establishment parties now ahead in opinion polls, but it has drawn criticism from the United Nations, rights groups and many on Italy s left. Under the accord, Italy and the European Union pledged to finance migrant camps in Libya, and Rome also agreed to train the Libyan coastguard, part of a crackdown on migrants attempting the hazardous sea crossing to Europe. But the deal has also led to tens of thousands of migrants being trapped in Libya, where humanitarian groups say they are locked up in appalling conditions, bought and sold, and subjected to crimes on a daily basis. One politician who wants changes to the agreement is Emma Bonino, a former foreign minister in a center government. I ve always criticized this agreement with Libya. It s a cork in a bottle that cannot hold, Bonino told Reuters. Italians have the perception that they are being invaded by Muslim foreigners. It s not true. Fear is fantastic for winning elections, but it s simply useless for controlling migration. Bonino is considering forming a pro-EU party with other left-leaning figures that could support the PD ahead of next year s national election, which must be held by May. In other criticism of the Libya deal, Giulio Marcon, the top lawmaker in the lower house for the Italian Left party, said: We cannot be complicit in migrant push backs. Left-wing voters hold humanitarian values dear, said Marcon, whose party has so far refused an alliance with the PD. ANTI-IMMIGRANT PARTIES GAINING The PD needs the support of other parties, on the left in particular. It trailed the populist 5-Star Movement in a recent poll with 24 percent to 29 percent, while a center coalition that includes the anti-immigrant Northern League, Silvio Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!) and the far-right Brothers of Italy has combined support totaling about 36 percent. The deal with Libya, modeled on a similar one struck between the EU and Turkey, has been successful in reducing the flow of migrants into Italy, with arrivals down by about a third so far this year compared to the same period in 2016. In October alone arrivals were down about 80 percent from a year earlier. Ordinary Italians, alarmed by the arrival of some 600,000 migrants in the past four years, have welcomed the trend. An SWG poll this month showed two thirds of Italians do not want more immigrants, fearing they will take away jobs and increase crime. The Northern League, tapping into the anti-immigrant mood, has seen its popularity more than double to about 15 percent in three years. Its leader, Matteo Salvini, has accused fake refugees of invading Italy and bringing crime with them. Not to be outdone, the 5-Star Movement s candidate for prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, this summer accused charity ships rescuing migrants piled onto overcrowded and unseaworthy boats of being a taxi service . Under the February deal, Libya s coastguard has so far picked up about 20,000 migrants, including refugees. They are then forced into detention centers where they can be held indefinitely. Last week the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the EU s support for the Libyan coastguard as inhuman because intercepted migrants were imprisoned and subjected to unimaginable horrors . Former U.N. secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan said the Libya deal suggested Italy was complicit in a breach of the Geneva Convention, which says refugees cannot be returned to a place where they may be persecuted. Under the Convention, you cannot push them (refugees) back. But if you make an arrangement with somebody else to keep them from moving, in a way you are complicit, Annan said during a trip to Rome this month. | 1 |
7,669 | OBAMA PROMISED No Vacations If Elected So Check Out Your Tab For This Big Lie [Video] | During Obama s campaigning in 2008, he spoke of his total devotion to the job as president if elected. One of the things he said he would give up is vacations. Well, we now know that was one of many, many big lies Obama s told since day one of his presidency. Not only has Obama vacationed, he s vacationed in lavish style racking up HUGE tabs compliments of the American taxpayer. Just listen to the video below from 2008 and know that he s lying through his teeth:When he was a candidate for president in 2008, Barack Obama said during an interview that as the occupant of the Oval Office his vacations, his leisure, even his need for sleep, would be gone in a dedication to the American people that such a position requires.Then he had American taxpayers spend in excess of $70 million on his vacations.The comment he made came during an interview with New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. It was recorded in 2008 but apparently not published online until 2012.In context, Obama said, You have to understand that if you seek that office, you have to be prepared to give your life to it. Essentially the burden that any president, I think, strikes, with the American people is, um, you give me this office and in turn my, fears, doubts, insecurities, foibles, need for sleep, family life, vacations, leisure is gone. I am giving myself to you. He continued, The American people should have no patience for whatever is going through your head because you ve got a job to do. How I think about it is, um, that you don t make that decision unless you are prepared to make that sacrifice that bargain. And he noted, I think what s difficult and important for somebody like myself, who has a wonderful forbearing wife, and two gorgeous young children, is that they end up having to make some of those sacrifices, too. However, the partial expenses for taxpayers even before the Obama family s extended and lavish vacation in Hawaii over the 2015 Christmas holiday, and the vacations for Vice President Joe Biden and his family, totaled $70,563,336.75, according the Washington watchdog Judicial Watch, which has been keeping tabs on the president s vacationing.Total costs are simply not available because some security-related expenses never are released. But a significant part of the costs are the taxpayer-funded jet travel for the Obama family.Only a few weeks ago, Judicial Watch said, You may want to sit down for this one. We have new records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that Barack Obama and family had a busy 2015, vacationing on the American taxpayers dime. The unnecessary travel included an Obama Palm Springs golf trip in June, a trip to New York City in July and a family trip to Martha s Vineyard in August all of which cost taxpayers $3,115,688.70 in travel expenses alone. The documents regarding the Obama travel expenses came in response to three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the first was filed on June 30, 2015, the second on July 23, 2015, and the third on August 24, 2015. The report said the June 20 golf outing for Obama to Palm Springs required 10.6 hours of flying time, costing taxpayers $2.1 million. Then a July 18 outing for Obama and his daughters to New York cost $309,000. And the Obama family s August trip to Martha s Vineyard cost taxpayers about $620,000 in flight time alone.Separate security costs include the salaries and expenses of the various Secret Service and other teams that the government provides. For example, during his annual Hawaii getaway over Christmas going on now, an ambulance remains on stand-by while Obama vacations.Reported Judicial Watch, In Palm Springs, Obama played golf at the plush, private golf course of Oracle billionaire Lawrence Joseph Larry Ellison. The golf course is located on Ellison s 249-acre Porcupine Creek estate, which features a golf club and course, a huge 18,400 square-foot main residence, eight guest houses, a pool, spa, gym and an amphitheater. It was Obama s fifth golf outing to Palm Springs in the past two years. The West Coast trip reportedly included political fundraising and one speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The New York trip was to allow Obama some time hanging out with his girls, according to an ABC report.Read more: wnd | 0 |
7,670 | DID FOX NEWS’ MEGYN KELLY EXPOSE HERSELF AS JUST ANOTHER WHINY LIBERAL NEWS HOST? | Thoughts on the first GOP Presidential Primary Debate by Patty of 100% FED Up!There are a lot of FOX News fans who have been clinging to FOX for their fair and balanced news like a beacon of light in a storm since 9-11. I know I found myself scratching my head over the behavior of Fox News hosts, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier (I never expected Chris Wallace to be fair or balanced).I thought the most striking question of the night was directed at Scott Walker about his position on the defense of life. It s interesting that Megyn Kelly was so appalled by the Planned Parenthood video series on her show, yet gave the impression she was going to nail Walker with his defense of the unborn in cases of rape and incest. I watched her discuss this question with pundits following the debate and she actually acknowledged that Walker s response to her question could potentially sink his presidential aspirations. So tell us Megyn Are you in support of defending the unborn or just the unborn in case of a teen pregnancy? Where do you draw the line in your outrage? After watching her last night, I couldn t help but wonder if her outrage over the Planned Parenthood issue was genuine or simply staged for ratings. I also caught her smirking, as she attempted to hide her self satisfaction after one of the pundits suggested her comment about Donald Trump really hurt him with voters and specifically with Republicans.And finally I could barely contain my anger as Megyn played right into the hands of the Democrats and their false GOP war on women narrative. Did she actually believe she swayed woman voters with her gotcha remarks about Rosie O Donnell, who is the poster child for a progressive feminist social experiment gone bad? Is there another celebrity out there who is more open about her hate for America and for the values and ideals that have made us the greatest country on earth? As far as I m concerned, Donald Trump did America a favor when he shined the light on her belligerent, arrogant and intolerant attitude as a host of The View toward anyone who disagreed with her radical progressive views. Rosie asked for a fight, and the media gasped when Trump fought back! If America is looking for a candidate who is more concerned about how many people like him because he/she runs away at the first sign of controversy, then Trump, Cruz, Carson, Paul, Huckabee, Fiorina and Walker are likely not going to be on your list of top 3 candidates. (I didn t include Christie because I personally think he exposed himself as a fraud during Hurricane Sandy with his loving embrace of Obama when he needed it most.)Megyn was on a mission to make history last night. I don t think she really changed anything for Trump. Trump will wake up today and be as bombastic as he was before he set foot on his first presidential debate stage. He will call out anyone who dares to attempt to force him to adhere to their narrow view of what a GOP candidate should look like, and he will double down on Rosie or anyone else who tries to trash America. The only thing I believe Megyn did last night was show her adoring viewers that she really isn t the Megyn we all thought we knew.Can Megyn Kelly ever recover from her performance as a fair and balanced moderator at her first ever Presidential debate? After painting loudmouth, anti-American Rosie O Donell as a damsel in distress and Trump as an evil antagonist, will any sane conservative care what she has to say ever again?Here s the Rosie O Donnell video where she decides to mock Trump:Here s Trump s response to Rosie on the Letterman show:So after watching these videos, can someone explain why Megyn felt the need to defend Rosie from Donald Trump about a public argument between the two of them in 2006? | 0 |
7,671 | YIKES! Is Something Big About To Happen? Michelle Obama Erases Any Trace Of Hillary From Twitter Account | Michelle Obama has scrubbed any reference to Hillary from her Twitter account What? Like with a cloth or something? LOL!Seriously though, it looks like Mooch is trying get rid of any evidence of something she posted to Twitter between March 4, 2013 and now. Hmmm wonder if it has anything to do with a certain presidential candidate s FBI investigation? Michelle Obama has scrubbed all references to Hillary Clinton from both of her Twitter accounts as news breaks that Clinton is under two different FBI investigations involving four FBI offices.Has @MichelleObama deleted her tweets for the past 3 and a half years? Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 1, 2016Barrack Obama's Husband Michelle Scrubs Hillary Clinton From Twitter History.The tide has turned.#MAGAhttps://t.co/dmH239cdiv General Halley (@HalleyBorderCol) November 1, 2016The @FLOTUS account has been wiped clean of all traces of Hillary, and @MichelleObama, a verified page with almost six million followers, has been scrubbed all the way back to 2013. Your News Wire h/t Gateway Pundit | 0 |
7,672 | Key Architect Of The Iraq War Now A Trump Surrogate | While Donald Trump was on the campaign trail he blasted the Bush administration, saying they lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, a talking point which led our country to invade a sovereign nation. Trump has blasted politicians who voted for the Iraq War. Trump argued that the move to topple Saddam Hussein may have been the worst decision in presidential history. But now, he s bringing Dick Cheney on board to help ensure that Rex Tillerson is confirmed next year as Trump s secretary of state.Some Republicans have made it clear they have reservations about Tillerson s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. So, Cheney is now Trump s surrogate in order to serve as a bridge between the Trump team and skeptical Republicans. Cheney is a former oil executive and longtime friend of Tillerson s, according to Politico.It s a scenario no one could have possibly foreseen: that one of the key architects of the Iraq War, which Trump slammed on the campaign trail, is now being enlisted as an emissary for a man Trump wants to help steer his ship of state.Wrong, Politico. At the present time, nothing is surprising anymore after Trump s election.Another transition aide said Cheney s imprimatur may serve as a good housekeeping seal of approval with Republican skeptics. And indeed, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio received a call from the former vice president earlier this week. The goal: To move Marco the right way, according to a source familiar with the conversation. Rubio will cast a pivotal vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which must approve the nomination before it proceeds to the full Senate.Cheney is also in close contact with senior Trump aides and speaks frequently with Mike Pence who has said he hopes to model his vice presidency on Cheney s. Mike relishes the advice, said a senior transition aide. The aide added that Cheney wants to be helpful to Trump s administration.You can t make this stuff up. Please just wake me up in four years. That swamp is now filled with terrifying creatures.Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty | 0 |
7,673 | Slovak government leaders strike new coalition deal to defuse crisis | BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovak government leaders agreed on Friday to amend a coalition agreement to lure back a junior party which withdrew its support for the alliance three weeks ago, provoking a political crisis. The Slovak National Party (SNS), junior member in a three-party coalition, canceled the coalition agreement on Aug. 7, calling for a new deal that would give it more say in decision-making. Now leaders of the three parties Prime Minister Robert Fico of leftist Smer, ethnic-Hungarian party Most-Hid leader Bela Bugar and SNS s Andrej Danko have agreed to hold regular weekly meetings to meet the SNS s appeal for better communication within the coalition. Danko also complained on Thursday that co-ruling with Fico s Smer was difficult because both parties address the same voters. According to opinion poll by Polis agency, SNS support fell to 7.2 percent in August from 8.6 percent in March 2016 election. The government needs the votes of all three coalition parties to maintain a majority in the 150-seat parliament and Fico struck a conciliatory tone on Friday. There is no alternative to this government. We have to find new ways to communicate, to understand each other better, Fico told journalists. SNS has argued for more government investment to revitalize thermal spa resorts and wants a national airline to be set up while Smer says spending must not endanger reaching a balanced budget planned for 2019. Opposition lawmakers have alleged the SNS pulled out of the coalition to divert attention from a row over the distribution of 300 million euros ($351.69 million) in EU subsidies by the education ministry. The conflict escalated last week when Fico demanded Education Minister Peter Plavcan s resignation over the alleged mismanagement of the subsidies managed by his department. Slovak media have reported that the ministry chose several companies with no history in research or innovation as recipients of EU subsidies aimed at supporting science. SNS leader Andrej Danko said the allegations of the misappropriation of funds were unfounded but agreed to replace Plavcan. | 1 |
7,674 | FDA Department Gets Order From White House Saying All Office TVs Must Be Programmed To Fox News Only | A little over 100 days into America s experiment in dystopian rule took a predictably sad turn: The Trump administration, apparently tired of allowing people to watch non-propaganda, have begun ordering government agencies to only allow Fox News to be played in government buildings. Fox News, of course, has operated as little more than a full-time state news agency for the Trump administration.The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), operating within the FDA, was given this message after employees asked why all of their monitors had inexplicably been changed to Fox News:I wanted to let everyone know that the reason for the change from CNN to FOX.The reason for the change is that a decision from the current administration adminstrative officials has requested that all monitors, under our control, on the White Oak Campus, display FOX news.Sorry for the inconvenience, but I am unable to change any of the monitors to any other news source at this time.Reporter Julia Reinstein confirmed the email from a source within the research center.Someone at CBER sent me the email which told staff TVs had been switched to Fox News by order of the admin pic.twitter.com/rsCzpOtdpv Julia Reinstein (@juliareinstein) May 5, 2017Reinstein got a picture confirming that the TVs within an office filled with serious scientists and researchers trying to do their jobs really were streaming Fox News.Here's Fox News on the TVs at CBER, same day an email went out to staff saying it had been switched from CNN to Fox by order of Trump admin pic.twitter.com/uVPx8jekIk Julia Reinstein (@juliareinstein) May 5, 2017Fox News has weathered its own scandals recently by doubling, then tripling down on unwavering support of Donald Trump. Its years of anti-Obama hysterics have given way to a Trump promotional operation that is breathtaking to watch. The mental gymnastics the network pulls in order to defend Trump s (largely unsuccessful) first 100 days has become the stuff of legend, including what may be one of the most unintentionally hilarious tweets ever published.Jobless rate after first 3 months: Trump vs. Obama vs. Bush vs. Clinton. pic.twitter.com/EUTEseJyTj Fox News (@FoxNews) April 29, 2017Unsurprisingly, all of this favorable coverage has pleased Trump, who is reportedly obsessed with what people are saying about him on cable news. On the same day the White House ordered CBER to start playing Fox News, Trump took time out of his schedule to praise Fox News morning show Fox and Friends for its ratings.Congratulations to @foxandfriends on its unbelievable ratings hike. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2017We are actively monitoring other governmental agencies to see if similar orders emerge. It seems highly unlikely that Trump would target just CBER with an order to watch Fox News. We ll update when we have more.Featured image via Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
7,675 | PRESIDENT TRUMP AND MELANIA Arrive in Poland to Cheering Crowds [Video] | The President and First Lady touched down in Warsaw, Poland today for a visit before traveling to Hamburg, Germany. They ll be in Hamburg for the G20 Summit where Trump is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time and discuss the nuclear threat of North Korea with world leaders. As they stepped off of the plane, Melania appeared in a beautiful green coat . She never misses! GO TO THE 10:15 MARK FOR THEIR DEPLANING:THE FIRST LADY WAVES AFTER ARRIVING IN WARSAW, POLAND:Melania Trump waves after arriving in Warsaw, Poland. How can anyone not love our First Lady? pic.twitter.com/6821k3dH2T Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) July 5, 2017POLISH CROWDS CHEERING AS PRESIDENT TRUMP ARRIVES IN WARSAW: CROWDS LINED THE ENTIRE ROUTE!Polish Crowds Cheering as President Trump Arrives in Warsaw pic.twitter.com/TGCHfb7Blc Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) July 5, 2017A FULL MILITARY ESCORT IN POLAND:The First Couple will leave Germany for Paris and Bastille Day ceremonies next Friday. We re looking forward to watching President trump move amongst world leaders. We have to admit that it s also going to be fun to see what the First Lady is wearing each time she makes a public appearance. | 0 |
7,676 | Obama to hold final press conference on Wednesday: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will hold his final press conference as president on Wednesday, the White House said. The press conference will be held at 2:15 ET (19:15 GMT). Obama is set to leave office on Friday when he will be succeeded by Republican President-elect Donald Trump. | 1 |
7,677 | COLLEGE SNOWFLAKES FREAK OUT! “Feel Unsafe” Over VP Pence’s Planned Commencement Speech [Video] | Notre Dame students are freaking out over Vice President Pence s planned commencement speech. Once again, the college snowflakes are trying to shut down free speech. How will these students ever survive in the real world?The college is breaking with a 60-year tradition by not inviting the sitting president to speak. Instead, the University President announced Pence s scheduled visit noting he s a native son : It is fitting that in the 175th year of our founding on Indiana soil that Notre Dame recognize a native son who served our state and now the nation with quiet earnestness, moral conviction and a dedication to the common good characteristic of true statesmen, said Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. With his own brand of reserved dignity, Mike Pence instilled confidence on the state level then, and on the world stage now. We are proud to welcome him to represent the new administration. Notre Dame students protesting VP Pence as this year s commencement speaker because it makes them feel unsafe pic.twitter.com/W7mJoFp6dV FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) April 12, 2017 University of Notre Dame students have begun a #NotMyCommencementSpeaker white board campaign to protest the invitation of Vice President Mike Pence to speak at Commencement.Last week, seniors Immane Mondane and Jourdyhn Williams invited students to take photos holding white boards with direct quotes from Pence that are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, offensive, or ostracizing to members of our community, along with the hashtag #NotMyCommencementSpeaker. Alternatively, students could also write about why they feel unsafe with the presence of Mike Pence on our campus, with daily opportunities to have photos taken with their whiteboards through the week.Once all the photos have been compiled, the organizers plan to share them on social media in hopes of starting a discussion about Pence s invitation. For me personally, Pence represents the larger Trump administration, Mondane told The Observer. His administration represents something, and for many people on our campus, it makes them feel unsafe to have someone who openly is offensive but also demeaning of their humanity and of their life and of their identity. While the photos do not appear to have been posted yet, Mondane provided The Observer with several examples of the complaints that students shared.One student used a quote from Pence favoring traditional marriage, writing on their board, Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal status with heterosexual marriage -Pence #NotMyCommencementSpeaker. Another read, Because I am the daughter of Immigrants Family of LGBTQ folks. Read more: Campus Reform | 0 |
7,678 | Trump meets Japan, Australia leaders over trade, North Korea threat | MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump raised North Korea s missile tests during talks on Monday with the prime ministers of Japan and Australia, and said a lot of progress had been made in negotiations on trade. On the sidelines of a summit of East and Southeast Asian leaders in Manila, Trump met with Japan s Shinzo Abe and Australia s Malcolm Turnbull, and said discussions at the meeting would include tensions on the Korean Peninsula and trade. In brief remarks prior to news media being ushered out of the meeting, Turnbull said North Korea s recklessness needed to be stopped, while Abe said the most immediate challenge was to ensure regional peace and stability. Following the meeting, the White House said the three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining maximum pressure on North Korea in the effort to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. They also discussed expanded security cooperation for enhanced deterrence and defense against North Korean aggression, the White House said in a statement. The three men also discussed the need for free and open trade in the Indo-Pacific region and the need to pursue fair and reciprocal trade, the White House added. Trump, who campaigned heavily on U.S. trade issues, made pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Asian trade deal one of his first acts in office. His administration has instead pledged to reach bilateral pacts with individual nations. Countries remaining in the pact have said the deal is advancing without the United States. | 1 |
7,679 | Russia becomes Iraq Kurds' top funder, quiet about independence vote | LONDON (Reuters) - Russia, the only major power that has not called on Iraq s Kurds to cancel a referendum on independence next week, has swiftly become the top funder of Kurdish oil and gas deals, with as much as $4 billion pledged in less than a year, industry sources say. Washington, European countries, Turkey and Iran have all lined up to oppose a move by Iraq s Kurds to hold a Sept. 25 independence referendum, which the Kurds consider the culmination of decades of struggle for a state of their own, but Iraq calls a violation of its constitution. This week, the White House issued a statement calling the planned vote provocative and destabilizing , noting that it will take place not only within the autonomous Kurdish region itself but on territory that is disputed. But Moscow has issued no such call to cancel the vote. Instead, with the planned referendum just days away, Russian state oil giant Rosneft announced its latest investment last week, to help Iraqi Kurdistan develop its natural gas industry, for domestic supplies and eventual export. The full value of the deal has not been disclosed officially, but according to industry sources familiar with it, it is worth more than $1 billion. It is Rosneft s third giant venture in the Kurdish region since February, transforming Moscow from an outsider with little profile in Kurdistan into the region s biggest source of cash. According to the industry sources, Rosneft s deals since it first arrived in Kurdistan last December are worth around $4 billion in total. That exceeds the $2 billion in financing the Kurdish region has previously received for oil sales from international trading firms that pre-pay for its exports, and $1.5 billion it has received from neighbor Turkey. It also marks a big change in focus for the Iraqi Kurds, who have had close ties with Washington since 1991 when the United States offered them protection from Saddam Hussein, the dictator later toppled by U.S. forces in 2003. Moscow has been effectively filling the gap as the United States has been pulling back from Iraq, said a senior source in Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdish region. Publicly, Moscow says it supports Iraq s territorial integrity while also recognizing the aspirations of the Kurds for a homeland. The 35 million Kurds are spread over Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. We are interested that the Kurdish people like any other nation on the planet can fulfill its hopes and aspirations, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in July. We start from the fact that the legitimate aspirations of the Kurds, like other peoples, need to be fulfilled within the framework of existing international legal norms. But unlike other powers, Moscow has avoided giving a verdict on the legality or wisdom of holding the referendum itself. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said it had nothing to add to Lavrov s comments on the matter from July. The Russian position is: Let s wait and see the outcome of the referendum, said Hoshiyar Zebari, one of Iraq s pre-eminent Kurdish politicians, who served as foreign minister, deputy prime minister and finance minister in Baghdad from 2003 until last year and now advises Kurdistan s regional government. They seem to understand our situation, Zebari told Reuters, adding that Moscow expected the Kurds would use the outcome of the referendum as part of a process of negotiation with Baghdad. According to a diplomatic source, the Kurds took notice in June when Lavrov signaled to a Kurdish delegation at a meeting in St Petersburg that Russia would not oppose the referendum. During previous meetings, Lavrov always focused on Iraq s territorial integrity, said the source, who was present at the meeting on the sidelines of Russia s economic forum in St Petersburg. This time, he said that Russia understands the ambitions of Kurdish people for independence. And even though he added that it needed to be done carefully, it was a big signal. At around the same time as that meeting took place, Rosneft was signing its second of this year s three major oil investment deals with Kurdish officials. Days later, the Kurds announced the date of their referendum. The Russians are not the first foreigners to come to Kurdistan looking for oil. The Kurds have long argued that as an autonomous region of Iraq they have the authority to make agreements with foreign companies about pumping the oil on their territory. Iraq s central government, meanwhile, says any deals to export oil from Kurdistan are illegal without Baghdad s blessing. For several years, American companies were at the forefront of negotiating deals with the Kurds, on the assumption that Baghdad would eventually authorize them. The highest-profile deal was announced by Exxon Mobil, then under the leadership of CEO Rex Tillerson, now U.S. Secretary of State. But after signing a landmark deal to develop Kurdish oil fields in 2011, Exxon did little exploration, and has since handed some of the blocs back to the Kurdish government. While Washington remains friendly with the Kurds and sees them as a bulwark against Islamic State, it is concerned about their independence bid leading to the breakup of Iraq or a rupture with Turkey. The United States has long encouraged the Kurds to avoid unilateral steps, such as the referendum, that might destabilize the Baghdad government or antagonize Ankara. Russia, meanwhile, is looking for more friends in the Middle East after returning in force to the region with a decisive military intervention in Syria. Its main regional allies are Iran and the Syria of President Bashar al-Assad, and having friends in Kurdish territory, located between Syria, Iran and Turkey, would be geopolitically useful. Kurdistan has estimated recoverable reserves at 45 billion barrels of oil and 5.66 trillion cubic meters of gas, which could rise further with exploration. For Rosneft, run by Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, it potentially offers a cheap source of crude supplies to refineries in Europe, and a big boost to Rosneft s gas ambitions. In 2014, Erbil started oil sales via a pipeline through Turkey. It has generally conducted those deals with pre-financing, obtaining money in advance from international trading firms and Turkey before the oil is delivered. Rosneft began its involvement with a small pre-finance deal at the end of last year along the lines of deals the Kurds had previously reached with global traders. The Russian firm loaned the Kurds around $280 million, guaranteed by future oil sales, according to industry sources. In February 2017, Rosneft ramped up its cooperation by agreeing to lend the semi-autonomous region $1.2 billion, becoming the first big foreign oil company to publicly commit to pre-financing Kurdish exports. Kurdistan s minister of natural resources Ashti Hawrami called the deal a ground-breaker for the region that would help its economic independence - a crucial condition for seeking political independence. By that point, Turkey had invested some $1.5 billion and international trading houses such as Vitol, Petraco, Trafigura and Glencore had collectively loaned the Kurds some $2 billion. Russia became the Kurds single biggest financer with its next deal in June this year to lend money and help search for more oil, bringing its total investments close to $2.8 billion. This week s Russian pledge to invest more than $1 billion in Kurdistan s gas infrastructure could help the region become a major gas exporter to Turkey and Europe one day, Rosneft says. The independence referendum won t be a problem. Holding the referendum will not affect our work. We are doing business in an autonomous region in Iraq that has been recognized by law, Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontev said this week. This place is run by Iraqi Kurdistan s nation and it is the people of Iraqi Kurdistan who live there. That is why we don t think we are embarking on an adventure. | 1 |
7,680 | EU leaders seek greater reductions in Africa immigration | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to provide stronger support to Italy for its work in Libya and replenish their Africa fund to further curb immigration to Europe. We have a real chance of closing the Central Mediterranean route, chairman Donald Tusk said after 28 EU leaders meeting in Brussels discussed migration, stressing the need to lower the number of arrivals from Africa going through the Mediterranean to Italy. EU executive European Commission told the group they needed to immediately chip in an extra 225 million euros for migration-related projects in Africa due to run this year and early next. If we do want to be as present as possible in Africa - mainly in the Northern part of Africa - we have to increase financial means, Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said. Brussels has so far committed 2.9 billion euros to the so-called Africa Trust Fund, with another 234 million euros from EU states, according to the Commission. Brussels said 1.6 billion euros would be spent by the end of 2017 on Turkey. In 2016 the bloc promised 3 billion euros for Syrian refugees in exchange for Ankara shutting down the route traffickers and smugglers were using to get people to Greece. Despite sour EU-Turkey relations on several issues, German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Ankara for hosting refugees from Syria and said the bloc should pull together another 3 billion euros to that end. We have promised 3 billion euros for the coming years in addition to the 3 billion that we have already committed. We need to deliver on this promise, Merkel told reporters on arriving for the two-day EU leaders summit in Brussels. This money helps the refugees who are living under very difficult conditions. Once again, Turkey is doing a great job here, she said. Since 2015, the bloc has helped Greece, Italy and Bulgaria with nearly 2 billion euros to manage immigration flows. It spent another 100 million euros on controlling migratory routes in the Western Balkans, according to figures provided by the bloc. It has been spending on more deportations and financing United Nations projects for refugees and migrants in Africa, and mulling a center in Libya to assess asylum requests there. Despite criticism from rights groups that the EU is violating international humanitarian law by striving to curb immigration, the bloc has applauded itself for reducing arrivals by more than 70 percent in 2016 from the peak in 2015 when more than a million people entered in an uncontrolled flow. The influx of immigrants in 2015 caught the bloc by surprise, alarmed the EU s 500 million people and fueled support for anti-immigration, populist and nationalist groups. The bloc s asylum system broke down under the sheer numbers and the cherished Schengen zone of control-free travel was strained as member states introduced emergency border checks. EU states have since sought to agree on how to change their asylum laws, with bitter disputes deepening east-west divides. Tusk said on Thursday the 28 EU leaders would discuss the issue again in December and were aiming for an agreement by mid-2018. Earlier this week, the European Parliament agreed its own stance on asylum reform, including an option to cut EU funds to states that refuse to host asylum-seekers reaching the bloc. It proposed moving away from the current rule mandating that the first country through which a person enters the EU must handle his or her asylum request, saying it puts too much burden on frontline states like Italy, Greece, Malta or Spain. Southern frontline states want a scheme that would automatically lift people off their soil during periods of exceptionally high immigration and take them elsewhere in the EU. Westerners like Germany and Sweden, which eventually receive most of the refugees, have said more of the burden must be shared and that solidarity was needed. Eastern EU countries like Poland and Hungary have refused to admit anyone, saying doing so could compromise national security and affect the traditional composition of their populations. | 1 |
7,681 | Here’s How The NFL Will Punish This State If It Passes Anti-Gay Law | Georgia risks losing a chance to host the Super Bowl if an anti-gay bill currently working its way through the state legislature becomes law. The National Football League has issued a statement on Georgia s so-called religious freedom legislation, House Bill 757. NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement. Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites. The Falcons are currently building a new stadium in Atlanta, which is slated to open in 2017. They were hoping to host a Super Bowl there in either 2019 or 2020. The league has often given new stadiums, particularly in warmer climates, an opportunity to host the championship game.The law in question would allow faith-based groups to refuse service to people if that service violated the group s religious beliefs. That has re-ignited fears of discrimination against LGBT Americans enshrined in the law. This would allow organizations to discriminate against LGBT people or single mothers who have no ministerial function within the religious organization, like a janitor, a cafeteria worker, an administrative assistant, said Anthony Kreis, a professor at the University of Georgia and an expert in constitutional law.Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Falcons, opposes the bill. He said it would have long-lasting negative impact on our state and the people of Georgia. Like what happened in Indiana, hundreds of business leaders oppose Georgia s religious freedom law, which now awaits the signature of Governor Nathan Deal, a Republican, to become the law. Deal had previously said he would not sign a bill that allows discrimination. Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
7,682 | EXPOSED! OBAMA REGIME Gave MILLIONS US Tax Dollars To RADICAL SOROS GROUPS Used To Take Down Conservative European Nation’s Government | The cash flows through the State Department and the famously corrupt U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID), which is charged with providing global economic, development and humanitarian assistance. USAID has allocated about $5 million to leftwing Soros groups in Macedonia since 2012, documents show, and at least $9.5 million has been earmarked by the agency to intervene in the Balkan nation s governmental affairs for 2016-2011.Here s how the clandestine operation functions, according to high-level sources in Macedonia and the U.S. that have provided Judicial Watch with records as part of an ongoing investigation. The Open Society Foundation has established and funded dozens of leftwing, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Macedonia to overthrow the conservative government. One Macedonian government official interviewed by Judicial Watch in Washington D.C. recently, calls it the Soros infantry. The groups organize youth movements, create influential media outlets and organize violent protests to undermine the institutions and policies implemented by the government. One of the Soros groups funded the translation and publication of Saul Alinsky s Rules for Radicals into Macedonian. The book is a tactical manual of subversion, provides direct advice for radical street protests and proclaims Lucifer to be the first radical.Thanks to Obama s ambassador, who has not been replaced by President Trump, Uncle Sam keeps the money flowing so the groups can continue operating and recruiting, sources in Macedonia and the U.S. confirm.With a population of about 2 million, Macedonia has one of the more conservative governments in Europe. This includes the lowest flat tax in Europe, close ties with Israel and pro-life policies. The country recently built a border fence to crackdown on an illegal immigration crisis that overwhelmed law enforcement agencies. Between 10,000 and 12,000 illegal aliens were crossing the Greek-Macedonian border daily at the peak of the European migration crisis, a Macedonian official told Judicial Watch, and the impact was devastating. This is likely of big interest to Soros, a renowned open borders advocate who pushes international governance, diminished U.S. global power and an increase in Muslim immigration.This appears to be the case in Macedonia with the help of American financing.There have been a number of violent protests in recent months that have been coordinated by Soros Open Society Foundation through its U.S.-funded NGOs, sources tell Judicial Watch.Some U.S. members of Congress have expressed interest in the issue and have demanded answers from Ambassador Baily, USAID and the State Department. In typical fashion, the State Department has stonewalled the inquiries and USAID hasn t been much more forthcoming. Judicial Watch | 0 |
7,683 | the sad saga of john walker lindh rebel without a clue | in an excerpt of a john pilger special interview julian assange says that emails released by wikileaks show that hillary clinton is intentionally misguiding voters about the degree to which us allies are supporting isis and that donald trump will not be allowed into the oval office
assange explains that the same financial interests funding isis are funding clinton he references a email from john podesta to clinton in which we find the following
while this militaryparamilitary operation is moving forward we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of qatar and saudi arabia which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to isil and other radical sunni groups in the region
i think this is the most significant email in the whole collection said assange all serious analysts know and even the us government has agreed that some saudi figures have been supporting isis and funding isis but the dodge has always been that it is some rogue princes using their oil money to do whatever they like but actually the government disapproves but that email says that it is the government of saudi arabia and the government of qatar that have been funding isis
pilger asked assange about the possibility that trump would steal the election with the help of russia as many in the democratic party claim
assange thinks that this is highly unlikely but not because he is unpopular my analysis is that trump would not be permitted to win why do i say that because he has had every establishment off his side trump does not have one establishment maybe with the exception of the evangelicals if you can call them establishment he explained
assange says that hillary is the establishment pick banks intelligence arms companies foreign money etc are all united behind hillary clinton and the media as well media owners and the journalists themselves delivered by the daily sheeple
we encourage you to share and republish our reports analyses breaking news and videos click for details
contributed by the daily sheeple of wwwthedailysheeplecom
this content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to wwwthedailysheeplecom | 1 |
7,684 | OUCH! President Trump Takes Off The Gloves…BLASTS Democrats For Using AMNESTY For Illegals As Bargaining Chip For Funding Government: “‘Help me, Dad!’ Those were the last words spoken by Kate Steinle, as she lay dying on a San Francisco Pier” [VIDEO] | When candidate-Trump promised he would put America first, he wasn t kidding. President Trump posted a powerful video on Twitter tonight, blasting Democrats for putting their desire to give illegal aliens amnesty before the safety and security of American citizens, as they demand amnesty as a condition for funding the government.Here is the transcript of President Trump s powerful speech that he posted on Twitter only minutes ago: Help me, Dad! Those were the last words spoken by Kate Steinle, as she lay dying on a San Francisco Pier. A precious young American woman, killed in the prime of her life. Kate s death is a tragedy that was entirely preventable. She was shot by an illegal alien, and a 7-time convicted felon, who had been deported 5 times, but he was free to harm an innocent American, because our leaders refuse to protect our border, and because San Francisco is a sanctuary city.In sanctuary states and cities, innocent Americans are at the mercy of criminal aliens because state and local officials defy federal authority and obstruct the enforcement of our immigration laws. Last week, in a final injustice, Kate s killer was acquitted of all of most serious charges, yet one more reason why Americans are so upset by sanctuary cities and open-border politicians who shield criminal aliens from federal law enforcement and all of the problems involved with the whole concept of a sanctuary city. They re no good!We mourn for all of the American families of all backgrounds, who will have any empty seat at Christmas this year because our immigration laws were not enforced. No American should be separated from their loved ones because of preventable crime committed by those illegally in our country. Our cities should be sanctuaries for Americans, not for criminal illegals. Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress not only oppose our efforts to stop illegal immigration, and crack down on sanctuary cities, now they are demanding amnesty as a condition for funding the government, holding troop funding hostage, and putting our national security at risk. We cannot allow it. Every Senator and Congressman will have to make a choice, do they want to protect American citizens, or do they want to protect criminal aliens? Reasonable people can disagree on many things, but there can be no disagreement that the first duty of government is to serve, protect and defend American citizens. People can have different views on the technical details of budget policy or transportation, but no one who serves in office should disagree that our highest priority must be the safety and well-being of our nation s citizens. Thank you. Watch:No American should be separated from their loved ones because of preventable crime committed by those illegally in our country. Our cities should be Sanctuaries for Americans not for criminal aliens! pic.twitter.com/CvtkCG1pln Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2017 | 0 |
7,685 | Mexico says Trump-Pena Nieto meet unlikely to lead to big deals | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany will last about 30 minutes and probably not lead to any major agreements, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. The face-to-face talks will be the first between Pena Nieto and Trump as presidents. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray warned not to expect too much. “We have to put it in context and not have expectations that are unjustified,” Videgaray said. Trump’s election and his early days in office strained relations between the two neighbors because of his threats to apply tariffs to Mexican-made goods and a plan to build a wall on the southern U.S. border and force Mexico to pay for it. Trump and Pena Nieto will discuss renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement scheduled for August, as well as cooperation in combating drug cartels and development in Central America, the Foreign Ministry said. Pena Nieto will also talk about the rights of Mexican migrants in the United States, the ministry said. Later on Wednesday, Pena Nieto and Videgaray met with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who was visiting Mexico ahead of the G20 summit along with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. According to a statement from Pena Nieto’s office, both sides agreed to work together on security and Pena Nieto praised the Trump administration’s decision to keep in place a program that allows some immigrants, brought into the country illegally by their parents, to stay. One topic not on the agenda at the encounter in Hamburg is Trump’s pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, Videgaray said in an earlier television interview. In late January, a planned meeting between the two presidents was canceled following a Twitter dispute over Trump’s pledge to make Mexico pay for the wall, which the Mexican government has insisted it will not do. Trump has since said he will find a way for Mexico to repay the United States for construction of the wall but that Congress would need to fund it first. His administration also toned down threats to pull out of the NAFTA pact with Mexico and Canada. Last August, during Trump’s presidential campaign, he accepted an invitation to visit Mexico in what became a public relations disaster for Pena Nieto, who was widely condemned for inviting a man who has united Mexicans like few others in shared disdain. | 1 |
7,686 | UK Brexit minister says EU agreement likely, but UK ready for no deal | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s Brexit minister David Davis said on Tuesday that reaching a deal with the European Union was the most likely outcome of talks, but added that the British government was prepared for no agreement with the bloc. Reaching a deal with the European Union is not only far and away the most likely outcome, it s also the best outcome for our country, Davis said in a speech in London. I don t think it would be in the interest for either side for there to be no deal. But as a responsible government it is right that we make every plan for every eventuality. Both sides have spoken of their frustration at a lack of progress in negotiations so far, although Davis said talks had made real and tangible progress. Britain wants to move discussions on to the future trade relationship with the EU which Brussels will not consider until London settles what it sees as past debts. While Davis said he was unambiguously seeking a deal, he said Britain was ready for talks to fail. Over the past year every department across Whitehall has been working at pace covering the whole range of scenarios, he said. These plans have been well developed, have been designed to provide the flexibility to respond to a negotiated agreement, as well as preparing us for the chance that we leave without a deal. | 1 |
7,687 | WOW! WORLD’S TOP PHYSICIST AND DEMOCRAT: Obama Backs “Wrong Side” In War On “Climate Change”, Follow The Money, Carbon Does Far More Good Than Harm | B b but does this mean global climate change is not man made and that man is not more powerful than God? Here s our Liar In Chief trying to tell America that all of the top scientists in America agree with him:The climate models used by alarmist scientists to predict global warming are getting worse, not better; carbon dioxide does far more good than harm; and President Obama has backed the wrong side in the war on climate change. So says one of the world s greatest theoretical physicists, Dr Freeman Dyson (pictured above), the British-born, naturalised American citizen who worked at Princeton University as a contemporary of Einstein and has advised the US government on a wide range of scientific and technical issues.In an interview with Andrew Orlowski of The Register, Dyson expressed his despair at the current scientific obsession with climate change which he says is not a scientific mystery but a human mystery. How does it happen that a whole generation of scientific experts is blind to the obvious facts. This mystery, says Dyson, can only partly be explained in terms of follow the money. Also to blame, he believes, is a kind of collective yearning for apocalyptic doom.It is true that there s a large community of people who make their money by scaring the public, so money is certainly involved to some extent, but I don t think that s the full explanation.It s like a hundred years ago, before World War I, there was this insane craving for doom, which in a way, helped cause World War I. People like the poet Rupert Brooke were glorifying war as an escape from the dullness of modern life. [There was] the feeling we d gone soft and degenerate, and war would be good for us all. That was in the air leading up to World War I, and in some ways it s in the air today.Dyson, himself a longstanding Democrat voter, is especially disappointed by his chosen party s unscientific stance on the climate change issue.It s very sad that in this country, political opinion parted [people s views on climate change]. I m 100 per cent Democrat myself, and I like Obama. But he took the wrong side on this issue, and the Republicans took the right side.Part of the problem, he says, is the Democrats conflation of pollution (a genuine problem) with climate change (a natural phenomenon quite beyond mankind s ability to control).China and India rely on coal to keep growing, so they ll clearly be burning coal in huge amounts. They need that to get rich. Whatever the rest of the world agrees to, China and India will continue to burn coal, so the discussion is quite pointless.At the same time, coal is very unpleasant stuff, and there are problems with coal quite apart from climate. I remember in England when we burned coal, everything was filthy. It was really bad, and that s the way it is now in China, but you can clean that up as we did in England. It takes a certain amount of political willpower, and that takes time. Pollution is quite separate to the climate problem: one can be solved, and the other cannot, and the public doesn t understand that.The short-to-medium term solution to the pollution problem, he argues, is the replacement of coal with much-maligned shale gas, whose rejection by much of Europe he finds unfathomable and counter-productive.As far as the next 50 years are concerned, there are two main forces of energy, which are coal and shale gas. Emissions have been going down in the US while they ve going up in Europe, and that s because of shale gas. It s only half the carbon dioxide emissions of coal. China may in fact be able to develop shale gas on a big scale and that means they burn a lot less coal.It seems complete madness to prohibit shale gas. You wondered if climate change is an Anglophone preoccupation. Well, France is even more dogmatic than Britain about shale gas!Dyson, 91, has enjoyed a long, distinguished career as a physicist, mathematician and public intellectual, showing promise as early as the age of five when he calculated the number of atoms in the sun. During World War II, he worked at the Operation Research Section of the Royal Air Force s Bomber Command, before moving to the US where Robert Oppenheimer awarded him a permanent post at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He also worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, looking at the climate system 25 years ago, before it became a hot political issue.The dangers of carbon dioxide, he believes, have been much overrated. In a foreword to a report for The Global Warming Policy Foundation by Indur Goklany called Carbon Dioxide: The Good News, as reported here at Breitbart he says:To any unprejudiced person reading this account, the facts should be obvious: that the non-climatic effects of carbon dioxide as a sustainer of wildlife and crop plants are enormously beneficial, that the possibly harmful climatic effects of carbon dioxide have been greatly exaggerated, and that the benefits clearly outweigh the possible damage.I consider myself an unprejudiced person and to me these facts are obvious. But the same facts are not obvious to the majority of scientists and politicians who consider carbon dioxide to be evil and dangerous. The people who are supposed to be experts and who claim to understand the science are precisely the people who are blind to the evidence.He likens the climate change issue to some of the other irrational beliefs promoted through history by famous thinkers and adopted by loyal disciples. Sometimes, as in the use of bleeding as a treatment for various diseases, irrational belief did harm to a large number of human victims. George Washington was one of the victims. Other irrational beliefs, such as the phlogiston theory of burning or the Aristotelian cosmology of circular celestial motions, only did harm by delaying the careful examination of nature. In all these cases, we see a community of people happily united in a false belief that brought leaders and followers together. Anyone who questioned the prevailing belief would upset the peace of the community.Dyson s refusal ever to accommodate himself with the modish notions of the hour may explain why, unlike some of his less distinguished and brilliant contemporaries over the years, he has never been awarded a Nobel Prize.He concludes: I am hoping that the scientists and politicians who have been blindly demonizing carbon dioxide for 37 years will one day open their eyes and look at the evidence. Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
7,688 | KING OBAMA ASKS TAXPAYERS To Increase His Post-Presidency Pay | America s gotta keep 5-Star Mooch, her lovely daughters and of course, her tax-payer funded mommy in the lifestyle they ve become accustomed to President Obama sought to increase the amount of money available for the federal government to spend on former presidents in advance of his White House exit.In his budget requests for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, Obama proposed hikes in the appropriations for expenditures of former presidents, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service published Wednesday.The report, which discusses the pensions and other federal benefits offered to former commanders-in-chief by way of the Former Presidents Act, specifies that Obama s 2017 budget proposes a nearly 18 percent hike in appropriations for expenditures of former presidents. He successfully requested an increase in such appropriations for fiscal year 2016. The President s FY2017 budget request seeks $3,865,000 in appropriations for expenditures for former Presidents, an increase of $588,000 (17.9%) from the FY2016 appropriation level. The increase in requested appropriations for FY2017 anticipates President Barack Obama s transition from incumbent to former President, the report reads. For FY2016, President Obama requested and received appropriations of $3,277,000 for expenditures for former Presidents an increase of $25,000 from FY2015 appropriated levels. The Former Presidents Act, enacted in 1958, provides living former presidents with a pension, office staff and support, funds for travel, Secret Service protection, and mailing privileges. It also provides benefits for presidential spouses. Currently, former presidents are awarded a pension equal to the salary of cabinet secretaries, which totaled $203,700 for the 2015 calendar year and was boosted by $2,000 for the current calendar year.Via: FOX News | 0 |
7,689 | Here’s The Third Turncoat Democrat Who Needs To Be Primaried Over SCOTUS In 2018 (DETAILS) | Another day, another Democrat who is backing the nominee for the Supreme Court seat that the Senate Republicans stole from President Obama. We have previously reported on how traitorous Democrats like Joe Manchin (DINO-WV) and Heidi Heitcamp (DINO-ND) have turned tail and voted with Republicans on many issues most notably falling in line with Republicans in order to confirm right-wing potential Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Now, we have a third to add to that list: Joe Donnelly of Indiana. Donnelly said of his decision to be a traitor to his party on this issue: After meeting with Judge Gorsuch, conducting a thorough review of his record, and closely following his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I believe that he is a qualified jurist who will base his decisions on his understanding of the law and is well-respected among his peers. The only redeeming statement Donnelly has made is his expressing his opinion that the Senate should still have a 60-vote threshold when it comes to confirming Gorsuch or any other nominee for the Supreme Court. That is paramount, because it means that there is a true bipartisan Senate consensus for the Court s nominations and confirmations, which is a rule set by the founders to make sure that one party and its views do not dominate the judiciary.Of course, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cares not one whit about that; he and his fellow GOP cronies have insisted that Gorsuch will be on the Court one way or another. This means he is willing to breach the 60-vote rule to make sure Gorsuch makes it to the Supreme Court. What the Republicans did to President Obama s nominee Merrick Garland is a travesty and a disgrace, and the Democrats should do the same for Gorsuch. For those who won t PRIMARY THEM. We have no time for DINOS in these troubled times. Oppose Trump at every turn, or the good folks at We Will Replace You will have you heads, as they should.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
7,690 | Austrian election tests conservative star stealing far right's thunder | VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrians elect a new parliament on Sunday in a test of whether a young conservative star has succeeded in halting the resurgence of the far-right Freedom Party after a campaign in which immigration has been the dominant issue. Many voters feel the country was overrun in Europe s migration crisis in 2015, when it took in about 1 percent of its population in asylum seekers. By taking a hard line that has left little daylight between him and the Freedom Party (FPO), Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, 31 has dislodged it from first place in opinion polls and he is the favorite to become Austria s next leader. Polls show the FPO in a close race for second place with the Social Democrats, who Kurz and his party have been at loggerheads with in the current coalition government. That gives the FPO, which currently has a fifth of seats in parliament and is in government in two of Austria s nine provinces, a good chance of entering a national coalition. It s still not certain that he (Kurz) will win with this (strategy). In my view first place is still open. We ll have to see what the last-minute movements are, said Christoph Hofinger, a political analyst and pollster who puts together the most-watched projection on election night. It could be that in the end, and this has been a theory of mine for a long time, it also serves the FPO that their issues and their views on these issues are firmly at the center of the campaign. The Freedom Party has good chance of entering government for the first time since it became a junior partner to the People s Party (OVP) in 2000, when it was led by the late Joerg Haider, who praised Hitler s employment policies. That prompted sanctions from the rest of the European Union and a wave of street protests. More than 15 years later, few expect a similar uproar if the FPO did enter government, partly given the rise of similar movements in countries such as France and Germany. Heinz-Christian Strache s FPO wants to shut certain sectors of the economy to non-EU workers, limit the proportion of foreign pupils per classroom and deport foreign convicts to their home countries. Kurz, who triggered the snap election by calling an end to the coalition with the Social Democrats, has also frequently returned to the theme of immigration, pledging to avoid a repeat of 2015, when Austria and Germany threw open their borders to a wave of refugees and other migrants. He wants to cap benefits for refugees at well below the standard level. Opinion polls have been remarkably similar for months, showing Kurz s People s Party in first place on around a third of the vote, with the FPO and Chancellor Christian Kern s Social Democrats competing for second on around a quarter of the vote. The FPO secured 20.5 percent in the last vote in 2013. Pollsters have said more than 10 percent of voters are likely to remain undecided until the last moment. A poll last weekend put the proportion of undecided voters at 27 percent. Social Democrats campaign was already struggling to hit its stride when it became embroiled in a smear scandal. The party chairman stepped down two weeks ago, saying that, without his knowledge, the party had been involved in anti-Kurz websites. Despite that setback, poll ratings have barely moved, raising questions about the extent to which the scandal was felt outside the political bubble in Vienna. The SPO has also accused a member of Kurz s staff of trying to bribe a member of its campaign team, and both sides are taking legal action against each other. That could play into the hands of the FPO, which denounces the near-duopoly those parties have enjoyed - they have governed together for 44 of the past 72 years, and one or other alone for another 17 years. In the final election debate between the heads of all five current parliamentary parties on Thursday night, the candidates stuck to their core issues. Kern said reaching full employment as his top priority. He has focused his campaign on economic growth, jobs and social justice, seeking to capitalize on an economic recovery that has put the country on track for its fastest growth in six years. Strache chose stopping immigration itself as his top issue, and Kurz picked what he says is a related topic protecting the welfare state. Kern and Strache were due to hold their closing rallies on Friday afternoon. Kurz made only brief remarks to campaign workers on Friday. (For a graphic on Austrian parliamentary election, click tmsnrt.rs/2hKIi65) | 1 |
7,691 | ATTORNEYS ASK TO DIAL BACK SECURITY AT TRIAL FOR 7 TERROR SUSPECTS IN MN, Fears It Will Influence Jury: Argues ISIL Not A Terrorist Group | By all means, lets cut back on security at the trial potentially putting an untold number of Americans at risk in order to ensure 7 suspected terrorists get every advantage our court systems can offer them Attorneys for 7 suspects in FBI case are also seeking lighter security at trial, saying it could influence jury.Defense attorneys for seven suspects charged with supporting terrorism are arguing that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is not a terrorist organization because it operates a government and regulates services for citizens living under its control in Syria.In one of several motions filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, the attorneys argued that despite its reputation for brutality, ISIL carries many characteristics of a government that tends to day-to-day business and that therefore criminal charges against the defendants are too broad. While the group has adopted harshly violent and repressive tactics, and engages in military and insurgency attacks against the Syrian and Iraqi armies, it has also embarked on a systematic process of civilian governance over the eight to 10 million people with the territory it controls, attorneys said.The statutes under which the defendants are charged prohibit providing support under the direction or control of a terrorist group. The attorneys argue that when a terrorist group controls an entire territory, simply being in that country would effectively become, under the current charges, support to the terrorist group. But when services are provided, it s no longer possible to describe that territory as being part of a terrorist state. Mere travel to Syria, or willingness to join ISIL, cannot constitutionally be equated with material support. Accordingly, the material support statute is void, the attorneys argued.In April, six of the seven defendants in the case were arrested by FBI agents following a 10-month investigation. No trial date has been set. A hearing on motions is scheduled Sept. 2 in front of U.S. District Judge Michael Davis.Other motions included a request to dial back a heavy security presence at the trial because the attorneys said it could negatively influence a jury. Current hearings have a large contingent of police and Homeland Security officers, and at least one bomb-sniffing dog. Via: Star TribuneDon t be surprised if President Bill Clinton appointed Federal Judge Michael Davis goes along with the defense attorney s request to cut back on security in the courtroom:Judge Davis who s handled all of the recent terrorism cases in Minnesota, where a large Somali community has been a target for recruits for the Islamic State group and al-Shabab takes a nuanced approach. He s considering pretrial release for some, asking attorneys and the community to create plans that will keep the public safe and steer the young men in a positive direction. As dozens of similar cases proceed nationwide, Davis actions could become a model for other courts, or could prove disastrous if he takes a risk on the wrong person. I think he s been able to see that terrorism cases aren t black and white and there s a lot of grey in there, said Anders Folk, a former federal prosecutor in Minnesota who said Davis is among the most experienced judges in the country on the topic.Davis doesn t talk about active cases but said during a recent hearing: This is way too important for us just to treat it as a regular criminal case. The first African-American federal judge in Minnesota has a broad, friendly smile that he uses to put jurors, and sometimes defendants, at ease, but he also employs a stare that flusters even the most experienced attorneys. He s soft-spoken, but can command attention with a big, booming voice. The 68-year-old has no tolerance for disruptions in the courtroom, but is well known for ensuring each person receives equal justice.Cases like the ones currently in front of Davis eight young men charged with conspiring to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group are challenging for any judge, Folk said. They re complex and require managing a community that s emotionally involved and sometimes feels unfairly targeted. Via: Naples Herald | 0 |
7,692 | Mugabe: Zimbabwe's liberator and, for many, its oppressor | HARARE (Reuters) - When he came to power, Zimbabwe s Robert Mugabe was feted as an African liberation hero in a nation that had endured nearly a century of white colonial rule. Mugabe has not been seen since the military seized power in the early hours of Wednesday, targeting criminals around the veteran president. South African President Jacob Zuma said Mugabe had told him he was confined to his home but was otherwise fine. Educated and urbane, Mugabe came to power after seven years of a liberation bush war. But nearly four decades after independence in 1980, many see him as power-obsessed and willing to unleash death squads, rig elections and trash the economy in the relentless pursuit of control. The 93-year-old is the only leader Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, has known since independence from Britain. While the West regards him as an autocrat, some in Africa see him as an anti-colonial champion. Mugabe has said he wants to seek another five years in office and last week he dismissed his putative successor, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, in a boost for Mugabe s wife Grace, 52, also seen as a contender but whose whereabouts are unclear. Mugabe travels frequently to Singapore for medical treatment as age has taken its toll. The leader of Zimbabwe s influential liberation war veterans, Chris Mutsvangwa, told Reuters: It s the end of a very painful and sad chapter in the history of a young nation, in which a dictator, as he became old, surrendered his court to a gang of thieves around his wife. Born on a Catholic mission near Harare, Mugabe was educated by Jesuit priests and worked as a primary school teacher before going to South Africa s University of Fort Hare, then a breeding ground for African nationalism. Returning to Rhodesia in 1960, he entered politics but was jailed for a decade four years later for opposing white rule. After his release, he rose to the top of the powerful Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, known as the thinking man s guerrilla on account of his seven degrees, three of them earned behind bars. Later, as he crushed his political enemies, he boasted of another qualification - a degree in violence . After the long bush war ended, Mugabe was elected as the nation s first black prime minister. Initially, he offered reconciliation to old adversaries as he presided over a booming economy. But it was not long before Mugabe began to suppress challengers such as liberation war rival Joshua Nkomo. Faced with a revolt in the mid-1980s in the western province of Matabeleland which he blamed on Nkomo, Mugabe sent in North Korean-trained army units, provoking an international outcry over alleged atrocities against civilians. Human rights groups say 20,000 people died, most from Nkomo s Ndebele tribe. The discovery of mass graves prompted accusations of genocide against Mugabe. After two terms as prime minister, Mugabe changed the constitution and was elected president in 1990, shortly before the death of his first wife, Sally, seen by many as the only person capable of restraining him. When, at the end of the century, he lost a constitutional referendum followed by a groundswell of black anger at the slow pace of land reform, his response was uncompromising. As gangs of blacks calling themselves war veterans invaded white-owned farms Mugabe said it was a correction of colonial injustices. Perhaps we made a mistake by not finishing the war in the trenches, he said in 2000. If the settlers had been defeated through the barrel of a gun, perhaps we would not be having the same problems. The farm seizures helped ruin one of Africa s most dynamic economies, with a collapse in agricultural foreign exchange earnings unleashing hyperinflation. The economy shrank by more than a third from 2000 to 2008, sending unemployment above 80 percent. Several million Zimbabweans fled, mostly to South Africa. An unapologetic Mugabe portrayed himself as a radical African nationalist competing against racist and imperialist forces in Washington and London. Britain once likened him to Adolf Hitler but Mugabe did not mind, saying the Nazi leader had wanted justice, sovereignty and independence for his people: If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler ten-fold. The country hit rock bottom in 2008, when 500 billion percent inflation drove people to support the challenge of Western-backed former union leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Facing defeat in a presidential run-off, Mugabe resorted to violence, forcing Tsvangirai to withdraw after scores of his supporters were killed by ZANU-PF thugs. An increasingly worried South Africa squeezed the pair into a fractious unity coalition but the compromise belied Mugabe s de facto grip on power through his continued control of the army, police and secret service. As old age crept in and rumors of cancer intensified, his animosity toward Tsvangirai eased, with the two men enjoying weekly meetings over tea and scones, a quirky nod to Mugabe s affection for British tradition if not authority. On the eve of the 2013 election, Mugabe dismissed cries of autocracy and likened dealing with Tsvangirai to sparring in the ring. Although we boxed each other, it s not as hostile as before, he said. It s all over now. We can shake hands. At the same time, Mugabe s agents were finalizing plans to engineer an election victory through manipulation of the voters roll, the Tsvangirai camp said. The subsequent landslide was typical of a man who could always out-fight and out-think opponents. To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician, former U.S. ambassador Christopher Dell wrote in a cable released by WikiLeaks. But whatever the outcome of this week s events, they could usher in a generational change for the southern African nation. | 1 |
7,693 | Oregon Ignores GOP To Become First State To Choose 100 Percent Clean Energy | Oregon is showing Republicans in Congress how to get sh*t done.Republicans in Congress may be refusing to adhere to the Paris climate agreement, but Oregon Democrats are rolling ahead with legislation that would make the state the first in the nation to rely on 100 percent clean energy for all of their electricity needs.In fact, both the statehouse and the state senate passed the Clean Energy and Coal Transition Plan despite Republican cries that going full renewable energy will make energy costs skyrocket, which isn t true. As it turns out, clean energy sources are poised to become less expensive than energy generated by coal and gas, both of which are finite resources.When Governor Kate Brown signs this bill into law Oregonians will get to work enacting it to get the state completely off of the coal grid by 2035. In a statement, Brown praised the legislation, saying it equips Oregon with a bold and progressive path towards the energy resource mix of the future. Oregon already draws 43 percent of their electricity generation from hydropower, and making the state 100 percent clean energy means Oregon will not be contributing near as big of a carbon footprint as other states in the country. According to Oregon utility company Pacific Power, the new measure would reduce carbon pollution the equivalent of taking over six million cars off the road.This is the second major liberal victory in Oregon this week.Earlier this month, Governor Brown signed a minimum wage bill into law making Oregon the state with the highest minimum wage in the nation.Even the White House praised Oregon s determination to boost the paychecks of hardworking Americans and help support millions of workers trying to make ends meet, while also urging Republicans in Congress to do the same for the rest of the American people.So not only is Oregon leading the way on making sure Americans make a fair wage, they are leading the way to make sure people have an environment and a planet to enjoy in the future.Featured Image: Wikimedia | 0 |
7,694 | FBI Agent Drops FATAL Truth Bomb About What The Bureau Is Doing To Hillary Clinton | Fox Host Bret Baier found himself forced to retract a statement earlier today that claimed an indictment against Hillary Clinton was very likely because, well, he d pretty much lied and promptly got caught. But the FBI has been a sieve for information about Hillary lately, which is where Baier supposedly got some of his information, and it s time to ask why.One FBI agent, who spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity, might have part of the answer. In fact, he just destroyed the bureau s reputation with his truth bomb about what s actually happening. According to this agent, the FBI is basically Trumplandia, in that the agency isn t anything like objective about its investigations into Hillary: The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel, and that the reason why they re leaking is they re pro-Trump.' Apparently, their attitudes only got worse when Director James Comey decided not to recommend indicting Hillary earlier this year. A lot of Trumpkins all over the country were angry about that, most likely because she s a woman, and a clear and present threat to their chosen candidate. The witch hunts have very little to do with actual evidence that she s a criminal.But it s not just Trumpkins that can t stand her whether they re Trumpkins or not, many in the FBI just have a very unfavorable view of Hillary. That, too, raises serious questions about the agency s integrity right now: There are lots of people who don t think Trump is qualified, but also believe Clinton is corrupt. What you hear a lot is that it s a bad choice, between an incompetent and a corrupt politician. The bureau has come under fire for its handling of these investigations, along with Comey s decision to send a letter to Congress about newly discovered emails just 11 days before the election. That alone was enough to give the impression that they re not objective, especially since Comey has refused to respond to that criticism.The Daily Beast also picked up on a story alleging that there are connections between Rudy Giuliani, who s got his head buried deep inside Trump s ass, and the New York City FBI office. That office pressed headquarters to continue looking into the matter of Hillary s emails after Comey declared the investigation effectively closed. Agents are pissed at Comey because they believe the failure to recommend indictment shook people s faith in the bureau.So the leaks from the bureau continue, and it s pretty clear now that the FBI is, in fact, on a witch hunt against Hillary rather than conducting legitimate investigations into legitimate problems. If anything is calling the FBI s integrity into question, it s this, rather than Comey s decision not to indict back in July.Image of Hillary Clinton by by Justin Sullivan, image of James Comey by Alex Wong, via Getty Images. | 0 |
7,695 | Saudi foreign minister welcomes release of pages from 9-11 report | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday he welcomed the release of a long-classified section of the official report on the Sept. 11 attacks that discussed potential links between some of the hijackers and Saudi Arabia. “The matter is now finished,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Washington. Asked whether the report exonerated the kingdom, he said: “Absolutely.” The 28 pages of the report on the 2002 investigation focus on potential Saudi links to the 2001 aircraft attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3,000 people died. They were issued by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Friday after years of wrangling in Washington between Congress and different administrations, Republicans and Democrats, and urging by families of those killed. | 1 |
7,696 | Embarrassing: NY Times Reveals Trump’s Companies Are In MASSIVE Debt | A new report from the New York Times finds that Donald Trump owes twice as much debt as he reported on his public election filings.The NY Times reports: Beyond finding that companies owned by Mr. Trump had debts of at least $650 million, The Times Discovered that a substantial portion of his wealth is tied up in three passive partnerships that owe an additional $2 billion to a string of lenders, including those that hold the loan on the Avenue of the Americas building. If those loans were to go into default, Mr. trump might not be held personally liable, but the value of his investments would sink. The NY Times points out that Trump probably didn t lie about the amount of debt he has in his public filings, it s just a matter of the forms that were filled out not being designed for a person who has as complex financial holdings as Trump does.What s really interesting about the report, is that it also shows Trump s one of the very few criticisms of Hillary Clinton shared by some on the left (which he stole from progressives anyway) is now rendered completely invalid for him to make, due to it being completely hypocritical.The NY Times reports: An office building on Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, of which Mr. Trump is part owner, carries a $950 million loan. Among the lenders: the Bank of China, one of the largest banks in a country that Mr. Trump has railed against as an economic foe of the United States, and Goldman Sachs, a financial institution he has said controls Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, after it paid her $675,000 in speaking fees. Trump has positioned himself as a strong businessman throughout his presidential campaign. However, he has come under fire from Democrats as report after report comes out showing that he is actually a huge failure in the world of business. Most notably from Elizabeth Warren who has said that Donald Trump is a loser. Count all his failed businesses. See how he kept his father s empire afloat by cheating people with scams like Trump University and by using strategic corporate bankruptcy (excuse me, bankruptcies) to skip out on debt. The report is damning and should give Democrats a few more talking points that show just how dangerous a Trump presidency would be for the United States.Featured image from Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
7,697 | GOP Leadership At Fault For Predicted Collapse Of Public Defense System In This State | As Addicting Info reported here, the citizens of Louisiana are facing the harsh consequences of Republican trickle-down economics.As the state stands on the brink of economic disaster, LA residents could see disastrous results in the coming months, as hospitals and universities are shuttered, the disabled lose access to vital services, and the social safety net is gutted.In the midst of all the, the American Civil Liberties Union is sounding an even more dire warning.The state of Louisiana incarcerates more people than any other place in the world. Without drastic intervention, however, the citizens of LA are about to lose access to the fundamental right to legal representation.That s because Jindal s budget cuts decimated the state s system of public defense.According to ACLU attorney Brandon Buskey, the state s public defense system is so short of funding that 33 of the state s 42 districts will be shuttered over the next year, leaving the poor without access to legal representation.In a statement to The Guardian on March 4, 2016, Buskey said, The system is on course to collapse by next summer we will have no public defense system in any sense of the word. We are talking about the wholesale destruction of a public function. According to Buskey, LA citizens are already experiencing the brutal impact of Jindal s failure to fund the public defense system. In metropolitan areas, such as New Orleans, public defenders are unable to take on new cases, leaving citizens who cannot afford a private attorney with no access to legal representation.The result is that potentially innocent people are trapped behind bars, with no way out.Buckley explained, In Orleans, we already have dozens of people held in jail for weeks on end without conviction and with no way of getting themselves out. We are literally trapping people in jail with no way out. LA public defender, James Dixon, told The Guardian that the state s failure to provide for public defense will cause extreme harm to juveniles, saying, We will no longer be able adequately to represent the kids in this state. If a child is charged with burglary or theft, they are going to go unrepresented, and that scares me. As The Guardian reports here, The funding meltdown also threatens to aggravate the existing inequalities in Louisiana s criminal justice system, by creating a two-tier service in which wealthier citizens can employ private lawyers while poor Louisianans are left to their own devices. Dixon pointed out, This is an absolute injustice that the poor will sit in jail without any representation just because they have no money. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that, In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. What is happening in LA today is not only immoral and inhumane, it s also a violation of the United States Constitution, a document which republicans claim to be deeply devoted to.As a result of Jindal s irresponsible handling of the state s budget, innocent citizens could be forced to spend months behind bars after being accused of a crime they did not commit.At the same time, dangerous criminals, guilty of violent offenses, are likely to see their cases thrown out, due to the state s failure to uphold the Constitutional rights of the accused.Thanks to Jindal, who used the state s budget to conduct an experiment in GOP trickle-down economic theory, the state of Louisiana now faces a $1.6 billion budget shortfall.A new budget, proposed by the state s recently-elected democratic Governor, Jon Bel Edwards, and approved by the state legislature, attempts to correct the budget shortfall, but in doing so, leaves the public defense system virtually unfunded. The new budget would slash funding for public defense by 62 percent, reducing the amount of money allocated from $33m to under $13m.The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the state s accused. The suit attacks what the ACLU calls the state s chronic underfunding of its public defender system. Image from Wikimedia Commons | 0 |
7,698 | Trump will pursue 'regional hegemony' in South China Sea: Chinese academics | BEIJING (Reuters) - A Donald Trump presidency does not mean the United States will withdraw from the South China Sea, but rather will continue pursuing “regional hegemony”, Chinese academics who drafted a report for an influential government think tank said on Friday. Ensuring “absolute control” over the South China Sea was the crux of U.S. military strategy in the Asia-Pacific, according to what the authors said was China’s first ever public report on the U.S. military presence in the region, released on Friday in Beijing. “There will be no overturning change to U.S. policy in the South China Sea,” said Wu Shicun, head of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, an influential Hainan-based think tank that wrote the report. Trump rarely mentioned the South China Sea on the campaign trail, but concentrated on the economic relationship with Beijing, threatening to label China a currency manipulator and impose import tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S. commitments to its allies would not change, nor would its stance on protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, said Wu. As such, tensions between China and the United States in the South China Sea would likely grow in lock-step with China’s military growth, he added. China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. Recent U.S. efforts to counter what it sees as China limiting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea have drawn Beijing’s ire and stoked fears of military conflict. A patrol by U.S. warships in October was dubbed “illegal” and “provocative” by the Chinese Defence Ministry. “From the U.S. perspective, China’s large-scale construction activities in the South China Sea confirmed U.S. suspicion that China intended to implement an anti-access/area-denial strategy,” the report said. There would be “more continuity than change” in Trump’s military policy in the Asia-Pacific, said Zhu Feng, director of the South China Sea Center at Nanjing University, at the report launch. Trump may not use the term “rebalancing” to the region, but he would likely retain most of policies, he added. Both academics agreed that there was a high possibility of increased U.S. military spending in the Asia-Pacific under Trump. A Trump administration would “not be an exception” to other Republican-led governments that increase military spending when they take office, said Zhu Feng. The build-up of military might in the region has led to worries of a rising risk of accidental collisions that could spark conflict. Zhu said that the decision to release a public report now was not China “preparing for war” but rather to avoid an “arms race” between China and the United States. | 1 |
7,699 | Hopes dimming under rubble, Mexico woman's texts help save her | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Trapped under tons of rubble and in complete darkness, Diana Pacheco s hopes were fading fast for making it out alive from a collapsed office building after a huge earthquake in Mexico City, despite rescuers frantic attempts to reach her. Then the trapped woman had a great stroke of luck: a series of short messages she had written and sent to her husband some 16 hours earlier lit up his phone screen. My love The ceiling fell We re trapped I love you I love you a lot We re on the fourth floor Near the emergency stairway There s four of us, read the WhatsApp messages, which finally reached her husband Juan Jesus Garcia on Wednesday at 5:34 a.m. Garcia, 33, an Uber driver, had been waiting, often in tears, beside the collapsed building all night and immediately ran over to rescue workers. It was like a miracle because I was the only one who got the message and since I was there with the rescue workers I talked to them and they could locate her, said Garcia. The messages on Garcia s phone, seen by Reuters shortly after they were received on Wednesday, could have been delayed due to erratic cell phone coverage in parts of Mexico City after the quake, or the fact that Pacheco s phone signal was blocked by the tons of concrete that kept her trapped in the collapsed building. When asked whether WhatsApp messages can be delivered hours after they were sent in an area without good cellphone coverage, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed it is possible. Pacheco, a recruiter for a human resources and accounting firm, said she sent the messages shortly after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 1:14 p.m. on Tuesday. Those messages helped them know more or less where we were located, Pacheco said on Friday from her hospital bed, her voice weak. Using the information to pinpoint their location, rescuers freed Pacheco, 30, and the three other survivors shortly after 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Rescue operations were still underway on Friday at the building, where Pacheco says there were some 60 people on her floor alone at the time of the quake. I think there are people (alive) there because we had oxygen, air was coming in, she said. Despite having bruises all over her body and wearing a neck brace, Pacheco was generally in good health. She said she tried to send WhatsApp and text messages to other people from under the building, as well as make phone calls and post on Facebook, but only the messages to her husband got through. She said when the building fell, the force of two floors above collapsing violently knocked her down, but a wall of concrete stopped just short of crushing her and three of her coworkers. They found themselves huddled together in a cramped space. They screamed out every time they heard voices from outside the building. We heard them (rescue workers) when they asked us to yell or make noise, but regardless of how much we yelled they couldn t hear us, Pacheco said. The quake, Mexico s deadliest in a generation, has already claimed close to 300 lives. [nL5N1M330H] (This version of the story has been refiled to change the date in dateline.) | 1 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.