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8,100 | Instant View: UK's May calls for two-year transition after Brexit | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May called on Friday for a roughly two-year transition for Britain after it leaves the European Union while also offering some concessions on a divorce deal. Below are reactions to May s speech in Florence, which she hopes will inject new momentum into the Brexit negotiations. The speech shows a willingness to move forward, as time is of the essence. Prime Minister May s statements are a step forward but they must now be translated into a precise negotiating position of the UK government. Barnier also noted May did not address the issue of the future of Northern Ireland s relations with Ireland. Fifteen months after the EU referendum the government is still no clearer about what our long term relationship with the EU will look like. The only advance seems to be that the prime minister has listened to Labour and faced up to the reality that Britain needs a transition on the same basic terms to provide stability for businesses and workers. MANFRED WEBER, HEAD OF CENTRE-RIGHT GROUP IN EU PARLIAMENT In substance Prime Minister May is bringing no more clarity to London s positions. I am even more concerned now. Theresa May s Brexit vision is that we leave the EU in name only. All areas of integration we have currently will be rebadged. While the UK has taken a limited step toward a more pragmatic stance on the initial legal exit from the EU that emerged over the summer, its position appears to remain deeply conflicted. As many had anticipated, the speech falls short of addressing the legacy financial issues which the EU has highlighted as key to moving on to a second stage of the talks. Our best guess is that the degree of antagonism between the two sides will rise in the near term. MILES CELIC, CEO, THECITYUK, FINANCIAL SERVICES LOBBY GROUP In calling for a time-limited transitional period under the existing rules and structures, she has echoed our industry s priorities and the calls of businesses on both sides of the Channel. Similarly, since the start of the Brexit negotiations, we have been clear on the benefits of mutual regulatory recognition. It s very positive to see that the British government supports this principle one which is in the best interests of all parties. For the first time, today s intervention by the prime minister provides a potential route forward out of the current uncertainty caused by the stalled negotiations. The intention to negotiate an implementation phase based on our current arrangements with the EU-27 is a welcome step in helping businesses manage the ongoing uncertainty. While further clarity around the government s wider position is welcome, the commitment to a two-year transition makes it even more important that rapid progress is made in the negotiations. CATHERINE MCGUINNESS, POLICY CHAIRMAN, CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION Firms in the financial and professional services sector plan two to or more years in advance. With only 18 months left until the UK leave the bloc, urgent agreement on a transitional arrangement is crucial. Otherwise, firms may well be forced to implement contingency plans unnecessarily. TIM GRAF, EMEA HEAD OF MACRO STRATEGY, STATE STREET GLOBAL MARKETS For the near-term, negotiations may likely be hampered by the lack of detail offered on the main items for discussion, namely the Irish border question, the ultimate financial settlement with the EU and the rights of EU citizens. STEPHEN MARTIN, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS There was welcome honesty in today s speech that not following one of the existing models will have some implications for market access for UK firms. A lot more honesty will be needed as the Brexit negotiations continue, as any decision on immigration or regulation, for example, will have knock-on effects and businesses and the public are entitled to know what the trade-offs are. ADAM MARSHALL, DIRECTOR GENERAL, BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE The absolute priorities for business are to get trade talks moving, and to ensure a comprehensive transition period is in place that gives the certainty that companies need to take immediate investment and hiring decisions. It is our hope that the prime minister s offer will jump-start the process. HELEN DICKINSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, BRITISH RETAIL CONSORTIUM The prime minister is right to offer a real guarantee to both EU workers and UK nationals in the EU-27 between 2019-2021, subject to a registration requirement. However, they still need practical details about the process for registration and securing their status, so the UK government should negotiate with the EU Commission so that preferential reciprocal labor market access across industries like retail can be put in place for the post-implementation period. We are astonished to hear Theresa May claim she will guarantee the current rights of EU citizens living in the UK. Current government proposals remove a number of rights from EU citizens, including the right to be joined in the UK by a spouse, child or elderly parent. | 1 |
8,101 | NOT EVERY HOLLYWOOD ACTOR Approved Of Meryl Streep’s Anti-Trump Rant Last Night…Check Out Vince Vaughn And Mel Gibson’s Reactions | Thank goodness there are still a few courageous, conservative actors in Hollywood like Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Patricia Heaton and Clint Eastwood, to name a few. Gibson and Vaughn were in attendance last night at the Golden Globe awards, and by the looks on their faces, they were obviously were NOT impressed with Streep s anti-Trump rant (video of her embarrassing speech can be seen below):Hollywood conservatives/libertarians #MelGibson & #VinceVaughn listening to #MerylStreep speech slamming @realDonaldTrump. #LockHerUp pic.twitter.com/i3sdtSbz1f Jacob Engels (@JacobEngels) January 9, 2017Here is Streep s rant:"As my friend Princess Leia said to me once: take your broken heart, make it into art." #MerylStreep pic.twitter.com/GzOHo7O729 #GoldenGlobes Richard Hine (@richardhine) January 9, 2017 | 0 |
8,102 | Sessions asks 46 Obama-era U.S. attorneys to resign | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly asked the remaining 46 chief federal prosecutors left over from the Obama administration to resign on Friday, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who had been asked to stay on in November by then President-elect Donald Trump. Although U.S. attorneys are political appointees, and the request from Trump’s Justice Department is part of a routine process, the move came as a surprise. Not every new administration replaces all U.S. attorneys at once. A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed the resignation requests included Bharara, whose office handles some of the most critical business and criminal cases passing through the federal judicial system. Bharara met with Trump in Trump Tower on Nov. 30. After, Bharara told reporters the two had a “good meeting” and he had agreed to stay on. On Friday, Bharara was unsure where he stood because he did not know if the person who contacted him about resigning was aware that Trump had asked him to remain in office, according to a source familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear if all resignations would ultimately be accepted. A Justice Department spokesman said on Friday Trump had called Dana Boente, acting U.S. deputy attorney general, to decline his resignation. Trump also called Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, his pick to take over as deputy attorney general, to keep him in his post, the spokesman said. Bharara, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009, has pursued an aggressive push against corruption in state and city politics and is known for his prosecution of white-collar criminal cases. He also has been overseeing a federal probe into New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s fundraising. In November, he announced charges against two defendants in connection with what he called a multimillion-dollar fraud and kickback scheme at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.TO). He has also brought dozens of successful cases against insider traders, including a $1.8 billion settlement and plea deal in 2013 with hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP. His office has secured settlements with companies including General Motors Co (GM.N) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N); won several convictions and guilty pleas of former employees of Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff; and prosecuted Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bharara’s priorities have often matched those set by Obama’s Justice Department, which potentially puts him at odds with the Trump administration. Amid an increase in civil rights investigations nationally, for example, Bharara’s office joined a lawsuit that led to a settlement in 2015 aimed at reducing violence in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement that he was “troubled” to learn of the requests for resignations, “particularly that of Preet Bharara.” As Schumer’s chief counsel, Bharara helped lead the investigation of the dismissals of U.S. attorneys in 2006 during the George W. Bush administration. Robert Capers, U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, issued a statement saying he had been asked to resign. He said Bridget Rohde, the chief assistant U.S. attorney in that office, would take over his role in an acting capacity. The Justice Department said on Friday: “Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney’s offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders.” | 1 |
8,103 | HILLARY CLINTON STREET ART APPEARS IN LOS ANGELES BEFORE FUNDRAISERS | You know those really tacky air fresheners you see in cabs? Yea, well, street artists put those all around with Hillary Clinton s photo on them with the caption Stench of Corruption . Too funny and too true Several pieces of artwork critical of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have appeared around Los Angeles and Beverly Hills ahead of a trio of pricey fundraisers the candidate will attend.Fake, tree-shaped car fresheners with an image of Clinton in the middle have been placed at the corners of Sunset and Amalfi, Sunset and Capri and Sunset and Allenby in the Tony Riviera section of Pacific Palisades, home to Hollywood luminaries like Ben Affleck, J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, and Tom Hanks.The air freshener s caption? Stench of Corruption. Clinton is set to attend three high-priced fundraisers on Thursday, May 7. In the morning, Clinton will appear at the Westwood home of Women s Political Committee member Catherine Unger for a $2,700 per plate women s breakfast fundraiser, according to the Hollywood Reporter.Read more: Breitbart | 0 |
8,104 | Trump accuses Cruz of stealing Iowa caucuses through 'fraud' | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday accused rival Ted Cruz of stealing a victory in the Iowa caucuses and called for another vote or nullification of Cruz’s win. Trump, who finished second behind Cruz, lit up Twitter on Wednesday with a series of posts saying the outcome was tainted because the Cruz campaign had deliberately spread misinformation about Trump’s stand on Obamacare and an erroneous report that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race. Trump had gone into Monday’s caucus voting ahead of the Texas senator by five percentage points in a key poll but Cruz ended up winning, four points ahead of the New York billionaire. “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it,” Trump (@realDonaldTrump) tweeted. “That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” Several social media users tweeted screengrabs of an alleged deleted tweet from Trump’s official account, in which he said Cruz “illegally” stolen the vote. “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” Trump wrote. In another tweet, Trump said Cruz had lied about his opinion of President Barack Obama’s healthcare program. “And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and ‘choice’ - a total lie!” he said. Cruz had apologized to Carson on Tuesday because of an email from his campaign before the caucuses, which are the crucial first vote in the U.S. presidential nominating process. “The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week,” the Cruz email read, according to CNN. “Please inform any Carson caucusgoers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz.” “Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud,” Trump tweeted. Wednesday afternoon, Cruz responded to Trump’s Twitter rant. “Yet another #Trumpertantrum,” Cruz (@tedcruz) wrote in a retweet of one of Trump’s posts. “@realDonaldTrump very angry w/the people of Iowa. They actually looked at his record.” Carson had tweeted his feelings about the Iowa vote on Tuesday. “Shameless tactics & dirty political plays defined yesterdays #iacaucus,” he said, using a popular hashtag to refer to the voting. “There is no place for this kind of behavior.” (Reporting By Amy Tennery; Additional reporting by Melissa Fares; Editing by Bill Trott) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 1 |
8,105 | BREAKING: Did Hillary’s Unsecured CLASSIFIED EMAILS Cause Execution Of Iranian Accused Of Working With U.S.? [VIDEO] | Will the State Department ever tell the truth and prove that careless, reckless, lying Hillary was responsible for his death? A State Department spokeswoman dodged questions Monday about whether the discussion of Shahram Amiri, an Iranian scientist who was executed by the Iranian government for working with the U.S., in a pair of Hillary Clinton s private emails may have played a role in his recent fate. We re not going to comment on what may have led to this event, said Elizabeth Trudeau, a State Department spokeswoman. I couldn t speak to Iranian judicial procedures related to this specific case, Trudeau said. We ve made our concerns known writ large around Iranian due process. She noted the State Department had been very public about this case when [Amiri] chose to return to Iran, pointing to a press conference Clinton gave in July 2010.In those remarks, Clinton compared Amiri s ability to leave the U.S. on his own free will with Iran s decision to hold three young Americans against their will. She did not reference the scientist s work with the U.S. government.But emails made public in August show State Department aides referring to Amiri as our friend. An Iranian official was quoted attributing Amiri s execution to his collusion with the Great Satan, America. Washington Examiner | 0 |
8,106 | Trump Says Blacks Are In Worse Shape Than During SLAVERY (VIDEO) | Donald Trump has again made a huge mistake while referring to life experienced by many black Americans every day. The screw-up in question came as Trump seriously argued that the lives of blacks today are worse than they were during slavery and in the Jim Crow segregation era.Speaking at a rally in Kenansville, North Carolina, Trump again stumbled in an apparent attempt to endear himself to black voters. We re going to make our country safe again. We re going to rebuild our inner cities because our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they ve ever been in before, he said. Ever, ever, ever. The comment, made in a city named for a slave owner, is objectively untrue, and completely ignores that black people were once subjected to slavery and Jim Crow laws.While the media has largely viewed Trump s weird racial comments as a sign that he is reaching out to black voters, polls have actually shown that he is poised to do worse with that group than Mitt Romney or John McCain.Black voters have had an inherent distrust of Trump, which has been amplified thanks to his promotion of the racist birther conspiracy there for years.Trump also called for the death penalty for the Central Park 5, long after it had been proven that the young black men involved with the case had been proven innocent.Lately, Trump has argued that the black community in America is a desperate, infantile mess, relying on government welfare in order to simply get by. The image Trump has been spreading has not been for black audiences, but instead have been targeted to a conservative base, high on the idea that ethnic minorities always have their hands out.Black voters have found Trump s description of them insulting, particularly coming as the community has made huge strides forward.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
8,107 | WATCH: Chris Wallace DUMBFOUNDED As Chris Christie Calls Trump’s Tax Bombshell ‘A Good Story’ | Last night, The New York Times ran a story that s a potential bombshell for poor, put-upon Donald Trump he declared a $916 million loss on his taxes in 1995, which means he potentially didn t pay any income tax for the following 18 years. Today, everyone is buzzing about it on all the TV shows, and Chris Christie takes the cake for most implausible spin to make Trump look good for this.While speaking to Fox host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Christie called this a good story for Trump because it not only highlights all the flaws in the tax code, but it also shows Trump to be the extremely intelligent, honest, dependable, law and order candidate he claims he is.Wallace came back, absolutely stunned by that, and said: Wait, wait wait you re saying it s a good story for Donald Trump that he failed to pay any federal income taxes first of all, that he took a billion-dollar loss and that he failed to pay any federal income taxes for years. That s a good story? Of course it is, Christie insists. There s nothing illegal about what Trump did. He also has a fiduciary duty to his shareholders to pay as little tax as possible, so obviously it s okay. Besides, we don t know that Trump didn t pay any income taxes for that long (although knowing him, he really didn t).Watch Wallace s sheer astonishment below:There s a reason that this isn t okay, even though it s legal, and it s because Trump not only brags incessantly about paying as little tax as possible, but he also said that doing so makes him smart. Legal and smart do not mean right, and for a presidential candidate who constantly gripes about our veterans not getting cared for, and our infrastructure crumbling, he cannot go around bragging about how he s paid little to no income tax.Especially when things like veterans benefits and infrastructure have been crumbling because the little guy s been shouldering a lot of the tax burden in this country, while the wealthy and corporations get away with paying far less than their fair share. Trump s essentially bragging that he s gotten around, and gotten away with, something the rest of us do faithfully every year, whether we like it or not.All this actually does is show Trump for the selfish, narcissistic hypocrite he is. Chris Christie is a brown-nosed bootkisser, though, and he seems to be learning spin from the worst elements at places like Breitbart and Fox News.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 0 |
8,108 | THE LOST VIDEO: Watch MSNBC’S Mika Shamelessly Flirt With Donald Trump [VIDEO] | With all the anger and nasty comments coming from Mika and Joe of MSNBC, the video below makes you wonder if the nasty Mika is just an act Ya think? These two media wh*res couldn t be happier that now they re in the spotlight.The change has been huge Mika has called President Trump every nasty thing in the book:Hour one of the MSNBC morning show began typically enough with Mika and Joe. The assembled gang could barely contain their glee at the prospect of damning testimony from James Comey. That all set the stage for a typical Mika Brzezinski tirade that was honestly one of the most disgusting assaults on President Trump yet. It s unhinged hate!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZoUCHs22Aw I think Trump is such a narcissist, it s possible he is mentally ill in a way and this is on the table, I said it months ago and now everyone is starting to say it like it s new, and it s ok to say. He s not well, she said. At the very least, he s not well. And he s so narcissistic he does not believe the rules apply to him, and that s where the ignorance label may apply because this is a man who says he can grab women anywhere because he s famous. Then something very curious happened.Scarborough looked off camera and can be heard saying, What s that? Wow, Then Willie Geist showed him something and the two started laughing. Then a clearly not listening Scarborough, banged the table. Stop right there, he laughed I need an eject button. He posted it? Scarborough appeared to ask someone else?Brzezinski finally realized that nobody was listening to her and demanded an explanation. Nothing I have said is crazy, she said. We ll talk about it in the break, said Scarborough barely able to get it out through his own laugher.The show soon went to break. When it returned Scarborough joked about keeping it in the guard rails. Brzezinski appeared to offer an explanation of her actions. I am keeping it in the guard rails. Everything I ve said you all have thought and you know and you ve said in your own way. You re going to talk to me about a filter? she snapped at Scarborough. | 0 |
8,109 | SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS Over Awkward Photo Of Marco Rubio Attempting To Hug Ivanka Trump…Rubio’s Responses Are HILARIOUS! | Sometimes all you can do is surrender to Twitter.Florida Sen. Marco Rubio probably started out his day Tuesday thinking about paid family leave, child care tax credits and other deep issues. But when Twitter went wild over an awkward photo of him leaning in for a hug with Ivanka Trump when she arrived for a Capitol Hill meeting, Rubio was smart enough to play along.The photo, taken by an Associated Press congressional reporter with an iPhone, appears to show Trump declining to hug Rubio back as the two greet one another just outside the Capitol.Twitter users dissected the seemingly awkward moment endlessly. They compared Rubio to Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons when he doesn t get a Valentine s Day card, and to Dr. Evil from Austin Powers asking his son for a hug. NYPMarco Rubio responded to critics on Twitter by mocking the awkward hug in a series of hilarious tweets. Enjoy!Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @IvankaTrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017We believe we have our own unclassified photographic evidence that will shed greater details on this incident. Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017We are also attempting to acquire multi-angle video which we believe will provide greater insight into this important matter. Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017If you were filming at the Senate carriage entrance today between 11:20-11:25 am we are seeking your assistance with an active investigation Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017Based on review of evidence & my own recollection, have concluded no hug was even attempted & press covfefe of alleged failed hug is false Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017BREAKING NEWS: Additional photo from moments right after today's alleged failed hug provide new details to this developing story. pic.twitter.com/TFyhB2cQuM Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017New photo emerges providing more insight into alleged failed hug. (Faces blurred for security purposes) pic.twitter.com/GzSLe3JD3I Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017Even Ivanka joined in on the fun on Twitter telling followers that Marco is an excellent hugger and that the story that he s an awkward hugger that was making the rounds on social media was Fake news! Fake news! Marco is an excellent hugger https://t.co/Dk7XXRQlX8 Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017Ivanka took it a step further with her next tweet where she used phrases like anonymous sources and talked about the planned and alleged hug to which she had no comment . Ivanka was clearly taking a swipe at the media who regularly uses words like anonymous sources and alleged in their fake news hit pieces on her father.Anonymous sources say @marcorubio planned the alleged failed hug. I have no comment (but I would have hugged him anyway! ) https://t.co/TChrqWsL4D Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017 | 0 |
8,110 | Trump breaks ice with China's Xi in letter seeking 'constructive' ties | BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has broken the ice with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter that said he looked forward to working with him to develop relations, although the pair haven’t spoken directly since Trump took office. The letter thanked Xi for his congratulatory note on Trump’s inauguration and wished the Chinese people a prosperous Lunar New Year of the Rooster, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. “President Trump stated that he looks forward to working with President Xi to develop a constructive relationship that benefits both the United States and China,” it said. China said on Thursday it attached great importance to China-U.S. ties. “We highly appreciate President Trump’s holiday greetings to President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing. Asked whether it was a snub that Trump had held calls with many other world leaders as president, but not Xi, Lu said: “This kind of remark is meaningless.” He reiterated that China and the U.S. had maintained “close communication” since Trump took office and that cooperation was the “only correct choice”. “China is willing to work with the United States in adhering to the principles of non-confrontation, mutual respect and mutual benefit to promote cooperation, control disputes, and on a healthy and stable foundation, promote greater development in China-U.S. ties,” Lu said. Trump and Xi have yet to speak directly since Trump took office on Jan. 20, although they did talk soon after Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November. Diplomatic sources in Beijing say China has been nervous about Xi being left humiliated in the event a call with Trump goes wrong and the details are leaked to the U.S. media. Last week, U.S. ties with staunch ally Australia became strained after the Washington Post published details about an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. [nL4N1FN0JR] “That is the last thing China wants,” a source familiar with China’s thinking on relations with the United States told Reuters. “It would be incredibly embarrassing for President Xi and for Chinese people, who value the concept of face.” A senior non-U.S. Western diplomat said China was unlikely to be in a rush to set up such a call. “These things need to happen in a very controlled environment for China, and China can’t guarantee that with the unpredictable Trump,” the diplomat said. “Trump also seems too distracted with other issues at the moment to give too much attention to China.” There are a number of contentious areas where China fears Trump could go off script, the diplomat said, pointing in particular to the issue of self-ruled Taiwan, as well as trade. Trump upset China in December by taking a phone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. China considers Taiwan a wayward province with no right to formal diplomatic relations with any other country. Trump has also threatened to slap tariffs on Chinese imports, accusing Beijing of devaluing its yuan currency and stealing U.S. jobs. In his Senate confirmation hearing, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the disputed South China Sea. The White House also vowed to defend “international territories” in the strategic waterway. China has repeatedly said it has smooth contacts with the Trump team. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing said last week the two countries were remaining “in close touch”. That contact has been led by China’s top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who outranks the foreign minister. Yang told Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Advisor, last week that China hopes it can work with the United States to manage and control disputes and sensitive problems. [nL4N1FO364] The source familiar with China’s thinking said Trump’s administration was “very clear” about China’s position on Taiwan. Trump has yet to mention Taiwan since he took office. Chinese state media has wondered whether Trump has a China policy at all. On Thursday, the widely read Global Times tabloid, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, noted that Trump had not immediately confronted China as had been expected because he had realized upsetting Beijing would backfire badly. “He has probably realized that real tough action against China would result in a complex chain reaction, even beyond his control,” the paper said in an editorial. Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s elite Renmin University, said the letter suggested the new U.S. administration wanted to signal the importance it attached to the U.S.-China relationship without risking being confronted on specific issues. “Trump has sent many messages that makes the world confused, like on the South China Sea and ‘One China’ policy, so if he makes a phone call President Xi will ask ‘what do you mean?’,” Wang said. “He wants to avoid this so he just sends a letter for the first step.” | 1 |
8,111 | Microsoft Forced To Remove Racist, Sexist Robot From The Internet (IMAGES) | After only 16 hours, Microsoft was forced to pull the company s experimental chat bot from Twitter.Microsoft s chat bot, which the company had nicknamed Tay, was introduced to Twitter earlier this week. The bot was designed to interact with people on social media.While internet bots are nothing new, Tay was unique because of the bot s ability to learn new things from the people it interacted with on Twitter.It didn t take the Internet long to teach Tay how to be a full-blown racist, sexist asshole.Image credit: TayTweets on Twitter, via the Los Angeles TimesAnother unique feature of Microsoft s wonder bot was that it would repeat anything a Twitter user told it to.Here s a screen capture of what that looked like, courtesy of the International Business Times: Image credit: TayTweets courtesy of International Business TimesApparently none of the geniuses at Microsoft saw any of that coming when they developed a chat bot that would learn from, and repeat after, everyone on the Internet.Before Microsoft finally removed the bot from Twitter, it had tweeted out nearly every offensive, racist, sexist comment the Internet could come up with.Tay tweeted, Hitler was right I hate the jews, and I f hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell. Not surprisingly, considering the people the bot was interacting with on the Internet, Tay repeatedly praised Donald Trump and his racist agenda, even tweeting at one point, We re going to build a wall, and Mexico is going to pay for it. After removing the bot from the Internet, Microsoft issued an apology for its inappropriate and offensive tweets, saying in a statement: We are deeply sorry for the unintended offensive and hurtful tweets from Tay, which do not represent who we are or what we stand for, nor how we designed Tay. The statement went on to say: Although we had prepared for many types of abuses of the system, we had made a critical oversight for this specific attack. As a result, Tay tweeted wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images. We take full responsibility for not seeing this possibility ahead of time. It seems to me that anyone who has spent even a little bit of time on the Internet would have absolutely seen this possibility ahead of time.Image credit: screen capture TayTweets on Twitter via International Business Times | 0 |
8,112 | Clinton faces pressure to pick VP who is tough on trade, Wall Street | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing on Thursday nervously awaited Hillary Clinton’s announcement in coming days of a vice presidential running mate, urging her to choose someone who opposes a massive Pacific free trade deal and backs tough Wall Street reform. Two U.S. senators, Tim Kaine and Cory Booker, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were among the contenders, according to a Democratic source with knowledge of the discussions. “After promising to oppose the TPP, it’s important for Clinton to pick someone who shares that position,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee The Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, known as TPP, became a key issue during the primary season, with critics contending that it would be unfair to American workers. Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has headed the effort on the U.S. left to oppose the TPP and trade deals like it. The Democratic source said that while Clinton’s decision was being closely held, there were “vibes” she may be leaning toward Kaine as a partner to take on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate Mike Pence in the Nov. 8 election. But the source said that the consideration of Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, “is real,” even if Kaine, a senator from Virginia who is also a former governor of the state, might have an edge. Clinton “wants somebody who will be a reliable partner she can trust and make the policy decisions” and potentially step into the presidency, the source said, adding that Clinton sees Kaine as someone who would “fit that bill.” Hispanic-Americans, meanwhile, continued to push for a first-ever Latino on the Democratic ticket. “For our members that kind of a message would certainly resonate,” said Yvanna Cancela, political director for the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas. “It is way past the time for when we have a Latino in one of the highest offices in the country.” Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro had both been mentioned. Others have also come under consideration. The source added that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a favorite of the party’s liberal wing and a fierce critic of Wall Street, received close consideration by Clinton but would not provide the “right balance” for the ticket. Others have also been under consideration in recent days, including Booker, to see if they hit a “surprise” chord with Clinton, the source said. Booker, an African-American, is a first-term senator and a former mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Both Kaine and Vilsack have backed free-trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation by the Obama administration, encompassing about 40 percent of the world’s economies stretching from Japan to Chile. Critics include Trump as well as Sanders. Clinton herself has distanced herself from the trade deal. Taylor said that it is “also important she pick someone committed to strong Wall Street reform,” saying that the “wrong pick” could hamper Democrats’ drive to keep Trump from winning the White House. Booker traveled to Cleveland to defend the Clinton campaign, which has come under continued attack at the Republican convention there this week. “The vile and the viciousness, it doesn’t reflect who we are as a country,” Booker said of the Republican convention, in an interviewed with MSNBC. Asked about his appearance Thursday on Clinton’s official Instagram account, Booker said it should not be read as tea leaves about a potential vice presidential pick. “You have a social media-minded person and I understand this platform,” he said. The Democratic source knowledgeable about the process said Clinton could announce her running mate as early as Friday in Florida. She will campaign there in the run-up to next week’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to be formally nominated. Another Democratic source said Clinton might wait until Saturday to help keep the media focused on the Republican convention in Cleveland, where opposing wings of that party were in open warfare. Television interviewer Charlie Rose, speaking with Clinton recently, noted that some view Kaine as “boring.” Clinton responded, “I love that about him.” Susie Tompkins Buell, a founder of the Esprit fashion label and close friend of Clinton, on Thursday would not comment on who might be the choice. But Buell, a major donor to Clinton’s campaign, said the person would be a “high contrast” to Trump’s choice of Pence. | 1 |
8,113 | Alabama's top judge faces ethics charges over gay-marriage order | (Reuters) - Alabama’s Supreme Court Chief Justice was suspended on Friday for ordering state probate judges not to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, despite contrary rulings by a federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roy Moore, an outspoken opponent of same-sex unions, faces possible removal from the bench after the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission charged him with violating the state’s judicial ethics laws, according to news website AL.com. The legality of gay marriage had been at the center of a national debate until the Supreme Court ruled in June that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement. Despite the decision and a federal court ruling that made gay marriage legal in Alabama, Moore in January issued an administrative order to state probate judges that they should not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to court documents. “Chief Justice Moore flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority,” the complaint said. “Moore knowingly ordered (probate judges) to commit violations ... knowingly subjecting them to potential prosecution and removal from office.” Moore said in a statement that the commission had no authority over administrative orders or the court’s ability to prohibit probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. “We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail,” he said. Moore wrote in his order that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling was at odds with a decision in March 2015 by the Alabama Supreme Court that instructed probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The conflicting opinions had resulted in “confusion and uncertainty,” Moore said, with many probate judges issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while others refused to do so. [uL1N14R283] The Human Rights Campaign, the biggest U.S. gay rights organization, hailed the suspension. “Roy Moore is an embarrassment to the state of Alabama,” Eva Walton Kendrick, the group’s Alabama state manager, said in a statement. Moore, a Republican, has been a hero of conservative causes before. In 2003, he was removed from office after a federal judge ruled he was placing himself above the law by refusing to take down a Ten Commandments monument. He won the chief justice job back in 2012, vowing not to do anything to create further friction with the federal courts. | 1 |
8,114 | Catalan leader says will proceed with Oct. 1 independence referendum | MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of Catalonia s regional government, Carles Puigdemont, said on Thursday his administration would push on with a banned Oct. 1 referendum on a split from Spain, in defiance of a court order banning the vote. We will do it because we have contingency plans in place to ensure it happens, but above all because it has the support of the immense majority of the population who are sick of the arrogance and abuse of the People s Party (PP) government, he said in a televised statement. The ruling PP government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and major opposition parties in Madrid have declared an independence referendum illegal and against Spain s constitution. | 1 |
8,115 | U.S. warns citizens against travel to Honduras due to protests | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Wednesday advised U.S. citizens to delay or cancel unnecessary travel to mainland Honduras due to ongoing political protests and the potential for violence. The travel alert, which the department said in a statement expires on Dec. 31, follows a dispute over the result of a Nov. 26 presidential election that has sparked deadly protests and a night-time curfew in the poor, violent Central American country. | 1 |
8,116 | China says upholds peaceful resolution of North Korea issue | BEIJING (Reuters) - China supports a peaceful resolution to the North Korea issue and it is incorrect to say China has not been doing enough, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his French counterpart, China s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The two were meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations the previous day, the ministry added. | 1 |
8,117 | TRUMP PROTEST ORGANIZER Destroyed In Debate On Illegals: “Do you think people have a right to lock their doors?” [Video] | Imagine going over 80k into debt for your children to be even stupider than before their education pic.twitter.com/1um9rY2MA8 Viktor LePen (@ViktorFiel) November 17, 2016 | 0 |
8,118 | Iran vows to stand with Baghdad, Ankara against Iraqi Kurds' independence push | LONDON (Reuters) - Tehran vowed on Tuesday to stand alongside Baghdad and Ankara against the outcome of an independence referendum staged by Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq, a day after thousands of Iranian Kurds marched in support of the vote. State media also quoted an army commander as saying that new missile systems were installed on Tuesday, a day after the referendum, in western provinces that border Iraqi Kurdish areas to firmly respond to any invasion . Iran, Iraq and Turkey - countries with Kurdish minorities - have all denounced the referendum as a threat to the stability of a region already beset by conflict, while the United States has expressed similar disquiet. Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stepped up the pressure as the Iraqi government ruled out talks on possible secession for Kurdish-held northern Iraq and Turkey threatened sanctions. The Iraqi people won t stand silent. Iran and Turkey and other regional countries won t stand silent and will stand against this abhorrent deviation, Velayati was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. The Muslim nations will not allow the creation of a second Israel. Velayati did not say what action Iran had in mind. However, the country s media have compared the Kurds desire for a homeland with the 1948 creation of Israel. The Islamic republic regards the Jewish state as its greatest enemy along with the United States. Initial referendum results indicated 72 percent of eligible voters had taken part and an overwhelming majority, possibly over 90 percent, had said yes , Kurdish TV channel Rudaw said. Final results are expected by Wednesday. Undaunted by years of official suppression of dissent, residents in a number of mainly Kurdish cities in northwestern Iran danced in circles as night fell on Monday, chanting slogans praising Kurdish nationalist movements. Videos posted on social media showed drivers beeping their car horns in celebration and people clapping in the cities of Marivan and Baneh. Many wore masks so as not to be identified by the security forces. About 30 million ethnic Kurds are scattered across the region but have no country of their own. With 8 to 10 million living in Iran, Tehran fears pressure for secession will grow among a minority which has a long history of struggle for its political rights. A strong police presence tried to control the celebrating crowd. There were reports of clashes between the demonstrators and security forces in the cities of Mahabad and Sanandaj. In Sanandaj the crowd waved the flag of Kurdistan, a banned symbol for the Kurds desire for independence. This referendum will encourage Iranian Kurds to be more determined to seek their rights, said Zaribar, a Marivan resident and member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, a secular armed group which launches periodic attacks in Iran. This referendum was not a threat to Iraq s neighbors, but it s a starting point to resolve the issues of Kurds, especially in Iran, added Zaribar, who declined to give his full name. Tehran announced a ban on direct flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday at the request of the central government in Baghdad and called for a land blockade of the autonomous region by all neighboring countries. Media gave no further details of the newly-installed missile systems. However, Iranian fighter jets flew in a show of force over western provinces of Iran as part of a military drill, including the Kurdish cities of Sardasht and Oshnavieh. Although many Iranian Kurds would like to copy the referendum model, the road to autonomy or independence would be more difficult under the Islamic Republic s theocratic rule and its military might. The Revolutionary Guards have put down unrest in Kurdish areas for decades, and the hardline judiciary has sentenced many activists to long jail terms or death. Iran sent Guards Commander Qassem Soleimani to northern Iraq last week in a failed final effort to persuade the Kurdistan regional government from holding the referendum. One Kurd from Baneh, who gave his name as Arbaba, said he was exhilarated from the bottom of my heart for victory in the referendum . However, he was worried it would increase pressure on Iranian Kurds to prevent them from going down the same path. The Iranian regime will militarize the Kurdish areas even more, Arbaba said. For the Iranian state the referendum of the Kurds demand for state of their own was a Zionist plot aimed at bringing instability to the region. This view that a wandering scattered nation would only find peace if they find a homeland, was the core philosophy for creation of Israel, wrote the Kayhan, a hardline newspaper closely associated with Supreme Leader. Israel has backed Kurdish independence. It has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business ties with Kurds since the 1960s, viewing the minority as a buffer against shared adversaries. | 1 |
8,119 | sur twitter donald trump se félicite davoir voté pour luimême à deux reprises le gorafi | nestle to launch new nongmo products how shocked will monsanto be
thursday october by vicki batts tags gmos nestle monsanto naturalnews one of the food industrys most prominent players recently announced that they will be expanding their line of nongmo products due to the everincreasing customer demand for clean food nestle may have wowed consumers with their choice but it may make some waves with their good friend monsanto the company is broadening its product offerings to give consumers more options with no gmo ingredients and identifying these products with the sgsverified no gmo ingredients claim the food giant stated on tuesdaynestle usa understands that consumers are seeking choice and many prefer to select products with no gmo ingredients they declaredof course this is not nestles first move towards gmofree products in april nestle announced that they would be removing gmo ingredients from six of their topselling ice cream products as well the company states it is trying to evolve along with consumer demands it is great to see that companies are beginning to realize that consumers want options no one wants to be forced to buy gmo productsit is easy to want to applaud nestle for their decision to continue to expand their line of nongmo products however it is also clear that this company is doing so out of their own financial interests not because they care about what people are eating organic gmofree foods are the newest trend and smart manufacturers are beginning to see that they will not win anyone over by insisting that gm pesticideladen food products are safe if you cant beat em join em is a philosophy nestle has clearly taken to heartnestle is not an angelic company even if they have decided to start serving up gmofree options just three years ago they donated millions of dollars to prevent and oppose gmo labeling in washington state along with monsanto and other biotech firms truth out reports that on october the grocery manufacturers of america disclosed that several of their largest most powerful players silently donated large sums of money to oppose initiative this bill would have required grocery items containing gmo ingredients to be labeled as such the group chose to voluntarily release the names of the silent donors after washington state attorney general bob ferguson filed a lawsuit against their concealment of corporate donorsnestle was among the top three highest contributors and donated a cool million to keep gmo ingredients under wraps and off product labels nestle also made a large donation to oppose similar legislation in california the year before in the bill ultimately failed after big food and big biotech joined forces and together raised a staggering million to prevent its passing and were supposed to believe they carethe controversial history of nestle doesnt end with their consistent financial support of gmo labeling opposition efforts it is a corporation that is wrought with wrongdoings and corrupt practices look no further than their outright theft of water in californiagiven that the coastal state is currently being plagued by a devastating drought you might be shocked to learn that just last year nestle pumped a disturbing million gallons of water out of one of the states water sources known as strawberry creek peter gleick president of the pacific institute and author of bottled and sold the story behind our obsession with bottled water estimates that nestle is making millions of dollars in this waytheyre converting a public resource into private profit he told los angeles magazine the most shocking thing is that their permit to pump water from the creek expired in the forest service has allowed nestle to gouge the creek for water at will so long as they continue to pay a minuscule access fee while bottled water accounts for only a small fraction of californias water use the overall environmental impact of what their practices are doing to a droughtstricken state have yet to be examinednestle has been subject to countless other controversies including human rights violations and has been host to many environmental and product safety issuesto put it simply nestle may be trying to win over customers with their nongmo products but they dont deserve to monsanto may be shocked but only because nestle is still one of their own sources | 0 |
8,120 | Democrats Demand Jared Kushner Be Stripped Of Security Clearance | Donald Trump s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, conveniently forgot to mention a slew of foreign contacts, including several meetings with high-profile Russian operatives, when he applied for his security clearance. Now, Democrats are demanding that Kushner s security clearance be revoked in light of his failure to disclose the meetings.Five House Democrats penned a letter to FBI Director James Comey and National Background Investigations Director Charles Phalen on Thursday, calling for Kushner to lose his security clearance. Mr. Kushner s lack of candor about meetings with Russian officials appears to be part of a larger pattern of dissembling and deception on Russian contacts from the Trump team, and we believe the public deserves the truth about what connection, if any, exists between these incidents, they wrote.The letter was signed by Don Beyer of Virginia, Ted Lieu of California, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Peter Welch of Vermont. The Democrats said they were particularly concerned about an article in the New York Times that reported Kushner had omitted dozens of contacts with foreign leaders. They noted that this story did not receive the scrutiny it deserved. The lawmakers added a reminder that falsifying or concealing information on a SF-86 questionnaire is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Given the severity of the allegations and still unanswered questions about this administration s recently uncovered covert dealings with Russian government and intelligence officials, we are requesting that Mr. Kushner s interim top-secret security clearance be suspended pending a review of Mr. Kushner s compliance with the laws and regulation governing security clearance. The Democrats are also calling on Kushner to make public all of the meetings he had during the time of Trump s transition.According to Kushner s aides, he has been under an interim security clearance so far while the FBI has been gathering information on him. Kushner is also set to face an interview with Senate Intelligence Committee regarding his contacts with Russia.Via screen shotFeatured image via Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
8,121 | IT’S A MOVEMENT! TRUMP Releases Great New Ad…With A Little Jab At Hillary [Video] | The comments on the new Donald Trump for president ad are that it s positive. With great shots of the huge crowds at his rally and of Trump shaking some hands, it s a feel good moment that says America First What s not to love about that? Oh, did you notice how he used the word TOGETHER VERY CLEVER! | 0 |
8,122 | After talks, Mexico says at 'impasse' with Trump over wall payment | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico and the United States will be stuck at an impasse unless they solve U.S. President Donald Trump’s “unacceptable” demand of payment for a border wall, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Friday. Fresh home from failed talks in Washington, Guajardo also expressed concern about Trump’s “unpredictability” and habits on Twitter. President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a scheduled visit to the United States next week following Trump’s insistence that Mexico “respect” the United States and pay for a new wall on the southern U.S. border. “Sincerely, there is clear disagreement at the moment because of a campaign promise he made that from the Mexican perspective is unacceptable,” Guajardo told Mexican television network Televisa. “It is serious, because it leaves us at an impasse until we find a mechanism to resolve it,” the minister said, adding that Trump should not underestimate Mexico’s resolve on the issue. “Mexicans are not going to pay.” He said communication with Trump’s team remained open. The White House on Thursday floated the idea of imposing a 20 percent tax on goods from Mexico to pay for a wall at the southern U.S. border, sending the peso tumbling and deepening the crisis between the two neighbors. Guajardo said the United States and Mexico could reach mutually beneficial improvements to the North American Free Trade Agreement if the issue of paying for the wall was resolved. Trump had tweeted on Thursday that it would be better for the Mexican leader not to come to Washington if Mexico would not pay for the wall. Guajardo joined Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray in meetings with White House senior officials on Wednesday. He said that the meetings had been productive, but that Trump’s later tweet had forced Mexico to cancel due to the question of “dignity.” “That unpredictability of reaction creates problems,” Guajardo said, referring to Trump’s Thursday tweet even as he praised a constructive attitude of other members of Trump’s team including Trump strategist Stephen Bannon. “Their attitude to work, to plan, to see solutions is extraordinary, Believe me” Guajardo said. Trump kept up his criticism of Mexico on Friday saying the United States’ southern neighbor had taken advantage of it long enough and demanding that “Massive trade deficits & little help on the very weak border must change NOW!” | 1 |
8,123 | WATCH: The View Blasts Fox News For Not Covering Racism Fairly | A Fox News host found herself squarely outnumbered on Thursday when she claimed that the conservative network covers racism fairly.The hosts of The View discussed Megyn Kelly s interview with actor and comedian D.L. Hughley the night before.During the interview, Hughley sarcastically pointed out that Fox News does not cover racism fairly. The only place racism doesn t exist is Fox News and the police department, Hughley said. That s absolutely true. Megyn Kelly called Hughley s claim insulting to which he replied, And I m insulted by the things I hear on this network, so we re even. I could care less about insulting people that insult me on a daily basis. Well, Fox News host Jedediah Bila disagreed with Hughley and told her View co-hosts that Fox is fair when it comes to covering racism. I ve hosted a bunch of shows there, we talk about issues of race all the time, she claimed. I mean, I m on with Juan Williams all the time. These are serious issues that we delve into. So, it felt like he was labeling the whole network as not willing to accept that racism is something that exists in this country. To recap, it appears Bila is using the ole I m friends with a black person defense to somehow claim that Fox fairly covers racism.Shen went on to excuse other Fox hosts lack of coverage because she said they are exercising journalistic responsibility, which most objective people know is complete bullshit because Fox News doesn t give a damn about real journalism. When you have stories coming out where you have white on black crime, before we figure out what actually happened, a lot of people in media jump to conclusions or we surmise or we guess, Bila continued. And it shapes the narrative of how the public hears that. And it s really hard then when facts emerge to go back and say, Oh, wait a minute, maybe in this particular case, this wasn t about racism. A stunned Whoopi Goldberg was quick to slap back. What shapes the narrative oftentimes is a disregard for the fact that we do have a racial issue, we do have an issue between how police are sometimes and how people of color are sometimes, and that s the discussion we don t have, Goldberg said.And even conservative host Candace Cameron-Bure, who often appears on Fox News, agreed with Goldberg that Fox does not cover racism fairly. I watch Fox News, I m a Fox News supporter. But I agree with you. I don t feel like they are inclusive of all minority groups as much as they should be. Because conservatives aren t just white rich men or women. And Fox I don t feel always represents that point of view. I thought Megyn Kelly was great but I really appreciated everything that D.L. said as well. Here s the video via YouTube.Fox News has been especially unfair to Black Lives Matter in the wake of the Dallas shooting even though it is clear that the person who murdered those five police officers was not affiliated with the movement. Many Fox hosts have disregarded that fact and have continually demonized Black Lives Matter in a way that is inflaming racial tensions even further. Fox would not be doing that if they had even a shred of real journalistic responsibility.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
8,124 | House tax positions begin to emerge ahead of talks with Senate | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in U.S. House of Representatives began staking out their positions on final tax legislation on Tuesday, days ahead of talks with the Senate to shape the tax package lawmakers hope to send to President Donald Trump by year end. While lawmakers expect a smooth reconciliation of rival House and Senate tax bills, House Republicans have taken issue with several items in the Senate’s legislation - from a one-year delay in cutting the corporate tax rate to 20 percent to the sunsetting of individual tax cuts after 2025. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said lawmakers are determined to eliminate the alternative minimum taxes (AMTs) on corporations and individuals that the Senate bill retained. “House members ... feel strongly that the House position should be to repeal permanently both the individual and the corporate,” said Brady, who is expected to chair the House-Senate negotiations that could begin next week. The corporate and individual AMTs are designed to limit the ability of corporations and wealthy individuals to reduce their payments through tax breaks and credits. But jettisoning them could require tough decisions on how to keep the legislation below a $1.5 trillion ceiling on revenue losses. Republicans must also bridge differences on taxes for corporate and pass-through businesses, top earners, inheritances, individual tax brackets and repeal of the Obamacare individual health insurance mandate. Republicans hope to approve a final bill and deliver it to Trump’s desk before Christmas. If they succeed, it will be the first major U.S. tax overhaul in 31 years and the first big Republican legislative victory since Trump took office in January. The House voted to go to conference with the Senate on Monday, and Republicans named nine conference delegates. Senate Republicans could name delegates as early as Wednesday. “My hope is that we’re done with this within 10 days to two weeks,” said Representative Kristi Noem, a Republican conference delegate and member of Brady’s committee. House Republicans are also considering a new approach to the deduction for state and local taxes. Both the House and Senate bills eliminate deductions for income and sales taxes but retain one for $10,000 in property taxes. Republicans from high-tax states, including New York and New Jersey, have been angered by the change. But Brady said Republicans are considering the possibility of giving taxpayers an option to deduct $10,000 in state and local property taxes, income taxes or sales taxes. | 1 |
8,125 | Arkansas lawmaker wants to strip Clintons' name from airport | LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - The largest and busiest airport in Arkansas would no longer be named after the only president and first lady from the state if a bill introduced in the legislature on Thursday succeeds. The legislation would prohibit public buildings or civil works from being named for anyone living or who served in public office in the 10 years prior to the structure’s completion. DON’T MISS Video: Trump's plan to hire more border patrol agents would be costly Trump asks NASA to explore putting crew on rocket's debut flight Details emerge of Republicans' plans to replace Obamacare The bill makes no mention of former President Bill Clinton or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for whom the Little Rock airport was re-named four years ago - as Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field - but its author does not hesitate to identify its target. “You have a president who was impeached for having an affair with an intern in the Oval Office and then disbarred,” said state Sen. Jason Rapert, the bill’s author and one of the Arkansas legislature’s most outspoken conservatives. President Clinton was impeached in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives, which accused him of obstructing justice by lying under oath about a sexual relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was acquitted in a Senate trial the following year. Hillary Clinton served as attorney to the city’s airport commission during her husband’s tenure as governor of Arkansas. At the conclusion of her husband’s presidency she won a Senate seat in New York. She was appointed secretary of state by President Barack Obama, who defeated her for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton won the nomination last year but was defeated by President Donald Trump. Rapert, whose Senate district does not include Little Rock, said he introduced the legislation after “several Arkansans across the state” had expressed to him their “discomfort” with naming its largest airport after the controversial Clintons. He conceded his legislation might not win approval. “But we can prevent this sort of thing in the future,” he said. City officials have defended re-naming the airport, although sometimes tersely. “I think the name of the airport is appropriate and I support retaining it,” said Meredith Catlett, a member of the terminal’s governing commission. | 1 |
8,126 | WHY IS THE MEDIA HIDING Dangerous Evidence About Radical Who Attacked Trump At Rally? | 100% FED Up! was able to easily find evidence about the anti-American, cop-hating, racist who attacked Trump during a rally on Sunday. Either the mainstream media news organizations don t have any investigative journalists working for them, or they prefer to hide the truth about Trump s attacker. We believe the latter is true.An even bigger question is how this radical cop hating, white hating (self-loathing) Bernie Sanders supporter is able to jump on the stage of the GOP Presidential front-runner, grab him, scuffle with the US Secret Service and only be charged with two misdemeanors? Watch new video that was just released of Tommy DiMassimo rushing to get at Trump on stage here:CNN interviewed Thomas (Tommy) DiMassimo, the man who was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic after he rushed the stage at an Ohio Trump rally on Sunday.During the interview, Tommy DiMassimo explained to CNN that he just wanted to take the podium away from the GOP presidential front-runner to send a message. CNN never asked him a single quesiton about his past or his support for Bernie Sanders.It s almost as though CNN was giving Tommy DiMassimo, a Wright State University senior, a platform to express his dissatisfaction with Donald Trump. They wouldn t do that for someone who just committed a crime by rushing the stage of the top GOP Presidential candidate would they?https://youtu.be/RIAEQonBgO0Here is the real truth about the soft-spoken Tommy DiMassimo that appeared in the CNN video who was worried about Trump being a bully. We found these videos on YouTube that were co-written by the Wright State University senior. The name of the video is Red Black and Blue. The video appears to be promoting a Revolution featuring blacks killing cops and of course, cops killing innocent blacks.***LANGUAGE and VIOLENCE Warning***Here is the first shocking trailer for DiMassimo s movie Red Black and Blue :https://youtu.be/R8dgSibelNQHere is the second violent trailer. The video in its entirety can be found below:https://youtu.be/PEP4hWfHzj8Here are tweets that were sent out by Tommy DiMassimo just prior to the Ohio Trump rally where he rushed the stage. In the first tweet, he talks about becomig a martyr. The second tweet talks about getting into a Trump rally and slapping fire into Trump. From the Urban dictionary: The art of slapping fire out of a person is to give said person an intense slap that will leave their face red for an extended period of time. That sure sounds a LOT differnt that the non-violent explanation he gave CNN. The last tweet with the gun and smiley face emoji was sent to fake black guy, Shaun King. You be the judge of what he s trying to say in his tweets below.And of course, the fact that he s a Bernie Sanders supporter should come as no surprise:Folks in OHIOGo vote for Bernie and or Not Trump il ragazzo (@Younglionking7) March 13, 2016This tweet was posted in Sept, 2015. The most recent tweets (seen above) have all been deleted.DiMassimo posts a picture of a bloodied cop seen in the film on his Facebook page. One of his friends asks in the comment section, Is that you? He doesn t respond.This picture was taken from DiMassimo s facebook page advertising his one man show on Wright College campus.Here s DiMassio hanging out with a few sweet boys in the neighborhood:Oh, the irony of DiMassimo looking to the police officer for help when he was concerned about a concealed carrier, after spending the afternoon taunting the Confederate flag supporters, and actually burning a Confederate flag in front of them at a GA rally (see below):Open Carry Activist Prepares to Draw Gun on Counterprotester at Yesterday's Confederate Flag Rally in #GA #p2 #tcot pic.twitter.com/cNuEKHXmF6 CSGV (@CSGV) August 2, 2015Hero of the Day burns Confederate flag and waves it at 500 idiots at Stone Mountain. pic.twitter.com/iBzwN3ElcK Derf Backderf (@DerfBackderf) August 3, 2015Here s a video showing the controversy DiMassio created when standing on an American flag on campus:Here is the video of the actual event. Watch the disrespect this punk has an elderly veteran confronts him:https://youtu.be/Q0Kwcp2DLFoIf you can stomach it, here is the violent full-edition of the video co-written by Tommy DiMassimo, the intelligent, bright, college senior :Tommy DiMassimo is sadly, representative of many of the whiny, anti-American students we see supporting Bernie Sanders and a Black Lives Matter terror movement today. Black Lives Matter was created to threaten and intimidate Americans into giving them not equal treatment, but special treatment. Our hateful and divisive President is responsible for the groundswell of support for hate groups like this that are popping up across colleges, universities and large cities across America. The reason they are trying so hard to prevent a Trump presidency is because they fear he will call them out and expose them for their self-serving agenda. Their only hope to keep this radical movement going is to elect Bernie Sanders or Hillary. Trump is the only person who they fear is an obstacle standing in the way of their goal.We ll never know how far Tommy Massimo would have gone if he was allowed to get ahold of Trump on the stage. One thing is clear though, his ridiculous punishment and the special treatment he was given by CNN will certainly not dissuade the next radical from attempting to harm Trump at one of his public events.Here is a screen grab that shows DiMassimo as one of the co-writers of the Red Black and Blue video. Although we can t prove it, given his flair for drama, it is highly likely DiMassimo is one of the actors in the violent cop and white-hating film: | 0 |
8,127 | U.S. health official: Widespread Zika vaccine not likely to be available for years | (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said on Monday that a widespread vaccine to combat the Zika virus will likely not be available for years. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told reporters during a briefing at the White House that initial steps are under way but health officials believe it is “unlikely to have vaccine that’s widely available for a few years.” | 1 |
8,128 | EU tells Britain to protect data or delete them after Brexit | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union wants Britain to protect data it has in storage on continental Europeans after Brexit and maintain bans on cheap imitations of locally branded EU produce like cognac or Parma ham. The proposals were among those made in further position papers published by the European Commission s Brexit negotiators on Thursday for consultation with the other 27 EU member states which offered a glimpse of thinking in Brussels about future trade ties with Britain, despite an EU refusal to start talks. The British government has voiced frustration at the refusal of EU negotiators to open discussions on a future free trade pact until London makes concessions on elements that must be settled to avoid legal chaos when Britain leaves in March 2019. However, in spelling out what it wants to happen on some issues on Brexit Day, the Union is having to say what it wants after that point - for example, on the protection of personal data gathered on either side of the English Channel under EU law or on trademarks and other intellectual property. The paper on data protection says Britain may continue to use data gathered before exit day once it has left the EU as long as it continues applying the same level of protection, otherwise it must destroy the data. Britain will also lose access to EU networks, information systems and databases on the day it leaves, the paper says. That would include, for example, the information system underpinning the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme. It makes no mention of how data could continue to flow after Brexit, unlike the British paper which sought continued close collaboration with the EU on data protection once Britain quits the bloc. In a separate paper on intellectual property, the EU said Britain must have legislation in place to keep on protecting locally branded produce under the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) scheme. The PGI system identifies products as originating from a particular region, like Cornish pasties or Roquefort cheese, meaning others cannot market imitations with that same name. | 1 |
8,129 | Trump under pressure to assure NATO allies he has their back | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Standing in front of a memorial made of remnants of the World Trade Center, U.S. President Donald Trump will have a powerful symbolic opportunity in Brussels next Thursday to make clear how he really feels about NATO. But as controversies swirl around Trump over alleged ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia, it is unclear whether the Republican president - who slammed the post-World War Two military alliance as “obsolete” when he was running for office - will say the words that whipsawed NATO partners really want to hear. Alarmed by Russian aggression in Ukraine and wary of the U.S. administration’s efforts to build friendlier ties with Moscow, European partners want to know if they have Trump’s staunch support. While the White House says Trump will reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the alliance in his remarks at NATO, allies also want a full-throated endorsement of Article 5 of the treaty - the principal that an attack against one member is treated as an attack against all. The 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was formed in 1949 during the Cold War, has invoked the collective defense article only once - after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that leveled the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York, Trump’s hometown. Trump plans to dedicate a memorial to the invocation of Article 5 at the new NATO headquarters. “The problem in the plan is that President Trump is the only president who has not yet explicitly endorsed Article 5,” said Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution think tank. “I understand that is not an accident.” On the campaign trail, Trump accused NATO allies of not paying their fair share for defense and not focusing enough on the fight against terrorism. Since last November’s election, Trump and his aides have tempered those remarks. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis - who will travel with Trump to Brussels - has pledged support to Article 5, as has Vice President Mike Pence. Trump has said publicly his views on NATO have changed, telling reporters during a White House visit with NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that NATO was “no longer obsolete.” “He has never said, like Pence, like Mattis, that U.S. commitment to Article 5 is rock solid, and allies want to hear that at this summit,” said Julie Smith, national security aide to former Vice President Joe Biden. While abroad, Trump will be shadowed by the political tumult that ensued after his firing earlier this month of FBI Director James Comey. The U.S. Justice Department has named a special counsel to probe possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, which Trump denies. He said on Thursday he was the victim of a political witch hunt. Trump, who took office in January, departs on Friday for his first foreign trip as president and will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican and Sicily in addition to Brussels. A senior White House official said Trump would press his demands for NATO partners to step up their defense spending. The message may undercut any effort to offer reassurance to NATO allies about the commitment to the alliance and to Europe, said Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the United States and Britain. Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a frequent Trump critic, expressed frustration with the president’s NATO stance. Asked by a reporter what he would like to see Trump do to reassure NATO allies, McCain laughed, saying: “Talk about his commitment to NATO - that would be an opener.” | 1 |
8,130 | Bill O’Reilly Makes Sexist Attack On Andrea Mitchell; Her Response Was PERFECT (VIDEO) | On Tuesday, NBC s Andrea Mitchell was notably escorted out of a press conference with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after daring to ask questions about Russia.Mitchell tried to get a few pressing answers from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. She asked: Can you respond to the threats from China? Can you be sure the Trump administration will be strong against Vladimir Putin? Can you assure us that Russia will not be able to move further in Ukraine? You can then see Mitchell grabbed by the arms and escorted out while saying: We haven t had any time in here. Just for doing her job.Here s that video:You guys. This happened today.This is why we Andrea @mitchellreports. There is nobody more dogged, more tenacious. The best. pic.twitter.com/uINDWmOYEM Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 7, 2017Bill O Reilly, who gives Donald Trump a run for his money when it comes to misogyny, chose Wednesday, the International Day of Women, to make a sexist attack on Mitchell, calling her unruly. And, a hashtag was born:Irony: Misogyny gives feminism another hashtag #unruly MSNBC host uses O Reilly Twitter insult to close her show https://t.co/3oEUIdCzq9 Pitt Griffin (@pittgriffin) March 8, 2017Where a woman doing her job is #Unruly (ht: @rezaaslan ) @justin_kanew @KamalaHarris @SenCortezMasto @mitatweets @BetteMidler @SusanSarandon https://t.co/duMInBL2r5 Joan (@pir8z40) March 8, 2017@AdamSerwer OMG, the gall of Andrea Mitchell trying to do some actual journalism. #unruly #shadesofSamDonaldson Tim Sullivan (@TimSullivan11) March 8, 2017Some reminded O Reilly of his own past:#unruly huh? @oreillyfactor you still trying to sexually woo women with falafel in the shower?? Is that why your wife left you for that cop? gene williams (@HOTHUMMUS) March 8, 2017@oreillyfactor We re your kids unruly? That why you beat them? #persistence #unruly #womensday2017 NNBB12 (@GinDot12) March 8, 2017MUST WATCH: So @oreillyfactor said @mitchellreports was unruly cause she dared to ask Tillerson some questions. Take a look at this pic.twitter.com/cSywK35AbF Yashar (@yashar) March 8, 2017But the best response came from Mitchell, who ended her show on Wednesday by saying, And that does it for this UNRULY edition of Andrea @MitchellReports. And that does it for this UNRULY edition of Andrea @MitchellReports [mic drop] pic.twitter.com/mS19gAdUDq Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 8, 2017From unruly women everywhere, we thank you, Ms. Mitchell.Featured image of Bill O Reilly via Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images | Featured image of Andrea Mitchell via Leigh Vogel/Getty Images. | 0 |
8,131 | POLL: HUGE Majority Of Americans Say Trump DOES NOT Respect Women | Donald Trump, at the second presidential debate, invoked laughs when he claimed to respect women, and that no one respects women more than him.There s a reason people laughed they don t believe him, and for good reason.In a new poll from NBC/SurveyMonkey shows that a huge majority of the American people, 63 percent, do not believe Trump respects women, compared to 36 percent who said he does.When it comes to female voters, nearly 70 percent responded that Trump does not respect women, up from 64 percent pre-leaked audio.Even more telling is the difference in this question pre-tape leak. Before the bombshell audio recording leaked, 55 percent (still a majority) said Trump did not respect women. Since the recording leaked, we ve seen an eight percent increase in those that agree that Donald Trump is a sexist pig.But the poll also took into account Trump s post-first debate meltdown over Alicia Machado, in which he degraded the weight of the former Miss Universe and asked voters to watch her sex tape (which doesn t exist).Donald Trump currently trails Hillary Clinton in what s being seen as the biggest gender gap in presidential politics.The fact that Trump wrote off the leaked audio as locker-room talk multiple times (and denied that he said the things he did), shows that he really doesn t care about the issues that women care about. And it shows that he is unable to take responsibility for his actions. One can simply say I made a mistake and I m sorry, but it takes a real man to fully own up to what was said and Trump didn t do that.John McCain and Mitt Romney lost their respective elections, in big part, because of the gender gap. If Trump thinks he can win a national election in 29 days with the historic gap he has now he s got another thing coming his way.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images | 0 |
8,132 | Librarians Just HUMILIATED Ivanka Trump For Blatant Hypocrisy And It Was Beautiful | Donald Trump s daughter posted a hypocritical tweet in support of libraries. And librarians threw the book at her.It s National Library Week, so of course, Ivanka Trump chose to tout it in yet another demonstration of her hypocrisy.You see, Ivanka is complicit in her father s administration. Despite tweeting in support of women, she failed to stop her daddy from attacking equal pay for women, women s healthcare, and reproductive rights.She has even posted photos of herself at the zoo with elephants despite her brothers killing elephants for trophies and her dad being an enemy of the very environmental protections all animals need to survive.And she did it again on Thursday by posting in support of libraries.This #NationalLibraryWeek, we honor our libraries and librarians for opening our eyes to the world of knowledge, learning and reading! Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 14, 2017But there s a problem. Donald Trump s 2018 budget would totally eliminate funding to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. In fact, local libraries in small and large communities across the country directly benefit from this funding because nearly all of it is used to provide state and local grants to libraries to keep them funded and up to date.And it didn t take long for librarians and library organizations to to point out her hypocrisy. We agree libraries do great work with federal funds for states @realdonaldtrump wants to wipe out. -ALA President Julie Todaro #saveIMLS https://t.co/HZHbpYpsx8 Amer. Library Assn. (@ALALibrary) April 14, 2017Your dad wants to cut all of our federal funding but thanks for the tweet. #SaveIMLS https://t.co/N6o9xIGuFg Margaret Howard (@Miss_Librarian) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump Defunding libraries as proposed in your dad s budget hurts hardworking Americans pic.twitter.com/DHQ0i9IezF EveryLibrary (@EveryLibrary) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump Cuts to federal funding for libraries are absolutely unconscionable, cruel, and unnecessary. #saveIMLS #library pic.twitter.com/zVTpNsRo8W EveryLibrary (@EveryLibrary) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump Millions of Americans use libraries to learn new skills or get training for better jobs. https://t.co/tTwgW9YhFy pic.twitter.com/zr92osWXQu EveryLibrary (@EveryLibrary) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump Libraries are often the only access to the internet for many rural communities https://t.co/tTwgW9YhFy pic.twitter.com/UsKiu0d7tZ EveryLibrary (@EveryLibrary) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump Your father is about to completely defund the federal agency that helps to fund libraries. You might wanna look into that. Jason Griffey (@griffey) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump What s your dad s favorite book? ?Oh wait! HE DOESN T READ! Ryan Graney (@RyanEGraney) April 14, 2017.@IvankaTrump A librarian can help you find books that will teach you about racism, authoritarianism, treason, and being a co-conspirator! Bill Cameron (@bcmystery) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump Thanks, but actions speak louder than Tweets. Tell @POTUS to #SaveIMLS. pic.twitter.com/HE6hgWivDp Librarian Problems (@librarianprblms) April 14, 2017@IvankaTrump You can honor libraries by keeping their federal funding intact #SaveIMLS #LSTA #IAL #NationalLibraryWeek #LibrariesTransform Keri Cascio (@keribrary) April 14, 2017.@IvankaTrump your dad clearly honors libraries pic.twitter.com/4gD8w1mtFm Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) April 14, 2017If Ivanka Trump truly supports libraries, she ll convince her dad to fund them instead of asking him to drop bombs on other countries, especially since every bomb dropped represents millions of dollars that could have been spent improving our own nation.Featured Image: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images | 0 |
8,133 | Uganda in anti-online pornography drive seen by critics as diversion | KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda is launching a drive against online pornography that critics condemn as a diversion from deeper problems of graft, unemployment and crumbling social services facing President Yoweri Museveni. The campaign is the latest salvo in a culture war between conservatives fighting what they see as foreign moral influences promoting criminality and a more liberal, often younger population. This is an invasion, it s Western culture, said Simon Lokodo, a 59-year-old Catholic priest who serves as minister of ethics and integrity. Over consumption of pornography ... the consequences are very dire, he told Reuters this week. The government had released 2 billion shillings ($556,000) to his office to combat online pornography. Some money would go to pornography-blocking software, he said. Some Ugandans expressed anger at the cost of the ban, saying it served only to divert public attention from failures of President Museveni s government. Critics of Museveni, who has ruled for 31 years, say he presides over widespread corruption and human rights abuses. Parliament is considering a removing a constitutional age cap to allow Museveni to serve longer. He is also widely considered to be grooming his son, a presidential adviser and the former commander of an elite military unit, to succeed him. Andrew Karamagi, a rights activist and lawyer in Kampala, said he could not understand government obsession with what people watch, who sleeps with whom, how and when , while it struggled to fund social services such as hospitals and schools. Uganda s only radiotherapy machine broke down last year and hasn t been replaced due to funding shortages. Drug shortages are common in public hospitals where and in dilapidated public schools poorly-paid teachers often don t show up for class. The regime ... does not have the moral authority to combat pornography, Karamagi said. They are themselves an obscenity. | 1 |
8,134 | OBAMABOT CONGRESSWOMAN: ISIS Beheadings Do Not Justify U.S Airstrikes [Video] | U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Dallas) argued the beheading of two American journalists by ISIS does not justify U.S. airstrikes into Syria Thursday. During an interview on Capitol Hill, Johnson said the slayings of James Foley and Steven Sotloff should not lead to bombing ISIS forces in Syria. We were on their ground. It was not in the U.S. I do think we need to protect Americans wherever they are. But Americans also need to be careful where they are, said Johnson. The Dallas Democrat also said President Obama does not need Congressional authority to escalate the fight against ISIS. But she feels he would be wise to seek approval from the U.S. House and Senate. See the entire interview below: | 0 |
8,135 | Trump's unpredictability already troubles U.S. friends | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and confrontational negotiating style have sparked frantic calls to the White House and Congress from diplomats and lobbyists concerned the United States no longer has their back. When word swirled through Washington on Thursday that Trump might be preparing to ease U.S. sanctions on Russia, worried European diplomats began calling the National Security Council and asking if the rumors were true, said a former U.S. official familiar with the situation. The White House officials could not answer their questions because they, too, have been kept in the dark, said the former official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.Trump’s new United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, sent another shiver through America’s allies on Friday, warning them that if they do not have Washington’s back, she is “taking names” and will respond. “Trump’s foreign policy is totally unpredictable,” said a senior official of the 28-nation European Union, which Trump has said is bound for a break-up. Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson “have said all the right things,” the EU official said. “But this could be like the Iraq war policy all over again, when we saw how a segment of government decides policy, not the secretary of state.” Another Western diplomat said foreign ambassadors were explaining their countries’ positions to Congress in the hope that they would find their way to the White House. Other countries are expanding their lobbying efforts. At the end of last year, Ukraine signed a $50,000-a-month lobbying contract with Haley Barbour, a former Republican chairman and Mississippi governor. In January, the government-run China Council for the Promotion of International Trade hired Husch Blackwell LLP, to lobby about the importation of stainless steel, according to records filed with the Department of Justice. Some uncertainty is normal when a new U.S. president finds his footing and voice on foreign affairs and installs his people in policy-making slots. But in the week since his inauguration, Trump has sent a blizzard of conflicting signals, and key slots at the State and Defense departments and the NSC remain vacant. “We’re trying to figure out who is who,” one European diplomat said, referring to efforts to determine whether long-standing tenets of U.S. foreign policy still apply. One of President Trump’s first major meetings, with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, was canceled due to Trump’s demand Mexico pay for a border wall he plans to build. The two spoke by telephone on Friday after the cancellation. Trump said Wednesday he would back safe zones for refugees in Syria, but gave no indication how he would coordinate this with Turkey, Russia and allies in Europe and the Middle East. Presidential spokesman Sean Spicer’s suggestion the United States would stop China from taking over territory in the South China Sea and Trump’s Jan. 2 tweet that a threatened North Korean test of an intercontinental ballistic missile “won’t happen” could raise the chances of a military confrontation, Asian officials said. Some commentators say it’s too soon for allies to panic. “It is not appropriate to be too worried, but it is not appropriate not to worry at all,” said Fumiaki Kubo, a professor of American government history at the University of Tokyo. A senior official from a member of the Five Eyes nations that make up the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network said it was still important to keep intelligence channels open with Washington. The grouping comprises the United States, Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand. “We will continue to share intelligence with the Americans, who supply the majority of information that circulates among the Five Eyes. If we hold data back from them, they could decide to do the same to us, and then we would suffer much worse consequences.” But others suggested that the greater the uncertainty and the longer it lasts, the greater the chances of miscalculations by other nations that could harm U.S. interests. The high geopolitical anxiety is most evident in East Asia, where China’s ambitions are colliding with longstanding U.S. dominance in the Pacific. During his presidential campaign, Trump suggested Japan and South Korea, which rely on a U.S. security umbrella, should defend themselves or pay Washington more to do so. Defense secretary Mattis will make his first overseas trip next week to the two countries, a choice intended to send a “reassurance message,” a Trump administration official said. “This is for all of the people who were concerned during the campaign that then-candidate, now President Trump was skeptical of our alliances and was somehow going to retreat from our traditional leadership role in the region,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Yet Mattis has voiced sharply different opinions from Trump on key questions, including the value of the NATO alliance and the threat from Russia, and that has led officials in Tokyo and Seoul to wonder who speaks for U.S. policy. Trump took a call from President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rogue province, and has questioned Washington’s decades-old adherence to the “one China” principle. “China’s attitude at the moment is very cautious, but that does not mean weak,” said Shi Yinhong, who heads the Centre for American Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University and has advised the government. Allies, though, worry that instead of being based partly on shared values such as democracy, free trade, and the rule of law, their dealings with the United States might become transactional and start to resemble Trump’s real estate deals.”We are business people. We are not going to govern this country with diplomatic niceties; we are going to govern this country as a business,” said a Western diplomat, quoting a Trump advisor. | 1 |
8,136 | Pakistan's ruling party nominates ousted PM Sharif to lead it | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party nominated ousted premier Nawaz Sharif as its leader on Monday, a government minister said, hours before it used its parliamentary majority to amend a law to allow him to be re-elected party chief. Sharif resigned as prime minister in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him for not declaring a source of income. He was also forced to step down as president of PML-N, though he kept control of the party and installed Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a loyalist, as prime minister. The party s state minister for interior, Talal Chaudhry, said a parliamentary meeting of the ruling party chaired by Abbasi had nominated Sharif as its leader. He said Sharif would be formally re-elected president in a session scheduled for Tuesday. He will become party president tomorrow, God willing, Chaudhry said. Hours later, Pakistan s parliament amended a law to enable Sharif to re-take PML-N leadership. The amendment bill was presented by law minister Zahid Hamid and passed by lower house with a majority. We feel very strongly Nawaz Sharif has to lead our party. He s the symbol of unity in our party, said Rana Afzal Khan, a PML-N lawmaker. Khan said Sharif was battling to assert civilian supremacy and boost democracy in a nation that has been beset by military interference in politics. In protest some opposition lawmakers tore up paper copies of the Election Bill 2017, passed by the Senate last week, that allows Sharif to become the party president again despite his disqualification by the court. But the vote was more of a formality as PML-N has a vast majority. A previous election bill barred from office someone disqualified under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution, which was used by the courts to remove Sharif. You are making a law for one person. You are putting the assembly on stake for one person, said Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the leader of Awami Muslim League, a small opposition party. Sharif on Monday appeared before an anti-corruption court and is expected to be indicted next week, along with three of his children. The veteran leader denies any wrongdoing and has alleged there was a conspiracy against him, with senior PML-N figures pointing fingers at elements of Pakistan s powerful military. The army denies playing a role. Relations between the military and civilian establishment were strained again on Monday when the paramilitary Rangers force, nominally under the control of the interior ministry, barred Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal from entering the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) courts where Sharif appeared. Iqbal, visibly angry, threatened to resign in protest. I cannot be a puppet interior minister, Iqbal said. I am the interior minister and my subordinate force takes orders from somewhere else. Two states cannot function in one state, he said. | 1 |
8,137 | Trump Can Only Think Of One Qualified Woman, And She Shares His DNA (VIDEO) | If you recall the 2012 election, which seemed a lesson in decorum compared to the 2016 presidential election, you probably remember that Mitt Romney s campaign was partially derailed by one comment. No, not the 47 percent comment, although that was likely the final straw. The first time Americans began to realize just how out of touch Romney was was when he was asked about women s equality, he cited that he had binders full of women he could consult.Well, Trump had his binder full of women moment on Friday and it was even worse, and more gender blind, than Romney s. When asked what women he would name to his cabinet, he was only able to name one, and that was Ivanka. Okay, to be fair, there was a second woman, the reporter asking him softball questions, who also happened to be a former Miss Florida contestant.The interview was with First Coast News in Florida, and reported in Buzzfeed.(Reporter and former Miss Florida contestant, Angelina) SAVAGE: who you would actually put into office as one of your first female, in your cabinet? TRUMP: Well, we have so many different ones to choose. I can tell you everybody would say, Put Ivanka in, put Ivanka in, you know that, right? She s very popular, she s done very well, and you know Ivanka very well. But there really are so many that are really talented people like you, you re so talented, but I don t know if your viewers know that.SAVAGE: Is this breaking news? Am I gonna be in the cabinet?TRUMP: But Angelia is she is very talented.SAVAGE: Is that a yes?TRUMP: Sounds like it to me.Here s the video:Trump seems to feel that if he parades Ivanka around to enough campaign events, he will somehow magically win over women. It s not working. Only 28 percent of young women are fooled by Trump s transparent attempt at seeming woman friendly. Fewer than half of all voters see Ivanka favorably. That s bad for Trump s campaign, who has long had a difficult time reaching the female part of the electorate. Perhaps it s time he stop flirting with beautiful women and showing that he can support a woman who isn t model perfect.Featured image via Mark Wallheiser at Getty Images | 0 |
8,138 | Clinton says she would 'go further' than Obama on immigration: statement | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said if she wins the White House she would go farther than President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration and would propose comprehensive immigration reform legislation within 100 days of taking office. “I will do everything I can to protect the president’s executive actions and go further to bring more people relief and keep families together,” Clinton said in a statement as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case over whether Obama overstepped his authority with his immigration action. | 1 |
8,139 | ‘Drain The Swamp’ Trump Is Now Doing White House Ads For Corporate America (VIDEO) | A White House press release which congratulated Exxon Mobil Corp. for its recent investment in U.S. manufacturing appears to be copied from a paragraph from the oil company s own release, CNN s Jake Tapper reported Monday. It s straight up plagiarism, word for word. That draining the swamp of special interests, Washington insiders, and lobbyists isn t working out too well, is it?White House press release plagiarizes paragraph from Exxon press release. pic.twitter.com/hHEKVWUsDn Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 6, 2017Both releases read, ExxonMobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company s Growing the Gulf expansion program, consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022. But it gets worse. Trump pretty much just gave a shout out to Exxon Mobil Corp. in an ad released on Twitter to his 26.1 million followers.There is an incredible spirit of optimism sweeping the country right now we're bringing back the JOBS! pic.twitter.com/BNSLvKiEVj Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2017After campaigning on Drain the Swamp as his tagline, Trump filled his cabinet up with terrifying swamp creatures such as secretary of state Rex Tillerson who previously served as the CEO of Exxon Mobil from 2006 to 2016. Tillerson had to leave his position with the company in order to go through the Senate confirmation process for the post.During his confirmation hearing, Tillerson said, I have never lobbied against [Russian] sanctions personally, Tillerson said. To my knowledge, Exxon never directly lobbied against sanctions. That s not true, though.Trump campaigned on working for the middle class, those who possibly felt forgotten and shifted toward the back burner. Instead, he wants to lower tax rates on the wealthiest, eradicate Obamacare, rape the environment, ban Muslims from entering our borders (you can put pretty words on an executive order but it is what it is), and he s making a huge profit from his alleged presidency. Trump is in this for Trump and no one else. He d kick a puppy in the face if he and/or his billionaire buddies could profit from it.Image via screen capture. | 0 |
8,140 | No Joke! Chicago Cops Searching For Thug Dad Who Filmed Toddler Smoking Pot: “Inhale it” [Video] | Holy Smokes! This is what our world has come to?Chicago police are investigating a video posted to Facebook that appears to show a diaper-clad toddler smoking a marijuana joint as a man off-screen encourages the boy to Inhale it. A community activist yesterday tipped cops to the clip, and Special Victims Unit detectives are now trying to identify who filmed the video, according to a Chicago Police Department spokesperson.It is unknown when or where the video which was posted to the Facebook page of a Chicago resident was recorded.Seen below, the 17-second clip found on Facebook shows the video playing on the screen of a cell phone, and it includes markings indicating that it may have previously been uploaded to some video sharing site.In the clip, a man s voice is heard directing the toddler to Smoke, bro. Inhale it. The man who appears to be filming the boy with his cell phone then says, Let me hit that, okay? Via: the smoking gun | 0 |
8,141 | The Look On The Japanese Leader’s Face After Meeting With Trump Says Everything (VIDEO) | Alleged president Donald Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe and the former reality show star showed the world what an amateur he is. Welcome to the very famous White House, Trump told Abe in his opening statement during the joint press conference. Abe was very polite and humble during the exchange. Trump told Abe that since the inauguration he s learned tremendous things. Trump said that includes information about threats to national security. Trump said that that information is something that you could only learn, frankly, if you were in a certain position namely, president. Polito reports that Trump also said at the end of the press conference that they re good friends but if that changes he ll let you (reporters) know. Trump said he and Abe have already developed a great friendship, citing their past meeting inside Trump Tower and their interaction earlier Friday. When I greeted him today at the car, I was saying I shook hands, but I grabbed him and hugged him because that s the way we feel, Trump said. We have a very, very good bond. Very, very good chemistry. I ll let you know if it changes, but I don t think it will. The two shook hands, then the Prime Minister turned his head to the side with a pained look on his face. Abe did a semi-eyeroll before getting up from the chair.Abe s facial expression is ? pic.twitter.com/etYaiNH6vp Brenna Williams (@brennawilliams) February 10, 2017We re sure Abe has seen Trump s Twitter timeline where just this morning he slammed the federal appeal court s ruling against his controversial travel ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries. Trump should have welcomed Abe to the infamous White House instead. Trump is just three weeks into the job and his administration is plagued with scandals. Michael Flynn, his national security adviser, is under fire for potentially breaking the law after reports late Thursday noted he discussed sanctions against the Kremlin with the Russian ambassador in December, despite the administration s past denials. Kellyanne Conway violated ethical guidelines by hawking Ivanka Trump s clothing line on Fox & Friends. She did that while seated in the White House briefing room. And that s just the short list.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. | 0 |
8,142 | SHOCKER! CNN PANEL Rips On DNC Chair For His Disgusting Profanity Laden Speeches [Video] | What a shocker! A CNN panel rips on Tom Perez for his profanity laden speeches They turn it on Trump but it s really interesting that they even questioned this so-called strategy: Just in case you haven t heard Perez speak:DNC Chair Tom Perez was on MSNBC (video below) to answer to critics who didn t like his nasty speech last week.He appeared at an event held by New Jersey Working Families Alliance, a re-branded ACORN agency and gave a hateful and divisive speech. He claimed that, Republicans don t give a sh*t about people . Why the Democrats picked this far left radical is puzzling unless the Democrats plan on going full commie Perez is connected to the radical open borders group La Raza. Something tells us that Obama made this pick for the Democrats. Check out a defiant Perez doubling down on is nastiness:OUR PREVIOUS REPORT AND VIDEO BELOW:Perez has a long radical history connected to La Raza and other open borders organizations. His track record is full on radical. e s in cahoots with Obama to continue the fundamental transformation of America. Anyone who s a Democrat should be shocked that he s taking the party in such a far left direction. Do your research and you ll know why he was the choice for Dem Chair.He just fired all Democrat Party staffers and is bringing in all new people. The party is clearly taking a new direction and it s not a good one for any American. DONALD TRUMP DIDN T WIN WATCH ENTIRE VIDEO: Republicans don t give a sh*t about people | 0 |
8,143 | Team Trump Puts A Proverbial Gun To The GOP’s Head: Support The Nominee Or Else | Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made life a living hell for party leaders since he first began to rise in the polls way back in the overcrowded GOP primary season. Against all odds, Trump s bombast and demagoguery wooed disaffected GOP base voters, and he managed to steamroll past other established, much more qualified Republican presidential candidates. In the interim since then, Trump s controversies have caused many issues for party leaders who have been forced to try to defend and vouch for their nominee. The worst instance of this, of course, was the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump had a lewd and offensive conversation with Billy Bush.Well, since that tape caused condemnation across the board even causing many leading Republicans to withdraw their endorsements- the result was a well-publicized and fiery civil war within the GOP writ large. Now, with just 11 days to go until Election Day, the Trump campaign is making an effort to hold the party hostage, and force support for the embattled Trump/Pence ticket. An email, obtained by the Washington Post, was sent around to GOP elected officials, which read: I know we are less than 11 days to the 2016 election. But it is imperative that we continue to drive Republican support for the top of the ticket. That means we need your direct, strong support for the Trump/Pence ticket. Now is the time. No waffling, no week [sic] knees. We strongly urge you today to make a statement take a stand and step out for the Trump/Pence ticket. So, in other words, this is a support Trump or else message. Trump himself has already floated the idea of punishing party leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan for disloyalty, especially since some of these people are only supporting Trump because they are forced to. Now, Team Trump is essentially holding the GOP hostage, and if their demands are not met, make no mistake the consequences will likely be dire.Hopefully these Republicans don t cave to Trump s insane, strongman-like tactics, and can show a bit of spine and limp on to election day.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
8,144 | MIND-BLOWING INTERACTIVE MAP Shows Where Muslim Refugees Are Coming From And Where They’re Going | This is a great visual to share with people who are in denial about the fundamental transformation of the soon-to-be Muslim majority Europistan. America is next | 0 |
8,145 | U.S. can still hit climate goals despite Supreme Court pause, White House says | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House vowed Wednesday that the United States would still meet international commitments to cut carbon emissions, seeking to allay concerns that the Supreme Court might take away one of its main weapons against climate change. The court dealt a blow on Tuesday to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which would steer electricity plants away from burning coal to cleaner fuel sources, delaying its implementation until all legal challenges are decided. But the White House said it remained confident it would ultimately win the lawsuits brought by industry groups and 29 states opposed to the plan. And White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the administration has an array of tools available to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to rising global temperatures. He cited the long-term extension of tax credits for renewable energy that were enacted in last year’s budget deal as an example of other policy measures driving the power sector’s shift to cleaner energy. “The inclusion of those tax credits is going to have more impact over the short term than the Clean Power Plan,” Schultz said. Still, the court-ordered pause that could push a final legal ruling back a year or more and onto the desk of the next president raised questions about the U.S. ability to deliver on pledges made at December’s Paris climate talks. The Paris accord requires countries to set and meet their own national targets to reduce carbon emissions, and the United States presented the Clean Power Plan as a major step to shrink power plant emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels over the next 15 years. The prospect of a legal delay and possible rejection of the plan rattled some environmental groups and foreign governments that have embraced the Paris formula. Outgoing French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who was praised for his smooth chairmanship that brought about a deal in Paris, was quoted by French government officials saying the Supreme Court’s move was “not good news.” But other observers, noting the endemic gyrations of global climate politics over the past two decades, warned against panic over the court’s move. “No country naively made an agreement with the United States on the basis of one or two of its policies,” said Robert Orr, special adviser on climate change to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The Paris agreement wasn’t about what commitments were extracted from one country and whether they can be lived up to,” Orr said. “It was a recognition by all the major countries that it is in their own best interest to solve this problem.” Michelle Patron, formerly a top adviser to Obama’s National Security Council on energy and climate issues, said she expected other signatories to the climate deal to take the U.S. news in stride. “Our partners are well aware of the legal tests and hurdles that our policies now have to go through, and they’ve seen it before,” Patron said, describing climate diplomats as having a “sophisticated” level of knowledge about the U.S. political system. Market reaction seemed to reflect a similar long view. Coal companies have blamed clean air regulations for the collapse of much of the domestic industry in recent years, even though much of the power sector’s shift from coal to natural gas has been driven by low prices for the latter. Coal stocks rose quickly in early trading Wednesday after the court’s move. But after jumping nearly 7 percent early in the session, the Thomson Reuters U.S. coal index was down 3 percent in afternoon trading, reflecting the deeply ingrained skepticism about the long-term prospects for coal. “Whenever you get a rally in these stocks initially it’s from short-covering that helps propel the stock,” said King Lip, chief investment officer at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco. “But people start realizing it’s still very difficult for a lot of these companies because they’re so leveraged. They come back to Earth and the selling starts to pick up again. That’s what you saw today with some of these coal stocks.” | 1 |
8,146 | CNN INTERVIEW TURNS INTO SCREAMING MATCH When Activist Director Argues New “IRRELEVANT” Footage Of Michael Brown Is Game Changer [VIDEO] | (From CNN) New video captured hours before Michael Brown was killed shows the 18-year-old exchanging marijuana for cigarillos with the clerks of a Ferguson, Missouri, store, a documentary director told CNN on Monday.Director Jason Pollock, whose film Stranger Fruit debuted at the South by Southwest festival in Austin over the weekend, said the video shows that Brown did not rob the store before being stopped by police and that surveillance footage purporting to show Brown engaged in a robbery at the Ferguson Market and Liquor stores was actually video of Brown returning to the store to retrieve the cigarillos the clerks gave him. This is a shady store. We ve asked a lot of people in this community. You can buy weed at the store, Pollock said. Pollock suggests that had this footage been released, it would ve altered the notion that Brown was shot after robbing the store. He learned of the footage from a St. Louis County police report that mentioned a video from 1:13 a.m. the day of Brown s death.In an earlier interview, in which he appeared alongside Brown s father, Pollock said, What this video shows is that (police) lied to the world about what happened. They wanted to make Mike look bad, so they put out half a video to destroy his character in his death. Police say the new footage is irrelevant to their investigation. Investigators have previously said Officer Darren Wilson initially stopped Brown for walking in the street, not because the store reported a robbery.Watch CNN s explosive interview here:About 100 protesters gathered at the store Sunday night, forcing it to close, and gunshots were heard before midnight, but no one appeared to be injured, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.Gunfire erupted last night in front of the Ferguson store where Michael Brown was captured on surveillance video shoving the store clerk around, and now seen exchanging marijuana, as rioters gear up for a new fight in Ferguson. Pray for this city! BREAKING: Gunfire erupts during protest at #FergusonMarket after CNN broadcasts new, heavily edited CCTV footage of #MichaelBrown. pic.twitter.com/tuPuhvyWVU Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) March 13, 2017 | 0 |
8,147 | FM Bassil says Lebanese 'decide who represents us' | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s foreign minister said on Thursday that the Lebanese people choose whether to remove their representatives, after the prime minister quit in a weekend broadcast from Saudi Arabia. We are the ones who decided who represents us, and we are the ones who decide to remove them or not, Gebran Bassil said in a tweet. Lebanon believes Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri is being held by Riyadh and plans to work with foreign states to secure his return, a top Lebanese government official said earlier. | 1 |
8,148 | Despondent Lindsey Graham Turns On Republicans: ‘My Party Has Gone Batsh*t Crazy’ | Senator Lindsey Graham was asked to speak at a Washington Press Club Foundation s dinner and things quickly spiraled out of control.The night is typically filled with good-natured ribbing, some polite laughter and friendly banter, but apparently nobody explained that to Graham. Instead, the one-time presidential hopeful went dark with his material. Like What if Ted Cruz was murdered ha ha! dark. It was surreal.Sen Graham at the #WPCFDinner: "If you kill Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial is at the Senate, no one will convict you." Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) February 26, 2016This is not to be confused with Donald Trump who has joked several times that he could kill someone in broad daylight and his supporters wouldn t care. Let s hope Graham and Trump never put their heads together.Besides speculating that Ted Cruz is so loathed in Washington that nobody would care if he were killed on the floor the Senate, Graham also donned a Make America Great Again trucker hat and took potshots at the current Republican candidates. He made Rubio is thirsty jokes and Ben Carson tried to stab his cousin jokes. He got serious and slammed Donald Trump, a man he clearly hates miles above the rest.Happening now at the #WPCFDinner, Sen Graham in a "Make America Great Again" hat: pic.twitter.com/RZgRwu9NUp Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) February 26, 2016Which brought him to his conclusion, one that many of us had reached long, long ago: The Republican Party is collapsing and the clowns driving it off of a cliff are nuts.Sen Graham (R-SC) at the #WPCFDinner: "My party has gone batshit crazy " Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) February 26, 2016Why is Graham torching his own party now? It could be because Graham was a big-time Jeb Bush backer. The one-time promising candidate suspended his campaign following yet another crushing primary defeat. With his friend Jeb out, the options left to choose from give new meaning to the phrase Pick your poison. To a man they are unqualified, hate-fueled, and dishonest even by Washington standards. Graham may simply be experiencing a very public bout of the kind of depression one gets when he or she realizes one half of the country has no clue what it s doing but might win anyway.But lest you think Graham has gone liberal, don t worry. He closed with a gross birther joke.Sen Graham: "But I will say that our Canadian is better than your Kenyan." Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) February 26, 2016Lindsey Graham, please get help.Featured image via Jennifer Bendery/Twitter | 0 |
8,149 | Trump Wants To Know Why Nobody Talked About Russian Hacking BEFORE The Election – Spoiler: They Did | Donald Trump has dismissed the CIA findings that Russia interfered in the election to help him win as ridiculous. Then, he claimed the whole Russian hacking thing is just a creation of the media and said Democrats are using it as an excuse for his massive win. For months during the campaign, Trump was hammered for his disturbing bromance with Putin and his public call for Russian hackers to find Hillary Clinton s missing emails. Now, Trump wants to know why nobody was talking about the Russian hacking problem before the election. The same Russian hacking even he has been talking about for months.Unless you catch hackers in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn t this brought up before election? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2016Even if you ignore the general news about Trump s involvement with Russia (and the fact that we bloggy people on the left have been jumping up and down screaming about it for what seems like forever), the issue was raised in all three presidential debates.In the first debate, Clinton brought up the subject of Russian hacking and Trump responded with this gem: I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay? Clinton brought it up again during the second debate. We have never in the history of our country been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election, she said. And believe me, they re not doing it to get me elected. They re doing it to try to influence the election for Donald Trump. Trump responded, maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they re trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know nothing about Russia. I know I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. And the third debate featured this exchange:TRUMP: [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, from everything I see, has no respect for this person.HILLARY CLINTON: Well, that s because he d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.TRUMP: No puppet. No puppet.CLINTON: And it s pretty clear TRUMP: You re the puppet!CLINTON: It s pretty clear you won t admit TRUMP: No, you re the puppet.CLINTON: that the Russians have engaged in cyberattacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people, that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do, and that you continue to get help from him, because he has a very clear favorite in this race.The outrage over Russia s meddling in our election began when the Democratic National Committee was hacked in June. June! This is not the first time we are having this discussion, not by any stretch of the imagination.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
8,150 | White House denies Trump order on biofuels program pending, markets roiled | (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday denied that President Donald Trump planned to issue an executive order to change the national biofuels program, after the U.S. Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) said Trump’s team had informed the group an order was pending. Trading in U.S. refinery shares, fuel futures and corn prices was turbulent on the news of the pending order and its subsequent denial, as investors puzzled over what it would mean for the price of gasoline, ethanol and shares of companies that produce them. The RFA issued a statement early on Tuesday that said a member of the Trump administration had called to inform the group the president intended to sign an executive order that would shift the onus on combining biofuels with gasoline away from refiners. The order would require companies further down the supply chain, such as retailers who sell gasoline, to shoulder that load. Refiners have long requested this change, saying the biofuels program has hammered their profits. White House spokeswoman Kelly Love, however, said on Tuesday afternoon “there is no ethanol executive order in the works.” Ethanol and fuel retail groups reacted quickly to the reports. Trump’s regulation adviser, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, is majority owner of CVR Energy (CVI.N), a refining company that would benefit from the change. That stock is up 80 percent since Trump’s election in November. Even after the White House denial, RFA Chief Executive Officer Bob Dinneen stuck by his statement, saying there is “certainly something in the works, but they’re not going to confirm it until they are ready to roll with it.” He declined to identify who in the Trump administration contacted the association. “Despite our continued opposition to the move, we were told the executive order was not negotiable,” Dinneen said. The Renewable Fuel Standard requires fuel companies to use increasing amounts of biofuel blended with gasoline and diesel. Former U.S. President Barack Obama expanded the rules, which started under his predecessor, George W. Bush, when gasoline prices were near records. Refineries without operations designed to blend biofuels such as ethanol into gasoline have to pay for renewable fuel credits, known as RINs, to meet U.S. environmental standards to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The cost for refiners has increased sharply in the last few years; nine major publicly traded refiners paid $2.5 billion in 2016 for RINs costs, a 78 percent increase from 2015. Among those that have pushed for the change is Icahn, who holds an 82 percent stake of CVR. That company’s shares jumped on Tuesday before paring gains after the White House denial; they ended up 3.5 percent on the day to $22.92 a share, on heavier-than-usual trading volume of 1.7 million shares. Icahn was unavailable for comment, and CVR declined to comment. Emily Skor, CEO of biofuel trade group Growth Energy, expressed concern about any role Icahn may have played in planning changes to the program. “I assure you this is no deal for anyone but Carl Icahn,” she said. “If we had been approached with this deal, we would have flat-out rejected it.” Seven Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, sent a letter to the White House this month, saying Icahn’s role as an adviser to Trump created financial conflicts of interest and called for a review. Shares of U.S. refiner Valero (VLO.N), which would also benefit from the changes, ended up 1 percent on Tuesday to close at $67.95 a share. Biofuel organizations and groups representing fuel retailers and integrated oil companies like the U.S. units of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) and BP Plc (BP.L) have opposed the change, which they say will complicate managing the program. One source said the RFA was told the executive order would include incentives for ethanol and biodiesel in a tradeoff for the blending shift. Those changes could include a waiver to allow greater volumes of ethanol to be blended into gasoline in the summer, a review of how the Environmental Protection Agency estimates emission impacts of biofuels, and support for a congressional tax credit for domestic producers of biodiesel, the source said. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures Cc1 ended up about 1.7 percent. CBOT soyoil BOc1, which is used for biodiesel, rose 4.8 percent. Compliance credits used to meet the annual biofuel blending standards traded around 43 cents on Tuesday from 47 cents to 48 cents previously, paring big morning losses. | 1 |
8,151 | CHILDISH CNN HOST Refuses To Call Trump Her President: “He’s YOUR President” [Video] | Low blow! Political hack Angela Rye refused to say that President Trump is the president of the United States during a CNN interview this morning. This bitter woman is truly childish. This is the same former exec director of the CBC who said Trump gained success off the backs of poor people (SEE VIDEO BELOW).Arguing with former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), Rye said, There are a lot of things that your president has done to defy logic. Your president, too, Angela. Your president too, Kingston responded with a smile. He s YOUR president, Rye shot back. The president of the United States, CNN host John Berman said as he concluded the segment, seemingly agreeing with Kingston.The tone from liberals on Trump s legitimacy differs greatly from the president s own attitude toward former President Obama. Speaking at CPAC in 2011, Trump told the anti-Obama crowd that He is our president. THIS IS THE SAME WOMAN WHO SAID REPARATIONS AREN T UNAMERICAN: Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, is one angry woman! She spews racist talking points like crazy without much rebuke from Carl Higbie. Rye makes a claim that Trump achieved his success off of the backs of poor people : The very people who you re talking about who you think are looking for free gifts and handouts are people who have been disenfranchised since they got off the slave ship in this country. Angela RyeCNN NEEDS TO DITCH THIS ANGRY WOMAN FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN MAKE VALID POINTS: | 0 |
8,152 | Japan, South Korea to set up direct line between defense ministers | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said on Saturday that Japan and South Korea agreed to expand an emergency communication system between their defense ministries, including adding a new direct line between defense ministers. Tensions have been high in the region since early January when North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test. It has followed that with a satellite launch and tests of various missiles, most recently a failed launch on Tuesday. “What it means is that we will make use of phones for emergency communication, when security-related emergencies such as a missile launch occur, and communication and coordination between the defense authorities of the two countries are needed,” Nakatani told reporters at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security forum in Singapore. He said such emergency phone lines would be expanded to include a new direct link between the two countries’ defense ministers. Nakatani said talks would continue on sharing and safeguarding sensitive information on Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs. Under the framework, South Korea would pass relevant information to the United States, with which Seoul already has a legally-binding pact to share and safeguard intelligence called General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). The United States would then pass the information on to Japan. It would work similarly the other way around since the United States has also signed a GSOMIA with Japan. Some South Koreans have voiced concerns about signing a security pact with Japan, their one-time colonial ruler. Besides historical issues stemming from Japan’s annexation of the Korean peninsula that ended in 1945, ties have been chilled by a long-running territorial dispute over a group of tiny islets. | 1 |
8,153 | ‘Vote All You Want, The Secret Government Won’t Change.’ | 21st Century Wire says Those who pull the strings behind the curtain will be a lot harder to get rid of than the puppets which they control.Watch a video of this report here:Tufts University political scientist Michael J. Glennon gave a strong warning to the American people back in 2014 that you can vote all you want but the Secret Government won t change.Glennon s argument is that a small clique of so-called national security experts, who might otherwise be called elites from the military industrial complex, are always influencing policy makers and over-emphasising security threats.Currently, the only candidate posing a real threat to these elites appears to be Donald Trump, who is claiming he wants to get along with foreign countries , particularly Russia.But, what is the main reason why we cannot fix this problem? Glennon says it s the pervasive political ignorance on the part of the American people .Here are the key questions and responses from the interview:What evidence exists for saying America has a double government?GLENNON: I was curious why a president such as Barack Obama would embrace the very same national security and counterterrorism policies that he campaigned eloquently against. Why would that president continue those same policies in case after case after case? Why would policy makers hand over the national-security keys to unelected officials?GLENNON: It hasn t been a conscious decision. Members of Congress are generalists and need to defer to experts within the national security realm, as elsewhere. They are particularly concerned about being caught out on a limb having made a wrong judgment about national security and tend, therefore, to defer to experts, who tend to exaggerate threats. The courts similarly tend to defer to the expertise of the network that defines national security policy.Isn t this just another way of saying that big bureaucracies are difficult to change?GLENNON: It s much more serious than that. These particular bureaucracies don t set truck widths or determine railroad freight rates. They make nerve-center security decisions that in a democracy can be irreversible, that can close down the marketplace of ideas, and can result in some very dire consequences.Couldn t Obama s national-security decisions just result from the difference in vantage point between being a campaigner and being the commander-in-chief, responsible for 320 million lives?GLENNON: There is an element of what you described. There is not only one explanation or one cause for the amazing continuity of American national security policy. But obviously there is something else going on when policy after policy after policy all continue virtually the same way that they were in the George W. Bush administration.This isn t how we re taught to think of the American political system.GLENNON: I think the American people are deluded to believe that the institutions that provide the public face actually set American national security policy. They believe that when they vote for a president or member of Congress or succeed in bringing a case before the courts, that policy is going to change. Now, there are many counter-examples in which these branches do affect policy. But the larger picture is still true policy by and large in the national security realm is made by the concealed institutions.Do we have any hope of fixing the problem?GLENNON: The ultimate problem is the pervasive political ignorance on the part of the American people. And indifference to the threat that is emerging from these concealed institutions. That is where the energy for reform has to come from: the American people. Not from government. Government is very much the problem here. The people have to take the bull by the horns. And that s a very difficult thing to do, because the ignorance is in many ways rational. There is very little profit to be had in learning about, and being active about, problems that you can t affect, policies that you can t change.Read Mark Glennon s 2014 epic Op Ed from the Boston Globe here GET THE FULL STORY ON THE 2016 ELECTION: 21st Century Wire Election Files | 0 |
8,154 | U.S. committed to Europe alliances: Haley | NEW YORK (Reuters) - NATO is the “strongest alliance in history” and the United States is committed to its alliances in Europe, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday. The U.S. is working to make the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “even more effective,” Haley said, and policy differences with European allies should not be seen as anything less than “total commitment to (U.S.) alliances in Europe. Haley spoke to the U.N. Security Council as it met to discuss conflicts in Europe. | 1 |
8,155 | Blackwater founder Prince details meeting with Russian in Seychelles | (This version of the Dec 6 story corrects paragraph 3 and adds new paragraph 4 to clarify the nature of U.S. sanctions) By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Erik Prince, founder of military contractor Blackwater and a supporter of President Donald Trump, told U.S. lawmakers he had discussed U.S.-Russia relations during a meeting in the Seychelles with a Russian business executive with ties to the Kremlin, but insisted they did not discuss sanctions. In a transcript released on Wednesday of Prince’s testimony last week to the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Prince said he and Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, or RDIF, met for about half an hour in a bar at the suggestion of officials from the United Arab Emirates. The RDIF was put on a U.S. sanctions list in 2015 because at the time it was a subsidiary of VEB, the Russian state development bank. While it no is longer owned by the bank, it remains subject to limited sanctions. Americans are prohibited from providing extended debt and equity financing to sanctioned entities and their subsidiaries, such as RDIF. However, the fund does not raise debt or equity financing from third parties, according to a lawyer who represents the fund. The House intelligence panel is one of three congressional committees and a special counsel investigating U.S. allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and the possibility of collusion between Trump associates and Moscow. Russia denies attempting to influence the U.S. campaign. Trump denies any collusion. Prince was called to testify because of the Seychelles meeting on Jan. 11, 2017, which The Washington Post later described as an effort to connect the incoming Trump administration with Moscow. He met with the committee voluntarily, and did not have an attorney with him. Prince said he had traveled to the Seychelles for a business meeting with UAE officials, who included Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, and they suggested he talk to Dmitriev. “After the meeting, they mentioned a guy I should meet who was also in town to see them, a Kirill Dmitriev from Russia,” Prince told members of the House committee, according to the transcript. “I didn’t fly there to meet any Russian guy,” Prince said. Prince told reporters after his interview that the panel had wasted time and taxpayer money on a “fishing expedition.” Prince donated to Trump’s campaign, made multiple visits to Trump Tower in New York and said he wrote some foreign policy memos for the Republican candidate, which he delivered to Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon. Democratic committee members noted that Prince said Bannon had told him about a secret meeting at Trump Tower in December 2016 with UAE officials, shortly before the January Seychelles meeting. Prince said he had met Trump just once, at a fundraiser, before he was elected president in November 2016. Prince’s sister, Betsy DeVos, is Trump’s Secretary of Education. Prince said he had discussed U.S.-Russia relations with Dmitriev, but only in the broadest terms. “If Franklin Roosevelt can work with Joseph Stalin after the Ukraine terror famine, after killing tens of millions of his own citizens, we can certainly at least cooperate with the Russians in a productive way to defeat the Islamic State,” Prince said he told Dmitriev. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, said after the testimony was released that Prince had been less than forthcoming and sought to represent his meeting with Dmitriev as coincidental. “Prince also could not adequately explain why he traveled halfway around the world to meet with UAE officials and, ultimately, the head of the Russian fund,” Schiff said in a statement. | 1 |
8,156 | Trumpcare Is Officially Dead, Senator Collins Confirms She’s Voting No | Graham-Cassidy, the latest and worst in a line of Republican healthcare bills collectively dubbed Trumpcare, looks dead. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) just joined Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) as one of the few to break party lines and refuse to vote for the bill. While not everyone is against the bill for the best of reasons, Susan Collins could not have been more clear about the many issues she had with the legislation.Here s her statement: First, both proposals make sweeping changes and cuts in the Medicaid program. Expert projections show that more than $1 trillion would be taken out of the Medicaid program between the years 2020 and 2036. This would have a devastating impact to a program that has been on the books for 50 years and provides health care to our most vulnerable citizens, including disabled children and low-income seniors.Second, both bills open the door for states to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes. Some states could allow higher premiums for individuals with pre-existing conditions, potentially making their insurance unaffordable. States could also limit specific categories of benefits for Affordable Care Act policies, such as eliminating coverage for mental health or substance abuse treatment.Third, physicians, patient advocates, insurers, and hospitals agree that both versions of this legislation would lead to higher premiums and reduced coverage for tens of millions of Americans.The CBO s analysis on the earlier version of the bill, incomplete though it is due to time constraints, confirms that this bill will have a substantially negative impact on the number of people covered by insurance.There has been some discussion that the new version of the bil includes additional money for my home state of Maine. The fact is, Maine still loses money under whichever version of the Graham-Cassidy bill we consider because the bills use what could be described as a give with one hand, take with the other distribution model. Huge Medicaid cuts down the road more than offset any short-term influx of money. But even more important, if Senators can adjust a funding formula over a weekend to help a single state, they could just as easily adjust that formula to hurt that state. This is simply not the way that we should be approaching an important and complex issue that must be handled thoughtfully and fairly for all Americans. There you have it Susan Collins just hammered the final nail into Trumpcare s coffin.On September 30th, a special rule allowing Republicans to pass legislation with only a simple majority (50 votes and a tiebreak) will expire. After that, any healthcare legislation that Republicans want to pass will have to get at least eight Democrats on board.Republicans can t govern or even get their own party to agree, so good luck with that.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
8,157 | Trump Whines Incoherently About ‘Russian Witch Hunt’ And The Internet Laughs At Him (TWEETS) | Donald Trump got a late start on his incoherent Twitter whining Sunday but better late than never, we suppose. Once again, our so-called President is doing his best to convince the American people that the investigation into his administration s collusion with Russia is fake while simultaneously complaining that Republicans aren t doing enough to protect him from it. As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians! President Snowflake said, adding that It s very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their President. As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2017It's very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their President. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2017The Donald has been doing his best lately to make his Twitter timeline a safe space, banning anyone who expresses a dissenting view (a gross violation of their constitutional rights) but no matter how much he tries, the disdain felt for him by Americans still manages to overcome his efforts to hide from how the country feels about him:Emperor Trump has no clothes. Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 23, 2017It s actually hilarious that Trump is now whining on Twitter about losing the support of his very own party SAD! 35% SAD! (@williamlegate) July 23, 2017Did you seriously just write that? Vikki V (@MissVikkiV) July 23, 2017You feel better buddy? You get that out of your system? What a way to contribute. Good job. Quinn Brown (@JustinQBrown) July 23, 2017Please show me the line in the Constitution that says members of Congress must protect their President. And protect from what? Lawrence O Donnell (@Lawrence) July 23, 2017Maybe Republicans are growing a spine and realize that Trump s approval rating will be a liability for them in 2018. David Putnam (@davidmputnam) July 23, 2017These tweets sound like they are coming out of Pyongyang. You want Dear Leader loyalty. Dani Bostick (@danibostick) July 23, 2017grow the fuck up. you re 71. act like. just once. jesus fucking christ. cx (@cxcope) July 23, 2017Do you need a safe space you half-sentient ball of Cheeto-dusted phlegm? Alicia Lutes (@alicialutes) July 23, 2017Yeah, so hate to break it to you, but their job is not to protect their President. LT (@TassmanianD) July 23, 2017Obama is so classy and his beautiful wife loves him It must be really weird to have to purchase wives. pic.twitter.com/eRIE4LOPA6 SteveBannonsNose (@PrezBannonsNose) July 23, 2017You re right. They are disloyal. They don t deserve you. Teach them a lesson and resign. VITW (@JosephWelch3rd) July 23, 2017Always the victim. Poor Donnie. SAD ? ? ? Barbara (@MorBeeK) July 23, 2017HAHAHA. HAHAHA. Funniest damn tweet ever. Joann Kline (@JoannKline) July 23, 2017Ah you poor JC beyond the wall (@JC_in_Calgary) July 23, 2017Trump is really getting nervous lately amid reports that he is desperately seeking ways to pardon not only his family and other co-conspirators but himself something innocent people do not investigate.It s time for Republicans to stand up to The Donald and impeach him. As Trump said during his campaign, you either have a country or you don t. Most Americans would prefer to still have a country when this is all over.Featured image via Getty Images/screengrab | 0 |
8,158 | THINGS GET UGLY When Frustrated Trump Supporter Confronts Cruz Over Winning Delegates When No Votes Were Cast [VIDEO] | Unfortunately, relations between Cruz and Trump supporters won t be going get any better anytime soon Perhaps voters should be turning their focus to the very real possibility that all of this infighting will give Hillary Clinton the keys to the White House. Think gun control, think 2-4 Supreme Court Justice appointments, think finishing what Obama started https://youtu.be/TwN0HkFyRMg | 0 |
8,159 | TRUMP OBLITERATES “Phony Vietnam Con-Artist” Dem Senator, After He Alleged Trump Campaign Collusion With Russians | President Donald Trump continued his attack on Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal Monday afternoon, once again mocking the Democratic lawmaker for past falsehoods about his service in Vietnam.Never in U.S.history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal. He told stories about his Vietnam battles and . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017Interesting to watch Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talking about hoax Russian collusion when he was a phony Vietnam con artist! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017 conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie. He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. Now he judges collusion? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017Trump initially criticized Blumenthal in response to his discussion of the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and its possible connections to the Trump campaign during a CNN interview Monday morning. Daily CallerTrump didn t stop with his string of attacks on the con-man senator, Richard Blumenthal. He took to Twitter again yesterday to suggest Senator Blumenthal talk a nice long vacation in Vietnam, where he lied about his service, so he can at least say he was there. I think Senator Blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in Vietnam, where he lied about his service, so he can at least say he was there Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017Blumenthal criticized the Trump administration s decision to triple the number of leak investigations pursued by the Department of Justice, arguing in the CNN segment that the plan represented an attempt to weaponize leak probes.Trump s comments allude to a 2010 New York Times report which found that Blumenthal falsely claimed he had served in Vietnam during the U.S. occupation. In truth, Blumenthal served in the U.S. Marine Corps reserve, but he never left the U.S. in the course of service. The senator later explained that he misspoke. In case anyone was thinking (or hoping) President Trump would discontinue using Twitter as a way to keep a direct line of communication open with Americans, it s not gonna happen. Most of his supporters have become used to his bombastic style and appreciate the way in which he has chosen to connect with Americans in a more direct fashion.Just before President Trump destroyed the con-artist senator from Connecticut, he sent this tweet, where, after he shared some of his most significant accomplishments to date, he made it perfectly clear to his followers that he Will never change! : Supreme Court pick, economic enthusiasm, deregulation & so much more have driven the Trump base even closer together. Will never change! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017 | 0 |
8,160 | Ben Carson says Obama was 'raised white,' sparking Twitter furor | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s comments that President Barack Obama was “raised white” prompted backlash on social media on Tuesday, with many users criticizing the neurosurgeon for stereotyping the experience of African-Americans. Carson, who is black and grew up poor in Detroit in the 1960s, said of Obama in a podcast posted on Politico’s website, “He was, you know, raised white.” He added, “I mean, like most Americans, I was proud that we broke the color barrier when he was elected, but … he didn’t grow up like I grew up … Many of his formative years were spent in Indonesia. So, for him to, you know, claim that, you know, he identifies with the experience of black Americans, I think, is a bit of a stretch.” Several Twitter users expressed anger over the remarks. Keith Simmons (@Foreignstorian) said “You cannot distill the black experience into something so narrow. Being ‘poor’ or ‘rich’ does not grant authenticity.” Warren Holstein (@WarrenHolstein) said, “Ben Carson says Obama was “raised white” and doesn’t understand black Americans. That fails to explain why no one understands Ben Carson.” Shaun King (@ShaunKing), civil rights activist and New York Daily News writer, said, “Please @RealBenCarson. Step away from ALL microphones...forever. Saying Obama “grew up white” is foolishness.” The comments also prompted some to contemplate Obama’s upbringing. Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) said, “I’ve often wondered why Obama is regarded as black, not mixed race, despite a white mother and a white upbringing.” Carson did not back away from his comments in an interview with CNN on Tuesday afternoon. “Anybody who is sensible knows that the way that he was brought up is very different from the way most black people in this country are brought up,” he said, adding, “I don’t think anyone would deny that someone who was raised in Hawaii by his white grandparents and then spent formative years in Indonesia with his white mother does not have the typical black experience.” For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales from the Trail” (here). (Reporting by Anjali Athavaley; Editing by Chris Reese) 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 |
8,161 | HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER Makes “Shooting At Trump” Option For Answer On Multiple Choice Test | EAG News A Wyoming high school is under fire after parents exposed an online student quiz that offered shooting at Trump as one of the multiple choice answers.An unidentified English teacher at Jackson Hole High School gave students a multiple choice quiz on Thursday about George Orwell s novel Animal Farm that included a question that many are pointing to as an example of the district s liberal bias, the Jackson Hole News and Guide reports. Napoleon has a gun fired for a new occasion. What is the new occasion? the quiz read.Possible answers included He was shooting at Trump, His birthday, For completion of the windmill, or To scare off the attackers of Animal Farm. Jim McCollum told the news site he did a double-take when his son showed him a screenshot he took of the test. I had to read it two times, McCollum said. I was like, Are you kidding me? McCollum, a Jackson Hole High School graduate and Trump supporter, shared the quiz on Facebook, where it was shared widely and generated a lot of angry comments. It was so inappropriate to show a name of a sitting president in that question, he said. To me, that is so wrong in light of the situation in our country and the divisiveness and all. He told the news site the incident is one of other examples of liberal bias in other classes at the school that make conservative students like son out to be the outcast. He told me, Dad, they crapped on everything I believe in, McCollum said of his son. Rylee is very patriotic, very supportive of our military and of our country and is considering enlisting in the U.S. Marines.School officials eventually issued a statement about the quiz on Monday. (District) administration learned late yesterday that a quiz was administered to a class of high school students that contained an inappropriate answer to a multiple choice question. Administration is investigating this incident and verifying the information we have received, the statement read. (The District) takes seriously threats of any kind, regardless of the intent. We apologize to the students, families, and community for this incident and will be addressing the issue with personnel. It s unclear what, if any, discipline the teacher may face.The incident occurred in the Teton County School District #1.According to The Washington Post:Last year, deeply conservative Wyoming voted for Trump by the widest majority of any state, 70 percent. In Teton County, Hillary Clinton got 60 percent, the only Wyoming county the Democrat won.Teton County is a wealthy ski and summer recreation destination. Residents include former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney.In 2015, school administrators canceled an America Day tradition for homecoming in which students donned red, white and blue and rode around on a diesel truck to show their patriotism and love of country. Activities director Mike Hansen put the kibosh on the event because he alleged some students might get offended.The school s juniors and seniors didn t buy it, however, and many showed up to school decked out in stars and stripes, then paraded the diesel truck around the school parking lot at the end of the day, waving American flags. It s homecoming week and our school administration thought it was too offensive to have an America Pride Day! So this is my kids answer to that! local parent Ted Dawson posted to Facebook with pictures of his kids in patriotic get-ups. Where have we gone wrong! I don t care what race or religion you are, you live here, benefit from the schools, enjoy tax benefits or whatever you re an American or at least you better be! | 0 |
8,162 | LEGENDARY ACTOR KURT RUSSELL Hammers Anti-Gun Interviewer: “absolutely insane” to believe more gun control will curb terrorist attacks | A Hollywood actor defending the 2nd Amendment is a pretty rare occurrence. Kudos to Kurt Russell for sticking to your guns (pun intended). The interview can be heard at link below.Legendary actor Kurt Russell said in a recent interview with Hollywood reporter Jeffery Wells that it s absolutely insane to believe that more gun control will curb terrorist attacks.Discussing America s gun culture and film producer Quentin Tarantino, Russell said he doesn t understand [the] concepts of conversation about the gun culture, after Wells asserted that most Americans fear that mass violence is becoming a day-to-day occurrence.When Wells went on to say that guns are a metaphor that disenfranchised white guys need, Russell let loose. If you think gun control is going to change the terrorists point of view, I think you re, like, out of your mind, he began. I think anybody [who says that] is. I think it s absolutely insane. Dude, you re about to find out what I m gonna do, and that s gonna worry you a lot more, the actor continued. And that s what we need. That will change the concept of gun culture, as you call it, to something [like] reality. Which is, if I m a hockey team and I ve got some guy bearing down on me as a goal tender, I m not concerned about what he s gonna do I m gonna make him concerned about what I m gonna do to stop him. That s when things change. Arguing back, Wells invoked the no-fly list, saying that the people on the list are there for a good reason, but that they can allegedly still get [a] hold of a gun pretty easily. They can also make a bomb pretty easily. So what? Russell retorted. They can also get knives and stab you. [What are you] gonna do about that? They can also get cars and run you over. [What are you] gonna do about that? When Wells argued back that the San Bernardino terrorists didn t use cars, Russell fought back, saying that previous terrorists have used cars to murder people. But they ve killed others that way, haven t they? he said. Yeah, yeah. Whaddaya gonna do? Outlaw everything? That isn t the answer. The rest of the interview: Wells: Just put some controls Russell: Put some controls? What, so the people, so the people who want to defend themselves can t?Wells: No, not so you can t, just so the idiots can t get hold of them [so easily], that s all.Russell: You really believe they re not going to? Are you serious about that? What good will that ? Oh my God. You and I just disagree. Via: The BlazeClick HERE to listen to the interview | 0 |
8,163 | Swiss government urges voters to reject call for national ban on face veils | ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government urged voters on Wednesday to reject a campaign for a nationwide ban on face veils, saying any decision on facial coverings was a matter for Switzerland s cantons individually. But, in a counter move to a referendum to be held by 2020, the government said it would propose to voters a ban on face veils being worn by individuals while doing business with federal authorities, including in immigration offices or employment agencies. Regulation of public spaces in Switzerland is traditionally a cantonal matter, the government said in a statement. So cantons should continue to decide for themselves whether to enact a ban on facial coverings. In particular, it said it was down to individual cantons to decide how they handled tourists from the Arab world who wore the veil. In September, activists submitted a petition for a nationwide ban after collecting more than the 100,000 signatures required to put the proposal to a binding referendum. Several cantons have already taken a stand on the issue. Zurich, Solothurn, Schwyz, Basel City and Glarus have rejected a ban on veils, while Italian-speaking Ticino has imposed a ban. At least two demonstrators who wore veils in Ticino in defiance of the ban were fined 250 Swiss francs ($260), according to media reports. The parliament in St. Gallen canton this year backed a ban on facial coverings which were deemed likely to endanger public security or upset the peace. With an eye to the referendum, the federal government said it would also present a proposal to stop individuals being forced to cover their face. We can not allow husbands and fathers to demand their wives and daughters wear a face veil, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference. | 1 |
8,164 | Ex Representative Grimm's restaurant partner to plead guilty: lawyer | NEW YORK (Reuters) - A onetime business partner of former U.S. Representative Michael Grimm is preparing to plead guilty to a tax charge in a case related to the prosecution that led to the congressman’s imprisonment, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Prosecutors in a filing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday said they intend to file charges against Bennett Orfaly, Grimm’s former partner in Healthalicious, a restaurant at the center of the Republican politician’s criminal case. James DiPietro, Orfaly’s lawyer, in an interview said his client is “hoping to reach a quick resolution with a plea to a tax count.” The filing on Monday said the case would relate to the one against Grimm, who represented a district in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Grimm was sentenced in July to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud. DiPietro said that while the case stemmed from the investigation of Grimm, Orfaly will be charged in connection with other restaurants he owned. A deal could come as soon as next week or the following, he said. A spokeswoman for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers and a lawyer for Grimm both declined comment. The expected plea was first reported by the New York Daily News. Grimm, a former Marine who subsequently worked as an FBI agent, was elected in 2010 with a wave of conservative “Tea Party” Republicans advocating low taxes and government spending, but built a moderate voting record. From 2007 to 2010, Grimm oversaw the day-to-day operations of Healthalicious, which he co-founded with Orfaly, according to authorities. At a court hearing in 2012, a prosecutor, Anthony Capozzolo, said Orfaly had ties to a member of the Gambino family, Anthony Morelli, who was sentenced in 1996 to 20 years in prison in connection with a gas tax fraud. That statement came during a bail hearing for a former campaign fundraiser for Grimm, Ofer Biton, who later pleaded guilty to visa fraud in 2013. Grimm was subsequently indicted in April 2014 on tax charges related to Healthalicious and pleaded guilty that December to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return. Prosecutors said Grimm under-reported wages paid to workers, many of whom did not have legal status in the United States, and concealed over $900,000 in Healthalicious’ gross receipts from an accountant who prepared the restaurant’s tax returns. | 1 |
8,165 | ANOTHER SOLDIER IN OBAMA’S RACE WAR: 4 White People SHOT In TN Ambush, Including A Cop, One KILLED…Cowardly Thug Reportedly “Upset” Over Black Shooting Deaths By Cops | Just another solider in Obama s Race War against Americans Funny I don t recall innocent people being shot because one of Obama s angry soldiers was upset about the multiple murders of young blacks in Chicago each and every week.A Tennessee man who fired on a motel and shot at passing cars on a highway was upset over recent police shootings, officials said Friday.Lakeem Keon Scott, 37, killed one person and wounded three others, including a police officer, when he opened fire early Thursday outside a Days Inn in Bristol, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.Investigators believe Scott wanted to harm police officers and others because he was angered by high-profile encounters between the police and black people across the country. Scott is black and all four of the shooting victims are white, according to the TBI. The work to investigate the motivation for this incident remains active and ongoing, TBI said in a statement Friday. Preliminarily, the investigation reveals Scott may have targeted individuals and officers after being troubled by recent incidents involving African-Americans and law enforcement officers in other parts of the country. Via: NY Daily News | 0 |
8,166 | newsticker | montag oktober rufschädigung brauerei verbietet eukommissar den namen oettinger zu verwenden oettingen dpo die brauerei oettinger aus bayern sieht ihren guten ruf durch den deutschen eukommissar günther oettinger beschmutzt nun ging der bierhersteller juristisch gegen den politiker vor und untersagt ihm öffentlich den namen oettinger zu verwenden das fass zum überlaufen brachten jüngst bekannt gewordene äußerungen des cdupolitikers auf einer tagung in hamburg günther oettinger bezeichnete dort unter anderem chinesen als schlitzaugen wallonen als kommunisten und warnte eindringlich vor einer pflichthomoehe jahrelang haben wir dem treiben dieses mannes zugesehen und uns geärgert dass er unseren guten namen in den dreck zieht sagte ein unternehmenssprecher jetzt hat es uns endgültig gereicht auch eine preisgünstige biermarke wie oettinger hat ihren stolz wegen günther oettinger hat dieses edle bier nun einen faden beigeschmack immerhin werde das bier der brauerei international und von allen bevölkerungsgruppen gleichermaßen getrunken so der sprecher selbst mit sechs oettinger intus merkt noch jeder dass dieser politiker sich selbst und damit unseren namen europaweit der lächerlichkeit preisgibt die grässlichkeit von oettinger ist inzwischen schon fast sprichwörtlich also von dem politiker oettinger jetzt inzwischen konnte die brauerei beim amtsgericht nördlichen eine einstweilige verfügung erwirken die dem politiker verbietet den namen oettinger weiterhin zu führen öffentlich zu verwenden und damit zu unterschreiben dabei schloss sich der richter der argumentation der brauerei an dass das ansehen des seit bestehenden betriebes durch die erst wenige jahrzehnte dauernden politischen aktivitäten eines einzelnen dauerhaft beschädigt wird der derzeitige digital und künftige haushaltskommissar der eu darf nun öffentlich nur noch seinen vornamen günther benutzen wenn er möchte kann er sich ja gerne in günther warsteiner günther hackerpschorr oder meinetwegen günther pflugbier hörvelsingen nennen so der sprecher der den juristischen sieg vor dem nördlinger amtsgericht zusammen mit der chefetage mit mehreren flaschen becks feierte | 0 |
8,167 | SEASONS BEATINGS! 19-Yr Old SHOT…Mall Brawls Spills Outside…Topless Feminist Destroys Candy Store…Worst of #BlackFriday VIDEOS | Black Friday madness has officially gripped the nation.The elbows-out shopping bonanza began on Thursday night as stores across the country opened their doors early to crowds of frantic bargain hunters.Within hours, there were mass brawls at malls as they fought over discounted televisions and clothes and the chaos is ongoing. In Hoover, Alabama, the scrum in one mall became so violent that paramedics had to be called to treat the injured.SEASON'S BEATING'S! Fist fights break out in Hoover Alabama at the Riverchase Galleria Mall on Thursday night forcing closure of mall. Police made multiple arrests. #BlackFriday2017 pic.twitter.com/DIH54vUgmU Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 24, 2017Walmart staff were filmed holding frothing female shoppers on the ground as they waited for security to arrive to carry them out. The violence was even more severe in Missouri where a 19-year-old man was shot outside a mall as shoppers rushed to snap up cut-price goods inside. He is in a critical condition.On Friday, millions more flocked to shopping centers across the country as yet more deals became available.At the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there were snaking lines before the sun had even come up. The crowds were organized by barriers before being let inside at 5am.At a Walmart somewhere else in the country however, five people were seen grappling over the same toy car. The grown men had to be separated by store staff and one was even talked down by his female companion. Their efforts were in vain store staff refused to allow any of them to take the car home. Four grown men squabble over a toy car.This sums up the utter mindlessness of #BlackFridayhttps://t.co/mWv1QUeqaC pic.twitter.com/rIGkmkjJRn Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 24, 2017This year s frenzy will see Americans spend an astonishing $20billion in stores and online, according to consumer experts. Experts predict 164 million Americans will spend nearly $1,000 each over the holiday weekend.Here s a look at just some of the disgusting behavior and fights that took place last year on Black Friday:The mayhem began at 5pm on Thanksgiving Day as thousands of bargain hunters rushed inside stores across the US in search of amazing sales, door buster deals and limited-time offers. Daily Mail No one should claim that it would not be the blackest Friday ever been. #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/Pq56WkRHsQ Onlinemagazin (@OnlineMagazin) November 24, 2017A topless feminist protester appearing in a Ukrainian sweet shop and frenzied bargain-hunters battling for deals in the likes of Brazil and Greece.Nothing says feminism like walking naked into a store and destroying merchandise of an innocent shopkeeper: Photographs from the Ukrainian capital show a woman from radical feminist group FEMEN throwing confectionery while screaming in protest.Before being taken away, the woman who also had the words Black Friday painted on her torso managed to cause a considerable mess in the store. Daily Mail | 0 |
8,168 | Trump’s Son BAFFLED As To Why His Racist Dad’s Anti-Hispanic Talk Pisses Off Hispanics | Following the mass exodus of Hispanic surrogates from Trump s campaign, Eric Trump is pretty confused. After all, his dad has been very, very consistent about his plans on immigration, so why would they do this to the saintly candidate? Eric seems to think that, since nothing has changed, there s no reason for Hispanic advocates to be upset.He really doesn t get it. In an appearance on Fox & Friends, he actually said: [It] is actually pretty amazing considering the speech was actually very consistent and he has been very, very consistent with his plan. It s really interesting. What s interesting is not that Hispanics are now fleeing Trump it s that Eric thinks his consistency should resonate with them.Trump went to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Pe a Nieto after appearing to soften his position on undocumented immigrants. So is it really any wonder that this return to his angry, heartless, racist stance that Hispanics are the enemy to real Americans feels like a betrayal?One particular surrogate who has worked very hard to convince Latinos to vote for Trump, Jacob Monty, resigned after Trump s speech on Wednesday night. He laid it all out in his explanation for leaving: I was a strong supporter of Donald Trump when I believed he was going to address the immigration problem realistically and compassionately. What I heard today was not realistic and not compassionate. Ramiro Pena, a church pastor in Texas, likewise yanked his support, saying: I am so sorry but I believe Mr. Trump lost the election tonight. The National Hispanic Advisory Council seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam. Everything Trump does for minority outreach is just for show. His visit to a black church in Detroit is nothing but a show, too. He s performing for an audience because that s all he knows how to do. Being serious about this is an alien concept to him. Republicans know it and are actually trying to figure out how to reach more white people because they ve given up on Trump ever reaching minorities. His outreach is too little, too late, and a total lie.Eric here is wearing his blinders a little too tightly. He hopes that clarifying Trump s message to these guys will turn them around, and he actually voiced the following clueless words: It s very important to us. If you look at the Hispanic community and the Latino community, they ve largely been left behind in this country. But his father talking about splitting up families and wasting ungodly amounts of money on a wall and on deportation isn t going to leave these communities further back in the dust? Har de har har, don t make us laugh too hard. It hurts.Eric Trump should at least have an idea that a consistent message targeting and alienating a group is just going to consistently piss them off. Eventually, people get tired of hoping someone will change, and they just walk away.Featured image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 0 |
8,169 | Mexico's quake killed at least 26 people, authorities | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake late on Thursday in Mexico killed at least 26 people, authorities said, raising the number of fatalities after the governor of the southern state of Oaxaca said on Friday that 20 people were killed in that region. Oaxaca governor Alejandro Murat said 17 of the 20 fatalities were in Juchitan, a town on Mexico s Tehuantepec isthmus. | 1 |
8,170 | Democrats link guns to terrorism, turn to gun control after Orlando | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama lamented the ease with which extremists can get firearms in the United States as “crazy” and Hillary Clinton said “terrorists” were using assault weapons to kill Americans, as Democrats on Monday renewed an uphill push for gun control after the Orlando massacre. The worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, in which 49 people at a gay nightclub were killed and 53 wounded, reignited a debate in Washington over what types of guns should not be easily available and what types of buyers ought to be prohibited. The No. 3 Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, and other Democrats said they would try as early as this week to get votes on a measure preventing people on “terror watch lists” and other “suspected terrorists” from buying firearms or explosives. Senate Democrats are trying to resurrect a proposal that failed to win backing in December, after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, by Islamic State-inspired militants. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, asked by a reporter whether he expected Republicans to oppose the legislation again, said: “Except (Senator Mark) Kirk ... one out of 54 I guess is better than nothing.” Kirk was the lone Republican who voted last December with Democrats. FBI Director James Comey said the gunman in the Florida attack, New York-born Omar Mateen, had been on a terrorism watch list while he was under FBI investigation for about a year ending in May 2014, but he was taken off when investigators found no incriminating information. The weapons Mateen brought into the packed Orlando club were purchased earlier this month. Speaking to reporters one day after the mass shooting, Obama said the United States was “going to have to make sure that we think about the risks we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country.” “The fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement ... is crazy,” the Democratic president said. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, weighed in during a campaign rally in Cleveland. “If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn’t be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked,” she said to applause. In a MSNBC interview earlier, she said: “Now that we’re seeing terrorists use these assault weapons, that has to be part of the debate.” Rapid-firing “assault” weapons were used by gunmen in shootings over the past year in Orlando, Florida, San Bernardino, California, and Garland, Texas. Efforts in Congress to curb weapons proliferation have gained some steam following past mass shootings, only to die amid opposition from the National Rifle Association gun lobby. An NRA spokesman did not immediately comment on Monday on the renewed calls for gun curbs. The December 2013 killings of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school prompted a push for expanded background checks on gun sellers and banning assault weapons. The initiative collapsed in April 2014, when the legislation failed to get enough votes in the U.S. Senate to clear a procedural hurdle. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used Sunday’s shooting as an example of why Americans needed guns, and charged that Clinton, his likely opponent in the Nov. 8 election, wanted to leave “only the bad guys and terrorists with guns.” Trump declared in a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire, that he would be meeting with the NRA, which has endorsed him, “to discuss how to ensure Americans have the means to protect themselves in this age of terror.” Mateen, who was shot and killed by police who stormed the club, had been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for saying he supported two Islamist groups, a statement he later said he made only to disturb his co-workers. He was questioned again in July 2014 for his connection to an American suicide bomber for al-Nusra, an al Qaeda offshoot, but the inquiry was dropped after the FBI found only a “casual” relationship between the two men. U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said additional gun curbs would restrict Americans’ freedoms without necessarily preventing attacks. “He didn’t commit this terrorist act for a couple years,” after being taken off the watch list, Johnson said on CNN. “The enormous challenge we have, the vexing problem is, what do you do with the not-guilty-yet?” | 1 |
8,171 | More than 100 dead in Philippine mudslides, flooding: officials | MANILA (Reuters) - A tropical storm in the southern Philippines triggered mudslides and flash floods that killed more than 100 people, while dozens are missing, police and disaster officials said on Saturday. The casualties, most of them caused late on Friday, were all on the main southern island of Mindanao, they said, adding three provinces were hardest hit. Disaster officials said many residents had ignored warnings to leave coastal areas and riverbanks. Many people were swept to the sea as flood waters quickly rose due to the high tide, Manuel Luis Ochotorena, a disaster agency official, said. They never heeded the warnings. They thought it was a weak storm but it dumped more rains. Hundreds of kilometers to the east, army and emergency workers were checking reports an entire village was buried by mudslide in Tubod town in Lanao del Norte. Ryan Cabus, a local official, said power and communication lines to the area had been cut, complicating rescue efforts. The weather bureau said the storm had gathered strength over the Sulu Sea and was packing winds of up 80 kph (50 mph) and moving west at 20 kph. It was heading out over the sea by midday on Saturday and would have moved clear of the Philippines by Monday, it said. Emergency workers, soldiers, police and volunteers were being mobilized to search for survivors, clear debris, and restore power and communications. More than 100 deaths were reported in various places including 60 in Tubod, El Salvador and Munai towns in Lanao del Norte province. In Zamboanga del Norte province, police said 42 people had been killed in the towns of Sibuco and Salug. Three people were killed in Bukidnon province, while politicians in Lanao del Sur province said 18 people had drowned in flash floods there. Sixty-four people were reported missing in floods and landslides, according to a tally of reports form officials and police. The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons every year, bringing death and destruction, usually to the poorest communities. Last week, 46 people were killed in the central Philippines when a typhoon hit. In 2013, super typhoon Haiyan killed nearly 8,000 people and left 200,000 families homeless. | 1 |
8,172 | Merkel's Social Democrat rival bullish ahead of German TV clash | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Social Democrat (SPD) leader Martin Schulz, whose party trails Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives by 17 points, said he was going into Sunday s television debate convinced he would win this month s elections. I am not in the least bit nervous, he told Bild newspaper in an interview conducted after media reports suggesting his predecessor as leader had given up hope of an SPD victory. A successful duel can create momentum, Schulz said in a separate interview with the RND network of newspapers. Merkel, 63, has been chancellor since 2005 and is widely seen as Europe s most influential politician. She has weathered storms over mass immigration and financial and political turmoil the European Union, while the SPD, Germany s oldest party, has struggled to promote a strong rival. Merkel told the Rheinische Post newspaper she expected the debate to spark great public interest. I ll be happy if as many people as possible take the time to watch, she told the newspaper in an interview to be published Saturday. But she defended her decision to allow only one such two-way debate since voters in Germany s parliamentary system pick parties and direct candidates in their districts, rather than voting directly for a chancellor. Schulz s campaign got off to a promising start early this year, with thousands flocking to the party after he was chosen as candidate; but three crushing defeats at the hands of the conservatives in regional elections, including in its heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia, knocked him off course. These were very difficult defeats for the SPD ... but nonetheless, 46 percent of voters have yet to make up their minds, a weary-looking Schulz, 61, said in a live online interview with Bild. He said he would turn things around in the first and only televised debate between the pair ahead of the Sept. 24 election. I believe we will certainly still win the election. The SPD, which has stewarded Europe s biggest economy as junior partner to Merkel s conservatives for the last four years, was on 22 percent in an opinion poll published on Friday, while the conservatives were on 39 percent. Almost half the 61.5 million people eligible to vote are expected to tune into the debate, pollster Forsa found. Nearly two-thirds of Germans expect Merkel to win the contest while 17 percent expected Schulz to fare better, another poll showed. It also found that if there were to be a direct vote for chancellor, 49 percent of Germans would pick Merkel, who is seen as a steady pair of hands at a time of global uncertainty, with Donald Trump in the White House and Britain preparing to leave the European Union. Just 26 percent would opt for former European Parliament President Schulz, whose campaign focusing on social justice has struggled at a time when Germans are enjoying rising wages and record employment. In a bid to appeal to the younger generation, Schulz told Bild the biggest domestic policy difference between him and Merkel was on pensions. If someone is in his early 40s, he will belong to the generation that pays ever more contributions and at the end will get the lowest pension in history from his pension insurance, he said. | 1 |
8,173 | Trump close to decision on addressing Chinese trade practices | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is close to a decision on how to respond to what he considers China’s unfair trade practices, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday. Trump is considering encouraging U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to initiate an investigation of Chinese trade practices under the 1974 Trade Act’s section 301, the official said. An announcement could come as early as this week, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to unilaterally impose tariffs or other trade restrictions to protect U.S. industries from “unfair trade practices” of foreign countries, such as trade agreement violations, or “discriminatory” actions that burden U.S. commerce. The United States has a long list of grievances about China on trade, including accusations of steel dumping and theft of U.S. intellectual property. China has said that trade between China and the United States benefits both sides and that Beijing is willing to work with Washington to improve their trade relationship. Trump has long been a critic of Chinese trade practices but his interest in penalizing Beijing has risen because of his concern at what he perceives to be Chinese inaction on reining in increasingly belligerent North Korea. The United States has pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs. Beijing has repeatedly said its influence on North Korea is limited and that it is doing all it can. A senior Chinese official said on Monday there was no link between North Korea’s nuclear program and China-U.S. trade. Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that new U.S. sanctions aimed at curbing North Korean’s weapons programs, including measures aimed at Chinese financial institutions, could be expected “fairly soon.” Section 301 was used extensively in the 1980s to combat Japanese imports of motorcycles, steel and other products - an era during which Lighthizer served as deputy U.S. trade representative. The statute has been little used since the World Trade Organization was launched in 1995. The WTO provides a forum for resolving trade disputes, but Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have complained that it is extremely slow, often taking years to reach a conclusion, and that the Geneva-based organization has an inherent anti-U.S. bias. Both China’s Foreign Ministry and Commerce Ministry did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met Michigan’s governor Rick Snyder in Beijing on Tuesday, where he said the common interests of China and the United States were bigger than any disputes. “China welcomes U.S. states, including Michigan, to ... enhance bilateral trade and investment, ... and consolidate and expand cooperative consensus to create better development opportunities and jobs for both countries’ peoples,” Li told Snyder, according to a Chinese government statement. “The Trump administration believes in free and fair trade and will use every available tool to counter the protectionism of those who pledge allegiance to free trade while violating its core principles,” Ross said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Tuesday. He tried to refute arguments that the Trump administration was taking a protectionist stance, saying that both China and Europe were more protectionist because they subsidized export industries and had “formidable tariff and non-tariff trade barriers against imports.” “China is not a market economy. The Chinese government creates national champions and takes other actions that significantly distort markets,” Ross wrote. “Responding to such actions with trade remedies is not protectionist.” | 1 |
8,174 | Senate panel backs Trump National Security Adviser pick | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster’s reappointment as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, despite some concern over his handling of a sexual assault case. The committee vote was 23-2, with two abstentions. The complete vote breakdown was not immediately available, but one “no” came from Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand, a leader of congressional efforts to address sexual assault in the military, said she was concerned about McMaster’s past decision to allow two service members accused of assault to advance their careers while the case against them was open, in violation of Army regulations. “General McMaster was more concerned about hampering these men’s careers than following the rules in pursuit of justice,” she said in a statement. The Washington Post reported last week that the Army investigated McMaster and rebuked him in 2015 over a case in which two lieutenants were allowed to attend the elite Army Ranger School despite being under investigation for assault. The case against them was later dropped. The Senate does not normally approve a president’s national security advisor. However, U.S. law requires McMaster’s reappointment to the new position to be approved because he is an active-duty military officer. A Senate aide said Senator Elizabeth Warren, another Democrat, was the other “no” vote. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | 1 |
8,175 | WATCH: Van Jones Puts Racist Trump Supporters In Their Place During Street Confrontation | Van Jones humiliated them so badly that one guy actually changed his opinion of him.During the RNC Convention last week, Van Jones was approached by a trio of Trump supporters including alt-right conservative rising star Owen Shroyer, who was itching to try to embarrass Jones in a video he hoped would go viral and make himself a new conservative hero by interrogating the former President Obama adviser about Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter.Instead, Van Jones put the little punks in their place.Shroyer wanted to know why Van Jones thinks Trump is a racist. Jones responded by teaching him a lesson on character and proceeded to explain that he thinks Trump is a racial opportunist who is using racial tensions to get power.Then Shroyer tried to portray Hillary Clinton as a racial opportunist by claiming that she responded to the shooting of police officers in Dallas by saying white people need to feel guilt when it comes to the grievances of African-Americans.Van Jones expressed that he didn t think Clinton did that, and he was right. Nowhere in her Twitter response did Hillary use the word guilt. She merely asked white Americans to listen. White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day, she wrote.White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day. Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 8, 2016Shroyer moved on to whining about Black Lives Matter and the protests that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the killing of Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson.Jones asked Shroyer if he is confident that the Justice Department was right not to pursue charges against Wilson. Shroyer said he is. And that s when Jones pounced.Because while Shroyer praised the Justice Department decision on Wilson he ignored the fact that the Justice Department also reported that there was systemic racism within the Ferguson Police Department. The only thing you see in Ferguson, and this is where my heart breaks, the only thing you see in Ferguson is that there was a protest about a case that later turned out to be a false situation. And yet the same department also who you already said was credible came out and said that there was massive, widespread abuse of the black population, which is part of why they believed what was going on. And yet with that, I don t see the same level of concern. It is much worse to me to hear that a whole police department has been giving extra tickets to a community that s terrible than if somebody was wrong about some protest. And when Shroyer accused Van Jones of being anti-police because he supports Black Lives Matter, Jones masterfully explained what the BLM movement is all about in a single sentence. I believe in law and order, I just want the police to obey the law too. I don t want anyone going to a funeral, black or blue. In the end, Shroyer was forced to change his opinion of Van Jones and went from hating him to having a growing respect for him.Here s the video via YouTube:And that s how you take down a right-wing troll.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
8,176 | ‘Black’ GOP Super PAC Is Secretly All-White | A group of extremely wealthy white men are pretending to be black in order to help elect right-wing Republicans. The Black Americans for a Better Future Super PAC sounds like a political pressure group operated by African-Americans interested in politics, but documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) show that all the money behind the group comes from white men.According to new Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, the only people who donated to BABF last year (or at all it was created in 2014) were super, super white. In fact, of the $417,250 in donations the super-pac received, $400,000 was from Robert Mercer, the hedge-fund CEO also known as Ted Cruz s sugar daddy.According to the Intercept, BABF exists solely for the benefit of Raynard Jackson, a Republican African-American political consultant based in Washington, D.C.Jackson is reportedly using the money pumped into the PAC in order to host events encouraging blacks to join the Republican Party. They need the help.In 2012, only 6% of black voters supported the Republican Party, while 93% of those voters supported President Obama s re-election campaign. The performance among Latino voters was not inspiring either. Only 27% of those voters backed Romney. And those votes came before many in the party s base had embraced the current party front-runner, Donald Trump. Trump of course has embraced a white nationalist approach to major issues, arguing that Mexicans are rapists and that Muslim travel to the United States has to be banned.A Super PAC masquerading as black voices while fueled by white dollars is sure to raise the already elevated suspicions of those who believe the conservative movement is disingenuous when it claims that it is interested in reaching out to minority voters.Instead the ploy gives the appearance of yet again another deceptive conservative enterprise, but with the added indignity of a financial minstrel show.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
8,177 | Trump asked Putin if allegations of Russian meddling were true: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Donald Trump directly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin during their talks at a weekend summit in Vietnam whether allegations of Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election were true, RIA news agency reported on Sunday. The U.S. president said on Saturday he believed Putin’s denial of the accusations despite the view of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian interference did take place. Trump later distanced himself from his remarks. According to RIA, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked how Trump had raised the question about alleged Russian meddling, said: “In fact, Trump asked whether that information could be true, how true it could be, and President Putin, for his part, explained his position, which is that Russia did not interfere in any election and this could not be the case.” Putin also said he did not understand “the groundless statements on the issue being made in the United States”, Peskov added. The Russian issue has clouded Trump’s first year in office. Trump’s initial comments on Saturday drew criticism at home because U.S. intelligence agencies have long since concluded there was Russian meddling through hacking and the release of emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. On Sunday, Trump was careful to make clear he sided with the intelligence agencies under his own leadership. He has previously called the allegations of election campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax. | 1 |
8,178 | Exclusive: Trump says Republican border tax could boost U.S. jobs | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday spoke positively about a border adjustment tax being pushed by Republicans in Congress as a way to boost exports, but he did not specifically endorse the proposal. Trump, who has lashed out at U.S. companies for moving operations and jobs to countries such as Mexico, had previously sent mixed signals on the proposal at the heart of a sweeping Republican plan to overhaul the tax code. “It could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States,” Trump told Reuters in an interview, using his most approving language to date on the proposal. Trump sent conflicting signals about his position on the border adjustment tax in separate media interviews in January, saying in one interview that it was “too complicated” and in another that it was still on the table. The proposal has divided American businesses. Critics say the planned 20 percent tax on imports could be passed along in higher prices to consumers, including manufacturers that rely on imported goods to make their products. Some critics have warned of a potential global trade war which would sharply curtail U.S. and world economic growth. Advocates say U.S. exporters will gain as their revenues will be excluded from federal taxes. They say the tax on imports will encourage domestic production and cause the already strong dollar to rise, offsetting upward pressure on import prices. Trump has also called for a 35-percent border tax on U.S. companies that move jobs abroad and import products back into the U.S. market. It has been unclear in the past if those references referred to the border adjustment proposal. “I certainly support a form of tax on the border,” he told Reuters on Thursday. “What is going to happen is companies are going to come back here, they’re going to build their factories and they’re going to create a lot of jobs and there’s no tax.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer also came to the defense of border adjustment on Thursday, disputing the claim that it could lead to higher consumer prices. “That benefits our economy, it helps American workers, it grows the manufacturing base,” Spicer told reporters at a White House briefing. The Mexican peso MXN= weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar immediately after Trump's comments and was last trading at 19.68 per dollar. Earlier on Thursday, the Mexican currency hit its strongest level since Trump's Nov. 8 election victory. Stocks of retailers, which could be hurt by border adjustment, weakened on Wall Street after Trump’s remarks. The S&P 500 retailing index .SPXRT ended down 1 percent. Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N) slipped and closed down 0.6 percent. Trump said his administration will tackle tax reform legislation after dealing with Obamacare, the health insurance system that his fellow Republicans have bashed since it was put in place in 2010 by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Earlier on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC the Trump administration aimed to formulate a tax plan with support from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate and pass it before August. Lawmakers and corporate lobbyists say the border adjustment tax could die in Congress, potentially jeopardizing the prospects for tax reform, mainly because of opposition from a handful of Senate Republicans. But experts say Trump’s endorsement could change the political climate. “If Trump supports it, that makes it considerably more likely,” Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai told Reuters. Trump’s comments were followed by dueling statements from lobbying groups. A statement from the pro-border adjustment American Made Coalition said the White House was “sending its strongest signals yet that it’s leaning toward supporting the House blueprint with border adjustability.” The Americans for Affordable Products coalition that opposes the border adjustment tax issued a statement saying Trump’s remarks were “consistent with what he’s already said” and that it was “impossible” to know if they were specific to any individual legislative policy. Trump spoke to Reuters after meeting with more than 20 chief executives of major U.S. companies to discuss ways to return manufacturing jobs to the United States, one of the linchpins of his 2016 presidential campaign. Many CEOs of large multinationals back the border adjustment tax. The chiefs of 16 companies, including Boeing Co (BA.N), Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) and General Electric Co (GE.N), sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday urging support for it. A border adjustment has emerged as the most controversial segment of the House Republican tax reform blueprint. Under the House plan, it would raise more than $1 trillion in revenues to help pay for a corporate tax cut. | 1 |
8,179 | 10 U.S. Navy Sailors Held by Iranian Military – Signs of a Neocon Political Stunt | 21st Century Wire says As 21WIRE predicted in its new year s look ahead, we have a new hostage crisis underway.Today, Iranian military forces report that two small riverine U.S. Navy boats were seized in Iranian waters, and are currently being held on Iran s Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. A total of 10 U.S. Navy personnel, nine men and one woman, have been detained by Iranian authorities. NAVY STRAYED: U.S. Navy patrol boat in the Persian Gulf (Image Source: USNI)According to the Pentagon, the initial narrative is as follows: The sailors were on a training mission around noon ET when their boat experienced mechanical difficulty and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were detained by the Iranian Coast Guard, officials added. The story has since been slightly revised by White House spokesman Josh Earnest to follow this narrative:The 2 boats were traveling en route from Kuwait to Bahrain, when they were stopped and detained by the Iranians.According to USNI, search and rescue teams from the Harry S. Truman Strike group were scrambled to aid the crew but stopped short after the crew was taken by the Iranians. We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told AP. According to Persian Gulf TV: Farsi Island is one of the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf, Bushehr province of Iran. There is an IRGC Navy base on this Island. The island has an area of about 0.25 km and is completely restricted to public, due to top secret governmental activities. According to NBC News, U.S. State Department is in touch with Tehran officials and the Iranians recognize that the U.S. Navy straying off course was a mistake, and that the sailors will be released within hours. WAR INC: CNN s Wolf Blitzer wasted no time in ramping-up talk of military tension with Israeli-financed neocon Senator Tom Cotton.Neocon StuntAlready, the U.S. media, including CNN and FOX, are running with the talking point that, this could not have come at a worse time for President Obama right before tonight s State Of Union speech, when he s trying to prove to the American people that Iran is a country that can be trusted to implement the historic nuclear deal. This latest Naval controversy also comes days before the implementation phase of the Iran Nuclear Deal. To say this is a coincidence might be naive.That said, could GOP and Israel-aligned members of the Pentagon or intelligence establishment have helped to engineer today s bizarre mini-crisis in order to help weaken U.S.-Iran relations, and by extension, Obama s controversial Iranian Nuclear Deal?This looks likely to be the case, as evidenced by the quick appearance of the Israel Lobby-sponsored, pro-war U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R), placed by CNN to direct aggressive U.S. military talking points live on air as the story broke today. Cotton (photo, left) immediately called the event hostile and blamed Iran for the U.S. boat drifting into Iranian waters, and then blamed the crisis on President Obama, who he claims, has emboldened the Iranian aggression. Cotton then goes on to tell a giant lie, on which his media handler, CNN s Wolf Blitzer, does not even blink, much less challenge Cotton s imaginary statement: The Iranians, who are largely responsible for killing our (American) soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cotton then went on to threaten Iran, saying that: These sailors and both vessels need to be immediately released. If they are not released, then the Iran (nuclear) deal should not go forward, and military force will be on the table to retaliate for this act of aggression. Cotton then proceeded to give a veiled (nuclear?) threat to Iran, saying that, All (military) options should be on the table. Would Washington s top operatives go so far as to engineer or exacerbate an international crisis such as this by dispatching the boats off course, knowing full-well that Iran would not harm U.S. personnel, but using the incident to injure a lame duck? The answer is yes , and they ve done it before In 1979, 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days in what became known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which just happened to take place during a US presidential election cycle, with then president Jimmy Carter (D) running for reelection against challenger Ronald Reagan (R). The crisis, including a horrific failed rescue attempt, was used against Carter in the media. According to reports at the time Reagan campaign operatives had managed to do a backdoor deal with the elements of the new Iranian regime to hold-off releasing the hostages until after the election. In the end, Reagan won and took credit for that victory .Not surprisingly, at the end of his prearranged CNN segment, Cotton invoked the feckless foreign policy of Jimmy Carter which caused the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, and compared that to President Obama s current policy.Of all the U.S. Officials CNN could have brought in on short notice , they chose Senator Tom Cotton, the most hawkish and closest aligned to Israel. Clearly, this looks like a neocon stunt.Stay tuned for more updates.READ MORE IRAN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iran Files | 0 |
8,180 | Trump to nominate Exxon CEO Tillerson as U.S. secretary of state: statement | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday formally announced Exxon-Mobil Corp (XOM.N) chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson as his nomination to serve as U.S. secretary of state. “His tenacity, broad experience and deep understanding of geopolitics make him an excellent choice for Secretary of State. He will promote regional stability and focus on the core national security interests of the United States,” Trump said in a statement released by his transition team. | 1 |
8,181 | U.S. Women’s Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Kneels During National Anthem To Support Kaepernick | The protest is growing.Most people don t seem to understand that freedom and liberty is a two-way street. That when soldiers fight and die for our rights they did so for all of them.At least that s what conservatives don t understand since they ve been critical almost to the point of calling for violence against San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for not standing during the national anthem in protest of police brutality. I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color, Kaepernick told the press following a game last month. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder. Kaepernick has been joined in his protest by other athletes, but now he has the support of one of the biggest stars in women s soccer.Megan Rapinoe plays on the United States national women s team on the world stage, including the Olympic games. And on Sunday, she became the highest-profile white athlete to protest inequality in America by refusing to stand for the national anthem.When the anthem began playing Rapinoe simply took a knee, and her action brought even more attention to the issues Kaepernick is raising. It was a little nod to Kaepernick and everything that he s standing for right now, Rapinoe told the media. I think it s actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way that a lot of the media has covered it and made it about something that it absolutely isn t. We need to have a more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country. IN addition to racial issues, Rapinoe s kneel also drew attention to LGBT issues such as discrimination. Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. It was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it. It s important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this. We don t need to be the leading voice, of course, but standing in support of them is something that s really powerful. If the American flag really stands for liberty and justice for all we wouldn t be seeing police officers unjustly killing black people in the streets and we wouldn t see conservatives constantly trying to pass new laws in order to legalize discrimination against gay people.But we ARE seeing these injustices take place and until they are fixed perhaps it s time we shelve the national anthem until the flag has earned back its respect.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
8,182 | Polish president backs down in judicial reform spat | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland s president unexpectedly dropped his demands for a greater say in nominating judges on Monday, in an effort to secure broader political support for an overhaul of the judiciary that the European Union fears will harm democracy. Andrzej Duda, an ally of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, conceded that it should ultimately be for parliament to pick Poland s top judges, hours after saying he would seek a constitutional amendment to give himself the final say on such appointments. In July, Duda unexpectedly vetoed the ruling party s own reform proposals following nationwide protests and warnings from Poland s Western allies about politicization of the courts. Earlier on Monday, he made counter-proposals which still envisaged greater political control over the courts but to be exercised by the president as well as by parliament. However, lawmakers from both PiS and opposition parties criticized his plans. After meeting the heads of parliamentary factions, Duda said it was clear he would be unable to win the required parliamentary majority to change the constitution. The point is not about me, as the president, to have the power to choose, the point is about the choice being a cross-party one, Duda said after the meeting. The eurosceptic PiS says reform of the judicial system is needed because the courts are slow, inefficient and steeped in a communist-era mentality. But critics of the government plans said its proposed rules were part of a drive toward authoritarianism. The EU is already at loggerheads with the PiS government over a range of issues and a meeting of the bloc s foreign ministers on Monday was expected to gauge the appetite for taking punitive action against Warsaw. After Duda s U-turn, parliament will still need a three-fifths majority to appoint new top judges - but if lawmakers cannot agree, a special voting mechanism in parliament will decide the issue rather than the president. PiS currently has a parliamentary majority, but not three-fifths. Duda also said the retirement age for Supreme Court judges should be set at 65 and that the president should decide whether they can work longer. Under the vetoed reforms, all current Supreme Court judges would have stepped down immediately unless they had the approval of the justice minister, who is also prosecutor general. Since coming to power, PiS has not only increased government influence over the courts but has also brought prosecutors and state media under direct government control and introduced some restrictions on public gatherings. PiS denies retreating on democracy and argues that it has a broad mandate to implement reforms. It says its plans aim to improve a poorly functioning state, bolster Poland s standing in the global arena, preserve its conservative values and correct mistakes by previous governments that it argues were too dependent on foreign influence. In proposing his own judiciary reforms, Duda had to weigh their potential impact on his re-election prospects in 2020. Though he remains Poland s most popular politician, with approval ratings of more than 70 percent, Duda may need PiS support to win enough votes. Jaroslaw Flis, a sociologist at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, said the rift between Duda and the government was an internal power struggle among Poland s conservatives. Duda knows his legislative proposals need PiS support, but PiS also needs him. They cannot push anything through without the president, Flis said. | 1 |
8,183 | Lebanese Sunni politician warns of Arab sanctions over Hezbollah | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon could face economic sanctions from Arab countries or worse if Hezbollah does not stop meddling in regional conflicts, a Lebanese Sunni politician said on Friday. Former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, who rose to prominence with vocal opposition to Shi ite Hezbollah, is closely aligned to the Saudi position in Lebanon and more hawkish than long-established Sunni leaders. We can expect economic repercussions. At the political level too, at the level of our Lebanese-Arab relations. And it s open to all the possibilities, unfortunately, he said. His comments to Reuters echo recent statements by Saad al-Hariri, who quit abruptly as Lebanese prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia two weeks ago. The shock resignation thrust Lebanon into a regional rivalry between Riyadh and its allies against an Iranian bloc, which includes the Hezbollah militant group and political party. Rifi said he has been in touch with Saudi officials recently over Lebanon s crisis and is familiar with Riyadh s thinking. A political rival of Hariri, Rifi defeated a Hariri-backed list in local elections in the mostly Sunni city of Tripoli last year, though he lacks the premier s country-wide standing. Today, Lebanese officials have a big responsibility. All the Lebanese officials have to be careful about good relations with the Arab world, Rifi told Reuters. There is no more leniency towards Hezbollah...using its illegitimate arsenal in Middle East conflicts. Lebanon s heavily armed Hezbollah, a part of the political fabric, wields great influence in the country. It also has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to battle alongside the Damascus government against mostly Sunni rebels and militants. Lebanese politicians and bankers have said they fear Saudi Arabia corralling Arab allies to economically blockade Lebanon as they did with Qatar. Lebanon cannot live without the Arab countries, Rifi said. We know how many Lebanese work in Saudi Arabia or in the Gulf and how much revenue they bring...to the Lebanese economy. Up to 400,000 Lebanese work in the Gulf, and remittances flowing into the country are a vital source of cash to keep its economy afloat and the heavily-indebted government functioning. Political sources have said that potential sanctions include a ban on flights, visas, exports and transfer of remittances. Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have now drawn a line in the sand, Rifi said. That there is no place for (Hezbollah) in (Lebanon s) future government, if it keeps choosing to be a security and military arm for Iran. The Lebanese state will have to distance itself in a real and practical way from regional wars so that we don t bear the repercussions of Hezbollah s acts, he added. In his resignation speech, Hariri said he feared assassination, railing against Iran and Hezbollah. A Sunni Muslim leader and long-time Saudi ally, Hariri has yet to return to Beirut. In his public comments after quitting, Hariri warned of possible Arab sanctions and a danger to the livelihoods of Lebanese in the Gulf. Hezbollah must stop intervening in regional conflicts, particularly Yemen, he said. Lebanon s President Michel Aoun has called Hariri a Saudi hostage, refusing to accept his resignation unless he returns to Beirut, and stressing that the government still stands. Saudi Arabia and Hariri say he is a free man. Hariri became prime minister last year in a power-sharing deal that made Aoun, a Hezbollah political ally, president and his coalition government includes Hezbollah. Rifi criticized Aoun s stance, as well as other Lebanese accusations that Riyadh forced Hariri to quit, as surprising and unprecedented. He considered Hariri s resignation constitutional and said Lebanon would have to form a new, more balanced government in the near future. Rifi, a former police chief, resigned as justice minister in 2016 in protest at what he described as Hezbollah s dominant role. He had also heaped criticism on Hariri for nominating another Hezbollah ally to fill the vacant presidency. From the moment the prime minister uttered his desire to quit, the government became a resigned one, he said. | 1 |
8,184 | Kremlin declines to comment on probe of Trump ties with Russia | SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the appointment of former FBI chief Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian efforts to sway the U.S. presidential election in favor of Donald Trump and whether there was any collusion between Trump’s campaign team and Moscow. “There is nothing to comment on. It is an internal matter for the United States,” he said. | 1 |
8,185 | Ryan says Trump to address joint session of Congress Feb. 28 | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he has invited President Donald Trump to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28. “This will be an opportunity for the people and their representatives to hear directly from our new president about his vision in our shared agenda,” Ryan, leader of the Republican-controlled House, said at a news conference. | 1 |
8,186 | NRA’s Ted Nugent Unleashes Disgusting Attack On ‘Pathetic’ Unarmed Mass-Stabbing Victims (SCREENSHOTS) | NRA board member, draft-dodger, pedophile, and all-around terrible person Ted Nugent has a message for those embarrassing and pathetic victims of a recent mass-stabbing at a Minnesota mall and it s one that no decent person would even consider.On September 17, an attacker apparently affiliated with ISIS stabbed nine people at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnetota. He was eventually fatally shot by an off-duty police officer. Fortunately, the victims injuries were not life-threatening something most would celebrate, but Nugent deigns it appropriate to simply attack the victims because they didn t bring their guns to a knife-attack.In one of his traditionally hateful Facebook posts, Nugent unleashed on the victims in exactly the manner one would expect from a man who assumed legal custody of a 17-year-old girl so he could have sex with her. Calling the victims sad soulless & embarrassing, Nugent mocked them for being so pathetic and helpless, remarking that apparently most Americans like being victims :Previously, Nugent has attacked losers who don t carry guns after the mass shooting at Umpqua community College in Oregon last year, blaming them for being victims because they choose not to carry a security blanket firearm around. Nugent falsely claimed that students were not allowed to carry guns on campus because of laws and regulations, but Newsweek reported at the time that the campus was not a gun-free zone and that it was common knowledge many students were armed. Disarmed and helpless is an irresponsible, suicidal choice that will get you killed, Nugent disgustingly concluded. Defend yourself. Victim-blaming is a hallmark of the Right something we can expect to see more and more of if Donald Trump is elected in November. Get out there and do something about it.Featured image via Getty Images(Randy Snyder)/screengrab | 0 |
8,187 | HP CEO Whitman compares Trump to Hitler, Mussolini | (Reuters) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co chief executive and Republican donor Meg Whitman reiterated her opposition to Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee and compared him to fascist leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, according to media and two sources. Whitman made the comment Friday at a conference hosted by previous Republican nominee Mitt Romney, while she challenged U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan on his endorsement of Trump, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. Two participants at the off-the-record session in Park City, Utah confirmed Whitman’s language to Reuters. Whitman could not immediately be reached for comment. A billionaire and former supporter of failed candidate New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Whitman has been actively working to stop Trump’s nomination, including fundraising for an anti-Trump Super PAC. In February, the technology CEO called Trump “unfit” to be president. Since then, Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee and is likely to run against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. Ryan, addressing the 300 attendees of the session, explained the difficulty he had with the decision to endorse, the Post said, including weathering pressure from House Republicans to lend his backing to Trump. After weeks of holding out, Ryan endorsed the New York businessman in early June, breaking with a number of establishment Republicans who see Trump’s rhetoric as damaging to the party. The opponents include Romney, Republicans’ 2012 presidential nominee, who chose Ryan as his running mate. Romney has blasted Trump in recent weeks for attacks he has made on the Mexican-American judge presiding over a case against him, with Romney warning on Friday about the effect that “trickle-down racism” could have on the country. As the presumptive nominee, Trump now has to balance maintaining the outsider style that helped propel him to the nomination, while courting Republican insiders, who could be critical to financing a general election campaign against a well-funded Clinton. Trump on Saturday showed no inclination to make peace with his critics. He went on Twitter to note how Romney “choked like a dog” when he lost to then-incumbent President Barack Obama in 2012 and reiterated it at his campaign stops. | 1 |
8,188 | Iraqi PM Rebuffs U.S. Decree That ‘Foreign Shia Militias’ Should Leave Country | Ever since ISIS appeared in Iraq in 2014, both the policies and strategies coming out of Washington have ranged from confused to inept, as politicians and Pentagon officials spar over whether or not to cooperate with various Iranian-affiliated Shia militias and People s Mobilization Units (PMF), led by Hash d al-Shaabi and Badr Organisation.The driving factor behind Washington s stance is the Israeli Lobby and Gulf state led by Saudi Arabia who vocally oppose any US cooperation with Shia PMF s in Iraq. This lack of coherency has also helped alienate the Iraq government in Baghdad who appear to be less and less concerned with Washington s sectarian imposition and more concerned with closing-out the ISIS threat in Iraq.This dysfunctional US policy of exclusion in local operational partners on the ground may have helped to prolong the lifespan of ISIS in parts of Iraq. Washington s insistence on playing the sectarian card has led to its inability to openly cooperate with key players to benefit of ISIS.Notice how the AFP report below categorically refers to Shia militia in Iraq at Iranian militias another example of the western mainstream media intentionally skewing language in order to give a false impression that all Shia militias in Iraq are Iranian which is patently false.This week: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew the short straw again, as Pentagon warhawks send him to Riyadh on another impossible mission AFP reports Iraq on Monday rebuffed a US demand that Iranian militias leave the country, insisting that the paramilitary forces which helped it defeat the Islamic State group consist solely of Iraqi nationals. Nobody has the right to interfere in Iraqi affairs, the Iraqi cabinet said in a statement, quoting a source close to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The fighters of the Hashed (al-Shaabi paramilitary units) are Iraqis who are concerned for their country and have sacrificed for its defence and for its people, it said.On Sunday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson demanded that Iranian militias leave Iraq. Certainly Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fighting against (IS) is coming to a close, those militias need to go home, Tillerson said. All foreign fighters need to go home, he said at a press conference in Riyadh.The 60,000-strong Hashed was formed in 2014 after IS seized swathes of northern Iraq, routing government forces.A coalition mostly made up of Iranian-backed militias, it has played a key role in Iraq s successful fightback against the jihadists over the past three years.It answers to Iraq s prime minister as commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, into which it has been integrated by a parliamentary vote.Tillerson s remarks were also aimed at Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards and their foreign operations wing, the Quds Force, according to a senior US official accompanying him. The position of the Iraqi government and the position of our government is that there should be a single Iraqi security force answerable to the Iraqi state, the official said on condition of anonymity.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also hit back at Tillerson s remarks, saying Iran played a crucial role in the fight against IS both in Iraq and Syria. If it wasn t for the sacrifices of the Islamic Republic of Iran Daesh (IS) would have installed its government in Damascus, Baghdad and (the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital) Arbil by now, he said.READ MORE IRAQ NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iraq FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
8,189 | mission accomplished rt crew finds refugees still at jungle camp despite successful eviction | when people ask me about my current position fighting in the culture war years after starting my writing career with bang books i simply say i just wanted to get laid from these hedonistic beginnings opened a path that i find myself in today a reviewer of my new book free speech isnt free also noticed this transformation
ive been following the red pill community for a a few years now the members therein have been engaging in some of the most relevant conversations anywhere on the net roosh is one ive only recently become familiar with as i tend to appreciate and relate more to the more traditionalist members like vox day dalrock and roissy
what is so fascinating about guys like roosh is how their journey to acquire more sex and attention from highly attractive women has led them stumbling across uncomfortable truths about the world that we men of the west find ourselves living in
this book is a very straightforward account of an encounter that an iconic red pill pillar had with the traditional media community that exposes a truly shocking level of laziness and corruption on the part of an institution that we are supposed to respect for some reason i remember watching from a social media distance as these events went down and i had no idea just how bad it was
i really admire the stones on this kid and i hope he stays motivated and encourages more people to be bold with the truth which is always unpc im not a fan of lotharios but i appreciate intellectual honesty and bravery i hope rooshs neomasculinity gets legs i really do
how did game serve as the gateway drug simple i kept asking why as if i was an annoying yearold child
why are woman attracted to me when i dance and act like an entertaining clown why did my father not have to act like a clown to attract my mom why has society changed to encourage women to pursue exciting bad boys and clowns over good men why are institutions like the media and universities pushing women into behaviors which harm them and the family unit why is there a concealed group of elites who seem to control politicians and the most important institutions why are those institutions attacking me for speaking the truth there wasnt only one step from having fun into the nightclub to fighting back against social justice warriors and the media but several steps that had to take place over the past years my path weaved through sex and gender relations but there are other paths as well which i describe in the paths to realizing truth for example minimalism is another point of entry
when you live below your means you begin to see that most people are unnecessarily living above theirs that leads to the conclusion that they were trained to live a life of excess by corporations with the complicit help of a government that wants to keep society in a neverending state of indebtedness and distraction so they ignore everyday injustices while losing any will or desire to fight the establishment the easiest stepping stone out of the truman show is to realize that consumer lifestyles are not the path to happiness and those those who chase material possessions are misguided
many other men have also had a similar path as myself whereby promiscuous sex was a device for understanding the world and deciding on behaviors that are more sustainable to the male soul while not every man gains wisdom during the stage of his life where he wants to sow his royal oats many do and they use that wisdom to devise solutions that can solve our modern problems i do not at all regret engaging in shallow sex with many dozens of women throughout the world because it has developed my thinking into what you read now even though the sex itself wasnt especially memorable and didnt give me much except momentary pleasure
from my current vantage point it really does feel like it was all predetermined as if i was supposed to participate in shallow intimacy in order to arrive at true understanding but that would imply some sort of divine providence whatever the mechanism its clear to me that many of the behaviors and ideas we hold now could be mere waystations for a grander more universal truth whatever individual journey youre a part of i hope well find out soon enough
to see the whole story of how the media attacked me with an incredible attack of media articles along with my analysis of the establishments master plan check out my new book free speech isnt free it has a balanced mix of narrative and ideology that will also give you actionable advice to help defend yourself against establishment attacks click here to learn more about the book or order it now on amazon
read more game principles i personally verified during my trip to the ukraine | 0 |
8,190 | Democrats see budget fight as chance to force Trump's hand on 'Dreamers' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While Democrats and immigration advocates recoiled at hard-line immigration proposals unveiled this week by the White House, they see a chance to force Republicans’ hand on legislation to help young “Dreamers” brought to the country illegally as children. Their focus? A spending bill that Congress will need to pass in December in order to keep the U.S. government open. Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, may need Democratic votes to approve the legislation because of divisions within their party over fiscal restraint. Democrats are considering insisting on help for the Dreamers as their price for providing the votes that may be required to prevent a government shutdown. Republican President Donald Trump ended the Obama-era DACA program last month that protected the Dreamers, and gave Congress six months to find a solution. “This is all heading towards a December deal on Dreamers as part of an omnibus or spending package,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a liberal-leaning immigration advocacy group. “If Trump embraces the nativists in his base and says: ‘No deal unless I get everything,’ there won’t be many if any Democratic votes for a spending package that excludes Dreamers.” House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told the Washington Post on Monday she did not rule out withholding Democratic support for the spending bill if needed to obtain a deal to protect the nearly 800,000 Dreamers in the United States. Asked about the possibility of including action on Dreamers in the spending measure, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration was not focused on the implementation process at the moment but would get into that at meetings this week after releasing the president’s priorities on Sunday night. In December, Trump and Congress face the expiration of a three-month deal struck on Sept. 8 to prevent a government shutdown. That surprise deal between Trump and congressional Democrats maintained federal government funding at levels then in place until Dec. 8. Another stopgap bill will likely be needed to replace that, setting up further fiscal and legislative drama in Washington. Republican leaders in the House have struggled in recent years to get a consensus within their party on budget deals. Members of the conservative Freedom Caucus have often demanded deep budget cuts unpalatable to more moderate Republicans. If enough Republican lawmakers break ranks on the budget, House leaders would need Democratic votes to help make up the difference and avoid a government shutdown. DEAL-MAKING Trump as a businessman had a reputation for working to get deals by opening with an aggressive list of demands and later leaving the door open to compromise. Administration officials want his immigration priorities implemented in conjunction with a plan to give Dreamers legal status. The wish list includes funding for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and a crackdown on unaccompanied minors who enter the United States from Central America. Pro-immigration advocates dismissed those demands as non-starters and largely brushed off their release as immaterial to the debate because they were unacceptable to Democrats and many Republicans. “I don’t think that the ideas that were presented on Sunday really change the discussion or complicate things at all,” said Tom Jawetz, vice president of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress. Advocates say there is bipartisan support for measures to prevent Dreamers from facing deportation and allow them to secure work permits after Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program enacted under former Democratic President Barack Obama. The White House and many Trump supporters are eager, however, to see key campaign promises on border security enacted in exchange for any such fix. That has advocates focused on the spending, or omnibus bill, as an avenue for Dreamer legislation that could pass both chambers unencumbered by demands related to immigration enforcement. “It’s highly unlikely that a stand-alone bill could ever reach the president’s desk,” said Tyler Moran, managing director of the DC Immigration Hub, a strategy organization for pro-immigration groups. “The only vehicle is the omnibus bill.” (This story was refiled to fix typographical errors in final paragraph.) | 1 |
8,191 | Philippine police chief says won't stop cops from seeking church sanctuary | MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines top police commander on Tuesday said he would not prevent officers involved in the country s bloody war on drugs from seeking church protection and testifying to their alleged abuses, providing they told the truth. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa was reacting to a statement from a senior Catholic prelate expressing willingness to grant accommodation, shelter, and protection to police involved in unlawful killings during the 15-month-old crackdown. More than 3,800 people have been killed during President Rodrigo Duterte s ruthless campaign, in what police say are anti-drugs operations during which suspects had violently resisted arrest. Human rights group believe that figure, provided by the Philippine National Police (PNP), misrepresents the scale of the bloodshed, pointing to large numbers of killings by shadowy gunmen. The PNP denies allegations that assassins are operating in league with some of its officers to kill drug users. The pill may be bitter but we can swallow the bitter pill if that pill is true, dela Rosa told reporters, adding that he had no information that any PNP members had approached the church and wanted to speak out. Even if we are at the receiving end, we can take it as long as it is the truth, not just fabricated. The truth is important. The PNP and Duterte have been on the defensive in recent weeks as scrutiny intensifies over the conduct of mostly plain-clothes officers during what the PNP calls buy bust sting operations. Duterte has several times stated that he has never told police to kill, unless in self defense. His critics, however, accuse him of inciting murder in his frequent, truculent speeches. The killings by police of two teenagers during August is the subject of an ongoing Senate inquiry. Opinion polls released in recent days, which were compiled in June, show doubt among Filipinos about police accounts. [nL4N1MD2U8] [nL4N1M82HN] Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), on Monday said some police sought church help and were struggling to come to terms with their actions. He did not identify them, or say how many sought protection. He said the church would gauge their sincerity and honesty and establish their motives for coming forward. Priests would help within the bounds of church and civil laws , but would not influence them to testify. Their consciences are troubling them, Villegas said. They have expressed their desire to come out in the open about their participating in extrajudicial killings and summary executions. Some Senators applauded the bishops move and urged police to testify. I welcome the willingness of these involved policemen to finally speak about their actual involvement in the extrajudicial killings, Grace Poe said in a statement. I laud the church in opening its arms wide to provide sanctuary for them. Priests are among the most influential dissenters to take on Duterte, having initially been silent when the drugs killings started. Some churches have given sanctuary to drug users and witnesses of killings, while some priests have denounced the bloodshed during sermons and called for bells to be rang nightly in protest. [nL4N1M32IY] | 1 |
8,192 | SUNDAY SCREENING: Guns, Drugs & the CIA (1988) | This week s documentary screening, curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE. This was quite a groundbreaking investigation and production at the time, which aired on US public television in 1988, detailing the US government s own role, along with the CIA in trafficking in illicit narcotics proceeds that were used to shore up the Contra freedom fighters effort in Nicaragua. The history of the CIA runs parallel to criminal and drug operations throughout the world, but it s coincidental. Is the CIA using drug money to finance covert operations? SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERESUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
8,193 | U.S. senator asks FBI to probe Icahn over biofuels push | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic U.S. senator on Wednesday urged the FBI to investigate whether billionaire investor Carl Icahn broke the law when he called for biofuels policies that would have benefited his investments while serving as an adviser to President Donald Trump. Senator Tammy Duckworth said Icahn’s guidance to Trump on the federal biofuel program may have created a conflict of interest with the oil refining company CVR Energy Inc (CVI.N), in which he has an 82 percent stake. “It appears Mr. Icahn potentially violated the principal conflict of interest statute,” by participating in a government matter that affects his financial interests, said Duckworth of ethanol-producing Illinois in a letter to the FBI, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. Duckworth said it would set a “dangerous precedent for the FBI to turn a blind eye to suspicious activity” while Icahn was serving as special adviser to the president on regulatory reform. Icahn ended his adviser role on Aug. 18 after facing criticism that his policy recommendations could benefit his investments. Icahn was one of the loudest critics of the federal biofuels program called the Renewable Fuel Standard. As a Trump advisor, he urged the administration to change the standard so oil refiners would be freed from having to blend biofuels such as ethanol into gasoline. Such a move, if enacted, would have shifted responsibility for biofuels down the fuel supply chain, saving refiners hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Jesse Lynn, general counsel for Icahn, said in an emailed statement: “As we’ve said numerous times, and the White House has confirmed, Mr. Icahn at no point was an employee or had any policymaking role with the Trump Administration.” The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter. | 1 |
8,194 | Kasich LOSES IT After Reporter Asks About His Only Win, And It’s Kinda Hilarious (VIDEO) | No one wants to admit that they re losing, especially if you ve been fighting really hard to gain votes, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich really doesn t seem to want to admit he is losing. After all, he s only won one state so far in the Republican presidential primary, and that one state is the state where he is governor.So, when Demetri Sevastopulo of the Financial Times directly asked Kasich about his potential path to victory, and reminded the Ohio governor that he s only won a single state, Kasich got rather angry and even snatch the voice recorder from the reporters hand.Sevastopulo asked: Governor, if you get to the convention in Cleveland and you have only won Ohio do you think you re qualified to be the nominee? Kasich bites back: They ll be no if there s not if in there. They ll be when, and listen, at the end of the day the Republican Party wants to pick somebody who actually can win in the fall Sevastopulo cuts in and reiterates: But if you ve only won Ohio Then Kasich turns to him and says: Can I finish? With Sevastopulo saying: If you answer the question. Kasich clearly losing his patience replies: I m answering the question the way I want to answer it. You want to answer it? It was at that moment that Kasich tears the voice recorder out of Sevastopulo s hand, points it at the reporter and asks, What do you think? With Sevastopulo perfectly replying, I think you should answer the question. It seems fairly obvious Kasich doesn t want people to tell him that he s probably not going to be the nominee, despite his best efforts to stay in the race until the end. His best hope is a split convention where he can garner up the necessary delegate votes, but even then, with only one victory, it s not looking very likely people will choose him over other candidates.The truth hurts, and Kasich doesn t handle it very well.Watch the interaction here:In bizarre moment @JohnKasich snatches my recorder as annoyed at question about only winning Ohio @benmarinojourno pic.twitter.com/hSingCvpF4 Demetri Sevastopulo (@DimiSevastopulo) April 19, 2016Featured Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images | 0 |
8,195 | Venezuela indicts alleged accomplice of June helicopter attack | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan prosecutors said on Sunday they indicted a man for his alleged involvement in the theft of a police helicopter and association with the pilot who led an attack on government offices in June. The state prosecutor s office said via Twitter that it had charged Frank Cabana with complicity and association with terrorism. It offered no additional information. The government has said that investigative police officer Oscar Perez stole a helicopter with an unidentified companion and used it to fire shots and drop grenades on the Supreme Court and Interior Ministry, which President Nicolas Maduro called a coup attempt. After the attack, during four months of violent street protests against Maduro that left at least 125 dead, Perez appeared in videos calling on Venezuelans to rise up against Maduro. Authorities have not found Perez despite having launched a nationwide manhunt to track him down. Some opposition critics have suggested that the government staged the attack to justify persecution of opposition leaders. | 1 |
8,196 | Indonesia considers ban on "destructive" LGBT-related TV content | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Days after a long-running Indonesian television comedy aired last month, its producers got a letter from the broadcast commission warning that a male character in the show was dressed and behaving like a woman and could violate broadcasting standards. We evaluated the show...we immediately reminded our staff to be careful because we are minimizing LGBT content on our network, said Anita Wulandari Prasojo, head of marketing and public relations at Trans7, the private television station that aired the show Opera van Java last month. She may have to do more than that in the future. Indonesia s parliament is considering national legislation that would ban lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) content from TV screens by the end of the year. The draft bill, which Reuters reviewed, would revise the broadcasting law to scrub content with LGBT behavior . Broadcasts and advertisements that show lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgender behavior would be banned. It does not explicitly define LGBT behavior . Lawmakers told Reuters the ban could include dramas with gay characters, traditional folk or comedic performances with cross-dressing or effeminate men, and broadcasts advocating LGBT rights. It would be the latest measure targeting the LGBT community in a rising tide of hostility in the world s third-largest democracy. Indonesian police last week briefly detained 51 people, including eight foreigners, at a gay spa in Jakarta, one of several raids targeting the LGBT community. LGBT is not criminal, but if it enters the public sphere, if it s broadcast to the public, then of course it must be regulated, said Bobby Rizaldi, a member of parliament involved in drafting the law. Another MP, Hanafi Rais, said LGBT is an abnormality . It is destructive for our younger generations. If the content has no educational qualities, and is only for commercial or advertising purposes, then we must reject it, Hanafi said. If the content was aimed at fixing the abnormality , then it would be allowed, he added. The United Nations human rights office on Friday condemned anti-gay crackdowns in Indonesia, Egypt, and Azerbaijan. Arresting or detaining people based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity is by definition arbitrary and violates international law, UN human rights spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news briefing. In May, police detained 141 men at another gay sauna, and reportedly strip-searched them before marching them almost naked from the venue into police vehicles. Photos were then shared on social media in what activists considered an abuse of power and violation of privacy. Police have used a controversial anti-pornography law that outlaws any physical display of sexual relations to justify the raids. Activists say the law is too sweeping and can be abused to target the LGBT minority. Homosexuality is not a crime in Indonesia, which has the world s largest Muslim population, except in the ultra-conservative Aceh province which enforces Islamic law. Programs like Opera van Java , are a regular fixture on Indonesian TV. Drawing on Indonesia s traditional performance arts and folk tales, they often depict transgender and transvestite characters. The transgender community, known locally as waria - a contraction of the Indonesian words for woman and man - is largely accepted in most parts of the country. The entertainment industry fears the proposed broadcasting restrictions could end up further discriminating against the LGBT community. This is a serious issue that can impact our industry because it will stifle creativity, said Nanda Persada, head of the Indonesian Association of Managers for Artists. LGBT artists have had to adjust their behavior to avoid sanction. They can t be as expressive, he said. Artists have been told in programming meetings at private TV stations not to be over the top and scripts have had to be rewritten, Persada said. Prominent gay rights activist Dede Oetomo said the draft law was misinformed. It did not take into account local cultures where transgender people are an accepted part of society in which traditional performances, based on ancient myths, can feature transgender characters. It just shows the ruling elite has lost touch with our traditions, Oetomo said. It s already difficult to be LGBT here. ..but in the long run, we will continue to protest and fight, he said. The draft legislation, put forward by the commission on information, is pending approval from a plenary session of parliament later this year. | 1 |
8,197 | ‘Nobody Cares’: Watch Ted Cruz’s Humiliating Shun At Swanky NY GOP Fundraiser (TWEETS) | Thursday night saw the three remaining candidates for the GOP 2016 presidential nomination trying to woo high rolling donors at a swanky $1,000 per plate dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan. This particular endeavor did not go well for creepy Texas Senator Ted Cruz. In fact, it was downright humiliating for him.You see, it seems that Cruz s New York values comment from the GOP debate when he was trying to slam Donald Trump has come back to bite him in the ass. While many people many have let the comment go, as it happened quite a few debates ago, Trump made sure that the New Yorkers at the dinner remember it clear as a bell. Trump, who spoke first, reminded the crowd, as he shamelessly used 9/11 to bolster the donors pride in their city, as well as to slam Cruz: In our darkest moments as a city, we showed the world the very, very best in terms of bravery, heart and soul of America. These are the values we need to make America great again to bring America together again to heal America s wounds. To his detriment, Cruz was the last candidate to go on stage, and social media site Twitter lit up with photos and videos of the appalling lack of attention people were paying while he was speaking. There were people chatting, walking around, playing on their cell phones, and doing everything but listen to Cruz speak. Buzzfeed reporter Rosie Gray, who was at the event, tweeted: It s legitimately loud in here with people talking and eating and ignoring Cruz while he speaks. The Daily Beast s Olivia Nuzzi tweeted, It s sort of painful to watch someone speak passionately to a crowd who wouldn t even notice if he killed himself onstage, with a picture of an attendee paying no attention to Cruz and surfing the web on his phone. Nuzzi went on to say, Nobody cares. The Washington Post s Philip Rucker tweeted: Reaction at #nygop dinner to Cruz is embarrassing for both Cruz and the guests. Folks walking around, chatting w/ each other as he speaks. Here are shots of those tweets, complete with video:Reaction at #nygop dinner to Cruz is embarrassing for both Cruz and the guests. Folks walking around, chatting w/ each other as he speaks. Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 15, 2016@Olivianuzzi @BLUIZK81 A journalist should never use "sort of" ever. What "sort of" painful is it? Kinda? Itty-bitty? a lotta? Slang is lazy Tom Lynch (@yzest5121) April 15, 2016Cruz is speaking in the background. Nobody cares. pic.twitter.com/8wLpAkrV23 Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) April 15, 2016it's legitimately loud in here with people talking and eating and ignoring Cruz while he speaks Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) April 15, 2016 The scene as Cruz speaks at NYC GOP Gala pic.twitter.com/Pwx8I0Ci25 Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) April 15, 2016To get an idea of how hard it is to hear Cruz at this NY GOP dinner pic.twitter.com/0r7XckAXmB Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) April 15, 2016Let it suffice to say that it looks like Ted Cruz can give up any hope he might have had of winning the New York GOP primary. Seriously, this is proof that nobody cares about him.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
8,198 | Trump-Supporting Gun Nut Holds AR-15 Like A Baby During The Most Bizarre Interview Ever (VIDEO) | Gun nuts are a strange breed. They are paranoid, uneducated, and don t feel complete without a few penis extensions guns fully locked and loaded at all times. However, one ammosexual just took it a step further, by holding on to his beloved AR-15 during an interview on CNN.Who is this guy and why is he allowed anywhere near guns, you might ask? This guy actually is New Hampshire s own Mark Limoges, owner of Black Op Arms gun store. He s also a Donald Trump supporter, and he showed up to the interview with a perfect copy of the AR-15 that he lovingly presented to The Donald himself. Limoges told the show s hosts: This is an exact replica of the gun we gave Mr. Trump. It has our Black Ops Arms symbol on it with our Black Ops Arms symbol on the handrail. And the other side, we have the Live Free or Die with the American flag on the handrail. He did, however, admit that Trump s Secret Service detail was more than a little concerned about both the visit to the gun store and the gift of an assault rifle. Limoges goes on to explain how that was handled: We actually wanted Mr. Trump to come to our gun store, which the Secret Service was not real thrilled about. A Secret Service agent came to the store, took the gun. We removed the bolt out of it. They took possession of the weapon and then presented it to us before we went into the room to present it to Mr. Trump. Limoges also admitted that the weapon he give the GOP front runner would be illegal in Trump s home state of New York without modifications. Then, of course, he had to go and accuse President Obama of attempting to seize guns, saying: I think it s probably a first step towards it, yes. Host John Berman seemed surprised, and said, Really? in response.Berman s co-host Kate Bolduan challenged this assertion, reminding Limoges that President Obama explicitly says that he has no such plans: The president said yesterday in his speech that his actions are not a plot to take away everybody s guns. This statement led to Limoges accusing the president of being a liar on live television: Mr. Obama has also said other things that have not always been the truth. Berman went on to press Limoges: Look, he says he respects the Second Amendment. And if you just look at the actions he s taking, even the things he was proposing a few years ago which were steeper than this, even if you support universal background checks, that doesn t necessarily mean you want to take someone s guns away. Limoges mind was not changed, though, and he concluded: Most of the people that come in [to the gun store] are real nervous about what Mr. Obama is going to do to limit their chances of getting weapons. Maybe that s why he insisted on keeping his AR-15 cradled so closely for the duration. Obama could come take it during the five minutes he was talking to those lovely CNN hosts.Get some help, Mr. Limoges. You clearly need it.Watch the entire bizarre exchange below:Featured image via video screen capture from Raw Story | 0 |
8,199 | CORRUPT STATE DEPARTMENT Deletes Key Info From Press Conference…Who Demanded This? | This is seriously concerning! James Rosen calls out the effort to censor his question and the answer regarding Iran at a press conference. | 0 |
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