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8,200 | Donald Trump Has His ‘ISIS Attacked My Rally’ Hoax Blown Wide Open, Live On-Air (VIDEO) | Donald Trump has been caught using doctored video to claim that a protester who rushed the stage at a rally in Dayton, Ohio this week has links to ISIS. But during an interview with Chuck Todd, the whole scam fell apart, live on-air.The Republican front runner was seen to panic and sweat profusely on Saturday, when the secret service moved on a single protester at a rally in Dayton, Ohio.After the event, and clearly smarting from the very public unravelling of his tough guy persona, Trump sought to ratchet up the scale of the threat against him. Later that night, Trump tweeted his near 7 million followers on Twitter to let them know the protester was actually a maniac with ties to ISIS alongside a video he cites as evidence.USSS did an excellent job stopping the maniac running to the stage. He has ties to ISIS. Should be in jail! https://t.co/tkzbHg7wyD?ssr=true Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2016But there was one rather big problem with this approach. This video is a hoax.The first to uncover the scam were BuzzFeed, who report:[T]he alleged ISIS video actually appears to have been cobbled together from old footage in an attempt to troll Dimassimo That footage, however, appears to be lifted from a video Dimassimo himself seems to have posted to YouTube. Dimassimo s video lacks the music and images typical of ISIS productions. The description also states that the protest was done in solidarity with Eric Sheppard, a Valdosta State University student who made headlines in 2015 for standing on an American flag.When Trump attempted to repeat the lie regardless during an interview on Meet The Press on Sunday morning, host Chuck Todd shut the candidate down with a series of questions that exposed the lie.(watch from 5min 27secs)Trumps response? What do I know about it? All I know is what s on the internet. Ladies and Gentlemen, is this the kind of person you really want sitting in the White House and representing American interests abroad?Featured Image via YouTube Screengrab | 0 |
8,201 | Democrats demand probe of Trump health nominee | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Thursday demanded an ethics probe into Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. health secretary, following a report that the fierce Obamacare critic traded in healthcare company stocks while pushing legislation in Congress that could affect those shares. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others made their comments as congressional Republicans moved ahead with their long-desired effort to dismantle President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and signaled the vehemence with which Democrats will fight to protect the 2010 law. Price is an orthopedic surgeon and a Republican congressman from Georgia who, if confirmed by the Senate as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, would be given the task of carrying out Trump’s promise to gut the law that has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain medical coverage. The Democrats called on the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), which examines misconduct allegations involving House of Representatives members, to investigate Price’s stock trades. The Wall Street Journal last month reported that Price bought and sold more than $300,000 in stock in about 40 healthcare, pharmaceutical and biomedical companies over the past four years while sponsoring and advocating legislation that could influence those companies’ shares. “Every American should be shocked by this,” Schumer told a news conference. “We don’t know if he broke the law,” Schumer said of Price. “But there are certainly enough serious questions to warrant a serious investigation before any hearing is held on Congressman Price to become secretary of HHS.” Democratic Senator Patty Murray said lawmakers want to know what nonpublic information Price may have had when the transactions at issue were made. Phil Blando, a Trump transition spokesman, called Schumer’s demands a “stunt” to deflect attention from Obamacare’s “dismal record.” Price, asked by Reuters in a Capitol hallway for a reaction to Schumer’s comments, replied, “We’re looking forward to a positive and productive confirmation hearing.” A 2012 law prohibits members and employees of Congress from using “any nonpublic information” stemming from the person’s position or gained while performing their job for personal benefit. The nonpartisan watchdog group Public Citizen also asked the ethics office, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to investigate Price and another Republican congressman, Chris Collins of New York, for possible violations of insider trading and conflict-of-interest laws and rules. Public Citizen said that, while serving in the House, Collins also sat on the board of directors of Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd (IIL.AX) and was its largest shareholder, with a 17 percent stake. It said Price also bought shares in the company. Collins serves as the Trump transition team’s congressional liaison. Collins spokesman Michael McAdams said in a statement the congressman “has followed all ethical guidelines related to his personal finances during his time in the House and will continue to do so.” House Republicans had moved on Monday to weaken the ethics office but backtracked a day later after criticism from Democrats and Trump. Trump transition spokesman Blando said the ethics questions Schumer raised about Price should be directed to three sitting Democratic senators, Delaware’s Tom Carper, Virginia’s Mark Warner and Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse, “who own and have traded hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical and health insurance company stocks.” “Hypocrisy is apparently alive and well this morning in Washington,” Blando said. A Warner spokeswoman said his investments were managed by an independent trustee. A Whitehouse spokesman said the senator does not direct his trading. A Carper spokeswoman said he has submitted thorough financial disclosures and “always complied with every requirement and regulation.” Republicans will control the White House and Congress once Trump takes office on Jan. 20. In a series of Twitter posts on Thursday, Trump blasted the Democrats over Obamacare, taunting Schumer as “head clown.” “It is time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works - much less expensive & FAR BETTER!” Trump wrote. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said he expects the legislative work on repealing and replacing Obamacare to be completed this year. “What date all of this gets phased in on is something we do not now know,” Ryan added. Ryan indicated that a Republican proposal to strip women’s healthcare organization Planned Parenthood of federal funding will be included in the Obamacare repeal legislation. Planned Parenthood draws the ire of many Republicans because it provides abortions, as well as cancer screenings and other services. Republicans criticize Obamacare, one of Obama’s signature accomplishments in his eight years in office, as an excessive government intrusion into the healthcare market and contend it is harming job growth by burdening businesses. Democrats said Obamacare has extended insurance to millions of Americans and curbed abuses by private insurers such as refusing to provide policies to people with pre-existing medical conditions. | 1 |
8,202 | Democrat Tries to Attack Shapiro Over ‘White Privilege’…Then Shapiro Fires Back | On Thursday, when Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro testified before Congress about the suppression of free speech on college campuses, Stacey Plaskett, who is a delegate to the House from the Virgin Islands, decided to attack Shapiro for his explication of the wrongness of the white privilege meme It wasn t a good idea.Plaskett protested against the obvious claims that conservatives are suppressed on campus, asserting that both sides of the political spectrum are targeted, citing the instance of Taylor Dumpston, who is black and was the target of hate speech and actions when she was elected student body president at American University.Read more: Daily Wire | 0 |
8,203 | Senators want Congress to OK military action in Syria | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators called on Congress on Tuesday to take back its authority to determine whether the country goes to war, saying recent U.S. strikes in Syria were not covered by existing authorizations for the use of military force. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has begun considering legislation that would cover military action in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen against the Islamic State, al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups. “I have always believed that it’s important for Congress to exercise its constitutional role to authorize the use of force,” the committee’s chairman, Republican Senator Bob Corker, told a hearing on Tuesday. As President Donald Trump has ordered stepped-up military activity in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, members of Congress also want Trump to present a strategy for defeating Islamic State and other militant groups. “It’s difficult for us to carry out our responsibility unless we know what the commander in chief needs,” Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s top Democrat, said. The Trump administration, like former President Barack Obama’s, has been using a 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against al Qaeda passed after the Sept. 11 attacks as the legal basis for a wide range of military action since. Although there is bipartisan support for Congress to debate and vote on a new AUMF introduced by Republican Senator Jeff Flake and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, the measure faces stiff opposition. Lawmakers have introduced war authorizations repeatedly in the past several years. But they have failed to advance amid sharp divisions in Congress over whether, or how, to limit commanders’ use of military resources. Many war-weary members of Congress also do not want to vote for anything that might become a foreign military quagmire consuming taxpayer dollars or leading to widespread U.S. casualties. Trump has ordered stepped-up military operations against Islamic State and delegated more authority to his generals. U.S.-led forces said on Tuesday they had shot down an armed “pro-Syrian regime” drone near the border between Iraq and Syria. A U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet over Syria on Sunday. Democratic Senator Tom Udall voted for the 2001 authorization while he was a member of the House of Representatives. “I would have never imagined that vote supporting U.S. troops in Syria in 2017 and engagements with the Assad regime,” he said. | 1 |
8,204 | Watch Bill Clinton Unleash His Inner Child With The Balloons At Last Night’s DNC (Video) | Bill Clinton just watched his wife accept the nomination for President of the United States. His wife, a former Senator and former Secretary of State, has literally made history as being the first woman nominee for a major political party.No doubt Bill Clinton must have been immensely proud of this extraordinary lady. His gleaming face said it all during her speech, and during his daughter, Chelsea s.Aside from everything just accomplished by Hillary, Bill seemed to be really smitten by one thing in particular: the balloons.As Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine walked up and down the stage, with their families by their sides, thousands of red, white and blue balloons were released from the rafters, pouring down on the Clintons and the Kaines.And Bill had the time of his life.Watch just how giddy former President Bill Clinton got, courtesy if Now This Election:Users from Twitter and other social media outlets had a field day with the former president s excitement:bill: hey hill check this out hillary hey hillary hill hey hillary check this out hillary look what i hill hillary pic.twitter.com/MAbRFW1yeY Ingrid Ostby (@ingridostby) July 29, 2016 if you need me today, i ll be looking at photos of @billclinton staring at balloons with childlike wonder pic.twitter.com/4fw0LUIuxc Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) July 29, 2016find someone who loves you as much as @billclinton loves balloons pic.twitter.com/d2e6NOu9Lw Morgan Anderson (@themorganleigh) July 29, 2016This is why we love Bill Clinton. Of course conservatives attacked him for having just a little bit of fun after history was just made.But after ushering in the largest economic expansion in U.S. history, keeping our nation safe, and overseeing more Americans put back to work than any other modern president, he deserves a little fun. And quite frankly, he probably doesn t care what anyone thinks about him at this point, nor should he.And let s be honest: there isn t anyone who didn t wish they were on that stage playing with those balloons.Featured image via Andrew P. Bernstein/Getty Images | 0 |
8,205 | Grizzly Miss-Steppe: How Washington Post Rewrote its Fake News Story on ‘Russian Hack’ of Vermont Power Grid | MEDIA MELTDOWN: Many now believe that Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has transformed the Washington Post from a paper of record into the world s most expensive fake news blog.Kalev Leetaru ForbesThe Washington Post sparked a wave of fear when it ran the breathless headline Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont, U.S. officials say. The lead sentence offered A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials and continued While the Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations of the utility, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a security matter, the penetration of the nation s electrical grid is significant because it represents a potentially serious vulnerability. Yet, it turns out this narrative was false and as the chronology below will show, illustrates how effectively false and misleading news can ricochet through the global news echo chamber through the pages of top tier newspapers that fail to properly verify their facts.The original article was posted online on the Washington Post s website at 7:55PM EST. Using the Internet Archive s Wayback Machine, we can see that sometime between 9:24PM and 10:06PM the Post updated the article to indicate that multiple computer systems at the utility had been breached ( computers plural), but that further data was still being collected: Officials said that it is unclear when the code entered the Vermont utility s computers, and that an investigation will attempt to determine the timing and nature of the intrusion. Several paragraphs of additional material were added between 8PM and 10PM, claiming and contextualizing the breach as part of a broader campaign of Russian hacking against the US, including the DNC and Podesta email breaches.Despite the article ballooning from 8 to 18 paragraphs, the publication date of the article remained unchanged and no editorial note was appended, meaning that a reader being forwarded a link to the article would have no way of knowing the article they were seeing was in any way changed from the original version published 2 hours prior.Yet, as the Post s story ricocheted through the politically charged environment, other media outlets and technology experts began questioning the Post s claims and the utility company itself finally issued a formal statement at 9:37PM EST, just an hour and a half after the Post s publication, pushing back on the Post s claims: We detected the malware in a single Burlington Electric Department laptop not connected to our organization s grid systems. We took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding. From Russian hackers burrowed deep within the US electrical grid, ready to plunge the nation into darkness at the flip of a switch, an hour and a half later the story suddenly became that a single non-grid laptop had a piece of malware on it and that the laptop was not connected to the utility grid in any way.However, it was not until almost a full hour after the utility s official press release (at around 10:30PM EST) that the Post finally updated its article, changing the headline to the more muted Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say and changed the body of the article to note Burlington Electric said in a statement that the company detected a malware code used in the Grizzly Steppe operation in a laptop that was not connected to the organization s grid systems. The firm said it took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alert federal authorities. Yet, other parts of the article, including a later sentence claiming that multiple computers at the utility had been breached, remained intact.The following morning, nearly 11 hours after changing the headline and rewriting the article to indicate that the grid itself was never breached and the hack was only an isolated laptop with malware, the Post still had not appended any kind of editorial note to indicate that it had significantly changed the focus of the article.This is significant, as one driving force of fake news is that as much of 60% of the links shared on social media are shared based on the title alone, with the sharer not actually reading the article itself. Thus, the title assigned to an article becomes the story itself and the Post s incorrect title meant that the story that spread virally through the national echo chamber was that the Russians had hacked into the US power grid.Only after numerous outlets called out the Post s changes did the newspaper finally append an editorial note at the very bottom of the article more than half a day later saying An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid. Yet, even this correction is not a true reflection of public facts as known. The utility indicated only that a laptop was found to contain malware that has previously been associated with Russian hackers. As many pointed out, the malware in question is actually available for purchase online, meaning anyone could have used it and its mere presence is not a guarantee of Russian government involvement. Moreover, a malware infection can come from many sources, including visiting malicious websites and thus the mere presence of malware on a laptop computer does not necessarily indicate that Russian government hackers launched a coordinated hacking campaign to penetrate that machine the infection could have come from something as simple as an employee visiting an infected website on a work computer.Moreover, just as with the Santa Claus and the dying child story, the Post story went viral and was widely reshared, leading to embarrassing situations like CNBC tweeting out the story and then having to go back and retract the story.Particularly fascinating that the original Post story mentioned that there were only two major power utilities in Vermont and that Burlington Electric was one of them, meaning it would have been easy to call both companies for comment. However, while the article mentions contacting DHS for comment, there is no mention of any kind that the Post reached out to either of the two utilities for comment. Given that Burlington issued its formal statement denying the Post s claims just an hour and a half later, this would suggest that had the Post reached out to the company it likely could have corrected its story prior to publication Continue this story at ForbesREAD MORE MSM FAKE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
8,206 | U.S. Senate number two Democrat calls Trump's conduct 'dangerous' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate’s number two Democrat, Dick Durbin, said on Monday that President Donald Trump’s conduct revealing classified information to the Russians, as reported by the Washington Post, was “dangerous” and “reckless.” “This conduct by the president is not only dangerous, it’s reckless. It is reckless for him to disclose to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador, sensitive, top secret information,” Durbin told reporters outside the Senate. Durbin said he had not been briefed separately on the matter and that he was commenting on the Post story. Classified information cannot be kept from a U.S. president, Durbin added, but he hoped Republicans will make it clear to Trump that his conduct “jeopardizes our national security.” | 1 |
8,207 | Saudi king decrees women be allowed to drive | RIYADH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman on Tuesday ordered that women be allowed to drive cars, ending a conservative tradition seen by rights activists as an emblem of the Islamic kingdom s repression of women. The kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, has been widely criticized for being the only country in the world that bans women from driving, despite gradual improvement on some women s issues in recent years and ambitious government targets to increase their public role, especially in the workforce. Despite trying to cultivate a more modern image in recent years, the driving ban had been a longstanding stain on Saudi Arabia s international image. The royal decree ordered the formation of a ministerial body to give advice within 30 days and then implement the order by June 24, 2018, according to state news agency SPA. It stipulated that the move must apply and adhere to the necessary Sharia standards , referring to Islamic law. It gave no details but said a majority of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, Saudi Arabia s top clerical body, had approved its permissibility. An hour after the official announcement in Saudi Arabia, a jubilant Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Khaled bin Salman, said it was an historic and big day in our kingdom . I think our leadership understands that our society is ready. I think it s the right decision at the right time, the ambassador said. Positive reactions quickly poured in from inside the kingdom and around the world. The U.S. State Department welcomed the move as a great step in the right direction . President Donald Trump commended the decision, the White House said in a separate statement that pledged U.S. support for a plan the Kingdom announced last year for economic and social reforms. This is a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia, the White House statement said. We will continue to support Saudi Arabia in its to efforts to strengthen Saudi society and the economy through reforms like this and the implementation of Saudi Vision 2030. For more than 25 years, women activists have campaigned to be allowed to drive, defiantly taking to the road, petitioning the king and posting videos of themselves behind the wheel on social media. The protests brought them arrest and harassment. Activist Manal al-Sherif, who was arrested in 2011 after a driving protest, took to Twitter following the king s announcement to express her relief. Today, the last country on earth to allow women to drive... we did it , she wrote. Latifa al-Shaalan, a member of the Shura Council, an advisory body, said the decision would strengthen women s employment in the private sector. This is an historic day and I cannot find the words to express my feelings and the feelings of thousands of Saudi women, she said on Arabiya TV. In Saudi Arabia, a top Arab ally of the United States, women are legally subject to a male guardian, who must give approval to basic decisions they make in fields including education, employment, marriage, travel plans and even medical treatment. Women in the kingdom are also bound by law to wear long robes and a headscarf and require the consent of a male guardian for most legal actions. Prince Khaled, the ambassador, said women would not need permission from their guardians to get a license or have a guardian in the car and would be allowed to drive anywhere in the kingdom, including the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Women with a license from any of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries would be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, he added. He said the Interior Ministry would have to decide whether they could be professional drivers. In terms of international PR, this is the biggest overnight win that Saudi Arabia - and particularly MBS - could possibly have, said Jane Kinninmont, senior research fellow at Chatham House. The position of Saudi women gradually improved under late King Abdullah and since King Salman took over in 2015, the kingdom has been opening more areas for women through the government s modernizing reforms. That has sparked tensions with influential clerics upon whose support the ruling family relies. Some reactions to Tuesday s announcement reflected that. Critics took to Twitter to denounce the decision, accusing the government of bending the verses of Sharia . As far as I remember, Sharia scholars have said it was haram (forbidden) for women to drive. How come it has suddenly become halal (permissible)? another user wrote. Asked whether he was worried about a conservative backlash, the ambassador said: On these changes some people will be in the drivers seat... some people will be in the back seat, but we re all going to move forward. He added: It s not women must drive, it s women can drive. So if any women do not want to drive in Saudi Arabia, that s her choice. Some leading members of the country s powerful and austere Sunni Muslim clergy have argued against women being allowed to drive, which they say could lead to them mingling with unrelated men, thereby breaching strict gender segregation rules. The decision could also have broad economic impacts, making it possible for women to get to work without a driver but also curbing the popularity of car hailing apps like Uber and Careem. Prince Khaled, a son of the king, said the decision was as much about economic reform as social change. His older brother, 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed, has become the face of reform in the kingdom in the past few years. Many younger Saudis regard his ascent as evidence that their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women s progress. Oh my God, this is amazing. Ever since Mohammed bin Salman s rise, he has fast-tracked all the changes that are needed for our country, said Marwa Afandi, a 35-year-old event planner in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. Congratulations to all my ladies, this is a real victory. | 1 |
8,208 | Dwyane Wade Has Some Choice Words For Trump After Tweet About Cousin (VIDEO) | Right after Dwyane Wade s first cousin Nykea Aldridge was shot and killed in Chicago, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump thought it was appropriate to bring the shooting back to himself and tweet out: Dwyane Wade s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP! Dwyane Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2016To call the tweet in poor taste would be a severe understatement.Now, speaking up about his cousin s death and the reaction from Trump is none other than Wade himself in an interview with ABC s George Stephanopoulos.Wade said: I was grateful that it started a conversation but on the other hand, it just left a bad taste in my mouth because of what my family is dealing with and what our city of Chicago is dealing with and it looks like it s being used as political gain. Which is exactly what Trump was trying to use it for. Not out of empathy for the deceased and her family, but rather to try to bring it back to himself somehow.Right after the incident that took his cousin s life, Wade took to Twitter to say Enough is Enough in regards to these senseless acts of gun violence.My cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016RIP Nykea Aldridge #EnoughIsEnough DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016The city of Chicago is hurting. We need more help& more hands on deck. Not for me and my family but for the future of our world. The YOUTH! DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016These young kids are screaming for help!!! #EnoughIsEnough DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016Good on Wade for speaking out even during this very sad time.Watch part of Wade s interview here:Dwyane Wade says Trump s tweet following death of his cousin left a bad taste in his mouth https://t.co/Dkx4JDIlia pic.twitter.com/kLJ0U49pQH ABC News (@ABC) September 1, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
8,209 | Protesters keeping kids away from Cleveland Republican convention | (Reuters) - A Milwaukee-based immigrants rights group canceled plans to take children to demonstrations outside the Republican National Convention, which starts on Monday, citing fears of violence after last week’s shootings in Dallas. Voces de la Frontera (Voices from the Border) typically includes children in its marches, seeking to humanize the debate over immigration policy, but opted against that in Cleveland because “things can escalate,” group member Daniel Gutierrez said. Donald Trump is expected to officially become the Republican candidate for president at the convention, which runs from Monday to Thursday, when myriad protest groups from around the country are expected to converge on Cleveland. Protests at Trump campaign events have turned volatile, and tensions could be heightened by the presence of citizens carrying firearms. Ohio gun laws will allow people to openly carry firearms at the protests, while more innocuous items such as tennis balls, umbrellas with steel points and water guns will be prohibited. Police said the presence of openly carried weapons complicated their job at the Dallas protest shootings, when a former U.S. Army reservist shot dead five police officers, seeking revenge for police killings of black men. About 45 members of Voces de la Frontera plan to participate in a Coalition to Stop Trump rally on Monday, said Gutierrez, adding that he was unafraid that others may bring guns. “If anything comes up that puts our lives at risk, we definitely are not going to stand there. If anything breaks out, just remove ourselves from there. Go to a safe location,” Gutierrez said. Brad Sigal, a spokesman for the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, said his organization was training marshals to keep the group safe, primarily by steering members clear of potential confrontations. About 50 of its members would travel to Cleveland, he said. “There will be a lot of police there, there may be counterprotests, but we’re there to get our message out and that’s what we’re going to do,” Sigal said. “We’re aware of the situation and preparing for it.” Rustbelt Medics, a group of street medics that volunteers first aid at political events, has been conducting medical training in preparation for the convention. Gloria Tavera, a medical student and street medic with the group, says Rustbelt Medics will have trained about 50 people prior to the convention. “Part of the training definitely involves what happens when people get hit by rubber bullets,” Tavera said. | 1 |
8,210 | EU lawmakers propose cuts in aid to Turkey tied to membership bid | STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Parliament proposed on Wednesday to reduce EU funds to Turkey that are linked to its stalled bid to join the bloc, a call EU leaders are expected to back given a deteriorating relations with Ankara. Of the 217 million euros set to go to Turkey for reforms, infrastructure and agriculture in 2018, EU lawmakers agreed to cut up to 80 million euros. Of that, 50 million euros should be cut at first, with a further 30-million-euro reduction if Turkey does not improve its human rights record. Turkey is not respecting freedom of speech, freedom of expression, human rights and is drifting further away from European democratic standards, said centre-right lawmaker Siegfried Muresan, who led the budget discussions. We cannot pretend we don t see that, he told Reuters, emphasizing that the cuts would affect only the money earmarked for political reforms, not for infrastructure and farming. EU leaders must still sign off on the cuts but are expected to do so after an agreement at a summit last week to reduce the so-called pre-accession aid that is meant to help EU candidate countries prepare for membership. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who pressed for action on Turkey during her re-election campaign, described Turkish behavior on human rights as unacceptable in Brussels last Thursday. The European Parliament s decision came on the first day of the trial in Istanbul of 11 human rights activists in Turkey, including a German and a Swedish national. At the EU summit, Merkel said that the rule of law in Turkey was moving in the wrong direction , in a reference to the large-scale purge that President Tayyip Erdogan has carried out following a failed coup attempt in July 2016. While the EU condemned the coup attempt, the scope of Erdogan s response, his detention of U.S. and European citizens including dual nationals, and his jibes at Germany for what he has called Nazi-like behavior have soured EU-Turkey ties. Erdogan says the purges across society are necessary to maintain stability in a NATO country bordering Iraq and Syria. Launched in 2005 after decades of seeking the formal start of an EU membership bid, Ankara s membership negotiations were always sensitive for France and Germany because of Turkey s status as a large, mainly Muslim country. They are not officially frozen, despite calls from Austria to formally scrap Turkey s EU membership program. That is in part because the EU relies on Ankara to take in Syrian refugees in return for billions of euros of aid. But a majority of EU countries, led by Germany and the Netherlands, say it no longer makes sense to fund political reforms in Turkey when formal EU membership talks have not taken place since last year. Aside from money that the EU gives Turkey as part of its 2016 migration deal, Ankara was set to receive 4.4 billion euros from the EU between 2014 and 2020. Some EU governments want that money to go to non-governmental groups in Turkey, not to Ankara. | 1 |
8,211 | Jennifer Lawrence: When You Attack Planned Parenthood, You’re Attacking All Women | Jennifer Lawrence has been speaking her mind lately. In an interview with GLAMOUR, the Academy Award-winning actress went no-holds-barred on a lot of issues, including the recent attacks on Planned Parenthood. She said: It s so awful. It isn t an attack on abortions; it s an attack on women. Because Planned Parenthood is so much more [than abortion]. My mom was really religious with me when I was young. She s not so much anymore. And I wouldn t have been able to get birth control if it weren t for [Planned Parenthood]. I wouldn t have been able to get condoms and birth control and all these things I needed as a normal teenager who was growing up in a Jesus house. Lawrence was referring to the November attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, when Robert Lewis Dear killed three people and wounded nine. Planned Parenthood, which delivers sex education and reproductive health care to women, has faced attacks before. There have been three attacks since September after an anti-abortion group accused Planned Parenthood of selling baby parts. The flames were fanned by Republicans, including presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who said: They were certainly caught on film, that there is no doubt that they were selling baby parts. That is unambiguous. The videos show senior Planned Parenthood officials selling the parts of unborn children, and it is a federal criminal offense. It s a felony to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That accusation has proven to be false, but the damage done when a public figure makes such statements is enormous, similar to Trump s verbal attacks on Islam, which has caused a spike in attacks on Muslims across the United States. Lawrence s feelings about the Republican party are already documented: I was raised a Republican, but I just can t imagine supporting a party that doesn t support women s basic rights. Lawrence believes that Planned Parenthood provides important services to women, and she was horrified by the recent attacks. She said: I am a successful woman who has not had a pregnancy . [Laughs] But seriously. What harm comes from supplying people with birth control, condoms, Pap smears, and cancer screenings? She s right. Planned Parenthood provides services to women that they wouldn t have access to otherwise. A recent study shows: For the millions of poor women who depend on Planned Parenthood clinics, this scenario would mean the loss of affordable and accessible contraceptive services and counseling, as well as breast and cervical cancer screenings and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Later in the interview, Lawrence was asked why she decided to take a stand on major issues. She said: I keep going back and forth on being opinionated My business is based on everybody buying tickets and seeing my movie. It s not smart, business-wise, to be opinionated. But then what s the point in having a voice at all if I m not going to use it for what I truly believe in? You can read a transcript of Jennifer Lawrence s full interview here. | 0 |
8,212 | Obama cuts short prison sentences for 214 convicts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama cut short the prison terms of 214 convicts on Wednesday, the largest number of commutations a U.S. leader has granted in single day since at least 1900, the White House said. Obama has now granted a total of 562 commutations during his presidency, more than the number by the past nine presidents combined, it said. In Wednesday’s batch, 67 convicts were serving life sentences. The convicts were serving time for crimes including possession of crack cocaine and methamphetamine, with intent to distribute. Some were imprisoned on charges of gun possession. One of the convicts, James Wright of Baltimore, Maryland, was serving a 20 year sentence that began in 2006 for possession of crack with intent to distribute. He will be released in December. Obama has worked to reform the U.S. criminal justice system and reduce the number of people serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offences. It is a rare issue on which Obama gets support from Republican lawmakers. For years crack offenders faced stiffer penalties than powder cocaine offenders, even though the substances are similar at the molecular level. Critics have said the disparity has unfairly harmed minority and poor communities. In 2014, Obama announced the most ambitious clemency program in 40 years, inviting thousands of drug offenders and other convicts to seek early release. But the program has struggled under a flood of unprocessed cases. “Our work is far from finished,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston said about the commutations. Eggleston urged Congress to take action. “While we continue to work to act on as many clemency applications as possible, only legislation can bring about lasting change to the federal system,” he said. The program automatically expires when Obama leaves office next January and it is uncertain whether the next president would continue with a similar plan. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 8 election, has championed “law and order” in his campaign. Democrat Hillary Clinton has called for criminal justice reform. | 1 |
8,213 | South Korea military says North Korea missile presumed to be Hwasong-14: Yonhap | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they presume North Korea fired a Hwasong-14 long-range ballistic missile on Wednesday, the South s Yonhap News Agency reported. A military spokesman told Reuters he could not confirm the report. | 1 |
8,214 | Bundy Militant Files $666 BILLION Lawsuit Against Government For ‘Damages From The Works Of The Devil’ | The moment the initial members of the Bundy militants were arrested, effectively ending the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, one thing was for certain: as paranoid, anti-government conspiracy theorists, these people could be counted on for some absolute batsh*t crazy legal defenses. But no one could anticipate the sheer stupidity of their other legal filings.Shawna Cox, the woman who falsely claimed that LaVoy Finicum was executed with his hands in the air when in actuality he was attempting to pull a gun on law enforcement, filed a lawsuit against the big, bad federal government. Cox is seeking a whopping $666,666,666,666.66 in damages because she says the government harmed her in performing works of the devil including her attempted execution.KATU reports that Cox, who managed to convince the court to do her a special favor in allowing her to attend Finicum s funeral, quickly found her lawsuit tossed out because her claims are not cognizable in this criminal proceeding and will not be addressed in this case. Cox maintains that she did not interfere with public employees when she and her friends undertook an armed occupation of the Refuge because it was their choice not to come to work out of guilt, that federal employees were secretly extending the boundaries of Malheur, and says that she is being maliciously prosecuted by the State and Federal Bar Association members because they do not want to be held accountable for their subversive activities against the people of the United States of America. No one is safe from her wrath. Cox says she will be asking the jury to render civil and criminal charges against a number of public officials, including All of the Oregon State Bar members, and public employees who were involved in the persecution, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective council involving the incarceration of the Hammonds, including each and every one of them who violated the separation of powers and held offices in the judiciary and / or legislative and /or executive branches at the same time, anyone who interfered with the militia s attempt to form an illegal and unrecognized Grand Jury to prosecute public officials, and all involved in the ambush that attempted to execute myself and others and executed LaVoy Finicum. She also says she wants charges against all state, public, and federal officials involved in organizing and authorizing the ambush execution of myself and others including LaVoy Finicum as well as all of the state employees involved in the ambush that attempted to execute myself and others, and resulted in LaVoy Finicum s murder. Cox specifically names Judge Grasty, Senator Cliff Bentz, Harney County Prosecutor Tim Calhoun, Governor Kate Brown, U.S. prosecutors Dwight Holton, Kirk Engdall, Kelley Zusman, S. Amanda Marshall, Judge Hogan, and Judge Ann Aiken as well as officials who committed crimes against the Hammond family and myself by omissions and misprision [sic] pf felony s [sic], Sheriff David Ward and Special Agent Katherine Armstrong.She says she is seeking the $666 billion in damages because these individuals subjected her to damages from the works of the devil. If this seems nuts to you, you re probably right. These armed and crazed individuals declared war on the federal government, openly, and have essentially received a slap on the wrist for their anti-government efforts.Words can not describe the insanity of this woman s claims, so read them for yourself. Shawna Cox's claim for damagesFeatured image via Oregon Live | 0 |
8,215 | REPORT: Chaos Reigns Inside The White House As Trump Considers Firing Priebus And Flynn | Donald Trump can t handle the complexity of running the White House and heads are reportedly going to roll for it.It has now been over three weeks since Donald Trump took over the White House and he still can t deal with all the problems that have plagued his administration. Infighting, power grabs, and ineptness have created an atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust.Reince Priebus has done a poor job as chief of staff while Sean Spicer, whom Priebus supported for Trump s Press Secretary, has done an equally poor job by embarrassing himself and Trump every time he faces reporters at the daily press briefing.National security adviser Michael Flynn, meanwhile, just got busted negotiating with the Russian government over sanctions in violation of the Logan Act. Flynn lied about talking to the Russian ambassador prior to Trump taking over the presidency and the Logan Act specifically bars citizens from negotiating with foreign powers. The White House is showing not the amount of order that we need to see. I think there s a lot of weakness coming out of the chief of staff, Trump supporter and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told CNN recently.Axios reports that many staffers are insecure because Trump only respects people who are personally financially successful, which is why he chose many Goldman Sachs executives and employees to work for the administration.A White House source also told Axios that Trump and his team have to put out 400 fires a day. Yeah, it s apparently THAT chaotic.The source further told Axios that Flynn is certain to be canned soon because he committed an unpardonable sin by making Trump and Pence look like fools.Donald Trump has no clue what he is doing and he only digs a deeper hole by pretending that he does. His ego is so fragile that he won t concede that he can t do the job. His advisers each have an agenda of their own and they are fighting with each other for Trump s ear. It also doesn t help that Trump s advisers are inept whenever the appear on television to defend their boss.Trump also has to deal with reports that Steve Bannon is basically calling the shots, leading many people to refer to Bannon as President Bannon. That must really be bruising Trump s ego.Frankly, Trump only has himself to blame for the chaos in the White House. He actually thought he would be inheriting President Obama s White House staff and found out rather late in the game that he would have to hire his own. Furthermore, Trump didn t drain the swamp, he just hired actual snakes to make the swamp dirtier.Our country can t take four years of Trump and his minions in office. A lot of damage has already been done and in order to prevent irreversible damage Trump and his administration need to be ousted before our nations pays severe consequences for the mistake made on November 8, 2016.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
8,216 | OUTRAGEOUS VIDEOS: WATCH THE LEFTISTS BLAME THE VICTIM AND DENY THE TRUTH | The point is Alan Dershowitz made this absurd comment earlier, that the only people who are engaging in these violent ideological war are Muslim. That s not true. You can go to Uganda right now and see gay people killed for being gay by Christians, by rogue Christian organizations. We can go around Africa, around Europe, around South America and find all these people. MARC LAMONT-HILLWE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH: | 0 |
8,217 | Lebanon PM Hariri resigns, assails Iran and Hezbollah | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned on Saturday, saying he believed there was an assassination plot against him and accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world. His resignation, a big surprise to Beirut s political establishment, brought down the coalition government and plunged Lebanon into a new political crisis. It thrust Lebanon into the front line of a regional competition between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran that has also buffeted Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. A Saudi government minister said Hariri was in Riyadh to ensure his safety. Hariri, who is closely allied with Saudi Arabia, alleged in a broadcast from an undisclosed location that Hezbollah was directing weapons at Yemenis, Syrians and Lebanese. In comments directed at Iran, he said the Arab world would cut off the hands that wickedly extend to it . Hariri s coalition, which took office last year, grouped nearly all of Lebanon s main parties, including Hezbollah. It took office in a political deal that made Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, president, and was seen as a victory for Iran. The resignation risks exacerbating sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shi ite Muslims and returning Lebanon to paralysis in government. An official at the U.S. State Department said it was following the situation closely and noted that Hariri had been a strong partner in building strong national state institutions and in the war on terror . The official added the United States expects an orderly political process in Lebanon and will remain supportive of the legitimate institutions of the Lebanese state . It was not immediately clear who might succeed Hariri, Lebanon s most influential Sunni politician. The prime minister must be a Sunni in Lebanon s sectarian system. Aoun must appoint the candidate with most support among MPs, who he is expected to consult in the coming days. We are living in a climate similar to the atmosphere that prevailed before the assassination of martyr Rafik al-Hariri. I have sensed what is being plotted covertly to target my life, Hariri said. Rafik al-Hariri was killed in a 2005 Beirut bomb attack that pushed his son Saad into politics and set off years of turmoil. A U.N.-backed tribunal has charged five Hezbollah members over the killing. Hezbollah denies involvement. The Saudi-owned pan-Arab television channel al-Arabiya al-Hadath reported that an assassination plot against Hariri was foiled in Beirut days ago, citing an unnamed source. Saudi Arabia s Gulf Affairs Minister Thamer al-Sabhan said in a television interview that Hariri s personal security detail had confirmed information of a plot to kill him. Lebanon s internal security force said in a statement on the reports that it had no information about the matter. Hariri said Hezbollah and Iran had brought Lebanon into the eye of a storm of international sanctions. Iran was sowing strife, destruction and ruin wherever it went and he accused it of a deep hatred for the Arab nation . Aoun s office said Hariri had called him from outside Lebanon to inform him of his resignation. He has postponed a visit to Kuwait and directed military and security agencies to maintain stability , it said. Hariri flew to Saudi Arabia on Friday after a meeting in Beirut with Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Afterwards, Velayati described Hariri s coalition as a victory and great success . Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, will address Hariri s resignation in a televised speech on Sunday, Hezbollah-affiliated media reported. A member of Hezbollah s central committee, Sheikh Nabil Kawouk, accused Riyadh of being behind Hariri s resignation, saying in a speech reported by Lebanon s al-Jadeed television: God protect Lebanon from the evil of Saudi Arabia s reckless adventures. Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon s Druze minority, said Lebanon was too weak to bear the consequences of Hariri s resignation, saying he feared political and economic fallout. We cannot afford to fight the Iranians from Lebanon, he told Reuters, advocating an approach of compromise with Hezbollah in Lebanon while waiting for regional circumstances to allow Saudi-Iranian dialogue. Iran s Foreign Ministry said Hariri s departure was a plot to create tension in Lebanon and the region . Hariri s resignation was done with planning by Donald Trump, the president of America, and Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said Hussein Sheikh al-Islam, adviser to Iran s supreme leader. Sabhan, the Saudi minister, echoed the language of the Lebanese politician saying in a tweet: The hands of treachery and aggression must be cut off. Israeli politicians also used Hariri s resignation to criticize Iranian influence in Lebanon. His words are a wake-up call to the international community to take action against Iranian aggression, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Hezbollah s close ties to Iran and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war with rebels have been a major source of tension in Lebanon for years. Beirut has adopted a position of disassociation from the conflict, but this has come under strain with Hezbollah and its allies pushing for a normalization of ties. Since taking office, Hariri had worked to garner international aid for Lebanon to cope with the strain of hosting some 1.5 million Syrian refugees. The government s collapse complicates preparations for next year s parliamentary elections, Lebanon s first since 2009. Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters there was no danger to Lebanon s economy or its currency. Joseph Torbey, head of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, said there was no risk to monetary stability because the central bank had large reserves and there was confidence in Lebanese banks. Lebanon has one of the world s highest ratios of debt-to-GDP and last month passed its first budget since 2005, one of the few achievements of the coalition government. The United States is considering new sanctions on Hezbollah, as part of a tougher stance against Iran and its allies, that Lebanese politicians have fretted could hurt the economy. | 1 |
8,218 | Senate rejects bid to repeal war authorizations | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment on Wednesday that would have forced the repeal of war resolutions used as the legal basis for U.S. military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and against extremists in Syria and other countries. The Senate voted 61 to 36 to kill the measure, which six months after it became law would have put an end to authorizations for the use of military force (AUMF) passed in 2001 and 2002. The legislation was offered by Republican Senator Rand Paul as an amendment to a must-pass annual defense policy bill, which lawmakers are using as a vehicle to gain a greater say in national security policy. Paul’s measure was aimed at asserting the constitutional right of Congress to approve military action, rather than the president. Some of the other amendments address issues such as sanctions on North Korea and President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops in the military. Many members of Congress are concerned the 2001 AUMF, passed days after the Sept. 11 attacks to authorize the fight against al Qaeda and affiliates, has been used too broadly as the legal basis for a wide range of military action in too many countries. The majority of support for the amendment came from Democrats, who joined Paul in arguing that it is long past time for Congress to debate a new authorization for the use of force. “We should oppose unauthorized, undeclared, unconstitutional war. At this particular time, there are no limits on war,” Paul said. Republicans control majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Only two other Republicans backed the amendment. Opponents said it would endanger U.S. forces already deployed in conflicts overseas by generating uncertainty about their mission. “Repealing the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs without simultaneously passing a new authorization would be premature, it would be irresponsible,” said Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. However, McCain and several other senators who spoke against the amendment said they would back efforts to pass a new authorization through so-called “regular order,” including hearings and debate. A growing number of lawmakers argue that using the 2001 authorization is especially questionable for the campaign against Islamic State, which did not exist when it was passed, and fights against al Qaeda in Syria and elsewhere. | 1 |
8,219 | China defends ally Pakistan after Trump criticism | BEIJING (Reuters) - China defended its ally Pakistan on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States could no longer be silent about Pakistan’s “safe havens” for militants and warned it had much to lose by continuing to “harbor terrorists”. Trump on Monday committed the United States to an open-ended conflict in Afghanistan, signaling he would dispatch more troops to America’s longest war and vowing “a fight to win”. Trump insisted that others - the Afghan government, Pakistan, India and NATO allies - step up their own commitment to resolving the 16-year conflict, but he saved his sharpest words for Pakistan. Senior U.S. officials warned security assistance for Pakistan could be reduced unless the nuclear-armed nation cooperated more in preventing militants from using safe havens on its soil. Critics say Pakistan sees militants such as the Taliban as useful tools to limit the influence of old rival India. Pakistan denies allowing militants refuge on its territory, saying it takes action against all groups. Asked about Trump’s speech, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Pakistan was on the front line in the struggle against terrorism and had made “great sacrifices” and “important contributions” in the fight. “We believe that the international community should fully recognize Pakistan’s anti-terrorism,” she told a daily news briefing. “We are happy to see Pakistan and the United States carry out anti-terror cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, and work together for security and stability in the region and world.” China and Pakistan consider each other “all-weather friends” and have close diplomatic, economic and security ties. China has its own security concerns in the region, in particular any links between militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan and Islamist groups China blames for violence in its far western region of Xinjiang. “We hope the relevant U.S. policies can help promote the security, stability and development of Afghanistan and the region,” Hua said. | 1 |
8,220 | Sean Hannity Loses His Sh*t After Getting His Ass Handed To Him By New York Times Writers | It s time for Sean Hannity to join Bill O Reilly in the unemployment line.On Saturday, the New York Times published an article reporting that Donald Trump gets policy advise from Sean Hannity among many others outside the White House. Sean Hannity tells the president that keeping promises on core Republican issues is crucial Presidents always deploy surrogates to appear on television to spout their talking points, but Mr. Trump has expanded on that by developing relationships with sympathetic media figures like Mr. Hannity who also serve as advisers. Mr. Hannity, the Fox News host, defends Mr. Trump s most controversial behavior in public, but privately, according to people close to Mr. Trump, he urges the president not to get distracted, and advises him to focus on keeping pledges like repealing the Affordable Care Act. Indeed, Hannity served as Trump s chief propagandist during the 2016 campaign and often did interviews with Hannity in order to get the kid gloves treatment.Of course, Hannity had a complete meltdown on Twitter over the article and proceeded to accuse the New York Times of colluding with Hillary Clinton and referred to them as fake news, which is something Trump would do.@nytimes You colluded with HRC in 2016. It s none of your business who i do or do not talk too. Total fake news speculation about me/@POTUS Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 22, 2017Hannity even accused the Times of spying on his private conversations.@nytimes Any conversation I have with ANYONE is supposed to be PRIVATE. I have NEVER talked to you. Was I surveilled and unmasked by u/NSA? Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 22, 2017That s when several New York Times writers jumped in to defend their publication.Maggie Haberman fired back by informing Hannity that sourced cited him as a person Trump talks to for advise and further informed Hannity that Fox News did not object to the story when the New York Times reached out to the network.W all due respect, we were interested in who POTUS talks to, not you, and several ppl close to him cited you https://t.co/sb9y4nDJYt Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 22, 2017Also reached out to Fox News pr, who took no issue w it. And it was hardly critical of you. Not sure why the reax https://t.co/sb9y4nDJYt Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 22, 2017Hannity then claimed that he doesn t talk to the New York Times and said that he doubts Trump does either.The @nytimes has no clue who I talk to as I refuse to EVER TALK TO THEM! @POTUS knows you are FAKE NEWS and I doubt he talks to u either. Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 22, 2017But he s wrong. It turns out Trump has done two in-depth interviews with the New York Times in the last month.Then Glenn Thrush chimed in.I was once sitting with a Republican elected official preparing for an interview when he got an email from u giving him political advice https://t.co/lhn4UFQn7I Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) April 22, 2017Apparently, Hannity forgot about that. He also forgot that he has, indeed, spoken with the New York Times and Nick Corasaniti was kind enough to provide a link to the interview.Here s an interview I did with Sean last year: https://t.co/uUMU1yGcoe https://t.co/QzNFgNxSMi Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) April 22, 2017Yeah, that has to be embarrassing.Anyway, the night passed and Hannity was apparently still pissed off so he imploded on Sunday morning in a series of tweets directed at the trio of writers.Maggie have you ever publicly commented on how @wikileaks revealed the @nytimes colluded with HRC? And then hired @GlennThrush also exposed https://t.co/xPLZpLLzy6 Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017Maggie, why should people ever accept several people close to him as a source, especially when you never contacted me. Did you ask @POTUS https://t.co/xPLZpLLzy6 Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017 Several people close to him Everyone knows people at every WH and every corp. have agendas and leak. Maybe a new standard. On the record https://t.co/xPLZpLLzy6 Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017Not critical of me, but @nytimes has a Biased Anti Trump agenda, and by suggesting @POTUS takes advice from me, is meant to diminish him! https://t.co/vxoNrCkZuX Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017During the campaign I can CONFIRM I and & others suggested he stop tweeting. He never did. He is his own man. In retrospect I now agree. https://t.co/vxoNrCkZuX Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017Yes Nick, I did talk you. Frankly one of the few times the @nytimes was fair to me At some point I decided the @nytimes is Fake News-gave up https://t.co/YiD2nB3OPB Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017Maggie that s called Humor . I don t believe the @nytimes surveilled me. But I am happy people at the @nytimes believe in the Lord! Amen! https://t.co/OcrvOXvsVz Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017Yes KRM is brilliant and successful, but he also runs FNC (hated by @nytimes )and according to @nytimes yesterday he is old school on Issues https://t.co/nGFns5H6ai Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017So anonymous sources should be taken with a grain of salt. People might manipulate say the @nytimes by offering such quotes? We agree!! https://t.co/hghQjfATGk Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017The highlight of your career!! Best Sean https://t.co/jWMcY9ffEj Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 23, 2017Seriously, Fox News should ditch Sean Hannity as well. He has far too many embarrassing meltdowns in public.Featured Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 0 |
8,221 | I Let A Pit Bull Near My Baby, And This Is What Happened (IMAGES) | This is a two-year-old American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT). Her name is Akamara.This is a human baby. His name is Siegmund.Siegmund first met Akamara the day after he was born. We NEVER leave Siegmund alone with Akamara after all, she s dangerous to him. She might quite literally snuggle him to death! Here s what happens:She gets pretty sad about it, but she s only allowed to put her head near him, and only with eyes on her at all times. He s just too small and she s too insistently snuggly.She really wants to lay on that pillow.Nothing to see here, just a ferocious pit bull trying to cuddle with a two-day-old baby.He s almost two weeks old now, and she s getting pretty impatient about it. Why isn t he petting her? Why will he not play tug?Akamara really can t help but cuddle the baby. It s her instinct! Little known to most people, but American Pit Bull Terriers one of several breeds commonly referred to under the broad title pit bulls are nanny dogs. As the United Kennel Club (UKC), which recognizes and classifies APBTs as a breed, states in their breed standard: APBTs make excellent family companions and have always been noted for their love of children. They make bad guard dogs, by the way they re too friendly. Friendlier than you d believe. The American Temperament Test Society rates them higher than many common family breeds, such as golden retrievers! Here s an interesting video by Animalist on pit bulls:// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Dogfighting has existed probably since humans domesticated dogs, and has flourished during the last century as an underground sport. Pit bulls are favored for a number of reasons, but that s not their fault, and it certainly isn t due to their temperament. It s because they bite hard, and when you factor in their size, they bite extremely hard.You can take a territorial, defensive dog a normal personality type across most breeds, which requires socialization and training as a pup to deter aggression and turn them into a fighter. It s criminal, but possible. And those dogs, if rescued, may suffer from PTSD or other mental trauma that increases the chances of an attack, especially if rescued by an inexperienced or unprepared owner. But it s not the breed. It s the choice by dog fighters to use the breed. Even if you restrict the breed, they ll find another.If it came down to it, dogfighters would probably pit chihuahuas against each other. It s the sport and the blood. It s the breeders and fighters, not the dogs. We don t put city-wide bans on cars that can go over 50 mph because a few people are souping them up and racing them. We arrest the racers and take their misused cars away.Akamara is a rescue, but a victim of only neglect. I got her at six months old with mange, no inoculations, and a desperate need for attention. Her immune system was extremely deficient due to mange and allergies, and she s struggled with secondary ear infections her entire young life. I would not advise rescuing an adult dog with unknown history in a house with children.Just remember, this isn t what most pit bulls look like:This is: | 0 |
8,222 | LOL! TRUMP SUPPORTERS Sing “Hey, Hey, Hey Good Bye!” As They Send Antifa, Soros-Paid Democrats In Berkeley Back To Parent’s Basements [VIDEO] | Are you tired of seeing pictures and videos of Trump supporters being beaten and bloodied by Soros paid thugs and Antifa terrorists? Apparently these Trump supporters are also tired of seeing those images and decided to let these domestic terrorists know that their freedom of speech will not be taken away by a bunch of basement dwellers.Watch this video as Trump supporters clear the streets of the anti-Trump attackers and send them running back to their parents basements Listen near the middle of the video where one of the reporters tells viewers, They re kicking out Antifa. Na, na, na, na, na, nah Hey, hey Yeah. Goodbye! Singing after MAGA pushes weak #ANTIFA back in #Berkeley pic.twitter.com/mtKuSwvyeT MAGS4 Trump (@DJTJohnMiller) April 16, 2017As an added bonus, Trump supporters celebrate their victory against Antifa thugs by chanting, We Are The Champions! We are the champions! No time for loser ANTIFA because we are the champions of the world. We won Berkeley! So tired of all this winning! pic.twitter.com/1GjYCMle2D Irma Hinojosa (@irmahinojosa_) April 16, 2017 | 0 |
8,223 | McConnell says planned vote on Obamacare repeal can be amended | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday the Senate will vote on a motion next week to move ahead with a bill to repeal and or replace Obamacare that could easily be amended. “I think we have two options here, I think we all agree it’s better to both repeal and replace, but we could have a vote on either, and if we end up voting on repeal only, it will be fully amendable on the Senate floor and if it were to pass without any amendment at all there’s a two-year delay before it kicks in... so the takeaway from what I’m telling you is no harm is done from getting on the bill,” McConnell told reporters at the White House following a lunch with President Donald Trump and almost all of the Republican senators. | 1 |
8,224 | NSA chief, intelligence director won't comment on Trump conversations | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two top U.S. intelligence officials told a Senate committee on Wednesday they could not comment on conversations with President Donald Trump, in answer to questions on whether he tried to pressure them to curtail the government’s Russia probe. “I’m not going to talk about theoreticals and I’m not going to discuss the specifics of any interaction or conversations ... that I may or may not have had with the president of the United States,” Admiral Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, said at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Similarly, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said it would be inappropriate for him to discuss his own conversations with the president in a public forum. | 1 |
8,225 | WATCH: Fox Host Chris Wallace SMACKS Trump, Asks How Attacking The Media Creates Jobs | When one of Donald Trump s minions appeared on Fox News Sunday to sell bullshit, Chris Wallace was not buying it.For months, Trump has been launching vicious attacks on the media, even going so far as to call them the enemy of the American people and ban several news organizations from White House press briefings.Trump says outlets like the New York Times and CNN are reporting on him inaccurately despite having no proof to support his claims.Also, whining about things seems to be all Trump is capable of doing as he has also attacked the intelligence community, congressmen, businesses, Saturday Night Live, and anyone else who criticizes him.So when Corey Lewandowski appeared on Fox on Sunday, Chris Wallace put the screws to him. The reason we invited you on in the first place, I want to talk about the Trump agenda with you, Wallace began before playing video of Steve Bannon accusing the media of standing in the way of Trump s economic nationalist agenda. These last couple of weeks of Mr. Trump s first days in office have been dominated by attacks on the media and the intelligence community, Wallace continued. Do all of these attacks on the media and intelligence and opponents, does that get in the way of that message? Lewandowski responded by attacking the media, accusing the media of writing 100 percent factually inaccurate reports. Lewandowski then repeated Trump s demand that the media report what he tells them to report instead of investigating and digging for the truth. Why not just pursue his agenda? Wallace shot back. He may be right on that or he may be wrong. But how many jobs does that create? Indeed, attacking the media and the various people and entities that criticize him have not created any jobs for Americans. In fact, Trump is too busy focusing on his obsession with the media than he is on working on behalf of the American people. And that is causing him to lag in comparison to his predecessors, something Wallace was quick to inform Lewandowski about after he tried to claim that the media is forcing Trump to attack them. He s falling behind where other new presidents have been at the same point in their term, Wallace said.Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump needs to seriously sort out his priorities and get his lazy ass back to work instead of using his time to whine. It s unpresidential and will only give the media more to criticize him about.Trump made a promise to create jobs in this country but he is apparently too busy worrying about what the media is saying about him to care about keeping it.Featured image via screeenshot | 0 |
8,226 | White House rejects report critical of Republican health plan | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday rejected a report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office that concluded millions of Americans would lose health insurance under a Republican plan to dismantle Obamacare. U.S. health secretary Tom Price told reporters at the White House that the administration strenuously disagreed with the report, which he said did not look at the full Republican plan and did not take into account regulatory reforms and other efforts to reform healthcare. | 1 |
8,227 | The Libertarian Parody of Star Wars | 21st Century Wire says Worth watching. The Ed Snowden cameo is class. The Star Wars Libertarian Special features Senate filibusters, border patrol stops, eminent domain, a guest appearance by Edward Snowden, and rarely seen footage from Chewbacca s galaxy-trotting documentary series about free-market economics. Watch here: FYI: This parody is not affiliated with the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), though you should watch it if you haven t already. SEE MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Hollywood Files | 0 |
8,228 | Tillerson affirms importance of constructive U.S.-China ties | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke by telephone with China’s top diplomat on Tuesday and affirmed the importance of a constructive U.S.-China relationship, and the two agreed on the need to address the threat posed by North Korea, the State Department said. Tillerson and Yang Jiechi, China’s state councilor who outranks the foreign minister, also discussed economics and trade as well as potential cooperation on counterterrorism, law enforcement and transnational crime, the State Department said in a statement. The call appeared to be the latest effort by the world’s two largest economies to put relations back on an even keel after a rocky start following U.S. President Donald Trump’s November election victory. “Secretary Tillerson and State Councilor Yang affirmed the importance of a constructive bilateral relationship,” the U.S. statement said. “The two sides agreed on the need to address the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability.” The call follows a meeting between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Tillerson on Friday, their first face-to-face encounter since Tillerson began his job at the start of this month. In that meeting, Wang stressed that common interests between China and the United States far outweigh their differences. Trump angered Beijing in December by talking to the president of Taiwan and saying the United States did not have to stick to the “one China” policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it. Trump also accused China of not doing enough to rein in its neighbor North Korea. However, in a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week, Trump agreed to honor the “one China” policy, a major diplomatic boost for Beijing, which brooks no criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan. “China hopes the two countries, following through on the spirit of the phone conversation, could uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation as well as enhance high-level exchanges,” Yang told Tillerson, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. China’s readout of the call did not mention any specific issues, with Xinhua noting only that they also “exchanged some views on a number of international issues.” On Saturday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it would ban all coal imports from North Korea until the end of this year after Pyongyang tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile in its first direct challenge to the international community since Trump took office. China announced in April it would ban North Korean coal imports to comply with U.N. sanctions aimed at starving Pyongyang of funds for its nuclear and missile programs. However, it made exceptions for deliveries intended for “the people’s wellbeing” and not connected to the weapons programs. Other areas of disagreement between the United States and China include trade imbalances and China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. | 1 |
8,229 | U.S. top court hands win to unions, splits 4-4 without Scalia | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Public sector unions triumphed before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday when the justices preserved a vital source of cash for organized labor, splitting 4-4 on a conservative challenge that had seemed destined for success until Justice Antonin Scalia’s death last month. The case brought by non-union public school teachers in California had targeted fees that many states force such workers to pay unions in lieu of dues to fund collective bargaining and other activities. A loss in this case would have deprived unions representing teachers, police, transit workers, firefighters and other government employees of millions of dollars annually and diminished their political clout. The outcome illustrated the impact on the court of the Feb. 13 death of Scalia, the long-serving conservative justice who almost certainly would have cast a decisive vote against the unions. But by virtue of splitting 4-4, the justices affirmed a 2014 lower-court ruling that allowed California to compel non-union workers to pay the fees. “The death of Justice Scalia has proved a disaster for public sector workers who have their paychecks raided by unions,” said Iain Murray, vice president for strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. The court, evenly divided with four liberals and four conservatives, left intact a 1977 legal precedent that allowed such fees, which conservatives have long abhorred. Conservatives for years have tried to curb the influence of public sector unions, which typically back the Democratic Party and liberal causes. “The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a political ploy to silence public employees like teachers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, higher education faculty and other educators to work together to shape their profession,” said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association teachers union. The case reached the high court after a Washington-based conservative group, the Center for Individual Rights, sued on behalf of lead plaintiff Rebecca Friedrichs, an elementary school teacher in Anaheim, and nine other teachers. They argued the fees infringed upon the free-speech rights of non-union workers under the U.S. Constitution. During Jan. 11 oral arguments in the case, Scalia was still on the bench, giving the court a majority of five conservatives. The conservative justices during the arguments voiced support for the non-union teachers. It is the second case in which the court has split 4-4 since Scalia died, with more likely in the coming months, perhaps including major cases on abortion, voting rights and contraception insurance coverage. It remains unclear when Scalia will be replaced. Senate Republicans have vowed to block confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, centrist appellate judge Merrick Garland. Republicans fear Garland’s confirmation would tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades. At issue in the case decided on Tuesday were so-called agency fees equivalent to union dues, currently mandatory for non-union workers under laws in about half the states including California. The decision means the status quo remains, with the unions able to collect fees from non-union workers. California’s non-union teachers pay the union, which has 325,000 members, around $600 annually in mandatory fees for collective bargaining. The non-union teachers’ lawyers said they plan to ask the court to rehear case. “With the death of Justice Scalia, this outcome was not unexpected,” said Terry Pell, president of the Center for Individual Rights. The split decision means there is “ongoing doubt about the constitutionality of its forcible collection of millions of dollars in dues,” Pell added. About 5 million public sector employees are subject to union contracts that include mandatory fee provisions, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which backed the non-union teachers. Organized labor had expressed worries that a ruling throwing out the fees would give employees less incentive to join public-sector unions because they would get all the benefits of collective bargaining undertaken by unions without having to pay for it. The teachers who filed the lawsuit in 2013 asked the justices to overturn the 1977 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that allowed laws that permitted public sector unions to collect fees from workers who were not members as long as the money was not spent on political activities. Agency fees are already banned in 25 states that have so-called right-to-work laws. In those states, unions still represent workers but membership rates are lower. Federal employee unions also cannot collect such fees. The ruling comes as a relief to organized labor because unionized civil servants in states without right-to-work laws comprise its main power base. The court last week also split 4-4 split in a loan discrimination case. Last month, Dow Chemical Co opted to settle a class action case pending before the court for $835 million, citing Scalia’s death as a reason. Scalia was seen as a reliable vote for class action defendants. | 1 |
8,230 | Exclusive: Congress asks U.S. agencies for Kaspersky Lab cyber documents | LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional panel this week asked 22 government agencies to share documents on Moscow-based cyber firm Kaspersky Lab, saying its products could be used to carry out “nefarious activities against the United States,” according to letters seen by Reuters. The requests made on Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology are the latest blow to the antivirus company, which has been countering accusations by U.S. officials that it may be vulnerable to Russian government influence. The committee asked the agencies for all documents and communications about Kaspersky Lab products dating back to Jan. 1, 2013, including any internal risk assessments. It also requested lists of any systems that use Kaspersky products and the names of any U.S. government contractors or subcontractors that do so. Kaspersky has repeatedly denied that it has ties to any government and said it would not help any government with cyber espionage. It said there is no evidence for the accusations made by U.S. officials. The committee “is concerned that Kaspersky Lab is susceptible to manipulation by the Russian government, and that its products could be used as a tool for espionage, sabotage, or other nefarious activities against the United States,” wrote the panel’s Republican chairman, Lamar Smith, in the letters. They were sent to all Cabinet-level agencies, including the Department of Commerce and Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, among others. A committee aide told Reuters the survey was a “first step” designed to canvas the U.S. government and that more action may follow depending on the results. The committee asked for responses by Aug. 11. Kaspersky Lab, founded in 1997 and now counts over 400 million global customers, has tried largely in vain to become a vendor to the U.S. government, one of the world’s biggest buyers of cyber tools. Longstanding suspicions about the company grew in the United States when U.S.-Russia relations deteriorated following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and later when U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election using cyber means. Congress this week slapped new sanctions on Russia, in part in response to the allegations, which Moscow flatly denies. Moscow retaliated by ordering out some U.S. diplomats. U.S. intelligence chiefs in May publicly expressed doubt about the safety of Kaspersky products for the first time, although they offered no specific evidence of any wrongdoing. The government is reviewing how many agencies use software from Kaspersky Lab. In June, FBI agents visited the homes of Kaspersky employees as part of a counterintelligence probe, two sources familiar with the matter said. The Trump administration also took steps to remove Kaspersky from a list of approved government vendors. A defense spending policy bill advancing in the U.S. Senate would prohibit the Department of Defense from using Kaspersky products. Kaspersky employees attending the annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas this week appeared to be largely taking the setbacks in stride. The company cheekily hosted a party at the “Red Square” restaurant and bar, where it invited attendees to don fur coats before entering a vodka freezer to enjoy high-end imported bottles of alcohol. On Tuesday, the company launched a free, global version of its antivirus software, saying in a blog post that it would help “secure the whole world.” | 1 |
8,231 | BREAKING: TEXAS COP STABBED 14 TIMES By Man Who “had a desire to kill a police officer” | Who knew that in our First Black President s second term killing cops would be all the rage in the black community? A Houston Community College police officer has survived an assassination attempt after being stabbed by her assailant 14 times. The officer was saved by civilians who stepped in and stopped the attacker. The attacker told investigators he did this to get back at police for their brutality. A spokesman from the family said it might be related to the Baltimore riots.Officer April Pikes remains in critical condition at Houston s Ben Taub Hospital, a public relations official at the Houston Police Department said to Breitbart Texas. Her alleged attacker, Jeremiah M. Matthews, 23, was pulled off of her by a group of men while he was stabbing her and attempting to grab her pistol, according to a statement from HPD obtained by Breitbart Texas.Harris County prosecutors said that Matthews told them he had the intent to attack a police officer and his desire to kill a police officer, according to a Click2Houston.com report. One of the witnesses, Abe Baker, who helped stop the attack said, I saw him on her, just stabbing her. I wasn t really thinking, Baker said. His arm was just up getting ready to stab her and I just grabbed his arm and took him down, and that s when everybody else came over and we all just took him down. The HPD statement revealed that Matthews stabbed her several times before he was tackled and disarmed. The statement says he was attempting to gain control of her duty weapon. After taking down the suspect, the good Samaritans used the officer s handcuffs to detain Matthews until other police officers arrived and arrested him.The Click2Houston report states that Pike may lose her right arm. She was stabbed repeatedly in her right arm and torso.The scene of the attack was a Walmart located in Meyerland (Southwest Houston), where Pikes was working an approved off-duty security job. Pikes was in uniform when she was attacked. He was in an upbeat mood, whistling and he had a fast pace, walking fast, Baker said of the assailant, who was smiling and cheerful right up until the moment he began his surprise attack. He does have a diagnostic history of mental illness in the past. To what degree that played into what happened, we don t know, local community activist Deric Muhammad said, speaking on behalf of the Matthews family. He said it is possible that Matthews was inspired by the riots in Baltimore Monday night.The weapon was described as a hunting knife in a report by Fox26Houston s Kristine Galvan. That was an innocent woman. She had family, loved ones, Abe Baker told Galvan. That s someone s life and everyone s life counts and matters. Baker said he stopped by the Walmart on a late-night errand to pick up some laundry soap, and came to the rescue when he heard Pikes screams. His quick action, and the response of the other men, probably saved her life. I want to offer my condolences to the victim, said Vanessa Johnson, Matthews mother, in the Fox26 video. As a mother this is painful. I wish her a speedy recovery. My heart and prayers are going out to her and their entire family. The HPD statement from Wednesday morning states that Matthews has been charged with Attempted Capital Murder. His case has been assigned to the 182nd State District Court, which is presided over by Judge Jeannine Barr.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
8,232 | isis uses an industrial dough kneader to kill children roasts adults in a bakery oven in douma syria | mecklenburgcatawba
the complaints noted that the machines wrongly identified a voters choice but in all reported cases the voters were able to correct their ballots before casting them
to my knowledge at this point we dont have any cases where elections officials noted significant problems with any machines based on these complaints of course theyre all looked into and thats why we encourage people to immediately flag down an election official commented gannon
the nc state board of election released the following statement regarding the complaints
the nc state board of elections is aware that some voters have contacted advocacy groups or elections officials with concerns about touchscreen voting machines in several counties
similar reports have been made in recent elections and we take them very seriously
we want to ensure voters that safeguards are in place to ensure touchscreen machines accurately record voters selections
touchscreen machines are tested thoroughly before each election they are recalibrated daily before voting begins to test and ensure accuracy if a voter notices an issue with selection accuracy of a machine they should raise their hand and notify an election official immediately if needed the machine may be taken out of service for recalibration and the voter may be moved to a different machine
also each touchscreen machine prompts voters to review their selections before casting their ballot as with paper ballots voters should check over their selections to ensure accuracy prior to casting their ballot on touchscreen machines voters also can review a realtime audit log that records all of their selections
we urge all voters to carefully review their selections before casting their ballots and to immediately report any questions or concerns to elections officials said kim westbrook strach executive director of the nc state board of elections | 0 |
8,233 | from higher ed to political indoctrination | go to article
the obama department of justice has been corruptly aiding and abetting the democratic partys presidential nominee hillary clinton to escape legal accountability for her actions from attorney general loretta lynch on down through the justice departments political ranks the department has blocked the fbi from searching for the truth and following the evidence of potential criminality to its logical conclusion whether it is hillarys use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state or her involvement in the payforplay clinton enterprise known as the clinton foundation the obama administration is applying a banana republicstyle double standard to pervert justice and the rule of law in order to shield her
lynch and president obama were reportedly furious with fbi director james comey for sending a letter to congress on october th indicating that new evidence potentially pertinent to the email case had come to light which required further investigation this evidence consisted of a batch of emails fbi investigators had found on one or more computers belonging to anthony weiner clinton confidante huma abedins estranged husband while they were searching for evidence in an unrelated case involving weiners alleged sexting to an underage girl comey sent his letter after months of agonizing over his previous decision to let hillary off the hook in the email case last july he was said by a source close to him to have been particularly disturbed by the mounting number of resignation letters from fbi agents who felt betrayed by that decision
department of justice officials had leaned on comey not to send the letter to congress claiming that it would violate department protocols and procedures against taking any action that could be perceived as interfering with the upcoming presidential election to his credit comey ignored the department officials objections claiming he had an obligation to keep the congress and the public informed of any potentially significant new developments in the case
democrats who had lavished praise on comey for his july decision lashed out at comey for sending his letter updating congress senate minority leader harry reid went so far as to make the baseless charge that comey may have violated the law by informing congress because reid argued he appeared to be taking sides in an election the disgraced former attorney general eric holder held in contempt of congress for withholding information relating to the fast and furious scandal said about comeys action i fear he has unintentionally and negatively affected public trust in both the justice department and the fbi it is up to the director to correct his mistake not for the sake of a political candidate or campaign but in order to protect our system of justice and best serve the american people
since when has holder been genuinely concerned about protecting our system of justice and best serving the american people holder had already contributed to the erosion of public trust with his blatant politicization of the obama department of justice as evidenced by the obama department of justices handling of the multiple fbi investigations involving hillary clinton the department has continued its slide into the muck of corruption it interfered with both the normal course of criminal investigations and the election by stacking the deck in hillarys favor ensuring that no indictment would occur to derail her path to succeed obama and preserve his legacy
first the department of justice reportedly refused to empanel a grand jury in either the email case or in connection with the fbis investigation of the clinton foundation payforplay allegations the problem here is this investigation was never a real investigation former assistant fbi director james kallstrom said thats the problem they never had a grand jury empanelled and the reason they never had a grand jury empanelled im sure is loretta lynch would not go along with that
kallstroms belief that lynch acted to influence the results of the fbi probes in hillarys favor is buttressed by lynchs minute private tarmac meeting with bill clinton shortly before fbi director comey faced the cameras on july th with his exculpatory announcement
second at least five immunity agreements were handed out in the email case including to hillarys lawyer and confidante cheryl mills and to platte river networks paul combetta it appears that combetta had previously lied to government investigators a crime in itself while trying to cover up the fact that he had evidently bleachbited emails to delete them even though they had been subject to a previously issued congressional subpoena the immunity agreements garnered nothing in return but had the effect of blocking access to the computer devices of the immunity beneficiaries in the fbis separate clinton foundation investigation apparently the department decided against the alternative option of subpoenaing the computer devices or seeking a search warrant rather than granting useless immunities in order to obtain any evidence relevant to the email investigation that might have been contained in those devices
third the department and fbi did not conduct their last minute interview of hillary clinton under oath and allowed cheryl mills herself a material witness to sit in during hillarys interview they did not ask pertinent followup questions there was no verbatim transcript of the interview to use in checking the veracity of hillarys statements during the interview against her sworn congressional testimony or her many public statements
fourth the department of justice reportedly refused to allow the fbi to issue subpoenas to gather more evidence in connection with its investigation of the clinton foundation payforplay allegations in fact senior department officials reportedly would not authorize a more thorough fbi investigation because they claimed there was not sufficient evidence gathered thus far to justify going further such a circular argument was a mere cover to prevent seasoned career investigators from learning the full extent of foreign government donations while hillary was secretary of state their true motivations and any favors extended by the state department in return
finally the crossconnections between the clintons and some high level department of justice and fbi officials cry out for recusal but not so in this administration for example the wife of the deputy fbi director who was involved in the laggard clinton foundation investigation andrew mccabe just happened to have received a large donation from close clinton ally virginia governor terry mcauliffe to her run for the state senate
to make matters worse the obama department of justice assigned assistant attorney general peter j kadzik a close friend of hillary clintons campaign manager john podesta to communicate with congress about what kadzik promised would be a thorough review of the newly discovered emails from anthony weiners online account
podesta praised kadzik in an email to an obama campaign official back in as a fantastic lawyer and said about his pal kept me out of jail their history together goes further back than that during the waning days of bill clintons presidency it was kadzik then representing the infamous billionaire fugitive marc rich who lobbied podesta then serving as bill clintons chief of staff for a presidential pardon on his clients behalf kadziks lobbying effort no doubt helped along by contributions to hillary clintons senate campaign and to bill clintons presidential library paid off bill clinton delivered the requested pardon on his last day in office
kadzik joined the department of justice in april first as a deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs and then as the principal deputy with the podesta connection intact kadzik has served as a highly placed clinton campaign mole in the department an email dated may from kadzik to podesta released by wikileaks proves the point bearing the subject heading heads up kadzik advised podesta about upcoming congressional testimony by the head of the departments civil division and about another filing in the freedom of information case that would mean it will be awhile before the state department posts the emails podesta forwarded kadziks heads up email to several senior hillary clinton campaign officials with the admonition additional chances for mischief
exploiting his coordinating role in the reopened email investigation and contacts with fbi investigators kadzik will now be in a position to relay inside information to his pal podesta and to provide inside information to the clinton campaigns supporters in congress as well
the clintons manage to turn virtually everything they touch into a cesspool of corruption the obama department of justice is no exception | 1 |
8,234 | Myanmar army opens probe amid reports of killings, abuse of Rohingya Muslims | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar s military has launched an internal probe into the conduct of soldiers during a counteroffensive that has sent more than half a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, many saying they witnessed killings, rape and arson by troops. Coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks on 30 security posts on Aug. 25 sparked a ferocious military response in the Muslim-majority northern part of Rakhine state that the United Nations has said was ethnic cleansing. A committee led by military Lieutenant-General Aye Win has begun an investigation into the behavior of military personnel, the office of the commander in chief said on Friday, insisting the operation was justified under Buddhist-majority Myanmar s constitution. According to a statement posted on Senior General Min Aung Hlaing s Facebook page, the panel will ask, Did they follow the military code of conduct? Did they exactly follow the command during the operation? After that (the committee) will release full information. Myanmar is refusing entry to a U.N. panel that was tasked with investigating allegations of abuses after a smaller military counteroffensive launched in October 2016. But domestic investigations, including a previous internal military probe, have largely dismissed refugees claims of abuses committed during security forces clearance operations . Thousands of refugees have continued to arrived cross the Naf river separating Myanmar s Rakhine state and Bangladesh in recent days, even though Myanmar insists military operations ceased on Sept. 5. Aid agencies estimate that 536,000 people have arrived in the Cox s Bazar district, straining scarce resources of aid groups and local communities. About 200,000 Rohingya were already in Bangladesh after fleeing persecution in Myanmar, where they have long been denied citizenship and faced restrictions on their movements and access to basic services. Myanmar s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has pledged accountability for human rights abuses and says Myanmar will accept back refugees who can prove they were residents of Myanmar. The powerful army chief has taken a harder stance, however, telling the U.S. ambassador in Myanmar this week that the exodus of Rohingya, who he said were non-native Bengalis, was exaggerated. In comments to Japan s ambassador carried in state media on Friday, Min Aung Hlaing denied ethnic cleansing was taking place on the grounds that photos showed Muslims departing calmly rather than fleeing in terror . Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who led a commission set up by Suu Kyi to find solutions for the ethnically and religiously divided Rakhine, briefed the U.N. Security Council and other key states in an informal closed-door meeting on Friday. Some council members are exploring if the 15-member body could agree a formal statement or even a resolution to call for an end to the violence, for full aid access, the safe return of refugees, access for a U.N. fact-finding mission to ensure accountability and implementation of Annan s recommendations. Annan said he hoped any possible Security Council resolution urges the government to really press ahead and create conditions that will allow the refugees to return in dignity and with a sense of security, they should not be returned to camps. | 1 |
8,235 | Clinton leads Trump by five points in White House race: Reuters/Ipsos | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton led Republican Donald Trump by more than 5 percentage points in the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday, little changed in weeks as the U.S. presidential campaign wobbles into the heart of summer. Since July 28, Clinton’s daily support among likely voters in the poll has hovered between a low of 41 and a high of 44 percentage points. She was at 41 percentage points on Thursday, down slightly this week. Trump’s support has moved slightly more, ranging from a low of 33 percentage points to a high of 39 points. He was at 36 points on Thursday, up slightly this week. Among registered voters, Clinton was ahead by 9 points on Thursday, 42 to 33. At this point in the 2012 election, both President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney had solidified their support, and Romney held a 45 percent to 41 percent lead, with only 14 percent of likely voters not picking one of the two candidates. Trump, a New York businessman seeking his first elected office, has been mired in controversies in recent days, and many establishment Republicans have begun to distance themselves from his campaign. He drew heavy criticism for suggesting gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement he later said was meant to rally votes against her. On Thursday he repeatedly accused Clinton and Obama of being co-founders of the Islamic State militant group. On Friday he said the remarks were meant to be sarcasm. On Thursday, the number of likely voters who were not picking either Clinton or Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election was 22 percent. That number has remained stubbornly in the 20- to 25-point range for weeks. Despite that, neither of the alternative candidates is gaining traction. In a four-way race, Libertarian Gary Johnson saw his support dip slightly to 7 percentage points on Thursday, down from a high of nearly 9 points earlier this week. Green Party nominee Jill Stein was at about 3 points on Thursday, largely unchanged. The results on Thursday were taken from a sample of 1,446 registered voters and 1,116 likely voters surveyed between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11. The results have a credibility interval of plus or minus 3 percentage points. | 1 |
8,236 | Zimbabwe to start compiling new voter register next week | HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe on Friday said Zimbabwe will begin compiling a new voter register next week ahead of the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections, in which the 93-year-old is seeking to extend his 37-year hold on power. Mugabe said in an official government notice that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would start registering voters on Sept. 14 and would end the process on Jan. 15. Opposition parties have been demanding a new roll for voters and have previously accused Mugabe s ruling ZANU-PF party of manipulating the existing register. ZANU-PF denies these accusations. Mugabe also told the central committee of his ZANU-PF on Friday that his party should galvanize supporters to register anew. He said Western powers were behind the last month s reunification of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change but added that the opposition would still be defeated by ZANU-PF in next year s votes. We know of course they are creatures of the West whose sole purpose is to dislodge ZANU-PF from power. But really, they come together as a bundle then one blow against a bundle will set the bundle in pieces, Mugabe said to applause from ZANU-PF members. | 1 |
8,237 | MALIA OBAMA TO ATTEND UNIVERSITY With 5.9% Acceptance Rate…Black Privilege? [VIDEO] | While both of her parents travel around the country giving commencement speeches at colleges and universities about the oppression and discrimination they ve experienced throughout their miserable existence, their oldest daughter (who attended one of the top private schools in America) will be getting ready to attend her mother, father and grandfather s alma mater. Harvard University accepted 2,032 students for the class of 2016, an acceptance rate of only 5.9%. Lucky Malia she will be part of that exclusive group of kids who are fortunate enough to attend such a prestigious university. Black privilege?The White House confirmed on Sunday that the President s eldest daughter will take a gap year after graduating from high school in June.The White House confirmed the story after student newspaper The Tab posted a picture of Malia wearing a Harvard t-shirt.She will then begin her studies at the prestigious institution in Massachusetts in 2017, joining the Class of 2021. The president and Mrs. Obama announced today that their daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in the fall of 2017 as a member of the Class of 2021, said a short statement issued Sunday by first lady Michelle Obama s office. Malia will take a gap year before beginning school. Here is our racist First Lady attempting to convince America she has been held down her entire life:And here is poor Michelle again bemoaning her experiences with race and sex discrimination:It follows months of speculation on whether she would end up at an Ivy League or pursue film at New York University.- Daily MailWhite privilege? Not so much How White and Asian students are fighting back in court against affirmative action that provides special consideration for Blacks and Hispanics in the college admissions process:The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin G. Scalia could affect the Court s upcoming decision in Fisher v. Texas, an affirmative action case that experts say may change the admissions processes of universities including Harvard.Harvard University waded into a Supreme Court battle over affirmative action in colleges and universities last week, with a full-throated defense of racial diversity. The university submitted an amicus curiae brief to the court, which is preparing to consider the case of Abigail Fisher for the second time. Fisher has charged that she was not admitted to the University of Texas at Austin because she is white. Not only does diversity powerfully transform a student s educational experience, but the benefits also reach beyond the walls of our campus they go to the heart of our democracy, wrote lawyers representing Harvard. Forbidding institutions of higher education from considering race in deciding whom to admit would represent a significant intrusion into the academic freedom of universities. The Fisher case could force colleges and universities to stop considering race as a factor in admissions. A decision in Fisher s favor could affect not just public universities like UT-Austin, but any college that receives federal aid, including Harvard. The university is facing a separate lawsuit (PDF) alleging that it discriminated against Asian American applicants because of its policy of considering race in deciding whom to admit to the school. Universities should not be compelled to ignore that students of different races and ethnic backgrounds often grow up separated and apart from one another, not exposed to others experiences, perspectives, and values, wrote lawyers for Harvard in the Fisher brief. Harvard s concern is misplaced. No one is suggesting that all holistic admissions criteria at the University of Texas or elsewhere should be eliminated only an applicant s race and ethnicity, said Edward Blum, who runs a legal defense group that helped propel Fisher s case to the Supreme Court and is also behind the Asian discrimination suit against Harvard. Still, the university was adamant that it needs to look at the racial background of students who apply. Harvard s graduates cannot be blind either to the challenges facing our increasingly pluralistic country or to the unresolved racial divisions that stubbornly persist. | 0 |
8,238 | MISSING DETAILS: Orlando Shooting 911 Transcripts Questioned, Survivor’s Story Challenged | Shawn Helton 21st Century Wire The FBI have finally released the written transcripts from shooter Omar Mateen s supposed 911 call and now apparently unredacted. Meanwhile, another story of survival at Pulse nightclub is called into question.Will this tell us anything new about this event, or will it just prompt even more questions? NIGHT OF TERROR? A serene setting following the Orlando shooting attack on June 11th (Image Source: twitter)Shaky Storyline, Missing DetailsWhile the focus on Orlando shooter Omar Mateen s 911 transcripts is over what was included and what was not, and while the national media argue endlessly over the need for more gun control in the US the most important aspect of the FBI supplied transcript seems to have gone virtually unnoticed. There s no discussion of an actual shooting occurring inside of the Pulse nightclub.While the report has a basic outline of America s largest mass shooting it fails to account for any of the shootings said to have occurred within the Pulse nightclub, with no mention of individuals being shot at or reportedly shot at in the FBI s official narrative. It s as if they just left out the biggest piece of the puzzle.This has become an all to common theme, as media press conference rituals shape a narrative within the first hours of a mass casualty event and even if that story turns out to be mostly false, the media runs with it anyway, whether or not law enforcement information and crime scene analysis belies the original narrative pushed by media. The most clear example of this happened during the aftermath of the WTC 1993 bombing, where major media outlets exposed it as an FBI run sting with their operators in control yet still, media anchors called it an al-Qaeda led attack.So when you consider what happened in Orlando, one should question the lack of shooting details- why is this aspect of the story left open for interpretation when every other part of the official timeline appears to be accounted for?While the media conveniently overlook this important detail, the implications of this could be very significant in determining who shot who, and when.Interestingly, the description of the Orlando shooting even includes mention of the Orlando Police Department pulling an air conditioning unit out of a Pulse dressing room to evacuate victims, a multi-call crisis negotiation, the alleged shooter s outrageous claims of a bomb-laced vest and authorities breaching the back wall of the nightclub with an explosive charge and yet, no mention of additional shots fired at patrons inside the club?Here s a portion of the FBI s summary of events that excludes any mention of shots fired within the interior of the club itself: Based on OPD radio communications, there were no reports of shots being fired inside Pulse between the initial exchange of gunfire between responding officers and shooter, and the time of the final breach. During this time, the shooter communicated with an OPD 911 operator and an OPD crisis negotiator, and OPD radio communications reported that victims were being rescued. Here s a more basic chronology of the Orlando shooting, as told by the FBI: 2:02 a.m.: OPD call transmitted multiple shots fired at Pulse nightclub. 2:04 a.m.: Additional OPD officers arrived on scene. 2:08 a.m.: Officers from various law enforcement agencies made entrance to Pulse and engaged the shooter. 2:18 a.m.: OPD SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) initiated a full call-out. 2:35 a.m.: Shooter contacted a 911 operator from inside Pulse.3:03 a.m.: Second crisis negotiation call occurred lasting approximately 16 minutes. 3:24 a.m.: Third crisis negotiation call occurred lasting approximately three minutes.4:21 a.m.: OPD pulled an air conditioning unit out of a Pulse dressing room window for victims to evacuate.4:29 a.m.: As victims were being rescued, they told OPD the shooter said he was going to put four vests with bombs on victims within 15 minutes.5:02 a.m.: OPD SWAT and OCSO Hazardous Device Team began to breach wall with explosive charge and armored vehicle to make entry.5:14 a.m.: OPD radio communication stated that shots were fired. 5:15 a.m.: OPD radio communication stated that OPD engaged the suspect and the suspect was reported down. The Orlando shooting details state multiple shots [were] fired at Pulse nightclub at 2:02 am, as Additional OPD officers arrived on scene, at 2:04 am, with law enforcement engaging the shooter at 2:08 am there is no other mention of shots fired until police exchange fire with the alleged suspect after breaching the wall at 5:15 am.Question: Would it really be possible for Mateen to have accurately shot over 100 people, take hostages and engage in a fire fight with officers in just a 6 minute time frame?This scenario is hardly likely, if not impossible.Additionally, what happened during the apparent crisis negotiation from 3:24 am to 4:21 am, why have the FBI chosen not to elaborate on those details?Matten s weapons of choice during the apparent attack were a Sig Sauer MCX .223 caliber rifle and a Glock 17 9mm semi-auto pistol and according to the official story, was far more accurate than most well-trained law enforcement agents, defying statistical averages as examined by the Rand Corporation.Let s take another look at the extensive Rand study involving the NYPD, here are the following statistics as it relates they firearm accuracy: According to a 2008 Rand Corporation study evaluating the New York Police Department s firearm training, between 1998 and 2006, the average hit rate during gunfights was just 18 percent . When suspects did not return fire, police officers hit their targets 30 percent of the time.Another aspect of the Orlando shooting attack was the possibility that many club goers could have been injured by authorities, something that also seemed to be absent from the official story. Here s a passage from WFAA8, an ABC affiliate discussing this point: Orlando Police Chief John Mina and other law enforcement officers offered new details about the shooting, including the possibility that some victims may have been killed by officers trying to save them. I will say this, that s all part of the investigation, Mina said. But I will say when our SWAT officers, about eight or nine officers, opened fire, the backdrop was a concrete wall, and they were being fired upon. Police also used an explosive charge and a Bearcat armored vehicle to breach the wall as civilians were allegedly holed up in a bathroom. This has led some critics to consider the possibility that non-combatants could have become collateral damage during the SWAT siege at Pulse.Political Fallout & Media EngineeringAlso of note regarding the Orlando shooting event, was the obvious attempt to ramrod new ready-made gun legislation (struck down just two days ago) just over a week after the incident.Back in November of 2012, it was reported that the White House, along with other Democrats were already busy rewriting old gun-ban legislation just prior to the Sandy Hook shooting. The Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007, otherwise known as H.R. 1022 of the 110th Congress, it introduced an early list of gun-bans and restrictions but was dropped due to lack of public support. A similar set of laws failed after the Oregon campus shooting in 2015.While big media has been busy trying to sell the public on the most tragic shooting in America. They ve also been attempting to fill in a series of unexplainable blanks by seemingly re-writing the Orlando narrative, with a wave of contradictory information. In essence, the corporate media has boiled down two choices in the motive for the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting suggesting it s either a hate crime or terrorism.And since then it s become problematic to blend certain elements of the official story in the Orlando shooting case, prompting Attorney General Loretta Lynch to state the motive may never be known in the alleged crime after key aspects of the 911 transcript were redacted and a decision was made to block audio from the 911 call.No motive, no audio, redacted transcripts and conflicting reports of the shooting, isn t that convenient.The whole episode immediately recalls the much fabled death of Bin Laden and the political and media fiasco that followed the Abbotabad raid in Pakistan all of which failed to reveal any real forensic evidence, as President Obama withheld post-mortem images of Bin Laden, including video of the sea burial of the purported terror leader.The fact is, none of the media s grandstanding or politicized hyperbole has offered anything in terms of actual evidence as the public has been deliberately steered towards multiple storylines while politicians go through another gun control/gun reform ritual on the Senate floor. QUIET EMERGENCY? A calm scene at Orlando Regional Medical Center hospital prior to apparent Pulse nightclub victims arriving for medical attention. (Image Source: twitter)Orlando s Staged Elements & False ClaimsRecently here at 21WIRE, we discussed much of the corporate media s theatrical depiction of the Orlando shooting and the widespread characterization of the event, which has been reduced to two categories that of a lone gunman and a saddened community centered on the sociopolitical ramifications of the incident, rather than an in-depth forensic analysis of the alleged crime itself.In addition, we outlined some of the various Hollywood and media connections observed in the aftermath of the apparent Orlando shooting attack, as it was revealed that the world s largest security firm G4S, who had employed the man named in the Orlando pulse nightclub shooting, Omar Mateen is also client of the mass casualty and crisis actor staging company called CrisisCast.As if that wasn t enough, we re also now being told that alleged Pulse nightclub survivor Clint Lampkin s account of the shooting has been called into question by media. The following is a YouTube clip from Wochit news reviewing the inconsistencies found by the CBS-affiliated television station WHNT-TV The following was released by FOX6 on June 21st, examining WHNT-TV s findings over the weekend that have since been removed from the network s website: On Saturday, hundreds of people in Alabama were captivated by an impromptu speech by Clint Lampkin, a man who claimed to be a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. I was in the bar when it all happened, Lampkin told the crowd at the Rocket City Pride Memorial Service in Huntsville. It s been hard on me seeing people get shot. Lampkin said the hate he witnessed first-hand is still overwhelming. It s really strong. I mean not just for my friend but all the others that lost their lives. It s hard you know. It really is. It s really sad, Lampkin says.Continuing, the recently published article outlined the contradictory nature of Lampkin s comments made during a memorial service and a Facebook post on his personal account on the morning after the shooting:(Left side screen shot of Lampkin s strange comment after the Orlando attack) But now, Lampkin s story is being called into question.One of Lampkin s Facebook friends sent WHNT a screenshot of one of Lampkin s Facebook posts from June 12, which shows he shared the story about the shooting and wrote: Glad I wasn t at that one. Lampkin told WHNT his Facebook account was hacked and that he never made that post. He still claims he was at the Pulse Nightclub the night of the shooting. I have really bad anxiety attacks, so I just kinda, I don t know, my mind is just gone, he told WHNT.WHNT asked for other details surrounding the night of the shooting, and Lampkin gave the same response that the trauma he witnessed has somehow erased his memory and made it difficult to remember the name of the friend who was allegedly shot dead: I did lose a friend that got shot, he told the crowd on Saturday. WHNT asked Lampkin for the name of his friend who died inside the club. He answered that he had only known each other for a short time and didn t remember the victim s name. Lampkin s Facebook profile states that he s an associate at Tobacco Warehouse and a cashier at Arby s. CEO of Free2Be and organizer of the Rocket City Pride Memorial Service, James Robinson, has subsequently fielded calls claiming Lampkin s story is untrue.This again has become another unexplained and unresolved aspect in the Orlando shooting event.Rehearsal Drills Train the PublicThe staging of inter-agency drills often precedes an area stricken by a tragic event. Here at 21WIRE, we ve documented a number of drills taking place in the days, months, years, in a nearby city leading up to a dramatic mass casualty incident.As we previously reported Orlando s Orange County had been running a number of mass casualty drills in recent years.As stated before, these emergency response drills often take place prior to a real-life active-shooter scenario. The Orlando Sentinel reported the drill on October 2nd, 2015, one day after the Oregon shooting, an event that also saw drills prior to a shooting at Umpqua Community College. Here s a passage of the Sentinel s report: During the Emergency Nurses Association s annual meeting on Friday, a mock shooter blew himself up, killing and injuring 100 local volunteer actors. There was blood, screams and moans, wounds and dead people all fake to create a realistic training environment for more than 40 nurses who had signed up for the exercise.They quickly began tending to patients, assessing the extent of their injuries. The NBC-affiliated WESH2 in Orlando stated that Nurses attending to mock patients knew they were in for a drill, but they had no idea it would be a mass casualty/active shooter test. Was the Pulse nightclub shooting a drill gone live, with both real and unreal elements? HEAVY MAKE-UP In another plot twist, an alleged ex-lover of Mateen s named Miguel has re-energized the hate crime narrative pushed by media.(Image Source: xaluan)According left-leaning latin American broadcast TV outlet Univision: Omar Mateen, the Muslim gunman who committed the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, was 100 percent gay and bore a grudge against Latino men because he felt used by them, according to a man who says he was his lover for two months. I ve cried like you have no idea. But the thing that makes me want to tell the truth is that he didn t do it for terrorism. In my opinion he did it for revenge, he told Univision Noticias anchor Maria Elena Salinas in an exclusive interview in English and Spanish on Tuesday. He said Mateen was angry and upset after a man he had sex with later revealed he was infected with the HIV virus.Asked why he decided to come forward with his story, he said: It s my responsibility as a citizen of the United States and a gay man. The man said he had approached by the FBI and been interviewed three times in person by agents. Univision was unable to independently verify his account. The FBI confirmed to Univision that it had met with him. Suddenly, the alleged shooter Omar Mateen is a gay lover scorned, and not an ISIS-inspired terrorist? Note here that Miguel could be seen wearing a very expensive, complex Hollywood-level make-up facade, and one could easily deduce here that Miguel is an actor of sorts, if not a professional.It should also be noted that Univision, who collaborate heavily with CNN on a number of sensational and politicized stories, led the way in spoiling the crime scene of the alleged shooter Omar Mateen s apartment in Orlando accessing his property and fiddling with the suspects belongs on camera only days after the Pulse nightclub event. This media segment was clearly staged, not least of all because at that time law enforcement announced they were conducting a terrorism and mass-murder investigation. If that were the case, then the suspect s home would have been classed as a crime scene and its contents considered as evidence.Judging by Univision s immediate media access to the property, it should be fairly obvious, as it was after the exact same San Bernardino media fiasco last December, that the apartment would not have been deemed a real crime scene in an international or domestic terrorism investigation. Watch: For over a week, the public has been drip fed information about the Orlando shooting attack much of which has led to even more questions. To major media, the event is all but a forgone conclusion tightly wrapped up with all the fear-inducing talking points on both the left and right side of the political aisle without clearly looking at the alleged crime itself.In fact it seems, that the media has sought to draw the viewer away from the incomplete Pulse nightclub story line, a narrative that as of yet has failed to explain the connection of a crisis staging company (CrisisCast) to that of the alleged shooter s security company (G4S), as well as many Hollywood/acting/media connections discovered, such as Luis Burbano, Shawn Royster Santiago, Patience Carter, Omar Mateen, Francesca Hunt and Brian Mitchell add to that, those who witnessed multiple shooters or any shooting within the interior of the nightclub, in addition to the mismatched tweets and Facebook posts that displayed inaccurate time frames or cult of personality types such as Clint Lampkin, whose story just doesn t add up.We re now told that the FBI is continuing to build a timeline of Mateen s whereabouts before the attack, stating he paid for entry at Pulse then subsequently disappeared for a two-hour period between when he left the club and returned. It s anyone s guess what will be next in the Orlando shooting story.END OF PART 3Stay tuned for more Orlando shooting updates SEE ALSO: CASTING CRISIS: Orlando s Actors, Agents and Casualty Role PlayersREAD MORE ORLANDO SHOOTING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Orlando FilesHelp support us by becoming a 21WIRE Member at: 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
8,239 | Clinton: More Europe can do to help U.S. combat terrorism | (Reuters) - Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the attack in Brussels that killed more than 30 people is the “latest brutal reminder” that more must be done to defeat Islamic State militants, including by European Union member countries. In an address at Stanford University in California, Clinton said the United States and Europe should take a “harder look” at protocols at airports and other “soft sites” that are outside security perimeters. Clinton also said “there is much we can do to support our European partners” but “there is also more they can do to share the burden with us.” Clinton said she would like to see more European countries investing in defense and security in the way Germany has during the Obama administration. “The most urgent task is stopping the flow of foreign fighters to and from the Middle East” who are citizens of France, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom with European passports that make it easier for them to cross into Syria and return radicalized, Clinton said. Clinton said that many European nations do not currently alert their neighbors when they turn away a “suspected jihadist” at their border or when a citizen’s passport is stolen. European Union countries also need to share traveler information more readily, Clinton said. “It’s actually easier for the United States to get flight manifests from EU nations than it is for EU nations to get them from their own neighbors, thanks to an agreement that the United States negotiated when I was secretary of state,” Clinton said. Additional steps that could be taken in Europe are the creation of a “new, unified, European border and coast guard” to strengthen the external borders of a continent that is under “unprecedented pressure from refugees and migrants,” Clinton said. Clinton also praised past partnerships between the United States and Europe, calling the NATO alliance between North American and European countries one of the best investments that America has made. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has in recent days said that the United States should rethink its involvement in the decades-old alliance. Clinton also took aim at Trump, along with presidential rival U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, when she slammed “offensive, inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes all Muslims,” including those who could be partners in the fight against terrorism. | 1 |
8,240 | New law needed to allow torture victims to sue Afghan government: activists | KABUL (Reuters) - Human rights activists are urging Afganistan s President Ashraf Ghani to expand anti-torture laws enacted months ago to allow victims abused by security forces to seek restitution and compensation. A Redress Annex attached to the anti-torture law would allow victims to take the government to civil court, something not currently allowed under the law, say activists. The annex has been drafted and its backers hope Ghani will sign a decree making it an official part of the law. A spokesman for Ghani s office did not respond to requests for comment. As of now, it is up to the government to investigate and prosecute members of its own security forces who are accused of torture, something activists and investigators say is rare. The pervasiveness of torture in Afghanistan makes its criminalization and the prosecution of alleged torturers an urgent priority, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Patricia Gossman wrote in a post calling for the annex to be enacted. But the government also needs to enshrine in law the rights of torture victims to redress for their suffering. If prosecutors delay, a compensation system would create a new avenue for holding the government accountable, she said. Human rights investigators have praised recent moves by Ghani s administration to criminalize torture, but at a practical level reports of torture continue to be widespread. In April, a U.N. report said measures by the government had failed to reduce torture, with nearly 40 percent of conflict-related detainees interviewed by the investigators reporting that they had been tortured or mistreated by Afghan security forces, mostly the police and intelligence services. Among the methods described in the report were severe beatings to the body and soles of the feet with sticks, plastic pipes or cables, electric shocks, including to the genitals, prolonged suspension by the arms, and suffocation. Allowing victims to sue in civil court would ensure that they receive compensation and create a public record of torture cases, said Shaharzad Akbar, a civil society activist who works on anti-torture causes. Governments across the world are hesitant to prosecute their employees, so redress creates a civil mechanism for the public to hold government accountable, she said. This leads to an internal conversation in the government about the responsibility of government entities to prevent torture. | 1 |
8,241 | Patrick Stewart Literally Paid A Guy To Not Vote For Donald Trump (IMAGE) | Patrick Stewart despises Donald Trump so much that he had to make himself feel better by paying a guy to NOT vote for him.The actor most known as Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men film franchise was in New Orleans earlier this week and spotted a homeless man holding up a sign stating that in exchange for $1 he would not vote for Trump.Not only did Stewart give him $1, he gave him four more dollars on top of that for extra measure. Made me forget the humidity for a moment. Worth 5 bucks, Stewart wrote on Twitter complete with an image of the man and his sign.Made me forget the humidity for a moment. Worth 5 bucks. pic.twitter.com/lRvEoZ31mF Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) May 11, 2016This isn t the first time Stewart has slammed Donald Trump. Just week ago, he expressed to Vice that he can t believe anyone takes Trump and his antics seriously. Well, of course, we had no idea that Dreadful Trump would be up to these antics that he is up to now. And I call them antics because how could they possibly be taken seriously. Stewart made the remarks in response to being asked how Donald Trump s extremism and support among white supremacist groups makes his latest film Green Room, in which Stewart portrays a Neo-Nazi, timely.Clearly, Patrick Stewart is not a Donald Trump supporter, and who can blame him?Donald Trump is the scariest political candidate in the presidential race and the fact that a man with strong support from white supremacists and other racist hate groups could very well end up becoming the leader of the free world is a nightmare all too close to turning into reality.Faced with this kind of person in office, perhaps we should all give five dollars to people to keep them from voting for Trump.Featured image via Wikimedia | 0 |
8,242 | Alec Baldwin Didn’t Even Wait For Trump To Whine About SNL Before Smacking Him Around (VIDEO) | Alec Baldwin didn t even wait to taste Trump s salty yet delicious tears after his brilliant Saturday Night Live smackdown of the 2016 nominee. Baldwin perfectly captured the disaster that was Trump s performance during the second presidential debate, but the true magic happened on Twitter no, we re not talking about the actor nonchalantly retweeting Trump s tantrum. We re talking about how he perfectly anticipated the meltdown and left a response before the show was even filmed.After the show aired, The Donald had a full-blown meltdown on Twitter (because where else?) one Baldwin retweeted to make sure the world saw what a mess Trump is.While the world recognized how badass this was Baldwin essentially firing a rocket launcher at Trump s stupid plane and walking away without so much as looking at the explosion what many are missing is that he didn t even need to say a word. He already did that on Friday in anticipation of the 2016 GOP nominee s oh-so-predictable meltdown. Before Trump said a word, Baldwin had a response prepared: Fuck your feelings. He even used a photo of one of The Donald s deplorables to do it.It s disheartening that the GOP can t field someone who won t be baited into a full-blown tantrum by someone making a few jokes about him. But this is where we re at. Be sure to vote BLUE on November 8 (not November 28 as Trump told his Deplorables at a rally recently). This is probably the first time we ve had the literal life or death of our nation riding on an election.Featured image via Getty Images/Paul Hawthorn | 0 |
8,243 | The Democratic Party Has Never Done This Before, And It’s A Big Victory For Human Rights | The draft version of the Democratic Party platform released on Friday evening contains a provision pushing for an end to the death penalty in America. It is something the party has never done before, even though it has fielded candidates opposed to the criminal punishment.Progressives are rightly pointing it out as a considerable move in the right direction.The latest draft of the party s platform, released Friday, says the death penalty has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment that has no place in the United States of America. The inclusion of the provision represents a victory of sorts for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders a longtime opponent of the punishment who has said he is remaining in the presidential race in order to fight for progressive causes.Sanders offered mild praise for the platform Friday evening, tweeting, The Democratic Platform includes some accomplishments that will begin to move this country in the right direction. The party platform is not binding, and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton has not completely come out against the penalty. During the primary debates, Clinton said she believed it had very limited use in the case of the most extreme crimes, like terrorist attacks similar to 9/11.The inclusion of anti-death penalty language continues the forward momentum seen over the last few years in which several states have banned the practice.The United States is only one of 36 countries in the world that still has capital punishment. It is banned in 103 countries, and in another 50 countries it has not been used for 10 years while still remaining on the books.Executions have been trending downwards in America over the last few years. In 2009, 52 people were executed, dropping to 35 in 2014 and 28 in 2015. So far in 2016, 14 people have been executed in the United States with the most recent being Earl Forrest on May 11, 2016 in Missouri. Forrest killed two people in a drug dispute, then killed a sheriff s deputy in an ensuing shootout.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
8,244 | Traffic Signs Hacked With Pro-Bernie And Hilarious Anti-Trump Messages (VIDEO) | On your way into work you may occasionally see portable electronic traffic signs that keep you aware of oncoming traffic problems or perhaps an exit being closed. Here s the thing, though, those signs can be programmed to say anything. Which is exactly what happened to the Texas Department of Transportation early on Tuesday morning in Dallas, Texas.Three signs seemed to be affected, with one reading, Bernie for President, and another reading, Work is Canceled Go Back Home. However, the third one said something pretty damn hilarious, and perhaps honest, who s really to know without proof it s not. It read, Donald Trump is a Shape-Shifting Lizard! Check it out here:I'm not sure this is what @TxDOT meant for this road sign to say #Dallas @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/4iPldtM9gJ Tim Ciesco (@TimCiescoNBC5) May 31, 2016The Texas Department of Transportation seemed to quickly become aware of what the signs were now saying and promptly sent someone out to turn them off, as seen here:UPDATE: TxDOT crews just came and turned off the hacked sign here at Westmoreland & I-30 pic.twitter.com/fB4B6ik6UJ Tim Ciesco (@TimCiescoNBC5) May 31, 2016This likely won t be the last time something like this happens considering this presidential election has been one of the most bizarre ones in recent memory. I mean, for goodness sake, Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee. It really doesn t get much more bizarre than that. And for the sake of America, let s make sure he doesn t actually win.Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
8,245 | Russia and USA, after Tillerson talks, agree modest steps to mend ties | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States agreed to set up a working group to try to mend their battered ties on Wednesday after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held lengthy talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin and the Russian foreign minister. It was not clear until the last minute whether Putin would grant Tillerson an audience, but the fact that he did is likely to be seen as a sign that Moscow has not given up on the new U.S. administration and wants to try to improve ties which both sides agree are languishing at a post Cold War low. A joint news conference between Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Tillerson showed how much work there is to do though as the Russian used many of his speaking opportunities to lambast Washington over its actions in Syria and what he said was its unhelpful foreign interference in the past. Tillerson, on his first visit to Russia in his current role, struck a more conciliatory stance, but said ties and trust levels were at a low point and restated Washington’s position that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must eventually relinquish power, a position starkly at odds with Russia. “There is a low level of trust between our two countries,” Tillerson said. “The world’s two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship.” Lavrov said that while Russia was not placing its hopes in Assad or any other individual in Syria, toppling the Syrian government was not an option and that a political process had to be allowed to play out. “We discussed Assad today,” said Lavrov. “I don’t remember any positive examples of how a dictator was overthrown and everything was just fine afterwards.” Differences over a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base last week also bubbled to the surface. Washington says it acted to punish the Syrian government for what it said was a devastating nerve gas attack Damascus launched against its own people that killed scores. Russia said the U.S. strike was illegal though and Lavrov repeated Moscow’s stance on Wednesday, saying an international investigation should be left to determine who was to blame and what happened. It was wrong to blame Assad without knowing the facts, he said. Tillerson said the United States was confident that Assad’s forces were behind the gas attack, but said there was “no firm information” to indicate Russian forces were involved in the same attack. In a move that slightly softened the atmosphere, Lavrov said Putin had agreed to restore a U.S.-Russia air safety agreement covering Syria which Moscow suspended in retaliation for the U.S. missile strikes. The agreement would be reactivated with immediate effect, Viktor Ozerov, the head of the Russian upper house of parliament’s defense committee told the RIA news agency. | 1 |
8,246 | Vietnam finds misconduct in city that will host APEC summit | HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam s ruling party watchdog on Monday said it had uncovered misconduct by the top officials in a central city that will host world leaders for an Asia-Pacific summit in November, as the communist state steps up a campaign against corruption. The report of irregularities in Danang marked a widening of probes that have so far focused largely on banks and state energy firm PetroVietnam. Government critics say internal power struggles also fuel the graft crackdown. The party s inspection committee said Nguyen Xuan Anh, party chief of Danang and a member of the party s central committee, had not set a good example by receiving and using cars and houses provided by companies. Anh was also accused of dishonesty, incorrect declarations on qualification certificates, violating party standards and imposing personnel that damaged party solidarity, the committee said in a statement on the government s website. Reuters could not contact the Danang party offices outside office hours to seek comment on the accusations. The tourist city of Danang will host world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, China s Xi Jinping and Russia s Vladimir Putin at the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in November. The party watchdog did not make any link between its findings and the hosting of the summit, for which roads, meeting halls and a new airport terminal have been built. There has also been major private investment in new hotels. Punishment of senior officials ahead of major events is unusual in Vietnam and points to the tougher stand against corruption since the security establishment gained greater influence in the party last year. The committee also found Huynh Duc Tho, Danang city people s committee chairman, responsible for violations in land management and human resources, adding it had reached the point where punishment is necessary . The people s committee in Danang could not be reached outside office hours to seek comment. The committee also recommended action against the chairman, former chairman and senior officials of state chemical group Vinachem over reports of mismanagement that caused losses. | 1 |
8,247 | Analysis: Trump Lied 53 Times During His Congressional Speech | Recently, the mainstream media (yes, including the liberals ) fawned over President Trump s presidential address to a joint session of Congress. Why? Because he actually acted like a semi-decent human being. Instead of going off script on his usual childish tantrums and praise of himself, he stuck to the teleprompter and delivered a pretty forgettable speech.There was just one tiny thing that the mainstream media failed to notice: his speech was absolutely riddled with lies. And when we say riddled, we mean a significant chunk of the things he said in his hour speech were either misleading, factually incorrect, or flat out falsehoods.The Center for American Progress found that in the 61 minutes President Trump spoke, he lied 53 times. That s one lie almost every minute.Through an incredibly detailed spread sheet, CAP was able to identify every false statement and correct it for the record. It s pretty damning to see how often and easily the President of the United States can lie to the American people.Among President Trump s most egregious lies were:Everyone knows Trump lies and lies often. We ve known this since the campaign. We know that everything listed above can be easily disproved. The only reason Trump got high marks for his speech was 1) less people watched than the previous one, 2) more Republicans watched than independents and Democrats, and 3) he spoke normally. Besides that, it was typical Trump: an ill-informed demagogue who stokes fear by racially scapegoating Mexicans and blaming everything on President Obama.The media (and indeed the American electorate) cannot let President Trump get away with being a shameful liar simply because he talks in a polite voice and stays on script. America is better than to forgive this fascist after all he s done to this country and our standing in the world. Be vigilant.Featured image Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
8,248 | Tillerson's Asia trip not seen producing concrete action on North Korea: State Dept | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will have “substantive, hard” talks with U.S. partners in Asia on next steps in dealing with North Korea, but his visit this week is not likely to produce an immediate specific response, the State Department said on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t predict that there’s going to be concrete action out of his trip,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a briefing on Wednesday when asked if Tillerson expected firm commitments on moving forward against North Korea. “I think this is a chance for him to have a lot of substantive, hard discussions with our allies and partners in the region about possible next steps, again recognizing that the threat of North Korea, frankly, is only growing stronger,” Toner said. Tillerson is visiting South Korea, Japan and China on his Asia trip. Asked what Tillerson would tell Asian trading partners following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal negotiated by his predecessor, Toner said the secretary’s message would be that trade is a vital U.S. stimulus. “We want to pursue trade, we believe in trade,” Toner said. “Trade is good for American workers, it’s good for American companies, but we want to do that on a bilateral basis and ... we want to ensure a level playing field for U.S. workers and U.S. companies.” | 1 |
8,249 | Obama picks centrist high court nominee; Republicans unmoved | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama selected Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, choosing a centrist judge meant to win over recalcitrant Senate Republicans whose leaders wasted no time in spurning the Democratic president. A bruising political fight is brewing over the nomination, which also promises to figure in the already contentious campaign for the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. The Republican-led Senate’s leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Obama nominee. Garland, 63, was picked to replace long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13. A Chicagoan like Obama, he serves as chief judge of the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is a former prosecutor who in the past has won praise from both Republicans and Democrats. Wasting no time in pressing its case for Senate confirmation, the administration is dispatching Garland to Capitol Hill on Thursday to huddle with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Judiciary Committee Democrat and then with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Such meetings are aimed at shoring up Senate support for the nominee and generating media coverage. The lifetime appointment to the high court requires Senate confirmation. Obama’s announcement prompted a flood of reaction from private groups that will work to advance or kill the nomination. The UAW, representing automobile, aerospace and some agricultural workers, call Garland “a distinguished, moderate judge with more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history.” National Rifle Association Executive Director Chris Cox said, “A basic analysis of Merrick Garland’s judicial record shows that he does not respect our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.” Republicans, hoping a candidate from their party wins the presidential election, are demanding that Obama leave the seat vacant and let his successor, to be sworn in next January, make the selection. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is leading among Republicans for the nomination. Obama’s former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is the front-runner for the Democrats. Obama said Republican senators should give Garland a fair hearing. He said that failing to do so “will not only be an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair.” Such a move, he said, would also undermine the reputation of the Supreme Court and faith in the American justice system. “Our democracy will ultimately suffer as well,” Obama added, as he introduced Garland at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Scalia’s death left the nine-member Supreme Court evenly split with four liberals and four conservative justices. Obama’s nominee could tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades, which could affect rulings on contentious issues including abortion, gun rights, the death penalty and political spending. Obama said the Supreme Court was supposed to be above politics and it should remain so. Obama said that with politics in the United States so polarized, “this is precisely the time when we should play it straight, and treat the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness and care it deserves.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky swiftly reiterated that the Senate will not consider the nomination by the president. A McConnell spokesman said the senator had spoken by phone with Garland and would not hold a “perfunctory meeting” with him. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican, added, “This person will not be confirmed, so there’s no reason going through some motions and pretending like it will happen, because it’s not going to happen.” Some cracks began appearing in McConnell’s strategy of completely shutting out the nominee. A handful of Republican senators including Susan Collins of Maine, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Rob Portman of Ohio said they would be willing to meet with Garland. Collins said the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold confirmation hearings. Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch, whose past support of Garland was cited by Obama, said the pick does not change his view “at this point” that no Obama nominee should be considered. Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is in a tough re-election battle, said, “Should Merrick Garland be nominated again by the next president, I would be happy to carefully consider his nomination.” Garland is the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Republican Richard Nixon in 1971 nominated Lewis Powell, who was 64. Presidents tend to pick nominees younger than that so they can serve for decades and extend a president’s legacy. Obama may reason that the choice of an older nominee might also entice Senate Republicans into considering his selection. Garland would become the fourth Jewish member of the nine-member court. There are five Roman Catholics on the court. Obama considered but passed over Garland when he made two prior Supreme Court appointments. With solid Republican support, the Senate voted in 1997 to confirm Garland to his present job in a bipartisan 76-23 vote after he was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton. Garland is widely viewed as a moderate. He is a former prosecutor who served in the Justice Department under Clinton. He oversaw the prosecution in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case including securing the death penalty for the lead defendant, anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh. In his current post, he is known for narrow, centrist opinions and rhetoric that is measured rather than inflammatory even when in dissent. Standing in between Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during the Rose Garden ceremony, an emotional Garland referred to the Oklahoma City bombing case, saying, “Once again, I saw the importance of assuring victims and families that the justice system could work.” Obama said he fulfilled his constitutional duty by naming a nominee and said it was time for the Senate to do its job. “Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should a senator,” Obama said. Obama, in office since 2009, has already named two justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor, who at 55 became the first Hispanic justice in 2009, and Elena Kagan, who was 50 when she became the fourth woman ever to serve on the court in 2010. Democrats praised his latest choice. “If Merrick Garland can’t get bipartisan support no one can,” Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said. Hillary Clinton called Garland “a brilliant legal mind,” urging the Senate to move ahead with the confirmation process. Trump said it was critical for Republicans to take back the White House to avoid Democrats shaping the Supreme Court for decades to come. | 1 |
8,250 | Catalonia cannot accept 'illegal' control from Madrid, says regional leader | MADRID (Reuters) - The people of Catalonia cannot accept the illegal measures taken by the Spanish government to rule the region directly from Madrid, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Saturday, as he called on the regional parliament to act against them. Puigdemont said the decision by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to fire the regional government and force a new election, which will be effective next Friday, was the worst attack against the institutions and the people of Catalonia since the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco. I ask the parliament to meet in a plenary session during which we, the representatives of the citizens sovereignty, will be able to decide over this attempt to liquidate our government and our democracy and act in consequence, Puigdemont said in a televised speech. | 1 |
8,251 | U.S. proposes cutting total biofuels requirements in 2018 | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the volume of biofuel required to be used in gasoline and diesel fuel next year as it signaled the first step toward a potential broader overhaul of its biofuels program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed total volume marked a slight decline from current levels and was more than 20 percent below targets laid out in a 2007 law. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, requires increased volumes of renewable fuels each year, but the proposal would keep targets for use of conventional biofuels at current levels. The agency has begun preparations to reset future biofuel targets, said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. His proposal was met with praise and calls for broader reform from the petroleum industry and mixed response from biofuels producers. Environmentalists, who have been critical of ethanol, called for Congress to reform the program. The RFS has become a battlefield between corn and oil interests. The law has been a boon to agriculture, supporting economies across the Midwest’s Corn Belt. The EPA’s proposed cuts to advanced and cellulosic biofuels “will have a chilling effect on the push toward next generation biofuels,” said Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. Petroleum companies say the biofuel targets are impossible to meet and add billions of dollars in costs. The plan would require companies to blend a total of 19.24 billion gallons of renewable fuels in the country’s fuel supply next year. The proposal is “consistent with market realities focused on actual production and consumer demand while being cognizant of the challenges that exist in bringing advanced biofuels into the marketplace,” Pruitt said in a statement. The agency would keep the 2018 target for conventional ethanol at 15 billion gallons, unchanged from 2017, and set the requirement for advanced biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, at 4.24 billion gallons. These latest volumes confirmed an earlier Reuters report for volumes well below the 26 billion gallons of renewable fuels outlined by Congress in 2007. The law was aimed at cutting U.S. oil imports and boosting the use of renewable fuels. The EPA also requested comments related to concerns that the biofuels requirements increasingly are being met by supplies from Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia. The agency proposed setting the requirements for cellulosic below the current year’s levels at 238 million gallons and kept biomass-based diesel requirements at 2.1 billion gallons for 2019, unchanged from the levels set for 2018 under former President Barack Obama. Development of cellulosic biofuels has been slower than expected by lawmakers when they set up the program, stymied by regulatory delays and the economic downturn. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil companies, including BP America and Chevron Corp (CVX.N), praised the move to lower the overall requirements but said the proposal did not go far enough. Ethanol groups praised the agency for maintaining the target for conventional ethanol, which is mostly produced from corn in the United States, but were critical of the move to lower the advanced targets. “We are concerned that by reducing the cellulosic (requirement), this proposal may weaken the signal to the marketplace,” said Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association. “Today’s proposal underscores the need for the U.S. Congress to take the bull by the horns and reform the Renewable Fuel Standard to protect our clean water, our public health, and our wildlife,” said National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara. Prices of U.S. renewable fuel credits rose 4 cents to trade at 75 cents apiece. Biodiesel credits were up 3 cents at $1.145 each, traders said. | 1 |
8,252 | Polling safeguards stepped up after Trump's 'rigged election' claim | (Reuters) - Authorities in Philadelphia will station prosecutors throughout the city on election day to respond to any reports of voter intimidation or other illegal activity after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed that polling might be “rigged” in this mostly minority city. Philadelphia is one of many U.S. municipalities wrestling with how to respond to Trump’s call for supporters to “watch” polling places, and corresponding promises from civil rights groups that they will send their own backers to the polls. “All of our election judges will be provided with cell phones that have direct access to the district attorney’s office of Philadelphia,” said Tim Dowling, chief deputy to City Commissioner Lisa Deeley. “As soon as you cross the line, you’re going to be dealing with law enforcement.” The Nov. 8 presidential election has been among the most contentious in the nation’s history. Trump, whose campaign has been shaken by allegations that he groped numerous women after a video surfaced in which he made lewd comments about groping women, has refused to promise that he will accept the results of the election if he loses to Democrat Hillary Clinton. This week, Trump told supporters to “watch” polling places in such cities as Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago - all with large minority populations. As Trump has slipped in the polls, he has repeatedly said the election is “rigged” against him. Fearing that to be true, voters in Denver have been calling officials seeking reassurance, said Amber McReynolds, the city’s director of elections. “Voters will call in and say, ‘Is the election rigged?’ McReynolds said. “We try to explain how the process works. ... Rigging an election is pretty much impossible.” Various election experts, including Republicans, have said that it is virtually impossible to rig a presidential election, and numerous studies have shown that voter fraud in U.S. elections is very rare. In Arizona, a traditionally Republican state where polls have recently begun to show an increase in support for Clinton, poll workers are being trained to deal with an expected onslaught of observers, said Elizabeth Bartholomew, spokeswoman for elections officials in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. In North Carolina, where a local Republican party headquarters was badly damaged on Sunday in an unsolved arson attack, state elections officials are taking extra steps to address poll security. On Wednesday, the state elections board’s executive director, Kim Strach, sent county elections officials a memo outlining examples of prohibited behavior at polling places and emphasizing that state and federals laws bar intimidation and coercion at the polls. In Philadelphia, teams from the district attorney’s office will be stationed throughout the city, ready to respond at a moment’s notice, Dowling said. The city is also increasing security at polling places, demanding for the first time identification even from credentialed poll-watchers sent by political parties. The city has activated such teams in previous elections, but this year there are more, and they will be set up at police stations. “Because of all the rhetoric, we’re erring on the side of caution,” Dowling said. Despite the high-profile nature of the claims, fears about intimidation at polling places may be overblown. Some of Trump’s supporters have distanced themselves from his remarks about watching the polls. Many jurisdictions allow poll watchers, but they generally have to be credentialed and their numbers are limited. Several elections officials said they had so far not received an unusually high number of requests for poll-watcher credentials. In Leon County, Florida, for example, where the state capital of Tallahassee is located, 55 people affiliated with the Democratic Party had registered as poll watchers to observe early voting, which begins Monday. Two had signed up on behalf of Trump, and none for the Republican Party, Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections for the county. “We don’t believe there will be any problems at the polls,” he said. Florida civil rights activist Becca Guerra said she is not worried about voter intimidation inside polling places because of rules on electioneering and on poll watchers, but voters may have trouble outside in the parking lot. “We are training our folks to be the eyes and ears,” she said. | 1 |
8,253 | U.S. attack will not lead to military escalation, says pro-Damascus official | BEIRUT (Reuters) - The U.S. missile attack on a Syrian airbase on Friday will elevate political tensions but is not expected to lead to a military escalation, said a senior official in the military alliance supporting President Bashar al-Assad. “No doubt this will leave great tension on the political level, but I do not expect a military escalation. Currently I do not believe that we are going towards a big war in the region,” the official told Reuters. The official, a non-Syrian, spoke on condition of anonymity, saying this was a personal assessment and not said as a spokesman for the alliance. Assad has been backed in the six-year-old war by Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militias from countries including Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan. “I doubt that the Russians will escalate towards military friction with the Americans,” the official said. | 1 |
8,254 | Muslim holds ancient key to Jesus tomb site in Jerusalem | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - As dark falls, Adeeb Joudeh, a Muslim, makes his way through the stone alleyways of Jerusalem s walled Old City cradling the ancient key to one of Christianity s holiest sites. Centuries ago, the imposing iron key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried, was entrusted to his family, one of Jerusalem s most prominent clans, says Joudeh. He dates the arrangement back to the time of Saladin, the Muslim conqueror who seized the holy city from the Crusaders in 1187. Honestly, it s a great honor for a Muslim to hold the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the most important church in Christendom, Joudeh, 53, said. Another of the city s oldest Muslim families, the Nusseibehs, were entrusted with the duty of opening and closing the church doors, a task they perform to this day. It requires firm fingers: The key is 30 cm (12 inches) long and weighs 250 grams (0.5 pounds). Historians differ on the roots of the arrangement. Some researchers say Saladin most likely bestowed the guardianship upon the two families in order to assert Muslim dominance over Christianity in the city. It also had financial implications, with a tax from visitors collected at the door. Documentation, however, only goes back to the 16th century, Joudeh said, displaying dozens of Fermans , or royal decrees by rulers of the Ottoman empire, bestowing the key custodianship upon his family. Jerusalem s Old City today houses sites that are sacred to all three major monotheisms. It and other east Jerusalem areas were captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel has since declared the entire city its undivided capital. This status is not recognized internationally and is rejected by the Palestinians who want East Jerusalem as capital of a state they hope to found. Joudeh says his key is about 800 years old. Another copy he holds broke after centuries of use. I started learning this when I was eight years old. It s handed down from father to son, said Joudeh. I have been doing this for 30 years and I feel that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is my second home. The Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church, where tensions often run high over control of its various sectors. Christianity scholar Yisca Harani said having Muslim families in charge of the key and the doors helps somewhat in keeping the peace between the denominations. The church is definitely a model of co-existence, Harani said. | 1 |
8,255 | New York City mayor presents $82 billion budget, warns of challenges | NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio presented an $82.1 billion preliminary budget for the city’s 2016-17 financial year on Thursday, noting the city’s strong economic position but striking a cautionary note over the economic outlook. New York City, which sits at the center of one of the biggest regional economies in the world, has seen strong growth since the recession that followed the 2007-09 financial crisis. That has allowed officials to build budget reserves, but doubts remain whether that growth will continue. “There are lots of real challenges that are coming through to make us uncertain about what our economic future is,” de Blasio said during a presentation at City Hall. “We as New York City have to protect ourselves.” The mayor highlighted concerns over China’s economy, question marks over global growth, the current plunge in the U.S. stock market and terrorism as threats to the city. The city added 213,000 jobs in 2014 and 2015, the strongest two-year gain in recent history. The number of jobs are at an all time high of 4.2 million. Yet de Blasio said the economy may be overdue for a recession and pointed to the devastating effects of the last recession. The budget has nearly $5 billion in budget reserves, including $3.4 billion for retiree health benefits and $1 billion in general reserves in case the city has to “go it alone” during a recession, de Blasio said. The total budget represents a small increase over the previous year’s $81.7 billion. De Blasio, a left-leaning Democrat who took office at the start of 2014, highlighted signature programs such as raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour for all city workers, an initiative that will cost the city $115 million when fully implemented. He also outlined plans to tackle the city’s homelessness problem through millions of dollars for shelter repair, prevention initiatives and programs to move people out of shelters to permanent housing. Dean Fuleihan, the city budget director, said the budget was balanced in the current and coming financial year. He said $1 billion in savings in the 2016-17 budget will come from reductions in debt service and savings in agency spending. The city’s public pension system will consume a larger chunk of revenues as increased mortality projections mean the city will have to pay an additional $600 million. That brings the city’s total annual pension bill to $9.4 billion. | 1 |
8,256 | Exclusive: Presidential hopefuls Sanders, Clinton in dead heat - Reuters/Ipsos poll | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has erased Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s wide lead for the Democratic presidential nomination since the start of year, putting the two in a dead heat nationally, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Clinton leads Sanders 48 percent to 45 percent among Democratic voters, according to the poll of 512 Americans, conducted Feb. 2-5 following the Iowa caucus. The poll has a credibility interval of 5 percentage points. Democrats had been supporting Clinton by more than a 2-to-1 margin at the beginning of the year. Sanders has narrowed that lead considerably over the past several weeks. Clinton beat Sanders narrowly in the Iowa caucuses, the nation’s first nomination contest ahead of the November election, but is expected to lose to him in New Hampshire. The two rivals clashed on Thursday night in their first one-on-one debate, reflecting the tightness of the race. There is still a wide gap between the two in name recognition nationally. Nearly a quarter of Democrats and two-fifths of Independents say they are still not that familiar with Sanders. In comparison, Clinton has almost total name recognition among voters. On the Republican side, Donald Trump continued to lead the field with 40 percent support. His level of support among Republicans was relatively unchanged following his second-place finish in the Iowa caucus. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas followed with 16 percent and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida came in third with 13 percent. * Democrat poll results: bit.ly/1Ppdeh2 * Republican poll results: bit.ly/1URswih For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales from the Trail” (here). (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Lisa Shumaker) 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 |
8,257 | THE BEST WAY To Clear Soros’ Anti-Trump Rioters Out Of DC Can Be Found On One Piece Of Paper | #disruptj20 protesters on the move, many leaving the checkpoint. And they've chained themselves together pic.twitter.com/jYvaY75hND Ryan Lovelace (@LovelaceRyanD) January 20, 2017 | 0 |
8,258 | Republican Viciously Attacks McCain: Give Me Your Job, You Clearly Can’t Do It | A Republican state senator from Arizona, Kelli Ward, has unleashed a veiled, but nonetheless vicious, attack against Senator John McCain in the wake of his brain tumor diagnosis, and her whole entire attitude positively reeks of someone trying to bury McCain before he s gone. In discussing who Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey could appoint to replace McCain, should he step down, she actually gave this as her reason for she should be the person to take his place: Because I have a proven track record of years in the state Senate of being extremely effective and of listening to the voice of the people that I represent. And you know, I made an extremely good showing against Senator McCain against all odds. Ward tried to primary McCain in 2016 and lost. She launched a campaign against Senator Jeff Flake for 2018 almost as soon as she lost to McCain. Furthermore, while she was running against McCain in last year s primaries, she said he was old and weak and could die while in office.All of this smacks of someone thinking, Oh look! McCain s going to die! I have another chance to take his seat! It s disgusting, really.If she were appointed to take McCain s place, she ll have some early enemies in the Senate because of her behavior. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WF) shredded her on Twitter over this:In all the ways I measure good Senate colleagues (honor, class, integrity) Kelli Ward falls short. Ppl like her aren t welcome in the US Sen Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) July 22, 2017People like Kelli Ward are what s wrong with politics today. The people of AZ deserve representatives with dignity & decency. Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) July 22, 2017Ward insists that this is about McCain s health and what s best for Arizona and the country as a whole, but really, she s just an grubby-handed opportunist. She s just like Trump, and the last thing we need in our government is more Trumps.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
8,259 | U.S. urges Cambodia to reverse steps against democracy | PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The United States has called on Cambodia to reverse steps that backtracked on democracy before a general election next year, a visiting U.S. official said on Wednesday. Relations between Cambodia and the United States have hit their lowest in years after the arrest of a rival of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, Kem Sokha, and the dissolution of his opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Hun Sen accused Kem Sokha and his party of a U.S.-backed anti-government plot. The opposition leader and the United States denied that. We are advising that these steps that have taken place here that have backtracked on democracy could be reversed, said Patrick Murphy, deputy assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, the most senior U.S. official to visit since the CNRP was dissolved. Murphy told reporters in Phnom Penh that Cambodia still had time before the general election in July to conduct an electoral process that is legitimate . Hun Sen looks set to extend his 32-year rule easily next year after eliminating the CNRP, which had made big gains in the last general election in 2013. On Tuesday, the European Union followed a U.S. lead in suspending funding for the election. Kem Sokha has been accused of plotting treason with unidentified Americans and the Cambodian Supreme Court dissolved his party last month at the government s request. Kem Sokha said the charges were a political ploy. Murphy said allegations of a U.S.-backed plot were a fabrication. We want a good relationship, he said. There is a little bit of friction, a little bit of noise in the official bilateral relationship but we remain optimistic. During his visit, Murphy met senior officials but no government ministers. He also met civil society groups. Ouch Borith, secretary of state at the foreign ministry, who met Murphy on Tuesday, told reporters their talks had been about improving the relationship. He defended his government s actions. What we ve done is in the legal framework to defend Cambodia s independence, peace and stability. We didn t do anything illegal, he said. Reaction to the dissolution of the CNRP has been largely muted in Cambodia. Rights groups have decried what they say is an increasingly repressive atmosphere in the Southeast Asian nation, and have condemned the detention of several reporters and closure of some media outlets. Hun Sen has shrugged off criticism from the West. China, Cambodia s largest aid donor, has leant its support to Hun Sen saying it respects Cambodia s right to defend its national security. | 1 |
8,260 | ‘Feel Good Hoax’: How US Propaganda Works in the Syrian War | 21st Century Wire says One thing is certain about the War on Syria: the propaganda war being waged by the west and all of its agencies, from government to corporate media, to charities and third sector NGOs is much larger and more pernicious than anything seen in modern history. The effort is extremely well-financed (to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars at least), and well-coordinated too well in fact for many journalists to follow, many of whom have been seduced by multimillion dollar documentary productions of Netflix and endlessly cycled staged video clips and still images on networks like CNN and the BBC, and in newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Times and The Guardian too. Why so much effort, and why the desperation by the west? What s at stake? The credibility of the Obama government, the Erdogan government, the Cameron/May governments, the Hollande government, NATO, the UN, western relations with Saudi Arabia, as well as a gas pipeline for Qatar into Europe, hundreds of billions in defense and reconstruction contracts, Soros s billions invested in various projects , the Golan Heights, Eurasian dominance and checkmate of Russia, and the supremacy of Smart Power as a geopolitical weapon of choice for the Atlanticist bloc leaning forward into the 21st century to mention only a few items.For the nation of Syria, the stakes are even higher the survival of their country.So as we can see, there is a lot at stake for west and their business partners, and it should go without saying that they will do almost anything to take the many spoils of this latest war Rick Sterling Consortium NewsManipulation of public perception has risen to a new level with the emergence of powerful social media. Multibillion-dollar corporate giants, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, influence public perceptions, often via payments for boosting Facebook posts, paid promotion of Tweets, and biased results from search engines.Marketing and advertising companies use social media to promote their clients, but so do U.S. foreign policy managers who hire or enlist these companies to influence public perceptions to support U.S. foreign policy goals.The results of similar media manipulation can be seen in the widespread misunderstanding of the conflict in Syria, amid the demonization of the Syrian government and leadership and the skillful use of social media by anti-government activists. Influenced by both mainstream and this alternative media, most people in the West do not know that Bashar al-Assad remains popular with many Syrians. Nor do they realize that Assad won an election two years ago. For example, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described making sure that Twitter was primed for street protests in Iran following the 2009 election, ready to spread and manage news of protests following the election and the killing of a young woman, which was blamed on the Iranian government although the circumstances of her death were murky. [Hard Choices hardback, p 423]There were three contestants in the Syrian presidential election of June 2014. Turnout was 73 percent of the registered voters, with 88 percent voting for Assad. In Beirut, the streets were clogged with tens of thousands of Syrian refugees marching through the city to vote at the Syrian Embassy. Hundreds of Syrian citizens living in the U.S. and other Western countries flew to Syria to vote because Syrian Embassies in Washington and other Western capitals were shut down.While Secretary of State John Kerry was condemning the Syrian election as a farce before it had even happened, a marketing company known as The Syria Campaign waged a campaign to block knowledge of the Syrian election. Along with demonizing President Assad, the company launched a campaign which led to Facebook censoring information about the Syrian election. CHEMICAL ATTACK! : A heart-rending propaganda image designed to justify a no-fly zone, a major U.S. military operation inside Syria against the Syrian military.Incubating PropagandaThe Syria Campaign was created by a larger company named Purpose, which according to its website incubated . The Syria Campaign. The company s website says, Purpose creates new movements, brands and organizations from the ground up to address complex global challenges. We apply this experience as movement creators to our work with progressive companies, nonprofits and philanthropies, helping them to put purpose and participation at the heart of what they do. The White Helmets are marketed in the West as civilian volunteers doing rescue work. On Sept. 22, it was announced that the Right Livelihood Award , the so-called Alternative Nobel Prize, is being given to the U.S./U.K.-created White Helmets for their outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement in rescuing civilians from the destruction of the Syrian civil war. The major achievement of The Syria Campaign has been the branding and promotion of the White Helmets, also known as Syria Civil Defense, which began with a British military contractor, James LeMesurier, giving some rescue training to Syrians in Turkey with funding provided by the U.S. and U.K. The group stole this name from the REAL Syria Civil Defense as documented in this recent report from Aleppo.SEE ALSO: WHO ARE SYRIA S WHITE HELMETSBut the White Helmets are largely a propaganda tool promoting Western intervention against Syria. Unlike a legitimate rescue organization such as the Red Cross or Red Crescent, the White Helmets only work in areas controlled by the armed opposition. As shown in this video, the White Helmets pick up the bodies of individuals executed by the terrorists; they claim to be unarmed but are not; and they falsely claim to be neutral.Many of the videos from Al Qaeda/terrorist-dominated areas of Syria have the White Helmets logo because the White Helmets work in alliance with these extremist groups as primarily a media marketing tool to raise public support for continuing the support to the armed opposition as well as the demonization of the Syrian government. The Rights Livelihood press release said the White Helmets remain outspoken in calling for an end to hostilities in the country. But that is false, too. The White Helmets actively call for U.S./NATO military intervention through a No Fly Zone, which would begin with attacks upon and destruction of government anti-aircraft positions and aircraft.A Major Act of WarTaking over the skies above another country is an act of war that would require a major U.S. military operation, according to senior American generals.General Martin E. DempseyThe New York Times reported that in 2012 General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the White House that imposing a no-fly zone in Syria would require up to 70,000 American servicemen to destroy Syria s antiaircraft system and then impose round-the-clock control over Syrian airspace.General Carter Ham, former commander of the U.S. Africa Command who oversaw the aerial attacks on Libya in 2011, said on CBS News that I worry sometimes that, when people say impose a no-fly zone, there is this almost antiseptic view that this is an easily accomplished military task. It s extraordinarily difficult. It first entails we should make no bones about it. It first entails killing a lot of people and destroying the Syrian air defenses and those people who are manning those systems. And then it entails destroying the Syrian air force, preferably on the ground, in the air if necessary. This is a violent combat action that results in lots of casualties and increased risk to our own personnel. In other words, an appeal for a no-fly zone is not a call for a non-violent solution. It is seeking a bloody act of war by the United States against Syria, a nation that poses no threat to America. It also would almost surely be carried out in violation of international law since a United Nations Security Council resolution would face vetoes from Russia and probably China.Also, the White Helmets have never criticized or called for the end of funding to extremist organizations including Nusra Front, Al Qaeda s Syrian affiliate. On the contrary, White Helmets are generally embedded with this organization which is defined as terrorist by even the U.S., which is likely why the head of the White Helmets, Raed Saleh, was denied entry to the U.S.The foreign and marketing company origins of the White Helmets were exposed over 1 years ago and since then, writer Vanessa Beeley has revealed the organization in more depth in articles such as Who Are the White Helmets? and War by Way of Deception. Despite these expos s, understanding of the White Helmets is limited, with many liberal and progressive people uncritically accepting the propaganda and misinformation about Syria. Much of the progressive media has effectively blocked or censored critical examinations amid a flood of propaganda about barrel bombs dropped by the brutal dictator and his regime. In the last week, Netflix started showing a 40-minute documentary movie about the White Helmets that amounts to a promotional video. A substantial portion of it takes place in Turkey where we see trainees in hotel rooms making impassioned phone calls to inquire about their families in Syria. The family values theme is evident throughout, a good marketing angle. The political message of the video is also clear: after a bombing attack, It s the Russians . they say they are fighting ISIS but they are targeting civilians. The movie includes video previously promoted by the White Helmets such as the Miracle Baby rescue, an incident that may or may not have been staged. The video includes self-promoting proclamations such as You are real heroes. While no doubt there are some real rescues in the midst of war, many of the videos purporting to show the heroes at work have an unrealistic and contrived look to them as revealed here.Tricking Progressives Alternative media in the West has echoed mainstream media regarding the Syria conflict. The result is that many progressive individuals and groups are confused or worse. For example, the activist group CodePink recently issued a media release promoting the Netflix White Helmets propaganda video.The White Helmets video is produced by Grain Media and Violet Films/Ultra-Violet Consulting, which advertises itself as a marketing corporation specializing in social media management, grant writing, crowd building and campaign implementation. The only question is who paid them to produce this video There is growing resistance to this manipulation and deception. In response to a petition to give the Nobel Peace Prize to the White Helmets, there is a counter petition at Change.org. Following the Right Livelihood Awards announcement, there will soon be a petition demanding retraction of the award to the White Helmets.The story of the White Helmets is principally a feel good hoax to manipulate public perception about the conflict in Syria and continue the drive for regime change. That s why big money was paid to Purpose to incubate The Syria Campaign to brand and promote the White Helmets using Facebook, Twitter, etc. That s why more big money was paid to create a self-promotional documentary. The judges at Rights Livelihood were probably influenced by the documentary since critical examination of facts around Syria is so rare. It s a sad commentary on the media. As veteran war correspondent Stephen Kinzer recently wrote, Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press. Rick Sterling is an investigative journalist and member of Syria Solidarity MovementREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE and its work by Subscribing and becoming a Member @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
8,261 | MIC DROP MOMENT: Veteran Senator Asked By A Testy Sen. Schumer Where He Was 8 Years Ago: “Eight years ago, I was getting my ass shot at in Afghanistan” | When President Donald Trump visited the CIA Saturday, he had hoped that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would accompany him. But when Trump arrived at the Langley, Virginia, headquarters of the Agency, he was instead accompanied by Congressman Mike Pompeo.Here s what happened between Schumer and Cotton on Friday:The Senate reconvened after the inaugural ceremonies on Friday, with Pompeo s nomination set to come up at 4:50pm. Cotton angrily confronted Schumer about his broken promise. According to witnesses, Schumer told Cotton to lower his voice and asked him move off of the Senate floor to an adjacent hallway for a private discussion. We need to take this out into the hallway, Schumer said. Cotton walked with Schumer but loudly rejected his first request. Don t tell me to lower my voice! he shouted, with an additional salty admonition tacked on for emphasis. Burr and Cornyn were present, as was Senator Mark Warner, ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and several aides.Schumer told Cotton that the Senate had never previously confirmed a CIA director on Inauguration Day and if Cotton had been around eight years earlier, he d know that Republicans didn t extend that courtesy for incoming president Barack Obama. Eight years ago, I was getting my ass shot at in Afghanistan, Cotton snapped. So don t talk to me about where I was 8 years ago. Cotton asked Schumer why he d gone back on his word. Schumer claimed that he d only been speaking for himself when he promised to let Pompeo through. I said that I would not block him, Schumer said, emphasizing the personal pronoun, according to sources who witnessed the exchange. I never said that I could speak for 47 other Democrats. The Republicans were stunned.Senator Chuck Schumer is the poster boy for term limits. His actions on this are a stain on his already tarnished reputation.Thank you to GREAT PATRIOT TOM COTTON for your service and for standing up to this weasel!Read more: WS | 0 |
8,262 | France's Macron unveils plan to curb violence against women | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday unveiled measures aimed at educating the public and schoolchildren about sexism and violence against women and improving police support for victims. During his campaign Macron, who won the presidential election in May, promised to rethink sexual politics and gender equality, which he made a national cause for his five-year mandate. The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance. Let s seal a pact of equality between men and women, Macron said in a speech marking the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. About violence and sexual abuse, he said: It is essential that shame changes camp. During his speech, Macron observed a minute s silence for the 123 women killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2016. Measures announced include educating secondary school children about pornography and simplifying the system for rape and assault victims to go to the police. Proposals that could be included in a 2018 draft law include criminalizing street harassment and extending the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years. Macron also said he was personally in favor of setting the age of sexual consent at 15. Currently France has no minimum age for sexual consent. Planned changes to the police system include allowing victims of rape and sexual assault to make their initial complaints online, before going to a police station to bring criminal charges. Other measures include on demand bus stops, where women can stop a bus anywhere at night so they can get home safely. French feminist group Osez le F minisme said the measures were going in the right direction but must be accompanied by adequate funding. Without funding, any communication, training, awareness or help plan for the victims will be useless, the statement said. France has often debated sexual harassment over the past decade following scandals involving French politicians. Six years ago a sex scandal forced former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund, provoking a round of soul-searching in France about sexual abuse that goes undetected in the upper echelons of power. | 1 |
8,263 | While Scott Baio’s Battle With Erin Moran’s Family Continues, His Wife Defends His ‘Size’ | Erin Moran s family members must have really upset former Happy Days star Scott Baio and his wife because now Chachi s penis size is being defended.Trump fan Scott Baio weighed in on Moran s death, saying he was not completely shocked by his former co-star s death and added that if you do drugs or drink, you re gonna die. I m sorry if that s cold, but God gave you a brain, gave you the will to live and thrive and you gotta take care of yourself. However, Moran died from cancer, not drugs. And Baio s ignorance about drug addiction is stunning.So, Moran s brother Tony and her cousin, Roy, wasn t too pleased. Baio was called a d*ck head and a scumbag coward piece of shit! On Facebook, Tony Moran wrote:A special shout out to Scott Baio. I already went on Twitter about you. I hope it finds you. You and my lil sis had a very very brief fling. She dumped you. 2 reasons. 1. She told me that you were more like a lil girl and not a man. 2. She told me that you were tiny. Ya know. Barely a man in the man region. True story! Scott, I d advise you to get on your knees and pray you never run into me.In what The Daily Beast notes as an inability to know when to maintain a dignified silence, Renee Baio came to the defense of her husband s penis size.Renee tweeted, Why would a sister tell her brother about the size of boyfriend s manhood? Creepy at best. SB was a playboy for a reason! We took a screenshot knowing she might delete it or lock down her account and as a surprise to no one ever, her tweets are now protected.So now Mrs. Baio is calling Erin Moran creepy. When her defense of Chachi s penis size is, but he was a playboy 4 a reason, then she is bringing his manhood into question again. Sometimes silence is the better option. Chachi never grew up and he apparently married a child. Both of them are staunch Trump supporters, by the way. Chachi loves Trump. As for Renee, the E-list celebrity s wife, she s as much of an idiot as her husband. She s taken to Facebook to launch rants in defense of her husband by using homophobic slurs against a website then declaring that Scott has more class in his piss than all of you all. Classy.Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
8,264 | WILL FBI DIRECTOR Finally Bring The Boom Down On Hillary? | The answer is yes but they still haven t recovered 30,000 e-mails! FBI Director James Comey is being pressed to wrap this up so it will be ending within 6 weeks. Comey is a straight shooter who will do the right thing except it s up to the Justice Department to move forward. So even if Comey does the right thing, Obama minion Loretta Lynch is the ultimate one who will have the power to put the hurt on Hillary. | 0 |
8,265 | Trump to give speech on U.S. tax overhaul on Wednesday: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will deliver a speech on the plan to overhaul the nation’s tax code on Wednesday, the White House said on Monday. “As we work with Congress to achieve historic tax cuts, the president plans to speak Wednesday to the American people on how tax reform will lead to a brighter future for them and their families,” said Lindsay Walters, the deputy press secretary. | 1 |
8,266 | OBAMA IGNORES PLANNED PARENTHOOD BABY PARTS HARVESTER STORY…His DOJ Goes After Whistleblower Group Who Exposed Them | Justice the Obama way Instead of investigating whether Planned Parenthood illegally trafficked baby body parts, Obama s DOJ is targeting the group behind the undercover videosThe U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to investigate the group that produced undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood employees admitting that they harvest and sell organs ripped from the bodies aborted babies. Politico reported the news of the coming DOJ investigation earlier today:JUSTICE TO PROBE CENTER FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS While congressional committees investigate Planned Parenthood s practices, the Justice Department agreed to look into whether the group that released the sting videos obtained the footage legally. In response to a request by House Democrats, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday afternoon that Justice would review all of the information and determine what the appropriate steps moving forward would be. Planned Parenthood has staunchly defended its practices and claims that the Center for Medical Progress illegally obtained its footage, then excessively edited it to misrepresent what the organization does. The DOJ investigation of the Center for Medical Progress, which, unlike Planned Parenthood, is not in the business of killing healthy, viable unborn babies in order to sell their organs for cash, was announced after several Democratic lawmakers called for the organization to be targeted:Four Democrats in Congress Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Zoe Lofgren, Jerry Nadler, and Yvette Clarke have written to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, asking them to open investigations into the Center for Medical Progress. The Democrats say the videos were filmed as part of an elaborate scheme using fake identification and without the approval of the Planned Parenthood doctor who appears in them. It s interesting that Lynch decided so early to make a statement about the group. There are certainly more videos to come, and if Planned Parenthood s panicked press releases are any indication, the footage may be far more damaging than anything that s been revealed thus far. However, given the abject politicization of multiple agencies under Obama s command including the Internal Revenue Service, which targeted conservative non-profits, and the DOJ, which has been hesitant to investigate Obama allies it seems unlikely that Lynch and those who report to her will ever crack down on Abortion, Inc.Via: The Federalist | 0 |
8,267 | Trump Sends Out DANGEROUS Tweet Claiming Voter Fraud In Texas, State Voting Officials Call BULLSH!T | Donald Trump has been shouting that the election is rigged against him for weeks. On Thursday morning, the GOP nominee woke up bright and early to post on Twitter that he has been receiving reports of widespread voter fraud taking place in Texas.A lot of call-ins about vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas. People are not happy. BIG lines. What is going on? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2016Trump was presumably referring to already debunked reports that the votes of some people trying to vote a straight Republican ticket were being changed to Hillary Clinton, a claim believed to have originated in Tarrant County. However, Snopes reports that this vote flipping is due to user error, not a rigged election. Reports are not flooding in from across Texas about vote switching, and most anecdotes are identical with localities changed, Snopes wrote on Wednesday.Texas officials were also quick to call out Trump s tweet for the load of crap that it was. Frank Phillips, the election administrator for Tarrant County, told WFAA that the claims of vote flipping turned out to be bogus, just like every other time there are reports of this nature. Historically, he said, these are cases of user error. Typically, we ve found it s voter error with the equipment, Phillips said. Sometimes they vote straight party and then click on other candidates or do something with the wheel. There is not an issue with the equipment. Election officials have been urging voters to double-check their ballots before turning them in. Earlier this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also urged his constituents to make sure their selections are correct before casting their ballots. Make sure all of your selections are correct before hitting the button to cast a ballot, Abbott posted on his Facebook page.Trump has ramped up his claims of a rigged election as the election has gotten closer and his poll number have gotten lower. This is not only bullsh*t, it is dangerous and irresponsible. He is sowing seeds of doubt about the very election process that is the foundation of our democracy, all because he can t admit that he is losing.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
8,268 | IF JOE BIDEN DECIDES TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT, THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE MANDATORY VIEWING | Here s Biden chuckling and grinning while debating the Iran sanctions the arrogance runs deep on this one. | 0 |
8,269 | hillary clinton in lead a day before election day | quake near oklahoma oil hub causes substantial damage
cbs
a magnitude earthquake centered near one of the worlds key oil hubs brought down building facades and shattered windows in a central oklahoma city rendering centuryold buildings unsafe and raising concerns about key infrastructure
as the sun rose monday television news footage showed widespread substantial damage to buildings with piles of bricks and other debris littering the ground following the earthquake the previous evening cushing assistant city manager jeremy frazier told a news conference late sunday that a few minor injuries had been reported he said the damage appeared to be contained downtown
oklahoma has had thousands of earthquakes in recent years with nearly all traced to the underground injection of wastewater left over from oil and gas production sundays quake was centered mile west of cushing and about miles south of where a magnitude quake forced a shutdown of several wells last week
fearing aftershocks police cordoned off older parts of the city to keep gawkers away late sunday and geologists confirmed that several small quakes have rumbled the area frazier said an assisted living community had been evacuated after damage was reported the cushing public school district canceled monday classes
stay out of the area said city manager steve spears who noted that while some damage was superficial compromised foundations and other potential problems would be difficult to assess until daylight in the city of about miles northeast of oklahoma city
the oklahoma department of transportation reported sunday night that no highway or bridge damage was found within a mile radius of the earthquakes epicenter
the quake struck at pm sunday and was felt as far away as iowa illinois and texas the us geological survey initially said sundays quake was of magnitude but later lowered the reading to
i thought my whole trailer was going to tip over it was shaking it so bad said cushing resident cindy roe it was loud and all the lights went out and you could hear things falling on the ground
it was awful and i dont want to have another one
cushings oil storage terminal is one of the worlds largest as of oct tank farms in the countryside around cushing held million barrels of crude oil according to data from the us energy information administration the community bills itself as the pipeline crossroads of the world
frazier said two pipeline companies had reported no trouble as of late sunday but that the community hadnt heard from all companies gov mary fallin tweeted that no damage was reported at the storage tanks at cushings oil storage terminal
megan gustafson and jonathan gillespie were working at a cushing mcdonalds when the quake hit
it felt like a train was going right through the building actually gustafson said sunday night as she and her coworkers stood behind a police barricade downtown looking for damage i kind of freaked out and was hyperventilating a bit
gillespie said the building shook for about seconds but that he wasnt as alarmed as gustafson because he lives in an area that has experienced multiple earthquakes especially in recent years
i didnt think it was anything new he said
according to usgs data there have been about two dozen earthquakes in oklahoma in the past week when particularly strong quakes hit the oklahoma corporation commission directs well operators to cease wastewater injections or reduce volume
a earthquake a record for oklahoma hit pawnee on sept shortly afterward geologists speculated on whether the temblor occurred on a previously unknown fault
i was at home doing some work in my office and basically you could feel the whole house sway some spears the cushing city manager said sunday night its beginning to become normal | 0 |
8,270 | ISLAMIC JUSTICE: Britain Is Stunned When They Discover How Many Secret Sharia Courts Are Operating In UK | Like dominoes, the Hijra keeps marching across Europe, destroying the distinct cultures of one country after another. Sweden and the UK are in big trouble France is next and thanks to bleeding heart liberal Democrats in America, the U.S. isn t be far behind At least 85 Islamic sharia courts are operating in Britain, a study claimed yesterday.The astonishing figure is 17 times higher than previously accepted.The tribunals, working mainly from mosques, settle financial and family disputes according to religious principles. They lay down judgments which can be given full legal status if approved in national law courts.However, they operate behind doors that are closed to independent observers and their decisions are likely to be unfair to women and backed by intimidation, a report by independent think-tank Civitas said.Commentators on the influence of sharia law often count only the five courts in London, Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham and Nuneaton that are run by the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, a body whose rulings are enforced through the state courts under the 1996 Arbitration Act.But the study by academic and Islamic specialist Denis MacEoin estimates there are at least 85 working tribunals.The spread of sharia law has become increasingly controversial since its role was backed last year by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice who stepped down last October.Dr Williams said a recognised role for sharia law seemed unavoidable and Lord Phillips said there was no reason why decisions made on sharia principles should not be recognised by the national courts.But the Civitas report said the principles on which sharia courts work are indicated by the fatwas religious decrees set out on websites run by British mosques.Mr MacEoin said: Among the rulings we find some that advise illegal actions and others that transgress human rights standards as applied by British courts. Examples set out in his study include a ruling that no Muslim woman may marry a non-Muslim man unless he converts to Islam and that any children of a woman who does should be taken from her until she marries a Muslim.Further rulings, according to the report, approve polygamous marriage and enforce a woman s duty to have sex with her husband on his demand.The report added: The fact that so many sharia rulings in Britain relate to cases concerning divorce and custody of children is of particular concern, as women are not equal in sharia law, and sharia contains no specific commitment to the best interests of the child that is fundamental to family law in the UK. Under sharia, a male child belongs to the father after the age of seven, regardless of circumstances. It said: Sharia courts operating in Britain may be handing down rulings that are inappropriate to this country because they are linked to elements in Islamic law that are seriously out of step with trends in Western legislation. WATCH Muslims demand Shari Law in Britain:The Civitas study said the Islamic courts should no longer be recognised under British law.Its director Dr David Green said: The reality is that for many Muslims, sharia courts are in practice part of an institutionalised atmosphere of intimidation, backed by the ultimate sanction of a death threat. Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: Everyone should be deeply concerned about the extent of these courts. They do entrench division in society, and do nothing to entrench integration or community cohesion. It leads to a segregated society. There should be one law, and that should be British law. We can t have a situation where people can choose which system of law they follow and which they do not. We can t have a situation where people choose the system of law which they feel gives them the best outcome. Everyone should equal under one law. For entire story: Daily Mail | 0 |
8,271 | Trump says his travel ban needed to ensure U.S. religious freedom | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump defended his order to temporarily bar entry to people from seven majority-Muslim nations, which has come under intense criticism at home and abroad, saying on Thursday it was crucial to ensuring religious freedom and tolerance in America. Trump, speaking at a prayer breakfast attended by politicians, faith leaders and guests including Jordan’s King Abdullah, said he wanted to prevent a “beachhead of intolerance” from spreading in the United States. “The world is in trouble, but we’re going to straighten it out, OK? That’s what I do - I fix things,” Trump said in his speech. Trump’s executive order a week ago put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee program, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day suspension on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The measure, which Trump says is aimed at protecting the country from terrorist attacks, has drawn protests and legal challenges. Trump, a wealthy businessman and former reality TV star who had never previously held public office when he was sworn in on Jan. 20, also sought to reassure the large crowd about the nature of his phone calls with world leaders. The Washington Post said Trump had a tense call with Australia’s Prime Minister about his immigration order. “Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having - don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it,” Trump said. He did not specify which calls he was referring to. “We’re taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. It’s not going to happen anymore,” said Trump, who campaigned on a stance of “America first” that he said would ensure the country was not taken advantage of in its trade or other foreign relations. Trump said violence against religious minorities must end. “All nations have a moral obligation to speak out against such violence. All nations have a duty to work together to confront it, and to confront it viciously, if we have to,” he said. Trump said the United States has taken “necessary action” in recent days to protect religious liberty in the United States, referring to his immigration action. Critics of the measure have accused him of violating the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, because the designated countries are majority-Muslim, and of slamming the door shut to refugees. Trump has said the move was necessary to ensure a more thorough vetting of people coming into the United States. “Our nation has the most generous immigration system in the world. There are those who would exploit that generosity to undermine the values that we hold so dear,” Trump said. “There are those who would seek to enter our country for the purpose of spreading violence, or oppressing other people based upon their faith or their lifestyle - not right. We will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation,” he said. Trump said his administration’s new system would ensure that people entering the United States embrace U.S. values including religious liberty. He also pledged to get rid of the “Johnson Amendment,” a tax provision that prevents tax-exempt charities like churches from being involved in political campaigns. The White House said on Wednesday it has issued updated guidance on the travel order clarifying that legal permanent residents, or green card holders, from the designated countries require no waiver to enter the United States. | 1 |
8,272 | (Video) Col. Allen West Explodes Over Iran Deal During Fiery and Emotional Times Square Speech | Ready to take America back! | 0 |
8,273 | Trump to scrap protection for 'Dreamers,' give Congress six months to fix | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has decided to scrap a program shielding from deportation immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children but will give Congress six months to craft legislation to replace it, sources familiar with the situation said. The president decided to delay enforcement of his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the two sources said on Sunday. One source cautioned that the president could change his mind. The decision to give Congress half a year to come up with a an alternative, first reported by Politico, represents a compromise of sorts after top Republicans and business leaders asked Trump to keep the program. DACA, an Obama administration policy, protects nearly 800,000 young men and women often called “Dreamers” from deportation and allows them to work legally. Dreamers are a fraction of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, most of them Hispanic. Trump as a candidate promised to deport all of them, but many Americans have rallied to support the young adults who have spent large parts of their lives in the United States. The decision, to be announced on Tuesday, will seek to placate both sides in the immigration debate at a time when the president is also grappling with North Korea’s nuclear program and Houston’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey. As a candidate, Trump pledged to immediately scrap the program but he ran into stiff opposition. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan urged Trump on Friday not to rescind the program and was joined by Senator Orrin Hatch, also a Republican. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American Republican from Florida tweeted her dismay with the decision to scrap DACA: “After teasing #Dreamers for months with talk of his ‘great heart,’ @POTUS slams door on them. Some ‘heart’.” That said, Trump’s base will likely be far from happy about the president’s decision to leave open the option of a fix. Representative Steve King, a hawk on immigration and Iowa Republican, tweeted his opposition to the plan on Sunday night. Democrats, like Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, also wanted the program to continue. Franken called the reported decision a “disgrace.” Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat, last week asked Ryan to meet with Democratic lawmakers to discuss a “comprehensive legislative solution.” Leading business figures defended the Dreamers, including Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and Facebook Inc (FB.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who signed a letter to the president outlining the economic contribution of Dreamers. Prior to the news of Trump’s action, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook tweeted, “250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them.” But U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin downplayed those warnings on Sunday, telling Fox News Sunday he was “less concerned about the economic impact.” Most of the Dreamers came from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. More than 200,000 live in California, while 100,000 are in Texas. New York, Illinois and Florida also have large numbers. Congress under presidents of both parties has been unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform. What to do about Dreamers has been actively debated within the White House and Trump administration. One senior administration official described the debate as a “tug of war” between factions. DACA supporters argue that the people it protects grew up and are U.S. educated and integrated into American society, with little connection to the countries in which they are citizens. Opponents of the program argue that illegal immigrants take jobs from U.S. citizens. | 1 |
8,274 | Baseball Players Who Called Obama ‘F*cking Watermelon Eatin Baboon’ Won’t Be Punished (IMAGES/VIDEO) | A group of Saint Louis University baseball players won t be punished after an insanely racist conversation they had amongst themselves became public. While it might seem that a group of students in a position to represent the school might face some form of discipline if they were to, say. call the President a baboon, reference multiple awful stereotypes about black people, and complain that a colored is running the country. Unfortunately, the school is continuing a proud American tradition almost as ancient as the sentiments these students were busted expressing: protecting sports teams from facing the music for their actions.Last May, the team traveled to Washington, D.C., where the conversation in a pitchers-only GroupMe chat swiftly went from where do we eat to Donald Trump s Inner Thoughts. One player suggested the KFC in the White House you know, because all black people eat fried chicken (har har). Another helpfully added that They got rivers of the grape kind there, another reference to a popular African-American stereotype among stupid people. I heard they got a colored running the country, someone else said. This Tru? Another player replied, Unfortunately.. It is. The asker responded, F*cking watermelon eating baboon. and Luke Sommerfeld needed a MacBook charger.via DeadspinIt s unclear if Luke ever found his charger, but one thing is for certain the pitchers on the Saint Louis University baseball team are a bunch of racist f*cks.One of the players texted a screenshot of the message to his roommate, former team manager Brendan Twomey, who held on to it for almost a year until his girlfriend saw it on her phone. Together, the two filed a complaint to the university. Deadspin gives a brief rundown of the events that transpired: The report was filed on April 4On April 5, Twomey and his girlfriend spoke to a university investigator.On April 11, after not having heard anything about the status of the investigation, Twomey and his girlfriend sent the image to the Black Student Alliance, who posted it to their Facebook page. Dr. Mona Hicks, SLU s Dean of Students, said there had been a miscommunication and a meeting to discuss the case was supposed to be held the next day.But, according to SLU s bias-related incident report log, the investigation had been closed on April 7 and labeled not applicable for discipline. When I received that screenshot, obviously I knew it was wrong, but I was in a tough situation because I didn t want to necessarily hurt anybody, Twomey said as he explained his reasoning for holding onto the screenshot for so long. You become close [to the players] because you do spend so much time with them, so you overlook [that]. At the same time, I felt extremely disrespected. I knew there should be some sort of punishment, but I didn t know how to go about that, he added.Asked about her decision to fail to punish her racist baseball players, Hicks was full of excuses. If I were to directly state to you, You suck because of all of your social identities that God gave you. That would be wrong. That would require some adjudication, Hicks said in defense of giving her school s pitching rotation a pass on the horrible things they said. We also need to respect laws. This was a private conversation, or at least the perception of private between in-group parties. Hicks did not explain what privacy laws were broken, though the answer to that is none. One of the players sent the screenshot to someone who showed it to someone else. No one hacked anyone, no one took someone s phone without permission. All of the information was given willingly. But, hey she was trying to protect these students right to privacy rather than avoiding a disruption of the season that might lead to the team failing to make it to the playoffs two years in a row (ultimately, they did not), right?Instead, the players chose to participate in a facilitated dialogue about what they did and the team s four captains wrote a letter to the school newspaper apologizing for that racist thing their teammates did: The leaders and captains of the team would like to extend an apology to anyone offended by the bias messages. We, too, are frustrated and feel that the comments do not accurately reflect the values that we hold. So far, the only person to face any real punishment is Twomey, who has been harassed since he blew the whistle on the players racist conduct. The Riverfront Times reports:Two days later, Twomey says he awoke to discover his roommate had sloshed chewing tobacco spit on the floor outside his bedroom door, as well as the kitchen sink. Fingernail clippings had been prominently placed on the towel Twomey uses to clean his glasses.(In a Wednesday Facebook post from Pulphus, Twomey s roommate was identified as SLU pitcher Brett Shimanovsky in fact, Shimanovsky appears to be the very same player/roommate who earlier provided Twomey with a screenshot of the racist chat thread. Twomey himself declined to answer questions about his roommate s identity, but says the roommate has since voluntarily moved out. Shimanovsky did not respond to a message seeking comment.) I consider this retaliation for filing a bias incident report, Twomey says in a video documenting Shimanovsky s actions:Twomey says he is disappointed that the university has not in any way punished the players, whom he says should have been forced to miss a conference tournament (but that clearly was not an option in the eyes of the school, of course). He calls the captains letter an insult, though he notes that the team s coach, Darin Hendrickson, did take the time to discuss the issue with him. He said he was aware there was a culture problem on the baseball team, a culture problem of entitlement, privilege and immaturity. He also said it was one of his biggest regrets that he hadn t recruited more diverse players, Twomey recalled. He adds that there are racial issues that need to be confronted.It started a dialogue and frankly it needs to be continued, the student says. Hopefully, this issue will light a fire under the university and get them to really dedicate themselves to the SLU mission of diversity and inclusion. Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
8,275 | Oil industry bet big on Jeb Bush for president, Reuters review shows. Now what? | (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas executives bet big on 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush - they donated more to his White House run than to all of his rivals combined, according to a Reuters review of campaign disclosures. But that was last year. Now Bush faces what party strategists and donors view as a make or break moment on Saturday in South Carolina’s Republican primary, or early nominating contest. Polls show him trailing in the single digits. If he fails to do well, there will be pressure on him to quit, strategists say, and the oil money will be looking for a new home. The main beneficiaries in the Republican race would likely be Ted Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas, and Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida. After Bush, the two candidates received the most contributions from the oil and gas industry, according to the Reuters review. When Bush entered the White House race last year, the petroleum sector saw him as their natural choice: he was the son and brother of former presidents and he came from a West Texas family with historically close ties to the oil industry. “Bush is part of a family that is a friendly face to the oil industry,” said Sarah Emerson, director of Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Boston. He drew more than $2 million from the chief executive officers of companies like Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Halliburton (HAL.N), Kinder Morgan (KMI.N), and Chief Oil & Gas in 2015, making up about 56 percent of all the industry’s contributions to the race so far, according to the review. The review covered contributions from 75 oil and gas companies, their employees, and their political action committees to presidential candidates’ campaigns and allied Super PACs. When counting donations only to Republican candidates’ campaigns, employees favored Cruz among the Republicans, with Bush in second place and Rubio in third. (Click here for a graphic on oil and gas money in the U.S. presidential race: tmsnrt.rs/24cW28e ) Several of Bush’s biggest oil CEO donors have links to his family. Richard Kinder of Kinder Morgan, for example, campaigned for George H.W. Bush’s run for the White House in 1992, and for George W. Bush’s run in 2004. Halliburton’s CEO, David Lesar, meanwhile, succeeded Dick Cheney after George W. Bush nominated him vice president in 2000. “Some of those people may be thinking support can get them a place in Bush-world,” said one Washington D.C.-based oil industry lobbyist, who asked not to be named. “The question is, where does that money go if Bush bleeds out?” Bush is now running in fifth place among seven Republicans in a national Reuters/Ipsos poll. He has just 8 percent support leading into Saturday’s primary, compared with front-runner Donald Trump’s 40 percent. Cruz and Rubio came second and third in the poll with 17 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Donations directly from oil companies and their political action committees or PACs have been practically nil – suggesting that millions of dollars remain on the sidelines of the race that could be deployed once the field of candidates narrows. This year’s election is particularly important to oil and gas executives because of a steep slump in energy prices that has slashed profits and worries that another Democratic president could strengthen curbs on drilling and carbon emissions introduced by President Barack Obama. “There is a pronounced partisan agenda on energy,” said Robert McNally, founder and president of the Washington-based global energy consultancy The Rapidan Group, explaining the two parties have moved farther apart on energy policy. “There’s no middle of the road anymore,” he said. As a group, oil and gas company CEOs have doled out nearly $3.2 million in support of presidential candidates so far – more than three times more than all oil company employees did in the equivalent period of the 2012 race. One million dollars of that went to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out in September. The CEOs are not alone in giving big. Some families that made their cash in the oil industry have also been major donors, like the Wilks brothers of Texas, who have given Cruz’s Super PAC $15 million. The biggest oil company CEO donations to current candidates have come from the heads of Kinder Morgan and Chief Oil and Gas, at more than $1 million each to Bush’s campaign and his allied Right To Rise USA Super PAC, according to the filings to the Federal Election Commission. Rubio, meanwhile, took some $38,000 from chief executives at Devon Energy (DVN.N), AGL (AGL.AX), and Atmos (ATO.N). Cruz received no money from energy company CEOs. Individual donations from oil company employees who were not CEOs appeared to favor Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, who took in more than $110,000. Cruz was next with nearly $105,000. (Editing by Ross Colvin) 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 |
8,276 | Putin declares "complete victory" on both banks of Euphrates in Syria | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday a complete victory had been achieved over Islamic State militants on both banks of the Euphrates river in Syria. In comments released by the Kremlin, Putin said the military operation in the area was now finished, and that the focus would switch to a political process that would eventually involve presidential and parliamentary elections. Putin did not specify whether he was referring to the end of military operations in the whole of Syria, or just the areas around the Euphrates valley. Russia s military intervention in Syria s civil war in 2015 has turned the tide of the conflict in favor of Moscow s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and against rebel groups fighting to oust him. Western governments and rights groups have alleged Russian air strikes killed civilians, an allegation Moscow has denied. Two hours ago, the (Russian) defense minister reported to me that the operations on the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates have been completed with the total rout of the terrorists, Putin said. Naturally, there could still be some pockets of resistance, but overall the military work at this stage and on this territory is completed with, I repeat, the total rout of the terrorists, he said. We need to ... move, undoubtedly, on to the next stage - the start of a political process. Putin also said it was important to establish the Congress of Syrian Peoples, a proposed peace conference that Russia has offered to host, which would lead to the preparation of a new constitution and then presidential and parliamentary elections. But it is a big and prolonged task, he said. | 1 |
8,277 | Mueller’s Latest Request In Russia Investigation Is Going To DESTROY Trump (DETAILS) | Special Counsel Robert Mueller has just dropped yet another unpleasant bombshell on Donald Trump, and it s really going to screw our disgraceful POTUS over.In the latest development in Trump s Russia investigation, Mueller is requesting the phone records from an Air Force One meeting where Trump apparently personally dictated the misleading statement about a meeting involving members of his campaign and a Russian official.Politico reports that records that Mueller is requesting will give insight into the statement that Trump s son, Donald Trump Jr., gave a statement that caused Trump a massive amount of trouble when it was exposed. Sources close to the investigation have also stated that Mueller is investigating whether or not Trump is guilty for obstruction of justice when it comes to the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.To make matters even worse for Trump, Mueller also wants the documents that were related to a press briefing in May, in which former White House press secretary Sean Spicer had stated that Trump had confidence in Comey and yet he fired the then-FBI Director less than a week later.If this doesn t look like the walls are caving in on Trump, we don t know what does. Mueller is getting closer to uncovering everything that Trump has been hiding, and it doesn t look like it s going to end well for the undeserving POTUS and his equally crooked campaign. What we can expect in the meantime is some very predictable, erratic behavior from Trump threats to North Korea, unpresidential attacks on the media, more Obama and Clinton jabs basically anything to distract America from his Russia probe. But Trump can only do that for so long and it s clearly starting to catch up with him. It s only a matter of time before Mueller catches him red handed.Featured image via Alex Wong / Getty Images | 0 |
8,278 | CIA's Brennan says tearing up Iran deal would be 'folly' | LONDON (Reuters) - Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan has said it would be the “height of folly” for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to tear up Washington’s deal with Tehran because it would make it more likely that Iran and others would acquire nuclear weapons. “It could lead to a weapons program inside of Iran that could lead other states in the region to embark on their own programs,” Brennan said in an interview with the BBC aired on Wednesday. “So I think it would be the height of folly if the next administration were to tear up that agreement.” Brennan also said that in dealing with the Syrian crisis, Trump should be cautious in trying to work with Russia. “I hope there is going to be an improvement in relations between Washington and Moscow,” he said. “President-elect Trump and the new administration need to be wary of Russian promises. Russian promises in my mind have not given us what it is that they have pledged.” | 1 |
8,279 | Rockets strike downtown Kabul, no casualties reported | KABUL (Reuters) - As many as two rockets landed near the international military headquarters in downtown Kabul early on Saturday morning, Afghan security officials said. There were no reports of casualties. At around 6 a.m. (01:30 am GMT) alarms could be heard sounding at the headquarters of the NATO-led military mission, as well as at several foreign embassies in the area. The alarms were followed by several loud explosions. | 1 |
8,280 | Sixty-Five Percent Of Young Hispanics See The GOP As ‘Hostile’ | According to polls conducted in November by CNN, NBC News and Gallup, 45 percent of Latino voters now say they see the GOP as hostile. Compare that to responses from November 2012, when the same polling organizations found that 18 percent of polled Latinos held the same views.Over the past three years the number of Latino voters who say they view the Republican Party as hostile has more than doubled.Even more telling, more than three times as many young Latino voters have a negative view of the party today. The recent polls show that 65 percent of Latino voters, between the ages of 18 and 35, now see the Republican Party as hostile toward them.This is bad news for the Republican Party, which cannot win the general election without Latino voters.According to GOP election strategists, in order to win the White House in 2016, republicans need at least 45 percent of the Latino vote.Republican party strategist Whit Ayres broke it down nicely, in March of last year. As Ayres points out here:Clearly that s not going to happen when the party frontrunner is Donald Trump, a man whose entire platform is built on racist hate and religious bigotry.While it s tempting to single out Trump as the culprit behind the numbers, if Trump is to blame for anything it s the fact that he s brought the party s long-existing racist undertones into the spotlight.The GOP has been using dog-whistle politics to rile up their racist, religiously bigoted base for decades. The Trump campaign is simply the predictable progression of the Southern Strategy.But as Addicting Info explains here and here, in catering to race hated and right-wing religious extremists, republicans have created a no-win situation.The party has built a base that only responds to dog-whistles. That means that the only way to motivate regular GOP voters is by scapegoating immigrants, minorities and people who do not subscribe to the doctrine of right-wing Christian fanaticism.At the same time, every time republican candidates spew the kind of racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric that appeals to their base, they further alienate voters outside of their base.How do you bring new people into a political party that is united by the idea of keeping other people out?You don t.Demographically speaking, however, there just aren t enough angry, bigoted white people left in America to keep the Republican Party going. For these reasons (and many others) the republican party is on its way to oblivion, which is exactly where it belongs.Featured image from Wikipedia, public domain | 0 |
8,281 | Conservatives Get Out Measuring Tape, Find Obama’s New House Is Sort Of Near Islamic Center | The conservative media, quite literally having nothing better to do, decided rock bottom wasn t deep enough and dug a little deeper. What they found was that President Obama will be moving to a house that s vaguely near an Islamic Center. Surely this changes everything!With Obama s time in office coming to a close, the family announced that they would be staying in Washington D.C. after they left the White House so that Sasha and Malia could finish school there. The house they chose is one befitting a former president and was once owned by a senior adviser to Bill Clinton.The move will put the Obamas in one of Washington s wealthiest ZIP codes, in a secluded precinct backing up to Rock Creek Park that is home to diplomats and a focal point of the capital s cocktail-party circuit. The home itself is luxurious; photographs posted by Washington Fine Properties, which listed it when it sold in 2014, show spacious rooms with hardwood floors, white marble countertops, his-and-her master bathrooms and a terrace with formal gardens.Conservatives, naturally, promptly lost their minds. The Obamas, they reasoned, should not be allowed to live in a nice house. I ll leave the reasons why this particular First Family can t live in a nice house or, say, eat in a fancy restaurant up to your imagination.But the crack team of conservative airheads over at Tucker Carlson s The Daily Caller took another approach: A quick Google Maps search found that the Obamas new home is wait for it sort of near an Islamic Center.Here s how the Daily Caller s Eric Owens framed it:The mammoth, multi-million-dollar mansion where President Barack Obama and his family will reportedly live after the first family exits the White House is located 1,096 feet from the Islamic Center of Washington one of the largest mosques in the Western Hemisphere.What follows is hundreds of words devoted to painfully describing every detail about the Islamic Center and its function. (Hint: Muslims do Islam in there, if you can believe it.) Hilariously, Owens also notes that the embassy of Oman and the former embassy of Iran are close to Obama s new mansion. This presumably means something.It s hard to fathom that we are approaching President Obama s final months in office and the right-wing movement has yet to let the Obama is a secret Muslim conspiracy go. A quick scroll through The Daily Caller s comment section cesspool finds that a strong majority of readers truly believe this to be the case.If you re curious as to why places like The Daily Caller are obsessing over Obama s proximity to Islamic Centers and the number of bathrooms in his new house, it just might have to do with the fact that President Obama is riding a wave of popularity. Having used his second term to nail one legacy affirming accomplishment after another, Obama currently enjoys a favorability rating that is higher than Reagan s and a strong wind at his back as he closes out a presidency that people like Tucker Carlson and Eric Owens insisted would be a country-destroying disaster.But let s ignore all that because a thousand feet away from Obama s new house is an Islamic Center. Good grief.Featured image via The Wire | 0 |
8,282 | Trump delays moving U.S. embassy to Jerusalem despite campaign pledge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed a temporary order on Thursday to keep the U.S. embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv instead of relocating it to Jerusalem, despite his campaign pledge to go ahead with the controversial move. After months of fierce debate within his administration, Trump chose to continue his predecessors’ policy of signing a six-month waiver overriding a 1995 law requiring that the embassy be transferred to Jerusalem, an action that would have complicated his efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The White House insisted, however, that the decision, which is sure to disappoint Israel’s U.S. supporters, did not mean Trump was abandoning the goal of eventually shifting the embassy to Jerusalem. But a U.S. official said no timetable has been set. “The question is not if that move happens, but only when,” the White House said in a statement. With a deadline looming, Trump made the decision to defer action on the embassy “to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, fulfilling his solemn obligation to defend America’s national security interests,” the White House said. Palestinian leaders, Arab governments and Western allies had urged Trump not to proceed with the embassy relocation, which would have upended decades of U.S. policy by granting what would have been seen as de facto U.S. recognition of Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital. “Though Israel is disappointed that the embassy will not move at this time, we appreciate today’s expression of President Trump’s friendship to Israel and his commitment to moving the embassy in the future,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. Taking a harder stance, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition, said delaying the move would “damage the prospect of a lasting peace by nurturing false expectations among the Palestinians regarding the division of Jerusalem, which will never happen.” Nabil Abu Rdainah, a close aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Trump’s decision “reaffirms the seriousness of the United States in its efforts to achieve peace.” Trump avoided any public mention of a potential embassy move during his visit to Israel and the West Bank in May. Despite that, most experts are skeptical of Trump’s chances for achieving a peace deal that had eluded other U.S. presidents. The status of Jerusalem is one of the major stumbling blocks. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, a move not recognized internationally. Israel considers all of the city its indivisible capital. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Jerusalem is home to sites considered holy by the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions. Successive U.S. administrations have insisted that Jerusalem’s status must be decided in negotiations. On the campaign trail, Trump’s pro-Israel rhetoric raised expectations that he would act quickly to move the embassy. But after he took office in January, the issue lost momentum as he met Arab leaders who warned it would be hard to rejuvenate long-stalled peace efforts unless he acted as a fair mediator. Some of Trump’s top aides pushed for him to keep his campaign promise to satisfy the pro-Israel, right-wing base that helped him win the presidency. The State Department, however recommended against an embassy move, one U.S. official said. “No one should consider this step to be in any way a retreat from the president’s strong support for Israel,” according to the White House statement on the signing of the waiver. | 1 |
8,283 | Lebanon's grand mufti calls for national unity | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s grand mufti, the top cleric for Sunni Muslims, said Saad al-Hariri s resignation as Prime Minister came amid difficult circumstances, Lebanese Al-Jadeed TV reported on Friday. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian called for national unity and for waiting before taking any stance on the shock resignation, which Hariri announced in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Derian described Lebanon s ties with Riyadh as brotherly, historical relations . | 1 |
8,284 | WATCH: Anderson Cooper Schools Kellyanne Conway So Hard She Becomes A Rambling Mess | It was a simple question, but it was enough turn Donald Trump s campaign manager into a live train wreck.Melania Trump s concerns about cyber-bullying on social media have come back to bite her husband s campaign for the presidency on its ass because Donald Trump has been bullying people on Twitter since he joined in 2009. We must treat each other with respect and kindness, even when we disagree, she said at a Pennsylvania rally on Thursday less than a month after telling CNN host Anderson Cooper that the negativity on social media is damaging for the children. Well, Cooper discussed Melania s concerns with Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and it was awkward, to say the least. If it is not okay for kids to do this, why is it okay for adults? For Donald Trump? Cooper asked.Almost instantly, Conway was tied in knots. Well, it is really not okay for anyone to do it with malicious intent, she said. But most of what s on Twitter is not about politics or journalism. This is a whole big worldwide social media culture, landscape out there, Anderson. And I think what Melania Trump was talking about today is a cultural fact. That s when Cooper dropped the hammer. But your candidate is the guy on Twitter at 3:00 a.m. tweeting out this stuff, he said.Indeed, Trump has gone on several late night tirades and has bullied and insulted anyone who disagrees with him.But once again, Conway couldn t handle the truth and turned into a rambling mess while trying to steer the discussion towards the alleged bullying she deals with herself. I get the f-word. every night from journalists, frankly. There is one who very washed up one frankly, can t stop tweeting at me. Curse words. My children have to see that. We have to have really broad shoulders, I get it and I m just one person. But the fact is I appreciate the fact that as a First Lady Melania Trump has committed herself to trying something about the negativity that naturally tends to what he identified as the positive tool. Social media and communication can be a force for positivity. Cooper intervened and pointed out that if Melania is so concerned about cyber-bullying she should start at her own dinner table.Conway claimed that Trump is only defending himself, and Cooper countered by noting that Trump once viciously mocked Carly Fiorina s face. Look at that face! Trump said during an interview in September. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?! Conway responded by accusing the media of cherry picking and basically said the media should ignore Trump s insults and bullying and focus more on his other Twitter posts for Melania s sake. We re always cherry picking when it comes to Donald Trump, she said. Go look at the entire Twitter feed. Look at his message. It is full of a lot of things. But again, I think we re doing a disservice to the platform of Melania Trump. Here s the video via YouTube.Seriously, how does Kellyanne Conway sleep at night after having to defend Trump all day?Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
8,285 | Puerto Rico governor cites 'sharp contrast' with island's overseers | (Reuters) - Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello on Friday criticized a set of recommendations by the federal board in charge of managing the U.S. territory’s finances, signaling a potential power struggle between the government and the board on how to pull the island out of economic crisis. In a letter to the board on Friday, Rossello said that while he supports reducing government spending, he would not focus on layoffs as a primary means of saving money. He also took a more moderate stance on reducing repayments to holders of the island’s $70 billion in debt, saying his administration had a “fundamental willingness to pay based upon available resources.” The board, in a letter to the governor on Wednesday, said the island may have only $800 million available annually for debt service, just 21 percent of what it owes. The board’s letter had called for Puerto Rico to save more than $4.5 billion a year through a mix of savings and new revenues, including by “right-sizing government” through a 30 percent reduction in payroll and other means. The board also said it favored extending some key deadlines that could give Rossello’s administration more time to negotiate consensual restructuring deals with creditors. [L1N1F82HL] In addition to its debt from a myriad of public issuers, Puerto Rico is struggling with a 45 percent poverty rate and unemployment that is more than twice the mainland U.S. average. The bipartisan, seven-member oversight board was created under the federal Puerto Rico rescue law known as PROMESA, passed by the U.S. Congress last year. It is charged with helping the island manage its finances and negotiate restructuring deals with creditors. Rossello’s adversarial tone could score him political points on an island where many locals view the oversight board as an extension of U.S. imperialism. However, his policies and the board’s vision may be more aligned than not. For instance, both stress the need for the island to reduce spending and create new revenue sources. That is a departure from Rossello’s predecessor, former Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who called for dramatic repayment cuts in favor of maintaining government services. Rossello and the board may clash on healthcare spending, with the board calling for $1 billion a year in savings. Puerto Rico’s Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs are in financial trouble, due in part to federal government reimbursement levels that are disproportionately smaller than what is given to U.S. states. Rossello said he felt “highly confident” his administration would convince Congress to increase that funding. “There is no single political leader in the world that would want to be responsible for ... endangering the health and wellbeing of 3.5 million of its citizens,” the governor said. The board also called on Puerto Rico to annually save $300 million in higher education spending and $200 million in pension costs. Rossello said he would implement means-testing for tuition rates at the University of Puerto Rico, move pension benefits into private accounts, and implement rules to treat some pension benefits as taxable ordinary income. | 1 |
8,286 | CLASSIC TRUMP! President Trump Announces Where He’ll Be On Eve Of White House Correspondents Dinner…CHECK MATE! | On the eve of the upcoming 2017 White House Correspondents Dinner, President Trump will be miles away from DC and from the lion s den of so-called reporters who would love nothing more than to destroy him at the event. President Trump has chosen instead to spend the evening connecting with the voters who shocked the nation when they overwhelmingly turned out for him on election day in the formerly blue state of Pennsylvania.Trump made the announcement on Twitter: Next Saturday night I will be holding a BIG rally in Pennsylvania. Look forward to it! Next Saturday night I will be holding a BIG rally in Pennsylvania. Look forward to it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2017Only 6 years ago, hundreds of leftist media hacks were doubled over in laughter while Barack Obama openly mocked Donald Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents dinner.Little did the media at that White House Correspondents Dinner know, that the man they were so thrilled to see being mocked by our former Community Organizer in Chief would be our next President. They never dreamed that the man they were mocking while he sat defenseless that night would literally turn the once trusted media on its head. For the first time ever, Trump forced the media to play defense instead of assuming the offensive posture they d been used to taking against Republicans and conservatives for decades. Trump shamed them for using their publications and networks to promote the Democrat Party and their radical agenda, and America cheered.McKay Coppins of Buzzfeed wrote about the mistake Obama made that night when he brought the birther nonsense to a head which (according to her) overrode Obama s better judgment and led him to tear into Trump to his face:On the night of the dinner, Trump took his seat at the center of the ballroom, perfectly situated so that all 2,500 lawmakers, movie stars, journalists, and politicos in attendance could see him .But as soon as the plates were cleared and the program began, it became agonizingly clear that Trump was not royalty in this room: He was the court jester.The president used his speech to pummel Trump with one punchline after another When host Seth Meyers took the mic, he piled on with his own rat-a-tat of jokes, many of which seemed designed deliberately to inflame Trump s outer-borough insecurities: His whole life is models and gold leaf and marble columns, but he still sounds like a know-it-all down at the OTB. The longer the night went on, the more conspicuous Trump s glower became. He didn t offer a self-deprecating chuckle, or wave warmly at the cameras, or smile with the practiced good humor of the aristocrats and A-listers who know they must never allow themselves to appear threatened by a joke at their expense. Instead, Trump just sat there, stone-faced, stunned, simmering Carrie at the prom covered in pig s blood. Watch:Obama, of course, had his reasons for wanting petty vengeance over the birth certificate controversy, which he not-unreasonably regarded as racist. But he s also the prime example of a guy who has always been the coolest kid in the room ( I m LeBron, baby ), and the spectacle of him using the platform of an event originally designed for l se-majest to lock arms with a TV comic and gang-tackle Trump s ego to his face to the laughter of a crowd that Obama fit into and Trump didn t is one of the more graceless things he s done. His speechwriters, John Favreau and Jon Lovett, express some remorse now for having let the circus-like atmosphere goad them, and Obama, into it. One doubts that the president has any second thoughts; he rarely does.But what comes off clearly is that the WHCD has become just another vehicle for amplifying, rather than leavening, the presidential megaphone and the bitterness of our present politics, while widening the gulf between the DC cool kids and the rest of the country. It s a tradition that has outlived its usefulness, and should die. National ReviewObama used his last White House Correspondents dinner to joke about it possibly being perhaps the last White House Correspondents Dinner . It may have been the only thing he said that night that may actually turn out to be true. | 0 |
8,287 | Search ends for bodies in Mexico City after earthquake | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The search for victims of an earthquake that killed hundreds in Mexico City ended on Wednesday as rescue workers recovered the body of the last person known to be missing beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings. Deputy Interior Minister Roberto Campa said all the bodies had been recovered from the ruins of an office building in the upscale Roma district of the capital. The search at other buildings that collapsed ended several days ago. In total 369 people died in the Sept. 19 earthquake, the most deadly in a generation, with almost two-thirds of the fatalities in the capital. Earlier that month, 98 people died when an even more powerful tremor hit the south of the country. | 1 |
8,288 | BEAUTIFUL YOUNG REPORTER Spit On By Muslim Thugs During Live Report | Two Muslims spit on a Dutch reporter and then flipped her off as they rode away. Who does this? Sick animals! | 0 |
8,289 | This Ted Cruz ‘Bad Lip Reading’ Is Everything You Never Knew You Wanted And More (VIDEO) | With the Republican side of this presidential race turning out to be the most horrifically embarrassing thing that has ever happened in the history of the republic, it s good to enjoy some comic relief from time to time to take your mind off of how awful things really are. With Donald Trump in the lead for GOP nominee and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) not far behind, one has to wonder if the Republican party has gone and lost their ever-loving mind.To provide some much-needed comic relief is none other than the folks over at Bad Lip Reading. They ve been putting hilarious words into the mouths of athletes, celebrities and politicians for some time now, and now in what may be their best bad lip reading yet, they ve gone after Captain Smarmy himself, Ted Cruz.Usually, when watching a BLR it will be mostly gibberish and you will laugh at how closely the words match up to who they are parodying. However, this time around, there s a full story-line and it is absolutely spot on. From putting the words into Cruz s mouth, to his wife s, to his children s to those he s met along the campaign trail. Although, in true BLR form, they did give Cruz a new campaign slogan: I Need a Bogel for the Glotch. Knowing Cruz, though, it might be something he d actually say to pander to Bogel and Glotch makers. (kidding)Without further ado, here s Bad Lip Reading s Ted Cruz :Featured image: YouTube/photoshop | 0 |
8,290 | Boiler Room #101 – St. Patrick’s Cyber-pocalypse with John McAfee | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Funk Soul, Randy J & Stewart Howe (ACR/21WIRE contributors) and Andy Nowicki, author of Conspiracy, Compliance, Control & Defiance, for the hundred and first episode of BOILER ROOM. Water the kids, put the plants to bed and get your favorite mead horn ready so you can drop deep into the Boiler Room with the crew.Tonight the gang has a surprise visit from former libertarian Presidential nominee hopeful and technology guru, John McAfee to discuss the significance of the Vault7 data dump, the ludicrous concept of Russian hacks on the DNC & 2016 Election, the utter loss of all privacy and the potential of cyber-false-flags in the new age of warfare.Listen to Boiler Room #101 St. Patrick s Cyber-pocalypse with John McAfee on Spreaker.Direct Download Episode #101Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links: | 0 |
8,291 | Fox Host Calls Out Mitch McConnell For Being A Hypocrite On Supreme Court Nominees (VIDEO) | Mitch McConnell probably wasn t expecting this from a Fox News host.Yet, when the Senate Majority Leader appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the closest thing to an actual journalist Fox can muster, McConnell was confronted with what he has said in the past about judicial nominees compared with what he is doing now in the name of partisan politics.McConnell used remarks made by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in 2005 and 2007 to make the claim that Republicans are following a longstanding tradition of not filling vacancies on the Supreme Court during a presidential election.Leave it to Republicans to think that 11 years is a longstanding tradition. The fact is, however, that current Justice Anthony Kennedy was confirmed to the high court in 1988, which was an election year. If we go back even further, we find that Justice William Brennan was confirmed in 1956 and Justice Frank Murphy was confirmed in 1940, both during election years.So it s clear an election year does not justify the refusal of Senate Republicans to do their constitutional duty.But Chris Wallace hit McConnell with his own words from 2005 when he said on the Senate floor that in a democracy an up or down vote should be given to a president s judicial nominees. It isn t complicated. It s simple. It s fair. It worked for 229 years and it has served us well. Frankly, isn t there a fair amount of hypocrisy on both sides here? Wallace said, calling out McConnell s own hypocrisy on this issue. Senator, if an up or down vote for a judicial nominee is simple, fair, and a principle that has served us well for over 230 years; if that s true then, is it still true? Wallace asked.McConnell, of course, tried to weasel his way out of it by saying that it s apples and oranges because Supreme Court nominees are somehow not considered judicial nominees even though the Constitution includes the Supreme Court as part of the judicial branch. It s right there in Article III.When asked if Senate Republicans would confirm Garland after the election to prevent a more liberal nominee should Hillary Clinton become president, McConnell proceeded to trash current nominee Merrick Garland as a liberal and complained that his confirmation would swing the court to the left. And if McConnell and his fellow Republicans are unwilling to confirm Garland, you can bet that if the GOP loses the election, they will continue to obstruct any nominee that Clinton nominates to the Suprem Court as well.Here s the video via YouTube.Basically, McConnell just admitted that the real problem Republicans have with confirming a Supreme Court nominee is that they don t want to lose the conservative-leaning Court they have used to roll back policies they don t like over the last couple decades. They are literally throwing a temper tantrum because they think late-Justice Scalia should be replaced with a conservative judge who will be just like him.But that is not how the Supreme Court works. It has always swung from left to right and back again depending on who the president is at the time a vacancy arises either from a death, which is the case now, or a retirement. Justice Scalia probably would have preferred to serve another decade or more on the bench, but even he would say that his vacancy needs to be filled even if the most liberal nominee in the world ends up filling it.As it happens, Garland is not a liberal. He is, in fact, a centrist. But according to McConnell, even that is far too liberal for him and his colleagues to consider.Republicans are literally willing to keep the Supreme Court from working at full capacity for the next year or more until they get their way. So not only have Republicans kept Congress from working properly, they are now preventing the high court from working properly as well and that should outrage every American to the core enough to boot Republicans out of public office for generations until they learn to do their jobs with honor again and start working for all of the American people instead of just their extreme right-wing base. Featured image via Screenshot | 0 |
8,292 | SEC's foreign corruption unit chief to leave by month's end | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kara Novaco Brockmeyer, the attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who oversees the unit that polices foreign bribery laws, plans to depart the SEC later this month, the regulator announced Tuesday. Brockmeyer, a 17-year veteran of the SEC, has led the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) unit since 2011. The unit was one of five specialty areas created in 2010 in an effort to bolster the SEC’s enforcement program following revelations over the agency’s repeated failures to detect Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme. Brockmeyer oversaw a wide array of FCPA cases, including charges against hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC and its chief executive Daniel Och over bribery in Africa, charges against JPMorgan Chase & Co following the so-called “princeling” investigation into hiring practices in China in order to win business and charges against Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer SA over bribes paid in a variety of countries. The SEC said that after Brockmeyer departs, the unit’s current deputy chief Charles Cain will serve as acting chief until a permanent replacement is named. The SEC’s enforcement of the FCPA is an area that is being actively watched by the defense bar, after President Donald Trump previously made disparaging remarks about the law and called for it to be changed. Trump’s pick to lead the SEC, Wall Street attorney Jay Clayton, also previously chaired a committee at the New York City Bar Association which drafted a paper that was somewhat critical of how the law was being enforced. Clayton, whose nomination was approved by the Senate Banking Committee earlier on Tuesday, is still awaiting confirmation by the full Senate. Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have previously raised concerns about whether he will actively pursue FCPA cases. In written responses to questions from the panel’s top Democrat Sherrod Brown following his confirmation hearing, Clayton said he believes the law can be a “powerful and effective means” to combating corruption. He added, however, that it is more effective when international authorities are also willing to coordinate and take enforcement actions against bribery, as opposed to having the United States go at it alone. | 1 |
8,293 | U.S. lawmakers introduce bipartisan bills on foreign investment amid China worries | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives introduced bills on Wednesday to toughen U.S. foreign investment rules amid growing concern about Chinese efforts to buy U.S. high-tech companies. Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Republican leadership who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced a Senate bill to broaden the government’s power to stop foreign purchases of U.S. firms by strengthening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Representative Robert Pittenger, a North Carolina Republican, introduced an identical bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. Both bills have Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. “This bill focuses on providing CFIUS with updated tools to address present and future security needs,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. “Senator Cornyn and I have been working on this bill for the last eight months, and we hope to build on the progress we’ve already made to update CFIUS and address national security threats.” In addition to Cornyn, of Texas, and Feinstein, cosponsors of the Senate bill include Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, John Barrasso of Wyoming, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Democratic co-sponsors are Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Gary Peters of Michigan and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. “China is buying American companies at a breathtaking pace. While some are legitimate business investments, many others are part of a backdoor effort to compromise U.S. national security,” said Pittenger in a press statement. House co-sponsors include Republicans Devin Nunes of California, Chris Smith of New Jersey and Sam Johnson and John Culberson, both of whom are from Texas. House Democrats backing the bill are Denny Heck of Washington and Dave Loebsack from Iowa. “That’s a pretty powerful collection of members, which makes me think it’s got a good shot (at becoming law),” said Seth Bloom, a former general counsel on a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee. The bills would expand CFIUS’ reach to allow it to review, and potentially reject, smaller investments and add new national security factors for CFIUS to consider. Those factors include whether information about Americans, such as Social Security numbers, would be exposed as part of the transaction or whether the deal would facilitate fraud. The bills would also allow CFIUS to exempt certain transactions from review if the investors are from a country that is a treaty ally or has another security arrangement with the United States. CFIUS already has a reputation for being tough on high-tech deals involving China in particular, and has blocked transactions that involve sophisticated semiconductors. It has become more cautious since President Donald Trump was inaugurated amid growing political and economic tensions between the United States and China. Since the inauguration, the panel has balked at approving a broader range of deals from China, according to lawyers who specialize in representing proposed transactions to the board. | 1 |
8,294 | U.S. Supreme Court to hear Ohio's bid to revive voter purge policy | (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear Ohio’s appeal of a lower court ruling that blocked the Republican-led state’s policy of purging people from voter-registration lists if they do not regularly cast ballots because it violated federal law. Civil liberties advocates who challenged Ohio’s policy said it illegally erased voters from registration rolls and unlawfully disenfranchised minorities and poor people who tend to back Democratic candidates. The justices will review a U.S. appeals court ruling that Ohio’s policy ran afoul of a 1993 law called the National Voter Registration Act, which Congress passed to make it easier for Americans to register to vote. A Reuters analysis last year found that in Ohio’s three largest counties, which include Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, voters were struck from the rolls in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods at roughly twice the rate as in Republican neighborhoods under the policy. Ohio officials argued that canceling registrations for voters deemed inactive for six years helped keep voting rolls current and accurate, clearing out those who have moved away or died. In September 2016, ahead of the U.S. presidential election, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that the policy was unlawful. Democrats have accused Republicans of taking steps at the state level, including laws imposing new requirements on voters such as presenting certain types of government-issued identification, intended to suppress the vote of minorities, the poor and others who generally favor Democratic candidates. The American Civil Liberties Union last year sued Ohio Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, arguing that the state was violating the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits states from striking registered voters “by reason of the person’s failure to vote.” The 6th Circuit agreed. Under Ohio’s policy, if registered voters miss voting for two years, they are sent registration confirmation notices. If they do not respond and do not vote over the following four years, they are removed from the rolls. Husted has said Ohio’s policy has been in place since the 1990s under both Republican and Democratic secretaries of state. The suit said the policy led to the removal of tens of thousands of people from the voter rolls in 2015, including one of the lead plaintiffs, Larry Harmon, a software engineer and U.S. Navy veteran who was blocked from voting in a state marijuana initiative in 2015. Republican Donald Trump won Ohio in last November’s presidential election. The National Voter Registration Act, dubbed the “Motor-Voter” law when it was enacted, required states to permit registration by mail or when eligible people apply for or renew a driver’s license, or visiting certain government agencies or military recruiting offices. (Corrects spelling of first name of Ohio secretary of state Husted in 6th paragraph, Jon instead of John.) | 1 |
8,295 | Turkey to form closer ties with Iraqi central government after referendum, PM says | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey intends to form closer ties with Iraq s central government after the Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Monday, adding that Baghdad would control borders, airports and oil. Yildirim made the comments in an interview broadcast simultaneously on multiple Turkish television channels. He said Turkey would not launch adventures but would retaliate in kind if there is a threat against its interests. | 1 |
8,296 | COMMUNIST George Soros Says Trump Will Win Popular Vote In Landslide, But Hillary Wins Presidency…HUH? [VIDEO] | George Soros: Here I have to confess to a little bit of bias. Ya think? The popular vote will be a landslide [for Trump]. But I don t think Trump has any chance of being elected. https://youtu.be/VKGiHWzxHKI | 0 |
8,297 | Saudi Arabia says it intercepts missile close to capital | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from warring Yemen over the capital Riyadh on Saturday, state news agencies reported. The missile was brought down near King Khaled Airport on the northern outskirts of the city and did not cause any casualties, said Saudi state-owned Al Ekhbariya TV. Rocket fragments fell near the airport grounds, but air traffic carried on normally, the Saudi civil aviation authority said on its official Twitter account. Saudi Arabia is part of a coalition carrying out bombings of the Iran-allied armed Houthi movement in Yemen which has taken over the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country during its civil war. Saudi Arabia, which supports the internationally-recognized Yemeni government based in Aden, has frequently intercepted missiles fired from its neighbor. Residents of northern Riyadh reported hearing a single deafening explosion that rattled windows around 20:20 local time, followed by rumbling and other sounds. We heard an enormous loud boom and went outside, then heard a low rumbling noise like thunder and six to 12 smaller explosions, one resident told Reuters. The missile was fired into Saudi territory from Yemen at 20:00 local time, the spokesman of a Saudi-led military coalition said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA. Saba News, which is run by the Houthi rebels, reported that the missile was a Burkan H2 and that the airport had been the target. U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the missile interception during comments on U.S. military hardware on Sunday. A shot was just taken by Iran, in my opinion, at Saudi Arabia...and our system knocked the missile out of the air. Nobody makes what we make, and now we re seeing it all over the world, he told reporters on Air Force One en route to Tokyo. Saudi Arabia and its allies, which receive logistical and intelligence help from the United States, accuse the Houthis of being a proxy of Iran. The Saudi-led coalition has launched thousands of air strikes against the Houthis. On Wednesday, witnesses said one such strike killed 26 people at a hotel and adjoining market in northern Yemen, although the coalition said on Saturday it had hit a legitimate target. The Houthi and allied forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh have fired dozens of missiles into Saudi territory over the course of a 2-1/2 year war, including a ballistic missile shot down near Mecca in July. The conflict has led to one of the world s worst humanitarian crises and killed at least 10,000 people. | 1 |
8,298 | Michele Bachmann Goes Full Stupid, Questions If The Poor Should Be Allowed To Vote (SCREENSHOTS) | At some point, far in the future, former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann will learn that she probably should stop expressing her opinion on any matter more complex than which hole does the square peg fit in? The Tea Party superstar s relevance has fizzled out over the years, with her base either dying off or ending up in prison for one gun-related crime or another but this relic from the Hoveround Revolution still occasionally attempts to cling to her former stardom among the uneducated masses of the nation. Question: if 45% of Americans pay no federal income taxes, should they be allowed to vote? she asked.Naturally, anyone whose intelligence is above the level required to operate a toaster without adult supervision mocked her relentlessly: Why don t 45.3 percent of Americans pay federal income tax? They can t afford it, of course. Americans are underpaid and undervalued as the upper class continues to find every excuse possible to cut wages and profit off of the backs of those they exploit. This, of course, doesn t mean that they pay no taxes. Everyone, including the poor, pays sales tax and a number of others.Bachmann and her Tea Party cohorts view themselves as champions of the Constitution a document none of them, including Bachmann, have apparently read. Not only does the Constitution guarantee the right to vote, but it is the right mentioned most in the text of the Constitution as total of five times. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged is very clear: U.S. citizens get to vote, period.I know, I know, it seems crazy that people like Bachmann are able to grasp the meaning of shall not be infringed as the half of the Second Amendment with which they are familiar is worded, yet are incapable of grasping shall not be denied or abridged. But there you have it.Featured image via Pinterest | 0 |
8,299 | Republicans In This State Just Sent A Huge ‘F**K YOU!’ To Workers AND Democracy With One Terrible Move | It s the lame duck session for Ohio s legislature, which means they re going bananas pushing Christmas tree bills and measures added to bills through before their term ends. This process tends to favor the majority party, which is the Republican Party, and they ve already made headlines for two unconstitutionally restrictive anti-abortion bills, as well as an aptly-named guns everywhere bill.And that s still not enough for Ohio Republicans. In their latest act of legislative war, they ve taken aim at labor and local democracy. How? By adding a measure banning local municipalities from raising the minimum wage to a bill against bestiality, of all things. Governor Kasich has not yet stated whether or not he will sign, but Republican legislators are optimistic.It should be noted that an anti-bestiality bill passed the Ohio Senate with bipartisan support earlier in the term.This measure appears mostly aimed at the city of Cleveland, which is about to vote on whether to raise the minimum wage locally to $15 over the next few years. A local group in Cincinnati, Cincinnatians for a Strong Economy, wants to do the same.Republicans generally claim to be in favor of local government after all, who knows the needs of a given city or state better than the people that live there? However, incidents like this have made it clear that individual matters of ideological concern trump principles every time in the GOP.It should be noted that this is merely coming from a place of ideological support and politics there is absolutely no evidence that banning cities from raising the minimum wage is good for the economy. See, until 2012, only five local districts in the entire country had minimum wage laws. Since then, dozens more have followed suit, allowing for numerous case studies on whether or not a local minimum wage raise kills jobs, as Republicans claim, as opposed to accomplishing that dastardly progressive agenda of keeping workers out of poverty.In many cases, large cities which typically have higher cost-to-live and unique economic considerations are a better choice for a minimum wage raise than an entire state, anyway. Take Seattle, for example, which saw the nation s first $15 minimum wage law (although San Francisco will get there faster):As one of my colleagues wrote last week, the unemployment rate in the city of Seattle the tip of the spear when it comes to minimum wage experiments has now hit a new cycle low of 3.4%. Meanwhile, a University of Washington study on the minimum wage law found little or no evidence of job losses or business closings.Although you can never declare a game over until the final whistle, this experiment is starting to look like a rout. I continue to believe that we should assess the data as it comes in, honestly and as free of bias as possible. This is a complex issue Seattle, with its vibrant tech industry, high median household income and growing population, is different from many U.S. cities. States and cities must adjust their minimum wages to fit their local conditions; this is why a national minimum wage should rise at a pace different from the most economically vibrant locales.Taking away the ability of local cities to determine their own economic needs is bad policy, and allowing state officials to interfere in municipal democracy is undemocratic. Not only that, but workers deserve a raise. Minimum wage nationally is $7.25, frequently referred to as poverty wages, and the minimum wage in Ohio $8.10 is not much higher. Republicans who are against welfare for human beings seem to have no trouble picking up the tab for deadbeat businesses that refuse to pay workers their fair share.From QZ:It could be that the fears of minimum wage opponents are overstated. One innovative 2015 study examined prices at online menus from local restaurants in San Jose, California, after the city enacted a 25% increase in minimum wages, and found that restaurants were able to accommodate higher costs of doing business through minor price increases. By looking at restaurants within a half-mile of the city s border, they were also able to demonstrate results challenging the suggestion that local minimum wages disadvantage a city s economic competitiveness. These experiments, however, have benefitted from the steady growth of the Obama economy, with its record 72 months of labor market expansion.With Donald Trump s presidency on the horizon, Democrats locked out of national influence will no doubt continue to press a progressive agenda locally, in the cities and states where they have more sway. But as wage floors rise, especially in jurisdictions with older or shrinking populations, they will have to be pragmatic about overreach, keeping in mind the lesson of Kansas Republican governor Sam Brownback, who enacted a radical agenda in his state as an example to the nation a conservative one, rather than a progressive one, it should be noted and saw the local economy crumble.It s just a fact liberals are better at managing the economy. That s what history and the facts show. This is undemocratic and anti-labor in other words, everything the GOP stands for.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
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