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8,700 | WATCH: Girl On Bike Brutally Beaten By Cops And Then SHE Is Charged With Assault | Two years ago, 15-year-old Monique Tillman and her brother, like kids everywhere across the country, were riding their bikes. Unlike kids everywhere, Tillman was stopped for nothing more than the apparent crime of Riding While Black.Tillman and her brother made the mistake of cutting through a mall parking lot and running into Tacoma Police Officer Jared Williams, who was moonlighting as mall security. Williams then stopped the pair, telling them they were trespassing and that they might be banned from the mall.The children tried to explain that they ride through that parking lot all the time and they tried to leave. What happened after that might not be suitable for work.Here s the video:If you don t have the stomach to watch the video, the girl is snatched from her bike by the off-duty officer and slammed up against a car while he appears to be choking her. He then grabbed her hair and began throwing her around. He even tased her. He was choking me, grabbed me by my hair and tried to slam my face into the concrete. The next thing I know, I m on the ground being tased, Tillman said.Source: Free Thought ProjectThen, after it was clearly shown in the video that the girl never even raised a hand toward the officer, she was charged for resisting arrest and assault on an officer for allegedly attempting to kick him. That s right, she was charged for assault. Fortunately, those charges were thrown out after there was no evidence that she tried to kick at all, and a lawsuit has been filed against Officer Williams, the security company and the people who own the mall. A child riding a bike should not have to worry that a police officer will stop her without legal cause and brutalize her, said (Tillman s attorney, Vito) de la Cruz. Our communities are weary of another African American child being hurt by unwarranted and excessive police force. Tillman, who is now a digital media student at Bates Technical College, had this to say: I feel like I was targeted because I am a person of color, Tillman told the Seattle Times. It was frustrating because I knew I didn t do anything wrong, but I couldn t stop them. Here s Tillman, now 17, talking about the incident, saying all she wants is an apology:Williams still has his job.Featured image via video screen captures | 0 |
8,701 | BRILLIANT! LT COL TONY SHAFFER: How Trump Should Fight Back Against “Deep State” [Video] | Former CIA analyst and retired U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer told Lou Dobbs on Tuesday President Trump needs to understand deep state has declared war against his administration. He needs to fire top two levels in intelligence to clean house.THE DEEP STATE:Never in American history has there been a more highly organized group of people, the deep state , attempting to subvert the will of the American people, in this case, the Trump presidency. Peter Schweizer discusses the efforts of the deep state , their conspiracy campaign against Donald Trump and its potential impact on President Trump s administration. | 0 |
8,702 | (VIDEO) WHAT THE HECK! MICHELLE OBAMA STARS IN AWKWARD KICKBOXING VIDEO | Can she just go away? This is so bizarre no words for the pictures except UGH!Michelle Obama has posted a workout video online that shows her pumping iron, crunching her abs with a medicine ball, and smacking a punch-bag with a roundhouse kick. The two-minute clip shows Michelle in full workout gear in the gym with the family s personal trainer Cornell McClellan putting her through her paces.I THINK MOOCH HAS HIM BEAT-REMEMBER THE VIDEO OF BARACK WORKING OUT IN A WARSAW GYM? The First Lady tweeted the video to husband Barack Obama after the President posted his own film showing him going running in a suit and drinking water with Joe Biden in the Oval Office.Read more: Daily Mail | 0 |
8,703 | Philippines set to keep open pit mining ban as Duterte rejects call to lift it | MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine environment minister said on Wednesday that a ban on new open pit mining in the country would remain in place, with President Rodrigo Duterte rejecting government panel recommendations to reverse it. The ban, implemented by former environment minister Regina Lopez from April covers new projects including the $5.9-billion copper-gold Tampakan project in southern Mindanao island, the biggest stalled mining venture in the Southeast Asian nation. The President sets the policy. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will implement what the President deems as best for the country s interest, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu told Reuters in a text message. Open pit mining is allowed under the laws of the Southeast Asian country, the world s top nickel ore exporter, where many mines use it to extract minerals. But Lopez said the process ruins the economic potential of places where it is carried out. Duterte said late on Tuesday that he had rejected a recommendation by the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) to lift the ban because such mining is destroying the soil and environment and no corrective measure is immediately (being) implemented . He added that while mining brings good profit , he can let it go . The comments by the firebrand leader followed an announcement on Monday by his spokesman that Duterte had not reversed the ban. The MICC, an inter-agency panel that makes recommendations on mining policy, is chaired by Cimatu and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. Cimatu said last month that he supported the removal of the open pit ban and that his agency would strengthen regulations to prevent any excesses by miners. The ban would further halt development of the Tampakan project in the southern South Cotabato province. The project was first stopped after South Cotabato banned open-pit mining in 2010, and operator Glencore Plc quit the project five years later. Lopez, who stepped down in May after failing to win congressional confirmation after 10 months in office, has said the project would cover an area the size of 700 soccer fields in what otherwise would be agricultural land. Also covered by the ban is the $1.2 billion Silangan copper and gold mine in Mindanao by Philippine miner Philex Mining Corp. | 1 |
8,704 | Putin says Trump clever, will understand new responsibilities | MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is a clever man and will quickly understand his new responsibilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with NTV TV. Putin has spoken previously of his hope that Trump will help restore U.S.-Russia relations, and analysts said he was unlikely to want to dial up anti-Western rhetoric before Trump’s inauguration in January. “Trump was an entrepreneur and a businessman. He is already a statesman, he is the head of the United States of America, one of the world’s leading countries,” NTV quoted Putin as saying in the interview on www.ntv.ru on Sunday. “Because he achieved success in business, it suggests that he is a clever man. And if (he is) a clever man, then he will fully and quite quickly understand another level of responsibility. We assume that he will be acting from these positions,” Putin said. Putin’s comments appeared to address criticism from Trump’s opponents who say his unconventional actions since the election - including railing at the cast of a Broadway show and early-morning invective on Twitter - show Trump is out of his depth. China lodged a diplomatic protest on Saturday after Trump spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”. Speaking about Russia’s relations with the West, Putin said attempts to create a unipolar world had failed: “The situation is changing. I think it is not a secret to anyone, everyone sees it, that many of our partners already prefer to stick to principles of international law, because the world’s balance is being gradually restored.” Putin said when building relationships with other countries, Russia would respect their interests. | 1 |
8,705 | U.S. sanctions 13 Chinese and North Korean organizations | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 13 Chinese and North Korean organizations Washington accused of helping evade nuclear restrictions against Pyongyang and supporting the country through trade of commodities like coal. The U.S. Treasury announced the action one day after President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, on its website. The new curbs show the Trump administration s focus on hurting trade between China and North Korea, which it sees as key to deterring Pyongyang from its ambition to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States. This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons, and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. The latest sanctions included blacklisting three Chinese companies, Dandong Kehua Economy & Trade Co., Dandong Xianghe Trading Co., and Dandong Hongda Trade Co., which the Treasury Department said had done more than $750 million in combined trade with North Korea over almost five years until Aug. 31. It said they were involved in trade of coal, iron ore, lead, zinc and silver ore, lead metal and ferrous products as well as notebook computers. The sanctions also blacklisted Sun Sidong and his company Dandong Dongyuan Industrial Co. In a June report, Washington think tank C4ADS said the firm was part of an interconnected network of Chinese companies that account for a vast share of trade with North Korea. U.S. authorities have repeatedly targeted companies and individuals from the Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, in a bid to cut off Pyongyang s major export revenue from selling natural resources, such as coal. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated China s opposition to unilateral sanctions by other countries, adding it could investigate for itself any contravention of its laws or international obligations. If other parties wish to have effective cooperation with China on this issue and really have a grasp of certain matters, they can totally share intelligence with China and cooperate with China to appropriately handle the issue, Lu told a daily briefing on Wednesday. The direct impact on listed companies may be limited as trade between China and its isolated northern neighbor has slowed substantially since the United Nations imposed a ban in September on North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. In February, China also prohibited coal purchases from North Korea. China does not strictly enforce financial rules in the Dandong area, said Anthony Ruggiero, a North Korea expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. As a result, Dandong draws companies interested in making a profit by selling to North Korea, he said. The new sanctions also hit several North Korean companies that send workers to countries such as Russia, Poland, Cambodia and China. United States authorities said they are seeking to cut off the money North Korea makes from the export of labor. Besides targeting sources of weapons technology, the curbs were the first time the United States sought to directly attack North Korea s daily consumer trade, said Peter Harrell, a sanctions expert at the Center for a New American Security. We are sanctioning companies involved in ordinary trade, Harrell said. That s the logical next step. The sanctions aim to further isolate Pyongyang, said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, adding that she did not think targeting more Chinese firms would affect Beijing s cooperation on the North Korean issue. I don t think it jeopardizes anything, she said. I think the world has come together on this issue. We have a good relationship with China. That s not going to change. | 1 |
8,706 | DEMOCRATS Get DEVASTATING News After Spending $10.1 MILLION To Defeat Roy Moore In AL Senate Race | Roll Call Democrat Doug Jones drastically outraised GOP nominee Roy Moore for the Alabama Senate race, new campaign finance documents show.Jones raised nearly six times Moore s amount ahead of the Dec. 12 special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Jones headed into the final weeks of the race with roughly four times as much money in the bank than his GOP opponent. Jones raked in nearly $10.2 million compared to Jones $1.8 million. Jones also spent roughly 5 times as much as Moore during that period, nearly $8.7 million compared to Moore s $1.7 million.The Democrat Party, who up until just recently, was essentially broke, just got some very bad news today from reliable media ally, CBS News.As the majority of Alabama Republicans believe that the allegations against Judge Roy Moore are untrue, he now takes a commanding lead over radical leftist Democrat Doug Jones per a new CBS News poll.The CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, surveyed 1,037 Alabamians registered to vote in Alabama. It further segmented the poll results into some results among registered voters and others among likely voters. Among registered voters, the margin of error is 3.8 percent. Among likely voters, the margin of error is 4.8 percent. The results of the election, with Moore leading Jones, were broken down to likely voters.Another part broken down to likely voters was polling specifically about the allegations about Moore. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a significant number of Alabamians do not believe the allegations against Moore one bit. Breitbart Despite all of the money Democrats have poured into the race, Alabama voters are not buying the media reports that decades ago, several women were victims of Republican Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore, who they are now accusing of being a sexual predator. After many of the women s claims were called into question, including the claim made by Beverly Young-Nelson, whose stepson said she s lying about having a sexual encounter with the judge, and whose yearbook that was allegedly signed by Roy Moore has been called into question as a forgery. And then there s another accuser, Tina Johnson who lost her 12-year old son to her mother in a nasty custody battle, in a case where Roy Moore represented her mother. It s entirely plausible that Roy Moore s sexual assault accuser, Tina Johnson, had an ax to grind with Moore, the person who was able to successfully prove to the court that Johnson was unfit to care for him.To add insult to injury, only yesterday, President Trump appeared with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to announce record-breaking fundraising of over $120 million, which McDaniel attributed to President Trump.Watch: | 0 |
8,707 | MICHELLE OBAMA Dishes Dirt On Barack: “He barely got his work done…He was a bum!” [VIDEO] | Thanks for the intel Mooch. Outside of his ambition to fundamentally change America, we re pretty sure nothing has changed since the first day our entitled President entered the Oval Office | 0 |
8,708 | guinessbook millions daméricains battent ensemble le record dapnée le gorafi | keywords body detox breath breathing exercises breathing techniques
breathing a process that goes almost unnoticed and happens on such a deep subconscious level yet it is vital for our being nowadays there are more and more cases of people breathing incorrectly
living in a big city surrounded by constant stress pollution and technology can sometimes bring the body out of sync with the natures flow young children know how to breathe correctly on an intuitive level their body follows the rhythm of nature
with time as the stress increases and obstacles come into our lives we quickly forget our calm manner of breathing and switch to a frantic one instead without even realizing it cancer prevention
in dr otto warburg received a nobel prize when he proved that cancer cells are anaerobic this means that they cannot survive in high levels of oxygen when a body is low on oxygen some cells start to replace it by fermenting sugar a normal cell gets its energy through a process of respiration of oxygen whereas a cancer cell does it through fermentation cardiovascular health
hypertension is all too common quite often as a result of stress in order to lower the blood pressure its important to decrease the stress levels one of the oldest and most natural ways to do that is through deep slow breathing not only does it calm your heart beat but it allows the blood to flow at a more even pace
research was conducted over a year period that showed how proper breathing can prolong the lifespan as well as increase general health the framingham study found a correlation between the vital capacity meaning the largest amount of air that can be expelled from the lungs after a deep breath and the lifespan of that person an increased vital capacity means a potentially longer lifespan cure for depression
brain needs oxygen to work just like any other organ in the body stroke has a tendency to leave the body paralyzed as a result one of the causes is the lack of oxygen supply to the brain during a stroke this is an extreme example but looking on a smaller scale there is a connection between improper breathing and depression long periods of even a slightly limited air supply to the body caused by improper breathing can lead to a decrease in cognitive functions symptoms such brain fog forgetfulness lack of concentration and in the end depression are all interconnected increased energy levels
have you ever told someone youre tired and in return you were told to go for a walk or do a light exercise this is because the body converts oxygen into energy through a process called cellular respiration when you inhale the air correctly more of it gets to your body thus increasing the energy levels through conversion it is also one of the reasons why people who exercise on a regular basis are generally more energetic than those with sedentary lifestyles different breathing techniques
there is a countless number of breathing techniques for different purposes and each one of them has its own benefits breathing exercises can lower or raise blood pressure improve sleep help with anxiety and much more
yoga is one of the practices that incorporates breathing exercises called pranayama as an essential part of the process coming from the east its uncertain when exactly yoga originated but there is evidence that it has been around for at least years yogic breathing techniques have been applied for thousands of years making them timeproof i will share with you a couple of my favorite breathing techniques that i personally use in different situations best body detoxifier
kapalbhati is a breathing technique that detoxifies your body opens up your nasal passages and allows your mind to concentrate after doing the exercise you will feel a rush of energy that will immediately wake you up
instructions sit comfortably with a straight spine place your left hand on the knee with the palm facing upwards and your right hand on the stomach take a deep breath quickly exhale while exhaling pull the stomach in as if youre trying to touch the back and do it to an extent that feels comfortable however do not apply strength or pressure beyond the level of comfort repetitions per set come back to normal breathing after each set and observe your bodys sensations its advised to do repetitions daily sleeping and stress reducing technique
its a simple slow breathing exercise that helps you fall asleep faster or calm down during an anxiety attack all you have to do is fully exhale through your mouth with a sound whoosh with a closed mouth slowly inhale with your nose on a count of four hold your breath for seven seconds exhale fully through your mouth on a count of eight making a whoosh sound repeat until you feel sleepy or calm | 0 |
8,709 | Bush Ethics Lawyer Slams Trump: He Can’t Go ‘One Week’ Without Obstructing Justice [VIDEO] | Richard Painter, former ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush, claims that President Donald Trump weighing in on his son, Donald Trump Jr. s, statement on meeting with a Russian lawyer is yet another possible example of obstruction of justice by the U.S. Commander in Chief. Painter even went as far as to say that obstruction of justice is a weekly occurrence for the Trump administration. I would like to have one week from this White House where they don t engage in a new act of obstruction of justice, Painter said during an interview on MSNBC s All In With Chris Hayes on Tuesday evening.Painter also added that if Trump Jr. has no problem using a false statement drafted by his father when dealing with the public, then he would probably have the same disregard for the truth while taking the stand to testify on the situation during a criminal investigation. Once the son says something in a public statement he d be very likely to say something to the special prosecutor, and lying to the special prosecutor is a crime. If he lies under oath it becomes perjury, Painter said. This is a common strategy for obstructing justice. But that wasn t the first time Richard Painter made his opinions about the President s method of dealing with the Russia accusations known. In fact, Painter had taken to Twitter earlier that morning to attack Trump on his favorite platform.Knowingly drafting a false statement for a person who is a witness in a criminal investigation is itself a crime. Obstruction of justice Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 1, 2017Lawyers who knowingly participate in drafting false statements for witnesses in criminal investigations should be disbarred and prosecuted. Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 1, 2017What kind of a man drafts a false statement for his own son about a matter under criminal investigation? A man who can pardon his son. Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 1, 2017Donald Trump Jr. has admitted to meeting with a Russian lawyer in order to get damning information about his father s rival, Hillary Clinton, in the lead up to last years presidential election, but has since given several contradicting statements, including details of who was present and the actual purpose of the meetings. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that President Trump had helped draft the first, inaccurate statement given by Trump Jr., a report initially denied by Trump s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, but later confirmed by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He certainly didn t dictate. But he weighed in, offered suggestions like any father would do, Huckabee Sanders said.Watch Richard Painter s interview on MSNBC s All In With Chris Hayes right here:Richard Painter: "I would like to have one week from this White House where they don't engage in a new act of obstruction of justice." pic.twitter.com/u2LaPgRWKD Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 2, 2017Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
8,710 | Watch Pres Jimmy Carter Go Beast Mode On Republican Candidates (VIDEO) | Former president Jimmy Carter denounced what he called the legal bribery afflicting our political system, turning the presidential race into one that is influenced by a few billionaires, lobby groups, and corporate oligarchs who sponsor candidates by giving billions in exchange for influencing the candidates policy platform. In an interview with the BBC, Carter said: The erroneous ruling of the Supreme Court, where millionaires and billionaires can put in unlimited amounts of money in to the campaign, it gives legal bribery a chance to prevail, because almost all the candidates, whether they are honest or not, Democrat or Republican, rely on these massive amounts of money in order to campaign. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZFc1QqRbbQ] President Carter has a very important point and one that should be taken into account: The democracy of the country is threatened and eroded when an elected official, especially a president, owes a handful of individuals who finance his/her presidential campaign favors.Take for example, the NRA. The NRA is a very well funded and organized lobby group that lobbies Washington officials in favor of lax guns laws. That, in turn, means easier access to guns, which translates into sales. Some people get rich as a result of gun sales, but the country collectively suffers, as has been documented, with record numbers of shootings around the country.Another example is individual donations. Republican candidate Marco Rubio s sponsor, the billionaire Norman Braman, has donated $15-25 million to Rubio s campaign. Braman is staunchly pro-Israel and has financed the building of settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and US policy condemns settlement building in the West Bank. Yet, you can bet that if Rubio should become president, Braman will cash in his chips by ensuring that Rubio goes along with Israel s illegal activities. In the end, we will continue to have a mess in the Middle Eat, which hurts the region and the United States.The bottom line is that billions of dollars are being spent by candidates to win the presidency and much of that money comes from a few individuals. The only way to change that is to create a constitutional amendment that overturns the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that allows individuals and corporations to contribute unlimited sums to political races. Until we do this, a small number of individuals and corporations will continue to exert undemocratic influence over our country. Featured image from YouTube via screenshot | 0 |
8,711 | BUSTED! CRAIGSLIST AD EXPOSES Rent-a-Mob for Phoenix Anti-Trump Thugs | The usual suspects are going to show up tonight for President Trump s rally in Phoenix, AZ. With Soros and Democrat donors throwing money at rent-a-mobs, you can bet the faux protesters will be out in droves tonight with their mass-produced identical signs. Craigslist had ads for tonight s rally asking for protesters:THE AD WAS FLAGGED:Real post on Craig s list that was flagged and removed asking for professional actors to protest TrumpInsane! pic.twitter.com/IAa1UMcZGf Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 21, 2017MORE UNEMPLOYABLE YOUNG SNOWFLAKES PAID BY SOROS More unemployable young liberals paid by https://t.co/kcOLe2tAt3 Soros funding. Remember follow the money and ignore the idiots taking it. pic.twitter.com/KAiWqppz1T Gay & Deplorable (@purplemeatballs) August 22, 2017Leading anti-Trump activists backed by major Democratic donors including George Soros are mobilizing large numbers of protesters ahead of President Trump s rally in Phoenix on Tuesday, with the intention of stealing the spotlight from the president s event.Local leaders of Indivisible, one of many resistance protest groups formed as a direct response to Trump s election, are organizing thousands of protesters associated with a coalition of left-wing groups ahead of Tuesday s event. In addition to organizing mass protests outside the rally, Indivisible is encouraging protesters to register for tickets for the rally itself, increasing the likelihood that protesters will disrupt Trump s speech, as often happens at Trump s rallies.Although originally founded by activists not backed by donors, Indivisible s website now states that the group is a project of the Advocacy Fund, a progressive advocacy group that receives money from the Open Society Policy Center, an arm of Soros Open Society Foundations. That revelation follows USA Today s reporting in May that leaders of Indivisible and Women s March met with Democracy Alliance, a Soros-led network of left-wing donors, to discuss funding options.VIA: DAILY CALLERVia: Truthfeed | 0 |
8,712 | Nigeria's Buhari said he would not seek re-election in 2019: minister | LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria s President Muhammadu Buhari told members of his party before he was first elected that he would only seek one term, implying he did not intend at that time to run in 2019, the minister of women s affairs told Reuters on Wednesday. The comments by Aisha Alhassan could heighten uncertainty over whether Buhari plans to contest the next election. Buhari took power in 2015 but has been absent for much of this year due to illness. He is yet to say if he will seek a second term. In 2014/2015 he said he was going to run for only one time to clean up the mess that the (previous) PDP government did in Nigeria. And I took him for his word that he is not contesting in 2019, Minister of Women Affairs Alhassan said. Alhassan said in the interview she would resign if Buhari seeks re-election and would support former vice president Atiku Abubakar if he decides to run. Alhassan s portfolio ranks relatively low down in Nigeria s cabinet. Abubakar was vice president from 1999 to 2007 as part of the People s Democratic Party (PDP). He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), Buhari s party, in 2014. She said Buhari made the comments in 2015 to APC members but gave no further details. The president s two spokesmen declined to comment on the minister s remarks. Buhari, 74, returned on Aug. 19 from three months of medical leave in Britain for an unspecified ailment. It was his second stint of sick leave this year following a break between January and March. Many people say they doubt whether Buhari is well enough to serve another term in Nigeria, which is Africa s most populous country and has the continent s biggest economy. If today Mr. President says he is running in 2019 I will go to him respectfully and thank him for giving me an opportunity to serve and then tell him that I have to resign because my political father may be running, said Alhassan. | 1 |
8,713 | Trump Advisers Explain Why He Didn’t Practice For Debate And It’s INSANE (TWEETS) | There were a lot of memorable moments where Donald Trump looked like a moron during the presidential debate on Monday, but one of the greatest was definitely when Hillary Clinton zinged him for being so unprepared. Her exact words were, I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. If one thing was completely apparent during that debate, it s that Trump didn t invest any time in debate prep. And apparently, Trump s advisers have just confirmed that. According to The New York Times, several Trump advisers have come forward to say they d tried to get him to prepare for the debate, but Trump would get too bored and start talking about other things. The Times wrote: Mr. Trump s debate preparation was unconventional. Aides have introduced a podium and encouraged him to participate in mock debates, but he has not embraced them, focusing mostly on conversations and discussions with advisers. There were early efforts to run a more standard form of general election debate-prep camp, led by Roger Ailes, the ousted Fox News chief, at Mr. Trump s golf course in Bedminster, N.J. But Mr. Trump found it hard to focus during those meetings, according to multiple people briefed on the process who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. TwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTrump had apparently been so difficult to keep on track that Ailes abandoned the whole thing and instead began discussing his own problems, as well as recounting political war stories, according to two people present for the sessions. Basically, prep became a therapy session for Ailes because Trump doesn t have the ability to focus on more important things, like getting ready to lead a country.Trump s debate performance has been disappointing for his advisers, who say they spent time giving Trump responses to the attacks Clinton might make during the face-off. They d given him several talking points and suggestions, but Trump didn t use any of it something that his advisers say hurt him tremendously.So there you have it, America. A man who wants to be President of the United States doesn t even have the attention span or interest to prepare for such a critical position. We all know how undeserving Trump is of the White House, but this news should scare you. Trump is a ticking time bomb that has no idea what he s doing and he s not going to learn.Featured image via Spencer Platt / Getty Images | 0 |
8,714 | BET Had More Than A Few Things To Say To Stacey Dash About Her Hypocrisy (TWEETS) | By now you ve probably heard about the remarks Clueless star and Fox News contributor Stacey Dash made about race, segregation and BET. However, if you haven t they went something like this: I think it s ludicrous. We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. If we don t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the [NAACP] Image Awards, where you re only awarded it you re black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms, it s a double standard there shouldn t be a black history month. We re Americans. Period. Well, as you can only imagine that didn t go over so well. The twitterverse had her name trending within hours and pretty much everyone had something to say regarding Dash s ridiculous remarks. In fact, BET responded themselves. First by tweeting a link that displayed Every Time Stacey Dash Proved She Was Clueless :Every Time Stacey Dash Proved She Was Clueless: https://t.co/mto8DSxVhe pic.twitter.com/NBDorO6Jna BET (@BET) January 20, 2016THEN they tweeted:? Soooooo @REALStaceyDash can we get our check back or nah? #Remember #YouWereOnTheGame #AndWeDontMeanTheRapper pic.twitter.com/2vWq03J0c9 BET (@BET) January 20, 2016Dash clearly forgot that she guest-starred on BET s The Game. She also clearly forgot all of these moments in her life as well while making her dimwitted remarks. Roland Martin tells it like it is:.@REALStaceyDash says there should not be Black networks or awards shows. So why has she done interviews/photo spreads w/Black magazines? rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016Hey @REALStaceyDash. Did you tell @FoxNews you attended the 2011 @NAACP Theatre Awards? I know. Pesky facts! pic.twitter.com/JheCjiB445 rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016Remember that time @REALStaceyDash adorned the cover of a Black health magazine, Heart & Soul? Hmmmm. pic.twitter.com/Egr6c8ExpB rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016My bad @REALStaceyDash. You were a PRESENTER with @TheOrlandoJones at the NAACP Theatre Awards. I know. The Internet pic.twitter.com/9OSY7U3Lta rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016One more @REALStaceyDash. So no to Black History Month @naacpimageaward @BET, but yes to Black men's mag King? Hmmmm pic.twitter.com/dokpzt3Pn9 rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016 Wait. Is that @REALStaceyDash on the cover of @GetJETmag with Damon Wayans promoting Mo' Money? Wow. Black magazine. pic.twitter.com/RTgSUAtFhj rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016Hey @REALStaceyDash! That was a pretty smooth cover shoot for the Black men's magazine Smooth! #OscarsSoWhite pic.twitter.com/OIAnRA1bz5 rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 20, 2016Oops.According to Dash, she herself is ludicrous and a bad American for appearing in programming on BET, going to award shows for only people of color, and for appearing on magazines meant for the black community. She really and truly seems clueless as her former role suggests.It s clear why Fox News hired her. Dash will say the things that clearly don t make sense to appeal to the audience that Fox has built up over the years old, white people who are angry and scared of anyone who doesn t look or sound like them. It s too bad, really, because she s in a role where she could reach out to that audience to offer some much-needed clarity, but instead she caters to their myopic minds by agreeing with them and telling them what they want to hear.Featured image: Twitter | 0 |
8,715 | [VIDEO] THEY BURNED DOWN CITIES…14 Yr Old Doused A Non-White Baltimore Business Owner With Lighter Fluid, Lit Him On Fire…Barack Obama Thanked Them Yesterday | Barack and Michelle Obama had some unusual honored guests meet with them at the White House yesterday in honor of Black History Month. First we had the first government funded (via Eric Holder)Trayvon Martin protests led by the radical Black Panthers group in Florida. Next came the violent riots against cops and non-blacks over the death of thug, Michael Brown that left the town of Ferguson in shreds. On the heels of Ferguson we saw masses of unruly protestors shutting down major bridges in NYC over the death of Eric Garner. NYC will forever be known as the city where the first violent thug, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, took the lives of two law enforcement officers. The hate and violence against police officers and non-blacks only increased in Baltimore as innocent business owners, like the one in this video, who was doused by lighter fluid and lit on fire by a 14 year old girl inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement (See video HERE).America s watched an Asian reporter attacked and bullied by protestors at Univ. of Missouri assigned to covering the ridiculous hunger strike protest against unfair treatment by a student, who it was later discovered is the son of multi-millionaire railroad tycoon. We ve watched innocent families in restaurants feel threatened by Black Lives Matter bullies during their #BlackLivesMatterBrunch disruptions. We ve watched the hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter movement when they were caught on video, When they shut down an Asian girl after taking to the microphone to recall a story of discrimination she faced by blacks.The last straw for many was the half-time show during the 2016 Super Bowl featuring Beyonce in a cop-hating, Black Panther promoting disgraceful show. Neither the NFL or our President would respond to Americans after the outrage her performance made many in America feel. Instead, our President Barack Obama invited some of the top race agitators and Black Lives Matter organizers to our White House where he PRAISED their activity. If this were a novel written eight years ago, no one would have bought it, because it would have been too unbelievable to be true. Sadly, where this President is concerned the truth is truly stranger than fiction.Watch Obama praise their outstanding work here: | 0 |
8,716 | Democratic senator opposes spending bill over coal miner benefits as Senate vote looms | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Friday urged senators to oppose a temporary spending bill because it fails to offer a long-term solution to secure retired coal miners’ benefits. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not yet announced when a final vote on the government spending legislation would take place. The House of Representatives voted for the funding bill on Thursday and went home. But in the Senate, Manchin and some other Democrats planned to delay a vote in hopes of adding a longer-term extension of expiring healthcare benefits for retired coal miners and their families. | 1 |
8,717 | Deficit worries complicate path for Republican tax cuts | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unease among Republicans about a massive increase in the federal deficit could complicate passage of two tax-cut bills working their way through the U.S. Congress, endangering President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan budget watchdog in Washington, on Friday called a Senate Republican tax plan a “fatally flawed budget buster,” likening it to Republican legislation in the House of Representatives that the House tax committee has approved. Both measures would add $1.5 trillion over 10 years to the annual budget deficit and the $20 trillion national debt, according to congressional tax analysts. The watchdog group estimated that $900 billion of the projected $1.5 trillion deficit increase would come from business tax cuts. The remainder would come from individual tax cuts, including a cut in the estate tax on inheritance that would help only the richest Americans, it said. Republicans hold a tenuous 52-48 majority in the Senate. For that reason, if they lose the support of only three senators from their ranks, they cannot pass a tax bill as long as Democrats stay united in their opposition. Nearly 10 months into his presidency, with his party in control of the House and the Senate, Trump is still without a major legislative victory. Failing to get a tax bill through the Senate could cost Republicans in November 2018’s midterm elections. The Tax Foundation, another nonpartisan group, said the Senate plan would add $1.78 trillion to the deficit over a decade. It estimated that over the same time frame lower taxes would expand the U.S. economy by 3.7 percent, add 925,000 full-time jobs, raise wages by 2.9 percent and generate enough new tax revenue to erase all but $516 billion of the deficit effect. For decades, Republicans positioned themselves as deficit hawks, refusing to raise the debt limit, opposing Democratic spending programs and warning of crushing federal debts being passed on to future generations of Americans. The tax plans now being debated represent a stark reversal, with congressional Republican leadership and tax law writers urging passage of deficit-expanding tax changes. Only a handful of Republican senators already have publicly voiced misgivings. After the Senate plan was released on Thursday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake said in a statement, “I remain concerned over how the current tax reform proposals will grow the already staggering national debt by opting for short-term fixes, while ignoring long-term problems for taxpayers and the economy.” Senator James Lankford said in a statement, “As we work on tax relief, we must also not lose sight of our responsibilities to protect the nation, provide basic government services and confront our federal debt.” Senator Bob Corker, another Republican and a critic of Trump, did not comment after the Senate bill’s release but signaled fiscal concerns after the House issued its plan, saying he did not want tax cut legislation that added to the deficit. “The current tax reform debate shows Congress just can’t seem to shake its addiction to debt,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “If tax cuts paid for by debt are signed into law, Congress will have sent a massive, budget-busting tax bill to our children to pay, and it will result only in a short-term sugar high with little to no economic improvement over the long term,” she said. The House is due to vote on passage of its tax bill next week. The Senate Finance Committee is due to begin formal consideration of the Senate’s version on Monday. The Senate panel’s chairman, Republican Orrin Hatch, said he hopes to have the bill approved and sent to the full Senate by the end of next week. The House and Senate would need to agree on a single piece of legislation, pass it and send it to Trump for his signature. | 1 |
8,718 | HILLARY 2016: THE CHAMPION OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE IS SELLING THEM OVERPRICED CHACHKIES | We ve seen the overpriced t-shirts before from other candidates but The Hillary Clinton store takes it to a new level . everyday items made by everyday people ? Gag! Something about this is just so snake oil salesmanish you know, like a grifter who comes into town selling overpriced chachkies The champion of the little people isn t above selling them overpriced T-shirts.Or $65 hoodies, $35 tote bags and $25 onesies, all of which were hawked at a tent set up at Hillary Rodham Clinton s coming-out party on Roosevelt Island. Clinton also wrapped up her big speech with a pitch for cash. I want you to join me in this effort . . . Go to hillaryclinton.com, she said. Those who followed her instructions were met with the message: Just go ahead and donate! with suggested amounts of $5 to the upper limit $2,700. Clicking past pitches for donations on the site takes visitors to the Clinton store, where everyday items made by everyday Americans include a $55 throw pillow, a $35 baseball cap, a $25 pair of pint glasses and a $30 tee proclaiming, Women s Rights are Human Rights (available in women s sizes only).Via: NYP | 0 |
8,719 | BREAKING: FIVE DAYS LATE! OBAMA SHAMED INTO ORDERING FLAGS AT HALF-STAFF FOR VICTIMS OF CHATTANOOGA TERROR ATTACK | It s about time! Did Obama order the flags lowered because Boehner put pressure on him or could it be that Obama ordered the flags lowered because he s speaking to the VFW today?In other instances like the Ft. Hood terror attack, it took just hours for Obama to sign a proclamation to lower the flags. The White House Press Secretary had no answer for the press on this yesterday: I don t have more information about the status of the flag over the White House. This is yet another example of just how out of touch this President is with the American people.President Obama has ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff at the White House and federal buildings across the country to honor the victims of last week s shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tenn., after facing pressure from lawmakers and others.In a proclamation issued early Tuesday afternoon, Obama said of the Chattanooga victims, We honor their service. We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives. We draw strength from yet another American community that has come together with an unmistakable message to those who would try and do us harm: We do not give in to fear. You cannot divide us. And you will not change our way of life. He ordered flags flown at half-staff at the White House and all public buildings and grounds, as well as over military posts and naval stations and vessels until July 25. Flags will be flown at half-staff at U.S. embassies and other overseas diplomatic offices.The decision comes after congressional leaders ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol lowered to half-staff earlier in the day that decision fueled questions over why the White House hadn t yet done the same.Via: myfoxdc | 0 |
8,720 | Draining the swamp: Hard-hit Everglades town mops up after Irma | EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. (Reuters) - As Hurricane Irma raged through Everglades City, a tiny fishing village in a vast alligator-infested swamp, Howie Grimm hunkered down inside his house with his 88-year-old mother, a useless cell phone and a new job title. He had been acting mayor for less than a week. When the winds started to wane, he jumped in his truck and moved his mother to a higher perch a trailer on stilts because he knew a storm surge would follow the eye of the storm. He watched from the trailer as the surge swallowed his truck. And that s how it all started, my what do you call it? mayorism? he recalled with a laugh on Monday, as he leaned on a flooded forklift in front of his business, Grimm s Seafood. While most of South Florida was spared the worst of the dangerous storm, this remote hamlet of about 400 residents in the southwest part of the state, felt the full wrath of Irma s winds and waves. And yet residents here seemed to take it in stride, surveying the damage with a good humor and a shrug of the shoulders. Little help had arrived from the outside world the day after the storm, but no one here seemed to be asking for much help, either. In a town surrounded by marshlands, storms and floods are part of the deal. The few residents that remained in this outpost for Irma s landfall on Sunday watched a surge up to eight feet high inundate roughly half of the homes and businesses - all the ones that were not up on stilts - and cake the town in gray swamp slime. Sammy Hamilton, 83, the city s mayor for 22 years until last week, lost two buildings housing tourism businesses, along with several vessels. One of his 55-foot tour boats ended up in a tree an ornament of sorts. That s how we decorate here for Christmas, said Hamilton, who stepped down over his handling of the town s sewer plant, which had fallen out of compliance with state environmental regulations and faces a major overhaul. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection sued the city in 2015, after inspectors caught the plant pumping sewage into nearby mangroves. Few residents expressed much anger with Hamilton over the sewer plant or his resignation days before a major flood. I love the old mayor, said Grimm, the acting mayor, who had criticized Hamilton s handling of the sewer debacle. He s done a lot of good. He just decided he d had enough. Everglades City is isolated geographically and culturally from the rest of South Florida by 1.5 million aces of preserved wetlands. Founded in the late 1800s, it later became the last stop on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Its historic Rod and Gun Club, which has hosted a half dozen U.S. presidents, including Harry Truman when he dedicated the swampland surrounding the city as a national park in 1947. Today, the city s economy rests on three main commodities: stone crabs, alligators and airboats. The commercial catch of stone crabs once played a bigger role than tourism - which primarily involves scouting alligators on airboats - but that mix is changing, said Vicky Wells, a fifth-generation resident. Her brother was among those who happily made the switch from processing crabs to toting tourists around on airboats. It was a lot more money for a lot easier work, Wells said. People here do whatever they need to do to feed their family. And many do whatever is needed to protect their family from wind and water. Having weathered many storms, the Wells family built their home a decade ago to withstand a major hurricane. Vicky s husband, Bob Wells, 72, drove pilings 23 feet into the ground and used rebar to reinforce a concrete foundation every two feet. He encased the windows in concrete, too. We built this thing to stay. It stayed, Bob said. Across the street from the Wells home, Ricky Collins, a 68-year-old Everglades City native, washed muck from his driveway as his grandson pushed it out of his house with a broom. The flood didn t rattle him, and he didn t think it would change how his neighbors, even the newer arrivals, viewed living there. The difference in this town now is that we have a lot of foreigners I mean, people from out of state, he said. But they ll stay, too. They ll probably do better than we will, because they have better insurance and everything. Among the newcomers is Marlene Sassaman, 69, who moved here four years ago. She stayed for the storm and spent the next day mopping the mud out of her first floor. If you have a strong house, you re fine, Sassaman said As for the departure of the old mayor, she said she preferred to steer clear of any controversy. Let s just say he retired. I don t want to go there, she said. He was born and bred here, and his pappy was born and bred here I really love this place, because it s one of the last small towns in the country. | 1 |
8,721 | Ivanka Trump Ordered Some Jewelry And Got OWNED By The Company’s Founders | Ivanka Trump enjoys what someone from that family would consider the finer things in life: vacationing with a Russian dictator s rumored girlfriend, taking creepy and inappropriate photos with daddy, probably f*cking the 2016 GOP nominee (seriously), and Lady Grey brand ear cuffs, apparently. Unfortunately for her, Lady Grey doesn t much like her.Trump ordered a gold-plated ear cuff, a piece of jewelry that makes it appear that the wearer gets fashion tips directly from Xena the warrior princess, from the popular indie brand. Upon receipt of Ivanka s order for the $84 ear shield, the company worked diligently to fulfill the order, even including a special little gift for The Donald s daughter: a classy handwritten note from the company s founders. Dear @ivankatrump, #thanksbutnothanks #payitFORWARD A photo posted by Lady Grey Jewelry (@ladygreyjewelry) on Aug 16, 2016 at 12:15pm PDT Dear Ivanka, Thank you so much for your web order! the note begins. Then it quickly turns biting: We re happy to let you know that the proceeds of your sale have been generously donated to the American Immigration Council, the Everytown for Gun Safety organization, and the Hillary Clinton campaign. We hope you enjoy your new Lady Grey #helixearcuff. Best, Jill + Sabine. The note was included in her package and shipped last week directly from our studio in Brooklyn., Martinelli told The Cut. While we were flattered to receive an order from Ivanka Trump, our social and political views couldn t be further from those of the Trump campaign. When we received her order, we instantly felt compelled to take the money and donate it to a few organizations that were more aligned with our ideals. Hopefully, Ivanka enjoys her piece of ear jewelry. We re sure Everytown and the American Immigration Council are happy with the money.Featured image via Instagram/Getty Images(Jeff J. Mitchell) | 0 |
8,722 | ‘Calexit’ Is Really A Thing, Might Mean Actual Secession (DETAILS) | California has had a movement going for the last couple of years that is pushing for the large, deep blue state to leave the union. This state has long been the leader of progressive policies and movements, and with the election of Donald Trump and his supporting regressive federal government, it is looking more and more like California just might be fed up enough to leave the United States permanently.The movement is led by the Yes California Independence campaign, and they have been given the green light to begin collecting signatures to get on the ballot. Thanks to the fact that the Trump administration wants to take America back to the dark ages where people of color are more disenfranchised than ever, where LGBTQ people are subjected to abuses like conversion therapy and routinely discriminated against, where women have no reproductive rights well, let s just say the idea just got a whole hell of a lot less far-fetched. It s not a stretch to believe that the majority of Californians do not want to live under the tyranny of Trump and Pence and the GOP Congress.The green light is a sign that this could really happen. Yes California has 180 days to rack up 585,407 signatures to be on the ballot in time for the 2018 election. If they get this passed via the voters, there will be another election specifically to decide whether or not California wishes to be its own country. In that instance the state would repeal the part of the state constitution that says that the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land, as well as law codifying California as an inseparable part of the United States. On the one hand, this sounds like some kind of liberal utopia, and if it were to happen, I d personally be there in a heartbeat. On the other hand, the remaining parts of the United States would be subjected to Christofascist GOP rule for the rest of eternity, because California is a key state when it comes to delivering Democratic victories in presidential races, with its 55 electoral votes. Further, it could lead to a Brexit-like breakdown of the United States, which could spell trouble for democracy at large, with the break-up of countries like the United States and alliances like the European Union. This could be a world-destabilizing force.Either way, it could be interesting to watch, and one must wonder how a huge state like California, which has the world s sixth largest economy, would be stopped from leaving the GOP-infested hellhole that Trump and Pence are sure to turn America into in short order.Featured image via KTLA | 0 |
8,723 | U.S. 'very concerned' by violence around Iraq's Kirkuk: State Department | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Monday Washington was very concerned by reports of violence around the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, which was seized by Baghdad s forces from Kurds. We are monitoring the situation closely and call on all parties to coordinate military activities and restore calm, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. | 1 |
8,724 | Father Of Orlando Shooter Says His Son Got ‘Angry’ When Seeing Two Men Kiss (VIDEO) | The shooter responsible for a mass shooting that is being investigated as an act of terrorism has been identified as Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Mateen s father was contacted by MSNBC, where he spoke out against the mass shooting that took 50 people s lives at Pulse, a gay nightclub located in Orlando, late Saturday night. The extremely high death toll makes this incident the largest mass shooting in United States history. There are dozens of people who have been hospitalized with injuries, experts have said that they expect to see the death toll increase over time.It has been confirmed that the shooter used both a handgun and an AR15 type rifle. Mayor Dyer: 50 dead in Pulse nightclub shooting. @ChiefJohnMina Suspect had handgun and AR15 type rifle. Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016 We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren t aware of any accident he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country. This had nothing to do with religion. The father of the shooter says that he saw his son become angry when he saw two men kissing in downtown Miami a couple months ago. Here is the MSNBC report on the story:WATCH: Father of shooter in Orlando club tells NBC News: We are apologizing for the whole incident https://t.co/SJiy3pFAYJ TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 12, 2016So far a motive for the shooting has not been released by investigators. Investigators have not yet determined whether the shooting is an act of domestic terrorism or whether Marteen was acting in collusion with an international terrorist organization.Fatriana Evans was outside of Pulse when the shooting began. She told the Associated Press: Some guy walked in and started shooting everybody. He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance. I just tried to get out of there. Featured image from Gerardo Mora/Getty Images | 0 |
8,725 | LOL! Black Conservative DESTROYS “Current Day Slave” Elijah Cummings’ DNC Speech…”Boss Lady Gonna Be Proud Of You!” | Democrats are the party of KKK The problem is, you keep running back to Massa Hillary can you give my people some handouts?' If Hillary is the answer is your answer, you up sh*t creek without a paddle! | 0 |
8,726 | Trump Humiliated As DACA Decision Practically Kills His Presidency (DETAILS) | As we saw with his Muslim travel ban as well as his attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, every time Donald Trump puts forth one of his disastrous ideas, it blows up in his face and delivers a devastating blow to his already failing presidency.Each time Trump introduces an unpopular policy or idea, his already historically low approval rating takes another nosedive. This week, Trump only managed to make things worse for himself when he decided to end former President Obama s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program. Here s the problem most Americans disagree with him.According to a recent survey from Morning Consult/Politico, almost 80% (76% to be exact) of Americans do not believe that Dreamers (the undocumented immigrants that were brought into the United States illegally as kids) should be forced to return to their countries. The majority of Americans are far more humane than Trump, and believe that these immigrants should have the opportunity to become citizens, as most have been productive members and have contributed greatly to American society.Trump is especially in trouble because his decision to end DACA only offers more proof that he is a racist a**hole. As MSNBC s Joy Reid perfectly pointed out, there is no economic, national security or social cohesion rationale for ending DACA: Trump might say that he has great love for the immigrants that are living in America, but his decision proves the exact opposite. Trump wants to strip Dreamers of the lives and progress they have made for themselves in this country and force them to return to countries they are unfamiliar with, where they will have nothing.With this decision, Trump is not only screwing himself over by killing his presidency, but he is also basically putting the GOP in great danger in future elections by excluding one of the fastest-growing voting demographics. Trump is sinking the Republican Party and his presidency at record speed.Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
8,727 | U.S. labor chief wants more drastic changes to NAFTA from Trump | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. labor leader Richard Trumka on Tuesday blasted the Trump administration’s initial plan to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), calling it “very timid.” Speaking before an audience at the National Press Club, Trumka said that the administration could leave the “most oppressive pieces” of NAFTA in place despite President Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of the 23-year-old trade deal with Mexico and Canada. Trump called NAFTA a “disaster” throughout the 2016 election campaign, but the plan outlined in a draft notification letter would preserve many of its provisions, including a settlement system for other disputes that circumvents local courts. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office circulated the letter with its NAFTA objectives to members of Congress for review. The letter, seen by Reuters, is part of the legal process required to start negotiations to revamp the NAFTA. The AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization of unions representing 12.5 million workers, endorsed Trump’s opponent in the presidential election, Hillary Clinton. But the AFL-CIO has long been critical of NAFTA and Trumka, the labor federation’s president, met with Trump after the election. Trumka said on Tuesday that the AFL-CIO will judge the Trump administration based on its actions and provide backing when it supports workers. How Trump handles the revamping of NAFTA “will be the real test,” Trumka said. Trumka said there are dozens of changes to the trade pact that unions favor, such as making its labor standards fully enforceable and scrapping the entire dispute resolution system for antidumping and antisubsidy cases. | 1 |
8,728 | Undeterred By Threats Of GOP Obstruction, Obama Interviews Supreme Court Candidates | President Obama is clearly not letting GOP threats of obstruction interfere with his duty to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice.The president began interviewing Supreme Court candidates on Tuesday, paying little attention to republican foot-stomping and temper tantrums.Following the unexpected death of Antonin Scalia in February, President Obama made it abundantly clear that he intends to fulfill his duty under the U.S. Constitution by appointing a justice to fill the vacant seat.Although republicans have promised to block any potential nominee the president puts forward, President Obama is moving ahead and doing the job he was elected to do.According to NPR, the president has already interviewed several candidates, one of whom is likely to be chosen to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court.NPR reports that the top three candidates include Judges Merrick Garland and Sri Srinivasan, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, and Judge Paul Watford, of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.Judge Garland was first appointed to the DC court by Bill Clinton. President Obama considered him as a replacement for former Supreme Court Justice Stevens upon his retirement, but ultimately named Justice Elena Kagan to fill Stevens seat.Garland was part of the three-judge panel which ruled against the U.S. government s right to hold 17 Uighurs, a Muslim minority group from China, at Guant namo. The ruling dealt a huge blow to the Bush administration s secretive tribunals. Liberal backlash over Judge Srinivasan s appointment to the DC court in 2010 was centered on his role in the the defense of Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling.Since that time, however, Srinivasan has played a major role in overturning the Defense of Marriage Act. He has also written the majority opinion in important cases like Sierra Club v. Jewell, which upheld the standing of environmental groups fighting to protect a historical site in West Virginia, Pom Wonderful v. FTC, which upheld the right of the FTC to require health-related advertising to be truthful, and Home Care Association of America v. Weil, which extended labor protections to home health workers.Judge Watford was appointed to the 9th Circuit Court by President Obama in 2011.He authored the majority opinion in Patel & Patel v. City of Los Angeles, which struck down a local ordinance requiring hotel owners to turn guest registry information over to the police without a warrant.Other potential candidates that the president is considering include Judge Jane Kelly of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis; and U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves in Washington, D.C.Although republicans have threatened to block any nominee that the president proposes, republican obstructionism has been ongoing since the day he took office. Yet somehow, President Obama has managed to accomplish more than any president in modern history.President Obama says he is going to do his job and appoint the next Supreme Court justice.If there s anything republicans should have learned by now, it s that the president does exactly what he says he is going to do.Featured image via wikimedia commons | 0 |
8,729 | Netanyahu's son under fire over 'anti-Semitic' imagery on Facebook | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - From an argument over dog poo to an alleged anti-Semitic caricature he posted on Facebook, Yair Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister s 26-year-old son, is courting controversy with his social media activity. The criticism of Netanyahu in Israel is turning into a sideshow to more weighty events: criminal investigations into corruption allegations against his father and mother. They both deny any wrongdoing. The young Netanyahu is widely seen in Israel as being groomed by his parents as a future political leader and the Facebook posts have attracted particular public interest. On Saturday, he posted a cartoon using what the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors anti-Semitism worldwide, described as anti-Semitic imagery in a Facebook post mocking some of his father s critics. It included a depiction of U.S. billionaire George Soros at the top of a food chain, dangling the world in front of both a reptile and former prime minister Ehud Barak, a frequent critic of Netanyahu. Jewish financiers controlling the world is a well-known anti-Semitic theme. Soros supports left-wing and human rights organizations that have been highly critical of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. The Israel office of the Anti-Defamation League denounced the cartoon on Twitter, writing: The caricature posted by Yair Netanyahu includes explicit anti-Semitic elements. One cannot belittle the danger inherent in an anti-Semitic discourse. In further Facebook posts following criticism for posting the cartoon, Yair Netanyahu, who is a university student, condemned the Israeli left for being two-faced in trying to silence him. A family spokesman said Yair Netanyahu would not be making any other comment. The prime minister refused to ask questions from reporters about the post on Sunday morning at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting. Last month, the son made another headline-grabbing post after a protester was killed during a white nationalist rally in the U.S. state of Virginia. It appeared to suggest that hard-left organizations now pose more of a danger than neo-Nazi groups, which he wrote are a dying breed. In July, Netanyahu junior found himself in a bizarre social media row over dog poo. A neighbor of the family said on Facebook that Yair, who lives with his parents, responded with an obscene gesture and walked away after she had asked him to clean up the mess left by the dog he was walking in a park. The post went viral. A family spokesman said at the time that the woman had behaved aggressively and Yair does not know if Kaiya (the dog) did defecate as (she) alleges . Some critics in Israel suggested Netanyahu s online activities were meant to deflect attention from his parent s legal troubles. On Friday, Israel s attorney-general said he was considering indicting Sara Netanyahu on suspicion of using state funds for personal dining and catering services amounting to some $100,000. Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister for 11 years, spread over four terms, is being investigated by police in two corruption cases. | 1 |
8,730 | Trump Brags About His HUGE Tax Return: ‘I Fight Like Hell Not To Pay’ Taxes (VIDEO) | Clearly riding the high off of his New Hampshire victory, Republican front runner Donald Trump announced that he would be releasing his tax returns in the next few months, foolishly admitting that he fights like hell to avoid paying his dues to the government like the rest of America.In an interview with NBC s Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie, Trump bragged that although they were being worked on , his tax returns were taking longer than usual because they are the biggest ever in the history of what we are doing. The real estate mogul also said that once his very big tax returns finally make their public debut, people will probably be shocked at how little he pays. He boasted: I fight like hell not to pay (taxes). I hate the way the government spends my money. Trump didn t seem to think this was much of a problem, and commended himself on being more crooked than other tax-paying politicians: I fight like hell not to pay a lot of tax, and you know what? Every politician probably does. I ve watched others where they say, Oh, I want to pay [tax]. In the same interview, Trump defended himself for calling Texas Senator Ted Cruz a p*ssy , explaining that it wasn t the worst thing in the world and that he was just having a good time. He also said that because he stood up against political correctness by being himself and just saying whatever batsh*t crazy thing came to mind, people went out and voted for me, and that s why we got, you know, the numbers we did when talking about his New Hampshire victory.This interview is hardly the first time Trump has confessed to not paying as much as others in taxes. Last year, Trump said in an interview with CBS Face The Nation: I fight like hell to pay as little as possible for two reasons. Number one, I m a businessman. And that s the way you re supposed to do it. The other reason is that I hate the way our government spends our taxes. I hate the way they waste our money. Trillions and trillions of dollars of waste and abuse. And I hate it. But building that racist $8 billion border wall isn t wasteful? | 0 |
8,731 | Democratic Party workers pore over videos in bid to hobble Trump | (Reuters) - From the basement to the third floor of Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, dozens of election campaign workers are glued to screens playing back videos of Donald Trump and other Republicans, digitally documenting their policy positions on everything from torture to climate change. The newly bulked up operation, including research, of more than 70 people is central to the Democrats’ strategy to sink whoever the Republicans nominate to run for the White House in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Party officials who provided Reuters with details of the operation increasingly think their target will be Trump, the New York businessman and former reality TV star who is the surprise Republican front-runner. The video clips will be used as grist for attack ads that will be deployed rapidly on social media sites any time Trump, or either of his rivals, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich, strays during the general election campaign from policy proposals they touted in the nominating contests across the country. That could, in theory, hinder them from appealing to the millions of more moderate voters needed to beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the two competitors for the Democratic nomination. Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesman Luis Miranda, who provided Reuters with a partial tour of the research operation, said voters in the run-up to November’s election were “not going to be as responsive to the divisive rhetoric” that Trump used in the Republican campaign and that was a “key part of our general election strategy.” Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the Democratic Party operation. Trump leads Cruz with 678 delegates to the Texan’s 423 delegates and Kasich at 143 as of this week after a string of wins in states where his supporters favored his flamboyant rhetoric and plans to wall off the U.S. border with Mexico, deport millions of undocumented immigrants and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country. Trump has also called for a revision of laws that ban torture, and wants to scrap trade deals he blames for job losses. There are two more Republican nominating contests on Tuesday. A candidate needs to accumulate at least 1,237 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican convention in July. News and video monitoring have been election staples for years, but the latest operations bear little resemblance to the lower-tech past because of leaps in technology and the speed with which a candidate’s remarks are distributed. “Everything is on steroids,” said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant, who recalled campaigns continuously taping news channels on VHS tapes - a tedious process that limited how much could be monitored. Other new technology, such as the live streaming application Periscope, makes news from around the world available almost instantly, said Holly Shulman, a Democratic strategist and former DNC official. “Halfway around the world we were able to respond to something before the reporters looked at it even,” she said. The Republican National Committee (RNC) said it has also ramped up its video monitoring efforts, with a focus on Clinton, adding staff and using newer technology. Eight people on the RNC staff are devoted to monitoring news coverage, and the party said it was building a searchable digital library of Clinton speeches, interviews and other events going back to 1991, the year before her husband Bill Clinton won the presidential election. Attacks on Trump by Republican rivals and Super PACs, independent political action committees that may raise unlimited sums of money, have failed to stop his campaign’s momentum. But the DNC said it believes its strategy will be effective. For one, the Democrats believe the Republican establishment’s efforts to block Trump’s nomination have been slow and disorganized - and hampered by a fear of tearing the party apart. The Democratic Party is also betting the general electorate will be more easily persuaded to counter Trump than registered Republicans have been. Clinton has a nearly 10-point lead over Trump in a hypothetical general election match up, according to an average of polls gathered by Real Clear Politics. The effort to hobble the former reality TV star takes a page out of reality television itself, where producers comb through thousands of hours of candid video, index it into an easily searchable library, and then paste together coherent narratives. The project helps address recommendations from the Democratic Victory Task Force, commissioned by DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, which in February 2015 suggested the party prepare for the 2016 election and promote the party’s messaging. The DNC did similar work during the 2012 presidential election, but on a much smaller scale. Its digital and social media staff went from 5 to 25 people over the past 18 or so months, spokesman Miranda said. The current team divides its time on video from a wide range of sources - from national news to local channels, clips put up on YouTube by individual users and campaigns, and events webcast by the campaigns themselves. It also has scouts that record in the field. The work has yielded a number of attack videos already, many prepared and sent out at a moment’s notice. On Feb. 28, for example, the party released a video slamming Republican presidential hopefuls for their opposition to action on climate change, featuring them denying man-made global warming alongside images of U.S. flooding, wildfires, droughts and heat waves. Earlier in March, after Trump cruised to victory in several state nominating contests, the DNC put out another 40-second video, mixing news clips talking about how Trump is dominating his party. “These videos are getting tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of views across our various platforms,” Miranda said. “He’s not going to get off as easy with us as with the rest of the Republican field. We know what he’s said, we know where he’s flip-flopped, where he’s made mistakes.” | 1 |
8,732 | In shakeup, Trump to set up 'war room' to repel attacks over Russia probe | BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Once U.S. President Donald Trump returns from his overseas trip, the White House plans to launch its most aggressive effort yet to push back against allegations involving Russia and his presidential campaign, tackling head-on a scandal that has threatened to consume his young presidency. Trump’s advisers are planning to establish a “war room” to combat mounting questions about communication between Russia and his presidential campaign before and after November’s presidential election, while bringing new aides into the White House, administration officials and persons close to Trump told Reuters. The strategic shake-up comes as Republicans in Washington increasingly have fretted that the probe, continued chaos in the West Wing and Trump’s steady slide in opinion polls will derail the president’s drive to reform healthcare, cut taxes and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Upon Trump’s return, the administration will add experienced political professionals, including Trump’s former campaign manager, and possibly more lawyers to handle the Russia probe, which has gained new urgency since the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to head the investigation, the sources said. Beyond pushing back at suggestions that Moscow is unduly influencing Trump’s administration, the messaging effort will also focus on advancing Trump’s stalled policy agenda and likely involve more trips out of Washington that will feature the kind of raucous rallies that were the hallmark of Trump’s campaign. A person in regular touch with the White House said it needed a different structure to focus on the “new reality” that there would be continued leaks to the media from the law enforcement and intelligence communities, leaks that have increased in frequency since Trump fired former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey on May 9. “Since the firing of Comey, that really exposed the fact that the White House in its current structure ... is not prepared for really a one-front war, let alone a two-front war,” the person said. “They need to have a structure in place that allows them to stay focused” while “also truly fighting back on these attacks and these leaks.” The White House declined to comment on plans for a “war room” but said Trump will be looking to expand on momentum it believes it has built up during the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Europe. A White House official confirmed plans to hold more rallies. Trump returns to Washington on Saturday from his first trip abroad as president. “The president has had an incredibly successful trip overseas and the White House looks forward to continuing an aggressive messaging strategy to highlight his agenda when we return to D.C.,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to Trump, will be involved in the new strategic messaging operation, as will Steve Bannon, another top adviser who specializes in managing Trump’s populist appeal and shaping his political image, the sources said. Bannon and Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, have been laying the groundwork for the plan this week, they added. On Thursday, NBC News and the Washington Post reported that Kushner, who held several meetings with Russian officials following the election, is a focus of the probe, making him the first current White House official to be caught up in it, although Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, is also expected to be part of the effort. Lewandowski, who has been seen in the White House recently, could join the administration as early as next week, a source close to him said. Lewandowski was fired by Trump in June 2016 over concerns that he was not experienced enough to oversee the general election fight against Democrat Hillary Clinton, but has remained a trusted adviser to Trump and a steadfast defender of the president on news programs. This month, the Justice Department named Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, as an independent special counsel in the probe. Trump has been frustrated of late that his communications team hasn’t done a more effective job at making the case that he isn’t implicated in the Russia probe and highlighting his administration’s successes, sources close to the president said. The White House declined to comment on the president’s frustrations. Another Republican close to the White House said the new team is taking a page out of former President Bill Clinton’s playbook. When Clinton faced impeachment in the late 1990s, he assembled a crisis-management operation that dealt with fallout from his affair with Monica Lewinsky while allowing the rest of the White House to deal with day-to-day policy matters. “The goal of the White House is to try and contain the crisis and media coverage of the special counsel,” the Republican said. Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media and a Trump friend, said he expects the president will travel more when he returns from overseas and encouraged the White House to focus on issues that pump up his base voters. “From my perspective, I think the president should be doing the stuff that he does best, which is talking about his agenda: jobs, trade and security,” Ruddy said. Trump has scheduled a political rally for next week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The White House said other similar events are in the planning stages. Republicans in Congress are aching for Trump to leave the distraction of the Russia probe aside and focus on legislation and nominating officials to fill the hundreds of vacant slots across the administration. “What we really want to be able to do is tend to our business,” Mike Rounds, a Republican Senator from South Dakota, told Reuters. “We’ve got a healthcare bill we’re working on. We’ve got tax reform that we think is important.” Some of Trump’s donors, too, say they are concerned. Stanley Hubbard, a billionaire radio mogul from Minnesota, said he worries that the White House continues to be distracted by the Russia scandal, but laid some of the blame on Trump himself. “He talks when he shouldn’t,” he said. Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said this week that Trump’s time in office has been a “complete disaster” aside from foreign affairs. Boehner, a fellow Republican, told an energy conference he supported efforts to “get to the bottom” of any potential interactions between Trump associates and the Russian government but described any calls to impeach Trump as the purview of “the crazy left-wing Democratic colleagues of mine.” | 1 |
8,733 | Factbox: Trump on Twitter (September 7) - Sheikh Sabah, Hurricane Irma, DACA | The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Hurricane Irma is raging but we have great teams of talented and brave people already in place and ready to help. Be careful, be safe! #FEMA [0833 EDT] - Thank you, our great honor! bit.ly/2wK56rD [0851 EDT] - For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action! [0942 EDT] - Welcome to the @WhiteHouse, Amir Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah of Kuwait! Joint press conference coming up soon: (link: 45.wh.gov/JointPressConf) 45.wh.gov/JointPressConf [1413 EDT] - Together, we will show the world that the forces of destruction and extremism are NO MATCH for the BLESSINGS of PROSPERITY and PEACE! [1548 EDT] - During my trip to Saudi Arabia, I spoke to the leaders of more than 50 Arab & Muslim nations about the need to confront our shared enemies.. [1618 EDT] - I encourage EVERYONE in the path of #HurricaneIrma to heed the advice and orders of local & state officials! (bit.ly/2gOXyOO) [2057 EDT] - We will confront ANY challenge, no matter how strong the winds or high the water. I’m proud to stand with Presidents for #OneAmericaAppeal. [2133 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) | 1 |
8,734 | Kremlin says Paris climate deal unworkable without U.S.: RIA | MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Paris climate deal is unworkable without the participation of the United States, the RIA news agency cited Kremlin aide Andrei Belousov as saying on Friday. On Monday, President Donald Trump said the United States would be withdrawing from the 2015 landmark deal which is designed to fight climate change. Trump said the Paris accord would undermine the U.S. economy, cost U.S. jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world. Russia has signed but not yet ratified the Paris accord. RIA cited Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying earlier on Friday that Russia would not alter its decision to join the agreement despite the U.S. withdrawal. | 1 |
8,735 | Seven dead in concert attack, reprisals in Central African Republic | BANGUI (Reuters) - Seven people were killed and around 20 others were injured in a grenade attack on a peace concert and reprisal violence in Central African Republic s capital, Bangui, on Saturday and Sunday, government officials and city residents said. The riverside city has in the past been a flashpoint for inter-religious violence that erupted between Muslims and Christians in 2013 and has since engulfed most of the impoverished, landlocked nation. Interior Minister Henri Wanzet Linguissara said two individuals on a motorcycle approached revelers attending a concert organized to foster reconciliation and social cohesion late on Saturday night and threw a grenade into the crowd. Following this heinous act, we have registered four deaths and 20 wounded, including four who are in serious condition and have been taken into the operating room, he said. Heavy gunfire concentrated in and around Bangui s PK5 neighborhood a Muslim enclave in the majority Christian city erupted after the attack. Access to PK5 was blocked off by improvised barricades on Sunday, a Reuters witness said. Three of our youth were killed, apparently in reprisal because they think that the Muslims were behind the grenade attack. We deplore that attack, said PK5 resident Habib Soule. We set up barricades to ensure provocateurs don t infiltrate our neighborhood. A second PK5 resident and a security source, who asked not to be named, confirmed that three motorcycle taxi drivers were killed in retaliation for the concert attack. Even now there is sporadic gunfire in PK5 and the surrounding neighborhoods are emptying, said Gedeon Leki, a resident of the nearby Castors neighborhood. People are afraid the Muslims could take revenge for their dead. Nearly five years into the conflict in CAR, which has been marked by successive waves of ethnic cleansing, the security situation is worsening, particularly in the east. Bangui, where the headquarters of 12,000-troop-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission is located, has been relatively stable in recent months, and the weekend s violence was a reminder of the city s darkest days. The enemies of peace ... have just set a trap, Prime Minister Simplice Mathieu Sarandji said in a radio address on Sunday. I call upon the population not to slide back into violence. The U.N. Security Council is this week scheduled to vote on a French-drafted resolution to authorise an extra 900 troops to protect civilians in Central African Republic. | 1 |
8,736 | Michelle Obama Posed for A Photo, So Conservatives Called Her A ‘Gorilla’ And ‘Tranny’ (SCREENSHOTS) | Recently, Michelle Obama posed for InStyle magazine. The First Lady was stunning in a custom-made teal dress by Brandon Maxwell but of course conservatives had to sh*t all over it.A ridiculously named yet somehow moderately popular right-wing garbage fire of a Facebook page called The Resistance: The Last Line of Defense decided to give their take on the matter, posting the photo of our lovely First Lady with the following message: What do you think of the new portrait of Moochelle by InStyle Magazine? The numbskulls who visit the page are then instructed to like if they think it is Photoshopped and share the post if they are still not convinced he s a she. Naturally, the denizens of Stupidville flocked to the opportunity, calling her every name they can think of and, thanks to the power of stupidity and a third grade education, even managing to accidentally make some up in their pursuit to out-stupid one another. Many, of course, leaped at the opportunity to fantasize about the First Lady being a man, with some even demanding to see her penis. Others stuck to the tried-and-true let s just call her a monkey or ape and get it over with. The modern conservative, folks.It s important to remember that each and every one of these vapid f*cksticks will be voting in November.Make sure you re there to vote BLUE because you know these idiots are voting for Trump.Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
8,737 | Trump Campaign’s Old Tweet Comes Back To Bite Donald In The A** And It Is PERFECT | Taking Donald Trump s erratic, unpredictable behavior into full consideration, it s safe to say that almost nothing is certain in his presidency besides his talent for humiliating the United States and incriminating himself with the help of his equally corrupt inner circle.While it s mildly entertaining (and depressing) to watch Trump melt down as his Russia scandal closes in on him, it s even more fun to see gems from the past come back to bite him in the a**.This morning, Trump had one of his Twitter tantrums, where he trashed former FBI Director James Comey. That should come as no surprise, because Trump has spent the last several months insulting the FBI and intelligence agencies because he s bitter about the Russian scandal. So it s pretty hilarious that this tweet, straight from the Trump campaign, has resurfaced:That s right then-Trump surrogate Sarah Huckabee Sanders who has just been promoted to White House Press Secretary due to Sean Spicer s resignation previously trashed the very losing behavior that Trump has been doing for months now. Sanders had posted this in November (right before the election) in response to speculation that a few FBI agents were playing politics.We would honestly love to see Trump defend his behavior now. He s spent so much time trashing federal investigators and firing everyone who might be a threat to him in the Russia investigation, it s pretty much impossible to believe he could be innocent after all this.Trump not only fired Comey, but he has attacked the ex-FBI Director, referring to him as a nut job who is not a smart guy. Now he s threatening to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller if Mueller investigates his finances and businesses. And unfortunately, Sanders has taken a similar attitude now that she is closer to Trump. Completely forgetting about her tweet from November, she more recently stated that Comey is guilty of atrocities. Whether she stands by it today or not, Sanders tweet is telling in its exposure of an administration with no integrity. Trump s attacks on these prosecutors are merely a sign that he will keep losing.Featured image via Alex Wong / Getty Images | 0 |
8,738 | Mark Cuban Hilariously BURNS Trump For Attacking Him On Twitter (TWEETS) | Donald Trump just got his ass handed to him by Mark Cuban.On Sunday morning, Trump attacked Cuban for no reason, claiming that the real self-made billionaire is not smart to enough to be president and that Cuban backed him big-time. I know Mark Cuban well. He backed me big-time but I wasn t interested in taking all of his calls.He s not smart enough to run for president! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2017Of course, everyone knows that Cuban supported Hillary Clinton during the campaign, and unlike Trump, Cuban is an intelligent businessman who built his empire without a multi-million dollar head start from his daddy.Twitter responded by roasting Trump but everyone was really waiting to see how Cuban responded.Well, Cuban did, indeed, respond. And Trump is going to hate it.Cuban posted a message Trump wrote to him complaining about how Cuban talked about him on CNN and the message Cuban wrote in return.Trump called Cuban nasty and Cuban told Trump that he had hoped he would dig into the issues and do more than just run his mouth about what other people tell him. When you say there is a bubble, it sounds like you are winging it, Cuban wrote. Which also makes it sounds like your comments are based on who you talked to last. Which tells me you are getting bad advice. I get the big part of your base doesn t care about issue details, but to be President, to be this close, you have to know your shit. Cuban also suggested that he might run against Trump in 2020. I may go after that job someday and it could be against you, Cuban warned.How soon they forget . pic.twitter.com/VXcfnjj4qX Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 12, 2017Cuban then followed up that tweet by letting everyone know that they can chill out since it s better for Trump to tweet than it is for him to try governing since when he does he fails miserably.I don t know. But isn t it better for all of us that he is tweeting rather than trying to govern ? https://t.co/953MuEdfeu Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 12, 2017That is a truly sick burn. Trump is going to flip out.Featured image via Getty Images | 0 |
8,739 | Obamacare Vs Trumpcare Meme DESTROYS GOP’s Health Care Replacement Fail (TWEETS) | Donald Trump and the Republican Party s push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) was met with protests and resistance all around the country. Despite being well aware that their replacement would be stripping millions of Americans (especially the ill and lower-income citizens) of their life-saving, affordable health insurance, the GOP has continued to push forward with their horrible idea and now they re getting annihilated for it on the internet.On Monday, Republicans released a draft bill of their Obamacare replacement the American Health Care Act. As expected with anything that Trump or the Republican Party does, it was not received well and is already considered a massive failure just 24 hours after its release. To commemorate yet another major fail by the GOP and its corrupt, deranged leader, the internet came to the rescue and tore the new replacement apart by making it a meme!Here s some of the best Obamacare vs. Trumpcare memes we could find, which makes the GOP s latest f**k up just a little more tolerable: Out of all of them, this one is sure to make Trump explode and throw a Twitter temper tantrum, as we all know how damn sensitive he was (and still is) about the pathetic size of his inauguration crowds.Hopefully, these hilarious memes will force more Americans to pay attention to what Trump and the GOP is trying to do to Americans. The GOP s replacement plan puts Americans health care in jeopardy, and will make it much more expensive for many.The GOP and Trump have not been listening to the American people. If they truly cared what the majority of Americans wanted, Obamacare would be left alone or amended at best. According to a poll by CNN/ORC, most Americans are satisfied with their health care and don t want Obamacare to be taken away. But then again, if Republicans actually cared about what the majority of Americans wanted, we d have Hillary Clinton in the White House and none of this would be happening.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
8,740 | Bernie Sanders SKEWERS Trump And Cruz For Their ‘Unconstitutional’ Profiling Of Muslims (VIDEO) | While the Republican presidential candidates have responded to the tragic terrorist attacks in Brussels with the most despicable, xenophobic remarks, Bernie Sanders took a different approach and instead defended the Muslim community.The most notable reactions from the GOP following the bombings in Brussels came from none other than candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Trump like most conservatives criticized President Barack Obama and said that if this attack had happened while he was in office, he would close up our borders. The front runner, who previously said he would like to ban all Muslims from coming into America, also said that he would use waterboarding as a solution and try to expand the laws to go beyond waterboarding. Cruz s reaction was just as anti-Muslim and offensive the Texas Senator issued a statement entitled We Can No Longer Surrender to the Enemy Through Political Correctness, which encouraged local police forces to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized. Sanders, on the other hand, offered some refreshing perspective. The Vermont senator denounced the GOP s xenophobia completely opposed Trump and Cruz s tactics, and said that he strongly disagreed with the idea of increasing surveillance on American Muslims because it would be unconstitutional and wrong . Sanders said: That would be unconstitutional, it would be wrong. We are fighting a terrorist organization, a barbaric organization that is killing innocent people. We are not fighting a religion. Instead of encouraging violence and hateful attitudes against Muslims, Sanders was in favor of improved intelligence sharing between the United States and other countries, as well as monitoring social media more closely in order to prevent ISIS from recruiting.You can watch Sanders interview below:Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton issued her own response on Tuesday, stating that the United States should ramp up security cooperation, not only in our own country among all levels of authorities but also with Europeans. Featured image via Gage Skidmore | 0 |
8,741 | accusing two young men in alqatif | email
queen elizabeth ii is not like you and me
did you know she is immune from prosecution that she has her own personal poet paid in sherry wine or that she holds dominion over british swans and can fire the entire australian government
its true that her role as the british head of state is largely ceremonial and the monarch no longer holds any serious power from day to day the historic prerogative powers of the sovereign have been devolved largely to government ministers but this still means that when the british government declares war or regulates the civil service or signs a treaty it is doing so only on her authority
and she still wields some of these prerogative powers herself as well as numerous other unique powers ranging from the surprising to the utterly bizarre
most famously she owns all swans in the river thames
technically all unmarked swans in open water belong to the queen though the crown exercises her ownership only on certain stretches of the thames and its surrounding tributaries according to the official website of the royal family
today this tradition is observed during the annual swan upping in which swans in the river thames are caught ringed and set free again as part of census of the swan population
its a highly ceremonial affair taking place over five days swan uppers wear traditional uniforms and row upriver in six skiffs accompanied by the queens swan marker
the swans are also given a health check and ringed with individual identification numbers by the queens swan warden a professor of ornithology at the university of oxfords department of zoology according to the royal family website
rule britannia britannia rules the waves goes a classic british song and this rule extends beneath the waves too the sovereign has dominion over a variety of aquatic animals in british waters
the queen still technically owns all the sturgeons whales and dolphins in the waters around england and wales in a rule that dates back to a statute from during the reign of king edward ii according to time
according to the article this statute is still valid today and sturgeons porpoises whales and dolphins are recognised as fishes royal when they are captured within miles about km of uk shores or wash ashore they may be claimed on behalf of the crown generally when brought into port a sturgeon is sold in the usual way and the purchaser as a gesture of loyalty requests the honour of its being accepted by elizabeth
the law is still observed in a welsh fisherman was investigated by the police after catching a foot sturgeon the bbc reported at the time the scottish government also issued guidance on the law in writing that the right to claim royal fish in scotland allows the scottish government on behalf of the crown to claim stranded whales which are too large to be drawn to land by a wain pulled by six oxen
the queen can drive without a licence
driving licenses are issued in the queens name yet she is the only person in the united kingdom who doesnt legally need a license to drive or a number plate on her cars according to time
despite not being required to have a license the queen is comfortable behind the wheel having learned to drive during world war ii when she operated a firstaid truck for the womens auxillary territorial service as a result of the queens training she can also change a spark plug time notes
queen elizabeth ii isnt afraid to show off her driving skills either in she surprised king abdullah of saudi arabia then still a prince by driving him around in her country seat of balmoral
former british ambassador sherard cowpercoles recounted the meeting in the sunday times as instructed the crown prince climbed into the front seat of the front land rover with his interpreter in the seat behind to his surprise the queen climbed into the driving seat turned the ignition and drove off women are not yet allowed to drive in saudi arabia and abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman let alone a queen
cowpercoles continued his nervousness only increased as the queen an army driver in wartime accelerated the land rover along the narrow scottish estate roads talking all the time through his interpreter the crown prince implored the queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead
unlike other members of the royal family the queen does not require a passport as they are issued in her name despite this lack of travel documents she has been abroad many times
she has two birthdays
when youre the british head of state one birthday just isnt enough the queens official birthday is celebrated on a saturday in june though her actual birthday is on april
official celebrations to mark a sovereigns birthday have often been held on a day other than the actual birthday particularly when the actual birthday has not been in the summer according to the royal mint
both birthdays are celebrated in suitable style too her actual birthday is marked publicly by gun salutes in central london at midday according to the official website of the british monarchy this includes a gun salute in hyde park a gun salute in windsor great park and a gun salute at the tower of london in her majesty celebrated her th birthday in with a walkabout in the streets outside of windsor castle to meet wellwishers
for her official birthday celebrations meanwhile she is joined by other members of the royal family at the spectacular trooping the colour parade which moves between buckingham palace the mall and horseguards parade
she has her own private cash machine
less a power and more a perk of the job a private cash machine for use by the royal family is installed in the basement of buckingham palace its provided by coutts one of britains most prestigious and exclusive banks
the queen has her own personal poet
the poet laureate is an honorary position in british society appointed by the monarch to a poet whose work is of national significance according to the official website of the british monarchy when first the role was introduced the appointee was paid per year plus a butt of canary wine today the poet laureate is given a barrel of sherry
carol ann duffy will hold the position until
she has to sign laws
the queens consent is necessary to turn any bill into an actual law once a proposed law has passed both houses of parliament it makes its way to the palace for approval which is called royal assent the most recent british monarch to refuse to provide royal assent was queen anne back in
royal assent is different than queens consent in which the queen must consent to any law being debated in parliament that affects the monarchys interests such as reforming the prerogative or tax laws that might affect the duchy of cornwall for example without consent the bill cannot be debated in parliament
queens consent is exercised only on the advice of ministers but its existence provides the government with a tool for blocking debate on certain subjects if bills are tabled by backbench rebels or the opposition
it has been exercised at least times according to documents released under the freedom of information act including one instance in which the queen completely vetoed the military actions against iraq bill in a private members bill that sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against iraq from the monarch to parliament the guardian reported in
she can create lords
the queen has the power to appoint lords who can then sit in parliament the upper house in britains legislative system like many other powers this is exercised only on the advice of elected government ministers
she doesnt have to pay tax but she does anyway
the queen does not have to pay tax but she has been voluntarily paying income tax and capital gains tax since
the queen has the power to form governments
unlike the queen prime minister david cameron doesnt literally sit on a throne rob stothardgetty imageshbobi
the queen previously wielded the power to dissolve parliament and call a general election but the fixedterm parliaments act put an end to that in now a twothirds vote in the commons is required to dissolve parliament before a fiveyear fixedterm is up
she does still play a part after an election however when she calls on the mp most able to form a government to do so
this caused some worry ahead of this years general election it once looked as if the conservatives might not have a majority but would be the largest party and would try to form a government meanwhile it was feasible that labour could form a majority despite having fewer seats by entering into a coalition with multiple other parties
in this situation the queen would have been stuck between a rock and a hard place every year she opens parliament with the queens speech which lays out the governments plans but to give david camerons speech would arguably be to tacitly endorse his government while staying away would send the opposite message
at one point the times was told by sources that she planned to stay away if cameron failed to secure enough mps but the palace later had an aboutface royal sources confirmed she would lead proceedings even if there was a risk the speech would be overthrown the following week because the tories had failed to muster enough backing from smaller parties the times subsequently reported
she has knights
sure they no longer ride around on horseback wooing maidens with their tales of valour but britain still retains knights like lords they are appointed by the queen and she knights them personally
knighthoods are typically given to figures who have made a particular contribution to british society whether in business the arts the military or elsewhere after terry pratchett was knighted the legendary fantasy author forged himself a special sword using pieces of a meteorite
the individuals knighted are decided by ministers the bbc reports who present her with a list of nominees each year for her approval
she is exempt from freedom of information requests
all information about the royal family is exempt from freedom of information requests the exemption was made after a legal battle between the guardian and the government to have letters from prince charles sent to whitehall ministers made public the socalled black spider memos were recently released but the change means the same cant happen in the future
she can ignore or overrule ministerial advice in grave constitutional crisis
while the overwhelming majority of the queens prerogative powers are devolved to her ministers there is one exception that allows her to wield power herself only in grave constitutional crisis the sovereign can act contrary to or without ministerial advice with no precedent in modern times its not clear what would actually constitute this but the possibility remains
the queen holds the ability to fire the entire australian government
as the head of state in australia the queen has certain powers over the government in for example the queens representative in the country at the time gov gen sir john kerr fired the prime minister in response to a government shutdown
kerr appointed a replacement who immediately passed the spending bill to fund the government max fisher wrote in the washington post three hours later kerr dismissed the rest of parliament then australia held elections to restart from scratch and they havent had another shutdown since
in addition to the uk and australia the queen is also the head of state in antigua and barbuda the bahamas barbados belize canada grenada jamaica new zealand papua new guinea saint kitts and nevis saint lucia saint vincent and the grenadines solomon islands and tuvalu
all the above are commonwealth realms or former british colonies the british sovereign retains the position she holds in the united kingdom that of head of state as in britain this is largely a ceremonial role from day to day
shes the head of a religion
queen elizabeth ii is the head of the church of england britains state religion first established after king henry viii split away from the catholic church in rome in the th century
her formal title is defender of the faith and supreme governor of the church of england and she also has the power to appoint bishops and archbishops as with many of her other powers however this is exercised only on the advice of the prime minister who himself takes advice from a church commission
an interesting side effect of this is that the sovereign must be a confirmed member of church of england catholics and those of other religions may not ascend to the british throne if prince charles converted to islam for example he would be unable to become king after queen elizabeth ii dies
she gets to give away special money to the elderly
maundy money is a special kind of silver coin the queen gives away to pensioners every year at a uk cathedral every easter in a special ceremony the number of recipients corresponds with the sovereigns age this year for example she will be when easter rolls around so she will give maundy money away to pensioners
the coins are technically legal tender despite coming in unconventional pence and pence denominations but given the coins rare status they tend not to enter general circulation
shes also immune from prosecution
all prosecutions are carried out in the name of the sovereign and she is both immune from prosecution and cannot be compelled to give evidence in court
in theory the sovereign is incapable of thinking or doing wrong legal scholar john kirkhope told business insider however barrister baroness helena kennedy qc told the bbc in that nowadays that immunity is questionable
although civil and criminal proceedings cannot be taken against the sovereign as a person under uk law the queen is careful to ensure that all her activities in her personal capacity are carried out in strict accordance with the law according to official site of the monarchy
if the monarch did commit a grievance offence he or she would almost certainly be forced to abdicate there is at least one precedent of the courts prosecuting the sovereign in the th century king charles i was tried for treason following the english civil war he said no earthly power can justly call me who am your king in question as a delinquent the court disagreed and had him executed
the queen has the right to be consulted to encourage and to warn her ministers
assuming no grave constitutional crisis the queens input into the legislative process is supposed to be limited in real terms to the right to be consulted to encourage and to warn her ministers advice delivered via meetings with the prime minister
the queen also has certain historic rights and privileges john kirkhope a lawyer who successfully campaigned to have details of queens consent made public provided business insider with a list of some of the stranger rights the queen still holds
hungerford has to present a red rose to the sovereign in exchange for its fishing and grazing rightsthe duke of atholl must pay by way of a rose whenever the sovereign calls this most recently happened during the reign of queen victoria so its unclear whether the rose has to be any particular colourif the sovereign passes near kidwelly castle in wales the tenant has to provide a bodyguard in full armour this is complicated slightly by the fact the castle is a ruinthe marquis of ailesbury owns savernake forest and is required to produce a blast on a hunting horn should the sovereign pass through the forest this last happened in similarly the owner of dunlambert castle in northern ireland has to produce a blast on an ancient bugleand lastly many landowners must also pay a quitrent a kind of tax on their property paid to the monarch some are pretty unusual
the owner of sauchlemuir castle must set out three glasses of port on new years eve for the grandmother of james iv of scotland for reference james iv served from to the owner of fowlis must deliver when required a snowball in midsummerthe city of gloucester pays for its holdings of crown lands by providing an enormous eel piegreat yarmouth must provide a hundred herrings baked in pasties to the sheriff who then sends them to the lord of the manor who then sends them to the sovereignthe duke of marlborough has to present a small satin flag with a fleur de lys on august the anniversary of the battle of blenheimthe duke of wellington has to present a french tricolour flag before noon on june the anniversary of the battle of waterloo | 0 |
8,742 | Republicans Now Trying To Draft Billionaire Mark Cuban For Third Party Run | A group of desperate republicans which includes Mitt Romney, William Kristol, Erick Erickson, Mike Murphy, Stuart Stevens and Rick Wilson, among others, is desperately trying to find someone to present a third party challenge to Donald Trump.According to the Washington Post, the group of more than a dozen republicans is commissioning private polling, lining up major funding sources and courting potential contenders. Among those contacted by the group was billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and reality TV star.Cuban told the Washington Post that the group thought he would make a good candidate, based on his loud persona, and ability to connect with voters. As Addicting Info reports here, back in December during an appearance on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, the NBA team owner had nothing good to say about republican frontrunner Donald Trump.Cuban said: There s so much more to come (from Trump). Because they re not playing for real yet. There s nothing at stake yet. This is all just chit chat. He s just warming up the audience. He s like that guy who is going into a bar and he ll say whatever it will take to get laid. Only in this case, he s not trying to f*ck some girl, he s trying to f*ck the country. While Cuban has also criticized Donald Trump s anti-Muslim fearmongering, the billionaire has come under fire for racist remarks of his own.While speaking at a conference in Nashville in 2014, Cuban said: I know I m prejudiced, and I know I m bigoted in a lot of different ways. If I see a black kid in a hoodie on my side of the street, I ll move to the other side of the street. When he was asked about keeping racism out of the NBA, Cuban responded by saying, You don t. There s no law against stupid. I m the one guy who says don t force the stupid people to be quiet. I want to know who the morons are. In other words, let racists be racists.According to the Washington Post Cuban says it s unlikely he ll launch a third party bid to challenge Trump because he doesn t believe there is enough time to mount a successful campaign.The group admits there is very little time left to achieve the goal, but they aren t ready to give up yet.As Addicting Info reported here, Romney was at first considered to be a possible third party candidate. Although he decided not to enter the race himself, he is now helping in the effort to find someone who will.According to the Washington Post, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse is next on the list of possible recruits.Featured image via Brian Solis via Flickr | 0 |
8,743 | Trump Just Appointed The Worst A**hole Yet To Run His Whole Campaign | Since Donald Trump can t figure out why he s trailing Hillary so badly everywhere it counts, he s decided his campaign staff is the problem. As such, he s shaking things up, reducing the role of his current campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and appointing someone new to run things. The new campaign chief?Stephen Bannon, of Breitbart.Yes, that Breitbart. The same Breitbart that peddles conspiracy theories to white supremacists. The one that set out to prove the polls are all rigged only to prove that they re all correct instead. And the one the Southern Poverty Law Center says is now the news arm of the alt-right (read: extreme right movement.Trump s thinking goes something like this: He can only win with people who share his delusional frame of mind, so that s who he ll surround himself with now. He s also got a GOP pollster, Kellyanne Conway, as campaign manager, and he believes they ll be able to turn his campaign around for him: I have known Steve and Kellyanne both for many years. They are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win. I believe we re adding some of the best talents in politics, with the experience and expertise needed to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and continue to share my message and vision to Make America Great Again. Hey, being outrageous and horrible made him win the primaries, so it should work in the general. That s the world that Trump inhabits, and in that world, campaign staff that try to get him to temper himself, act more presidential, and less like a bully toddler, are the whole reason his poll numbers have crashed.In fact, Trump has felt boxed in and controlled by Paul Manafort and other staffers who barely know him. He wants to focus hard on riling up his supporters through rousing rallies and media appearances (again, because that worked in the primaries and the primaries are totally like the general). Manafort wanted less of that, and more real campaigning.Breitbart has been one of Trump s champions for a while now, and one former employee says that Bannon used Breitbart for his own personal gain, possibly including a way to get close to Trump s campaign. Under Bannon, Breitbart has become a fantastic website for white supremacists and nativists the very people to whom Trump himself caters. Employees of Breitbart were afraid of Bannon, and with good reason: He is a vindictive, nasty figure, infamous for verbally abusing supposed friends and threatening enemies. [He] is a smarter version of Trump: he s an aggressive self-promoter who name-drops to heighten his profile and woo bigger names, and then uses those bigger names as stepping stools to his next destination. He is everything Trump is, only worse.Some GOP operatives are already saying that the choice of Bannon will effect a pivot, but it won t be the one that the party is hoping for. If Trump s campaign was dark, hateful, bigoted, nativist and dangerous before, it will be all that times a thousand under Bannon.Which is exactly what Trump wants. Forget the fact that, if that strategy was going to work against Hillary, it would have started working by now. Trump wants someone who is going to help him draw huge crowds and vanquish his enemies, not run a successful campaign.Featured image by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images | 0 |
8,744 | Japan's Koike: a political paradox shakes things up ahead of poll | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Yuriko Koike says she went into politics to be a player, not a bystander. Now Tokyo s first female governor is shaking things up as her new Party of Hope challenges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s ruling bloc in an Oct. 22 poll, called by the Japanese leader to seek a fresh mandate after nearly five years in office. When the Berlin Wall dividing East and West Germany was breached in 1989, Koike was a 37-year-old TV announcer. Three years later, she ran for parliament. The world was changing immensely, so I went from news presenter to newsmaker. I decided Japanese politics was moving too slowly and rather than be an outside critic, I should become ... a player on the inside, Koike told Reuters in an interview. Koike, who defied Abe s party last year to run for governor, isn t seeking a seat in parliament s lower house herself, but is the driving force and public face of her upstart party. In many ways, Koike is a paradox, interviews with people who know her and a review of her career show. She s a global thinker with a nationalist tinge; an entrepreneurial outsider who climbed the ladder with help from old-boy mentors, and a risk taker who has balked at perhaps her biggest gamble by declining to run in the national election now. Koike has made no secret of her ambition to be Japan s first woman prime minister her pet female terrier is nicknamed So-chan a diminutive for sori or premier in Japanese. She has already cracked a few glass ceilings. She became the country s first female defense minister in 2007, although stepped down after 55 days after a tussle with a top bureaucrat. She was also the first woman to run for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party s top leadership post in 2008, but came in a distant third. Koike comes from a business family in western Japan, a background that sets her apart from many Japanese politicians, including Abe, who are scions of blue-blood political dynasties. Her origins may account for a style that admirers say has more in common with venture capitalists than staid lawmakers. She s not afraid to take initiatives, which in most of Japan is deeply frowned upon, said a person who has known her for 25 years and advises on financial reforms. In Japan, it s subtlety within riddles, but she s blunt. Koike has a talent for political marketing - critics call it populism - a skill she is using as she tries to differentiate her conservative party from Abe s equally conservative LDP with promises to break the fetters of vested interest politics. She calls her party s economic policies Yurinomics in contrast to Abe s Abenomics, and its platform includes 12 Zeroes it wants to achieve, including zero hayfever , and zero euthanasia of unwanted pets . A graduate of Cairo University in 1976 who speaks Arabic and English, Koike in some ways has a global perspective and often sings the praises of diversity. Like Abe, she advocates opening Japan to more highly skilled foreign workers. Also like Abe, she has visited Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan s past militarism, but told Reuters she would not do so if she became premier. Koike also espouses some causes dear to Japan s rightwing, including revising the post-war, pacifist constitution. In the past, she has even suggested Japan should consider acquiring nuclear weapons, breaking a taboo in the only country to suffer a nuclear attack. She also opposes local voting rights for foreign residents, many of whom are of Korean descent. There is a dark side that doesn t jibe with a more open-minded, dare we say, liberal view, said her long-time acquaintance. Koike migrated through several parties before joining the LDP in 2002, only to abandon it after becoming governor. She counts among her mentors Ichiro Ozawa, a one-time LDP heavyweight who helped engineer the long-ruling party s ouster in 1993 and again in 2009, as well as popular ex-premier Junichiro Koizumi. Critics say her career reflects an opportunist streak, while allies call it practical. She wants to make change, but she s also pragmatic she can make a deal with anyone Communists or Abe or traditional stakeholders, said another adviser. It s a kind of talent. Despite speculation that she would abandon her job as governor to return to parliament, Koike stuck to her decision not to run. Analysts say that s likely because her party has little chance of defeating Abe s ruling bloc, but may do well enough for her to take the leap in the next poll. But those who know Koike say her desire for the nation s top post remains. Is she Machiavellian and strategic? The answer is yes. Is she prepared to think for the long run? The answer is yes, said her long-time acquaintance. Is her over-riding ambition to be Japan s first female prime minister? That is definitely a goal. | 1 |
8,745 | Exclusive: Trump boosts disaster aid for Puerto Rico rebuild | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday agreed to expand the use of disaster aid to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid and other infrastructure wrecked by Hurricane Maria, the White House said. In a unique agreement recognizing both the massive devastation on the island and its dire financial problems, aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for infrastructure projects will be released in a faster, more flexible way than is typical after disasters, a senior White House official told Reuters. The plan, agreed to with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello, will also provide for third-party advisers to estimate how much money is requires for big-ticket projects, and how it is spent - a provision aimed at protecting taxpayer dollars in what is expected to be a massive, long-term effort to rebuild the island. “We’re doing it in a way that grants flexibility, but also imposes a mutually agreed upon set of controls,” the official said in an interview. The new agreement will see FEMA cover 90 percent of the costs for rebuilding public infrastructure, up from the typical level of 75 percent. Puerto Rico - home to 3.4 million Americans - is in bankruptcy, struggling with $72 billion in debt. Its finances were put under federal control last year. Six weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, only about 30 percent of Puerto Rico’s power grid has been restored. Private sector estimates of total damage from Maria have ranged as high as $95 billion. The White House is expected to deliver a new request for disaster aid to the U.S. Congress in mid-November to help defray costs from Maria and two other major hurricanes - Harvey and Irma - as well as damage caused by wildfires in the western United States. It is not yet clear how big the federal tab for Puerto Rico will be. “Obviously it’s going to be a big dollar figure,” the official said. “I know there won’t be any balking at the amount of money needed from the administration.” Even with FEMA covering 90 percent of the costs, it could be difficult for the territorial government to put up its 10 percent. On top of its fiscal constraints, the storm has ground its economy - and tax revenues - to a halt. The federal government provided a $150 million loan in an aid package approved by Congress last month that can be used to help cover its share, the official said. “We didn’t want to create the precedent of giving 100 percent in the grant program and then disincentivizing good stewardship,” the official said. The federal government will also use relatively new procedures created in 2013 after Hurricane Sandy known as “Section 428” in the Stafford Act, the law that provides for federal disaster aid. “It’s not been used on this scale before,” the official said. The procedures will allow Puerto Rico to estimate the costs of big projects up front - with help from third-party advisers - and draw down from approved grants, eliminating the slow and cumbersome process of being reimbursed for upfront spending on each segment. The agreement will also allow Puerto Rico to access hazard mitigation grants - normally tapped only outside of disasters - while rebuilding the creaky power grid and other infrastructure so that the structures are more resilient to future hurricanes. “We’re going to build them back smarter,” the official said. | 1 |
8,746 | in the first days of october trump gave just k to his own campaign | by hrafnkell haraldsson am we cant do waterboarding its far too tough were fighting on a different level we have to be toughand in some cases pretty vicious
donald trump complains about spending a fortune on a war in the middle east that he supported a war brought to us by a republican administration that knowingly lied about the facts trump is also lying about the facts which at least brings our countrys middle east ordeal fullcircle
according to trump speaking at a rally in new mexico and youve no doubt seen the barrage of commercials repeating the same lie hillary brought disaster to iraq syria libya and every place that she touches she empowered iran and she unleashed isis by leaving that big vacuum
of course it was republican president george w bush who negotiated the balance of forces agreement with iraq stipulating that america draw down its combat strength reneging on that agreement would have meant not peace in iraq or a negation of isis but a second us invasion on top of the rise of isis
we want peace through strength trump told the crowd we dont want to be in wars but these savages are chopping off heads
well in fact we did want to be in that war we invaded iraq not vice versa
trump went on to say
drowning people in steel cages burying people in the sand we havent had this is medieval times this is medieval times and then we cant do waterboarding its far too tough you know were fighting on a different level see were fighting on a different level folks and we have to be tough and we have to be smart and we have to be in some cases pretty vicious to be honest with you pretty vicious but we have to take them out and then we have to get back to building our country because our country weve spent trillion in the middle east trillion and we couldve rebuilt our country twice
never mind for a moment that torture is illegal under international law never mind that a senate intelligence committees report said torture doesnt work trumps argument sounds once again like a child wanting to get back at another child who has aggrieved him
this is trump wanting to spite his enemies on an international scale and arguing to boot that the end justifies the means
he doesnt because he cant prove that acting like barbarians somehow doesnt make us barbarians ourselves he certainly cant prove because that senate report says otherwise that torturing people will win the war
the claim of million by the way is one trump made last week in charlotte nc as well and politifact ruled it half true at the time saying
trump is citing the highend estimate of credible analyses of spending associated with the wars in iraq and afghanistan yet he is confusing money thats been spent with money that researchers say will be spent
the point here is that this is a war begun not by obama and certainly not by hillary clinton who at least admits she supported it and has apologized for doing so while trump continued to deny he was ever for it despite the facts to the contrary
when trump says we have to be pretty vicious he is also saying we have to be pretty dishonest and nobody lies with such success or at such a rate as donald trump
trump has said he loves war he has said he likes to be unpredictable he has asked why we cant use nuclear weapons since we have them this is a man most national security experts say should not have the nuclear football in his hands
this is a man who no matter how much he claims otherwise does not understand how the world works and he does not understand that by promoting torture he is only fulfilling the wildest propaganda wishes of the islamic state by promising to do precisely what they want him to do | 1 |
8,747 | Mitch McConnell Just Got Screwed By His Own Party: 16 GOP Senators Defect On SCOTUS Blockade | When President Obama announced his nominee to fill Antonin Scalia s seat on the Supreme Court, it took Mitch McConnell all of half an hour to announce that the Republican party would see to it that not a single meeting, hearing or vote would ever come of it in a purely toddleresque temper tantrum that not only scoffed at the Constitution and the president s executive authority, but at the American people, more than 60 percent of whom are uncomfortable with the high court in a 4-4 deadlock.McConnell has given every reason imaginable other than a good one why President Obama doesn t have the right afforded his office more than 200 years ago. His finest moment was when he admitted that NRA is running the show at Republican National Headquarters. Former McCain strategist Steve Schmidt said, Mitch McConnell s knee-jerk response after Justice Scalia s death is a public relations debacle for the Republican Party. He s not kidding.According to a report from NBC, there are at least 16 Republican senators who have taken Mitch McConnell s directive to obstruct at even the common courtesy level and tossed it in the garbage where it belongs. Some are Republicans up for re-election in Blue States, like Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire and Mark Kirk from Illinois, who will be the first to openly defy McConnell when he meets with Merrick Tuesday. Others are Republicans from red states who understand that it s better to allow the process to happen rather than prove to the American people that Republicans are incapable of governing effectively.Even with the moderates like Susan Collins of Maine and Jerry Moran of Kansas advocating for full hearings, the likelihood that Merrick would actually be confirmed is nearly non-existent, but that s not keeping GOP strategists from insisting that holding a hearing would seem much less obstructionist and rude. John Kasich, the last establishment candidate left for the GOP, has also said that Merrick Garland, at least, deserves the respect of a hearing. The man was, after all, nominated to fill a seat on the highest court ion the land by the President of the United States.That s the problem, though, isn t it? It s not that he was nominated, it s who nominated him. Republicans have become as predictable as they are reprehensible.Featured image by Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
8,748 | WATCH MICHELLE OBAMA Take One Last Walk Through The House She Was Forced To Wake Up In Every Morning, Knowing It Was “Built By Slaves” | Watch the ultimate victim, Michelle Obama address a large group of college graduates at CCNY last year, bemoaning her fate as First Lady, complaining that she he has to, wake up every morning in a house built by slaves. And finally, the most divisive First Lady in history is leaving the White House that apparently tortured her every day.See ya Mooch your divisiveness and your 5-star taxpayer funded vacations won t be missed!Enjoy:Taking it in on one last walk through the People's House. pic.twitter.com/uaAn6j8Ygy First Lady- Archived (@FLOTUS44) January 18, 2017 | 0 |
8,749 | U.S., Mexico nearing deal on sugar: Mexico's Guajardo | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico are close to announcing that they have struck a deal on sugar trade, Mexican Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo said in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday. Guajardo told CNBC the agreement would likely be announced at a planned news conference later on Tuesday with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after negotiators worked on minor technicalities overnight. | 1 |
8,750 | Health an issue in presidential race after Clinton illness: Trump | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday that health is an issue in the campaign after his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, revealed she had pneumonia, and he said he would soon release detailed health information of his own. “I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail, and we’ll be seeing her at the debate,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News. Asked if the health of the candidates was an issue, Trump said: “I think it’s an issue. In fact ... this last week I took a physical and .... when the numbers come in I’ll be releasing very, very specific numbers.” | 1 |
8,751 | Kremlin says U.S. military boost should not disrupt balance of power | MOSCOW (Reuters) - A proposed increase in U.S. defense spending is an internal matter for Washington and does not concern Russia unless it disrupts the existing strategic balance of power, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peso told reporters on Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump this week proposed a $54 billion increase in defense spending and said he wanted to launch the biggest military buildup in American history to make up for what he called a depleted armed forces. | 1 |
8,752 | U.S. consumer agency defends student loan reforms from Republican attacks | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. consumer financial watchdog on Thursday attempted to repel a Trump-administration attack on former President Barack Obama’s sweeping student loan reforms and defended itself against Republican attempts to weaken its powers. In a lengthy letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it had complied with its remit, despite her department’s charges to the contrary. The Education Department announced last week it would no longer work with the bureau on resolving student loan complaints, saying it had complicated the lending process “with potentially inaccurate and inconsistent directives.” It said the consumer bureau, created after the 2007-09 financial crisis to protect individuals from predatory lending, was not honoring an agreement to promptly refer complaints to the department, but using the department’s data “to expand its jurisdiction into areas that Congress never envisioned.” The Obama-appointed head of the watchdog, Democrat Richard Cordray, said the bureau shares complaint information in “near real-time” through an on-line portal with the department. It has “not exceeded its authority,” and only fulfilled its mission under federal law to monitor and respond to individuals’ complaints about debts as well as enforce federal consumer law, Cordray wrote. Congress created the bureau in part to mediate between consumers and credit card companies, banks, mortgage providers and other lenders. The dispute goes beyond a mere territory fight. Republicans revile the CFPB, saying it reaches too far in its rules and enforcement and should be more accountable to lawmakers. Democrats have said it helps ensure fair treatment for middle-class people unable to fight fraud on their own. Republicans also disapprove of Obama’s attempt to make college more affordable by moving almost all of the $1.4 trillion student-loan industry into the federal government. Currently, only servicing is handled outside the Education Department. During last year’s elections, Trump and fellow Republicans promised to “get government out of the business of lending” and DeVos is now working to return much of the process to the private sector. She also wants to redo other Obama-era regulations, such as protections for sexual-assault victims on college campuses. DeVos critics consider the department’s split from the CFPB as a way to protect for-profit schools, debt collectors and servicers from government intervention. Earlier this year the bureau, which has received nearly 20,000 complaints about student loan servicers since February 2016, sued the country’s largest servicer Navient Corp for systematically failing borrowers. Navient disputes the allegations and is contesting them in court. | 1 |
8,753 | The Hidden Root Of White Rage | Paul Krugman asks a simple question about why white (conservative) people who fly into a rage always seem to do so over really stupid things:Something that strikes me, however and which I don t fully understand is that when people like this turn to angry rhetoric, with at least a hint of violence, the trigger events tend to be trivial. There are plenty of real grievances that could be motivating working-class whites Now, I loves me some Krugman but he s missing the super obvious here: White conservatives are angry at a racially unjust economic system that has started to treat white people the same it s always treated black people. It was supposed to benefit them to the detriment of those people and it did, decade after decade. White people enjoyed a lifestyle unprecedented in history and managed to deny that life to millions of minorities. But the rich got so greedy that the system is breaking down and now everyone is suffering. Except for the rich, of course.The end result is that they can t attack the system they love without admitting how unjust it was in the first place. What are they going to say? Hey! Where are all the white jobs?! On top of this frustration is the cold and horrible (for white people) realization that they no longer have total control over the government. With a black president in the White House, there is zero chance of getting through the kind of policies that used to transfer immense amounts of wealth to the white community while leaving the black community out in the cold. Those days are over and with the rapid browning of America, they aren t coming back.This leaves us with millions of angry white people betrayed by a system they believed in and supported their entire lives. But to admit that the system was unjust would be to admit that they, white people, benefited at the expense of black people in the first place. Most white people, including liberals, would rather gnaw their arm off to escape this trap. And so they find the most ridiculous and mundane targets for their rage, a rage that should be directed at the system but can t be. It really is that simple.Featured image via AI archives | 0 |
8,754 | Trump’s Latest Appointee Is A Climate Denier, A Racist, A Birther, A Homophobe, And An Islamophobe | There are people currently being turned down for jobs at Applebee s with better resumes than William Bradford. The obscure attorney general of the Chiricahua Apache Nation was recently catapulted to a job in the federal government when Trump announced he was appointing Bradford to run the Energy Department s Office of Indian Energy. Like many of Trump s hires, Bradford has almost zero in the way of experience at the job he was just hired for. His only tweets relating to energy are those that call climate scientists cultists. If he wasn t hired for his experience, he certainly wasn t hired for the content of his character, either. Bradford has forceful opinions on nearly every person, race, ethnicity, and lifestyle under the sun and all of them are bigoted.On his now deleted Twitter and Facebook accounts, Bradford documented his bigotry like a man checking boxes on the list of qualities the biggest asshole in the world might have: He is himself Jewish, but it didn t stop him from once calling Mark Zuckerberg a self-hating Jew for the crime of writing an essay opposing Trump, adding that he hoped Zuckerberg gets what he deserves. He pushed birther conspiracies about Obama, while also promoting an even more obscure right-wing conspiracy that suggested Obama is secretly gay.As the above tweet suggests, Bradford is also big on bashing Muslims. A major obsession of his was to float theories that Obama was coordinating with Muslims in Iran to destroy America.Bradford also called Japanese internment camps in World War II necessary, parroting Trump s on-again, off-again relationship with creating internment camps for Muslims.For simplicity, let s go over the list. Bradford is:And now he s working, as the Washington Post put it, to help Native Americans and Alaska Native tribes and villages obtain electricity and reduce energy costs a job he has no experience in and no apparent desire to do. The position is final because it s a job that does not require congressional approval.In no uncertain terms, William Bradford would be unemployable in any other administration. His legacy of toxic, violent and unbalanced comments on social media would be enough to send up all kinds of alarm bells for any White House that cared, even slightly, about staffing government roles with people who could actually perform with competently. Instead, Trump is stuffing positions seemingly at a whim. He has taken to hiring the wives of his political critics to curry favor (and watching Newt Gingrich and Mitch McConnell, both of whom have spouses owing their careers to Trump, bend to his will shows how effective this has been). He has no problem hiring people who plagiarized or lied about their education. And he has no issues with a person s mental stability either.The result is nothing short of a disaster.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
8,755 | MASS MIGRATION OR INFRASTRUCTURE…CHOOSE ONE: ONE MILLION Imported Every Year While Our Nation Crumbles! | The truth in the information below is so dead on! We re putting foreigners before Americans by brining in over 1 million every year! Did you know that we have a diversity lottery every year where we allow 50 thousand people to come to the US for no other reason than diversity. We CANNOT keep doing this! Something has to give in our government s effort to flood us with third worlders Here s the story of just one city in America that s the result of mass migration:Anticipating strong population growth, Seattle s urban planners long ago built an impressive 5-lane highway through the city, a 2-lane by-way for the east side and a 3-lane freeway on the west side. Seattle s infrastructure was built to host a growing economic hub and it was built to last. So how is it Seattle today has the worst traffic in America?Infrastructure spending has doubled since the 1990s, yet every election focuses on an infrastructure crisis.In Seattle, many point to new employees of Microsoft and Amazon. Sure, those have an effect. But the real problem is immigration. 14% of Washington is foreign born. How can we ever expect to build sustainable and safe infrastructure when we allow a million people each year to move here?Liberals love infrastructure spending. They believe it stimulates the economy through spending and expands overall economic output, like a well-greased machine. In 2009, President Obama was given $900 billion to rebuild America s infrastructure for the 21st century. Yet, 7 years later, here we are again with Democrats calling for trillion dollar infrastructure packages as if it will once and for all fix our crumbling, overcrowded infrastructure.Liberals long for a distant past of mass immigration leading to economic greatness. They treat America as if it is still a vast, unpopulated frontier where the only infrastructure needed by horse-driven wagon trains is a decent map.A key pillar in Hillary Clinton s infrastructure plan is Lower transportation costs and unlock economic opportunity by expanding public transit option. Hillary will encourage local governments to work with low-income communities to ensure unemployed and underemployed Americans are connected to good job. A fine objective. We should provide mass transit options to low income areas, but how can we ever have a satisfactory metro system when low income areas are multiplying in population and area because we invite millions of unemployed, uneducated immigrants? This is yet another example of taking care of foreigners before Americans.Fearing accusations of racism, nobody wants to admit that foreigners are not good drivers. They come from places where traffic laws are ignored, and they bring that culture with them. Native Seattleites are good, safe drivers who don t break 5 miles over the speed limit and are far too passive aggressive to honk. This isn t a genetic or race issue, it s a cultural issue and the culture almost everywhere outside America is indifferent to extremely aggressive, stupid driving. Just watch the daily Russia s Funniest Dashcam Videos capturing vodka-fueled Fast & Furious driving stunts in heavy traffic.Infrastructure is more than just roads. Think of all the waterways, electrical grids, and internet fibers laid just to keep pace with immigration. That s billions of dollars that could have been spent upgrading existing systems and preventing tragedies like the Flint, Michigan leaded water.Unchecked immigration has skyrocketed water prices, utilities companies can barely maintain consistent service, and there is a housing shortage crisis. And Seattle liberals are completely dumbfounded by these problems. The mayor regularly holds press conferences and the city council organizes investigative committees, but never do they admit the problem is out of control immigration and Seattle s sanctuary city policy.Seattle suburbs once had a great style to them. Houses were unique and in harmony with the very green Seattle geography. Now, all of Seattle is being overrun by soulless, cubist condominium buildings to maximize the use of our extremely limited real estate. Building your own house with a fence and a lawn is no longer part of the American dream in Seattle.Schools also suffer. Seattle has a less than 2 child per couple birthrate, yet our schools are stuffed to the gills with children. Decades ago, Seattle built an excellent system of schools. Tax payers built a system for their children, and now they re being ordered to build a bigger system for the children of Indonesia and Cambodia. Rather than evolving teaching systems, our education energy is spent figuring out how to teach in a school where students speak 18 languages and are offended by the American flag. Teachers are no longer employed for their deep knowledge of pedagogy, but by whether she speaks Spanish or Swahili.Our parks have been completely taken over by immigrants. The ballfield where I learned to field grounders is controlled every day by soccer-playing Somalis. People afraid to schedule their games or practices there because there is always confrontation with people from the country that dragged through the streets of Mogadishu the dead naked bodies of our special forces soldiers trying to give them food.Liberals claim how great immigrants are because they pay taxes. Great, thanks for helping to pay for new infrastructure we need because you came here in waves demanding we upgrade so your daily commute to the Home Depot parking lot isn t slowed down.Sure, some immigrants do pay taxes to help partially cover the cost of new schools need to educate their illiterate children, the roads and buses to shuttle them to and fro, and the anti-gang police task forces needed to monitor their older brothers in ethnic gangs. To liberals, the population of America exists to serve the government rather than our society existing on its own with government to help out here and there, so immigration is inherently good.The choice for America is either mass immigration or a sustainable, healthy infrastructure, not both.Via: Regated | 0 |
8,756 | EU: spot checks show confusion, not conspiracy in Kenyan election | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Observers found some technical problems but no evidence of vote-rigging in Kenya s presidential election last month, the European Union said on Thursday, based on random checks of tallies from polling stations. The finding was announced as Kenya gears up for a re-run of the contest between President Uhuru Kenyatta and challenger Raila Odinga on Oct. 17, after the Supreme Court nullified Kenyatta s victory citing irregularities in the tallying process. Credible elections would boost Kenya s role as East Africa s richest economy and a stable Western ally in a region roiled by conflict. But problems with the vote could spark unrest: 1,200 people died in violence after a disputed 2007 election. Bolstering the Supreme Court s findings of technical irregularities, the EU said in a statement it had examined 1,558 randomly selected scanned polling station results forms from 82 constituencies. A small percentage were unreadable, others had mathematical mistakes, and others were missing data or signatures. The country had nearly 41,000 polling stations and 290 constituencies. Odinga alleged that the original vote was marred by fraud and is threatening to boycott the re-run unless some demands are met, including the resignation of key election board officials. But the EU said it did not find anything indicating deliberate manipulation of the vote in the forms it examined. There was little variation in the patterns of anomalies ... and no obvious advantage to one camp or another. However, the observers noted that more than a quarter of polling stations were severely late in posting their manually completed tallying sheets online. In some cases they only did so after the legal deadline for the opposition to mount court challenges to the results had passed, they noted. The EU urged the election commission to use standardized forms with security features like serial numbers to reduce the opportunities for confusion in the upcoming polls. It said the electoral board must do a better job of publicly explaining the processes it would follow in tallying the vote. In a separate development on Thursday, ruling party lawmaker Ngunjiri Wambugu filed a court petition seeking to have Chief Justice David Maraga removed for gross misconduct in connection with the annulment of the election. Chief Justice Maraga needs to be censured, I believe he has participated in gross misconduct, which is unprofessional. I believe that gross misconduct is trying to influence a presidential election, Wambugu told reporters. | 1 |
8,757 | Spain urges Catalonia secessionists to obey Madrid | BARCELONA (Reuters) - The Spanish government has urged Catalans to accept Madrid s decision to dismiss their secessionist leadership and to take control of the restive region, as the nation s biggest political crisis in decades enters a decisive week. Spain s foreign minister made the comment on Sunday, a day after Madrid vowed to take the unprecedented step of firing the Catalonia government, in a last resort to thwart the region s push for independence and to calm fears of unrest and economic turmoil in the heart of the euro zone. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont rejected Madrid s decision, to be implemented this week, and thousands of pro-independence protesters marched in Barcelona on Saturday. The regional parliament s speaker, Carme Forcadell, said she too would not accept Madrid s move and accused Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of staging a coup . Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis responded on Sunday with the call to obey Madrid. All the government is trying to do, and reluctantly, is to reinstate the legal order, to restore the constitution but also the Catalan rules and proceed from there, Dastis told BBC TV. We are going to establish the authorities who are going to rule the day-to-day affairs of Catalonia according to the Catalan laws and norms ... I hope everyone will disregard whatever instructions they will be planning to give because they will not have the legal authority to do that. However, Dastis sought to calm nerves in the region, saying Madrid would not conduct arrests among the pro-independence leadership, though two prominent secessionists were detained on court order this month on allegations of sedition. We are not going to arrest anyone, he said. Catalonia s leaders say they will not accept direct rule imposed by Madrid, raising the prospect that they and their supporters will seek to defy the Spanish government when the time comes to remove them from office. Rajoy s use of special constitutional powers still needs Senate approval in a session set for Friday. Once it gains the expected approval, Madrid can take full control of Catalonia s finances, police and public media and curb the powers of the regional parliament for up to six months, until fresh regional elections. Street protests for and against independence in Catalonia have involved hundreds of thousands of people. Though a violent crackdown by national police during Catalonia s Oct. 1 independence vote left hundreds injured, according to regional authorities, the protests have remained peaceful so far. But Rajoy s unprecedented plan to use special constitutional powers has angered both sides and raised concern over the potential for unrest if Catalan leaders resist and call for civil disobedience. They have not done that, but investors are worried about the possible fallout from such moves in a region that makes up a fifth of Spain s economy. Hundreds of companies have shifted their headquarters outside the region and Madrid has made downward revisions to its economic forecasts. Mikel Lekue, a 24-year-old Spaniard studying in Barcelona, said he did not support Catalan independence but criticized Rajoy s tactics in invoking article 155 of the national constitution for the first time to take control of a region. I don t agree with article 155. For all the errors the Catalan government has made, and they have made many, I don t think the solution is to remove Catalan autonomy, he said as he walked in central Barcelona with a friend. I think they need to sit down and talk. Rajoy, who acted with backing from King Felipe and the main opposition party in Madrid, said the crisis was jeopardizing political and economic stability in the euro zone s fourth-largest economy. Puigdemont, who made a symbolic declaration of independence on Oct. 10 after the referendum, called Rajoy s move the worst attacks against the people of Catalonia since Spain s military dictatorship. He stopped short of saying he would make good his threat to push ahead with a parliamentary vote on independence before direct rule takes effect. But he has called the Catalan parliament to meet next week to agree on a response to Madrid, something many observers said could pave the way for a formal declaration of independence. The regional assembly is expected to decide on Monday when it will hold a session. Several influential Catalan newspapers called on Puidgemont on Sunday to resolve the crisis by calling a snap election before direct rule becomes effective. However, an opinion poll published by the El Periodico newspaper on Sunday showed a snap election would probably have results similar to the last ballot, in 2015, when a coalition of pro-independence parties formed a minority government. Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull, however, told Catalan radio this was not an option and instead suggested that the parliament could move forward with secession. Catalonia will be what decides the parliament, which is the legitimate representative of the citizens, and not what others decide, Turull said. | 1 |
8,758 | Vote on gun control measures in Senate likely on Tuesday: Feinstein | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A vote on gun control measures in the U.S. Senate seeking to prevent the sale of firearms to potential terrorists is likely to be held on Tuesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said on Thursday. | 1 |
8,759 | Trump’s New Reason For Suing The GOP Proves He’s Clueless To How Elections Work (TWEET) | As much as likely all of us want elections to be cut and dry, popular vote wins all, it s just not that simple. It s a game, and if you choose to play you have to abide by the rules, you can t change them halfway through. Frustrating, sure? Illegal. No.Showing more than ever that he s a newcomer to the whole politicking world, Trump took to Twitter, yet again, to air his grievances about the political process.In yet another temper tantrum, Trump said: Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz-Lawsuit coming. Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz-Lawsuit coming Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016Well, first of all, here are the results of the Louisiana Republican primary:via New York TimesAnd yes, while he did win, as per party rules, the delegates were split, and Cruz didn t win more, he won t the same. However, Cruz may end up picking up some more, which is probably why Trump got his Underoos in a bunch. BUT this doesn t mean anything (at all) was done improperly. Per the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Cruz s supporters also seized five of Louisiana s six slots on the three powerful committees that will write the rules and platform at the Republican National Convention and mediate disputes over delegates eligibility this summer in Cleveland.The little-noticed inside maneuvering that led to this outcome in Louisiana is another dramatic illustration of the inside game that could have an outsize influence on the bitter race for the GOP nomination. Sketchy? Yes. Illegal? No. Sure, it goes to show how devious politicking can get, but in regards to Trump, well, you can t change the rules once you start playing the game. Trump chose to enter the race as a Republican, and everything that is happening can and likely will be done to make sure Trump s not the nominee, much like with what s happening on the Democratic side. Hell, as much as Bernie Sanders wants to complain about Democratic superdelegates, his senior adviser Tad Devine helped put together the system. And again, you can t change the rules after you decide to play. Both Trump and Sanders are outsiders who willfully chose to play an insiders game. Either could have run as an independent, but both chose a party ticket for a better chance, and to their credit have done rather well.The Wall Street Journal also noted: While Mr. Trump leads in winning primary and caucus elections, and has won more delegates, the Cruz campaign is proving superior at the arcane game of picking the people who will be the actual delegates to the convention, where they will help write the rules and ultimately choose the nominee.That means that if Mr. Trump fails to reach the delegate threshold to claim the GOP nomination on the convention s first ballot, committees dominated by Cruz supporters could work to block him from winning enough delegates to claim the nomination on any subsequent ballots. Trump can threaten to sue all he wants, or even actually sue, but at the end of the day it just goes to show how much of a political novice he truly is. He needs to realize that while everyone else is playing Chess to skillfully maneuver their way to the nomination, he s still playing Candy Land.Featured Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
8,760 | UPDATE: CRUZ COMMENTS On His Desperate Vote Shaming In Iowa | UPDATE:Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is defending a campaign mailer that Iowa s secretary of state says misrepresents election law.The mailer bills itself as a voting violation notice and tells the recipient it s been sent due to low expected voter turnout in your area. It then grades the recipient s voting history and that of several neighbors, citing public records.Cruz told reporters in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday that the mailing is routine. He says he won t apologize for using every tool we can to encourage Iowa residents to vote.Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says in a statement that there s no such thing as an election violation related to voting frequency and that insinuating otherwise is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa Caucuses. How is it that Ted Cruz is opposed to gov t data collection yet he s using big data mining to shame voters in IOWA into voting for him. Strange, very strange.Residents have been receiving notices like this one:THE COPY AT THE BOTTOM READS: You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday s caucuses . Cruz, a critic of excessive government data collection, has been notably aggressive about gathering personal information for his campaign. Some of the data comes from typical sources, such as voters consumer habits and Facebook posts. According to several sources, a donor-funded US startup embedded in Republican s campaign has been paying UK university academics to collect psychological profiles on potential voters. The result is a personalized citation sent to Iowan voters from the Cruz campaign.On Friday evening, personalized letters target individual Iowa voters and identifies them as having failed to vote in prior elections. Much like the China social credit system, it knows too much about its citizens, and it identifies the neighbors of the voter, and provides their voting history and their score as well.Ted Cruz claims to be running a positive campaign and paints himself as a trustworthy conservative. Attempting to shame voters into caucusing for him with these completely fake Voting Violation letters is a sleazy tactic that is sure to leave a bad taste in the mouth of undecided voters. Worse still was his decision to go ahead with sending these letters not thinking he would get caught. In the social media age, when you do something bad, people are bound to find out and expose you. This was clearly a last ditch desperation tactic from a campaign that has been going in the wrong direction in the polls for weeks now.Via: Red State Watcher | 0 |
8,761 | CRIES OF RACISM AFTER NYC MUSEUM KICKS OUT ROWDY HIGH SCHOOLERS | So am I getting this right? Everyone needs to let the high schoolers rampage through the museum or else they ll scream racism? If we want everyone to be treated equally, then we should apply the rules set forth by the museum equally. Isn t it more racist to expect and accept bad behavior from minorities attending a museum? This could be a teaching moment for all involved but pointing the finger at the museum and screaming racism is so much easier. Does this sound familiar to anyone out there Baltimore? The Upper East Side museum banned a Brooklyn high school for life after its students were deemed too rowdy on a recent visit a move that some call discipline and others discrimination. A group of about 80 kids from Downtown Brooklyn s Science Skills Center HS were kicked out after just 20 minutes after a student allegedly spat off the museum s swirling rotunda lobby and another threw a penny off its winding walkway. The coin was rumored to have hit a security guard. It was only a handful of troublemakers, but the whole group of ninth- and 10-graders got the boot, with the museum forcing them to wait outside for an hour for their bus to arrive. Many never got to glimpse the gallery s Picassos, van Goghs and Monets or even finish checking out the main display by Japanese artist On Kawara. I thought, if anything, they [museum staff] should just tell the teachers to control the children more and let us finish the exhibit, but they didn t even do that. They just kicked us out, said student Yosmeris Martinez, 14, from East New York. Shortly afterward, the school was told it was not welcome back. Just last week, First Lady Michelle Obama pleaded for art institutions to be more welcoming of kids from all backgrounds. You see, there are so many kids in this country who look at places like museums and concert halls and other cultural centers and they think to themselves, Well, that s not a place for me, for someone who looks like me, for someone who comes from my neighborhood, she said, speaking at the opening of the new Whitney Museum in the Meatpacking District. Guggenheim rules state that people should speak quietly, not run and not disturb other visitors. However, gallery visitors complained about the students obnoxious behavior, with one angrily requesting a refund because of the troublesome teens. Some workers at the Guggenheim suggested the ban may have been a knee-jerk reaction to racist stereotypes. It was pretty much the first . . . group of black kids I have ever seen there, said Asha Walker, who has spent two years working at the Guggenheim distributing audio guides. IT S UNFAIR, BECAUSE CHILDREN ARE GOING TO BE CHILDREN. SO JUST TELL US THAT WE RE WRONG RATHER THAN HOLDING US BACK FROM GOING. Yosmeris Martinez, student Walker, who is black and from Bedford-Stuyvesant, said that she didn t see any spitting or throwing, but that the boisterous teens were yelling at one another across the rotunda, with very little supervision from teachers. This is the first time since I have been there that there are a majority of black students . . . and the first time I am hearing about a school being banned. But it s not the first time I am hearing about kids being rowdy in the museum or there being a behavior issue in the museum, said Walker. Another Guggenheim staffer, who requested anonymity, said: I think it s a real shame that the Guggenheim s automatic reaction was to say no and ban the school, instead of considering that maybe the students haven t been there before. It s a pretty dramatic step to me. The Guggenheim declined to comment on the ban.Via: NYP | 0 |
8,762 | Newt Gingrich Just PRAISED Japan For What They Did To Us At Pearl Harbor (TWEET) | On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii many have been remembering all those who lost their lives on that fateful day. It was what brought the United States into WWII and the date, as FDR said, will live in infamy. Yet, as most treat December 7, as a solemn day, Newt Gingrich just tweeted out what sounded like praise for what the Japanese did to us that dreadful day.Gingrich tweeted out: 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines. 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 7, 2016 Professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises ?? Really? That s what Gingrich thinks of when he think of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. How the Japanese surprised attacked us?2.403 Americans died during the attack at Pearl Harbor, with 1,178 wounded.Gingrich thinks that is professional brilliance ?This tweet is absolutely disrespectful to all those who lost their lives and their families. There really couldn t be a more weird and awkward tweet to put out on the day we remember Pearl Harbor.And while relations with Japan have since been mended, we must never think what they did that day was at all brilliant. For goodness sake, someone please take away Gingrich s Twitter privileges. He clearly is out of his mind, much like his pal Donald Trump.Featured Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers | 0 |
8,763 | BIG BROTHER: FEDS WANT YOUR DOCTOR TO WARN YOU ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING | totally out of bounds! This is so wrong and so crazy because anyone with half a brain knows this is junk science. What does Obama mean by real change in the statement below:President Obama said in a taped speech presented to medical professionals gathered at the White House, to get to work to raise awareness and organize folks for real change. Americans trust their doctors, so the White House wants these medical professionals to be a mouthpiece for President Obama s global warming agenda. We also need doctors, nurses and citizens, like all of you President Obama said in a taped speech presented to medical professionals gathered at the White House, to get to work to raise awareness and organize folks for real change. The Obama administration has been hard at work trying to draw a link between global warming and public health issues. The summit included the U.S. Surgeon General, top administration officials, and public health experts from around the country telling doctors, nurses and other conference goers how to talk about global warming with their patients.The central message: doctors should warn their patients that global warming could make their health worse.Read more: Daily Caller | 0 |
8,764 | KARMA: Racist West Virginia Official Who Called Michelle Obama An ‘Ape’ Gets Fired | Another racist just found out the hard way that racism will result in unemployment.Pamela Taylor thought she could get away with insulting First Lady Michelle Obama without consequences.Last month, she posted a racist comparison of Melania Trump and Michelle Obama on Facebook that drew national and local outrage. It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House, Taylor wrote. I m tired of seeing an ape in heels. Taylor worked at the Clay County Development Corporation, a non-profit taxpayer funded organization that works with the state and local government, including Mayor Beverly Whaling, who replied to Taylor post by telling her it made my day. Comparing black people to apes, monkeys, or gorillas has been considered a racial slur for decades.Whaling remained silent in the wake of being caught supporting Taylor s racism. Taylor, on the other hand, claimed that criticizing her for being a racist is a hate crime, which did not improve her situation in the slightest.In fact, she was suspended from her job and Whaling resigned in disgrace.And then she was reinstated to the disbelief of many who thought that Taylor would rightfully be terminated since it s clear she can t do her job fairly because of her hatred of black people.But justice soon prevailed as Governor Earl Ray Tomblin s office released a statement announcing that Taylor was removed after the state reached an agreement with the nonprofit s board of directors. And so, Pamela Taylor no longer has a job, thus creating a job opening for someone who has stronger character and human decency.When will racists learn that what they say and write can be read by their employers? More recently, a firefighter in Michigan was fired for calling a black woman the N-word on Facebook after the remark was brought to the attention to the fire chief.Clearly, it is time for racists to slither back to the fringes of society where they belong. Some will undoubtedly whine that their freedom of speech is being attacked, but freedom of speech doesn t mean you can t be fired for saying something stupid, especially when what you say alienates and angers potential customers or opens your organization up to accusations of discrimination.So racists, beware. People on social media can see what you write, and if they can see it, your boss will end up seeing it, too.Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
8,765 | Here’s What The World’s Top Economist Is Saying About Bernie Sanders | Thomas Piketty, the French economist who started a revolution of thought on income inequality when he wrote Capital in the Twenty-First Century. He is now considered one of the world s top economists. He is now sharing his thoughts on Bernie Sanders and the movement that is driving his campaignPikkety agrees that Bernie Sanders and his supporters have the right idea when it comes to economics. Though the economist suggests that Sanders may be too white and too old to win an election.Other than those two caveats, Pikkety gives Bernie Sanders a glowing, if tacit, endorsement, writing that, In many respects, we are witnessing the end of the politico-ideological cycle opened by the victory of Ronald Reagan at the 1980 elections. Conservatism in the media may have something to do with the reason Pikkety is critical of Sanders electability with racial and other political minorities. Recent polls show the race between Sanders and Clinton is a dead heat. Polls seem to indicate that the main difference between Clinton supporters and Sanders supporters is generational.Piketty goes on to say that Sanders is reviving the progressive agenda. He writes: Sanders success today shows that much of America is tired of rising inequality and these so-called political changes, and intends to revive both a progressive agenda and the American tradition of egalitarianism. Hillary Clinton, who fought to the left of Barack Obama in 2008 on topics such as health insurance, appears today as if she is defending the status quo, just another heiress of the Reagan-Clinton-Obama political regime.Sanders makes clear he wants to restore progressive taxation and a higher minimum wage ($15 an hour). To this he adds free healthcare and higher education in a country where inequality in access to education has reached unprecedented heights, highlighting a gulf standing between the lives of most Americans, and the soothing meritocratic speeches pronounced by the winners of the system.Meanwhile, the Republican party sinks into a hyper-nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Islam discourse (even though Islam isn t a great religious force in the country), and a limitless glorification of the fortune amassed by rich white people. The judges appointed under Reagan and Bush have lifted any legal limitation on the influence of private money in politics, which greatly complicates the task of candidates like Sanders. Since the oh so tragic passing of Justice Antonio Scalia, the Supreme Court may have the votes needed to end Citizen s United. That would be a major gift to future progressive candidates Berniecrats who would abstain from SuperPACs.The way that this election is playing out, it appears that we are witnessing a battle of generations be played out more than anything else. Regardless of who takes the nomination in this election, Sanders supporters are very much the face of the future of the left.Featured image from Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons | 0 |
8,766 | USA Today Smacks Trump Upside The Head Over His Crazy Idea That Obama And Hillary Helped ISIS | Since the shooting in Orlando, Donald Trump has been yammering on about how he was right about radical Islamic terrorism and Muslims all along. He s also been blasting President Obama for the way he s handling ISIS, connecting Obama to the Orlando massacre. He just recently stepped that up, claiming again that he was right about all this, and also bringing Hillary Clinton into the ring of his accusations. He even has a source to back all this up now! The big question now is, Bro, do you even news? USA Today decided to answer that question with, No, he clearly doesn t. Why? Because he said: Hillary Clinton received a classified intelligence report stating that the Obama administration was actively supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq, the terrorist group that became the Islamic State. His source for that? Breitbart, which is less reliable than Fox News. They referenced a government memo from 2012 on the situation and called it an intelligence report. Trump took that story and used it to gloat about being right about everything:An: Media fell all over themselves criticizing what DonaldTrump may have insinuated about @POTUS. But he s right: https://t.co/bIIdYtvZYw Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016USA Today, however, looked at that so-called report, and found that it doesn t say what either Trump or Breitbart claim. Here s the relevant information:DIA memo, August 2012: A. Internally, events are taking a clear sectarian direction.B. The Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.C. The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China, and Iran support the regime.AQI supported the uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from the beginning, and so did the U.S. That s not a secret in any form of the word, and it takes an amazing leap of twisted logic to assume that means Obama was actively supporting even working with Al Qaeda. USA Today s report says that, for this to be true, several more countries would have to have been involved in this conspiracy, too.Now it s getting so complicated that it defies description.To that end, though, USA Today reached out to several Middle East experts about this. One such expert, Andrew Tabler, said: The US never supported AQ in Iraq not sure where that came from. Another expert, Perry Cammack, called Breitbart s story amazingly poor reporting, and said: If anything the Obama administration has been criticized for doing too little to support the Syrian opposition, and it s frankly for exactly this reason. As far as Hillary s involvement, that s Trump and Breitbart grasping at some very small, slippery straws. While the memo does list the office of the Secretary of State, Cammack says it would likely have been read by worker bees, and incorporated into a larger briefing for Hillary to review later.In other words, that notation is meaningless, and Trump s accusation is baseless.USA Today concluded their report by saying that Trump s claims are the kind of conspiracy theories they d debunk in an article, and debunk, they did. They shot down this conspiracy theory rather soundly with basic research of which neither Trump, nor Breitbart, is capable (and they ll eventually be banned for this).Featured image by Mark Lyons/Getty Images | 0 |
8,767 | Supreme Court to hear State Farm case over Hurricane Katrina fraud claim | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal by State Farm contesting a jury finding that the insurance company defrauded the federal government when assessing damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico coast. The court will review a 2015 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the verdict in a suit brought under the federal False Claims Act, which lets people sue over allegations that the government has been defrauded. The court will consider a lawsuit brought by sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, former claims adjusters who worked with State Farm after the hurricane. People win a portion of the damages if such a False Claims Act suit is successful. The jury found that the U.S. government had been defrauded of $250,000 over a house that had sustained Katrina-related damage in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Rigsbys said the damage was caused by wind, which would be covered by the owners’ policy with State Farm. But State Farm concluded that the damage was flood-related, which was covered by the federal government’s flood insurance program. The court said State Farm would have to pay $758,000 in damages. The Rigsbys were awarded $227,000 under the False Claims Act. State Farm argued in part that the lawsuit should have been thrown out because the Rigsbys’ former lawyer, Dickie Scruggs, had distributed information about the lawsuit to members of the media. False Claims Act lawsuits are required to be filed under seal and remain private for 60 days. In 2008, Scruggs was convicted of conspiring to bribe a judge in a different case. He was sentenced to five years in prison. The court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in the case during its next term, which begins in October and ends in June 2017. | 1 |
8,768 | Conservatives Attack The Pope And DEFEND HITLER After The Pope Warns Against Donald Trump (TWEETS) | As Donald Trump was being sworn in as Grand Wizard of the United States, Pope Francis was throwing shade at our new President-With-An-Asterisk in an interview with a Spanish newspaper.He didn t address Trump directly in his interview with El Pais after all, where s the fun in that? but instead talked about someone of whom many Trump supporters are fond, Adolf Hitler: Germany was looking for a leader, someone who would give her back her identity and there was a little man named Adolf Hitler who said I can do it . Hitler did not steal power. He was elected by his people and then he destroyed his people. The Germans at that time also wanted to protect themselves with walls and barbed wire so that others cannot take away their identity. It doesn t take much imagination at all to see the similarities. Immediately after Trump assumed office, any mention of civil rights disappeared from the White House website and he immediately signed an executive order aimed at taking healthcare away from millions of Americans. The case of Germany is classic, he said, adding that Hitler gave his citizens a deformed identity and we know what it produced. In other words, Germany first, America first, it s all the same. But Pope Francis says to give Trump a chance to prove him right: Let s see. Let s see what he does and then we will evaluate. Naturally, conservatives are furious. Responding reports on Trump s statements, the Right lashed out at Pope Francis for insulting their god:@RT_com @RobertNTaupier Is it sacrilegious to tell a Godless Commie Pope to go **** himself? Thomas Pine (@ameripundit) January 23, 2017@RT_com stuff it The worst Pope ever who totally politicizes everything for his socialists cronies E Publius Unum (@CesquireCowen) January 23, 2017@RT_com This pope is hurdling Christianity towards extinction. Lowest numbers in recent history. 1 9 1 6 (@PepeWillsItV3) January 23, 2017@RT_com the Pope is a Jesuit Marxist Lisa M B (@LisamLouisiana) January 23, 2017@RT_com just another old guy and his old opinions. Hopefully the church starts to be taxed so they can act responsible raisemmmk (@raisemmmk) January 23, 2017@RT_com a leftist, papal imposter. He is probably only a layman since they changed the rites of ordination after vatican 2. Not Catholic! Procinctu (@TheProcinctu) January 23, 2017@RT_com You look into your business Mr poop sorry , Mr pope. silako silmi (@gilmaparty) January 23, 2017@RT_com I've looked at history, Hitler,wasn't a bad person,just trying to protect Germany from SATAN,if he had completed his work,better PL (((Andros))) (@MrRealAndros) January 23, 2017@FoxNews Passing judgement isn't his place.Has he read the bible.? Time 4 a new pope this one is defective Sharon (@SharonM67714628) January 22, 2017@FoxNews Passing judgement isn't his place.Has he read the bible.? Time 4 a new pope this one is defective Sharon (@SharonM67714628) January 22, 2017@sexxxylisa @FoxNews I Agree with you 100% ! Yes NOT a nice old pope. He's an evil old Jesuit GLOBALIST NWO pope. Liziz Fine (@LizizFine) January 22, 2017This isn t the first time the Pontiff has attacked President Cheeto. In February, shortly after The Donald warned Trump about lying about his religion: A person who thinks only about building walls wherever they may be and not building bridges, is not Christian I d just say that this man is not Christian if he said it this way. If Donald Trump s presidency feels like the rise of Hitler to you, you re not alone and it is your duty as an American to stand up to the threat every day of your life until it is no longer present. It s going to be a long and terrible four years, but we must stand together against this unpresidented threat to our country, minimize the damage, and rebuild when he is gone in four years.Featured image via Getty Images (Franco Origlia)/screengrab | 0 |
8,769 | Chuck Todd Goes Off On Trump, Says What Every American Is Thinking Right Now (VIDEO) | It s only been a few days since Donald Trump as been back from his second international tour, but America is already sick of him. Over the past week or so, Trump and his corrupt inner circle have been in the news nonstop for their unethical behavior revolving around Russia.If America is sick of reading about it, reporters must be sick of talking about it and this was evident when Chuck Todd went off on Trump on Friday during MTP Daily. Todd did not hold back as unleashed an attack for several minutes, brutally mocking the Trump administration for the never-ending avalanche of bad news surrounding Donald Trump Jr. s meeting with a Russian lawyer. Blasting the White House for trying to hide parts of the story, Todd said: Their responses this week have proven to be incomplete at best and untrue at worst. Todd was referring to a breaking report by NBC news, in which an additional unknown person former Soviet counterintelligence officer Ranit Akhmetshin, was found to also have been in attendance during the now infamous meeting with the Russian lawyer. To make his point even more powerful, Todd ran several clips from the past few days that blatantly showed White House officials lying and denying that they were hiding any information. It was a brilliant segment, and Todd perfectly showed America why Trump and his minions cannot be trusted. In conclusion, Todd said: Folks, this week has been a giant PR, political, and possibly legal disaster for this administration. You can watch Todd slam Trump and his administration below:Must-watch @ChuckTodd timeline of the WH story about the Trump Jr./Russia mtg and what we learned each day this week https://t.co/D8lf5pDsD1 Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 14, 2017We could not have said it any better ourselves.Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
8,770 | Former Ambassador Accuses Trump Of Violating Constitution Every Time A Diplomat Visits | While the Trump administration is still reeling over the fact that Special Investigator Robert Mueller has now arrested three people with close ties to the administration over its ties to Russia, there is another serious alleged violation of the law that everyone should be making bigger headlines.According to a former Ambassador from Mexico, the Trump administration is *ahem* encouraging world leaders to stay at Trump properties while they are visiting in the United States.Arturo Sarukhan, who served as Mexico s ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013, tweeted on Tuesday that a former U.S. diplomat told him the U.S. State Department s protocol emphasizes to world leaders that they should use Trump s D.C. hotel for official visits.Sarukhan s tweet also uses the term kakistocracy, which means government by the worst people.Source: Think ProgressKakistocracia: ex funcionario EU me dice q Protocolo DptoEstado fue instruido a enfatizar a gobs? usar HotelTrump p/ viajes oficiales a DC Arturo Sarukhan (@Arturo_Sarukhan) October 31, 2017If this is true, this is a clear violation of the Constitution s Emoluments Clause, which forbids U.S. officials from receiving anything of value from foreign leaders because it could lead to corruption. Of course, the ethics ship sailed away from the White House the moment Donald Trump took office, so it s pretty believable that Trump would strong-arm people to stay at his properties. He s been accused of doing it before.Back in May, someone projected Emoluments Welcome and Pay Trump Bribes Here on Trump s D.C. hotel.Had a lot of fun projecting #emolumentswelcome on Trump hotel pic.twitter.com/FlFr2ITJtj robin bell (@bellvisuals) May 16, 2017Being projected on Trump Hotel in DC right now. #resist pic.twitter.com/RJEAqOnGgp Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) May 16, 2017Trump is currently facing a number of lawsuits, including from members of Congress, about his violating the Emoluments Clause.In June, Think Progress said this:Trump s new downtown DC hotel has hosted embassy events for Azerbaijan and Kuwait, who switched to the Trump hotel from their original booking at the Four Seasons. The hotel hosted an annual conference sponsored by the Turkish state last month a conference that in previous years was habitually held at the Ritz Carlton. And, since Trump s election, a Saudi-backed lobbying campaign spent around $270,000 at the hotel for lodging and catering costs.When a federal official, especially the President, profits off of foreign dignitaries, conflicts abound. It s difficult to claim the moral high ground or to impose sanctions when our own government is running a pay-for-play scam, which is exactly what this is.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
8,771 | German Greens want last nuclear weapons withdrawn: document | BERLIN (Reuters) - Greens want the next coalition government to push for the removal of all nuclear warheads stationed in Germany, a document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday. The discussion paper on defence and foreign policy did not mention the United States, which is believed to have 20 nuclear warheads at a military base in Buechel in western Germany, according to unofficial estimates. Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to secure a fourth term through an unlikely coalition with the ecologist Greens and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) after her conservative bloc lost support to the far-right in an election in September. NATO member Germany is not a nuclear power and in 2011 a Merkel-led government announced plans to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Within NATO, we want to ensure that the remaining nuclear weapons in Germany are withdrawn and we want to suspend the modernization programme, read a section in the document stating the Greens position. Before leaving office former U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to modernize nuclear bombs, delivery systems and laboratories. His successor, Donald Trump, has said he wants to strengthen and expand his country s nuclear capability. The conservatives, Greens and FDP are hoping to end exploratory discussions on Thursday and move on to proper negotiations on forming a government. They remain divided on several key issues, including immigration, reforming the euro zone and climate policy. | 1 |
8,772 | Colombia FARC rebels include boots, kitchen supplies in list of assets | BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s FARC rebel group included footwear and orange juicers in the list of assets it will hand over for victim reparations, drawing ire on Thursday from officials who maintain the guerrillas have extensive criminal wealth and sparking the government to announce a special verification commission. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) agreed under a 2016 peace deal with the government to hand over all funds and property to pay reparations to victims of forced disappearance, rape, displacement, kidnapping and land mines. The group has for decades extorted landowners and business people, earned ransoms from hostage takings and sold coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, to drug traffickers. Officials said on Thursday that the list, which was originally given to the United Nations and has not been made public, included many items that have little or no monetary value and made a mockery of victims. Pots, orange juicers, lemon juicers, plates, boots, which will be depreciated and don t have a commercial value and which above all will not be a source of reparation for victims, Attorney General Nestor Humberto Martinez told journalists. Martinez added the full list should be released. The list will be reviewed by a special commission in a bid to find missing assets, verify their origin and decide how they will be managed, the government said later on Thursday. Those assets which have not been inventoried and are later discovered will obligatorily mean punishment and an ordinary justice procedure against members of the FARC, justice minister Enrique Gil said. All assets will be directed toward victims reparation, interior minister Guillermo Rivera added, and not to reintegration programs for the FARC fighters themselves. Colombian officials have previously accused the FARC of possessing large amounts of cash, as well as ranches, businesses and luxury homes, including some located abroad. A lawyer representing the FARC, Enrique Santiago, told local radio that the group had not earned an income in years and had to spend extensively to maintain its more than 7,000 fighters, after calling off kidnappings and extortion during peace talks. The rebels finished handing over more than 8,000 weapons to the U.N., which oversaw their demobilization, earlier this month. On Sunday the group will kick off a conference that looks set to cement its transition into a political party. | 1 |
8,773 | LEFTISTS ATTACK Barron Trump On Social Media Over T-Shirt…Go Off Deep-End Over Strange Toy He Held In His Hand As He Arrived At New Home [Video] | Social media lit up like crazy when Melania and Barron Trump arrived on Air Force One to move into the White House. Why did the media ignore the Obama girls, but don t have any problem attacking or making up rumors about the 11-year old son of President Trump and the First Lady Melania? Barron Trump arrived in DC wearing a t-shirt that said, The Expert . He was also carrying a fidget spinner, a very popular gadget with teenagers and young adults. Social media went berserk with a snark fest of nasty comments. It s always a double standard with the left:#TheExpert Barron Trump plays with fidget spinner as he exits Air Force One in Washington with @POTUS and @FLOTUS. pic.twitter.com/rQfivXcUNH Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) June 12, 2017 Melania and Barron arrive:The First Lady and Barron have permanently moved into the White House! Literally #TheExpert has arrived. pic.twitter.com/QWFQ5uy6Tw Mark Schneider (@subschneider) June 12, 2017 Don t get too comfortable Holly O Reilly Barron looks how we, the majority, feel. Russ Ian Mawb This guy is a twisted jerk on social media! Melania and Barron Trump have moved into the White House, and everybody looks thrilled! smarty pants on twitterMelania and Barron Trump have moved into the White House, and everybody looks thrilled! https://t.co/6OhUb3HLWU pic.twitter.com/mKhM4ShQv6 Jezebel (@Jezebel) June 12, 2017 Barron was playing with a fidget spinner when he exited Air Force One. It s the hottest toy out there right now so it s perfectly normal for the president s son to have one. One guy on twitter was surprised to see Barron with the fidget spinner:OMG!!! Barron Trump has a Fidget Spinner just like every single boy in my daughters class! pic.twitter.com/i660NCagIw jim spellman (@jimspellmanTV) June 12, 2017 | 0 |
8,774 | WATCH: George W. Bush Calls Out Trump For Supporting White Supremacy | Former President George W. Bush gave a speech on Thursday in which he said that bigotry seems emboldened in the U.S. and warned that Americans need to reject white supremacy. This is the speech that Trump should have given even before the Nazi march in Charlottesville. Donald Trump was backed by every white supremacist group across the board during his divisive campaign. Although Bush pointed to the governing class, he did not mention the former reality show star s name, but it was obvious that he was talking about Trump, his policies, and his base.Bush spoke of our discourse being degraded by casual cruelty. He continued to say that we ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism and added that we need to recover and recall our own identity. Discontent deepened and sharpened partisan conflicts in recent years, Bush said in remarks from New York City at a forum focused on security and sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seem more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication, the former President continued.Bush also warned against a new era of cyber threats including Russia s attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election, a thing which Donald Trump has called a hoax. Ultimately this assault won t succeed, but foreign aggressions including cyber attacks, disinformation, and financial influence should never be downplayed or tolerated, he said. Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed, Bush continued.The Hill reports:Bush, who advocates free trade, promoted multilateral and bilateral trade deals during his presidency. Trump is now demanding that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico be renegotiated, under the threat of a U.S. withdrawal. We cannot wish globalization away, Bush said, then he went on to urge society to adapt to economic and social change.Bush went on to warn that democracies face new and serious threats today.Economic, political and national security challenges proliferate, he said. And they re made worse by the tendency to turn inward, he said. The health of the Democratic spirit itself is at issue and the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand. Our governing class has often been paralyzed in the face of obvious and pressing needs. The American dream of upward mobility seems out of reach for some who feel left behind in a changing economy, he added.Watch:President George W Bush in NYC: We ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism we need to recall and recover our own identity pic.twitter.com/dsiSkFzEVp Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) October 19, 2017While Bush wasn t a great president, he wasn t an evil man (his vice-president was a doozy, though). Donald Trump is so bad for this country that he s making Bush seem like a reasonable president. And at least Bush knows how to form a coherent sentence. The former President has refrained from being in the public eye, but this speech needed to be made. We re sure he doesn t even recognize his own party anymore.Image via screen capture. | 0 |
8,775 | Anti-Trump campaigners tear down cardboard wall at Brandenburg Gate | BERLIN (Reuters) - Activists from the online campaign group Avaaz tore down a cardboard wall near the site of the former Berlin Wall on Friday to urge American expats in Germany to vote against Republican nominee Donald Trump in the U.S. election on Nov. 8. Many identify Trump with his proposal to build a huge border wall between the United States and Mexico to keep migrants out; moreover, the event was staged in front of the Brandenburg Gate, near the place where U.S. president Ronald Reagan publicly urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 to “tear down this wall”. Holding red and blue placards saying “Stop Trump” and “Tear Down Trump’s Wall”, dozens of cheering activists toppled the 2.5 meter (8.2 foot) structure, emblazoned with a picture of Trump, with their hands and rubber mallets. Many of the 150 or so onlookers chanted “The wall must come down!” as it was knocked over. Around 8 million Americans live abroad but only 12 percent of them voted in the 2012 election, Avaaz said in a statement. “Americans abroad are the ‘Swing State’ that nobody knows about, who could, however, decide the vote this year. A large number of them live in Germany,” said Emma Ruby-Sachs, deputy director of Avaaz. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week, 42 percent of likely voters supported Clinton, a former secretary of state, and 38 percent backed the Republican real estate tycoon. | 1 |
8,776 | fbi redux whats behind new probe into hillary clinton emails | a tidal wave of revelations is pouring out of the clinton campaign as the presidential election draws to a close
meltdown the clinton campaign continues to unravel following a series of troubling details photo illustration wire
over the weekend it was discovered through a wikileaks email dump that neera tanden of the center for american progress john podesta s top aide had an email exchange with michael lux of progressive strategies revealing that the democratic consultant robert creamer of democracy partners was closely allied with clinton campaign manager robby mook
political bombshell clinton campaign manager robby mook had close ties to disgraced dnc consultant robert creamer image source lockerdome
creamer gained national attention when he became the subject of video sting operation captured by the investigative nonprofit project veritas not only was it revealed that the creamer discussed ways to commit voter fraud and violence at donald trump rallies on camera he also met with white house officials some times over the past year including private meetings with president obama or other senior officials
dnc scandal robert creamer of democracy partners and democratic congresswoman jan schakowsky image source national vanguard
creamers visits to the white house also included his wife a term illinois democratic congresswoman jan schakowsky
white house visitor records have shown that schakowsky took private meetings with obama or his senior staff over the past year the consultancy democracy partners appears to have applied schakowsky as a political buffering point in the event of a fallout over their operations at a grassroots level the nature of this type of procedural separation is to keep certain highranking officials of the hook in case of a massive upheaval over various underhanded campaign tactics potentially giving the clinton campaign and the dnc plausible deniability
the mook fallout is the latest in a laundry list of problems for the clinton campaign and comes at a time when interim dnc chair donna brazile is embroiled in controversy of over leaked debate questions prior to at least two town hall debates brazile stepped down from her role at cnn earlier in october heres a passage from the daily caller describing the scenario
donna brazile the interim chair of the democratic national committee began providing town hall and debate questions to the clinton campaign earlier than previously known emails released by wikileaks on monday show
the article continued by stating that the revelations expose that the interim dnc chair was more deeply involved than previously outlined
in the march exchange brazile mentions roland martin by name and offers to provide more than just the one town hall question that she is known to have shared with the campaign
ill send a few more though some questions roland submitted brazile wrote to palmieri in the march email thread which is entitled from time to time i get the questions in advance
martin is a commentator for tv one and the host of news one now as well as a cnn contributor
in another matter the wall street journal revealed the following while disclosing an apparently contentious relationship between the fbi and doj while the fbi appears to be somewhat fractured over the latest email server case developments
the latest development began in early october when new yorkbased fbi officials notified andrew mccabe of the terry mcauliffe campaign contribution scandal the bureaus secondincommand that while investigating mr weiner for possibly sending sexually charged messages to a teenage minor they had recovered a laptop many of the emails on the computer they said were from the accounts of ms abedin according to people familiar with the matter
some critics have called for mccabe to recuse himself after it was revealed his wife received from a wellknown clinton confidant terry mcauliffe this was further underlined after the house oversight commitee wanted more information about the senate campaign of dr jill mccabe and its ties to the clintons
the alleged internal feud among agencies was compounded when attorney general loretta lynch and deputy attorney general sally yates objected to fbi director james comey reopening the clinton email server case this past week something that added to the lynchclinton tarmac meeting before the first fbi ruling in the clinton case
according to a report filed by zero hedge a close friend of podesta peter kadzik the assistant attorney general of the department of justice doj will be in charge of a probe into huma abedin clintions closest aide
interestingly as a mountain of controversy envelops the clinton campaign the fbi is now conducting an early inquiry into former trump campaign manager paul manafort over his alleged foreign business connections
back in august the following business connection was revealed by nbc news
in according to court records senior trump aide paul manaforts firm was involved with a ukrainian oligarch named dmytro firtash in a plan to redevelop a famous new york hotel the drake the total value of the project was million firtashs company planned to invest over million the records say
that same year firtash acknowledged to the us ambassador in ukraine that he got his start in business with the permission of a notorious russian crime lord according to a classified state department cable other cables say firtash made part of his fortune through sweetheart natural gas deals between russia and the ukraine
although the us state department has determined that firtash may have ties to a criminal enterprise in russia so far theres nothing directly linking manafort to any underground element at this time
watch this space as the russiatrump meme fostered by mainstream media or some other politically polarizing element will look to deflect from the clinton campaign meltdown
more from lifezette below
out of control wikileaks reveals robby mooks links to dnc contractor who discussed ways to commit voter fraud and violence image source slate
wikileaks trump rally agitator and clinton campaign manager are close
top clinton aides discussed bob creamer and his grassrootsnetroots operation
by jim stinson lifezette
robert creamer the operative behind sending provocateurs to donald trump rallies was close to robby mook hillary clintons campaign manager according to new emails released by wikileaks
creamer who allegedly spearheaded the dirty tricks for the democrats wasnt just consulting for the democratic national committee according to videos made by project veritas he was sending people to provoke trump at events
creamer has thus become a redhot issue in the campaign and now its apparent he is close to mook that surprising detail came out sunday morning when wikileaks posted hundreds more emails from john podestas gmail account podesta is clintons campaign chairman whose account was hacked in march
more from lifezette here
read more election news at st century wire files
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8,777 | McCain to Trump on Russian hacking: 'The facts are there' - CBS | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator John McCain on Sunday urged President-elect Donald Trump to accept that Russia interfered in November’s presidential election. “The facts are there,” McCain said in a television interview on CBS “Face the Nation.” | 1 |
8,778 | Philadelphia Fox affiliate suspends TV host for Conway remark: media | (Editors Note: Attention to language that may be offensive to some readers in paragraph two) By Laila Kearney (Reuters) - A Fox-affiliated Philadelphia morning show host has been suspended after using a word considered offensive on live television to describe the Trump administration’s Kellyanne Conway, local media reported on Thursday. Good Day Philadelphia’s Mike Jerrick was discussing Conway’s use of the term “alternative facts” on Tuesday with co-host Alex Holley and guests when he said the Trump aide was “good at bullshit.” The group laughed at the remark before Holley apologized to the show’s audience. Jerrick, who did not appear on Fox 29’s “Good Day” on Wednesday or Thursday, has been suspended from the show for an indefinite period, Philadelphia Magazine reported, citing the host. Jerrick and Conway could not immediately be reached for comment. Fox Television Stations said in a statement that it had addressed the incident, but it offered no details. “This is not in line with FOX Television Stations guidelines,” the statement said. A spokeswoman with the broadcast group declined to say whether Jerrick had been suspended. Jerrick, who has also hosted the nationally syndicated Fox talk show “The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet,” wrote on Instagram late on Wednesday: “Night off. Why not. Always a good fight.” The post was followed by more than 150 comments, some from people who said they would boycott Fox until Jerrick’s return. The “alternative facts” remark drew widespread criticism on social media and has been credited with a spike in sales of George Orwell’s “1984” novel about a dystopian future where people are forced to simultaneously accept contradictory versions of the truth. Conway was responding to accusations that the Trump administration was fixated on the size of his inauguration crowds, saying: “We feel compelled to go out and clear the air and put alternative facts out there.” | 1 |
8,779 | ‘WHO’S SPYING ON US?’: Bundy Militia FLIPS Over ‘Hidden’ Cameras In Plain View (VIDEO) | The armed militants occupying federal property in Oregon still haven t been arrested but they are absolutely continuing to do damage. Unsatisfied with tearing down fences and building roads, disrupting the delicate ecosystem, Y all Qaeda is on a hunt for something even more dangerous to humanity than a tyrannical bird sanctuary: cameras.The pretend militia chose perhaps the only person whose hands aren t covered with some of the 55 gallons of lube a good samaritan sent them to climb a ladder and investigate the creepy science box.The box itself, which has a sticker reading SCADA CIRCUIT 10 on the outside, doesn t try to hide what it is. SCADA stands for supervisory control and data acquisition, as a simple Google search can tell you, but these folks apparently lack the computer expertise needed to do more than visit World Net Daily s website. There s also a blinking red light, an antenna, and a WiFi in use sticker. In other words, it is very clearly a not-so-hidden camera.While most would expect cameras to cover a federal wildlife preserve, the Armed and Stupid were completely taken aback by this development. The militiaman up the pole struggled to open the housing, so he solved the problem in the traditional Bundy way by hitting it with something. What s that look like to you, he yelled to his posse. This is United States federal government surveillance. Welcome to America. I m tellin you! Who s spying on us? a woman yelled, as though the cameras were in place simply to keep an eye on them. Your federal government, Utility Pole Guy replied. Wake up people. Ammon Bundy, a product of generations and generations of inbreeding, shared his thoughts on the matter: This tells me that, uh, the government wants to be oppressive. They gotta watch us, control us, and use these things to do that with. This is not what it means to be free. A free people does not need to be watched. A free people needs to be left alone. Wake up America, Bundy said. Let s get our freedom back, adding that the cameras are a sophisticated piece of equipment though to be fair, a spoon is a sophisticated piece of equipment to Bundy.The Bundy terrorists then dismantled the cameras because they re sick of being spied on as they illegally occupy property that is nowhere close to theirs. Then, of course, they were off to hunt for more signs of government oppression.The footage of the Bundy idiots discovering that cameras exist is downright hilarious. Of course, there s always the possibility that the cameras are not government cameras at all. There s also the possibility that the cameras belong to the electric company, since they seem to be pointed directly at a substation located near the property, Winning Democrats Charles Topher notes. Wouldn t that be a hoot. In any case, this monumental display of stupidity is hilarious to see:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvCAxGmDq9k&w=640&h=360]Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
8,780 | Erik Erikson: Trump’s Russia Leak ‘Is Actually Far Worse Than What is Being Reported’ (DETAILS) | Conservative pundit Erik Erikson is weighing in on Donald Trump s decision to blab highly classified information to the Russians during a closed-door meeting at the White House and he is vouching for at least one of the sources.In a blog post on his website, The Resurgent, Erikson said that usually, he takes these stories about the President with a grain of salt. But this time, things are different because he knows that the information is coming from a credible source whom he knows personally. He notes that the source is actually very pro-Trump, or at least has been and was during Campaign 2016. Erikson explains that since Trump refuses to accept any advice or criticism, members of his administration are left with no other option but to go to the media, leak the story, and hope that the intense blowback gives the President a swift kick in the butt. Perhaps then he will recognize he screwed up. I am told that what the President did is actually far worse than what is being reported. The President does not seem to realize or appreciate that his bragging can undermine relationships with our allies and with human intelligence sources. He also does not seem to appreciate that his loose lips can get valuable assets in the field killed, Erikson writes. You can call these sources disloyal, traitors, or whatever you want, he continues. But please ask yourself a question if the President, through inexperience and ignorance, is jeopardizing our national security and will not take advice or corrective action, what other means are available to get the President to listen and recognize the error of his ways? Erikson concludes by affirming his absolute belief that the information about Trump sharing top secret info with Russia is credible. This is a real problem and I treat this story very seriously because I know just how credible, competent, and serious as well as seriously pro-Trump, at least one of the sources is. Featured image via Olivier Douliery Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
8,781 | brad pitt shocks america im tired of liberals taking my money im voting for trump | email
former illinois congressman and conservative radio host joe walsh appeared to invite armed insurrection when he tweeted that he was grabbing his musket if hillary clinton defeats donald trump in the presidential election
on november th im voting for trump walsh tweeted on november th if trump loses im grabbing my musket
walshfreedom what exactly does that mean cnns jake tapper tweeted in reply
jaketapper it means protesting walsh tweeted participating in acts of civil disobedience doing what it takes to get our country back
walshs rhetoric comes as americans are already nervous about what will happen on and after election day trumps insistence that the election is rigged and his statement at the last debate that he would keep america in suspense about whether or not he will accept the results have left some in fear that violence could flare up if his supporters refuse to accept the outcome
more than half of americans expressed concern about violence on election day according to a usa todaysuffolk university poll released wednesday
walsh dismissed another twitter users concern that his call to arms could draw the attention of the secret service saying they understand that a musket hasnt been used in battle in almost years
im serious walsh tweeted later i dont think a musket would do much good these days but its time for civil disobedience on the right
walsh repeated his defense that he was only speaking of civil disobedience to nbcs chicago affiliate were talking about a musket walsh said according to nbc chicago i couldve said grab your slingshot and lets go metaphorically i meant grab your muskets if trump loses man were going to do what we have to do were going to protest and boycott and practice civil disobedience we may start a third party
this wasnt the first time walsh who served one term before being defeated by rep tammy duckworth in drew criticism for an incendiary tweet in july he got national attention for telling president obama to watch out after five police officers were killed by a shooter in dallas
dallas cops killed wounded walsh tweeted in a post that has since been deleted this is now war watch out obama watch out black lives matter punks real america is coming after you | 0 |
8,782 | Homophobes Lose Their Damn Minds After Request To ‘Give Elsa A Girlfriend’ Hits Twitter | In case people weren t already aware, lesbians exist. I know, shocking, right? I mean, one even wrote this article. Reading this could be exposing you to unadulterated homosexuality. Yet, if you re not gay, it s not going to turn you gay. Just as me watching every Disney film featuring an extremely heterosexual princess did not turn me straight. So, how great would it be if their were a lesbian princess?However, it looks as though some folks just couldn t wrap their heads around a simple, innocent request to give Elsa from Disney s hit movie Frozen a girlfriend.I hope Disney makes Elsa a lesbian princess imagine how iconic that would be Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) May 1, 2016Dear @Disney, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) May 1, 2016It would be iconic, and about damn time. Although, many of us already assumed Elsa was gay, and maybe Merida from Brave too. Oooh, how cute would they be together?Unfortunately, there are still a lot of stupid people out there who love to make sure their hatred of the LGBT community is as visible as possible. The homophobia speweth over:Why? This is a CHILDRENS FILM #giveElsaAGirlfriend pic.twitter.com/XXWSoXJqLh Witchy the Kitten. (@WitchySmiles) May 2, 2016#GiveElsaAGirlfriend is disgusting Conrad Schwarz (@ConradAnCat) May 2, 2016This person apparently believes homosexuality is an alternative who knows, maybe it is for them. Who am I to judge?.@Disney Please #DontGiveElsaAGirlfriend. #GiveElsaAGirlfriend is a terrible idea. Don't make alternative sexuality an issue for children. EvangelicalArminians (@ArminianSociety) May 2, 2016This person thinks everyone is gay now. In a perfect world, but alas, no #GiveElsaAGirlfriend , are y'all fr? Why does everyone have to be "gay" now? Disney characters? Wow. mini sosa (@AlyssaAriyanna) May 2, 2016Then there s just your typical homophobes:#GiveElsaAGirlfriend? No I'm sorry but this is sickening. brandon (@handstomyseIf) May 2, 2016And the people who think exposing their children to lesbians would fuck things up:Dear Disney Don't fuck up my daughter's favorite movie!#GiveElsaAGirlfriend my ass!!!? https://t.co/ts3f4mtX13 StayCalm4Change (@tiarrabanks1) May 2, 2016Some just kept it simple:#GiveElsaAGirlfriend ? I'm not with it pen griffey (@Naee_Noelle) May 2, 2016It would be so great if @Disney were to #GiveElsaAGirlfriendThere are multiple race princesses, now there needs to be more diversity ???? Kaz (@FluffetteKaz) May 2, 2016The fact that #GiveElsaAGirlfriend is trending makes me so happy, I wish I had gay @Disney characters to look up to ?? Tyler Thompson (@the_tythompson) May 2, 2016#GiveElsaAGirlfriend there is no reason not to, it's time to teach children of all genders that homosexuality is just as normal and valid wasd (@phancied) May 2, 2016#GiveElsaAGirlfriend WE NEED THIS. So many families could benefit from this, lets bring kids up to accept all kinds of love. Jenny 2.0 (Jasmine) (@LaurenToMyHolly) May 2, 2016Some pointed out the delicious hypocrisy:#giveelsaagirlfriend if it's "okay" for a girl to date a beast&sexualize a fish, then ofc its okay to date the same gender. #loveislove Reana (EP trash) (@reana_s_) May 2, 2016Ya think?!Although, this tweet pretty much sums things up perfectly:Spoiler alert: Frozen was a metaphor for a closeted person learning to love herself and your children adored it. #GiveElsaAGirlfriend Twitnter is Coming (@OhNoSheTwitnt) May 3, 2016No matter which way you look at it, it shouldn t matter either way, and the all the homophobes out there really need to let it go. Featured image via Facebook | 0 |
8,783 | Senate approves Trump Transportation Department nominee | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted Monday to approve a senior Transportation Department nominee and advance another nomination, after Republicans accused Democrats of blocking some nominees to push for funding of a New York area infrastructure project. Derek Kan, who was previously an official at San Francisco-based ride services company Lyft Inc, won confirmation to be undersecretary of transportation for policy on a 90-7 vote. Senate Republicans have said their Democratic rivals were stalling a number of nominees over a dispute over funding for the $24 billion “Gateway Program,” which includes building a new tunnel underneath New York’s Hudson River. At least eight other Transportation Department nominations are pending and other jobs vacant, including a top auto safety regulator. In addition to confirming Kan, the Senate voted 50-47 on Monday to advance the nomination of Steven Bradbury, a Washington lawyer, to be general counsel at the Transportation Department. During the administration of President George W. Bush, Bradbury was one of the principal authors of the legal justifications for “enhanced interrogation techniques” called the “torture memos” by critics. Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said in June that Bradbury “lacked the judgment to stand up against (the Bush) administration’s use of torture.” Bradbury defended his work in June, saying the “questions we addressed raised difficult issues about which reasonable people could disagree.” In September, President Donald Trump met with top elected officials from New York and New Jersey over the fate of the Gateway Program deemed critical to northeast U.S. transportation, but Trump made no commitments to finance the project. Republican Senator John Thune accused Democrats of holding nominations “hostage” while awaiting “assurances that the Trump administration will approve and fund” the Gateway project. “While no one questions the importance of this corridor, there are many other important projects that also are awaiting approval and funding at the Department. No project should get to cut the line based on the machinations of a handful of our” colleagues, Thune said. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday he opposed Kan because of administration roadblocks to the project. “Time is running out and we must quickly build new tunnels,” Schumer said. A Senate Democratic aide confirmed, separately, that Democrats were holding up some nominations “because they want assurances from the Transportation Department the Gateway Project will quickly move forward after it’s funded.” The Transportation Department regulates the nation’s vehicles, airplanes, railroads, pipelines, ports and highways. | 1 |
8,784 | Cenk Uygur Lays The Smackdown On White Right-Wing Privilege (VIDEO) | The FBI is only just now beginning to take down the Bundy terrorists in Oregon, and Cenk Uygur is furious that it took them this long to take action.Ever since the redneck wannabe soldiers seized the federal buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2nd, many have pointed out that if the militants weren t white, the occupation would have been put down harshly on day one and most of the gunmen would have been killed.But because Bundy and his buddies were white anti-government right-wingers, they were treated with kid gloves by the Justice Department and law enforcement, and only time will tell whether they are actually punished for their many crimes or just receive a slap on the wrist.Cenk Uygur, however, didn t hold back on Wednesday while laying the smackdown on the FBI for treating the militants as if there are separate laws for white gun-toting conservatives. He became particularly upset after one militant outright called for killing law enforcement officials, something that would almost certainly cause police to drop the hammer if the militant were a Muslim or a black man. We re going to have a conversation with these guys? They were free to come and go for three weeks, there was no perimeter. The FBI says, Oh don t worry, we just set up a perimeter Why didn t you set up a perimeter the first time they captured a federal building, armed, talking about how they re going to murder people who come and try to take it from them. And here are these guys on camera saying, We re going to murder the cops if they come to get us. You stole, sh*t, you criminal, you thug! The Young Turks host then went off on how much leeway law enforcement have given to Bundy and his militants over the last three weeks just because they are armed white guys on the political right-wing fringe, pointing out that if a left-wing environmental group had done the same thing they would have been instantly executed without getting the opportunity to exercise their right to go in front of a judge or being heard by a jury of their peers. Look at the white privilege here, and it s not just white. It s right-wing privilege. Because if left wingers had taken over, environmental groups had taken over and say, Oh, we re going to do this and we re going to do that. It doesn t matter if it s a Latino, a black group or it s just white Greenpeace or animal rights guys, nobody gets to come and go and threaten cops and talk about killing them! This is white privilege. You can steal stuff, you can steal federal stuff and they don t even arrest you for three weeks! This is insane, man. There s two different laws in the country and we walk around pretending it isn t. Here s the video via YouTube. Uygur s remarked begin at the 5:30 marker.He s right, of course. If the militants had been Muslim or black there would not have been a standoff at all. Law enforcement would have fired every bullet they could get their hands on into the compound until every single one of them were killed. Now, federal law enforcement should be applauded for waiting out the terrorists and taking them down with little bloodshed. But the point is that police should have the same tolerance and discipline no matter what color a person is or what religion or political views a person holds. If anything, this standoff demonstrated perfectly that we live in two separate Americas, one where police will do everything in their power to not kill you as long as you are a white gun nut, and one where police will become trigger-happy monsters when they come upon unarmed people of color and then hide behind their badges while they do everything to justify their unlawful actions.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
8,785 | PUERTO RICO: Local Cop Calls US Radio Station Tells Shocking Reason Aid Isn’t Getting To People [Video] | THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! The transcript and video below should be shared by everyone because the lying politicians and media are in full anti-Trump mode right now. A female police officer from Puerto Rico s police department in Guaynabo called in to a U.S. spanish speaking radio station to tell listeners what is going on in Puerto Rico. The police woman is very upset, crying and sobbing often, and shares how the Mayor of San Juan is politicizing the situation and not offering help.Note that the politicization of this disaster is on steroids with American celebrities claiming genocide by Trump and just outright lies by the politicians who are using this to score votes while the people suffer.The most visible of the politicians is the lying mayor who stood in front of supplies saying she needs help. Well, help is right behind you! What she didn t say is that truckers are not showing up to take the aid to the people! As it turns out, she hasn t been doing HER job and hasn t shown up for meetings with FEMA and the US military on sight. Here s just one of many ridiculous comments by this lying politician: The world will see how we are treated not as second-class citizens, but as animals that can be disposed of, said Mayor Carmen Yul n Cruz.The call and video was recorded September 28th, and highlights the corruption within government within Puerto Rico and the Municipal authority of San Juan. The video is English closed captioned (hit CC option) and a transcript is below:Transcript:Radio Announcer: What is your name?Police Caller: I cannot give my name because I work for Puerto Rico s Police Department. I need to pass this information out because the stuff that is being brought from the U.S. is not being distributed. They are not allowing the Puerto Rican people to receive the donations.Radio Announcer: What part of Puerto Rico are you calling us from right now?Police Caller: I am right now in Guaynabo.Radio Announcer 2: Wow.Radio Announcer 3: But what information do you have? What have you seen?Police Caller: The Mayor, Carmen Yulin, is not allowing anyone to distribute We need what Puerto Ricans need is that the U.S. armed forces come in and distribute the aid. And that they stop the governor, Rosello, and the mayor, Yulin, on doing what they are doing It s an abuse, it looks like communism, in our own island (sobbing) (sobbing continues, inaudible translation due to cries) Police Caller (cont.): People are helping us, but they are not accepting it, they are not accepting anymore help supposedly: they have to wait for the license, that there are no buses. Let me tell you something Boricuas (Puerto Ricans) are dying of hunger (crying continues) This is a bureaucracy, everything has to be protocol, the lines are stretched. We can only give one box of water per person (sobbing continues). The medics here, people are dying, the hospitals are in crisis.Police Caller (cont.): I am embarrassed, as a Boricua to work for Puerto Rico s police and see that we cannot do anything. There are dozens and thousands and thousands of food and when people ask we cannot give anything away because [Mayor] Carmen Yulin says that we cannot take anything out; because everything is a soap opera, everything is a show and there have to be cameras here and there. .Because you know they are just looking for votes for the upcoming years.Radio Announcer 2: WowPolice Caller: And the governor won t move unless there is a camera behind him; [Mayor] Carmen Yulin won t move unless there is a camera behind her. This is how we are living in Puerto Rico, meanwhile artists are giving money and the people of Florida are sending stuff, and I don t know how many more people are helping because we have very limited communication, very limited, and we have no idea what s going on outside; and the people who are sending stuff, they have to come in; they have to come to help Puerto Rico and distribute what is being wasted because what else are we going to do? You tell me, what are we going to do?Radio Announcer #2: Of course the desperation..Radio Announcer #3: We are with our hearts broken listening to you describing this situation which is heartbreaking when we know that so many people are helping this is a police officer speaking.Police Caller: I ve been for one hour and a half just trying to download an application because the phones that they give to us I cannot use them as a police officer due to security measures. But I need to speak for the people because the people are suffering. Because I, as a cop, and other partners are seeing it. A lot of people have been posting videos (sobbing inaudible) and no-one is paying attention.Radio Announcer #3: We are truly sorry for this situation, we did not know that..Police Caller: If Cuba and Venezuela want to help and we are grateful for that; and that the government denies their help, the government denies Cuba s help. That they reject Venezuela s help, Look for God s sake! Tell me how is that possible, we need help.Radio Announcer #3: We are going to send this message out so that it gets to where it needs to get to Police Caller: We want the U.S. to come in, that the strongest forces come in and take the governor out, he is not doing anything, he is just going around and around, and everyone is like: oh, look how nice, the governor, he is going in the mud, he is going in the water , And where is it? Pardon the expression: WHERE IS THE FOOD?Police Caller (cont.): Look, grab the food, grab the sausage can and take it to the families! Stop the show! The governor is just doing a show, is all a show. There are many mayors that are suffering because they cannot do anything for their people.Radio Announcer #2: What are they doing with the food? Is it being kept in storage because they are not allowing to give it out?Police Caller: They are not doing anything, and they tell the harbors (ports) that they cannot bring stuff anymore. If the U.S. government doesn t get involved they will finish us. We are going to end up worse. Worse than Cuba, Africa, or worse than Haiti. We are living in an era that you don t want to see, people are desperate. The gasoline, people are already killing each other. Not to rob you, they are doing it so they can be the firsts to get food and take it to their families.Police Caller (cont.): Do you know what it is when a woman approaches me and tells me I don t have any more. I don t know what else to give my kids because I don t have anymore. Water and crackers !Radio Announcer #1: Sweetie, thank you for calling us and using this medium to denounce this situation; and good thing that it was you who explained this so that people don t think that we are making up stuff; because this has nothing to do with politics. This is a very serious situation.Police Caller: Very Serious (sobbing continues)Audio/video cuts offRead more: Conservative Treehouse | 0 |
8,786 | Hardline Indonesian Muslim groups burn U.S., Israeli flags over Trump's Jerusalem move | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Hardline Muslim groups in Indonesia burned photos of U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as U.S. and Israeli flags, on Monday during a protest outside the U.S. embassy against Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Indonesia, home to the world s largest Muslim population, has joined a global chorus of condemnation of Trump s controversial move on Israel, which they say threatens security and stability in the Middle East and the world. The status of Jerusalem, a city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Jerusalem s eastern sector was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of an independent state that they seek, while Israel maintains that all of Jerusalem is its capital. Hundreds attended the protest outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, which was barricaded by barbed wire and dozens of police officers. Let us witness the destruction of Israel s hegemony, one protest leader shouted into a megaphone as protesters burned an Israeli flag. We will support Palestine with our blood. Many protesters waved Palestinian flags and carried banners supporting intifada , or an uprising against Israel, and rally leaders also shouted anti-Semitic slogans. The protest was led by the Islamic Defenders Front, an aggressive vigilante group that calls for sharia, or Islamic religious law, to be imposed in Indonesia, a secular country. The demonstration followed a much larger protest at the weekend, where thousands called for diplomatic relations with the United States to be severed and for the U.S. ambassador to be expelled. Indonesia supports a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict. | 1 |
8,787 | Twitter HAMMERS Trump After He Says The Dumbest Thing Yet About Russian Hackers (TWEETS) | On Tuesday, Donald Trump once again amped up the stupidity in his latest attack on intelligence agencies namely the CIA who have the gall to correctly state that Vladimir Putin spearheaded an effort to influence our election and effectively install a big orange puppet in office through a series of hacks and propaganda campaigns. The Intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case, Trump tweeted. Very strange! The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017Now, it might seem strange that The Donald is concerned with an intelligence briefing given that he is famous for skipping them, but this one represents an opportunity to further kiss up to Vladimir Putin and attack the CIA (two of Trump s favorite pastimes lately). On Saturday, Trump said that he knows things that other people don t know about the hacks and that we can t be sure who actually did it (you know, unless we listen to the CIA and the FBI).Now, Trump knows a lot about postponing things like his press conference concerning his numerous conflicts of interest he doesn t want to address. But just because a delay in Trump world means something nefarious, it is probably just a teensy bit irresponsible of Trump to assume everyone is the same as he.Naturally, Twitter seized upon the opportunity to once again jam a collective boot up the president-elect s orifice (pick one):@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/bNm40X2qg7 The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) January 4, 2017Your "press conference" on "divesting from conflicts" was postponed a month. Perhaps time needed to refine lies. Strange! @realDonaldTrump Freddy Scott (@freddyscott) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Should they wear a special shirt so you know which team they are on? Because it doesn't seem like you do. pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) January 4, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Right you're the next president of the United States, but THIS is what's strange. Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump What's "strange" is that you put "intelligence" in quotations like you don't understand the word "intelligence". Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump should private information about your private intelligence briefings really be tweeted about? Jack Slater (@Jack_Slater) January 4, 2017This is also very strange. @TiernanDouieb @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/2xo7WKArVJ Trump's chins (@TrumpsChinFat) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump How dare they delay! What do they think this is? A press conference about your conflicts of interest? Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Doesn't Putin brief you on hacking when he wakes you up in the morning? Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Why don't you ask them why they need the extra time instead of posting this passive aggressive nonsense? Ian Boothby (@IanBoothby) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump I believe you when you say Russia never hacked us because if you were right about Diet Coke, you must be right on Russia. pic.twitter.com/gX2xEDhZGe Kristina Wong (@mskristinawong) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump what I truly find strange is how did a piece of ?with a toupee learn to talk? pic.twitter.com/Jo49qy6hYR Geesubay (@geesubay) January 4, 2017Dear @realDonaldTrump whenever you make your sarcastic, "mean girl" air-quotes, I always imagine you doing this trademark, prissy gesture: pic.twitter.com/dWmW9CgMPw Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) January 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Also "very strange": word is you're not speaking tom. on your inside info on hacking- which you said you'd reveal Tues/Wed? Not Maureen Dowd (@MaureenDowdTwit) January 4, 2017Trump has repeatedly denied that Putin or Russia was involved in the hacks (all while praising the Russian dictator repeatedly on Twitter). Earlier this week, I met separately with FBI [Director] James Comey and DNI Jim Clapper, and there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election, CIA Director John Brennan said recently. CIA officials say it is quite clear that the hacks were intended to install Trump in office.The Electoral College failed us as the last line of defense against exactly this nightmare scenario. An authoritarian, racist, inept, useless orange lump is about to step into the Oval Office. It is up to us to oppose him every step of the way this year, to stand strong against his agenda of hate and corruption. Remind yourself each morning that this is not normal because we absolutely cannot risk allowing it to become so.Featured image via screengrab and Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
8,788 | The Winner Of The GOP Debate Is…Bernie Sanders (AGAIN) | If a debate is won according to who generates the most buzz, Bernie Sanders has once again kicked Republican ass on twitter. According The Hill, Sanders had two of the most retweeted tweets during the debate with a pair touting his position in polls and going after GOP front-runner Donald Trump s proposal to ban Muslims from the U.S. Both got more than 5,000 retweets. The Republicans seem to think they could beat our campaign. They haven t seen the polls. #GOPDebatepic.twitter.com/XitW9T28Vq Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 15, 2016I love the little frowning Republican faces; they so perfectly capture the frustration they must be feeling at losing in the polls, badly, to a *GASP* Socialist! Republicans are, of course, all for socialism but only as long as it s the rich that benefit and not all of the dirty lower classes that Bernie represents. Privatize the rewards, socialize the cost. It s the American way.Sanders also hit Trump over his naked appeals to racism and bigotry:I have a message for Donald Trump: No, we re not going to hate Latinos or Muslims. We are going to stand together. #GOPDebate Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 15, 2016The problem with running on hate is that it only gets you so far. Once you get past the angry white old person demographic, no one else is interested.But what makes it even more remarkable that Sanders continues to outshine Republicans on twitter during their own debate is that Sanders only has 1.14 million followers compared to Trump s 5.69 million. Although if we follow Trump s track record, there s a good chance a lot of those are paid for followers. I have a hard time believing that the average Trump supporter is smart enough to turn on a computer, much less use social media.While Trump did pick up more new followers than Sanders during the debate, that s of little comfort to the Republican Party. They may fear a Sanders presidency, but they fear a Trump presidency even more. Sanders will move the country to a place where the rich won t be AS rich and everyone else will get richer. Trump will turn America into the laughingstock of the world and cost Corporate America far more money than that dastardly Socialist Sanders ever could.Faced with that kind of choice, Republicans may not have a choice but to go all in for Bernie.Featured image via twitter | 0 |
8,789 | why you should be doing the twist stretch | a man reads various quotes to people on the street that are either from adolf hitler or hillary clinton and the participants are expected to guess which one it is
first quote
were going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good
the participants guessed hitler nope it was hillary
second quote
i believe the primary role of the state is to teach train and raise children parents have a secondary role
the participants guess hitler nope wrong again that was hillarys quote
how telling it is that people have trouble distinguishing between the two delivered by the daily sheeple
we encourage you to share and republish our reports analyses breaking news and videos click for details
contributed by ryan banister of the daily sheeple | 1 |
8,790 | U.S. expresses 'strong disappointment and protest' over Russia retaliation | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, John Tefft, has “expressed his strong disappointment and protest” over Russia’s decision to cut U.S. diplomatic staff in Moscow and seize a dacha compound and warehouse used by American diplomats, a State Department official said on Friday. Russia’s moves came a day after the U.S. Senate voted to slap new sanctions on Russia, putting President Donald Trump in a tough position by forcing him to take a hard line against Moscow or veto the legislation and anger his own Republican Party. “We have received the Russian government notification,” a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. “Ambassador Tefft expressed his strong disappointment and protest.” | 1 |
8,791 | Sanders to offer Puerto Rico debt bill that would protect pensioners | (Reuters) - Three days before Puerto Rico’s Democratic presidential primary, Bernie Sanders leveled a blistering attack on a restructuring bill moving through the U.S. Congress and offered a radically different approach to fixing the territory’s $70 billion debt problem. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont who is giving front-runner Hillary Clinton a tougher-than-expected challenge for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, will formally introduce his legislation next week, a spokesman said on Thursday. Unlike a bipartisan House of Representatives bill that would establish a federal oversight board to renegotiate the massive debt with investors, Sanders’ bill would create a “Reconstruction Finance Corporation of Puerto Rico” that would protect public pensioners from cutbacks and “concentrate losses among vulture funds,” according to a summary. “It is morally reprehensible that Wall Street vulture funds are demanding that Puerto Rico fire even more teachers, close more schools, cut pensions and slash the minimum wage so that they can reap huge profits off the misery of the people of Puerto Rico,” Sanders said in a statement. The term vulture funds is a derogatory reference to specialized investing in deeply discounted or distressed assets, typically bonds, by buying them up on the cheap in hopes of profiting on the expectation of a credit restructuring Clinton has backed the House bill. Last week, a House committee with oversight of Puerto Rico approved a debt restructuring measure that backers hope will be enacted into law before July 1, when the island is faced with making good on $1.9 billion in debt payments. Sanders’ proposal comes as the nominating contests for the presidential election are winding down. Along with Puerto Rico, California and a handful of other states are holding their nominating contests in the coming days. Sanders’ bill sets out to strip the ability of hedge funds to profit off their investments in an attempt to protect pensions ahead of creditors. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation would consist of seven members, all full-time residents of Puerto Rico and mainly chosen by the Puerto Rican legislature and governor. The House bill, by contrast, would give Republicans in the U.S. Congress a say in recommending the majority of the proposed oversight board members. While the House bill boasts no cost to U.S. taxpayers, Sanders wants $10.8 billion for infrastructure improvements in Puerto Rico. He proposes raising federal reimbursements for the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs for the poor, elderly and disabled. Sanders also wants elections by Jan. 31, 2018, in Puerto Rico to decide whether it should become a state, an independent country or reform its current status. | 1 |
8,792 | WATCH: Film About Barack And Michelle Set To Debut And The Plot Will Amaze You | Barack Obama s life has undoubtedly been an interesting one and as the president winds down his second term in office and leaves the public eye, his presidency as well as the years before he became the most powerful man in the world will continue to garner interest in the American consciousness. One new movie attempts to satisfy that curiosity. Southside with You, a romantic dramedy, is based on the president s first date with Michelle in 1989 on Chicago s south side.Watch trailer here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erpUF2ToUls]A young Barack Obama, a recent graduate of Harvard, played by actor Parker Sawyers tries to win the heart of Michelle Robinson, played by actress Tika Sumpter. On their first date, they take a tour of the Art Institute, watch Spike Lee s Do the Right Thing, and have their kiss in front of an ice cream parlor. It s quite interesting watching the trailer and thinking that in a very short period of time, this couple comes out of nowhere and changes American history.Produced by John Legend and directed and written by Richard Tanne, who is making his directing debut, the film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has received glowing reviews from critics and is scheduled to be released to North American movie theaters on August 26. 2016.With the president and the first lady sailing off into the sunset shortly, this film will definitely garner the interests of millions.Featured image via video screenshot | 0 |
8,793 | WATCH: NBC Crunched The Numbers, And Trump Is Facing Election DISASTER | NBC s Meet The Press tried as much as possible to be charitable to the Trump campaign during a segment in which they projected the electoral college map in a Trump vs. Clinton general election. But as host Chuck Todd discovered, when the math is against you, it just won t work.Todd opened the segment by repeating one of the tropes that Republican frontrunner and likely nominee Donald Trump has repeated for several months now: That he can somehow put states that have favored Democrats in play and flip them over to the Republican Party.Immediately it became clear that the Republicans face a huge uphill climb on election day. Factoring in states that have voted for either party on a consistent basis over the last four elections, the nightmare for Trump and the GOP is revealed, with 243 electoral votes for Clinton and only 180 for Trump. In a contest where 270 votes are needed, she s almost there without any so-called swing states being contested. Democrats have been able to bank on states like California, New York, Pennsylvania with a lot of delegates, in addition to very reliable states like Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, and New Jersey staying in solid territory for the party.By contrast, after Texas, it s hard to find solid Republican states with a lot electoral college heft to them. On a map the wide expanses of states like Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas may seem impressive, but their sparse populations limit their impact on the electoral college.Todd then showed a scenario in which more recent swing states that have divided between the parties in recent elections have been counted. If Trump won Ohio, Virginia, and Florida under this scenario, he still comes up short and the reality is all of those states in the two most recent elections went to President Obama.Then the funniest or saddest point was made by Todd. For Trump to win if he somehow won those states (again, highly unlikely) he would need to find votes in Colorado or Nevada. Those states also went Democratic in the most recent election, but that isn t even the biggest obstacle to a Trump triumph. Todd pointed out that those are states with large Latino voting bases, also known as the community Trump has alienated and attacked characterizing them as rapists and murderers from the first day he was a presidential candidate.No election is set in stone, and it is more than half a year away to the general contest. But make no mistake, especially with Donald Trump as its nominee, the Republican Party is the one behind the eight ball, facing a series of odds that make them the most likely to lose the entire race.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
8,794 | Former Canadian PM rebukes Trump on NAFTA, predicts his defeat | TORONTO (Reuters) - Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on Sunday criticized Donald Trump’s potential plan to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said the U.S. presidential candidate will likely lose the Nov. 8 election. Speaking on CTV’s “Question Period” politics talk show, Mulroney, who in the 1980s signed a Canada-U.S. free trade deal, said scrapping NAFTA will hurt the United States. “Millions and millions of jobs in the United States depend directly upon their trade with Canada and Mexico,” Mulroney said. “You tear that up - my mother used to say, ‘You’re cutting off your nose to spite your face.’” Republican presidential nominee Trump has railed against the NAFTA trade deal with Canada and Mexico as a U.S. job killer, saying that if elected, he would be prepared to scrap it if he could not negotiate much better terms for the United States. The North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994 during the administration of President Bill Clinton, the husband of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump also has a hardline immigration plan that emphasized deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes. His proposals include building a wall at the border with Mexico. Mulroney said that while Trump’s rhetoric “carried him through the Republican primaries,” he does not think “something that negative carries you to the White House.” Trump’s campaign team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | 1 |
8,795 | AWESOME! ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS Just Drained The DOJ Swamp | #FlashbackFriday 1993 #AttorneyGate Clinton AG Reno Fires ALL 93 Republican US Attorneys in one day. #Sessions is following tradition. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/GGf9ur1R9f ia (@nia4_trump) March 10, 2017WASHINGTON (AP) Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during the prior presidential administration.In a statement Friday, the Justice Department said the request was similar to ones made in past presidential transitions. The department said many federal prosecutors appointed in the Obama administration have already left their positions, but that Sessions is now seeking the resignations of 46 holdovers.It is customary, though not automatic, for the country s 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions once a new president is in office. The Obama administration allowed political appointees of President George W. Bush to serve until their replacement had been nominated and confirmed.The federal prosecutors are nominated by the president, generally upon the recommendation of a home-state senator.One U.S. attorney appointed by Bush, Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, remained on the job for the entire Obama administration and is the current nominee for deputy attorney general.U.S. attorneys are responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the territories they oversee. They report to Justice Department leadership in Washington, and their priorities are expected to be in line with those of the attorney general.Via: AP | 0 |
8,796 | janet reno first female us attorney general dies at | las vegas may become the new amsterdam
high times
nevada already has legal brothels roundtheclock casinos and a coy catchphrase declaring that what happens in vegas stays in vegas if voters approve the state could soon add another vice in the form of recreational marijuana
a proposal on the nov state ballot would legalize pot and entrepreneurs hope its passage could someday allow the drug at las vegas glamorous nightclubs and perhaps provide the framework for a future amsterdamstyle cannabis district
i really think this would be the thirdlargest market in the country said derek peterson whose company operates medical marijuana dispensaries called blum he predicts that only california and new york would offer a bigger customer base than las vegas and its million tourists a year i think it should be able to fit in really well with the whole dayclubnightclub thing
nevada has allowed medical marijuana since and peterson sees recreational pot as an alternative for visitors tired of cocktails that can top apiece and inflict hangovers but before waitresses begin delivering highgrade marijuana at clubs along the las vegas strip weed proponents will have to win over not just voters who narrowly support the initiative in polls but a riskaverse casino industry
the nevada resort association came out against the measure pointing to an opinion from gambling regulators that casino owners should avoid the marijuana industry because the substance remains illegal under federal law las vegas sands owner sheldon adelson has bankrolled most of the opposition pouring million of his fortune into a campaign that raises the possibility that small children could become intoxicated from candylike marijuana edibles
adelson also has contributed million in arizona and massachusetts a significant share of all antimarijuana donations there
adelson whose son died of a drug overdose and whose wife is a doctor specializing in drug addiction has donated millions toward efforts to defeat medical marijuana proposals in florida and other states in years past
other casino operators have joined the fray but to a lesser extent
in spite of its libertine reputation the rigorously regulated casino industry is known to err on the conservative side to avoid scandalizing the middleaged tourists who are its bread and butter
i dont know that this is a game changer in terms of tourism virginia valentine president of the nevada resort association said of marijuanas potential were really known for other things you may attract people or turn them off
the las vegas convention and visitors authority which promotes sin citys amenities to the world is neutral on the issue
clyde barrow a gambling expert who chairs the political science department at the university of texasrio grande valley suggests the donations may indicate the casino companies are acting in their own best interests
the marijuana industry is emerging as another form of recreation and entertainment given the casino industrys difficulties attracting millennials marijuana is probably perceived as a direct competitor with casinos for entertainment dollars he said another reason is that legalized marijuana competes with alcohol and to that extent competes with the food and beverage sales at casinos
theres no solid statesponsored research on how legal recreational marijuana has affected tourism in places that have legalized it although both sides point to colorado to make their case
promarijuana interests cite a state study that found colorado set an alltime tourism record in capping a fifth year of growth its unclear how much of that is due to weed and how much can be chalked up to other factors such as good snow in recent years relative to competing ski states
marijuana opponents refer to a report from the visit denver tourism bureau that logged increasing complaints about panhandling and open marijuana consumption in the citys downtown corridor
denver is losing visitors and valuable convention business as a result of these overall safety or perception of safety issues the report said we fear not being able to brand denver away from this growing reputation
nevadas ballot initiative would not allow municipalities to put blanket bans on marijuana as colorado does but it would bar consumption in buildings that are open to the public and permit local governments to restrict the locations of marijuana dispensaries and related businesses it effectively blocks people from growing their own by banning the practice within miles of a licensed marijuana store | 0 |
8,797 | British PM May outraged at North Korea's 'reckless provocation': spokesman | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May is outraged by North Korea s firing of a missile that flew over northern Japan on Friday and Britain will keep pressing China to increase the pressure on the state, her spokesman said. North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials said, deepening tension after Pyongyang s recent test of its most powerful nuclear bomb. The prime minister is outraged by North Korea s continued reckless provocation and she strongly condemns the regime s illegal tests, the spokesman said. Our key focus now is continuing to press China to keep up the pressure on North Korea to change course. | 1 |
8,798 | LEFTIST BULLY ARTISTS Tell Ivanka Trump: “Get My Artwork Off Your Walls”…”I Am Embarrassed To Be Seen With You” | A growing group of artists is hitting back against Ivanka Trump, with some even demanding the president-elect s daughter take their work down off her walls.A collection of New York artists have banded together to protest Donald Trump through his daughter, with a campaign called Dear Ivanka .The colorful crusade was created by the Halt Action Group, which was founded by curator Alison Gingeras, dealer Bill Powers, Jonathan Horowitz, and a group of others associated with the art scene, Bloomberg reports. Dear Ivanka, we need to talk about your dad, the group s website reads. Racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and homophobia are not acceptable anywhere least of all in the White House. Steve Bannon has no place in the White House. Jeff Sessions has no place in the White House. Talk of a Muslim registry has no place in the White House. Hate has no place in the White House. We refuse to wait and see . We look to you as the voice of reason. Other artists, many of whom have pieces in Ivanka s lavish apartment, have also chimed in on the issue. Dear @Ivankatrump please get my work off of your walls. I am embarrassed to be seen with you, Philadelphia artist wrote on Instagram.Ivanka had posted a picture on her own social media of her standing next to a Da Corte piece.The Halt Action Group staged a rally on November 28 outside the Puck building in Manhattan where Ivanka and Jared Kushner live.Da Corte, who called for Ivanka to take his paintings down in her apartment, took part in a protests outside her home with these signsAbout 500 people marched in the demonstration outside Ivanka and Jared Kushner s home on November 28 For entire story: Daily Mail | 0 |
8,799 | Thai monks receive alms to mark a year since death of King Bhumibol | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Friday held a nationwide Buddhist almsgiving ceremony to mark the passage of a year since the death of its revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a father figure to the nation during a reign that spanned seven decades. As many as 199 Buddhist monks in orange robes participated in the event at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, the capital, where the king spent most of his twilight years being treated for various ailments before his death last year on Oct. 13. The monks filed past hundreds of Thais clad in mourning black, receiving packages of biscuits and bottled water, among other items, in large brass alms bowls, as a way of amassing merit for the people s king , who helped shape the Southeast Asian nation in the decades after World War Two. We ll remember his goodness and follow his every footstep, said one of the mourners, Laksana Lueprasert, 65, her voice breaking as she said the feeling of loss would never fade from her heart. He is gone, but we still keep him in our thoughts to this day, said Manee Chawalitnate, 58. At Bangkok s Government House, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha led government officials and media in a similar ceremony that observed 89 seconds of silence, to mark the king s age if he had lived until his birthday on Dec. 5. Rows of monks prayed amid portraits of the king bordered with yellow marigold flowers. The nationwide ceremony precedes a royal cremation function on Oct. 26 at the Grand Palace, where Thais will bid the king a final farewell. Though steeped in ancient traditions, the funeral, which will run five days, will allow greater participation by the public than those of previous kings. Artisans have spent 10 months working in Bangkok s ancient quarter to build an elaborate cremation site fashioned after a vision of heaven. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, or Rama X, succeeded his father and has overseen sweeping changes to the royal household, including the running of palace finances. | 1 |
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