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9,600 | MEDIA SILENT: President Trump Makes Americans $4 TRILLION Richer In First 6 Months…Compare To Obama’s Radical First 6 Months In Office | It s Thursday, July 20th. As of today, Donald Trump has been president for 6 months. The media coverage of the president is overwhelmingly negative: the press remains contemptuous, and they re pushing to get him out before he completes his first term.Investors might think differently. The great success of the Trump presidency thus far, is not what he s done, but what he promises to do, namely, get the economy going again. Evidently, investors believe he might yet get it done.Look at this: since his election win, the Trump rally has added $4.1 trillion to the nation s wealth. Anyone with a 401k, an IRA, college savings, retirement savings, mutual funds. Anyone with a dime in the market has taken a piece of that $4 trillion. Fox NewsWhile President Trump has been incredibly busy working with American businesses and cutting trade deals with foreign leaders to benefit American businesses and workers, the media intentionally ignores his accomplishments, and focuses instead, on a manufactured Russian-collusion story. Compare President Trump s first successful 6 months in office to those of media darling Barack Obama:From siding with terrorists hell-bent on destroying Israel, to ensuring federal funds could be used for abortion, to adding 17,000 more troops to a war Obama promised he would end, the first 2 months of Obama s presidency were about as anti-American as our nation has ever seen. Wasn t anyone in the media just a tad bit curious about Barack Obama s first act as our newly sworn in president, that placed a temporary halt on the trials for terrorists at Guantanamo Bay?20 January 2009 Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the US Hours after taking office, Obama requests a temporary halt to Guant namo Bay trials.21 January Hillary Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state.22 January The president brings in executive orders aimed at reforming the US s detention policy. He orders the closure of black sites , where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects. He also orders interrogations of detainees across the entire US intelligence community to adhere to the US Army Field Manual and orders the closure of the Guant namo Bay prison within 12 months.23 January- Obama orders the end of the Mexico City Rule which had banned federal funding of NGOs that performed abortions or offered abortion counselling. It is strongly criticised by the Vatican.26 January Obama outlines his energy policy, saying America must become more self-sufficient and calling for an energy economy to create jobs. He said the US should not be a hostage to dwindling resources, hostile regimes, and a warming planet .27 January In his first TV interview, to the al-Arabiya network, Obama spoke of improved relations with the Middle East. On Israel, he reiterated US support but said: I do believe the moment is ripe for both sides to realise that the path that they are on is one that is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people. And that instead, it s time to return to the negotiating table. 29 January Obama signs his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The law ends a 2007 Supreme Court decision that said workers had only 180 days to file a pay discrimination lawsuit.5 February The last terror trial at Guant namo Bay is halted after the judge dropped charges against a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.17 February In Denver, Colorado, Obama signs into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aimed at rescuing the economy.WSJ The $830 billion spending blowout was sold by the White House as a way to keep unemployment from rising above 8%. But the stimulus would fail on its own terms. 2009 marked the first of four straight years when unemployment averaged more than 8%. And of course the unemployment rate would have been even worse in those years and still today if so many people had not quit the labor force, driving labor-participation rates to 1970s levels. Given that Governments are generally the worst allocators of capital it should come as no real surprise that the money was squandered on non-productive investments. $783,000 was spent on a study of why young people consume malt liquor and marijuana. $92,000 went to the Army Corps of Engineers for costumes for mascots like Bobber the Water Safety Dog. $219,000 funded a study of college hookups.' 17 February Obama approves the sending of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.26 February Obama submits to Congress a 140-page summary of his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The budget restates his commitment to halve the federal deficit, and commits $630bn over the next 10 years to the reform of the health care system.27 February In a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina the President reaffirms his commitment to withdraw US troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010.3 March Russia reveals it is considering an implied offer made by Obama last month to drop the US European missile defence plan in return for Russian assistance with Iran. Obama later denies the offer was made, though admits he sent the letter.By the third month of Donald Trump s presidency, the media was in full-frenzy mode over manufactured ties to President Trump and alleged hacking into our elections by the Russians. Every day, a new unnamed source was revealed an unverified fact about how Donald Trump or his administration was allegedly tied to Russian interference in our elections that the press believed ultimately led to Hillary Clinton s loss. In his third anti-American month as president, the most the media could dig up on Barack Obama, was that his hair was turning grey. 5 March Newspapers and blogs in the US are abuzz over the possibility that Obama s hair is already turning grey.9 March The president removes restrictions on funding for stem cell research and a memorandum to protect science from political interference, reversing the Bush administration s strict policy.Barack Obama was only the President of the United States for 3 months (exactly) when he began to cozy up to Iran. At 3 months, he also began his quest to be the entertainment president, or the president who had the closest relationship to Hollywood liberals and hypocrites: 20 March President Obama releases an historic video message for all those celebrating Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, speaking directly to the leaders of Iran. Obama appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the first time that a sitting president has appeared as a guest on a late-night talk show. Commenting on his bowling ability he joked it was like the Special Olympics, or something . He apologises to Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, before the programme is broadcast.24 March Obama publishes an op-ed piece in 30 global newspapers simultaneously, discussing the economic crisis.27 March Obama announces a new approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan.Obama famously shook the hand of brutal dictator Hugo Chavez in the month of April. The same month marked the beginning of 8 long years of Obama ignoring the North Korean nuclear threat. It was also Obama s first underreported meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. One of the most reported news stories of the Obama presidency however, happened in April, when the Obama s purchased a dog for their daughters. 1 April Obama holds a meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, looking to thaw relations.No mention was made by the media of Russian collusion or who was in the meeting with Obama and the Russian president. 5 April Hours after North Korea launched a satellite many think was a cover for missile testing, Obama speaks about an end to nuclear arms in Prague. It was his first big foreign policy speech.Obama would continue to ignore the threat posed by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un for the remainder of his presidency, leaving President Trump to deal with a much more dangerous and developed nuclear North Korea 8 years later. Obama made his first public proclamation that we are not at war with Islam on April 6th:6 April Obama speaks to the Turkish parliament, saying the US is not fighting against Islam.7 April Obama makes a surprise visit to troops at Camp Victory near Baghdad. In his speech he says it is time to hand over control of the country to the Iraqis, who must make political concessions first.13 April The Obama children get their promised puppy, a six-month-old Portuguese water dog called Bo.On April 6th, Obama attempts to discredit and humiliate the Bush administration. Meanwhile, George W. Bush has quietly slipped into retirement.16 April The president releases memos from the Bush era detailing torture methods used by the CIA; he says agents involved would not be prosecuted. Dick Cheney has since defended the methods.18 April Obama addresses the Summit of the Americas at the opening ceremony in Trinidad and Tobago. While there he controversially shakes hands with Venezuela leader Hugo Ch vez, who gives him a copy of Open Veins of Latin America.30 April Obama rejects waterboarding as a legitimate form of interrogation.10 May Obama plays it for laughs at the annual White House correspondents dinner, making a swine flu joke about Hillary Clinton and alluding to the time Dick Cheney accidentally shot his hunting buddy. Ashton Kutcher tweeted (external site) from the front row.13 May Obama blocks the release of photographs showing torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.17 May- Obama is heckled by anti-abortion campaigners during a speech at the Catholic Notre Dame university, Indiana. The president discussed abortion during the speech.20 May Obama announces a strict new auto emissions policy aimed at getting greener cars on the road.21 May In an address at the National Archives in Washington, Obama says he remains determined to close Guantanamo and condemns torture interrogation techniques, a day after the Senate rejected the funding bill for the closure of the detention centre. Former vice president Dick Cheney disagreed.2 June General Motors, the US s biggest carmaker, files for bankruptcy, the biggest manufacturing collapse in US history. Obama s restructuring plan will see the US government owning 60%.3 June Obama begins a tour of the Middle East aimed at reviving peace negotiations and improving America s standing in the region. He will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt, before travelling on to Germany and then France, for D-Day events.16 June The president calls on North Korea to halt its quest for nuclear weapons.17 June Obama announces an extension of health benefits to cover partners of gay federal workers.18 June The president is criticised by animal rights group Peta for swatting a fly during an interview.23 June Obama condemns Iran s reaction to protests against the disputed election there.27 June Obama s historic climate change bill is passed by Congress.In July, Obama went to Russia to meet with the president for the second time in his first 6 months in office. The media never uttered a word about potential collusion by unnamed sources. July also marked the beginning of Obama s quest to force single payer health care on Americans that eventually led to the failed Obamacare that President Trump and the Republican led Congress is now responsible for repealing and replacing. Finally, the last day of Obama s 6 moths in office (July 31, 2009) will forever be known as the official start of Obama s race war on America: 6 July Obama heads to Moscow for talks with Dmitry Medvedev, which will include discussions on how to reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles.9 July Obama attends the G8 summit in Italy, meeting the Pope and Muammar Gaddafi among others.21 July Obama launches his campaign to overhaul the US healthcare system.22 July Obama meets Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki and confirms his intention to remove all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2010.27 July A team of senior US officials visit Israel to negotiate for an end to Jewish settlements.31 July Obama enjoys a beer with black Harvard professor Henry Gates and the white police officer who arrested him on suspicion of breaking into his own home, in an attempt to end the race row brewing over the incident.Obama First 6 months timeline via The Guardian | 0 |
9,601 | BASKETBALL LEGEND BOBBY KNIGHT Tells Judge Jeanine Why He Endorsed Trump [Video] | Judge Jeanine Pirro had Trump supporter Bobby Knight on her show to explain why he endorsed Trump: | 0 |
9,602 | Timeline: Pivotal moments in Trump's presidential campaign | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s successful campaign for the presidency may have rewritten the political playbook. Here are key moments from his ascent. * June 16 - Trump descends an escalator in the marble-lined atrium of Trump Tower in Manhattan to announce his campaign and perhaps his best-known campaign pledge: to build a “great, great wall” on the southern border with Mexico. * July - Although his bid is initially dismissed as a sideshow by many commentators and journalists, opinion polls start showing Trump taking a lead in a crowded field of 17 Republican contenders. * Dec. 7 - Trump calls for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representative can figure out what is going on.” The call followed deadly attacks in Paris, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. * Feb. 1 - Despite being ahead in the polls, Trump comes in second in the Iowa caucuses, the first state nominating contest, losing to Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas popular among evangelical Christians. * March 1 - Trump wins seven of the 11 states that vote on so-called Super Tuesday. * March 3 - Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate in 2012, delivers a scathing speech calling Trump a “con man,” becoming an early mover in a wave of party leaders, including its living former presidents, who publicly reject Trump. * March 11 - Trump continues to draw huge crowds to sometimes volatile rallies, where protesters and Trump supporters would sometimes come to blows, but a rally in Chicago had to be canceled at the last minute amid sometimes violent protests outside the venue. * May 3 - Trump wins Indiana, becoming the party’s presumptive nominee after Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich withdraw from the race. * May 26 - Trump wins a majority of delegates, securing his nomination and foreclosing the possibility of a contested convention. * June 20 - Trump fires his original campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Veteran Republican strategist Paul Manafort takes over the running of the campaign. * July 15 - Trump announces Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate. A far more traditional Republican figure, Pence often describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.” * July 21 - Trump accepts the Republican Party’s nomination on the final day of the party’s convention in Cleveland. * Aug. 17 - Trump taps Stephen Bannon, the chairman of the right-wing news website Breitbart News, as his campaign’s chief executive and promotes senior adviser Kellyanne Conway to the post of campaign manager. Days later, Manafort, who was facing controversy over his previous consulting work in Ukraine, quits the campaign. * Sept. 1 - Trump flies to Mexico to meet with the country’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, culminating in a joint news conference. A brief diplomatic scuffle follows Trump’s return, where he and the Mexican president dispute whether or not they discussed Trump’s plan to have Mexico pay for the border wall. * September/October - Trump clashes with Clinton before an audience of tens of millions in three presidential debates that are marked by their unusually ugly tone - Trump at one point said Clinton should be in jail. Public polls show that most Americans thought Clinton prevailed in all three debates. * Oct. 7 - A recording surfaces of Trump boasting in 2005 of how his celebrity allows him to grope women and “grab them by the pussy,” prompting a dozen or so women to come forward to accuse Trump of making unwanted sexual advances. Trump dismisses the remarks as “locker room talk” and denies the accusations of unwanted advances. * Nov. 8 - Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in one of the biggest upsets in decades. | 1 |
9,603 | WATCH: Actress Kerry Washington DESTROYS Trump For Pretending To Care About Families | A very pregnant Kerry Washington appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, and crushed Donald Trump in a way only a mother could.The Republican nominee is hoping that women will vote for him because he introduced a child care initiative that supposedly gives paid maternity leave to new mothers. The big problem is that Trump doesn t even offer paid maternity leave to his own employees, forcing them to use vacation days and sick days as their unpaid leave. Furthermore, Donald Trump himself is not a fan of pregnancy, once calling it an inconvenience. So when Washington sat down at the table, she was ready to rip Trump a new one. There s been a lot of talk about it being insulting to women, but I actually think it s insulting to families and to workers because there s no paternity leave, there s no family leave! Washington said. For Hillary Clinton, these issues and these policies are not about women s policies. this is about economic policy, because we understand in this country that if families are able to take care of each other, we do better as a nation. I choose that candidate over the guy who brags about having never changed a diaper. He has literally bragged about never having changed a diaper! That s crazy. Indeed, Trump made it clear in 2005 that he has never changed a diaper for any of his five kids and claimed that it s because husbands shouldn t do that sort of thing. There s a lot of women out there that demand that the husband act like the wife, and you know, there s a lot of husbands that listen to that. So you know, they go for it. If I had a different type of wife I probably wouldn t have a baby, ya know, cause that s not my thing. I m really, like, a great father, but certain things you do and certain things you don t. It s just not for me. In fact, Trump would rather not do anything to take care of children except provide money. I mean, I won t do anything to take care of them, he added. I ll supply funds and she ll take care of the kids. Washington wasn t finished with Trump yet, however, going on to explain that voting for him would against our best interests. There s a bigger problem, which is right now, we are in a political climate where we are being led by the media no offense to vote for the loudest candidate and the meanest, bulliest candidate in the playground, and that we are voting based on a cult of personality or a cult of celebrity rather than voting in our own best interest. I think if we really look at policy, voting for Trump is voting against our best interests as Americans as workers, as people of color, as women. Not voting is voting against ourselves. She also explained why she supports Hillary Clinton. I would rather vote for the candidate who is willing to address mistakes, address issues, take responsibility, be accountable, be a part of a changed solution rather than a candidate who continues to perpetuate fear and hate in the present moment. Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump can t be trusted do what he says he will do for the country when he can t even be bothered to do those things for the people who work for him.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
9,604 | Reince Priebus Facing Misconduct Complaint For Interfering With FBI’s Russia Investigation | Reince Priebus, Donald Trump s chief of staff, is now facing a misconduct complaint related to his decision to interfere with the FBI s investigation of Russia.Attorney J. Whitfield Larrabee filed the complaint with the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation regarding Priebus attempt to persuade the FBI to favor Trump in their investigation of the Russian scandal that has plagued the administration.The complaint reads:There is probable cause to charge attorney Reince Priebus ( Priebus ) with violations of Wisconsin s Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys, Supreme Court Rules, Chapter 20. The violations of these rules relate to Priebus corrupt attempt to influence investigations by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) into criminal activity involving associates of Donald J. Trump ( Trump ) and Russian government officials. .It is a violation of SCR 20:8.4 (b) for a lawyer to commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects. It is a violation of SCR 20:8.4 (c) to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. There is probable cause to charge Priebus with such serious violations of these particular ethical requirements that it will be necessary and appropriate to revoke his license to practice of law if the charges are established.Larrabee explained that he filed the complaint as a concerned citizen and attorney because I was alarmed that Reince Priebus would communicate with the FBI about a pending investigation of the collusion between Trump campaign officials and senior Russian intelligence officials. Communications by Priebus with the FBI about a pending investigation of this sort severely violates the integrity of the investigation and is a blatant form of corruption. While it isn t really likely that this complaint will bring about any real repercussions for Priebus, it does send a very important message: even if Republicans won t stand up to Trump s administration and hold them accountable, the citizens of the United States will.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
9,605 | N. KOREA’S LATEST MISSILE LAUNCH Aimed At Testing Carrying “Large Scale Heavy Nuclear Warhead” | North Korea said on Monday it had successfully conducted a newly developed mid-to-long range missile test on Sunday, supervised by leader Kim Jong Un and aimed at verifying the capability to carry a large scale heavy nuclear warhead. Kim accused the United States of browbeating countries that have no nukes and warned Washington not to misjudge the reality that its mainland is in the North s sighting range for strike, the North s official KCNA news agency reported.The North fired a ballistic missile that landed in the sea near Russia on Sunday in a launch that Washington called a message to South Korea, days after its new president took office pledging to engage Pyongyang in dialogue.The missile was launched at the highest angle so as not to affect the security of neighboring countries and flew 787 kilometers (490 miles) reaching an altitude of 2,111.5 kilometers (1,312 miles), KCNA said.Experts said the altitude reached by the missile tested on Sunday meant it was launched at a high trajectory, which would limit the lateral distance it traveled. But if it was fired at a standard trajectory, it would have a range of at least 4,000 km (2,500 miles), experts said. The test-fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead, KCNA said. North Korea is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the mainland United States.The U.S. military s Pacific Command said the type of missile that was fired was not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile .The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss North Korea s latest missile launch, diplomats said on Sunday, which was requested by the United States and allies South Korea and Japan.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called the launch a message by Pyongyang to South Korea after the election of President Moon Jae-in, who took office on Wednesday.The report on the missile s flight was largely consistent with South Korean and Japanese assessments on Sunday that it flew 700 km (435 miles)and reached an altitude of more than 2,000 km (1,243 miles), which is further and higher than an intermediate-range missile tested in February from the same region, northwest of Pyongyang. North Korea s latest successful missile test represents a level of performance never before seen from a North Korean missile, Washington-based monitoring project, 38 North, said in an analysis issued on Sunday. It appears to have not only demonstrated an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that might enable them to reliably strike the U.S. base at Guam, but more importantly, may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), it said.For entire story REUTERS | 0 |
9,606 | Trump's son-in-law launches Middle East peace effort | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday to try to revive long-fractured Middle East peacemaking that Washington acknowledged will take some time. Kushner, a 36-year-old real estate developer with little experience of international diplomacy or political negotiation, arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning and was due to spend barely 20 hours on the ground. Video showed him giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a friend of Kushner’s father, a handshake and a hug as they prepared to sit down with the Israeli ambassador to Washington, the U.S. ambassador to Israel and other senior officials for preliminary discussions. “This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said. “Jared, I welcome you here in that spirit. I know of your efforts, the president’s efforts, and I look forward to working with you to achieve these common goals.” Kushner replied: “The president sends his best regards and it’s an honor to be here with you.” Kushner did not speak to the media or take questions, maintaining the circumspect profile he has established since Trump took office in January. U.S. officials and Israeli leaders “underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking,” the White House later said in a statement. Kushner traveled to Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, for two hours of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after iftar, the evening meal that breaks the daily Ramadan fast. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said all major issues at the heart of the conflict were discussed. U.S. officials called the trip part of an effort to keep the conversation going rather than the launching of a new phase in the peace process, saying that Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the president’s special representative for international negotiations, are likely to return often. Trump has described peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians as “the ultimate deal” and made it a priority. As well as receiving both Netanyahu and Abbas in the White House, he visited the region last month. But it remains unclear what approach Trump, via Kushner and Greenblatt, plans to take on resolving one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. For at least two decades, the goal of U.S.-led diplomacy has been a “two-state solution”, meaning an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side and at peace with Israel. But when Trump met Netanyahu in Washington in February, he said he was not fixed on two states saying, “I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like”. Netanyahu has in the past given conditional backing to two states. But ahead of his last election victory in 2015, he promised there would never be a Palestinian state on his watch, a remark seen as an attempt to shore up right-wing support. In discussions with Greenblatt before Kushner’s visit, Palestinian sources said the phrase “two-state solution” had not been used. Palestinian sources said that ahead of Kushner’s meeting with Abbas, they had been asked to draw up a list of 12 “bullet point” demands they would want met in any negotiations. They saw it as a helpful exercise in focusing on core elements rather than an oversimplification of a complex issue. Trump administration officials have said that if they are going to make progress on peace, they do not want to get bogged down in process but to move rapidly on tackling what are known as “final status” issues, the complexities around Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, water resources, security and borders. Those have long been thorny problems in the multiple rounds of peace negotiations launched by both Republican and Democratic presidents since the mid-1990s. It remains unclear what new approach Trump’s administration may have to untangling disputes that blend politics, land, religion and ethnicity and have defied resolution for 70 years. | 1 |
9,607 | In first face-off with Clinton, Trump struggles to be 'change' candidate | HEMPSTEAD, New York (Reuters) - Running as an anti-establishment candidate, Donald Trump took the presidential debate stage on Monday night to hammer home his call for sweeping political change and try to win over millions of undecided voters. But the Republican nominee seemed unable to capitalize on his opportunity in front of a television audience that by some estimates may have been 100-million strong. Instead of presenting himself as a change agent, he spent most of the evening trading personal insults with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. It illustrated the paradox that has plagued Trump’s campaign. Polls show an electorate hungry for change, with a majority believing the country is on the wrong track. Yet Trump’s brash personality and his tendency to stir up controversy have made him, at times, a poor messenger. Trump started strongly on Monday, sticking to the bread and butter theme of his campaign - the erosion of U.S. manufacturing jobs. But he soon lost his composure, especially when Clinton questioned his success in business and his refusal to release his tax returns and accused him of racism and sexism. When on message Trump paints a bleak picture of a United States that is victimized by China in trade, hemorrhaging jobs to Mexico and blighted by gangs of illegal immigrants roaming the streets of “warzone” inner cities committing crimes. Robert Adams, 75, an undecided voter from Boise, Idaho, said he thought Trump’s dystopian view of America was correct. “I think it’s hell in the big cities,” Adams said. But after watching the debate, he viewed both the real estate magnate and Clinton as a “sad” choice for American voters and was leaning toward Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Reuters/Ipsos polling shows an electorate in a downcast mood, with 64 percent of Americans believing the country is on the wrong track. That number includes 87 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of Democrats. When Reuters asked voters to pick the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the country, the most popular choice was “frustration,” followed by “fear” and “anger.” Some of Trump’s strongest moments at Monday’s debate were when he categorized Clinton, a former secretary of state and U.S. senator as a “typical politician,” accusing her of achieving nothing in her years in Congress and government. With an electorate yearning for change, Clinton is hamstrung by her long record and her close association with the Obama administration. Rather than proposing wholesale political overhaul, Clinton offers up a vision of a country headed in the right direction but one that needs some changes to address income inequality and create jobs. Her more optimistic view impressed another undecided voter, Nancy Willhite, 61, of Portland, Oregon. “She seems more in touch with reality to me,” she said. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Monday found that about half of all likely voters in the United States were looking to the debate to help them make a final decision. Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington, said Trump’s performance on Monday would have left many undecided voters with questions about his ability to lead the country. “Donald Trump has to convince them that he is going to be a safe alternative and I think it’s open to debate whether he pulled that off,” Bonjean said. Christopher Devine, a political science professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio said Trump’s message on Monday sometimes got lost in a welter of hyperbole that invited mocking responses from Clinton. “He’ll identify a problem people are concerned about, but in that excitement over making that point, he goes overboard and makes claims that don’t hold up. It loses its effectiveness at that point.” | 1 |
9,608 | Trump has been playing a part, will become more presidential: adviser | HOLLYWOOD, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top advisers to Donald Trump assured Republican Party leaders on Thursday that the New York billionaire would adopt a more presidential demeanor soon, to temper the image projected during his campaign so far. Trump’s representatives, including newly recruited senior advisers Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, met privately with leaders of the Republican National Committee at an oceanside resort hotel where the party is holding a three-day meeting. “The part that he’s been playing is now evolving into the part that you’ve been expecting. The negatives will come down, the image is going to change,” Trump senior adviser Paul Manafort assured the party leaders, according to an audiotape of the session heard by Reuters. Trump has been “projecting an image” to energize voters, Manafort said, adding that he will soon concentrate on “crooked Hillary,” the nickname that Trump has given to Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton. “You’ll see a different guy,” said Manafort. But in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump suggested he was not ready to change from the style that has brought him close to the Republican presidential nomination. “I just don’t know if I want to do it yet,” he said. In recent weeks, Trump has railed against the party for developing what he said was a “rigged” system in which Cruz was able to amass delegates in Colorado without Republicans actually voting. Chatting over shrimp, crab legs and an open bar, Trump’s advisers expressed confidence that their candidate would win the Republican presidential nomination without the party having to resort to a contested convention in Cleveland in July, according to three attendees. Trump, 69, needs 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright for the Nov. 8 election. Rivals Ted Cruz, 45, and John Kasich, 63, are trying to stop him from getting a majority of delegates, so they can force a contested convention in which one of them could emerge as the nominee. Cruz told a conservative talk radio host, Mark Levin, that Manafort’s comments show that Trump’s campaign style “is just an act.” Party leaders told reporters after the session that Trump’s envoys said Trump, as the Republican nominee, would be able to expand the party’s electoral map to include several states Republicans have not won in a general election in a generation. One attendee, South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Matt Moore, said the Trump team told the group it expected Trump to adopt a “more presidential demeanor” over the next few weeks.Moore said he was taking a wait-and-see attitude on whether Trump would change. “The proof is in the pudding,” he said. Manafort told reporters after the meeting that “we talked about how we’re going to expand the map.” As for how to change the negative image some voters had of Trump, Manafort said: “We just have to present him in a way that shows all sides of Donald Trump.” Former presidential candidate Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has endorsed Trump, also addressed the group. Talking to reporters as he walked into the meeting, Carson said his message was that Republicans should “stop fighting among ourselves” and unite behind Trump. “I don’t think anyone can win if the Republican Party and the conservatives don’t consolidate,” he said. Trump, who has alarmed some establishment Republicans with his comments on immigration, Muslims and trade, has begun to moderate his message in recent days. Trump’s campaign has hired staff versed in the ways of Washington and has begun holding regular meetings on Capitol Hill with current and potential supporters. Trump clashed again on Thursday with Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, this time over a North Carolina law passed last month requiring transgender people to use government and school bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates. During an appearance at an NBC “Today” show town hall, Trump sided with critics of the law, passed by a Republican-controlled legislature, saying it was unnecessary and that North Carolina was “paying a big price” because of negative business reaction. His comments drew immediate criticism from Cruz, a staunch social and fiscal conservative who supports the law and said Trump had caved to political correctness as he seeks to broaden his appeal. | 1 |
9,609 | “Not a word”…That’s What The Parents Of Beautiful Young Woman Murdered By Illegal Alien In Sanctuary City Have Heard From White House [VIDEO] | Kate Steinle is the wrong race, and she was killed by someone Obama is advocating for. If they can only get FOX News to stop reporting about it, this whole nightmare for Obama s executive amnesty/votes for Democrats program will go away The parents of Kathryn Steinle said Monday in a cable television news interview that they support a proposal to give mandatory prison time to deported people who return to the U.S. illegally. Steinle, 32, was walking along a waterfront in San Francisco when she was shot by a gun allegedly fired by Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, a Mexican national who was in the country illegally. Steinle s brother also appeared on Fox and revealed to Megyn Kelly that the White House hasn t even bothered to reach out to the family. Not heard a word, Brad Steinle said. Instead, he said, we find solace in the fact that Kate was doing what she loved and she was with the man she loved the most, my dad. WATCH VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH BILL O REILLY HERE:Sanchez, 45, who has pleaded not guilty, had been released from jail months before the shooting, despite a federal immigration order asking local authorities to hold him.Jim Steinle and Liz Sullivan, of Pleasanton, California, were interviewed by Fox News talk-show host Bill O Reilly for a Monday segment on The O Reilly Factor.The death of their daughter has fueled a national debate on immigration, with advocates of stricter border control and even some Bay Area Democrats denouncing San Francisco as a city whose immigrant sanctuary protections harbor people who are in the country illegally.Supporters of sanctuary protections have jumped on O Reilly and others for politicizing the death. They say public safety is improved when immigrants can work with local police without fear of deportation.Steinle, who was at his daughter s side when she was shot, and his wife said the proposed Kate s Law would be a good way to keep her memory alive. O Reilly is collecting signatures for the petition, which would impose a mandatory five years in federal prison for people who are deported and return. We feel the federal, state and cities their laws are here to protect us, Jim Steinle said. But we feel that this particular set of circumstances and the people involved, the different agencies let us down. It ll be a legacy in her name and her death would not go unnoticed. The grieving parents said failings at multiple levels of government led to Sanchez being freed, but they re tired of finger-pointing. Ff Kate s Law saves one person, then it s all for good, said Steinle.Federal records show Sanchez had been deported three times before being sentenced to more than five years in federal prison. He had completed another four years in federal prison when he was shipped to San Francisco March 26 on an outstanding 1995 drug charge.The San Francisco District Attorney s office declined to prosecute, given the age of the case and the small amount of marijuana involved.Via: UK Daily Mail | 0 |
9,610 | Why Conservatives Need To Stop Whining About Obama Being In Cuba During Brussels Attack (VIDEO) | Terrorists attacked Brussels, Belgium in a tragedy that has left at least 30 people dead, and that means conservatives quickly attacked President Obama for being in Cuba at the time.On Twitter, conservatives did not waste any time using the act of terrorism to attack President Obama, who became the first American President to visit Cuba in 88 years since Calvin Coolidge did so in 1928.The historic trip is an effort to open the island nation to trade by normalizing relations enough to convince Congress to end the longtime embargo which remains one of the last remnants of the Cold War. It represents an opportunity to strengthen relations between our two nations and a chance to change Cuba from within via American tourism and business opportunities.Thus far, the trip has been successful as Cuba has welcomed President Obama with open arms. But once news broke of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, conservatives immediately sounded off about how President Obama is in Cuba while Europe suffers yet another attack and further criticized Obama for not cutting his trip short to run back to the White House.Here are some of the tweets.Brussels under attack. Obama on a tourist trio in Havana with his family. Says it all. Marc Thiessen (@marcthiessen) March 22, 2016 Terrible optics: ISIS attacks Brussels and Obama is with the Castro Brothers in Cuba. Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 22, 2016Obama should leave Cuba and head back to the White House Situation Room immediately. #brusselsattack Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 22, 2016The two bozos above are Fox News contributors so it really comes as no surprise that they would shamelessly use a terrorist attack to launch their own attack on President Obama.Even Ted Cruz got in on the Obama bashing, calling for the president to leave Cuba and come back to the states or go directly to Brussels.And do what exactly?President Obama has been planning this trip to Cuba for months, and it s not like leaving now will change anything. The truth is that there is very little President Obama can do beyond offering American condolences and offering assistance, which he has already done via phone call with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.Furthermore, President Obama already receives constant briefings on the situation even though he s not at the White House. And as president, he can order any actions necessary from wherever he happens to be on the planet. In other words, he doesn t have to be in Washington or in Brussels to handle the attacks.In addition, this major terrorist attack did not occur in the United States. And if it had, it is likely President Obama would have hopped on Air Force One as soon as possible, but still would have the power to make the necessary communications with his staff while preparing for takeoff. In short, leaps in communication technology have made it possible for presidents to be in several places and deal with several situations at once from anywhere in the world.Let s not act like Brussels can t handle the situation. NATO is based there and Belgium has plenty of allies around them ready to help when asked. A visit from President Obama would just be a distraction because it would require security and police forces pay attention to keeping him safe instead of paying attention to the attack, the victims, and who perpetrated it.And the one really big reason why conservatives need to shut the hell up about President Obama not dropping everything to respond to a terrorist attack overseas is the fact that former President George W. Bush did the same thing in 2001, except the terrorist attack was the worst ever on American soil.That s right, even as New York City and Washington D.C. were under attack on September 11th, Bush kept his plan to read a story book to children at Emma T. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Even after being told of the attacks in the middle of reading My Pet Goat, Bush continued to read instead of immediately jumping on board Air Force One to get to the Situation Room. And if there were ever a time to cancel plans and return to Washington, that was it. But Bush not only finished the book, he delivered a short scheduled speech and remained at the school for 30 minutes after being told about the attack the first time. And then he headed to the airport.But it left an image of a president who didn t seem to care about doing something as commander-in-chief to deal with the unfolding tragedy in our own country that would scar us and this nation for more than a decade and beyond.I don t recall conservatives whining about President Bush then, so they really shouldn t be whining about President Obama now. Featured image via Wikimedia | 0 |
9,611 | Brexit leader Nigel Farage addresses Trump rally, bashes Clinton | JACKSON, Miss. (Reuters) - Nigel Farage, a key figure in the successful campaign to get Britain out of the European Union, lent his support to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying Trump represented the same type of anti-establishment movement that he masterminded in his own country. Farage appeared with Trump before a cheering crowd of thousands at a rally in Jackson, Mississippi. Farage partly based his Brexit drive on opposition to mass immigration to Britain that he said was leading to rapid change in his country. His appearance came as Trump sought to moderate his own hardline stance against illegal immigration. In remarks broadcast on Wednesday, Trump backed further away from his vow to deport millions of illegal immigrants, saying he would be willing to work with those who have abided by U.S. laws while living in the country. Trump summoned Farage on stage in the middle of his appearance, shook his hand and surrendered the microphone to him. Farage said he would not actually endorse Trump because he did not want to repeat what he called President Barack Obama’s meddling in British affairs when Obama urged Britons to vote to stay in the EU. “I cannot possibly tell you how you should vote in this election. But you know I get it, I get it. I’m hearing you. But I will say this, if I was an American citizen I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me,” Farage said. “In fact, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if she paid me,” he added. Trump has sought to align himself with the Brexit movement, noting he had said before the June 23 referendum that Britons should vote to leave. He visited one of his golf courses in Scotland the day after the vote and boasted that he had predicted the outcome and called it a sign his own campaign would be successful. Trump has since tumbled in national opinion polls and is fighting to remain competitive with Democratic rival Clinton with little more than two months to go until the Nov. 8 election. “November 8 is our chance to redeclare American independence,” Trump said, borrowing a phrase Farage used during the Brexit campaign. Farage drew parallels between the Brexit movement and the support Trump has received from many Americans who feel left behind by Washington. “They feel people aren’t standing up for them and they have in many cases given up on the whole electoral process and I think you have a fantastic opportunity here with this campaign,” he said. Trump’s comments on immigration came in the second part of an interview conducted on Tuesday with Fox News anchor Sean Hannity. They signaled a further softening in his immigration position as he tries to bolster support among moderate voters and minority groups. Trump, who defeated 16 rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in part based on his opposition to illegal immigrants, said he would not permit American citizenship for the undocumented population and would expel lawbreakers. To qualify to remain in the United States, Trump said, illegal immigrants would have to pay back taxes. “No citizenship. Let me go a step further - they’ll pay back taxes, they have to pay taxes, there’s no amnesty, as such, there’s no amnesty, but we work with them,” Trump said. “But when I go through and I meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject, and I’ve had very strong people come up to me ... and they’ve said: ‘Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person who’s been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and their family out, it’s so tough, Mr. Trump,’” Trump said. “It’s a very hard thing.” Trump said he would outline his position soon. “Well, I’m going to announce something over the next two weeks, but it’s going to be a very firm policy,” Trump told WPEC, a CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump’s new position seemed to resemble in some respects the failed 2007 reform push by former Republican President George W. Bush. That effort offered a way to bring millions “out of the shadows” without amnesty and would have required illegal immigrants to pay a fine and take other steps to gain legal status. | 1 |
9,612 | Senators renew push to overhaul military handling of sex assault | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators renewed an effort on Tuesday to shift the military’s handling of sexual assault cases from top commanders to independent prosecutors, insisting that the current system has left victims too fearful of retaliation to report crimes. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat who has fought to overhaul the system for three years, introduced the legislation as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a must-pass annual bill that sets policy for the Pentagon. The measure failed to pass the Senate in March 2014, though Gillibrand, who sits on the armed services committee, said those votes were cast amid “false and misleading information” the Pentagon used to bolster its own argument. “We know far more now about the extent of the military sexual assault problem than we did a year ago, and it’s clear that nothing has changed,” Gillibrand said at a news conference alongside both Democratic and Republican senators. The current system requires military commanders to handle sexual assault cases within the ranks. Supporters of the bill say the system is flawed because commanders can be unwilling to prosecute such cases and victims, fearing retaliation, are often afraid to report them. Top military leaders at the Pentagon contend that prosecutions must remain with commanders to maintain good order and discipline. “Nobody should be forced to go to their boss to report a rape,” Republican Senator Rand Paul said. The bill failed by 55-45 in 2014. Gillibrand said she has attempted to contact every senator who previously voted against the bill and is “very hopeful” the measure will this time gain the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate. “I think many senators that we’ve spoken to are concerned, deeply concerned,” she said. “The military continues to say, ‘We got this,’ ... but it’s not shown in the data. It’s not shown in the survivors’ testimony.” She said the bill has not gotten support from Republican Senator John McCain, the chairman of the armed services committee, though she has spoken to him several times about the issue. Samantha Jackson, who said she was raped by her husband when he was in the Army, said the military told the U.S. attorney’s office they would investigate, only to drop her case without pursuing charges. Jackson called her treatment “a profound betrayal,” adding, “I don’t understand how the Army could fail to hold my rapist accountable.” | 1 |
9,613 | Malaysia in talks with U.S. firm Ocean Infinity to resume MH370 search | KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is negotiating with U.S.-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370, which vanished three years ago in the southern Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard. The disappearance of the aircraft en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur ranks among the world s greatest aviation mysteries after Australia, China and Malaysia ended a fruitless A$200-million ($157-million) search effort in January. This week, Malaysia said it had received proposals to continue the search from Ocean Infinity, Dutch firm Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company. Ocean Infinity beat out the competition and the government has begun negotiations with it, Malaysia s deputy transport minister Aziz Kaprawi said on Thursday. Yes, we are negotiating with Ocean Infinity, but the agreement has not been finalised, he told Reuters, but declined to comment on the potential reward for the plane s discovery. It was an offer on an open basis, that we will only honor if the aircraft is found. The firm had made an offer on a no-cure, no-fee basis, according to a letter, seen by Reuters, that was sent to passengers families on Thursday. Australia and China were informed of the negotiation process, but only Australia had informally agreed to Malaysia s choice, Aziz said. It is still under discussion with China, he added, but declined to elaborate on China s possible concerns. Australian and Chinese authorities did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Ocean Infinity could not confirm the award of a contract, but good progress has been made , a spokesman said in a statement. Calvin Shim, whose wife was one of the MH370 crew, said he was relieved authorities were considering resuming the search. Grateful this step is finally being officially taken, he told Reuters in a text message. Relatives of others on board voiced concern over the lengthy talks, however. Families were told of Ocean Infinity s offer in March, said Grace Nathan, a lawyer whose mother was aboard. The best weather for the search is spring and summer, said Nathan. We worry they will lose that window if they take too long to decide. | 1 |
9,614 | ANDREA MITCHELL STAMMERS Recalling Bill Clinton’s ‘Faulty’ Testimony In Paula Jones Deposition [Video] | The Clintons are afraid of the truth so be it! If a special prosecutor is brought in to investigate them then that would be fine, right? They have nothing to hide, right? Just like Bill had nothing to hide with the Paula Jones case Let s face it, faulty testimony is their mojo. They can t tell the truth because so much of their political career has been a lie! | 0 |
9,615 | As Votes For Trump Went Up, Canada’s Immigration Site Went Down — HARD | Well, sad to say, it s a sure chance the next president of our beloved United States of America is going to be Donald Trump. It s disappointing to say the least that our country could actually elect a man like him. However, the electoral college has mostly spoken, and there s not much we can do at this point.Now, the people of America who voted against Trump are trying to escape as they realize all they have done was in vain. By escape I mean, they are fleeing to Canada, in such large quantities that they have successfully caused Canada s immigration to crash. That s right, even with unofficial results in, they know something s gotta give.The best part is this isn t the first time Canada s website crashed from desperate Americans. During Super Tuesday the site crashed, and also the Google search for move to Canada spiked significantly. Now, Canada has a reputation for being nice. So nice that they responded with an advertisement: Test Drive Canada . Isn t that something?It s not a big surprise that those who despise Mr. Trump would look toward our friendly Northern-Neighbours. After all, they have great healthcare, welfare, friendly to Obama, and don t forget the maple syrup. What s not to love? Just one little problem with everyone leaving though. The less people here in America who still stand against Trump the more he can do what he wants with our country. Some of us want to stay here and thwart our new orange president every chance we get. The less of us here to do so, well, the less he ll be thwarted. So for the love of America, as tempting as it might be, don t leave. Stay here, stand together, and let s all say screw you, Trump! together. It looks like he lost the popular vote, so the fact is, the people didn t vote for him.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
9,616 | U.S. presidential debates: from Kennedy-Nixon to Clinton-Trump | (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump face off on Monday in the first of a series of televised debates that could prove crucial to who wins the White House on Nov. 8. The first debate will take place at Hofstra University on New York state’s Long Island. The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled two more such presidential matchups and a vice presidential debate in October. The rhetorical contests, which first appeared on television in 1960, have provided some of the most memorable moments and quotations in modern American political history. Here is a look at the highlights over more than five decades. 1960: Seventy million viewers watched the first televised American presidential debate, which pitted Republican Vice President Richard Nixon against Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy. Nixon was recovering from a hospital visit and had a 5-o’clock shadow, having refused makeup. In contrast, Kennedy’s delivery was smooth and charismatic. Viewers focused on what they saw, not what they heard. Kennedy won the election. 1976: In the first TV debate in 16 years, Democrat Jimmy Carter faced off against unelected incumbent President Gerald Ford. This was also the first time vice presidential candidates debated on television, with Republican U.S. Senator Bob Dole squaring off against Democratic U.S. Senator Walter Mondale. Carter benefited when Ford said: “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.” News media played up Ford’s remark as a major blunder, and many analysts thought it helped Carter win the election. 1980: Carter appeared only in a second debate with Republican Ronald Reagan after boycotting the first one because it included a third-party candidate, John Anderson. The president accused Reagan of planning to cut Medicare healthcare funding for the elderly. Reagan, who had complained Carter was misrepresenting his stands on any number of issues, said: “There you go again,” and chuckled, prompting audience laughter and coining a catchphrase. Reagan won the election. The encounter attracted 80.6 million viewers, the highest number ever for a presidential debate, according to ratings company Nielsen. 1984: Reagan, 73, successfully defused the issue of his age during the second debate with Democratic candidate Walter Mondale, 56, when he quipped: “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Reagan was re-elected. 1988: The second presidential debate involving Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenger Michael Dukakis opened with a question to the Massachusetts governor on whether he would favor the death penalty for someone who raped and murdered his wife. The question was posed to bring out the human side of a candidate dubbed “the Ice Man.” His laborious response on an emotional issue did just the opposite. Bush won the election. The vice presidential debate came alive when U.S. Senator Dan Quayle, Bush’s running mate, compared himself politically to John F. Kennedy. Democratic U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen replied in quiet, deadly tones: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” 1992: This year’s three debates became the first time three candidates - Bush, Democrat Bill Clinton, and independent Ross Perot - shared the platform. Clinton won the election. 1996: In the second debate between Republican Bob Dole and Clinton, Dole was asked by a student whether at 73 he was too old to understand the needs of young people. He replied that at his age, intelligence and experience meant he had the advantage of wisdom. Clinton retorted: “I can only tell you that I don’t think Senator Dole is too old to be president. It’s the age of his ideas that I question.” Clinton was re-elected. 2000: Vice President Al Gore and Republican contender George W. Bush took part in three debates. “We all make mistakes. I’ve been known to mangle a syllable or two myself,” Bush said during the second of the debates, purposely mispronouncing the word “syllable.” During the first encounter, Gore drew negative reviews for sighing loudly while Bush spoke. The Texas governor and son of George H.W. Bush won the election. 2004: The last debate between Bush and Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry offered voters a stark contrast in styles, with Bush sticking to simple arguments while Kerry released an array of facts to make his case. Bush was re-elected. 2008: The three Obama-John McCain encounters averaged 57.4 million viewers, more than the average for the three debates in 2004, according to Nielsen. Republican U.S. Senator McCain, his back against the wall, turned in his best performance in the last debate, but Democratic U.S. Senator Barack Obama won the White House. The vice presidential debate riveted about 69.9 million Americans, and thus tied as the second most-viewed debate ever. Republican Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Biden clashed on the economy and Iraq during a lively but polite debate. She frequently displayed a folksy style. At one point, she said: “Aw, say it ain’t so, Joe,” adding a “doggone it” for good measure. Biden and Palin both said they would work to change current U.S. economic policy to make it more friendly to middle-class workers, but Biden said that McCain had called the fundamentals of the economy strong as the financial crisis broke out. 2012: Obama stumbled in his first debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney, surprising and worrying his supporters. But in the second debate, Romney, responding to a question about gender pay equality, said he had “binders full of women” as candidates for Cabinet posts. The phrase became a meme on social media, with tweets, original artwork and a Facebook group spoofing the former Massachusetts governor. | 1 |
9,617 | Reliving China's Long March ahead of party congress | JINGGANGSHAN, China (Reuters) - A man in Red Army garb hits the pavement during a simulated attack during a re-staging of part of the Long March. The scene brings alive an extraordinary chapter in China s history that established the supremacy of Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communist Party. Deep in the mountains of Jinggangshan in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, a classroom of bank tellers participates in an ideological boot camp that plays into Chinese President Xi Jinping s drive to further consolidate his grip on power. Jinggangshan is considered the cradle of the Chinese revolution and, in 1927, was the official birthplace of the Red Army, now known as the People s Liberation Army of China. Reliving the revolution, students walk the route of the Long March, a series of retreats by the Red Army, led by Mao, to evade the pursuing Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek between 1934 and 1935. I can feel the spirit of the revolution, said Wang Pingzhu, a 32-year old garment company employee from the southern province of Fujian. As soon as I got here I could see it along the road. I could imagine the scene at the time, she said. During the three-day course, participants visit historical sites, pledging allegiance to the Communist Party and Xi s dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation ahead of a key party congress next month. I think the Communist Party emphasizes this sort of education, to try to control the thinking of party members and at the same time control a portion of the population who still have faith in the party, so they can support the leadership, said Zhang Lifan, an independent political commentator. In reviving Maoism and courting powerful conservative elements in the party, Xi seeks to remind people that China s dramatic ascent to become the world s second-largest economy was not simply a case of ditching Marx for markets. The Red Culture training camp for private and public sector workers aims to rekindle faith in the founding principles of the party and drown out critics who say it has lost its ideological soul after more than three decades of free-market reforms. Its program fits with Xi s push for patriotic education and ideological control of the people, an agenda he has promoted since coming to power in 2012 and is expected to further build on in October s five-yearly leadership reshuffle. Under the leadership of President Xi, ideological belief education has set off a new wave in China, said Zuo Jianxing, a forestry official in the northern province of Inner Mongolia. Harking back to Mao s time still resonates with some of the population, 41 years after his death. But the fear is that the younger generation of Chinese may be too preoccupied with the fruits of capitalism to care much about Red Culture. That may explain why, five years after taking power, Xi continues to espouse old school Maoism as a way to reassert the primacy of the party. If the Communist Party loses power, they are finished, said political commentator Zhang. (This version of the story refiles to add dateline.) | 1 |
9,618 | ‘Small Government’ GOP Rep. Wants A Law To Dictate Exotic Dancers’ Max Weight | Bill 468, something that the Louisiana state legislature has been working on, deals with strip clubs and will maintain the state s current laws that regulate those clubs. It does, however, add a new regulation: All dancers must be at least 21 years of age if the club serves alcohol. Makes sense.One lawmaker, however, saw that and just had to stick his own amendment in there that would also regulate the dancers weight. According to Rep. Kenny Havard (R), dancers between 21 and 28 should also weigh no more than 160 pounds.Right, because regulating women s weight is totally okay in a world where women are judged more on their appearance than on anything else. It s also totally okay coming from a guy who claims he s making a point about government overreach. Sure.Havard claims he did this as a joke, much like the proposals in other states that would regulate how men get things like Viagra in protest of laws restricting access to birth control for women. After all, regulating any business, even strip clubs, is massive government overreach with the tiny-government crowd. Dear Kenny here made a very bad joke.He also failed miserably to make his point the bill itself passed 96-0, meaning it had broad, bipartisan support, and that Havard himself voted for it after pulling his own little protest amendment out of the bill. If he could vote for it without that amendment that was supposed to make a point, then he must actually not see it as government overreach.The whole purpose of Havard s amendment is this: Havard, who immediately pulled the amendment, [said] he doesn t regret the joke and called it satire not sexism. He said he meant for the amendment to point out that the bill teeters on overregulation. Supporters of the bill say that they are trying to protect teens from human trafficking. It has won bipartisan support through the legislative process. Okay, so it s sexist satire and a sexist joke. It doesn t matter what Havard claims, he clearly doesn t understand sexism at all. There is nothing non-sexist about suggesting that we should regulate women s weight, even as a joke. Fortunately (or unfortunately for him) he brought the wrath of all his colleagues down onto himself, which is what caused him to pull the amendment. Can t have everyone mad at you for being a raving, sexist hypocrite after all.Exotic dancers actually further the sexual objectification of women, and for a man to say that these dancers, especially if they re young, should be svelte and slender under law sounds more like he wants to enshrine in law that the only women who fit his ideal of sexy and beautiful are the ones who get to be exotic dancers. A joke, a piece of satire, can still be horribly sexist. That s what Havard is and has done. He s outed himself as a sexist pig.Image By Jeffrey Schwartz. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons | 0 |
9,619 | Trump to nominate NFL team owner Johnson as U.S. ambassador to Britain | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate National Football League team owner Woody Johnson as U.S. ambassador to Britain, the White House said on Thursday. Johnson, a billionaire investor and owner of the New York Jets, will require Senate confirmation to take up the diplomatic post. Johnson’s nomination does not come as a surprise. In January, Trump referred to Johnson as “ambassador” during remarks at a luncheon and said the NFL team owner was “going to St. James.” | 1 |
9,620 | Austria puts the squeeze on refugees with benefit cuts | VIENNA (Reuters) - Ahmed Ali, a 34-year-old teacher, fled the war in Syria two years ago and settled in a quiet Austrian town on the hilly border with the Czech Republic. He was hoping to raise a family there. But voter attitudes towards immigrants have hardened due to concerns about security and the economy after Austria took in more than 1 percent of its population in asylum seekers in 2015. This fueled support for the far-right party Freedom Party and its candidate came close to winning last year s presidential election. Immigration is still the dominant political issue ahead of the Oct. 15 parliamentary election. In January, lawmakers in Lower Austria, where Ali lived, reduced benefits for new arrivals. They said the benefits system needed protecting from being overstretched by the influx of refugees. Ali and his pregnant wife moved again to Vienna in July, where their benefits would still be paid in full. Most of us fled when the letter came telling us our social benefits would be cut. At first we didn t believe it but then we saw it on our bank balance, said Ali, who says his German is not yet good enough to find work. Three of Austria s nine provinces Lower Austria, Burgenland and Upper Austria have reduced benefits for new arrivals. Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, leader of the conservative People s Party which is leading in the polls, wants to make similar cuts apply to the whole country. Chancellor Christian Kern, whose Social Democratic Party polls show competing with the Freedom Party for second place, has resisted the idea but said he could support them in cases where new arrivals turn down job offers. So far, the cuts have primarily impacted migrants like Ali who sought asylum in Austria when it opened its border in 2015 although some Austrians returning home have also been caught. In Burgenland the rules apply to all people seeking help who have spent fewer than five years of the six preceding their application for benefits in Austria. A statement accompanying the Upper Austrian bill painted the cuts as a way to tackle the problem of welfare magnetism in the context of refugees. The Lower Austrian government declined to comment due to a legal challenge against the cuts. In a case brought by a charity, Austria s Constitutional Court is expected to rule next year on whether the cuts by Lower Austria, decided in late 2016 and implemented since early 2017, are illegal. The 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention says host countries must grant refugees the same treatment with respect to public relief and assistance as their own nationals. A 2011 EU directive sets a similar rule. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), which has denounced xenophobic debates in Austrian politics ahead of the election, has described the cuts as breaches of international and European law but no international cases have been started. A Burgenland spokeswoman defended the benefits changes, saying they targeted Austrian nationals as well. Therefore there is no violation of ... the EU directive and the refugee convention, she said. A spokesman for Kurz said legislation to expand the cuts would be passed and phrased in such a way that no doubt for the highest courts will emerge . The three provinces have cut benefits for new arrivals, even after obtaining asylum, to around 570 euros ($669) a month, less than half the poverty threshold of 1,200 euros, compared with around 850 euros for an Austrian who has never lived abroad. Benefits for a household have been capped at 1,500 euros. Rather than live off less than what is considered the bare minimum for most Austrians, many of those affected have moved, particularly to the capital. Ali moved to an apartment with his uncle and aunt in a dilapidated building on the outskirts of the city costing 1,100 euros a month. They don t care how many children you have. And maybe they ll cut again, Ali said in his living room with two sofas, a television set and a picture of Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. He found more affordable apartments but the landlord did not want refugees as tenants. One landlady was concerned social benefits for refugees might be cut in Vienna, too. Instead of cutting the social safety net, integration and independence should be supported. We fear that language learning, training and the search for work will suffer if those affected don t know how to pay their rent anymore, said the chief the UNHCR s Austria office, Christoph Pinter. Although the Freedom Party and Kurz s conservatives have been the most vocal about cutting benefits for new arrivals, the three provinces that have put cuts in place are governed by various two-way combinations of all three main political parties. But most of those affected who spoke to Reuters fear an election victory for Kurz. If Kurz wins, it will be a big problem, said 24-year-old Basel from Deraa in Syria. He moved from Lower Austria to Vienna in July, leaving behind friends and a job as a hairdresser. He says the cuts paralyze people like him with fear. You stop thinking about the future. (For a graphic on Austria's parliamentary election, click tmsnrt.rs/2hKIi65) | 1 |
9,621 | Jimmy Fallon’s Trump Claims VICTORY As ‘The Winner And Champion – Of Second Place’ (VIDEO) | It can be said that Donald Trump was less than pleased that he came in second to Ted Cruz in the Iowa Caucus. However, that s putting it mildly. From his expressionless concession speech, to his next day blame game, to his temper tantrum against Cruz, he s been pretty much a loose cannon.Although, leave it to Jimmy Fallon to show Trump s true reaction to coming in second place that likely happened in a dream on Trump s flight from Iowa to New Hampshire. On Wednesday s edition of the Tonight Show, Fallon donned the infamous Trump wig and did his spot-on impersonation once again to have Trump declare he s the winner and champion of second place. He then tells everyone, In case you re wondering, the J stands for genius. Then after declaring victory, he says: It s just like children say: First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest . Marco Rubio get that taken care of. I wouldn t want your hair to make you look ridiculous. Fallon then goes through how many wonderful things in life have the number two in them or come in twos, thus making him equally as spectacular. Of course.He ends by telling everyone: From now on, when you think Donald Trump, I want you to think YUGE No. 2 So watch out New Hampshire, because the deuce is loose. And it s true, Trump often does appear to be a giant piece of sh*t more often than not, so it fits.It will definitely be interesting to see what happens in New Hampshire after their primary vote next week. Will Trump still be the champion of second place? Or will he be able to finally declare a true victory? We ll just have to wait and see. Video/Featured image from YouTube | 0 |
9,622 | Juncker's EU plan is largely in line with Germany's vision: Schaeuble | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker s plan to build a closer European Union based on an expanded euro zone was largely in line with Germany s vision for the bloc. Schaeuble said that Juncker had discussed with Chancellor Angela Merkel his annual State of the EU speech in which he spoke of a vision of a post-2019 EU where some 30 countries would be using the euro. The plan also includes appointing an EU finance minister running key budgets to help states in trouble. It is good that he is putting pressure (to expand the euro zone) but the preconditions (for joining the euro zone) must be fulfilled, Schaeuble told the ARD broadcaster in an interview. It is in fact so that EU countries who fulfill the preconditions become members of the euro under the Lisbon Treaty . He added that EU countries wishing to adopt the single currency should not do so before their public finances and economies are sound enough as they could face the fate of Greece, which had to be bailed out by the EU and IMF in 2010. (The story adds dropped word in final paragraph) | 1 |
9,623 | WOW! FOX REPORTER GOES OFF On SEIU Thug For Telling Black Protester She Wasn’t Allowed To Speak! [Video] | Wow! @FoxBusiness @JeffFlock just WENT OFF on white @SEIU operative for telling black protester she wasn t allowed to speak! #Fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/9aiv8x3YIq Andrew Marcus (@ImAndrewMarcus) November 29, 2016 | 0 |
9,624 | Retired Colonel BLASTS Trump’s ‘Amateur’ Demand That Navy Sailors Support GOP Legislation (VIDEO) | Donald Trump made a plea to naval officers at a ceremony recently, practically begging them to support him politically and it s landed him in hot water. According to retired Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, the move was completely amateur and grossly inexperienced. Trump had made this disgusting display while he dedicated the USS Gerald R. Ford. He completely went off message by demanding that the military audience support his extremely unpopular, unethical health care bill, which would strip health care from 22 million people and cut Medicaid drastically. In his speech, Trump subjected his audience to his truly embarrassing behavior when he said: Call those senators to make sure you get health care. This morning on MSNBC s AMJoy, Wilkerson blasted Trump for this blatantly inappropriate message at the military event. When host Joy-Ann Reid asked Wilkerson what he thought of Trump asking the troops to support his political agenda, Wilkerson issued this brutal takedown during the show: This is just another indication that this man is grossly inexperienced. He s an amateur, he doesn t know what he s doing, he doesn t know the law, he doesn t know custom, he doesn t know protocol. You don t tell your troops, as commander-in-chief, to do something political. You can watch this moment below:COL. WILKERSON on this #Trump clip: It s just another indication that this man is grossly inexperienced. #AMJoy https://t.co/1ncYcVGzVb AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) July 23, 2017For a retired Army Colonel to note his own disgust with Trump s ridiculous authoritarian style of leadership is major. Trump sees nothing wrong with asking everyone to bend to his will and follow him without question or resistance, despite the fact that Trump s agenda and presidency is as unpopular as it s ever been. Colonel Wilkerson knows exactly how dangerous leaders like Trump can be, and America should listen to his words.Featured image via Getty Images | 0 |
9,625 | You Won’t Believe What This Michigan Teacher Said That Got Her Fired | A Battle Creek, Michigan substitute teacher has been fired because she had the audacity to say vagina. Allison Wint said that she has been teaching at Harper Creek Middle School since January, but was recently let go after she used the word during a discussion about art history with a class she was teaching. She said that she just wanted to have an open discussion with the eighth graders about art and the controversies surrounding some artists work. During the lecture she held up a reproduction of some of Georgia O Keefe s work and said: Imagine walking into a gallery when [O Keefe] was first showing her pieces, and thinking, Am I actually seeing vaginas here, am I a pervert? I m either a pervert or this woman was a pervert. The teacher said she used the word vagina maybe 10 times. But it was never in a vulgar capacity. She went on to say: I thought if I used a euphemism, that would make it into a joke, she said. And I don t think that s a word you should be afraid of. Unfortunately, school officials did not agree and fired her. The day after her lesson, the school s principal, Kim Thayer, fired her for using the word vagina without previous approval. Who knew that using the proper medical terminology for a part of a female s anatomy was no longer allowed in schools? Maybe the principal would have preferred she say whoo-ha or some nonsense like that?Let s be real, it is a sad day in the American educational system when proper terms for body parts are off limits because they offend an adult s delicate sensibilities. How the hell are our children supposed to learn if they aren t even taught basic things like vagina is not a bad word? Being afraid of the word creates an aura of shame around the body part, Wint said.Indeed.Not only is it important for students to know that it is not a dirty word, knowing the proper names for anatomically correct terms helps to combat sexual abuse. According to Think Progress:Perhaps most importantly, teaching kids to use the accurate words for their body parts teaches them that they have ownership over their body, provides a positive boost to their self-image, and increases their confidence. That could have radical implications for our current society s pervasive rape culture, which advances the false perception that sexual assault is merely a consequence of promiscuity rather than a serious crime. If youth grow up with a deeper understanding of bodily autonomy and consent, they will be more likely to speak up when they feel that consent has been violated and perhaps less likely to violate someone else s consent.There is absolutely no reason at all that this teacher should have been fired for using a word that these kids should have ALREADY been comfortable hearing. The fact that it was considered inappropriate demonstrates how much Battle Creek has already failed their kids.Wint said that the only other time she has had a problem with the principal was when she hung a sign that the students made her behind her desk. The sign read Marriage is about love, not gender. Thayer told her to remove it.It sounds like Thayer is one of those right-wing, religious nuts who have no business overseeing a school. If she can t shelve her personal feelings about things before she goes into work, then she really has no business holding the position she does.Featured image via Detroit Free Press | 0 |
9,626 | Taliban attack Afghan checkpoints, killing more than 20 police | KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban attacked more than a dozen checkpoints over six hours in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 22 police and wounding 15, officials said on Tuesday, as militants killed eight soldiers in the west in a growing insurgency. Government forces killed 45 insurgents and wounded 35 and none of the police checkpoints was captured in the overnight attacks, officials said. Our forces resisted until they received reinforcements and air support, said Zia Durrani, spokesman for Kandahar s police chief. The Taliban were defeated. The Taliban told reporters by WhatsApp that they killed 43 police and members of a militia and destroyed 13 armored vehicles. The insurgents often exaggerate battlefield casualties. The Taliban, fighting to restore Islamic rule after their 2001 ouster by U.S.-led troops, also attacked Bala Boluk, in the western province of Farah, on Tuesday, killing eight soldiers and wounding three, according to the provincial government. The government s control or influence over the country has fallen to just under 60 percent, down six percentage points from last year, according to the United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. | 1 |
9,627 | Catalan bank depositors flock to other regions to open new accounts | FRAGA, Spain (Reuters) - Some Catalan residents were shifting their bank accounts to lenders and branches in other regions of Spain on Monday with the aim of safeguarding their savings should Catalonia declare independence and tumble out of the European Union. In Fraga, a rural town just across the border in neighboring Aragon, dozens of clients of Caixabank (CABK.MC) and BBVA (BBVA.MC) arrived early in the morning and queued for hours to open accounts. The Catalan parliament may unilaterally declare independence as soon as Tuesday following a banned referendum on Oct. 1 which a majority of voters boycotted but that Catalan leaders say produced an overwhelming majority for secession. Such a move would not have any immediate legal effect because it would be blocked by Spain s constitutional court. But an eventual break from Spain would leave Catalonia outside the European Union and the consumer protections it offers a source of uncertainty and fear in the minds of some depositors. A Caixabank spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday there was no deposit flight and that the vast majority of people going to branches to enquire about their money had decided to keep it with the bank. It s a marginal, short-term issue that has no impact on our branch network. Our operations are absolutely normal, she said. Bilbao-based BBVA, which bought several Catalan lenders during the crisis and has become the region s second-biggest bank after Caixabank, declined to comment. Even if an independent Catalonia were to persist in using the euro, as non-EU members Kosovo and Montenegro do, its lenders would cease to be supervised by the European Central Bank, whose deposit insurance scheme protects bank customers across the euro zone. Catalonia s biggest banks, Caixabank and Banco Sabadell (SABE.MC), moved their legal bases to other parts of Spain following the Oct. 1 referendum, ensuring they would remain under ECB supervision even if the region does decide to secede. Caixabank said last week it was transferring its legal base from Barcelona to Valencia to reassure clients in Catalonia that their deposits were safe. Sabadell says it has moved its legal base to Alicante. A spokesman for Sabadell said he was aware some clients in specific areas were enquiring about their money but most of them had decided not to leave and no significant impact had been registered. Spain s central government in Madrid has said it will act to stop the region breaking away and promised savers their money will be kept safe. ECB officials have so far declined to comment on the Catalan crisis. The central bank s core roles include protecting depositors by ensuring euro zone lenders keep strong balancesheets as well as overseeing the deposit insurance scheme. In Fraga on Monday, a Reuters reporter saw about 80 people queuing in each of the town s small branches of Caixabank and BBVA. If Catalonia gets independence, we will have to be able to protect our deposits, said 70-year-old Jose Sospedra, after opening a new account at the Caixabank branch. He previously had an account at Caixabank in Barcelona. He and his wife had left the Catalan capital at 6 a.m. for the two-hour drive to Fraga, a town of 15,000 on the dusty flatlands south of the Pyrenees mountains. Once there, they had queued for two hours in the bank. Many of their friends in the Catalan capital were traveling outside the region to do the same, Sospedra said. Local newspaper reports identified Vinaroz in Valencia as another town visited by many Catalans to open accounts. Reuters could not independently confirm this. Some Fraga residents said Catalans had been coming to bank branches there since early last week. Vicente Mezquita Gonzalvo, a 66-year-old retiree standing outside Caixabank waving a Spanish flag, said the queues were so long last week that they crossed the street. On Monday, queues extended out of the front doors of the Caixabank and BBVA branches. At one point, a BBVA branch employee told people queuing outside go to elsewhere in Aragon because there would not be enough time to deal with them all. | 1 |
9,628 | Trump Just Threatened To Murder 25 Million People Because Words Offended Him | On Saturday night, Donald Trump once again casually threatened nuclear war against the country of North Korea. The last time he did that, he came back with an arguably weak package of sanctions, which penalized only individuals doing business with the dictatorship. This time, Snowflake Trump was triggered by North Korea s Foreign Minister speaking at the UN.Ri Yong Ho told the assembly that the week s exchange of insults between Trump and his apparent arch-nemesis Kim Jong Un made our rocket s visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more, apparently threatening to aim North Korean missiles directly at the United States. The isolated peninsular nation, by all accounts, is years away from developing technology that will actually reach us.Trump fired back:Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017Trump has now added an adjective to his new nickname for Kim, further Trumpifying Rocket Man into what he surely believes is a dagger through the heart of the 33-year-old dictator. They won t be around, of course, includes the 25 million inhabitants of North Korea, as even the smallest of our nuclear weapons would cause inconceivable damage to the geographically insignificant country.Trump is undoubtedly attempting to deflect some attention away from his weekend misadventures in Alabama, which earned him the scorn of every sports fan in America over his racist call for NFL owners to fire players who kneel during the national anthem. Unpatriotic, he calls it. I don t think Donald Trump knows what patriotism is.It certainly isn t making America look like a global bully that takes offense at the most meaningless of statements from a hostile foreign minister.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images | 0 |
9,629 | China And Russia Chase US Destroyer Away After Trump’s Navy Creeps Up On North Korea | Trump s loyalty to Vladimir Putin is being tested like never before. On one hand The Donald really wants a war with North Korea. On the other, both Russia and China have told him to back the f*ck off and the Associated Press reports that these warnings are becoming more forceful after Trump s Navy sent a Destroyer into the Korean Peninsula:China and Russia have dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to chase the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is heading toward waters near the Korean Peninsula, multiple sources of the Japanese government revealed to The Yomiuri Shimbun.It appears that both countries aim to probe the movements of the United States, which is showing a stance of not excluding military action against North Korea. The Self-Defense Forces are strengthening warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace around the area, according to the sources.China and Russia, which prioritize stability in the Korean Peninsula, showed concern over the tough U.S. stance, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying the issue should be resolved peacefully through political and diplomatic efforts.The dispatch of the intelligence-gathering vessels appears to be partly aimed at sending a warning signal to the United States.Recently, Donald Trump stopped calling China a currency manipulator after his companies were granted 38 lucrative trademarks in the country (including for an escort service). As for Russia, we all know what Putin s people did for The Donald.At this point, it is surprising that the United States has any allies left given how Trump has treated them, and countries like Russia and China with whom we enjoy a shaky relationship at best (especially when the former recently committed numerous acts of war against the U.S. during the election), and Trump is testing our bonds with every single friend and frenemy we have.As Trump pushes us toward war with North Korea, he fails to consider that both Russia and China are likely to step in if he goes all Rambo on the tiny island dictatorship.Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
9,630 | Commerce Secretary says Trump-Xi talks will address trade imbalances | BEIJING (Reuters) - Meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week will focus on addressing trade imbalances between the two countries, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday. Ross was speaking at a signing ceremony in the Chinese capital for commercial deals worth about $9 billion on Trump’s visit. Trump has ratcheted up his criticism of China’s massive trade surplus with the U.S. - calling it “embarrassing” and “horrible” last week - and has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, fuelling worries of increased tension between the world’s two largest trading countries. “Addressing the imbalance in China trade has been the central focus of collaborative discussions between President Trump and President Xi and achieving fair and reciprocal treatment for the companies is a shared objective,” Ross said. Data on Wednesday showed China’s exports to the U.S. rose 8.3 percent in October on the year, while imports grew 4.3 percent. That led to a trade surplus of $26.62 billion with the U.S. last month, down from September’s record $28.08 billion, but higher than recent trends. Deals signed on Wednesday included a pledge by Chinese ecommerce company JD.com to buy more than $2 billion of food products from the U.S. over three years and a pact for Reignwood International to buy additional helicopters from U.S. firm Bell Helicopter. While 19 deals were signed on Wednesday, some in the U.S. business community have expressed worry that contract wins could come at the expense of resolving long-standing complaints over market access restrictions in China. At the ceremony, China’s vice premier Wang Yang said deals signed between China and U.S. firms would “contribute to the stabilization of the general and overall economic relations between the two countries”. The ceremony was a prelude to a “more important” signing ceremony set for Thursday, he added. Among the companies expected to sign deals on Thursday are Qualcomm, Boeing and Goldman Sachs. Chinese commerce minister Zhong Shan also attended the event in the Great Hall of the People next to Tiananmen Square. | 1 |
9,631 | The FBI Just Announced The Results Of Their Investigation Into Hillary Clinton | At 11 AM Tuesday morning, FBI Director James Comey announced that the FBI would NOT be recommending the Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton be charged with a crime in relation to her mishandling of government emails while she was Secretary of State.Comey first spent several minutes explaining how the FBI carefully and comprehensively went through the multiple servers Clinton used during her time at the State Department. The FBI went through all of the emails she provided as well through emails received by people she was in contact with. They even reconstructed as many deleted personal emails as they could from her hard drives. Think of the super cool scenes in Hollywood movies where hackers recover deleted emails except it s a really long and tedious process.A lot of people have been praying and hoping that the FBI would find a smoking gun and for a few minutes, it seemed like they had when Comey announced that they had found 3 emails with classified information: 1 at the secret level and 2 at the confidential levels (secret is a higher classification than confidential).However, Comey also explained that there was absolutely no evidence that those emails had been deleted as an attempt to cover anything up. He even explained the process by which her lawyers would have unintentionally deleted emails they should have turned over. This may sound like he was defending Clinton but he was simply explaining the process that led the FBI to their conclusions that no criminal actions were taken.Comey also explained that while there is no direct evidence that Hillary s servers were hacked, they were definitely at risk and there is no way to know that they weren t hacked because of the way the system was set up. That might sound like splitting hairs but it s an important distinction. If the proper precautions had been taken, it would have been easier to definitively know if something had happened.Comey went on to tear the State Department a new one over their extremely careless handling of classified material but finally got to the FBI s recommendation:In our system, the prosecutors makes the decisions about whether charges are appropriate based on evident the FBI helps collect. Although we don t normally make public our recommendation to the prosecutors, we frequently make recommendations and engage in productive conversation with prosecutors about what resolution may be appropriate given the evidence. In this case, given the importance of the matter, I think unusual transparency is in order.Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, out judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.Comey also said, We cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. This doesn t necessarily end the saga of Hillary s emails as the Department of Justice could still decide to press charges anyway, although it s unclear what they would hope to accomplish given the lack of evidence. The most likely outcome is that Donald Trump just lost his best chance at defeating Hillary and after a few weeks of him bellowing that the fix was in, no one will remember what all the drama was about.Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images | 0 |
9,632 | Australia's population growth outpaces world as migrants rush in | SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s population is expanding at the fastest pace in the developed world as skilled migrants flock to the resource-rich nation, a fillip to economic growth overall but perhaps also a source of puzzling weakness in wages. Government figures released on Thursday showed the number of people resident in Australia increased 388,100 in the year to June, a rise of 1.6 percent on 2015/16. That was far above the global increase of 1.1 percent, and well ahead of the United States gain of 0.7 percent and Canada s 0.9 percent. There s still plenty of room for more, given the giant continent still only has 24.6 million people, putting it at 53rd in United Nations global population rankings. Much of Australia s growth came in net overseas migration, which surged more than 27 percent in the year to June to 245,500. That was the highest 12-month total since 2009, while the flow into the states of New South Wales and Victoria beat records. A strong labor market is attracting interstate and overseas migrants to Melbourne, while better housing affordability and jobs growth is driving population growth in Queensland and Tasmania, said Ryan Felsman, a senior economist at CommSec. Overall the stronger rate of population growth is boosting spending, demand for infrastructure, demand for homes, and overall economic growth. Leading migrant countries include China, India, Britain and New Zealand. The flood of newcomers, mostly on skilled migrant programs, is one reason property prices have been on a tear in recent years, especially in Sydney and Melbourne. The extra demand created by all these new Australians was also a major reason the economy grew a brisk 2.8 percent in the year to September. Indeed, strip away population growth and the economy would have expanded by just 1.3 percent. Yet the influx of able bodies has also expanded the workforce right at the time when employers were ramping up their demand for labor, restraining wages growth. Separate figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday showed a barnstorming 383,000 net new jobs were created in the year to November. But wages still grew at a pedestrian annual pace of 2 percent, a perfect case of expanding supply benefiting employers rather than those already employed. Policymakers at Australia s central bank have been baffled by the divergence between employment and wages, citing the mystery as an argument against a rise in interest rates anytime soon. | 1 |
9,633 | After crucial win, Kasich sees path to Republican nomination | BEREA, Ohio (Reuters) - After a critical win on his home turf, Ohio Governor John Kasich begins a new phase of his long-shot presidential campaign that his aides hope will ultimately propel him past Republican front-runner Donald Trump by triggering a rare contested convention. Kasich’s victory in Ohio’s primary on Tuesday, along with the departure from the race of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, makes him the party establishment’s last hope of stopping the New York billionaire businessman from winning the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election. Trump and his closest rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, are deeply unpopular among Republican insiders. “I want you to know, the campaign goes on,” Kasich, 63, told a victory rally near Cleveland. In a reference to Trump’s fiery campaign rhetoric, Kasich added: “I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land.” Trump, 69, notched wins in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina on Tuesday and was projected by MSNBC to win a close race with Cruz in Missouri. But losing Ohio’s winner-take-all contest for 66 delegates complicates his attempt to clinch the 1,237 delegates needed to win his party’s nomination before the party’s July convention in Cleveland. With most of the remaining states allocating delegates proportionally, Kasich’s aides believe he could prevail at a convention at which no candidate enters with a majority. “The plan is to win Ohio, and some other states, and if that happens, nobody is going to have enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot,” said John Weaver, Kasich’s chief campaign strategist, who also worked on Republican Senator John McCain’s losing presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008. Kasich’s plan, according to aides, is to leverage the momentum to gather more endorsements from mainstream party insiders and Republican donors. With the wind at his back, he hopes to score more victories in upcoming primaries including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Connecticut and California, where he believes the terrain is friendlier to his brand of Republican moderation. To become the nominee who faces Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders — in the November election — a Republican needs to win a majority of the 2,472 Republican delegates. After last night’s contests, excluding Missouri’s, Trump leads with 619 delegates, followed by Cruz with 394. Kasich has 136. If no candidate reaches that threshold by the close of the last primary on June 7, the convention will almost certainly be contested — a recent historical rarity that would signal deep party rifts. No convention, by either party, has gone beyond a first ballot since 1952. Kasich has almost no hope of winning enough delegates to secure the nomination outright. Ohio is the lone state he has won. But if he can succeed in blocking Trump from getting a majority, he can make a case to convention delegates that he is more electable than Trump or Cruz, 45, a conservative evangelical and, to date, Trump’s most successful Republican rival. Signs of the Republican establishment rallying behind Kasich were on show this week. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 who recently blasted Trump as a “fraud” in a scathing speech, campaigned with Kasich in Ohio on Monday. “He has the kind of record that you want in Washington,” Romney said in North Canton, Ohio, on a stage next to Kasich, who spent 18 years as a Republican congressman and six as Ohio governor. “You look at this guy, and unlike the other people running, he has a real track record.” On Wednesday, Kasich heads to a campaign event in Pennsylvania and then holds three events in Utah on Friday — where Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is popular with Republicans. Utah, with 40 delegates, votes on March 27. Pennsylvania is one of five states voting on April 26. Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who has stayed neutral in this year’s nominating fight, said Kasich’s victory should earn him more help from party insiders. “There are really just two options left: Either Trump gets enough delegates, or nobody does,” O’Connell said. “Kasich’s win in Ohio means Trump must now win roughly 60 percent of the remaining delegates before the convention. I would say we now have a 50-50 chance of a brokered convention.” O’Connell said that under Republican party rules, a candidate must receive a clear majority of primary votes overall to become the nominee. The history of Republican nominating fights is littered with candidates who received a plurality of the votes, but not a majority, and never became the nominee. Kasich’s aides are looking to history as a guide, particularly Wendell Willkie’s path to the 1940 Republican nomination. That year, three leading candidates – Robert Taft, Thomas Dewey and Arthur Vandenberg – each arrived at the convention without enough delegates to win. Willkie - a businessman and former Democrat who had never before run for public office - opposed the Republican Party’s isolationists and was a supporter of Britain’s war efforts. His cause gained momentum after the Nazi blitzkrieg in Europe in May 1940. After six ballots at the convention, delegates in Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan deserted other candidates and switched to Willkie, giving him victory. Trump, Cruz and Kasich could face the same scenario this year, which would force to them to lobby delegates on the convention floor until one emerged with a majority. “A lot of people who do not want Trump have been sitting back to see how Kasich and Rubio do in their home states on Tuesday,” said Republican strategist Charlie Black, who signed up on Tuesday night as a Kasich adviser. | 1 |
9,634 | CAN HILLARY LIE HER WAY OUT OF THIS ONE? PHYSICIAN Says Hillary Has Parkinson’s Disease…Hillary Admits She Couldn’t Even “Get Up” After Convention | Will Hillary s health be the only thing she can t hide by lying? She s the only presidential candidate who travels with a full-time physician Hillary Clinton stated Friday that she did not know if she could even stand up because she was so exhausted during the disastrous Democratic convention in Philly. By the end of those two weeks that s exactly how I felt, it was, Oh my gosh, I don t know that I can get up, let alone what I will do if I am vertical, Hillary Clinton said in a campaign podcast. I, knock on wood, am pretty lucky because I have a lot of stamina and endurance, which is necessary in the kind of campaign I m engaged in, Clinton stated. Via: Breitbart NewsMeanwhile a top physicians says Hillary has Parkinson s Disease.Hillary Clinton Has Parkinson s Disease, Physician Confirms #HillarysHealth https://t.co/Z8qPlzpvMu Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 12, 2016Hillary s health is declining, as anyone who has looked at her can see. The question is: What condition does she have? A board certified Anesthesiologist has written a memo of Hillary s health.Hillary Clinton (HRC) has suffered a variety of health issues. Unfortunately, she has declined to make her medical records public. In July of 2015 her personal physician released a letter asserting her excellent physical condition. Unfortunately, multiple later episodes recorded on video strongly suggest that the content of the letter is incorrect. This discussion is designed to sort through the known facts and propose a possible medical explanation for these events. In keeping with Occam s Razor, a single explanation that covers everything is preferred.History of Hillary s Health: In 2009, HRC fell and broke her elbow. Little else was made public.[i] On December 17, 2012, while Secretary of State, HRC fell and suffered a concussion.[ii]Later, a transverse sinus thrombosis was diagnosed, resulting in chronic anticoagulation therapy. [iii] Her post-concussion syndrome was declared recovered in about six months.[iv] The original fall was publicly attributed to dehydration following gastroenteritis. An email from Huma Abedin (HRC s closest advisor) on January 26, 2013, says that HRC is often confused. [v] Photos show being assisted up what appears to be the steps of a residential porch. This apparently happened in February of 2016. On August 4, 2016, Reuters and Getty published the photos.[vi] At a rally on May 2, 2016, HRC demonstrates classic PD hand posturing.[vii] She has no lectern in front, so she starts with her right hand pressed against her chest. At the 18:02 mark, she starts gesturing with her right hand, which is in a very unnatural position that is common in PD. On July 21, 2016 HRC was filmed talking to reporters at close range when several spoke at once. Without warning, she started a bizarre head-bobbing episode that must be seen rather than described. After several cycles, she regained control and declared that the reporters must try the iced chai. [viii]WATCH HERE: On July 28, 2016, during the balloon drop, HRC suddenly looks up with a frozen wide-mouth and wide-eyed stare. After a couple of seconds she regains control and a more normal expression.[ix] On August 5, HRC declared that she had short circuited [x] a response to Chris Wallace in an interview that aired July 31 on Fox News Sunday.[xi] August 6, 2016, at a campaign rally, HRC freezes with wide eyes in response to protestors. A large black male who commonly accompanies her leans in and tells her It s OK. We re not going anywhere. Keep talking Shortly after, she laughs strangely and then says OK. Here we are. We ll keep talking. [xii] Several recent photos show HRC with an inappropriately exaggerated wide-mouthed smile and extreme wide-open eyes. Several videos show her laughing inappropriately and for extended periods. Numerous events have been interrupted by prolonged episodes of coughing unrelated to any infectious cause.This discussion will not argue that the black male is carrying a diazepam injector, since there is a plausible argument that it is actually a small flashlight, and is seen in other video to be such. We will also not discuss the circular area on her tongue. It appears to be the site of a mass excision. Benign explanations that do not bear on chronic health issues may easily be proffered.After the 2012 fall, HRC had post-concussion syndrome (PCS). She should have declared herself unable to fulfill her duties as Secretary of State. Her resignation from the position shortly thereafter may have satisfied this need without public medical discussion. If no other questionable medical signs had appeared, this discussion would end here. But the other events and signs point to a single cause for the fall, and it is not the public explanation. Further, HRC s statement early in her tenure as Secretary of State that she would serve only four years can be read in the context of a progressive disease that was known as she assumed the post.It is the premise of this discussion the HRC is most likely suffering from Parkinson s Disease (PD).It explains every one of the items listed above. Further, since it is a diagnosis primarily made by observation, the video record is sufficient to create a high degree of certainty.Via: Danger and Play h/t Gateway Pundit | 0 |
9,635 | Arizona governor declares victory in $3.5-billion education vote | PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona voters have narrowly approved a plan to pump $3.5 billion into education coffers over the next decade and put an end to a long-running legal battle, Republican Governor Doug Ducey said late on Thursday. The measure, approved by state lawmakers and Ducey last year, provides for Arizona to tap its land trust fund and provide an additional $300 for each student, from kindergarten through 12th grade, in public and charter schools. Arizona has historically ranked near the bottom of states in funding education. The latest unofficial results from Tuesday’s special election showed the measure garnering 50.82 percent of votes cast throughout the southwestern U.S. state, and while some 30,000 votes remained to be counted, Ducey declared victory. “This is a huge victory for public education in Arizona,” Ducey said in a statement. “After years of lawsuits and fighting, we are moving forward and funding our teachers, students and schools – instead of lawyers.” Voter approval was required because the measure involved a change to the state’s constitution. The narrow margin of the result proved that a sizeable number of voters disliked the plan, said Morgan Abraham, chairman of the “No” campaign. “This tells me that voters want to fund education the right way, not through the trust fund, but with general funds,” Abraham said, adding that he was disappointed by the outcome of the vote. Much of the controversy during the campaign centered on the funding, with critics saying Arizona was jeopardizing its future by taking too much money from its land trust fund. About 60 percent of the new money will come from the trust fund, and the rest from the state’s general fund. The governor’s office brokered the deal in a bid to end a 2010 lawsuit by a group of school districts and organizations that charged Arizona with failing to fund mandated inflation adjustments to schools during a recent recession. The state’s highest court already had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and the court case was being appealed by the state at the time of the deal. | 1 |
9,636 | MEDIA SPIN ALERT! FBI Does a “Predawn Raid” on Paul Manafort? Not Hillary, Rice, Lynch or Powers? | Why is the news just breaking that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort s home was raised by the FBI on JULY 26TH? Why would WaPo release this info now? While we have serious questions about the timing of this pseudo Breaking and Developing news, we have more serious questions on why none of the Obama criminals have also been treated to a raid by the FBI? FBI agents raided the Virginia home of Paul Manafort, President Trump s former campaign chairman in late July, taking documents and other materials related to the *investigation into Russia s meddling in the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported.*AFTER ONE ENTIRE YEAR OF INVESTIGATIONS, THEY HAVE NOTHING!Armed with a search warrant, federal agents went to Manafort s Alexandria home during the predawn hours of July 26 one day after he met voluntarily with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.The search warrant seems to indicate that investigators may have had reason to believe Manafort could not be trusted to turn over all of the records requested in response to a grand jury subpoena, the Post reported, citing people familiar with the special counsel investigation.Special Counsel Robert Mueller has cranked up the intensity and legal pressure on Manafort on a series of unrelated investigations into various aspects of his personal and professional life.As a lobbyist and political consultant in the 1980s, Manafort worked with international clients including two dictators.Washington Post presumes to know why the FBI would raid Manafort s home but we still see nothing implicating him in any crime. He was Trump s campaign manager for a brief time and had his own past dealing with international clients. This shouldn t be a blip on the radar of the investigation connecting anything to President Trump!Washington Post reported: In many ways, Manafort is squarely in the crosshairs of the Russia-Trump collusion investigation: His brief tenure as the head of Trump s campaign happened as concerns about Russia s meddling in the 2016 election were heating up, he s got high-level connections to Russia in his own right, and he s got a whole host of scrutinized financial dealings that could make him a useful tool for investigators seeking cooperation.We d love to have input on this delayed reporting that has been the big story weeks after! Strange, very strange!FOX NEWS EVEN GOT IN ON THE ACT: Remember that this happened on July 26th!This banner was at the top of the Fox News website! | 0 |
9,637 | Critics decry Trump plan to limit counter-extremism program | SAN FRANCISCO/ WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Trump administration effort to exclude violent white supremacists from a government anti-terrorism program and focus efforts solely on Islamist extremism drew a sharp backlash Thursday, with New York state’s top prosecutor denouncing the move and civil liberties advocates suggesting it is illegal. The proposed revamp, reported by Reuters on Wednesday, would rename the multi-agency “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE) task force to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” and eliminate initiatives aimed at other violent hate groups in the United States. “Abandoning efforts to counter violent white supremacist ideology is profoundly misguided and will endanger Americans,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement, adding that he urged President Donald Trump to keep the focus on “all extremist threats.” Hugh Handeyside, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said an explicit focus on American Muslims would violate “basic constitutional principles,” suggesting the changes described would be met with legal challenges. The Anti-Defamation League also criticized the plan, citing internal research that found 74 percent of deaths caused by domestic extremists between 2007 and 2016 were caused by “right-wing extremists such as white supremacists, sovereign citizens and militia adherents.” Postings on white supremacist websites welcomed the potential changes. Facebook Inc., which like many internet platforms is often used by extremists, has financially supported at least one CVE initiative but had no comment Thursday on the prospective changes. Sharp rhetoric about the threat posed by “radical Islam” was a central part of Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The Republican frequently ridiculed then President Barack Obama and Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for being politically correct in their approach to groups such as Islamic State. Contributors to Stormfront, a white supremacist web site, praised the administration. “Oh my goodness. Is this for real. Amazing my government no longer targets me as the enemy,” wrote one prolific poster going by the username Magog. Another regular poster, Celtchar, wrote: “Wow. It just keeps getting better and better,” adding that the anti-fascist movement’s “days are numbered.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to comment on the proposed changes. Last Friday, Trump signed an executive order temporarily blocking travel to the United States by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, prompting a global outcry and charges from his critics that he was advancing a white nationalist agenda. Trump has said he wants to put America first but has rejected characterizations of the order as a “Muslim ban.” Trump’s moves have already undermined participation in the CVE program, which is based on working with community groups to identify potential “lone wolf” attackers and recruits. Minnesota-based Ka Joog, a nonprofit which provides community based programs for Somali youth, late Wednesday became the second group to pull out of the program, citing concerns about the Trump administration’s posture toward Muslims in turning down a $499,998 grant. “That’s a lot of money, especially in the nonprofit world,” said Mohamed Farah, the organization’s director. “But at the end of the day it all comes down to principle. I am a refugee, I am a Muslim, I am an immigrant and this president is against everything I stand for.” Last week, Leaders Advancing & Helping Communities, a Michigan-based group led by Lebanese-Americans and another grant recipient, declined a $500,000 provided by the DHS. | 1 |
9,638 | Syrian political opposition says hopes Clinton wins U.S. presidency | GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria’s political opposition hopes Hillary Clinton wins the U.S. presidential election next week because she has a better understanding of the conflict than Donald Trump, according to members of a delegation holding talks at the United Nations. Khaled Khoja and Hind Kabawat, in Geneva on Monday to press for U.N.-led negotiations on the release of Syrian detainees, said they trusted Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State, to deliver on the opposition’s top priority - protecting civilians. Clinton has called for the establishment of a no-fly zone and “safe zones” on the ground in Syria to protect non-combatants. Trump says this could “lead to World War Three” due to the potential for conflict with Russia, which is providing military support to President Bashar al-Assad. Kabawat said Trump, who has never held public office and has no foreign policy experience, saw Islamic State, also known as ISIS, as the only alternative to Assad in Syria. “For us a woman’s leadership at this time would be a good thing. Also for many, like Trump and others, they think that the Syrian conflict is comparing Assad with ISIS and they have to take one side or the other, and of course for them Assad will look more prominent than ISIS,” said Kabawat. “She (Clinton) knows that is wrong. She knows that there is this moderate opposition that believes in democracy and freedom. This is what we are aiming for, to have a president of the U.S. with good experience who knows the difference between the different oppositions.” Assad, whose forces have regained much territory against their opponents with the help of Russian warplanes, has branded all those opposed to his rule as “terrorists”. Trump has said defeating Islamic State should be a higher priority than trying to persuade Assad to step aside, a departure from a long-held U.S. policy objective. Khoja, leading the Syrian opposition delegation in Geneva, disagreed with this viewpoint. “Dealing with only the ISIS issue will not help with solving the crisis in Syria or the region because the root cause of the crisis is the (Assad) regime itself,” he said. Kabawat, an attorney and a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, added that the Syrian political opposition wanted to see women playing an equal role to men in the nation’s politics. The opposition delegation, which has links to the Free Syrian Army but not with Islamic State or al Qaeda-linked groups, is in Geneva this week to revive the issue of prisoner releases, sidelined during months of fruitless peace talks. Khoja said more than 100 armed groups had shown their willingness to cooperate but there had been no sign of cooperation from Assad’s government or Russia, adding that the United Nations should form a committee on the matter. “If it’s needed, if there is a response from the regime side to release the detainees and stop killings inside Syria, then we can have the representative of the military groups also in this committee, and if the regime wants to send someone to this committee, we can discuss it,” Khoja said. The Syrian Network of Human Rights has documented more than 90,000 detainees held by the Syrian government, 6,000 held by Islamic State and 2,400 held by the rest of the opposition, but estimates the real numbers are twice as high. | 1 |
9,639 | Magnitude 6.2 quake hits southeast of Oaxaca, Mexico: USGS | (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck southeast of the town of Mat as Romero in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. Slight quake tremors were felt, and seismic alarms sounded on Saturday in Mexico City, which earlier this week was hit by the country s most deadly earthquake in decades. That 7.1 magnitude earthquake destroyed more than 50 buildings in the sprawling Mexican capital on Tuesday, leaving thousands homeless and close to 300 people dead nationwide. | 1 |
9,640 | Idiot Donald Trump Supporter Confronts Ted Cruz And It Gets Ugly REALLY Fast (VIDEO) | It s a pretty well-known fact among those who use their brains to make rational decisions that both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are equally repugnant, but for different reasons (and some of the same reasons). They are both extremely bad choices for the United States, and neither should ever set foot in the Oval Office. Both are war hawks, both are anti-immigrant, which is ironic considering Ted Cruz is and immigrant and so is Trump s wife, and both men don t have any real plans to put in place that would actually be good for the nation.Trump is a bully with zero experience, and Cruz is a smarmy salesman with the bare minimum of experience. So, when watching a Trump supporter confront Ted Cruz in Indiana, it wasn t exactly a meeting of the minds. It was Cruz going after Trump, and Trump s supporter shouting short bursts of propaganda that have been continuously repeated by the Trump campaign.The video is extremely awkward to watch, but at the same time you can t look away. It truly is that much of a disaster.My favorite line from the whole skirmish is when Cruz says: With all respect, Donald Trump is deceiving you, playing you for a chump. It s funny, because it s true, but also ironic, since Cruz is also playing everyone for a fool as well. Cruz s remarks were met with a bunch of random Lyin Ted shouts from the Trump minion, along with Indiana don t want you and where is your Goldman Sachs jacket? clearly unaware he s supporting a big money tycoon himself.Here s a quick highlight from the unsettling confrontation:.@TedCruz asks @realDonaldTrump supporter to name 1 thing he likes about Trump, debates: https://t.co/d9vqjyz05i https://t.co/Njey71niBN CBS News (@CBSNews) May 2, 2016But if you really want to watch the whole thing, you can check out the near nine minutes here:All in all, it makes for great TV, but it s horrifying that this is what the Republican party has come down to. No matter who, vote blue.Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
9,641 | Myanmar's Rohingya suffered for years, need lasting solution: Turkey | BAKU (Reuters) - Turkey s foreign minister called on Wednesday for a lasting solution to the plight of Myanmar s Rohingya Muslims who he said had been living for years in open prisons , ahead of his visit to neighboring Bangladesh to discuss the crisis. President Tayyip Erdogan, who leads Turkey s Islamist-rooted AK Party, has been fiercely critical of Myanmar s treatment of the Rohingyas, saying they have been subjected to genocide. The latest violence began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people. After Erdogan spoke to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, Turkey said it would deliver 1,000 tonnes of food, medicine and clothing to the afflicted northwestern region of Rakhine. Around 150,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh, where Turkey s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is due to arrive later for talks on Thursday about tackling the crisis. Cavusoglu said he would visit the border region to assess the humanitarian needs there, adding that Turkey would also provide ambulances and other equipment. We will not leave these people alone here. However, we need to find a lasting solution to the problem in Rakhine, he said. There have been events and cruelties before as well, many people died or had to leave their homes. I went to Rakhine two years ago as well, and they literally live in open prisons covered in mud. It is unacceptable for people to live under these conditions in this day and age. Suu Kyi has faced increasing pressure from countries with Muslim populations to halt the violence against Rohingya Muslims which has prompted their flight to Bangladesh. Erdogan, whose wife and a son will accompany Cavusoglu to Bangladesh, said this week he had spoken to 20 world leaders about the issue, and would press for it to be discussed at the United Nations later this month. Turkey has said its state aid agency TIKA would start the first foreign aid deliveries to Rakhine on Wednesday. | 1 |
9,642 | Russia says regrets over U.S. moves on consulate closure | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed regret during a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson about Washington s move to close down Moscow s San Francisco consulate and two other annexes, his ministry said. Moscow will closely study the new measures announced by the Americans, after which our reaction will be conveyed, Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. | 1 |
9,643 | LOL! LEADER OF “Do-Nothing Senate” Mitch McConnell CAUGHT ON VIDEO Whining About President Trump’s “Excessive Expectations” Of Congress | Speaking at a Rotary Club gathering in Kentucky on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vented about how President Donald Trump s lack of political experience has led to him setting excessive expectations for legislative priorities.McConnell, R-Ky., told the group in Florence that he found it extremely irritating that Congress has earned the reputation of not accomplishing anything. Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point, said McConnell, a Republican and the state s senior senator.According to the latest Real Clear Politics poll, Congress currently has a 15% approval rating and a 73.3% disapproval rating. There is no mention anywhere in the poll that President Trump is somehow responsible for Congress abysmal approval numbers: Trump, a political newcomer, as McConnell noted, has a habit of declaring progress on major priorities that do not necessarily reflect the reality of lawmaking.For example, as the House was in the midst of negotiations about its Obamacare replacement bill in February, Trump announced that Congress was in the final stages of its bill and said it would be ready for submitting in March. While the House bill was unveiled in March, that chamber didn t vote on it until May, and health care votes continued until the end of July.That sort of disconnect has led to Trump s expressing disappointment when bills chief among them health care reform fail to end up on his desk, even though, as with health care, the political reality indicated all along how difficult it was going to be to pass legislation. Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before. And I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process, McConnell told the group. So part of the reason I think people feel we re underperforming is because too many artificial deadlines unrelated to the reality of the complexity of legislating may not have been fully understood. ABC NewsWATCH: | 0 |
9,644 | Out in the cold: New U.S. budget priorities threaten housing aid programs | (Reuters) - When Paul Ryan, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, talks of social mobility, about helping struggling Americans move out of impoverished areas to give them greater opportunity, Shiva Daniels is the kind of person he has in mind. A federal housing voucher allowed Daniels to escape her crime-plagued neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, and move her four children to the suburb of Garland. That move helped Daniels find a good job, working for a property management company. Today, she cherishes the small, two-bedroom house she rents, with a yard where her children can safely play, away from drugs and gang violence in Dallas. But if Daniels, 31, were to lose the $1,082 monthly stipend she receives, she has no doubt what would happen. “I would have to move back,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to afford it.” Pulling Americans out of poverty is a subject close to Ryan’s heart. And President Donald Trump has frequently talked about aiding the inner cities. But the housing assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, could fall victim to fiscal policies under consideration by the White House and Congress, which include a massive tax cut and increased military spending, according to a dozen congressional aides who spoke to Reuters. While the White House has not been specific about its plans for HUD — the budget process remains in flux — it has called for a $54 billion cut in non-military discretionary domestic programs in the next fiscal year, which likely will dramatically impact safety-net programs that are not entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security, budget experts said. Altogether, housing advocates paint a bleak picture of the landscape for low-income housing under the Trump administration. They warn that deep cuts to housing funds would force some people out of their homes and hollow out grant programs meant to revitalize urban neighborhoods. There is also a ripple effect, they warn: Rental prices would likely rise alongside declines in affordable housing projects and vouchers available to renters. That would make it tougher for renters to save enough to eventually buy homes. “It’s a bad cycle,” said Carol Galante, a former top HUD official during the Obama administration. “It puts pressure on the rental market. The rents are higher and higher so people can save less and less.” HUD provides about 5 million Americans with some form of housing assistance, either through vouchers to renters, subsidies to landlords or public housing projects, which comprises about 85 percent of its budget. It also sends about $8 billion annually directly to communities through grants. Even so, only about one-quarter of those eligible for assistance in the country receive it. Housing advocates say changes to its budget or mandate would be directly felt in low-income communities. They point out that in 2013, when the legislatively mandated budget cuts known as sequestration hit HUD, more than 100,000 renters nationwide lost their housing support. Douglas Rice, an expert at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, estimates that for every 1 percent cut in HUD’s budget, 20,000 renters would lose their assistance But critics of the agency, including some Republican lawmakers, say its anti-poverty and community-development programs are inefficient and wasteful, and that it has failed to live up to its mission. Today, the proportion of Americans who live below the poverty line — 14.5 percent — is about the same as it was 35 years ago. HUD has also at times had difficulty shaking the image of a bureaucratic agency that is vulnerable to corruption. It was at the center of a bid-rigging scandal during the Reagan Administration. And Alphonso Jackson, the HUD secretary under President George W. Bush, resigned in 2008 amid allegations that he steered contracts to friends. Charges were never brought against Jackson. “There are some sports teams that never seem to gel. I think we’re a little like that at HUD,” said Bud Albright, a Washington lobbyist who worked at the agency when Republican Jack Kemp was secretary in the early 1990s. Trump, who has not been specific on his plans for the agency, selected Ben Carson to lead HUD. The former neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate won Senate confirmation last week. Although Carson’s views hew closely to Republican orthodoxy on how too much government can discourage people from working hard, his upbringing in inner-city Detroit gives him a unique perspective: his mother received food stamps to provide for her family and he was raised around housing assistance programs similar to those he will now manage. Carson, who declined requests for interviews by Reuters, has pledged to fight to protect HUD’s housing-assistance budget and preserve the agency’s community-development initiatives. He also said he would push to include funding to rehabilitate public-housing facilities in Trump’s proposed $1 trillion infrastructure plan. But given the White House’s determination to cut domestic spending, Carson will have to fight for every dollar. A HUD spokesman declined to comment on which programs could be hurt by any possible budget cuts. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment. Congress, too, is looking to narrow HUD’s reach. Ryan has called for work requirements and time limits on those who receive housing assistance, similar to how child support, food assistance and other welfare benefits function. Tax reform spearheaded by Ryan and Kevin Brady, the House Ways and Means chairman, could ultimately do away with a key tax credit used by developers to build affordable housing, or could drastically curtail the credit’s use. One vocal critic of HUD is Jeb Hensarling, Republican chair of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the housing agency. Hensarling plans to introduce legislation this year to narrow the $1 trillion portfolio of the Federal Housing Administration, which helps low-income and first-time homebuyers purchase homes, his office said. Hensarling has said he fears that if home values drop the FHA would require another federal bailout as it did in 2013, when it received a taxpayer-funded infusion of $1.7 billion to cover its losses. If the cuts to HUD’s budget are as severe as some expect, those who are on waiting lists now for vouchers will be staying on them for a very long time, and recipients such as Shiva Daniels, who has been receiving assistance for six years, will be at risk of seeing that support end. That would mean losing her small house, with the yard she sees as a safe haven for her children. “It might not feel like it’s a big deal, but it is,” Daniels said. “When you feel good, it allows you to do better, and do better for them.” | 1 |
9,645 | STEVE JOBS’ WIDOW ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR “Revolutionary” HILLARY On Same Day Hillary’s Busted For Faking This… | You d think she d know a thing or two about email servers and at a minimum, question Hillary s integrity Apple founder Steve Jobs widow Laurene has told of her admiration for Democratic White House front-runner Hillary Clinton.Ms Jobs, 51, called former First Lady Hillary a revolutionary woman, and added that it s not just because she s a woman but the type of woman she is .Speaking to Time 100, Ms Jobs said: Hillary Clinton is not familiar. She is revolutionary. Not radical, but revolutionary: The distinction is crucial. She is one of America s greatest modern creations. Her decades in our public life must not blind us to the fact that she represents new realities and possibilities. Indeed, those same decades have conferred upon her what newness usually lacks: judgment, and even wisdom. Oops wrong picture! It matters, of course, that Hillary is a woman. But what matters more is what kind of woman she is. Mrs Clinton announced her intention to seek the Democratic nomination on Sunday and set upon the campaign trail with a trip to meet ordinary voters in Iowa.But she was blasted for her staged visit on Tuesday morning to a coffee shop in LeClaire, Iowa.Austin Bird, one of the men pictured sitting at the table with Mrs Clinton, claimed the whole event was orchestrated from beginning to end .Bird told Daily Mail Online that campaign staffer Troy Price called and asked him and two other young people to meet him Tuesday morning at a restaurant in Davenport, a nearby city. Price then drove them to the coffee house to meet Clinton after vetting them for about a half-hour.The three got the lion s share of Mrs. Clinton s time and participated in what breathless news reports described as a roundtable the first of many in her brief Iowa campaign swing. Bird himself is a frequent participant in Iowa Democratic Party events. He interned with President Obama s 2012 presidential re-election campaign, and was tapped to chauffeur Vice President Joe Biden in October 2014 when he visited Davenport. What happened is, we were just asked to be there by Troy, Bird said Wednesday in a phone interview. We were asked to come to a meeting with Troy, the three of us, at the Village Inn. The other two, he confirmed, were University of Iowa College Democrats president Carter Bell and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland employee Sara Sedlacek. It was supposed to be a strategy meeting, Bird recalled, to get our thoughts about issues. But then all of a sudden he says, Hey, we have Secretary Clinton coming in, would you like to go meet her? And then we got in a car Troy s car and we went up to the coffee house, and we sat at a table and then Hillary just came up and talked with us. Bird said we all were called. I mean, Troy asked us all to do to go to a meeting with him. And we didn t really know what it was about. I mean, he did. He knew. Via: UK Daily Mail | 0 |
9,646 | Bosnia's Serb region declares neutrality in bid to block NATO membership | BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Bosnia s Serb Republic on Wednesday declared itself militarily neutral in a move its president said was the first step towards a referendum on joining NATO, which is unpopular among Serbs after its 1995 and 1999 bombing campaigns in Bosnia and Kosovo. The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous regions created in Bosnia after its war in the 1990s during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. It is tied with the Bosniak-Croat Federation via a weak central government, which is in charge of military issues. Bosnia s inter-ethnic presidency, its central government in Sarajevo and the Federation dominated by Muslim Bosniaks and Croats have long said joining NATO and the European Union are strategic priorities. But the Bosnian Serbs lean towards closer ties with Russia, aligning their policy with that of wartime patron and ally Serbia where NATO is hugely unpopular after its 1999 bombing campaign to drive Serbian forces out of Kosovo and after 1995 NATO air strikes against rebel Serbs in Bosnia. Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, a Serb nationalist, has repeatedly said closer ties with NATO should be decided by referendum in the Serb Republic, even though such decisions can only be taken at state level according to the constitution. The National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) has made a decision to proclaim military neutrality ... in relation to the existing military alliances until a possible referendum to make a final decision on the issue is held, the resolution said. It was passed by a narrow majority in the early hours of Wednesday after hours of obstruction by Serb opposition parties over procedural matters. Bosniak deputies abstained from the vote, saying the parliament could not decide on defense issues. This resolution is not binding and represents only a stance on the issue, said political analyst Tanja Topic. I think the Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) cannot decide in any capacity about Bosnia joining any military alliance or about any segment of defense because it is an entity within the Bosnian state which is the single authority for these issues, Topic said. Bosnia has made some progress towards fulfilling conditions for the Membership Action Plan, the forerunner to full NATO membership, but Bosnian Serbs have dragged their feet on meeting the remaining terms. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nine years after NATO bombing drove out Serbian forces accused of killing and expelling ethnic Albanian civilians as Serbia tried to put down an insurgency in Kosovo. Serbia refuses to recognize its independence. | 1 |
9,647 | Patrick Henningsen LIVE with guest Sean Stone – ‘Project for a New Global Government?’ | Join Patrick every week here at 21WIRE.TV for news, views and analysis on all top stories domestically and abroad THIS WEEK: Episode 4 The New World Order Did Great Britain regain control of its former American colonies by stealth? From Cecil Rhodes and his Round Table, to H.G. Wells, to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski many have worked to steer the world beyond the modern nation state and into Technetronic Era of global government. But to what end?Host Patrick Henningsen talks to Sean Stone, author of the new book, New World Order: A Strategy for Imperialism. Listen: END 927 Download Link START 999 Download Link Download this podcast END 999 Download Link This program broadcasts LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm MST, right after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com.READ MORE NWO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NWO Files | 0 |
9,648 | Moldova sends troops to NATO drills despite presidential veto | CHISINAU (Reuters) - The Moldovan government said on Thursday it has sent 57 servicemen to Ukraine to participate in military exercises starting this week, deepening a row with the pro-Russian president who had vetoed the move. The drills in western Ukraine from Sept. 8-23 will be conducted mainly by NATO member countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey. They coincide with war games known as Zapad , or West , by thousands of Russian troops in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The Russian exercises have worried NATO despite Moscow s assurances troops would rehearse a purely defensive scenario. Moldova is governed by a pro-Western government and a pro-Moscow president, meaning frequent clashes over foreign policy, especially where relations with Russia and the European Union are concerned. The government s plans to send troops were vetoed by President Igor Dodon, who argued that Moldova is bound by its constitution to stay neutral. The defense ministry ignored the president, who is also Moldova s commander-in-chief. Officially I confirm that, despite all the obstacles, 57 servicemen of Moldova, as was planned earlier, just an hour ago went by bus to participate in NATO military exercises, which start on Friday in Ukraine, Defence Ministry spokeswoman Diana Gradinaru said. Earlier this year Dodon banned the participation of military personnel in NATO exercises in Romania, prompting complaints by the U.S. and Romanian ambassadors. Moldova has been governed by pro-Western governments since 2009 and signed a trade pact with the EU in 2014. Russia retaliated by halting imports of Moldovan farm produce, depriving the country of a key market for its wine, fruit and vegetables. Relations suffered further this year due to a dispute in March over the treatment of Moldovan officials traveling to or through Russia, and the expulsion of Russian diplomats in May. In August, Moldova declared Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin persona non grata, accusing him of making defamatory remarks about Moldovan government officials. | 1 |
9,649 | House, Senate letters back Asia military funding proposal | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. members of Congress has backed a proposal for $7.5 billion of new military funding for U.S. forces and their allies in the Asia-Pacific region, where tensions have risen over China’s territorial ambitions and military buildup. Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives and eight senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties wrote to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to support the Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative (ASPI) proposed in January by John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Service Committee. Copies of the letters were seen by Reuters. Their signatories include members of the armed services committees in both houses of Congress. McCain’s proposal calls for $1.5 billion annually for five years to 2022 to boost U.S. munitions stocks in the region, build new military infrastructure, such as runways, and help allies and partners increase their capabilities. The House letter urged Mattis to incorporate McCain’s proposal in the fiscal 2018-22 defense budgets. “The Asia-Pacific region holds many interests for U.S. foreign policy that will require our government to continue to prioritize our time, energy and resources there,” it said. The letter called former President Barack Obama’s policy of giving precedence to the Asia-Pacific “sound” and it was “critical” that this be continued under President Donald Trump. It expressed concern about “the eroding military and economic balance that is the result of the People’s Republic of China’s two-decade military modernization, combined with the effect of years of sequestration on the U.S. military and our foreign policy apparatus.” The Senate letter also expressed concern about increasing Russian activity in the region and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. “ASPI will show both allies and adversaries that the U.S. remains committed to ensuring peace and security in a region that contains the world’s three largest economies, four most populous countries, six of the world’s largest armies, and five of the seven U.S. mutual defense agreements,” it said. Trump has vowed to take a tougher line with China and to build up the U.S. military, although it is unclear whether he will succeed in lifting caps on defense spending that have been part of “sequestration” legislation. China is due to announce its defense budget for this year this weekend, and its navy is likely to secure significant new funding as Beijing seeks to check U.S. dominance of the high seas and step up its projection of global power. | 1 |
9,650 | Head of G4S immigration unit at center of abuse scandal quits | (Reuters) - The head of a G4S-run immigration unit in Britain at the center of allegations of bullying and abuse, has resigned, the outsourcing company said on Friday. G4S said Ben Saunders, director of the immigration removal center near Gatwick Airport in southeast England, would be replaced on an interim basis by Lee Hanford from Monday, Sept. 25, pending the appointment of a permanent successor. British lawmakers accused G4S last week of repeated failures of detainee welfare safeguards and whistleblowing mechanisms at the immigration center, after physical and verbal abuse by guards was revealed in a BBC documentary. G4S, contracted by the British government to run the Brook House center, earlier this month suspended 10 members of staff, three of whom have now been sacked, for abusive behavior following the documentary. Police are also investigating. Earlier this year an investigation at the G4S-run Medway Secure Training Centre resulted in allegations of abuse and mistreatment of youngsters. The center is now run by the government s National Offender Management Service. | 1 |
9,651 | WATCH: Hillary Clinton Gave The PERFECT Response To Trump’s Childish Insult | Hillary Clinton isn t letting the latest childish nickname from Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump get under her skin. Appearing on ABC s This Week, the Democratic candidate was asked about Trump calling her Crooked Hillary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqT3quvHfss He can say whatever he wants to say about me, I really couldn t care less, Clinton said on ABC s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, I don t respond to Donald Trump and his string of insults about me. Clinton went on to emphasize why she isn t afraid of Trump s schoolyard insults, but is more than willing to take him on head-first. I can take care of myself, Clinton said on This Week when asked to respond to Trump s jab. What I m concerned about is how he goes after everybody else. He goes after women. He goes after Muslims. He goes after immigrants. He goes after people with disabilities. He is hurting our unity at home. He is undermining the values that we stand for in New York and across America. And he s hurting us around the world. Trump is trying to make noise in the media about Clinton at the exact same time he s stuck in a delegate fight with Senator Ted Cruz. Trump has been repeatedly out-hustled and out-campaigned at state delegate events where Cruz has organized to secure delegates ahead of the Republican Convention in Cleveland. Trump faces the prospect of the nomination being snatched away from him, even though he has a very big lead over Cruz, because Trump may have problems hitting the 1,237 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination.Even if he succeeds there, polling indicates Trump is in for a nightmare election if he goes head to head with Clinton. Polling shows that Trump s unfavorable are so sky-high he would lose to Clinton by double digits in a national election. Trump also shows considerable weakness in state polling, where he pulls up even at best with Clinton in strong Republican states like Mississippi and Utah.Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
9,652 | Historian BURIES Every Excuse Senate Republicans Have Used To Block Obama’s SCOTUS Nominee | Senate Republicans were just taken to the woodshed by a historian for their unprecedented obstruction of President Obama s Supreme Court nominee.Ever since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, Republicans have used every excuse they can think of to justify their refusal to even consider anyone President Obama picks to fill the vacancy.And in response to an op-ed written by GOP Senator Orrin Hatch in which he lists several of those excuses, a historian fired back with an op-ed of his own completely burying each and every one of them.When Hatch suggested the rules are different when replacing one of the greatest jurists in our nation s history, Wofford College Professor Mark S. Byrnes replied, it does not matter who the president is replacing. All openings on the Court are created equal. And frankly, Scalia was one of the worst Supreme Court Justices this country has ever had the misfortune to witness. He was easily swayed in his decisions by gifts from those who wanted him to rule a certain way and many of his dissents are nothing more than glorified temper tantrums that had little to do with constitutional interpretation and more to do with failing to force another aspect of the right-wing agenda down our throats.Byrnes then scorched Hatch for accusing President Obama of disagreeing with Scalia s philosophy and reminded him that, When the electorate once again decisively elected Obama as president in 2012, it did not include an asterisk that said he could only replace justices with whom he agreed. Indeed, if that were the case we wouldn t have Clarence Thomas on the bench because former President George H. W. Bush would have had to nominate someone with a liberal philosophy similar to Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom Thomas replaced, to the high court.Hatch also complained about President Obama opposing two nominees of former President George W. Bush as a senator and claimed Obama has repeatedly exceeded constitutional authority. Byrnes slapped those two excuses down by noting that at least Bush s nominees received a vote and that if Republicans really believed Obama has done something wrong they would have drawn up articles of impeachment by now.Hatch also pointed out that Americans chose a Democratic president and a Republican Senate, but that was easily countered as well as Byrnes noted that Obama nominated centrist Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. He did not chose someone who was a darling of the Democratic left, but someone who has (in the past) been repeatedly praised by Republicans, including Hatch himself, Byrnes noted.Byrnes then lambasted Hatch for getting American history wrong.Hatch claimed in his op-ed that, Throughout its history, the Senate has never confirmed a nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy that occurred this late in a term-limited president s time in office. And Bynes really handed Hatch his ass on this claim.As a history teacher, I am used to the instinct unprepared undergraduates have to bolster a poor argument with the throughout history trick. I expect better of United States Senators.Hatch shows his contempt for his readers with this tortured construction. To make his throughout its history line work, Hatch needs to make that history awfully short. He does that with the phrase term-limited. The 22nd Amendment, which imposes term limits on presidents, has only been in effect for 65 years. So this particular throughout its history means for 65 years less than Hatch s own life span.Bynres goes on to note that there has only been one other vacancy during that period that was this late in a president s term: LBJ s nomination of Abe Fortas in 1968. Yes, Fortas was not confirmed as Chief Justice. That nomination received a hearing, however, and a vote. It was not met with this disingenuous nonsense that we never do this. And as Hatch well knows, 1968 was one of the most contentious elections years in American history. Somehow, the Senate still did its job.Byrnes also blasted Hatch for using how nasty the current election has been as an excuse to not do his job because only Republicans have made the election nasty thus far. And when Hatch claimed that both parties have politicized the confirmation process, Byrnes observed that only Republicans are escalating the politicization to an unprecedented height this time around.In his conclusion, Byrnes urged Republicans to stop acting like cowards and stop pretending that their obstruction is about something more than just trying to keep the Supreme Court conservative.If Hatch and his fellow Republicans want to vote against Judge Garland, they have every right to do so. But they should stop being cowards. They should make a substantive argument against him. vote against him, and accept the political consequences of that vote. They should stop pretending that this reckless path they have chosen is anything but a desperate attempt to hold onto a Supreme Court majority.Seriously, Senate Republicans need to stop with the excuses and do their job. They have thrown their little temper tantrum and they have lost the argument repeatedly. Every excuse they have offered has literally been destroyed by facts and historical evidence. They need to get over it and get the Court back to full capacity or the American people will have another real excuse to boot them out of office in November.Featured image: Cagle | 0 |
9,653 | In warning to Ankara, EU cuts funds for Turkey's membership bid | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is set to cut up to 175 million euros for Turkey in 2018 that are linked to Ankara s stalled bid to join the bloc and could block some 3.5 billion euros in development loans earmarked for the country, lawmakers and diplomats said. In a symbolic stand against deteriorating human rights in Turkey, the 2018 cuts are likely to be the start of a longer-term reduction of pre-accession aid that is meant to help EU candidate countries prepare for membership. As long as Turkey is not respecting freedom of speech, human rights, and is drifting further away from European democratic standards, we cannot finance such a regime with EU funds, said Siegfried Muresan, the European Parliament s chief budget negotiator. Two EU diplomats said EU governments had agreed with the European Parliament this week to withdraw 105 million euros that would have gone to help finance political reforms in Turkey, as well as holding back another 70 million euros. Ankara can still access the 70 million euros if it improves its rights record, Muresan said. Signaling the slow collapse of Turkey s decades-long attempt to join the European Union, the cuts are deeper than an initial proposal to reduce funds by 80 million euros next year. They follow a call for action by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her re-election campaign, who has described Turkish behavior on human rights as unacceptable . Aside from money that the EU gives Turkey as part of its 2016 migration deal, Ankara was set to receive 4.4 billion euros from the EU between 2014 and 2020. Some EU governments now want frozen funds to go to non-governmental groups in Turkey, not to Ankara. Next week, EU governments and lawmakers are set to decide whether Ankara should also lose access to some 3.5 billion euros of European Investment Bank loans that have been earmarked for Turkey until 2020 and that have yet to be assigned. They are now likely to be made available to Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, diplomats said. Merkel has said the rule of law in Turkey is moving in the wrong direction , a reference to the large-scale purge that President Tayyip Erdogan has carried out following a failed coup attempt in July 2016. While the EU condemned the coup attempt, the scope of Erdogan s response, his detention of U.S. and European citizens including dual nationals, and his jibes at Germany for what he has called Nazi-like behavior have soured EU-Turkey ties. Erdogan says the purges across society are necessary to maintain stability in a NATO country bordering Iraq and Syria. Launched in 2015 after decades in which Ankara sought to formally start an EU membership bid, Turkey s EU membership negotiations were always sensitive for France and Germany because of its status as a large, mainly Muslim country. They are not officially frozen, despite calls from Austria to formally scrap Turkey s EU membership program. That is in part because the EU relies on Ankara to take in Syrian refugees in return for billions of euros of aid. But a majority of EU countries, led by Germany and the Netherlands, say it no longer makes sense to fund political reforms in Turkey when formal EU membership talks have not taken place since last year. | 1 |
9,654 | Dennis Rodman talks of skiing friendship with Kim Jong Un | EDINBURGH (Reuters) - U.S. basketball legend Dennis Rodman said on Wednesday he had skied and sung karaoke with his friend North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un and would like to straighten things out amid a nuclear standoff with the United States. Rodman has paid several visits to Kim in the isolated state but the two rarely discuss politics, the retired National Basketball Association star told British TV show Good Morning Britain. North Korea has carried out a series of nuclear and missile tests and U.S. President Donald Trump has responded with warnings of a massive military response. For me to go over there and see (Kim) as much as I have, I basically hang out with him all the time. We laugh, we sing karaoke, we do a lot of cool things together. We ride horses, we hang out, we go skiing, we hardly ever talk politics and that s the good thing, Rodman said, according to a transcript. The basketball ace expressed admiration for Trump but said the U.S. president could be a little bit crazy sometimes . Rodman last visited North Korea in June and earlier trips stoked talk that he could facilitate a breakthrough between Pyongyang and Washington, although his comments on Kim have also drawn ridicule. North Korea has long ignored warnings from the West and from its lone major ally, China, to halt its nuclear and missile tests which it conducts in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Rodman said he was not trying to defend the actions of Kim and was just an ambassador for sports. He said the relationship between the U.S. and Russia had changed but for some reason we have a big issue with North Korea. I don t love (Kim). I just want to try to straighten things out for everyone to get along together. Rodman, nicknamed The Worm during his playing career and known for his flamboyant character, is considered one of the best defensive players and rebounders in NBA history. (This story has been refiled to change tense of word in lede) | 1 |
9,655 | Coalition of 24 states urges Trump to kill Obama's carbon emission plan | (Reuters) - Officials in 24 states have urged U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to kill the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat climate change and shut down coal-fired power plants. The coalition requested the incoming Republican government undo the Clean Power Plan enacted by the current Democratic administration. The law was designed to lower carbon emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. The Supreme Court has ordered a delay in implementation until legal challenges to the regulation are completed. The group, headed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, suggests Congress take action to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from drafting similar regulations in the future. “The order (to withdraw the plan) should explain that it is the administration’s view that the (Clean Power Plan) is unlawful and that EPA lacks authority to enforce it. The executive order is necessary to send an immediate and strong message to States and regulated entities that the administration will not enforce the rule,” according to Morrisey. Trump’s potential Cabinet is filling with nominees from top fossil fuel-producing states. He tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, an ardent opponent of Obama’s measures to curb climate change, to run the Environmental Protection Agency and Rick Perry, a climate skeptic and former governor of Texas, to head the Department of Energy. Trump has promised to revive oil and gas drilling and coal mining by cutting back on federal regulations. He also has said he would pull the United States out of a global deal to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, which an overwhelming number of scientists say contribute to changes to the climate that are leading to sea level rise, droughts and more frequent violent storms. | 1 |
9,656 | WATCH: White Nationalist Gets Punched On Live Television For Incredibly Racist Remarks | During a debate on French television show Niveau Z ro (Zero Level), right-wing nationalist Daniel Conversano spewed so much hate that essayist Alain Soral couldn t hold back anymore. They re not French, Conversano said about Arab immigrants. He thinks Muslims should be killed and wiped out of the country by any means necessary, even if it means committing war crimes.Conversano is also anti-Semitic, which means he wants to treat Jews like the Nazis treated them.Soral took issue with Conversano s open hostility toward Muslims, saying, They re not white, you mean, he replied. By what right do you dare to say that? And then things escalated.CONVERSANO: Because it s the truth and everyone realizes it. SORAL: Who is everyone, you little sh*t? Conversano responded by defining everyone as the 30 percent of people who support the National Front Party in the polls because they have had it up to their a**holes in Arabs. At this point, Soral couldn t stand listening to Conversano s racist bullshit anymore and proceeded to whoop his ass.Here s the video via YouTube. The fight is at the 9:30 mark:Over 70 years ago, Americans joined nations around the world to fight and defeat regimes that preached racial purity and hate against certain ethnic groups. White nationalists in Germany took control of the nation from within via elections and the people paid the price for it. Millions of people around the globe paid the price for it with their very lives. Democracy and humanity were directly threatened with annihilation because people like Daniel Conversano in France and Donald Trump here in America are allowed to peddle their hatred and bigotry as mainstream ideas. They play on people s fears and emotions to turn them against people. And when enough people hand them power, we end up with brutal dictatorships that commit human rights violations and even genocide.A right-wing movement is currently rising to power across Europe like a plague and even America is going to be controlled by white nationalists for the next four years. For some reason, millions of people in Europe and America have forgotten about what white nationalists have done in the not-so-distant past. Jews were the ones being persecuted during World War II. Muslims are the ones being persecuted now. And fascism is once again poised to destroy democracy. The only question is who is going to stand up and fight against it if the governments and military forces of the free world are dominated by evil?While we may not necessarily agree with what Soral did, at least he had the courage to fight a white nationalist in defense of human rights. After all, white nationalists have been committing hate crimes and killing people for decades.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
9,657 | Trump Press Secretary F*cks Up, Idiotically Retweets Satire Video Making Fun Of Him | The Trump administration has a Twitter problem. Donald Trump can t seem to control his narcissistic Twitter rants, but even his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, is far too impulsive. He retweeted a video that he thought was a flattering portrayal, but the truth is, it was a satirical Onion video, and if he had watched till the end, he would realize it wasn t flattering at all.A good part of Spicer s job is to monitor the media. You would think he would read all the way through, or at least who the source was, but instead, Spicer tweeted, You nailed it. Period! to the Onion.The video, entitled 5 Things To Know About Sean Spicer, should have let Spicer in on the joke in the very first item. It said his role in the Trump administration is to provide the American public with robust and clearly articulated misinformation. Okay, perhaps he missed the mis in misinformation. Next?The second one was innocuous enough. It said he was formerly Senior Correspondent on NPR s national desk. Fair enough. Next?Clearly, Spicer didn t get to the third one because in that, the Onion called his speaking style defensive. As for whether Spicer has lied to the press, the answer to #4 is possibly above most Trumpian s heads: One s own mental activity is the only unquestionable fact of one s experience. The last one could be what Spicer was referring to when he said nailed it! The question was, does he nail the pocket square or does he nail the pocket square. Spicer is almost as good at the pocket square as he is at alternative facts, so the Onion s answer was:Snowy white, quarter inch of clearance you better believe he does.Oddly, that tweet is still up, but people aren t letting him forget it. Of course, as one Twitter user reminded us, Spicer also tweeted two passwords last week. In other words, he s clearly not too bright.You nailed it. Period! https://t.co/AUmS1C222b Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 29, 2017 | 0 |
9,658 | Trump softens immigration stance, takes measured tone in speech | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told Congress on Tuesday he was open to immigration reform, shifting from his harsh rhetoric on illegal immigration in a speech that offered a more restrained tone than his election campaign and first month in the White House. Trump, in a prime-time address to a country that remains divided over his leadership, set aside disputes with Democrats and the news media to deliver his most presidential performance to date, seeking to regain the confidence of Americans rattled by his leadership thus far. The president’s speech was long on promises but short on specifics on how to achieve a challenging legislative agenda that could add dramatically to budget deficits. He wants a healthcare overhaul, broad tax cuts and a $1 trillion public-private initiative to rebuild degraded roads and bridges. Trump built a base of support behind his presidential campaign by vowing to fight illegal immigration. In his speech, he took a more moderate tone, appealing to Republicans and Democrats to work together on immigration reform. He said it was possible if both Republicans and Democrats in Congress were willing to compromise, although he also said U.S. immigration should be based on a merit-based system, rather than relying on lower-skilled immigrants. Comprehensive immigration reform eluded his two predecessors, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican George W. Bush, because of deep divisions within Congress and among Americans over the issue. Trump said reform would raise wages and help more struggling families enter the middle class. “I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation’s security, and to restore respect for our laws,” said the Republican president. Trump’s first month in office was dominated by a fight over his temporary travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority nations, repeated attacks on the news media and harsh personal criticism of judges who blocked his immigration order. In his speech on Tuesday, he appeared to look for a reset, trying to move past a chaotic period that sowed doubts about his ability to govern effectively. “The time for trivial fights is behind us,” he said. Financial markets showed a muted reaction as Trump gave few specifics or new details. Early signs showed Trump’s speech drew a positive response. A CNN/ORC poll found 57 percent of viewers thought Trump’s speech was very positive and 69 percent said they felt more optimistic about the future of the country. “He’s lost his foot and mouth disease,” said Tom Beckwith, 71, of Seminole, Florida. “This was a tremendous speech. He’s cured.” Still, there was plenty of evidence of ongoing partisan divisions. In the chamber of the House of Representatives where Trump spoke, Democrats sometimes sat in silence and turned their thumbs down at his remarks. Many women lawmakers wore white in a subtle show of protest. Democratic Senator Christopher Coons of Delaware called Trump’s speech one of “the most coherent public addresses he’s given in a month.” But Coons said he viewed Trump’s forthcoming budget proposals as “gravely concerning,” citing the president’s plan for paying for a defense buildup by cutting foreign aid and other programs. Much of Trump’s speech focused on solving problems at home in line with his “America first” rhetoric. Apart from criticizing Obama for increasing the national debt, Trump did not mention the federal budget deficit, which will severely limit any new spending programs. On immigration, Trump again pledged to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, but he made no mention this time of Mexico paying for it. He also said he would “shortly take new steps to keep our nation safe,” referring to a new executive order he is to sign to replace one embroiled in the courts. Trump focused part of the speech on foreign policy, stressing his support for NATO but insisting allies pay more for their defense. In a possible nod to his bid to warm relations with Russia, which he did not mention by name, Trump said: “America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align.” Trump has been criticized for his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A U.S. congressional committee is investigating contacts between Trump’s election campaign and Russia to see if there were any inappropriate communications. “We want harmony and stability, not war and conflict,” said Trump, who said, however, he would embark on a big defense buildup. Trump said he wanted to provide “massive tax relief” to the middle class and cut corporate tax rates. But he did not offer specifics and failed to comment on the most pressing tax issue facing Congress, a proposed border adjustment tax to boost exports over imports. Lawmakers have been looking to Trump for more leadership on an issue that has divided corporate America and Republicans in Congress. Trump called on the Republican-led Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access and lower costs. Republicans remain divided on how to accomplish that goal and Democrats vehemently oppose tampering with a system that provides health insurance for millions of low-income Americans. While Trump’s comments lacked detail, it was the first time he publicly supported tax credits to help Americans purchase their own coverage, a nod to health insurers who say they are necessary to keep people in the market. Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear said in the Democratic response to Trump’s speech that “you and your Republican allies in Congress seem determined to rip affordable health insurance away from millions of Americans who most need it.” In the most emotional moment of the night, Trump singled out Carryn Owens, the widow of U.S Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who was killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen. Owens, tears streaming down her face, clasped her hands and looked upward from her spot in the balcony as lawmakers and the president applauded her in the longest ovation of Trump’s hour-long speech. Trump said the mission that her husband participated in obtained vital intelligence that could be used against Islamist militants, taking issue with news reports quoting U.S. officials who said little was gained from the raid. | 1 |
9,659 | Former Campaign Finance Co-Chair BLASTS Christie For Trump Endorsement, Pulls Support | On Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shocked everyone and became a Donald Trump fanboy. In an endorsement speech a day after the 600th Republican debate, he claimed that he believed the billionaire is the only GOP candidate who could beat the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, in the general election. However, the former National Finance Co-Chair for Christie s campaign isn t buying it, and has now pulled her support for the governor.Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman released a statement slamming Christie for his political opportunism : Chris Christie s endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism. Donald Trump is unfit to be President. He is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears. Trump would take America on a dangerous journey. Christie knows all that and indicated as much many times publicly. The Governor is mistaken if he believes he can now count on my support, and I call on Christie s donors and supporters to reject the Governor and Donald Trump outright. I believe they will. For some of us, principle and country still matter. The move to endorse Trump was absolutely Christie s attempt to share the candidate s limelight. And even though the real estate mogul pretended to be really honered that the NJ governor endorsed him, they way he spoke to Christie after his endorsement proves otherwise.It s also true that Christie has said that Trump is not fit to be President of the United States on more than one occasion. For instance on August 13, he told Fox News: Donald is a great guy and a good person, but I don t think he is suited to be president of the United States. I don t think his temperament is suited for that and I don t think his experience is. When Trump s celebrating 9/11 Muslim lie was all over the news, Christie called Trump a liar and said, But the facts are the facts, and that did not happen in New Jersey that day, and it hasn t happened since. Do those statements sound like things a supporter would say?Of course they don t, but then again, Chris Christie has always been a liar. Featured image via video screenshot | 0 |
9,660 | Hillary Clinton Says Half Her Cabinet Will Be Women If Elected President | Women make up over 50 percent of this country, but are grossly underrepresented in just about everything. In the United States Congress, more than 80 percent of those representing the people are men 80 percent in the Senate, 81 percent in the House.On the Supreme Court, only three of the nine Justices are women.And yes, even in the progressive Obama Administration, only 13 out of the 47 individuals who have served in his cabinet have been women 28 percent.It is no secret that Washington D.C. is still a hard place for a woman to find her voice. Even though it s been proven statistically that when women take charge of the operations and debates in D.C., stuff gets done quicker in a more bipartisan manner. Still, women aren t taken seriously.But Hillary Clinton, while shattering that glass ceiling herself, wants to shatter it in all aspects of D.C., starting with her cabinet, should she win the presidency.In an MSNBC town hall Monday night, Clinton told viewers that she intends to have her cabinet reflect the demographics of America:Well, I am going to have a Cabinet that looks like America, and 50 percent of America is women. Whether it s in a vice president or members of a Cabinet or in the White House staff, I want as broad a set of experiences that I can possibly draw together, because I m someone who likes to listen to people who come at problems from different perspectives.While Donald Trump accuses her of playing the woman card, Clinton is setting in motion a push to make women more equally represented in American society, something Trump would never consider.Should Clinton win, she not only is responsible for her cabinet, but also her appointments to the Supreme Court, which could produce two vacancies in the next four years.But it s this particular election that could be a driving force for women in Congress. Democrats have the opportunity to get out and elect women, from California to Maryland, from New York to Florida.If women are fifty percent of our population, then they deserve equal representation at every level, and Clinton seems to definitely be on board with making sure that happens if she were to become president.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | 0 |
9,661 | Heathrow launches environmental consultation on expansion | LONDON (Reuters) - Heathrow Airport announced a public consultation on the proposed development of a third runway at Europe s biggest airport, saying it aimed to mitigate the environmental impact of expansion. Prime Minister Theresa May backed a $22 billion expansion of the London hub in October 2016, after decades of government indecision. But the plan has been controversial, with critics highlighting the possible impact on air quality in London and noise levels in the local community. Heathrow said it would seek the views of locals on the environmental impact of expansion and how the airspace around Heathrow is managed. Over the past year, we ve been working hard to evolve our expansion plans and have come up with several new options to deliver it more responsibly and affordably, said the airport s Executive Director for expansion Emma Gilthorpe. The new discussions are separate from a previously announced government consultation on a National Policy Statement on airports, and is focused on the airport s plans for infrastructure and the impact on the local community. Transport secretary Chris Grayling has said that the government aims to give the go-ahead to the new runway in the first half of 2018. The latest consultation will launch on Jan. 17 and run for 10 weeks. | 1 |
9,662 | Bangladesh, Myanmar agree to draw up plan for refugee repatriation: minister | DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed on Monday to set up a working group to plan the repatriation of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh to escape an army crackdown, the Bangladeshi foreign minister said. The United Nations has called the exodus of 507,000 Rohingya since late August the world s fastest-developing refugee emergency, and says Buddhist-majority Myanmar is engaging in ethnic cleansing against its Rohingya Muslim minority. Myanmar denies that. It says its forces are battling Rohingya terrorists who triggered the latest wave of violence with coordinated attacks on the security forces on Aug. 25. Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed since, most of them insurgents, whom it has accused of attacking civilians and setting most of the fires that have reduced to ashes more than half of more than 400 Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine State. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said he and Myanmar official Kyaw Tint Swe had agreed in their talks to set up the working group to draw up plans for repatriation. We are looking forward to a peaceful solution to the crisis, Ali told reporters. Kyaw Tint Swe did not speak to the media and government spokesmen in Myanmar were not immediately available for comment. Waves of Rohingya have taken refuge in Bangladesh over the years complaining of persecution, in particular in the late 1970s, the early 1990s and in October last year, following smaller insurgent attacks on the security forces. The neighbors have agreed on repatriation plans before, but the fundamental problem - the status of Rohingya in Myanmar - remains unsettled. The Rohingya are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots in Myanmar that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and subjected to bouts of communal violence over the years. Ali, asked about agreements in the past having little impact, said: This time we want to be hopeful. In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a meeting problems of statelessness had to be tackled. Nowhere is the link between statelessness and displacement more evident than with the Rohingya community, he said. The crisis over the treatment of the Rohingya is the biggest problem Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has had to face since forming a government last year after winning a landmark 2015 election. The Nobel peace laureate, in an address to the nation last month, said Myanmar was ready to start a verification process under a 1993 agreement with Bangladesh and refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem . But many refugees are gloomy about the prospects of going back, fearing they will not be able to furnish the documents they anticipate Myanmar will demand to prove they have a right to return. Myanmar has refused to grant access to a U.N. fact-finding mission but Suu Kyi last year appointed a team led by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan to draw up recommendations on solving problems in Rakhine. The commission presented its recommendations on Aug. 24, a day before the insurgent attacks, among them a review of a law that links citizenship and ethnicity and leaves most Rohingya stateless. The panel also recommended that the government punish rights violations, ensure the right to freedom of movement and invest in infrastructure to lift the state out of poverty. Suu Kyi, in her address to the nation last month, said she was committed to the recommendations. There were already about 300,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh before the latest exodus. In Myanmar, the government took a group of diplomats and senior U.N. officials to Rakhine to let them see the situation. Maungdaw feels like a ghost town, Swiss ambassador Paul Seger said on Twitter, as he arrived in a main town in the north of Rakhine. Myanmar has blocked most aid workers and the media from the area, despite calls from Western countries for access to deal with what aid groups fear is an unfolding humanitarian crisis. The diplomats were taken to various places including the Rohingya village of Ah Nauk Pyin, which Reuters reported last month was cut off and threatened by hostile Rakhine Buddhist neighbors. An itinerary of the trip referred to the report. After the visit, the United Nations repeated a call for an end to the violence, for access to the conflict zone for aid workers and for the safe return of refugees. The U.N. delegation reiterated the need for a greater access for humanitarian and human rights actors to conduct comprehensive assessments the situation, it said in a statement. It also said the media should have access. Suu Kyi has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out strongly enough on behalf of the long-persecuted minority and of defending the army action. She has no power over security policy under a military-drafted constitution. | 1 |
9,663 | Biden Says He’s ‘Ready’ For A Woman President (VIDEO) | Vice President Joe Biden has been careful to give Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders their fair share of lauding and criticism. Like President Obama, Biden has not endorsed any candidate for the 2016 race, and has pledged to stay neutral until a nominee is decided at the convention.But in a telling interview with Mic in which his staffers tried to shut down Vice President Biden may have hurled a veiled endorsement towards Clinton s way when he said he would like to see a woman elected president. His comments, more specifically:This country s ready for a woman. There s no problem. We re gonna be able to elect a woman in this country. I would like to see a woman elected.After his staffers tried to cut the interview, Biden said he had no issues discussing the 2016 election, and reminded Mic that the president and I are not going endorse because we both, when we ran said, let the party decide.' Although he did not mention Clinton by name, there is only one woman in the running for the White House (unless Sanders picks a female VP or the Republicans do) and that s Hillary Clinton. After brushing off his staff, Biden added that both candidates are qualified, but then added, Hillary s overwhelmingly qualified to be president. Biden s comments will be an uplift to Clinton, who suffered a public humiliation after the Vice President branded her as new to the issues of income inequality, a staple of the Sanders campaign.Surprisingly, Biden told Mic that he does not believe Clinton is held to a higher standard because she is a woman, even though social psychology shows people do, in fact, hold women in politics to a different higher standard than men.Although not an official endorsement, is Biden ready for Hillary?Here s the interview, via YouTube: Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
9,664 | Germany's Steinmeier warns of EU disruptions in event of 'Brexit' | BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union would not simply carry on as before should Britain vote to leave the bloc, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, pointing to Northern Ireland as one potential trouble spot. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he hoped Britain would vote to stay in the 28-member bloc in a referendum on June 23. “Should the British decide otherwise, then the European Union won’t just carry on as 28 minus one,” Steinmeier told a conference on Europe in his ministry. As an example of one area where old troubles could flare up, he pointed to Northern Ireland and its border with EU member Ireland, which is open and where the situation is largely calm. “At the moment that the United Kingdom leaves (the EU), we have a border again between Ireland and Northern Ireland. That has at least the potential to allow completely calmed conflicts to flare up again,” Steinmeier said. A 1998 peace deal, brokered after more than 3,600 had died, has largely ended the conflict that pitted mostly Catholics, who wanted a united Ireland, against Unionists, mostly Protestants, who wanted it to remain part of the United Kingdom. | 1 |
9,665 | More than 60 years on, Japan's mercury-poison victims fight to be heard | MINAMATA, Japan (Reuters) - Shinobu Sakamoto was just 15 when she left her home in the southern Japanese fishing village of Minamata to go to Stockholm and tell the world of the horrors of mercury poisoning. Forty-five years on, she is traveling again, this time to Geneva, to attend from Sunday a gathering of signatories to the first global pact to rein in mercury pollution. Sakamoto is one of a shrinking group of survivors from a 1950s industrial disaster in which tens of thousands of people were poisoned after waste water from a chemical plant seeped into the Minamata bay. (Graphic link reut.rs/2jIdmUS) The waste contained a toxic organic compound, methylmercury, which can cause severe damage to the brain and nervous system, leading to a condition called Minamata disease. It gives its name to the U.N.-backed treaty that took effect last month. Symptoms worsen with age, leaving some victims grappling with the question of who will care for them after the death of siblings and parents, while others face legal disputes. If I don t say something, no one will know about Minamata disease, said Sakamoto, who is one of the few born with the disease who is still able to talk. There are still so many problems, and I want people to know. Just 528 people survive from among the 3,000 certified victims of Minamata disease, environment ministry data shows. More than 20,000 people have sought to be designated victims, hoping for legal compensation. We need to take seriously the fact that there are still many people raising their hands, said ministry official Koji Sasaki, referring to victims efforts to win recognition. Born in a family of shipbuilders whose home overlooks the Minamata bay, Jitsuko Tanaka, 64, used to play on the beach with her older sister, picking and eating shellfish, unaware it was contaminated with mercury. She was almost three, and her sister five, when they lost the ability to move their hands freely and walk properly, becoming the first to be identified as disease sufferers. Tanaka s older sister died at age eight. Tanaka survived, but the poisoning left her too weak to walk without support. A few years ago, her family says, even that became impossible. As she lay motionless in bed, her brother-in-law, a fellow sufferer, said he worried about the patients left behind when family members die. After I die, who will take care of her? asked Yoshio Shimoda, 69. Sixty-one years since Minamata disease was identified in 1956, the grim struggles have eased for only a few. Before the government named methylmercury as its cause in 1968, disease sufferers faced discrimination over fears it was contagious, which deterred many from seeking legal recognition. People still send in decades-old umbilical cords to be checked for contamination, hoping for evidence to support their claims to be designated as victims, said Hirokatsu Akagi, director of Minamata s International Mercury Laboratory. Sakamoto, poisoned while still in the womb, considers it her duty to tell the world about the dangers of mercury. Minamata disease isn t over; it s not a thing of the past. | 1 |
9,666 | College Moves to Fire Christian Professor For Saying Christians And Muslims Worship Same God (VIDEO) | Professor Larycia Alaine Hawkins upset administrators at Wheaton College when she donned a headscarf last month to show solidarity with the Muslim community in the wake of anti-Islamic sentiment across the country. Wheaton College, which touts itself as a Christian school, also had a problem with Hawkins when she said that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, quoting Pope Francis. In a statement, Wheaton College initiated a termination-for-cause proceeding against Professor Larycia Hawkins on Tuesday, saying Hawkins wouldn t participate in clarifying conversations about theological issues.Here is the Facebook post that Wheaton found problematic:// I don t love my Muslim neighbor because s/he is American. I love my Muslim neighbor because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity. I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind a cave in Sterkfontein, South Africa that I had the privilege to descend into to plumb the depths of our common humanity in 2014. I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God. But as I tell my students, theoretical solidarity is not solidarity at all. Thus, beginning tonight, my solidarity has become embodied solidarity. As part of my Advent Worship, I will wear the hijab to work at Wheaton College, to play in Chi-town, in the airport and on the airplane to my home state that initiated one of the first anti-Sharia laws (read: unconstitutional and Islamophobic), and at church. I invite all women into the narrative that is embodied, hijab-wearing solidarity with our Muslim sisters for whatever reason. A large scale movement of Women in Solidarity with Hijabs is my Christmas # wish this year. Perhaps you are a Muslim who does not wear the veil normally. Perhaps you are an atheist or agnostic who finds religion silly or inexplicable. Perhaps you are a Catholic or Protestant Christian like me. Perhaps you already cover your head as part of your religious worship, but not a hijab. I would like to add that I have sought the advice and blessing of one of the preeminent Muslim organizations in the United States, the Council on American Islamic Relations, # CAIR , where I have a friend and Board colleague on staff. I asked whether a non-Muslim wearing the hijab was haram (forbidden), patronizing, or otherwise offensive to Muslims. I was assured by my friends at CAIR-Chicago that they welcomed the gesture. So please do not fear joining this embodied narrative of actual as opposed to theoretical unity; human solidarity as opposed to mere nationalistic, sentiment. The statement above sends a message of love and tolerance and it s the college that exudes intolerance and Islamophobia by firing this courageous woman. Professors also have the right to academic freedom. One can only imagine the consequences of muzzling professors because they speak about important social issues. One of the most cherished aspects of the American way is the right to freedom of speech. Wheaton College has violated that right by moving to terminate the professor. A petition signed by tens of thousands has been circulating to reinstate the professor.Here is what Illinois Committee A on Academic Freedom had to say about Wheaton s actions: There can be no doubt that Wheaton s attempt to fire a professor for expressing support for Muslims is an attack on academic freedom. But what few have realized is that this bigotry also an attack on the Christian values of loving thy neighbor that Wheaton pretends to embrace. The administration at Wheaton is not just betraying the values of freedom that every true college must stand for, they are also betraying the values of Wheaton College itself. Here is Professor Hawkins graceful response on the move to terminate her: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SRRq3SdcBo] Show your support for Professor Hawkins by signing and sharing this petition.Featured image: screegrab | 0 |
9,667 | Yemen's Houthi leader says could target Saudi oil tankers if Hodeidah attacked | DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen s Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said on Thursday his group could target Saudi oil tankers should Saudi Arabia attack Yemen s main port at Hodeidah. We could target Saudi oil tankers and we could do anything, he said. In a televised speech, the leader also said his group s ballistic missiles were capable of reaching the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi and anywhere inside Saudi Arabia. It was unclear whether the Houthi group has the capability to carry out its threats. Abdel Malek said the Houthis had successfully fired a missile at Abu Dhabi earlier this month, meaning the United Arab Emirates was no longer safe from attack. He gave no further details and there has been no indication by the UAE of any missiles landing on their territory. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter his country was not intimidated by Houthi threats. The Houthis comments threatening the UAE and its capital are tangible proof of the need for the Decisive Storm (operation), Gargash said, referring to the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen. Iran s militias have vile objectives and represent a real threat, he added. Yemen has been devastated by more than two years of civil war in which President Abd Rabu Hadi s government, backed by the coalition, is fighting to drive the Iran-allied Houthis out of cities they seized in 2014 and 2015 in a rapid rise to national power. Today the port of Hodeidah is being threatened and we cannot turn a blind eye to that, Abdel-Malek said. If the Saudi regime and with a green light from the U.S. attack Hodeidah then we have to take steps that we haven t taken before. The United Nations had proposed that the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, where 80 percent of food imports arrive, should be handed to a neutral party, to smooth the flow of humanitarian relief and prevent the port being engulfed by Yemen s two-year-old war. The government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi accuses the Houthis of using the port to smuggle in weapons and of collecting custom duties on goods, which they use to finance the war. The Houthis deny this. | 1 |
9,668 | Swiss say to expel two Tunisians with link to Marseille attacker | GENEVA (Reuters) - Switzerland is sending a Tunisian couple who include the brother of the presumed knife attacker at Marseille train station in France back to their home country for security reasons, Swiss federal police said on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday a source close to the investigation said police detained two Tunisians on Sunday wanted in connection with the attack on Oct. 1 in which the assailant was shot dead by a French soldier after killing two young women. | 1 |
9,669 | Huge Progressive Group Demands Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Immediately Resign As DNC Chair | Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been under a tremendous amount of fire lately for what some Democrats perceive as a vendetta against Senator Bernie Sanders. Liberals have accused the DNC chair of fixing the primary in Hillary Clinton s favor and there have been many calls for her to step aside. Now, a large progressive group is adding their voice to the fray after comments the chairwoman made in the New York Times Magazine about Roe v. Wade.CREDO Mobile, a phone company that uses their profits to fund liberal causes and has a network of more than 3.6 million people, started a petition calling for Wasserman-Schultz s resignation. The petition was prompted by an interview that was published Wednesday morning in which the chairwoman said there is a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided. The comments garnered immediate backlash as women took to Twitter and lashed out at her using the hashtag #DearDebbie. She later clarified her remarks, saying: For many in my generation who lived the majority of our lives with the right to make our own health care choices, there wasn t a sense of urgency after Roe v. Wade settled our right to a safe and legal abortion. Since then, opponents worked aggressively to chip away at women s reproductive freedom and they have awakened a sleeping giant in the millennials leading the fight in defense of the progress we ve made. CREDO fired back at Wasserman-Schultz with the petition demanding she step down, claiming:Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz just accused young women of complacency in the fight for abortion rights.Young women, especially low income women and women of color, have been bearing the brunt of the right-wing s relentless assault on abortion rights and have been leading the charge to fight back. Wasserman Schultz s comment shows how out of touch she is with the progressive core values of the Democratic activist base, and is just the latest in a string of unacceptable actions that makes it clear it is time for her to resign as chair of the DNC.The group also accused her of rigging the primary to suppress Democratic turnout, putting her personal interests before the party, trying to sabotage the president s Iran deal, and siding with anti-progressive special interests. Whether you agree with CREDO or not, the debacle on Wednesday and the others in the months leading up to it, show that there is a rift forming in the party that is not good for us. With the primaries right around the corner and the general election just months away, we need to unite for the good of our party. The infighting is unhealthy and the more divided we become, the better the chances are that we could see a Republican in the White House. Do you really want a President Donald Trump or President Ted Cruz?It is time to put our differences aside and focus on beating the GOP in November; we can handle everything else afterward.Featured image via Florida Politics | 0 |
9,670 | U.S. flexes muscles as Asia worries about South China Sea row | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States stepped up pressure on China on Saturday to rein in its actions in the South China Sea, with top defense officials underlining Washington’s military superiority and vowing to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades to come. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the U.S. approach to the Asia-Pacific remained “one of commitment, strength and inclusion”, but he also warned China against provocative behavior in the South China Sea. Any action by China to reclaim land in the Scarborough Shoal, an outcrop in the disputed sea, would have consequences, Carter said. “I hope that this development doesn’t occur, because it will result in actions being taken by the both United States and ... by others in the region which would have the effect of not only increasing tensions but isolating China,” Carter told the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security forum in Singapore. “The United States will remain the most powerful military and main underwriter of security in the region for decades to come – and there should be no doubt about that.” The South China Sea has become a flashpoint between the United States, which increased its focus on the Asia-Pacific under President Barack Obama’s “pivot”, and China, which is projecting ever greater economic, political and military power in the region. Carter however said he would welcome China’s participation in a “principled security network” for Asia. “Forward thinking statesmen and leaders must ... come together to ensure a positive principled future,” he said, adding that the network he envisaged could also help protect against “Russia’s worrying actions” and the growing strategic impact of climate change. The deputy head of China’s delegation to the forum said the United States should reduce its provocative exercises and patrols in the region and said any attempts to isolate China would fail. “This is a time of cooperation and common security,” Rear Admiral Guan Youfei told reporters. “The U.S. action to take sides is not agreed by many countries. We hope the U.S. will also listen to the other countries.” Other Asian leaders said the situation in the South China Sea was viewed with concern across the region. “All countries in the region need to recognize that our shared prosperities and the enviable rate of growth that this region enjoys over past decades will be put at risk by aggressive behavior or actions by any one of us,” Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told the forum. Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said his country would help Southeast Asian nations build their security capabilities to deal with what he called unilateral, dangerous and coercive actions in the South China Sea. “In the South China Sea, we have been witnessing large-scale and rapid land reclamation, building of outposts and utilization of them for military purposes,” Nakatani said. “No country can be an outsider of this issue.” A Chinese official responded by saying Japan should be careful “not to interfere and stir up problems” in the waterway, while China’s foreign ministry also weighed in regarding the U.S. and Japanese comments. “Counties outside the region should stick to their promises and not make thoughtless remarks about issues of territorial sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement. Trillions of dollars of trade a year passes through the South China Sea, which is home to rich oil, gas and fishing resources. Besides China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have claims in the area, and rising tensions have been fuelling increasing security spending in the region. “The uncertainty of China’s future trajectory is arguably the main driving concern about possible military competition now and in the future,” Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said. Carter said that for decades some critics had been predicting an impending U.S. withdrawal from the region, but this would not happen. “That’s because this region, which is home to nearly half the world’s population and nearly half the global economy, remains the most consequential for America’s own security and prosperity.” In an apparent counter to “America-first” policies expounded by prospective Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, including suggestions that U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Asia, Carter stressed bipartisan support for continued engagement. The Shangri-La Dialogue is being held ahead of a significant ruling expected in coming weeks on a case filed by the Philippines in the International Court of Arbitration challenging China’s South China Sea claims, which Beijing has vowed to ignore. The United States has been lobbying Asian and other countries to back the judges’ statement that their ruling must be binding, a call echoed by Japan on Saturday. China has lobbied on the other side for support for its position that the court lacks jurisdiction in the case. | 1 |
9,671 | uci picks iran outfit as best cycling team in asia | foreign policy russian president vladimir putin gives a speech at a valdai discussion club meeting of political scientists in sochi october photo by afp
russian president vladimir putin has dismissed as hysteria claims by us officials that moscow is trying to influence the upcoming presidential election in america
speaking to foreign policy experts during a valdai discussion club meeting in sochi southern russia on thursday putin said washington was using russia as a distraction to cover up the fact that this years white house contenders had nothing to offer on real issues
hysteria has been whipped up in the united states about the influence of russia over the us presidential election putin said adding that so far no clear policies have been offered by the us political elite to tackle issues such as national debt and gun control
american officials and intelligence agencies have openly accused the kremlin of sponsoring hacking attacks against the us
this is while democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton and her campaign have gone even further claiming that russia was trying to rig the november election in favor of republican nominee donald trump us democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton l and republican nominee donald trump
during the last presidential debate last week clinton accused trump of having secret ties with moscow saying that putin would love to see a puppet president in the white house
its much simpler to distract people with socalled russian hackers spies and agents of influence does anyone really think that russia could influence the american peoples choice in any way is america a banana republic or what putin asked in his thursday speech
baffled by the release of a series of hacked emails that have uncovered the inner mechanics of the democratic partys campaign for the election the white house has stepped up its antirussian rhetoric american officials have even threatened russia with countermeasures
despite the general belief however trump has on many occasions called on russiaaccusers to either provide their evidence or stop making baseless assumptions about moscow
i dont know if theyre behind it and i think its public relations frankly the realestate mogul said wednesday do you know what bothers me i have nothing to do with russia
people are hacking all over the place and nobody knows they dont know if its russia they cant guarantee its russia and it may be he added loading | 1 |
9,672 | Donald Trump Whines That Mitt Romney Was ‘Ungrateful’ For Trump Helping Him Lose The Election (VIDEO) | The more we get to know Donald Trump, the more we realize that he s just a big orange version of Kim Jong-Un. He s childish, petulant and thin skinned, and anyone who has wronged him had better watch out. Mitt Romney wronged Donald Trump. He refuses to endorse the billionaire and well, it appears that Trump is holding a grudge against Romney from 2012. Trump wants credit for helping him lose the election, or something like that.On Sunday s Meet the Press, Trump talked about the feud that appears to be happening between the 2012 nominee and the 2016 presumptive nominee. Every single robocall I made, he won that state. Every single speech I made, he won that state, in terms of the primaries. I believe I won him, or helped him win five states that he was going to lose in the primaries, Trump continued.And that support came with personal cost to Trump. I raised a lot of money for him. I ruined the carpet in my apartments I had so many people come. We actually had to have two fundraisers because there were so many people. Here s the video:It is true that in 2012, Trump endorsed Romney. As for Trump s argument that he would have taken Romney over the victory line if he accepted more help, well, probably not. At that time, the Trump revolution (or whatever you want to call it) had not yet started. Polls at the time showed that Trump would have been a negative on Romney s campaign.Romney hasn t always been so sour on Trump. After receiving his endorsement, Romney sung Trump s praises in a way that almost sounds like a presidential endorsement.In an interview in March, Trump said that Romney begged him for his endorsement in 2012. Mitt is a failed candidate he failed horribly, Trump said. I backed Mitt Romney. You could see how loyal he is. He was begging for my endorsement. I could ve said, Mitt, drop to your knees, and he would ve dropped to his knees. He was begging. He was begging me. It s doubtful that Romney actually begged Trump, but the former candidate does claim that if Trump acted the way then that he does now (he did), then he wouldn t have accepted it:If Trump had said 4 years ago the things he says today about the KKK, Muslims, Mexicans, disabled, I would NOT have accepted his endorsement Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 3, 2016If Romney had any of your sympathy, this is where he should lose it. He knew what Trump was about long before 2012. As you recall, during the Arab Spring in 2011, when Muammar Gaddafi was persona-non-grata in the United States, Trump rented him a piece of land. His racism was clearly evident in his birther stance and with this tweet in response to Baltimore riots following the death of Freddie Gray. Our great African American President hasn t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2015His views on immigration are hardly new:Stop the EBOLA patients from entering the U.S. Treat them, at the highest level, over there. THE UNITED STATES HAS ENOUGH PROBLEMS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2014And of course, we know that Trump is sexist. None of that is what matters to Romney, though, although Romney does enjoy the illusion of decorum. What matters to Romney is that Trump has no core beliefs. He even flip-flops on how he ll treat his and Romney s own kind, but he does seem to be settling on raising taxes for the wealthy, sort of. That might be just a bit too far for Romney.Featured image via video screen shot. | 0 |
9,673 | NORDSTROM CANCELS IVANKA TRUMP BRAND After Liberal Complaints #BoycottNordstrom | Nordstrom cancelled the Ivanka Trump line after a liberal organization called Grab Your Wallet flooded them with complaints. Shame on Nordstrom!The Trump family has had to sacrifice so much to do what they re doing for America. It s a shame that even though Nordstrom had said they wouldn t cancel Ivanka s product line LEFTISTS CALL FOR Ivanka Trump Brand Boycott This Huge Retailer Is Sticking With Her they caved to the pressure from the left!PLEASE CONTACT NORDSTROM AND COMPLAIN : NORDSTROM FEEDBACKDaily Mail reported:Nordstrom denied partisanship in the decision to drop Trump s brand, insisting the move was made as a result of poor sales months after it was hit by a grassroots boycott started by a marketing specialist and a grandmother.The move from Nordstrom comes after several other retailers have already stopped selling her merchandise due to the Grab Your Wallet campaign, which calls for shoppers to boycott retailers that carry her brand or her father s goods.The Grab Your Wallet campaign was launched on October 11 by Shannon Coulter and Sue Atencio after they simultaneously realized they could no longer in good conscience shop at retailers that do business with the Trump family .The campaign compiled a list of businesses that sell Trump family goods. The extensive list also includes companies that advertise on Celebrity Apprentice or executives that have raised money for President Donald Trump. | 0 |
9,674 | getting minutes of sunlight per day can stop depression | top clinton ally caught accepting k foreign donation aufc president brad woodhouse knowingly accepts money from bank in belize infowarscom october comments
project vertias has released a fourth video in its latest series uncovering corruption connected to hillary clintons presidential campaign
in the effort to prove the credibility of the undercover donor featured in the videos and to keep the investigation going project veritas action made the decision to donate twenty thousand dollars to robert creamers effort the video reports project veritas action had determined that the benefit of this investigation outweighed the cost and it did
soon after the transfer was made the donorsniece another project veritas action journalist was offered an internship with creamer
the more money that was promised to creamer the more access project veritas action journalists seemed to get it continues
nearly a month after providing aufc with the foreign donation aufc president brad woodhouse discovered project veritas project and mysteriously returned the donation newsletter sign up | 0 |
9,675 | Iran rejects Macron call for talks on Iranian missiles | DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran rejected on Sunday a call by French President Emmanuel Macron for talks on Tehran s ballistic missiles, saying they were defensive and unrelated to a nuclear agreement with world powers. On Thursday, Macron said during a visit to Dubai that he was very concerned by Iran s ballistic missile program, mentioning a missile fired from Yemen and intercepted by Saudi Arabia earlier this month. He raised the prospect of possible sanctions with regard to those activities. There are negotiations we need to start on Iran s ballistic missiles, Macron said. But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected that possibility. France is fully aware of our country s firm position that Iran s defense affairs are not negotiable, he said. We have told French officials repeatedly that the nuclear deal is not negotiable and other issues will not be allowed to be added to it, Qassemi said, according to a statement on the ministry s website. The United States accused Iran on Tuesday of supplying Yemen s Houthi rebels with a missile that was fired into Saudi Arabia in July and called for the United Nations to hold Tehran accountable for violating two U.N. Security Council resolutions. Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Iran of supplying missiles and other weapons to the Houthis, saying the arms were not present in Yemen before conflict broke out there in 2015. Iran denies the charges and blames the conflict on Riyadh. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, saying its missile tests violate a U.N. resolution that calls on Tehran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran says its missile program is defensive and it has no plans to build nuclear-capable missiles. | 1 |
9,676 | Turkey's Erdogan says businessmen moving assets abroad are 'traitors' | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday businessmen who attempted to move assets abroad were traitors , and called on his cabinet to block any such moves. I am seeing signals, news that some businessmen are trying to move their assets abroad, and I call on firstly my cabinet from here to never allow this exit for any of them because these people are traitors, Erdogan said. Speaking to members of his ruling AK Party in the eastern province of Mus, Erdogan did not say to whom he was referring, nor did he single out a single business, person or country of destination. His comments come after the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday that Turkish prosecutors were set to seize the assets of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors in the trial of a Turkish bank executive charged with evading U.S. sanctions on Iran, and his acquaintances. The trial has caused already strained ties between NATO allies Ankara and Washington to deteriorate further as Zarrab detailed in court a scheme to evade the U.S. sanctions, saying that Erdogan personally authorized two Turkish banks to join the scheme when prime minister. Ankara has cast the testimony as an attempt to undermine Turkey and its economy, and has previously said it was a clear plot by the network of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, who it alleges engineered last year s coup attempt. We cannot take kindly to those who earn in this country and then try to take those earnings abroad, Erdogan said. | 1 |
9,677 | Roy Moore Supporting Republican LOSES It After Being Called An Extremist | If the scandal around the stories of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore s accusations of dating of teenage girls is accomplishing anything, it s drawing a line in the sand. Republicans are having to declare themselves either pro-pedophilia or anti.You d think it would be an easy choice to make, but hey, we have an accused pedophile in the White House, so maybe not so easy for the GOP party. Even Ted Cruz, though, who is one of the most extreme in Washington (and one of the most loathed) has withdrawn his support of Moore.One Republican, though, is holding on and he s shocked (I tell you) that anyone would ever call him an extremist over it.Rob Maness, who has the endorsement of Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Rick Perry and Ben Carson, is running for the Louisiana State House. During a radio interview, a caller called Maness an extremist, precisely because he s to the right of Ted Cruz, at least on the subject of statutory rape.The caller went by the moniker of flaming liberal for WGSO-AM. His real name, though, is David Bellinger. He said about Maness, If you re to the right of Ted Cruz, you re an extremist. Hard to argue that since there is pretty much no one more extreme than Cruz, who believes that Planned Parenthood sells body parts and that the states can ignore the Supreme Court s ruling making gay marriage legal. Maness was having none of that accusation. Whoa, you just called me an extremist, brother, said Maness, a retired Air Force colonel who went on to outline his military background, including top-secret clearances. I ve done everything this country has ever asked me to do. How dare you call me an extremist, he said. I m the most investigated, stable man that the country could have ever given the keys to nuclear weapons to, so you can blow me! You can blow me and get out of here if you re gonna talk like that and call me an extremist. Source: The AdvocateJust two things here: Maness is not running for an office where he would get the keys to nuclear weapons and well, his answer doesn t make him seem a very stable man. Bellinger shot back, Go screw your ma, asshole, several times.Maness, still fuming, said: I m not going to listen to that crap, he said after jettisoning Bellinger. Nobody s gonna call me an extremist, because I m not one. The extremists are the people who are liars, and the hypocrites and the swamp creatures from Washington, D.C. and Baton Rouge and all around the nation, even at the local level, that have got their political power and they try to smear people like me because we want to take it away from them. Stable, sure.Featured image via Facebook. | 0 |
9,678 | White Police Officer Fired After Threatening Black Child On Facebook (VIDEO) | Just before midnight on Friday, July 8, LaNaydra Williams discovered a chilling comment on her Facebook page. The words were posted beneath a photo of Williams, who is Black, posing together with her five-year-old daughter.The comment read: We ll see how much her life matters soon better be careful leaving your info in the open where she can be found. Hold her close tonight, it ll be the last time. Williams, who lives in Texas, had never seen or spoken to the poster, identified on Facebook as Rodney Lee.She went to his Facebook page, and immediately saw pictures of a man wearing a police uniform. She contacted authorities immediately.The officer who left the message on her daughter s picture was identified as Rodney Lee Wilson. Until Sunday, Wilson was an officer working for the Overland Park Police Department, in Kansas.Williams says that Overland Park officials initially claimed Wilson s Facebook page was hacked.On Sunday, however, following an internal investigation, Oakland Park police acknowledged that Wilson did leave the threatening comments on Williams photo.Overland Park Police Chief, Francis Donchez Jr, issued an official statement regarding the incident, on July 10.A post on the Overland Park Police Department s Facebook page reads: This morning, the Overland Park Police Department received notification about a Facebook post, reportedly made by one of our officers from his personal Facebook account. I immediately initiated an investigation into the officer s actions and requested it be completed in a timely manner, said Police Chief Francis Donchez Jr. During the investigation, by our Professional Standards Unit, we learned our officer did in fact make this post, Donchez said. It was obvious that our officer did not meet the standards of professionalism for the Overland Park Police Department. Overland Park has terminated the officer, effective immediately. The official post goes on to say: A criminal investigation is underway as a result of information discovered during the course of the personnel investigation. During an interview with Fox 4, Williams said she remains very fearful of the former-officer. I don t know anything about this man, she told reporters, stressing that she has no idea whether he will try to retaliate against her or her daughter.Watch the interview below from Fox 4 in Kansas.Image credit: video screen capture via Fox 4 | 0 |
9,679 | U.S. judge narrows travel ban in defeat for Trump | (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries cannot stop grandparents and other relatives of United States citizens from entering the country, a U.S. judge said on Thursday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu also opens the door for more refugees and deals Trump a fresh courtroom defeat in a long back-and-forth over an executive order that has gone all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state of Hawaii had asked Watson to narrowly interpret a Supreme Court ruling that revived parts of Trump’s March 6 executive order banning travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, as well as refugees for 120 days. The Supreme Court last month said the ban could take effect, but that anyone from the six countries with a “bona fide relationship” to a U.S. person or entity could not be barred. The Trump administration then interpreted that opinion to allow spouses, parents, children, fiancés and siblings into the country, but barred grandparents and other family members, in a measure Trump called necessary to prevent attacks. Watson harshly criticized the government’s definition of close family relations as “the antithesis of common sense” in a ruling that changes the way the ban can now be implemented. “Common sense, for instance, dictates that close family members be defined to include grandparents. Indeed, grandparents are the epitome of close family members,” he wrote. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. Trump’s order is a pretext for illegal discrimination, Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin said in a statement. “Family members have been separated and real people have suffered enough,” Chin said. Chin had asked Watson for an injunction allowing grandparents and other family members to travel to the United States. Hawaii and refugee groups also had argued that resettlement agencies have a “bona fide” relationship with the refugees they help, sometimes over the course of years. The Justice Department said its rules were properly grounded in immigration law. Watson said the assurance by a resettlement agency to provide basic services to a newly arrived refugee constitutes an adequate connection to the U.S. because it is a sufficiently formal and documented agreement that triggers responsibilities and compensation. “‘Bona fide’ does not get any more ‘bona fide’ than that,” Watson said. Melanie Nezer, vice president of global refugee advocacy group HIAS, said the ruling should mean that refugees can continue to be resettled in the United States, beyond a cap of 50,000 set by the executive order. That limit was reached this week. “We are thrilled that thousands of people will be reunited with their family members,” said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project. More than 24,000 additional refugees should be allowed to travel to the U.S. under Watson’s order, she estimated. Watson did not grant everything the state of Hawaii sought, however. He rejected a request to categorically exempt all Iraqis refugee applicants who believe they are at risk due to their work for the U.S. government since March, 2003, as interpreters and translators, for instance. Watson also refused a blanket exemption for those eligible to apply to a refugee program aimed at protecting certain children at risk in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. The roll-out of the narrowed version of the ban was more subdued than in January, when Trump first signed a more expansive version of his order. That sparked protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world. | 1 |
9,680 | Turkey's parliament approves 2018 budget | ISTANBUL(Reuters) - Turkey s parliament has approved the government s 2018 budget, which includes increased spending on defense and projects a rise in the fiscal deficit to 65.9 billion lira ($17.28 billion). The 2018 budget, approved by parliament late on Friday, introduces changes in tax regulations, such as tax increases for companies and motor vehicles, to help pay for increased security. In 2017, Turkey s budget is expected to show a deficit of 61.7 billion lira, more than twice the 2016 budget deficit of around 30 billion lira. Turkey s 2018 budget also projects tax income of 599.4 billion lira, up some 15 percent from estimates for 2017, and a 5.8 billion lira primary surplus. Over the past two years, Turkey s current account deficit has widened due to increasing government incentives to boost the economy and defense spending. Next year s budget deficit to gross domestic product ratio is expected to be 1.9 percent. The government says the additional defense spending is urgently needed to modernize the military, the second-largest in the NATO alliance, and meet the costs of domestic and foreign security operations. Turkey s economy has rebounded from a downturn that followed an attempted coup last year, helped by a series of government stimulus measures. GDP grew 11.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, its fastest expansion in six years, according to official data. | 1 |
9,681 | French Journalist Hit With Huge Fine For “Inciting Hate” Against Muslims…Even Though We All Know What He Said Is True | Americans should pay close attention to this story, especially after Loretta Lynch announced the US Government will punish anyone for anti-Muslim speech.Journalist and writer ric Zemmour has once again been fined this time 3,000 euros for inciting to hate Muslims. Le Parisien reports:Polemicist Eric Zemmour was sentenced on Thursday to a fine of 3,000 euros for provoking hatred towards Muslims, as a result of comments he made to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera in October 2014. In particular, he declared that the Muslims have their civil code, it s the Koran, that they live among themselves in the suburbs. The French are forced to leave. The prosecution had asked for a fine of 10,000 euros. I believe we re heading for chaos. This situation of a people in the people, of Muslims in the French people, will lead us to chaos and to civil war, he added. Millions of persons live here, in France, but refuse to live in the French manner. ric Zemmour was at the time promoting his book Le Suicide fran ais.Note: First, the use of the term polemicist to describe Zemmour is a deliberate attempt by the media to emphasize his warlike nature and his refusal to debate. The word evokes hostility and single-mindedness. Second, Zemmour s reference to a possible civil war preceded by fourteen months the statement by Manuel Valls, between the two rounds of the regional elections, that an FN victory would lead to civil war. No one prosecuted Valls. Third, there is an implication that Zemmour s words were intended to provoke in order to sell more books, since he was on a book tour in Italy.During the hearing in the Paris criminal court, the polemicist had maintained that he was speaking of the Muslims in the suburbs who organize and who are planning to secede. Prosecutor Annabelle Philippe deemed that his remarks that she regarded as stigmatizing and without nuance , were aimed at the totality of the Muslim community. The court agreed stating that at no point in the interview did he reduce his comments to just a fraction of Muslims. The whole of Zemmour s remarks rests on an eminently divisive assumption: that the Muslim community, in its essence and its culture, is in opposition to the French and to the French people, said the judges. Claiming to relate an ineluctable evolution, ric Zemmour proposes to his readers the only option capable, in his eyes, of avoiding civil war: an organized and forced departure from France of the entire Muslim community. The court lambasted his warlike and catastrophe-prone semantics that denote the conceptual passage from a probable reality to a solution at once credible and desirable. Note: So it is a crime in France to express a credible solution to a probable reality? It s a crime to even envisage a chaotic situation caused by Islamic doctrine?His lawyer Olivier Pardo, who plans to appeal, reacted: The remarks made by ric Zemmour before the November 13 attacks are today shared by a large part of those who voice their opinion. I cannot help but note the relentlessness to which he was subjected. The polemicist was also condemned to pay one or one thousand euros, depending on the case, in damages to the associations comprising the plaintiffs. To that will be added court costs, for a total of 13,003 euros.Note: Criminal and civil trials are combined here. While we would have a separate civil suit, in France the damages are meted out in the criminal court.The judges decision again has recognized that ric Zemmour is a propagator of hatred, deemed Sabrina Goldman, attorney for LICRA (International League against Racism and Antisemitism). His words are all the more dangerous because he presents himself as the apostle of truth; he claims to tell the truth when in fact he only expresses hatred, she declared. The president of SOS Racism, Dominique Sopo, expressed satisfaction that the justice system had reminded us that freedom of expression is not freedom to spread hatred . He also said: It makes you wonder again how he can hold such a position of authority in the media. Via: LeParisian | 0 |
9,682 | Beijing condemns Taiwan probe into tiny pro-China opposition party | BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China has condemned a Taiwan government probe into a tiny but passionately pro-China opposition party, the latest flashpoint between Beijing and a self-ruled island it considers its own. Taiwanese investigators searched the homes of four officials from the New Party, which currently has no members of parliament, on Tuesday on suspicion they had violated the National Security Act. A New Party delegation, including at least one of those whose homes was raided, party spokesman Wang Ping-chung, visited China last week as part of a scheduled trip to meet China s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office. The New Party has denounced the raids as politically motivated and retribution for their opposition to Taiwan independence and support for union with China. Taiwanese prosecutors and the government have not given details of what the party members are suspected of. Unlike in China, where the legal system is controlled by the ruling Communist Party, democratic Taiwan has an independent judiciary. Taiwan media has reported that the case could be linked to that of Chinese citizen Zhou Hongxu, jailed by a Taiwan court in September for breaching national security laws. Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Wednesday, New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung said he knew Zhou, and that Zhou had attended party events held in the past. In 2014, when I successfully became a representative of the party, he came to an event to offer his support. Later he participated in our organization events so we of course know him. In a short statement released late on Tuesday, China s Taiwan Affairs Office praised the New Party for its stance in opposing Taiwan independence and upholding the one China principle, which states that Taiwan is part of China. Recently, the Taiwan authorities have shielded and connived with Taiwan independent splittists, and taken various moves to wantonly crack down on and persecute forces and people who uphold peaceful reunification, it said. We strongly condemn this and are paying close attention to developments, the office said. The New Party broke off from the Nationalists, who once ruled all of China, in 1993. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists. Relations between China and Taiwan have soured since Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won presidential elections last year. China suspects she wants to push for Taiwan s formal independence. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s security. The Chinese military has stepped up air force patrols around Taiwan in recent weeks. China has never renounced the use of force to bring what it considers a wayward province under Chinese control. | 1 |
9,683 | UNREAL! PRO-CUBA TRAVEL AT PBS AND NBC: “Cuba has so much going for it: It’s proudly Communist…” [Video] | BELOW ARE TWO EXAMPLES OF THE PRO-CUBA SENTIMENT BY THE LEFTY MEDIA:Travel to Cuba is the NEWEST thing among the pseudo-cool useful idiots:Sanders noted how many of those on board were eager to get to the island before it was spoiled by capitalism: The Cuba they will see has many Americans anxious to get here before it all changes. Passenger Sedrick Tydus quipped: I want to get there before Burger King shows up. Sanders laughed and repeated line: Before Burger King shows up. After the Obama administration granted a full roster of concessions (in exchange for nothing) to the communist regime, we are bombarded with hype on Cuba travel. The Kardashians are even getting into the mix-ugh!Romanticizing the poverty and crumbing architecture of Cuba is pretty sickening to most people. We see past the slick promotions and see the suffering of the people of Cuba first .Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railway Journeys. Episode 4 Slow Train to Guantanamo Bay: The problem with Tarrant s love for commie Cuba is that the railway is broken down and only goes 15 mph.NBC Reporter Giddy With Excitement Aboard Cruise to Cuba: A Pinch-Me Moment : Not so sure anything will change in Cuba even though the lefty media would like you to think so Sanders noted how many of those on board were eager to get to the island before it was spoiled by capitalism: The Cuba they will see has many Americans anxious to get here before it all changes. Passenger Sedrick Tydus quipped: I want to get there before Burger King shows up. Sanders laughed and repeated line: Before Burger King shows up. Via: Faustasblog | 0 |
9,684 | Husband of far-right AfD co-leader to quit party, lawmaker says | DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Marcus Pretzell, a senior member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the husband of party co-leader Frauke Petry, on Tuesday told a regional party branch he wanted to leave the AfD, a regional lawmaker in the AfD said. Mr Pretzell told the parliamentary group he wants to leave the parliamentary group and then also the AfD, said Helmut Seifen, a lawmaker in the regional assembly of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said. Pretzell declined to comment. Earlier on Tuesday German media reported that his wife, Petry, would leave the party that became the third largest group in parliament after Sunday s national election. | 1 |
9,685 | Trump may discuss secretary of state job with critic Romney: source | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump planned a Saturday meeting with Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and fierce Trump critic, and may discuss whether he should be a candidate for secretary of state, a source familiar with the meeting said on Thursday. Trump already has a lengthy list of potential candidates for the post of top U.S. diplomat, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who met Trump on Thursday. Trump, a former reality TV star, has shown a flair for the dramatic in his deliberations over his Cabinet, saying only he knows who “the finalists” are. Corker told CNN on Wednesday he was “in the mix” for the position but that Trump might pick someone who was closer to him during the presidential campaign. He met on Thursday in Washington with Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Trump’s expected meeting with Romney amounts to an olive branch of sorts to one of his sharpest critics. Romney, who in a speech in March called Trump “a phony, a fraud,” urged Republicans to vote for anyone but the New York real estate magnate while the party was picking its presidential nominee. Trump, in turn, used harsh rhetoric at times during his campaign to dismiss Romney as a failure who blew a chance in 2012 to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama, whom Trump felt was a weak opponent. The source told Reuters that a broad discussion was expected during the meeting and that discussion about the secretary of state position was possible. The source had said earlier his understanding was that the meeting would occur on Sunday. Asked about the meeting, Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway suggested it was still being arranged. “We’re working on it,” she said. “I think it’s good that the president-elect is meeting with people like Mr. Romney,” U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, one of Trump’s closest confidants and a potential nominee for defense secretary, told reporters at Manhattan’s Trump Tower. Sessions sounded far from certain Romney would be offered a job. “There are a lot of talented people that he (Trump) needs good relationships with. And I think Mr. Romney would be quite capable of doing a number of things. But he will be one of those, I am sure, that’s reviewed. Donald Trump will make that decision,” Sessions said. When Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, opted out of running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, people close to him suggested that serving as secretary of state might be appealing to him if a Republican won the presidency. A steady stream of potential Trump administration hires made their way through the lobby of Trump Tower to meet with either Trump or officials close to him. All indicated a willingness to serve, such as Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who is chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. He is a potential treasury secretary in the Trump administration. “I stand ready to help the president in any capacity possible. I’ve got a great position in public policy today, if he wants to talk to me obviously, about serving somewhere else, we’ll look at serving somewhere else,” he told reporters. | 1 |
9,686 | North Korea's Kim trades missiles for tractors during testing lull | SEOUL (Reuters) - After a summer filled with flaming rockets and an earth-shaking nuclear blast, North Korea s state media is portraying Kim Jong Un as a leader who has temporarily traded weapons for workshops. The new portrayal appears designed to build domestic support by delivering on promises to develop the economy alongside the nuclear program and to reassure citizens amid tightening international sanctions. State media photos released on Wednesday showed Kim examining equipment at a tractor factory, test driving one of the vehicles and laughing with workers, the latest in a stream of photos in the past two months depicting a smiling Kim visiting farms and factories that make shoes, cosmetics, trucks. Between June 21 and Sept. 20, Kim did not conduct a single public activity related to the economy, instead focusing almost exclusively on appearances at events including missile tests or tours of weapons factories, according to data collected by South Korea s Ministry of Unification. The resumption of public, economic-related activities has coincided with a lull in missile testing. North Korea has not fired a rocket or tested a nuclear weapon since it launched a ballistic missile over Japan on Sept. 15. The break in testing matches lulls at similar times in past years and North Korea is almost certainly continuing its push for more capable nuclear weapons, South Korean officials say. But the renewed focus on economic development could be a bid to unify North Koreans and strengthen support for the leadership, said Baik Tae-hyun, a spokesman for South Korea s Unification Ministry. While North Korea still shows the will to continue developing its nuclear and missile program, their focus on the economy is also helping the North Korean people come together, Baik said. North Korea may be starting to feel the pinch of sanctions, tightened after its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September, and its leadership could be under pressure to limit their impact, said Nam Sung-wook, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul. Kim Jong Un has been simply doing what he does best - encouraging his people to achieve rapid economic growth and boost production, Nam said. Taking care of the economy and his people are the top priorities. Since taking the reins of the reclusive regime after the death of his father at the end of 2011, Kim has embraced a goal of simultaneously pursing economic development and advanced nuclear weapons. New U.N. Security Council sanctions in August and September banned imports of coal, textiles and seafood, while restricting oil shipments to the North. North Korean officials have said in state media the sanctions were causing a colossal amount of damage to ordinary North Koreans, while leaders have shown defiance, arguing that self-reliance can overcome international pressure. The main key to foiling the extremely vicious sanctions and pressure of the U.S. imperialists and their vassal forces and turning misfortune into a blessing is just self-reliance and the sci-tech strength, Kim said in an Oct. 7 speech to leaders of his ruling Workers Party of Korea, according to state media. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, a researcher with the Foreign Policy Research Institute who tracks North Korea s economy, said there was a push to expand manufacturing and decrease reliance on imports of a wide range of goods. North Korea was also looking to expand exports of products not covered by sanctions, such as tractors, Silberstein added. While analysts say there is anecdotal evidence the sanctions are beginning to the North s economy, it is not clear to what degree. Prices of petrol and diesel have spiked, but the cost of foods likes corn and rice have remained relatively stable, according to a Reuters analysis of market data collected by the defector-run Daily NK website. | 1 |
9,687 | In Kirkuk, Kurds' joy turns to fear after Iraqi army takeover | KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Turkmen and Arab shoppers stroll through an open-air food market in an ethnically mixed area of Kirkuk, haggling over the price of tomatoes and gossiping about their neighbors. Ostensibly, it s a normal day in the city of 1 million in northern Iraq. But nearby stand Iraqi Army soldiers, sent by the central government in Baghdad this week to wrest control of the city from Kurds after their vote for independence on Sept. 25. The army s recapture of oil-producing Kirkuk province and other territory across northern Iraq has dismayed the city s Kurds but brought comfort to residents from other ethnic groups. Of course things are better now that the Iraqis have taken back the city, said Mohammad, a Turkmen butcher grinning over a large pile of ground meat. We re all brothers, but at the end of the day, Kirkuk is not for the Kurds. It s for Iraq. An Arab couple who have seen Kirkuk change hands several times before said they now feel safer and more comfortable. This is our city after all, said the elderly Hajji Ahmed. Across the street in a Kurdish-owned restaurant, the mood is different. None of my Kurdish regulars want to come to eat here anymore, they don t feel safe, said the owner, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. We re all afraid because our fate in the city is unknown. Thousands of people fled Kirkuk after rumors of looting and violence against Kurds spread on social media, though residents said many later returned. No one Reuters spoke to had witnessed or suffered any aggression. The scenes now are a far cry from the Kurds jubilation on the day of the independence referendum, when they danced and sang in the streets. Though the referendum was opposed by international allies, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani was confident its outcome would give his government leverage to negotiate secession. Kirkuk is seen by many Kurds as the future capital of an independent Kurdish state. Including it in the referendum was widely seen as a unilateral move to consolidate Kurdish control. Peshmerga fighters seized Kirkuk in 2014 after Iraqi security forces fled, leaving the region s oilfields vulnerable to Islamic State militants who had swept across northern Iraq. But any notion of consolidated Kurdish power was quashed on Monday when Kurdish forces quietly withdrew, allowing the Iraqis to retake the city and other disputed territories claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurds. Kurdish flags used to hang from street lamps and buildings across the whole city but are now seen only in Kurdish areas. Roadside vendors now sell the flags of the Iraqi army and Shi ite paramilitary forces. Kirkuk has been lost forever, said a Kurdish resident of the Shorja district. Kurds in Kirkuk feel betrayed by their political leaders and humiliated by Baghdad, which forcibly displaced them from the city under late dictator Saddam Hussein. Some civilians are now deployed along the highway to the regional capital, Erbil, with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. We brought our guns to defend against the Iraqi invaders, said one, a retired Peshmerga fighter. We were betrayed, even by our own political leaders. So we had to come with our weapons to fight. The men have built berms and road blocks to slow traffic into the small town of Altun Kupri, or Perde in Kurdish. Now we only have orders to defend. But if they try and come to Erbil, we will attack them ferociously. We have to protect our people, Bakr Razgai, a local commander, said before clashes in the area on Friday morning. Such bravado was hard to find in Kirkuk. In the Kurdish neighborhood of Shorja, a poster hanging in front of the main market and showing late Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani s face next to a Kurdish flag has been scribbled over. I ve been up every night since Monday, afraid for my life, said Abdullah, a Kurdish clothes salesman. A friend said this was because of propaganda on social media and asked him if he had seen anything bad happen. Abdullah had not. But I m still afraid, he said. | 1 |
9,688 | Police give all clear after BA plane searched in Paris | PARIS (Reuters) - Police said a security alert on a British Airways plane in Paris on Sunday was a false alarm. Passengers were evacuated from Flight BA303 at Charles de Gaulle airport before it was due to fly to London for what officials said was a security reason. Sniffer dogs checked the plane and found no threat, police said as they lifted the alert. | 1 |
9,689 | Japan foreign minister thinks North Korea missile was ICBM: NHK | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said he thinks the missile that North Korea fired on Friday was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), given its firing range, public broadcaster NHK reported. North Korea fired a missile on Friday that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials said, further ratcheting up tensions after Pyongyang s recent test of a powerful nuclear bomb. | 1 |
9,690 | Video Of Man Casually Doing Interview After Just Being Shot Goes Viral (VIDEO) | A Quincy, Il, man was shot in the hourly hours of Thursday morning and then right after, did an interview while smoking a cigarette, in what appears to be one of the most interesting interviews of the year.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_wMhAFL188]The Quincy man, Devon, was in the room, kicking like I usually do, drinking, when someone fired bullets through his apartment, striking him in the chest.Despite the danger, Devon said that he wasn t trippin, it was a petty wound and sh*t. The first thing he thought about wasn t his wound though. His main concern was to get his son out of the way. Luckily, his son wasn t hurt.During the interview, Devon lifted his shirt to show his bandages from the wound, casually shrugging off the event, saying some people probably want [him] dead and are on some other stuff. One can t help but notice how unaffected, calm, and desensitized Devon seems to be, at least while conducting the interview. Even the journalist, Reyna Harvey, who was interviewing him is calm, which lead Chad Douglas a broadcaster at the studio to lament that the entire event was incredible. While the event is indeed incredible, there seems to be something quite eerie about the desensitization of all involved in this almost tragic event. Let s hope that Devon makes a full recovery from his wounds.Feature Image Via YouTube Screenshot | 0 |
9,691 | Secret Service Agent Risks Everything To Denounce Trump: ‘I Ain’t Taking A Bullet For Him’ (SCREENSHOTS) | Would you die to save the President? What if it was President Trump? A longtime secret service agent recently risked time in prison to promise the world that if she is all that stands between Trump and a bullet, the bullet wins.Kerry O Grady, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service s Denver district, didn t mention Trump directly in her Facebook post, but she didn t have to. Her words make it clear whom she means: As a public servant for nearly 23 years, I struggle to not violate the Hatch Act. So I keep quiet and skirt the median. To do otherwise can be a criminal offense for those in my position. Despite the fact that I am expected to take a bullet for both sides. But this world has changed and I have changed. And I would take jail time over a bullet or an endorsement for what I believe to be disaster to this country and the strong and amazing women and minorities who reside here. Hatch Act be damned. I am with Her. The Hatch Act prohibits executive branch members aside from the President, Vice President, and other selected people, from making partisan statements. The Hatch Act is designed both to protect employees from being forced to support a particular candidate, but it also acts to limit the political activities of executive branch employees.After several days, O Grady removed the post. It was an internal struggle for me but as soon as I put it up, I thought it was not the sentiment that I needed to share because I care very deeply about the mission, she said. However, she has not stopped posting her thoughts on social media. She also changed her cover photo to images of the Women s March in Denver, writing all of these women represent me! Proud to say it! #nasty and uploaded a photo of Princess Leia, captioned A woman s place is in the resistance. My government is the most important thing to me, she says. I serve at the pleasure of the president, but I still have the First Amendment right to say things. The Secret Service refuses to discuss the situation, but that the posts will be seriously and swiftly investigated. While some may criticize her for her posts, she probably made the right decision. After all, he is already threatening to march on American cities, isn t he?featured image via screengrab | 0 |
9,692 | White House Takes Its War On The Press To A TERRIFYING New Level (VIDEO) | Donald Trump and his team are no fans of the free press. They call any story that they dislike fake news, and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has called the press the opposition party. Perhaps most disturbing of all is Trump himself calling the press an enemy of the American people. Well, it seems that the Trump White House s disdain for the free press has now been taken to a new and horrifying level.During Press Secretary Sean Spicer s daily press briefing, mainstream outlets were barred from the room in favor of Trump-friendly outlets such as Breitbart and the Washington Times. Further, rather than the traditional televised briefing, this was an informal gathering in Spicer s White House office instead, with no cameras allowed. Banished from the room were major, legitimate outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, and Buzzfeed. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox were the only mainstream outlets in attendance, while the Associated Press and TIME boycotted the briefing in solidarity with their fellow reporters. The White House Correspondents Association filed a formal complaint regarding what happened here.Via @saramurray: @nytimes, @latimes, @politico blocked with @cnn. @AP + @TIME boycotted. Allowed in: @BreitbartNews, @WashTimes + @OANN https://t.co/NF585wzLFM Katie Hinman (@khinman) February 24, 2017Here is the complaint from the WHCA:Certain media outlets were blocked from covering Sean Spicer's gaggle today. Here is the @whca's response pic.twitter.com/YUeLS4ss0z Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) February 24, 2017CNN was first to respond:CNN was blocked from WH @PressSec's media gaggle today. This is our response: pic.twitter.com/8SfY2uYKEI CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 24, 2017Here is video of their reporters discussing it on the air:This is beyond dangerous. Banishing media outlets is about the most un-American attack on our democracy that we have ever seen. The first thing dictators do is try to control and shut down the free press. This a direct attack and assault on the Fourth Estate, and this administration is one that is more corrupt than that of Richard Nixon, with a president who routinely lies with impunity to the American public. If you want to save our republic, you ll speak out against this assault on the free press and on the First Amendment before it s too late.Investigative journalists find some REAL dirt on this White House, and get rid of them once and for all.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images | 0 |
9,693 | NBA THREATENS NC…Let Men Share Bathrooms With Your Daughters Or We’ll Cancel All-Star Game | So in other words, parents better allow men to use the same bathrooms and locker rooms as your little girls or the NBA is gathering up their balls and running away. Is the NBA still a professional sports organization, or have they morphed into a radical social change group? If the answer is the latter, you won t see me pay another dime to sit in the stands of another NBA game. I don t think I m alone in that thinking either. Putting social issues before the safety and well-being of women and children is misguided and dangerous. Click HERE to comment on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver s Facebook page. Commissioner Adam Silver believes the NBA has been crystal clear that the 2017 All-Star Game only stays in Charlotte if a North Carolina law goes.Political and business leaders he s spoken with in the state believe it will, so he s holding off for now on setting any deadlines for when the NBA might act.Silver said last week that the law that limits anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people was problematic for the league, but he believed dialogue was more useful than ultimatums at this point, so has continued discussions with North Carolina officials. The sense was that if the NBA could give us some time, they in the community of North Carolina were optimistic they would see a change in the law. They weren t guaranteeing it and I think which was why my response was the event still is 10 months from now, we don t need to make a decision yet, Silver said Thursday during a meeting of Associated Press Sports Editors. We ve been, I think, crystal clear that we believe a change in the law is necessary for us to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event, but that we did have some time and that if the view of the people who were allied with us in terms of a change, if their view, the people on the ground in North Carolina, was that the situation would best be served by us not setting a deadline, we would not set a deadline at this time. The North Carolina law directs transgender people to use public toilets corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate. The law also excludes LGBT people from state anti-discrimination protections, blocks local governments from expanding LGBT protections, and bars all types of workplace discrimination lawsuits from state courts.Several entertainment acts have already canceled plans for North Carolina but Silver said last week he didn t think a warning that the NBA could pull the All-Star weekend out would send the proper message, particularly because the league still has the Charlotte Hornets, owned by Michael Jordan, playing there. The Hornets host playoff games this weekend.All-Star weekend is scheduled for February. Silver said there is no urgency to make a decision because the league could very easily find out which arenas would take on the event if necessary.Via: AP News | 0 |
9,694 | U.S. envoy for North Korean affairs travels to Japan, Thailand | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy for North Korea will travel to Japan and Thailand next week to discuss how to increase pressure on Pyongyang after its latest ballistic missile test, the U.S. State Department said on Friday. North Korea, formally called the Democratic People s Republic of Korea (DPRK), last week tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), saying the device could reach all of the United States. Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, will travel to Japan and Thailand Dec. 11-15 to meet government officials to discuss ways to strengthen the pressure campaign following the DPRK s latest ballistic missile test, the State Department said in a brief written statement. The United States looks forward to continuing its partnership with both these nations so that the DPRK will return to credible talks on denuclearization, it added. Tensions have risen markedly in recent months over North Korea s development, in defiance of repeated rounds of U.N. sanctions, of nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States. Last week s missile test prompted a U.S. warning that North Korea s leadership would be utterly destroyed if war were to break out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after North Korean tests. The United States has sent mixed signals about its interest in talks with the North, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying that Washington was pursuing such contacts but President Trump tweeting that this was a waste of time. | 1 |
9,695 | Clinton calls for lower price on allergy drug EpiPen | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on pharmaceutical company Mylan NV to voluntarily drop the price of its severe allergy treatment drug EpiPen, which has increased in price by more than 400 percent in the past decade. “That’s outrageous - and it’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers,” Clinton said in a statement. “It’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them.” Clinton frequently said during the primary that she would fight pharmaceutical companies - part of an attempt to counter criticism that she was too closely tied to the insurance industry. She has released a proposal that she says will lower drug costs for consumers. Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin did not respond to inquiries about Clinton’s criticism of the company. Mylan acquired the product in 2007, and the price increased from $100 in 2008 to its current cost of $600. Shares of Mylan closed down more than 5 percent at $43.15 on the Nasdaq. “The price of EpiPen is outrageous,” said Robert Weissman, president of consumer watchdog group Public Citizen. “Mylan is endangering lives and ripping off the country.” Weissman said EpiPen’s U.S. price should be rolled back sharply, noting the product is available for as little as $112 in Canada. Many other drugmakers also routinely raise prices of their prescription drugs by 10 percent or more each year, and U.S. legislation is needed to prevent such “price spikes,” he added. The White House took a more cautious tone in criticizing rising drug costs, refusing to comment on the decisions of an individual company. “I will observe, however, that pharmaceutical companies that often try to portray themselves as the inventors of life-saving medication often do real damage to their reputation by being greedy and jacking up prices in a way that victimizes,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. Clinton joins a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are calling for investigations into the price increase of EpiPens, which are preloaded injections of epinephrine (adrenaline) that people use if they are having a dangerous allergic reaction that untreated could result in death. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Mylan earlier in the week to ask for an explanation of the price change. Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the committee’s antitrust subcommittee, called for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. On Wednesday, Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill requested that Mylan provide a briefing for the Senate to explain the price change. Grassley and Klobuchar, along with Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy and Richard Blumenthal and Republican Senator Ron Johnson, on Wednesday said they had written to the Food and Drug Administration to ask about its approval process for alternatives to the EpiPen. “Given the importance of this topic, it is imperative to understand the FDA’s role with respect to EpiPens and its approval of generic equivalents that could help to increase competition and lower prices if introduced,” the senators said in a statement. “We have reached out to every member of Congress who has sent us a letter, and we look forward to meeting with them and responding to their questions as soon as possible,” Devlin said. In January, Clinton admonished Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, which raised the price of a heart drug. In the wake of a Clinton campaign blog post targeting Valeant, the company’s stock fell. In March, she released a campaign ad vowing to target the company specifically. Clinton also criticized Turing Pharmaceuticals in the fall of 2015 when public ire rose after it decided to raise the price of an antiviral medication commonly used by AIDS patients and pregnant women from $13.50 a tablet to $750 each. After a single post by Clinton on the social media website Twitter critical of Turing, the company’s stock price tumbled. At that time, Clinton released a comprehensive drug price plan that she says would reduce costs. Her proposal includes capping monthly out-of-pocket costs, expanding generic drug access and allowing Americans to buy pharmaceuticals abroad. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said little about lowering drug prices. He has proposed increasing the amount of negotiations permitted by Medicare in order to lower prices for those using the program. | 1 |
9,696 | Watch Women’s March Activist: ‘Missing Black Girls” Connected to Trump Tax Returns | Unbelievable! Women s March Activist went off on a crazy rant claiming that somehow President Trump s tax returns are linked to missing black girls in the U.S.:Transcript: to lock arms with one another. We demand that we see Trump s taxes while we also demand that all of our rights are protected. We demand that we see Trump s taxes while we also demand that women s rights be treated as human rights. We must speak with one voice and one accord and we must draw a direct line between Trump s taxes and missing girls, missing black girls all across this country.We must say that while we resist one, we resist all or else our fight is inauthentic. We must say Trump s taxes and equal education. We must say Trump s taxes no more police brutality. We must say that Trump s taxes is where we start today but we will not end there. That all our rights must be protected and who the hell do you think you are to hide anything and treat us as though we are less than human?Via: GP | 0 |
9,697 | Obama to visit Patagonian tourist city Bariloche on Argentina trip | BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and the first lady will visit the lake-side Patagonian tourist city of Bariloche later this month during an official trip to Argentina, a U.S. diplomat told local radio on Friday. The trip will follow the couple’s visit to Cuba on March 21 and 22, another major step toward ending decades of animosity between former Cold War foes. They will meet with newly elected Argentine President Mauricio Macri on March 23 and fly to Bariloche the following day, Kevin Sullivan, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires, told Radio Mitre. The stopover in ski-destination Bariloche, known for its crystal clear lakes and panoramic mountain vistas, appeared to be first lady Michelle Obama’s idea, Sullivan said. “I believe she heard what Bariloche is like ... and it seemed to her it would be a good place to share a little family time,” Sullivan said. Relations have improved between Argentina and the United States since Macri took office in December. Macri has moved to open Latin America’s No. 3 economy to foreign investment by ditching trade and currency controls enacted by his predecessor. “It seems to us to be a good moment for President Obama to get to know Argentina and have a dialogue with President Macri,” Sullivan said. The agenda will include international cooperation, terrorism, human rights and energy investment. Argentina has some of the world’s largest untapped shale oil and natural gas formations. China is a major investor in Argentina’s energy and grains sectors. March 24 will be the 40th anniversary of the 1976 coup that installed a military dictatorship, which the United States initially supported. Argentina returned to democracy in 1983. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who won the Nobel peace prize for his human rights work during the dictatorship, wrote an open letter to Obama this week saying that if the U.S. president stayed in Buenos Aires on the 24th, many Argentines would see that as “a provocation.” Marches and demonstrations in honor of the victims of the military junta are planned for that date in the Argentine capital. | 1 |
9,698 | Turkey's Erdogan calls on mayors to resign, Hurriyet newspaper says | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called on mayors of three major cities to resign, including the high-profile mayor of the capital, Ankara, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday, in a push to revitalize his ruling party ahead of 2019 elections. The comments mark Erdogan s most explicit demand yet for a shake-up of veteran politicians - some of whom are nationally prominent - after voters in many cities rejected an April referendum granting him sweeping power. While Erdogan narrowly won the referendum to change the constitution and create an executive presidency, voters in 17 of Turkey s 30 largest cities voted against the change. Since then, Erdogan has spoken of the need for renewal in local government and the ruling AK Party, citing signs of metal fatigue within administrations. People do not take these offices as independent candidates but as candidates shown by parties. We cannot regard these posts as chairs which are kept eternally and never abandoned, the Hurriyet quoted him as telling reporters on his plane back from a trip to Poland this week. A request had been conveyed for the resignation of the mayor of Balikesir in northwest Turkey, the newspaper quoted him as saying. Likewise, this situation was conveyed to (Ankara Mayor) Melih (Gokcek). The same with Bursa, he was quoted as saying. Bursa is a city in northwest Turkey. The mayor of Istanbul has resigned in the last month, as has the mayor of Duzce city in northwest Turkey. The mayor of Nigde city in central Turkey, resigned on Wednesday. But Gokcek, who has been Ankara mayor since 1994 and won five consecutive elections, has so far stayed in place, despite widespread speculation that we would step down. Gokcek has avoided addressing the resignation issue and pointedly steered clear of the subject in public when he made an unexpected visit to the presidential palace this month. I presented to my president all the project details of the museum to be built opposite the (presidential) palace. I also gave various information about ongoing municipal projects... For the public s information, he wrote on Twitter. Gokcek, generally regarded as a staunch Erdogan loyalist, is well known in Turkey for tweets in which he has engaged in spats with journalists and other senior members of the AKP. In February he suggested the U.S.-based cleric blamed for last year s failed coup might be plotting an earthquake, with the help of foreign powers, to damage the economy. | 1 |
9,699 | Czech parliament revokes Communist-era policeman's election to oversight post | PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech parliament revoked an election of a Communist-era policeman to a police oversight job on Tuesday after some lawmakers claimed the vote was manipulated. Earlier, the lower chamber entrusted oversight of the police force to Zdenek Ondracek, former member of a Communist-era special unit which tried to crush the peaceful 1989 uprising that helped to bring down Communist rule. The unprecedented appointment of a Communist lawmaker as chairman of parliament s General Inspection of Security Forces commission appeared to be part of complex maneuvering by the new prime minister, billionaire businessman Andrej Babis, and his ANO party to get backing for a minority government. After the secret ballot, some lawmakers challenged the result with claims that it was unclear how many in the 200-seat lower chamber actually participated in the election. Ondracek received 95 votes, but due to the uncertainty it was impossible to determine whether he got the required majority. Speaker of the house, ANO s Radek Vondracek, then declared the vote confused and said that it would be repeated in January. The ANO has 78 seats in the new 200-seat lower house. Babis is seeking support or at least acquiescence from lawmakers of the other eight parties in parliament. The far-left Communists with 15 seats, and far-right, anti-European Union SPD party with 22, have lent support in initial parliamentary votes in return for committee posts, but no deal has been announced on their backing for an ANO cabinet. The secret ballot vote on Tuesday to appoint Ondracek was the first time the Communist party has gained such a post in nearly three decades since the fall of communism. In 1989 his police unit used water cannon, clubs and dogs to disperse anti-regime protests. The demonstrations eventually led to the peaceful overthrow of Communist dictatorship in what became known as the Velvet Revolution. A video from 1989, posted on YouTube, shows Ondracek defending police actions in an interview with state television. It is sad that it happened only one day after we remembered the anniversary of (late president and leading anti-Communist dissident) Vaclav Havel s passing. The times have changed, said Vit Rakusan, deputy chairman of the Mayors and Independents party. Communist party deputy chairman Jiri Dolejs, however, defended the appointment. Police work should be scrutinized by those who understand it, he told reporters. In October, the Communist party suffered the worst election result in its nearly 100-year history. Still, it is the only faction so far to say it could back the ANO government. Direct or indirect support might also come from the SPD party of Czech-Japanese businessman Tomio Okamura. Other parties have shunned Babis, mainly due to pending police charges against him over allegations he concealed his company s ownership of a farm and conference center a decade ago to illegally obtain a 2 million-euro European Union subsidy. Babis denies wrongdoing. Babis, who was appointed prime minister this month and whose cabinet took power last week, has until mid-January to win a confidence vote. President Milos Zeman has said Babis will get a second try if his first attempt to form a government fails. | 1 |
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