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9,900 | China's Xi, Trump discuss 'global hot-spot issues': Xinhua | BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday discussed “global hot-spot issues” on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg, state news agency Xinhua said. It did not immediately give any other details. | 1 |
9,901 | Trump Attacks James Comey For Not Jailing Clinton: ‘She Was Guilty Of Every Charge’ (VIDEO) | In an interview with Fox Business that aired Tuesday, Donald Trump responded to news that the FBI had successfully obtained a FISA warrant to look into his former advisor Carter Page by trashing James Comey for not locking Hillary Clinton up. Sure, Clinton did not commit any crimes and was never charged with anything, but according to Trump she is GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY. When Jim Comey came out, he saved Hillary Clinton. He saved her life, Trump said, apparently forgetting that a certain letter from Comey helped swing the election his way. When he was reading those charges, she was guilty of every charge, and then he said she was essentially OK. Nevertheless, for some reason Trump says he trusts Comey to clear him with regard to Russia.Trump also complained that he is understaffed because of obstructionist Democrats and other things that prevent him from accomplishing what he wants like the law. In reality, the problem is that The Donald isn t actually nominating people. Democrats have only obstructed when there was a legitimate objection, like that the person worked with Russia or is a white supremacist.Trump told Fox that he still believes he was correct when he accused President Obama of tapping his wires at Trump Tower because numerous members of his administration were and are under investigation by the FBI for their illegal activities (many involving Russia). While it is true that Trump Tower was monitored years ago, it had more to do with the Russian money laundering operation that was happening three floors below Trump s penthouse than anything else. Over 30 Russian mobsters were indicted as a result of the investigation.Watch the interview below:Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
9,902 | Conservatives Freak Out After Seeing Obama In Front Of Che Guevara Mural (TWEETS) | President Barack Obama singlehandedly caused a collective right-wing freak out on Monday when he took a picture in front of a Cuban ministry building that just happened to have a Che Guevara mural.Obama has been in Cuba since Sunday, making the trip a truly historic three day visit because a sitting U.S. president hasn t visited the country in 88 years. During the trip, Obama is accompanied by his family and dozens of American politicians and business leaders who are aiding the President in a crucial initiative to build a bridge between the U.S. and Cuba two countries that have had political differences for decades. This photograph (along with many others) was taken as Obama was taking part in a wreath laying ceremony with several other officials in Havana s Revolution Plaza.Obamas s cause was noble, but as soon as word got out about the photograph, conservative websites didn t hesitate to start bashing the President for posing in front of the image of the Cuban Marxist revolutionary leader. The Drudge Report was one of the first, throwing up the photo on their site and captioning it with Mission Accomplished. Drudge ReportTownhall.com called the photo a gem of a picture, and The Washington Examiner said the image had created a fresh wave of fury. The outrage continued on social media, as conservatives on Twitter unleashed an avalanche of accusations and insults. One user called Obama a disgrace while another criticized the President for posing with Che Guevara s image but not going to Navy SEAL Chris Kyle s memorial service in 2013.TwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterTwitterConservatives have been slamming Obama ever since he stepped foot in Cuba yesterday, obviously because they are more in favor of hostile, divisive relations than the mutual understanding and respect that the President is trying to create. Both Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz and former (failed) GOP candidate Marco Rubio have openly condemned Obama s visit. The Right s reaction to Obama s photograph and overall visit to Cuba is just more proof that they will oppose, and try to tear down Obama any chance they get no matter how far-reaching their reactions are. Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
9,903 | 'Unacceptably high' number of Afghans flee military training in U.S.: report | KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan soldiers and police brought to the United States for training go absent without leave at far higher rates than those of any other country, potentially imperilling efforts to assist Afghan security forces, a U.S. watchdog said on Friday. Of the 320 foreign military trainees who left while on courses in the United States from 2005 to 2017, 152 - or more than 47 percent - were Afghans, said a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The State Department called that number unacceptably high . SIGAR found that the rate of asylum seekers among Afghan military trainees rose in recent years as violence in the Islamist Taliban insurgency spread across Afghanistan and security forces sustained heavy casualties. In 2016, for example, the percentage of Afghan trainees who went AWOL (absent without leave) jumped from an historical average of about 6 or 7 percent to 13 percent, the report noted. That s compared to an average of about .07 percent of trainees from other countries, according to SIGAR. The tendency of Afghan trainees in the United States to go AWOL may hinder the operational readiness of their home units, negatively impact the morale of fellow trainees and home units, and pose security risks to the United States, it concluded. Only 27 of the Afghans who left their training have been arrested or removed by U.S. police, SIGAR said, with most of the other 83 either unaccounted for or having fled the United States. Many of the Afghans who seek asylum in the United States say their lives would be in danger if they returned home. Although Afghan trainees are considered high risk because of their military training and fighting age, SIGAR said it was not aware of any acts of terrorism or similarly serious acts involving them. In response to the high number of Afghans who go AWOL, the U.S. government has reduced the number of training courses it offers, and Afghan commanders are also more reluctant to allow their troops to attend. That has disappointed some members of the Afghan security forces who told SIGAR they are paying a price because of their colleagues who run away. If a student absconds, it affects his unit, one Afghan officer told investigators. Between 2005 and 2017 the U.S. military brought more than 2,500 Afghan soldiers and police to the United States for training, including programs that trained pilots for the nascent Afghan Air Force and special forces, according to SIGAR. | 1 |
9,904 | Whoops: VA Gun Shop Employee Accidentally Shoots Herself | An employee of Safeside Tactical in Roanoke, Virginia accidentally shot herself in the leg on Thursday, May 6 during a private event being held inside the gun store. According to local station WDBJ7, the shooting took place just before noon, while the business was closed to the public.Roanoke City Police Department and Roanoke Fire EMS were called to the scene. The shooting victim was transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she is being treated for non life-threatening injuries.According to a statement released by the company, the injured employee works in an administrative position.The company stated: All of our employees undergo required firearm safety training upon hiring, and this unfortunate incident shows that even experienced firearm owners must be ever-vigilant and aware of the responsibilities associated with safe handling. According to the NRA, guns make for a safer society. Following that line of reasoning, a gun shop should be the safest place in the world. This is just one of many incidents where people have been accidentally or purposely injured by a firearm while surrounded by guns.On January 9, 2015, for example, four people were shot inside a gun store in Shawnee, Kansas.A few months later, a Fayetteville, NC man shot himself in the leg while attending a gun show.In November 2015, two men were shot at a gun show in Idaho when a vendor accidentally fired a rifle. In January of this year, somewhere between one and three people were shot at a gun show in Ohio. Authorities were unable to determine the exact number of people who were shot at that event.Also in January of this year, two people were killed and two others injured during a father-son shootout at a gun store in Mississippi.All of the people involved in these shootings were surrounded by guns when they were injured or killed. Contrary to what the NRA says, being surrounded by guns does not make a person less likely to get shot. In fact, the opposite is true. The more guns that people have access to, the greater their risk of being injured or killed by one.Featured image via Ratha Grimes via Flickr cc 2.0 | 0 |
9,905 | EU to launch internal Brexit transition work: draft | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will tell Britain next week it must improve the terms of its withdrawal offer, but give London the prospect of a rapid move to free-trade talks in December if that happens, their draft joint statement showed. The remaining 27 EU leaders will discuss Brexit without British Prime Minister Theresa May next week after a fifth round of technical negotiations ended in a deadlock earlier on Thursday. While the draft statement makes clear that no sufficient progress in divorce talks was made on safeguarding citizens rights, the Irish border and Britain s exit bill, it also has the 27 states making a substantial gesture toward London. The draft, submitted to the 27 governments on Thursday, said the EU should launch immediate internal work on possible transitional arrangements after Brexit so that it can move to talks on future ties with Britain as soon as possible after sufficient progress is made on the three basic matters. At its next session in December, the European Council will reassess the state of progress in the negotiations with a view to determining whether sufficient progress has been achieved, said the draft, seen by Reuters. Should that happen, it said the EU 27 would prepare the necessary official documents on the framework for the future relationship and on possible transitional arrangements which are in the interest of the Union. In order to be fully ready for such a scenario, it said, EU leaders task their Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to start internal preparatory discussions. | 1 |
9,906 | Facebook Founder Tells Trump to go F*ck Himself In A HUGE Way (SCREENSHOTS) | Donald Trump is horrible, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is not at all shy in letting the world know that. My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that, Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook Friday. Like many of you, I m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump. Zuckerberg, of course, is referecing Donald Trump s recent executive orders authorizing the gigantic waste of taxpayer dollars that is his border wall, a partial ban on Muslims entering the United States, and even concentration camps for his planned massive immigrant roundup. We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat, the Facebook CEO continued. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation. We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That s who we are, Zuckerberg says. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla s family wouldn t be here today. Though he is critical of Trump s horrible stance and actions, Zuckerberg says he is glad to hear that Trump plans to work something out for DREAMers, adding that he hopes the protections available to them survive the Trump administration and that he is glad Trump says he feels the United States should benefit from people of great talent coming into the country. These issues are personal for me even beyond my family. A few years ago, I taught a class at a local middle school where some of my best students were undocumented. They are our future too. We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here, Zuckerberg adds. I hope we find the courage and compassion to bring people together and make this world a better place for everyone. You can read the full post here:(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla's parents were refugees from China and Vietnam .Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, January 27, 2017featured image via Getty Images(Win McNamee)/screengrab | 0 |
9,907 | SNL ‘President Barbie’ Commercial Jokingly Highlights Progress Of Feminism (VIDEO) | The May 8 episode of Saturday Night Live featured a spoof commercial for Mattel s new President Barbie. The commercial and the product are both fictional creations from the SNL team, who used the mock ad to highlight how far feminism has come in the 21st Century.As the video opens the narrator proclaims in a sing-song voice: We know our little girls can go as far as their imaginations will take them. As cheerful music plays in the background viewers are entertained with scenes of pre-teen girls playing with things like rockets and engineering sets.The narrator goes on, saying: To show just how far we ve come, Mattel is proud to introduce President Barbie, the first Barbie Commander In Chief. After this exciting build up, the scene shifts back to the girls, who just don t seem that into the doll. Oh, neat, one of them replies half-heartedly, before putting the Barbie down to return to the construction set in front of her. Don t you want to play with her? the narrator asks, adding, She s a girl, just like you. The girl responds by saying, Ya, but girls don t have to play with dolls. We can play with whatever we want. The narrator replies, That s true, you don t have to play with dolls, but it would be great if you played with this doll right now. To this, one of the girls replies, I like Legos. The mock spokesperson tries to boost the kids interest in the doll by saying: Oh but look, President Barbie even comes with sunglasses and a smart phone with Snapchat. Do you like her now? The girls remain unimpressed. One of them replies, It feels like she s trying too hard. The narrator explains: She is trying hard because there was a time when Barbie couldn t even be president. In response one of the kids sums it up by saying: I wasn t alive then. Watch the video below, via Saturday Night Live on YouTube: Image credit: video screen capture via Saturday Night Live on YouTube | 0 |
9,908 | U.S. Senate Democratic leader attacks Trump's health pick on ethics charge | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services may have broken the law by making a stock purchase just before he introduced legislation that would have benefited the firm, the Senate’s leading Democrat charged on Tuesday. A confirmation hearing for Tom Price, a Republican congressman and orthopedic surgeon from Georgia, was scheduled for Wednesday before the Senate Health Committee. If confirmed, he would be a key player in carrying out Trump’s plans to overhaul Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. CNN reported on Sunday that Price bought between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of shares last March in Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc (ZBH.N), a medical device manufacturer. Days later, he introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would have delayed a regulation that could have ultimately damaged the company, CNN said. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether Price had violated the 2012 Stock Act, a law designed to combat insider trading. Schumer said Price’s Zimmer Biomet purchase may have been in violation of that law. “It may be that this trade was illegal,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon. The Trump transition team said late on Monday that the stock purchase was directed not by Price but by a broker and that the congressman himself did not become aware of the stock buy until well after the legislation was introduced. The transition team urged CNN to retract the story. “Any effort to connect the introduction of bipartisan legislation by Dr. Price to any campaign contribution is demonstrably false,” said transition spokesman Phil Blando. Schumer did not sound convinced. “Now they say there’s a broker, it’s kind of strange that this broker would pick this stock totally independently of him introducing legislation that’s so narrow and specific to this company,” Schumer told CNN on Tuesday. Sean Spicer, who will serve as Trump’s White House spokesman, defended Price. “Regarding dem attacks on @RepTomPrice: this is a stock trade worth $300. You couldn’t get into a @SenSchumer fundraiser for that amount,” Spicer said in a tweet. Another sign of trouble for Republicans in the healthcare arena emerged on Tuesday when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said a repeal of Obamacare - a top priority of both Trump and congressional Republicans - would increase the number of people without health insurance by 18 million in the first year. That number would grow to 32 million by the year 2026 and premiums would double in that time, the CBO said. The report based its analysis on a Republican repeal bill that was passed a year ago but vetoed by Obama. Republicans say the same bill is the blueprint for the repeal effort now under way in Congress. But House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, characterized the CBO projection as “meaningless.” He said it did not take into account measures under consideration to replace the law or “actions that the incoming administration will take to revitalize the individual (insurance) market that has been decimated by Obamacare.” Price, an ardent advocate of Obamacare repeal, is one of eight Trump Cabinet nominees who will face Senate confirmation hearings this week. The hearings started on Tuesday with Ryan Zinke, a Republican congressman from Montana tapped for interior secretary, and Republican philanthropist Betsy DeVos, the nominee for education secretary. Trump’s presidential inauguration is on Friday and his team is hoping to have as many of his nominees as possible, perhaps as many as seven, confirmed by then. Price, however, will not be one of them. A second Senate panel, the Finance Committee, must also hold a hearing and a vote on Price’s nomination, and it has not yet scheduled its hearing. | 1 |
9,909 | president obama gets real not revenge on republicans | lebanon lebanese foreign minister gebran bassil gestures to his supporters during a rally to show support for fpm founder michel aoun near the presidential palace in baabda near beirut lebanon october photo by reuters
lebanons minister of foreign affairs gebran bassil says the lebanese resistance movement hezbollah shares the victory of michel aoun in securing the countrys presidency
aoun a strong hezbollah ally was chosen by lebanese lawmakers as the countrys president on monday
addressing a large number of people who had converged at a square in beirut to celebrate aouns election bassil who is also the head of the free patriotic movement fpm and aouns soninlaw said his movement never doubted hezbollahs loyalty and honesty aoun is the founder of the fpm
he said aouns victory was based on his own perseverance as well as the positions adopted by sayyed hassan nasrallah who is hezbollahs secretary general
in a phone call on the same day nasrallah congratulated aoun on his election as the head of the lebanese state this image taken in the southern suburbs of beirut on october shows people celebrating the election of michel aoun as the new president of lebanon
nasrallah endorsed aoun last week advising lebanese political factions to set aside their differences in order to fill the presidential void in the arab country
lebanon had been without a president for over two years amid political bickering in the parliament
after the election aoun vowed in a speech to the parliament that he would spare no effort in trying to bring about the liberation of lebanese territories occupied by israel
he said his top priority would be to strengthen the army in order for it to become capable of defending the country against all threats to its independence and sovereignty
hezbollah has been defending lebanon against israeli aggression since the movements inception including during a fullfledged israeli war in
this item is being updated loading | 1 |
9,910 | Democrats say gun defeat in Congress could help on campaign trail | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in Congress ended a 25-hour sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives where they have been countless times before: short of the votes needed to tighten U.S. gun laws. But many see their latest defeat as a prelude to victory in the Nov. 8 elections. Spurred by the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, Democrats are showing a new willingness to make gun laws a top issue in Washington and on the campaign trail, defying powerful lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association that have helped make the United States the most gun-friendly country in the developed world. The effort is not likely to change federal firearms laws this year, as Republicans who control Congress have shown little interest in proposals that they say weaken Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms. But Democrats and their allies say that defeat now on Capitol Hill could help them win control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in the Nov. 8 elections. That is a shift from previous elections when Democrats have downplayed the issue on the campaign trail. “The tide has turned, and Republicans ignore this issue at their own peril,” said Robert Weiner, a former Democratic congressional aide. Hillary Clinton, the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee, talks frequently in her campaign about banning military-style assault rifles and expanding background checks — a marked contrast to President Barack Obama, who avoided talk of guns during his 2008 and 2012 elections. In Congress, Democrats have resorted to confrontational tactics to force gun votes since June 12, when a gunman killed 49 people at a Florida nightclub. Senator Chris Murphy’s 15-hour speech in the Senate last week forced five votes this week on measures that would make it harder for terrorism suspects to buy guns, though none have advanced. In the House, Democrats occupied the chamber for 25 hours in an unsuccessful attempt to force votes on terrorism suspects and expanding background checks for gun buyers. Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said Democrats’ willingness to talk about guns reflects the party becoming more liberal, not a change in public sentiment. Most voters view the shooting in Orlando as an act of terrorism inspired by Islamic State, she said. “The shooter called 911 to pledge allegiance to ISIS, he did not call 911 and pledge allegiance to Smith & Wesson,” she said, referring to an acronym for Islamic State and the firearms manufacturer. Still, Democrats’ willingness to take a stand on gun control has shifted the debate, said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. “There’s a potentially a good electoral outcome for Democrats out of this. They will probably pick up seats,” he said. After landslide defeats in 2010 and 2014, most Democrats who remain in office tend to represent safely liberal congressional districts where gun control is popular. But those up for election in competitive states have spoken up as well. U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, who hopes to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio in gun-friendly Florida, said during the House sit-in that gun rights groups like the NRA are “largely responsible” for the country’s 32,000 annual gun deaths. “This passion you’re seeing is what’s needed to get people to wake up,” he said on the House floor. The NRA did not respond to a request for comment. Democrats have public opinion on their side: a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll conducted this week found that 48 percent of those surveyed support strong gun regulations, while 23 percent support minimal rules. Support runs higher for specific proposals, like imposing background checks on all gun buyers. (bit.ly/28U7CA7) But intensity has been a sticking point for gun control advocates. The NRA has been able to mobilize supporters who are willing to vote for or against a candidate solely because of their position on guns, while gun-control supporters typically consider other issues as well, such as abortion and the environment. “Anytime the Democrats start a gun movement, it costs them votes,” said Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, who has worked for centrist Democratic candidates. “I can’t imagine it’s changing.” Shootings in Newtown, Connecticut; San Bernardino, California; Charleston, South Carolina; and, most recently, Orlando have changed that dynamic, others say. “Mass shootings are highly visible, and force people to pay attention and realize that we have a problem that isn’t going to be solved by more guns,” said Tharon Johnson, a Democratic strategist in Atlanta who worked on Obama’s 2012 campaign. The gun-control lobbying group Everytown for Gun Safety says its members generated 245,000 telephone calls to Congress, and brought hundreds of its members to Congress to press for action during the debate. “I’ve been in the fight for a number of years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Colin Goddard, an advocate with the group who was wounded during the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting. | 1 |
9,911 | U.S. House to weigh $622.1 million in new Zika funding | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will try to pass legislation this week providing $622.1 million in funds to fight the spreading Zika virus, far less than the Obama administration has been seeking. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers introduced the measure on Monday, according to a statement. The bill would offset the new spending by taking $352.1 million from an Ebola fund and another $270 million from a Department of Health and Human Services administrative account. The bill “will make dollars available to fight the disease now, prioritizing critical activities that must begin immediately, such as vaccine development and mosquito control,” Rogers said. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to severe birth defects and other neurological disorders and is beginning to show up in warm climates in U.S. southern states such as Florida. The Obama administration in February called for $1.9 billion in emergency funds that would not result in any government spending cuts elsewhere. The White House and health officials have expressed concerns in the past with taking money from Ebola programs to pay for Zika virus efforts. But in April, after the Republican-led Congress did not act, it found a temporary fix to fund the fight against Zika by redirecting $589 million, mostly from Ebola funds. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday that congressional inaction on supplemental funding meant that health officials are forced to resort to the equivalent of “digging through the sofa cushions to try to come up with the necessary money.” The House bill is also at odds with legislation being debated in the Senate. Competing proposals there would either give Obama the full $1.9 billion or at least $1.1 billion. The Senate is expected to cast initial votes on the alternatives on Tuesday. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of being “beyond reckless” by being slow to send money to combat a “raging virus.” If the House and Senate approve competing versions they would have to reconcile their differences and pass one uniform bill before sending it to Obama for signing into law. Of the $622.1 million proposed by House Republicans, $230 million would go to the National Institutes of Health to help support the development of vaccines to stop the spread of Zika. Other funds would be contributed to global health programs, through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, and for the development of rapid diagnostic tests. | 1 |
9,912 | CASTING CRISIS: Orlando’s Actors, Agents and Casualty Role Players | Shawn Helton 21st Century WireTruth is often stranger than fiction when looking at the bizarre phenomena surrounding many mass casualty incidents and the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting was no exception.It was recently revealed that the world s largest security firm G4S, who had employed the man named in the Orlando pulse nightclub shooting, Omar Mateen is a client of the mass casualty staging company called CrisisCast. STAGING REALITY CrisisCast specializes in replicating mass casualty events. (Screen Capture from Crisis Cast)Training for DisasterThe heavily-stylized company CrisisCast, appears to be a revamped version of the Visionbox Crisis Actors project (a crisis actor production emerging after Sandy Hook), with a professional team of actors, elaborate film crews, expert producers and theatrical effects makeup squads mimicking real-life injuries (additional prosthetics) all focused to deliver a simulated crisis-like reality to the public, later to be managed accordingly through their public relations division via various forms of social media.RELATED: (VIDEO) Active Shooter and Terror Drills: The Truth WILL Shock YouIn CrisisCast s about section we see a sophisticated amalgam of emergency protocol disaster training combined with internationally credited film crews, that bring their high-end stagecraft to life, through a collection of role players, stunts, medical simulations and combat flashpoints, cloaked in visual tricky, with film techniques out of the UK and Australia, so says the group s website.Below is a road traffic collusion demo created by lead CrisisCast producer/founder Brian Mitchell (has worked on Hollywood studios and holds National security clearance) featured on Vimeo. The scenario is filmed from multiple angles, with quick cut editing that disorients, as we see an individual (crisis actor) in the aftermath of a crash struck by the emotional weight of the scene screaming out to a gaggle of onlookers after witnessing the staged carnage. The strange episode leaves one with a feeling of phantom trauma that continues to lurk.When recreating large scale mass casualty incidents, Cast may also make use of pyrotechnics, wardrobe, special effects, covert and aerial footage, depending on the clients needs.In a passage from their solutions section, an outline to basic formatting for a simulated crisis is revealed: Our producers work with your trainers to create a script that enables the role play actors to know when to trigger key developments in an evolving crisis management scenario. We brief and rehearse the team where possible on location but at least with video surveillance footage.Heads of department manage each discipline and report to the lead producer who is your direct contact at all times. In addition to stage-managing a crisis scenario with a highly fluid production team, Cast also centers its strategy on lockdown and evacuation procedures, [with] the ability of emergency services to co-operate, and the ever important task of having the joint ability to respond to the press, in a partnership with the company s clients through a multitude of social media platforms on the internet. The crowdsourcing techniques employed by Visionbox Crisis Actors comes to mind. OUR CRISIS A promotional shot from CrisisCast s website featuring a riot scene in London. (Image Scource: crisiscast) Nothing works as effectively in dealing with real-world disasters as rehearsal. CrisisCastAlso note worthy, Cast states, it has the ability to create highly credible, dramatic scenarios to bear preparing your people for the worst, employing both psychological and practical tools, in their disaster training all the while making sure that role playing actors, as well as crew have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA s) before each scripted event. Here s another passage depicting the kind of psychological implementation used to achieve a successful Cast simulation: Our role play actors are psychologically trained in criminal and victim behaviour. They bring intense realism to simulated mass casualty incidents on the battlefield, during kidnap and ransom and emergency evacuation situations and in hostile threat incidents in urban or public places.In so doing, CrisisCast provides learners with an irrevocable first encounter with the emotional challenges of any hostile incident. Other clients of Cast include The London City Airport and UK Trade & Investment, along with many other leading companies worldwide. From CrisisCast to Hollywood Also featured on Cast s website, Francesca Hunt (Professional actress and lead producer and co-founder of CrisisCast), explaining why authentic stress behaviors are so important when recreating a crisis. . According unitedagents.co.uk, Hunt herself is a theater trained actress, having studied at Oxford (1983-86) graduate, Bristol Old Vic (1987-89) and Moscow Arts Theatre 1989. She has been featured in several Hollywood films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Strathblair (1992) and A Prince Among Men (1997) on her IMDB page. The page also states she is married to Brian (Mitchell?, CrisisCast Founder?). FROM ONE STAGE TO ANOTHER Here s an image from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) featuring James Fox, Julia Winter, Francesca Hunt. (Image Source:pinterest)A-LIST: Here s a head shot depicting Hunt as seen on United Agents On another note, Cast s blog features a host of promotional interviews and research studies, as well as fear inducing titles such as How to set fire to a school, Roleplaying for riot control, and Columbia education in the face of violence. In the YouTube clip below, the intricate dynamics within a staged crisis are witnessed when fictional European countries are pitted against one another during riot-scene training with the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) The video mentions the UN s involvement as well could this kind of training also be used under a modern day Operation GLADIO? They ll have to be prepared for an escalation of force. Forces TVIn an article published with The Guardian entitled How to simulate a terrorist atrocity, Crisis Cast digs into their bag of tricks to deliver: a drill to test the skills and capabilities of the police, counter-terrorism units, fire and ambulance services in the north of England in the event of a terrorist attack in this case, involving a suicide bombing and masked gunmen. A video clip shows a bomb going off outside a burger restaurant, which leaves dozens of people lying killed or injured on the ground, while others run off screaming. SIMULATED TERROR Even though you knew it wasn t real, it really felt real, said one actors from the Trafford Centre terror drill. (Image Source: crisiscast)CrisisCast clients include Deloitte, G4S, the British Home Office, the NHS, and others.As 21WIRE has previously reported, this induces kind of cognitive dissonance for passive audiences, which often blocks a viewer from considering another perspective following a traumatic event You have to wonder, what is really being learned during these events?Watch the following suicide terrorist drill performed with a full cast of paid UK crisis actors held in Manchester, England in May 2016: Looking at what we ve learned above, is it possible that CrisisCast s productions could extend in a recreation of a terror based story line using the concept of a criminal lone wolf persona?The Strange Script in OrlandoWe ve been told that in addition to working for one of the largest security firms in the US since 2007, G4S Secure Solutions, the 29-year old Mateen, the alleged Orlando shooter, an Afghani-American located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, was placed under a terror watch list for 10 months (interviewed two to three times by the FBI 2013-14) as well as appearing in two documentary feature films. Most notably, a short interview in a major Hollywood designer documentary called The Big Fix in 2012, discussing the BP oil spill at Deep Water Horizon.Mateen at the 36 minute mark, played the part of a concerned security guard, taking on a scripted activist-type character revealing that everybody is out to get paid, and that they want more disaster to happen, cuz that s where there money making is even though he was currently working for the world s largest security contractor overseeing the apparent environmental crisis.Indeed, Mateen was also featured in another documentary called Love City Jalalabad (2013), a feature supposedly depicting progressive Afghani youth and a quest for social change, created by the abstract artist/filmmaker George Gittoes, whose works delve into the holographic and hyperreal, as he was also said to be a former collaborator with the famed screen print legend Andy Warhol and holographic pioneer physicist Zoltan Hegedus (hat-tip 21WIRE contributor Randy Johnson).Gittoes has a background in politically charged propaganda films, with him [Creating a] series of works including The Hotel Kennedy Suite and The Kent State Suite responding to events in the United States, including anti-Vietnam War protests and the Kent State shootings at Kent State University, Ohio, in 1970.Additionally, during a time of great upheaval, Gittoes [traveled] to Bosnia (April May) on a privately sponsored trip to document United Nations- monitored elections. Produces series of paintings based on the people of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and documents the effects of the 1992 96 Bosnian War for independence, the longest siege of a city in the history of modern warfare. Gittoes then traveled to Iraq four times between March 2003 and May 2004, making a trilogy of films based on The War On Terror.Comparatively, in an article written by Jay Dyer of Jay s Analysis we re reminded of other connections with intelligence agencies and Hollywood. Here s a passage where Dyer observes historical links between the CIA and Hollywood, through the former CIA general counsel: Author John Rizzo has recently published a book titled Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA, which is an amazing admission of this scandalous affair between intelligence and the film industry. The L.A. Times comments: The CIA has long had a special relationship with the entertainment industry, devoting considerable attention to fostering relationships with Hollywood movers and shakers studio executives, producers, directors, big-name actors, John Rizzo, the former acting CIA general counsel, wrote in his new book, Company Man: Thirty Years of Crisis and Controversy in the CIA.The CIA also recruits actors to give more visibility to propaganda projects abroad, such as a documentary secretly produced by the agency, Rizzo said. And the agency sometimes takes advantage of the door-opening cachet that movie stars and other American celebrities enjoy. A star who met a world leader, for example, might be asked for details about that meeting.The CIA has officials assigned full-time to the care and feeding of Hollywood assets, Rizzo wrote. Other former CIA officials added that some of those operatives work in the Los Angeles office of an agency department called the National Resources Division, which recruits people in the U.S. to help America spy abroad. Through the connections above, were also reminded of the alleged Orlando shooter s father, Seddique Mateen, who is closely tied to some of the most powerful leaders and agencies in Washington DC. Here s a passage from a recent 21WIRE report discussing a deeper intelligence connection with the Mateen family: Omar Mateen, worked as a contractor for the US Department of Homeland Security, then we learned that the elder Mateen is also standing to run for President of Afghanistan and is allied with the Taliban leadership an absolutely ideal profile for a Washington-managed, CIA controlled-opposition political candidate. SEE ALSO: Father of Orlando Shooter is Long-time CIA AssetWhat is the public to make of Mateen s own acting and film background as it relates to America s largest mass shooting are we again seeing a clear link between Hollywood and military/security services?Was the Orlando shooting also a production of sorts?The theatrical aspects of this event, as depicted in the media over the last 6 days are so pervasive and over-the-top that one might easily conclude that there is much more at play than a lone gunman and a saddened but resilient community determined to overcome this senseless and horrific tragedy. The media script seems already written before the killer is even named.Crisis Actors Agents of Change Here Peekay Truth shows a video depicting strange elements surrounding the Orlando shooting The dancing actor clip depicted above is reminiscent of the October drill said to have taken place during the Canadian Parliament shooting in 2014, where many wondered why police and security services were seen laughing and joking supposedly in the midst of a serious tragedy. As Seen on TV : Orlando s Acting Professionals Additionally, there was a Pulse nightclub goer seen immediately making the media rounds on TV following the dramatic shooting event, one Luis Burbano, an actor/model featured in a few Hollywood films, according to his IMDB bio.Here s a YouTube clip featuring Burbano s media appearance One of the Orlando shooting survivors has admitted to locking an exit door, putting dozens of revelers lives at risk during the massacre.The revelations about Luis Burbano s actions the night of the shooting have come to light after he gave an interview, saying he regrets his second chance at life.Nearby, he saw people moving through a small employee s only door hidden behind a curtain, and followed after. On the other side of the door was a narrow hallway where Burbano estimates about 20 people were crawling over each other to get to the exit at the other end. Burbano says he decided to shut the door behind him because the hallway was getting dangerously overcrowded. Here s another out-of-town Pulse club goer, Shawn Royster Santiago, from New York City, who apparently witnessed the shooting and who also happens to have a media/acting and modeling pedigree as well.According to Santiago s ModelMayhem profile it states, [I ve been] modeling and performing in the entertainment industry off and on since i was 11, having appeared in a variety of projects such as Television/Commercials, and he currently works as a Visual Merchandiser. Watch him in the news clip below shortly after the Orlando shooting attack Additionally, the YouTube video montages another interview with the professional actor and model named Luis Burbano, where he admits was blocking an exit at the time of the shooting The media linked personality, Patience Carter, from Philadelphia, PA, has also caused many to ask questions. Watch this YouTube clip from Now the Truth, to see her role in the Orlando story Here s a review of some previously covered anomalies here at 21WIRE As we previously reported, though the Orlando shooting attack was officially stated to have been carried out around 2am, The Daily Mail published Facebook posts from people apparently inside the club that contradict the main timeline, suggesting the shooting happened much earlier.Here are the Facebook comments featured in the Daily Mail for review If these time stamps are correct and the posts have not been doctored in any way, then these posts present a pretty major crack in the official timeline of events at Pulse nightclub.Here s another clip with the animated YouTube personality Peekay Truth outlining the Daily Mail time discrepancy associated with the Orlando shooting The UK s Independent published an article displaying an eyewitness account that directly contradicts the lone gunman theory pushed by all major media outlets in the aftermath of the shooting: Police did not immediately name the gunman or provide a possible motive for the attack but officials have classified the rampage as a domestic terrorism incident , Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.Javer Antonetti, 53, told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper he was near the back of the dance club when he heard gunfire. There were so many (shots), at least 40, he said. I saw two guys and it was constant, like pow, pow, pow, . From a logistical stand point Mateen s ability to carry out the shooting by himself seems to be another questionable aspect to an increasingly troubled case.Another club eyewitness Jon Alamo, heard 20, 40, 50 shots, and then The music stopped. While the stress of the incident could account for some differences, forensically it s hard to believe Mateen would have been able to have the ability to shoot over hundred people with only 50 some shots.According to multiple eyewitness accounts people inside the club mentioned that there was possibly as many as four shooters in and around the area. The witness seen in the image just below described the following: Then he [Mateen] called someone he knew and he mentioned that he was the fourth shooter, and there were three others. One of the main mainstream media protagonists from the Orlando Shooting event was a man named Chris Hansen, an aspiring actor and entertainer who played a central role as survivor and hero in a number of heavily rotated media clips depicting the aftermath of the event. Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1SMbQNnGQI . Fake Trauma & Staged Casualty Drills Back in March, 21WIRE also covered the suspicious Brussels airport attack, that coincidentally revealed a host of inter-agency mass casualty drills taking place on the global stage: In October of 2015, SputnikNews reported massive NATO drills in Belgium and other member countries: On October 21, the largest NATO military exercises in 13 years moved into an active phase testing threat response. The drills involve over 36,000 troops from 30 NATO and partner countries. The first phase of the Trident Juncture drills began October 3, running for two weeks in Canada, Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The second part is taking place in southern Europe Spain, Italy, and Portugal as well as in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Similarly, in February, The Daily Mail published an article reporting Europe s largest-ever disaster response training exercise : Police, firefighters and paramedics will this week work side-by-side with more than 70 partner agencies including local councils, utility companies and specialist search and rescue teams to respond to the disaster during the four-day drill.Disaster victim identification teams from all UK police regions are also working alongside other forensic specialists in a mortuary on site.Teams will also be working alongside firefighters from Italy, Hungary and Cyprus who will also be mobilised to the incident on Wednesday.Although this scenario is not a terrorist attack, we will be practising procedures and systems that are common to any emergency that results in a large number of fatalities and injuries. CRISIS ACTORS Two actors seen with fake gory wounds are laughing in between simulated takes. (Photo link livestream)That s not all. Back in 2013, a full-scale emergency drill at Brussels Airport to test and evaluate the preparedness of our airport emergency services in the event of an incident. Here s a YouTube video depicting the Brussels Airport drill in April of 2013, and then again in April of 2015 Here s a YouTube clip featuring CNN s Poppy Harlow discussing amputee actors engaged in military training drills, to give soldiers a heightened combat-like experience Orlando in SummaryIt should be mentioned again that events like the Orlando shooting and other mass-shootings , have become a serrated catalyst to usher in calls for endless new protocols for security , inter-agency fusion, emergency medical procedures, as well as the injection of more and more military terminology into civilian life.Once again, the Orlando shooting attack is an illusory shooting event winding in the likes of Hollywood, the CIA and the FBI.END OF PART TWOStay tuned for more Orlando shooting updates SEE ALSO: ORLANDO KNOWN WOLF Watched by FBI, Worked with DHS, Amid Crisis Actors, Drills & CI sREAD MORE ORLANDO SHOOTING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Orlando FilesHelp support us by becoming a 21WIRE Member at: 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
9,913 | Alec Baldwin Makes Bombshell Announcement That’s Going To ENRAGE Trump | If things keep going as they are, we may see a surprising candidate on the 2020 presidential ballot. Our favorite Donald Trump impersonator could be running against Trump.59-year-old Alec Baldwin might throw his hat in the ring, because according to him, there s no one who can beat Trump. I would love to run for office because I think people need something different. I think that all the people that are on deck in 2020, none of them are going to win, the 59-year-old actor who plays Trump on Saturday Night Live told Extra in an interview released Tuesday.Without naming names, Baldwin reiterated, None of those people are going to beat him. Source: The HillBaldwin s wife doesn t seem to be on board. During the interview, she shook her head and said, we re not going to do that. Baldwin, though warned that if Trump were to be reelected, things would be a lot worse. You think things are bad now? the performer added. I ll tell you when things are going to be worse if he wins again. Baldwin has been playing Trump for a while now, to popular acclaim. He performed both that role and the role of Bill O Reilly on Saturday Night Live on Saturday.Here s the video:That s not the same as actually being president, though, but the fact that Trump is in office could ironically be reason Baldwin might stand a chance.Baldwin is a popular liberal who has long been very vocal about politics, but he s no stranger to controversy. In 2013, he left a message for his daughter calling her a rude thoughtless pig. Last year, he called a reporter by a gay slur.In normal political times, Baldwin s lack of political experience, along with his caught-on-tape controversies, would be an immediate deal breaker, but these are not normal times. Baldwin s flaws are far less glaring than Trump s. Then again, Democrats are always held to a higher standard than Republicans.Featured image via D. Dipasupil/Getty Images. | 0 |
9,914 | GOP Starts OPENLY Admitting That They Royally Screwed Themselves Over By Choosing Trump | Trump s appointment of Breitbart chief Steve Bannon, along with his decision to have at least two people at the top of his campaign who will let him run amok, has further frightened and infuriated Republicans to the point where they re finally seeing reality about the candidate they put at the top of their ticket. As the layers of their delusions continue to be peeled back, former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber says: Look, we are in a terrible position. The Republican Party has made a mistake of historic proportion and when you do that, you find yourself in a place with no good solutions. Trump s idiocy has started to affect down-ticket races all across the country, particularly in the Senate. Senators in tight races saw their numbers drop considerably between August 3 and August 15. This is good news for Democrats, but the GOP s continued insistence that Trump will, ultimately, work for them is rapidly becoming a pipe dream.It s hard to feel sorry for them over that, though, because they re the ones who stuck themselves with a candidate who can t even run a cohesive campaign. In fact, Weber sees conniving manipulation in Trump s decision to have three people managing his campaign: We now have a CEO, a campaign chairman and a campaign manager. That tells me that no one is in charge of this campaign. Trump is playing these three people against each other. Indeed, since the campaign manager is still Paul Manafort, Trump could be playing him against the other two. When Manafort replaced Corey Lewandowski as campaign manager back in June, everyone saw it as a sign that Trump was ready to take on the mantle of campaigning for the general election. They expected a pivot, effected in part by Manafort.But he s not pivoting, and he won t. Manafort failed miserably there. Since Trump s strategy of alienation worked so well during the primaries, he can t see any reason at all to change: I am who I am. It s me. I don t want to change. Everyone talks about oh are you gonna pivot? I don t want to pivot. I mean you have to be you. If you start pivoting, you are not being honest with people. That s a laugh coming from the man who spreads lies as easily as people spread the common cold. It s even sillier coming from someone who s trailing so badly in the polls that he s reduced to tweeting the ones where he s only a couple of points behind Hillary.His campaign is quickly becoming the only Republican entity that s still mired in the delusion that he can win anything at all. Hell has frozen over: The GOP is starting to admit, outright, that they fucked themselves sideways with a rusty chainsaw in nominating Donald Trump for president.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images | 0 |
9,915 | Electors Want Briefing On Russian Interference Before Electoral College Vote This Month | After revelations from the CIA that Russians interfered with our country s presidential election in order to help Donald Trump win the keys to the White House, electors are seeking more information on the hack by a hostile foreign power. Ten Electoral College electors penned an open letter to ask U.S. intelligence officials for more information on ongoing investigations into Trump s relationship with Russia.The group of electors, including the daughter of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), wrote the letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asking for the information ahead of their Dec. 19th meeting in which they are to formally vote for the next president. The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations, the letter states. We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States. Allegations that Donald Trump was receiving assistance from a hostile foreign power to win the election began months before Election Day, the letter continues. When presented with information that the Russian government was interfering in the election through the course of the campaign, both in private briefings and public assessment, Donald Trump rejected it, refused to condemn it, and continued to accept their help. Donald Trump even made a direct plea to the Russian government to interfere further in the election in a press conference on July 27, saying, Russia, if you re listening, I hope you re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. The letter also notes:Russian government officials revealed that they had maintained contact with the Trump campaign during the election, and stated that they were familiar with most of the individuals associated with Mr. Trump.Media inquiries into whether the FBI was investigating Donald Trump s July plea for Russian interference in the election resulted in a Glomar response neither confirming nor denying the existence of an investigation, rather than the more typical response of denying the request outright.U.S. intelligence officials reportedly probed Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page in regard to travel to his Moscow during the campaign.The FBI reportedly began an inquiry into Trump associates following reports of a multi-million dollar business relationship with pro-Putin figures in Ukraine and Russia, and reports of an effort to sway American public opinion in favor of Ukraine s pro-Putin government.Michael Flynn, Trump campaign aide and the announced incoming National Security Advisor, traveled to Russia in December of 2015 for a gala event celebrating RT, a state-controlled propaganda network, at which he was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.The letter is signed by nine Democrats and one Republican. If Trump is sworn into office, his administration will be the most compromised in U.S. history. This whole situation is such a hot mess that a former CIA operative said that the U.S. may have to vote again.Photo via Drew Angerer/Getty | 0 |
9,916 | 'Just talk': Belgium offers Spain relationship advice | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Amid a rising babble of advice from European neighbors on how to handle Catalonia, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy might pay attention to one country that knows something about fending off separation Belgium. The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, took a lead among European governments on Sunday after police used force to prevent voting in a unilateral independence referendum by calling for leaders in Madrid and Barcelona to start talking. Violence can never be the answer! We condemn all forms of violence and reaffirm our call for political dialogue, Michel tweeted on a day when most European leaders, and the European Union authorities in Brussels, stayed silent on events in Spain. Belgium has rejigged its constitution six times in the past half century to hold together its two halves: French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders. Three centuries after Spanish rule ended in the lands that make up modern Belgium, a Belgian government in which Flemish nationalists play a major role feels it has something particular to say about the virtues of conversation. Just get around the table and talk, a Belgian government official told Reuters, summing up advice to Barcelona and Madrid. We strongly believe that full negotiations in which all parties are included can take away that sense of frustration. Reflecting on the three years in which Michel, a 41-year-old French-speaking Walloon centrist, has governed in coalition with the right-wing Flemish nationalist N-VA, the official said an important lesson for Belgians had been that dialogue with the separatists had substantially reined in secessionist sentiment. The separatist tendency has declined considerably when people see that their community is being treated with respect. Rooted in part in a history of domination by the industrial, French-speaking south during Belgium s first century or so after independence from the Netherlands in 1830, Flemish nationalism flourished as heavy industry declined and Flemings, prospering, started to resent funding welfare transfers to the Walloons. Frictions over language in universities broke out into riots in 1968 but mostly Belgium has kept a lid on communal violence, thanks in part to constitutional gymnastics that have left it a complex federal state with huge autonomy for the regions. The N-VA has muted calls for more devolution and support for independence is in single figures, polls indicate, easing fears that a Catalan secession could revive Flemish aspirations. The pressure which has now built up in Catalonia has been negotiated away over the years in Belgium, said Carl Devos, politics professor at the University of Ghent in Flanders. That willingness to talk endlessly over legal reforms is in contrast to what many Belgians see as an inflexibility by Rajoy to accept changing Spain s 1978 post-dictatorship constitution and hence to negotiate a more devolved status for Catalonia. Michel made his heartfelt plea for an end to violence and for new dialogue after talking to some EU counterparts and to Flemish government allies on Sunday, the official said. It was not intended as an attack on Rajoy or the Spanish legal system, he said, but a response to a fear positions were hardening. It is our trademark to deal with pressure from regions wanting more autonomy peacefully, Devos said. So it is not surprising that the prime minister felt the need to speak out. | 1 |
9,917 | U.S. cuts staff in Cuba over mysterious injuries, warns travelers | (Advisory: Strong language in paragraph 16 may be offensive to some readers) By Arshad Mohammed and Sarah Marsh WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States on Friday cut its diplomatic presence in Cuba by more than half and warned U.S. citizens not to visit because of mysterious attacks that have caused hearing loss, dizziness and fatigue in U.S. embassy personnel. The U.S. embassy in Havana will halt regular visa operations for Cubans seeking to visit the United States and offer only emergency services to U.S. citizens, steps that may further erode the U.S.-Cuban rapprochement begun by former President Barack Obama. The partial evacuation, while depicted as a safety measure, sends a message of U.S. displeasure over Cuba s handling of the matter and delivers another blow to Obama s policies of engagement with Cold War foe Cuba. The Communist Party-run Cuban government was already dealing with several delicate matters - the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, a steep decline in aid from important socialist ally Venezuela and political transition as President Raul Castro steps down next year. Cuba s Foreign Ministry chief for U.S. Affairs Josefina Vidal said: We consider the decision announced today by the U.S. government through the State Department is hasty and will affect bilateral relations. Vidal, in a briefing on state-run television, said Cuba was still keen to cooperate with U.S. authorities to clarify what happened. Officials in President Donald Trump s administration stressed the United States was maintaining diplomatic ties with Cuba. Twenty-one U.S. embassy employees in Cuba have been injured and reported symptoms such as hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping, the State Department said. Until the government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement. The Cuban government has denied any role and is investigating. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been looking into the incidents, a U.S. law enforcement official said, but so far has not determined the cause. A senior State Department official said neither the U.S. nor Cuban governments had been able to identify who was responsible but stressed that the government of Cuba is responsible for taking all appropriate steps to prevent attacks on our diplomatic personnel in Cuba. In a travel warning, the State Department bluntly said because our personnel s safety is at risk, and we are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe U.S. citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to Cuba. A State Department official said most visa processing had been suspended in Havana. Cuban applicants for nonimmigrant visas may apply at another U.S. embassy or consulate overseas. The State Department said the attacks on U.S. embassy personnel had occurred at U.S. diplomatic residences and hotels frequented by U.S. citizens. No tourists are known to have been injured in the attacks. Canada said it has no plans to change its travel advice for Cuba or to remove any Canadian staff from its embassy there, though some staff have experienced some unusual symptoms, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday. Diana Rodriguez, 52, who sells handicrafts in Old Havana, said she had a visa appointment in October so she could visit family who live in Florida. I won t ever go there now, she said furiously. This is a really strong blow that affects regular Cubans on the street. It s just unheard of. What is going on with this man? Neither Bush nor his father were such sons of bitches. Trump in June vowed to partially roll back the detente with Cuba agreed by his Democratic predecessor, Obama, and called the Cuban government corrupt and destabilizing in his address to the United Nations General Assembly this month. Engage Cuba, a Washingon-based lobbying group, said the decision was puzzling given that American travelers had not been targeted. It said halting the visa process in Cuba and discouraging Americans from going there will divide families and harm Cuba s burgeoning private sector, civil society groups and efforts to improve human rights on the island. I haven t felt in danger at all. The people are very friendly, it s a very safe culture ... I don t feel threatened at all here, I think its a really safe place to be, American visitor Joey Branch said. U.S. lawmakers took positions on the issue that appeared to reflect their wider perspective on engagement with Havana. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who favors normalization, suggested the attacks may be an attempt to undermine this. Whoever is doing this obviously is trying to disrupt the normalization process between the United States and Cuba. Someone or some government is trying to reverse that process, Leahy said in a statement. Marco Rubio , a Florida Republican and frequent critic of the Cuban government, called for harsher measures. Until those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice, the U.S. should immediately expel an equal number of Cuban operatives, downgrade the U.S. embassy in Havana to an interests section, and consider re-listing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, Rubio said in a statement. American Tour Operators in Cuba, which counts more than 50 U.S. companies, criticized the travel warning. The motivation for the U.S. government to issue today s Travel Warning for Cuba is difficult to understand given that the facts and circumstances of these mysterious incidents have never posed a tangible threat to American visitors in Cuba. American Airlines and United Airlines, both of whom have applied for additional flights to Havana, said the travel warning would not affect their current operations to Cuba. JetBlue Airways said it would waive change and cancellation fees for Cuba flights booked on or before Sept. 29. Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas said its operations in Cuba would continue. Cuba reported four million arrivals last year, of which 285,000 were Americans. | 1 |
9,918 | Spicer says he let Trump down with comments comparing Assad and Hitler | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday he had let down President Donald Trump with his “inexcusable and reprehensible” comments comparing the use of poison gas by Syria’s president to the atrocities of Adolf Hitler. “I made a mistake. There’s no other way to say it. I got into a topic that I shouldn’t have and I screwed up,” Spicer said during an event at a museum in Washington. “On both a personal level and a professional level that will definitely go down as not a very good day in my history,” he added. Spicer triggered an uproar at a White House briefing on Tuesday while discussing chemical weapons use by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying that even Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War Two. The comments drew sharp criticism on social media and elsewhere for overlooking the fact that the Nazis killed millions of Jews and others in gas chambers. Eighty-seven people, including children, were killed in last week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria. Offered a chance to clarify his remarks during Tuesday’s briefing, Spicer attempted to draw a distinction between the two different uses of deadly chemicals. Later on Tuesday, he apologized for his handling of the topic, which came on the Jewish holiday of Passover and as Christians prepare to celebrate Easter. On Wednesday, Spicer said the comments were “inexcusable and reprehensible” and all the more painful because they were made at a time sacred to Jews and Christians. He said it also was disappointing from a professional standpoint, especially after what he said were “an unbelievable couple of weeks” of Trump’s presidency. He noted that Trump had bombed a Syrian air base in a forceful response to chemical weapons use by Assad’s government and said Trump’s hosting of Chinese President Xi Jinping last week had produced “tremendous progress.” “Your job as the spokesperson is to help amplify the president’s actions and accomplishments,” Spicer said. “And when you’re distracting from that message of accomplishment ... it’s disappointing because I think I’ve let the president down.” | 1 |
9,919 | Rohingya crisis: a deadly crossing | (Reuters) - Four Rohingya Muslims died this week when a small fishing boat carrying dozens of refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized in stormy weather near the coast of neighboring Bangladesh. The four, including two boys, became the most recent casualties in a precarious sea and river crossing made by thousands of Rohingya since the violence began in late August. A Reuters graphic takes a closer look at the overloaded wooden boats making the journey of up to five hours from Myanmar s coast to ports in southern Bangladesh. See the graphic here: tmsnrt.rs/2z8VYPw Nearly 200 people have died, and more remain missing, after their boats capsized on the Naf River and in the Bay of Bengal, data from the Bangladesh police and the International Organization of Migration shows. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled by land and water to Bangladesh since the military in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar launched a counter-insurgency operation after Rohingya militants attacked security posts on Aug. 25. | 1 |
9,920 | Meet The REAL Billionaire Who Just Took Trump To The Woodshed (VIDEO) | Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in the world (third on the list, according to Forbes most recent ranking, and he is backing Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Buffett appeared with Clinton at a campaign event on Monday, and he took aim at Donald Trump.Buffett, campaigning on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, challenged Trump to meet him any place, any time with a copy of his tax returns. Buffett said he would bring his returns and the two of them would answer questions from the public. He dismissed Trump s contention that he couldn t release them because he s being audited. Buffett said his return is being examined by the Internal Revenue Service as well. You re only afraid if you ve got something to be afraid about, Buffett told a cheering crowd in Omaha. He s not afraid because of the IRS, he s afraid because of you. While it has been impossible to verify Trump s claims to wealth, investor Buffett often described as the oracle of Omaha, has a well documented fortune that is estimated to be $60.8 billion dollars. Also unlike Trump Buffett is known for living a relatively humble life style for someone with his sort of rent. He lives in a relatively modest home in Nebraska (no gold plating) and traded in his 2006 car for a 2014 Cadillac.Buffett is the third well-known billionaire to come out in support of Clinton and bash Trump. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Clinton at the Democratic convention, while Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban praised Clinton at a Pennsylvania rally while calling Trump a jagoff. Trump has claimed to be worth $10 billion dollars but has offered no documentation to prove his net worth or show what his tax payments have been. Previous testimony from Trump has shown him wildly changing on his net worth, and he sued an author who documented an investigation showing Trump to be worth several million but not among the world s billionaires.Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
9,921 | Donald Trump Tells Security To Throw Bernie Sanders Supporter Out Into The Cold Without His Coats (VIDEO) | It seems Donald Trump s cruelty knows no bounds, especially after his latest campaign rally.During a rally in the middle of a very cold winter night in Vermont, Trump ordered security to throw a Bernie Sanders supporter out of the building without his coat.Several Sanders supporters gained entrance into the Burlington rally at the Flynn Center throughout the evening in order to heckle and interrupt the Republican presidential wannabe.Of course, the Sanders fans managed to annoy Trump to the point where his campaign team actually began to screen people to make sure they were Trump fans. Considering how Trump has treated protesters and hecklers during previous rallies, it was only a matter of time before he treated them heartlessly.At one point in particular, Trump directed attention toward one man and ordered security to escort him out. This normally would not be unusual since hecklers and protesters are escorted out of rallies all the time, but in this instance, Trump noted the extremely cold temperature outside and told security to throw the man out into the freezing air without his coat. I thought I heard a little voice over there. Get him outta there! Don t give him his coat. Keep his coat. Confiscate his coat. You know it s about ten degrees below zero outside. No, you can keep his coat. Tell him we ll send it to him in a couple of weeks. And Trump s supporters cheered the cruelty as the man was parted from his coat and forced to go without it during a freezing night in Vermont.Here s the video via YouTube.Trump went on to acknowledge that he expected some Sanders supporters to interrupt his rally since he was in Vermont, Sanders home state.Sanders and Trump have engaged each other recently through media and social media, the most notable of which occurred when Sanders criticized Trump for not supporting wage increases for workers during an interview on CBS. The very next day, Trump flip-flopped on the minimum wage, posting on Twitter that it s bad that workers haven t received much of a raise in years.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
9,922 | Obama Tells Dems: This Is As Important As Hillary Vs Bernie, And You’re Blowing It! | Speaking to Democrats at a fundraiser at actor Tobey Maguire s house in California, President Obama issued a warning to his party that in addition to their focus on the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they desperately need to think about moving Congress out of Republican hands and back towards the Democrats.President Obama collected more than $1 million for his party s House and Senate candidates from Hollywood s Democratic elite Thursday and Friday, and left his deep-pocketed backers with what he termed a professorial lecture on the importance of recapturing Congress.Obama also told supporters that he would not be making an endorsement yet in the presidential contest (incumbent presidents usually wait until the party has chosen a successor in order to make a formal announcement). And he joked that he and his staff were too tired to run for a third term, even if he could.At another fundraiser, Obama pointed out that getting Democrats back in charge of Congress is very important.On Thursday night, Obama attended a large gathering at the Bel Air mansion of Disney Chairman Alan Horn and his environmentalist wife, Cindy. There, the president stressed the importance of recognizing the enormous power of Congress and the difference between a Nancy Pelosi being Speaker of the House and a Paul Ryan being Speaker of the House. The President also highlighted the GOP blockade of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, even though Garland has received praise from across the political spectrum. And he pointed out that the blockade would be eroded with more Democratic votes in the Senate since, What we ve seen out of the Republicans in the Senate is not simply a refusal to confirm him thus far, but a refusal to meet with him or to have a hearing, or to have a vote. Obama went on to point out that crazed statements from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have also helped to expose some of the extremism that happens every day in the House and Senate from Republicans, saying, People act as if these folks are outliers. But they re not. The President said widespread coverage of their speeches and statements could help to motivate voters.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
9,923 | Lebanon's Hariri must return home from Saudi to prove he is free: foreign minister | PARIS (Reuters) - Lebanon s Saad al-Hariri can only prove he is free by returning home from Saudi Arabia where he went to announce his resignation as prime minister, Lebanon s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Hariri s abrupt resignation on Nov. 4 threw Lebanon into crisis and put it center stage in a power struggle between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran, whose ally Hezbollah is powerful in Lebanese politics. Hariri said on Tuesday he would return to Lebanon within two days. We hope to resolve this with the quick and immediate return of Prime Minister Hariri to his country ... where he has the right to do what he wants, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The only thing that proves he is free is that he returns. Right now he is in a situation that is ambiguous and not normal. We want to return to a normal situation, he told reporters after the talks about how to end the crisis. France is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and Lebanon s former colonial power. It is also penholder on Lebanon for potential resolutions. There has been some talk that Beirut could go to the U.N. if Hariri did not return this week. The president (Michel Aoun) spoke of a timeframe of one week from when this diplomatic campaign started to try to find a solution otherwise we would have to go to international laws, he said. French officials say there is no U.N. action in the works at the moment. Lebanese politicians and bankers say Saudi Arabia intends to do to their country what it did to Qatar - corral Arab allies into enforcing an economic blockade unless its demands are met. Bassil said any Saudi sanctions on his country would hurt Syrian refugees and destabilize the region. Any (Saudi) measures would not only be targeting Lebanon and its stability, this would be a punishment for the region because any instability in Lebanon would cause instability in the region, he said. The first to be affected in this would be Syrians in Lebanon, he said, adding that sanctions could make it harder for Lebanese population to absorb the Syrian refugees in their midst. Lebanon hosts some 1.5 million Syrian refugees that have fled the neighboring civil war. In the first such statement by a French official, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday called on Hariri to return to Lebanon. Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is due in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss the crisis and is expected to meet Hariri. | 1 |
9,924 | Former Illinois congressman requests to plead guilty in tax case | CHICAGO (Reuters) - Mel Reynolds, a former U.S. congressman from Illinois who has had numerous legal troubles, wants to plead guilty to federal income tax charges, he told a judge in a handwritten letter made public on Tuesday. “I request to come to court at the earliest time possible to enter my plea of guilty,” he wrote on notebook paper to U.S. District Judge John Darrah. The letter was written last week and entered in the court’s on-line filings on Tuesday. Reynolds, 64, is being held at a detention center in Kankakee, Illinois. He said he has no choice but to plead guilty because he has been unable to prepare for his case because he has been in solitary confinement due to death threats. Reynolds is representing himself after firing his lawyer in April. His next court date is a status hearing scheduled for May 19, and his trial is scheduled to begin June 20. Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, declined to comment on the court filing. Reynolds was arrested by U.S. marshals last month at an Atlanta airport for violating the conditions of his pretrial release after he arrived from South Africa. Reynolds pleaded not guilty in July to misdemeanor charges of failing to file income tax returns for 2009 through 2012. He was indicted in June and faces up to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts against him. A Rhodes scholar and one-time promising star of the Democratic Party, Reynolds was first elected to Congress in 1992. In August of 1994, he was indicted for having a relationship with a 16-year-old campaign worker but was re-elected in 1994 in his Chicago district without opposition. The case ended with a conviction on sexual assault and child pornography charges in 1995 and Reynolds resigned. Before his scheduled release from prison in 1997, Reynolds was convicted of bank fraud and misusing campaign funds for personal use and sentenced to serve additional time. He was released in 2001. Reynolds tried politics again but in 2013 lost a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives seat of Jesse Jackson Jr., who had resigned before pleading guilty to fraud charges. | 1 |
9,925 | BOOM! Trump Exposes Phony Michelle Obama…When She Went LOW With Oprah…Trump Went HIGH…Very High [VIDEO] | Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey in her final interview as our divisive First Lady, Now we re feeling what not having hope feels like. Sadly, for Michelle Obama hope for her is strictly based skin color. When her husband Barack Obama was being received like a rock-star across America (by mostly white supporters), she admitted that she suddenly found herself feeling pride in America for the first time in her adult life. Now that Donald J. Trump is about to become our next President, she openly admits to Oprah that she s lost all hope. Michelle has spent much of her 8 years as First Lady speaking about and obsessing over skin color. Many of the accusations she s made about white people in America are inaccurate and divisive, yet she curiously depicts herself as a victim during her interview with Oprah where she whines that Americans accuse her of being, An angry black woman. Michelle never bothers to acknowledge that her hateful, racist rhetoric has helped to earn that title, and not the color of her skin.Trump responded beautifully to her implied criticism of him by saying, I assume she was talking about the past and not the future. I actually think she made that statement not meaning it the way it came out. Ironically, Trump actually stepped up and saved her from making herself look like, An angry black woman. Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noIoC4SF3AgHere s Mooch speaking about Americans who don t approve and criticize the way her husband has screwed up our nation, telling cheering supporters at the DNC Convention, When they go low, we go high. Of course, she and her husband have yet to prove that to be true.Watch that portion of her speech here:Here is the video where Michelle tells a huge crowd of Obama supporters that, For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am proud of my country. : | 0 |
9,926 | Poll Finds White Republicans Are Angry Nearly All The Time | In a new poll that asked Americans to comment on their anger issues, Republicans and white people reported being angry nearly all the time.Perhaps stoked by hate-mongering organizations like Fox News and right-wing radio, a large portion of conservative white people said they got enraged over current events at least once a day, and many felt that they were angrier now than they were just one year ago.Overall, 49 percent of Americans said they find themselves feeling angrier now about current events than they were one year ago. Whites are the angriest, with 54 percent saying they have grown more outraged over the past year. That s more than Latinos (43 percent) and African-Americans (33 percent).Seventy-three percent of whites said they get angry at least once per day, compared with 66 percent of Hispanics and 56 percent of blacks.The poll also found Republicans are angrier than Democrats. Sixty-one percent of Republicans say current events irk them more today than a year ago, compared to 42 percent of Democrats.The poll, while not exactly scientific, does reinforce earlier research that found white, conservative Americans feel they are more oppressed than any other group. Oftentimes, this anxiety is explicitly about not coming to grips with a black president.Peter Brimelow, author of Alien Nation: Common Sense About America s Immigration Disaster, asserts that much of white America s anxiety derives from living under a black president and changing demographics.Diversity, he says, is not strength. The Tea Party is a response to this emerging white fear. Conservative politicians, sensing an opportunity, seized hold of those anxieties and exploited them for votes. It was also impossible to contain. The hatred and fear-mongering on the right has turned into an uncontrollable inferno. The results are toxic new realities like Donald Trump s popularity and more recently the armed takeover of a federally owned wildlife reserve by right-wing extremists who think paying grazing fees for their cattle is tyranny.On the face of things, Americans should have less to be angry about. Conservatives may not like it, but the economy has roared back to life under Obama. More Americans have health insurance than at any time in history. Social injustices that have long plagued the country are finally being reckoned with. Crime, in large part, is down.What s left is the shrieking, hollow screams from pundits and politicians who desperately need you to stay mad. The Tea Party was an utter disaster, and many of its beneficiaries have been booted out of office by voters with a Tea Party hangover, but its initial surge of racist, xenophobic rage proved to many that voting angry is a legitimate if pathetic electoral strategy. And as America approaches its next election, it s clear that they are madder than ever.Feature image via Flickr | 0 |
9,927 | CRIMINAL HILLARY CLINTON BASHES TRUMP: “He has no business being our president” [Video] | This is a pretty ironic statement for someone who s in big trouble with the FBI! In fact, it s been reported today that the FBI is getting closer to a devastating decision fro Clinton. If you ask me, Hillary has no business bring president! | 0 |
9,928 | China's Xi tells Britain's May North Korea issue should be peacefully resolved | BEIJING (Reuters) - The North Korean issue should be resolved peacefully through talks, Chinese President Xi Jinping told British Prime Minister Theresa May in a telephone call, state radio said on Monday. | 1 |
9,929 | Philippines says Maoist rebels attacked soldiers on typhoon relief duty | MANILA (Reuters) - Maoist rebels attacked soldiers delivering relief aid to parts of the central Philippines where a typhoon killed at least 32 people, army and disaster officials said on Monday. Typhoon Kai-tak, which triggered landslides and floods in the deadliest storm to hit the country this year, also left 46 people missing. Military spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo said two soldiers were wounded when about 50 rebels of the New People s Army (NPA), the military arm of a communist movement, fired on a convoy of troops carrying relief aid on Samar island on Saturday. The NPA has yet to comment on the accusation and it was not possible to contact the group due to power outages and disrupted communications. The Philippines has not declared a Christmas truce with the rebels for the first time in three decades after President Rodrigo Duterte halted peace talks and this month designated the NPA a terrorist organization. (The attacks) only validated the aptness of the government s decision to terminate the peace negotiations and to discontinue the traditional Christmas truce, Arevalo said. The 3,000-member Maoist rebel forces have been waging a protracted guerrilla warfare for nearly 50 years in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and stunted growth in resource-rich rural areas. The Philippines also faces Islamist insurgencies in the south. The NPA guerrillas have been targeting mines, plantations and other businesses, demanding revolutionary taxation to finance arms purchases and recruitment. Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the national disaster risk reduction and management council, called on the NPA to halt the violence. This is not an armed conflict, she said, adding the rebels should let relief work to go unhampered . Marasigan said emergency workers were working around the clock to restore power, clear debris and make roads and bridges passable to allow humanitarian assistance to reach about 220,000 people affected by the storm. Duterte is expected to visit the worst-hit typhoon areas later in the day to assess the damage. Storms regularly batter the Philippines. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan killed about 8,000 people and left millions homeless in the same region. | 1 |
9,930 | WATCH: President ‘No F*cks Left’ Obama Tears GOP Lies Apart Limb By Incredibly Stupid Limb | Fox News, Donald Trump, and the rest of the half-witted douche-canoes in the Republican Party are an embarrassment to our nation, and the president knows it. On Wednesday, tyrannical dictator-for-life Barack Obama blasted Trump, his Republicans compatriots and frenemies, and right-wing media, for propagating numerous myths about the American economy.If you turn on the aforementioned propaganda outlet thinly veiled as a news network on any day that ends in -day, you will hear among their assortment of lies that Barack HUSSEIN Obama has killed all the jobs in the country, increased the deficit, that he has increased the number of jobless leeches on welfare by such an alarming amount that the country can not survive, and that America is bankrupt (both morally and financially).The president addressed the assortment of untruths coming from the right. The primary story that Republicans have been telling about the economy is not supported by the facts. It s just not, Obama said, blowing the lid off the reason Republicans say and do the crazy things they do:Obama is right Republicans voters, and especially Trump supporters, simply do not care about facts. Unfortunately for them, the president was there to fact-check the hell out of their ridiculous attempts to malign him, issue by asinine issue. Though he didn t mention Trump by name, explaining that the billionaire 2016 nominee can advertise himself, simply preys on the prejudices and fears of the Stupid Part of America (a tactic that is unfortunately successful). If people are feeling insecure and they are offered a simple reason for how they can feel more secure, people are going to be tempted by it, Obama told the crowd of 2,000, adding that Trump s promises make no sense in the real world:There is nothing more awesome than watching the President destroying, one-by-one, the numerous lies regularly spouted by the Right. You can watch that below:Featured image via Getty Images (Spencer Platt)/Scott Olson | 0 |
9,931 | TARGET MAKES DECISION TO ENDANGER Our Children By Allowing Men In Little Girls Bathrooms | First it was the decision by Target to make their toy aisles non-gender specific. Now, in their latest decision to appease the LGBTQ-RSTUVWXYZ (Please excuse me, but I ve lost track of the rapidly expanding acronym) community, they ve stripped women and our daughters (and even our young boys) of the ability to use a gender specific bathroom. Mega-retailer Target Corp. has opened the door today, literally, to the endangerment of children in service of a fake cause. They have a newly restated policy that says you can basically go into whatever bathroom you want, for whatever reason you want, because inclusivity.From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:Target Corp. made it clear Tuesday that transgender people who visit its stores are welcome to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.The statement by the Minneapolis-based retailer comes amid debates in many state legislatures over restricting public restroom use to the sex listed on a person s birth certificate.While many of those conversations have centered around restrooms in public schools and government buildings, Target appears to be one of the first big-box retailers to take a proactive stance in declaring its position on the matter when it comes to its own restrooms.While they may not be technically public, restrooms in stores are often the most easily accessible and widely available options outside of people s homes and workplaces.Target s position also extends to its fitting rooms. Inclusivity is a core belief at Target, the company said in a statement on its corporate website. It s something we celebrate. We stand for equality and equity, and strive to make our guests and team members feel accepted, respected and welcomed in our stores and workplaces every day. Like other do-good liberal idiots, Target honchos suffer from the delusion that are making some bold step toward tolerance of an oppressed minority by removing rules dividing the bathrooms by gender. But make no mistake, it is a delusion, and a perfectly silly one. It is the same liberal-minded pseudo-hippie social justice warrior philosophy casting aside barriers to entry for bathrooms that simultaneously demand written letters of consent be in the possession of any man seen standing close to a woman. The same movement that rails against manspreading is perfectly fine with manpeeing, it seems, in a virtually perfect display of the nutbaggery of their entire pretend, college-hobby-turned-pain-in-the-ass-for-normal-people movement . And yes I said normal, please find a safe space and wet yourself. But use whatever safe space corresponds with your self-wetting gender identity.Via: Red State | 0 |
9,932 | Romney, potential U.S. secretary of state, hails Trump after dinner | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney made an impassioned statement in support of President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to try to erase doubts about him among Trump’s supporters and remain in contention for U.S. secretary of state. Romney, a fierce critic of Trump during the Republican presidential primary battle, stopped short of an outright apology but his intention to wipe the slate clean was clear. The former Massachusetts governor, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and lost, praised Trump for a “message of inclusion and bringing people together” since his Nov. 8 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Noting the appointments Trump has made to fill key cabinet positions for his administration and his desire for greater unity among Americans, Romney said that “all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the very man who can lead us” to a better future. Romney made his remarks after a lengthy meal with Trump and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at a French restaurant at a Trump hotel in Manhattan. They dined on garlic soup with frog legs, scallops, steak and lamb chop. Since Trump began to seriously consider Romney as a potential secretary of state, some on Trump’s team have voiced doubts about bringing in a former critic and rallied around their preferred candidate, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a long-time Trump friend and loyalist. Leading this effort in an unusually public way has been senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who told a round of television interviews on Sunday that Trump supporters would feel “betrayed” if Romney was picked. Trump, however, has kept Romney in contention for the secretary of state position, and a Republican source close to the transition effort said Priebus has been pushing for Romney behind the scenes. “I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump,” Romney said in remarks to reporters after the dinner. “We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I’ve had with him have been enlightening, and interesting, and engaging. I’ve enjoyed them very, very much.” A senior Trump aide described Romney’s remarks as “solid.” Trump is to meet on Friday for the second time with retired Marine Corps General John Kelly as part of his secretary of state search, the aide said. Trump is also considering U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Corker met Trump at Trump Tower earlier on Tuesday and told reporters afterward that Trump “needs to choose someone that he’s very comfortable with and he knows there’s going be no daylight between him and them.” “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president and again, that’s a decision he’s going to have to make,” Corker said. | 1 |
9,933 | OBAMA’S ILLEGALS TO GET RETRO TAX CREDITS FOR TIME THEY WORKED IN US ILLEGALLY With No Requirement To File | No need to file rules don t apply to Obama s amnestied illegals Illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty can claim back tax credits for work they performed illegally, even if they never filed a tax return during those years, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has confirmed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).In a written response to questions Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Koskinen following a February hearing on the IRS budget, the IRS commissioner clarified his earlier assertions that illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty and Social Security numbers can access Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) for years they were working in the country illegally.Back in February, Koskinen said that in order to claim the tax credits the amnestied illegal immigrant would have had to have filed returns in the past.In his written statement to Grassley, released Wednesday, Koskinen went another step, saying an illegal immigrant granted amnesty could claim back tax credits regardless if they had filed returns in the past. To clarify my earlier comments on EITC, not only can an individual amend a prior year return to claim EITC, but an individual who did not file a prior year return may file a return and claim EITC (subject to refund limitations under section 6511 of the Internal Revenue Code). I would note that filing new returns for prior years would likely be difficult, since filers would have to reconstruct earnings and other records for years when they were not able to work on the books, Koskinen said in his written response.According to the IRS, illegal immigrants granted amnesty, and with it Social Security numbers, can claim up to three years prior in back tax credits. Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code requires an SSN on the return, but a taxpayer claiming the EITC is not required to have an SSN before the close of the year for which the EITC is claimed. At your request, the IRS has reviewed the relevant statutes and legislative history, and we believe that the 2000 Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) on this issue is correct, Koskinen added.With this benefit Illegal immigrants granted amnesty could receive tens of thousands of dollars in back tax refunds.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
9,934 | Was Trump’s Tax Evasion Perfectly Legal, As He Claims? His Own Tax Lawyers Say Probably Not | Trump has repeatedly said that all the ways he avoided paying taxes was legal, and has even shown his ignorance about how our government works to paint Hillary as incompetent because she didn t single-handedly change these laws during her time in the Senate. However, while he was busy avoiding taxes in the 1990s, his own lawyers warned him against doing, well, exactly what he did.A new report in The New York Times explains that, order to avoid total financial ruin, Trump didn t report hundreds of millions that was technically income. He didn t just not report it, though the IRS would have seen through that immediately. Instead, his first step to avoiding taxes was successfully pushing his various bondholders to cancel the hundreds of millions he owed them.To the IRS, a dollar of canceled debt is a dollar of taxable income. That could have crippled the self-proclaimed master of debt and taxes about as badly as all that debt he couldn t pay. So what did he do? He used what s called a stock-for-debt swap maneuver.Except Congress banned that practice for corporations in 1993. However, Trump s real estate holdings in Atlantic City the ones that were all in trouble weren t corporations. They were partnerships. So he thought he could still swap what s called partnership equity for his debt.Apparently, this works even if the stocks, or, in Trump s case, the equities, are worth considerably less than the canceled debt. The Times says that this is as close as anyone can get to making taxes just magically disappear.But legally, this is fraught with its own problems and Trump s own lawyers actually warned him against doing it. He asked his tax attorneys for formal opinion letters on his plan, which all came back saying: The letters bluntly warned that there was no statute, regulation or judicial opinion that explicitly permitted Mr. Trump s tax gambit. Due to the lack of definitive judicial or administrative authority, his lawyers wrote, substantial uncertainties exist with respect to many of the tax consequences of the plan.' In other words, they felt that his scheme wouldn t stand up to IRS scrutiny. We don t know if the IRS went after him for this because nobody has the whole story. However, from what we do have, tax expert and former chief tax council for the House Ways and Means Committee, John L. Buckley, was able to say: He s getting something for absolutely nothing. Buckley also said: He deducted somebody else s losses. He is double dipping big time. Buckley means that the only people who should have been able to deduct those losses were the bondholders who canceled his debts, and thus, lost out on their investments.This could be one of the bombshells he s hiding in his tax returns. Since all of this involved partnerships, profits could go straight to his personal returns, as could other items. With Trump refusing to release those, though, we don t know just how badly he stretched the law, if not broke it altogether.This scheme quite possibly laid the groundwork for his massive $916 million loss in 1995, which may have allowed him to avoid paying taxes again for 20 years. In other words, not only has he possibly sailed along while Americans who earn an honest day s pay for an honest day s work dutifully paid their taxes, but he very likely broke the law in all his machinations here in a way that the regular Americans he claims to understand would never get away with (hell, we wouldn t even know where to start, most likely).Oddly enough, using partnership equity swaps to avoid taxes was banned by Congress in 2004. Among the Senators who voted to close that loophole was Hillary Clinton.Featured image by Brian Blanco via Getty Images | 0 |
9,935 | Well, It Happened – Trump Proves He’s A Traitor In Favor Of A New Confederacy (TWEET) | Either Donald Trump doesn t ever look at who he is retweeting, or he does, and that s pretty damn frightening. Not only did he just retweet yet another white supremacist Twitter account, but now he s gone and retweeted an account that wants Texas to be its own country and to re-establish the Confederate States of America."@TheSouthwasRite: @NRO cancelling my subscription- you people are idiots. @realDonaldTrump WILL be our next President. #Trump2016 #RNC" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2016The owner of the Twitter handle the Republican presidential frontrunner retweeted quite literally wants to leave the United States of America, saying in their bio: Texas alone could be its own country. Let s re-establish the Confederate States of America. Other states would join. As you can tell, this person clearly wants to split from the United States, and also clearly wants Trump as president.via TwitterAnd as a person that is running for President of the United States of America, you d think, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn t endorse such a tweet with a retweet of approval. By doing so, it reaffirms the position held by the person he s retweeting and makes it appear as though he also wants the nation to once again be divided. So much for making America great again.Sure, the tweet itself was in regards to this person wanting to end their National Review subscription, but holy sh*t, Trump couldn t have found a better person to retweet? Who the hell is working his social media campaign?What this really is indicative of is the sort of people responding to Trump s racist rhetoric that he s been touting since the start of his presidential campaign. His white pride attitude is drawing all the racists out from their holes, and they are feeling perfectly comfortable being openly bigoted in public. After all, a major party frontrunner is saying these things, so why can t they?The Republican party needs to put Trump in check or he will be their nominee, and if this is the sort of candidate they want to run, well, then we certainly know which party is the party of racism. And since you need the minority vote to win these days, thanks in advance from the Democrats.Featured image: Flickr/Flickr | 0 |
9,936 | Tillerson says no truth to reports that he is being replaced | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday denied that he was leaving his post to be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Asked if there was any truth to the multiple reports about him this week, Tillerson told Reuters: “None.” “People need to get better sources,” he said in a brief interview at the State Department ahead of a dinner to celebrate the recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors awards. Tillerson said he hoped to be at the same reception a year from now. “I’m going to be here as long as I can be effective and get something done,” he said. “We’re getting a lot done.” Senior administration officials on Thursday said President Donald Trump was mulling a plan to oust the top U.S. diplomat, whose relationship with the president has been strained by Tillerson’s softer line on North Korea and other policy differences. Trump denied the reports on Friday, saying in a tweet that he worked well with Tillerson and that the diplomat was not going anywhere. | 1 |
9,937 | communists terrorize small business | watch hillary aide rushes to her side to help her climb one step you have to wonder what made him so panicked did she collapse once again in secret chris menahan information liberation
video out of florida shows a panicked clinton aide rush to her side in order to help her climb one step
when the aide sees her hagliness is going to reach a small riser before him hes seen making a mad dash towards her hillary then turns grabs his hand for balance and while clutching him for dear life manages to tackle the one step before her
you have to wonder what made him so panicked did she collapse once again in secret | 0 |
9,938 | Ted Cruz’s Dirtiest Little Secret Has Been Right Under Our Noses The Whole Time (VIDEO) | It s fairly well-known that Ted Cruz has few friends, if any at all, in and around the beltway. Cruz has spent the better part of the last two years alienating every single member of Congress possible while showing a level of disrespect for the president that can only be described as disgusting.Ted Cruz stood on the Senate Floor and had himself a little temper tantrum when the Republican leadership passed the omnibus package without defunding Planned Parenthood. He has been known as a know-it-all who nobody likes going back all the way to the Dubyah campaign. How many Texas Republicans ended up NOT working in the White House or nearby? Well there was Ted Cruz.Why nobody likes him is a question of character, You can tell just by looking at him that he s a freak just waiting for a phone call from his mother telling him Jesus said it was OK to nuke North Korea. You can tell when you listen to him speak that his real parents were weasels from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. There isn t a single likeable thing about the guy; even his own daughter agrees.Maybe there s some kind of redeeming quality in his past. You can t be in public service for so long and never have done anything remarkable, right? Turns out that is true with Ted Cruz. What he did as Texas Solicitor General is such remarkable douchebaggey that Cruz should never be able to live it down:Yes, that actually happened. Rather than admit the state was wrong about something as simple as a sentencing guideline, Cruz not only agreed that a man should spend more than a decade and a half behind bars, he was willing to take the mistake all the way to the Supreme Court.Ted Cruz, in short, is a pile of pure sh*t.Featured image from Gage Skidmore | 0 |
9,939 | BREAKING: OBAMA’S “Director Of Diversity” Donates Hundreds Of Thousands Of Tax Payer Dollars To Open Borders, Other Radical Groups | Of course anyone on Obama s Team Fundamental Transformation of America is exempt from any of the consequences the rest of America would have to face for the same unlawful actions To meet the Obama administration s goal of implementing a robust diversity strategy at the Department of Defense (DOD), the agency s director of diversity violated government rules by distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to controversial leftist groups. Adding insult to injury, a consulting firm gets nearly half a million dollars from the DOD to help distribute the money to groups even those that don t qualify that support the Pentagon s diversity strategy and program objectives. Among the recipients is the notorious open borders group League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Minority Access Inc., a Maryland-based nonprofit committed to decreasing disparities and reducing incidences of environmental injustices, and the renowned National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Others include the Society of American Indian Government Employees and the Asian American Government Executive Network. In all, the Pentagon s Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODME) gave these and other groups north of $300,000, according to a DOD Inspector General report released this month. These are considered affinity groups involved with networking or professional associations that are often race, ethnic background or gender based, according to the report.The high-ranking official who violated DOD and government rules by doling out the cash to unqualified non-federal entities (NFE) is Clarence Johnson, the DOD s Director of Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity. In 2010 Johnson, a veteran Pentagon official, was assigned to assist the Army in implementing a robust diversity strategy. The position came with a hefty budget to support diversity outreach functions and Johnson launched a cash giveaway, filling the coffers of groups that should not have received public funds. In its report the DOD watchdog concludes that Johnson improperly co-sponsored NFEs that he had selected. Auditors found that Johnson spent $301,000 on NFE sponsorships and recommend corrective action. The money flowed through a company called New Concepts Management Solutions (NCMS) that was evidently handpicked by Johnson. In 2012, the Office of Diversity Management hired a consulting firm called Deloitte for $480,554 to handle the diversity outreach allocations.Here s a brief breakdown of how some of the money was divided. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute Conference got $25,000, the Society of American Indian Government Employees got $12,000 for a training conference and a conglomerate called Latina Style Outreach received $20,000. LULAC and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) received $25,000 each. It appears that Johnson knew well that he was violating agency rules when he headed the diversity crusade because the report reveals that the DOD Office of Special Counsel has consistently said that the agency should not sponsor non-federal entities like the ones Johnson gave money to. In addition to money, Johnson provided these various groups with logistical manpower compliments of Uncle Sam.It s unlikely that Johnson will face any repercussions for his transgressions or, at most, a weak slap on the hand. He certainly appears confident in testimony to investigators probing his violations. My job is to grow, or focus on growing, the presence of minorities and women in government jobs with higher pay scales, Johnson told investigators. He added that the mission of his office is diversity outreach, which involves informing the diverse audience. This is why he seeks affinity groups that have a national reach and influence.President Obama has made it his mission to culturally transform government by teaching federal workers about diversity, race and gender, healthcare disparities and cultural competencies. The effort has affected practically every major agency, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS), among others. It s been a costly initiative for taxpayers. A few months ago a Judicial Watch investigation found that the Obama administration has paid a Chicago-based firm millions of dollars to strengthen the federal workplace with its brand of diversity consulting. This includes two recent DHS contracts for $24,000 and $10,000 and one for $8,500 from the Department of Energy (DOE). Via: Judicial Watch | 0 |
9,940 | Trump talks Paris agreement, Iran with France's Macron: official | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that he believed the Paris climate agreement was unfair to the United States but looked forward to discussing the issue further, a U.S. official said. Brian Hook, director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department, told reporters in New York that Trump also told Macron the Iran nuclear deal was deeply flawed. | 1 |
9,941 | Trump Taking Another Major Step Toward U.S. No Longer Being A Superpower | After Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, many noted that it was the end of the United States as a superpower.Now, there s another nail in that coffin. It s increasingly looking like we are also going to pull out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which would mean we would have no influence whatsoever on human rights abusers.On Tuesday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will appear for the first time at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. The United States is one of 47 members of the council a hard-fought privilege but the Trump administration is contemplating pulling out. Haley is unlikely to shut the door on the council during her brief visit, but an assessment process underway could lead to that outcome.Source: Foreign Policy.comThe reason is that the Human Rights Council is supposedly too mean to Israel and it s not mean enough to Iran. Israel does have a pretty atrocious record on human rights abuses and Iran has improved since Hassan Rouhani won the presidency in 2013.Still, those two countries are simply cover for Trump and his isolationist administration. Trump seems to have no issues whatsoever with Saudi Arabia s human rights abuses. That s because they can help make him richer. We all know Trump s allegiance to Russia, who according to Human Rights Watch:The government in 2016 further tightened control over the already-shrinking space for free expression, association, and assembly and intensified persecution of independent critics. Parliament adopted laws expanding the power of law enforcement and security agencies, including to control online speech. The parliamentary vote in September resulted in the ruling party, United Russia, gaining a constitutional majority in the State Duma, the parliament s lower chamber. Russia continued to support rebels who commit abuses in eastern Ukraine. Russia s actions in occupied Crimea created a human rights crisis.Trump and Republicans have never been fans of the United Nations. Neither has Putin. Last year (coincidentally right before our presidential election), Russia lost its seat on the Human Rights Council, mostly because of its support of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad and his brutal use of chemical weapons on his own people.The Human Rights Council is far from perfect, but without being in it, the United States loses its voice and its position as a moral authority (as if Trump isn t doing that already). This move would limit our power in the world and it does make one wonder what Trump has in mind for our own country s human rights.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 0 |
9,942 | George Harrison Reaches Out From The Grave (Sort Of) To Destroy Donald Trump (TWEETS) | Former Beatle George Harrison s estate is livid today after his song, Here Comes the Sun was played at the Republican National Convention.While Harrison is no longer with us, his estate certainly is, and it appears that they ve maintained some of Harrison s values. They tweeted this to the Trump campaign:The unauthorized use of #HereComestheSun at the #RNCinCLE is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate. George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) July 22, 2016They weren t against the use of all his music, though: If it had been Beware of Darkness, then we MAY have approved it! #TrumpYourself George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) July 22, 2016Not surprisingly, the right-wing bully isn t too well liked in the music world. These 17 musicians have brutally said #NoTrump.A few months ago, Trump was told by the Rolling Stones that he needs to stop using their music.Trump has featured the track during his campaign, even drawing the ire of the Rolling Stones earlier this year. The Rolling Stones have never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately, a spokesperson for the band said in a statement.Source: Entertainment WeeklySo, what did Trump and the GOP do? They delivered a great big middle finger to the Stones and to the #NeverTrump movement at the Republican National Convention and played it out with You Can t Always Get What You Want. Let s call that a bookend. The convention opened by playing Queen s We Are the Champions, to which the remaining members of Queen quickly objected after all, Freddie Mercury was LGBT and the 2016 Republican platform is the most anti-LGBT yet.An unauthorised use at the Republican Convention against our wishes Queen Queen (@QueenWillRock) July 19, 2016Legally, it s possible that neither Harrison s estate nor Queen, nor any other of the rock stars who ve been wronged by Trump can do much about it. Candidates do need to buy permission to use music, but that often comes in a package. In other words, they buy rights to use music from the catalogues of organizations like Broadcast Music Inc (BMI) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In other words, they were likely within their legal rights, but that doesn t mean musicians should shut up. They should let their opinions be known, loudly, as we all should.Featured image of Beatles by Les Lee of Getty Images | Featured image of Donald Trump by Alex Wong of Getty Images | 0 |
9,943 | Treasury chief sees 'competitive' corporate tax rate: CNBC | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 15 percent corporate tax rate backed by President Donald Trump may not be possible, but businesses will see a “competitive” rate as Republicans push their tax reform plan through Congress, the U.S. treasury secretary said on Tuesday. “Ideally, he’d like to get it down to 15 percent. I don’t know if we’ll be able to achieve that given the budget issues, but we’re going to get this down to a very competitive level,” Steven Mnuchin said, speaking at an conference hosted by CNBC. | 1 |
9,944 | Trump puts five-year lobbying ban on his political appointees | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Saturday put restrictions on the kind of lucrative lobbying gigs his White House aides and other administration officials can accept after they leave government. Trump, a Republican businessman whose campaign was based in part on getting rid of Washington insiders, had pledged during last year’s election campaign to “drain the swamp” of political practices that he said made politicians beholden to business interests. On his executive order making good on that pledge, Trump said his appointees would agree to refrain from lobbying their own agency for five years after leaving, and would not lobby any government appointee for two years. Trump’s order also requires his officials to agree to a lifetime ban on working on behalf of foreign governments or foreign political parties. Trump himself has come under pressure to distance himself from his business interests, and put his sons in charge of his company, which owns hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world. Ethics watchdogs have said the arrangement does not prevent conflicts of interest. | 1 |
9,945 | Fellow Republicans assail Trump after he defends Confederate monuments | (Corrects Corker quote in paragraph 4 of Aug. 17 story to show he said “stability” not “ability,” error first appeared in Update 4) By Steve Holland and Susan Heavey BRIDGEWATER, N.J./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump decried on Thursday the removal of monuments to the pro-slavery Civil War Confederacy, echoing white nationalists and drawing stinging rebukes from fellow Republicans in a controversy that has inflamed racial tensions. Trump has alienated Republicans, corporate leaders and U.S. allies, rattled markets and prompted speculation about possible White House resignations with his comments since Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, which came in the aftermath of a white nationalist protest against the removal of a Confederate statue. Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioned Trump’s capacity to govern. “The president ... has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,” said Corker, who Trump had considered for the job of secretary of state. Corker said Trump needed to make “radical changes.” Trump unleashed attacks on two Republican U.S. senators, Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, in a series of Twitter posts on Thursday, raising fresh doubts about his ability to work with lawmakers in his own party to win passage of his legislative agenda, which includes tax cuts and infrastructure spending. He took aim at the removal or consideration for removal of Confederate statues and monuments in a long list of cities in California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas, as well as Washington, D.C. “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You can’t change history, but you can learn from it,” Trump wrote on Twitter, refusing to move past the controversy. “Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!” Trump said. He was referring to two Confederate generals in the Civil War that ended in 1865, and to early U.S. presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who owned slaves but whose legacies are overwhelmingly honored. Opponents call the statues a festering symbol of racism, while supporters say they honor American history. Some of the monuments have become rallying points for white nationalists but also have the support of some people interested in historical preservation. Trump also denied he had spoken of “moral equivalency” between white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members who clashed with anti-racism activists in Charlottesville. U.S. stocks suffered their biggest drop in three months on Thursday as the turmoil surrounding the White House sapped investor confidence that Trump’s ambitious economic agenda would become reality. Equity index futures fell a bit further after the close of regular trading, with S&P 500 emini futures heading into the overnight trading session about 2 points lower. The U.S. stock market has not followed a 1 percent-down day with a second straight day of losses since Trump was elected in November, so Friday’s session is being watched as a significant test of the market’s resilience. Amid the controversy, the White House knocked down rumors that Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn might resign. An official said Cohn “intends to remain in his position” as National Economic Council director at the White House. Trump announced the disbanding of two high-profile business advisory councils on Wednesday after the resignation of several corporate executives over his Charlottesville remarks. On Thursday, a White House official said Trump had dropped plans for an advisory council on infrastructure. In another indication of businesses not wanting to be associated with the president, the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic canceled a planned 2018 Florida fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort, where it had held such events for seven straight years. Spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said the Cleveland Clinic considered “a variety of factors” in deciding to cancel an event that typically generates $1 million a year. The clinic’s chief executive, Toby Cosgrove, was a member of a one of the two councils that disbanded on Wednesday. James Murdoch, chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc and son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, slammed Trump’s response to Charlottesville in an email to friends and pledged to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League, the New York Times reported. James Murdoch wrote that Trump’s comments should “concern all of us as Americans and free people,” the Times said. Twenty-First Century Fox owns Fox News Channel, a favorite with Trump and his conservative supporters. ‘HATE-FILLED INDIVIDUALS’ The Charlottesville violence erupted when white nationalists marched to protest against the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. A 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when a man described as a white nationalist crashed his car into the counter-protesters. Trump has blamed the Charlottesville violence on not just the white nationalist rally organizers but also the counter-protesters, and said there were “very fine people” among both groups. He also expressed distaste for removing Confederate statues in a heated news conference on Tuesday. After Trump blasted Graham on Twitter, the senator who was one of Trump’s rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination fired back. “Because of the manner in which you have handled the Charlottesville tragedy you are now receiving praise from some of the most racist and hate-filled individuals and groups in our country. For the sake of our Nation - as our President - please fix this,” Graham said. “History is watching us all.” Another Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, also said on Twitter: “Anything less than complete & unambiguous condemnation of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK by (Trump) is unacceptable. Period.” Graham had said on Wednesday Trump’s remarks at his news conference the day before had suggested “moral equivalency” between the white nationalists and anti-racism demonstrators and called on the president to use his words to heal Americans. “Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists and people like Ms. Heyer. Such a disgusting lie. He just can’t forget his election trouncing. The people of South Carolina will remember!” Trump wrote. In a separate tweet, Trump called Flake “WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He’s toxic!” and appeared to endorse Kelli Ward, Flake’s Republican challenger in his 2018 re-election race. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, called for the immediate removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Senator Cory Booker, also a Democrat, said he would introduce legislation so that could be done. “There is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country,” Pelosi said in a statement. A spokesman for Republican U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said it was up to U.S. states to determine which statues were displayed on their behalf in the Capitol building. | 1 |
9,946 | U.S. Senate panel approves Carson for housing secretary post | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ben Carson, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead U.S. housing policy, won approval on Tuesday from the Senate committee reviewing the qualifications of the retired neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate. The endorsement by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, by a voice vote shown on its website, cleared the way for a full Senate vote on Carson’s appointment as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Carson, 65, had promised senators on the committee during a confirmation hearing that he would monitor any potential conflicts of interest between his agency and properties controlled by real estate mogul Trump. He also told lawmakers during a hearing on Jan. 12 that he was fit to lead HUD, an agency that offers housing to the poor, even though he has sometimes criticized its work. | 1 |
9,947 | revived clinton email scandal killed by a slew of new facts in record time | by sean colarossi on mon oct st at pm trump used a tax avoidance maneuver so legally dubious his own lawyers advised him that the internal revenue service would likely declare it improper if he were audited share on twitter print this post
while donald trump has repeatedly said he took advantage of loopholes that allowed him to legally pay nothing in federal income taxes for decades the new york times reported on monday that trump may have actually crossed a legal boundary to avoid paying his fair share
according to the times the republican nominee used a tax avoidance maneuver so legally dubious his own lawyers advised him that the internal revenue service would likely declare it improper if he were audited
the report
tax experts who reviewed the newly obtained documents for the new york times said mr trumps tax avoidance maneuver conjured from ambiguous provisions of highly technical tax court rulings clearly pushed the edge of the envelope of what tax laws permitted at the time whatever loophole existed was not exploited here but stretched beyond any recognition said steven m rosenthal a senior fellow at the nonpartisan tax policy center who helped draft tax legislation in the early s
moreover the tax experts said the maneuver trampled a core tenet of american tax policy by conferring enormous tax benefits to mr trump for losing vast amounts of other peoples money in this case money investors and banks had entrusted to him to build a casino empire in atlantic city
the reason that trump bent over backward and potentially broke laws to avoid paying these taxes is because he was scrambling to stave off financial ruin
this is the same man who claims he would be a great president because of his successful business background
yet he calls himself the king of debt his businesses have declared bankruptcy six times he has spent decades paying zero dollars in federal income taxes he lost a billion dollars in a single year running a casino business reporting out tonight even suggests that he has direct financial ties to russia
all of this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his business background
even as all of this information is out there american voters still know very little about donald trumps finances because he has refused to be transparent about them
and consider this what trump is hiding in his tax returns must be much worse than the already damning information that keeps coming out through good reporting if it werent he would have already released them
the latest new york times story is just the latest installment of trumps shady business background the media should spend the remaining week of this campaign demanding more answers from a man who wants to be in charge of the countrys pocketbook | 1 |
9,948 | Turkey detains lawyers of hunger-striking teachers ahead of trial | ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey issued detention warrants for the lawyers of two hunger-striking teachers on Tuesday, days before they are due to appear in court, lawyers representing the academics said. Nuriye Gulmen, a literature professor, and Semih Ozakca, a primary school teacher, have been on hunger strike for more than six months after they lost their jobs in a crackdown following a failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan. Doctors say they have been surviving on liquids and supplements, but have described their condition as dangerously weak for several months. Authorities detained them in May saying they had links to the militant leftist DHKP-C group, deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey. The warrants were issued for 18 lawyers, all members of two law offices defending the teachers. The detention of our colleagues today is an attempt in vain to leave Gulmen and Ozakca defenseless, a lawyer representing the pair told Reuters, adding that more than 2,000 lawyers had applied to defend them due to the case s symbolic importance. Police raided lawyers offices in Istanbul and Ankara and detained 10 lawyers, while the search for eight others continued. On Thursday, Gulmen and Ozakca will appear in court for the first time since their arrest. So far, 150,000 state employees including civil servants, academics and security personnel have been fired since last year s coup attempt, which Erdogan blamed on followers of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen denies any involvement. Critics accuse the government of using the coup as a pretext to purge dissident voices from public institutions. Last month, the European Court of Human Rights rejected a request by the two teachers to order Ankara to release them on health grounds. | 1 |
9,949 | this is the man militarized police at standing rock are working for | if you signed up for obamacare youve been screwed
if you didnt sign up and opted to pay the penalties youve been screwed
if you didnt sign up didnt pay penalties and stuck with your original insurance company youve been screwed
if you didnt sign up didnt pay penalties and paid cash for medical care youve been screwed
every person in america has been affected regardless of what you did or did not do
thats because the affordable care act irrevocably ruined our access to medical care at an affordable price in this country in the mere span of years the prices have skyrocketed and many families have to pay more in monthly premiums than they pay on their mortgages meanwhile medical costs have been driven up to astronomical prices making it nearly impossible to pay outofpocket for care
and these premiums they are for the crappiest coverage you can imagine some families pay a month for coverage after they pay the deductible thats nearly per year before obamacare pays for a penny of their costs
and nownow that insurance companies have gone belly up when they were forced to become a part of the exchange medical costs are skyrocketing doctors wont see patients who arent covered employers stopped offering insurance as a benefit and people lost their jobs due to obamacare costs
the whole thing is failing even president obama has admitted it and now we have proof that it was planned that way
but that isnt the worst of it the worst of it is that this program was designed to fail and steer us into single payer healthcare where a government entity can decide what procedures will or will not be covered theyll decide who is deserving of cancer treatment and who is not theyll mandate things like flu shots and childhood vaccines
one of the recent wikileaks shows that hillary clinton knew this and was complicit
melissa dykes of the daily sheeple wrote
in an email thread dated september between hillary and her senior policy adviser ann oleary titled memo on cadillac tax for hrc hillary wrote given the politics now w bipartisan support including schumer ill support repeal w sense of the senate that revenues would have to be found id be open to a range of options to do that but we have to be careful that the r version passes which begins the unraveling of the aca
which begins the unraveling of the affordable care act
a democrat supporting republican legislation to destroy obamacare on purpose how many millions have they raked in on this deal and bilked the american people for in obamacare penalties because they cant afford the affordable health care and the american people will look at this like a victory when it does unravel even though it has been the plan all along
hillary clinton that savior of woman and children knew that this would fail she is supporting the legislation to destroy it leaving everyone in america at the mercy of the horrible replacement that she will dream up to redistribute wealth and deal the death blow to the alreadystruggling middle class
mark my words as bad as this disaster is it is only going to get worse watch this video for the full story
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9,950 | Five Things You Need to Know About CrowdStrike | . The Daily CallerThe Democratic Party and mainstream media have become increasingly consumed with the narrative that Donald Trump s election win is largely influenced by Russian hacking.The narrative is centered around two hacks the hack of a DNC server that led to the release of embarrassing emails during the Democratic National Convention, and the hack of John Podesta s email which led to several embarrassing moments for the Clinton campaign in October 2016. Both are supposedly the result of the Russians.The Russia story is back in the headlines once again after reports surrounding former President Barack Obama s attempts to punish Russia for its interference.However, there is still a cloud of doubt hanging over the DNC s Russia narrative on the breach of the DNC servers.The analysis that alleged that Russia was behind the DNC server breach was carried out not by the U.S. government, but by the private security group CrowdStrike.CrowdStrike is the sole source of this claim, with their June 2016 report, Bears in the Midst: Intrusion into the Democratic National Committee being the basis of the DNC s Russian hacking allegations.Here are five key points about CrowdStrike that the mainstream media is ignoring:1. Obama Appoints CrowdStrike Officer To Admin Post Two Months Before June 2016 Report On Russia Hacking DNC2. The FBI Never Looked At The DNC s Servers Only CrowdStrike Did3. Comey Contradicted The DNC s Story On The FBI Asking To See The Server4. CrowdStrike Co-Founder Is Fellow On Russia Hawk Group, Has Connections To George Soros, Ukrainian Billionaire5. CrowdStrike Is Funded By Clinton-Loving Google $$To read more about CrowdStrike and the five things you need to know, visit The Daily CallerREAD MORE SCI-TECH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Sci-Tech FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
9,951 | Kentucky declares Clinton Democratic primary winner after recanvass | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A recanvass of Kentucky’s Democratic presidential primary results found Hillary Clinton won the contest by 1,911 votes, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes said on Thursday. Clinton’s rival for the party’s nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, had requested a recount in the razor-close contest earlier this week. Grimes, in posts on Twitter, said the results of the recanvass would be certified by the state’s Board of Elections on May 31. | 1 |
9,952 | Obama wins over Cubans with straight talk and humility | HAVANA (Reuters) - Lucila Morales stared in amazement at the flickering image of U.S. President Barack Obama on her old TV set on Tuesday, as he extolled democracy and political freedoms in a live speech capping his historic visit to the Communist-led island. Delivered from Havana’s Grand Theater, the home of Cuban ballet, Obama’s speech drew people to their televisions and radios across the city, impressing an audience not used to open political debate and surprised by his touches of humility. “Now he’s thrown a grenade,” Morales gasped when Obama spoke of the importance of the free and open exchange of ideas, long a taboo subject in a country where dissent is stifled, access to the Internet remains limited and the media is state-controlled. In his most pointed comments from the restored theater, where President Raul Castro was seated on a balcony with his top aides, Obama said Cubans should be able to choose their governments in free, democratic elections. “I’m with you Obama, in choosing our next president,” shouted computer student Roberto Iglesias, 28, popping his head round the door of Morales’ airy 1940s-era apartment near Havana University. Obama’s two-day trip to Cuba was the first by a sitting U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge sailed to Havana on a warship in 1928. Following a 2014 detente announced by Obama and Castro, the trip was a major step toward ending half a century of cold War animosity. Obama politely praised his hosts and accepted that before the revolution some Americans exploited Cuba. He acknowledged U.S. problems with racism but was frank about his belief in democracy’s superiority over Cuba’s one-party system. His acceptance of errors at home and in Cuba contrasted with past presidents who harangued their neighbor for decades after Fidel Castro overthrew a pro-American government in 1959. Obama vowed not to impose a different political or economic system on Cuba and instead urged Cubans to build on their own achievements, a resonant message for many young people proud of Cuba’s health, education and low crime, but hungry for change. “He is calling on the young, on the Cuban people to build, not to destroy,” said Amed Chincle, 31, watching the speech with his Afro-Cuban neighbors and family in a windowless apartment lit by a single strip bulb. Wearing a T-shirt with the logo of Hard Rock Cafe Boston, Chincle said he hoped Cuban authorities would heed Obama’s advice by not assuming that every young person complaining about small injustices was trying to bring down the government. “Lots of young people love their country and have no need to leave in search of a better system, but we should be able to speak and express ourselves without the government being uncomfortable,” said Chincle, a self-employed cycle taxi rider angry at what he saw as abuse of power by the police. “They think that every protest by young people is a threat to the government - and that’s not true,” he said. More than anything though, it was the personal flourishes during Obama’s three-day visit that won sympathy from Cubans. Obama spent hours on Monday listening to small business owners in a meeting at a state-run brewery, and his speech on Tuesday was littered with references to Cuban entrepreneurs such as a barber whose business was growing fast. Cutting hair was mostly a state activity until Raul Castro took power in 2008 and began cautious market-style reforms. A graphic designer who identified himself only by his first name Elicer said that changes allowing more free enterprise had been positive but the leadership was out of touch with the day to day lives of the people. “With this meeting with entrepreneurs alone, Obama did what no president of this country has done in so many years - sit with ordinary people and ask what problems they have,” he said. | 1 |
9,953 | OUT IN THE OPEN: ‘9/11’ 15 Years Of A Transparent Lie | 21st Century Wire says One of the most elaborate crimes of the century continues to be whitewashed SMOKE SCREEN Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton There are many doorways into the crimes of 9/11. After the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, President George W. Bush called for the creation of remote control systems in commercial airliners in the event of an emergency. By design, this technology would grant air traffic controllers, along with other government entities, the ability to control an aircraft and steer it towards its final intended destination.Based on history, we know that the Flight Management Systems within Boeing models have been capable of assisting the entire flight through its remote autopilot functions since at least 1984, well before Bush s politically motivated calls for remote control flights in the aftermath of 9/11.From the mid-1980 s, the coded software on the plane would send data to ground control stations, accepting any return flight information or auto-land command. In addition to civilian aircraft being flown remotely before it was acknowledged, the U.S. Air Force apparently constructed an F-106 Delta Dart fighter to be controlled remotely on a combat mission in 1959 under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).There has been an endless dispute over the how of 9/11 and the who, as well as the various methods used to carry out the crimes of that day. There s an even heavier debate over what brought down WTC Building 7 and since then, other 9/11 rabbit holes have also challenged the nature of the planes said to be involved in both New York and Washington DC.Whether you re curious and bold enough to head down that path is a whole different matter, but the fact remains, the technology to take over a commercial flight existed long before 9/11.Whatever your thoughts are concerning planes on 9/11 it s still worth noting that even the mainstream media admitted at the time that there was, no evidence of a plane at all, following the destruction of a portion of the Pentagon s western side.Indeed, 15 years on, there are still many more question than there are plausible answers.More from Paul Craig Roberts below Einst rzende Neubauten A single day has shaped the modern world. (Image Source: downtownexpress)9/11: 15 Years Of A Transparent LiePaul Craig RobertsThere are many conspiracy theories about 9/11. The US government s own explanation of 9/11 is a conspiracy theory in which a few Saudi Arabians outwitted the American national security state. Little doubt that many of the more imaginative conspiracy theories were created for the purpose of stigmatizing any skepticism, no matter how well reasoned and supported, of the official story.When thinking about 9/11, it is important to differentiate expert opinion from improbable explanations.Among the expert opinion are 2,600 structural engineers and high-rise architects who comprise Architects & Engineers for 9/11 truth and have written to Congress asking for a real investigation, Firefighters for 9/11 truth, Pilots for 9/11 truth, physicists and chemists who analyzed the dust from the twin towers and report finding reacted and unreacted materials used in controlled demolitions, and former government officials who understand that a security failure as great as 9/11 would have produced an immediate and exacting investigation.These groups of qualified and experienced people say that the official story of 9/11 is false. Architects, engineers, and scientists say that the official story is physically impossible. Firefighters and WTC maintenance personnel say that there were numerous explosions within the towers and that the first explosions were in the sub-basements prior to the buildings being hit by airplanes. Experienced military and civilian pilots say the maneuvers of the aircraft are beyond the capability of the alleged hijackers. Both co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission and the legal counsel have written books in which they have said that information was withheld from the Commission, that the US government lied to the Commission, and that the Commission was set up to failIn other words, the hard evidence simply does not support the official story.We know that the official story is false. We don t know who is responsible or the purpose the event was intended to serve. However, circumstantial evidence strongly supports suspicion of the neoconservatives whose high positions in the government would have enabled them to succeed with a false flag attack and to delay and divert any investigation until the official story was set in stone. We also know from the dancing Israelis that elements in the Israeli government had advance notice of the attack as Israeli agents were set up ready to film the destruction of the twin towers.More from Paul Craig Roberts here READ MORE 9/11 NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 9/11 Files | 0 |
9,954 | Man says he delivered manure to Mnuchin to protest new U.S. tax law | (In Dec. 25 story, in second paragraph, corrects name of Strong’s employer to Mental Health Department, not Public Health Department.) By Bernie Woodall (Reuters) - A man claiming to be the person who delivered a gift-wrapped package of horse manure at the Los Angeles home of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday he did it to protest the federal tax overhaul signed into law last week by President Donald Trump. Robert Strong, 45, a psychologist for the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department, said by telephone he left the poop-filled parcel addressed to Mnuchin and Trump in the driveway outside Mnuchin’s home in the posh Bel Air community. KNBC-TV, an NBC television affiliate in Los Angeles, reported Mnuchin was not home at the time. The package was found by Mnuchin’s neighbor. “Protest really should be funny,” Strong told Reuters. “People’s eyes glaze over when they just see angry people in the streets.” He believes the new tax law will hurt poor people. Neither the U.S. Secret Service nor the Los Angeles Police Department, both of which investigated the incident, would confirm Strong was responsible. The Secret Service interviewed an individual who admitted delivering the package, but no charges had been filed against him as of Monday afternoon. LAPD Lieutenant Rob Weise said it was possible whoever left the package did not break any criminal laws. While he is not assigned to investigate the incident, Weise said if the box did not present any danger, it would not be illegal. The LAPD bomb squad X-rayed the box before opening it on Saturday. In a photo of the card Strong posted on Twitter, he wrote “Misters Mnuchin & Trump, We’re returning the ‘gift’ of the Christmas tax bill” and signed it “Warmest wishes, The American people.” Strong said a Secret Service agent, accompanied by six police officers, showed up at his house to question him on Sunday night, and the agent chided him, asking, “‘Are you ashamed of your behavior?’” The White House declined to comment on Monday and officials with the Treasury Department could not be reached. | 1 |
9,955 | Kansas argues against boost in school funding | (Reuters) - Kansas sought on Wednesday to avoid a court ruling that could force the cash-strapped state to increase school funding by more than $1 billion. Lawyers for the state and for public school districts faced off before the Kansas Supreme Court in the latest chapter of a decades-long battle over equitable and adequate funding. Stephen McAllister, the state’s solicitor general, argued that while Kansas may be spending less on education than some other states, student achievement is improving. “Kansas is making excellent use of resources to do pretty well compared to the nation,” he told the justices. The state spends about $4 billion on schools, but lawyers for the four districts suing the state claim another $430 million to $1.4 billion would be required to meet the state constitution’s requirement for adequate funding. “We’re falling short and we’re leaving massive numbers of kids behind,” said Alan Rupe, an attorney for the districts. He asked the court to declare the system unconstitutional and give the state legislature some direction on achieving constitutionality and a full legislative session to come up with a new system. The justices did not indicate when they might rule. The adequacy question comes after the court ruled in June that Kansas had complied with its order to resolve inequities in educating students. Kansas’ budget is feeling the effects of actions taken by Republican Governor Sam Brownback and the legislature in recent years to cut corporate and other income taxes in hopes of helping the state compete with bordering Missouri and other states for business development and jobs. The state’s fiscal woes led Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Kansas’ credit rating by one notch to AA-minus in July. | 1 |
9,956 | Austrian coalition government to be sworn in on Monday - presidency | ZURICH (Reuters) - Austria s new coalition government of conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party will be sworn in on Monday at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT), President Alexander Van der Bellen s office said on Saturday. | 1 |
9,957 | Young German conservatives call for change after election losses | DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - The youth wing of German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives said on Friday the bloc had a credibility problem on migration and needed new faces after suffering big losses in the Sept. 24 national election. Merkel won a fourth term in office, but her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party saw their worst results since 1949, bleeding support to the far-right Alternative for Germany and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). Merkel, who will address 1,000 delegates from the Young Union (JU) in Dresden on Saturday, will try to hammer out differences with Bavarian party leaders on Sunday about their call for an upper limit to migration. An agreement is needed before conservatives can enter into talks on a tricky three-way coalition with the FDP and the environmentalist Greens, an alignment untested thus far on a national level. The young conservatives Dresden declaration called for an honest and unflinching questioning of our polices of the past years given the election results. Things cannot just continue as they were, the declaration said. Many people have the feeling that those up there have forgotten us down here . The declaration said conservatives had a credibility problem on the migration issue, but emphasized the group s wish for Merkel s continued leadership. At the same time, it said conservatives should have the courage to represent the full spectrum of the party through new faces in government, the parliamentary group and party. Deputy finance minister Jens Spahn, considered a possible successor to Merkel, drew sustained applause for a speech in which he blamed the government s migration policies for the election losses, and said conservative leaders had refused to acknowledge that fact or address the public s fears head on. The declaration did not demand an upper limit on migration as the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) has done, but said a clear limit on migration and a quota for refugees were needed. What we don t need is uncontrolled immigration into our social welfare systems, it said. Merkel and the Greens have rejected the call by the CSU for a migrant cap but there are signs that conservatives could agree on different wording. I honestly don t care what it s called, Spahn told delegates, adding that conservatives understood that some change was needed. We got the message, he said. Some members of Merkel s conservatives and potential coalition partners have called for an immigration law as a way to solve the issue. A new poll released by Focus magazine showed that 67 percent of Germans back the migrant cap demanded by the CSU, while 26 percent reject such a plan. | 1 |
9,958 | U.S. Senate confirms Trump trade representative ahead of NAFTA talks | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, a critical position ahead of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Delays in Senate confirmation of veteran trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer more than 100 days after his nomination have set back Trump’s trade agenda, including the start of talks about revamping one of the world’s biggest trading blocs. Lighthizer won support from both Republicans and Democrats in the Republican-led Senate on Thursday, with an 82-14 vote to confirm his nomination. The administration has had to wait for Lighthizer to be in place before triggering the formal process to begin renegotiating NAFTA. It was not immediately clear when the White House would begin that process. To do so, the Trump administration must send a letter to Congress declaring its intention to launch negotiations in 90 days. The Republican president has said the 23-year-old trade pact devastated U.S. workers and has vowed to tear it up if he fails to get a better deal. Some Democrats, while critical of Trump’s views on trade, said they were confident Lighthizer would work to help U.S. workers. “He’s a real pro,” Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said before voting in favor. Lighthizer’s approval came despite the objections of two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who said they were worried he did not appreciate NAFTA’s benefits. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, in charge of trade ties with the United States, said she did not expect the administration would move immediately on NAFTA. “I imagine that Ambassador Lighthizer may need to spend a bit of time in consultations prior to formally triggering that 90-day period,” she said on a conference call on Thursday night. While the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico has ballooned since NAFTA was enacted in 1994, U.S. farmers have profited from exports to America’s southern neighbor, while automakers have cut costs by building cross-border supply chains that benefit from lower Mexican wages. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and voted in favor of Lighthizer’s nomination, also urged the incoming trade representative not to put at risk the gains NAFTA had brought. “There are definitely opportunities to update and improve NAFTA,” Hatch said. “But it is important that the administration follow the spirit of the Hippocratic oath: First do no harm.” | 1 |
9,959 | Jon Stewart Makes A Room Full Of U.S. Soldiers Gasp As He Delivers A Dire Warning On Trump (VIDEO) | If you re someone who looks at the prospect of four (or eight!) years of President Trump with a mixture of depression and terror, imagine what it must be like to be a soldier who may have to serve in the military under him.Trump will have no problem, say, ordering you to commit war crimes. Or torture. Or to go to war. The possibility of Trump becoming president represents the likelihood that you will be made to do something that will not only dishonor your country, but yourself as well. Needless to say, the prospect makes for some very worried soldiers in the United States military.As part of a USO tour with President Obama, Jon Stewart stopped by to emcee the Joining Forces 5th Anniversary Event at Joint Base Andrews. Most of his jokes were good-natured, but the former Daily Show host couldn t help but addressing the very large, very orange elephant in the room.While speaking about Vice President Joe Biden, who joined Stewart on stage, the comedian noted that many people criticize Biden for [saying] whatever he thinks of, whatever comes into his mind. But it reminded him of someone else: Who would have thought that now, that gets you the Republican nomination? So, um (laughter) Don t worry, Trump s gonna keep you busy when he s the Commander-in-Chief. You re gonna have to paint all the planes with Trump in big gold letters. You re gonna be busy. During the extended punchline on Trump, the audience went from laughing, to uncomfortable gasps and groans, to dead silence. It was a good joke, but the nugget of truth at the center of it was deeply unsettling.Donald Trump has shown absolutely no ability to control himself during his campaign. His half-hearted stabs at being more presidential have ended without fail within 24 hours. Often these forays into seriousness end spectacularly. After the press had lauded Trump for being more mature, he attended a rally in which he floated the idea that Ted Cruz s father was linked to the JFK assassination. He s about to have the most powerful military in the history of mankind at his beck and call.Painting Trump in gold on airplanes isn t the only thing Trump might have these soldiers do. Given his temperament, his thin skin, and his ability to contradict himself endlessly, Trump could wake up one morning and just decide to go to war. And to defend his bruised ego, he would be willing to send the very same men and women standing in front of Jon Stewart into battle. Their silence speaks volumes.They ll be busy alright.Watch Jon Stewart give his brutal prediction about Trump below, via Mediaite s Tommy Christopher: Jon Stewart Tells Troops Trump s Gonna Keep by DailyPoliticsFeatured image via Daily Motion screengrab | 0 |
9,960 | Senator McCain wants hearing on possible F-16 sale to Pakistan | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain on Thursday urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing on the possible sale of Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, as more lawmakers expressed concern about the deal. McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters he was concerned about the timing of the Obama administration’s decision to approve the sale of the fighter jets to Pakistan, and the potential consequences for U.S. relations with India. “I would rather have seen it kicked over into the next administration,” McCain said. A hearing would help senators decide what to do about the proposed sale, he said, noting he was very “conflicted.” The U.S. government announced on Feb. 12 that it had approved the sale to Pakistan of up to eight additional F-16 fighter jets, as well as radars and other equipment in a deal valued at $699 million. The deal drew immediate criticism from India. Separately, U.S. Senator Rand Paul said Thursday he had introduced a resolution of disapproval seeking to halt U.S. arms sales to Pakistan’s government. If passed, the measure would stop the F-16 sale. U.S. lawmakers have until March 12 to block the sale. Such action is rare since deals are usually well vetted before any formal notification, and it remained unclear if lawmakers would thwart the deal. State Department spokesman David McKeeby said the proposed sale of F-16s would assist Pakistan’s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations and was in the interests of Pakistan, the United States, NATO and the region. “Pakistan’s current F-16s have proven critical to the success of these operations to date. These operations reduce the ability of militants to use Pakistani territory as a safe haven for terrorism and a base of support for the insurgency in Afghanistan,” he said. McKeeby said the department was aware of congressional concerns and would continue to consult and engage with lawmakers. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker allowed the Obama administration to proceed with the deal, but said he would not approve using U.S. funds to pay for the planes through the foreign military financing (FMF) program. Corker told Secretary of State John Kerry in a letter earlier this month that he was concerned about Pakistan’s ties to the Haqqani network, a militant group that U.S. officials have said is behind attacks in Afghanistan. | 1 |
9,961 | With budget cuts looming, U.S. aid chief vows to do more with less | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing potentially deep budget cuts to U.S. foreign aid, new USAID administrator Mark Green says he needs to do more with less and prove to President Donald Trump that development assistance can further his “America First” agenda. In a first meeting with Trump back in January, Green made his pitch to the then president-elect, drawing from his experience in Central America to explain how U.S.-funded programs there could help slow the number of immigrants trying to enter the United States illegally. “I said ‘Mr. President-elect, I believe our development tools can help us achieve just about every one of your strategic priorities,’” Green told Reuters in his first interview since starting last week as head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Green had previously worked on U.S-supported projects with indigenous mayors in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to improve living conditions “so kids hopefully don’t go 1,000 miles through the worst conditions imaginable and jump the border.” “It works and is a great way to use development,” he said, sitting in a still bare office at USAID headquarters blocks from the White House. Green brings a unique resume to the job: a former four-term Republican congressman from Wisconsin who served as U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania under President George W. Bush. In his last job as head of the International Republican Institute, he helped promote governance and democracy overseas. His time on Capitol Hill will be key to his new job. In a sign of his good standing there, Green’s nomination had support across the political spectrum, as well as among aid groups. Trump staked out his position on foreign aid on the campaign trail, casting it as a waste of U.S. tax dollars. And now his administration has proposed slashing the budget for foreign aid by a third, which could gut programs across a range of issues including health, governance, gender and education. But U.S. foreign assistance has traditionally garnered bipartisan support in Congress, which controls the aid purse strings. Green has stronger relations with lawmakers than his predecessors, who battled Congress on funding and objectives. “What’s very different for Mark Green is that his strongest allies are on the Hill,” said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington. “Where he faces headwinds are with both the White House and the State Department.” “There is a real potential for conflicts in basic philosophy about what USAID does,” added Morris. Green is nevertheless sanguine about prospects for a downsized, budget-constrained USAID. “We can’t do everything,” he said. “The resources are limited, so we have to prioritize.” Green takes over an agency that has already been through waves of reform in the last decade, adapting to shifting global development patterns featuring deep-pocket philanthropic groups, more private-sector investment in emerging economies, and the rise of China as a financier in the developing world. New demands have emerged with an unprecedented refugee crisis from wars in Syria and Iraq, along with famine in Africa, and growing violent extremism. “USAID’s humanitarian work is unrivaled, it is mobilization of American generosity, and it will continue,” Green said, adding that U.S. assistance should both help in times of crisis and prevent crises from occurring. He wants U.S. foreign assistance to focus on results to show Americans that their tax-dollars are being put to good use. “I am going to ask every program to show me how it is moving us closer to the day when people can lead themselves,” said Green. “If it is not helping, they’re going to have to tell me why.” | 1 |
9,962 | New U.S. travel ban to spare green card holders: Trump official | MUNICH (Reuters) - A new version of a Trump administration travel ban will not stop green card residency holders or travelers already on planes from entering the United States, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security John Kelly said on Saturday. U.S. President Donald Trump’s initial attempt to clamp down for security reasons on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and on refugees snarled to a halt amid a judicial backlash and chaos at airports. “The president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version of the first (order). And I will have opportunity to work (on) a rollout plan, in particular to make sure that there’s no one in a sense caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports,” Kelly said at the Munich Security Conference. Asked whether green card residency permit holders would be allowed in, Kelly said: “It’s a good assumption and, as far as the visas go, ... if they’re in motion from some distant land to the United States, when they arrive they will be allowed in.” He promised “a short phase-in period to make sure that people on the other end don’t get on airplanes. But if they’re on an airplane and inbound, they’ll be allowed to enter the country.” A draft of the replacement executive order shows that the administration aims to put restrictions on citizens of the same seven Muslim-majority countries covered by the initial order, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites an internal State Department memo. The replacement order could be issued as early as Tuesday, the Journal reported, citing a U.S. government official. The administration would seek to implement the new order a week to two weeks after it is signed, and covers citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, the Journal said. Trump’s original order, which he said was meant to head off attacks by Islamist militants, barred people from those same countries from entering for 90 days and excluded all refugees for 120 days, except those from Syria, who were banned indefinitely. The abrupt implementation of the order last month plunged the immigration system into chaos, sparking a wave of criticism from the countries affected, and from Western allies and some of America’s leading corporations, especially technology firms. | 1 |
9,963 | Expect more war, hunger, Islamist violence in 2018 -Geneva think-tank | GENEVA (Reuters) - Humanitarian crises around the world will worsen next year with no let-up in African civil wars, near-famines in conflict-ridden regions and the threat of Islamist violence, a Geneva-based think-tank predicted in a report published on Thursday. The report by ACAPS, a non-profit venture that supports humanitarian aid workers with daily monitoring and analysis of 150 countries, examined the anticipated needs of 18 countries in 2018 and found little to cheer. If 2017 did not look good, predictions for 2018 are no better: violence and insecurity are likely to deteriorate in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Ethiopia, Mali, Somalia, and Syria next year, ACAPS director Lars Peter Nissen wrote in the report. Next year Ethiopia will join northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen as places at risk of famine, said the report, entitled "Humanitarian Overview: An analysis of key crises into 2018". here In a separate report, the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network said an estimated 76 million people across 45 countries were likely to need food aid in 2018, driven by conflict, an 18-month-old drought in the Horn of Africa and forecasts for below average rains in Africa s spring next year. Rather than bringing stability, the prospect of elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan and Venezuela is expected to exacerbate tensions and fuel violence, the ACAPS report said. Islamic extremism will also continue to cause death and conflict, the report said. Despite the defeat of Islamic State in its main strongholds in Iraq, the group is expected to continue improvised attacks throughout the country to destabilise the government, as well as gaining strength and resources in southern Libya. Islamic State is also likely to increase its toehold in the Puntland region of Somalia, impacting the civilian population and clashing with its bigger regional rival Al Shabaab, which will increase the lethality of its own attacks. ACAPS said Islamist armed groups are also expected to take advantage of the withdrawal of government troops from central Mali, gaining local recruits and further influence, while in Afghanistan the Taliban will consolidate rural strongholds and increased opium production will boost funding for armed groups. The fragmentation of armed groups in Central African Republic is expected to worsen the violence there, sending more refugees into Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo, where President Joseph Kabila is unlikely to leave power until 2019, fuelling frustration and violent protest, the report said. Militia groups previously focused on local grievances will likely become increasingly frustrated by the national, political, and socioeconomic situation and are likely to increase violence, particularly against government forces and institutions, the report said. | 1 |
9,964 | TOLD TO SURRENDER: Former Trump Campaign Manager Charged in Mueller Witch Hunt | The main stream media is all aflutter this morning with the news that someone connected to President Trump has been indicted. What they aren t telling you is what s more important. A CNN anchor gave a report this morning and not until the end of the report did she say that she should mention that this really has nothing to do with President Trump.Paul Manafort and longtime associate Rick Gates have been told to surrender to federal authorities What the media isn t telling you is that the charges are from before Manafort worked for Trump. Let s hope Trump fires Mueller ASAP this is a witch hunt that needs to end The 12 counts are for money laundering and not registering as a foreign agent when Manafort worked for pro-Russian forces in the Ukraine BEFORE they worked for the Trump campaign.Manafort was seen leaving his home this morning and then entering the FBI building with his lawyer:Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort told to turn himself in today: Report https://t.co/Upf5gTqiQp pic.twitter.com/4cx3TFTgVV Fox News (@FoxNews) October 30, 2017Manafort entering the FBI offices with his lawyer:Ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort walks into FBI office; surrendering to feds in connection to Russia probe https://t.co/B2d9RX5PsV pic.twitter.com/piMhgnKNOY ABC News (@ABC) October 30, 2017FOX NEWS IS REPORTING: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were reportedly told to surrender to federal authorities as part of the special counsel s investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign officials during the 2016 presidential election.JEFFREY TOOBIN: Trump campaign not mentioned in Manafort indictmentAccording to the New York Times, Manafort and Gates will face the first charges in the special counsel s investigation, though the charges are not immediately clear.Gates is a longtime associate of Manafort. According to the Times, his name appeared on documents linked to companies that Manafort s firm created in Cyprus to receive payments from politicians and businesspeople in Eastern Europe.Mr. Manafort had been under investigation for violations of federal tax law, money laundering and whether he appropriately disclosed his foreign lobbying. Mr. Manafort has expected charges since this summer, when F.B.I. agents raided his home and prosecutors warned him that they planned to indict him. That warning raised speculation that Mr. Manafort might try to cut a deal to avoid prosecution.Mr. Trump s lawyer, Ty Cobb, said there were no concerns that Mr. Manafort would offer damaging information about the president in exchange for a deal.Some close to Mr. Manafort, including his former business partner Roger J. Stone Jr., have said he had nothing to offer that would help prosecutors build a case against Mr. Trump. He s not going to lie, Mr. Stone said in September.Mr. Manafort, a veteran Republican strategist, joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 to help keep delegates from breaking with Mr. Trump in favor of establishment Republican candidates. Mr. Trump soon promoted him to chairman and chief strategist, a job that gave him control over day-to-day operations of the campaign.But Mr. Trump fired Mr. Manafort just months later, after reports that he received more than $12 million in undisclosed payments from Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president and a pro-Russia politician. Mr. Manafort spent years as a political consultant for Mr. Yanukovych. | 0 |
9,965 | Senator Elizabeth Warren to meet Leandra English on Monday: aide | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is due to meet Leandra English, an official with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB), on Monday afternoon to discuss the leadership of the agency, an aide to the lawmaker said. English was named on Friday by former CFPB head Richard Cordray to lead the agency until President Donald Trump nominates a permanent chief. Hours later, the White House named budget chief Mick Mulvaney as acting director. On Sunday, English sued to prevent Trump from installing Mulvaney. Warren helped push for the creation of the CFPB and has said she support English’s position in the court case. | 1 |
9,966 | The NRA Is ‘Proud’ That They Just Made A Viral Video Telling Supporters To Shoot Protesters | The National Rifle Association, who has become nothing but the marketing arm of gun manufacturers, is panicking. Gun sales are down since the black guy left the White House. Now that they can t sell guns on the false fear that the President will take them away, they are proud to sell guns on the idea that cops aren t enough to take care of all the marauding liberals (a.k.a. The Resistance), so good ole white NRA members (more on that in a moment) will have to take it into their own hands.Dana Loesch is a regular contributor on right-wing media circuits. She writes for Glenn Beck s The Blaze, and is often seen on Fox News. She s also an NRA spokesperson. In the dystopian video, which was first posted on the NRA s YouTube channel, but has since gone viral, Loesch uses visceral terms like They (liberals) use their media to assassinate real news. Then the images became violent, with the inference that anti-Trump protests are violent (very few are) and that cops are unable to handle the masses. The only way we stop this, Loesch says, the only way to save our country and our freedom is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth. Gee, I wonder what the NRA wants to put inside that clenched fist?Here s the video, which might not be appropriate for children or for unhinged adults, but then again unhinged adults are the NRA s biggest audience:Loesch defended the ad, actually, she doubled down on it by saying she was proud of the message.I want to make one thing perfectly clear, I am proud of this ad and I endorse personally the message of this ad. It s a fantastic ad and it holds up a mirror to the violent aspects of the left.The NRA and the violent right have become empowered, especially after an alleged Bernie Sanders supporter shot Rep. Steve Scalise at a Republican congressional baseball practice. Comedian Kathy Griffin and actor Johnny Depp haven t helped either. What we aren t seeing on the news, though, is that the election of Trump has ramped up right-wing violence far more than left-wing.In the days immediately following President Trump s election, hate crimes in the United States soared, reaching nearly 900 nationwide. Since then, the self-described alt-right movement and its cohort of fascists, racists and white supremacists of all stripes have only been emboldened by having Trump and white nationalist Steve Bannon in the White House.The level of violent hate crimes committed in recent months is staggering.Source: In These TimesNow, it s not as if the NRA wants everyone to be armed, or at least they aren t going to protect everyone s right to be armed. They ve been famously silent about the death of licensed African-American gun owner Philando Castile at the hands of cops.Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
9,967 | U.N. Report: Police Killings Of Black Men In U.S. Is ‘Human Rights Crisis’ Reminiscent Of Lynching | The epidemic of black men being killed at the hands of police officers in America has not gone unnoticed on the international stage. According to aAccording to a report by a United Nations working group, which will be debated at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, this situation constitutes a full-blown human rights crisis that is reminiscent of the days of lynchings. Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching, said the report by the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.The U.N. report draws a stark comparison between modern day fatal shootings at the hands of law enforcement and the lynchings of blacks that swept the nation in the 19th and 20th centuries. The report comes as racial tensions in America have boiled over yet again in the wake of more deadly shootings that have rocked the country.Historically, the majority of African Americans killed in lynchings were hanged. The Equal Justice Initiative released a report in 2015 which said that between 1877 and 1950, an estimated 3,959 black people were murdered in racial terror lynchings throughout the country s southern states.The U.N. report follows a January visit to the U.S. by a five-member group, which was chaired by Filipino law professor Ricardo A. Sunga III. The group says that despite efforts at reform, they still remain extremely concerned about the human rights crisis facing blacks living in the U.S., and this is especially true considering protesters are once again flooding the streets of American cities to protest the killings of still more black men in recent days. In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent. Impunity for State violence has resulted in the current human rights crisis and must be addressed as a matter of urgency. The experts group pointed out that these killings go unpunished because the investigation is biased and tainted from the beginning since police departments are investigating their own. Adding to this is the fact that prosecutors have discretion when it comes to presenting charges and U.S. law enforcement officers are not held to international standards for use of force.To address the situation, they recommended that the U.S. institute a system to reliably track police killings nationwide and instances of excessive use of force. They also said that racial profiling must be brought to an end, which is a rampant practice and seriously damages the trust between African-Americans and law enforcement officials. The group also said that improving race relations will also require education that must be accompanied by acts of reconciliation in order to successfully overcome the bigotry that plagues the U.S. and the past injustices that have been perpetrated against black people on American soil. The report added that the lasting negative effects caused by enslavement and racial injustice must be recognized by both federal and state laws.Featured image via video screen captures | 0 |
9,968 | WATCH: Internet Hilariously Mocks Trump For Not Killing His Own Flies Like President Obama | Once again, Donald Trump gets hilariously reminded of why people love President Obama.As we all know by now, Trump fired chief of staff Reince Priebus on Friday by leaving him all by himself on the tarmac after landing at Andrews Air Force Base. The firing comes only days after new communications director Anthony Scaramucci trashed him.Apparently, even Trump himself repeatedly demeaned Priebus, even going so far so as to call him weak and calling into the Oval Office to kill flies.Yeah, you heard that right.According to the Washington Post,For Trump, the imperative to remove Priebus heightened over the past 10 days or so, according to White House officials It reached a fever pitch of the president complaining about Reince to all of us, said one senior White House official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. If we heard it once, we heard it 20 times in the last week this erosion of confidence. The word was weak weak, weak, weak. Can t get it done. Trump s demeaning of Priebus came through in other ways, too. At one point, during a meeting in the Oval Office, a fly began buzzing overhead, distracting the president. As the fly continued to circle, Trump summoned his chief of staff and tasked him with killing the insect, according to someone familiar with the incident.Indeed, being summoned to the Oval Office just to kill a fly is incredibly demeaning and shows exactly the kind of terrible boss Trump is.After all, President Obama never summoned any of his top staff members into the Oval Office to kill flies. In fact, Obama had the skills to kill his own flies, as he did during an interview early on in his presidency.Here s the video via YouTube.So while Donald Trump is apparently too lazy or too scared to kill flies on his own, President Obama took matters into his own hands and got the job done.Of course, the Internet had fun mocking Trump and Priebus for the incident.(Unconfirmed):Priebus was ordered to swallow the fly, then a spider, then a bird, then a cat, etc ? (((MK-Ultra))) ? (@MaryKateClark) July 29, 2017Even Montgomery Burns wouldn t ask Smithers to do this https://t.co/bCkuKelr83 Mark R. Yzaguirre (@markyzaguirre) July 29, 2017Twist: he couldn t use his hands, he had to dehumanize the fly until it lost its will to go on Ian Fortey (@IanFortey) July 29, 2017Priebus tongue promptly shot three feet from his mouth and snagged the fly mid-flight. eatbees (@eatbees) July 29, 2017This just proves that President Obama was a far better leader than Donald Trump could ever hope to be. And that must really infuriate him.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
9,969 | Trump's go-to man Bannon takes hardline view on immigration | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Donald Trump’s administration put together its controversial executive order on immigration, it was Steve Bannon – the populist firebrand fast emerging as the president’s right-hand man – pushing a hard line. Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interpreted the order to mean that lawful permanent residents - green card holders – who hailed from the seven Muslim-majority countries targeted in the immigration order would not face additional screening when they entered the country. But they were quickly overruled by Bannon, who is Trump’s chief strategist and oversaw the drafting of the executive order along with White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, a close ally of Bannon’s, the officials said. “They were in charge of this operation,” one senior DHS official said, adding that the experts were “almost immediately overruled by the White House, which means by Bannon and Miller.” A senior national security official described the pair as a “tag team” pushing Trump’s key policies, including the immigration order which bars the entry of refugees and places a temporary hold on people from seven countries - Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Libya. The inclusion of green card holders from those countries intensified opposition to an executive order that sparked legal challenges, protests at airports and sharp criticism from inside the Republican Party, including from some Trump allies. DHS officials say there was little or no White House consultation with immigration, customs and border security agencies on the immigration policy change, causing widespread confusion over how to implement Trump’s order. A senior administration official said the order went through a review by “key people” at DHS and the White House National Security Council, and that several immigration staff on Capitol Hill were involved in drafting the order. But officials said Bannon was the driving force throughout. The White House declined to comment on his role. Critics have accused Bannon of harboring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. Under Bannon’s leadership, his Breitbart website presented a number of conspiracy theories about Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, as well as Republicans deemed to be lacking in conservative bona fides. Bannon has ascribed his interest in populism and American nationalism to a desire to curb what he views as the corrosive effects of globalization. He has rejected what he called the “ethno-nationalist” tendencies of some in the movement. After becoming chief executive of Trump’s election campaign in August, the former Goldman Sachs banker and Navy veteran helped lead him to victory over Clinton. He was then appointed by Trump as senior counselor and chief strategist - jobs not subject to U.S. Senate confirmation. He has been an almost constant presence by Trump’s side in the first 10 days of the administration - in the White House for a meeting with American manufacturers, at CIA headquarters the day after Trump was sworn in, and in the Oval Office during British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit. He appears to have greatly expanded his power in the first 10 days of Trump’s presidency. Trump gave him an unprecedented seat in the NSC’s top-level meetings and potentially narrowed the role played by the director of national intelligence (DNI) and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bannon has also asserted authority over almost all written statements from the White House and the NSC and has sent back documents for rewrites as he sees fit, one NSC official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Critics, including four senior U.S. intelligence officers, called the decision to formalize Bannon’s role at the NSC meetings a mistake, saying it risks politicizing decisions on national security. White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday defended Bannon’s inclusion in the NSC. Susan Rice, the former national security adviser in former President Barack Obama’s administration, tweeted on Sunday: “This is stone cold crazy. After a week of crazy.” Bannon and Miller are drowning out the opinions of more moderate advisers like White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, said a senior DHS official and two people in Washington who work closely with the White House on immigration and a range of other issues. One of those people and the DHS official said Priebus felt he had placed enough of his fellow moderate Republicans in key positions at the White House as a counterbalance to Bannon and Miller, but he has been frustrated at their outsized influence so far, especially on issues of immigration and national security. The White House dismissed the views of the officials as gossip. | 1 |
9,970 | israeli troops demolish three palestinian homes in alquds | iran to resume gas exports to turkey soon fri oct pm energy iran says it will resume exports of natural gas to turkey by monday after an explosion in the turkish territory halted the supplies on thursday night
iran says its exports of natural gas to turkey that have been halted reportedly as a result of an explosion inside the turkish territory will resume within the next few days
sadeq akbarpour the head of gas exports measurement facilities at iranturkey border told the domestic media that the required coordination is being carried out with the turkish botas company to resume irans exports by next monday
akbarpour emphasized that iran is ready to supply turkey with its required gas whenever it voices its readiness
majid bojarzadeh the spokesman of the national iranian gas company nigc also told irans shana news agency that ankara had informed tehran of a problem in the pipeline that carried iranian gas into turkey on thursday night
furthermore majid aqababaei the director general for border affairs of irans interior ministry acknowledged as reported by shana that an explosion near irans border had caused the problem
iran is turkeys second supplier of gas after russia providing onefifth of the countrys consumption the current volume of natural gas that iran is piping to its northwestern neighbor is million cubic meters per day mcmd officials in tehran had already emphasized that the islamic republic is ready to increase its gas exports to turkey by mcmd
iran has also for long been working on a plan to export its natural gas to europe through turkey the plan that was to be carried out though the nabucco scheme was eventually put on hold due to a series of technicalities nevertheless officials in tehran announced last month that the possibility that gas exports to europe would return to the agenda exist if the requited agreements with europeans countries over the plan are reached loading | 1 |
9,971 | White House budget director: unclear if House healthcare bill can pass - ABC | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Friday he did not know if there was enough support in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass Republicans’ healthcare bill to dismantle Obamacare. “That’s up to the House to count their own votes,” Mulvaney told ABC News in an interview. President Donald Trump has called for a Friday vote on the bill to replace Democratic President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act. | 1 |
9,972 | Burundi takes steps to extend president's rule as crisis deepens | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Burundi s cabinet backed a constitutional change that would allow its president to stay in office until 2034, widening a political rift that has driven the country progressively deeper into crisis. Under existing laws, Burundian presidents are limited to two five-year terms. Unrest that has gripped Burundi since April 2015, when Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would stand for a third, has killed hundreds, left the economy moribund and forced about 400,000 people to seek safety in neighboring countries. UN rights investigators and independent activists have accused government forces of widespread violations including forced disappearances, and of orchestrating a campaign of terror. A senior government official told Reuters on Friday that the cabinet adopted the draft legislation seeking to amend the constitution on Tuesday. Nkurunziza, who has been in office since 2005, won re-election in July 2015 in a ballot that critics said violated the constitution and the terms of an agreement that ended a previous rebellion. Nkurunziza s backers said the country s constitutional court had cleared him to run again, but some opponents took up arms against his rule and insecurity has plagued the country since. Other African leaders have in the recent past also tinkered with or defied their constitutions to extend their rule, including Uganda s President Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda s Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of Congo s Joseph Kabila. Proposed amendments under the Burundian bill seek to abolish the two-term limit and lengthen presidential terms to seven years. Incumbents would be able to serve two consecutive terms of seven years each and also be eligible to seek re-election after an interregnum. If the amendment was passed by parliament, the current head of state can rule until 2034, the source said. A second official told Reuters the government would hold a referendum on the draft legislation next year, but did not say which month. Opposition officials have criticized the legislation which they say was initiated in secrecy and designed to entrench Nkurunziza in power. No one knew what was being done. It was done in total secrecy...we will always oppose it, deputy president of the opposition FRODEBU party, Leonce Ngendakumana, told Reuters. The constitution should not be revised in a tense social climate. | 1 |
9,973 | JOE BIDEN’S SON BEAU DIES AT AGE 46 | Beau Biden son of Vice President Joe Biden died of brain cancer at 46, the White House confirmed in a statement Saturday. It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life, the statement from Vice President Biden s office said. The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau s spirit will live on in all of us-especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter, the statement said.President Obama said he and the first lady were grieving alongside the Biden family. Michelle and I humbly pray for the good Lord to watch over Beau Biden, and to protect and comfort his family here on Earth, Obama said in a statement released late Saturday.Beau Biden was a lawyer and member of the Delaware National Guard and former Delaware attorney general. However, he never would follow in his father s footsteps as a U.S. senator.Biden, although planning to run for governor of Delaware in 2016, was plagued with health troubles throughout his political career.In 2010, Biden suffered a mild stroke at only 41 years old. Three years later, he found himself in a Texas hospital for cancer treatment.In August 2013, he would undergo surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston to remove a lesion. That was followed by radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Three months after the procedure, doctors gave him a clean bill of health.However, Biden suffered a recurrence and was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital in May, officials said. At that time though, it was unaware why he was being treated.Support for the Biden family poured in from both sides of the aisle Saturday night into Sunday morning.Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Martin O Malley both expressed their sympathies to the Bidens. My heart is broken for the family of Beau Biden a wonderful man who served his country with devotion and lived his life with courage, Hillary tweeted. Katie and I are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Beau Biden. He served his country and the people of Delaware with great honor, O Malley said in a statement. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Biden family in this moment of great loss. Senator James Langford (R-OK) also released a statement expressing his remorse. I m incredibly saddened to hear of the death of Vice President Joe Biden s son, Beau Biden, the statement said. Our entire nation mourns with the Biden family and the White House during this difficult time. Vice President Biden has endured incredible tragedies during his lifetime. Cindy and I pray for the Biden family, Beau s widow, Natalie, and their two children. The news of Beau Biden s death also caught the Delaware political establishment off guard and also renewed questions about his health. Beau Biden kept a low profile and declined any interviews abou his health. I think he would have run. I think he would have won, said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a fellow Democrat. Markell said he last spoke to Biden in February, when he invited him to a meeting of Democratic governors in Washington, D.C. He was serious about running for governor, added New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon, a longtime friend and political ally of Joe Biden who described Beau Biden as the most popular politician in Delaware. He thought he was going to win this battle. Gordon said he last spoke to Beau several weeks ago, when Biden participated in a conference call on crime issues in Wilmington. He was a rock star, Gordon said. He had a great image, great character. Beau Biden left office earlier this year and joined a Delaware law firm run by Stuart Grant, a prominent Democratic campaign donor and plaintiffs lawyer specializing in corporate litigation. The first announced in late April that Biden was expanding his work on behalf of whistleblower clients, but was not available to clients.Biden, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, earned a law degree from Syracuse University in 1994. He served as a law clerk for a federal judge in New Hampshire before working for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1995 until 2002, including five years as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia. In 2001, he volunteered for an interim assignment helping to train judges and prosecutors in postwar Kosovo.With his father, then Delaware s senior U.S. senator, at his side in 2006, Biden launched his campaign for attorney general. He promised to reorganize the state Department of Justice to better combat identity theft, Internet stalking by pedophiles, street crime and abuse of the elderly.Biden won with 52.6 percent of the vote. He s supped at this table since he s been 3 years old, a beaming Joe Biden said after the victory. Beau Biden was a toddler when his father was first elected to the Senate. I m just proud of him, the elder Biden added. I think he will make the state proud. The young Biden sidestepped questions about his own political ambitions during the campaign. Sometimes, it s not good to look too far down the road, said Biden, who remained similarly cautious about discussing his long-range plans in an interview with The Associated Press after suffering the stroke in 2010. Having long-term dreams is a good thing but having a plan has never worked for me, because life always intervenes, Biden told the AP at the time. For Biden, his initial health scare was also a reminder to balance his job with family time advice he encouraged others to follow. It s kind of reinforced how I ve operated my life, he said.As attorney general, Biden established a child predator unit, joined other attorneys general in taking on mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses, proposed tougher bail restrictions for criminal defendants, putting him at odds with some fellow Dems.But a spate of shootings in Biden s hometown of Wilmington went largely unabated during his tenure, and his office stumbled in some high-profile murder prosecutions, including two cases in which murder charges were dropped. Biden also faced scrutiny over how his office handled the case of Earl Bradley, a pediatrician who sexually assaulted scores of young patients over more than a decade before being arrested in December 2009.Biden cited his focus on the Bradley case in announcing in January 2010 that he would not run for the Senate seat that his father vacated in 2008 when he was elected vice president.The younger Biden s decision stunned political observers, including many fellow Democrats who thought Joe Biden s former chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, had been appointed to the Senate on an interim basis to keep the seat warm for the son. A fellow Democrat, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, won the seat after Castle, who had been considered the odds-on favorite, was upset by tea party-backed Christine O Donnell in the GOP primary. I have no regrets, Biden said after O Donnell s stunning primary victory scrambled the political calculus surrounding the Senate seat.Biden coasted to re-election as attorney general in 2010 after Republicans declined to field a candidate against him.In addition to his work as a lawyer and attorney general, Biden was a major in an Army National Guard unit that deployed to Iraq in 2008.He was married and the father of two children.Markell ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in Delaware in honor of Biden.Via: FOX News | 0 |
9,974 | This Chart Reveals How Trump Is Spending His Time In Office, And It’s OUTRAGEOUS | American taxpayers who expected Donald Trump to work hard for them are going to be sorely disappointed when they see this.Trump has spent a full month in office, or 744 hours.And so far, he has very little to show for it. Trump is already on track to issue more executive orders than President Obama ever did and he is on pace to spend more time on vacation as well.According to research by the Washington Post, Donald Trump may be the laziest president America has ever had to put up with.Of the 744 hours he has spent in office, Trump 293 hours not working while in Washington DC, 25 hours golfing, 13 hours tweeting, and 106 hours at Mar-a-Lago. That s a total of 437 hours of Trump not being on the job.In contrast, Trump has only spent a pathetic six hours in intelligence briefings and only 21 hours dealing with foreign relations. And can we really count all of the time Trump has spent whining about the press and bragging about himself as work time? Probably not.Here s the chart via The Washington Post.Trump promised he wouldn t have time to play golf because he would be working so hard, but he is already on pace to surpass the number of rounds President Obama played during his first term. Trump has also taken three trips to Palm Beach in Florida to stay at his resort at a cost of $10 million to taxpayers thus far, meaning Trump is on pace to shatter the 8-year $90 million price tag of President Obama s vacations and the number of days President Obama spent on vacation within his first year on the job.Considering how much conservatives whined and bitched about President Obama s golfing and vacations, the fact that they haven t complained once about Trump s is absolute hypocrisy. Compared with Obama, Trump is much worse.And as for those executive orders, Trump has signed 12 so far and that comes out to 136 this year, which means he ll sign more in two years than President Obama did in eight years if he stays on this pace. As we know, conservatives complained every time President Obama signed an executive order, claiming that executive orders undermine Congress. But apparently, conservatives have no problem with Trump acting like a king. And those orders have done nothing but cause chaos and hurt people while keeping government agencies from doing their jobs.Rather than working for the American people like he claimed he would, Trump is treating the most important job in the world like it s not much of a priority. In fact, he only seems interested in tweeting, bragging about himself during press conferences, and playing golf at a time when the world needs steady, hard-working leadership. And since Trump s work has mostly caused chaos, one can hardly say that he is working on behalf of the people. He s only interested in causing more problems and helping himself.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
9,975 | WHOA! JOHN KASICH Makes A Crazy Prediction About The GOP Convention You Just Won’t Believe | Could the people behind this delusional candidate just give him the low down that he s got NO chance at the Republican nomination unless he steals it in that case he s even crazier and more passive aggressive than we thought. John Kasich is saying it s going to be cool and the he thinks he s going to be the nominee: It s going to be so much fun. Kids will spend less time focusing on Bieber and Kardashian and more time focusing on how we elect presidents. It will be so cool. Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said he thinks he has a good chance at a contested convention this summer. I believe that a convention will look at somebody like me, and that s why I think I m going to be the nominee, the Ohio governor said on ABC s This Week on Sunday.Kasich said he expects to continue gaining momentum and picking up delegates until the convention. Kasich then touted his poll numbers in head-to-head match-ups against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, saying he beats Clinton in virtually every poll. I m the only one that does it on the Republican side, he said.He also talked about his record on job growth, adding he has international foreign policy knowledge and the experience to be a competitive candidate. We just have to keep going, and we re going to have an open convention, Kasich said. It s going to be so much fun. Kids will spend less time focusing on Bieber and Kardashian and more time focusing on how we elect presidents. It will be so cool. Read more: The Hill | 0 |
9,976 | Lockheed Martin wins $743 million U.S. defense contract: Pentagon | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp unit Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co is being awarded a $743.17 million modification to a previously awarded initial production contract for F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, the Pentagon said on Monday. The modification also establishes maximum prices for one F-35A aircraft and one F-35B aircraft for a non-U.S. Department of Defense participant in the F-35 program, the Pentagon said in a statement. | 1 |
9,977 | Merkel welcomes "a lot of material" from Macron on EU reform | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron s speech on EU reform, her spokesman said on Wednesday, without giving details on how she would go about improving the way the European Union is run. Macron offered a sweeping vision for Europe s future in a speech on Tuesday, calling for the EU to cooperate more closely on defense, immigration, tax and social policy, and for the single currency bloc to have its own budget. Merkel s spokesman Steffen Seibert said Berlin shared Macron s view that the EU needs reforms and that his speech contained a lot of material for debate on the issue. This discussion is necessary and sensible, Seibert told a regular news conference, adding that EU leaders would have a chance to talk at a meeting in Estonia on Thursday. Macron said he hoped his ideas would be taken into account in Germany s coalition building negotiations, talks that are not expected to begin until mid-October and may take months. His proposals drew mixed reaction from Germany s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, both possible partners in the coalition government Merkel will form after her center-right CDU/CSU bloc won a Sept. 24 election albeit with a much reduced share of parliamentary seats. In a sign that her Christian Democratic Union might block Macron s plan for a joint euro zone budget, Eckhardt Rehberg, the most senior CDU member on parliament s budget committee, said: The problem in Europe is not a lack of money. Rehberg pointed to existing instruments to boost investments such as the EU budget, the so-called Juncker fund (EFSI), the euro zone bailout fund (ESM) and European Investment Bank (EIB). And not to forget the ECB s monetary policy, he added. Rehberg said it was more important to discuss how existing funds could be used better and that member states must implement their own reforms to increase competitiveness and clean up their budgets. The taxpayers of other countries cannot relieve them of this duty, Rehberg told Reuters. Germany s biggest industry association, BDI, called Macron s proposals courageous but not uncontroversial . Europe now needs speed in the reform discussion, BDI chief Joachim Lang said. Macron s proposals for a joint euro zone budget and a common finance minister were at least worth discussing, Lang added. The influential economic institute Ifo described Macron s speech as an invitation for Germany to join the brainstorming about the EU s future. A stronger EU would certainly make sense in the areas of foreign, defense and trade policy, Ifo head Clemens Fuest said. But Macron s plans for the euro zone are wrong, from my point of view. Fuest said the euro zone s problems would not be solved by creating a finance minister or budget for the 19-member bloc. It would be more important to ensure more stability in the financial sector and to reconcile liability and control in economic and financial policy, he said. Fuest was among a group of top German and French economists who issued a joint statement on Wednesday made calling on Paris and Berlin to shift their stances on EU reforms. | 1 |
9,978 | BREAKING: HILLARY MAKES DIVERSE PICK FOR VP….White, Middle-Aged Career Politician | So much for that whole diversity thing I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, @TimKaine, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others. -H pic.twitter.com/lTVyfztE5Z Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 23, 2016Much like his new boss, Governor Kaine is fond of gifts while acting as a public servant. Unlike Hillary, his gifts don t seem to have been from wealthy Arab nations who top the list of Human Rights abusers, or the same Wall Street donors Hillary pretends to be fighting against. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine took advantage of the state s lax gift laws to receive an $18,000 Caribbean vacation, $5,500 in clothes and a trip to watch George Mason University play in the NCAA basketball Final Four during his years as lieutenant governor and governor, according to disclosures he filed.Now a leading contender to be Hillary Clinton s running mate, Kaine reported more than $160,000 in gifts from 2001 to 2009, mostly for travel to and from political events and conferences, according to disclosures compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. The givers included political supporters, a drug company that soon after bought a facility in Virginia, and Dominion, the state s biggest provider of electricity. Via: Politico | 0 |
9,979 | PRESIDENT TRUMP Just Responded Directly to #KathyGriffin on ‘Beheaded Trump’ Photo | President Trump just let comic Kathy Griffin know that she should be ashamed of herself for the photo holding a head resembling Trump s. He added that the photo had upset Barron, his 11-year old son. Can you imagine?Griffin posed with a beheaded Trump in a classless attempt to be edgy. TMZ published a preview of the photo shoot with a video of Griffin holding the beheaded Trump . Social media immediately exploded with negative comments from both sides of the aisle.Griffin apologized for the photo but did not apologize to President Trump. Here s her lame attempt at an apology:I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. pic.twitter.com/LBKvqf9xFB Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 30, 2017Griffin apologized but NOT to President Trump and his family: I m a comic. I cross the line. I move the line, then I cross it. I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn t funny. I get it. I ask your forgiveness. In case you haven t seen the photo: Yes, it s disgusting and horrifying! Lame! | 0 |
9,980 | Trump administration defends interpretation of travel ban ruling | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump opposed opening the door to grandparents from six Muslim-majority countries on Monday, arguing in a court filing that the government’s interpretation of how to implement its temporary travel ban is based on U.S. immigration law. The U.S. Supreme Court in a ruling last Monday revived parts of Trump’s March 6 executive order that banned people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, which had been blocked by lower courts. The highest court let the ban go forward with a limited scope, saying that it cannot apply to anyone with credible “bona fide relationship” with a U.S. person or entity. Trump said the measure was necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. But opponents, including states and refugee advocacy groups, sued to stop it, disputing its security rationale and saying it discriminates against Muslims. After the Supreme Court ruling, the government said that a “bona fide relationship” means close family members only: parents, spouses, siblings and children. Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins from the six countries would still be banned. The government’s definition, “hews closely to the categorical determinations articulated by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act,” Department of Justice lawyers argued in court papers on Monday. The government’s filing came after the State of Hawaii last week went to U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu, who originally ruled to block the ban, to seek clarification of the Supreme Court’s ruling, arguing the government’s definition of “bona fide relationship” was too narrow. The government said Hawaii, and refugee organizations that filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the state, were seeking to apply “broader, free-hand rules.” The refugee organizations had argued that their work to resettle refugees, a process that can take years of work in coordination with the U.S. government, qualifies as a “bona fide” relationship with a U.S. entity. Any refugees with such a relationship should be exempt from the three-month ban on refugees included in the executive order, according to the Supreme Court ruling. But the government said workers with offers of employment with a U.S. company and international students are fundamentally different than refugees receiving help from U.S. resettlement agencies. “A refugee’s relationship with the agency flows from the government, not from an independent relationship between the refugee and the resettlement agency,” the government said in its brief. “Indeed, resettlement agencies typically do not have any direct contact with the refugees they assure before their arrival in the United States.” Using the organization’s interpretation would make the refugee provisions in the executive order “largely meaningless,” the government said. U.S. refugee resettlement is continuing as normal until July 6, the State Department has said, around when the 50,000 cap for the fiscal year set by Trump’s executive order is likely to be reached. Late on Thursday, before the ban went into effect, the government reversed its position on fiancés, saying they could also qualify for exceptions. The court filing described a 72-hour scramble to “coordinate among multiple government agencies, and issue detailed guidance” on how to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling. The roll out of the narrowed version of the ban was more subdued on Friday compared to in January when Trump first signed a more expansive version of the order, sparking protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world. | 1 |
9,981 | NANCY PELOSI’S Face Falls After Joy Reid Questions Her About Stepping Down [Video] | First of all, the picture of President Trump that s behind Pelosi is as funny as it gets. Could that be what got Pelosi all sad during her interview with Joy Reid?House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was clearly disturbed by the comments and questions from liberal hack Joy Reid this morning. She made a face when asked about those in the Democratic Party that want to see her step down from her leadership position.MSNBC S Reid discussed with Pelosi the goals of the Democrats in 2018. She mentioned winning back a majority in the House of Representatives. Pelosi smiled at the remark but then things went downhill from there Reid then took a veiled swipe at Pelosi and you could see Pelosi s face fall: There is still a contingent on the left side of the Democratic Party that would like to see you ousted as leader. Pelosi is clearly hanging on to her leadership by a thread and continues to deny the rift in the party. Delusional?Oh Boy! Then Reid asked: If the Democrats were to retake the House, do you foresee a challenge to your leadership? Pelosi disagreed and defended her continued leadership: With all due respect, I disagree with your characterization. I have overwhelming support of my caucus. There are some people there who disagree with me, and that s OK, but I would not say that it s a challenge from the left, because I am on the left. It gets better she takes a swipe at any challengers to her leadership by saying it s about others ambition Yikes! She s not going down without a fight!Several Democrats have called for Pelosi to step down and MSNBC called the situation an ugly divide in the party.We think her time has come and gone but we re with President Trump KEEP HER! SHE S GREAT FOR THE GOP!HERE S ANOTHER RECENT MENTION TO PELOSI ABOUT STEPPING DOWN: WOW! Nancy Pelosi can t keep a train of thought going for more than a few seconds. She stumbles over her own words and can t remember what she just said. She gets really irritated with Meghan McCain who pointed out there s a divide in the Democrat Party. She claims that, This is our turn! SHE S BANANAS!MEGHAN MCCAIN, CO-HOST THE VIEW : There s a fracture in your party, like mine. There were people like Tim Ryan that were calling you to step down and asking for new blood. I don t think it s gender, look at the Bernie supporters versus Hillary supporters.PELOSI: Let me, with all due respect, disagree with you. There is not a fracture in our party similar to what s happening to the Republican party. It s always been a dynamic party. That s the vitality of it. You name people that want me to step down, and I can name you people in my caucus that want me to stay. If Hillary had won and dealt with things like Medicaid, MediCare and Affordable Care Act I had an important role in passing that I had a responsibly to protect that. I feel very confident in what I m doing and the support I have. Please don t think it s anything like the fracture that is in the Republican party.MCCAIN: It hasn t stopped us from winning. President Trump is in the White House. There s a break down someplace.PELOSI: This is our turn. This is the first time since 2006 when we won the Congress, and I was the leader at the time. This is the first time the House, congressional Chuck and I, we are the ones communicating with the American people on this. We have a better deal, better jobs, better future for the American people. We feel comfortable with that. We have to get the message across. It s one thing to have a message. It s another thing to connect. | 0 |
9,982 | House Russia probe puts spotlight on low-profile lawmaker | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representative Mike Conaway’s new role leading the House Intelligence Committee investigation into the Trump team’s ties to Russia has plunged the low-profile legislator into one of the most contentious issues in Congress and the country. Republicans and Democrats both praised his selection. He has administrative experience as a committee chairman, and familiarity with delicate subjects after leading the House Ethics Committee from 2013 to 2015. “I like him. I hope he can get us back on track,” Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democratic committee member, said in a brief interview outside the U.S. House of Representatives. While Conaway, 68, has ties to mainstream Republicans and a long association with the Bush political family, the former accountant from Texas was a strong Trump supporter during the 2016 campaign. In 2016, Conaway backed Trump, citing the candidate’s choice of Mike Pence as his vice president, his promise to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices and the congressman’s own vehement opposition to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. But unlike Devin Nunes - who on Thursday stepped down as leader of the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election, including possible collusion with Trump associates - Conaway was not a member of the incoming president’s transition team. Russia denies the allegations. Conaway is considered less partisan than some other Republican committee members such as Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Select Committee that investigated the 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Democrats accused Gowdy of running a partisan inquiry that focused on former Secretary of State Clinton in an effort to damage her 2016 presidential campaign. In his statement announcing he would step aside, Nunes said Gowdy and another Republican committee member, Tom Rooney, would also be leaders of the Russia investigation. Fox News reported that Nunes called Conaway on Wednesday night. Nevertheless, some Conaway comments about the Russia investigation have raised eyebrows. During a March 20 committee hearing, he asked FBI Director James Comey whether Washington Post reporters had helped intelligence agencies write their assessment that Moscow was seeking to help Trump win the election. And in a January interview with the Dallas Morning News, he seemed to make light of the alleged Russian meddling in the election, saying it and the Democrats’ use of Mexican singers to entertain their voters were both “foreign interference.” Although he also serves as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Conaway has kept a low profile, and is better known for his close ties to the Bush family than the media spotlight. First elected to the House in 2004, and easily re-elected six times, Conaway is the second-ranking Republican on the intelligence panel. House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters on Thursday that he had faith in Conaway. “I am confident that he will oversee a professional investigation into Russia’s actions and follow the facts wherever they may lead,” Ryan said. | 1 |
9,983 | Trump Tries To Imitate Hillary Clinton In Attempt To Be Funny — Fails Miserably (VIDEO) | While Donald Trump may be winning among those taking part in the Republican primaries, his method for garnering votes will probably not hold up as well in the general election if he were to be the GOP nominee. So far, he s been incredibly racist and xenophobic, not to mention sexist, juvenile and just outright rude. All things that play well with a large part of the Republican base, and Trump clearly knows this.Knowing he s getting closer and closer to securing the Republican nomination, and knowing Hillary Clinton is very close to securing the Democratic nomination, Trump has made a clear pivot to the general election in his campaign strategy. Now, instead of making fun of his GOP competitors like Cruz and Kasich, he s putting more energy into making fun of Hillary Clinton. And I say making fun, that is literally in the most sophomoric sense it can be taken.While in Connecticut, Trump decided he would imitate the former Secretary of State and how she conducts herself with speeches. You know, like an adult like a person who wants to be president.After talking about how many have asked him to be more presidential, he tells his crowd he simply can t do such a thing, because he needs to rile up and entertain his crowds so they don t fall asleep. Then he brings out his new attack line and nickname for Clinton and asks the crowd, have you ever seen Crooked Hillary? then imitates her walking on stage. Then he says, Hello. How are you? This is Crooked Hillary Clinton? and of course his crowd ate it up, because let s be real, they d be entertained by a paper bag floating in the wind ( oooh, so pretty! ).The imitation wasn t only horrible, it was in horrible taste. Trump is a man vying for the highest office in the entire nation and whoever wins the election will be leader of the free world, and he clearly thinks being a vile, misogynistic child is the way to behave to gain people s respect.Trump doesn t deserve our respect, he deserves our condemnation, and any decent person with half a brain should agree. So, let him perform for his crowd of imbecilic simpletons. The adults who will be deciding the general election will make damn sure he never sets foot in the Oval Office.Watch his insane performance here:.@realDonaldTrump says acting "presidential" is easy, does a Hillary Clinton impression: https://t.co/0SZwzCgxxz https://t.co/pRiNYg0Vbl ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 23, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
9,984 | Trump was wrong to retweet UK far-right group: British PM May's spokesman | LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was wrong to have posted anti-Islam videos on Twitter that had originally been published by a leader of Britain First, a fringe, far-right party, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday. It is wrong for the President to have done this, the spokesman said. Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions. They cause anxiety to law-abiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents: decency tolerance and respect. | 1 |
9,985 | BREAKING: Victor Alonzo Majia Nunez ARRESTED After Attempted Drive-By Shooting Of Roswell, GA Cop From Stolen SUV | We don t want to jump to any conclusions, so we ll just wait to find out if Victor Alonzo Majia Nunez is a legal US citizen (or not). For some strange reason, it always seems to take days, or even weeks for the media to find out whether or not the suspect in a crime is a legal US citizen A suspect is under arrest after police say a Roswell officer was shot at during a patrol early Friday morning.Officer Brian McKenzie was in the area of Old Roswell Road and Commerce Parkway when police say a passing vehicle fired a shot at the McKenzie s patrol car. He noticed a vehicle slow down and then heard what he thought was either gunfire or fireworks. He looked over and realized it was gunfire coming towards him, said Roswell police official Zachary Frommer.McKenzie was not hit.Frommer says McKenzie chased 21-year-old Victor Mejia Nunez, but the Riverdale man crashed the stolen SUV he was driving. Detectives have been speaking to him. He s been less than forthcoming so we don t know motive or anything like that, Frommer said.Frommer says in light of the attacks on police in Dallas, officers here were already on high alert. Then something like this happens and it just perks us up even more, Frommer said.Mejia Nunez is facing several charges, including aggravated assault on a police officer. He was in an SUV stolen out of Sandy Springs. Via: WSBTV | 0 |
9,986 | Senators propose legislation to protect special counsel from Trump | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic senators introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday seeking to block President Donald Trump from firing the special counsel probing his ties to Russia, as Congress increasingly seeks to assert its authority on policy. Members of Congress from both parties have expressed concern that Trump might dismiss Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to determine whether there was collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow. The Republican president on May 9 fired FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the investigation. He also recently criticized his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the probe. With signs that Mueller’s investigation is intensifying, members of Congress sought to protect the special counsel, who was appointed on May 17. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday that Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to investigate the allegations of Russian meddling. The sources added that grand jury subpoenas had been issued in connection with a June 2016 meeting involving Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer. Moscow has denied any effort to influence the election, and Trump has disputed any allegations of collusion between his associates and Russia. “Our bill allows judicial review of any decision to terminate a counsel to make sure it’s done for the reasons cited in the regulations rather than political motivation,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who co-sponsored one of the bills with Democratic Senator Cory Booker. A second, generally similar, measure was introduced by Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Chris Coons. Coons told reporters that he expected the two groups of senators would work together and seek more co-sponsors from both parties, to come up with a single bill. He said they were in discussions with the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the hope they would take up the bill, a step toward a vote in the full Senate. The measures were introduced as the Senate prepared to leave Washington for its August recess. Lawmakers will return in early September. Members of Congress, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, have recently been pursuing legislation seeking to increase Congress’ influence on U.S. policy. Last week, lawmakers voted almost unanimously for a sweeping sanctions bill that gave Congress the right to review any Trump effort to ease or lift sanctions on Russia. Trump signed that bill into law on Wednesday. | 1 |
9,987 | PITTSBURGH POLICE OFFICERS Boycotting Race Baiting Diva Beyoncé’s Concert May Be FORCED To Work | The worst thing is the number of white people and people with ties to law enforcement officers will pay to see one of the most influential, openly anti-white, anti-cop entertainers in America There are reportedly several Pittsburgh police officers refusing to work security for Beyonc s May 31 concert at Heinz Field, due to what they call the singer s anti-police lyrics in her latest Black Lives Matter-themed album, Lemonade. But city officials may force those officers to provide security for the show. There are police officers that have expressed that they do not want to support an artist that they don t like what she has to say, said Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge No. 1. It s up to them what they want to do with their off-duty time. Concert venues, like Heinz Field, usually ask city officials to provide off-duty police officers to work security or direct traffic at an event. The choice to work these events is usually each police officer s to make.However, a memorandum to officers from the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police says the city may appoint between 29 to 35 officers to work at the concert if they don t recruit enough volunteers.Click HERE for Beyonc s racist, cop-hating video.Swartzwelder said the city s plan would be in direct breach of the contract agreement between the city of Pittsburgh and the police department. Such a move would force the Fraternal Order of the Police to file an unfair labor practice complaint on behalf of its member officers.Last February, the Miami Fraternal Order of Police announced a boycott of Beyonc s concert where her Formation world tour would be kicking off. Similar calls to boycott Beyonc were lodged from Tampa, Florida to Texas.Earlier this month, members from several police organizations, including the Pasadena Police Department and the Coalition for Police and Sheriffs, held a protest near Beyonc s concert in Houston, Texas.Already aware of the criticisms of her music, Beyonc upped the ante last month and decided to sell Boycott Beyonc merchandise, including T-shirts, cellphone cases, and hats.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
9,988 | Cruz Is Getting Destroyed Over This FAKE Photo Of Rubio And Obama (IMAGES) | Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is, once again, under fire for using dirty campaign tactics in the GOP primary race.The controversy stems for a website created by the Cruz campaign. The site, therealrubiorecord.com, attempts to posit Marco Rubio as a Republican Obama. The fact that the allegation is completely asinine isn t what is causing the stir. It is rather, the poor Photoshop job the campaign did with one of the site s graphics.See this handshake? Totally not real.Rubio advisor @dtoddharris on photoshop: "This is how phony and deceitful the Cruz campaign has become" pic.twitter.com/AlZphykHIK Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 18, 2016The Cruz campaign responded to criticisms of the website. They did not deny that the handshake image was faked, they focused on their anti-Rubio talking points. Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said: Of course Marco Rubio is throwing a fit because he s ashamed of his liberal record of standing with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama to try to pass amnesty. And let s not let Rubio s dirty campaign tactics get a free pass here Rubio is having his supporters crash opponent events and tape literature inside women s bathroom stalls, and his campaign is running intentionally misleading statewide robocalls. Again, Rubio will do anything to distract away from his liberal record. Once news spread about the site s use of fake photos, conservative supporters of Rubio and others took to Twitter to mock the candidate. The hashtag #CruzPhotoshop shows some of the hilarious mockeries that are being aimed at the Cruz campaign.Truly terrifying #CruzPhotoshop pic.twitter.com/WctGDmwbXo Troompa Loompa (@TroompaLoompa) February 18, 2016"I'll never let go, Ted. I'll never let go." #cruzphotoshop pic.twitter.com/15UpFXqlxY Ashley (@Ashley67311506) February 18, 2016SHOCKING. Cruz campaign showing evidence @marcorubio was near the grassy knoll when JFK was killed. #CruzPhotoshop pic.twitter.com/1RjW9uQjC1 MWePolitics (@MWPolitics) February 18, 2016Cruz does have a lot to gain by driving home the point that Rubio is in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It won t sit well with Republicans who are against the TPP. The trade deal is opposed by all Democratic presidential candidates both those still running and those who have dropped out of the race. For a candidate as extreme as Cruz is, he needs something to stand behind that makes him look appealing to moderates. Judging by the Rubio supporters reaction, the stunt may have backfired for Cruz. Then again, far more people are talking about the site than if the campaign had not used a fake photo. In the world of political PR stunts, every result is mixed.Featured image from Gage Skidmore via Flickr | 0 |
9,989 | BREAKING: Dakota Access Pipeline STOPPED By Army Corps Of Engineers | The Army Corps of Engineers has denied an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, a major oil pipeline that had been rerouted to go through a Sioux nation reservation, and under the Missouri River. Protesters and police have been clashing repeatedly at Standing Rock in North Dakota over the possibility that the pipeline will contaminate water supplies for the Standing Rock Sioux.The Daily Beast is reporting that the Army Corps of Engineers denied the easement pending an environmental impact study. NBC 4 Washington has just released a statement from Sioux chairman David Archambault II that says: I heard the army Corp [sic] of engineers will not grant the easement and they will reroute. NBC 4 reports that Archambault also said: I am thankful there were some leaders in the feral [sic] government that realized something was not right even though its [sic] legal. For the first time in hisopry [sic] native American, they heard our voices. This is something that will go down in history and is a blessing for all indigenous people. Protesters have been gathering at Standing Rock for months to support the Sioux in their fight against the pipeline, and within the last few days, military veterans began heading out in support of the protests and to form a shield around the camp. Methods of trying to get the protesters to leave, including blasting them with freezing water in freezing temperatures and shooting them with rubber bullets, proved fruitless as the protesters refused to let their resolve waver.The reports of the victory over DAPL construction first began trickling in over Twitter via NBC News correspondents.Breaking: Army Corps of Engineers has told Standing Rock Sioux Chairman that the current route for the pipeline will be denied #nadpl Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanM) December 4, 2016BREAKING: NBC News reports Army Corps denies DakotaAccessPipeline Permit near #StandingRock Sioux, camp cheers over #noDAPL Brian Thompson (@brian4NY) December 4, 2016The camp is celebrating their victory, as well they should. This should never have happened to begin with. Watch a video of this developing story below, via MSNBC:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 0 |
9,990 | George H. W. Bush Writes Letter Showing Trump How To NOT Be A Corrupt President | Former President George H. W. Bush can teach Donald Trump a thing or two about handling conflicts of interest.As January 20th approaches, Donald Trump is apparently poised to violate the Constitution the moment he finishes reciting the oath of office because he has yet to properly eliminate the conflicts of interest between himself and his family business.Public officials are not allowed to use their office to to influence policies that would increase profits of a company they have a personal stake in. By not putting his assets, including the Trump Organization and any stocks he owns, into a blind trust or sells them off, Trump is violating the the Emoluments Clause and breaking decades of precedent.The most example is when Jimmy Carter sold the peanut business he built from the ground up to avoid conflicts of interest. Of course, Republicans initiated a series of witch hunts against Carter s business anyway in a desperate effort to find a scandal. Today, Republicans don t care if Trump continues to own his business, even though he is already using the presidency to make business deals and bring in profits.Indeed, when Ivanka Trump sat in during a meeting between her father and the Japanese Prime Minister, her company was in the middle of working on a deal with a Japanese company.As Newsweek explained,At the same time, officials with her clothing company were working on a licensing agreement with Sanei International. The largest shareholder of Sanei s parent company is the Development Bank of Japan, which is wholly owned by the Japanese government headed by Abe.Trump has also talked to the president of Taiwan and the leader of Argentina, where Trump s company is trying to secure deals to build hotels. Clearly, Trump is flagrantly using the presidency to enrich himself and his company.George H.W. Bush warned his own family not to do this or even make it appear that they are doing it by sending each family member a letter in 1988 in the midst of the presidential election.The elder Bush told his family that people are going to try to be their friend but that friendship could result in asking for favors simply because they are connected to the leader of the free world. If there is a legitimate inquiry, call my office, Bush wrote. It is certainly appropriate to contact your own government, but let s do it through my office so no one can accuse any of the family of trying to use influence. In other words, Bush told his family not to call him on their friend s behalf. They have to call his office themselves.Bush knew all too well that, Every effort will be made to find some phone call, some inquiry, some letter that can be made to appear improper. Here s the full letter via Twitter.pic.twitter.com/60GKf4QIIJ Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) December 21, 2016Donald Trump, however, is influenced by his business and since his children are deeply involved in the company, that means they ll have special access to him and will be able to curry favors such as asking him to gut certain regulations or asking him to call certain foreign leaders to push through business deals.That s a serious ethics violation that cannot be tolerated. Hell, Eric Trump has already been busted trying to sell access to his father in exchange for $1 million donations to his fraudulent charity. So it s pretty clear that there is already a pay-for-play scandal brewing before Trump has even taken office.This needs to stop now and the only way it will stop is if Trump sells his company or puts it into a blind trust. Anything less is unacceptable.Featured Image: Wikimedia | 0 |
9,991 | Experts dispute Trump's assertion that U.S. nuclear arms capability is lagging | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While President Donald Trump has suggested that the United States must expand its nuclear arsenal, many experts say U.S. nuclear forces are unrivaled and will remain so as they undergo a modernization program that could cost more than $1 trillion. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Trump said the United States has “fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity.” He pledged to ensure that, “We’re going to be at the top of the pack.” While Moscow currently deploys 200 more strategic nuclear warheads than the United States does, both countries are bound by the 2010 New START treaty to slash their deployed strategic warheads to no more than 1,550 each by February 2018, the lowest level in decades. The accord also limits their deployed land- and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bombers. However, nuclear weapons experts say, the 30-year modernization program, which maintains many existing weapons and their computers, communications, electronics, and other systems, is more important than having as many warheads as Russia has. Trump “says we can’t fall behind. Fall behind who and how?” said Stephen Schwartz, an independent nuclear weapons expert. “It is not clear to me, and it’s not clear to many of my colleagues” what the president is talking about when he pledges to expand U.S. nuclear weapons capacity, Schwartz said. Moreover, the U.S. advantage is based not on the numbers of warheads it can field compared to Russia, but on more advanced delivery systems. Most of Moscow’s nuclear force - now being modernized, as well - is comprised of land-based ICBMs whose locations it discloses to Washington under arms control accords, said Schwartz, former publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists leading journal. The United States maintains an “invulnerable” fleet of nuclear-armed submarines beneath the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that are immune from detection, he said. In contrast, Russia’s accident-prone missile submarines rarely conduct their “deterrence patrols” far from their docks. In a fiscal 2012 report to Congress, the Pentagon assessed that even if Russia broke out of the limits imposed by the New START treaty and deployed more nuclear weapons, it could not gain strategic advantage over the United States. “The Russian Federation, therefore, would not be able to achieve a militarily significant advantage by any plausible expansion of its strategic nuclear forces, even in a cheating or breakout scenario under the New START Treaty,” the report said. Trump “clearly needs to get a briefing on the capacity of U.S. nuclear forces,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, a leading arms control organization. The 30-year U.S. modernization program is intended to maintain the American advantage. It upgrades and extends the lives of every U.S. nuclear weapons system – intercontinental ballistic missiles, long-range bombers and submarines – and their warheads. In addition, the Pentagon has drawn up plans to replace many systems with a new bomber, new ballistic missile submarine, and new missiles. Many lawmakers and experts are concerned about the price tag of the effort, given the high cost of repairing and modernizing the country’s conventional military forces and the budgetary demands of non-military programs. The costs of the modernization program has been estimated at as much as $1 trillion over the next 30 years. But a report published this month by the Congressional Budget Office indicated that the overall cost is rising. Nuclear force plans set out by the Pentagon and the Energy Department – the caretaker of the U.S. nuclear arsenal – in their fiscal 2017 budget requests would cost an estimated $400 billion during only the 10-year period ending in fiscal 2026. | 1 |
9,992 | EU Parliament names press room after murdered Maltese journalist | STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Parliament named its press room in Strasbourg after Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese journalist killed last month in a car bomb after years of reporting allegations of deep-rooted corruption on the island. On a day when the EU legislature debated a broadly supported resolution questioning the rule of law in Malta and demanding answers on allegations of high-level money laundering made by Caruana Galizia, the ceremony underlined the pressure the Union s smallest state has found itself under since her Oct. 16 murder. In the auditorium used for news conferences in Parliament s Strasbourg seat, the new name above the door would, Parliament President Antonio Tajani said, ensure that from now on we will not turn our eyes away from what happened in Malta . At the Parliament s other home, in Brussels, the press room is named after Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian investigative journalist shot dead in her apartment block in Moscow in 2006 in a killing opposition leaders blamed on the Kremlin. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who had sued Caruana Galizia and one of her sons for libel over allegations of graft, has vowed to track down her killers and insists that the Maltese state is fully compliant with EU standards. Peter Caruana Galizia, the dead journalist s husband, said during the naming ceremony in Strasbourg in the presence of other family members that Malta s political elite had deep and wide links to money laundering networks and the country had slipped further and further away from European values . | 1 |
9,993 | FIRE THIS MAN! STATE DEPARTMENT ASSHAT Mocks Reporters And Obama’s “Transparency” At Briefing [Video] | How unfunny! Does this not tell you something about the jackwagons in the Obama State Department? Unreal! | 0 |
9,994 | BERNIE SANDERS Makes A Promise To All Americans That You Really Won’t Believe [Video] | This guy is crazy! The last thing Americans needs is higher taxes! | 0 |
9,995 | BREAKING: Secret GOP Polls Show Trump In TOTAL Collapse, Congressional Candidates Fear Wipeout | In the week since Donald Trump s complete collapse in his head to head debate with Hillary Clinton, nearly every national poll has shown the Republican nominee taking a complete nosedive. Polls have begun emerging showing Trump down 5-6 percent, and by as much in some polls as 10 percent against Clinton.And it might even be worse than it appears. Internal polls which have a tendency to show the candidate paying for them in a better position than public polls are reportedly showing a massive collapse for Trump.Mr. Trump has already slipped perceptibly in public polls, trailing widely this week in Pennsylvania and by smaller margins in Florida and North Carolina three states he cannot afford to lose. But private polling by both parties shows an even more precipitous drop, especially among independent voters, moderate Republicans and women, according to a dozen strategists from both parties who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the data was confidential.Liesl Hickey, a Republican strategist involved in several House races in swing states, said she was dismayed by a sudden exodus of independent voters in more diverse parts of the country. They are really starting to pull away from Trump, said Ms. Hickey, describing his soaring unpopularity with independents as entering uncharted territory. These voters are not responding well to Trump s unhinged attacks on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who has become a symbol of the nominee s bias against women and Latinos. They also don t like the way he is engaging in gutter politics, by promising to bring up President Bill Clinton s marital infidelity.Yet Trump seems undeterred by the negative reception he s received for these proposals. Surrounded by a phalanx of yes men and women, Trump seems to believe that these lines of attack will work for him and expand his support beyond the uneducated older white males that are the bulk of his supporter.That probably isn t a good bet.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
9,996 | BREAKING NEWS: PRESIDENT TRUMP SPEAKS Out On #Charlottesville Tragedy, After Car Plows Through Protesters…1 DEAD…19 Injured…”We Are All Americans First” | To his credit, President Donald Trump almost immediately responded to the violence in Charlottesville, VA after a White Nationalists obtained a permit to march and were met with violence by counter-protesters, many of whom were Antifa thugs who ve made a practice of using violence to shut down free speech in America and around the world.There was more hate in Charlottesville, VA today than America has seen in quite some time. Barack Obama created a racial divide like we haven t seen since the civil rights movement. We must pray that President Trump will have the ability to heal the wounds Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton and Loretta Lynch opened in an effort to divide America for votes. We must also pray that the American people will come together and stop listening to so-called leaders who would like to divide us.Charlottesville, VA At least one person was killed and 19 others were injured Saturday when a car rammed into a group of counter-protesters during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer tweeted that he was heartbroken that a life has been lost here and urged all people of good will [to] go home. The person driving the car has been arrested, but his identity has not yet been released. Via: Fox News | 0 |
9,997 | Not-At-All-Racist Sheriff Amazingly Compares The NAACP To The KKK | In a display of Olympic-level mental gymnastics, a South Carolina Sheriff said, and actually meant, that the NAACP is pretty much just like the KKK. His reasoning? They promote and support African Americans.During the talk, Wright addressed several topics. The sheriff, who is known for being outspoken, said, among other things, I think the most racist people in America right now sometimes are minorities, small group minorities. I ve got a chaplain who works for me. He s an African-American, he is my brother and I love him more than anything.. He doesn t buy into that mess. A bunch of his friends don t either. They don t do the NAACP because I feel like that is a racist group as well as the KKK. I don t care about them either. I don t want to be a part of no group that s got something to do just because of your color. I don t think they re right.In case you missed it, yes, he played the I have a black friend card.There s an argument to be made that black people can t be racists because they re not in positions of power to systematically oppress white people. But semantics aside, Sheriff Redneck is right that SOME black people don t like white people. In fact, they re downright bigoted! I suppose that if I were black and white people constantly treated me like a criminal or mentally inferior, I might start to resent the hell out of white people. Maybe I d even learn to hate them. This doesn t excuse bigotry but it puts it into perspective.On the other hand, the KKK hates black people just for being black. It s a not subtle difference. Bigoted black people are, by and large, responding to how they re treated. The KKK thinks blacks are innately inferior, if not, in fact, sub-human.But even putting aside of all that, the NAACP exists to help the black community stand on equal footing with white people. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It s right there in the name. Black people have been systemically kept from getting the same educational and economic opportunities as white people. The law treats them differently on every level and always for the worse. Our popular media has spent decades (centuries?) depicting black people as lazy, criminally inclined and stupid. So, yes, Sheriff Good Ol Boy, the NAACP has got to do with skin color because America keeps treating that skin color poorly.Meanwhile, the KKK exists to maintain white supremacy, using violence and terrorism to keep the black community from freeing itself from the legacy of American slavery. But, you know, that s just like what the NAACP does because Sheriff Inbred s black friend told him so.And just to top it all off? Sheriff Boss Hog feels persecuted (because of course he does): This is a political bashing, that s all it is, to try to stir up controversy to draw some attention, Wright said.Yes, why would anyone want to draw attention to the fact that the sheriff thinks black people are just as racist as the KKK? I just can t figure it out Featured image via The Houston Chronicle | 0 |
9,998 | Trump Is Crushing An Int’l Tradition That Even Worldwide Hatred Of George W. Couldn’t Dent | The whole world is talking about Donald Trump, over which he is no doubt preening because any attention is good attention as long as it s focused entirely on him. But besides the obvious problems with this, there s one tradition that s very important among international leaders and diplomats. Trump is getting dangerously close to destroying it.The tradition is this: You don t trash-talk a foreign country s political candidates.That might seem silly. It might seem trivial. It s not. This is a very old tradition that was actually turned into policy at the 1961 Vienna Convention. While different countries interpret Thou shalt not interfere in foreign countries elections differently, most are careful to keep their mouths shut, at least publicly. Even in 2004, when the whole world hated George W. Bush for the fiasco that was Iraq, foreign diplomats and leaders mostly kept quiet.Not so now. Trump is testing everyone s patience, and many find that they just can t keep it to themselves: If you represent one of these countries that has been insulted or attacked, you tend to react. We are very passionate, and our blood is pretty hot. But we have to play it cool and understand that this is a campaign, and an election, and that we are diplomats. This week, thousands of foreign diplomats are gathering in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly. Trump has insulted a great many of them in one way or another. What the Latin-American diplomat said to Politico is true around the world: Adding to the complications is that U.S. elections are increasingly followed intensely by people overseas, whether it s via Facebook or CNN International. So when a U.S. presidential candidate slams a foreign country as Trump has so often (with Mexico, Japan, China, members of NATO, and on and on) representatives of those countries feel unusual domestic pressure to respond. Wars of words could easily escalate into more serious wars with Trump. He s proven that with his threats against both Ted Cruz and John Kasich for the 2018 midterms he can t let a slight go.As another example of how he goes after everyone who pisses him off: He s busy trash-talking a Scottish whiskey company for daring to give an award to a neighbor of his who criticizes his golf course. In retaliation, he s banned every brand of whiskey from William Grant & Sons for that affront, because really, how dare they?He should have more important things to worry about than petty personal slights, but they re actually the centerpiece of his whole existence. When foreign leaders won t play ball his way, and go on record with nothing but what he thinks are insults, what s he going to do? Two guesses what he ll do, but you ll only need one.He hasn t even been elected yet and foreign leaders and diplomats are openly attacking him. Some of these people probably held their tongues when George W. was running for re-election, however hard that might have been. This would be hilarious if it wasn t so frightening.Featured image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 0 |
9,999 | Britain's Queen Elizabeth bows out of Remembrance wreath-laying ceremony | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s 91-year-old Queen Elizabeth has asked her eldest son, Prince Charles, to lay a wreath on her behalf at London s main war memorial on Remembrance Sunday, breaking with her usual custom of laying it herself. The monarch will view the long wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London on Nov. 12 from the balcony of the nearby Foreign Office, alongside her husband Prince Philip, who is 96. At Her Majesty s request, a wreath will be laid on her behalf by The Prince of Wales, Buckingham Palace said in a statement, referring to the heir-to-the-throne by his official title. The wreath-laying itself involves bending over to place the wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph, then walking backwards down a few steps. A palace source said the queen had primarily made the decision to view the ceremony from the balcony to be with her husband, whilst also acknowledging that the event itself was demanding for someone in their 90s. The head of state has been gradually reducing her workload and younger royals including Charles have been taking up some of her duties. Philip retired from public life in August but was keen to attend the annual ceremony, which commemorates the fallen of two World Wars and later conflicts. The queen has missed the wreath-laying ceremony only six times in her 65-year reign. On four of those occasions she was on foreign visits: to Ghana in 1961, Brazil in 1968, Kenya in 1983 and South Africa in 1999. She also missed the ceremonies in 1959 and 1963, before the births of her two youngest children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. | 1 |
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