text
stringlengths 1
143k
| label
int64 0
1
|
|---|---|
Heavy Rocket Fire Pounds Government-Held West Aleppo by Jason Ditz, October 31, 2016 Share This
Nusra Front-led rebels continue to try to push into Western Aleppo in an offensive they launched on Friday, but the advance appears to be slowing to a snail’s pace amid heavy resistance from the military. At the same time, the rebels continue to fire rockets against the government-held parts of the city.
Some 84 people have been killed over the course of the offensive, most of them women and children , and the UN has been harshly critical of the rebels for their “indiscriminate” attacks against areas with a large number of civilians present.
This has been a recurring problem throughout the battle over Aleppo, which has left the city heavy divided and badly damaged. Both sides regularly trade rocket and artillery fire, and both sides seem to have a hard time making such attacks hit anybody except for civilian bystanders.
Over the past month the military had a seemingly decisive advantage in Aleppo, with the Nusra Front losing a growing amount of territory in the east. This newest counter-offensive is the latest in a long, long line of attempts by different factions within the city to shift the momentum in their favor, which is a big part of why, despite it being heavily contested since 2012, no one appears close to really controlling Aleppo. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz | 1 |
If you don t have the proper glasses to watch the historic solar eclipse today, you can still watch it here LIVE as it happens.From NASA: Solar Eclipse 2017 On August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to an eclipse of the sun. Viewers around the world will be provided a wealth of images captured before, during, and after the eclipse by 11 spacecraft, at least three NASA aircraft, more than 50 high-altitude balloons, and the astronauts aboard the International Space Station each offering a unique vantage point for the celestial event.Watch here:https://t.co/oYED98vQyL Twitter News (@TwitterNews) August 16, 2017Where Can You See It? You can see a partial eclipse, where the moon covers only a part of the sun, anywhere in North America (see Who can see it? ). To see a total eclipse, where the moon fully covers the sun for a short few minutes, you must be in the path of totality. The path of totality is a relatively thin ribbon, around 70 miles wide, that will cross the U.S. from West to East. The first point of contact will be at Lincoln Beach, Oregon at 9:05 a.m. PDT. Totality begins there at 10:16 a.m. PDT. Over the next hour and a half, it will cross through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The total eclipse will end near Charleston, South Carolina at 2:48 p.m. EDT. From there the lunar shadow leaves the United States at 4:09 EDT. Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Illinois, where the sun will be completely covered for two minutes and 40 seconds.If you missed the eclipse as it happened, here are a couple of incredible videos that were taken of the eclipse: More of the moon crossing in front of sun in Philly: https://t.co/fKHeCFSNKf #SolarEclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/fjxfUuxOy6 NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) August 21, 2017#SolarEclipse2017 Breathtaking! pic.twitter.com/fvPwGwgn99 smail H. Polat (@ismailhpolat) August 21, 2017 | 1 |
Pinterest
Who does the Clinton camp want to make “happy”? Not the American people, of course, but none other than billionaire left-wing globalist George Soros.
Soros has donated around $25 million to the Clinton campaign as of July, according to Politico , and that clearly buys a great deal of influence. WikiLeaks has recently released emails from the account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that show the lengths the campaign went to keep Soros “happy” and the huge amount of influence he exerted.
In an Oct. 7, 2014 email from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin to now-campaign manager Robby Mook, Abedin discussed a dinner Clinton was going to have with Soros. Abedin said in the email that she expected that Soros would eventually ask Clinton to attend a fundraiser for one of the numerous groups Soros helps bankroll, the liberal America Votes organization.
Mook replied to the email: “I would only do this for political reasons (ie to make Soros happy).”
Fox News reported :
During her time as secretary of state, Clinton was forwarded from Soros’ aides on Jan. 23, 2011 a message he wrote specifically for her addressing “a serious situation” in Albania. Soros even included two actions that “need to be done urgently.” One of the suggestions was appointing “a mediator such as Carl Bildt, Martti Ahtisaari or Miroslav Lajcak…”
Clinton received the email the next day. On Jan. 27, Lajcak met Albanian leaders for a mediation effort.
In another instance, just hours after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on Feb. 13, 2016, Chris Stone, president of the Soros-founded Open Society Foundations, emailed Podesta and asked: “Remember our discussion of Wallace Jefferson, [former] Chief Justice in Texas?” Podesta simply replied, “yup.”
An adviser and spokesman for Soros, Michael Vachon, did most of the corresponding with Podesta related to Soros. Vachon scheduled phone calls and meetings along with making sure that the campaign knew Soros’ position on a variety of policy issues.
Fox News reported:
On March 7, 2016, Vachon sent Podesta a memo regarding “TPP and Malaysia’s Corruption Crisis.” The document criticized President Obama for making “visible compromises” in his quest to get a deal for the Trans Pacific Partnership completed. Podesta was ostensibly set to discuss the memo with Soros and his son, Alexander, during a dinner later that month. Six days later, Vachon got even more specific.
“In general I think George is more interested in talking about policy than the campaign per se,” Vachon wrote. “In a separate email I will send you George’s latest thinking on the migration crisis, which he is spending a lot of time on. His other big preoccupation these days is Ukraine.”
Refugees/migration, the Supreme Court, global warming, Ukraine, etc., are surely just a sampling of policy issues on which the globalist Soros has and will continue to influence Clinton.
Clinton is dangerous enough as it is, but as the man who could be directing policy decisions if Clinton is elected president? That is a scary thought. | 1 |
A verdict in 2017 could have sweeping consequences for tech startups. | 0 |
BNI Store Oct 31 2016 WELCOME TO PARIS where tour buses have to navigate around all the new Muslim tent cities filling the streets Now that France has shut down the filthy Calais ‘jungle’ camp where thousands of illegal alien Muslim invaders had been squatting, Muslim tent cities are sprouting up all over the streets of Paris. Gee, I guess French tourism hasn’t taken a big enough hit yet, following several Islamic terrorist attacks. | 1 |
A big new State Department assessment has identified a major threat to global security. It's not ISIS or Vladimir Putin. It's not a rickety global economy or climate change or the threat of global pandemics.
Instead, the report argues, these individual problems are symptoms of a much bigger issue — namely, a slow breakdown in global governance. Many of the institutions that were created in the past century to deal with economic and security risks around the world, such as the UN and IMF, may no longer be adequate to the task.
If the authors of the report are right, then the world's biggest problems are all really about this one big thing.
The report, called the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, was tasked with a broad review of State Department policies. The point was "not looking at the crisis of the day," Tom Perriello, the State Department official tasked with leading the QDDR, said in a press briefing. Instead, the report is "trying to connect the dots across the crises, and then saying what can we learn across the dynamics that we can see."
Much of what the report's authors saw was quite good. "Seventy years ago, a bipartisan group of visionary Americans forged a system of modern international institutions, as well as economic and security arrangements, aimed at preventing another catastrophic world war and addressing acute human suffering," they write. "This system enabled the peaceful end of the Cold War, a wave of democratization, and unprecedented improvement in the basic human condition around the globe."
That's all true. But the QDDR worries that these institutions — things like the UN and the IMF — aren't adequate for dealing with the specific kinds of problems we see today. The UN may help the big countries cooperate with each other, but it can't stop ISIS or Syria's civil war. Nor has it been able to lock in a big new international agreement on climate change.
Together, these problems show that "aspects of that post-World War II system are fraying." Sometimes, it's because a hostile power is actively challenging them — Russia, for example, is actively trying to weaken the NATO-dominated regional order in Europe.
Other times, it's that these institutions are having trouble developing good answers for particular kind of problems. It's not clear, for example, how global institutions can repair failed states and stop civil wars in places like Libya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Regardless, the basic point is the same: the institutions that have made the world the safest and most prosperous place it's ever been are becoming less capable of following through on their mission. The more they degrade, the argument goes, the more danger the United States — and the world — will be in.
These arguments aren't new: academics have been making them for years. But what's interesting about their position in the QDDR is that they seem to represent the US government's actual view about the world's biggest problems.
It's no accident that the QDDR's section on priorities begins with a quote from Obama's 2014 speech to the UN General Assembly — the address was framed around an almost identical diagnosis about the need to reform global institutions in light of new challenges. "If we lift our eyes beyond our borders, if we think globally and act cooperatively," Obama said, "we can shape the course of this century as our predecessors shaped the post–World War II age." Sound familiar?
But the QDDR goes beyond Obama's speech. It identifies four areas — preventing violent conflict and extremism, spreading democracy, promoting global economic growth, and climate change — in which the State Department needs to focus its efforts. "Each of these priorities is based on the need for better governance across the world," Secretary of State John Kerry said at a presser. "They're all linked."
The QDDR proposes a number of ways to improve its focus on these issues. For instance, it proposes a new investment on data-driven forecasting designed to predict conflicts and mass atrocities. If State Department diplomats have a better way of knowing countries are most at risk of serious violence, the theory goes, they can know where to invest resources in order to prevent those conflicts from getting worse.
These solutions feel very small-bore compared with the scale of the problems identified by the QDDR. The report doesn't have a big plan for reforming the UN to deal with failed states, nor does it propose a groundbreaking strategy for breaking the global impasse on a climate change agreement.
That's by design. The QDDR, as an exercise, is designed to improve the way the State Department works as an organization. About one-third of the report, for example, is focused on hiring and personnel management. The whole point of the exercise is to identify what the State Department can do better without radically transforming American foreign policy priorities or proposing pie-in-the-sky new budgets that Congress will never approve.
And that's what makes the QDDR really interesting. A massive amount of government work involves identifying huge problems, like the breakdown of global governance, and then trying to implement a few small-bore strategies to chip away at the big problem. The QDDR is an unusually clear account of how that process actually works: of how small policy proposals and reforms fit into the bigger picture of American foreign policy. | 1 |
Country singer Toby Keith won t be bullied into submission by the Left like other entertainers who won t perform or have cancelled their commitment to perform at Trump s inauguration.Keith, 55, said he does not apologize for performing for our country and our military. He performed for both Presidents Obama and George W. Bush in addition to hundreds of shows for troops in Afghanistan and the United Service Organization, he said. It s sad that the performing is the heroic act, Pete Hegseth said on Fox & Friends , There were no protests like this in 2008. Fox Insider Americans who are sick and tired of being bullied by leftists need to take a stand and support Toby Keith. Let Keith know how you feel and that you appreciate him having a backbone and doing what s right for America and for our military.SHOW your support for Toby Keith s inaugural performance in several different ways:Click here: @TobyKeithMusic to send him a message on Twitter.Click here:Toby Keith to post a Facebook message on his wall.Go to itunes.apple.com to purchase one of his songs or an entire album.SHARE this everywhere! We need to get as many Americans as possible showing their support for Toby Keith and his inauguration performance. | 0 |
Hillary Clinton’s blistering new assault on Donald J. Trump has mollified many Democrats alarmed about the presidential race — while inflaming Republican fears that Mr. Trump’s improvisational style and skeletal campaign will prove inadequate in repelling the type of attack Mrs. Clinton unleashed on Thursday. Mixing stark warnings that Mr. Trump would imperil America’s security with caustic personal critiques — “I’ll leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants” — Mrs. Clinton offered the first indication that she was willing to confront her unconventional opponent in the fashion many in her party believe his candidacy demands. “I thought it was one of the most important speeches Secretary Clinton has made throughout this campaign because it drew a line that for most of this campaign has not been drawn,” said Leon E. Panetta, the former defense secretary, arguing that Mr. Trump had “gotten away with murder” with his incendiary proposals and statements. Mrs. Clinton’s speech in San Diego drove home that “this is not just the fun and games of a primary, but a choice for the American people about who is going to sit in the Oval Office,” Mr. Panetta said. Democrats across the country expressed relief on Friday that Mrs. Clinton had finally delivered a comprehensive indictment of Mr. Trump’s fitness for the presidency. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said there had been “widespread concern” among Senate Democrats that Mrs. Clinton was not drawing sharp enough contrasts with Mr. Trump. “This speech really did that,” he said. Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, who was attending the Detroit Chamber of Commerce’s annual retreat on Mackinac Island with many of the state’s most influential leaders, said, “The people up here who were worried about her said she is finally finding her groove. ” For several weeks, Mrs. Clinton had tried out a version of the campaign President Obama ran against Mitt Romney in 2012, portraying Mr. Trump as a heartless corporate titan who profited off the housing crisis and avoided paying taxes. But she was receiving scant news media coverage, and Mrs. Clinton’s advisers worried that voters were not as moved by attacks against someone who unapologetically boasts about his wealth. After weeks in which Mr. Trump viciously attacked Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, over Mr. Clinton’s indiscretions, moreover, it had become clear that she needed a circuit breaker in the form of a more robust counterassault — and one that she could deliver herself, rather than relying on surrogates to deal the most forceful blows to Mr. Trump on her behalf. Her campaign’s decision was to seek to disqualify Mr. Trump on terrain that is Mrs. Clinton’s comfort zone: foreign policy. But billing her San Diego speech on Thursday as a foreign policy address was also something of a ruse: It turned out to be an acidly funny takedown of Mr. Trump and his temperament, giving him the same sort of belittling treatment he had used on his opponents to great effect. “There’s no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf course deal,” Mrs. Clinton said at one point. But as satisfying as her new line of attack was to many Democrats, as Mr. Panetta said, “The real question is going to be, ‘Where does it go from here? ’” Indeed, Mrs. Clinton returned to a familiar stump speech later on Thursday in El Centro, Calif. though on a stop to a campaign office in San Diego, she joked about her new offensive. “I was listing all the reasons why Donald Trump should never get near the White House,” she told volunteers, adding, “And even I was getting nervous. ” If Mrs. Clinton is able to overcome that nervousness and drive a sustained attack echoing her San Diego speech, some Democrats said she could negatively define Mr. Trump this summer the same way that Mr. Clinton managed to define Bob Dole in their 1996 presidential race. “What she did sets the parameters about what this election is about,” said Joe Lockhart, who was Mr. Clinton’s campaign press secretary that year. “It is very hard to change that in the fight after Labor Day. ” That prospect, in turn, has Republicans deeply concerned about Mr. Trump. Despite being the party’s presumptive nominee for a month, Mr. Trump has yet to adapt his campaign to the demands of a general election. His only “war room” so far is his Twitter feed. He is campaigning in California, insisting that he can win one of the country’s most liberal states. He has spent a week attacking a Hispanic federal judge who is handling a lawsuit against him in increasingly racial terms, only drawing more attention to the case. And he continues to divide his attention: He will travel to Scotland and Ireland this month for a business event. Nor have Mr. Trump’s tactical choices inspired confidence. At a rally on Thursday night in San Jose, Calif. his main rejoinder to Mrs. Clinton’s speech was that she ought to be in jail over her use of a private email account as secretary of state. There was no broader counterattack from his campaign or his allies, a remarkable silence after Mrs. Clinton’s harshest critique yet. “He needs to get the Republican chorus singing for him, and making sure he’s got a lot of voices out there,” said Terry Nelson, a longtime Republican strategist. “He’s got to make sure he is reaching out to the party and letting them know what the message is, what to say and how to say it. ” There is little evidence of any such coordination. His campaign sent out no response to the Clinton speech. The Republican National Committee, on which Mr. Trump’s team has been leaning heavily, issued just one critique of Mrs. Clinton’s foreign policy before her remarks. His campaign is also badly lagging behind the Democrats at and there are signs this has affected spending: After a group supporting Mrs. Clinton ran ads last month against Mr. Trump, the Trump team asked about rates for television ads of its own, according to two media buyers apprised of those inquiries, but never followed up. Reached by phone, Mr. Trump addressed such concerns by saying he had proved he could rewrite political playbooks. “I think I’m defining her,” he said of Mrs. Clinton. “I think she’s being defined as a weak and ineffective person. ” Mr. Trump has four top aides who worked on Mr. Dole’s 1996 campaign. But his campaign’s problems already resemble some that plagued Mr. Dole, including a formidable opponent mounting an early offensive, and an undisciplined candidate. Mr. Dole said on Friday that Mr. Trump, whom he has endorsed, had mastered and commanding media attention like no other recent nominee. But he warned that Mrs. Clinton’s speech signaled a need for Mr. Trump to adjust. “I think Hillary tried laying a groundwork, and I think that’s going to be sort of her template,” Mr. Dole said in an interview. “He has criticism of Hillary, but it’s sort of been scattered. ” Mr. Trump, he added, “has got to catch up. ” | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. senators on Wednesday delayed a committee vote on President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency after the panel’s Democrats boycotted the meeting, saying that nominee Scott Pruitt doubts the science of climate change. The boycott in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee delayed the transition to a new administrator for the agency. Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat, said he could not support Pruitt, a Republican and the attorney general of Oklahoma, for a public health position because he “denies the sum of empirical science and the urgency to act on climate change.” At a committee confirmation hearing last month Pruitt, who has sued the agency he intends to run more than a dozen times on behalf of the oil-drilling state Oklahoma, expressed doubt about climate change science. But Pruitt said he would be would be obliged for now to uphold the agency’s 2009 “endangerment finding” that carbon dioxide emissions harm public health. The finding is the agency’s basis for regulations on those emissions. Senator Tom Carper, the panel’s top Democrat, said Pruitt had provided “woefully inadequate” answers to written questions and had not named one agency regulation that he supported. “If Mr. Pruitt is serious about leading this important agency, he should be more than willing to provide straightforward answers to our fundamental questions,” Carper said. Republicans decried the move by the Democrats. “This is simply a senatorial temper tantrum,” said Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, another oil state. Trump, like Republican Senator Jim Inhofe on the panel, has called climate change a hoax. Trump has promised to make changes at the agency including doing away with previous President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan that cracks down on emissions from coal-fired electricity generators. The plan was suspended by the Supreme Court last year. John Konkus, a spokesman for Pruitt’s confirmation team, said Democrats and the EPA under Obama had “put politics and rhetoric ahead of their core work and ahead of the welfare of the American public.” In 2013, Republican senators on the panel boycotted then- Obama’s second term pick for the agency, Gina McCarthy, saying they were “completely unsatisfied” by her answers to more than 1,000 written questions they had asked her. She was eventually confirmed. | 1 |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq won t be able to restore Kirkuk s oil output to last week s levels before Sunday because of missing equipment at two fields, an oil ministry official told Reuters on Thursday. The official accused the Kurdish authorities previously in control of Kirkuk of removing equipment at the Bai Hasan and Avana oil fields, north west of the city. | 1 |
Fights Over 'Religious Freedom' And Gay Rights Are Costing Republicans
Following a firestorm of criticism, Republican governors in Indiana and Arkansas signed revised versions of their states' Religious Freedom Restoration bills Thursday night. In Indiana the language was adjusted, and in Arkansas it was significantly scaled back to more closely align with the federal law.
National Republicans, especially the ones running for president, have to hope it's enough to get them out of the hole they dug themselves on religious freedom and gay rights. It's worth taking a look at what the whole brouhaha has cost the GOP.
In the spirit of Passover, here are four questions about what this issue means for the GOP:
It's possible that Republicans' big electoral victories in November blinded them to just how controversial this would be. Gov. Asa Hutchison, R-Ark., and Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., seemed genuinely taken aback by the demand for boycotts and the backlash from big corporations like Eli Lilly, WalMart and Apple, as well as the NCAA.
It's as if Republicans — particularly in the deep-red states of Arkansas and Indiana — operate according to a different political calculus, insulated from the divide between their own conservative constituents and changing national opinion. Because of redistricting and the phenomenon of a midterm electorate that leans a lot more Republican than a presidential-year electorate, there are now many more GOP governors and many more conservative majorities in state legislatures. And those majorities are moving forward with an agenda that satisfies their base of social conservatives but is seen as intolerant and divisive by the business community and a growing majority of voters in the country. This week, those two opposing dynamics reignited the culture war, with Republican politicians as the first casualties.
2) Is this about more than just religious freedom?
Yes! It's about a much bigger, much more fundamental problem for the GOP. A new Pew poll showed that 61 percent of young Republicans favor gay marriage. Hutchinson said his own son signed a petition asking him to veto the bill that he instead sent back to the Legislature for revision.
The Republicans can't appeal to young voters if they're on the wrong side of gay marriage, because gay rights is a symbol of tolerance for so many young voters — not to mention suburban women. The same is true for one of the fastest-growing parts of the electorate — Hispanics. How do Republicans show Hispanics that they are welcoming and inclusive if they oppose a path to legalization for hard-working immigrants here illegally?
The views of the GOP's white, older, conservative primary electorate are farther away from the center of American public opinion than the Democratic base is right now. That's the challenge for the GOP — it needs to project an image of tolerance in order to win the White House while at the same time satisfying its conservative base, which, in this case, wants Christian florists, bakers and photographers to have the right to refuse services to gay weddings. It will take a very talented candidate to square that circle.
3) OK, so how will Republican candidates resolve this larger tension?
Good question! The debates during the primaries will, presumably, reveal the answer.
Of all the GOP presidential hopefuls, Jeb Bush has given this the most thought. He seems determined not to fall into the trap that Mitt Romney did in 2012 — moving so far to the right during the GOP primaries (remember "self deportation"?) that he couldn't make it back to the center to win the general election.
Bush has said his strategy is to run as if he's willing "to lose the primary in order to win the general."
4) How's that working out for Jeb Bush so far?
Not so great. All the leading Republican presidential hopefuls, including Bush, came out in favor of the Arkansas and Indiana bills. By Wednesday, though, Bush was backtracking, insisting that religious freedom is a core value but that we also shouldn't discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Bush didn't explain how he would balance those two values, only that he was sure Indiana would "get to that place."
So, for Bush, the "lose the primary" strategy sometimes means sticking to his principles in opposition to the GOP base (as he has on immigration reform and Common Core education standards) but sometimes, on issues like religious freedom, he seems to fuzz it up.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has no doubts about what side he's on. In Iowa on Wednesday, Cruz blasted the "big business" wing of the GOP, saying they are "running shamelessly to endorse the radical, gay marriage agenda over religious liberty. " | 0 |
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - More than 200 people were killed by twin bomb blasts that struck busy junctions in the heart of Somalia s capital Mogadishu, officials said on Sunday, marking the deadliest attacks since an Islamist insurgency began in 2007. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo declared three days of national mourning and called for donations of blood and funds to victims of Saturday s attack. At least 100 others were wounded. Today s horrific attack proves our enemy would stop nothing to cause our people pain and suffering. Let s unite against terror, he tweeted. Police said a truck bomb exploded outside a hotel in the K5 intersection that is lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks, flattening several buildings and setting dozens of vehicles on fire. Two hours later, another blast struck the capital s Medina district. We have confirmed 200 civilians died in yesterday s blast. We understand the death toll is higher than that. Many people are still missing their relatives, Abdifatah Omar Halane, the spokesman for Mogadishu s mayor, told Reuters. A spokesman for Aamin Ambulance service said it knew of more than 250 people wounded during the bombings on Saturday. Some people who searched for their relatives just found unrecognizable body parts, its director Abdikadir Abdirahman told Reuters. In our 10 year experience as the first responder in #Mogadishu, we haven t seen anything like this, tweeted the ambulance service, which is reliant on private donations and the only free ambulance service in the city. We re mourning the loss of 5 Somali Red Crescent volunteers, also killed in this attack, tweeted the International Committee of the Red Cross. Police and emergency workers searched the rubble of destroyed buildings on Sunday. They had recovered dozens of corpses the night before, most of which were charred beyond recognition. Hundreds of people came to the junction in search of missing family members and police cordoned off the area for security reasons. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which is allied to al Qaeda, stages regular attacks in the capital and other parts of the country. The group is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government and its African Union allies in a bid to topple the weak administration and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. The militants were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and have been steadily losing territory since then to the combined forces of African Union peacekeepers and Somali security forces. But al Shabaab retains the ability to mount large, complex bomb attacks. Over the past three years, the number of civilians killed by insurgent bombings has steadily climbed as al Shabaab increases the size of its bombs. | 0 |
It is interesting that Duterte got something like 3 billion from China, and now he is getting money from Japan. He seems to be getting a lot of money for his country. I just hope he does not sell out the Philippine resources, minerals, water way rights etc. Duterte really should not blame America for all the problems in the Philippines. What caused the Philippines a lot of problems was the corruption and bribery that took hold of his country. | 1 |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Public Theater is refusing to back down after backlash over its production of “Julius Caesar” that portrays a Donald dictator in a business suit with a long tie who gets knifed to death onstage. [Delta Air Lines and Bank of America have pulled their sponsorship of the Public’s version of the play, but in a statement Monday the theater said it stands behind the production. It noted its staging has “provoked heated discussion” but “such discussion is exactly the goal of our theater this discourse is the basis of a healthy democracy. ” Other defenders included Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller, who wrote letters to the heads of Delta and Bank of America, arguing that dropping their support “sends the wrong message. ” He writes: “Art matters. The First Amendment matters. Expression matters. ” He enclosed copies of the play with the letters. “I hope you enjoy it — it is a classic, in any age,” he wrote. This Caesar’s violent death at the hands of conspirators comes not long after comedian Kathy Griffin was widely condemned for posing for a photograph in which she gripped a bloodied rendering of Trump’s head. Though the Public’s version of William Shakespeare’s classic play is unchanged from its original, the production portrays Caesar with a gold bathtub and a pouty Slavic wife. Trump’s name is never mentioned, but backlash was swift. On Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a Fox News story about the play and wrote, “I wonder how much of this ‘art’ is funded by taxpayers? Serious question, when does ‘art’ become political speech does that change things?” Delta responded by saying “artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste. ” Bank of America said the Public chose to present the play “to provoke and offend” without the bank’s knowledge: “Had this intention been made known to us, we would have decided not to sponsor it. ” “Julius Caesar” ends its run Sunday. The comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” begins in the park on July 11. The National Endowment for the Arts, which Trump, a Republican, once proposed eliminating, said that while the Public’s Shakespeare programing has received its grants in the past none was awarded for “Julius Caesar” or for funds supporting the New York State Council on the Arts’ grant for the Public. Theater lovers were quick to point out that a national tour of “Julius Caesar” in 2012 by The Acting Company featured a Caesar played by a black actor in a modern business suit who had a resemblance to Barack Obama, a Democrat. Sponsors of the Guthrie Theater, including Delta, apparently had no objections when that show landed in Minneapolis. The Public has long protected its role as incubator of provocative and challenging works, unafraid to mount plays that comment on current events or update Shakespearian plays to explore modern themes. It’s had Trump in its sights before. It’s the institution that birthed the megahit “Hamilton,” whose cast members last year implored Vice Mike Pence to support diversity, and where Meryl Streep donned and a fat suit last summer to impersonate Trump at a gala fundraiser. Laurence Maslon, an administrator and arts professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, said it was disingenuous for large corporations that have backed the Public for years and enjoyed its downtown cool vibe to sound alarmed now. “You’ve got to know what you’re getting into,” he said, adding that the Public has “50 years of the most provocative, politically engaged work. ” He backed the “Julius Caesar” director, Oskar Eustis, saying he’s “nothing if not brave. ” The Public produced “Embedded,” Tim Robbins’ 2003 riff on the events leading to the war in Iraq that had actors portraying hawkish presidential advisers wearing masks with grotesque facial expressions. In 2006, Eustis dedicated the summer season in Central Park to three works that focused on foreign affairs — “Stuff Happens,” in which David Hare looked at the debates in Washington in the to the Iraq war, a militaristic production of “Macbeth” set in the early 20th century and a “Mother Courage” with a new translation by Tony Kushner that had references to tax exemptions for the rich. Maslon said he thinks any loss of funding the Public experiences from corporate defectors will be compensated for by donations from liberal groups and people worried about the apparent threat to artistic freedom. “I can imagine any sense that this political regime is imposing a kind of censorship and the free market can help correct it will probably be good for the Public,” he said. The Public isn’t the only theater project trying to address the advent of Trump. On Broadway, Jon Jon Briones, who plays the sleazy Engineer in a revival of “Miss Saigon,” makes a sarcastic reference to the Trump campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again. ” The recent play “Building the Wall,” by playwright Robert Schenkkan, imagined the country under Trump’s campaign promise to detain immigrants living in the country illegally. And filmmaker and activist Michael Moore is bringing a show taking on Trump to Broadway this summer. | 0 |
As you may or may not know at this point, MSNBC is no longer the place for liberal politics anymore. And if you watch daily, you may have noticed this slow shift over the past year or so. Sure, there s still shows like Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes All In, but all in all, if you re looking for real progressive TV, you re going to have to find it somewhere on the internet. The network is making a strong effort to switch from opinion to hard news, and that s why you re seeing fewer and fewer opinion shows and more generic broadcasts, especially during the day.Unfortunately, it looks like Melissa Harris-Perry was being forced to silence her voice by the network as well, and as of Friday, Harris-Perry has decided that she will no longer do her weekend show.In a letter written by Harris-Perry, and put out by one of her original producers, Jamil Smith, she explains in great detail why she has made this decision.Here s the letter in full:Dearest Nerds,As you know by now, my name appears on the weekend schedule for MSNBC programming from South Carolina this Saturday and Sunday. I appreciate that many of you responded to this development with relief and enthusiasm. To know that you have missed working with me even a fraction of how much I ve missed working with all of you is deeply moving. However, as of this morning, I do not have any intention of hosting this weekend. Because this is a decision that affects all of you, I wanted to take a moment to explain my reasoning.Some unknown decision-maker, presumably Andy Lack or Phil Griffin, has added my name to this spreadsheet, but nothing has changed in the posture of the MSNBC leadership team toward me or toward our show. Putting me on air seems to be a decision being made solely to save face because there is a growing chorus of questions from our viewers about my notable absence from MSNBC coverage. Social media has noted the dramatic change in editorial tone and racial composition of MSNBC s on-air coverage. In addition, Dylan Byers of CNN has made repeated inquiries with MSNBC s leadership and with me about the show and what appears to be its cancellation. I have not responded to reporters or social media inquiries. However, I am not willing to appear on air in order to quell concerns about the disappearance of our show and our voice.Here is the reality: our show was taken without comment or discussion or notice in the midst of an election season. After four years of building an audience, developing a brand, and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced. Now, MSNBC would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant without returning to our team any of the editorial control and authority that makes MHP Show distinctive.The purpose of this decision seems to be to provide cover for MSNBC, not to provide voice for MHP Show. I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin, or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back. I have wept more tears than I can count and I find this deeply painful, but I don t want back on air at any cost. I am only willing to return when that return happens under certain terms.Undoubtedly, television nurtures the egos of those of us who find ourselves in front of bright lights and big cameras. I am sure ego is informing my own pain in this moment, but there is a level of professional decency, respect, and communication that has been denied this show for years. And the utter insulting absurdity of the past few weeks exceeds anything I can countenance.I have stayed in the same hotels where MSNBC has been broadcasting in Iowa, in New Hampshire, and in South Carolina, yet I have been shut out from coverage. I have a PhD in political science and have taught American voting and elections at some of the nation s top universities for nearly two decades, yet I have been deemed less worthy to weigh in than relative novices and certified liars. I have hosted a weekly program on this network for four years and contributed to election coverage on this network for nearly eight years, but no one on the third floor has even returned an email, called me, or initiated or responded to any communication of any kind from me for nearly a month. It is profoundly hurtful to realize that I work for people who find my considerable expertise and editorial judgment valueless to the coverage they are creating.While MSNBC may believe that I am worthless, I know better. I know who I am. I know why MHP Show is unique and valuable. I will not sell short myself or this show. I am not hungry for empty airtime. I care only about substantive, meaningful, and autonomous work. When we can do that, I will return not a moment earlier. I am deeply sorry for the ways that this decision makes life harder for all of you. You mean more to me than you can imagine.Yours always,MelissaIt s really a shame that MSNBC is trying to silence the liberal voice. A voice that is being drowned out endlessly as more and more news outlets are acquired by right-leaning companies and CEOs. It s as though MSNBC gave up on itself, and instead of work on a formula that could really bring in more views, decided it was easier to just be generic. Hopefully the network comes to their senses sooner rather than later, and hopefully we will hear Harris-Perry s very well-educated, and much-needed voice once again. However, we must respect her decision.Featured image: RCP | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Energy Committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved President Donald Trump’s nominees to head the Interior and Energy Departments. The panel approved Ryan Zinke for the Interior Department by a vote of 16 to 6 and Rick Perry, a former governor or oil producing Texas, for the Energy Department by a vote of 16 to 7. Next, the full Senate will consider both nominees. | 1 |
Barry, the Democratic party has done nothing for the black American. Your presidency has proved that. And you re going to call us disrespectful if we don t vote for Hillary? I m insulted you even asked Barry. https://twitter.com/hectormorenco/status/780254967273693185Obama's Legacy: Almost 8 years of Violence, rioting, looting & burning down communities. Time 4 real change. Everyone Should vote Trump! Diamond and Silk (@DiamondandSilk) September 22, 2016Obama's legacy of hate and racism is about to end, in 50 days @POTUS MT Gilbert (@tponews) September 20, 2016Since Obama has come into office terrorist attacks and race riots have become a regular occurrence. Hillary will only continue this legacy. Hispanics for Trump (@HispanicsTrump) September 23, 2016Here s angry Obama threatening the Black community to vote for him:https://twitter.com/P0TUSTrump/status/777707415601049600Here is a brilliant response to Obama s threat by an outspoken black critic of Obama s insulting presidency:Here are more responses to Obama s angry demand that minorities support Hillary, lest he be insulted .LOL!SeriouslyWe're not slaves anymore. No Obama, we're not voting for Clinton bc of your legacy honey. Put the pipe down #CrackIsWack RejoiceMagazine.net (@TemiaBrinson) September 19, 2016Obama claims that Trump is out to ruin his legacy, no honey, Trump is out to #MAGA. You ruined your own legacy by being a terrible president Black Women 4 Trump (@TallahForTrump) September 18, 2016I'm insulted by Obama more concerned about his damn legacy! What? Transgendered toilets? Ex-Dem Latina (@terrymendozer) September 19, 2016https://twitter.com/P0TUSTrump/status/776625654762725376As an added bonus, we ve included a few additional remarks from American voters about Barack s legacy:LIST: The Race Riots https://t.co/lM7Kye9lxw DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) September 25, 2016https://twitter.com/CajunKangaroo/status/779830457445781504You cut a deal to ransom Americans from Iran, Obama.You funnelled > a BILLION dollars to our ENEMY.This is your 'legacy?'Enjoy. Linda Suhler, Ph.D. (@LindaSuhler) September 23, 2016https://twitter.com/NolteNC/status/780001984522977280Obamacare is imploding, Obama.In six years you single-handedly destroyed America's healthcare system.Some 'legacy.'Enjoy. Linda Suhler, Ph.D. (@LindaSuhler) September 23, 2016Let us know if we missed anything in the comment section below. | 0 |
The Republican party was struggling to heal its deep wounds on Thursday, as House speaker Paul Ryan claimed he was “very encouraged” by his meeting with Donald Trump but again declined to endorse him.
In a series of eagerly watched meetings on Capitol Hill that drew placard-waving protesters and hundreds of reporters, the presumptive Republican nominee held peace talks with GOP leaders in a bid to unify around something more than hostility toward Hillary Clinton.
Ryan and Trump issued a joint statement that hailed “a very positive step toward unification”, adding: “We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal.”
Ryan admitted last week that he was not ready to throw his weight behind Trump, becoming the highest-ranking Republican to withhold his endorsement after a primary election plagued by extraordinary rancour. Despite growing pressure from his own ranks, he declined again on Thursday.
“I think we had a very encouraging meeting,” he told reporters afterwards. “Look, it’s no secret that Donald Trump and I have had our differences. We talked about those differences today. That’s common knowledge.
“The question is, what is it we need to do to unify the Republican party and all strains of conservative wings in the party? We had a very good and encouraging conversation on just how to do that.”
It was important to discuss “core principles” that tie Republicans together, added Ryan, who was running mate to Mitt Romney four years ago and is seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2020.
These included the constitution, separation of powers and supreme court.
“I was very encouraged with what I heard from Donald Trump today,” Ryan said. “I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified and bridge the gaps and differences, and so from here we’re going to go deeper into the policy areas to see where that common ground is and see how we can operate from those same core principles.”
But he admitted: “This is a process. It takes a little time. You don’t put it together in 45 minutes.”
Asked specifically whether he was endorsing Trump and what was holding him back, the speaker sidestepped by replying: “The process of unifying the Republican party, which just finished a primary about a week ago – perhaps one of the most divisive primaries in memory – takes some time.”
He added: “It’s very important that we don’t fake unifying, we don’t pretend unification, that we truly and actually unify so we are full strength in the fall. I don’t want us to have a fake unification process here. I want to make sure that we really, truly understand each other.”
Trump’s insurgent campaign has put him at odds with the Republican establishment and won him almost 11m votes, giving him a strong hand in the negotiations. An increasing number of Republicans in Congress have called on Ryan to accept the popular will, despite his objections to Trump on both substance and tone, including his call for a temporary ban on Muslims.
Ryan acknowledged: “It’s really kind of unparalleled, I think. He has gotten more votes than any Republican primary nominee in the history of our country and this isn’t even over yet … It’s really a remarkable achievement.”
The challenge is to keep adding voters without subtracting any through a positive vision based on core principles, he added. “Here’s what we agree on: a Hillary Clinton presidency would be a disaster for this country. It’s effectively a third Obama term.”
Ryan met Trump behind closed doors for 45 minutes at the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters in Washington along with chair Reince Priebus.
Although he declined to offer specifics on the issues discussed, Priebus described the meeting as a “positive step towards unification” in an interview with MSNBC shortly after its conclusion.
“It was a positive mood, it was a mood of cooperation and a feeling of, it’s time to unify the party. And I think both parties wanted to do that,” he said.
The RNC chair also sought to downplay Ryan’s reluctance to endorse Trump, saying the expectation had been that the primary would continue for another month or two.
“I think everyone was caught a little off guard by how quick it all ended. I think we all were surprised,” Priebus said.
Trump and Ryan were then joined for a second meeting with other members of the House Republican leadership team: majority leader Kevin McCarthy, majority whip Steve Scalise, conference chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers and deputy majority whip Patrick McHenry.
McMorris-Rodgers, like Ryan, has yet to back Trump as the party standard-bearer, while McCarthy and Scalise have said they will support the nominee.
Trump then met with the Senate Republican leadership at the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was characteristically mum when returning to the Capitol after his sit-down with Trump, offering only that it was “a very good, constructive meeting”.
John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, used similar words to describe the meeting in a tweet that showed him posing alongside Trump.
Cornyn later told reporters on Capitol Hill that he expected the party to ultimately unite behind Trump.
Among the issues discussed was immigration, Cornyn added, including Trump’s broader tone on the subject.
“There is a way to talk about these issues that isn’t offensive to people,” he said.
A handful of Republican senators joined Trump’s meeting with the leadership: Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Rob Portman of Ohio and Jeff Sessions of Alabama.
Sessions, one of Trump’s chief surrogates, has criticized Ryan’s reluctance to endorse Trump.
“I think he made a mistake on that. I’m not sure what was in his mind,” Sessions told reporters on Capitol Hill this week. “But I think that can be repaired.”
Although Senate Republican leaders have been more willing to rally behind Trump, their members find themselves in a decidedly precarious position. Twenty-four Senate Republicans are up for re-election in November, with many facing tough races in key battleground states.
Wicker, who chairs the NRSC, the organization tasked with keeping the Senate in Republicans’ control, has already committed to backing Trump. Following the meeting, the senator reiterated his support for the nominee while adding Trump and GOP leaders had “a very positive and productive conversation today aimed at unifying the party for victory this fall”.
As the lawmakers huddled with Trump for what is expected to be the first of many meetings, protesters gathered outside to show their disdain for the former reality TV star. Professional organisers from Code Pink held up signs stating “Stop hatred against immigrants”, “Islamophobia is unAmerican” and “Trump is a racist”. Other protesters included so-called Dreamers, immigrants brought to the US as children, from the advocacy group United We Dream. A giant Trump mask and a cardboard coffin were displayed.
Hundreds of journalists flocked to the scene of the meeting, even as the Republicans in attendance declined to address the cameras. A handful of lawmakers who did not participate in the meeting did, however, offer their perspective on what to expect as Trump presses forward with his charm offensive on Capitol Hill.
Chris Collins, a representative from New York who is backing Trump, said he was “baffled” at the assertion by some of his colleagues that they would not vote for Trump in November. But he was confident about Trump’s ability to win over those still on the fence through one-on-one meetings.
“People will see the Donald Trump I know, not necessarily the one you see in the rallies,” Collins said.
Trump’s overtures while in Washington extended even to his fiercest critics. South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who exited the race in December and has openly declared that Trump would destroy the Republican party, told reporters on Thursday that the two had a “cordial, pleasant” phone conversation.
Graham said the 15-minute call centered predominantly on national security, and he provided Trump with his assessment of the nuclear accord with Iran and the war against Isis.
Steps away from the chaos, Democrats at the US Capitol used the opportunity to portray Republicans as belonging to the “Party of Trump”.
The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, said the meetings served as “the latest sign that the Republican leaders in both houses are marching lockstep with Donald Trump”.
The Nevada senator aimed his fire in particular at McConnell, who threw his support behind Trump last week when it became all but certain that the real estate mogul had clinched the nomination.
“Donald Trump is everything that the Republican leader and his party could ever want in a nominee. His policy positions are identical to the Republican party platform,” Reid said in remarks on the Senate floor.
He then proceeded to tie the GOP to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric toward immigrants and women, pointing out that Republicans in Congress have blocked action on immigration reform and policies such as equal pay for women and paid family leave.
“Trump owes his candidacy to the Republican leader and to the policies that he’s led,” Reid said. “It was an obstructionist, anti-woman, anti-Latino, anti-Muslim, anti-middle class, anti-environment, and anti-Obama and anti-everything Republican party of the last eight years that made Donald Trump a reality.”
Reid’s counterpart in the House of Representatives, minority leader Nancy Pelosi, took a similar approach in tying congressional Republicans to Trump.
“Since when have the House Republicans been so concerned about intolerant statements and discriminatory ideas?” Pelosi said at her weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill.
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said he read Ryan and Trump’s joint statement “with amusement” and commented: “I don’t know anybody here who’s going to lose any sleep over the meeting.”
Earnest told reporters: “Speaker Ryan has described his view that the entire Republican party, including the presumptive nominee, should rally behind the agenda that Speaker Ryan has put forward. I think the reason he may be encountering some difficulty is he’s the speaker of the House. He should be implementing that agenda already.”
He accused the Republicans of inaction over releasing funds to combat the Zika virus, the Puerto Rico financial crisis and the opioid abuse epidemic.
“Unfortunately the Republicans seem much more focused on the elections than they do on embracing the results of the last elections that gave them a majority in Congress.
“If Republicans had much conviction about their agenda, they’d be trying to implement it now” rather than trying to convince Trump and their own members, Earnest added. “I think that’s why there might be skepticism both inside and outside about whether Republicans actually do have a governing agenda.” | 0 |
PHOENIX (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the handling of last month’s presidential nominating contest in Arizona’s most populous county, citing complaints of exceedingly long lines at polling places with high levels of minority voters. The Justice Department’s civil rights division has asked Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, to provide detailed information that could help authorities determine whether the March 22 primary election violated federal law, including how the number and locations of polls were decided. The Justice Department made the request in a letter dated April 1. The letter followed a call for a federal probe by Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, immediately after the election, calling the vote “a fiasco” as he cited “unacceptably disparate distribution of polling locations.” In what officials called a cost-cutting move, Maricopa County slashed its polling sites to 60, down from 200 in 2012. Voters last month waited in line for up to five hours to cast ballots and well into the night at the sharply reduced number of polls. In its letter, the Justice Department cites reports of “a disproportional burden in waiting times ... in some areas with substantial racial or language minority populations.” The Justice Department set an April 22 deadline for a response. Following the election, officials said their decisions on polling places were based on recent voting patterns and an increasing number of mail-in ballots. Karen Osborne, county elections director, denied there was any intent to rob voters of their rights and said officials would comply with the Justice Department request. “This is a request for information,” Osborne said in a brief interview on Monday with Reuters. “We are going to gather the information, and we will get it together by the 22nd, and we will make it public.” The state formally certified the election on Monday and candidates have five days to contest the results. In the Republican contest, Donald Trump won, while in the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton won. An attorney for Democrat Bernie Sanders has said his campaign is considering a challenge. | 1 |
Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East, Funk Soul, Randy J, Stewart Howe (ACR/21WIRE contributors) and Andy Nowicki, author of Conspiracy, Compliance, Control & Defiance, for the hundred and third episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.Listen to Boiler Room #103 Smoking Gunz on Spreaker.Direct Download Episode #103Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links: | 1 |
Topics: 2016 Presidential Election , trumphole , Mark Zuckerberg Friday, 11 November 2016 Don't blame me I made plenty of money out of the election as ZuckerNazi arrongantly dismisses his social responsiblity
After the election result was a complete shock to decent Americans it has come to light it was Zuckerbergs GREED that got the Trumphole elected.
Everyone knows how the new Emperor manipulated the media space with constant lies and trump eting fake news stories that whipped normally sensible people into emotional frenzies completely lacking any factual basis.
Emperor Trumpholes back room spinners are said to be rolling on the floor in laughter. "What a bunch of suckers" they chortled. "All we had to do was seed facetube with a whole lot of crap and then watch it become 'fact'. The emperor would then spruke it in his next rally and we were able to completely fabricate reality for most Americans".
Social commentators are collectively in outrage this morning as the ZuckerNazi denies it was his fault. I don't understand the problem he screamed at reporters, "I made plenty of money out of the election, whats the problem? The fact that democracy and decency were collateral damage isn't my problem".
Some where outraged that despite 40% of the news (none of it validated) drove the Trumpholes victory he is essentially dismissing any complicity. "Americans are essentially stupid and will believe any hate laden crap, if it wasn't me it would be someone else, so better i make the money than another guy, thats what makes us america great", he laughed.
When asked why he didn't use editors to check fake news stories he laughed and replied, "we tried that but it cost me money and decreased profits so i canned it, after all clickbaiting is great for profit". Make Jung in the Jungle's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!) | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a veiled warning to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, China’s ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday that Beijing would never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity. Ambassador Cui Tiankai, speaking to executives of top U.S. companies, said China and the United States needed to work to strengthen their relationship. “The political foundation of China-U.S. relations should not be undermined. It should be preserved,” Cui said. “And basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored, certainly not be seen as something you can trade off,” he said. “And indeed, national sovereignty and territorial integrity are not bargaining chips. Absolutely not. I hope everybody would understand that.” He did not specifically mention Taiwan, or Trump’s comments last weekend that the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its nearly four-decade policy of recognizing that Taiwan is part of “one China.” Cui’s remarks were in line with recent protests from China’s Foreign Ministry, which regards the “one China” principle as the “political basis” for U.S.-China ties.. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. China considers Taiwan independence a red line issue. On Thursday, China’s influential state-run tabloid the Global Times said China needed to take the lead in deciding the island’s future. “It is hoped that peace in the Taiwan Straits won’t be disrupted. But the Chinese mainland should display its resolution to recover Taiwan by force. Peace does not belong to cowards,” it said in an editorial. Trump, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” suggested that the U.S. position on Taiwan could become part of his pledge to negotiate more favorable trade terms with China. “I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said. Trump’s comments came after he prompted a diplomatic protest from China over his decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s president on Dec. 2. U.S. corporate executives are increasingly pessimistic about their business prospects in China in light of tough restrictions on foreign investment in the country’s vast service sector, new cyber-security regulations that favor domestic technologies and weak enforcement of intellectual property protections. Earlier on Wednesday, news that Chinese officials may penalize a U.S. automaker for monopolistic pricing behavior pushed down shares of General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N). Cui did not mention the autos case, but said: “China will ensure that there is a level playing field, for all companies, in China, both domestic and foreign.” | 0 |
in: Corporate Takeover , Economy & Business , Science & Technology , Sleuth Journal , Special Interests Six corporate giants control most media and related content Americans consume. Comcast, News Corp., Disney, Viacom, CBS and Time Warner dominate US broadcast and cable television news, entertainment and sports, movie and TV production, theme parks, record labels, publishing, and for-profit online operations. On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported telecommunications giant AT&T and Time Warner agreeing to merge. Approval, if granted, would likely assure greater consolidation in both industries – benefitting corporate predators at the expense of the vast majority of consumers, giving them less choice than already, ensuring higher prices for poorer service. Hillary is a Wall Street, war profiteers, corporate predators tool, virtually certain to support this outrageous deal – likely to get FCC and Justice Department approval on her watch. Campaigning in Pennsylvania, Trump called the proposed deal another example of too few sources disseminating information to Americans, warning of “too much concentration of power,” manipulating people, telling them how to think. As president, if elected, he vowed to oppose it. He’s against jobs-killing TPP, NAFTA and similar deals. “Our jobs are fleeing the country,” he said. “They’re going to Mexico. They’re going to many other countries.” Hillary calls TPP the “gold standard in trade agreements,” sure to approve what Trump opposes. He calls friendly relations with Russia a good thing, praising Putin as “a leader…far more than our president has been,” saying “(i)f we have a (normal) relationship with Russia, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could work together on it and knock the hell out of ISIS.” Hillary’s rage for endless wars to eliminate all sovereign independent governments risks nuclear confrontation with Russia, China and Iran on her watch. Trump is no peacenik, no paragon of virtue, yet he’s on the right side of vital issues discussed above. Hillary should terrify everyone – on the wrong side of virtually everything mattering most, the most ruthlessly dangerous choice for president in US history. Submit your review | 1 |
LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that Iran s talk of a possible rapprochement with the kingdom was laughable. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in London that Iran would have to change its policies for any rapprochement. Iran s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, last month said the Islamic Republic would soon exchange diplomatic visits after the regional rivals severed diplomatic ties last year. The comments of the foreign minister are laughable, al-Jubeir said. If Iran wants to have good relations with Saudi Arabia, it has to change its policies. It has to respect international law. At this time, we do not see... that they re serious about wanting to be a good neighbor, al-Jubeir said Iran s Zarif was quoted by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that diplomatic visits could take place after the haj pilgrimage ends in the first week of September. But al-Jubeir said that diplomatic exchanges with Iran over arrangements for the haj did not represent a normalization of relations and that such contacts had nothing to do with politics. We had the haj season, and when we have the haj, we try not to politicize it... But this is not normalization, he said. The meetings around the haj, have nothing to do with the politics. It s a religious issue. Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are at their worst in years, with each accusing the other of subverting regional security and supporting opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Al-Jubeir also said that if the rift with Qatar continued for two years then so be it. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) severed ties with Qatar in June over Doha s alleged support for militants. | 0 |
The Trump campaign is hopping mad over an unaffiliated super PAC that used the lure of a dinner with Donald Trump to take in over $1 million from unsuspecting Trump groupies. The super PAC, American Horizons PAC, set up a website at dinnerwithtrump.org and told Trump fans that their donations would enter them into a drawing to eat dinner with the reality TV star and Republican presidential candidate.In reality, the drawing set up by 25-year-old Ian Hawes, simply offers tickets to an already existing fundraiser for Trump. There is no guarantee that the winner would get to actually meet Trump, a stipulation hidden on the website in very fine print.Furthermore, documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission by the PAC showed that much of the money being donated is going to a company affiliated with Hawes, and not to Trump or other Republican candidates. It is the latest in what has been described as a scam PAC that is so prevalent on the right.The Trump campaign has now issued a cease-and-desist letter, attempting to stop the PAC. You are knowingly defrauding every person who gives you his or her email address or who makes a donation through your unauthorized website, reads a letter from Trump s campaign attorney, Donald McGahn, to the super PAC.The PAC was able to take advantage of the fact that Trump and the Republican Party have been woefully unprepared for the election. They haven t spent much of the money they ve received on TV ads or organizers in key states, nor have they clearly indicated a preference for a super PAC for well-heeled Republicans to donate to. As a result, these fly-by-night PACs have sprung up and using advertising on Facebook, Google, and cable news (mostly Fox News) they are able to tap in to angry Trump voters who think they re donating to help the Donald and take down Hillary Clinton.Like so much associated with Trump, it s turning into a mess.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
Baltimore City State s Attorney Marilyn Mosby tells FOX News reporter during hostile exchange (at the 1 minute mark) that she comes from five generations of police officers in response to his statement that Baltimore Police officers are concerned she doesn t have their backs: https://youtu.be/nbDeRqCxJbsThe mother of Baltimore city state s attorney Marilyn Mosby faced numerous disciplinary actions during her 20-year career as a Boston police officer, though the public wouldn t know it based on the Freddie Gray case prosecutor s public statements touting her family s strong policing history.The 35-year-old Mosby has used her family s police ties to rebut critics who say she rushed to judgement and overcharged the six cops involved in Gray s April 12 arrest. The 25-year-old Gray died a week later, touching off rioting in Baltimore and nationwide protests. Law enforcement is pretty much instilled within my being, Mosby told MSNBC s Chris Hayes on May 1, the day she publicly announced charges against the officers. I come from five generations of police officers, she added, pointing out that her mother, father, grandfather and uncles have all served as cops.But there s more to the story than Mosby has let on.Personnel records obtained by The Daily Caller show that Mosby s mother, Linda Thompson, first violated the Boston police department s substance abuse policy in 2006. After serving a 45-day rehab stint, Thompson violated the drug code again and voluntarily resigned on Feb. 1, 2008, rather than be fired.The early retirement allowed Thompson, now 52, to draw a $1,810.69 monthly pension.Thompson is not the only member of Mosby s family to have had a rocky policing career. Mosby s father was fired from the Boston police department in 1991 following accusations that he and his partner robbed drug dealers at gun point. Mosby s uncle was fired from Boston PD in 2001 after testing positive for cocaine. Her grandfather was a well-respected Boston cop, but he ultimately and unsuccessfully sued the department for racial discrimination in the 1980s.Personnel records obtained by The Daily Caller show that Mosby s mother, Linda Thompson, first violated the Boston police department s substance abuse policy in 2006. After serving a 45-day rehab stint, Thompson violated the drug code again and voluntarily resigned on Feb. 1, 2008, rather than be fired.The early retirement allowed Thompson, now 52, to draw a $1,810.69 monthly pension.Thompson is not the only member of Mosby s family to have had a rocky policing career. Mosby s father was fired from the Boston police department in 1991 following accusations that he and his partner robbed drug dealers at gun point. Mosby s uncle was fired from Boston PD in 2001 after testing positive for cocaine. Her grandfather was a well-respected Boston cop, but he ultimately and unsuccessfully sued the department for racial discrimination in the 1980s.Mosby has not publicly mentioned any of that during her speeches when running for Baltimore state s attorney or since taking on the Gray case. A majority of police officers are risking their lives day-in and day-out, Mosby told Hayes during her interview. Recognizing that, because that s what my family did, I also recognize that there are those individuals that usurp their authority who will go past the public trust. When they do that, you have to hold those individuals accountable, Mosby added.Mosby s claims are disingenuous, say three retired Boston police officers interviewed by TheDC. Linda Thompson s daughter is lecturing police officers about the right thing to do? You ve got to be kidding me, said one former cop who reached the highest levels of the Boston police department and has known Thompson since the beginning of her career.The retired officer, who asked not to be named, said that Mosby s message has been, You can trust me, I come from a family of cops. Mosby has proved a polarizing figure so far in the Gray case. Elected to office last year, she became a national star to many after her public announcement of charges against the cops. But her many critics say her case is flimsy and that she charged the officers for political reasons.The prosecution s theory seems to be that the officers did not do enough to restrain Gray in the back of a police van after his April 12 arrest. Some of the six officers also failed to provide proper medical attention, Mosby has claimed.Gray s April 19 death was ruled a homicide due to an act of omission. Mosby charged the driver of Gray s police van with second-degree depraved heart murder and manslaughter. Three other cops face manslaughter charges.Mosby has also been heavily criticized for using activist rhetoric when publicly discussing the case. During her May 1 speech she said that she heard protesters battle-cry of no justice, no peace. Days before that speech and before the medical examiner s office had even determined Gray s cause of death she told a group of local clergy members that she was going to seek justice for Gray by any and all means necessary. Via: Daily Caller | 0 |
Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty has endorsed Donald Trump and weighs in on the two hottest topics on Trump: | 0 |
Egypt's airstrikes came in response to the mass beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians by IS militants in Libya. The Libyan government has called for the US-led coalition in Syria and Iraq to turn its attentions to Libya.
Did Pluto's icy heart sink into that depression all by itself?
A man is comforted by others as he mourns over Egyptian Coptic Christians who were captured in Libya and killed by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, in the village of el-Aour, near Minya, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday in swift retribution for the extremists' beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier.
Egypt claims to have launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Libya, in retaliation for the gruesome execution of 21 Egyptian Christians shown in a video released Sunday. The mass murder threatens to open a new front in the greater battle against the self-declared Islamic State, potentially drawing Western powers once more into military intervention in Libya.
Egyptian state television declared that government warplanes struck targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darna, a militant stronghold on the coast about 150 miles from the Egyptian border. The BBC reports that the strikes, made in coordination with the military of the recognized Libyan government based in Tobruk, targeted "camps, training sites and weapons storage areas" of the IS affiliate in Libya. According to a Libyan air-force commander, 40 to 50 militants were killed in the strike, Reuters reports.
The Associated Press reports that a second airstrike is underway.
The strikes were made in response to an IS video released Sunday showing the execution of 21 Egyptians, all Coptic Christians, at the hands of masked IS supporters. The Christian Science Monitor's Dan Murphy writes that the video, shot in IS signature style, shows that the group's Libyan branch has "the numbers, the wherewithal, and the operational security to hold 21 captives for weeks and then carry out a highly-produced murder show in a beach without fear of intervention from Egypt or anyone else."
But Mr. Murphy also notes that Egypt's ability to respond is limited.
[Egypt's] military is mostly trained for domestic control and running the expansive business empires of its senior officers. What Egypt will actually be able to do about the group in Libya - rather than its hundreds of followers in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula - remains to be seen. However, the days of ignoring IS in Libya will be over. Unlike in Iraq, where there's a central government to work with, or in Syria, where there's both a strong national army and outside support for Bashar al-Assad's side of the fight against Syria, Libya barely has any functioning institutions anymore. The country could prove richer pickings for the group long term - than its two current struggles to the east.
Already the recognized Libyan government in Tobruk has called for the US-led coalition attacking IS forces in Syria and Iraq to turn its attentions to Libya. Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, speaking to Reuters, asked for Western military intervention against IS and Al Qaeda members he says are present in his country.
Reuters notes that the Islamist rival government in Tripoli, a group called Libyan Dawn, says it has no affiliation with either IS or Al Qaeda. The New York Times adds that at least three groups among the multitude fighting in Libya's civil war have declared loyalty to IS, "one in each of the country’s component regions: Barqa in the east, Fezzan in the desert south, and Tripolitania in the west, around the capital."
In a commentary published in the Daily Telegraph, Shashank Joshi warns that "it’s important to separate [the IS] role in Libya from the broader civil war there. Not every Libyan opposition faction is jihadist, and acting as if it were, by taking firm sides, is a recipe for disaster." | 0 |
Detroit teachers make viral video: Blame Republican Governor for deteriorating schools Ellen DeGeneres donates $500,000 to help school..Principal BUSTED stealing money from school.But it s all about the kids While there is no question many of the schools in Detroit are in horrible shape, placing the blame on Republican Governor Rick Snyder is laughable. Taxpayers in the state of Michigan have been bailing out the corrupt Detroit Public schools for decades.Some Detroit teachers at Spain Elementary got together to make a video highlighting the issues they were facing due to lack of funds available to their schools. The video caught the attention of Ellen Degeneres. In the video, the teachers blame the deteriorating condition of the Detroit Public Schools on Republican Governor Rick Snyder. The teachers also compare their schools to the schools in the suburbs, where the working taxpayers live who fill the coffers of the public school officials and administrators who always seem to be under investigation for stealing from them. The teachers also make a point at of suggesting that because the students are black, they are somehow being treated unfairly, invoking the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. to prove her point. Watch here:Over a dozen current and former principals in the Detroit public school system have been charged in a conspiracy scheme involving more than $900,000 in kickbacks and bribes, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.At least 13 principals are named in the federal complaints including the principal of a school that was featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and received $500,000 in donations because conditions there were so poor.One of the principals, Ronald Alexander, had received about $23,000 in kickbacks, the federal complaint says.Alexander appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in February when DeGeneres surprised his performing arts school with donations from Lowe s Home Improvement and pop star Justin Bieber, who pledged $1 from each ticket of his Michigan concert toward Spain Elementary-Middle School.During the show, teachers told Degeneres how they did not have enough money for books for each of the students and how classrooms lacked heat.[quote_box_center] Of all the people in the whole world, I am the happiest principal on Earth, Alexander said at the time.[/quote_box_center]Here is the video clip of the wonderful principal thief at Spain Elementary-Middle School, who generously accepted the $500,000 donation from Ellen Degeneres: The real victims in a case like this are the students and the families the teachers and the educators who want to make a difference, Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said at a news conference. A case like this is a real punch in the gut. The investigation started two years ago following a routine audit, prosecutors said.As part of the alleged scheme, school supplies vendor Allstate Sales was used by the various schools to purchase items such as auditorium chairs, supplemental teaching materials, and paper. The principals submitted fraudulent invoices for payments to Allstate Sales for some items that were never received.In exchange, those Detroit Public Schools principals received kickback payments, McQuade said. They ve each been charged with conspiracy and face arraignments.Norman Shy, Allstate Sales owner, allegedly worked with Clara Flowers, a principal and assistant superintendent, from at least February 2009 to January 2015. She had the power to select vendors and order materials for various schools.The scheme involved a total of $908,518 in kickbacks and bribes in exchange for Allstate Sales doing business with the Detroit Public Schools worth $2.7 million, McQuade said.Detroit s public schools have been in financial straits, and the allegations against the city principals come as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced that he signed a law releasing $48.7 million in emergency funding to help the state s largest school district stay open through the end of the school year.McQuade said the announcement of the charges were not linked to the governor s actions. This continues to demonstrate that the challenges at DPS aren t just Detroit s problem, they are concerns for all of Michigan, Snyder said in a statement Tuesday. Via: NBC | 0 |
Hillary Rodham Clinton easily parried barbed Republican questioning Thursday about the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, emerging unscathed from a high-stakes congressional hearing with a smooth and sometimes poignant account of her role in the event that has loomed as among her largest political liabilities.
Just over a year before the 2016 general election, the long-anticipated showdown was suffused with presidential politics — though neither Clinton nor members of the House Select Committee on Benghazi mentioned her position at the top of the Democratic field.
Both she and her Republican questioners claimed the high ground, insisting that they were focused on learning what went wrong when militants overran two U.S. compounds in the restive Libyan city in September 2012, just months before Clinton left office as secretary of state.
Democrats defended Clinton’s leadership and repeatedly accused Republicans of using the special investigative panel to hunt for damaging information about her.
“I would imagine I’ve thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I’ve lost more sleep than all of you put together,” Clinton said. “I have been racking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done.”
Republicans sought to establish a link between Clinton’s decision-making — before and during the attacks — and the four deaths, but they clearly struggled to build a theory of the case that she was directly responsible or negligent.
They also hurt their own cause at times. Several spent their 10-minute periods on peculiar lines of questioning: One pressed Clinton repeatedly about an e-mail exchange between two State Department staffers whom Clinton said she did not know. Much of the hearing was also consumed by bickering between Republicans and Democrats on the panel, leaving Clinton to sit by, sometimes shuffling papers or resting her chin on her hand.
U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others were killed in a chaotic, hours-long assault that revealed serious gaps in security and communications but not, Clinton claimed, a failure of leadership or policy.
“This was the fog of war,” Clinton said following an emotional recounting of harrowing events that included the failed attempt to rescue Stevens and the gut-wrenching hours that followed when the State Department could not account for his whereabouts.
The hearing comes at a moment when Clinton is reestablishing herself as the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, following several months in which her poll numbers had nose-dived. Her stumble came in part because of her handling of a controversy over her use of a private e-mail account while she was secretary of state — an unorthodox practice that was unearthed by the panel she appeared before on Thursday.
In recent days, Clinton has recovered much of her advantage.
She has built upon her strong performance at the first Democratic debate on Oct. 13. She also got a stroke of good fortune when Vice President Biden ended months of speculation with an announcement Wednesday that he would not seek the Democratic nomination.
As was the case with the debate, the hearing setting was one that played to Clinton’s natural strengths. She kept her composure through the 11-hour session and appeared well prepared for the lines of attack by the Republican members of the committee. As the day wore on, with her command of the proceeding becoming more apparent, she even appeared bored at times.
[How many questions were asked of Sidney Blumenthal]
There was no replay of the famous, and politically damaging, moment from a January 2013 hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Then in her final days as secretary of state, Clinton shouted and waved her arms at a Republican senator and demanded, “What difference, at this point, does it make” whether the attacks were premeditated?
This time, Clinton also had the benefits of missteps by Republicans — most notably remarks by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that the committee investigation had succeeded in damaging Clinton politically. Democrats seized upon that statement as proof that the investigation was motivated by partisanship rather than getting to the bottom of what had happened in Benghazi.
Clinton has called the panel “basically an arm of the Republican National Committee,” but she did not confront her Republican questioners on that point Thursday. She mostly smiled in mute agreement when Democrats called the exercise a partisan fishing expedition or a waste of taxpayer money.
At one point, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) suggested the Obama administration tried to whitewash the terrorist origins of the attacks because it undercut the political success that Clinton and others claimed in Libya. “I’m sorry that it doesn’t fit your narrative, Congressman,” Clinton responded. “I can only tell what the facts were.”
Two of Clinton’s personal attorneys sat behind her during the hearing, underscoring the peril the Benghazi episode and the questions surrounding her e-mails pose for her. The FBI is investigating whether classified information was compromised through Clinton’s e-mail system, which operated outside the usual State Department procedures and controls.
In her testimony, Clinton said she did not have a computer in her State Department office and did little of her daily work via e-mail.
“I conducted it in meetings,” she said. “I read massive amounts of memos, a great deal of classified information. I made a lot of secure phone calls. I was in and out of the White House all the time. There were a lot of things that happened that I was aware of and that I was reacting to.”
Republicans had wanted to interview Clinton in private, leading to months of negotiations over the terms of her appearance. Her attorneys refused, saying Republicans could selectively leak damaging material from a closed-door session.
Clinton’s disciplined performance, command of facts and pure stamina may bear out her calculation that a public performance would work to her benefit, as well as remind her opponents why she is an imposing candidate.
Conservative columnist Byron York wrote in the Washington Examiner that “a hearing billed as an epic, High Noon-style confrontation . . . instead turned out to be a somewhat interesting look at a few limited aspects of the Benghazi affair. In other words, no big deal. And that is very, very good news for Hillary Clinton.”
The day began with the panel’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), defending the committee’s mission and motives. Much of his opening statement was spent rebutting claims of partisan bias.
“The House of Representatives, including some Democrats, I hasten to add, asked this committee to write the final accounting of what happened in Benghazi,” Gowdy said. He said that despite seven previous inquiries, his panel was the first to interview many witnesses and the first to discover Clinton’s exclusive use of a private e-mail server for her government work.
[Why. Was. Hillary. Clinton. Speaking. So. Slowly?]
“Not a single member of this committee signed up to investigate you or your e-mail,” he assured Clinton. “We signed up to investigate and therefore honor the lives of four people that we sent into a dangerous country to represent us, and to do everything we can to prevent it from happening to others. Our committee has interviewed half a hundred witnesses. Not a single one of them has been named Clinton until today.”
Republicans on the committee have repeatedly pressed Clinton about the special access she gave longtime friend Sidney Blumenthal, who sent reports about Libya to the private e-mail address that Clinton used for government business while she was secretary of state.
Why, the panel members asked, could a Clinton loyalist get messages to her inbox while the American ambassador in Libya had to send his concerns about security through official channels.
“Help us understand how Sidney Blumenthal had that kind of access to you, Madam Secretary, but the ambassador did not,” Gowdy said.
Clinton said that was exactly the way the system should work. She said security issues were discussed and resolved by professionals whose work she would not second-guess. She used the question of adequate security to make an impassioned case that the legacy of Benghazi should not be a retrenchment of American engagement in dangerous places.
Repeatedly, the Republicans were baited by Democrats into fights over whether the committee was a partisan tool, and whether any of them should be there at all. Just before the lunch break, Gowdy and several Democrats got into a loud argument about whether to release Blumenthal’s interview transcripts, while cameras showed Clinton shuffling papers.
“I don’t know what this line of questioning does to help us get to the bottom of the deaths of four Americans,” Clinton said to Gowdy before the intra-committee bickering began.
Democrats repeatedly charged that the majority Republicans were rehashing questions that had been answered in the many inquiries into the only death of a sitting ambassador since 1979.
The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), claimed Republicans had focused on Clinton to the exclusion of other relevant Cabinet members, including the then-heads of the Defense Department and the CIA.
It was under sympathetic Democratic questioning that Clinton grew pensive and emotional, particularly when recalling Stevens and how he died. She called Stevens a rising star whose deep knowledge of Libya made him her choice to be ambassador. She swore him in for that post.
Clinton gave a detailed account of efforts to bring Stevens and State Department officer Sean Smith to a “safe room” inside the lightly defended diplomatic compound Stevens was visiting from his headquarters in the capital, Tripoli.
“I wanted to point out that even when we try to get it right, which we do try, sometimes there are unintended consequences, and there is an example out of this tragedy,” Clinton said. “The attackers used diesel fuel to set the compound on fire. And the safe room was anything but safe.”
The security situation in Benghazi was deteriorating rapidly over the summer of 2012, and Stevens requested additional security measures.
Many of the security requests, she said, were fulfilled. “Others weren’t.”
Mark Berman, Karoun Demirjian, David A. Fahrenthold, Elahe Izadi and Abby Phillip contributed to this report. | 0 |
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearize the Korean peninsula during a phone conversation on Friday, the White House said in a statement. Trump and Xi also agreed that the recent adoption of a United Nations Security Council resolution on North Korea was an important step toward achieving peace and stability on the peninsula, it added. “President Trump and President Xi agreed North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior,” the statement said. The White House said the “relationship between the two presidents is an extremely close one, and will hopefully lead to a peaceful resolution of the North Korea problem.” | 1 |
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Three similar envelopes, one believed to contain a suspicious white powder, were being investigated by police on Tuesday at the Scottish parliament, a source at the building said. The letters were addressed to Conservative lawmakers, Jamie Halcro Johnston, Liz Smith and Edward Mountain, the source said. One of the letters was only intercepted when opened by a researcher on the first floor of building while the other two letters had similar writing. | 1 |
Robert Mueller, the man selected in May by the Justice Department to head the investigation into Russia s interference in the 2016 presidential election, probably thought the job was relatively secure when he initially accepted the position, but now Donald Trump s attorneys most likely have Mueller second-guessing his decision.In an interview on Sunday, Jay Sekulow, one of Trump s attorneys, alluded to the fact that he wouldn t completely rule out the possibility that the president may fire Mueller from leading the investigation into Trump s campaign. Why would he fire Mueller? Simply because he can.ABC s George Stephanopoulos was interviewing Sekulow on the program This Week on Sunday and the topic of the investigation came up. Stephanopoulos asked Sekulow if the president would give any assurance that he would not interfere in the investigation into Russian ties or order U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a man that many believe has already committed perjury on more than one occasion since he was sworn in for the position in early February, to fire Mueller. Sekulow s response wasn t particularly convincing. Look, the President of the United States, as we all know, is a unitary executive, Sekulow said during the interview. But the president is going to seek the advice of his counsel and inside the government as well as outside. And I m not going to speculate on what he will, or will not, do. So, not only did Sekulow not give any assurance that Trump would pledge not to meddle in the investigation or have Mueller fired, he completely avoided acknowledging both points. In fact, Sekulow went on to add that he can t imagine the issue of firing the head of the investigation would arise, but that, again, is an issue that the president with his advisers would discuss if there was a basis. Nobody said getting to the bottom of the Russia scandal was going to be easy.Featured image via Andrew Burton/Getty Images | 1 |
Read anything Stephen Henderson has written over the past year and you will be hard pressed to find a single piece where he is not crying about some injustice either he or his fellow black man has suffered. Anyone who reads his whiny drivel for more than a couple of months will likely need some sort of therapy to keep them from wanting to jump off the nearest ledge on a tall building. Henderson is a perfect example of the wussification of the male in the United States. We ve met and spoken with him before. Henderson is not embarrassed to say he s a hardened liberal. He blames it on his U of D Catholic High School education. He claims they pumped liberalism and social justice through his veins. As a Catholic, I find this type of rhetoric gut-wrenching, irresponsible and the furthest thing from the type of love and compassion for my neighbor I learned as a young Catholic. If representatives of working citizens who live in the suburbs of Detroit, refuse to burden them with hundreds of millions of tax dollars to bail out the failed Detroit Public Schools (yet again), Stephen Henderson says they should be murdered.Stephen Henderson, the Pulitzer prize-winning editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press has called for the murder of Michigan lawmakers with whom he disagrees.The reason? The lawmakers voted for legislation that would give parents more choices to avoid Michigan s failing public schools. Detroit s public schools are failing academically and nearly insolvent, the New York Times wrote in January. The Detroit News wrote in March that the statewide opinion of K-12 education is downright ugly. That poll showed residents didn t think throwing money at public-union-controlled schools was the answer, with 63 percent saying it takes more than money to improve education.Yesterday Michigan s Republican legislators voted to bail out Detroit s abysmally run schools with $617 million in taxpayer funding. The same bill also fought efforts to constrain charter school choices in Detroit. Prior to the vote, Stephen Henderson wrote on his editorial page:We really ought to round up the lawmakers who took money to protect and perpetuate the failing charter-school experiment in Detroit, sew them into burlap sacks with rabid animals, and toss them into the Straits of Mackinac.That s harsh. Maybe.But isn t that what the Romans or Greeks or some other early practitioners of democracy used to do with solicitous and unprincipled public officials?And this legislation that passed the state House of Representatives Thursday night, the one that bows to the thoroughly debunked theory that a free-for-all, market-based approach to public schooling will produce quality choices for Detroit parents?It is garbage.It is bought-and-paid-for work product from a legislative body whose leader, the maladroit thinker Kevin Cotter, has sold his caucus political soul to the high-bidding DeVos family and other charter advocates and told himself it s about belief, not money.In the most crass terms, the House of Representatives is telling parents in Detroit that the best we deserve is what we have now. Public schools that have been underfunded and torn asunder by depopulation and corruption. Charters opening and closing willy-nilly, many to profit off the traditioal public schools misery, but offering alternatives in name only to the public schools they claim to outperform. The bragging that charter advocates do about the sliver of daylight between the outcomes of charters and traditional public schools would be roll-on-the-floor funny if it weren t so condescending, and it it didn t heartily embrace the idea of calcified inequality.It is every bit deserving of an old-school retributive response.A sack. An animal. A lake.No lover of actual democracy could weep at that outcome.Stephen Henderson s tweeted his Detroit Free Press article and added this disgusting commentary:GOP House harlots deserve worse than hanging for selling out #detroit kids on #DPS bills. https://t.co/zbPajL81qq Stephen Henderson (@SHendersonFreep) June 3, 2016 | 1 |
Director Michael Bay is perhaps best known for his over-the-top, CGI-crazy Transformers movies. He regularly deals in the kind of popcorn action flicks that allows an audience to turn their brains off and just go along for a ride. Or, if your Eric Trump, son of Donald, Michael Bay can change your life.Over Memorial Day weekend, Eric came across Michael Bay s Republican-friendly take on the Benghazi scandal called 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi . It blew his mind.Eric Trump and his wife, Lara, apparently spent part of the Memorial Day weekend watching the Benghazi flick, which Trump s son said made him literally livid. I think in order to vote in this next election, you should have to watch that movie. I was livid, Trump said. She left these guys on a rooftop in the middle of Benghazi getting shot at, having mortars drop on their head because she wouldn t pick up a phone call in the middle of the night. Like father, like son. Donald Trump has routinely slammed Hillary Clinton s response to Benghazi by pushing the conspiracy theory that claimed she ignored her phone when the frantic embassy staff tried to get help. This is an idea that Michael Bay whose own political views oscillate between ultra-conservative and slow-motion shots of American flags waving in the wind reinforced in his movie by adding a feckless bureaucrat character whose sole purpose in the story was to get in the way of the light beer drinking patriots driving to save the embassy. In a scathing review of the film, critic Jason Bailey at Flavorwire aptly summed up the cartoon bullshit Bay tried to pass for political messaging. It s like catnip for conservatives.In fact, the film s real villains aren t the faceless, nameless Libyans attacking these outposts; it s the pencil-pushing, weaselly base chief (David Constabile), who insults and obstructs our heroes at every turn. We have the best and brightest minds from Harvard and Yale, he tells newbie Jack (John Krasinski), of the agents on their base, so the best thing for you is to stay out of their way. Fuckin smart people, am I right? He also, of course, insists there s no danger to be found, and orders the team to stand down and wait after they get word of the attack on Ambassador Stevens a detail refuted by a GOP-controlled congressional committee, as reported by Fox News, but there I go getting political.Of course, basing your political views on Michael Bay s portrayal of a contentious event means you are inevitably going to miss some stuff: Like many of the facts. Here s how Factcheck.org ruled on the accusation that Clinton was AWOL in the immediate aftermath of the attacks:Trump is entitled to his opinion about Clinton s response to the Benghazi attack, but the evidence shows Clinton was fully engaged in the immediate response. And subsequent congressional investigations concluded the government response to the attack including Clinton s was appropriate. Clinton testified that even after she went home that night, she remained awake all night, engaged and focused on the situation. Since there is no way to independently verify that, we ll let readers decide for themselves, but we would note Trump has not provided any evidence to contradict Clinton s account.Both Donald and Eric are wrong. And wrong in ways that only people who routinely get their news from tabloids and right-wing chain emails can be. Even a cursory look into the actual details of what went on during the Benghazi attacks would show a situation that was far more nuanced and tragic than the black-and-white nonsense they are describing. Ironically, it s this very ham-fisted attempt to lash out at Hillary Clinton that truly does a disservice to the three Americans that died at the embassy. Their deaths are being used by the Trump family to service Donald s agenda. There is nothing more despicable than that.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 1 |
« on: Today at 09:20:29 PM » Nintendo Cuts Full-Year Sales, Operating Profit Forecasts 26 October 2016 , by Yuji Nakamura and Takashi Amano (Bloomberg) - Boost from Pokemon Go fails to make up for sales outlook slump- Shares decline in European trading after results release Logged | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - Russian President Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani discussed the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum and the Syrian civil war in a telephone call, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Assessing the current situation in the region, especially in Iraq and Syria, was the main focus of the two leaders, Hamid Aboutalebi, Rouhani s deputy chief of staff of for political affairs, said. They stressed on the necessity of maintaining the unity of Iraq and security and stability in the region, he added. | 0 |
It was refreshing to moderate a "town hall" with the Libertarian presidential and vice presidential candidates last week because Govs. Gary Johnson and William Weld respect limits on presidential power.
Sunday, when Fox's Chris Wallace challenged Johnson's plan to replace the IRS with a consumption tax, Johnson pointed out that he's "not getting elected dictator or king."
Wallace suggested that means, "Don't take my policies seriously because they won't get through."
It means that Johnson understands that America is a constitutional republic and there are (and ought to be) checks on what presidents can do.
In response to Wallace's comment about Johnson not taking his promises seriously, Johnson said, "Take them very seriously. Count on certainty that we're always going to support taxes going lower... being in business being easier, rules and regulations not getting worse."
Clinton changes positions from year to year: praising trade deals, then condemning them; condemning gay marriage, then praising it—then scolding anyone who doesn't share her new position.
Trump changes positions even faster, sometimes day to day. After saying he'll deport millions of immigrants, now he says he won't if they pay taxes and fill out paperwork—roughly the same position Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio held when Trump trashed them.
Libertarians don't shift to fit the whims of the day, because we have core principles. One is: On most every issue, less government involvement is better.
"Government doesn't create jobs!" said Johnson when a young woman asked what Johnson and Weld would "do about jobs." The Libertarians said jobs get created when government gets out of the way, imposing only a few clear and predictable rules.
While Trump makes vague promises about making government "great" and Clinton about making it "fair," Johnson and Weld talk about getting rid of as much of it as they can.
"There are constitutional limits to that," said Johnson. "But if you were to wave a magic wand, there are a number of departments that come up: Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Homeland Security."
Unlike Trump and Clinton, Johnson specifies cuts—and he's willing to go after sacred cows such as defense spending: "You can't balance the federal budget—something we're promising to do in the first 100 days—you can't do that without cutting military spending. ... The BRAC Commission, set up by the Pentagon, says that we've got to eliminate 20 percent of those bases, but that hasn't happened."
"When the GIs returned from World War II, they had two sets of needs, education and health care," he says. "Education was handled through the GI Bill, which was essentially a voucher system. You could go wherever you wanted, the most successful program in domestic political history of the 20th century. Health care was the ... opposite approach: command and control, one size fits all, the government is going to do this."
The GI Bill vouchers allowed soldiers to enroll at a school they chose. But for health care, they must wait in long lines at government-run veterans hospitals, sometimes dying for lack of adequate care.
Applying these free-market lessons across a range of policies, Johnson and Weld would roll back the drug war, decrease our involvement in foreign wars and give individuals more control over how their Social Security funds are invested.
When an audience member suggested that voting for a third party is a "wasted vote," Weld replied, "We're fiscally responsible. We're socially inclusive and tolerant, (but) if you agree with us and you want to go waste your vote on Trump or Clinton, be our guest. We're Libertarians."
Johnson and Weld don't promise they can get rid of the Washington leviathan overnight, but taking a few steps closer to liberty sounds like a good start to me. It's a lot better than the path the two major parties want us to take. | 0 |
Trump has been tweeting about Hurricane Irma sort of for the last couple of days. His tweets mostly consist of bragging that his emergency teams are ready and telling people to stay safe. But while he s pretending to be concerned, he s also sending out messages begging people for donations; not to the charities and rescue organizations that are, and will be, on the ground in Florida during and after Irma, but to himself and his 2020 campaign.He s not even making a pretense of asking for donations to help him help those in Irma s path. Seriously. This is what he s sending out to his followers:The link in the above image goes to the donation page on Trump s campaign site, where a video again attacks career politicians and the media, and goes into his usual spiel about Let s finish the job, and Make America great again. It s ridiculously tone-deaf in light of how many are scrambling to aid those in Irma s path.He bragged about his response to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, but he s not really doing anything but tweeting about Irma and closing Mar-a-Lago ahead of landfall. He s made a Facebook video that, like his tweets, urges people to get out of Irma s way, but many don t have that choice.The federal government has three major relief efforts to deal with right now: Ongoing recovery efforts in Texas and Louisiana, live-saving efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (where Irma has already hit), and evacuation and preparation efforts in Florida, which is more or less closed and in chaos.Trump will monitor Irma from the safety of Camp David and beg for donations to his campaign instead of do some real work.His timing for this kind of a message is especially poor. If he wants to ask for donations, fine. But he should be directing people to donate to the non-profits and other organizations that are on the ground everywhere in Irma s path and put his stupid, vapid campaign on hold. His priorities are clear, and they do not lie with the American people.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A committee that raises money for Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives confirmed on Friday it had been hacked in an intrusion possibly linked to Russian hackers, similar to an earlier breach targeting another Democratic Party group. In an incident that escalated concerns about the potential for Russian meddling in U.S. politics, Reuters first reported on Thursday that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the hack at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC. The intrusion took place from at least June 19 to June 27, though it may have been longer, according to analysis conducted by U.S. network security company FireEye. The committee said in a statement it has hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. “We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network,” the committee said. “We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation.” The DCCC hack may be related to an earlier hack against the Democratic National Committee, which raises money and sets strategy for Democratic candidates nationwide. The DNC and DCCC occupy the same office building in Washington. Potential links to Russian hackers in both incidents were likely to heighten accusations, so far unproven, that Moscow is trying to meddle in the U.S. presidential election campaign to help Republican nominee Donald Trump. The Kremlin denied involvement in the DNC cyber attack. In June, a bogus website was registered with a name resembling a DCCC donation site. For some time, donation-related internet traffic that was supposed to go to a donation-processing firm instead went to the fake site. The DCCC intrusion may have been used to compromise the computer systems of donors who visited the spoof site, rather than to collect their personal information, said John Hultquist, manager of cyber espionage analysis at FireEye. Several major Democratic donors contacted by Reuters on Friday said they had not been notified of the hack and were not concerned about their information being accessed. “I’m less concerned about that than I am about my Amex being hacked,” said John Morgan, 60, a Florida attorney. Cindy Miscikowski, 68, a California donor, said she would be upset if hackers got her bank information, but otherwise she was not worried because donations are disclosed publicly. The timeframe of the DCCC hack would place it days after the DNC went public with its breach and said the hackers had been kicked out of its systems. Sources said the numerical Internet address of the spurious DCCC site resembled one used by a Russian government-linked hacking group, one of two suspected in the DNC breach. Rich Barger, co-founder of security intelligence firm ThreatConnect Inc, said his analysis of the fake donation site tied it to the group linked to Russian military intelligence. He said the web domain name was set up through a service that accepts bitcoin, with a contact email address that had been used to set up websites involved in a major German hack, which also was attributed to the Russian group. Cyber experts and U.S. officials said this week there was evidence that Russia engineered the DNC hack to release sensitive party emails and influence U.S. politics. The DNC hack raised concerns among Democrats at the party’s convention in Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton was nominated as the party’s candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election. The new hack at the DCCC could add pressure on the Obama administration to make a public accusation or retaliate. The Justice Department and other agencies have said it is important for deterrence to “name and shame” cyber adversaries. “Any efforts on a nation state’s part to interfere with U.S. politics through cyber attacks would appear to cross a line that would demand a response from the U.S. government,” said D.J. Rosenthal, a former Justice Department and National Security Council official. A former White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any formal accusation would require overwhelmingly certain evidence. Staffers for the Republican National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said separately that those campaign organizing groups had not been hacked. | 1 |
“The earth is gold to farm,” said Dean Foster, who learned before he was in kindergarten how to drive a tractor on his family’s potato farm in Sagaponack, N. Y. As a child, he never questioned going into the family business, which has been growing potatoes on the East End of Long Island for generations. “But now we have an influx of people who realize this earth is gold to build on. ” In 2015, Sagaponack, a village in the Hamptons, was listed by Forbes as the second most expensive ZIP code in the country. Not great news for the humble potato farmer. If they had been looking to sell, the Fosters would have been set for life local brokers estimated the value of their 150 acres at over $100 million this past summer. That may seem like a gold strike, but it would have required them to give up the family’s legacy. “Our land values have gone through the roof,” Mr. Foster’s sister, Marilee Foster, said. “And most of our adult lives, we’ve worried. ” The answer to their problems, unexpectedly, has turned out to be vodka. “The New York Craft Act really kicked me in the pants,” Mr. Foster said, referring to the law signed in late 2014 by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, which eased regulations on producers. It was a call to the hipsters who had been making bathtub gin, but it was also a call to farmers who had been searching for a way to survive. “It opened the doors to one of the best products you could bring forward,” Mr. Foster said, “and allowed us to step up the game. ” He is betting the farm on Sagaponacka, the vodka produced in his new Sagaponack Farm Distillery. Thirty years ago, the Fosters’ biggest business was exporting potatoes to Puerto Rico, and they sent out five trailers a day, five days a week. This year, the Fosters have shipped only three trailer loads since the start of the harvest in . “That market really disappeared with Nafta,” Mr. Foster said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 1994. “That was the beginning of the end for exports. ” And the local market has been no kinder. Last year, the Fosters were getting 11 cents, at the most, for a pound of potatoes, down from an average of 22 cents a pound in 2009. Add to that the rising minimum wage, the cost of machinery and an impending inheritance tax, and the farmers felt doomed. “The inheritance tax reflects on our net worth regarding this very expensive land we reside on,” Mr. Foster said. “After all is said and done, we’ll have given away 60 percent of our net worth to the government. ” Even though the New York Agricultural Districts Law, enacted in 1971, eased the strain of the property tax on the farmer, the Fosters won’t have the cash to pay the inheritance tax when the farm changes hands. A potato farmer’s income just doesn’t line up with Sagaponack prices if they don’t find a way to make their land more profitable, they will have to sell it. “If the farm wasn’t worth so much,” Mr. Foster said, “we wouldn’t be lying awake at night trying to figure out how we can save it. ” So Mr. Foster decided to shift his focus from the plate to the martini glass by developing a premium vodka made with Foster potatoes. He collaborated with Matt Beamer, who has stood at the forefront of the craft beer movement in Utah, brewing at companies like Uinta Brewing and Wasatch Brewery. In 1997, Mr. Beamer began Park City Brewery, which was subsequently purchased by Moab Brewery and has continued to grow. “Craft brewers changed the beer world in the last 30 years,” Mr. Beamer said. “And a lot of people like me are getting into spirits now. ” For Mr. Beamer, the appeal of the project is the story behind the vodka, which is usually made from grain and doesn’t often have ingredients that distinguish one batch from another. “The ingredients are unique to here, and have their own terroir,” he said. “We’re trying to capture Sagaponack. ” To be a farm distillery in New York, 75 percent of the ingredients used must be sourced within the state. Brooklyn has become a frontier for budding distillers, where nine of New York City’s 13 farm distilleries have appeared since 2010. Kings County Distillery, established that year, has the distinction of being the first distillery in the city since prohibition. Now the movement is booming. In fact, the Fosters and their Sagaponack potatoes are a little bit late to the party. “There’s a new brand fatigue,” said Colin Spoelman, of Kings County Distillery and a master distiller. “It’s harder to get on the shelf unless there’s something really compelling, something very different than what everyone else is doing. ” And Sagaponack Farm Distillery has something that others do not. Unlike the vast majority of distilleries in New York, which source ingredients from farms all over the state, Mr. Foster and Mr. Beamer are trying to gather all of their ingredients from Foster Farm, where their distillery is also located. There they have total control over the process, growing, harvesting, washing, peeling and then grinding the potatoes for distillation, on the property. They opened their research and development distillery in May 2015. The large still, a tower of gleaming copper, was completed this summer. The distillery recently received federal approval to make vodka from this year’s potato harvest, which is currently underway. Soon, it will start producing up to 70, 000 gallons of sellable spirits a year. Mr. Foster and Mr. Beamer hope to have the tasting room open by next summer. In the meantime, several restaurants and liquor stores in the city and across the East End are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the vodka with the Sagaponack terroir. David Loewenberg, who owns three Hamptons restaurants, is already brainstorming what cocktails will best suit the newest vodka on the block. “I’m sure it will make an outrageous Bloody Mary,” he said. Whether it’s the wine tap stocked with local wines or the Pine Barrens single malt from the North Fork of Long Island, Mr. Loewenberg supports what he calls “local swill. ” “At one point this was all farmland,” he said. “And the Fosters have found a way to keep farming by being creative with the product. Making vodka is still living off the land, and I support it. ” Mr. Beamer sees distributing their products to city restaurants and bars as crucial to the company. “Given the size of our equipment,” he said, gesturing to the towering copper stills, “a major part of our vision is distributing in the city. ” Last year the Fosters grew 180 acres of potatoes this year they grew 75. In 2017, that number will dwindle to 20 as they focus production on the distillery and a handful of restaurants, eliminating sales on the open market entirely. The rest of their land will be turned to grain, which will be used to produce more strains of premium alcohol at Sagaponack Farm Distillery. Wheat, rye, barley, oats and corn will all find a place in their soil. The hope is to eventually produce enough grains to sell to other New York farm distilleries. “This is an effort to continue in something we see value and purpose in,” Ms. Foster. “We don’t imagine stopping farming. ” | 0 |
Star Wars icon Mark Hamill previously mocked Donald Trump by reading one of the president-elect s mean-girl girl tweets using the voice of The Joker. And now he s back to poke Trump in the eye by mocking the president-elect s attack on actress Meryl Streep.Most people know of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars but he s also a very talented voice-over actor. His voice as The Joker is amazing and using his skills to mock Trump is an effective tool. His newest jab at Trump has gone viral on Twitter and it s about the best thing you ll hear all day. Am I the ONLY one man enough to confront this #OverratedFlunkyLoser without resorting to an ad hominem assault? Hamill tweeted along with the recording.Am I the ONLY one man enough to confront this #OverratedFlunkyLoser without resorting to an ad hominem assault? https://t.co/ac2j2KGryn pic.twitter.com/iH1XnPgOzm Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) January 14, 2017Last week, Trump tweeted, Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a .. Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never mocked a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him ., he continued.He added, groveling when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!The incoming president lashes out at people who hurt his feelings. People like Meryl Streep, for example. He s about to hold the highest seat in the land, yet he shows no restraint on Twitter where he has nearly 20 million followers, some of which probably follow him just to see what outrageous thing he will tweet out next. He tweets about nukes, he manipulates the stock market by attacking brands, showing that he s already abusing the power of the presidency even before he takes the oath of office. When he takes over the @POTUS account, we suggest you report his tweets for impersonating a president. Impersonation accounts are against Twitter s terms of use.Photo via Wiki | 0 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Preet Bharara, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan known for pursuing a series of cases targeting public corruption and crime on Wall Street, said on Wednesday he has agreed to remain in his post after Donald Trump becomes U.S. president. Bharara, appointed to his position by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009, told reporters following a meeting with the Republican president-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan that Trump asked him to stay on during his administration and he accepted. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. “We had a good meeting,” Bharara said. “I said I would absolutely consider staying on. I agreed to stay on.” The announcement’s timing, when Trump has not yet finished filling all Cabinet-level positions, was unusual. But some former prosecutors who served under Bharara said they were not surprised their former boss would be willing to remain as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “I think Preet is an independent, law enforcement-minded prosecutor who loves his job and is clearly talented in it,” said Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former chief of Bharara’s public corruption unit who is now a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the incoming Senate Democratic leader who Bharara previously worked for as chief counsel, said Trump called him last week to ask what he thought about Bharara staying in his job. “I am glad they met and am glad Preet is staying on,” Schumer said in a statement. “He’s been one of the best U.S. Attorneys New York has ever seen.” Bharara’s office has pursued an aggressive push against corruption in state and city politics, an agenda that could fit with Trump’s vow to “drain the swamp” in Washington. Those political investigations led last year to the convictions of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican, in separate corruption trials. Bharara also brought dozens of successful cases against insider traders and was on the cover of Time magazine in 2012 with the headline “This man is busting Wall St.” Those cases include the 2011 conviction of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is serving an 11-year prison term, and a $1.8 billion settlement and plea deal in 2013 with hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP. His 227-lawyer office also secured corporate settlements with companies including General Motors Co and JPMorgan Chase & Co; won several convictions and guilty pleas of former employees of Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff; and prosecuted Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bharara’s office’s priorities have often matched those set by Obama’s Justice Department. Amid an increase in civil rights investigations nationally, for example, Bharara’s office joined a lawsuit that led to a settlement in 2015 aimed at reducing violence in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. How priorities set by the Justice Department under Trump’s pick for attorney general, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, affects the cases Bharara’s office pursues remains unclear. “Obviously there is likely be some changes in priorities from Main Justice (the department’s Washington headquarters), and the office will have to adjust to those,” said Richard Zabel, who previously served as Bharara’s deputy before becoming hedge fund Elliott Management’s general counsel. Bharara said his office had for the past seven years pursued its work “independently, without fear or favor.” Former prosecutors they expect that to stay the same. “He would have only taken it on if he were 100 percent confident that that independence could be preserved,” said Matthew Schwartz, partner at the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner and a former prosecutor under Bharara. | 0 |
Guest Guest | 1 |
Republican Party elected officials in contested races around the country have been grappling with a basic but profound issue all year — how do you stand up for the GOP and conservative principles and against Hillary Clinton without getting sucked into defending every crazy, offensive, or weird thing Donald Trump has said? It can be a tough line to walk, as New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte learned this week.
Debating Tim Kaine Tuesday night, Mike Pence taught a master class in how it’s done. Every time Kaine attacked, Pence parried and deftly shifted the conversation to something else entirely.
When Kaine demanded that Pence defend Trump’s secrecy on his taxes, Pence ducked and talked about how low taxes are good for economic growth. When Kaine offered an extended list of Trump insults that he said he couldn’t believe Pence would defend, Pence didn’t defend them — he pivoted to complaining about Clinton and the “basket of deplorables.” Pence was tight, disciplined, and focused on his talking points. He never took the bait, never let himself get dragged into unfavorable terrain, and simply ignored subjects he didn’t want to discuss.
It was a genuinely bravura performance, one that a passel of GOP senators and Congress members running in tough races ought to study. The problem is Trump is at the top of the ticket.
The crowning moment of the debate came at around 9:45 pm, when Kaine launched into a devastating foreign policy attack on Donald Trump:
Donald Trump cannot start a Twitter war with Miss Universe without shooting himself in the foot. He does not have a plan. He said "I have a secret plan," and then he said, "I know more than all the generals about ISIL," and finally he said, "I am going to fire all the generals." He does not have a plan. He trash talks the military, John McCain is no hero, the generals need to be fired, I know more than them. NATO is obsolete. And third, he loves dictators. He has a personal Mount Rushmore of Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Saddam Hussein. He believes — Donald Trump believes that the world will be safer if more nations have nuclear weapons. He said Saudi Arabia should get them, Japan should get them, and Korea should get them. When he was confronted with this, he said, "Go ahead, folks, enjoy yourselves." I would like Gov. Pence to say what is so enjoyable or comical about nuclear war.
Pence simply could not and would not defend any of this. Instead, he tried to deflect, saying, “That had a lot of creative lines in it.”
Kaine pressed again: “See if you can defend any of it?”
I want to give this president credit for bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, but the truth is, Osama bin Laden led al-Qaeda. The primary threat today is ISIS. Because Hillary Clinton failed to renegotiate a forces agreement that would have allowed some American combat troops to remain in Iraq and secure the hard-fought gains that the American soldier has won, ISIS was able to be literally conjured up out of the desert, and it has overrun vast areas. My heart breaks for the likes of Corporal Lebowski. He fought hard, through some of the most difficult days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure the nation. That nation was secured in 2009. Because Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama failed to provide a status of forces agreement and leave sufficient forces, we are back at war. We are back at war in Iraq. [...]
It was a deftly executed move. And while the substance of the critique is somewhat unfair, it’s not crazy. The Obama administration’s attempted withdrawal from Iraq pretty clearly has not worked out nearly as well as it hoped.
But Pence utterly failed to take up Kaine’s challenge to defend Trump’s affection for Putin, dislike of NATO, or willingness to entertain nuclear proliferation. Pence simply shrugged off the entire reality of Trump’s 2016 campaign and slammed Obama, Clinton, and Kaine as soft on Russia — a smooth extension of the foreign policy messages of John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012.
If Kaine and Pence had been debating for an Ohio Senate seat, any fair-minded person would have to conclude that Pence won in a landslide. He was focused on his key points, while Kaine was focused on dragging the conversation into personal attacks on a man who wasn’t even standing on the stage.
The problem, obviously, is that they aren’t running for an Ohio Senate seat.
They’re running for vice president. Or at least Tim Kaine is. That’s why he loyally defended Clinton when Pence hit the Clinton Foundation issue instead of pivoting away to his own talking points. He played the somewhat awkward role of loyal number two. Pence, by contrast, focused on making Mike Pence look good and happily left Trump’s eccentricities on the cutting board.
For Republicans sitting at home, Pence’s largely effective performance should serve as a powerful reminder that a generic Republican candidate would probably win the 2016 election. Trump, by contrast, is losing currently, has been losing from the beginning, and probably will lose in the end.
When he does, Republicans will be searching for their next nominee. When they do, they’ll see that Pence — the guy I used to think they would pick for 2016 — doesn’t quite have the pizzazz or superstar quality of a Donald Trump, but he’s also a much better, more focused, more disciplined, less crazy politician. The kind of guy who could actually win. | 1 |
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina s previous government never asked Interpol to drop arrest warrants against a group of Iranians accused of bombing a Jewish center, the ex-head of the police agency said on Wednesday, as the government proceeded with treason charges against the former president. Former Interpol chief Ronald Noble said in an email on Wednesday that he wants to testify that the government of former President Cristina Fernandez did not ask to have the arrest warrants lifted as part of a memorandum she had with Iran. If a judge allows Noble to testify, the treason case filed this month against Fernandez and 11 other top officials could crumble. She denies wrongdoing and calls the charge politically motivated. The arrest warrants were not affected in their validity by the approval of the memorandum, Noble said in an email to a federal appeals court that was seen by Reuters. The Fernandez administration always expressed its belief that the warrants should remain in effect, the email said. The accusation that the Fernandez government worked behind the scenes to clear the accused bombers of the AMIA Jewish community center in order to improve trade between Argentina and Iran is at the heart of a charge of treason brought against Fernandez. She served as president for eight years before being succeeded by Mauricio Macri in 2015. Others agreed that the treason charge against Fernandez appeared questionable. The indictment by Judge Claudio Bonadio of former President Fernandez, her Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, and 10 others, for treason and concealment points to no evidence that would seem to substantiate those charges, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday. The allegations against Fernandez drew international attention in January 2015, when the prosecutor who initially made them, Alberto Nisman, was found shot dead in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment. An Argentine appeals court ordered the re-opening of the investigation a year ago. Nisman s death was classified a suicide, though an official investigating the case has said the shooting appeared to be a homicide. Nisman s body was discovered hours before he was to brief Congress on the 1994 bombing of the AMIA center. Nisman said Fernandez worked behind the scenes to clear Iran of any wrongdoing and normalize relations to clinch a grains-for-oil deal with Tehran that was signed in 2013. The memorandum agreement created a joint commission to investigate the AMIA bombing that critics said was really a means to absolve Iran. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will hold his final press conference as president on Wednesday, the White House said. The press conference will be held at 2:15 ET (19:15 GMT). Obama is set to leave office on Friday when he will be succeeded by Republican President-elect Donald Trump. | 1 |
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that in Brexit talks, rules on the settlement of European Union citizens, the financial terms of Britain s departure from the bloc, and the question of Ireland must be clarified before other issues can be tackled. Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo sounded a similar tune, reacting to a speech by British Prime Minister Theresa May in Florence, Italy, during which she laid out Britain s ambitions after leaving the bloc. Before we move forward, we want to clarify matters concerning the settlement of European citizens, the financial terms of exit and the question of Ireland, Macron said in a joint briefing after a visit by Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila to Paris. If these three points are not clarified, we will not be able to advance on the rest, Macron said. Szydlo said that for Poland the key issue was the rights of Polish citizens in Britain, and that Britain must also fulfill its finiancial obligations. The EU s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier. said in a statement that May s speech showed willingness to move forward. | 0 |
Making America Unsafe Again It s the Obama legacy. During his two terms in office, Obama released more prisoners than all nine Presidents before him combined. He s not just flooding our local communities and major cities with felons, he s flooding America s red states with illegal aliens and unvetted Muslim immigrants from countries who hate us, all to ensure Democrat Party dominance. President Barack Obama on Wednesday cut short the sentences of 214 federal inmates, including 67 life sentences, in what the White House called the largest batch of commutations on a single day in more than a century.Almost all the prisoners were serving time for nonviolent drug crimes, reflecting Obama s long-stated view that the U.S. needs to remedy the consequences of decades of sentencing requirements that put tens of thousands of Americans behind bars for far too long. Obama has pushed for a broader fix to criminal justice laws and has used the aggressive pace of his commutations in an effort to pressure Congress and call more attention to the issue.All told, Obama has commuted 562 sentences during his presidency more than the past nine presidents combined, the White House said. Almost 200 of those who have benefited were serving life sentences. Fox News | 1 |
ERROR: type should be string, got " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRXmFmgoPTk" | 1 |
On Friday s broadcast of HBO s Real Time, former Clinton Campaign Manager James Carville stated that President Trump lacks empathy and sentence structure, and someone has to examine his mental state like people did at the end of the Reagan presidency.Carville said, I think what happened was, is General Kelly told the president when he called this war widow that look when, people fighting men and women understand that when they take on this mission they could die for the country or for each other, and it s something that binds them together, and you have to make that point. Of course, Trump has no empathy and his sentence structure is completely gone. He can t say two sentences. So, he gets on the phone, and he says, Well, that s what he signed up for. And General Kelly heard what I wanted. I mean, the truth of the matter is, somebody has to look. You know, when President Reagan was president, towards the end of his term, Howard Baker had a memo, and they seriously were looking to see if he had any kind of cognitive issues and they decided that he did not. I don t think Trump is capable of making those two thoughts. BreitbartAt about the 2-minute mark, Democrat Party political analyst James Carville starts his rant about why President Trump needs to look at Trump s mental state:In October of 2016, James Carville piled on with another guy who just can t seem to get anything right, crybaby Mark Cuban. Carville and Cuban were guests on Maher s show when Carville told Bill Maher and friends that then-candidate Trump was going to quit the race.BILL MAHER: Donald Trump was supposed to have a rally tomorrow with Paul Ryan and now he has been disinvited this just happened before we went and it s going to be Mike Pence and Paul Ryan. Wow. When the top of the ticket is disinvited to his own rally?MARK CUBAN: He s finally toxic. Donald Trump is finally toxic.JAMES CARVILLE: Mark and I got in a discussion before the show. I think he s going to quit. Really, right now, I m saying right here.[APPLAUSE]MAHER: You know why he s not going to win? Because his basket of deplorable and if the basket fits Carville hasn t been right about too much of anything in his career, but since he helped to get the impeached rapist into the White House, the media will always use him as their go-to-guy when it comes to getting advice on how to stop the Republicans winning elections. | 1 |
**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**
On the roster - Bernie’s swan song begins - Dubya back in the game - Rubio leans towards a run, GOP insiders say - Save yourself, no really
BERNIE’S SWAN SONG BEGINS
In Sen. Bernie Sanders’ address Thursday he said a lot of things, except that he would concede his bid for the Democratic nomination. But on the heels of his meeting with Hillary Clinton, subsequent matching statements, and his promise that he would do everything he could to defeat Donald Trump the signs that the end is near couldn’t be clearer.
So why not drop out now?
Well, there are two schools of thought on that.
One is that Sanders is trying to hold on to as much leverage as he can to make his policy positions part of the party platform and institute changes in the primary process. The idea is that the longer he remains in the race the more Clinton and the party will concede for the sake of the much coveted word this cycle: unity.
But that theory has some holes in it.
A prolonged holdout by Sanders actually weakens his hand. Supporters like Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., the first member of congress to back Sanders, have started to throw their support behind Clinton. The small donations that once poured in have dried up. And the much-reported massive rallies have dwindled with time and are now absent.
All this to say Sanders’ momentum doesn’t look quite as threatening as it did back in March, or even May. Any hope that Sanders could win, or pose some sort of mathematical challenge based on delegate count, ended with the California primary 10 days ago.
Not to mention President Obama’s endorsement for Clinton this week…
Which is exactly why those in the second school of thought believe Sanders remaining in the race is a strategy to benefit Clinton and the Democrats more than anything else.
In this notion, the longer Sanders remains in the more his fire continues to burn out on its own, leaving Clinton in better graces with his supporters than if she appeared to force him out while he still had momentum. Clinton appears as the magnanimous candidate letting her challenger run his own course instead of the political powerhouse choking the competition, and Sanders doesn’t look like he cut and ran. Everyone wins.
The cordial meeting the two candidates had this week seems to show that is exactly what’s happening. Since Clinton has officially secured presumptive nominee status Sanders is no longer a distraction from her general election strategy or a threat of division within the party. His presence in the race doesn’t hold the same ire for her it once did.
But remember, Sanders is not a dyed in the wool Democrat and he doesn’t feel obliged to abide by any party’s rules. Although his campaign has said they’re no longer recruiting superdelegates it doesn’t mean the independent, socialist-turned-Democratic-challenger will bow out quietly.
So however long he remains in the race, how he bows out will be on his terms regardless of party unity or strategy.
TIME OUT
On this day in 1885, a ship sailed into New York harbor carrying 350 individual pieces of cargo that would become one of America’s most iconic symbols: the Statue of Liberty. Since that time Lady Liberty has welcomed immigrants through Ellis Island, bid farewell to thousands of troops going “over there,” witnessed an attack on the city to which she lights the way, and seen the same city rebound with spirited purpose.
As President Ronald Reagan said at the statue’s centennial celebration: “[W]e too dare to hope -- hope that our children will always find here the land of liberty in a land that is free. We dare to hope too that we’ll understand our work can never be truly done until every man, woman, and child shares in our gift, in our hope, and stands with us in the light of liberty.”
Flag on the play? - Email us at [email protected] with your tips, comments or questions
SCOREBOARD
Average of national presidential polls: Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +5.8 points
Generic congressional vote: Democrats +2.2
DUBYA BACK IN THE GAME
NYT: “After eight years of largely abstaining from politics, former President George W. Bush is throwing himself into an effort to save his party’s most vulnerable senators, including several whose re-election campaigns have been made more difficult by Donald J. Trump’s presence at the top of the ticket. In the weeks since Mr. Trump emerged as the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mr. Bush has headlined fund-raisers for two Republican senators and has made plans to help three more. Among them are Senators John McCain of Arizona, who was one of Mr. Trump’s earliest targets of derision, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire… Next week, he will appear in St. Louis at a fund-raiser for Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri. And similar events are being planned for Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rob Portman of Ohio.”
RUBIO LEANS TOWARDS A RUN, GOP INSIDERS SAY
WashEx: “Marco Rubio is leaning toward running for re-election, say Republicans monitoring the senator’s movements for signs of a decision…The Florida Republican is now re-considering, motivated in part by Sunday’s jihadist terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 dead plus the shooter. But Republican insiders are predicting that Rubio will in fact jump into the race because they believe there have been smoke signals for weeks indicating he planned to change course…Perhaps telling, it’s GOP operatives in Florida who are most convinced that Rubio is going to run. Rubio’s team has been organizing and preparing to launch a 2016 Senate campaign for weeks, one veteran Florida Republican strategist said.”
And Dems are ready - The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a video this morning attacking Rubio for his absence in the U.S. Senate showing they are already preparing for the Florida senator’s potential reelection bid in the Sunshine State.
IN COVERAGE
Fox News Sunday – Chris Wallace hosts Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss gun restrictions in wake of the Orlando shootings, and Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski talks the 2016 race on “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.
#mediabuzz - Howard Kurtz breaks down how the media covered the biggest news stories, including Bill Hemmer on his experience reporting from Orlando. Watch #mediabuzz Sundays at 11 a.m. and a reairing at 5 p.m. ET.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Clinton, Trump Twitter wars wage on - WashEx
Major companies pull sponsorship from GOP convention - The Hill
How game theory helps explain Trump’s strategy - WaPo
Hillary pushes DNC towards general election focus - Time
Over 50 State Dept. employees call for a regime change in Syria - Fox News
AUDIBLE
“Election days come and go but political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end.” -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in his live webcast Thursday.
SAVE YOURSELF, NO REALLY
[Victoria, British Columbia] Times Colonist: “Vancouver firefighters, eager to deploy two new boats, were disappointed last week when one of the vessels was, ironically, damaged by fire during transport…The two boats, worth approximately $1.5 million apiece, were custom built for Vancouver in Kingston, Ont., by MetalCraft Marine to replace the fire department’s two aging water craft…But as the long-awaited, 43-foot vessels were being transported to Vancouver by tractor trailer last week, there was a malfunction with the packaging…There is no concern that the boat is unsafe because of the fire [Vancouver Fire and Rescue spokesman added] adding that the vessel had been taken apart to transport.”
AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“You can keep all the Muslim immigrants you want away from our shores. It will make no difference. In the end, the only thing that will work – as it worked to a large extent with al Qaeda – you have to go after them where they live, and drive them out.” -- Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier” Watch here.
Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Sally Persons contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here. | 0 |
Socialism sounds great until you realize the money government takes from you goes to whomever they choose (like family members) Bernie Sanders constantly says that he wants big money out of politics, it s one of the central pillars of his presidential campaign.While it hasn t been reported by any major media outlets during this election cycle, the fact is that Sanders has used campaign funds to enrich members of his family in the past.This report appeared in the Vermont Guardian in 2005:Nepotism crosses party linesWASHINGTON The news that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-TX, paid his wife and daughter $473,801 as campaign staff members was just the beginning. At least 38 other members of Congress, including Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders, have paid spouses, children, or other relatives out of campaign funds, or have hired companies in which a family member had a financial interest, according to news reports.Since 2000, Sanders has used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.His wife Jane O Meara Sanders received $91,020 for consultation and to negotiate the purchase of television and radio ads. Approximately $61,000 of that was pass through money used to pay for the ads, O Meara Sanders told the Bennington Banner. She kept about $30,000 as pay for her services.Her daughter Carina Driscoll, Sanders stepdaughter, earned $65,002 from the Sanders campaign between 2000 and 2004, records show.A similar report appeared in the Times Argus of Vermont:Sanders campaign paid family membersMONTPELIER Rep. Bernard Sanders wife Jane was paid about $30,000 from 2002 to 2004 for work on his campaigns, while his stepdaughter Carina Driscoll got about $65,000 over a five-year period ending last year, a Sanders aide said Wednesday.The issue resurfaced in 2006 and was covered by Roll Call:GOP Hits Sanders on Wife s BusinessSanders, who is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), is fighting back, saying that his likely Republican opponent, millionaire businessman Richard Tarrant, is lying.The Tarrant campaign has resurrected news stories revealing that Sanders wife, Jane O Meara Sanders a former professional media buyer was paid $30,000 for working on Sanders 2002 and 2004 House campaigns and his step-daughter, Carina Driscoll, had been paid about $65,000 over a five-year period.What Sanders did is technically not illegal, but it s astonishing that someone campaigning on the removal of big money in politics used campaign funds to pay large sums of money to members of his own family. Via: Progressives Today | 0 |
By Amanda Froelich The rock legend’s latest song, Indian Givers, is about the pipeline and seeks to raise awareness about the Native water protectors in North Dakota. Since Donald Trump won the... | 1 |
21st Century Wire says 21WIRE has always pointed out that the marketing facade of Barack Obama as the Nobel Peace Prize President is just that a facade. The facts simply do not support the myth. Defense OneThe Obama administration has approved more than $278 billion in foreign arms sales in its eight years, more than double the total of the previous administration, according to figures released by the Pentagon on Tuesday.Many of the approved deals most but hardly all of which have become actual sales have been to Mideast nations, including key allies in the campaign against Islamic State militants and countries that have been building up their defenses in fear of a nuclear Iran.Saudi Arabia has been the largest recipient, reaping prospective deals worth more than $115 billion, according to notices announcing the deals that were sent to Congress for approval. Nobody even comes close for the number of deals and total value, said William Hartung, director of the Arms Security Project at the Center for International Policy. Among the weapons approved for Riyadh: F-15 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, Blackhawk utility helicopters, missile interceptors, armored vehicles and bombs and missiles Continue this story at Defense OneREAD MORE OBAMA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Obama FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
This is what mob rule does It s lawless idiots who decided to vandalize and tear down a Peace Monument in Atlanta. Has it come to this? Where does this end?THE PARAGRAPH BELOW FROM THE AJC IS THE MOST DISTURBING:A protester was hurt by metal falling from the edifice as the group tried to tear it down, AJC photographer John Spink reported Sunday night. Tensions rose as the lone policeman on the scene was surrounded by black-clad Antifa protesters shouting pig. Black Lives Matter protesters put themselves between the police officer and the Antifa crowd, and the gathering soon dispersed.Protesters vandalized and attempted to take down the Peace Monument in Piedmont Park in Atlanta on Sunday, mistaking it for a pro-Confederate statue. The protesters were marching in response to the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday where one woman died after being deliberately hit by a car, and two law enforcement personnel were killed when the helicopter they were in crashed. The Atlanta march traveled from Woodruff Park to Piedmont Park Sunday, where some damaged the Peace Monument, erected in 1911, a blog on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website said. The sculpture features an angel standing above a Confederate soldier, guiding him to lay down his weapon. But the memorial attacked by protesters some dressed in black and wearing masks was erected to encourage healing and reconciliation. ATLANTA HISTORY BUFF FILLS US IN: These guys realized a national healing needed to take place, said Kennedy, a history buff who keeps the three-volume set The Chronicles of the Old Guard on his bookshelf. They organized a peace tour of the North, which is really remarkable. These were guys who fought in the Civil War, against Union troops. They would go meet with Union soldiers and began to repair those fissures the war created. It speaks to what we call the Atlanta spirit. Read more: Breitbart | 1 |
U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of routine immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term raids, and prefers to say authorities are conducting targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries. We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system, she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of routine immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term raids, and prefers to say authorities are conducting targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries. We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system, she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.David Marin, ICE s field director in the Los Angeles area, said in a conference call with reporters Friday that 75 percent of the approximately 160 people detained in the operation this week had felony convictions; the rest had misdemeanors or were in the U.S. illegally. Officials said Friday night that 37 of those detained in Los Angeles has been deported to Mexico. Dangerous criminals who should be deported are being released into our communities, Marin said.A video that circulated on social media Friday appeared to show ICE agents detaining people in an Austin shopping center parking lot. Immigration advocates also reported roadway checkpoints, where ICE appeared to be targeting immigrants for random ID checks, in North Carolina and in Austin. ICE officials denied that authorities used checkpoints during the operations.For entire story-Washington Post | 0 |
Unless you count online polls that Trump fans voted in multiple times to make it appear as if he won Monday s presidential debate, Donald Trump actually lost. Most pundits feel he lost, as did the focus groups used by several of the networks, as did scientific polls that were taken of people who watched the event. He lost, handily.Trump lost so badly that even his allies who want to see him elected President have been complaining to the media about his limp performance. And that has made Trump very very angry.In a conference call with surrogates Wednesday afternoon, Trump aides made clear the Republican nominee is upset that his allies publicly acknowledged they pushed him to change his preparation and tactics before his next bout with Hillary Clinton. And he wants them to stop it immediately.The message was not subtle, a source familiar with the call said.Trump wants his supporters to make an energetic defense of his performance and refuse to concede that he didn t nail it.In the world of Trump and his ego, admitting that you lost a battle is the worst thing, possibly even worse than actually losing the battle itself. For someone like Trump, who fancies himself an alpha male, an admission of humility or defeat is the worst possible scenario. In his eyes, anyone conceding that he underperformed is unacceptable, and even worse if you re in the Trump orbit.That is why Trump almost completely limits himself to media appearances on Fox News, where he won t ever seriously be challenged on even the most bizarre and untrue claims he makes in the campaign. Trump is inside a bubble, only speaking to those who agree with him and who want to suck up to him. He is being told time and time again by his hangers-on that he is doing everything just right. And he won t tolerate anybody who allows reality to intrude.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
Roving political analyst Stuart J Hooper drops in the see what was happening as Bernie Sanders hit the western college campuses on to campaign for Hillary Clinton.The following is an interview with an ex-Bernie delegate who, following the DNC collusion with the Clinton camp to kill the Sanders campaign, has since left the Democratic Party to support Dr Jill Stein and the Green Party. He explains how Sanders was coerced into backing the corrupt Clinton campaign.Listen to his emotional statement here: SUPPORT OUR WORK SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Friday it had received reports of an attack on medical facilities in eastern Syria that had destroyed a store containing more than 130,000 vaccine doses against measles and polio. If confirmed, the WHO said, the attack would put thousands of children at risk of these serious infectious, viral diseases. Both can spread rapidly in areas of conflict. We unequivocally condemn these actions. Vaccines are not a legitimate target of war, the WHO s representative in Syria, Elizabeth Hoff, said in a statement issued late on Friday. The WHO said the reports it received were of an attack on a vaccine cold room at health facilities in al-Mayadin, near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria. The WHO did not say whether the reports it received gave any detail on who carried out the reported attack. The store had held 100,000 doses of measles vaccine, 35,000 doses of polio vaccine, plus syringes and other equipment. Until a new cold room is built and the required cold chain equipment - including solar fridges, cold boxes and vaccine carriers - are delivered, this will delay ... routine immunization for vulnerable children in the area, Hoff said. Polio - a viral disease that can cripple its victims - and measles - which can cause diarrhea, blindness and can kill - tend to break out in war zones because low vaccine coverage leaves gaps in population immunity, exposing children to infection. The WHO previously tackled a polio outbreak in the same area of Syria in 2013-2014. The UN health agency said that in its last polio vaccination campaign in Deir al-Zor it reached more than 252,000 babies and children. | 0 |
No worries FBI Director James Comey is has assured everyone that Crooked Hillary told the truth. She s been lying and under criminal investigation for most of her adult life, and now we re supposed to believe that she is suddenly telling the truth? Hillary Clinton did not swear an oath to tell the truth before meeting with the FBI for three and a half hours last weekend, and the interview was not recorded, FBI Director James Comey told House lawmakers on Thursday.The lack of a sworn oath does not remove the possibility of criminal penalties against Clinton if she lied to the FBI, though he said he had no basis to conclude that she was untruthful. Still a crime to lie to us, Comey told the House Oversight Committee. FBI policy is not to record interviews as part of its investigations.Yet the revelations will nonetheless raise questions among Republicans, who have been skeptical of the FBI s investigation and have demanded to see the transcript of the former secretary of State s interview in downtown Washington on Saturday. Well, that s a problem, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) told Comey when the FBI chief explained the terms of the interview. It s pretty clear that the American people would like to see what Hillary Clinton said to the FBI, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Wednesday, a day before Comey s appearance before House lawmakers.Under FBI policy and to the dismay of civil libertarians and staunch transparency advocates the bureau does not conduct electronic recordings of interviews. Under the current policy, agents may not electronically record confessions or interviews, openly or surreptitiously except in rare circumstances, the bureau said in a 2006 memo.The FBI did, however, complete a federal form summarizing the interview, known as an FD-302, Comey said.Comey himself was not among the five or six agents who interviewed Clinton, he testified on Thursday. But he assured lawmakers that Clinton told the truth throughout the session.Via: The Hill | 1 |
You are here: Home / US / Difference Between Growing Up In The 1960s Compared To 2016 Difference Between Growing Up In The 1960s Compared To 2016 October 27, 2016 Pinterest
Seth Connell reports that in August of this year, campus carry went into effect on Texas’ public college campuses, enabling students and staff with valid concealed handgun licenses to legally carry their firearms. Predictably, leftists freaked out at the idea of people legally carrying firearms in their “safe spaces.”
As we reported back in August, the most famous form of protest on Texas college campuses was “Cocks Not Glocks,” a movement where students who opposed campus carry took adult sex toys with them all across the campus.
Related: Campus Carry Starts Today In Texas; Here’s How Liberal Students Are Protesting…
Despite these protestations, campus carry is in effect in Texas, and there is not mass murder happening in dorms, classrooms, or professors’ offices. Who’d have thunk, right?
Well, it turns out that “Cocks no Glocks” is not going away any time soon. In fact, they have been invited to The White House as a kind of reward for their childish, bratty temper tantrums.
Guns.com reported:
Organizers of an anti-gun protest at the University of Texas in Austin against a new campus carry law noted for garnering some 4,000 adult toys which they gave away, earning immortality on the Daily Show, have made their way to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Invited by DoSomething.org to join a gun control advocates to talk to senior officials about grassroots activism, the CNG gang posted images of their visit to the White House to social media– and contend some important firsts were made.
“They think it’s the first time ‘dildo’ has been said in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing,” the group noted on social media. “‘Cocks’ also reverberated around the room dozens of times and Rosie, who was sitting right next to the Oval Office where Obama was sitting 10ft away, could hear his voice through the door. Does that mean he could hear ours?”
The Facebook page for “Cocks Not Glocks” proudly claims that they are “Fighting Absurdity with Absurdity.” Yes, because using sex toys is a perfectly respectable and mature way to establish your credibility, and to show that you are making well-thought out and logical arguments.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is what the gun control crowd has come to. There is effectively no logic in this kind of protest. It is all fear-mongering and appeal to one of the basest of human passions: sex.
These people are not making any logical or coherent argument. They are lashing out using highly emotionally charged rhetoric and spreading fear. That kind of argumentation is done by demagogues.
This is evidence of the en masse mental enslavement that is happening in public colleges. These students have been trained to think that an inanimate object is evil and has a will of its own, and that the best way to fight that inanimate object is to whine to the point of absolute lunacy.
These people need a dose of reality ASAP. | 1 |
0 |
|
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will announce the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline at the White House on Friday, alongside the chief executive officer of builder TransCanada Corp, according to a senior administration official. The pipeline linking Canadian oil sands to U.S. refiners had been blocked by former President Barack Obama, who said the pipeline would do nothing to reduce fuel prices for U.S. motorists and would contribute emissions linked to global warming. Trump signed an executive order to advance the project soon after taking office in January, saying it would create thousands of jobs. The administration official said that among those scheduled to be at the White House for the 10:15 a.m. EDT announcement are TransCanada Chief Executive Russell Girling and Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions. Expedited approval of projects is part of Trump’s approach for a 10-year, $1 trillion infrastructure package he promised on the campaign trail. The White House is looking for ways to speed up approvals and permits for infrastructure projects, which can sometimes take years to go through the maze of regulatory requirements. “It does fit into the overall strategy the president has for infrastructure,” the official said. The multibillion-dollar Keystone pipeline would bring more than 800,000 barrels per day of heavy crude from Canada’s oil sands in Alberta into Nebraska, linking to an existing pipeline network feeding U.S. refineries and ports along the Gulf of Mexico. Approvals are still needed from state regulators, and the pipeline could face legal challenges. Conservatives have said they support quick approval. Nick Loris, an energy and environment researcher at the Heritage Foundation, said on Thursday that approval would “re-establish some certainty and sanity to a permitting process that was hijacked by political pandering.” Environmental groups that have opposed the pipeline have said they will continue the fight with petitions, political pressure and mass protests. | 1 |
AP President Donald Trump has told congressional leaders that his hard-line immigration priorities must be enacted in exchange for extending protection from deportation to hundreds of thousands of young immigrants, many of whom were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.Trump s list of demands included overhauling the country s green-card system, a crackdown on unaccompanied minors entering the country, and building his promised wall along the southern border.Many were policies Democrats have said explicitly are off the table and threaten to derail ongoing negotiations over legislation protecting young immigrants known as Dreamers. They had been given a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the country under President Barack Obama s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which Trump ended last month.In a letter to House and Senate leaders released by the White House Sunday, Trump said the priorities were the product of a a bottom-up review of all immigration policies that he had ordered to determine what legislative reforms are essential for America s economic and national security. These findings outline reforms that must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, he wrote, adding that: Without these reforms, illegal immigration and chain migration, which severely and unfairly burden American workers and taxpayers, will continue without end. Trump announced last month that he was ending the DACA program, but he gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix before recipients began to lose their status. Trump suggested at the time that he was eager for a deal, telling reporters, I have a love for these people and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly. He d also tweeted that if Congress was unwilling to find a fix, he would revisit this issue! in six months. Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017 | 0 |
(CNN) Donald Trump dominated Super Tuesday, notching seven victories -- four more than his closest competitor -- in states from Georgia to Massachusetts on a day that marked a turning point in his quest for the White House.
On the morning after, one thing is clear: the Republican Party is at a crossroads.
Many party leaders and establishment Republicans see two paths ahead. One is to accept what appears to be the increasingly likely outcome in the 2016 race — that Trump will soon clinch the GOP nomination — and offer the New York businessman their blessing. The second is a path of a historic rebellion: rejecting the GOP front-runner and the values and principles he stands for, and pledging to oppose Trump — even if he emerges as the party's nominee.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who ran for president in 2012, described this moment as an "inflection point" in the 2016 race and for the Republican Party.
"The party is fractured, which isn't unusual for political parties and they almost always come back together. But this could test the outer limits of that tradition," Pawlenty, who endorsed Marco Rubio, told CNN. "If the Republican Party were an airplane and you're looking out the window, you'd see some pieces of the surface flying off. And you'd be wondering whether the engine or a wing is next."
With Trump adding delegates to his quickly growing stash Tuesday, political veterans suspect the GOP presidential race could reach a moment of unambiguous clarity in the next two weeks. That point could come on March 15 when Florida and Ohio vote. If Rubio, the Florida senator, and John Kasich, the Ohio governor, lose their home states, their campaigns would be doomed.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott put it this way: By March 15, Republicans will know whether it is time to "throw up our hands in despair and panic."
"We've now backed ourselves into a corner here -- and it's not very pretty," said Lott, who is supporting Kasich. Super Tuesday, Lott added, "is not the final blow, but we will know in the next two weeks whether this is a done deal or not."
In recent days, there has been a flurry of discussions among top Republican strategists and insiders about how to distance the party from Trump. His heated rhetoric about minority groups and immigrants is deeply troubling to party leaders who have spent years trying to make inroads with Latino and other minority constituencies. Also of grave concern are the down-ballot candidates who would face tough elections in November with Trump at the top of the ticket.
Disaffected Republicans are discussing everything from skipping the Republican National Convention in July to running a conservative candidate as an independent or third-party candidate -- with the ultimate goal of denying Trump the presidency. One of the names frequently mentioned in this hypothetical is Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, even though he has shown no desire to run another campaign but has shown a zest for attacking Trump.
Trump's dominance on Super Tuesday caps the GOP front-runner's remarkable rise as a first-time presidential candidate. His initial surge in the polls months ago was widely dismissed as a short-lived phenomenon. His divisive and inflammatory rhetoric on everything from immigration to women drew fierce scorn from fellow Republicans and Democrats alike.
But Trump's candidacy has proven shockingly durable, and his supporters exceptionally loyal.
His dominant night comes just days after another development shocked the party to its core: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's bombshell endorsement of the billionaire last week. Christie ended his own presidential bid last month, and the unexpected decision from the former chairman of the Republican Governor's Association to back Trump — the ultimate anti-establishment candidate — added a critical sense of credibility to the businessman's candidacy.
Christie's endorsement was quickly followed by the backing of Maine Gov. Paul LePage and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who has no plans to endorse a candidate in the GOP primary, said he was "shocked" by Christie's decision, and that the slew of new endorsements have irreversibly changed perceptions of Trump's candidacy.
"Trump is putting together a very unique coalition that's rattled a lot of people who have made a living out of trying to win within a Republican structure which is now increasingly obsolete," Gingrich said. "A lot of people smugly said when we get down to reality, he is not going to be the nominee because in the end people aren't going to vote for him. Well, guess what — he's almost certainly going to be the nominee."
As Trump has started to pick up endorsements from serious conservative leaders including a handful of members of Congress, a fierce anti-Trump movement has started to pick up steam.
Republican operatives, party leaders and conservative thinkers are increasingly warning that Trump is not a true conservative, and that his penchant for offensive language proves that he's an entertainer who should have no role shaping the future of the Republican Party. These rumblings turned into a movement on social media marked with the hashtag "#NeverTrump" -- a vow to never back Trump, even if he becomes the nominee.
But these last-minute strategy sessions underscore the fundamental lack of a coordinated effort in the party to derail Trump's campaign. Many are simply resigned to accepting that this far along in the election, and considering the delegate math, no amount of money or anti-Trump messaging can slow the front-runner's momentum.
Over the weekend, Trump only fueled the anger directed at his campaign when he failed to denounce white supremacist groups.
"I don't know anything about David Duke, OK?" Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper when asked whether he would disavow the Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, who is supporting Trump's campaign. Pressed several times, Trump insisted he didn't know anything about white supremacists.
"I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton, and given what we know about Donald Trump, I can't vote for that guy either," the first-term senator said.
But the anti-Trump campaign is also angering some party elders. They say rejecting the GOP nominee is tantamount to handing the election to the eventual Democratic nominee, widely expected to be Hillary Clinton, who had a strong night on Super Tuesday.
Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, who supported Jeb Bush's failed White House bid, told CNN that these rebelling Republicans may as well be casting their votes for Clinton. He also expressed deep frustration at the party for failing to rally around a single alternative to Trump, like Bush or Kasich, early enough in the election.
"Just go ahead and support Hillary and forget it!" said Simpson. "They may not like Trump -- they didn't like Bush. What the hell was wrong with Bush? What the hell is wrong with Kasich?"
Gingrich, who pledged to back the party's eventual nominee, predicted that many of his fellow Republicans who now say they could never support Trump will eventually change their minds.
"The absence of voting for the Republican nominee is functionally a vote for Hillary," Gingrich said. "It's a crossroads for the Republican Party and it's a crossroads for America." | 0 |
Hey Al Why don t you try going into the neighborhoods of Chicago and ask the residents to contribute to your worthless charity? Everyone knows Shakedown Al does nothing to help the hundreds of young black men who are killed by other black youths every year. It s all about the contributions to Al and his worthless charity At a Hartford, Connecticut rally supposedly called to protest five homicides of young people in the city over the past two weeks four of them shootings Rev. Al Sharpton was challenged Saturday by a black pastor for asking every preacher present to donate $100 to Sharpton s civil rights organization, National Action Network (NAN). I want to be here to see a memorial for the young people that have died, said Sharpton at Shiloh Baptist Church, according to CT News Junkie. I want the names and their stories up so children can see they don t want to be on that wall. Pastor Marcus Mosiah Jarvis of Christ the Cornerstone Praise and Western Tabernacle, however, shouted at Sharpton as he strode down the center aisle of the crowded church, How dare you ask the people of Hartford to give you their money! You re nothing but a pimp! Jarvis slammed Sharpton for using the supposed anti-violence rally as a cover for coming into a community where people are struggling for jobs, struggling for money, and demanding money to speak. Don t you come up in here asking us for money, Jarvis yelled, according to Fox CT.Jarvis was about to be escorted out of the church, but he instead remained in the rear. Sharpton responded to his challenge by removing $1,000 in cash from his suit pocket. Everything that you all raise will go to a memorial, he said. [F]or the lives that could have gone on to cure cancer. Lives that could have been the next President of the United States. Sharpton founded NAN in 1991. As Breitbart News reported in April of last year, the IRS fined the nonprofit for not properly reporting its taxes, and it was charged with $1.9 million in back taxes and penalties. Additionally, the New York Times reported last November that Sharpton owes more than $4.5 million in state and federal taxes. Mr. Sharpton has regularly sidestepped the sorts of obligations most people see as inevitable, like taxes, rent and other bills, reported the Times.The rally was the culmination of a march through Hartford in which Sharpton and about 150 mostly black individuals participated. Rev. Dr. Boise Kimber invited Sharpton to speak.According to the Hartford Police Department, the city saw 49 shooting victims between January and May 16.Jarvis later said local efforts are essential to initiate change in a community, reports CT News Junkie. We re setting in place classes where people can come for credit repair, establishing credit, home ownership, creating a resume, how to look for a job, mock interviews that s how you empower people, not creating memorials, he said.Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
Despite having to deal with an absolute imbecile as her challenger for several months, Hillary Clinton was always poised, gracious and respectful during the election and that hasn t changed, even after an undeserving Donald Trump won.However, Clinton hasn t forgotten that SHE was actually the candidate that the American people truly wanted. In her final 2016 message to her supporters, the former Secretary of State made sure to note the fact that she d won the popular vote by almost 3 million more than Trump. Of course, Clinton s supporters know very well how badly she beat him, but the President-elect and his followers are still in a disturbing amount of denial so it s useful to remind them of the facts once in a while. True to form, Clinton did this in a subtle, classy manner.In her thank you note to her supporters, Clinton wrote: Before this year ends, I want to thank you again for your support of our campaign. While we didn t achieve the outcome we sought, I m proud of the vision and values we fought for and the nearly 66 million people who voted for them. Sixty-six million a number that Trump certainly cannot claim, as he just scraped by winning the election purely because of the Electoral College votes. Knowing that she still has a responsibility to be an example and to fight for the American people, Clinton rallied her supporters to continue being stronger together. She wrote: I believe it is our responsibility to keep doing our part to build a better, stronger, and fairer future for our country and the world. The holidays are a time to be thankful for our blessings. So let us rejoice in this season and look forward with renewed hope and determination. Clinton closed her message by wishing her supporters a great new year, suggesting that this would hardly be the last time they hear from her. She made it clear that she s going to continue working on America s behalf because that s REAL Presidents do, and that s what she s always done through her decades of service to this country: I wish you and your family health, happiness, and continued strength for the New Year and the work ahead. I look forward to staying in touch in 2017. Onward! Featured image via Drew Angerer /Getty Images | 0 |
Salt Lake City (CNN) In a less volatile election cycle, the notion that Democrats would be on offense in red states like Utah, Arizona and Georgia would suggest the presidential race was effectively over.
No one is willing to make that kind of bet in a race that has defied all political norms. But as Donald Trump's downward spiral continues in round after round of battleground polls, and the Hillary Clinton campaign has begun to dabble in ruby-red states, Democrats are clearly feeling bullish. Some are now openly mulling the possibility of a Clinton blowout in November.
Even Trump acknowledged Thursday that his campaign was "having a tremendous problem in Utah," a reliably Republican state where Mitt Romney won more than 70% of the vote in 2012 and the hunger for another choice ushered independent candidate Evan McMullin, who has strong ties to Utah and the LDS community, into the presidential race this week.
There are far too many variables at play over the next three months for anyone to say with certainty how the race will end. The two major candidates are intensely disliked by the electorate. This week, Clinton has once again been shadowed by the controversy over her emails and her ties to the Clinton Foundation as secretary of state. Trump is a contender who has shown an extraordinary level of resilience in overcoming controversy.
But Mitch Stewart, who was the Obama campaign's battleground states director in 2012, said Clinton's strengthened position could dramatically reconfigure the electoral map for Democrats -- helping to lay groundwork for a Democratic transformation of states like Arizona and Georgia that were not expected to be competitive until 2020 or 2024.
"In 2008 when we won by six or seven points, we got relatively close in a state like Georgia, and would have gotten close in a state like Arizona if John McCain hadn't been senator there," Stewart said. "If you add three, or four, or five points on top of that -- which is where Secretary Clinton is right now --- it makes sense that Arizona and Georgia are basically tied. That's where the race is given the strength of her candidacy and the weakness of his."
Clinton could be looking at a sweep of the map that could net as many as 380 electoral votes, Stewart said: potentially "a massive, massive win."
The Clinton campaign is taking pains not to look overconfident at this early juncture. It says she has always hoped to organize in all 50 states to aid down-ballot Democratic candidates. Moreover, Clinton and allies are not spending any real money in those three red states yet. But they are gearing up for a six-figure investment in field operations and voter registration in Arizona and Georgia that would force Trump to defend his position in those states.
"Some states may flip and some states may not change overnight, but being focused on organizing is something that's important, particularly this year because it's a dynamic race," said Marlon Marshall, Clinton's director of state campaigns and political engagement. "Our goal is to figure out how we get to 270 electoral votes in the most efficient way, and if that means that there's a couple different pathways that could potentially open up, we must explore them."
The race will be still be won or lost this year in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida where Trump looked competitive before his summer series of unforced errors. A new round of polls from Quinnipiac and NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist show that she has moved into a double-digit lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, while displaying a narrow edge over Trump in Ohio. The race in Florida is a virtual tie.
Trump's advisers insist that they are still poised to win Arizona, Georgia and Utah, and that they have many paths to 270 electoral votes, but his weakened position in states that Romney won easily in 2012 raises serious questions about the viability of his candidacy.
Before Trump ever entered the picture, Republicans were facing a difficult electoral map, because 18 states and the District of Columbia have voted Democratic in the last six presidential cycles --- essentially giving Democrats a base of 242 electoral votes on their path to 270.
Trump has boasted that his unusual appeal will put some of those reliable Democratic states in play, including Michigan (16 electoral votes), Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), and Wisconsin (10 electoral votes). But so far there is little evidence that is true, and few political strategists can map out a path to victory for Trump unless he wins all the states that Romney won in 2012, including Arizona, Georgia and Utah.
"Trump has driven away a big chunk of voters that used to be solid Republican voters. That puts states in play that should not be in play," said Republican strategist Kevin Madden. "The electoral map was already hard to begin with, given the demographic shifts in battleground states likes Colorado and Virginia. Trump just made it harder by finding a way to be more unpopular and more unlikeable than the most unpopular and unlikeable Democratic nominee in modern history."
Arizona has long held potential for Democrats because of its growing Hispanic population, but the movement in their direction has been accelerated by Trump's divisive rhetoric about Mexicans and immigration.
In Georgia, Democratic groups have made a huge push to register growing numbers of minority voters, particularly targeting black and Hispanic voters who live around Atlanta. (Romney won Arizona by 10 points and Georgia by 8 points in 2012.)
But it is deep-red Utah that has revealed the deep vulnerabilities of Trump's candidacy this year. Romney's 2012 showing was in part because of the strength of his candidacy among Mormon voters who make up 60% of the state's population. Republicans George W. Bush captured 72% in 2004 and John McCain 63% in 2008.
Trump and Clinton were virtually tied in some Utah surveys earlier this year, and Chris Karpowitz, co-director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, noted that Trump has been unable to break 40% in the most recent Utah polls. Libertarian Gary Johnson has been surging in Utah, and McMullin jumped into the mix this week.
"Republicans begin any election in the state of Utah with an enormous advantage," Karpowitz said. "But there are many Utahans who are very conflicted, and very ambivalent about his candidacy."
Trump's biggest hurdle is among conservative Mormon voters, who have been appalled by HIS tone, as well as his call for travel ban on Muslims -- the kind of singling out of a religious minority that carries echoes of the discrimination that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints faced historically.
"There is a conflict between their political identity and some core religious values that they hold dear," said Karpowitz. "So when Donald Trump talks about a religious test for immigration or talks about refugees in ways that seem disrespectful or dismissive of their concerns or needs, that resonates with some members of the LDS church."
Clinton attempted to tap into to the antipathy for Trump within that huge voting bloc, by writing in the in the Deseret News this week about her opposition to Trump's call for a Muslim ban and her work on religious liberty as secretary of state.
Still, back in June, Utah voters were ready to give Trump a second chance even after giving him his lowest vote total of any primary or caucus, said Kirk Jowers, an election attorney who is the former director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.
"We wanted to vote for a Republican nominee as we have done in every election since 1964, and Hillary Clinton is certainly is not the one who could steal some of those votes away in a normal election," Jowers said. "But his behavior, particularly in August, has been so outrageous. He doubled down on all the things that were most offensive to us.... This doubling down that he's been doing has made it close to impossible for us to get on board."
Many of the voters who gathered at McMullin's official launch Wednesday night expressed those kinds of sentiments and their disgust with Trump.
At the event to recruit volunteers to gather signatures for McMullin, who needs 1,000 by next Monday to qualify for the Utah ballot, a number of attendees said they had heard about McMullin's candidacy on Facebook and were drawn to his conservative background and his biography as a former CIA operative.
Even though McMullin has little -- or no chance -- of winning the presidency, given that ballot access deadlines have passed in all but 14 states, a number of voters said they were thrilled to have a candidate they felt comfortable backing.
Victoria Bearden, a 36-year-old Republican from Salt Lake City, was one of many who approached McMullin after his speech to thank him for giving her a choice.
Until McMullin, she had been planning to sit out the presidential race: "I never thought I'd have to do that, because it just shows you how awful it is. And I know there's millions of people out there feeling the same way I do."
"I thought I was a Republican, but now I'm not sure what I am," added Bearden, a former ballet dancer who has two young children. "I just feel like Trump is incompetent; he's crazy, and he's going to be more divisive than where we already are as a country. I just can't trust the man."
When she's discussed McMullin's candidacy with friends, she said, some have noted that she just might be throwing away her vote and helping elect Hillary Clinton.
"At this point, it's like 'Why not?'" she said. "Donald Trump is not going to win, and I think people need to stand up and show that they're not happy with either [candidate] ... If we go with our conscience and our heart, then you never know -- it's America. Anything is possible." | 0 |
To hear Donald Trump tell it, he s the best, hugest, biggest boss there has ever been and the way he runs his businesses (if you ignore the multiple bankruptcies and closures) means the people who work for him should be overwhelmingly proud to be under his leadership.But Reuters has done some number-crunching on what kind of financial support the people who work in his businesses have shown to his presidential campaign, and as he would say, it s very sad! Only a dozen of an estimated 22,450 people employed at Trump s companies have donated more than $200 to the celebrity businessman s bid for the U.S. presidency, a Reuters review of federal campaign finance records through August shows. Those who gave less to either Trump s campaign or his joint fundraising committees would not have shown up in the review.The contributors, including an office cleaner, a golf course groundskeeper, a bartender and an attorney, have given $5,298 to Trump s campaign, a fraction of the $112 million Trump s political operation has received from donors and joint fundraisers.The news service also points out that an employee at the Trump companies even has donated to Secretary Hillary Clinton, his electoral rival and the current front-runner in the presidential contest.By comparison, in 2012 people who had worked alongside Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had donated $1.4 million both directly to his campaign and to the super PAC supporting his campaign.Secretary Clinton has also received donations from employees at the U.S. State Department, which she headed from 2009 to 2013.Trump has continually lagged behind Clinton in fundraising during the election, a disparity which has shown up in underfunded campaign operations in many of the key swing states and a severe lack of television advertising. Trump claimed he would self-fund his campaign, but while he has donated to the enterprise, it hasn t been a significant fraction of the billions Trump claims to possess, a figure which cannot be independently verified because Trump won t release his tax returns.Featured image via Flickr | 1 |
Nancy Pelosi s latest claim is over the top:In a conference call with reporters, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, criticized Trump s late push for some funding for the wall now, which she said would be wrong if it was budgeted for at the expense of government programs like those that help young people, the elderly and the environment. He did not promise that he would take food out of the mouths of babies and seniors and education, clean air, clean water, scientific research off the table in a significant way in order for him to pay for his immoral, ineffective, unwise proposal of a wall, Pelosi said.But she said she was open to some technology and other improvements at the border so long as they were not related in any way to the planning, prepping or building of the wall itself. Read more: The HillHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was on Meet the Press and let out another gibberish laden response to a question. Does anyone out there understand what she meant by her comments about the wall. How does it mean Trump is weak if he wants a wall? Twisted reasoning is all that comes from Pelosi these days especially when in 2006 most prominent Democrats voted to build a barrier at the border. Immoral and unwise ? How is it immoral and unwise to want to protect your people? You have to understand this part of the country. There s a community going through it. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE 2006 BORDER WALL FENCE?Remember the promise of a fence on our southern border? Yes, it was the plan but the $1.2 billion dollar plan was never executed as proposed. You can thank our Liar in Chief and a popular Republican for that WE RECENTLY POSTED THIS VIDEO OF AN IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL SAYING BUILDING A BORDER FENCE ISN T POSSIBLE EVEN THOUGH $1.2 BILLION WAS GIVEN IN 2006 FOR A FENCE: In his speech in El Paso on immigration reform on May 10, 2011, Obama declared that the fence along the border with Mexico is now basically complete. Like much of what comes out of the Obama administration, that was a lie. What was supposed to be built was a double layered fence with barbed-wire on top, and room for a security vehicle to patrol between the layers. Except for 36 of the seven-hundred mile fence, what was built looks like the picture above or the one below.But that doesn t stop your liar in chief. He claims. We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement, Obama said. All the stuff they asked for, we ve done. But even though we ve answered these concerns, I ve got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time. Maybe he s right the goal posts were moved, but to make the job easier.The Secure Fence Act was introduced on Sept. 13, 2006 by Rep Peter King (R-NY) and passed Congress on a bi-partisan basis. In the House of Representatives, the Fence Act passed 283 -138 on September 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006, the Fence Act passed in the Senate 80 -19. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 s goal was to help secure America s borders to decrease illegal entry, drug trafficking, and security threats by building 700 miles (1,100 km) of physical barriers along the Mexico-United States border. Additionally, the law authorized more vehicle barriers, checkpoints, and lighting as well as authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to increase the use of advanced technology such as cameras, satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles to reinforce infrastructure at the border. So far less than 40 miles of a real fence have been built most of it during the Bush Administration.Of the almost 700 miles of fencing, DHS reports there are currently 36.3 miles of double-layered fencing, as the bill required, the kind with enough gap that you can drive a vehicle between the layers. But the majority of the fencing erected has been made from vehicle barriers with single-layer pedestrian fencing, the kind of barriers that are designed to stop vehicles rather than people. The design specifications vary, depending on geography and climate characteristics, but according to the Customs and Border Patrol website, those include post on rail steel set in concrete; steel picket-style fence set in concrete; vehicle bollards similar to those found around federal buildings; Normandy; vehicle fence consisting of steel beams; and concrete jersey walls with steel mesh. The first blow against the promised fence was made by Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican Senator from Texas, at the urging of DHS she proposed an amendment to give the Department discretion to decide what type of fence was appropriate in different areas. The law was amended to read, Nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location. Hutchison s amendment was included in a federal budget bill in late 2007 despite the fact that Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., had a cow he argued the amendment effectively killed the border fence promised in the 2006 bill, he was right. Hutchison s intentions may have been honorable, but she didn t foresee Barack Obama being the next president.When Janet Napolitano became Obama s first DHS she took advantage of Ms. Hutchison s 2007 amendment, instead of building a fence which look something like the below, she built a fence that was mostly a combination of the two pictures above.When She was still Governor of Arizona Janet Napolitano said, You show me a 50-foot wall, and I ll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border. And she may be right The fence will never STOP all illegal crossings. The purpose of the fence is two-fold, slowing the intruders and making them visible to members of the border patrol. The rest of the work is done by human beings.Very little of the Israeli separation barrier erected to keep out terrorists is a wall, most of the 400 miles of the barrier which has received so much international scorn is a two layered fence like section of their barrier below. The fence has served its purpose, in 2002, the year before construction started, 457 Israelis were murdered; in 2009, 8 Israelis were killed.The reason it has been effective is not simply the fence itself but how the fence is guarded and patrolled. And that s what will make our fence along the Mexican border work.Here s the bottom line. Back in 2006 the people of the U.S. were promised a border fence. Since then thanks to Kay Bailey Hutchison and Barack Obama 95% of the fence wasn t built. The arguments against the fence are bogus especially if you look at Israel s history. It s time for America to demand that its leaders build the fence they promised. No one can honestly say it wont work, after all it hasn t been tried. Via: The Lid | 1 |
Their itinerary includes meetings with Cuban government officials, a possible meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, possible meetings with representatives of Cuba's civil society, a visit to the U.S. Interests Section, and a meeting with other ambassadors to Cuba. The delegation will travel to Cuba on Saturday, and return Monday evening.
A spokesman for Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, tells CNN, the delegation will seek "clarity from Cuba on what they envision normalization of relations to look like, and, "going beyond past rote responses such as 'end the embargo."
The spokesman says the congressional members, "hope to develop a sense of what Cuba and United States are prepared to do to make a constructive relationship possible. " The delegation will also, "impress upon Cuban leaders the importance of concrete results and positive momentum," and, "Convey a sense of Americans' expectations, and perceptions in Congress." Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who is heading the delegation Looking forward to #Cuba visit to discuss our relationship & potential collaboration w/ #RI's academic institutions http://t.co/AO5r782ea0 — Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) January 17, 2015 | 0 |
This is so over the top it s not funny. I m a huge advocate of parents being there for the kids but a felony charge? Held overnight in jail? Does anyone out there have anything new to add to this or is it a case of our ever overreaching government getting into our business?If this doesn t convince lawmakers that they had better start revising the child neglect laws and convince politicians that supporting Free-Range legislation would be a great, vote-getting platform I m not sure what will. I got this letter a week ago and was waiting for the mom s permission to run it. Got it. Boldface mine:My children are not free range children. The younger one has always had a baby sitter. The older one who just turned 11 a couple of weeks ago always had a baby sitter as well. This school year that changed. The eleven year old comes home and is met by his dad who lets him in the house. In the event dad isn t here on time, his instructions are to wait in the backyard until I come home about 20 minutes later.On this particular day, a little more than a month ago, both dad and I were both running late due bad traffic and rain. We were about and hour and a half late. When we arrived the police had been anonymously called and we were arrested for child neglect.We still do not have our children, we are fighting for our own freedom and due to the nature of my employment I am no longer employed. My son was in his own yard playing basketball, not in the street or at the park. The authorities claim he had no access to water or shelter. We have an open shed in the back yard and 2 working sinks and 2 hoses. They said he had no food. He ate his snacks already. He had no bathroom, but the responding officer found our yard good enough to relieve himself in while our son sat in a police car alone. In his own yard, in a state, Florida, that has no minimum age for children to be alone. If you have any advice for what I should do I will accept it.The advice I gave was to contact The National Association of Parents, which fights for the rights of parents (including the Meitivs) to raise their kids without government interference, except in cases of clear and convincing evidence of actual or imminent harm. That threshhold is a far cry from whatever horrors are visited upon tweens playing basketball while waiting for their parents to get home. (To support the Association of Parents with a donation, go here.)Then on Friday, the mom wrote back:I just wanted to give you an update. Our sons were returned to us on Tuesday/Wednesday in the children s court/DCF with adjudication withheld. However the criminal prosecutor is not dropping the charges as of today. We have to appear in the criminal court on June 11th to put in our plea. I would love to speak to someone however due to my job (which is still on the line) I don t know if it will make it better or worse. I am a state and county employee with the school system and I was made to sign a paper stating I would not speak with teachers parents or students regarding the matter.That being said, it is possible this mom will never talk publicly about this case. Even so, WE should talk about it. It is time to rein in the power of the state to turn parents into criminals simply because they are imperfect.Perfection is impossible in this world, and if the government is allowed to hound a family whose plans got mildly screwed up, it can hound every single one of us.Via: Free Range Kids | 0 |
WASHINGTON — The United States’ accidental bombing of Syrian troops over the weekend has put it on the defensive, undercutting American efforts to reduce violence in the civil war and open paths for humanitarian relief. The United States had thought that if a deal to ease hostilities in Syria, struck by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart in Geneva nine days ago, fell apart, it would reveal Russia’s duplicity in the war, in which Moscow has supported the Syrian president, Bashar . Instead, the mistaken bombing — American pilots thought they were aiming at Islamic State jihadists but instead killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers, according to the Russian military — again exposed the White House’s struggle to put together a coherent strategy in a multisided war. The United States has conflicting aims in the war, from defeating the Islamic State to ultimately easing Mr. Assad out of office. Nearly a year after Mr. Kerry began a diplomatic process to reduce the violence, and then a political accord for a transition in power, he appears no closer to that goal than when he started. The early American calls for Mr. Assad to leave office have been muted because of fears that a power vacuum in Damascus would be exploited by jihadists. The errant bombing, for which the administration apologized to Mr. Assad, also gave both the Russians and the Syrian government a propaganda bonanza: Russia suggested it was a result of an American reluctance to share intelligence, and the Assad government said, contrary to all other evidence, that the United States was trying to protect the Islamic State. The attempt to achieve seven consecutive days of a “reduction of hostilities” — the first step in a series of events envisioned in the deal between the United States and Russia — is not dead. The clock can start anew. But American officials said it was clear that the effort could fall apart, as did a agreement in February. American officials accused Russia of not pressing the Assad government to stop military activity and allow in humanitarian aid. Mr. Kerry, appearing on CNN on Sunday morning, called on Russia to stop “grandstanding” and to push the Assad government to honor the Geneva agreement, including allowing the delivery of aid to besieged areas. “The biggest judgment they need to make is to stop Assad from bombing people indiscriminately, which he continues to do,” Mr. Kerry said. “To allow him to continue to go after opposition, pretending that they are Nusra, is in and of itself a huge challenge to this effort. ” The new plan to reduce violence was designed to prevent Syrian forces from bombing opposition groups while claiming the groups were embedded with Nusra forces, which until recently were officially linked to Al Qaeda. The situation in Syria on Sunday showed that the that began last Monday was fraying. Fighter jets fired at least four missiles at opposition neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, while Syrian government helicopters dropped improvised barrel bombs on a village in the country’s south, killing at least nine people, a conflict monitor said. Many American officials believe that the Russians were never serious about the deal that was sealed in Geneva. The officials argue that the Russians were looking for an excuse that would derail it and keep a status quo in which they have more control over events in Syria than any other power, with the possible exception of Iran. If so, the accidental bombing made that process easier. Mr. Kerry faced many skeptics in Washington that the arrangement he worked out with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, would ever work. Chief among them was Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, the only senior member of the administration to vocally oppose the deal on the night Mr. Kerry reached it in Geneva. Mr. Carter feared that the accord would reveal too much to the Russians about American targeting intelligence, and argued that Moscow was cynically dragging out the process in President Obama’s final months in office. Mr. Kerry had argued that it was worth testing the Russians on their willingness to act. But on Sunday, whatever optimism he once had seemed gone. “The humanitarian assistance is supposed to be flowing,” Mr. Kerry said. “The regime once again is blocking it. So Russia’s client, Russia’s supported friend, is the single biggest blockade to the ability to move forward here. ” But the deadly bombing underscored how difficult it has been to ensure that the American and Russian militaries do not become entangled on Syria’s complicated battlefield, much less to coordinate their targeting. Under the current system, terse phone calls between the Russian military and the American command post in Qatar are supposed to allow each side to notify the other about the movement of its jets — sometimes giving only minutes of warning. This occurred on Saturday, when an American officer in Qatar called his Russian counterpart to tell him of the impending strike, according to a Central Command official. The American strikes began, and an urgent call came 20 minutes later, in which the Russians notified the Americans in Qatar that they were slaughtering Syrian troops. “What is paradoxical here is that Centcom says it informed the Russian military it would be striking the area, which they had struck many times previously,” said Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “You would think the Russians, as Assad’s chief international ally, would have passed on the message. ” On Saturday, Mr. Kerry also called Mr. Lavrov to reiterate the need for the Syrian military to stop its bombings and for humanitarian aid to start flowing. As of Sunday morning, the situation had not improved, a State Department official said. With world leaders and foreign ministers headed to New York for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Kerry will assemble a meeting Tuesday of the International Syria Support Group, the multinational body that has designed the plans for a reduction in violence and a political solution for Syria. That group includes the United States, Russia, China, Turkey, and European and Arab nations — each with different interests in the conflict. Even after the quick admission by the United States that it had accidentally killed Syrian troops and regretted the loss of life, Russian and Syrian officials seized on the bombing to argue that it was the United States, and the opposition forces it backs, that were undermining the agreement. They said that the Syrians who had been killed had been fighting Islamic State jihadists, and that the bombing was far from an accident. “The actions of coalition pilots — if they, as we hope, were not taken on an order from Washington — are on the boundary between criminal negligence and connivance with Islamic State terrorists,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “We strongly urge Washington to exert the needed pressure on the illegal armed groups under its patronage to implement the plan unconditionally,” the ministry said. “Otherwise, the implementation of the entire package of the U. S. accords reached in Geneva on Sept. 9 may be jeopardized. ” Sunday’s airstrikes in Aleppo, which is divided between government and opposition forces, were the first to hit the city since the agreement went into effect last Monday. It was unclear whether the strikes had been launched by Syrian or Russian jets, both of which frequently bomb the opposition. It was also unclear whether the Aleppo strikes had killed anyone. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said four missiles had struck the city, but it did not report any deaths medics in the city posted photos online of children they said had been wounded and killed in the strikes. The Observatory also reported nine dead in the barrel bomb attacks in southern Syria, as well as scattered shelling by government forces elsewhere in the country. | 0 |
Monday on CNN’s “Newsroom,” network Sunday morning host Fareed Zakaria said the speech President Donald Trump gave this weekend in Riyadh could have been given by former President Barack Obama. Zakaria said, “It’s going very well in terms of the symbolism and one important respect the substance, which was the speech that President Trump gave in Riyadh on Islam was very carefully done it was nuanced. It was frankly the kind of speech President Obama could have given. He never used the word radical Islamic terrorism, which he kept insisting that Obama use. He tweeted once Obama should resign because he was unwilling to use that phrase. Trump refused to use the phrase as well. He pointed out that 95 percent of the victims of Islamic terrorism are Muslims. It had the kind of nuance and empathy that people look for because ultimately what you’re trying to do is convince these Muslim countries to in some way take on, battle, expel as President Trump said, the scourge of Islamic terrorism. ” ( The Hill) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police detained 143 people over suspected links to Islamic State in anti-terror operations in eight cities over the weekend, the state-run Anadolu Agency said on Sunday. Counter-terrorism police detained 49 foreign nationals on Saturday during operations in the capital Ankara, Anadolu said. Some of the detained were believed to be preparing for an attack on Oct. 29, Turkey s Republic Day. The police raided houses in Bursa, a northwestern province of Turkey, and detained 39 people including 28 Syrian nationals and two Azerbaijani nationals on Sunday, Anadolu said. Eight of the detained suspects were minors, it said. On Sunday morning, police detained 22 people in the northeastern province of Erzurum as part of an investigation into terrorist organizations. The detained included suspected senior members of the organizations, Anadolu said. Police also detained 33 suspects in five other cities including Istanbul and Izmir as part of anti-terror operations over the weekend, Anadolu said. Police confiscated several weapons, ammunition, digital data and documents during the operations, it said. | 0 |
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday Japan would do its utmost, in cooperation with the United States, to defend itself against missiles fired by North Korea and to increase its missile defense capabilities. Abe spoke at the start of a meeting of ruling coalition lawmakers a day after North Korea conducted its sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test. | 0 |
0 |
|
VALLETTA (Reuters) - The son of Malta s best-known investigative journalist said on Tuesday his mother had been killed by a car bomb because of her work exposing political corruption, as hundreds of people demonstrated to demand justice after her death. Daphne Caruana Galizia, who wrote about graft across Malta s political divides on her blog, died when explosives ripped through her car minutes after she left her home in the north of the island on Monday afternoon. Maltese authorities were waiting for the arrival of Dutch forensic experts and American FBI agents to help the investigations. My mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it, like many strong journalists, Matthew Caruana Galizia said on Facebook. She was also targeted because she was the only person doing so, he added. He described rushing to the scene, only to find the burning car and her remains. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was accused of wrong-doing by Caruana Galizia earlier this year and had been suing her over some of her allegations, denounced her killing and pledged to track down those responsible. But a small group booed Muscat on Tuesday evening when he left his office, and the opposition is calling for him to resign. The prime minister and his government have been responsible for diminishing the rule of law in Malta, opposition leader Adrian Delia told Reuters. They have created an environment where people are afraid to speak out. On Tuesday afternoon, several hundred people demonstrated in front of the law courts demanding justice for Caruana Galizia s killers. The state did not defend Daphne, shouted Andrew Borg Cardona, addressing the crowd. He said those who accused her of going over the top with her investigations are all guilty . One woman carried a votive lamp with the murdered journalist s picture in it and another carried a sign that read Looks like we can t have freedom of speech but we want justice . Recently, Caruana Galizia had been following up leads from information in the so-called Panama Papers, a large collection of documents from an offshore law firm in the Central American nation that were leaked in 2015. She was tracing alleged links between Maltese officials and offshore banks and companies used as tax havens. Half an hour before the explosion, Caruana Galizia wrote on her blog: There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. The European Commission told journalists it was horrified by the murder in the bloc s smallest state and called for justice. Spokesman Margaritis Schinas was asked if the Commission would open a procedure to check if Malta was meeting the EU s standards for the rule of law, a process now being applied to Poland over judicial reforms there. He replied: We never speculate on these questions. These are very serious subjects ... This is an outrageous act that happened, and what matters now is that justice will be brought. This is what we need to see. The killing near the village of Bidnija stunned the Mediterranean island. Authorities said it was the first murder of a journalist there. I saw a small explosion coming from the car and I panicked. A few seconds later, around three to four seconds, there was another, larger explosion, said resident Frans Sant, who was driving in the other direction. The car continued coming down the hill, skidding at high speed, full of fire. The car missed me by around 10 feet. I tried to help, but the fire was too much and the car ended up in the field, he told Reuters Television. | 1 |
Notable names include Ray Washburne (Commerce), a Dallas-based investor, is reported to be under consideration to lead the department. | 1 |
A disgusting black sludge is coming out of residents faucets in Crystal City, Texas, and the people are left helpless to do anything about it. The reason is because everyone but a single individual that served in elected city government got arrested recently by the FBI for a slew of charges, including accepting bribes for official actions like contract awards, tax giveaways, using inspections to muscle out certain businesses on behalf of others, immigrant smuggling and operating illegal gambling establishments.The filth coming from the town taps caused schools to close early, after a decision made by Superintendent Imelda Allen. There s not really anyone in charge to oversee and do make people aware of the condition of the water. So I wasn t going to wait for anyone to call me from City Hall. I know that leadership is not present at the time, Allen was quoted as saying.This is the actual water coming out of the faucets in Crystal City.Crystal City s water Direct from the faucet: Credit: Crystal City Facebook PageAn unknown Crystal City employee took to the City s Facebook page to comment on the issue and try to make residents aware of the problem, by saying boil water if necessary. If necessary? Way more than boiling is necessary with the water in this picture.There is a lesson to be learned with this. The lesson is that the Republican argument of not needing proper government is utter nonsense. These people have a problem, and there is nobody home to take their calls because their entire elected governmental body is simply not there anymore.City staffers tried flushing the water by opening hydrants to drain the lines. They also announced that they thought the condition was caused by flushing a water tank that had not been cleaned for nearly 30 years. It is still not clear if the problem has been fully resolved and the water is safe, though. Next time a Republicans talks about how government does nothing good for people, ask them who they would call if their municipal water looked like this.Featured image via KSAT | 0 |
21st Century Wire says There have been a string of active shooter events prior to 2016 s first presidential debate this coming week with many incidents appearing suspicious in nature. The Guardian reports that the apparent motive still remains unclear: A 20-year-old suspect was in custody on Sunday for the killing of five people during a deadly shooting at a mall in Burlington, Washington, two days before. Arcan Cetin of Oak Harbor, Washington, a legal permanent resident who had immigrated to the US from Turkey, was discovered zombie-like , police said, on Saturday evening after police responded to a tip-off following an intensive 24-hour manhunt. Cetin was unarmed at the time of his arrest, authorities said. Although a motive for the shooting remains unclear, authorities told local media that Cetin s ex-girlfriend had previously worked at the targeted department store but left her job months ago. The suspect had been charged three times with domestic assault against his stepfather and had been ordered by a judge not to possess a firearm, according to the Seattle Times. At a Saturday press conference, the FBI said terrorism was not a suspected motive. Memory Hole below Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn HeltonCASCADE MALL SHOOTING AN ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILL ?Memory HoleVictim Corpses Remain in Mall OvernightWitnesses Sequestered from PressPhotograph depicts porta-potties, hugs and smiles at sceneAs we have sought to document at MHB on a routine basis, active shooter drills are now common occurrences across the US. Such training is a consequence of the heightened federalization of local and regional law enforcement.The September 23 Cascade Mall shooting north of Seattle in northwest Washington State took place shortly before 7:00PM local time, and has certain suspect features evident in photos, particularly evidence of tents and porta-potties on the scene, as observed by a MHB reader.There is an absence of footage of wounded or deceased victims in triage or being given ambulatory services away from the scene. Instead, news media were told victims remained in the mall awaiting the local coroner. The Washington Post reports, As of Saturday morning, the bodies of the four female victims were still inside the mall, Skagit County coroner Hayley Thompson said at a news conference Saturday. Thompson said when she gained access to the scene, the four female victims would be taken to Skagit Valley Hospital and undergo autopsies. Such events are reported on by major news media uncritically, thus supporting the call for strengthened gun control measures while ironically stimulating gun purchases by a public that fears such restrictions.The Cascade Mall shooting s police spokesperson for the event is Washington State Patrol s Mark Francis. A press release was issued over 18 hours after the event transpired. | 0 |
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sat down for an interview on Sunday and had a few words to say about the birth of America, which was plagued by slavery from its very conception.While discussing her newest book, Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom, Rice told CBS Sunday Morning that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was the second founding of America. We forget in the United States how long it has taken us to make We the People mean people like me. And indeed, I do think that America was born with a birth defect; it was slavery. And so I do think that when we were finally able to deliver the promise of the Constitution to people like me, little girls growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, when finally my father was able to vote without difficulty, yes, it s the second founding of America. The first founding wasn t quite complete. Rice, who spent eight years in the White House serving as national security adviser and secretary of state under President George W. Bush, also called forth a memory from her childhood during the interview. She grew up in Alabama, where Jim Crow was the law of the land. In the summers, her family would travel to Denver. However, these were not your average family vacations. Rather, they were a quest for an education denied to them because of the color of their skin. If you were black, you couldn t go to the University of Alabama for graduate school in 1961, she said. And so my father, who was getting an advanced degree in student personnel administration, and my mother, who was qualifying to teach music in the schools she was a science teacher before that would go to Denver. You can watch her interview in its entirety here, via CBS Sunday Morning.Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday it asked former FBI Director James Comey to appear before the panel in both public and closed sessions, stepping up its investigation of Russia’s alleged interference into the 2016 U.S. election. It also said it had asked Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe to send any notes or other memos prepared by Comey about communications he may have had with senior White House and Department of Justice officials related to the investigation into Russia and the election. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A media watchdog group filed suit on Tuesday to force U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency to release records detailing his communications with energy companies ahead of a Senate vote to confirm his nomination. The lawsuit was filed in Oklahoma court by the Center for Media and Democracy and accuses Scott Pruitt, who is Oklahoma’s attorney general as well as Trump’s nominee to become the top U.S. environmental regulator, of violating the state’s Open Records Act by failing to release those emails to the public. It also seeks to force him to respond to nine open-records requests dating to January 2015 to publish emails between his office and energy companies. Pruitt’s office has received more than four dozen similar requests from other groups. “His inaction denies the public ‘prompt and reasonable’ access to public documents and violates Oklahoma’s Open Records Act,” said Robert Nelon, a first amendment lawyer with Hall Estill, the law firm representing the Center for Media and Democracy along with the American Civil Liberties Union. The media watchdog’s first request sought access to more than 3,000 emails. Pruitt’s office has not told the group how many records it has identified for the other eight requests it has pending. “We are doing this because these emails should be released so that people can properly vet his record before the Senate votes to confirm him,” said Nick Surgey, the center’s director of research. Pruitt, 48, sued the agency he intends to run 14 times on behalf of Oklahoma to weaken or gut its key regulations, earning him strong support from energy companies and Republican lawmakers who have accused the Obama administration’s EPA of regulatory overreach. On Thursday, the Senate environment committee approved Pruitt despite a boycott of his nomination by the panel’s Democratic members. The full Senate, which is under Republican control, is expected to confirm him but has not set a date for the vote. The lawsuit submitted on Tuesday calls on the court to stop Pruitt from denying access to requested public records and to prevent his office from destroying any documents relevant to the requests. Surgey said Pruitt was seemingly unapologetic during the confirmation hearings about his “strong relationships with Oklahoma’s oil and gas companies” and that the public should be aware his ties to the types of companies he would need to regulate as EPA administrator. Pruitt’s office said it had contacted the Center for Media and Democracy last week to inform the group that “release of their request was imminent.” “The fact that they have now filed suit despite our ongoing communications demonstrates that this is nothing more than political theater,” Lincoln Ferguson, the attorney general’s press secretary said in a statement. “The office of attorney general remains committed to fulfilling both the letter and spirit of the Open Records Act.” Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a member of the Senate panel that held Pruitt’s hearing, accused the nominee of stonewalling the request for information about his relationships with industry. “I hope this lawsuit forces Attorney General Pruitt to stop the cover-up and disclose these emails immediately so the American people know what conflicts of interest this nominee has,” Whitehouse said in a statement to Reuters. | 1 |
Michelle Obama Deletes Hillary Clinton From Twitter When Hillary goes low, Michelle goes BYE! Posted on November 1, 2016 by Baxter Dmitry in News , US // 1 Comment
Michelle Obama has scrubbed all references to Hillary Clinton from both of her Twitter accounts as news breaks that Clinton is under two different FBI investigations involving four FBI offices.
The @FLOTUS account has been wiped clean of all traces of Hillary, and @MichelleObama , a verified page with almost six million followers, has been scrubbed all the way back to 2013.
Is Michelle performing a last minute tidy up, clearing out the clutter before the dumpster fire of the Democratic campaign finally burns out? RELATED CONTENT Obama Administration Begs Court Not To Depose Hillary Clinton
Are the Washington elite preparing to move on from Hillary?
Bernie Sanders has also begun to change his tune. A Twitter post today sure didn’t sound like it was referring to Hillary Clinton. Now is the time for our next president to rally people against Wall Street and corporate greed and stand up for the declining middle class.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 30, 2016
Bernie was asked by a supporter about the write-in thing – and his response might surprise you. “ If you want to write me in here [Vermont], I think it’s fine.” | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump neared the end of his vice presidential search on Thursday and appeared to be leaning toward Indiana Governor Mike Pence, a conservative with the potential to unify divided Republicans. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee tweeted on Wednesday night that he would announce his choice on Friday at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) in Manhattan. The New York businessman is to be formally nominated as the party’s candidate for the Nov. 8 election at the Republican National Convention next week in Cleveland. Traditionally, the vice presidential choice is used to build enthusiasm among party loyalists. Trump’s choice of running mate is seen as critical because his defeat of 16 rivals in the Republican primary race left the party divided and some party leaders are still uneasy about some of his campaign positions, and his style. Sources familiar with campaign operations cautioned that while Pence and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich were finalists, Trump could always have a last-minute change of heart and choose someone else from his short list. A source close to the campaign said Trump appeared to be leaning toward Pence but could easily change his mind. Gingrich told an ABC News correspondent he expected to hear Trump’s decision after 1 p.m. EDT and would not be surprised if Trump chooses Pence. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 53, a former rival to Trump in the presidential race, is also high on the list of potential running mates and provides the kind of counterpunch to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that Republicans like. Pence, 57, a former congressman, is seen as a safe choice, not too flashy but popular among conservatives, with Midwestern appeal and the ability to rally more party faithful behind Trump. Gingrich, 73, is a close adviser to Trump with a wealth of ideas and deep experience in the legislative process from his time as speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s. In what has been an unusually public process, Trump, 70, sat down with both Pence and Gingrich separately in Indianapolis on Wednesday. He also met with a fourth potential No. 2, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, 69, of Alabama, who has been one of Trump’s closest advisers. The New York businessman had dinner with Pence on Tuesday night after they appeared together at a rally. Trump, joined by daughter Ivanka and sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, had breakfast with Pence and his wife, Karen, on Wednesday at the governor’s residence in Indianapolis. Trump adviser Ed Brookover told CNN that Trump “first and foremost” wants a running mate who he has good chemistry with and someone who can help him govern best. | 0 |
Ashutosh attempts suicide at protest rally, rescued while proofreading suicide note Posted on Tweet (Image via shiningindianews.com)
Delhi police has foiled a suicide attempt by Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Ashutosh during a protest rally organized by his party. He was apprehended when he and his team were proofreading his suicide note before attempting suicide.
He was later sent to 14 days judicial custody where he is currently undergoing a refresher course in grammar and spelling.
The incident happened yesterday when AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal organized an impromptu protest rally at Jantar Mantar to expose Narendra Modi, but unfortunately no one from the media turned up for the event. Crestfallen, Mr. Kejriwal decided to go back on Twitter and continue his service for his constituency when an idea crossed his mind. He shared the idea with Ashutosh and urged him to commit suicide.
“But this is not what I was looking forward to when I joined AAP,” retorted Ashutosh.
“No, you are not going to die. You will just attempt a suicide. We will call media to cover the event. Just imagine, you will be making headlines, you will be trending on Twitter, everyone will be talking about you. It will be so cool!”
“Ok, you do it then if it’s so cool.”
“No, I need to oversee the whole event. See, there are two options for you, either do it or find another party.”
‘‘Which party will take me if I leave AAP?’ he pondered for a while and said, “Ok, let’s do it.”
“Cool, now write a suicide note and let’s get on with this.”
“Ok.”
AAP party workers gathered around Ashutosh as he typed the opening line on Microsoft Word that read, “I holed Modi resoncible for my deth…”
A crack team of 5 proof readers was formed immediately, who advised him about the correction the sentence demanded.
He grinned and typed, “ sorry responcible …not resoncible .. ”
“No, you can just delete the words and…”
Another 5 proof readers were hired urgently to strengthen the team as he continued to type the letter.
By the time he completed the letter, the language settings on MS Word had automatically turned into Spanish.
“Done,” Ashutosh pronounced with a satisfactory smile as he beheld his creation for a few seconds before calling police to inform them about his plan.
“Sir wait, we haven’t started proofreading yet,” implored one of the newly hired proofreaders.
“Do you want me to die for real or what?”
“No but at least the attempt should look genuine and not a hoax.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve informed Darya Ganj Police Station. By the time they beat the traffic to reach here, we will not only complete the proofreading but will also complete the suicide…attempt.”
3 proofreaders immediately started to decode the message in the letter in a separate document, another 3 changed the language settings of MS Word, and the rest started deleting the word ‘why’ which he had added at the end of every sentence. But it was too much of an ask for 10 mortals and they couldn’t even rewrite half of the letter when police arrived at the scene.
Kejriwal tried to cover up the whole mess and handed over the letter to the police inspector, saying, “See, what Modi has done to him! He was about to commit suicide.”
The inspector held the suicide note in front of him and mumbled, “Oh, Ashutosh. We would need some help here.”
Experts, including the ones who decoded Nostradamus’s predictions, were flown in from various parts of the world to decipher the message in the letter, however, they haven’t quite succeeded in their endeavor as reports last came in. | 1 |
Клоунада — не напасть, как бы клоунам не пропасть! 31 октября 2016 Происшествия
В Германии, где только в октябре было 370 случаев нападений «клоунов» на жителей, не собираются оставлять этих пранкеров безнаказанными.
Подражатели идиотским действиям американских ряженых с бейсбольными битами и бензопилами нашли в Англии благодатную почву. Но ни одного любителя подобной клоунады там не наказали, сочтя их нападения на людей всего лишь невинными шуточками. Однако «тонкий» британский юмор доступен не всем. Вряд ли подобные выходки понравились бы и российским туристам, отправлявшимся этой осенью в туманный Альбион. Посему их всех предупреждали быть осторожными и не бродить по Лондону тёмными вечерами.
На европейском континенте эта зараза появилась чуть позже и начала распространяться со скоростью, присущей разве что пресловутому свиному или птичьему гриппу. Но не тут-то было! Законопослушные немцы завалили полицию сообщениями об инцидентах, часть которых, как это бывает повсюду, оказалась ложной.
Но лишь часть – в основном, переодетые клоунами шутники пугали прохожих и преследовали их с бейсбольными битами. Были настоящие атаки с ножами и другим оружием. Кое-кто даже пострадал, а некоторые жертвы вполне успешно отбивались, вступая с «клоунами» в драку или опрыскивая их из перцовых баллончиков. Само собой, немецкая полиция не собирается потакать нарушителям спокойствия и призывает всех пострадавших обращаться с жалобами.
А что у нас? Миновала ли эта напасть российские города? Ага, как же! И у нас нашлись подобные любители поприкалываться. Один «клоун с вантузом» чего стоит! Только его удалой выход на проезжую часть питерского района Купчино закончился абсолютно бесславно: водитель, коего этот тип в маске собирался напугать, вышел из машины, да так ему наподдал, что тот отлетел на обочину.
В преддверии Хэллоуина и в наших магазинах раскупили все клоунские наряды. Российской полиции, как всегда, не до хулиганских происшествий, и заниматься их предотвращением вызвались… не подумайте, что у нас активизировались «дружинники». Патрулировать улицы собираются конные казаки — тут уж «клоунам» будет не до шуток!
Источник информации и картинки: t-online.de Теги: | 1 |
0 Add Comment
IRELAND was said to be unsure how to act after learning the man most unfit for public office, snagged a 10-minute conversation with Donald Trump late last night.
However, a leaked transcript of the conversation believed to have lasted 10 minutes has been made available to the public, reassuring many. WWN has reproduced it in full below:
Enda: “Hello, Donald, bog fan, sorry, I mean big fan, bit nervous chatting to you obviously”
Trump: (speaking to someone in the room with him) “It’s definitely ‘Edna’? That’s a chick’s name right? Invite her for Patty’s Day. On a scale of 1-to-10, what are we talking? How grabbable is her pussy?”
Enda: “Hi, huh-hello? Mr, eh, President Elect Trump sir..”
Trump: (speaking to someone in the room with him) “Yeah, they say that now, but once I’m in office, that gold statue of me is going on the White House lawn, believe me. We’ll need to enhance the crotch area first, bigly.”
Enda: “Hello, we’re very happy for you here in Ireland, absolutely everyone loves you and your hair and I never called you a racist, they were Clinton lies. She’s a big liar that Clinton one.”
Long pause of over 1 minute when nothing is said.
Trump: (chewing loudly) Who is this again?”
Enda: “It’s Enda Kenny, I’m the Taoise… I’m the Mr. Ireland boss man”
Trump: (chewing loudly) “We’re winning big here, you understand, so big, we won so big, it’s unbelievable and yet my assistant tells me you’re not even following me on Twitter. Wrong. Big mistake, believe me”
Enda: “Yes, yes, I’ll change that immediately, sir. Now myself and Barack, we talked a lot of the Undocumented Irish and their plight, as it were, and we were making great progress, they’re not an awful shower like the Muslims, you were dead right about them… we’ve only about 4 of them here”
Trump: “I have no idea what a Demented Iris is. And I’m bored.”
Silence for a number of seconds.
Enda: “Our two countries enjoy a great trade relationship, we hope that continues”
Trump: “I’m a business guy, the best business guy. You a business guy?”
Enda: “I gave primary school teaching a go about 40 years ago”
Trump: “This steak is great. Have you tried Trump steak? I’ll send you some, you’ll pay for it, but I’ll send it. If there’s maggots festering in it, that’s nothing to do with us. It’s the best steak.”
Enda: “Okay, now I’ll have to put my foot down on corporation tax and other practices, Mr President, sir…”
Trump: “Boring. I’m making America great again, and you’re taking up too much of my time. Anyway, if you’re in Clare, you should check my course and hotel, it’s beautiful, the most beautiful in the world. When I got there, this guy greeted me, and it was very Irish, probably the most Irish thing they’ve ever done for anyone”.
Enda: “That was Michael Noonan, he’s my best friend…”
Trump: “They had a red carpet out, beautiful women, the silliest music you could imagine, they let me do anything down there, they really did. All because of a few jobs. Except that damn wall…”
Enda: (shouting) “You can have the wall!”
Trump: “Who is this again?” | 1 |
In reaction to Donald Trump s victory, The Simpsons decided to update their 2000 prediction of a Trump presidency.In 2000, the show showed a glimpse into the future where President Lisa Simpson inherited an economic mess from President Trump. Well, now that fictional story line has become a horrifying reality.Here is The Simpsons new opening with Bart Simpson writing on the chalkboard, BEING RIGHT SUCKS :The Simpsons updates its 2000 prediction of a Trump Presidency #TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/Myf5rYb9Dj The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) November 14, 2016Hopefully, the financial despair the fictional President Trump never becomes a reality, but seeing as he has no experience, is a businessman who s not as good as he says he is, and The Simpsons have been right thus far, the future s looking pretty bleak.Here s the original clip of President Lisa Simpson calling out a Donald Trump presidency for his fiscal fallout and bad economy:Early on into Trump s campaign, The Simpsons satirized the reality TV host turned president-elect by having Homer Simpson somehow at the campaign rollout and falling into Trump s hair. If we could only go back to that moment and enjoy the comedy over reality.Now we have to reap what we ve sown, or rather what the less than half of voting Americans have sown considering Trump only won with the Electoral College and lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in his own words, big league.Most of us with The Simpsons were very wrong with the prediction as well.Featured image via video screen capture | 1 |
November 4, 2016 at 10:44 pm
Things are going to be so far worse and terrible then any human on this Planet could ever imagine. Embrace your loved ones and cherish them while you still can and rely on the Lord Jesus, Humanity's Savior to deliver you and your Family from the Evil that is about to consume this planet like we have never seen before. If you are lost with yourself and Soul repent to Jesus and Accept him as your Savior. He is the only way, the Truth and the Light. God be with you all and God Help Us, Amen. | 1 |
Previous Mass Casualty Drill In S. Carolina-Is This the First False Flag?
With Hillary’s future in jeopardy, people are on edge for a possible false flag event. I was just telling a friend that so far today, we have been lucky. Well, I might have jumped to conclusions. Here is an email from a listener/viewer that I am highly concerned about.
Our best exposure is the light of day. In that spirit, I present the following:
Hey Dave. I was looking for some part time work yesterday when I came across an ad for role players in Orangeburg sc for a mass casualty drill. I called and will be participating Saturday . We meet Friday for more info. At that time we will be told what disaster be it a train spill w chemicals or dirty bomb or nuclear blast. ADEC is the company holding it. Bob Jones is facilitating. If you want me to get more details to you Friday I can. Keep up the good work.
Need people for Role Players for National Guard Exercise. (Orangeburg) compensation: $100.00 per day employment type: contract Individuals acting as role players needed to participate in a training exercise with your local National Guard. Role players will be rescued, triaged and put through a decontamination process and other exciting tasks. With your help, we will make this exercise as realistic as possible. See what it feels like working next to your National Guard. Compensation will be $100 for the day. The date of the exercise will be November 5, 2016 in Orangeburg South Carolina. Requirements: Must be 18 years or older with a valid drivers license. We will be hiring 20 role players. Interested parties contact Bob Jones @ (770)841-8335 . Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster. do NOT contact us with unsolicited services or…… | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is quietly pursuing direct diplomacy with North Korea, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump s public assertion that such talks are a waste of time. Using the so-called New York channel, Joseph Yun, U.S. negotiator with North Korea, has been in contact with diplomats at Pyongyang s United Nations mission, the official said, at a time when an exchange of bellicose insults between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has fueled fears of military conflict. While U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Oct. 17 said he would continue diplomatic efforts ... until the first bomb drops, the official s comments were the clearest sign the United States was directly discussing issues beyond the release of American prisoners, despite Trump having dismissed direct talks as pointless. There is no sign, however, that the behind-the-scenes communications have improved a relationship vexed by North Korea s nuclear and missile tests, the death of U.S. university student Otto Warmbier days after his release by Pyongyang in June and the detention of three other Americans. Word of quiet engagement with Pyongyang comes despite Trump s comments, North Korea s weapons advances and suggestions by some U.S. and South Korean officials that Yun s interactions with North Koreans had been reined in. It has not been limited at all, both (in) frequency and substance, said the senior State Department official. Among the points that Yun has made to his North Korean interlocutors is to stop testing nuclear bombs and missiles, the official said. North Korea this year conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation and has test-fired a volley of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that, if perfected, could in theory reach the United States mainland. The possibility that Pyongyang may be closer to attaching a nuclear warhead to an ICBM has alarmed the Trump administration, which in April unveiled a policy of maximum pressure and engagement that has so far failed to deter North Korea. At the start of Trump s presidency, Yun s instructions were limited to seeking the release of U.S. prisoners. It is (now) a broader mandate than that, said the State Department official, declining, however, to address whether authority had been given to discuss North Korea s nuclear and missile program. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China welcomed any dialogue between the United States and North Korea. We encourage North Korea and the United States to carry out engagement and dialogue, Hua told reporters, adding that she hoped talks could help return the issue to a diplomatic track for resolution. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has urged all United Nations members to fully and transparently implement sanctions against North Korea, which he said has emerged as a global threat. Speaking at the United Nations on Sept. 19, Trump vowed to totally destroy North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies, raising anxieties about the possibility of military conflict. Twelve days later, after Tillerson said Washington was probing for a diplomatic opening, Trump said on Twitter that his chief diplomat was wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man - his mocking nickname for the North Korean leader. Democratic U.S. senators introduced a bill on Tuesday they said would prevent Trump from launching a nuclear first strike on North Korea on his own, highlighting the issue days before the Republican s first presidential trip to Asia. A high-ranking North Korean defector said in Washington on Tuesday that he backed the Trump administration s policy of pressuring Pyongyang through sanctions, coupled with maximum engagement with the leadership and increased efforts to get information into North Korea to educate its people. I strongly believe in the use of soft power before taking any military actions, Thae Yong Ho, chief of mission at Pyongyang s embassy in London until he defected in 2016, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The New York channel is one of the few conduits the United States has for communicating with North Korea, which has itself made clear it has little interest in serious talks before it develops a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the continental United States. The last high-level contact between Yun and the North Koreans was when he traveled to North Korea in June to secure the release of Warmbier, who died shortly after he returned home in a coma, the State Department official said. The Trump administration has demanded North Korea release three other U.S. citizens: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song. Warmbier s death was a factor in the chilling of U.S.-North Korean contacts around that time but the biggest impact came from Pyongyang s stepped-up testing, the official said. The official said, however, that the preferred endpoint is not a war but some kind of diplomatic settlement and suggestions that Washington is setting up a binary choice for Pyongyang to capitulate diplomatically or military action were misleading. Diplomacy, the official said, has a lot more room to go. But Trump s threats against North Korea are believed to have complicated diplomatic efforts. | 0 |
The beverage giants and PepsiCo have given millions of dollars to nearly 100 prominent health groups in recent years, while simultaneously spending millions to defeat public health legislation that would reduce Americans’ soda intake, according to public health researchers. The findings, published on Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, document the beverage industry’s deep financial ties to the health community over the past five years, as part of a strategy to silence health critics and gain unlikely allies against soda regulations. The study’s authors, Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University school of public health, and Daniel Aaron, a student at Boston University’s medical school, scoured public records including news releases, newspaper databases, lobbying reports, the medical literature and information released by the beverage giants themselves. While some of the incidents cited in the study already have been reported by news organizations, the medical journal report is the first to take a comprehensive look at the industry’s strategy of donating to health organizations while at the same time lobbying against public health measures. The study tracked industry donations and lobbying spending from 2011 through 2015, at a time when many cities were mulling soda taxes or other regulations to combat obesity. “We wanted to look at what these companies really stand for,” said Mr. Aaron, the study’s . “And it looks like they are not helping public health at all — in fact they’re opposing it almost across the board, which calls these sponsorships into question. ” Mr. Aaron said that the industry donations created “ conflicts of interest” for the health groups that accepted them. The report found a number of instances in which influential health groups accepted beverage industry donations and then backed away from supporting soda taxes or remained noticeably silent about the initiatives. In one instance cited in the study, the nonprofit group Save the Children, which had actively supported soda tax campaigns in several states, did an about face and withdrew its support in 2010. The group had accepted a $5 million grant from Pepsi and was seeking a major grant from Coke to help pay for its health and education programs for children. Responding to the new research, Save the Children said, in a statement, that the group in 2010 had decided to focus on early childhood education, and that its decision to stop supporting soda taxes “was unrelated to any corporate support that Save the Children received. ” When New York proposed a ban on sodas in 2012, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics cited “conflicting research” and didn’t support the effort. The academy accepted $525, 000 in donations from Coke in 2012. The following year it took a $350, 000 donation from the company. The academy said it no longer has a sponsorship relationship with the beverage firms. The N. A. A. C. P. and the Hispanic Federation have publicly opposed initiatives despite disproportionately high rates of obesity in black and Hispanic communities. Coke made more than $1 million in donations to the N. A. A. C. P. between 2010 and 2015, and more than $600, 000 to the Hispanic Federation between 2012 and 2015. The groups did not respond to requests for comment. “The beverage industry is using corporate philanthropy to undermine public health measures,” said Kelly D. Brownell, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, who was not involved in the new research. The American Diabetes Association accepted $140, 000 from the company between 2012 and 2014. The American Heart Association received more than $400, 000 from Coke between 2010 and 2015. And the National Institutes of Health received nearly $2 million from Coke between 2010 and 2014. In a statement, the heart association said the group is “leading efforts to reduce consumption of sugary drinks,” and the group has advocated for increased taxes on sugary drinks. “To achieve our goals, we must engage a wide variety of food and beverage companies to be part of the solution,” the statement said. The soda sponsorship does not have “ any influence on our science and the public policy positions we advocate for. ” Coke referred questions about the study to their trade group, the American Beverage Association. “We believe our actions in communities and the marketplace are contributing to addressing the complex challenge of obesity,” the beverage association said. “We stand strongly for our need, and right, to partner with organizations that strengthen our communities. ” The beverage association said it disagreed with public health advocates “on discriminatory and regressive taxes and policies on our products. ” In a statement PepsiCo said it is “incorrectly painted as a ‘soda company,’ when only a quarter of our global revenue comes from carbonated soft drinks. ” “We believe that obesity is a complex, multifaceted issue and that our company has an important role to play in addressing it which includes engaging with public health organizations and responding to consumers’ demand for healthier products,” the statement said. The New York Times last year reported that Coke had paid for scientific research that downplayed the link between sugary drinks and obesity. After that article was published, the beverage giant released a database showing that since 2010 it had spent more than $120 million on academic research and partnerships with health organizations involved in curbing obesity. From 2011 to 2015, Coke spent on average more than $6 million per year lobbying against public health measures aimed at curbing soda consumption, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Pepsi spent about $3 million per year during that period, and the American Beverage Association spent more than $1 million each year, the study found. In 2009 alone, when the government proposed a federal soda tax to curb obesity that would help finance health care reform, Coke, Pepsi and the American Beverage Association spent a combined $38 million lobbying against the measure, which ultimately failed. When the mayor of Philadelphia proposed a soda tax in 2010, the beverage industry offered $10 million to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia if the tax proposal was dropped. The City Council voted down the measure, and the beverage association later made the donation. Philadelphia did ultimately impose a soda tax this year. The beverage industry filed a lawsuit in September, calling the tax illegal. The industry also is spending millions on advertising campaigns against soda taxes that are on the ballot in at least four cities this November — three in Northern California, and one in Boulder, Colo. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said the paper shows that soda companies “want to have it both ways — appear as socially responsible corporate citizens and lobby against public health measures every chance they get. ” | 0 |
WATCH:FLASHBACK: When Bill Clinton had 93 out of 94 U.S. Attorneys FIRED IN ONE DAY. CNN didn t say a word..#peoplepower Preet Bharara pic.twitter.com/eLUpjY42mk Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) March 12, 2017Even today, after the media was called out on ignoring Clinton s firings, the New York Times tried to prove that Trump s firings were somehow more mean-spirited:They even went as far as to suggest President Trump was simply taking marching orders from TV and radio talk show host Sean Hannity when he had them fired: | 1 |
Nation Puts 2016 Election Into Perspective By Reminding Itself Some Species Of Sea Turtles Get Eaten By Birds Just Seconds After They Hatch WASHINGTON—Saying they felt anxious and overwhelmed just days before heading to the polls to decide a historically fraught presidential race, Americans throughout the country reportedly took a moment Thursday to put the 2016 election into perspective by reminding themselves that some species of sea turtles are eaten by birds just seconds after they hatch. Cleveland Indians Worried Team Cursed After Building Franchise On Old Native American Stereotype CLEVELAND—Having watched in horror as their team crumbled after a 3-1 World Series lead, members of the Cleveland Indians expressed concern Thursday that the organization has been cursed for building their franchise on an incredibly old Native American stereotype. Report: Election Day Most Americans’ Only Time In 2016 Being In Same Room With Person Supporting Other Candidate WASHINGTON—According to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, Election Day 2016 will, for the majority of Americans, mark the only time this year they will occupy the same room as a person who supports a different presidential candidate. Nurse Reminds Elderly Man She’s Just Down The Hall If He Starts To Die DES PLAINES, IL—Assuring him that she’d be at his side in a jiffy, local nurse Wendy Kaufman reminded an elderly resident at the Briarwood Assisted Living Community that she was just down the hall if he started to die, sources reported Tuesday. | 1 |
Posted by Madeline | Oct 26, 2016 | 2016 , Daily Blog | 0 | Published on Oct 26, 2016 As I embrace my deep emotion, And strive for conflict resolution, I live a life of full expression, Not shutdown by fear or suppression.
Feeling it comin’? New Moon in Scorpio this weekend sets the tone for the month ahead, themes, needs, issues, etc. And that means “shadow work,” looking at all the deep dark needs, feelings, fears, and impulses that, when still unconscious, take us where we really don’t want to go and cause effects we regret in the future. So onward and upward is feeling, talking about, expressing, and just flat out being aware of ourselves.
Whether you agree or disagree with the observations made in this video I hope they are food for thought and a springboard for further discussion within your circles of relationship. In this way, we can all become more aware of the socio-cultural-religious-educational conditioning going on so as to identify more clearly for ourselves and our children just what kind of life we want to propagate on this planet! Injoy!
For info and tickets to Astrology Rising: http://astrologyrisingcostarica.com/ For JP Sears vid on the election: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhnNC… For Philip Zimbardo’s TED talk on porn: https://www.ted.com/talks/zimchalleng… For the music at the end of the vid: http://scotthuckabay.com/ Share: | 1 |
At last, Bill Clinton could not help himself. He paced the stage during a speech on Tuesday in North Carolina, holding his microphone close. He raised his left index finger. And at once, the meandering address turned sharply, and without prompting, to his charitable foundation, a magnet for criticism in recent weeks. “We live in a world,” Mr. Clinton lamented, tilting his head theatrically — a septuagenarian embracing his age, decades after reveling in saxophone cool. “It’s so much easier,” he said, “just to discredit people and call them names. ” For Mr. Clinton and his extended circle, this election has at times felt like a campaign devised to discredit the former president and call him names. And after more than a year of uncharacteristic restraint — a notable shift from eight years ago, when his simmering instincts often burdened Hillary Clinton’s first presidential run — Mr. Clinton seems to have had enough. “Did I solve every problem? No,” he told a crowd on Wednesday in Orlando, Fla. “Did I get caught trying? You bet. ” In the Democratic primary race, he mostly held his tongue as Senator Bernie Sanders disavowed his administration’s approach to trade, criminal justice, gay rights and the deregulation of Wall Street, in part because Mrs. Clinton had been compelled to much of his record herself. Yet if the primary race doubled as a of Mr. Clinton’s policies, which his advisers believe history will judge kindly, the general election has touched a different nerve, taking a black light to Mr. Clinton’s legacy. “His reputation has suffered some since he left the presidency,” said David Gergen, a senior adviser to several presidents, including Mr. Clinton. “There’s no desire on the part of Bill Clinton and his followers to make him the center of the campaign. They want to make Hillary the center of the campaign. So he’s had to take some things. He’s had to fight with one hand tied behind his back. ” Friends of Mr. Clinton’s say he has grown impervious to most criticisms, particularly swipes at his personal indiscretions, which could proliferate in the weeks before the election. Donald J. Trump has made winking allusions to Mr. Clinton’s infidelities and other controversies from the 1990s. But the focus on the Clinton Foundation, which has come under escalating scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest and foreign donations, has rankled him far more, according to those close to the former president, because of his deep personal investment in the foundation’s charitable work over the past 15 years. In a series of appearances this week, Mr. Clinton unleashed an impassioned by turns sarcastic and almost pleading. “All we’ve done is save lives,” he told voters on Monday in Detroit. “I got tickled the other day when Mr. Trump called my foundation a criminal enterprise,” he said on Tuesday in Durham, N. C. noting that Mr. Trump had paid a fine for making a political donation using funds from his own foundation. “If creating jobs and saving lives is bad,” Mr. Clinton said in Orlando the next day, “I guess you can zing me with it. ” Moments later, he wondered aloud how much money Mr. Trump had spent to help the people of Haiti. Angel Urena, a spokesman for Mr. Clinton, said that the foundation’s mission and those who rely on it “have been President Clinton’s life” since he left office. “So when someone who doesn’t know the first thing about philanthropy tries to bring the Clinton Foundation into his political sideshow,” Mr. Urena said of Mr. Trump, “President Clinton is going to stand up for it. ” The irritation seemed to have been building for weeks. Mr. Clinton had scarcely appeared on the campaign trail since the Democratic National Convention in July. His most public task in the interim appeared to be clapping behind Mrs. Clinton in several cities on a Rust Belt bus tour. Allies said Mr. Clinton deserved credit for largely holding his fire so far this year, despite persistent bipartisan criticism, avoiding a repeat of 2008, when he seethed over the rise of Barack Obama, then a senator. Most memorably, he appeared to diminish Mr. Obama’s campaign by invoking the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s more quixotic bids in the 1980s. “He understands,” said Paul Begala, a top campaign and White House aide to Mr. Clinton who now advises a “super PAC. ” “He used to say this a lot to me: ‘My mother didn’t have to spank me twice for the same mistake. ’” An exception came this summer, when Mr. Clinton attracted criticism by chatting at the Phoenix airport with Attorney General Loretta Lynch amid a federal investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email practices. Still, the Clintons and many in their orbit have long believed they are held to a double standard on questions of transparency, and friends say they consider the tumult surrounding the family foundation to be among the most egregious examples. They point to the lifesaving work the group has done, particularly in its focus on AIDS and malaria drugs, and they suggest that Mr. Clinton is more deserving of a Nobel Prize than of accusations of impropriety. “It bothers the hell out of me,” said James Carville, Mr. Clinton’s chief strategist on the 1992 campaign. “No one likes to be attacked, and he comes under the category of ‘no one.’ But my sense is that the attacks on the foundation are the most painful. ” As Mrs. Clinton slogs through a stretch of middling polls, with voters still sharply questioning her honesty and trustworthiness, the family has already bowed at least somewhat to pressures: Mr. Clinton told foundation employees last month that the organization would stop accepting foreign or corporate donations if Mrs. Clinton is elected and that he would resign from its board. The foundation has accepted tens of millions of dollars from countries that the State Department has criticized for their records on sex discrimination and other human rights issues. Mr. Trump has also seized on the release of emails from Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state that include references to foundation donors, accusing her of favoritism. Speaking to reporters on her campaign plane this week, Mrs. Clinton noted that several watchdog groups had given the charity the highest possible marks. “A lot of what’s been said is not founded in fact,” she said. The coming weeks are unlikely to be kinder to Mr. Clinton. Mr. Trump has said he may bring up Mr. Clinton’s sexual affairs on the debate stage beside Mrs. Clinton, a prospect that some Democrats welcome, hoping it will backfire. “This has been tried,” Mr. Begala said. “The yurts of Mongolia know that Bill Clinton was accused, and in fact was, unfaithful to his wife. ” Other former aides have found less occasion for whimsy, cringing through an election that has felt interminable and ugly. The family name will be fine, they say, as long as Mrs. Clinton can return it to the White House. For some, that cannot happen quickly enough. “I can’t wait for this to be over,” said Mickey Kantor, a longtime friend who served as Mr. Clinton’s commerce secretary, “probably like every other American. ” | 0 |
The left has had control and the narrative for waaaay too long. Here s a patriot who s 100% FED Up! | 0 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.