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SHINE A LIGHT ON THESE VIOLENT GROUPS!Thank you to AG Jeff Sessions for digging into who s behind the Antifa and other anti-Trump groups!The Trump Department of Justice has requested information on users from anti-Trump website DisruptJ20.The Department of Justice has requested information on visitors to a website used to organize protests against President Trump, the Los Angeles-based Dreamhost said in a blog post published on Monday.Dreamhost, a web hosting provider, said that it has been working with the Department of Justice for several months on the request, which believes goes too far under the Constitution.DreamHost claimed that the complying with the request from the Justice Department would amount to handing over roughly 1.3 million visitor IP addresses to the government, in addition to contact information, email content and photos of thousands of visitors to the website, which was involved in organizing protests against Trump on Inauguration Day:FROM THE DISRUPT20 WEBSITE:After successfully disrupting Trump s Inauguration we are excited to announce, that we will continue #OurResistance. #DisruptJ20 is rebranding into two activist hubs: WeDisrupt & ResistThis!.Resistthis.org Will work to ensure that #OurResistance to the Trump administration continues to grow and remain inclusive to all our peoples.Wow! This anarchist organization s only job is to disrupt America! Jeff Sessions needs to keep digging to get to who is organizing violent protests! That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution s First Amendment, DreamHost wrote in the blog post on Monday. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone s mind. If it involves domestic terrorism then that brings in a whole new tactic. Read more: GP | 0 |
The head of Egypt’s forensics authority has dismissed a suggestion that the small size of the body parts retrieved since an EgyptAir plane crashed last week indicated there had been an explosion on board.
All 66 people on board were killed when the Airbus A320 crashed in the Mediterranean early on Thursday while en route from Paris to Cairo, and an international air and naval effort to hunt for the black boxes and other wreckage continues.
On Tuesday an unnamed senior Egyptian forensics official told Associated Press that he had personally examined human remains recovered from the crash site and that they suggested there had been an explosion.
Speaking on condition of anonymity he said all 80 pieces brought to Cairo so far are small human fragments, leading him to conclude that “the logical explanation is that it was an explosion”.
He added: “There isn’t even a whole body part, like an arm or a head.”
However Egypt’s head of forensics later denounced the reports as “completely false”, state news agency Mena said.
“Everything published about this matter is completely false, and mere assumptions that did not come from the forensics authority,” Hesham Abdelhamid was quoted as saying in a statement.
Another senior forensics official told Reuters only a tiny number of remains had arrived so far and it was too early to specify whether there had been an explosion on board.
In the aftermath of the crash both the French and Egyptian leaders said that terrorism could not be ruled out, but there has been no claim of responsibility from any group.
The black box could hold clues as to why the plane crashed. Minutes earlier, smoke was detected in multiple places on board.
On Monday, the head of Egypt’s state-run provider of air navigation services, Ehab Azmy, said the plane plunged directly into the sea and challenged an account by the Greek defence minister that it made “sudden swerves” before the crash.
Azmy said radar had shown the plane was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet (11,270 metres) in the minutes before it disappeared.
“That fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about the aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar,” he said.
“There was no turning to the right or left, and it was fine when it entered Egypt’s [flight information region], which took nearly a minute or two before it disappeared,” Azmy added.
The Greek defence minister, Panos Kammenos, said last week that the plane took a normal course through Greek airspace before abruptly taking sharp turns.
“The plane carried out a 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree turn to the right, falling from 37,000ft to 15,000ft and the signal was lost at around 10,000ft,” he said.
Another senior Egyptian navigation services official, Ehab Mohieeldin, meanwhile told a local broadcaster that Egyptian officials had been able to track the plane on radar for one minute before it crashed but were unable to communicate with the crew.
The same channel, CBC, was told by air accident investigator Hani Galal that the plane’s black box recorder would be analysed in Egypt if it is found intact, but would be sent abroad for analysis if it is found to be damaged.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report | 0 |
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on the recent win of France’s Francois Fillon in the first round of the center-right party’s presidential primary, saying that his “personal relations” with Fillon have shown the politician to be a “decent man.”
“We worked together with Francois when he headed the French government, and I chaired the [Russian] government … we had a lot of meetings, and have developed certain personal relations, very kind ones,” Putin told reporters on Wednesday.
The French presidential hopeful, whose convincing win in the Sunday primary took many by surprise, is “very much different” from world politicians, Putin said.
Having characterized Fillon as a “closed up, non-public” person “at first sight,” the Russian leader said that his possible French counterpart “can be very tough in standing up for his point of view.”
“He’s a tough negotiator,” Putin said, adding that Fillon is “certainly an ultimate professional, and a decent man.”
The Russian president also pointed out that although he had no experience of working with Fillon’s rival in the Republican party, another ex-prime minister Alain Juppe, he “welcomes” both candidates’ rhetoric with regards to Russia.
Saying that both Fillon and Juppe have mentioned their plans “to restore Russian-French relations on a full scale,” Putin said that Moscow would facilitate the process on its part.
After Francois Fillon, who served as prime minister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government from 2007 until 2012, won the first primary, French media labeled the unexpected presidential hopeful as “Vladimir Putin’s friend.” Citing the two politicians’ meetings on previous occasions, the media said the French politician “advocated a conciliatory position towards the Russia of Vladimir Putin” and compared his victory to the outcome of the recent presidential elections in the US.
After France’s ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy was thrown out of the race to be the French conservative nominee, he said he would back Fillon in the runoff. On November 27, Francois Fillon will face Alain Juppe in the Republicans’ second primary, which is widely believed to produce France’s next president in May elections. Related | 1 |
Boehner s hightailing it out of DC just in time to push funding through for Planned Butcherhood without having to suffer any repercussions. Boehner also manages to avoid the embarrassment of being pushed out by fellow Republicans in the recent move by conservative Rep. Mark Meadows of NC who filed a motion to vacate the chair, which could have forced a no-confidence vote by the full chamber and un-seat the unpopular Speaker of the House Speaker John Boehner, who rose from bartender s son to the most powerful man in Congress, will retire at the end of October, ending a tumultuous five-year tenure atop the House of Representatives. Boehner, 65, planned to leave Congress at the end of 2014, one of his aides said Friday morning, but returned because of the unexpected defeat of Eric Cantor. The Speaker believes putting members through prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution, the Boehner aide said. He is proud of what this majority has accomplished, and his speakership, but for the good of the Republican Conference and the institution, he will resign the Speakership and his seat in Congress, effective October 30. On Thursday evening as he left the Capitol, Boehner (R-Ohio) told two reporters one from POLITICO and another from the Washington Post that he had nothing left to accomplish after he brought Pope Francis to the Capitol. When asked if he was resigning, Boehner laughed before exiting into an awaiting SUV with his Capitol Police detail.Boehner came into power on the momentum of the 2010 tea party wave, but it was that movement that gave him the most problems. Boehner s tenure will be remembered for his internal political battles, but also his complicated relationship with President Barack Obama. He and Obama tried but repeatedly failed to cut a deal on a massive fiscal agreement. But Boehner has had some significant victories, including the free-trade deal that Congress passed this year, and changes to entitlement systems.Now that he doesn t have internal political considerations to weigh, Boehner is certain to push through a government-funding bill next week that funds Planned Parenthood, and keeps the government open.Boehner s decision, relayed in a closed Republican meeting Friday morning, will set off one of the most intense leadership scrambles in modern Congressional GOP politics. Second in line is House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is widely expected to serve as the next speaker. But there is serious unrest in the House Republican ranks, as a small clutch of conservatives have continuously clashed with more establishment Republican types. But it is unclear if any of these figures can win a leadership election. Via: Politico | 0 |
Posted on November 4, 2013 by joandarc | 12 Comments
“ If we wish to make any progress in the service of God, we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor. ”
The profound and significant communication above is from St. Charles Borromeo, whose Feast Day we celebrate today, November 4th. Clearly, if we would simply use his life map as our every day goal, we would never be lost and we would always have joy, even in spite of suffering.
St. Charles Borromeo lead the universal Church in the Counter-Reformation in the troubled but dynamic 16th century, and therefore, is associated with reform. He sought the correction of abuses and evil, addressing the excuses made for the destructive and false reformation which was spreading and creating confusion in Europe. Indeed and in fact, he is one of the great Counter-Reformers, along with Pope St. Pius V, St. Philip Neri and St. Ignatius Loyola.
He was born on October 2, 1538 in a castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy, the second of two sons in a family of six. His father was Count Gilbert Borromeo and his mother was Margaret, a member of the Medici family. Even at the age of 12, he showed his serious and holy disposition, receiving the clerical tonsure, with another of his uncles resigning him to the Benedictine abbey of Sts. Gratinian and Felinus at Arona. At his young age, he reminded his father that the revenue, with the exception for what was spent on his necessary education for the service of the Church, was to be given to the poor and could not be applied to other more worldly uses. He learned Latin at Milan and thereafter attended the University of Pavia, and after the death of his parents, at the age of 22 he earned his doctor’s degree.
In 1559, his uncle was chosen as Pope Pius IV, wherein Charles used all of his influence to reopen the Council of Trent in 1562, since it had been suspended in 1552. He accomplished this reopening under most difficult ecclesiastical and political climates.
In 1563, Charles was ordained a priest and two months thereafter, was consecrated as a bishop. In this capacity, he drafted the Catechism of the Council of Trent and the reform of liturgical books and music.
Milan failed to have an in-house bishop for some eighty years. Accordingly, Charles arrived in Milan in April of 1566 and vigorously worked for the reformation of this diocese. He sold property in the amount of thirty thousand crowns and applied the entire amount to distressed families. Charles allotted most of his income to charity, forbade himself all luxury and imposed severe penances upon himself. During the horrible plague and famine of 1576, he tired to feed sixty to seventy thousand people daily, borrowing large sums of money that required years to repay. Civil authorities fled at the height of the plague, abandoning the populace; but Charles stayed in the city where he ministered to the sick and the dying. Charles assembled the superiors of the religious communities, wherein a number of religious right away volunteered to help the stricken victims of the plague, wherein he lodged these clerics in his house. The hospital of St. Gregory looked deplorable, bringing Charles to tears, overflowing with dead, dying, sick and others suspected of being struck by the plague. St. Charles literally exhausted all his resources in relief. Indeed, houses for the sick were formed as well as temporary shelters, and lay people were organized for the clergy and a score of altars set up in the streets so that the sick could assist at public worship from their windows. He personally ministered to the dying, waited on the sick and helped those in need. The plague lasted from 1576 through 1578.
Charles endured of all things, a speech impediment, a difficult handicap for his preaching. A friend of Charles, Achille Gagliardi, said, “I have often wondered how it was that, without any natural eloquence or anything attractive in his manner, he was able to work such changes in the hearts of his hearers. He spoke but little, gravely, and in a voice barely audible – but his words always had effect.”
St. Charles proclaimed that children should be properly instructed in Christian doctrine and therefore, established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. These schools at that time numbered 740, with approximately 3,000 catechists and 40,000 pupils. And so, Charles originated “Sunday-schools.”
No love was lost in the religious order called, “Humiliati”, being reduced to few members, but still maintaining many monasteries and great possessions. They allegedly submitted to the reform, but this was done only in form, not in substance. They tried to have the pope annul the new regulations, but those attempts were refused and they failed. So, they hatched a plot to assassinate Charles. One of the priests agreed to do so for the sum of forty gold pieces (much like Judas Iscariot if you ask me). On October 26, 1569, this priest, Jerome Donati Farina, put himself at the door of the chapel in the archbishop’s house while Charles was at evening prayers with his household. While an anthem was being sung, Charles being on his knees before the altar, this cowardly assassin discharged a gun at him, wherein Farina escaped during the confusion, but the bullet struck Charles’ clothes in the back raising a bruise. Thus, they failed to murder him.
Nevertheless, Charles directed his energies to maintain a capable and virtuous clergy. On one occasion when an exemplary priest was sick and on death’s door, Archbishop Borromeo said, “Ah, you do not realize the worth of the life of one good priest .” Charles was indefatigable in parochial visitations
Charles worked so hard and in 1584, his health became poor. On October 24th, while on a retreat, he became very ill. On October 29th, he started off for Milan, his diocese, wherein he arrived there on All Souls Day, November 2nd, having celebrated Mass for the last time on the previous day at his birth place, Arona. He went to bed, asking for the final sacrament of the sick, with his last words being, “Behold, I come.” He died on the 4th of November, only 46 years of age.
Charles was formally canonized by Pope Paul V in 1610.
Charles lived the instruction of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “…I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (Mt 25:35-36) St. Charles saw Jesus in his neighbor and he was always able to recognize “Jesus in Disguise.” Let us follow his example.
Joan
One Hundred Saints , Bulfinch Press.
Saint of the Day , edited by Leonard Foley, O.F.M., revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M. Rate this: | 1 |
21st Century Wire says In the wake of the Friday release of the ODNI s 25 page report from US intelligence agencies (notice how they don t even specify the agency names anymore in these reports) on the alleged Russian hack of Clinton campaign related DNC computers, cyber security experts are still not convinced that there is any credible evidence supporting the theory.The Feds site the need to keep their sources secret as the reason for the lack of specific evidence of the hacks (see full 25 page report embedded at WIRED) in the report but is this a legitimate concern when the forensic evidence is likely located in simple text files and virus protection software logs. Doesn t the government have the biggest data collection network monitoring facility in the world? Can the evidence not be shown via server traffic logs that wouldn t expose any sources ?Wired brings some analysis on the 25 page report and cyber security professionals response to it Take notice of the language when WIRED is discussing the other side of this argument, referencing unknown sources speaking to The Washington Post, (WashPost, who ve just been caught more than once pushing fake Russiaphobia stories in recent weeks). Andy Greenberg WIREDOn Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence finally released a declassified report on Russia s role in influencing the US election. And though it offers the most detailed official analysis yet of Russia s operations, critics in the cybersecurity community say it lacks the still-secret evidence needed to persuade skeptics that analysis is true.The ODNI s 25-page report (embedded below) from US intelligence agencies lays out a vast Russian intelligence operation that extends from hacking both Democratic and Republican targets to propaganda campaigns to troll-fueled social media disinformation. It re-asserts the intelligence community s findings that the Kremlin is behind breaches of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Hillary Clinton s campaign, and even state election board websites. And the express intention of those operations, the report states, was to not only disrupt the American electoral process, but to elect Donald Trump. Russia s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency, the report reads. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments. Even so, the report leaves out the much hoped-for technical evidence that informed these conclusions. In its Scope and Sourcing section, the report explains that this evidence exists, but can t be declassified. And that means the report won t satisfy the majority of the cybersecurity community that believes Russia hacked Democratic targets but has demanded more evidence, let alone the diehard deniers of the Kremlin s fingerprints. Seeing more of the context in which this happened does make me a little more trusting that this really was Russia, says Robert Graham, an analyst for the cybersecurity firm Erratasec who has closely followed the Russian hacking investigation. But knowing what data they probably have, they could have given us more details. And that really pisses me off. Knowing what data they probably have, they could have given us more details. And that really pisses me off. Robert GrahamOver the past weeks, rumors circulated that senior intelligence officials had pushed for far more of the agencies evidence pointing to Russia to be declassified and revealed to the public, according to Susan Hennessey, a former NSA attorney. But that cards-on-the-table approach, which likely would have sacrificed intelligence sources and methods in favor of more public transparency, didn t make it to the final report. This isn t a remotely risk-embracing document, says Hennessey. There s alway a tension between those who think it s worth bringing forward sources and methods and those that don t. It s clear that those with very conservative views about protecting sources and methods prevailed. 1The unclassified report is underwhelming at best. There is essentially no new information for those who have been paying attention. Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 6, 2017One skeptic, at least, has somewhat altered his viewpoint based on the intel agencies case: Donald Trump. After the president-elect was briefed Friday by the heads of the NSA, FBI, CIA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he offered an oblique statement that neither confirmed nor denied his belief that Russia hacked Democratic targets. While Russia, China, other countries, other groups and people are constantly trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our government institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democratic National Committee, Trump s statement reads, there was no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines. But even that mealy-mouthed comment no intelligence officials had claimed Russia hacked American voting machines contrasts sharply with Trump s past denials. Until now, the president-elect has remained doggedly skeptical and even willfully ignorant of the evidence tying Russia s government to the attacks. He s blamed the intrusions on everyone from China to a 400-pound hacker in New Jersey to the Democratic party itself. Rather than call for investigations into the hacking, he s said the country needs to move on. At times he has even refused to admit any hacks took place. He continued those assertions even after he began receiving classified briefings on the attacks as the Republican presidential candidate, and then after US intelligence agencies stated that the Kremlin was responsible in early October, and even after he was elected and gained full access to presidential briefings from the intelligence community. As late as Friday morning, ahead of his own personal briefing on the full report, he continued to refer to China as the possible source of the attack and called the investigation into Russia a political witch hunt. (He also wrote on Twitter that he s asking Congress to investigate the unauthorized early leak of today s report to NBC News, showing that he has interest in investigating some leaks, at least.)The report makes a few new assertions: stating plainly that WikiLeaks received hacked DNC data from Russian intelligence, and outlining a broader history of Russian meddling in US elections. It spends significant ink on Russia s state-sponsored propaganda efforts, and delves into state-sponsored social media disinformation strategies and widespread Russian media claims that the US is not a functioning democracy. The report points out, for example, that the RT America television channel has been running stories about the US s weak voting infrastructure and alleged election fraud since November 2012.RT s role as a distributor for Russian government propaganda is hardly news, though. And while data leaks and disinformation campaigns were central to last year s campaign meddling, the report seems to give them disproportionate weight over technical hacking, perhaps because those sections of the report were redacted.In terms of proving the core claim that Russia hacked American political targets, though, Friday s report is sure to leave any skeptic not privy to classified briefings briefings unconvinced: It fails to include even the already public evidence visible to the cybersecurity community over the last six months, which drew a thick dotted line from the DNC hack to the Kremlin. A hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, for instance, in June claimed to be a lone Romanian hacker responsible for the breach. But the stolen DNC files he published on the web and also said he d leaked to WikiLeaks contained telltale Russian-language error messages. A piece of malware known as X-Agent was used in both the DNC hack and previous attacks long believed to be Russian intelligence operations. And an analysis of the URL shortening service used by the hacker who stole the Gmail password of Clinton staffer John Podesta shows that the same account was used to target more than 5,000 other Gmail accounts, including Russia-focused journalists and authors, and the spouses of American military officials.Early leaks from a classified version of the report revealed some of the evidence intelligence agencies have to implicate Russia. Unnamed intelligence officials told the Washington Post that US agents had intercepted the communications of senior Russian officials celebrating Trump s win. In another leak to Reuters, intel officials said that they d identified the intermediary who had passed files stolen by Russian hackers to WikiLeaks.The Obama administration, for its part, has for months harbored little doubt about Russia s involvement in the political attacks. In fact, it s already responded: In late December, the White House announced new targeted sanctions against Russian intelligence officials and contractors, ejected 35 Russian diplomats from the country, and seized two Russian-owned properties on American soil it said were being used for intelligence gathering. James Lewis, a cybersecurity-focused fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told WIRED at the time that it was the the biggest retaliatory move against Russian espionage since the Cold War. But critics from Trump s presidential transition team have accused Obama of acting against Russia before proving the sanctions were warranted Continue this report at WIREDREAD MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21WIRE Russian Hack Files | 0 |
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s leftist government prepared to release some 80 jailed anti-government activists on Saturday, and threatened to expel envoys from Canada and Brazil after criticism over rights. Delcy Rodriguez, head of the pro-government Constituent Assembly, told reporters the legislative superbody was recommending the detainees be given alternative punishments such as community service and compensation for victims. Thirteen activists were later paraded in front of state TV cameras during a meeting with Rodriguez, a hardline ally of President Nicolas Maduro. They looked stony-faced as they sat listening to her admonishments in the formal surroundings of Venezuela s colonial-era foreign ministry. Rights groups and foes of Maduro say authorities are unfairly holding 268 political prisoners for protesting against dictatorship. Maduro, the 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, says all jailed activists are there on legitimate charges of violence and subversion. Let it be understood that the events promoted by the extremist Venezuelan opposition, which caused Venezuelans deaths, must not be repeated, Rodriguez said. Some 170 people died in violence around two bouts of anti-Maduro street protests in 2014 and earlier this year. The assembly president told the detainees at the meeting they would return to their detention centers for medical tests then be freed to spend Christmas with loved ones. The releases, albeit with alternative sentences, could inject life into stuttering political talks between the government and opposition due to resume in the Dominican Republic in early January. Western nations and Latin American neighbors have been increasingly critical of Maduro this year, accusing him of stamping on democracy and human rights. The government says foreign nations are trying to encourage a right-wing coup. Rodriguez said the Constituent Assembly - which various foreign countries refuse to accept - was also recommending Brazil s ambassador Ruy Pereira and Canada s charge d affaires Craig Kowalik both be declared persona non grata. The Canadian government, which has imposed sanctions on Maduro s administration, said it would not be cowed into easing pressure on the anti-democratic Maduro regime in Venezuela. Canadians will not stand by silently as the Government of Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic and human rights, and denies them access to basic humanitarian needs, said Global Affairs Canada, the government department that manages its foreign and trade relations. Brazil s foreign ministry also responded sternly. If confirmed, the Venezuelan government s decision to declare Brazil s ambassador persona non grata shows once more the authoritarian stance of Nicolas Maduro s administration and its lack of willingness to engage in any dialogue, it said, promising reciprocal measures. U.S. President Donald Trump s administration has been especially critical of Maduro, also imposing sanctions on him and other senior Venezuelan officials this year. Under new stewardship with the arrival of charge d affaires Todd Robinson last week, Washington s embassy in Caracas called on Saturday for the freedom of all jailed activists. We urge Maduro s regime to respect human rights, it tweeted. Free them during this holiday time. | 0 |
(Reuters) - A former North Carolina staffer is suing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, saying a top employee in the state working on the Republican’s White House bid once pulled a gun on him and that after he reported it, the campaign took no action. Vincent Bordini, who said he was hired in December 2015 as a software trainer, said Earl Phillip, then Trump’s North Carolina state director, pointed a pistol at his kneecap while the two were in a car together in February, according to a lawsuit dated Wednesday and filed in state court. Bordini said he reported the incident to several Trump campaign officials, including then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, with no result, according to the lawsuit, which was posted online by the New York Daily News. The lawsuit names Phillip and the Trump campaign as defendants. “Vincent was a passionate Donald J. Trump supporter,” the lawsuit said. “He had faith that the Trump campaign would handle the situation internally. But as time went on it became apparent that this not going to happen.” William Harding, a Charlotte-based lawyer for Phillip, called the allegations “preposterous” and said if Bordini’s claims were true, there would have been criminal action. “If someone brandished a weapon on me or assaults me, I’m going to go to the appropriate law enforcement officer,” Harding said. Phillip was replaced earlier this month as state director and moved to a diversity coalition for Trump. On Thursday, he resigned from the campaign, Harding said. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney for Bordini also did not immediately respond. The lawsuit said the gun incident occurred during a trip to South Carolina ahead of that state’s primary. Bordini said four other people had similar interactions with Phillip, but the campaign did nothing in response, the lawsuit said. | 0 |
More than 100 days after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying before the House committee investigating the Benghazi terrorist attack, a key Hillary Clinton aide is at the center of the separate and ongoing investigation by the FBI into Clinton’s use of a private unsecured server while she was secretary of state.
That former staffer, Bryan Pagliano, set up the controversial private email server in Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, N.Y.
Pagliano is believed to be the only witness publicly identified during the politically charged hearings on Benghazi to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
He has not been charged with any crime, but the investigation continues into how Clinton used a private homebrew server which contained highly classified information while she was secretary of state.
As Fox News was first to report on Dec. 15, a review by the intelligence community reaffirmed that at least two emails were “top secret” when they hit Clinton’s private server. The State Department had challenged the classification.
At the core of the separate FBI investigation is whether highly classified information was "grossly mishandled" by Clinton and her aides.
Pagliano worked for the Clinton campaign team and was their trusted IT specialist before he joined the State Department in May 2009.
As first reported by The Washington Post, the Clintons paid Pagliano $5,000 for "computer services" prior to his joining the State Department, according to a financial disclosure form he filed in April 2009.
Yet, even after arriving at State in May 2009, Pagliano continued to be paid by the Clintons to maintain the non-secure homebrew server, which was located in a bathroom closet inside the Clinton's Chappaqua home.
As part of invoking his Fifth Amendment right, Pagliano is also invoking the so-called act-of-production privilege. Since 1984, according to a review by Fox News, the privilege has been used in 103 federal or state cases.
A person can invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against the production of documents only where the act of producing the documents is incriminating in itself. According to a legal review by Fox News, this privilege applies when producing the documents – as opposed to their contents -- to the government is entitled to Fifth Amendment protection.
This assertion is tantamount to the defendant's testimony that the documents exist, are authentic and are in his possession.
The privilege has been invoked before by a Clinton associate. Webb Hubbell, Hillary Clinton's former law partner when she worked at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas, argued for an "act-of-production privilege" during the federal investigation into the collapse of Madison Guaranty, a failed savings and loan. Hubbell followed Bill and Hillary Clinton into the White House to become an associate attorney general, the third-ranking member of the Justice Department. He was convicted in 1995 and served 18 months in federal prison for his role in the failure of that savings and loan which later became known as the "Whitewater scandal."
Pagliano initially invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to answer 19 pages of questions from the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which is investigating the attack that killed four Americans in September 2012. Killed in the attack were Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Three months ago, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the committee, acknowledged that Pagliano may be called again. Fox News has confirmed no new subpoena has yet been issued by the committee for Pagliano. And there has been no subpoena issued by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As for the ongoing and separate FBI investigation into Clinton's emails, no one is authorized to speak on the record but Fox News is told by two intelligence sources that the "Bureau (FBI) has a solid team on the case" and does not want to appear to be interfering with "the country's political process."
In addition to looking at the potential mishandling of classified material, investigators are focused on possible violations of U.S. Code 18, Section 1001 pertaining to “materially false” statements given either in writing, orally or through a third party. Each violation is subject to five years in prison.
It is unclear if Pagliano also had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA, while working for the State Department which requires protection of highly classified information.
Clinton signed her NDA on Jan. 22, 2009, which states in part, "I have been advised that any breach of this Agreement may result in my termination of my access to SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) and removal from a position of special confidence.”
In the prosecution of former CIA Director David Petraeus for his role in wrongly providing highly classified information to his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell, violations of Non-Disclosure Agreements were cited.
Fox News was told that “frustration” is mounting in the pace of the investigation into Clinton's emails.
Mark MacDougall, the attorney for Pagliano, had no comment to Fox News.
Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine “Fox Files” and later, “War Stories.”
Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent. | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - A 102-year-old man given a suspended sentence on Monday for sexually abusing a girl in the 1970s is thought to be the oldest person convicted of a crime in Britain, prosecutors said. Douglas Hammersley was given a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to three counts of indecent assault. The Crown Prosecution Service said the incidents took place in the Buckinghamshire area, to the west of London, when the victim was between five and eight years old. We were able to prosecute Hammersley thanks to the victim coming forward, even though the offences were committed more than four decades ago, said Jennie Laskar-Hall, senior prosecutor for the CPS. In December, a 101-year-old man was jailed for 13 years for a string of historical sex crimes against two young sisters and their brother. Police said he was the oldest person to have been found guilty of a crime in British legal history. | 1 |
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Gun battles last week between police and attackers in a remote northern Mozambican port killed 16 people, including two police officers, local media reported. The attacks in the Indian Ocean port of Mocimboa da Praia, near the border with Tanzania and offshore gas fields, took place last Thursday and police have since regained control of the town, the official AIM news agency said. The motive for the attacks were not clear and the government has not blamed the opposition group Renamo, against which it fought a civil war for almost two decades that ended in 1992. Fighting has periodically erupted since but a ceasefire has been in place since earlier this year. We need to know who they are, what their motives are, and where they came from, Celmira da Silva, the governor of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, told Radio Mozambique. Local media have reported that the attack was carried out by Islamists but the government has not confirmed this. Mozambique has not been a focal point of Islamist militant activity. Mozambique police were expected to hold a press briefing in the capital Maputo on Tuesday about the attacks. | 1 |
NEW YORK (AP) — Glenne Headly, an early member of the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company who went on to star in films and on TV, died Thursday night, according to her agent. She was 62. No cause of death or location was immediately available. [Headly was known from her performances in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” alongside Michael Caine and Steve Martin in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” with Richard Dreyfuss and in Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy. ” On TV, she was in the miniseries “Lonesome Dove” and had recurring roles on “ER” and “Monk. ” She played the daughter of Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in the 2001 live telecast of the play “On Golden Pond. ” Last summer, she was seen in HBO’s drama miniseries “The Night Of. ” She had been in production for the upcoming Hulu sitcom “Future Man,” from Seth Rogen. In 1979 Headly was recruited by Chicago’s budding Steppenwolf Theatre, joining such fellow as Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and John Malkovich, who would become her first husband. They divorced in 1988. Headly is survived by husband Byron McCulloch, a musician and metal worker whom she married in 1993, and their son. | 0 |
Sen. Ted Cruz, a man whose climate science expertise extends no further than his ability to hold his arm out a window to see if it s raining, tried to troll Democrats by proving climate change was wrong in a single tweet and it backfired massively.A vehement denier of climate change who once claimed he was just like Galileo because both held unpopular opinions (*eyeroll*) and who accused the 97% of scientists who say climate change is real of being liars, Cruz caused considerable damage to America s scientific community while he was in the Senate. Now he is poised to be in the White House, where he could downright derail it.With those stakes in mind, over the weekend the Democratic Party s Twitter account took a dig at Cruz for brushing off the idea that carbon dioxide contributes to global warming.Yesterday Ted Cruz said that "carbon dioxide isn't a pollutant." Someone needs to go back to science class pic.twitter.com/cTp3QBxa2X The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) April 16, 2016Cruz, whose philosophy appears to be Well if I m already in a hole, I may as well dig, immediately fired back with of a tweet of his own.Dems kill jobs, ignore facts. CO2 is what every human breathes out; every plant, in turn,consumes CO2. #ScienceFacts https://t.co/0eESF2Oz08 Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 16, 2016To which the scientific community responded in unison: You can t be that stupid, can you? Cruz may not be an avid reader, but even a quick google search can debunk his premise conclusively. In an article published in Scientific American in 2014 and aptly titled The Worst Climate Pollution Is Carbon Dioxide , writer Gayathri Vaidyanathan walks us through the reasons why: as far as climate change goes, the gas that truly matters is carbon dioxide. Unlike its shorter-lived cousins, CO2 sticks around in the atmosphere for decades to centuries, wreaking climate havoc. It has become very clear that if you want to stabilize warming at any level, you have to start talking about phasing out CO2, said Joeri Rogelj, a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and lead author of the study. Reducing other climate pollution can help in different ways and for different things, but in climate stabilization terms, it s noise on the fact that you have to phase out CO2. Here s a simpler experiment Ted can do in his own home. Take a blanket. Put the blanket over your head. Breathe in and out. Notice how it starts to not feel great? Now imagine that on a planetary scale. Too much CO2 can be a disaster and it wouldn t be a great place to live.The always on point science writer for Slate, Phil Plait, tackled this exact climate denier myth just a few months ago on his blog. CO2, so the deniers say, is harmless because it s just what we breathe out, and isn t carbon what all life is based around? How can that be bad?This is nonsense, says Plait:This is a stunning statement. Like most denier talking points, there s a germ of truth to it the carbon in living tissue does come in large part from atmospheric CO2 but to say that means it can t be a pollutant is pretty silly.For example, our bodies produce formaldehyde naturally; it s a byproduct of the metabolic process. Yet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention classifies it as a pollutant. Why? Because too much of it under the wrong conditions is a bad thing.As ever, Cruz managed to be both wrong and smug at the same time. He s not just ignorant, he s proud of it.Why does this matter?As you may have noticed, last October was the hottest October ever recorded. So was November. So was December. So was January. So was February. So was March. Climate change isn t just theoretically possible, it s happening now and more quickly than many scientists ever dared worry it would. This means the time for action is already here. President Obama has done several key things to help America play catch up on the war against climate change. First he dumped tons of money into researching alternative energy and America is finally getting serious about solar and wind power. But perhaps most significantly of all, we are beginning to work with other countries around the world to globally combat the worst effects.This all goes away with Ted Cruz. A President Cruz not only doesn t believe climate change is worth fighting, he doesn t believe it exists. For four to eight years, America will rollback and dismantle the progress it has made at this crucial time. What this means for the future is the stuff of nightmares.But on the bright side, if our cities are flooded and our crops are failing at least President Cruz can provide us have plenty of good, healthy carbon.Featured image via Darren Hauck/Getty Images | 1 |
(CNN) After months of tensions with Congress over a bill giving the legislature a say in the potential Iran nuclear deal, the White House indicated Tuesday that the president would be willing to sign the compromise version of the measure.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved the new version, which Democratic lobbying had watered down, in a vote Tuesday afternoon.
During his daily press briefing, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama would approve the measure as it stands now, though Earnest noted he can't commit to that position if the legislation changes.
The White House "certainly" blinked, Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said Tuesday on CNN's "The Situation Room."
"Congress imposed the sanctions and only Congress can lift them permanently. So we always had a role and I'm glad the White House recognizes that now," he said.
Earlier Tuesday, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said they had resolved key differences on the bill regarding Iran's nuclear plan, making the bill's passage more certain.
"What I'm most proud of is we've kept the pure integrity of the process in place and the President cannot lift -- while Congress is reviewing this -- cannot lift the congressionally mandated sanctions, which is what they've been trying to do and push for over the past couple of weeks," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker told reporters Tuesday, as he headed into a classified briefing on the emerging Iran agreement with Secretary of State John Kerry and other top administration officials.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said during the committee's deliberations in the afternoon that he would not offer a controversial amendment related to Israel. Other senators also dropped their amendments to ensure this agreement stayed intact.
According to a Corker aide familiar with the details of the bill, it requires Obama to submit the final agreement to Congress, which will have up to 52 days to weigh in on the deal. That includes an initial review period of 30 days, with 12 more days added automatically if Congress passes a bill and sends it to the President, and an additional 10 days of congressional review if Obama vetoes the legislation.
If the deal is submitted late, after July 9, the review period reverts to 60 days.
During that time, the President is prohibited from waiving the congressional sanctions. And Obama is required by the legislation to certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran is complying with the terms of the deal.
The bill also requires the President to make a series of detailed reports to Congress on a range of issues, including Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic missiles work and its support for terrorism globally, particularly against the U.S. and its allies.
Sen. Ben Cardin, the committee's top Democrat, expressed optimism Monday night that negotiators could come to an agreement that would appease the White House while maintaining the ultimate goal of requiring congressional approval.
"I think we can get to a place where we can deal with most of the White House's concerns and maintain the purpose of the bill, which is an orderly congressional review and timely notice if there are material breaches," he said ahead of the compromise being reached.
Congressional negotiators worked through the weekend and into the night Monday to hammer out legislation that would draw enough support from hardline Republicans and moderate Democrats to pass.
House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday said he expected the House to take up the Corker bill once the full Senate votes on it, saying the proposal has taken "center stage."
He reiterated his stance that Congress should "absolutely have the opportunity to review the deal," adding the administration "appears to want a deal at any cost."
But he brushed off the notion that he was working to derail the nuclear deal. | 0 |
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Seven Palestinian militants were killed on Monday when Israel blew up what it said was a tunnel being dug underneath the Gaza Strip border. Hamas said Israel had made a futile attempt to sabotage efforts to repair Palestinian unity , a reference to the reconciliation agreement it reached with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, earlier this month. However, neither Israel nor Hamas seemed eager to seek escalation. Israel was at pains to point out that its action against the tunnel was carried out on its own side of the border. The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) does not intend to escalate the situation but stands prepared for a variety of scenarios, said Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman. The working assumption is that this is not the only tunnel that Palestinian terrorist organizations are trying to dig. The tunnel was being dug from the Gaza town of Khan Younis across the border, where it was blown up, Conricus said. A source for the Islamic Jihad militant group said the head of the faction s armed wing in central Gaza was killed along with a senior associate and other gunmen. It vowed revenge saying all options are open for response. Hamas s armed wing said two of its gunmen were killed while trying to rescue the Islamic Jihad men working in the tunnel. Gaza health officials said nine people were wounded. It said it would avenge the blood of the martyrs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in remarks to legislators of his right-wing Likud party, said groundbreaking technology aided the tunnel s discovery, but gave no details. Israel has been constructing a sensor-equipped underground wall along the 60-km (36-mile) Gaza border, aiming to complete the $1.1 billion project by mid-2019. During the last Gaza war, in 2014, Hamas fighters used dozens of tunnels to blindside Israel s superior forces and threaten civilian communities near the frontier, a counterpoint to the Iron Dome anti-missile system that largely protected the country s heartland from militant rocket barrages. Israel and the United States have called for Hamas to be disarmed as part of the pact between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, so Israeli peace efforts with Abbas, which collapsed in 2014, could proceed. Hamas has rejected the demand. On Saturday, UNRWA, the main U.N. welfare agency for Palestinians, said it had discovered what appeared to be a tunnel underneath one of its schools in Gaza on Oct. 15 and had sealed the cavity. U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt tweeted on Monday: Hamas uses the world s generosity to shield terror. Palestinians in Gaza deserve so much better. | 0 |
Last week, President Obama made a historic trip to Cuba and the right-wing went absolutely insane. Republicans were outraged that our president had the audacity to reestablish a relationship with the country more than fifty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the trip to Cuba, The Onion, a satire website, decided to post a fictional article about his trip home; but, in a hilarious turn of events, paranoid conservatives didn t get the joke and Snopes actually had to debunk the article.On March 23, The Onion shared a doctored picture of Air Force One flying low with a bunch of people on its wings and the photo was captioned, Hundreds Of Cuban Refugees Clinging To Air Force One On Flight Back To U.S. :The comment section under the article soon filled with people who thought it was real: I ve chosen not to blur out their names because the comments were all made in a public forum.You ll notice that a lot of them blame Obama for bringing more illegals into the country. Well, apparently, the outrage didn t extend only to The Onion s Facebook page, people actually emailed Snopes en masse asking the fact-checker website if the picture was real.This flood of emails forced Snopes to actually debunk an article by the well-known satire site. Snopes gave an example of one of the emails the received:There is a posting of a photograph with people on the wings of a plane and falling from the sky. Hundreds of Cubans clinging to Wings of Air Force One on the way to the US Reference Onion.com I find this very hard to believe. I believe it was photoshopped.We shall call them Captain Obvious.When you read the comment section of the original article, you realize that Donald Trump s rise in the Republican Party makes a whole lot of sense. The people who thought Cubans were actually clinging to the wings of Air Force One are probably the same people who think Drumpf is a real smart man who is going to turn this country around. They suffer so greatly from Obama Derangement Syndrome that they are falling for obvious satire. And as hilarious as it is, it s also really, really sad that our country is filled with this many stupid people.Featured image via screenshot | 0 |
Was this just another staged photo-op? We think so..It would appear that this is also a staged photo-op just like the random photo while on a walk in the woods Brittany Valente shared a photo on Instagram that she took with Hillary: The media wants you to believe this was another random Hillary sighting. But as Jack Posobiec pointed out Brittany Valente is a marketing director for a PR firm.And, she s met Hillary Clinton before:What s up with the no make-up thing? She looks like hell!And these signs on Hillary s lawn are just random too Via: Gateway Pundit | 1 |
THIS IS COMEY’S LAST CHANCE FOR REDEMPTION THIS IS COMEY’S LAST CHANCE FOR REDEMPTION Politics By TruthFeedNews October 29, 2016
By Gregg Jarrett
The most wounded man in Washington is James Comey.
Ever since his legally incomprehensible announcement that he would not recommend criminal prosecution of Hillary Clinton, he has been the equivalent of an extra on the set of “The Walking Dead”. His reputation tarnished. His legacy forever tainted.
His own agents turned against him in disgust. Those, including lawyers, who had worked exhaustively gathering the incriminating evidence were furious that Comey had publicly laid out their case of how Clinton was grossly negligence under the Espionage Act, yet decided not to prosecute. Comey had gone from revered to reviled, all in one day.
Now, his stunning announcement that he is reopening the criminal investigation of Clinton based on newly discovered evidence is, perhaps, the chance at redemption for which he may have been searching. He has disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner to thank for a second chance.
According to confirmed reports, the FBI seized electronic devices in the possession of Weiner during the course of an investigation into his sexting with an underage girl for which he is now in legal jeopardy. Since Weiner is married to Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, the FBI were legally entitled to access her emails on those same devices. Those are probably the messages that triggered a reopening of the Clinton probe.
Whatever the source of the new evidence, it may have provided the excuse or pretext that Comey so desperately needed to remedy the wrong perceived by so many. A legal “do over”, if you will. A mistake corrected. An injustice rectified.
Of course, it is altogether possible that Comey will reach the same conclusion as he did before –that prosecutors could not prove Clinton broke the law. His statement stressed he does not know the “importance” of the new emails.
But if this is Comey’s opportunity to atone, it is not good news for Hillary Clinton. The Director may now be more determined than ever to reverse his legal judgment of Clinton’s mishandling of classified materials. It’s like a first year law student getting to retake the final examination in criminal law after flunking the test. He can now change his legal analysis and arrive at a better conclusion.
After all, it was Comey himself who testified before Congress that more than 2,000 classified documents were found on Clinton’s personal server in her home –clearly an unauthorized place under the law. He described her explanations as untruthful and her conduct “extremely careless”. That would be more than sufficient for criminal charges against anyone else whose name is not Clinton.
What does all of this mean for Clinton’s chances of winning the election a scant ten days from now? At this early stage, it is impossible to know. Yes, at the moment, the electoral map favors Clinton substantially. But that could evaporate in a political instant.
On its face, the revelation seems extremely damaging to her candidacy. Perhaps fatal. Yet, it is premature to say how voters will react on November 8 th when they enter the voting booths across America. Some may view the resurrected FBI probe as patently unfair, coming a little more than a week before the election. Voters may feel she is being victimized and react with sympathy. The news may energize or motivate her supporters to cast their ballots in record numbers.
For others, a reinvigorated FBI investigation will serve as proof they were right when they concluded, perhaps long ago, that Clinton is chronically corrupt. As pointed out in my recent column , a Clinton presidency would probably be engulfed in scandal and endless investigations, even in the absence of today’s news. Do Americans want to cast a vote in favor of 4 years of acrimony and intransigence?
And what happens if a President Clinton is indicted for crimes under the Espionage Act? Would she resign, as Nixon did… or temporarily step aside under the incapacity provision of the 25 th Amendment until her criminal trial is concluded? How would Congress react? The entire sordid affair could devolve into an impeachment trial reminiscent of her husband, Bill Clinton.
Another national nightmare.
These are weighty decisions which voters are now suddenly forced to consider. It may not be fair or right. But, in a democracy, freedom of choice inexorably falls to the citizenry.
It brings both benefits and burdens.
Gregg Jarrett is a Fox News Anchor and former defense attorney. H/T – FoxNews
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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans to buy an additional 20 F-35A stealth fighter aircraft from the United States, a South Korean newspaper reported on Thursday, less than two months after U.S. President Donald Trump announced Seoul would be purchasing billions of dollars in new military equipment. South Korea s Defence Acquisition Program Administration has established a process for procuring the 20 additional aircraft, the Joongang Ilbo newspaper reported, citing multiple government sources. In 2014 South Korea formally announced a plan to buy 40 F-35As from American defense contractor Lockheed Martin. | 0 |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry declined on Tuesday to confirm or deny reported plans by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to visit Moscow, expressing its surprise at the “regular leak” of information from Washington. Sources told Reuters on Monday Tillerson planned to skip his first meeting of the 28 NATO allies in April in order to stay home for a visit by China’s president and then go to Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to media requests for confirmation of Tillerson’s Moscow visit that the ministry was “not prepared to confirm or deny this information”. “But we are certainly surprised by the regular leak of sensitive information from Washington,” she said in a post on Facebook. “It’s time for U.S. political elites to figure out if ‘Russian hackers’ have once again got into State Department servers or if the threat to U.S. cyber security has an American origin after all,” Zakharova said. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said later he was unaware of plans by Tillerson to visit Moscow. Skipping the NATO meeting and visiting Moscow could risk feeding a perception that Trump’s administration may be prioritizing U.S. dealings with big powers over smaller nations that depend on Washington for security. Tillerson worked with Russia’s government for years in his former role as a top executive at Exxon Mobil Corp. He has questioned the wisdom of sanctions against Russia that he said could harm U.S. businesses. | 1 |
Elizabeth Warren announced a bill creating a Financial Product Safety Commission with House and Senate Democrats in March 2009. The body was designed to have oversight over mortgages and other financial instruments to protect consumers against predatory practices. She said if the agency had existed before the subprime collapse then "there would have been millions of families who got tangled in predatory mortgages who never would have gotten them." HuffPost's Ryan Grim reported : Without all these toxic assets on banks' balance sheets, the institutions wouldn't be on the brink of collapse and the recession would be more manageable. "Consumer financial products were the front end of the destabilization of the American economic system." Sen. Charles Schumer's cosponsorship of the bill is notable because of his proximity to Wall Street. The bill's merit, the New York Democrat said, is that it regulates the actual financial product rather than the company producing it. | 1 |
The overwhelming response to her temper tantrum was so humiliating that Sarah Palin removed the outrageous tweet.Just after midnight on Wednesday morning, Palin apparently learned that former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick donated money to Meals on Wheels.Palin has relentlessly targeted Kaepernick because he exercised his freedom to kneel during the national anthem in protest of police brutality against people of color.Kaepernick is currently a free agent and will likely find a new team before the next NFL season begins, but that didn t stop Palin from gloating about his current status.In response to Donald Trump s draconian budget that slashes funding for Meals on Wheels, a program that helps millions of senior citizens get a meal and a well-being check every day from a volunteer, Kaepernick donated $50,000 to the organization.For some reason, Palin has a problem with this and she threw a mini hissy fit on Twitter complete with a link to a story on her own website.Palin soon deleted the offensive tweet and we ll get to the reason why shortly, however, a screenshot was obtained by a Twitter user.Since she deleted her tweet, here s the screengrab where she mocks Kaepernick for donating to Meals on Wheels. pic.twitter.com/yPFYgR23zu Rey Azure McSriff (@aguyuno) March 22, 2017As you can see, Palin mocked Kaepernick for currently not having a job, even though there are still quite a few months before the next NFL season begins and free agency is part of the game.Palin linked to story on her website that called Kaepernick s donation a purely political stunt. You know, because Palin doesn t believe Kaepernick is capable of such a generous gesture out of the kindness of his heart.The article has also been removed.And that s because Palin was buried under such an avalanche of humiliation that she was forced to do so.In particular, Twitter users pointed out that Palin herself does not have a job. She s a mere grifter who quit her previous job as Governor of Alaska because it was easier to swindle money out of her gullible fans.imagine being so racist you get mad a black athlete for donating to meals on wheels https://t.co/wIEa4RBK3s Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) March 22, 2017@SarahPalinUSA Has your lazy ass ever finished a job? Drew MacDonald (@DrewYouRiot) March 22, 2017@ItsTonyNow What is Sarah Palin s job exactly Harvey K. ? (@krallenbauche) March 22, 2017@SarahPalinUSA you dismiss donating to the needy as a political stunt? Wilson (@mikebabaganoosh) March 22, 2017And that s pretty much how it went until Palin was so shamed that she took down her tweet and the article.Perhaps, next time, Palin will criticize Donald Trump for cutting Meals on Wheels instead of attacking someone for helping them. Of course, that would be something only a human being with a soul would do. | 1 |
This is an odd report from Press TV because a Muslim woman is reporting like it s a bad thing that Trump is calling the refugees a Trojan Horse . Once again, Donald Trump is right AND the only one speaking openly about what the problem is with terror. It s been a long day of listening to pundits and politicians dodge the truth of Islamic terrorism. Refugee resettlement in America is out of control and is being used as a tool against us. If you don t believe this then please go to Refugee Resettlement Watch and read up! | 1 |
Next time you see a Democrat lawmaker, thank them for supporting sanctuary cities and states, and making every American less safe A Mexican man who was deported from the US 20 times has been convicted of 10 counts including sexual assault in Oregon. On Friday, Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in a Portland courtroom after pleading guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault, sodomy and several other counts, KOIN reported.Martinez smiled throughout the trial, and as he left, he gave one grim parting shot to his two victims relatives: See all you guys in Hell. The first attack occurred early on the morning of July 24, when Martinez entered the Northeast Portland home of a 65-year-old woman through a window she had left open to cool the house.Wielding a metal rod, Martinez told the woman to get down on the ground, where he bound and blindfolded her, threatened to murder her, and then sexually assaulted her, KGW reported.He stole the woman s purse and car; she called the police from a neighbor s home, and they located the vehicle and put it under surveillance.While they kept an eye on the car, however, Martinez was stalking his second victim in a parking garage on the corner of Northeast 21st Avenue and Northeast Halsey Street.He approached her carrying a knife and made her get into her car; as he got in after her she attempted to escape, but he was able to grab her and start slamming her head into the ground.The woman called out for help and as passersby approached, Martinez attempted to steal her car, then fled on foot when it failed to start. Police caught him minutes later.Two relatives of one of the victims, and one of the victims herself spoke during the sentencing phase Friday, in which Martinez often grinned.A brother of one victim told Martinez: Sergio, no sentencing is enough. I rather you rot in Hell. Deputy District Attorney Amity Girt, the prosecutor on the case, said: We had some very powerful victim impact statements that said it all. It was really breathtaking to hear the far-reaching consequences of violent crime, the emotional injury. Under the agreement that spared Martinez a possibly longer sentence if he had been found guilty at trial, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including first-degree burglary, sodomy, sex abuse, kidnapping, robbery, and second-degree assault.Martinez s lawyer, Jonathan Sarre, said his client suffers from some mental illnesses; often such people may do inappropriate things in these situations. However, he acknowledged that a doctor had declared Martinez competent to stand trial.Martinez had been freed from jail in Portland a week before the attacks; he was in there for interfering with police and providing a false birth date.He was released despite a request from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the Multnomah County Sheriff s Office to hold him so the agency could take him into custody.Oregon became America s first sanctuary state when it adopted a law in 1987 preventing law enforcement from detaining people who are in the United States illegally but have not broken other laws. Daily Mail | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. State Department website on Monday took down an article it published this month about President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort which had prompted criticism from prominent ethics experts that the piece represented use of public office for private gain. The original article was posted on April 4 on the “Share America” website, overseen by the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs. It was also shared on the websites and social media pages of several U.S. embassies, including those in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Albania, as well as the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. Although it was posted weeks ago, the article surfaced on Monday when it was shared widely on social media. The State Department removed the article’s content around 7 p.m. on Monday, replacing it with a short statement saying its intention “was to inform the public about where the President has been hosting world leaders. We regret any misperception and have removed the post.” The article described the history of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and its size, status as a registered historic site, interior decoration and oceanfront location. “By visiting this ‘winter White House,’ Trump is belatedly fulfilling the dream of Mar-a-Lago’s original owner and designer,” socialite and cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, the article said. “Post’s dream of a winter White House came true with Trump’s election in 2016.” A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House did not know about the article in advance, and declined to comment further. Norman Eisen, ethics chief under Trump’s predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama, said on Twitter that the article violated a federal statute barring the use of public office for private gain. Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer for Republican President George W. Bush, said on Twitter that the post constituted “use of public office for private gain pure and simple.” Scott Amey, an attorney with the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, said the post may not be an outright endorsement of Mar-a-Lago, but that “someone inside of the government should have said ‘no’ to the story and further helping Trump make money while serving in the White House.” The “Share America” article said that in 1973, Post willed the estate to the U.S. government, intending it to be used as a winter White House for the president to entertain foreign dignitaries. But Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter never used the property, and in 1981 the government returned the estate to the Post Foundation because it was costing too much to maintain, according to the article. Trump, a businessman turned politician, bought the property in 1985, and turned it into a club open to dues-paying members 10 years later, it said. The club has a $200,000 membership fee, and Trump has hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the resort. Trump’s frequent visits there have come under scrutiny due to their expense and questions of how he has handled sensitive national security information while there. Trump maintains ownership of his global business empire, though he has handed off control to his two oldest sons, an arrangement that ethics watchdogs said would not prevent conflicts of interest. | 0 |
Could there be two creepier people than creepy Joe Biden and the sex-obsessed pop-star Lady Gaga, (who is famous for bloody orgies, and violent sex scenes used in her music videos) to come together to make a PSA against sexual assault? Here s a disturbing compilation of Creepy Joe Biden creeping on women:Nevermind their reputations of creeping on women and having gang sex with large groups of men, Creepy Joe Biden and pop singer Lady Gaga have teamed up to produce a PSA against sexual assault. We want to make it real clear, it s on us it s on everyone to intervene, to stop abuse when they see it and when they hear about it, and to intervene, Biden says in a short video shared by Lady Gaga on Twitter. No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman for any reason other than self-defense, ever. Period, he says.A message from me & my buddy Vice President @JoeBiden @ItsOnUs to stop sexual assault. Go to https://t.co/aMd5silSst #ItsOnUs to help. pic.twitter.com/w5JGRCd2z8 xoxo, Gaga (@ladygaga) October 25, 2017 I am a sexual assault survivor, and I know the effects, the aftermath, the trauma psychological, physical, mental, Gaga says. It can be terrifying waking up every day feeling unsafe in your own body. But we re here to remind you that it s important to reach out to someone in your life that you can trust, and to know that they will be there to help you; there will be someone to listen. Because you know what? It s on us. Information Liberation | 0 |
On Friday, Kraft Heinz seemed determined to press ahead with a $143 billion takeover bid for Unilever, an ambitious campaign that would have put dozens of the names in consumer households around the world under one roof. But less than 48 hours later, Kraft Heinz’s board — including Warren E. Buffett and the billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann — decided to walk away. The alternative would have been to pursue a public and possibly costly fight against Unilever, a bulwark of British and Dutch business. Instead, the two consumer goods giants said on Sunday that Kraft Heinz had withdrawn its takeover bid after an agreement on friendly terms. As a joint statement from the companies put it, “Kraft Heinz has the utmost respect for the culture, strategy and leadership of Unilever. ” The announcement swiftly ended what had been poised to become the biggest instance of consolidation within the food and consumer goods industry, at a time when giants in the fields have been looking to combine to command more space on grocery shelves. A combination of Kraft Heinz, itself the product of a and Unilever would have sold everything from Heinz ketchup and Oscar Mayer hot dogs to Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Dove soap and Lipton tea. Kraft Heinz surprised the world when it disclosed on Friday, at the behest of the British merger regulator, that it had made a bid for Unilever. The disclosure came after a report in The Financial Times’s Alphaville blog said the two companies had held talks. Unilever quickly responded by saying that the $143 billion offer, a roughly 18 percent premium on the company’s closing stock price on Thursday, was too low and that it saw no reason to engage in talks. Kraft Heinz had approached Unilever only a few weeks before and had hoped to court its target in private, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Much of the food world had prepared for a potentially aggressive campaign by Kraft Heinz, whose backers at the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital have long been known as swashbuckling deal makers eager to build up titans in the food and beverage industries. Along with Mr. Buffett, 3G had engineered a takeover of Heinz in 2013 and then Heinz’s merger with Kraft two years later, each in a deal. By late last year, analysts and investors were speculating that Kraft Heinz was on the hunt for yet another major acquisition, although talk at the time centered on companies like Mondelez International, the former candy business of Kraft. Unilever, with its mix of food and household goods, had not been on many analysts’ radar screens, although they said its international profile and its strength in emerging markets would have complemented Kraft Heinz’s heavy focus on the United States. Shares of Kraft Heinz jumped more than 10 percent on Friday while those of Unilever rose 15 percent, suggesting that investors in both were eager for a union. While many on Wall Street had assumed that Kraft Heinz and 3G were prepared to fight for Unilever, Kraft Heinz and its backers had little desire to wage such a battle. That stands in contrast with how InBev, the beer company, pursued Anheuser Busch in 2008: InBev was prepared to oust Anheuser’s board before agreeing to raise its offer and reach a friendly deal. Discussions among senior executives at Kraft Heinz and Unilever, as well as their advisers, underscored that Unilever was unwilling to proceed at any price. Moreover, the British government had expressed concern about the potential acquisition, citing the treatment of another British icon, Cadbury, after its takeover by Kraft in 2010, including accusations that Kraft reneged on promises to maintain hundreds of British jobs after the deal closed. The chairman of Parliament’s business committee, Iain Wright, said on Friday that “a lot of very good British companies will be subject to fire sales without taking into account their performance and quality. ” One concern was 3G’s traditional playbook of extreme down to replacing workers’ personal printers with communal ones and selling off extravagances like corporate jets. Unilever has been known for years for its commitment to environmental sustainability, although its chief executive, Paul Polman, has recently pushed for more initiatives as well. While Kraft Heinz had been prepared to make a number of concessions — including raising its offer and keeping Unilever’s headquarters in London and Rotterdam — the appetite among Mr. Buffett, Mr. Lemann and other directors for waging a fight waned, leading to the decision on Sunday morning to withdraw. That move came well ahead of a deadline set by the British takeover panel Kraft Heinz had to make a firm offer by March 17. “Kraft Heinz’s interest was made public at an extremely early stage,” Michael Mullen, a spokesman for Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. “Our intention was to proceed on a friendly basis, but it was made clear Unilever did not wish to pursue a transaction. ” Kraft Heinz has been advised by Lazard and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton Garrison Unilever received advice from the banks Centerview Partners, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Deutsche Bank. | 0 |
Central Bank sees Russia’s moving up in Doing Business rating as good sign October 27, 2016 TASS Doing business in Russia , banks , ranking Russia moved up to the 40th position in the Doing Business-2017 rating. Source: Getty Images
The Central Bank sees Russia’s moving up in the Doing Business rating as a good sign, Deputy CEO of the Central Bank Vladimir Chistyukhin told reporters.
"That is a very significant leap and a very positive sign for us. It shows that the efforts we made in many fields, in particular in corporate management were not in vain," he said.
Earlier this week it was reported that Russia moved up to the 40th position in the Doing Business-2017 rating, which is annually prepared by the World Bank.
In 2012, Russia ranked 124th in that rating.
In his May decrees issued in 2012 President Vladimir Putin set the task for the country to reach the 20th position in the rating of the World Bank by 2018.
In 2016, Russia was on the 51st place in the Doing Business rating.
However the methods of calculation of the World Bank’s rating changed earlier this year. Taking into account these changes Russia could have been on the 36th place already in 2015. | 1 |
21st Century Wire says Another harbinger of the end of civilization as we once knew it. If you are considering downloading this app and getting into this new apocalyptic pastime, we urge you to stop and check yourself. Mindless lemmings chasing after digital illusions. This is the true dystopia The Guardian/ AP Police in New Hampshire s largest city are using Pok mon Go in an attempt to lure fugitives into their clutches. A post on the Manchester police department Facebook page announced that officers recently detected one of the more rare Pokemon characters a Charizard in the booking area of police headquarters.The post invited those whose names appeared on a list linked to the post to be one of the lucky ones to come and capture the creature. The list included the names of the more than 500 fugitives on the department s wanted persons roundup.Appearances of rare Pok mon characters have drawn huge crowds in cities around the globe. This week, the appearance of a super-rare Vaporeon in New York City caused players to swarm to Central Park.The crazed scene was captured on video and posted to Twitter on Friday, causing one appalled used to write: I honestly am wondering if we re on the verge of a global breakdown. Read more at The GuardianREAD MORE POKEMON GO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Pokemon Files | 0 |
Trump s popularity continues to slip and slide downhill, including with his base. Every segment of his base, even those that are traditionally Republican. One demographic hasn t voted for a Democrat since 2000, but that could change in 2020 as they find themselves increasingly dissatisfied. A new Gallup poll shows that the military community, which Trump won by 17 points last year, now disapproves of him 52 percent to 43 percent. That s a 9-point difference there.In other words, according to Gallup who conducted the poll that s a 16-point swing away from how they saw him during his first 100 days. Prior to April 29, Trump still had a 7-point advantage with the military. May could be an outlier, or it could be the harbinger of a trend that should scare the hell out of Republicans.Military members and their families tend to lean conservative (even though it s primarily the Republicans who toss them aside when they come back from war, saying, We don t have enough money for the VA. Too bad, so sad ). They re less diverse than the general population, and are less educated than the general public. They also tend to be more religious and more culturally conservative than civilians, so in short, their makeup looks very Republican.That makes this poll surprising and possibly damaging for the GOP, particularly with a contentious midterm coming up next year and a standard-bearer that can t crawl out of the hole of record disapproval in which he finds himself. He s certainly not winning anyone over with his proposal to close more military bases, which military communities tend to depend on for their own livelihood. The Russia scandal and his missteps, like firing James Comey and antagonizing our intelligence services, probably aren t helping either.This falling approval among the military community can present an opportunity for Democrats to slide in if they find solid ways to reach them. The truth is that they still have a significant disadvantage there, but disapproval for a president can translate to disapproval for his party. That, in turn, can lead to some conservatives deciding to vote Democratic.If this trend continues among the military community, then the GOP will probably find itself in some trouble. They rely on this part of their base. Now that part of their base is weakening.Featured image by Win McNamee via Getty Images | 0 |
(Reuters) - Hurricane Maria was on course Tuesday to slam Puerto Rico with a direct hit that could devastate the island s underfunded power grid, still recovering from Hurricane Irma two weeks ago. The Category 5 storm, the top end of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, could strain the resources of the island s power provider, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). The utility filed for bankruptcy in July, after years of underinvestment that yielded a system it called degraded and unsafe. Maria is expected to strike the island on Wednesday with winds of up to 160 miles per hour (257 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Irma grazed Puerto Rico, knocking out power to more than 1 million of PREPA s 1.5 million customers, according to the U.S. Energy Department. All but about 60,000 have had power restored, and the island s power plants were not severely damaged. Maria, however, could be the first major hurricane - defined as Category 3 or higher - to make landfall since Georges in 1998, said Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist at The Weather Company, an IBM company. It could be the first Category 5 since San Felipe II in 1928, which killed more than 300 people on the island. No generation has seen a hurricane like this since San Felipe II in 1928. This is an unprecedented atmospheric system, said Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossell , in a statement on Tuesday. The island could be faced with outages for weeks, straining the resources of a utility whose power plants have a median age of 44 years, compared with an industry average of 18 years, and more frequent power outages. PREPA said in a draft fiscal plan released in April that years of underinvestment have led to severe degradation of infrastructure. Even if we had an energy system in prime condition, which we all know we don t have, it still would be very difficult, said Nydia Suarez, who works at CNE Group, a think tank, and lives on the island. She plans to stay with her son in Guaynabo, which is farther inland than her home in San Juan. The utility had to declare bankruptcy in July due to a $9 billion hole deepened by a lengthy recession on the island, inconsistent management and ineffective collections. The island s power prices are already higher than any U.S. state other than Hawaii, according to the U.S. Energy Department. They have been reluctant to raise rates to generate additional revenues to increase capital expenditures on the island ... because the population is a bit depressed, said Rick Donner, vice president and senior credit officer at credit rating agency Moody s Investors Service in New York. PREPA will use the same plan it used for Irma, Executive Director Ricardo Ramos said in a news release, by first energizing hospitals, water plants and some industries. The utility said it has refilled all fuel tanks while workers collect debris and trim trees damaged by Irma near transmission lines. The Department of Energy said it was working with the American Public Power Authority (APPA), PREPA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to get mutual aid workers to Puerto Rico and elsewhere. I was 12 days without electricity after Georges. We think about that and with a power system that is worse than it was then more fragile we re expecting more time without power, CNE Group s Suarez said. | 0 |
Ted Cruz is horrible. According to former classmates, he spent his time in college hanging out near the women s restroom in a bathrobe, and leaves a greasy film behind on all he touches. His own daughter seems to be repulsed by the very thought of expressing affection toward him. On Wednesday, MSNBC s Chris Matthews may have solved the puzzle of the Texas Senator s general horribleness. There s a troll-like quality to Cruz, Matthews told Joe Scarborough during a panel on the topic of Cruz s ability to challenge Trump. He operates below the level of human life. That s a little tough! Scarborough replied. You have not gotten sleep. We re going to try that again. Can I not have an opinion? Matthews asked, before being told by Scarborough, Not that opinion. Matthews attempted to better explain his position in a manner that even Joe Scarborough can grasp, which is a difficult task: I think he appeals to people s negativity rather than their joy. I don t think people feel good about voting for Cruz. I think they feel I don t know what it is he appeals to. People say he inherited the Libertarian crowd. I don t see how. He doesn t seem Libertarian to me. He s appealed to the Baptists up here. I don t understand that. What is he? A theocrat? Maybe he is, the Matthews continued. There s something about that guy who has always reminded me of Joe McCarthy, and there s something about him that s negative and menacing. When I say below the level of human life, I mean the good nature of human life, not just being a person, he said, explaining that the 2016 hopeful simply doesn t have a human side.That pretty much explains Ted Cruz. He s human, certainly, in that he has flesh and breathes and probably has feelings sometimes. But he is terrible at displaying it. Like Rubio, he comes off as robotic. But unlike Rubio, everything about him seems disgusting and evil.Watch the Hardball host reveal Cruz for who he is below:Featured image from screengrab | 1 |
Ben Carson is setting all three of his supporters up for disappointment. In a statement Wednesday, the retired neurosurgeon announced that, in light of his crushing defeat on Super Tuesday, he will likely no longer continue the charade that can loosely be called his presidential campaign.Carson announced that he will be skipping the Fox News Presidential Debate in his hometown of Detroit on Thursday. I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America, Cason s statement says. I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening s Super Tuesday primary results. Carson promised that this grassroots movement of We the People will continue. I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America, Carson added. Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people. Carson s attempt to become the man to lose to the Democratic nominee started out promising. But Carson s campaign took a series of wrong turns that thrust him as far into political obscurity as Carly Fiorina after the Center for Medical Progress baby parts videos were shown to be heavily-edited and fraudulent.Carson s wild tales like his claim that he once tried to gut a motherf*cker only to be thwarted by a rogue belt buckle and that he attacked his mother with a hammer, his story about bravely telling an armed robber to shoot a Popeye s Chicken cashier, as well as his wild theory that Biblical storybook character Joseph built the pyramids to store grain did him absolutely no favors, nor did his complaint that Obama isn t black enough. His campaign also suffered from numerous shakeups, like much of his staff abandoning the sinking ship that was Team Carson all at once.While he was reluctant to give up, Carson seems to have finally come to his senses. Now, perhaps, he will have time to travel to Egypt with his buddy Jesus so they can have their portrait painted inside a grain pyramid.He promises to discuss more about his future plans at CPAC, the annual gathering of Christofascist lunatics like Carson.As the Stupid Part of America s options narrow, one thing remains certain it is more important than ever that you make it to the polls in November.Here are some of the dumbest things Carson has said. His intelligence and wit shall be missed.Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
Just before Donald Trump s inauguration, David Leavitt who claims he writes for CBS and Yahoo said he wished Trump would die before his inauguration. CBS denies he works for them or has ever worked for them. Well, that was back in November and Levitt s profile on Twitter still says he s a contributor to CBS:Comedian and political commentator Mark Dice actually made a video exposing Daniel Leavitt, who claims to be a member of the press and the vile remarks he made about our President:Here is Leavitt s response to the outrage over his disgusting comments:If I knew that I'd gain over 500 followers within 12 hours of angering sexist racist #trump supporters, I'd have done it sooner #ImWithHer David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) November 30, 2016Because what could possibly be funnier than a terrorist attack in a stadium packed with young innocent children right David? Apparently Leavitt who has no obvious conscience, doubled down on his sick joke and instead of deleting it after realizing that he was receiving quite a bit of backlash, he attempted to make another joke asking, too soon? Leavitt is no stranger to making sick jokes about dead people. Just last week he made another sick joke about the death of Roger Ailes:Every day liberals confirm to independent and Democrat voters who have two brain cells to rub together, why the majority of Americans truly believe liberalism is a mental disorder.Here are a few more tweets by a guy who gets paid to write for major publications that every day Americans accept as actual news. ***WARNING*** Some of the tweets contain strong language:And lastly, from a guy who was bashing Comey on Twitter, there s this post from a stereotypical liberal: | 0 |
DENVER (Reuters) - A federal judge in Colorado blocked enforcement of a 19th-century state law that bans voters from showing a completed ballot to others, the latest in a flurry of mixed legal rulings on whether to restrict election “selfies” on social media. U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello in Denver issued a preliminary injunction against an 1891 Colorado statute that makes it a misdemeanor offense to reveal the contents of one’s ballot. The ruling came in response to two separate lawsuits by voters challenging enforcement of the law on grounds that it violates their free-speech rights. “By issuing an injunction in this case, Coloradans get what they are entitled to - clarity on an issue that implicates fundamental constitutional rights,” Arguella wrote in her 26-page ruling. The controversy erupted last week after Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey reminded voters of the law, which he said would “include posting your completed ballot to social media.” However, prosecutors from several jurisdictions, including Denver, filed declaration with the court this week saying they would not enforce the misdemeanor law unless evidence showed that voter intimidation or coercion was involved. “Based on our review of applicable law and societal changes, including the ubiquity of social media ... the District Attorney’s Office would not charge anyone with an offense ... for taking a photograph or video of a completed Colorado mail-in ballot,” Denver prosecutor Joseph Morales wrote. Colorado is among 18 states that have laws restricting the taking of photographs in voting booths or of completed ballots. Courts in other states and federal jurisdictions have issued mixed rulings against enforcing such bans. Federal judges in New York and California refused this week to block enforcement of state laws barring voters from taking photographs of marked ballots, saying it was too close to next Tuesday’s presidential election to issue such injunctions. Colorado’s attorney general cited the California and New York decisions in defending Colorado’s law. Lawyers for the Colorado voters said the state’s mail-in voting system, which allows ballots to be filled out anywhere and then either mailed or dropped off, sets Colorado apart from California and New York, where voters must cast ballots at a polling place. Last month, a federal court sided with a voter who challenged a Michigan anti-selfie statute as a free-speech violation. | 0 |
The families of 17 service members who died fighting for the U.S. demanded an apology from Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him of "cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost."
They said the Republican presidential nominee's suggestion that the Muslim mother of a U.S. soldier who died in Iraq had not "been allowed" to speak at the Democratic National Convention was akin to "attacking us."
A letter signed by the Gold Star families — the term for those who have lost loved ones during military service — also called Trump's comments "repugnant, and personally offensive."
"When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us," the letter added. "When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice."
The letter was organized by Gold Star Mother Karen Meredith from VoteVets.org, an advocacy group that calls itself non-partisan but which has been described in the past as allied to Congressional Democrats. The Center for Responsive Politics says VoteVets.org is fueled "largely by social welfare organizations aligned with Democrats and millions of dollars given by unions."
Over the weekend, Trump questioned why Ghazala Khan stood by quietly as her husband Khizr Khan talked about their son Humayun at the DNC.
In the speech, Khan criticized Trump's policies and statements about Muslims. The real estate magnate "sacrificed nothing and no one," Khan said, and questioned whether the Republican had even read the U.S. Constitution.
The Khans' son, a U.S. Army captain, was killed by a car bomb in 2004 while guarding the gates of his base in Iraq, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers and civilians. He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Related: Father of Fallen Soldier to Trump: 'You Have Sacrificed Nothing'
Trump, who has called for Muslims to be barred from entering the country, responded to the speech by saying that maybe Ghazala Khan had "not been allowed to have anything to say."
Trump's comments go "beyond politics," according to the letter. "It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as 'political correctness.'"
It added: "We feel we must speak out and demand you apologize to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments."
The letter's signatories were 10 families whose loved ones died in Iraq and one that lost a father in Vietnam.
And one of the nation's most prominent veterans groups -- the Veterans of Foreign Wars -- added its voice to the controversy Monday, calling Trump's criticisms of the Kahn family "out of bounds."
"Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," said organization chief Brian Duffy in a statement. "There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. Giving one's life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard."
Trump did not immediately respond to Monday's letter from the families. He previously hit back at criticism from the Khan family, saying he had "made a lot of sacrifices ... I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs."
However, he tweeted about Khizr Khan on Monday morning.
Trump also took to Twitter Sunday to defend past statements about Islam, terrorism and his record on the war in Iraq.
Trump's comments have sparked a firestorm on social media and forced some GOP grandees to criticize the Republican nominee.
His own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, issued a statement Sunday saying he and Trump "believe that Capt. Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American."
Other Republican leaders have also weighed in.
"'Unacceptable' doesn't even begin to describe it," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who unsuccessfully opposed Trump for the Republican nomination.
"This is going to a place where we've never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen," he said in a statement. "There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics — that you don't do — like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier even if they criticize you. "
Ghazala Khan also addressed Trump's comments in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday, writing: "Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart."
She added: "Donald Trump said I had nothing to say. I do. My son Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died 12 years ago in Iraq. He loved America, where we moved when he was 2 years old."
The emotional piece recounts how she and her husband worried about their middle son's safety when he was called to fight in Iraq.
"We asked if there was some way he could not go, because he had already done his service. He said it was his duty," she wrote.
She also addressed his comments about Muslims and sacrifice, stating: "When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant."
Ghazala Khan added: "Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn't know what the word sacrifice means."
On Friday, she explained to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell that she was anxious during her husband's speech, knowing her son's photo would appear behind her.
"It was very nervous, because I cannot see my son's picture and I cannot even come in the room where his pictures are, and that's why when I saw the picture on my back, I couldn't take it. And I controlled myself at that time, so it is very hard," she said.
Khizr Khan told O'Donnell that he could not have appeared at the DNC without his wife's close support.
Speaking to NBC's TODAY on Monday, Khan said he was also grateful for an "outpouring" of support he had received in the wake of his speech. He had received many emails "full of assurances that I am right — that we are right."
On Sunday, Khan told "Meet the Press" that "we have a candidate without a moral compass, without empathy for its citizens."
"We don't take these values lightly," he said. "We are testament to the goodness of this country. We experience the goodness of this country every day."
He also responded to a Trump campaign statement saying the candidate he believes Capt. Khan is "a hero to our country."
While he appreciated the clarification, Khan added that "it sounds so disingenuous because of his policies, because of his rhetoric of hatred, of derision, of dividing us. And that is why I implored him to read the Constitution." | 1 |
On Friday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Today,” an interview given by Breitbart News Alex Marlow to NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk aired featuring a number of different topics about Breitbart News. Included among those topics were criticisms that Breitbart News is a “hate site,” the site’s relationship with White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, and the site’s mission. Transcript as follows: GOSK: You know, Breitbart is one of President Trump’s favorite news sources, once run by his top adviser, Steve Bannon. They see themselves as provocateurs, poking a finger in the eye of the mainstream media. But critics call them racists, and white supremacists. We sat down with Alex Marlow, the who pushes back against critics and the labels, defending the news site he’s worked at since it started in 2007. MARLOW: We’re not a hate site. GOSK: Do you think you’ve been unfairly demonized? MARLOW: Oh, absolutely. Without a doubt. GOSK: Breitbart has seen a meteoric rise, from a fringe once run by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, the news site explode exploded during the course of the presidential campaign with 240 million views a month. There was a former employee of yours, who called Breitbart “Trumpbart. ” MARLOW: Yes. GOSK: Was that a fair criticism during the election? MARLOW: Absolutely unfair criticism. GOSK: He insists they will criticize the president if he breaks his promises. MARLOW: If he makes good on those promises, he is going to get a lot of favorable coverage. When we feel like the president is not honoring the pledges he made to the public, he’s going to get critical coverage. GOSK: Do you talk to the president? MARLOW: I’ve spoken to the president on air, I believe, four times — twice when he was a candidate, twice before he was a candidate. And I have not spoken to him other than … since he’s been elected. GOSK: How about Steve Bannon? Does he reach out? MARLOW: Every so often. Not as often as I would have expected. I think Steve is a very busy man these days. GOSK: Still, the White House and Breitbart seem to be in lockstep on most issues. President Trump’s unsubstantiated tweets that President Obama wiretapped him during the campaign, echoed an idea laid out in a Breitbart article published the day before. Was the wiretap tweet because of a Breitbart article? MARLOW: That I don’t know. I’ve heard things, probably similar things to you. And I heard that a Breitbart article played a big factor in it. GOSK: The article never goes as far as Trump does, directly accusing his predecessor. But it argues that steps taken to investigate the Trump campaign’s links with Russia are purely political. MARLOW: We’ve learned very little about any sort of nefarious connection between Trump and Russia. But what we have learned is there’s these incredible amount of leaks flooding out of Washington, specifically to undermine the president of the United States. And the media is gleefully reporting all of them. GOSK: Who should the American public believe? Mainstream media? The federal government? Breitbart? MARLOW: Oh, I would say believe Breitbart. I think Breitbart is — GOSK: But why? Why should we believe Breitbart over what the federal government tells us about possible connections with Russia trying to tamper with the election? MARLOW: Well, possible connections and actual connections are different. GOSK: Yes, but when you have the federal government come out and say, we are investigating Russia, potentially tampering with the election, why as an American citizen should you not step back and go, “I should be worried about that”? MARLOW: I’m not saying you shouldn’t be worried about it. But there’s been ample reporting, ample investigation. The entire world has been focused on this story. And I’m just asking for one piece of hard evidence. GOSK: Marlow describes his staff as a mix of both reporters and activists — the site often blurring lines between news and opinion. What is your mission? MARLOW: First of all, is to be a great news site, covering accurate, always accurate, information. Now, where we differ is that we’re admittedly right of center. We’re a populist, nationalist, grassroots conservative website. GOSK: What is Breitbart’s position on immigration? MARLOW: We don’t have a party line position on it. But I’ll tell you a few things that are pretty consistent. We believe that border security and national security is a serious issue. And we think that there is an American value system that’s worth being preserved. GOSK: Do you think that American value system is in jeopardy because of immigration? MARLOW: It depends. It’s in jeopardy because of immigration if people who are coming into the country do not understand the American values and don’t want to assimilate into American society. GOSK: Its brand of conservatism has come under intense fire, frequently called, among other things, racist, because of headlines like this one from two years ago. “Hoist It High and Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims a Glorious Heritage” Would Breitbart print that headline today? MARLOW: I don’t know the answer to that. It’s a good question. But, probably yes. And to be honest with you, I disagree with the article. I don’t disagree with us running it because it makes arguments that the — that flag doesn’t just symbolize racism to certain people. It symbolizes southern pride, southern heritage and states’ rights. Now, my personal view is I think we’ve moved on from that symbol. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a debate and discussion about it. GOSK: Regardless of who it may offend. Do you compromise civility in the defense of free speech? MARLOW: In some cases that’s acceptable because of the fact that it’s proving a point about freedom of speech in that we used to raise a society that was supposed to be resilient emotionally. And now, everyone is looking for their safe space. And I think that’s a dangerous thing. GOSK: One thing he doesn’t think is dangerous — President Trump calling the, quote, “fake news media,” the enemy of the American people. That kind of extreme language, is that not damaging to our democracy? MARLOW: I don’t think it is because I think in a lot of ways, as Steve Bannon put it, the press is the opposition party. That’s 100 percent the worldview that I have. GOSK: Breitbart made its first significant break with the White House recently over the new health care bill. One of its concerns that tax cut for the wealthy. But, it’s worth pointing out, they lay the blame squarely at the feet of House Speaker Paul Ryan, not President Trump. GUTHRIE: Alright, Stephanie, interesting interview. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Follow Breitbart. tv on Twitter @BreitbartVideo | 0 |
They were probably just looking for a safe space to study Protesters at Dartmouth University disrupted students studying in the library, reportedly directing profanity towards white students and physically pushing others.In a critical editorial, the conservative Dartmouth Review listed some of the epithets hurled by the protesters: Fuck you, you filthy white fucks! F*ck you and your comfort! F*ck you, you racist shits! In addition, the Review reports that some of protesters became physically violent: Men and women alike were pushed and shoved by the group. If we can t have it, shut it down! they cried. Another woman was pinned to a wall by protesters who unleashed their insults, shouting filthy white bitch! in her face. Campus Reform managed to obtain video showing the protesters walking through the library shouting as others try to study. One of the protesters can be seen flipping off the cameraman. Another gets in the face of those who are studying demanding they say that black lives matter.One of the protesters posted online, saying they were ashamed of what the protest turned into. After making a girl cry, a protester screamed Fuck your white tears, he reports. I was startled by the aggression from a small minority of students towards students in the library, many of whom were supporters of the movement. Watch above, via Campus Reform. Via: Mediaite | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats vowed on Tuesday to fight a measure expected to be slipped into budget legislation that would open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve to oil and gas drilling, saying it would destroy one of earth’s remaining paradises. Northern Alaska’s ANWR is a wilderness about the size of South Carolina that supports tribes that have fished and hunted there for thousands of years and is home to polar bears, caribou and birds vulnerable to development. A plan passed by the Senate budget committee late last month contains a directive for the Senate energy committee to draw up a provision securing $1 billion in revenue for the budget, which is expected to be voted on late Thursday. The head of the energy panel, Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and a longtime proponent of drilling in ANWR, is expected to write a provision opening the reserve. She and Senator Dan Sullivan, also an Alaska Republican, have both supported measures to open up parts of ANWR. “This Republican budget scam to hand over the wildest place left in America to Big Oil should be removed from the budget and put on ice,” said Senator Edward Markey. Senator Jeff Merkley said there is “something cynical and sad” about the effort because it could boost oil output from the U.S. state that is already feeling the fastest effects of climate change, which the overwhelming majority of scientists link to human-caused carbon emissions. An environmentalist said Republicans were trying to sneak drilling into the budget and eliminate opportunities for debate. Lydia Weiss, the director of government relations at the Wilderness Society, called it an “unacceptable abuse of Senate procedure” and said Americans deserve to see the Senate debate the issue in the open. Petroleum interests have long lobbied to explore in the area and say technology advances mean the impact of operations on the reserve would be smaller than in years past. Still, it is uncertain whether energy companies that have faced static crude prices amid a wealth of oil and gas in the continental United States would be willing to increase drilling in the harsh and frigid Arctic. Markey said the group is reaching out to Republicans for support in opposition to the drilling amendment, which likely will need 50 votes in the 100-member chamber to pass. Democrats hope Republican senators John McCain and Susan Collins, who have previously voted against drilling, will support them. | 0 |
Relieved Britain no longer biggest f**k-up of 2016 09-11-16
BRITAIN has woken up relieved to find its idiotic act of self-harm earlier this year is now a piffling historical footnote.
Across the UK, Britons are secretly delighted that when the great disasters of 2016 are remembered, Brexit will be completely overshadowed by America’s embrace of fascism.
Mary Fisher, from Croydon, said: “Wow. Like obviously bad for them, but what a total save for us.
“We’re the person who’s sick in the garden early on at the party, spends an hour thinking they’re an embarrassment, and then someone vomits explosively all over the leather couch and the new carpet.
“Brexit’s nothing now. All we’ve done is get out of the EU before their decade-long war with Russia.”
Historian Dr Helen Archer said: “For months we’ve been the world’s dumbest dickheads, and now we’re actually if anything a useful marker on the road to the total collapse of liberal democracy.
“I mean end of the world, obviously, but every cloud.”
Share: | 1 |
Councilman David James said the memorial WILL come down. Please let him know how you feel about this.David James on FacebookDavid James on TwitterWDRB Reported:CLEANSING OUR PAST WILL NOT CHANGE IT! WE CAN ONLY LEARN FROM IT!Per Councilman James: The statues will come off this morning. The rest of the monument will be disassembled later. pic.twitter.com/O4sewdlIH8 Katrina Helmer (@KatrinaWDRB) November 19, 2016 | 1 |
The draft version of the Democratic Party platform released on Friday evening contains a provision pushing for an end to the death penalty in America. It is something the party has never done before, even though it has fielded candidates opposed to the criminal punishment.Progressives are rightly pointing it out as a considerable move in the right direction.The latest draft of the party s platform, released Friday, says the death penalty has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment that has no place in the United States of America. The inclusion of the provision represents a victory of sorts for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders a longtime opponent of the punishment who has said he is remaining in the presidential race in order to fight for progressive causes.Sanders offered mild praise for the platform Friday evening, tweeting, The Democratic Platform includes some accomplishments that will begin to move this country in the right direction. The party platform is not binding, and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton has not completely come out against the penalty. During the primary debates, Clinton said she believed it had very limited use in the case of the most extreme crimes, like terrorist attacks similar to 9/11.The inclusion of anti-death penalty language continues the forward momentum seen over the last few years in which several states have banned the practice.The United States is only one of 36 countries in the world that still has capital punishment. It is banned in 103 countries, and in another 50 countries it has not been used for 10 years while still remaining on the books.Executions have been trending downwards in America over the last few years. In 2009, 52 people were executed, dropping to 35 in 2014 and 28 in 2015. So far in 2016, 14 people have been executed in the United States with the most recent being Earl Forrest on May 11, 2016 in Missouri. Forrest killed two people in a drug dispute, then killed a sheriff s deputy in an ensuing shootout.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
6 ‘miracle’ drugs Big Pharma now regrets With Big Pharma, first they promote it, then they discover the risks. By Martha Rosenberg Posted on November 1, 2016 by Martha Rosenberg
Are you depressed? It may have less to do with your mood than your birth control pills, high blood pressure pills, antibiotics or even anti-hair-loss drug, according to new research. New risks have also emerged with popular gastroesophageal reflux disease medicines and even the top-selling painkiller, Tylenol.
There are two reasons the risks associated with popular drugs seem to trail their aggressive promotion. Certainly, as millions use brand name drugs, dangerous side effects and adverse events are seen that did not emerge in much smaller clinical trials. Who knew? But also, as Intrepid Report has noted before, dangerous side effects that might be considered major drawbacks to prescribing the drugs often emerge only when drugs have gone “off patent” and all their profit potential is realized. For both reasons, drug safety activists recommend waiting five years before taking a “new” drug—until it is not “new” anymore.
Here are drugs and drug classes that have raised new concerns.
1. Proton Pump Inhibitors
One of Pharma’s most successful gambits has been its proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Nexium (the “Purple Pill”) and Prilosec that reduce stomach acid. To sell the drugs, Pharma aggressively raised “awareness” of gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD a rare condition which, over time, can change the lining of the esophagus and lead to cancer. Actually, most PPI users have simple heartburn. Even babies are now given PPIs for “baby reflux” because they spit up 71 times a day—a normal occurrence that has been pathologized.
are addictive. “Once a patient has taken a PPI for longer than a few weeks, acid hypersecretion can occur on discontinuation,” says a recent article in Pharmaceutical Journal. “This causes rebound symptoms, and frequently establishes a vicious cycle of drug reinitiation and long-term continuation.”
Clostridium difficile (“C Diff”), bone thinning and fractures and vitamin and mineral deficiencies to chronic kidney disease and heart attacks. Now there is a new reported risk: dementia.
JAMA Neurology of 73, 679 people 75 or older with no dementia and taking PPIs found the patients “had a significantly increased risk of incident dementia compared with the patients not receiving PPI.” Other studies have also found a link.
fluoroquinolone class which includes Cipro and Levaquin. Even as the FDA tries to curtail use of antibiotics on the nation’s farms to make animals grow faster (a use which accounts for most U.S. antibiotic sales) drug use on the farm is actually increasing. The FDA’s 2014 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food Producing Animals reveals that cephalosporin sales increased by 57 percent between 2009 through 2014, sales of antibiotics like clindamycin increased by 150 percent and sales of antibiotics like gentamicin, a dangerous drug class, increased by 36 percent.
1974, Navy recruits were given antibiotics to see if they would gain weight, and after only seven weeks, they did. Similar results were seen in children in Guatemala and in babies . But making people fat or encouraging antibiotic resistant microbes like MRSA are the least of the risks, it turns out.
the bacteria in our gut, the microbiome, which antibiotics compromise as they kill the “bad” bacteria, are responsible for much more than good digestion. Antibiotics also affect the brain and “influence our mood and temperament,” says food expert Michael Pollan. “If you transplant the gut microbiota of relaxed and adventurous mice into the guts of timid and anxious mice they become less stressed and more adventurous.” Antibiotic-affected microbiomes may also be behind asthma and autoimmune diseases, acn published reports.
The Doctors’ Case Against the Pill by Barbara Seaman was published, Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson held hearings about clear links between the Pill and depression, blood clots and decrease in libido cited nowhere on the label. No women were asked to speak at the hearings, moving Alice Wolfson, a co-founder of the National Women’s Health Network, to say, “It must be admitted that women make superb guinea pigs. They don’t cost anything, they feed themselves, they clean their own cages, pay for their own pills, and remunerate the clinical observer. We will no longer tolerate intimidation by white-coated gods antiseptically directing our lives.”
Fast-forward to this year, when medical studies again c links between birth control pills and depression, especially in young women, and corresponding higher use of antidepressant drugs.
“The risk of depression has been recognized since women were able to get their hands on oral contraceptives,” says Cindy Pearson of the National Women’s Health Network. “It’s been reported by women for 50 years.”
Sweetening the Pill: or How We Got Hooked on Hormonal Birth Control might also be vindicated, writes Lara Prendergast. The book was called “a dishonest anti-Pill treatise” because the author “dared to point out that hormonal contraceptives are ranked by the World Health Organization as a class-one carcinogen alongside tobacco and asbestos,” she writes.
about Propecia, a popular treatment for male pattern baldness linked to disturbing side effects in men including sexual dysfunction and actual reduction in penis size. At the time, Propecia’s label assured users that sexual side effects “went away in men who stopped taking Propecia”; however, the current label warns about sexual dysfunction like “erectile dysfunction, libido disorders, ejaculation disorders, and orgasm disorders; male infertility and/or poor seminal quality” that continues after discontinuation of treatment.
BMJ found “the risk of erectile dysfunction was not increased for users of finasteride 1mg compared with unexposed men with alopecia [hair loss],” but reports of the disturbing side effects abound in medical j ournals and popular magazines.
Men’s Journal last year.
Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation .
& Johnson to increase warnings in 2014. Unintentional acetaminophen overdoses cause as many as 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths per year reported the FDA.
Soon after the increased warnings, medical journals linked acetaminophen to birth defects in the children of women the drug such as poor motor development, behavior problems and language delays. A study in JAMA Pediatrics identified an increased occurrence of ADHD by the age of seven in children whose mothers took acetaminophen. A study in the International Journal of Epidemiology found children more likely to have behavior problems and slow motor development by the age of three if their mothers had taken acetaminophen. Not all medical voices concur. Some said the studies were poorly designed or that fevers , for which the mother presumably took acetaminophen, are responsible for the birth defects.
In recent years, acetaminophen has been found to have psychological and mental effects not before described. The pain reliever may “blunt individuals’ reactivity to a range of negative stimuli in addition to physical pain,” says study. Another study found acetaminophen reduced the psychological pain caused by social rejection.
6. Beta Blockers
One out of Americans has high blood pressure and beta-blockers like atenolol (Tenormin), carvedilol (Coreg), metoprolol, propranolol (Inderal), sotalol (Betapace) and timolol (Timoptic) which treat the condition have been linked to depression for many years.
early as 1967, the British Medical Journal reported that hypertensive patients treated with propranolol for cardiac arrhythmias experienced a rise in the incidence of depression. Still, it has not been known if patients’ depressions were caused by the actual actions of beta blockers (like blocking the effects of epinephrine/adrenaline and slowing heart rate) or mood conditions associated with the diseases for which beta blockers are prescribed such as hypertension and congestive heart failure.
Hypertension found that beta blockers “may have a role in the pathogenesis or course of mood disorders” and increased hospital admissions for mood disorders. A “bidirectional relationship between depression and cardiovascular disease” exists, says the study , “because of the overlapping pathophysiological processes that underlie both conditions.”
There is a lot of data that depression and cardiovascular disease are related . . . but current hypertensive practices do not consider depression,” said the study’s lead author Sandosh Padmanabhan. “There could be some people who are predisposed to depression who we should not be giving these drugs.”
Martha Rosenberg is a freelance journalist and the author of the highly acclaim Facebook page. | 1 |
A suicide bomber believed to be linked to the Islamic State struck the historic heart of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people in what would be the group’s first major attack on Turkey’s vital tourism industry.
The bombing, which injured 15 others, took place in the shadow of the city’s famous nine-domed Blue Mosque, which draws visitors from around the world. Most of the victims were German nationals, Turkish officials said.
The targeting of Turkey’s tourism trade puts the group on a more direct collision course with the Turkish state, which has been criticized for not doing enough to prevent militants from using the country as a crucial route for recruits, supplies and oil smuggling.
But the militants appear increasingly desperate to strike overseas as they lose territory in Iraq and Syria.
“This terror organization, the assailants and all of their connections will be found and they will receive the punishments they deserve,” said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. He said the attacker was a member of the Islamic State, though the group has not asserted responsibility for the attack.
The blast occurred just before 10:30 a.m. in the Sultanahmet district, an area that includes the 400-year-old Blue Mosque; Hagia Sophia, a former Byzantine-era basilica; and the lavish Ottoman Topkapi Palace.
The attacker, identified by Turkish authorities as a 28-year-old of Syrian origin, mingled with a group of German tourists as they gathered near the Obelisk of Theodosius, an ancient Egyptian monolith brought to Istanbul — then known as Constantinople — in the 4th century.
Turkish news outlets later identified the attacker as Nabil Fadli, adding that he had been born in Saudi Arabia.
Eight of those killed were Germans, according to authorities. In addition, officials said that at least 15 people were injured in the explosion, including nine Germans and other foreigners — among them a Peruvian and a Norwegian.
“Today Istanbul was hit. Paris has been hit. Tunisia has been hit. Ankara has been hit before,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin. “International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today.”
The White House also condemned the “heinous attack,” which it said “struck Turks and foreign tourists alike.” In a statement Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said that the United States stands with NATO ally Turkey, a “valued member” of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, and pledges “our ongoing cooperation and support in the fight against terrorism” in the face of the Istanbul attack.
[NATO-member Turkey on front lines of Western-Russian divide over Syria]
Directly and indirectly, tourism makes up about 12 percent of Turkey’s gross domestic product, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, an international travel-industry organization, with the country welcoming about 40 million tourists a year.
The vast plazas and surrounding streets of Sultanahmet, normally busy with merchants, vendors and visitors, were quiet late Tuesday, with many restaurants empty. The area immediately around the blast was cordoned off by police.
Yahya Ibrahim, an imam from Perth, Australia, was visiting with his wife and three children when the blast hit.
“We were just about to head into the mosque but then decided to have breakfast first,” he said. A “huge boom” reverberated through the streets, he said, which his 9-year-old daughter thought was thunder.
Ibrahim said that the attack wouldn’t deter them from visiting again. “On a theological basis, it’s a perversion of Islam,” he said of the Islamic State’s ideology. “On a practical level, it’s murder.”
[Pentagon pushes allies to help choke off Islamic State networks]
The Islamic State probably has the capability to launch an extended terror campaign against Turkey, said Firas Abi Ali, a senior analyst at IHS, a global risk analysis firm.
“Its territorial losses in Iraq and Syria may well have led the group to assess its needs to expand its influence and capability in Turkey,” he said. “If today’s attack was perpetrated by the Islamic State, it would reflect a shift in the group’s strategy and herald a broader campaign against Turkey.”
However, such a move “will likely provoke a significant backlash by the Turkish government,” he said.
Turkish forces have not directly intervened in the Syrian conflict, but Ankara has been under pressure from Western governments to crack down on the cross-border flow of people and supplies to Islamic State strongholds in Syria. Last summer, Turkey opened its Incirlik air base to U.S. warplanes carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria.
Turkey is also a key backer of rebel groups opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and it has recently stepped up its decades-old fight against Kurdish separatists.
In the past, Turkish groups have staged their own attacks in the country. A year ago, a Chechen woman believed to be linked to militant factions blew herself up outside a police post in Sultanahmet, killing one police officer.
There were also two major suicide attacks on peace activists in the country’s southeast last year, killing more than 100 people. The government blamed the Islamic State for those explosions, but the militant group never asserted responsibility.
Cunningham reported from Baghdad. Brian Murphy and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley opened the door to holding a hearing on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland if a majority of senators wish to do so after the Nov. 8 election, in comments posted online Tuesday. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, vowed months ago that the Senate Judiciary Committee he chairs would not act this year to consider Garland’s nomination, saying the Republican-majority Senate should not act on a Court nominee until after the new president takes office early next year. But in a town hall meeting Monday in Cherokee, Iowa, Grassley indicated he could be persuaded by a large number of senators to take action in a “lame duck” session between the Nov. 8 election and the inauguration of the new president in January. “If we have the election, and there was a majority of the Senate changed their mind about doing it in the lame duck, as opposed to January 20, I don’t feel that I could stand in the way of that. But I don’t think I can promote that idea,” he said in a video of his remarks posted online by the American Bridge 21st Century website, which says it is committed to “holding Republicans accountable.” Grassley made a similar point at the Sioux City Iowa Rotary Club, Iowa’s Globe Gazette reported. Garland, a federal appeals court judge, was nominated by Obama, a Democrat, on March 16 to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans insist that the next president should fill the vacancy, hoping a Republican will win the White House and choose a conservative rather than the centrist Garland. But such an outcome is not assured, with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton currently leading Republican candidate Donald Trump in public opinion polls. A spokeswoman for Grassley, Beth Levine, denied he was shifting his position. She said that in Sioux City Grassley reiterated his stance “that a Supreme Court nominee wouldn’t be considered until after the next president is sworn in so the American people have an opportunity to weigh in on this important issue.” Senate Republican leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Obama. “The Leader has been clear: the next president will make this nomination,” Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said in an email Tuesday. | 1 |
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 |
Watch this video compilation where Trump makes his stance on man-made global climate change very clear: As President Donald Trump contemplates whether to make good on his campaign promise to yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord, an unlikely lobbying force is hoping to talk him out of it: oil and coal producers.A pro-Paris bloc within the administration has recruited energy companies to lend their support to the global pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to two people familiar with the effort who asked not to be identified.Cheniere Energy Inc., which exports liquefied natural gas, became the latest company to weigh in for the pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a letter Monday to White House energy adviser G. David Banks. Domestic energy companies are better positioned to compete globally if the United States remains a party to the Paris agreement, Cheniere wrote. The accord is a useful instrument for fostering demand for America s energy resources and supporting the continued growth of American industry. Exxon Mobil Corp., previously led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc also have endorsed the pact.The industry campaign to stick with the Paris accord comes amid deep divisions in the Trump administration over the carbon-cutting agreement. Both the president s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, a White House special adviser, have urged the president to stay in the deal, along with Tillerson.Climate scientists who are against the climate treaty have written an open letter to President Trump:Breitbart News reports that in an open letter to Donald Trump, climate expert Dr. Duane Thresher has urged the President not to give in to his daughter Ivanka s misguided views on global warming and her insistence that the U.S. remain in the Paris climate agreement ratified by Barack Obama last August. Climate treaties like the Paris Agreement have little to do with climate, Thresher notes in his letter, which he made available to Breitbart News. They are about economic competition. As the greatest economy in the history of the world, other countries will do anything to cripple the United States. Countries like China will agree to anything in these treaties and simply ignore their obligations while demanding the United States fulfill theirs, Thresher said, calling belief in global warming a popular delusion. In his letter, Dr. Thresher also reminded President Trump of his campaign promises that led many Americans to vote for him. We who voted for you consider stopping this climate change madness one of your key promises, Thresher said. If you renege on it you will lose me and many others as supporters. After Trump s election, in fact, a number of climate change skeptics were emboldened to take more public stands against the politically imposed scientific consensus of global warming, welcoming a new era of free debate about a hotly contested issue.Scientists unconvinced by the party line on climate change applauded Trump s appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head up the Environmental Protection Agency as an important step away from climate alarmism.Even if Trump caves and stays in the Paris climate agreement, Thresher says, it won t win him any friends. Your opponents are not going to support you; they ll just taunt you as being a flip-flopper, he said. | 1 |
It would have been more appropriate for the plaque to mention that the Obama-Holder-Sharpton race war started here on Canfield Dr in Ferguson, MO. on Aug. 9, 2014 Mike Brown Sr. carried the plaque to Canfield Drive in the rain today.The makeshift Mike Brown memorial on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri caught fire and burned to the ground in September.The memorial was then ran over in December.The plaque to Mike Brown reads:In Memory of Michael O.D. Brown May 20, 1996 August 9, 2014I would like the memory of Michael Brown to be a happy one. He left an afterglow of smiles when life was done. He leaves an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy and loving times times and bright and sunny days. He d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun of happy memories that he left behind when life was done.The last video of gentle Michael Brown was taken when he robbed a convenience store and roughed up the owner before his death.https://youtu.be/9Uf5mfE057EGentle Mike Brown was shot dead when he attacked a police officer after the robbery.There was at least one arrest today at the memorial ceremony.pic.twitter.com/mYWCgLGYGw Search4Swag (@search4swag) May 20, 2015Via: Gateway Pundit | 1 |
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, won the state by nearly 50 points. Republicans hold the state's governor's office, both of its US Senate seats and all four of its US House seats. The party holds 84% of the state's House of Representatives and 79% of the state Senate.
Yet Donald Trump has a very real Utah problem. And it's largely because of one relatively unknown candidate: independent Evan McMullin.
In a year where third-party candidates like Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein have made waves, it's McMullin -- a candidate who fell far short of even qualifying for the ballot in all 50 states -- who stands the best chance of having a quantifiable impact on the race.
That's because McMullin, according to a raft of recent polling in the Utah, is surging in the state.
"People like to say that Utah is a Republican state or a deep red state. I say it's a principled conservative state," McMullin said in an interview Friday in his Salt Lake City campaign headquarters.
McMullin's campaign is far from a powerhouse operation -- it's leanly staffed and leanly financed (it had less than $5,000 in the bank at the start of October, according to federal filings.)
"Our campaign is a three-month presidential campaign, which, let me be clear to everyone, is not ideal," McMullin, who launched his campaign in August, says with a knowing laugh.
Yet driven largely by its digital operation and about $300,000 in small dollar donations, the Provo, Utah-born McMullin and his running mate, Mindy Finn, have been bobbing back and forth ahead, or within a couple of points, of Trump in the state.
To put a potential McMullin-Finn victory in perspective, it has been 48 years since a third-party candidate secured any electoral votes. It's been 52 years since Utah supported any nominee but the Republican Party's.
For Trump, Utah's emergence as a potential GOP hole couldn't come at a worse time. Facing an exceedingly narrow path to victory as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her team continue to flip potential swing states into their column, the loss of the west state's six electoral votes is equal parts unthinkable and devastating.
For their part, Trump's advisers don't appear publicly concerned about the state. There's been no rash deployment of resources, either in terms of field staff or television advertising, to try and cut down McMullin's rise. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump's running mate, stopped in the state in September, but otherwise big-name surrogates have been absent.
McMullin's team says it hasn't identified any broad effort to undercut his support or credentials, short of the standard line that supporting anyone but Trump equals tacit support for a Clinton presidency. In other words, the Trump campaign is either confident that Utahns will revert to form, or supremely unaware of what both McMullin and Clinton campaign advisers say is happening on the ground in the state.
McMullin's team points to the release of Trump's lewd "Access Hollywood" tape as the moment where gradual momentum turned into tangible numbers. The campaign saw digital engagement grow by 2,000% in the wake of the video.
"What they tell us," says Finn, a veteran GOP campaign hand and outspoken Trump critic from the start of his campaign, "is you've been offering a glimmer of light in what has been a sea of darkness in this 2016 election."
That message of "principled alternative" to Trump appeared to take on new meaning in a state where Trump already wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms.
In fact, the root of Trump's problem in the state has been clear for much of the year: Mormon voters seem to want no part of his candidacy. In a state where Mormons make up more than 60% of the population, that's a big problem -- one exacerbated by top state officials, many sharing the faith, either outright rejecting Trump's candidacy or pulling their endorsements.
That list includes the state's governor, Gary Herbert, who called Trump's hot mic video "despicable"; former Gov. Jon Huntsman, who called on Trump to step aside; junior Sen. Mike Lee, long critical of Trump and even more so in the wake of the video; as well as one of the state's highest-profile congressmen, Jason Chaffetz, who pulled his endorsement of the GOP nominee.
On top of all of that, in an unprecedented action, the editorial board of the Salt Lake City newspaper The Deseret News, which is owned by the Church of Latter-Day Saints, called on Trump "to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency."
"What oozes from this audio is evil," the editors wrote.
For his part, McMullin downplays the role his faith plays in his rise.
"It's sort of like saying President Obama became president because he had the support of African-Americans," McMullin says. "Every candidate has people who are like them in some way who may find it easier to understand who the candidate is and therefore maybe there's a heightened chance that they'll be supportive of that candidate. But the reality is that it's much more than that."
There's no question the tone of the race -- and the major party candidates -- appear to be driving people McMullin's way more so than his faith. A former CIA officer, Goldman Sachs banker and US House staffer, McMullin touts a strong resume and firmly conservative message as his major selling points.
And while a handful of Utah state political officials have endorsed McMullin, the state's biggest, boldest names have not. But just as Obama wouldn't have won the White House without the overwhelming support of black voters, McMullin is the clear beneficiary of Mormon voters who can't come to grips with Trump has a candidate.
Bemused is probably the best way to describe the Clinton campaign's view of the current state of play in Utah. They put more effort in here than traditional Democratic campaigns -- a campaign office was opened, a field staffer was deployed and Clinton officials have repeatedly made themselves available to local media. But they also acknowledge that there is a ceiling of sorts for a Democratic candidate statewide -- particularly one who holds the sky-high unfavorable ratings of Clinton. But their fight to gain ground in the state has helped create the unlikely dynamic that now exists.
Driving through the neighborhoods in and around Salt Lake City with just over two weeks left until Election Day, pockets of political signs protrude in block after block, yard after yard. Blue and orange and green, big bold letters touting candidates for a variety of political offices.
That is exactly the kind of opening McMullin and his team have seized on -- and one that puts them in position to make a bit of history, even if that means contributing to the loss of the GOP nominee.
"We're saying even in that case, stand on principle, stand for what you know is right, stand for what kind of leadership you actually want to see in this country and lets build from there," McMullin says. | 0 |
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has been getting slammed ever since the moment he announced his endorsement of Donald Trump and that s not going to stop anytime soon.On Friday morning, Morning Joe s Mika Brzezinski didn t hesitate to rip Ryan a new one for being pathetic and weak enough to cave in and support the disgraced presumptive Republican nominee. A visibly frustrated Brzezinski said, Yet another Republican goes down, for no reason, with no actual information about what convinced him. Guest panelist Mark Halperin tried to defend Ryan against Brzezinski s wrath by saying that Ryan basically had no choice, but Brzezinski wasn t having any of it. She went right into a scathing rant about what a bad move it was. She said: To your line about Ryan had no choice, which is pathetic, because this election is unlike any other, the rule book has been thrown out. So that no choice thing? Put it back into the 80 s and 90 s and early 2000 s, because there are new rules.This is just so sad. Paul Ryan the guy who I think is the Republican s great hope is an honest, good, principled man of character. What is he if he had a good reason, I m all for it.Brzezinski criticized Ryan for not being able to live by his principles and had a very special message for the House Speaker: Paul? He s not going to do anything for you because you did this. He s not going to pay you back. It s pathetic, he sold out. I m sorry, he did have a choice and he made one that was weak. You can watch Brzezinski tear Ryan a new one below:This is a definite change from Morning Joe s history of supporting Trump. Earlier this year, the hosts were humiliated and exposed when leaked audio was circulated of Brzezinki and co-host Joe Scarborough expressing their support and fawning all over Trump during commercial breaks when he was on their show. Perhaps that s changed now, unless this is just another facade but judging from Trump s reaction, it might have been real. When Trump caught wind of Brzezinki s comments, he attacked the show:Featured image via Paul Morigi and Alex Wong / Getty Images | 0 |
In case you missed this Rudy Giuliani delivered a fantastic speech at the RNC in Cleveland! It s good old fashioned barnburner of a speech: | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence on Wednesday said he endorsed U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is seeking re-election in a primary contest next week. Pence made the comments in an interview on Fox News, one day after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump declined to endorse Ryan in the Wisconsin race. | 1 |
(Reuters) - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said on Wednesday he would allow a Republican budget bill for fiscal 2016 to become law without his signature, ending nine months of stalemate that starved schools and social service agencies of funding. Due to the political gridlock, the state until now only had a partial spending plan in place for this fiscal year, which began on July 1. Wolf, who took office in January 2015, previously said he would veto the latest $30 billion budget bill. But on Wednesday he said he would let it become law to allow funding to flow to schools, some of which have said they could have to close within weeks without state aid. The move leaves the worst-rated U.S. state, Illinois, as the only one without an enacted budget for the current fiscal year. Earlier in March, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services warned that it could downgrade Pennsylvania’s ‘AA-‘ credit rating by the end of the month without an enacted budget that addresses the structural deficit. “We still face enormous problems that this budget does not even pretend to address,” he said in a statement, noting that the spending plan is still out of balance. “Let’s be clear: the math in this budget does not work. Next fiscal year - that already has a $2 billion deficit - will now begin with an extra $300 million deficit,” he said. The announcement and additional $200 million of education funding in the budget “come at a critical time as more schools are nearing the end of their financial rope,” the Pennsylvania School Boards Association said in a statement. The group supported Wolf’s efforts to increase education funding. His campaign promise to restore education funding by imposing a new tax on natural gas extraction met resistance in the Republican-led legislature. The association said the state should also reimburse school districts for interest payments on loans they had to take to stay open. Through December, when lawmakers finalized a partial spending plan, schools had borrowed about $1 billion with interest costs of up to $50 million. | 1 |
TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday the United States and Japan can both strengthen their economies as he began economic talks between the two countries. “When President Trump agreed to this dialogue, he envisioned this as a mechanism for enhancing bilateral commercial relations between the Untied States and Japan, and achieving results in the near future,” Pence told Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso at the start of the talks. The White House hopes the talks in Tokyo will open doors in Japan for U.S.-made products and attract Japanese investment for infrastructure projects in the United States. Aso said the U.S.-Japan alliance involved both military and economic aspects. Aso said “friction” between the two countries was a thing of the past and they were entering a new era of cooperation. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Omarosa Manigault, best-known for repeatedly being fired on the TV show “The Apprentice,” is being considered for a job in Donald Trump’s White House, a member of the president-elect’s transition team said on Tuesday. A lecturer on branding and marketing at Howard University and a former Mrs. America pageant contestant, Manigault, 42, was one of Trump’s more visible African-American supporters during his successful election bid. The Youngstown, Ohio, native also worked at the White House during the Clinton administration, in Vice President Al Gore’s office. Trump won national attention by hosting the first 14 seasons of the NBC TV game show “The Apprentice,” in which contestants vied to demonstrate their business skills and win a job running one of his companies. Typically, Trump would eliminate one hopeful each week with his trademark phrase, “You’re fired.” | 1 |
President Obama pretty much trolled Donald Trump earlier by saying that he could have defeated the alleged billionaire and former reality show star. Obama spoke of his hope and change campaign and confirmed what we all know already. His insight was that we just have to say no to that then that will puncture the balloon, that all this talk about hope and change and no red state and blue state is is proven to be a mirage, a fantasy, the President said. And if we can if we can puncture that vision, then we have a chance to win back seats in the House and win back seats in the Senate. If I had run again and articulated it, I think I could ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it, he continued. In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow, [my vision] really was a fantasy, he continued. What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism. Well, that nugget of information was too much for the thin-skinned president-elect to handle so after not tweeting for 24 hours, he unleashed a nonsensical tweet in response to Obama s interview. President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc, Trump tweeted with his tiny hands.President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016We do not speak Turnip here at AddictingInfo, so if someone can translate that tweet it would really help. Thank you!The Internet called out the president-elect for being a big baby.@realDonaldTrump Are you really fighting people you didn t even run against now?! Dude, fucking grow up. Jon Bershad (@JonBershad) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump You didn t win the popular vote so you re technically a loser. Tommy Campbell (@MrTommyCampbell) December 26, 2016@pourmecoffee @realDonaldTrump He is a 70 year old child throwing a tantrum. It will be a daily embarrassment at best. pic.twitter.com/L9Z0lJR5N3 This Is Not Normal (@NetworkJunkyz) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump Obama would have beat you to a pulp. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump Not only would he win but he would make you so mad that your tiny hands would be slamming the table with tears in your eyes. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) December 26, 2016.@realDonaldTrump And let s be nice about the man who got Osama and created 15 million jobs, Donald. You don t want to sound like a yahoo. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump have some respect he s still your President you arrogant cheeto Whitney Meyer (@itswhitneymeyer) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump I mean technically Hillary won more than 2.6 million more votes than you. Jack Slater (@Jack_Slater) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump life comes at you fast, man pic.twitter.com/4Rig5cvuAj Jay Willis (@farragutwest) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump Well you would say that wouldn t you. You daft shaved ape. Neil Claxton (@MintRoyale) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump he s only one of the most popular candidates ever and you rank 46 out of 58. Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) December 26, 2016The fact is that Obama s approval rating is soaring and Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president-elect in modern history. He s just not popular. Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million in the popular vote.Photo by Joe Raedle via Getty. | 1 |
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is close to ensuring that Donald Trump cannot win the GOP nomination on a second ballot at the party’s July convention in Cleveland, scooping up scores of delegates who have pledged to vote for him instead of the front-runner if given the chance.
The push by Cruz means that it is more essential than ever for Trump to clinch the nomination by winning a majority of delegates to avoid a contested and drawn-out convention fight, which Trump seems almost certain to lose.
The GOP race now rests on two cliffhangers: Can Trump lock up the nomination before Cleveland? If not, can Cruz cobble together enough delegates to win a second convention vote if Trump fails in the first?
Trump’s path to amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win outright has only gotten narrower after losing to Cruz in Wisconsin and other recent contests, and it would require him to perform better in the remaining states than he has to this point.
In addition, based on the delegate selections made by states and territories, Cruz is poised to pick up at least 130 more votes on a second ballot, according to a Washington Post analysis. That tally surpasses 170 delegates under less conservative assumptions — a number that could make it impossible for Trump to emerge victorious.
That is why the race centers on the fevered hunt for delegates across the country. The intensity of the fight has sparked another round of caustic rhetoric — including allegations from party leaders that Trump supporters are making death threats.
“It’s unfortunate politics has reached a new low. These type of threats have no place in politics,” said Kyle Babcock, a Republican delegate from Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District. He received an email from a Trump supporter who warned, “Think before you take a step down the wrong path.”
[The art of the steal: Dealmaker Trump struggles with the GOP delegate race]
Cruz’s chances rest on exploiting a wrinkle in the GOP rule book: that delegates assigned to vote for Trump at the convention do not actually have to be Trump supporters. Cruz is particularly focused on getting loyalists elected to delegate positions even in states that the senator from Texas lost.
On Wednesday in Indiana, for example, Republican leaders were finalizing a delegate slate that will include party activists unlikely to vote for Trump in the state’s primary next month. Cruz also is poised to sweep Wyoming’s 26 delegates this weekend in a state where Trump’s campaign did not seriously compete. In Arkansas, Cruz supporters are exploring ways to topple Trump when delegates are chosen next month. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has refused to release 171 delegates he won when he was in the race, signaling that he may contribute to the anti-Trump push in Cleveland.
Cruz said this week that he thinks the odds of a contested convention are “very high.”
“In Cleveland, I believe we will have an enormous advantage,” he told radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.
Trump has a commanding lead in total delegates and the overall vote total, but he has complained that Republican leaders are conspiring against him in a bid to silence his supporters.
“The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen,” Trump said Tuesday night while campaigning in Rome, N.Y.
Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Trump, said in an interview that he is confident Cruz will never have a chance to convert Trump delegates.
“Just because [Cruz] has won some delegates in a state where we have the delegates voting for us is not relevant until and unless there’s a second ballot,” Manafort said. “There’s not going to be a second ballot.”
[Trump team vows to win delegate majority as rivals prepare for open convention]
As the battle for delegates has intensified, so too have emotions. Craig Dunn, who was elected Saturday as a Republican delegate from Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, said he has received several threatening phone calls and emails after criticizing Trump in recent news reports.
“When they reference burials and your family in the same email, and telling you that you’re being watched, that’s concerning,” he said.
In Colorado, Republicans are planning a rally Friday to call attention to threats made against GOP chairman Steve House. He said his office received 3,000 phone calls “with many being the trashiest you can imagine” after a state party convention last weekend awarded all 34 delegates to Cruz.
“Shame on the people who think somehow that it is right to threaten me and my family over not liking the outcome of an election,” he wrote on Facebook.
Cruz told Beck on Tuesday that threats made by Trump supporters, including those made by the businessman’s longtime confidant Roger Stone, are “the tactic of union thugs. That is violence. It is oppressive.”
Stone recently told an interviewer that Trump supporters would track down delegates at their hotel rooms in Cleveland if they break away from Trump.
Manafort said that “it’s certainly not part of our policy” to threaten violence but accused “abusive” Cruz supporters of confronting Trump’s backers at party meetings nationwide.
When the presidential nomination vote is held at the convention, 95 percent of the delegates will be bound to the results in their states for the first vote, giving Trump his best shot at securing a majority.
But if Trump falls short, the convention will cast a second ballot in which more than 1,800 delegates from 31 states — nearly 60 percent of the total — will be unbound and allowed to vote however they want. By the third round, 80 percent of the delegates would be free, sparking a potential free-for-all that could continue for several more rounds.
That is the crux of the state-by-state battle that is playing out over the next two months as Republicans gather at the precinct, county, congressional district and statewide levels to choose convention delegates.
“If we go into a contested convention, we’re going to have a ton of delegates, Donald is going to have a ton of delegates, and it’s going to be a battle in Cleveland to see who can earn a majority of the delegates that were elected by the people,” Cruz told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.
He predicted that the first ballot “will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives. And on a subsequent ballot, we’re going to win the nomination.”
[With an Orthodox focus, Ted Cruz reaches out to Jewish donors and voters]
If Cruz prevails, it will be because of what supporters are doing for him nationwide with what they say is little direct input from his campaign headquarters.
In Arkansas, Republicans will not meet until next month to finalize their delegate slate, but state lawmakers who probably will win a position are talking about voting for Cruz on the second ballot.
“For the vast majority of Cruz voters, Rubio was their second choice, and for the vast majority of Rubio supporters, Cruz was their second choice. So when you’re going to pick delegates, it just makes sense that we would work together,” said state Sen. Bart Hester, who backed Rubio.
In Iowa, Cruz won 11 of the 12 delegates assigned last weekend — meaning that he probably will have their support in later rounds of balloting. That same day in South Carolina, Cruz secured three of the six delegate slots assigned by two congressional districts that Trump had easily won.
“There’s nothing underhanded going on,” said Elliott Kelley, one of the Cruz supporters who won in South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. “Delegates are being appointed from the local level. The Trump team just doesn’t have people involved at the local level and they’re not getting delegates.”
Cruz supporters also won two of the three delegate slots from Virginia’s southernmost congressional district even though Trump won there handily. One of those Cruz supporters is Kyle Kilgore, 22, who said he would vote for Trump on the first ballot as required.
“I would have a hard time voting for Trump on the second ballot,” he said.
In Indiana, Dunn will be required to initially vote for whoever wins his congressional district in May. If Trump fails in the first round, Dunn said he probably will vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich on a second ballot.
“I’ll be looking for the candidate who I think has the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton in November,” Dunn said. “And if the person I want doesn’t get it, I won’t take my marbles and go home; I will support the nominee of the Republican Party.”
Alice Crites, Jose A. DelReal, Sean Sullivan and Katie Zezima contributed to this report. | 0 |
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 side Jay Dyer of Jay s Analysis, Daniel Spaulding from Soul of the East, Infidel Pharaoh and Randy J (21WIRE & ACR contributor), for the hundred and twenty second 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.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing the aftermath of the Charlottesville protests and subsequent vehicle incident that left a woman dead. We examine the media psyops which aim to hoodwink the public into believing that there is a large force of racist neo-Nazis that consist of anyone right-of-center in the political spectrum and to tie them to President Trump. Known strategies of agitation propaganda and violent cultural revolution are analyzed and parallels are made to other events such as the Arab Spring in Egypt and the land rights movement of the Bundy Ranch.Direct Download Episode #122Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 1 |
https://twitter.com/eric_braverman 7. On Doug Band of the Foundation: He was the CEO of Teneo, a global advisory firm which allowed him to mix Clinton donors, foreign companies with Clinton’s work as Secretary of State. Huma Abedin was a paid advisor to the company. The Senate Judiciary Committee is investigating the alliance between Abedin, Teneo, and the Clinton Foundation aides. There are many articles online saying Braverman had fled to the Russian Embassy in New York asking for asylum, but I do not feel comfortable with stating that as a FACT now.
Now, new WikiLeaks emails reveal additional details behind the the man, Eric Braverman, who was brought in as CEO by Chelsea to change the controversial practices of the Foundation but abruptly resigned a short time later after being pushed out by long-time Clinton loyalists who had apparently grown very comfortable with the status quo. Below is the new email exchange which begins when Neera Tanden warns John Podesta to “keep tabs on Doug Band” who she assumed was the insider who told NBC to “follow the money and find the real HRC scandal.” Interestingly, John Podesta writes back quickly to identify the real source as former Clinton Foundation CEO Eric Braverman which seems to be shocking to Tanden who replies simply, “Holy Moses.”
Posted October 25th, 2016 by Iron Mike CAUTION: Since we can’t trust the media, we report this story from non-mainstream sources …. Eric Braverman – a Yale lawyer – was brought into the Clinton Foundation “to clean it up” . His salary in 2015 was $395K plus bonuses. Of course the Clintons didn’t really want it cleaned up, – just to LOOK cleaned up …. Braverman was dumped after 2 years.
http://rabidrepublicanblog.com/is-eric-braverman-terrified-for-his-life/
Eric Braverman was chief executive officer of the Clinton Foundation from 2013 to 2015. At the Foundation, Braverman led an effort to help ensure long-term sustainability – securing an endowment, transforming the organization’s use of data, establishing governance practices to reflect changing laws and public expectations, consolidating entities, and creating professional development for staff. Previously, Braverman served as a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he advised leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors on strategy, organization, and operations. Named by Fortune magazine in 2010 as one of the “40 Most Influential Leaders in Business” worldwide under 40 years old, Braverman co-founded McKinsey’s public sector practice and directed its work on government innovation globally. He also served as an advisor on performance management and technology for President Obama’s transition team in 2008. | 0 |
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North Korea’s Foreign Ministry slammed the “shamelessness of Israel” on Friday, calling the Jewish State a “rogue group” that “poses a nuclear threat” and commits “terrorist attack[s]” against neighboring countries. On Friday the Korean Central News Agency released a statement attributed to North Korea’s Foreign Ministry that responded to comments Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made last week that were critical of the Hermit Kingdom. “This is an unpardonable insult and provocation to the dignity and social system in the DPRK and the choice made by its people,” the statement said of Netanyahu’s comments, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The statement then took issue with Israel’s foreign policy in the Middle East, stating: “Israel not only represents dictatorial forces for aggression that trample down the legitimate right of the Palestinian people and indiscriminately kill them but also is a rogue group that poses a nuclear threat and makes terrorist attack[s] on its neighboring countries with lots of nuclear weapons.” The statement was responding to comments Netanyahu made during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week, in which the Israeli leader repeatedly drew parallels between Iran and North Korea. “And, Prime Minister [Abe], we have something else in common,” Netanyahu began. “We are two peace loving democracies that face formidable threats from nearby rogue states.” “Both Iran and North Korea are governed by ruthless and extreme dictatorships, states that seek to bully and intimidate their neighbors, and in our case, to actually eradicate us from the face of the earth.” Noting that “Iran and North Korea have aggressive military nuclear programs,” Netanyahu repeated his plea to not allow Iran to use diplomacy to advance its nuclear program as he alleges North Korea did with the 1994 Agreed Framework. “Iran cannot be allowed to travel the road taken by North Korea.” It’s not the first time that North Korea has slammed Israel or even Netanyahu publicly. After Netanyahu criticized Pyongyang during a trip to Japan last year, the North Korean Foreign Ministry released a similar statement, which called Israel a "cancer to peace in the Middle East.” It also accused Netanyahu of trying to use North Korea “to divert international criticism of Israel caused by its settlement activity and breakdown in the Middle East peace talks." Similarly, in last week’s statement, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, “Everybody knows about the shamelessness of Israel telling lies and making fabrications and pointing accusing fingers to others to justify its criminal acts and evade the censure and condemnation by the international community.” Besides trading public insults, Israel has long been concerned about North Korea’s support for Arab states that are hostile to Israel, as well as Iran. In fact, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War North Korea actually deployed a squadron of MiG-21s to Egypt, which engaged in a firefight with Israeli F-4s. Neither side sustained any damage. More recently, North Korea has been accused of proliferating ballistic missiles and nuclear technology to Syria and Iran. In 2007, Israel destroyed Syria's Al Kibar Nuclear Reactor that was reportedly built by North Korean engineers. | 1 |
21st Century Wire says News broke Sunday night that Meredith Corp., publisher of Better Homes & Gardens and other popular magazine brands, agreed to purchase all of Time Inc. s assets in a cash deal valued at $2.8 billion.Grabbing all the headlines is the $650 million investment from Koch Equity Development (KED). This is the private equity firm of Charles and David Koch, aka the Koch Brothers. According to the company s official press release, KED will not have a seat on Meredith s board and will have no influence on Meredith s editorial or managerial operations. Zero Hedge reports the deal gives the conservative billionaires a stake in one of America s best-known publishers. And that is what is giving the Left mainstream media nightmares and creating widespread panic and hysteria on social media:Great. The Koch brothers are about to be co-owners of TIME, Inc. How long til TIME, People and Sports Illustrated are pushing stories about how much better life would be if we canceled Social Security and Medicare? Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 27, 2017It remains to be seen how the editorial of these publications will be affected by Koch money. When the news broke in 2013 that Amazon.com founder and Bilderberg member Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, we started asking some questions at the time. We re starting to see how it will play out.What we do know thus far about the Meredith/Time news all the crazed paranoia around this deal exposes, yet again, how the mainstream, corporate power media likes to think their version of mass media is so influential. At the same time, discounting the ability of everyday citizens to think for themselves, and not be spoon fed whatever gets pushed out through the echo chambers of many of these failing and lost print magazine empires.Let s not forget it was Time Magazine that started selling ad space on their covers shortly after they were spun off from Time Warner back in 2014.We thought this story by Bloomberg Rothschild s Koch Connection Pays Off in Pursuit of Time Inc. was an interesting angle.Watch this space READ MORE MEDIA CRITIQUE AT: 21st Century Wire Media Cog FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
Remember the famous moment when US NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE CHIEF James Clapper was testifying about the NSA surveillance of Americans when he let slip a sign he was not being truthful. Of course, we knew this was all a smoke and mirrors show. Clapper later said he misspoke last we checked it s pretty much the same thing as lying NOT WITTINGLY JAMES CLAPPERHere s the video below where he parses words in his testimony: Clapper took over in 2010 heading up 17 different intelligence agencies. His tenure was marked by the Edward Snowden leaks on US intelligence. He s always said he d resign at the end of Obama s presidency but we re wondering if he s jumping before Trump appointees arrive. Clapper and Gen. Mike Flynn have a history that s not so perfect:Two years ago, I was called into a meeting with the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and the director of national intelligence, and after some niceties, I was told by the USDI that I was being let go from DIA. It was definitely an uncomfortable moment (I suspect more for them than me).I asked the DNI (Gen. James Clapper) if my leadership of the agency was in question and he said it was not; had it been, he said, they would have relieved me on the spot.I knew then it had more to do with the stand I took on radical Islamism and the expansion of al Qaeda and its associated movements. I felt the intel system was way too politicized, especially in the Defense Department. After being fired, I left the meeting thinking, Here we are in the middle of a war, I had a significant amount of combat experience (nearly five years) against this determined enemy on the battlefield and served at senior levels, and here it was, the bureaucracy was letting me go. Amazing.This ll be interesting to watch. | 0 |
Killing Obama administration rules, dismantling Obamacare and pushing through tax reform are on the early to-do list. | 0 |
The U. S. Navy will deploy a new laser weapon system on its ships within the next two years, according to a naval official. [“We’re doing a lot more with lasers,” Rear Adm. Ronald Boxall, director of the Surface Warfare Division, said earlier this month at the annual Surface Naval Association national symposium, according to Scout Warrior. Boxall said the Navy plans to test a weapon from a ship within a year, and to deploy that weapon on a carrier or destroyer a year later. The weapon will destroy incoming missiles, drones, aircraft, and other threats from the enemy. The Navy unveiled a laser weapon on the U. S. S. Ponce during patrols of the Persian Gulf in 2014, the Daily Mail reported. The ( ) Laser Weapons System (LaWS) aboard the USS Ponce was available to the ship’s commander as a defensive weapon to shoot down incoming missiles, drones, boats and other potential threats. The laser weapons are very precise, designed to destroy threats at a cost of 59 cents per shot, and do not require expensive ammunition. The new laser weapons system will require a massive amount of power to operate. “The Navy will be looking at ships’ servers to provide three times that much power,” Donald Klick, director of business development for DRS Power and Control Technologies, told Scout Warrior. “To be putting out 150 kws, they [the weapons] will be consuming 450 kws. ” The power requirement for the new weapons system is more than most ships are able to accommodate. That means most ships require an “energy magazine” that would store energy for the laser to use as needed, according to a Naval Postgraduate School paper titled “Power Systems and Energy Storage Modeling for Directed Energy Weapons” by Jeremy Sylvester. Klick says the laser weapons system has to go through rigorous Navy certification testing before it deploys on Navy ships, but he eventually sees the system being deployed on military aircraft in the future. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team can now begin work with officials at certain government agencies as they prepare for the new administration to take over in January, the White House said on Thursday. “The President-elect’s team has now completed the necessary steps for an initial group of authorized individuals to begin receiving briefings and other materials from our transition teams at select agencies across the government,” said White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine in a statement. “We expect to receive additional names for a wider range of agencies from the President-elect’s team as the transition work continues, and we will facilitate those requests on a rolling basis,” Hoffine said. | 1 |
Vladimir Putin: The United States continues to sleep with al-Nusra ‹ › Richard Edmondson is an author, novelist, poet, and journalist whose writings often focus on Middle East issues, the Zionist lobby, and religion. His latest novel is The Memoirs of Saint John: When the Sandstone Crumbles , a story about an archaeological team doing a dig in Syria and set amidst the current conflict in the country. In 2014 Richard attended an International Conference on Combating Terrorism and Religious Extremism, held in Damascus. The book is part two in the Memoirs of Saint John series. Two other books by Richard are Rising Up: Class Warfare in America from the Streets to the Airwaves , relating his experiences founding and operating an unlicensed or "pirate" FM radio station in San Francisco in the 1990s, as well as a volume of poetry entitled American Bus Stop: Essay and Poems on Hope and Homelessness . Richard is cognizant of the words of the early Christian writer Tertullian, who in the second century-basically prognosticating the fall of the Roman Empire-wrote: "We have made merry amid the ludicrous cruelties of the noonday exhibition." Veterans Forced to Repay Signing Bonuses…While Billions in Aid Continues Flowing to Israel By Richard Edmondson on October 27, 2016 Petition Launched to Stop Veterans from Having to Repay Bonuses
Let’s say you recruit somebody to do a job for you. Because it’s a particularly dirty job, you’re having trouble finding people to fill the position… so… to sweeten the pot, you offer a $20,000 “signing bonus.” That’s in addition, of course, to the monthly salary you plan to pay them. The added incentive helps. People start signing their names on the dotted line to go to work for you.
Then nine or ten years pass by. Suddenly one day you think to yourself, “Hell, what did I offer all those bonuses for? That was dumb. I think I’ll demand my money back!” Of course some of the people you paid the money to are no longer alive, and others sustained catastrophic injuries while working for you, but hey! All’s fair in love…and especially in war!!!
Well, that’s the predicament that a number of US veterans now find themselves in. Back in the days when the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were ramping up big time, military recruiters took to offering sizeable bonuses to get people to join or reenlist. Recently it was reported that the government has begun demanding this money back. Supposedly the bonuses never should have been paid out in the first place, and the decision to do so was a result of oversight, fraud, and mismanagement.
So…long story short, veterans have begun paying back their bonuses, in some cases at the rate of hundreds of dollars per month, while others, those in financial binds who could not afford to meet the additional expenses, are said to be facing wage garnishment. There are reports that veterans are even being charged interest on their outstanding debt.
As you may expect, the story of this shabby treatment of American vets has prompted public outrage, and the latest news, posted Wednesday at NPR , is that the Pentagon is now “suspending” the debt collection program.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is calling for “the fair and equitable treatment of our service members and the rapid resolution of these cases,” although the article seems deliberately vague and ambiguous as to whether the bonuses will have to be repaid or whether the debts will be cancelled. The only thing stated clearly is that Carter intends to establish “a streamlined, centralized process that ensures the fair and equitable treatment of our service members and the rapid resolution of these cases.” The “resolution” (whatever that means) of “these cases” is to be completed by no later than July 1, 2017, the Defense Secretary has announced.
“Ultimately, we will provide for a process that puts as little burden as possible on any soldier who received an improper payment through no fault of his or her own,” Carter said. “At the same time, it will respect our important obligation to the taxpayer.”
Right now the focal point of the scandal is California, because that’s where most of the illegal bonuses were paid, although it seems veterans in other states may be facing similar demands. Carter’s statement on the matter addresses only the problem in California.
A petition has been launched demanding Congress take action to rescind the obligation for veterans to repay the bonuses:
In 2006, at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the California National Guard offered bonuses for troops enlisting and re-enlisting. It was part of an aggressive recruitment effort to retain troops during the height of both of those wars.
Now, ten years later, the Pentagon is demanding many of those who received bonuses – almost ten thousand service members – pay them back because they were offered in violation of Federal law.
Right now, veterans are receiving letters from debt collectors, they’re being threatened with tax liens, tax return withholdings and other penalties if they do not repay those bonuses.
These troops, many of them whom went on to serve overseas, were offered these bonuses in good faith and should not be penalized for what amounts to a bureaucratic failure in oversight.
Congress, or the Pentagon need to make this right, and they need to do it immediately.
Sign our petition calling for immediate Congressional action, or action from the Defense Department, to use its authority to waive repayment of enlistment or re-enlisted bonuses they accepted in good faith ten years ago.
The stories are heartbreaking:
“It’s gut-wrenching because you have to figure out what you’re going to do and how you’re going to survive. We were paying upward $1,300 a month back to that recoupment. We weren’t able to afford everything — food for the kids, a day care.” – Christopher Van Meter, Iraq War Veteran and Purple Heart recipient
Congress, or the Department of Defense, must take action immediately to make things right for Christopher, and thousands of veterans like him, who are being forced into an impossible situation because of mistakes they did not make.
We’re hopeful that there will be resolution on this issue, quickly, and we know that outcome is more likely if we all make our voices heard today.
Sign our petition calling for immediate Congressional action, or action from the Defense Department, to use its authority to waive repayment of enlistment or re-enlisted bonuses they accepted in good faith ten years ago.
I have worked in financial management at the base level and at the Pentagon. In my view, there is no more important task an agency has than to alleviate any issues related to the undue financial burden placed on these veterans and their families.
Thank you for making your voice heard.
You can click here to sign the petition.
The US has been giving money to Israel since 1951, and of course nobody is presently demanding that any of that be repaid. The year 1979 was an especially watershed year–with $3 billion in US tax dollars being paid out. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, a “second special package” was approved in 1985 due to a “severe economic crisis in Israel,” this consisting of two disbursements, totaling $1.5 billion, handed out in 1985 and ’86. (1)
Economic aid, however, has gradually been phased out over the past 2o years and replaced by increases in military aid. In 2007, the Bush administration approved a 10-year, $30 billion package for military expenses, and most recently the Obama administration approved a $38 billion package that will start in 2019 and cover Israel through 2029. The present rate of flow of US tax dollars to Israel is approximately $10.2 million per day. (2)
Aid to the Jewish state is of course vigorously pushed by the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. And the lobby, as many of us are aware, doesn’t just clamor for aid; it also promotes wars.
It’s interesting that many military veterans now being called upon to repay their signing bonuses are veterans of the Iraq war. In the following video, dating from 2002, you’ll see none other than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making a case for military action against Iraq, urging the US to wage “preemptive war”–he actually uses that term, not once but repeatedly–and in the process claiming, falsely, that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons and was on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. Basically, he plays Congress like a violin. As you watch his performance, a performance that seems almost choreographed, consider what we now know about 9/11, the overwhelming evidence of controlled demolition, and of how the fall of Saddam Hussein led to the rise of ISIS.
It’s interesting to note what was going on in 2002 when Netanyahu made that appearance before Congress. This was two years after the start of the second Intifada, and Saddam Hussein had begun paying out sums of money, in some cases $25,000 , to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. That’s a fact of history, though not a well-known one. And while Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the US, quite obviously Israel had plenty of reason for wanting him overthrown. And so Netanyahu made his pitch before Congress. And neocon pundits in the media began fanning the flames of war. Weapons of mass destruction! Mushroom clouds! Smoking guns! Yellowcake uranium from Niger! And off we went to war!!
A war essentially for Israel.
By 2005 we were caught in a quagmire with no end in sight, and the Pentagon, having trouble meeting enlistment quotas, began sweetening the pot with signing bonuses. Between 2000 and 2008, the money spent on enlistment bonuses rose from $891 million to $1.4 billion. The following is an article from CBS News published back in 2007. You might find it interesting.
Twenty-nine-year-old Joan Marte thinks now is the right time to join the army.
“I get to travel, basic training sounds like fun,” he says.
Yemin Ko, 24, who describes himself as a patriot, is also signing up.
“I wanted to do something important,” he says.
The Army needs them both to meet its enlistment goals for this year.
It surpassed its July recruitment targets by more than 200 new soldiers, CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports, by adding recruiters — and with an unprecedented incentive: $20,000 signing bonus given to soldiers willing to ship out to basic training within a month .
“The intent of the bonus is to get folks to ship quickly so they can attend basic training and we can meet the end strength the army is required to have,” says Lt. Col. Joseph Feliciano.
In New York, recruitment commanders say they’re already seeing better numbers this month since the signing bonuses were put on the table. And the army hopes to pump up those numbers by September 30th, the end of the fiscal year.
“Is this what we really want? To bribe people to get them to go and fight an unpopular war?” says Larry Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan Administration. Korb, who is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, says the new policy will be bad for the army.
“They’ve already lowered the standards. Last year, when they did meet their recruiting goals, they had lowered the educational and aptitude standards,” says Korb.
Under the new deal, recruits could be serving in a combat zone within four months.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take, and I’m proud of it,” says Ko.
Yemin Ko says he’ll be ready to serve, and at a time when every body counts, the Army is banking on the same thing. (3)
That was in 2007. Now here we are nine years later, and veterans are being told to repay the money they were paid. One such veteran is Susan Haley, who got sent to Afghanistan in 2008 and is now trying to repay the bonus she received. She presently sends the Pentagon $650 per month–a quarter of her family’s income.
“I feel totally betrayed,” Haley told the L.A. Times . “They’ll get their money, but I want those years back.”
Haley, 47, spent 26 years in the Army along with her husband and oldest son, a medic who lost his leg in Afghanistan.
There is a lot of outrage felt in America now toward our own government, and certainly a lot of it is justified. But maybe Americans, particularly those whose passions have been aroused over the treatment of veterans, should start considering the enormous influence exerted by the Israeli lobby in Washington, along with the possibility that the anger they’re now reserving for their own government is, at least in part, misdirected.
Notes:
1. Jewish Virtual Library, US-Israel Foreign Aid 2. If Americans Knew, US Aid 3. CBS News, Army-signing-bonuses-bring-in-recruits, Aug. 11, 2007 Related Posts: | 1 |
Americans have been spending well over $2 trillion on Christmas since at least 2000, with that number topping $3 trillion in recent years. But if you ask Donald Trump, Americans rather typical spending this year is all thanks to him.Seriously he took credit for Christmas.The world was gloomy before I won there was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10% and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016Yes, all those thoughtful gifts you bought your family weren t because you would do that any year they were all because less than half of the country kinda-sorta elected The Donald to lead the country for the next four years (if we last that long).Trump s delusions of grandeur are at this point something that invites nothing but mockery and Twitter, as usual, delivered spectacularly.The world is gloomy AF since you won. And as far as the markets Thanks Obama! https://t.co/tKziYS8b6r Sarah Wood (@SarahWoodwriter) December 26, 2016Seriously, though, he's like a sports fan taking credit for the team winning a game because he wore his lucky socks during the 4th quarter. Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 26, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Honey, I know I said to buck up, but attributing everyone's Christmas presents to your big win is going a little too far. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) December 26, 2016Exactly what @laurenduca was talking about with "gaslighting." @realDonaldTrump's actually taking credit for regular holiday consumer habits Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump to himself: "You're responsible for all the gifts people bought for their families! You did it!" pic.twitter.com/zEa1iHSZMY Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump why does it sound like you're always trying to convince yourself you're a cool person or some shit. Keep patting ur back ? COBAMASAMA (@Cobanermani456) December 26, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Do you think that people are buying more this year because it may be our last Christmas? Jon Donahue (@JonDonahue) December 26, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Are you seriously taking credit for Christmas? Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump Christmas spending has been over 2 trillion dollars since 2000. But go ahead, take the credit. pic.twitter.com/nJcEU6YiIH Neil Claxton (@MintRoyale) December 26, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Obama is still in office, junior. Let's see what happens within your first term Jonathan Sadowski (@sadowski23) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump Spending money is not the only gauge of whether people feel hopeful. I had a lot of hope before the election. Raymond Braun (@raymondbraun) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump Are you trying to take credit for Christmas happening? You are literally one of the saddest people alive. Jon Bershad (@JonBershad) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump lol chill bro, literally no one is buying more gifts because you re president-elect Zach Holman (@holman) December 26, 2016@realDonaldTrump you single handily saved Christmas! Whiteboy7thst (@Whiteboy7thst) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump You're praising yourself for things that you had nothing to do with. Worse, you don't even realise that. Anirvan Ghosh (@anirvanghosh) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump why don't you also take credit for curing polio, you played a big role in that too Shit Britain (@ShitBritain) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump Suicides are up too, taking credit for that? Happy Holidays (@thelukeleal) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/LltQFFPMyw andrea (@twennywonpilots) December 27, 2016@realDonaldTrump have you convinced yourself you saved Christmas? You're truly awful. bob clendenin (@bobclendenin) December 27, 2016It takes a special level of delusion to genuinely believe that you saved Christmas because you were elected President especially when spending is on par with previous years. But sorry little Johnny and little Susie, your presents aren t under the tree because your parents want to make you happy or even because of Santa. They re there because America threw away anything resembling a moral center and elected a racist, xenophobic hatemonger to office.As for stock prices, they ve been fairly steady since about 2010 but you won t hear Trump saying that, and you won t catch his idiot followers believing it.Featured image via Getty Images (Drew Angerer)/screengrab | 0 |
BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he expects all parties elected to parliament to be ready for talks to enable a government to be formed after talks on forging a new ruling coalition collapsed early on Monday. All political parties elected to the German parliament have an obligation to the common interest to serve our country, Steinmeier said in a statement he read out to media. I expect from all a readiness to talk to make agreeing a government possible in the near future, he added. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s administration will announce further measures to ease travel and trade restrictions on Cuba on March 17, ahead of his historic visit to the Communist-ruled island this month, U.S. congressional sources said on Tuesday. The new rules will mark the latest effort by Obama to use his executive powers to sidestep the U.S. Congress and chip away at the more than half-century-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba. The anticipated announcement appears timed as a gesture toward Cuba just days before Obama flies to Havana for a March 21-22 visit in another step aimed at ending decades of animosity between the former Cold War foes. It will be the first visit to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president since 1928. The measures are expected to include changes to make it easier for individual Americans to visit Cuba if they qualify under 12 authorized categories of travel such as educational or cultural visits, as well as further loosening of trade and banking rules, said the sources, who were briefed on the matter by administration officials. Though details were still being finalized, the package could also include revised regulations on how the U.S. dollar can be used in trade with Cuba, a person familiar with the discussions said. U.S. regulations restrict or prohibit the Cuban government from using the dollar for international transactions. “The White House wants to make a splash on the economic front before Obama gets to Havana, and this is one way to do it,” according to the source, who was consulted by Obama aides ahead of the visit. “It will come a couple of days before he leaves.” Obama plans to hold talks with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana but also intends to meet dissidents to show that Washington remains committed to promoting human rights on the island, a source of tension with the Cuban government. The White House has invited members of Congress to accompany the president, and congressional aides told Reuters about 20, mostly Obama’s fellow Democrats, were expected to go. Obama’s moves to normalize relations with Cuba have encountered stiff resistance from some lawmakers, mostly Republicans but also some Democrats, since the policy shift was first announced on Dec. 17, 2014. They feel the White House is not getting enough back from Castro’s government in exchange for the eased regulations. The administration believes that moves to loosen the embargo would help meet its goal of benefiting the Cuban people. But even some Democratic aides said they were taken aback by news there would be further moves by the White House without concessions from Havana. “Shouldn’t we get something from the Cubans in return?” one asked. The mainstay of the new regulatory package is expected to be further easing of limits on travel by Americans to Cuba at a time when U.S. airlines are rushing to apply for routes to the island following the recent signing of a bilateral agreement for regular scheduled flights. The rules changes are likely to allow more people to go on self-directed “people to people” and cultural trips without having to rely on group tours or be sponsored by an organization, two people familiar with the discussions said. But a ban on general tourism to Cuba will remain in force. It is part of the broader U.S. embargo and can only be lifted by Congress. Obama has called for an end to the embargo but Republicans say that will not happen during his presidency, which ends in January 2017. “We continue to look at additional regulatory changes that could be made as part of the administration’s efforts to further normalize relations with Cuba,” an Obama administration official said. But the official declined to provide specifics. | 1 |
Are women trending? I guess they are! Suddenly, they seem to be just everywhere, onscreen and offscreen, in flicks, in comedies and even in the presidential race. The latest evidence that women are hot (kind of) and not simply in a way, is “Bad Moms,” a funny, giddy, sentimental from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who wrote the 2009 hit comedy “The Hangover. ” That movie pretty much ignored the ladies but made enough money to spawn another smash and a second, less successful sequel that may have killed off the franchise. So if “Bad Moms” kind of feels like leftovers, there’s a reason. Much like “The Hangover” (Mr. Lucas and Mr. Moore can take writing credit and blame only for the first movie) “Bad Moms” is a comedy of outrage pegged to a gender stereotype, this time the smother mothers of America. You know the type, or maybe you’ve just read about her in lifestyle articles featuring enlightened parenting and snacks. She’s the one who — in between enjoying a fulfilling career and flipping through cookbooks for vegan cookie recipes (for a bake sale, natch) — ferries the kids from school to soccer and whatever other extracurricular activities can pad a college application. It’s a cliché that Amy (Mila Kunis) struggles to emulate. The frantic, pinwheeling center of “Bad Moms,” she enters in heels at full speed, a pace she keeps up as she sprints from one demand to another, often with her two children in tow. Mr. Lucas and Mr. Moore, who both wrote and directed, keep Amy on the run for a while, playing her harried purposefulness against some gently disruptive sight gags: a giant head of Richard M. Nixon that she makes for a school project, a dog wearing a helmet, an office run by giant children. (Clark Duke plays her boss, while Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith and Annie Mumolo offer backup as the mean girls — i. e. the momsters.) The mother might be a fantasy, but she’s good for a laugh. She’s also been good for sales. You could fill an entire Amazon fulfillment center with parenting books, with a few rows reserved for putatively bad or just moms. These range from reads like Allison Pearson’s “I Don’t Know How She Does It” to manuals with titles, like one coyly subtitled “The Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us. ” (If a lot of these humor books seem to focus on mothers, it’s probably because that’s the way the world still turns, although you also have to wonder if stories about terrible fathers cut too queasily close to the bone for mass readership.) The movie was inevitable, given both this industrial parenting complex and the boomlet of comedies about badly behaved women that have appeared in the wake of “Bridesmaids” (2011): “Tammy,” “Trainwreck,” “Sisters” and so on. Most of the women in these movies don’t resemble villainous vixens of old, like those film noir femmes fatales who caused tough guys to go weak in the knees and murmur, “Baby, I don’t care. ” Most of these funny ladies aren’t even particularly naughty. They just do things that women aren’t supposed to do or, more truly, don’t often do in mainstream American movies, like pound shots, fall flat on their faces and have sex without tears. The comedy in “Bad Moms” hinges on a rarer type: the good mother gone rogue, which here mostly involves kicking back, something Amy does after she boots out her cheating husband and stops coddling her kids. (They’re forced to eat cold cereal. From a box.) The naturally likable Ms. Kunis, who has a screwball heroine’s springiness and the eyes of Bambi under fire, helps humanize the story’s mechanical turns, as do her gal pals, the neurotic, overachieving Kiki (Kristen Bell) and the slacker Carla (Kathryn Hahn). If I could write sonnets, I would write one about Ms. Hahn, whose timing — she finds depths in that little pause before a joke crests — can turn laughs into howls. Carla aside, the movie’s yuks are tame stuff. What makes “Bad Moms” funny (aside from its lineup of gifted performers) isn’t that Amy and her friends go wild they don’t, not even close. It’s the women’s shared, pleasure in their freedom and friendship. In the most comically honed and sustained scene, Amy, Kiki and Carla run mild and a bit loony — and in slow motion — through a supermarket, where they rip open boxes, chug booze and (absurdly) terrorize a guard, their every offense turned into an epic of destruction by the decelerated visuals. There’s nothing genuinely transgressive about their behavior they’re just drunk, happy and together. “Bad Moms” is rated R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Booze and some bedroom rocking and rolling. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. | 0 |
A protester at the RNC in Cleveland attempted to light the American flag on fire in a pitiful; attempt at anarchy. She couldn t even light the flag but the beautiful thing is the police step in and yank her up like a rag doll. Awesome! Crowd following group of police who just arrested a woman https://t.co/vPMs0EzZTS #ResistRNC #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/QWiBqp7SON Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) July 20, 2016 | 1 |
The internet has been destroying the Trump administration s press secretary, former Republican National Committee mouthpiece Sean Spicer. As everyone now knows, Spicer spent his very first press briefing lying about Trump s inaugural crowd size as compared to those of President Barack Obama. Of course, we all know that President Obama s 2009 crowd size reached historic numbers, exceeding one million people. When comparison photos were tweeted out, this was clearly just too much for Trump s fragile ego, so he sent Spicer out to rag on the press for reporting, well, facts about Trump s pathetic crowds.Well, since this administration clearly has no issue with lying straight to the faces of the American people, Brian Fallon, the former press secretary for Hillary for America, went on CNN to weigh in on what he would have done had he ever been put in the position of lying to the American public regarding this or anything else. Fallon said: There s clear intent. It was a lie. It should be called a lie. And if he was put in the situation by [Chief of Staff] Reince Priebus or his boss, Donald Trump, to go out and tell a lie to the American people, he should have resigned rather than go out and take the podium. Spicer, of course, lied through his teeth, and said, as he blasted the press: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe. This is simply untrue, and there are photos and numbers to prove it. But the ease of fact-checking such a thing matters not to the Trump White House. In fact, while speaking to NBC s Chuck Todd on Sunday, Kellyanne Conway called Spicer s lies alternative facts, as if refusing to call them what they are lies makes everything just a-okay.Fallon continued, saying that he s never been asked to do any such thing, but he hoped he wouldn t do what Spicer did after being asked by CNN s Brian Stelter what he d have done if he were asked to lie like that: But I d like to think that if I ever was, I would have too much integrity to go out and look in the cameras and say something that was provably false. Then again, Brian Fallon would never be in such a position, because a) Hillary would never ask her staff to do such a thing because she s not a petulant brat like Trump is, and b) she wouldn t need to, because her inaugural crowds would have reached record highs as well.Too bad we ll never know what could have been, and we re stuck with this orange moron for at least four years.Watch the exchange below:[ad3media campaign= 1422 ]Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1 |
Videos Jill Stein Blasts ‘Attack-Dog’ Media, Clinton Protectionists After Daily Beast Smear The Green Party presidential candidate questioned the lack of ‘disclosure on the conflict of interest posed by Chelsea Clinton's position as a director of the corporate owner of the Daily Beast, IAC’ after The Daily Beast published an article criticizing Stein’s investments. | October 31, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein delivers a stump speech to her supporters during a campaign stop at Humanist Hall in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016.
AUSTIN, Texas — Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein accused The Daily Beast, a popular news and opinion website, of hiding its ties to the Clintons after publishing an attack on Stein’s investment portfolio on Wednesday.
“ Jill Stein’s Ideology Says One Thing—Her Investment Portfolio Says Another ” declared the headline for an analysis of Stein’s investments and finances by Yashar Ali. The article suggests that Stein has millions of dollars invested in mutual funds which support industries she opposes on the campaign trail, including fossil fuels and the military-industrial complex.
“If Mr. Ali is truly interested in conflicts of interest of political candidates and their families, where is his disclosure on the conflict of interest posed by Chelsea Clinton’s position as a director of the corporate owner of the Daily Beast, IAC ?” Stein fired back in a detailed response sent to the Daily Beast prior to publication and published to her campaign website in full on Wednesday .
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 27, 2016
Ali’s analysis was based on Stein’s financial disclosure filing with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, a requirement for all presidential candidates, which the office published in March. Ali also used Stein’s 2015 tax return , which the candidate released voluntarily earlier this year. Ali reported that Stein and her husband, Richard Rohrer, “have investments (with the exception of real estate) valued at anywhere from $3,832,050 to $8,505,000,” then criticized the candidate for her investment in a series of index funds or mutual funds which offer investors relatively safe and consistent returns on their money. However, in exchange for reliable earnings, investors also give up control over where their money is used.
“Like many Americans who hold retirement accounts, pension funds, or who invest in the American economy, my finances are largely held in index funds or mutual funds over which I have no control in management or decision-making,” Stein wrote in her response.
She added: “Over the years I have taken steps to divest from the worst of these holdings — transferring my checking and savings accounts from Bank of America largely to a credit union, and divesting from GE, Dupont and Merck stocks I had been given decades ago.”
While “green” mutual funds exist, Stein noted that many of these funds actually invest in fracking and biofuels, making them “not much better than the non-green funds.” She continued:
“I have not yet found the mutual funds that represent my goals of advancing the cause of people, planet and peace. Admittedly I have not spent a lot of time researching elusive ethical investments. I prefer using my time fighting for social, economic and ecological transformation, and recycling capitalist money into the fight to do so.”
She also wrote that she inherited “over a half-million dollars” from her parents, and that she’s used her investments and capital to “help build the social and political movements needed for transformative change.“
Ali’s article was designed to distract voters from larger issues of corruption within the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party, she suggested. She elaborated;
“He has created an imagined conflict of interest, perhaps to distract from the very real, harmful conflicts of interest in the Clintons’ pay-to-play schemes, back-room fundraising, and quarter-million dollar speeches for the predatory banks, health insurance industry, and fossil fuel tycoons, who have directly benefited from Hillary Clinton’s policy record as Senator and Secretary of State, as well as from Bill Clinton’s actions as President.”
In October, Forbes staff writer Dan Alexander estimated that Bill and Hillary Clinton were worth about $45 million, though he noted that their tax returns and financial disclosure filings left millions in earnings unaccounted for. In February, CNN reported that the Clintons earned $153 million in speaking fees between 2001 and the spring 2015 launch of Hillary Clinton’s latest presidential campaign.
Under Stein’s “Green New Deal” platform , the United States would transition away from foreign wars and fossil fuels by investing heavily in renewable energy.
In addition to its ties to Chelsea Clinton, The Daily Beast’s editor, Michael Weiss, has been criticized for supporting neoconservative U.S. foreign policy, including military intervention and empire building. In August, Richard Silverstein , writing for alternative media analysis site The Unz Review, noted that Weiss is frequently tapped to advocate for war on TV news programs. He wrote:
“Weiss, age 36, has been an itinerant freelance journalist and military interventionist gun-for-hire, plying his trade from Washington DC, to London, to the outlying lands of former Russian empire, to the ruins of Syria.
With his role as CNN commentator and senior editor at the Daily Beast, he is a leading light among a new young generation of neoconservative intellectuals.”
In April 2015, Stein told MintPress News that the media deliberately marginalizes third-party voices in order to keep voters from being fully informed about all their choices.
She told Carmen Russell-Sluchansky:
“It illustrates what they are terrified of. If people learn that they have an option that reflects what they want, they will vote for it. Half the population doesn’t vote because they don’t like what they see as their options.” | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that church-affiliated hospital systems do not have to comply with a federal law governing employee pensions, overturning lower court decisions that could have cost the hospitals billions of dollars. The court ruled 8-0 that church-affiliated organizations are exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a 1974 law that forces private employers to follow rules aimed at protecting pension plan participants. The ruling was a victory for New Jersey-based Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, Illinois-based Advocate Health Care Network and California-based Dignity Health, which had faced separate employee lawsuits accusing them of wrongly claiming a religious exemption under ERISA. Federal agencies had long interpreted the law as exempting not just church plans but also those of church-affiliated organizations. The employees challenged that view, in effect accusing the hospital systems of being big businesses posing as church organizations in order to avoid minimum funding and reporting requirements under ERISA. The three hospital systems maintained that their religious affiliation made them exempt from ERISA. St. Peters is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Dignity operates both Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals. Advocate is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said the law’s religious exemption applies to plans whether they were established by churches themselves or organizations affiliated with the churches. Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the ruling based on the text of the law. But, in a separate opinion, she wrote that she was “troubled” with the outcome, noting that some church-affiliated organizations operate for-profit subsidiaries, earn billions of dollars in revenues and compete with companies that must comply with ERISA. Sotomayor suggested that the U.S. Congress take action, adding that “scores of employees - who work for organizations that look and operate much like secular businesses - potentially might be denied ERISA’s protections.” The ruling is the latest in which the justices endorsed the idea that certain businesses deserve wider latitude because of religious considerations. In 2014, the justices sided with Hobby Lobby, a retailer owned by conservative Christians, that objected to a federal requirement that it pay for insurance coverage for women’s birth control, saying that violated a U.S. law protecting religious freedom. Three separate regional federal appeals courts had ruled against Saint Peter’s, Advocate and Dignity in separate cases, refusing to dismiss employees’ lawsuits against them. Hundreds of hospitals and hospital systems have claimed the exemption since 1980, when Congress amended ERISA to extend what is known as the “church plan” exemption, originally only for churches, more broadly to certain religiously affiliated entities. The plaintiffs were seeking retroactive penalties for past violations of ERISA, which the hospitals said could add up to hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the court after the arguments were presented in the case, did not participate in Monday’s decision. | 1 |
PARIS (Reuters) - France s prime minister, whose government has vowed to clean up politics, was forced on Wednesday to defend his decision to hire a private jet for 350,000 euros ($415,000) to fly back from Japan. Opposition politicians decried Edouard Philippe s use of the private charter, and a non-governmental agency that pursues financial wrongdoing in high places accused him of ignoring his own government s pledges of exemplary behavior. President Emmanuel Macron came under fire earlier this month for celebrating his 40th birthday in the grounds of a royal palace. His office sought to play that down, saying the event had been paid for by Macron and his wife. Philippe acknowledged on RTL radio that he and his delegation flew back to Paris from Tokyo, after an official trip to New Caledonia, at a cost of 350,000 euros, but said he had been obliged to do so. I totally understand the surprise and the questions of the French people, Philippe said. We knew there was no commercial flight at the time we needed to return, and we knew we had to return because the President was leaving on the Wednesday morning of our return for Algeria, he said. The rule is that, whenever possible, (either) the Prime Minister or the President must be on national territory ... I take full responsibility for this decision. Karim Bouamrane, spokesman for the Socialist Party, said on Twitter that the flight pointed to amateurism regarding the organizational skills of Philippe s team. Macron put financial and ethical probity in public life at the heart of a presidential election race he won last May, and his new government passed a law to tighten up on ethical standards in French politics. He has struggled nonetheless to shake detractors charges that he is a president of the rich after reforms including the scrapping of a wealth tax and reductions in housing benefit - moves Macron says will boost investment and social mobility. In August, social media commentators and political opponents criticized the French president after it emerged he spent 26,000 euros on makeup during his first 100 days in office. Anticor, a non-governmental agency that focuses on financial corruption and profligacy in politics, said use of a private jet was at odds with Macron and his government s declarations that financial probity was a priority. ($1 = 0.8450 euros) | 0 |
Obama is against Trump Check The Media are against Trump Check The establishment Democrats are against Trump Check The establishment Republicans are against Trump CheckThe UN is against Trump Check The EU is against Trump Check China is against Trump Check Mexico is against Trump Soros is against Trump Check Black Lives Matter is against Trump Check Move On is against Trump Check Koch Brothers are against Trump Check Bushes are against Trump CheckPlanned Parenthood is against Trump .Check Hillary & Sanders are both against Trump Check Illegal aliens are against Trump Check Islam is against Trump Check Kasich & Cruz are against Trump Check Hateful, racist, violent Liberals are against Trump.. CheckTHAT BEING SAID It seems to us, Trump MUST BE the best candidate America has had in a very long time! If you have so many political insiders and left wing NUT CASES who are SCARED TO DEATH of Trump, how can that be a bad thing?Most of all, Trump is the People s Choice Whoopi says she will leave the country Rosie says she will leave the country Sharpton says he will leave the country Gov. Brown says California will build a wall Cher says she will leave the country Cyrus says she will leave the country The Constitution and the Bill of Rights will prevail . Hillary will go to jail .. The budget will be balanced in 8 years . Americans will have first choice at jobs .. You will not be able to marry your pet . You will be able to keep your gun(s) if you qualify (Not a criminal, etc.) Only Live Human American Registered Citizens can vote . You can have and keep your own Doctor .. You can say what you want without being called a racist .Trump will make AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! After all we have no place to go, but UPThese comments were sent to us by a 100% FED Up follower. | 1 |
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked sections of a Texas law intended to punish so-called “sanctuary cities”, regarded as soft on immigration, in a ruling handed down two days before the law was due to come into effect. Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio’s federal court found the Texas legislation was unlikely to withstand constitutional scrutiny. The judge’s ruling temporarily blocks part of the law that would require local law enforcement agencies in Texas to fulfill requests by U.S. immigration agents to hold immigrants in their jails until they can be picked up for deportation. It also strikes down a provision that would have prevented local officials from adopting policies that might limit immigration enforcement in the state. “The court cannot and does not second-guess the legislature, Garcia wrote in a 94-page decision. “However, the state may not exercise its authority in a manner that violates the United States Constitution.” The decision in Texas could have ramifications nationwide as other Republican-controlled states are looking at legislation targeting sanctuary cities, which they say illegally shield immigrants. The Texas law, which takes aim at any jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, is considered one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration efforts in the country. The ruling will make Texas communities less safe, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement. “This decision will be appealed immediately and I am confident Texas’ law will be found constitutional and ultimately be upheld,” he added. It was the first law of its kind passed since President Donald Trump took office in January, pledging to crack down on illegal immigration. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the Texas measure in a lawsuit on behalf of some local jurisdictions in the state. “The court was right to strike down virtually all of this patently unconstitutional law,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s immigrant rights project, said in a statement. The impending law added to the anxiety felt by some illegal immigrants forced to evacuate their flooded homes in Houston after Hurricane Harvey struck southeast Texas. Nevertheless, federal agents are not enforcing immigration law at evacuation sites, shelters or food banks where people affected by flooding are seeking aid, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement on Wednesday. Some police chiefs have said forcing local police to work with U.S. immigration agents undermines community trust, making immigrants less likely to report crimes. “This week’s crisis with Hurricane Harvey is just the most recent example why people need to feel safe approaching our local police and support groups, no matter what,” Steve Adler, mayor of Texas’ state capital Austin, said in a statement. | 1 |
With Election Day only three days away, tensions between supporters of the two major party candidates are running high. However, things nearly turned violent for Republican candidate Donald Trump who... | 0 |
There are apparently still folks who believe that because the LGBT community is gaining more and more equality, and because women have the right to make their own medical decisions, they are being forced to promote being gay and apparently forcing abortions on everyone.Case in point Arizona Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church.Anderson seems discontent in knowing the United States is offering too much freedom for all. He seems to think the rule of his God should be the ruler of all. And now, he s even going after the Pledge of Allegiance, because he somehow thinks that by reciting it he s being forced to promote homosexuality and abortion.During one of his sermons, he said: One nation, corrupt, perverted, promoting abortion and homosexuality to all. Not gonna do it, my friend. Get mad at me. Quit the church. Umm granting equality under the law to people who are part of the LGBT community or letting women have control over their own bodies is not promoting anything it s freedom. Something the United States kinda prides itself on. He doesn t seem to understand that he isn t being forced to do anything he doesn t want to do. He can still live his life with hate in his heart and no one will do a damn thing about it. He said: I don t want anything to do with sodomy. It s wicked. I don t want anything to do with abortion. I don t want anything to do with the things that our country is starting to stand for. Then he steps further onto the crazy train by perpetuating the myth that the United States is pushing for a New World Order. He doesn t seem to realize that he isn t forced to pledge allegiance to the flag, nor that there is separation of church and state that protects the church as much as it protects the state. He said: The problem with making an oath or pledge or affirmation is that you might sit there and pledge allegiance, right? And then, like, 30 years later, what happens when that country is a totally different place? What happens when that country stands for something totally different? And you ve already pledged allegiance to it. I mean, we don t want to do that. We don t want to get wrapped up in that. Sure, but he doesn t seem to have a problem pledging allegiance to an archaic text that was written thousands of years ago by men who claim the are writing the word of God. It s more than fine to believe in the Bible. It s more than fine to believe in God. That s his freedom that is protected under the Constitution of the United States. He s allowed to worship freely under full protection of the law as so long as he doesn t harm anyone. So, before he goes and swears off our earthly government he should probably think long and hard about the fact that freedom is granted to all, not just some. Featured image via video screen capture | 1 |
ANKARA (Reuters) - A formal U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would cause catastrophe and lead to new conflict in the Middle East, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Bozdag, who is also the government spokesman, said Jerusalem s status had been determined by international agreements and that preserving it was important for the peace of the region. The status of Jerusalem and Temple Mount have been determined by international agreements. It is important to preserve Jerusalem s status for the sake of protecting peace in the region, Bozdag said. If another step is taken and this step is lifted, this will be a major catastrophe. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed it, declaring the whole of the city as its capital a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump s adviser and son-in-law said Trump had not yet made a decision on whether to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital, a move that would break with decades of U.S. policy. Past U.S. presidents have insisted that the status of Jerusalem home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions must be decided in negotiations. On Saturday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in which they discussed the status of Jerusalem, sources in Erdogan s office said. The sources said Erdogan told Abbas that preserving the status of Jerusalem was important for all Muslim countries, adding that international laws and United Nations decisions should be followed on the issue. Any move by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital would fuel extremism and violence, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Saturday. A senior Jordanian source said on Sunday that Amman has begun consultations on convening an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation before Trump s expected declaration this week. | 1 |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula on Monday and strongly condemned Pyongyang s ignoring of U.N. Security Council resolutions. It was stressed that such steps contradict the principles of global non-proliferation and create a serious threat to regional peace and security, the Kremlin said in a statement after the leaders telephone conversation. It was confirmed that the settlement of this acute crisis is possible exclusively through political and diplomatic tools, through the restart of the negotiations of all the parties involved, the Kremlin said, adding that the leaders agreed to continue contacts on the crisis via their foreign ministers. | 1 |
We love this guy! Trey Gowdy gets it and gives a lesson to a DHS thug on due process! Yes! For progressives, the problem isn t Islam; it is the Constitution. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) who was elected as a supposedly pro-gun moderate is remarkably frank:Appearing on Morning Joe to discuss the gun control measures Democratic senators filibustered for 15 hours to advance, Senator Manchin said, Due process is what s killing us right now. Due process is killing us. If only we lived in a dictatorship with no limit on government power, everything would be fine (never mind that the FBI dropped the ball on the Omar Mateen case). At least it would be fine for Joe Manchin.Manchin gibbered incoherently that Mateen was on a terrorist watch list. Not at the time of the massacre he wasn t. The FBI investigated him twice due to all the red flags he was waving, but he was effectively cleared.A gun shop warned the FBI about Mateen prior to Orlando. But the agency didn t listen (now it has no comment).But if we just sacrifice our most basic liberties, boobs like Manchin will somehow keep us safe.It isn t just the Second Amendment that our progressive rulers want to use Islamic terror attacks as a pretext to destroy. They aren t fond of the Fifth or Fourteenth either. Both have due process clauses. As even liberal Slate recognizes,If the government can revoke your right to access firearms simply because it has decided to place you on a secret, notoriously inaccurate list, it could presumably restrict your other rights in a similar manner. You could be forbidden from advocating for causes you believe in, or associating with like-minded activists; your right against intrusive, unreasonable searches could be suspended. And you would have no recourse: The government could simply declare that, as a name on a covert list, you are owed no due process at all.That is, you have no rights at all.Discarding the Constitution isn t enough for Vox editor Emmett Rensin; he wants to abolish private property in the name of disarming law-abiding citizens: This presents a catch-22 for leftists. If they need to confiscate all of our property in order to take our guns, how will they prevent us from using guns to defend our property?Let s send progressives back to 2015 so that Trey Gowdy can give them a lesson in due process. | 0 |
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday a group of experts on freedom of expression will visit Mexico at the end of November to assess the safety of journalists in the country, one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters. David Kaye, U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, and Edison Lanza, who holds the same position at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will visit from Nov. 27 to Dec. 4 after an invitation by the government. This visit is about the crisis the press is going through in Mexico, the exponential increase in violence, said Leopoldo Maldonado, the protection and defense program officer in Mexico at Article 19, a freedom of expression advocacy group. The visit comes as Mexico s journalists live through one of the worst waves of violence in recent history, with at least 11 reporters murdered in 2017, the same number killed in 2016. Over the past 17 years, 111 journalists have been killed in Mexico, more than one third of them under the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto. Reporters are also having to contend with other forms of intimidation. In June, activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists filed a criminal complaint after experts found that their smartphones had been infected with advanced spying software sold only to the government. The Mexican government said at the time that there was no proof it was responsible for the spying and that it condemned any attempt to violate the privacy of any person. The rights experts will travel to Mexico City and the states of Guerrero, Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa to meet legislative, executive and judicial authorities plus journalists and representatives of civil society, the U.N. said. Reporters Without Borders ranks Mexico at 147 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index, below Venezuela, South Sudan and Bangladesh, and one place above Russia.{rsf.org/en/ranking#} | 0 |
Another day, another time the Supreme Court surprises everyone. While the divided court issued a serious blow to immigrants, their families, and the Obama administration, it did decide to save an important protection for minorities affirmative action.The Court, and a 4 to 3 decision (Kagan did not participate), upheld the University of Texas practice of considering race a factor in admissions.The surprise decision was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, and joined by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer.Dissenting was Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito.Kennedy, writing in the Court s opinion, warned that while it may use race as a factor in admissions, it may not be the only determining factor:The Court s affirmance of the universities admissions policy today does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement. It is the University s ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admissions policies.The case stemmed from an incident in 2008 when a high school graduate was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin. The student, Abigail Fisher, who is white, alleged that she was a victim of racial discrimination. At the time, UT had a program that automatically accepted the top 10 percent of high school graduates, and took in other factors such as scores and extracurricular activities. Fisher, who scored in the top 12 percent, felt she was unfairly denied even though she had 1180 out of 1600 on her SAT, and volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.In other words, she felt entitled. And, whenever a white person is a victim of discrimination, they want to cry racism and throw everyone else under the bus.This decision was the second time the Supreme Court took up the case. The first time, the Court sent the case back to the lower system for further review. When the same conclusion was met, the Court agreed to hear it once more. The first time, however, all Justices except for Ginsburg agreed (Kagan, again, recused herself). Ginsburg s dissent chided the Court for ignoring precedence and racial history:Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissenting opinion in which she argued that the University s admission policy treats race as merely one factor in the overall decision to admit a student, which is permissible under previous judicial precedent. She also argued that the Equal Protection Clause does not require that state universities be blind to the history of overt discrimination and that it is preferable that they explicitly include race as a factor in admission decisions rather than attempt to obfuscate its role.The Supreme Court made a surprising decision today. However, if Scalia was on the Court and still Kagan recused herself, the decision would have been split and the outcome would have been the same.In this case, justice would have prevailed anyway.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 0 |
John Coleman, Founder, The Weather Channel, appeared on CNN s Reliable Sources with host Brian Stelter, after writing an open letter to UCLA denying the existence of anthropogenic global warming. This is a great takedown:Coleman told Stelter that CNN has taken a very strong position on global warming that it is a consensus. Well there is no consensus in science. Science isn t a vote. Science is about facts, and that he was terribly disappointed by his former network, The Weather Channel, because it has bought into [climate change]. But so has all the media. That s no big surprise. Coleman notes that he is not a paid shill (as has been claimed) of the Koch Brothers, concluding his letter with a link to Heartland s Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) website. Coleman s open letter to UCLA was sent to numerous local television stations in the Los Angeles area, as well as the Los Angeles Times.Coleman produced a special report for KUSI-TV, entitled Global Warming: The Other Side. The program suggests that Global Warming is a scam and presents what Colemen contends is evidence of a deliberate manipulation of world temperature data by NASA and other groups. | 0 |
Tucker Carlson started out his show by showing a video of leftist Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi being verbally attacked by illegal aliens for allegedly negotiating with President Trump on the issue of the unconstitutional DACA program for dreamers that Barack Obama put in place.Here s a short clip of the illegal aliens attacking Nancy:After Tucker showed Nancy being shouted down by illegal aliens, he turned to his guest Ivan Ceja, who also happens to be an illegal alien that refers to himself as a DACA recipient . Tucker told Ivan Ceja, an ILLEGAL ALIEN who is the founder of Undocumedia that he finds it striking how ungrateful illegal aliens are about how good they have it in America. Ceja went on to threaten to hold US representatives accountable for not representing them.Things got ugly immediately after Tucker explained to Ceja that he has no right to demand anything from US lawmakers as a non-American citizen.Watch the heated exchange here: | 0 |
WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that Senate Democrats should "get off their ass" and stop blocking a $40 billion Homeland Security bill that would derail President Obama's immigration programs.
Boehner's comments came a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate has reached a stalemate and "the next move obviously is up to the House." Senate Democrats voted three times last week to block the DHS funding bill from moving forward. They object to House-passed provisions that would cut off all funds to carry out Obama's executive orders on immigration.
The two Republican leaders seem to be each placing responsibility on the other chamber for what happens next on the funding bill. Unless Congress acts, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will expire on Feb. 27 and the agency will face a partial shutdown.
Boehner said the House will not take up a revised bill despite the Senate impasse.
"The House has done its job," Boehner, R-Ohio, said at a news conference after meeting with House Republicans. "Why don't you go ask the Senate Democrats when they're going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote 'no'?"
Obama announced in November that he would protect about 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the U.S. His program would help the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens. It also would expand his 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gives temporary legal status and work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to the USA as children.
The House-passed bill would cut off all funding for the 2012 DACA program as well as blocking funds for Obama's latest immigration orders. Senate Democrats say they will only support the DHS funding bill if the immigration provisions are scrapped.
"If Congress wants stronger border security and immigration enforcement, a clean funding bill for DHS is what we should be rallying around," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., the senior Democrat on the Senate homeland security committee. "I hope that Congress can come together to do the right thing — support the passage of a clean, full-year appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security by Feb. 27 — and then get to work to pass a thoughtful, comprehensive immigration reform bill."
Republicans see Obama's immigration orders as an unconstitutional power grab and view the DHS funding bill as the best leverage they have to stop them. But Senate Republicans, who have a 54-vote majority, need 60 votes to advance the DHS funding bill and they have been unable to attract any Democrats to their side.
Boehner and McConnell have both said they don't want a shutdown of Homeland Security, but their options are running out.
There has been talk in both chambers of the possibility of passing a continuing resolution that would keep DHS open and funded at 2014 levels. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has spoken out against that option because it would not allow DHS to hire new Secret Service agents, buy new surveillance equipment for the Southwest border or send certain security grants to states and local governments. | 1 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former New York City congressman who made national headlines for threatening to break a reporter “in half” before serving time in prison for tax fraud is expected this weekend to announce he will try to recapture his seat. Republican Michael Grimm will appear at a rally on Sunday in the city’s Staten Island borough, 16 months after he was released from prison having served an eight-month term. A Facebook page promoting the event - titled “Rally in Support of Michael Grimm, Our Congressman,” did not specifically confirm he would be running for reelection, but it said Grimm “is ready to fight for us once again.” On Twitter, Grimm posted a story from the Staten Island Advance newspaper reporting that he would announce a congressional campaign and wrote, “Exciting headline from @siadvance - see you all Sunday at 11:30!” Grimm’s representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. His entry into the race sets up what will likely be a closely watched primary battle with Dan Donovan, the Republican and former Staten Island district attorney who was elected to Grimm’s seat after Grimm resigned and won reelection last November. Donovan, New York City’s only Republican congressman, is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s list of targets for 2018. His spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Grimm, a 47-year-old Marine veteran once seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, drew widespread denunciation in January 2014 when he was caught on camera saying he would throw a New York television reporter off the balcony inside the Capitol building in Washington. “I’ll break you in half - like a boy,” Grimm warned the reporter, who had asked him about a federal probe into his campaign finances. He later apologized. Three months later, he was indicted for tax fraud and other charges in connection with a health food restaurant he owned before turning to politics. He still managed to win reelection in November 2014. Six weeks after Election Day, Grimm pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud. After initially vowing to keep his seat, he resigned under pressure from Republican leadership. The Facebook page on Sunday’s event, which was created by “Friends of Michael Grimm,” said Grimm was “driven from office in a politicized abuse of the justice system.” | 0 |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow and Washington are continuing a dialogue on North Korea and the future of the international deal on Iran s nuclear program, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday. | 0 |
20 Foods That Naturally Unclog Arteries and Prevent Heart Attacks http://blogs.naturalnews.com/20-foods-naturally-unclog-arteries-prevent-heart-attacks/
By Twain Yobra
Posted Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 03:53pm EDT
Arteries play a vital role in the body. They transport nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. And they can cause heart attacks if they’re clogged. Well, you can unclog them naturally by eating foods rich in antioxidants, soluble fiber and healthy fats.
Here are 20 foods that will unclog your arteries and prevent heart attacks.
1. Pomegranate: Pomegranate is rich in antioxidants which prevents the arteries from being damaged. Research also shows that pomegranate improves heart health by reducing bad cholesterol.
2. Spirulina: Spirulina is regulates fat levels in the blood. And it’s rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which studies show prevents heart disease.
3. Asparagus: This vegetable is rich in vitamins and minerals that prevent blood clots and lower blood pressure.
4. Turmeric: Inflammation is one of the main causes of arteriosclerosis, and as you may know, turmeric fights inflammation.
5. Cranberries: The potassium in cranberries can lower blood pressure and reduce risk of heart disease by up to 40 percent.
6. Watermelon: One study found that L-citrulline (found in watermelon) can widen blood vessels and lower blood pressure. This can actually benefit men with mild erectile dysfunction.
7. Avocado: Research shows that eat avocados every day can clean your arteries, lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol.
8. Broccoli: Broccoli contains vitamin K which prevents calcium from damaging the arteries. It’s also rich in soluble fiber which lowers cholesterol.
9. Cinnamon: This spice unclogs the arteries of plaque build-up. Its antioxidant properties also improve cardiovascular health.
10. Green tea: This powerful herb contains catechins which prevent absorption of cholesterol. This consequently prevents blockage of arteries. Drink 2-3 cups a day.
11. Coconut oil: Taking coconut oil regularly can unclog the arteries and even convert bad cholesterol to good.
12. Persimmon: Persimmon has antioxidants that reduce blood-lipid. It’s also rich in fiber which helps clean the arteries.
13. Coffee: Research shows that drinking 2 cups of coffee a day can lower risk of heart disease by 20 percent. But excess consumption can increase blood pressure and cause anxiety.
14. Cold-water fish: Eating these fish will fight inflammation and unclog your arteries. They include, mackerel, tuna, salmons, and sardines.
15. Olive oil: Studies show that olive oil can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease by 41 percent. This is attributed to its ability to reduce oxidative stress and cholesterol.
16. Spinach: This vegetable unclogs arteries because of its folate, potassium and fiber content.
17. Orange juice: Oranges are rich in vitamin C which cleans the arteries and prevents oxidation of blood.
18. Flaxseeds: Flaxseeds have been proven to fight inflammation, lower blood pressure and improve heart health.
19. Raw nuts: Nuts like almonds will reduce blood pressure and fight inflammation. Use them to keep hunger at bay.
20. Whole grains: Whole grains are rich in soluble fiber which lowers cholesterol and risk of high blood pressure.
For more information on eating healthy and staying fit, download your FREE 3 Weeks Flat Stomach Guide to help you improve your health and physique. And like our Facebook page . You might also like… | 1 |
Home » Headlines » World News » *Breaking: Huma Abedin Thrown Off Hillary’s Campaign Plane!
Whelp, that didn’t take long. The fallout has begun for the Clinton Campaign. Huma Abedin has reportedly been thrown under the bus thrown off the plane…
#Hillarysemail Huma Abedin is not on the plane with #HillaryClinton today. She must be freaking out especially since she signed this doc. pic.twitter.com/KOwI5rN1pW
— Trump Street Team FL (@ChatRevolve) October 29, 2016
An image surfaced today of Huma in tears as she learned of the FBI reopening the criminal investigation: Anthony Weiner Gave FBI Permission To Search Devices, No Warrant Needed – https://t.co/tWZiq1T5t8
And perhaps the biggest news of the today, after Obama’s DOJ attempted to cock block Comey’s reopened investigation by denying the FBI’s search warrant request of Weiner’s laptop, Anthony is now fully cooperating with the investigation: Anthony Weiner Gave FBI Permission To Search Devices, No Warrant Needed – https://t.co/tWZiq1T5t8 | 1 |
A group of Donald Trump protesters assembled outside the Republican front-runner s North Charleston rally on Friday, yelling Dump Trump. Protestors these days, what can you do?Well, one Trump supporter thought he d heckle them right back (good idea, right?), and his responses weren t exactly the wittiest around.After a few jumbled up responses that we can t exactly make out completely, you can hear the unnamed Trump follower say, among other things: Go home back to your toilet (visibly angry). Why don t you waterboard yourself in the toilet? Go doodoo in your mouth. Pause. Throw up. Repeat. What did you just call me?That s not very nice. Do you kiss your mom with that mouth?Oh, well. What s the bother acting surprised; it s not like we had very high expectations to begin with for the people showing up at his rallies. I mean, when your fans start doing close to the exact same things you re doing (that being Trump) then it s all very fitting.Speaking of dumb, did you catch The Daily Show s episode that aired recently? You know, the one where they questioned Trump supporters and they gave absolutely the dumbest answers ever? Yeah, that one. If you haven t we took the liberty of including a clip of it below. If you can make it through the entire video without having your jaw drop in disbelief then you re the only one.The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Get More: The Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,The Daily Show Video ArchiveNow that we think about it, that comeback line sounds better than the answers these other supporters just gave. At least he can blame it on being mad in the heat of the moment. These other guys just don t know which way is up.Featured image via screen capture. | 1 |
MAXINE GOT A MAKEOVER and is hopping mad about speculation she s running for POTUS in 2020. It can t help that Tucker Carlson is mocking her just about every night.Waters was in a foul mood during an interview with her favorite news anchor Joy Reid. Reid is a foot soldier for Waters. These two get together every other day to bash Trump. Pitiful!The funny thing is that no one was criticizing Waters. They were merely speculating if she is considering a presidential run, something she has admitted to if she had the support of millennials. Right?Waters told Reid: Just because I m going to New Hampshire to be at a Democratic Party event for one of my colleagues, they made this story up. , or to make people uncomfortable with me, all of that. So you re gonna be hearing a lot more from them these people who are all, you know, aligned around trying to discredit Maxine Waters because she has stayed on Trump s case so much. And so you re going to hear a lot more from them. Don t believe anything they re saying. | 1 |
Donald Trump will likely go down in history (hopefully way down) as the presidential candidate who embraced Twitter as his main campaign tool. While other candidates simply tweet, Trump uses the social media platform as his main source of messaging and branding.Of course, that often gets the candidate in hot water, especially with his habit of retweeting things from white supremacists, but because we know Trump spends so much time on Twitter, it s the perfect format for trolling the presumed GOP presidential nominee, and that s exactly what Twitter users have been doing for the last several days, under the hashtag, #1776Trump, which imagines Trump as a Founding Father (shudder). It s also completely hilarious! Jefferson wrote a stupid Declaration, they should have asked me I have a great brain. I would have started with renegotiating. #1776Trump Yankeesfan66 (@Rangersfan66) July 6, 2016 No taxation without representation is for losers folks. I just don t pay. Hey, that s the system. What can I do? #1776Trump Lucille (@Delilah399) July 6, 2016 Total loon Paul Revere raving in the streets about British troops. Get a grip, Paul! #1776Trump Josh Windham (@JoshWindham1) July 6, 2016 There s something going on with King George. Something very, very bad. I mean terrible, folks. We re gonna look into this. #1776Trump (((tiffany))) (@tiffanyclay) July 6, 2016Where s my indian? There he is! Isn t he great? I m going to do very well with the savage community. #1776Trump Steve (@sat_m0) July 6, 2016 #1776Trump Perhaps if she wasn t my slave, I d be dating her. aubrey troop (@aubreyyeliza) July 6, 2016Something makes me think that wouldn t stop Trump. I know slaves; I have the best slaves. They re unbelievable. #1776Trump Craig Rozniecki (@CraigRozniecki) July 6, 2016 I have the greatest white wig. And it s completely real. Believe me. A lot of people have telegrammed me about it. #1776Trump Noah Finneburgh (@NoahFinneburgh) July 6, 2016Declaration of Independence was very boring. Should have been written in gold sharpie. Would be classy. Only I could do right. #1776Trump Noah Finneburgh (@NoahFinneburgh) July 6, 2016 King George won t even say the words Radical Colonist! SAD! We need to hit them hard, fast, and take their tobacco. #1776Trump Caleb Synan (@CalebSynan) July 6, 2016#1776Trump We need a total and complete shutdown of Catholics coming into the country. Alex Rios (@alexrioscomedy) July 6, 2016 They re bringing drugs, they re bringing money, they re rapists. And some slaves, I assume, are really good people. #1776Trump (((Discord))) (@DlSCORD) July 6, 2016John Adams is a very short man who came in second. He should be careful what he says about me. Disgraceful. #1776Trump Noah Finneburgh (@NoahFinneburgh) July 6, 2016 I was at the Boston Tea Party. No broads there. Believe me, it was a disaster. Hardly anyone interesting showed up. #1776Trump Sharon Houston (@sharon_houston) July 6, 2016One of the reasons this hashtag is going completely nuts is that it is difficult to imagine Trump during the days of the founders, or for that matter, during any other time in history. Trump is a candidate made from TV and promoted by social media. His limited vocabulary is a plus when he has to post in 140 characters or less. His grandiosity and shameless self-promotions are almost expected. We ve seen racist and nationalistic presidential candidates before. We ve seen rich ones too, but we ve never seen one like Donald Trump and hopefully, we ll never see one again.Featured image via Marc Piscotty at Getty Images | 0 |
SEOUL (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with thousands of police at a South Korean village on Thursday as Seoul deployed the four remaining launchers of the U.S. anti-missile THAAD system designed to protect against mounting threats from North Korea. The South s defense ministry confirmed on Wednesday the launchers would be installed on a former golf course near Seongju City some 217 km (135 miles) south of Seoul. Two launchers and a powerful radar are already in place at the site as part of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system. Early on Monday, around 8,000 South Korean police gathered in the village of Soseong-ri, along the only road that leads up to the golf course, to break up a blockade of around 300 villagers and civic groups opposed to THAAD. Some 38 protesters were wounded in tussles with police, with 21 sent to hospital, according to a Seongju Fire Station official. None of the injuries were life-threatening, said Kim Jin-hoon. The Soseong-ri residents say they do not have a political motive but are against the deployment of THAAD as their lives have been disrupted by the dozens of military helicopters, buses, trucks that travel through the small melon-farming town of 80 residents. The decision to deploy THAAD, designed to shoot down short- to medium-range missiles mid-flight, has drawn strong objections from China. It believes the system s radar could be used to look deeply into its territory and will upset the regional security balance. South Korea s defense ministry has said the deployment is necessary due to the imminent threat from North Korea, which has launched numerous missiles since South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office in early May. Pyongyang also conducted its sixth nuclear test on Sunday, prompting vehement reprimands from neighboring Japan and the United States. According to a United Nations draft resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the United States wants the United Nations to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban the country s exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean laborers as part of new sanctions on the North. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday upheld nondisclosure rules that allow the FBI to secretly issue surveillance orders for customer data to communications firms, a ruling that dealt a blow to privacy advocates. A unanimous three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco sided with a lower court decision in finding that rules permitting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to send national security letters under gag orders are appropriate and do not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections. Content distribution firm Cloudflare and phone network operator CREDO Mobile had sued the government in order to notify customers of five national security letters, or NSLs, received between 2011 and 2013. The FBI’s use of NSLs has drawn increased scrutiny as new transparency laws have let companies publish some of the letters, which has shown the agency may have run afoul of rules restricting their use. Andrew Crocker, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the companies in the consolidated case, said no immediate decision whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court had been made. He called the ruling disappointing. The Justice Department declined comment. Several major technology firms, including Microsoft and Twitter, have mounted a variety of legal challenges in recent years to U.S. government restrictions limiting what they can disclose, both to affected users and to the public, about the surveillance requests they receive. National security letters are a type of government subpoena for communications data sent to service providers. They are usually issued with a gag order, meaning the target is often unaware that records are being accessed, and they do not require a warrant. Tens of thousands of NSLs are issued annually, and some gag orders last indefinitely. Writing for the panel, Judge Sandra Ikuta said the gag orders meet a compelling U.S. government interest, are sufficiently narrow and allow for appropriate judicial review. Ikuta, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, said recent changes to the law passed by Congress in 2015 bolstered oversight of NSL use. In June of last year the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a Republican-backed proposal to expand the kinds of telephone and internet records the FBI could request under an NSL to include senders and recipients of emails, some information about websites a person visits and social media log-in data. The legislation failed, but lawmakers have said they intend to pursue the expansion again. | 0 |
It is difficult to surprise at New York City’s pride parade — that pulsing kaleidoscope of pink unicorn horns and rainbow undergarments, bejeweled miniature dogs and revelers who seemed to have misplaced their shoes. But around 1:45 p. m. Sunday, beneath a virtually cloudless sky, something was afoot on Christopher Street. Lights flashed. Officers stirred. Sirens pierced the Cher soundtrack wafting over Greenwich Village. Soon, a van door opened. “Hillaryyyyyyyyy!” someone hollered from the sidewalk. And so began a very chase along the city’s foremost corridor of gay rights. For four blocks or so — beginning steps from the Stonewall Inn, the nexus of the modern gay rights movement — Hillary Clinton led a mayor, a governor, a phalanx of aides, a crush of reporters and several beleaguered security personnel on a stroll. It was an unannounced appearance for Mrs. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, two weeks after the massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. The tragedy colored the proceedings across several floats and marching groups, lurking like an unwelcome guest. Some attendees dressed in white, with the names and faces of victims displayed on placards hanging from their necks. “We Are Orlando,” a sign read. “One Pulse,” said another. Mrs. Clinton did not speak at the event, smiling and waving and occasionally venturing to the police barricades to shake hands. But her presence resonated, attendees said, communicating a measure of solidarity in a wrenching moment. “It was a nonverbal confirmation of her support,” said Micah Feinberg, 35. Women with rainbow leis around their necks reached for her. Residents overhead pointed cellphones from their open windows. A large rainbow flag flapped against a fire escape. “She’s right here,” a woman said, to no one in particular. “Right here. ” When Mrs. Clinton, moving west, reached Bleecker Street, a group rained confetti from a rooftop. “The next president of the United States!” shouted a man with a microphone. “Make some . ” Mrs. Clinton waved toward another guest in a rainbow bathing suit. Moments later, as a “Hillary” chant began to build, she stopped to acknowledge the crowd. Throughout the walk, she was joined by a horde of dignitaries eager to share in her spotlight. These included Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who remain engaged in a protracted feud, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who quickly positioned himself beside Mrs. Clinton and took care not to relinquish his perch. By about 2 p. m. Mrs. Clinton was hustled into a waiting vehicle, waving once more before heading for a flight to Indiana. (In a speech there hours later, she addressed Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, arguing it reaffirmed the need for “steady, experienced leadership” in the presidential race.) Paradegoers remained tickled by her cameo. “I saw her and was completely dumbfounded,” said Kelsey Roberts, 28, an engineer who said Mrs. Clinton was an inspiration to her in a field. Mrs. Clinton has marched in the parade before, participating as far back as 2000 during her run for the United States Senate. Her appearance on Sunday came as her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, continues to make the case that he is the true champion of gay rights in the presidential race. In the wake of the Orlando shooting, Mr. Trump has said he is the candidate most able to keep gay and lesbian Americans safe from hate crimes. While Mrs. Clinton remains likely to command the vast majority of support from gay voters, she has had a complicated history with gay rights. As secretary of state, she focused often on international gay rights, urging countries to accept gays and lesbians during a 2011 speech in Geneva. She has since denounced Russia’s treatment of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, and in March 2013, she endorsed marriage both “personally and as a matter of policy and law. ” But while much of Mrs. Clinton’s donor base includes gay and lesbian supporters, some have questioned the deliberate pace of her evolution. There are also old wounds from her husband’s administration, which enacted the military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act barring federal recognition of marriages. Mrs. Clinton inspired fresh criticism this year after the death of Nancy Reagan, mistakenly praising Mrs. Reagan’s “ advocacy” concerning H. I. V. despite the Reagans’ lengthy public silence on the disease. Mrs. Clinton quickly apologized. The crowd on Sunday included a handful of skeptics. “She did it strictly so that we would relate the image of her with the image of pride,” said Lexi Avidani, 24, from Long Island. “And she doesn’t support it. ” Most, though, were more effusive. Wearing a shirt that read, “SPOILER ALERT: HILLARY WINS,” Matt McDermott, 26, marveled at the progress of gay civil rights. “A year ago, we passed marriage equality in the Supreme Court, and a year later, a major party nominee is walking in the pride parade in New York,” he said. “So things change quickly. ” Loretta Tassotti, 55, said Mrs. Clinton’s gesture demonstrated that she was “not afraid. ” “This is not a Trump kind of party,” she added. Ms. Roberts, the engineer, suggested the significance ran deeper. The Orlando victims were so young, she said, that it was essential for presidential candidates to participate in the grief. Ms. Roberts looked out again on the parade route, where a collection of mourners drew near. She reconsidered the question of Mrs. Clinton’s appearance. “How could you not come?” she asked. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has suspended its efforts to win congressional approval for his Asian free-trade deal before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, saying on Friday that TPP’s fate was up to Trump and Republican lawmakers. Administration officials also said Obama would try to explain the situation to leaders of the 11 other countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact next week when he attends a regional summit in Peru. Obama’s cabinet secretaries and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office had been lobbying lawmakers for months to pass the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership deal in the post-election, lame-duck session of Congress. However, Trump’s stunning election victory that sends him to the White House in January and retains Republican majorities in Congress has stymied those plans. “We have worked closely with Congress to resolve outstanding issues and are ready to move forward, but this is a legislative process and it’s up to congressional leaders as to whether and when this moves forward,” USTR spokesman Matt McAlvanah said in a statement. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would not take up TPP in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration and said its fate was now up to Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan had earlier said he would not proceed with a lame-duck vote. Trump made his opposition to the TPP a centerpiece of his campaign, calling it a “disaster” and “a rape of our country” that would send more jobs overseas. His anti-free-trade message and pledges to stem the tide of imported goods from China and Mexico won him massive support among blue-collar workers in the industrial heartland states of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, helping to swing the election his way. Trump has said he will scrap TPP, renegotiate the 22-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement and adopt a much tougher trade stance with China. The TPP agreement, negotiated for more than five years and signed in October 2015, was aimed at reducing trade barriers erected by some of the fastest growing economies in Asia and boosting ties with U.S. allies in the region in the face of China’s rising influence. White House Deputy National Security Advisor Wally Adeyemo told reporters on Friday that Obama will tell TPP member countries at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that the United States will remain engaged in Asia, and that it recognizes the benefits of trade and such deals still make sense. “In terms of the TPP agreement itself, Leader McConnell has spoken to that and it’s something that he’s going to work with the President-elect to figure out where they go in terms of trade agreements in the future,” Adeyemo said. “But we continue to think that these types of deals make sense, simply because countries like China are not going to stop working on regional agreements.” | 1 |
Hey Bernie how s that whole Queen of Wall Street/ Democrat mob boss endorsement working out for you?Wikileaks has released another batch of emails. One of those emails is likely from Joel Johnson, the Managing Director of The Glover Park Group, a Washington DC firm specializing in strategic communications and government relationsThe email was sent on Feb. 2, 2016 to John Podesta with the subject matter: Friendly advice. No mercy. From:[email protected] To: [email protected] Date: 2016-02-22 00:09 Subject: Friendly advice. No mercy.Bernie needs to be ground to a pulp. We can t start believing our own primary bullshit. This is no time to run the general. Crush him as hard as you can. Other than that, hope all is well and congrats on Nevada!Only 4 days ago, The Hill named GPG s Joel Johnson as one their Top Lobbyists or Hired Guns for 2016:Joel Johnson, The Glover Park GroupClients have a trusted guide in Johnson, a former Clinton administration official who leads the advocacy efforts of the public relations powerhouse.Buzzfeed In September 2015, Susan Brophy, managing director of the Glover Park Group, emailed top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills on Oct. 4, 2011, telling her that a planned speech before a joint session of Congress by the Korean president was running into some hurdles. Brophy suggested that the State Department could move things along in Congress.The only problem was, Brophy was representing a country she wasn t registered to represent.Foreign Agent Registration Act rules require individual lobbyists to register the clients they represent, and lobbying firms are required to file their contacts on behalf of those clients.Brophy is a former Clinton White House official, and has raised money for Ready for Hillary, a pro-Clinton super PAC that shut down when the former secretary of state announced her presidential campaign. The Clintons attended her wedding to lawyer and diplomat Gerald McGowan in 1998.The speech by then-president Lee Myung-bak did proceed and took place on Oct. 13, 2011.Joel Johnson, a managing director for Glover Park Group, told BuzzFeed News that Brophy had in fact been on the team working on the South Korean account and that she should have been listed as doing so in their FARA documents. She absolutely was working on the account and had been throughout, and the fact that she had somehow not been listed directly as the principal working on the account was an administrative error, Johnson said.Johnson also said that Brophy should have reported that that contact had been made to the State Department and for whatever reason that was not included in our list of activities and it should have been, and I ll go back and make sure we do whatever is appropriate to amend that. Blah blah blah Is anyone else sick and tired of the Clinton s and anyone attached to the Clinton s not having to follow the same rules and laws the rest of America is expected to follow, or face the consequences of our actions? We take these reporting requirements seriously and we are as diligent as we ever can be, but in that case there s no question that the email she sent to [Mills] have been included in the list of contacts Glover Park Group had made on behalf of South Korea, he said.Yep So are we to believe you took Grounding Bernie to a pulp seriously? | 0 |
Some 2,500 Americans Have Died in Afghanistan and Iraq Under Obama. Under Obama, America has been at war for longer than under any other U.S. president. When is the last time you heard those statistics mentioned by our Leftist media?Somewhere along the way, Obama decided that winning (or ending) the wars in the middle east was less important than starting a full-blown race war in America. Does anyone care that Hillary is openly advocating to carry on his legacy of hate and division over concern for our military or our national security?This is Obama s legacy A California high school football team staged a bizarre die-in to protest the singing of the national anthem.Kaepernick came to Oakland, CA. He kneeled on one knee, players laid on their back with hands up during the Anthem. pic.twitter.com/Cae4sTopac Kirk Morrison (@kirkmorrison) September 24, 2016The Castlemont High School Knights, based in Oakland, engaged in shameful display of anti-American behavior. It happened during a Friday night football game.Disgraced NFL Colin Kaepernick was on hand to encourage the children to disrespect America and the U.S. Armed Forces. I had to come out here and stand with y all, he said in remarks covered by the Mercury News. So I appreciate what y all did. I love y all. Y all my brothers I m here with you. But instead of collapsing on the ground with the children, Kaepernick simply took a knee. I guess he didn t want to get grass stains on his hoodie. Todd StarnesOh and by the way these punks lost their game. They also lost the respect of anyone who watched their disgusting anti-American behavior.High-school players take anthem demonstration to another level, with @Kaepernick7 present, via @kirkmorrison https://t.co/BGD8q2wJ75 ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 24, 2016 | 0 |
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