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JERUSALEM, Israel An unknown group in Iran posted an animated film on the Internet simulating a missile attack on Saudi Arabia, including an attack on their main oil fields.
While it's unclear who made the video, it highlights the growing animosity between these two Middle East giants.
The animation simulates an Iranian rocket attack using missiles fired from Yemen. The attack is designed to cripple Saudi Arabia on multiple fronts.
The video states it's a "response to the hallucinations and empty threats of the Saud clan" and that "the arm of vengeance of the Islamic world will emerge from the sleeve of the Yemenis."
The video reveals the GPS coordinates of Saudi Arabia's main oil facility at the Ghawar Oil Field and then shows the missiles destroying the Saudi Aramco facility and setting the area on fire.
It also simulates attacks on Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, which it calls the Freemason Tower. Then it shows missiles striking the Saudis' main air base and crippling its anti-missile system.
The rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran intensified when the Saudis executed a top Shiite cleric. Iran followed by allowing protesters to ransack the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, prompting Saudi Arabia to cut diplomatic relations.
Pakistan then weighed in on the side of the Saudis, saying they would wipe Iran off the map if it threatened the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.
The concern for many in the region is that the rivalry between the two Middle East titans will go from a war of words to a war on the battlefield. | 0 |
President Donald Trump called for the NATO alliance to renew their struggle against radical Islamic terrorism, hosting a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of the attack in Manchester. [“Terrorism must be stopped in its tracks, or the horror you saw in Manchester and so many other places will continue forever,” he said during his remarks in advance of a NATO summit in Brussels. Trump called the attacks a reminder of the “barbaric” and “vicious” evil that the world faced. “Innocent little girls and so many others were horribly murdered and badly injured while attending a concert,” he said, describing the victims of the attack. “Beautiful lives with so much great potential, torn from their families forever and ever. ” Trump made his remarks during an unveiling of the Article 5 and the Berlin Wall memorials, recalling the success of the partnership against communism. The monument includes a section of one of the Twin Tower buildings that were destroyed on which Trump described as “a painful reminder” of the threat the world still faced. The president again described the terrorists as “losers” that should be obliterated from the world. “Wherever they exist in our societies, we must drive them out and never, ever let them back in,” he said. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed on Wednesday it would reopen a review of whether the Obama administration’s 2022-2025 vehicle emission rules are feasible, a win for automakers which have urged the Trump administration to reverse a January decision to uphold the standards. The EPA said it would make a determination by April 2018 after the Obama administration sought in January to lock in the rules. Environmentalists say the rules save fuel and reduce greenhouse gases. “These standards are costly for automakers and the American people,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in a statement. | 0 |
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Одним из вариантов пополнения федерального бюджета может стать введение налогообложения части депозитов,заявил заместитель ведомства Алексей Моисеев в ходе лекции в Финансовом университете при правительстве РФ, сообщил " Интерфакс" .
Подчеркнув, что это предложение пока не закреплено ни в одном из законопроектов, он сообщил, что в министерстве думают над тем, как именно воплотить его в жизнь.
"По депозитам есть совершенно исключительный в мировой практике налоговый вычет, когда люди в принципе не платят по ним ничего, - посетовал чиновник. - Человек, имея миллиард рублей на депозите, а такие люди есть, и их довольно много, не платят никаких налогов с доходов своих депозитов. Так больше делать нигде нельзя".
При этом варианты исполнения президентского поручения все еще рассматриваются в ведомстве. Напомним, что в декабре прошлого года в послании Федеральному собранию президент РФ Владимир Путин поручил экономическому блоку правительства подготовить предложения об отмене налогообложения купонов по облигациям.
Средства Сбербанка могут стать источником пополнения ликвидности для Внешэкономбанка, сообщают российские СМИ.
Как пишет Ведомости, по предложению руководства госкорпорации, ее качественные кредиты должен выкупить Сбербанк. Согласно предложения, для улучшения ситуации с ликвидностью Внешэкономбанк готов продать пакет высокачественных кредитов на сумму не менее 30 млр рублей, причем покупателем этих кредитов выступит Сбербанк.
Финансовый директор Сбербанка Александр Морозов, заявил, что такой вариант может быть рассмотрен, но конкретные предложения не поступали.
Как пишет РБК, ранее новый председатель ВЭБа Сергей Горьков представил план мероприятий по повышению финансовой устойчивости банка. Согласно плану Горькова, ВЭБ предлагается докапитализировать из бюджета (власти выделят на поддержку Внешэкономбанка 150 млрд руб.) и средств Центробанка, который должен конвертировать долг банка в субординированный кредит - его можно будет включить в капитал второго уровня.
При этом ВЭБ планирует получить дополнительный депозит на 55 млрд руб. от Федерального казначейства и продление от ФНБ истекающего в июне депозита в 50 млрд руб (или его замещение депозитом Газпромбанка).Около 100 млрд руб. ВЭБ рассчитывает получить и от пенсионных накоплений за счет размещения средств Пенсионного фонда, банк также готов продать долю в «Газпроме» (ему принадлежит 2,7% его акций, которые, по данным Лондонской биржи, на 29 марта стоили $1,3 млрд) и часть проблемных активов. Поделиться: | 1 |
Obama Leaves U.S.A $9,335,000,000,000 Deeper in Debt | 0 |
Immediately after this happened, Charles Krauthammer came on and destroyed the left!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9h_Jbxe5Cw | 1 |
Evil hiding under the banner of religion in our own backyard A 32-year-old woman was harassed and intimidated last week when she tried to pick up her four children from the fundamentalist Mormon sect she bravely left to escape an abusive husband.Sabrina Broadbent Tetzner, 32, fled the sect headed by convicted rapist Warren Jeffs eight years ago and finally gained full custody of her children (ages 8 to 13) last week.But when she tried to pick up her children from the Colorado City, Utah community where they have been living, she was physically stopped by hundreds of cult members hell bent on keeping the kids. Lots of members from the community started showing up. They surrounded her vehicle, the home, fences and the yard. They were kicking the van. They even tried to put a cow and chickens into her vehicle, ex-cult member Flora Jessop, who helped Tetzner through her legal battle, told KSL.Cell phone footage shows swarms of polygamists surrounding Tetzner s van, the women dressed in conservative floor-length dresses in varying pastel colors. A Mohave County judge ordered the sect to turn over the children at 5pm Thursday, but Tetzner says that when she got to the compound at the arranged time her kids were nowhere to be seen. FOX 10 News | fox10phoenix.comIt was only at midnight that they returned, and were quickly shepherded into their aunt Samantha Holm s house where several dozen fundamentalists kept them from seeing her mother.Tetzner spent the night in her van, fearing the vehicle would be torn apart if she left it unattended. When even about 600 cult members surrounded her vehicle in the morning, and kept her from reaching the home where her children were staying, Tetzner called police to intervene on her children s behalf. Sheriff s deputies had to take out a search warrant to pry the children from the house and into their mother s waiting arms.Allegedly, the children were not so happy to leave, since cult members had scared them into believing their mother was taking them to hell. Deputies escorted Tetzner and her children all the way back to their home in northern Utah, and reportedly FLDS members tailed them the whole way there.Since leaving the sect, she has remarried a man named Chase Tetzner and the two appear to have a toddler son together. A photo posted to her Facebook in August 2012, shows her in a half-white, half-camouflage wedding dress.Defenders of Children, a non-profit group that has been aiding Tetzner through her custody battle, said they fear for her safety and are raising money to pay for a security system and new clothes for the woman s children. Tetzner left the FLDS church eight years ago, about a year after the cult s leader Warren Jeffs was arrested for organizing marriages between men in his cult and underage girls. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison, but continues to head the church from behind bars.Custodial interference charges are pending against Samantha Holm, the aunt who initially wouldn t hand over Tetzner s children.Via: UK Daily Mail | 1 |
LIMA (Reuters) - Peru s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Wednesday signaled both his vice presidents would resign if Congress forced him from office, calling an opposition bid to remove him a coup attempt that had to be resisted. The rightwing populist party that controls Congress, Popular Force, aims to oust Kuczynski in a vote on Thursday on grounds he is morally unfit to govern, after finding he once had business connections with a company at the center of Latin America s biggest graft scandal. Kuczynski, who denies anything improper or illegal, said Popular Force was misusing its majority to attempt a power grab. The constitution and democracy are under attack. We re facing a coup dressed in supposedly legitimate legal interpretations, he said in a late night speech on national television. This is a conviction that my two vice presidents share, because neither wants to be part of a government born of an unjust and anti-democratic maneuver, Kuczynski said. He was flanked by First Vice President Martin Vizcarra and Second Vice President Mercedes Araoz. If Kuczynski loses Thursday s congressional vote to remove him and his two vice presidents depart as well, new presidential and legislative elections would be called. A 79-year-old former Wall Street banker, Kuczynski has struggled to govern since winning last year s presidential election but only a small share of congressional seats for his center-right party. Popular Force says its efforts to remove him are well within the bounds of the constitution and key to its fight against corruption. He simply doesn t care about the country, Popular Force lawmaker Luz Salgado said after Kuczynski s address. Earlier this week, Salgado called for Vizcarra to govern the country through 2021, when Kucyznski s term ends. Vizcarra and Araoz both pledged their loyalty to the center-right president on Wednesday but declined to comment on whether that meant they would resign if he was removed from office. Araoz told Reuters on Sunday that she and Vizcarra would not quit. In recent days, Kuczynski s supporters have increasingly called for his vice presidents to refuse to replace him. They believe new elections would cost Popular Force its majority amid widespread contempt for elected officials as a graft scandal taints much of the country s political class. But investors worry a new ballot could sweep anti-establishment candidates to power in one of Latin America s most stable economies. Kuczynski s government does not think it will come to that, said a government source. It expects about a dozen opposition lawmakers to oppose the motion or abstain from voting, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Eighty-seven votes are needed to oust Kuczynski. Congress passed the motion to start presidential vacancy proceedings last week with 93 votes. On Wednesday, thousands of Peruvians marched in front of Congress to denounce what they saw as Popular Force s bid to exploit the crisis to sabotage country s democratic institutions, pointing to its recent efforts to also oust the attorney general and a justice in the Constitutional Court. Popular Force emerged from the rightwing populist movement started in the 1990s by former President Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year-sentence for graft and human rights crimes during his autocratic 1990-2000 government. The United States, where Kuczynski once held citizenship, said Peru was a strong democracy. We are confident that the Peruvian people and institutions will address this situation according to Peru s constitutional norms, the U.S. State Department s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said. The political crisis stems from a disclosure by Brazilian builder Odebrecht [ODBES.UL], which has landed elites in jail from Colombia to the Dominican Republic since acknowledging bribing officials across the region for much of the century. Responding to a request by Congress, Odebrecht said it paid more than $4 million to consulting companies owned by Kuczynski or a close business associate for about a decade starting in 2004. Some deposits were made to a company Kuczynski owned while he was minister in a government that awarded Odebrecht lucrative contracts. Odebrecht said Saturday that there was no indication the transactions were part of its past corrupt dealings with politicians, which it can only discuss with prosecutors. Kuczynski once strenuously denied ever having any ties with Odebrecht. He has since apologized to Peru for not disclosing his connections with the company, blaming forgetfulness and poor organization of his personal records after decades of work in finance and public administration. But he said there was nothing improper about the payments. Being careless and sloppy is a defect but it is not...a tool for dishonesty and much, much less, for crime, Kuczynski said. Kuczynski had once raised hopes that his decades of finance and public administration experience would usher in a new period of investments to spur faster economic growth in the world s No.2 copper producer. But in a sign of how the crisis has engulfed his government, Peru postponed an auction of a $2 billion copper project, scheduled for Wednesday, until February. | 1 |
TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) - Donald Trump flew all night from New York to Scotland to talk about his renovated Turnberry golf course and, given the chance to open up on the topic, he was rhapsodic. At a news conference, the Republican’s opening ode to Turnberry was what greeted American cable TV viewers as they woke to the news that Britain had voted to part ways with the European Union. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee talked plenty about the “Brexit” vote. But since his event was to mark the reopening of a resort where the Open Championship has been staged four times, he first reviewed the improvements at holes 9, 10 and 11, the sprinkler system, the lighthouse, the resort hotel, and he name-checked golf legends Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Price. “This hole is an example,” said Trump, standing on the 9th tee. “From approximately this area, you would hit over there ... Now you’re hitting out over the ocean. And just to the right of the lighthouse, you have a green, and a lot of people think this will be the greatest par 3 anywhere in the world. And then 10 becomes a par 5,” he said. Trump quickly dispensed with a protester who emerged from the audience to hold up a package of red golf balls emblazoned with Nazi swastikas. “Get him out of here,” Trump said, a refrain that he frequently uses when protesters are escorted by security from his rallies back home. More appreciated by Trump were the two bagpipers in kilts who accompanied him. Everyone at his event knew he was about to arrive because they could hear the skirling of the pipes before he appeared from behind a grassy hill. “We’re just waiting on Donald Trump. His arrival is imminent. We can see the bagpipers,” said one TV broadcaster. Having never held public office, Trump does not have a list of political victories to tout on the campaign trail. With his business skills, Trump says, he can work to improve America’s rundown roads and bridges and negotiate better deals on issues as diverse as trade and Iran’s nuclear program. Trump delights in talking about his projects. His makeover of Washington’s Old Post Office into a luxury Trump hotel, for example, is way ahead of schedule. He is less enthusiastic about raising money for his campaign and the Republican National Committee. “I don’t like doing it,” he said. But true to his nature, Trump averred he was good at it. “You know, I sit with 20 people, and we talk, and they all hand you checks, bing, bing, bing,” he said. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The tax bill is President Donald Trump’s biggest legislative victory this year, but Democratic strategists are already planning how to turn it into his biggest liability. The emotional trigger they think will work on voters at next year’s midterm elections: arguing the bill is profoundly unfair by giving the lion’s share of benefits to corporations and the rich. “Be careful what you wish for,” Tom Steyer, a Democratic billionaire, said of Republican leaders in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. “They wanted this, they should have never have wanted it. Now that they’ve got it, they’re going to wish they didn’t.” Steyer said he plans to use his money - through his political group NextGen America - to attack the Republican tax overhaul, using social media and online advertising aimed at young voters, a strategy that recently helped elect Democratic candidate Doug Jones in a Senate race in Alabama and Ralph Northam as governor of Virginia. In November 2018, elections will be held for all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and for 34 seats in the 100-member Senate. Pollsters believe the midterms could be a rare “wave election,” when one party seizes back control of Congress. It happened for Republicans in 2010 and 1994. If Democrats are able to pick up two more Senate seats, they will take control of the chamber. And after the wins in Alabama and Virginia, they are even hopeful they could tap into anger over tax cuts for the rich to win control of the House. Only about 29 percent of voters approve of the tax bill, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid December. Slightly more than 52 percent oppose it. In no region of the country did even half of the people polled say they support it. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee is already running anti-tax plan ads in several key states including Nevada, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The ads are only five-second spots running before YouTube videos. The viewer, unable to skip over the ads, will hear: “The Republican tax scheme gives huge breaks to corporations but raises taxes on middle class families.” The tax bill cuts the corporate tax rate to 21 percent and raises the threshold at which an inheritance is taxed. It also cuts the tax rate for top earners. While it also cuts the tax rate for most other income groups and doubles the size of the standard deduction, the elimination of other popular deductions could result in some taxpayers seeing a tax increase instead of a cut. It has been popular with the Republican base, Trump voters and the party’s donors. The stock market has surged in anticipation of the cuts. Democrats plan to focus on provisions like benefits to commercial real estate owners, arguing that the tax bill could produce millions of dollars of more cash for Trump and his family members. The White House asserts Trump will not personally benefit – but it admits that his business might. The Super PAC American Bridge, which supports Democratic candidates, is running digital ads in states with Senate races targeting women, swing voters and Republicans in suburban areas, said Joshua Karp, the group’s communication director for Senate races. “I think there is a couple of things that get almost all Americans riled up about this bill, it is fundamentally unfair and breaking the promise the Republicans made to the American people,” Karp said. Republicans say Democrats are indulging in wishful thinking. Polls say 50 percent of voters think their taxes will go up, but tax analysts say that 80 percent will pay less tax. Republicans are counting on voters, when they see more money in their paychecks, to dismiss Democratic rhetoric, and perhaps even throw their support behind Trump. And if there are any unpleasant surprises in store for taxpayers, they will not be filing their first tax returns under the new law until early 2019, months after the midterm elections. Republican strategist Alex Conant, a veteran of congressional and presidential campaigns, said the unpopularity of the tax cuts in opinion polls can be directly attributed to Trump’s low approval levels. “We’re losing elections because Donald Trump is incredibly unpopular and makes a lot of independents and soft Republicans uncomfortable ... Trump’s numbers are dragging down tax reform’s numbers,” Conant said, although he also played down the electoral risks of the tax overhaul. “I would be very surprised if people are marching in the streets months from now because we cut their taxes.” Republicans have some other advantages, like the growing economy, that means an attack on the tax overhaul could backfire. “Democrats will have a very hard time taking this road if the economy is still going gang busters 11 months from now,” Republican strategist Joe Bretell said. But he acknowledges that the Democrats are on the right track. “The emotional trigger point is in fairness,” he said. “The party that can best explain or brand this bill and explain why it’s fair or unfair to their base or the other side, wins.” | 1 |
When it comes to limiting our free speech, nothing this lawless government does should surprise us. Under normal circumstances, I would question the validity of this claim, but we are no longer living under normal circumstances Amazon.com staff are telling irate customers that the company was ordered by the federal government not to sell items featuring the Confederate flag in the aftermath of the Charleston shooting.Amazon made the announcement this week, along with eBay, Sears and Walmart, that it would no longer sell products bearing the rebel flag, but according to a conversation posted on YouTube between a customer and an Amazon sales rep, the decision could have been made as a result of pressure from the government.At first the Amazon staffer claims that the items were banned because they were deemed to be offensive, but when pressed by the customer, the sales rep tells a different story. Is this a political statement by Amazon.com or is this a directive that you re following, that the government said you know we want you guys not to sell these anymore? asks the caller. The government is not allowing us to sell this Confederate flag, responds the staffer. So the government is not allowing you .to sell it? asks the caller, to which the sales rep responds, yes. So Amazon is not making a political statement, this is something the government told you to do? questions the caller. Exactly, responds the staffer.Via: InfoWars | 0 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The judge presiding over the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager issued a gag order on Wednesday barring anyone involved in the case from making public statements that might taint it. Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were arraigned in federal court in Washington last week on a 12-count indictment that accused them of conspiring to launder money, failing to disclose foreign bank accounts and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in her written order she wanted to make sure the trial was fair and that potential jurors were not influenced by pre-trial publicity. She directed the defendants, all lawyers and any potential witnesses to “refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice” to the case. Jackson had previously warned lawyers about discussing the case publicly after Manafort defense lawyer Kevin Downing made a defiant statement outside the courthouse following his client’s arraignment on Monday. “This is a criminal trial and not a public relations campaign,” Jackson said in court last week. Downing, appearing before television cameras on Monday, said the charges against Manafort were “ridiculous” and said the president was correct to insist there was “no evidence the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.” The charges against Manafort and Gates stem from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Manafort and Gates have both pleaded not guilty. The Kremlin has denied meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion took place. Downing did not respond to a request for comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment. Jackson had asked the parties last week if they had any objections to a gag order. None responded. Downing’s statements outside the courthouse had raised eyebrows among defense lawyers. “Judge Jackson is a no-nonsense judge and he’s clearly angered her to no purpose,” said Eric Lewis, a longtime Washington trial lawyer. But Los Angeles defense lawyer Mark Geragos said he thought Downing might indeed have had a purpose in mind: currying favor with Trump in the hopes of eventually securing Manafort a presidential pardon. “The cynic in me would say that was exactly what was happening,” said Geragos, “that there was an audience of one.” | 0 |
A Trio of Neo-Nazi, Confederate flag-waving white supremacists are now in custody after screaming HEIL HITLER! and engaging in a knife attack on a small group of Latino children and a family that tried to intervene on behalf of the kids.The Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department received calls at approximately 4:30 p.m. from people who were reporting the incident. Witnesses told Police that the men were screaming racial slurs, and one of them was waving a wallet with a Confederate flag on it, as they were attacking the teens and family. The family arrived on the scene after the group had already began harassing the teenagers, and that s when the offenders drew knives on the group. The father of the family, who wanted to remain anonymous, said:They just started beating them up. They started coming towards us, and they pulled out some knives, and they were saying they would kill us.Source: RawstoryPolice said that they will be investigating the attack as a hate crime, for obvious reasons. There were no injuries, but this is the second attack that has happened by white supremacists in two days in California. In Anaheim one day earlier, a KKK rally turned into a street brawl that ended with a Klansman impaling 3 people with the tip of a flagpole. The second incident had a happier ending, because there were no serious injuries and these people will actually be prosecuted for a crime. In the flagpole incident, police said that the KKK stabbed in self-defense, so they were released from custody.With the Ku Klux Klan officially endorsing the person who is about to win the Republican nomination for president, it brings to mind that there may be an escalating occurrence of hate crimes as America keeps rewarding racism and bigotry with ever-growing poll numbers and success. It s going to be a long election season if this keeps up.Watch local coverage of the incident below:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
There are a lot of things citizens of the United States can and do look for in a Commander-in-Chief. However, it s doubtful that schoolyard bully is part of the ideal criteria for president. There s really no better way to describe Donald Trump. He s nasty, vile, bigoted, hate-filled, and outright nauseating. The things that he says aren t okay to say in any arena of professional life, and they only reason he s allowed to get away with it is because of money, power and privilege. If the words he uses were to come out of a poor person living on the street, you d think they were unstable, phone the police and they would likely get carted away for a lifetime in an asylum.For years, Trump has tried to perpetuate the myth that President Obama not only isn t a natural-born citizen, but that he s also Muslim. And while there s absolutely nothing wrong with being Muslim, hearing it from a man who equates Islam solely to terrorism means he s calling our Commander-in-Chief a terrorist.Continuing this hostile fallacy, Trump took to Twitter to try to be witty, and posed the question: I wonder if President Obama would have attended the funeral of Justice Scalia if it were held in a Mosque? Very sad that he did not go! I wonder if President Obama would have attended the funeral of Justice Scalia if it were held in a Mosque? Very sad that he did not go! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2016First of all, President Obama DID go to the Supreme Court building alongside his wife to pay his respects while Justice Scalia lay in repose on Friday, and Vice President Biden will be attending the funeral service. However, this wasn t at all a jab at the fact that Obama wasn t unable to attend the service. It was a direct attack on President Obama to once again perpetuate the myth that our president is Muslim, which in Trump s language means, he s a terrorist. It s not even coded language. It s clear as day as he lays down his hatred for Muslims nearly every day.This man has a VERY real chance at becoming the GOP nominee for president, which is absolutely disgusting. And it says a lot not only about Trump, but about the hateful bigots in this nation who seem to think he s the right choice.Featured image: Flickr/Twitter | 1 |
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MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine military will liberate southern Marawi City in a matter of days, the country s armed forces chief said on Monday, after the deaths of two key militant leaders he said would lead to the crumbling of a pro-Islamic state alliance. The bodies of Omarkhayam Maute and Isnilon Hapilon had been retrieved and identified by authorities, but there were still about 30 fighters in the combat zone who were in disarray, General Eduardo Ano told a televised news conference. Top Malaysian operative Mahmud Ahmad and foreign fighters were still believed to be in the battle zone, he said, adding that there would be no letup in the fight to wipe out groups loyal to Islamic State after Marawi was retaken. | 0 |
Bombs a-w oh, never mind Things must be going well in the war on terror, as the US Air Force just admitted that it is fast running out of bombs to drop on ISIS after B-1s have dropped bombs in record numbers. As ZeeNews reports, Air Force chief of staff General Mark Welsh said as America ramps up its military campaign against the Islamist terror group, the Air Force is now expending munitions faster than we can replenish them. The US Air Force is fast running out of bombs to drop on ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq after its pilots fired off over 20,000 missiles and bombs since the US bombing campaign against the terror group began 15 months ago, its chief has said. As ZeeNews reports, B-1s have dropped bombs in record numbers. F-15Es are in the fight because they are able to employ a wide range of weapons and do so with great flexibility. We need the funding in place to ensure we re prepared for the long fight, Welsh said in the statement. This is a critical need, he said.The bombing campaign has left the US Air Force with what an Air Force official described as munitions depot stocks below our desired objective. The Air Force has requested additional funding for Hellfire missiles and is developing plans to ramp up weapons production to replenish its stocks more quickly. But replenishing that stock can take up to four years from time of expenditure to asset resupply, the official told CNN. The precision today s wars requires demands the right equipment and capability to achieve desired effects. We need to ensure the necessary funding is in place to not only execute today s wars, but also tomorrow s challenges, the official said. As The Washington Times concludes, Russia has been bombing ISIS positions sporadically while France and Great Britain are now active in the American-led coalition which could relieve some pressure.Much larger potential adversaries like Russia or China most surely are following this development carefully. If the USAF cannot sustain a trickling battle against a poorly armed, medieval enemy, fighting a superpower military is obviously beyond its capability.Via: Zero Hedge | 0 |
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces on Sunday killed nine suspected militants in a shootout in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, the interior ministry said in a statement. The ministry said security forces had received information that the militants were using a farm in Sharqiya as a hideout and were trained there to use weapons to carry out attacks in north Sinai. It said their attacks had resulted in the deaths of a number of police and army personnel. Upon raiding the farm, security forces were surprised by gunshots in their direction which were dealt with, resulting in the killing of nine, the ministry said. It said it was still trying to determine the identity of the suspects. Weapons and ammunition were found at the farm. In a separate raid in Cairo on a terrorist hideout , police arrested nine other suspected militants on Sunday, the ministry said in the same statement. Those arrested all have ties with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, it said. Security forces have battled Islamist militants in the mainly desert region stretching from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, since 2013. Militants there have killed hundreds of police and soldiers. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the armed forces to end the insurgency within three months after an attack on a mosque in North Sinai last month that killed more than 300 people in Egypt s worst militant attack in modern history. | 0 |
On January 16, President Obama declared a federal emergency in the city of Flint, Michigan. The president s declaration was issued even as evidence mounted that officials in the state s government had willfully and knowingly allowed tens of thousands of Flint residents to consume poisoned water for more than a year.As a result of decisions made by Michigan governor Rick Snyder, 200 children under the age of six have been confirmed to have irreversible lead poisoning. As testing continues, another 9,000 children are likely to be diagnosed with elevated levels of lead in their blood.Emails and leaked documents from the Snyder administration show that the governor and his appointed emergency managers were aware of the problem with the city s water for more than a year.As Addicting Info reported here, an in-depth report by the ACLU of Michigan shows that state officials falsified documents and rigged tests, to purposely mislead the EPA regarding the amount of lead in Flint s water.In addition to poisoning thousands of people with lead, Michigan officials, including the governor and his hand-picked emergency managers, not only ignored a massive spike in cases of Legionnaires disease, but blocked attempts by health officials to determine the cause or take appropriate steps to protect public health.Ten people died from exposure to the waterborne Legionella bacteria.In spite of the fact that state officials knew that the water was likely contaminated with this deadly bacteria and poisoned with lead, they repeatedly assured Flint residents that it was safe to drink.While it is tempting to believe that what happened in Flint can t happen to any of us, the reality is that unless we learn from this unprecedented disaster, it not only can happen to us, it likely will.Here are the ten most important things that Americans must learn from the Flint water crisis.Michigan s emergency manager law, passed by the state s republican/Tea Party legislature and signed by Governor Rick Snyder, provides for the establishment of a puppet government across the state. The law gives Governor Snyder the legal authority to remove elected officials (democrats) and replace them with a single, unelected manager. Every emergency manager in the state is hand-picked by the governor.The state s emergency managers are bestowed with unlimited power to make decisions on behalf of the local government. In the meantime, the people elected by the citizens are stripped of power, and their voices are silenced. In Flint, Detroit, Pontiac, Benton Harbor and elsewhere across the state of Michigan, local residents have been shut out of the decision-making process entirely.Make no mistake, the state s emergency manager law not only allowed the citizens of Flint to be poisoned, it allowed Snyder officials to cover up the contaminated water for more than a year.As republican governor Chris Christie advances a Michigan-style emergency manager law in New Jersey, it s vital that residents of Atlantic City understand how this law set the stage for the Flint water crisis.Flint is a horrifying example of what happens when right-wing extremists are allowed to make decisions that impact the lives of thousands of citizens.The decision to use the Flint river as a water source for the city was made by Snyder s appointed emergency manager in Flint, Ed Kurtz. There s also evidence that this decision came down directly from the governor s office.The story of how 100,000 people were poisoned by their own government is best understood in terms of right-wing ideology. The people who were charged with making decisions for Flint can be described as typical right-wing extremists. They are EPA-haters, regulation-opposers and Science deniers.These underlying beliefs allowed them to justify their illegal actions, both to each other and to themselves. To them, rigging tests, falsifying documents and flat-out lying to the environmental protection agency was just a way to get around the evil EPA with all its oppressive, costly and unnecessary regulations. Did they believe that their actions would cause harm to tens of thousands of people? It s possible they did. But it s more likely that their underlying anti-federal government, anti-regulation ideology allowed them to convince themselves that their actions would not really harm anyone. These are people who really believed that evil government regulations only exist to oppress the free market, not protect the public.Those beliefs are exactly why politicians who subscribe to right-wing ideology can never, ever be trusted to make decisions that could potentially impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.A long list of people, all appointed by Michigan governor Rick Snyder, played a role in the Flint water crisis. All of them were uneducated, inexperienced and unqualified for the positions they were appointed to. Not a single person who played a role in the switch of the city s water source to the Flint river had any knowledge or experience in this area.Nowhere is that more evident in the fact that emergency manager Ed Kurtz eliminated the use of corrosion control, to save roughly $80.00 a day.That single uneducated decision virtually destroyed the city s infrastructure, and created the lead contamination Flint residents are facing today.To understand the level of ineptitude this plummets to, bear in mind that Flint is the only city in the United States that had no plan for corrosion control whatsoever.Corrosion control for all municipal water supplies is mandatory under the Safe Drinking Water Act.In order to cover-up for the fact that corrosion control was eliminated by Snyder appointed officials, state officials lied to the EPA.As reported by Dr. Marc Edwards of the Flint Water Study program here,On February 27th, 2015, MDEQ s Stephen Busch unequivocally and falsely responded to EPA that: The City of Flint Has an Optimized Corrosion Control Program <and> Conducts quarterly Water Quality Parameter monitoring at 25 sites and has not had any unusual results. This was a flat-out lie.It wasn t until much later that the EPA learned that Michigan officials had been deceiving the agency about the use of corrosion control in Flint.As MLive reported nearly a year later, EPA officials were stunned when they discovered the truth. I was stunned when I found out they did not have corrosion control in place, Miguel A. Del Toral, regulations manager in the EPA s ground water and drinking water branch, said in an interview with The Flint Journal-MLive today, Jan. 21. In my head, I didn t believe that. I thought: That can t be true that s so basic. That s not possible. Unfortunately, it was possible.It was also the direct result of Governor Snyder appointing a list of unqualified, uneducated and inexperienced businessmen to be in charge of the city s water supply.A close examination of Michigan government shows what can happen when a single political party seizes control of all branches of government.The two-party system of government is essential to a healthy democracy. Not only is the system meant to safeguard against the kind of dictatorship being imposed in Michigan, but a second party with at least some amount of political power is necessary to keep government in check.In Michigan, the right wing has virtually succeeded in suppressing any voice that is not its own.Michigan s single party rule has eliminated from government anyone that could reasonably be expected to investigate corruption or hold state officials accountable for their actions.Michigan has a right-wing Attorney General, Secretary of State and Governor, along with a legislature that is entirely controlled by Tea Party and republican representatives. There is virtually no other party with any power in Michigan. Because of that, there is no-one to act as a watchdog for state government and there is no-one to hold state officials accountable.When Attorney General Bill Schuette finally announced an investigation into the Flint water crisis, Michigan residents laughed. No-one was surprised when Scheutte chose a private lawyer, who is not accountable to the public, to conduct the investigation. Nor was anyone surprised when it was revealed that the recently hired investigator is a republican party donor, who helped elect Rick Snyder.As Democracy Web explains it:There are ideological movements that reject the central tenets of multiparty electoral democracy but exploit the system s freedoms and processes to seek power. These include fascism, communism, and some forms of religious fundamentalism and ethnic or racial nationalism. Generally, parties with such ideologies use a utopian vision for the future to justify the imposition of a dictatorship once they reach government. While other parties are sometimes allowed to exist under their rule, real political power is exercised solely by the governing party. In these single-party systems, the ruling party is also a source of patronage, the main vehicle for personal advancement in politics and society, and a mechanism for strictly enforcing conformity to the dominant ideology. Underground parties or movements often organize against such regimes, but these are subject to severe repression.The Flint water crisis could not have happened without this total imbalance of power in the state s government.Michigan citizens apparently voted for Rick Snyder because of his business experience. That was their first mistake.Snyder s experience as a venture capitalist and corporate CEO did not make him more qualified to govern a state. If anything, it made him less qualified.Throughout his career, Snyder has been driven by the corporate doctrine of shareholder profit above all else. The only thing considered unethical in the corporate world is losing money.We got a first-hand glimpse into the corporate decision making process in 1968. That year leaked documents showed that the Ford Motor Company had compared the cost of recalling the company s Pinto to the cost of letting people die when the car s engine exploded. The company s analysis showed that it would be cheaper to let people die than to recall the car. So they did.Corporate ethics revolve around doing whatever you can get away with to protect or increase shareholder profits. This is the world that CEO s like Governor Rick Snyder live in.In relation to Flint, the media narrative has been that the source of Flint s drinking water was switched to the Flint river to save the city money. This narrative is simply not true.A feasibility study ordered by former Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon showed that switching the source of Flint s water would cost the city more. That report was thrown out by state officials.Emails released earlier this month, however, verify that it would have saved Flint hundreds of thousands dollars to stay with the Detroit Water and Sewer, even in the best case scenario.After the switch, Flint residents experienced a massive hike in their water rates. The increase in cost left many citizens unable to afford to keep water on in their homes. But those citizens who lost access to Flint s poisoned water may have been the lucky ones.If Snyder considered the citizens of Michigan his shareholders than none of these decisions make sense. He wasn t saving the city money as he repeatedly claimed. He wasn t doing the citizens of Flint any favors, either.But Snyder s decisions were never based on what was best for the city of Flint, nor the residents of that city.There s a whole different set of shareholders whose identities are not yet known.These are the people who Michigan s emergency manager law was set up to benefit.The law is formally known as Public Act 436. Embedded in the text of this law is the provision for state emergency managers to receive unlimited amounts of private cash.Section 141.1549 (f) reads:In addition to the salary provided to an emergency manager in a contract approved by the state treasurer under subdivision (e), this state may receive and distribute private funds to an emergency manager. As used in this subdivision, private funds means any money the state receives for the purpose of allocating additional salary to an emergency manager.Snyder set up a fund for these secret private donors, which he originally called the NERD fund. Cash was transferred through this fund directly into the pockets of Snyder s emergency managers.After a public outcry over the NERD fund, Snyder told the citizens of Michigan that it had been eliminated. That was another lie.Snyder simply changed the name of the slush fund from the NERD fund to the Moving Michigan Forward Fund.The same unnamed donors who have been lining the pockets of Michigan emergency managers for several years, are now footing the bill for Snyder s recently hired PR firms.Watch this video from WXYZ.The FBI and the Department of Justice criminal division are now investigating the Flint water crisis. Let s be clear, without the hope of an independent, outside investigation by federal authorities, Michigan citizens would be left without recourse.Michigan is one of two states in the country which exempts the governor and all state lawmakers from Freedom of Information requests.Any government that goes to these lengths to hide what it is doing from the public is a government that cannot and should not be trusted.Right wing lawmakers have no desire to make government work. They work to make government fail. Nowhere is that clearer than in the state of Michigan, where Snyder s appointed officials repeatedly broke federal laws, with devastating consequences. It s no surprise that republicans are now trying to use the Flint water crisis as proof that government doesn t work. There s nothing more dangerous to a corrupt government than an informed and involved citizenry.Being informed doesn t mean getting your news and information from the same source or sources all of the time, either.Sometimes being informed just means talking to other people, reaching across the aisles and stepping outside of your usual comfort zone.The people of Flint tried for more than a year to get the public s attention. We should ask ourselves why we didn t listen sooner.If we are to make sure that what happened in Flint never happens anywhere again, then we have to decide that we will not let factors like income or race or political affiliation determine whether or not we are willing to listen to our fellow citizens.If we can learn anything from the Flint water crisis, it s how important it is for each and every one of us to use our voting rights now. If we don t, we can (and almost surely will) lose them later.Right-wing politicians like Rick Snyder do not believe in democracy. They do not support your right to vote, nor your right to participate in government.Make no mistake, the only rights the people of Michigan have left are those which are protected by the federal government. At the state level, the right-wing legislature has removed the people s ability to participate in local government. These same lawmakers virtually eliminated the citizen s ability to recall their elected officials. They have also made it impossible for the voters to repeal legislation.This is what the far-right has accomplished in Michigan in just a few short years.Imagine what they will do if they gain complete control of the federal government These are certainly not the only lessons we should learn from the Flint water crisis. But if we all just learn these ten, and we truly take them to heart, our society will be so much better off going into the 2016 election. Image credit from Michigan Municipal League, via Flckr, cc 2.0 | 0 |
Notable names include Ray Washburne (Commerce), a Dallas-based investor, is reported to be under consideration to lead the department. | 1 |
International diplomacy is a world of careful rituals, hierarchy and credentials. But when the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, wanted to communicate with Donald J. Trump, he ended up on two occasions in the Manhattan office of a young man with no government experience, no political background and no official title in the Trump campaign: Jared Kushner. Mr. Kushner held court at length with Mr. Dermer, doing his best to engage in the same sort of conversation that the ambassador conducted with career diplomats and policy experts from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. A real estate developer, investor and newspaper publisher, Mr. Kushner derives his authority in the campaign not from a traditional résumé but from a marital vow. He is Mr. Trump’s . Yet in a gradual but unmistakable fashion, Mr. Kushner has become involved in virtually every facet of the Trump presidential operation, so much so that many inside and out of it increasingly see him as a de facto campaign manager. Mr. Kushner, who is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka, helped recruit a sorely needed director of communications, oversaw the creation of an online system and has had a hand in drafting Mr. Trump’s few policy speeches. And now that Mr. Trump has secured the Republican nomination, Mr. Kushner is counseling his on the selection of a running mate. It is a new and unlikely role for Mr. Kushner, a conspicuously polite Harvard graduate whose prominent New Jersey family bankrolled Democrats for decades and whose father’s reputation was destroyed, in a highly public and humiliating manner, by his involvement in electoral politics. Now, in a Shakespearean turn, Mr. Kushner is working side by side with the former federal prosecutor who put his father, Charles Kushner, in prison just over 10 years ago: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whom Mr. Trump named as a top adviser. Mr. Kushner originally voiced objections to Mr. Trump about the appointment, but Mr. Kushner and Mr. Christie have since become wary allies in seeking to impose greater discipline on Mr. Trump’s unconventional campaign. Much about the Trump candidacy seems at odds with Mr. Kushner’s personality and biography: An Orthodox Jew and grandson of Holocaust survivors, Mr. Kushner is now at the center of a campaign that has been embraced by white nationalists and . Mr. Kushner’s friends say he has expressed no concern to them about his ’s behavior. On Saturday, Mr. Trump created a firestorm after posting an image on Twitter featuring a picture of Mrs. Clinton with a star and a pile of cash, which had previously appeared on a website known for . (On Monday, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that it was not a Star of David, but a sheriff’s or a plain star.) Mr. Kushner believes that his ’s respect for his Jewish faith is sincere, his friends said, and that the issue is not worth addressing. Mr. Kushner’s role was described in more than two dozen interviews with friends, colleagues and campaign staff members, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could disclose interactions that were supposed to remain private. Mr. Kushner declined to be interviewed. In many ways, he has filled a vacuum in a startlingly small organization that has had no official manager since the June ouster of Corey Lewandowski, which Mr. Kushner advocated, and that has fallen far behind in building a campaign. But his real power, his friends said, stems from his close relationship with Mr. Trump, who has long preferred the advice of family over political professionals and who sees in Mr. Kushner a younger version of himself. “Jared is an amazing and we are very close,” Mr. Trump said in a statement, describing him as “a big and bold thinker. ” For both men — the privileged sons of and domineering real estate tycoons — the legacies of their fathers loom large. More than 30 years after Mr. Trump took command of the Trump Organization and built the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Trump Tower, Mr. Kushner tapped his own family empire, Kushner Companies, to buy a Fifth Avenue skyscraper and become part owner of a giant office complex near the Brooklyn waterfront. “My father looked at the deals Jared was doing and saw himself in those deals,” Ms. Trump said. But the parallels end there. Mr. Trump came to Manhattan to outstrip his father’s success Mr. Kushner was seeking to redeem his family’s tarnished name. The elder Mr. Kushner built the family’s real estate business into a empire of apartments and land until he was sent to federal prison in 2005 for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign donations, many of them to Democratic candidates. The case involved a traumatic and tawdry family feud: At one point, Charles Kushner sought to retaliate against his who was cooperating with the federal authorities, by hiring a woman to seduce him and videotape the encounter. “Vile and heinous” was how Mr. Christie, then the United States attorney for New Jersey, described the conduct. Almost overnight, Mr. Kushner, 24 years old and still a student at law school, became the public face of the family business. On weekdays, he toured construction sites on weekends, he flew to Alabama to visit his father in prison. The two remain exceedingly close: For years, Mr. Kushner used a wallet that his father had made in prison. Mr. Kushner does not like to talk about his father’s travails, but they plainly left a mark on him. At his son’s recent bris, he spoke of his wish for the newborn: “May life be hard enough that you grow, but not so hard that you break. ” In 2006, with the family’s wounds from the scandal still fresh, Mr. Kushner bought The New York Observer, a small newspaper aimed at the city’s social, political and real estate elite. A stranger to the culture of a publication that delighted in needling the rich and powerful, he initially floundered as a publisher, alienating reporters and cycling through a series of editors before landing on an old friend of the Kushner family, Ken Kurson. In April, the newspaper, which under its previous ownership made a sport of mocking Mr. Trump, enthusiastically endorsed his presidential bid. Mr. Kushner has described his time on the campaign trail with the wonder of a political neophyte. “You have to see this,” he told his wife after returning from a Trump rally last year in Springfield, Ill. For months, he was more loyal than campaign operative, his role mainly confined to standing alongside the candidate and making calls to potential advisers and donors. It was in March, after Mr. Trump inflamed Jewish leaders with an improvised vow to remain “neutral” in dealings with Israel and Palestinians, that Mr. Kushner emerged as an unchallenged force in the campaign. He worked the phones to placate angry Republicans and urged Mr. Trump to deliver a unequivocally speech in front of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the influential lobbying group known as Aipac. Mr. Kushner even solicited advice from Mr. Kurson, the Observer editor. Mr. Kushner’s first major foray into foreign policy did not go off without a hitch. At one point in the speech, Mr. Trump mocked President Obama, prompting Aipac to condemn those remarks. Mr. Kushner was furious at the group, but in the eyes of Mr. Trump, it had been a success. Mr. Kushner seems to relish the privileges that his status as Mr. Trump’s carries. In May, when Mr. Trump met with Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, Mr. Kushner tagged along. No detail seems too small. Mr. Kushner has become involved in curating videos on Mr. Trump’s Facebook page, reviewing programming for the Republican convention and retooling the online store where Trump hats, and mugs are sold. Donors, policy experts and Republican leaders regularly reach out to him as a gatekeeper to the candidate. And with increasing frequency, Mr. Trump turns to Mr. Kushner throughout the day for feedback. “I’ve been with Jared and the phone will ring, and it will be Trump soliciting Jared’s opinion,” Mr. Kurson said. Mr. Kushner does not always wait for Mr. Trump to call. He pushed behind the scenes, along with Mr. Trump’s three oldest children, for the dismissal of Mr. Lewandowski, a polarizing figure who had overseen Mr. Trump’s primary campaign and begun to see Mr. Kushner as an internal rival. Unlike his with his seemingly bottomless appetite for conflict, Mr. Kushner is, by all accounts, and restrained. In the midst of a difficult real estate negotiation a few years ago, the Mr. Kushner playfully proposed an unconventional solution to a standoff: an match. “It was such a simple way to resolve a conflict when the conflict didn’t need to be there in the first place,” said his counterpart in the negotiation, Adam Neumann, a founder of WeWork, which provides shared work spaces to entrepreneurs. Mr. Kushner lost. He is, Mr. Neumann said, “the opposite of a traditional New York developer. ” But not entirely. Mr. Kushner, whose dimpled cheeks and baby face are a fixture of society pages, has embraced the trappings of a mogul. He moved with his wife into a penthouse of a tower on Park Avenue and courted the friendship of Rupert Murdoch, the founder of Fox News, whose young daughters were flower girls at Mr. Kushner’s wedding to Ms. Trump. But for Mr. Kushner, an awkward reality remains: Many of his friends and are socially liberal Democrats who are horrified by the Trump campaign. The topic is more or less off limits at Mr. Kushner’s company, people who have spent time there said, and old friends said they avoided it in Mr. Kushner’s presence. “There is no purpose in discussing it,” said Joel I. Klein, the former New York City Schools chancellor who socializes with Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump. As a Hillary Clinton supporter, Mr. Klein said, “We leave this piece alone. ” The skepticism and disapproval from his peers appear to have hardened Mr. Kushner’s resolve. Friends who have spoken with him said he felt vindicated by Mr. Trump’s improbable electoral success, playing down doubts about his strategy and expressing admiration for his political acumen. Now, between flights with Mr. Trump and the flurry of campaign calls and meetings, Mr. Kushner is devoting far less time to his real estate empire. His whose own eyes have been known to drift away from real estate, seems to approve. “Despite his great business success,” Mr. Trump said in a statement, “he has the right priorities — family first. ” | 0 |
Joaquin Castro of Texas is a rising star in the Democratic Party and a member of the United States House of Representatives. He s also pretty outspoken. So when Trump insisted via Twitter, of course that he won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College, but it wasn t showing in the counts due to illegal voting, Castro couldn t take it anymore. After all, Trump s tweet clearly has zero basis in reality, and like many of his bogus claims, is a combination of his overactive, childlike imagination and crackpot notions from feverish right-wing conspiracy theories. So, Rep. Castro baited Trump by Tweeting back:It's going to be hard to work with someone this delusional. https://t.co/BmLaltpMmc Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) November 28, 2016Now, Rep. Castro will likely take a lot of heat from his GOP colleagues in the House. It s also likely that he doesn t care, either. After all, he s right. Trump is delusional, and has displayed that fact repeatedly, not just over the course of his travesty of a presidential campaign, but over his entire life. Rep. Castro was right to call it out. After all, we re talking about the madman who will have control of America s nuclear arsenal come January 20. If his spineless GOP bedfellows won t call Trump s rantings out for what they are, at least we have Rep. Joaquin Castro to do it.Godspeed, Rep. Castro. May you survive having to work with this delusional jackass.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1 |
40% of Americans have given up looking for work. Obama logic: Don t cut or reduce benefits for those unwilling to look for work, just give their jobs to illegal aliens makes perfect sense.A Large Percentage Of Americans Have Given Up Looking For WorkA new survey by staffing firm Express Employment Professionals shows that 40% of America s unemployed have given up looking for work.Not only are the long-term jobless being left behind but nearly 50% hold themselves responsible for not finding a job, the firm s The State of the Unemployed survey found.The survey of 1,553 jobless Americans age 18 and older was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between 7 and 29 April 2015. This survey shows that some of the troubling trends we observed last year are continuing. While the economy is indeed getting better for some, for others who have been unemployed long-term, they are increasingly being left behind. Meanwhile, more than 2 out of 5 unemployed Americans have been jobless for more than 2 years. That represents an increase from Y 2014, when 32% said they had been out of work for more than 2 years.48% report not having an interview in the last month; among them, 87% have not had an interview since the beginning of Y 2014 or earlier with 77% not having been on an interview since Y 2013.Among the unemployed, 14% are receiving unemployment benefits.Of those receiving benefits, 89% say they would search harder and wider for work if their benefits ran out before finding a job.Via:American workers who lost their jobs to foreign replacements are suing the federal government over a new rule that will allow more foreign workers into the job market.In a stated effort to encourage guest workers to stick around permanently, the Department of Homeland Security will now grant their spouses work permits in addition to visas. DHS estimates more than 100,000 spouses will be eligible to apply when it begins accepting applications May 26.The complaint, filed by the Immigration Reform Law Institute on behalf of the displaced workers, alleges DHS does not have the authority to make the rule, and that the rule violates federal labor protection law. IRLI is asking the judge to halt implementation of the rule until the case is heard. The larger implication is that Obama is arguing he has the executive authority to allow anyone to work in the United States, John Miano, the attorney for the displaced workers, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. [He] started with the children, then the parents, and now the spouses of H-1B workers. An update to the federal register indicates the Obama administration is also looking at expansions to other visa programs, he said. If the president can let illegal aliens work, he can let anyone work and he s doing it. The workers are former employees of tech giant Southern California Edison, which was recently investigated for firing hundreds of American workers after forcing them to train their foreign replacements. (RELATED: Senators Ask Feds to Investigate Guest Worker Visa Abuse)The biggest challenge will be convincing a judge the workers he represents have legal standing to bring the case, Miano told TheDCNF.He ll argue the rule is relevant to the displaced workers because it will result in more competition in their job market. The government will counter that the workers can t prove the rule will affect their future job prospects.If the judge agrees to hear the case, Miano will then make the case that DHS overstepped the bounds of its authority and that the rule violates labor protection law. The law states that foreign work permits cannot adversely affect American wages, but all we ve seen during this administration is standards of living fall and outsized corporate profits continue to rise, IRLI Executive Director Dale Wilcox said in a statement. Via: The Daily Caller | 0 |
SAN FRANCISCO — As Yahoo prepares to accept bids for its core Internet business on Monday, potential buyers have found themselves facing one big problem: How do you value a company with a declining business when the company appears reluctant to share vital financial details? In meetings and phone calls with potential bidders, Yahoo executives have offered gloomy financial projections for the current year, but have refused to discuss the outlook for 2017 or answer questions about crucial aspects of the business. Some of the three dozen or so potential suitors have even questioned what is truly for sale. But several big companies are expected to place bids for Yahoo anyway, according to people briefed on the matter. Verizon Communications, which has publicly expressed interest in buying Yahoo’s core Internet business and merging it with its AOL division, plans to press forward with a bid, some of these people said. The Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper and website, said publicly that it had considered joining with potential investors, including one or more private equity firm, for a bid. And the private equity firm TPG plans to make a bid in the first round on its own, according to a person briefed on the matter. Yet other huge companies plan to sit out the bidding. Google, which competes with Yahoo on search and display advertising and has a search partnership with the company, considered making an offer, but is unlikely to proceed because it fears any deal would draw stiff antitrust scrutiny, according to people briefed on the company’s thinking. Other notable businesses, including ATT, CBS and the investment firms Silver Lake, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and General Atlantic, are unlikely to bid, according to others briefed on their plans. And SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications giant that controls Yahoo Japan, does not plan to bid despite press reports to the contrary. A presentation shown to potential Yahoo bidders is dense with figures, but even people familiar with the company’s operations have struggled to make sense of them. At the same time, Yahoo devoted just a couple of slides to important strategies, like its costly Hail Mary project to create an entirely new mobile search experience to leapfrog competitors like Google, Apple and Amazon. Representatives of Verizon, Google, ATT and CBS declined to comment. A Yahoo spokeswoman also declined to comment on the sales process. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive, is expected to face questions about the bidding on Tuesday, when the company reports its latest quarterly earnings. The report should offer a window into how Yahoo is weathering the upheaval caused by the layoff of 15 percent of its work force announced in February. The total value of Yahoo shares is now about $35 billion. The company may also disclose sales of patents and real estate, which it began shopping a couple of months ago in the hope of raising $1 billion to $3 billion. One reason for Yahoo’s reluctance to share information may be that the business is worse than the company has publicly disclosed. That has added to confusion regarding the intentions of a board of directors that, just a few months ago, publicly said it had no intention of selling. Ms. Mayer has often said she wants to make Yahoo services a “daily habit” for Internet users. But after nearly four years of effort, only about 10 percent of the one billion monthly visitors to Yahoo sites return every day, suggesting little attachment to the brand, according to people who have seen confidential internal data. At Facebook, by comparison, 65 percent of users visit daily. Yahoo is in a difficult position. Ms. Mayer’s turnaround effort has failed to deliver significant improvements at a company that has been in decline for a decade. Ms. Mayer argues that she is turning the tide with new investments in areas like video and native advertising. Activist investors, led by the Starboard Value hedge fund, have run out of patience and are pressing the board to sell the core business, separating it from the company’s far more valuable investment stakes in Alibaba, China’s leading company, and Yahoo Japan, a separate, publicly traded company. Yahoo’s board, which spent more than a year working on other plans to separate the investment stakes, reluctantly agreed to explore a sale of all or parts of the company and hired three investment banking firms to run the process. Starboard has formally threatened a proxy fight to replace the entire board at the next shareholder meeting if the directors do not follow through on a sale. Ms. Mayer has publicly laid out a path for an independent Yahoo and made the case to potential bidders that they should retain her as chief to carry out the plan. Abandoning previous forays into video and digital magazines, Ms. Mayer, who formerly headed search at Google, is now focused on returning Yahoo to its glory days as a search engine. Although comScore says that Yahoo is currently the No. 3 player in desktop searches, behind Google and Microsoft, Ms. Mayer argues that Yahoo can leap ahead through a “complete reimagination of mobile search. ” Ms. Mayer has assigned about 1, 000 people to search products, or about 10 percent of the company’s staff, according to people briefed on the business. The mobile effort, Project Index, has officially been underway for two years and aims to create a search tool similar to Google Now on Android phones, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa. But the team has little to show for its work, and many at Yahoo wonder whether it is a hopeless quest. Industry experts as well as Yahoo insiders say that without the location and personal data that Apple and Google have, Yahoo will have a difficult time predicting what people want with enough accuracy to get them to switch from other services. “There is a massive opportunity for mobile search,” said Keith Rabois, a partner at Khosla Ventures, who invests in search . “But I don’t think Yahoo has the core assets or skills you would need to succeed or thrive right now. ” A Yahoo spokesman said that the company was exploring many search ideas, including the use of software bots that would fetch information on behalf of users. Ms. Mayer’s vague plans for reversing Yahoo’s decline, along with the lack of disclosure about the company’s finances, have made prospective bidders nervous. Though several private equity firms have been looking at the company, people involved in the bidding process said that they were unlikely to prevail against a determined corporate buyer. Verizon is viewed by analysts as the leading bidder for Yahoo, but its likely offer comes despite trepidation among its executives, according to the people briefed on the bidding. Verizon is still struggling to digest its $4. 4 billion acquisition last year of AOL, and some executives worry that buying Yahoo would simply be doubling down on integration troubles. Verizon could certainly combine the content properties and ad products and networks run by Yahoo and AOL. The company, with more than 112 million cellphone customers on top of its landline Internet subscribers, would have the ability to preinstall Yahoo services and distribute them widely. However, the contracts governing Apple iPhones and phones running Google’s Android operating system generally restrict what phone carriers can do to promote alternatives for major services like search and email. So Yahoo would still need to build products good enough to persuade people to switch. Wall Street is hoping for a quick sale, to anybody, at any reasonable price. “We continue to believe that one of the greatest risks in the stock is the core being a ‘melting ice cube,’ as a prolonged sale process draws on, creating questions for employees, advertisers and partners,” wrote Robert Peck, an analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, on Wednesday. | 0 |
Silly parents you don t get to decide if, or when to talk to your kids about the .03% of the population who consider themselves to be transgender. And oh yeah your kids teacher will also inform your child that the gender they re born with doesn t matter, and that they can actually choose the gender they identify with. Because liberal educators know better than you what s best for your child.The Rocklin Academy school board is facing tough questions from parents concerned over a controversial incident involving transgender discussions inside a kindergarten class. These parents feel betrayed by the school district that they were not notified, said Karen England with the Capitol Resource Institute.WATCH:The incident happened earlier this summer during the last few days of the academic school year.At Monday night s board meeting, the teacher at the center of the controversy spoke out. With emotions high, she addressed a packed house. I m so proud of my students, it was never my intent to harm any students but to help them through a difficult situation, she said.The teacher defended her actions to read two children s books about transgenderism including one titled I am Jazz. She says the books were given to her by a transgender child going through a transition. The kindergartners came home very confused, about whether or not you can pick your gender, whether or not they really were a boy or a girl, said England.And many parents say they feel betrayed and blindsided. I want her to hear from me as a parent what her gender identity means to her and our family, not from a book that may be controversial, a parent said. My daughter came home crying and shaking so afraid she could turn into a boy, another parent said.The issue was not on the agenda, so parents spoke out during public comment. It s really about the parents being informed and involved and giving us the choice and rights of what s being introduced to our kids, and at what age, said parent Chelsea McQuistan.Many teachers also spoke out in support of what transpired inside the classroom. They spoke about the importance of teaching students about diversity and having healthy dialogues.Unlike sex education, the topics of gender identity don t require prior parental notice. Sacramento CBS | 1 |
Once again, conservatives have gone above and beyond to prove that quite literally anything will send them into a racist tirade against the President of the United States.On Mother s Day, Fox News posted photos on Facebook of a gorilla who had recently given birth unexpectedly. The pregnancy was a bit of a shock to the staff at Prague Zoo, who say they had given up hope that Shinda, the 24-year-old primate, would ever have a baby. The gorilla had experienced numerous miscarriages, so staff simply assumed she was overweight. But late last month, Shinda gave birth successfully. After suffering several miscarriages, Shinda was expected to remain childless, Fox News posted. But the 24-year-old gorilla surprised everyone at the Prague Zoo in April when she gave birth to a healthy baby! Almost immediately the nigh-predictable screeching began, with Fox News fans reciting effortlessly their favorite lines, like If Obama had a son. Others decided that their hateful screeds should be directed at Michelle and Malia Obama. Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing sane people are forced to tolerate. Recently, upon hearing that Malia Obama had gotten into Harvard, the Stupid Part of America spewed their hatred in a similar manner. Fox News fans swooped in, calling her a n*gger, an affirmative action parasite, and suggesting that Little Ape (that s their cute little nickname for her) go to college in Africa. In December, Fox News posted a photo of an orangutan in a Santa hat. You can guess what happened.It s easy to be shocked by Donald Trump s popularity. But the secret of his appeal his racism, his narcissism, his Islamophobic hate speech, the (I assume by now) gold-plated, 1,000-foot wall with mounted machine guns every 27 1/2 feet and f*cking lazers, and the fact that he probably wants to f*ck his own daughter is equally simple. He has a built-in audience.For years, Fox News has been catering to the very worst in society. For years, they have been shaping the opinion of the distressingly large percentage of Americans who are unable to use a fork without adult supervision, and for years they have been perpetuating lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie about President Obama.Fox News built Donald Trump s audience for him, and he harnessed that hate. It s easy to look at this and say so what, but remember: these people will be voting in November. Be sure to head to the polls, because anyone they would put in office could not possibly be good for America.Featured Image via screengrab | 1 |
We Are Change
Hillary Clinton hasn’t been the most favored candidate. In fact, she is one of the most disliked candidates to ever run for president. Election day is just on the horizon, and as this presidential race draws to a close, the indictment of Hillary Clinton seems increasingly more likely with every new scandal that comes around the corner.
On Wednesday, a Fox News report revealed two sources with “intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations” had stated, that the probe of the Clinton Foundation would continue to be ongoing after the election. However it is not certain as to whether this will result in an indictment yet. Fox News redacted the earlier claim stating that this would indeed lead to an indictment. These sources also told Fox News anchor, Bret Baier, that this investigation was being treated as ‘very high priority’, with ‘a lot of’ evidence having been gathered, even before the Wikileaks revelations , which have revealed the absolute highest levels of corruption from within the Clinton Campaign.
These sources also stated that they’re “looking into possible pay-for-play interaction between secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and the foundation” and that this investigation has been “going on for more than a year.” The FBI have interviewed individuals who are suspected to be linked with this activity.
In an article published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, it was stated that:
“Secret recordings of a suspect talking about the Clinton Foundation fueled an internal battle between FBI agents who wanted to pursue the case and corruption prosecutors who viewed the statements as worthless hearsay, people familiar with the matter said.”
We are uncertain as to what these recordings entail, but it’s evident that their contents must be of substantial importance, as it was concerning enough to contribute to the reopening of the Clinton Foundation investigation.
Meanwhile, The FBI have also discovered new, not duplicated, emails that they believe to have come from Hillary’s server. However, it is currently unknown as to whether they contain classified information. These emails were discovered whilst combing through former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop—after a sexting scandal involving a 15-year-old girl.
With an “avalanche of new information coming every day,” this investigation will have wide-reaching implications for the Clinton Foundation. Appearing more intensive and expansive than we ever could have imagined. The reopening of the investigation into the Clinton Foundation has also show Trump to have gained support in the polls, appearing almost even with Clinton in most polls, while the L.A Times shows Trump to have a 4 per cent lead.
Despite attempts on behalf of Department of Justice officials to shut this investigation down, a report from the Wall Street Journal states FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe refused to close the case, calling it a “validly predicated investigation” while discussing this with other DOJ officials. The FBI investigation into the Clinton campaign is now running parallel to the reopened criminal investigation into Hillary’s private email server, which she created violating State Department regulations.
With an onslaught of evidence confirming the Clinton campaign’s deceit and rampant corruption, it is highly unlikely that they’ll come out of this ordeal unscathed. If she were to be elected, there are a large number of possible charges Hillary could be facing whilst in the White House. Including perjury, obstruction of justice, bribery, pay-for-play, and undoubtedly many more.
Earlier today, in a morbid turn of events, batch 30 of the Wikileaks Podesta emails revealed the sadistic past times of the Podesta brothers, having been invited to a ‘Spirit Cooking’ dinner with performance artist Marina Abramovic. The grotesque nature of Clinton’s inner circle really is the gift that keeps on giving. From raunchy sexting to ritual sacrifice, this election cycle has divulged the darkest, more abhorrent secrets held by this crooked campaign. If there is any justice left in the world, it is morally essential that Hillary Clinton and her mob go down, to prison, as well as hell.
The post Is This The End For Hillary Clinton? appeared first on We Are Change .
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If anyone thought the man who s been attacked by the left for most of his adult life, was going to roll over and play dead, as the Democrats and their allies in the entertainment industry come at him with a coordinated character assassination attempt, they were sadly mistaken.Breitbart The U.S. Senate campaign of Judge Roy Moore is firing back at Jimmy Kimmel and his paid trickster Rich Barbieri also known as Jake Byrd for disrupting a worship service at which Moore spoke here on Wednesday night. Jimmy Kimmel and the Hollywood elite cross the line when they invade our Churches under a disguise and attempt to make a mockery of our worship services, Drew Messer, a senior adviser to Moore, told Breitbart News on Thursday morning after the incident at the church on Wednesday night.On Wednesday evening, after the pastor of Magnolia Springs Baptist Church here in Theodore, Alabama, just outside Mobile warned attendees of a worship service at which Moore was speaking multiple times that it was against the law in Alabama to disrupt worship services, Barbieri proceeded to interrupt the worship service during Moore s speech.The pastor had earlier in the evening also warned event-goers against disrupting the worship service, so this constituted his second warning. But that did not stop Barbieri whose character on Kimmel s show is Jake Byrd from disrupting the event and being escorted out by police. Breitbart Watch:Turns out tonight's Roy Moore superfan is a comedian named Tony Barbieri, part of Jimmy Kimmel's gang. pic.twitter.com/ykeGKVDdkS Ben H. Raines (@BenHRaines) November 30, 2017Upon discovering that the man who disrupted the worship service was a paid comedian on the Jimmy Kimmel show, Roy Moore tweeted to the despicable leftist comedian/ activist to come down to Alabama and mock their Christian values face to face ..@jimmykimmel If you want to mock our Christian values, come down here to Alabama and do it man to man. #ALSen https://t.co/E7oQB9D83P Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 30, 2017So Little @jimmykimmel sent one of his goons to Alabama to disrupt a church service where Roy Moore was speaking. I doubt Kimmel would ever disrupt a service at a mosque toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) November 30, 2017Roy Moore also responded to the leftist comedian, whose ratings are in the toilet, over his despicable comedian s stunt:Despite D.C. and Hollywood Elites' bigotry towards southerners, Jimmy, we'll save you a seat on the front pew. https://t.co/z7n6uaeyCj Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 30, 2017 Was the Kimmel comedian s stunt about embarrassing Roy Moore, or was it more about jumping on the left s Hate Trump s All (or as the left falsely calls it: Love Trumps Hate ) campaign? Based on the most recent ratings of late-night shows, the only thing keeping the higher rated late-night shows on the air is their unabated criticism of President Trump, that s used as fuel to keep their hate-filled, leftist audience fed. Observer While Donald Trump has been a huge boon for late-night TV ratings, one host who isn t enjoying an upswing is Jimmy Fallon. The good-natured nice guy persona Fallon has crafted on NBC s The Tonight Show is great for producing viral videos, but not so great for navigating a politically tumultuous era. As Stephen Colbert s The Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel s Jimmy Kimmel Live have continued to hone in on the Trump administration, and seen viewership rise as a result, Fallon has largely stayed out of the fray and is suffering because of it.According to the New York Times, Fallon has lost 21 percent of his audience year over year since the fall season began on September 25. Since February, Colbert leads late night in total viewers by a wide margin and Kimmel has been gaining ground over the last several months as well. NBC s top brass have combated these trends by noting that Fallon still leads the field in viewers in the advertiser-friendly 18 to 49 demographic, but the New York Times points out that even that gap is closing.Breitbart Fellow senior Moore adviser Brett Doster bashed Kimmel for enabling Hollywood s culture of preying on women as seen by the recent downfalls of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. Last night, Jimmy Kimmel sent one of his goons to disrupt an Alabama worship service as a comedy prop, Doster said in an email to Breitbart News. For years, Kimmel hosted a show that exploited women and encouraged sexual impropriety. He and the rest of the entertainment industry look down their noses at our evangelical values while using their own pulpit to encourage the very behavior purveyed by monsters like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. It remains to be seen whether Kimmel will have the guts to face Moore s team head-on in Alabama, and own up to the actions of his staff. A Kimmel publicist has not responded to Breitbart News when asked via email whether Kimmel or Barbieri would be willing to defend themselves in an interview. | 1 |
President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget plan asks Congress for enough money to build just 60 miles of border wall. [The request for just $1. 6 billion in wall funding is found in the budget document released by the Department of Homeland Security, which describes the agency’s plan for spending its overall 2018 budget of $70. 7 billion. According to the document: A critical element of border security involves building the infrastructure necessary to halt the flow of illegal crossings. The FY 2018 President’s Budget proposes an investment of $2. 7 billion for high priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology, including funding to support planning, design, and construction of the border wall. This funding would allow CBP to construct: In April, 100 days after his inauguration, Trump again promised he would build a wall, despite opposition from Congress, saying: We’ll build the wall. Don’t even think about it. Don’t even think about it. That’s an easy one. We’re going to build a wall. It’s the final element. We need the wall. And it’s a wall, in certain areas where you have massive physical structures, we don’t need, and certain big rivers and all, but we need a wall. And we’re going to get that wall. And the world is getting the message. They know that our borders are no longer open to illegal immigration and that if they try to break in, you’ll be caught and you’ll be returned to your home. You’re not staying any longer. The border is 2000 miles long. Roughly 654 miles of the border has some barrier, ranging from simple barbed wired to a set of tall, layered walls alongside San Diego. According to the Mercury News, “along the existing wall or fence, 36 miles have double fencing with both primary and secondary barriers, and 14 miles have three layers of fencing, according to Customs and Border Protection. The San Diego area is one of the most fortified, with 46 miles of primary fencing and 14 miles of secondary fencing — and enough room to accommodate the road that runs between them. ” Many Democratic and GOP members of Congress are loudly or quietly opposing the planned border wall, which would slow the northward movement of employees and consumers to businesses in cities. But some members of Congress want Trump to build the wall faster. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, for example, released a statement during a May 23 hearing in the Senate, saying: | 0 |
Donald Trump just threw a match on this tinder box of a nation when he decided to pardon former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This guy is a racist who was convicted in court of contempt for refusing to follow an order to stop racially profiling and detaining people. Arpaio terrorized that county for years with impunity and without consequence, and now it seems that he will be able to carry on being awful.Now, there is even more nefarious news out there regarding this. It seems that Trump tried to get Jeff Sessions Department of Justice to let Arpaio off the hook by dropping the case against him altogether. It seems that Sessions told Trump that such an action would not be the appropriate thing to do. Having no other choice, Trump waited until Arpaio was convicted, and THEN decided to wait for the perfect time to issue a pardon. One White House official says of Trump s thinking on the Arpaio matter: We knew the president wanted to do this for some time now and had worked to prepare for whenever the moment may come. Of course, we mustn t forget that Arpaio and Trump have been political partners in crime ever since they started the birtherism nonsense, in which they promoted the racist lie that President Obama was not born in the United States. They both doggedly tried to prove that the nation s first Black President was not a legitimate Commander-in-Chief all because he s Black.In short, they are two racist peas in a pod, so of course Trump wasn t going to let his man go to jail, even though if there was ever someone who deserves to rot in jail, it s this racist, abusive former Sheriff.One good thing came out of this, though: It showed that when Trump is willing to do something truly egregious, the Department of Justice has maintained at least a little independence and is willing to push back. However, in this instance, said pushback had no real effect.Come on, Congress, Mueller, whomever please get rid of this lawless president while we still have a nation left.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images | 1 |
A judge just told us all what we ve known for 7 years the Obama administration lies like a rug to cover up or to further their agenda. This is the third time a judge has slapped down the Obama White House for their lack of transparency liars all! The funny thing is that the judge said he s troubled by all this lying and misleading the court yes, we are too ;0The White House showed bad faith in how it handled an open-records request for global warming data, a federal court ruled Monday, issuing yet another stinging rebuke to the administration for showing a lack of transparency.For President Obama, who vowed to run the most transparent government in U.S. history, Judge Amit P. Mehta s ruling granting legal discovery in an open-records case the third time this year a judge has ordered discovery is an embarrassing black eye.In this most recent case, the Competitive Enterprise Institute was trying to force the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to release documents backing up Director John C. Holdren s finding that global warming was making winters colder a claim disputed by climate scientists. Mr. Holdren s staffers first claimed they couldn t find many documents, then tried to hide their release, saying they were all internal or were similar to what was already public.But each of those claims turned out not to be true. At some point, the government s inconsistent representations about the scope and completeness of its searches must give way to the truth-seeking function of the adversarial process, including the tools available through discovery. This case has crossed that threshold, the judge wrote.Discovery is considered exceedingly rare in Freedom of Information Act cases, because the government is given the benefit of the doubt in claiming it tried to search for and release documents. But in three cases so far this year, judges have said called the Obama administration s efforts into question, finding severe oversights that suggest bad faith. Both of the other cases involve the State Department s handling of former Secretary Hillary Clinton s emails.In the OSTP case, conservative activists were trying to get a look at how the agency director, John P. Holdren came to the conclusion that global warming was causing more severe winters a finding that scientists generally dispute.The OSTP repeatedly botched its efforts to search for and produce the chain of work for Mr. Holdren s conclusions. Initially the office said it found just 11 pages of documents, none of which included drafts of the director s final conclusions. Later, the office admitted it found 47 pages of drafts, but tried to withhold them, claiming they were protected from release because they were only seen within the administration. Both of those impressions turned out to be mistaken, Judge Mehta said.OSTP then said there were 52 total pages of drafts, only one person outside the administration saw a draft and that document was similar to what the OSTP had already produced. All three of those impressions also turned out to be mistaken, Judge Mehta wrote, adding in a footnote that he was troubled by the government s statements that misled the court.Read more: WT | 0 |
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Friday on a U.S.-drafted resolution that seeks to toughen sanctions on North Korea in response to its latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch, diplomats said. The draft, seen by Reuters on Thursday, seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum product exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and demand the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 12 months. It would also cap crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year. The United States has been calling on China to limit its oil supply to its neighbor and ally. The text was circulated to the 15-member council on Thursday. While it was not immediately clear how China would vote, traditionally a draft on North Korea is not given to all members until it is agreed by Beijing and Washington. The United States has been negotiating with China on the draft resolution for the past week, diplomats said. If adopted, it would be the 10th resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea over its missile and nuclear programs since 2006. To pass, a resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. The United States late last month warned North Korea s leadership it would be utterly destroyed if war were to break out after Pyongyang test-fired its most advanced missile, putting the U.S. mainland within range. During a speech on Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stressed that nobody can deny the entity of the DPRK which rapidly emerged as a strategic state capable of posing a substantial nuclear threat to the U.S., according to North Korea s official KCNA news agency. DPRK is the acronym for the country s official name, Democratic People s Republic of Korea. U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman visited Pyongyang earlier this month - the first senior U.N. official to do so since 2011 - and said North Korean officials did not commit to talks, but he believes he left the door ajar. The U.S.-drafted resolution repeats previous language by reaffirming the council s support for the Six Party Talks, calls for their resumption. So-called six-party talks on North Korea s nuclear program stalled in 2008. In a bid to further choke North Korea s external sources of funding, the draft resolution also seeks to ban North Korean exports of food products, machinery, electrical equipment, earth and stone, including magnesite and magnesia; wood; and vessels. It would ban exports to North Korea of industrial equipment, machinery, transportation vehicles, and industrial metals. The draft resolution would subject 19 new North Koreans and the Ministry of the People s Armed Forces to a global asset freeze and travel ban. It also seeks to allow countries to seize, inspect and freeze any vessel in their ports or territorial waters that they believe was carrying banned cargo or involved in prohibited activities. Separately, China and Russia on Thursday asked for more time to consider a U.S. proposal to blacklist 10 ships for transporting banned items from North Korea, diplomats said. It was unclear how much more time would be given. The vessels are accused of conducting illegal ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or illegally transporting North Korean coal to other countries for exports, the United States said in its proposal. Countries are required to ban blacklisted ships from entering their ports. The council s North Korea sanctions committee in October designated four ships as banned for carrying coal from North Korea. | 0 |
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson proposed new dates on Tuesday for a NATO meeting, the State Department said, after he initially decided to skip the talks and rebuffed the alliance’s efforts to reschedule them. Tillerson’s decision to miss his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers, set for April 5-6 in Brussels, unsettled European allies who worried it reopened questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to the alliance. Reuters exclusively reported on Monday that Tillerson would stay in the United States to attend Trump’s expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida. U.S. officials also said Tillerson would visit Russia later in April. The alliance had offered to change the meeting dates so Tillerson could attend both it and the Xi talks but the U.S. State Department rebuffed the idea, a former U.S. official and a former NATO diplomat, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday. On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the department put forward new dates for a meeting when Tillerson could come, noting that such a decision would have to be made by consensus among the 28 NATO members. “We are certainly appreciative of the effort to accommodate Secretary Tillerson,” Toner told reporters. “We have offered alternative dates that the secretary could attend.” He also sought to allay European concerns by saying that “the United States remains 100 percent committed to NATO.” It was not yet clear if the NATO meeting would be rescheduled to accommodate Tillerson. During his election campaign and on the eve of taking office in January, Trump called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation “obsolete,” although he has since said he strongly supports the alliance. “No matter how you spin it, this is unfortunate symbolism,” said one senior European diplomat of Tillerson’s plan to skip the April 5-6 NATO Brussels meeting, saying it undid the work of Trump’s vice president and defense minister, who visited NATO headquarters in February to provide reassurances after Trump’s criticism of the alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was in Washington on Tuesday. Posing for photographs with Defense Secretary James Mattis, he declined to answer a reporter’s questions on what signal it sent that Tillerson did not plan to attend the meeting, according to a reporter who attended the session. Some allies, particularly in the former Soviet bloc, are acutely sensitive to any sign of waning U.S. interest in their defense as they deal with a more assertive Russia. Concerns that Trump is too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the West has sought to isolate for annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, made Tillerson’s expected visit to Brussels all the more pressing, European allies said. Tillerson worked with Russia’s government for years as a top executive at Exxon Mobil Corp, and has questioned sanctions against Moscow that he said could harm U.S. businesses. “We needed to hear his vision for the alliance,” said a diplomat due to attend the April ministerial meeting. NATO’s quarterly meetings are closed-door sessions over about two days in which governments discuss security strategies and approve top secret documents designed to guide the nuclear-armed alliance in areas ranging from training in Afghanistan to defenses against Iranian missiles. Given the U.S. role as the de facto head of the alliance, it is rare for the country’s top diplomat to miss a NATO meeting. The last time was during the Iraq war in 2003, when Colin Powell was forced to cancel at the last moment. Trump himself is expected in Brussels for a NATO summit in May, although the date is still under discussion. NATO has proposed holding that meeting on May 25, a NATO diplomat said. Several diplomats said they were unhappy that Tillerson had not offered to hold a NATO meeting in Washington later this week, given that most alliance foreign ministers and Stoltenberg will be there for a meeting of an international coalition against the Islamic State militant group. A State Department spokeswoman said on Monday night that all NATO members except Croatia would be at those talks. On Tuesday, Toner said Croatia would in fact attend, saying the department had made “a late night gaffe” and adding, “in no way do we want to diminish Croatia’s valuable role within the alliance.” | 1 |
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday urged U.S. insurers offering coverage next year under his national healthcare law to step up their efforts to enroll those who remain uninsured, especially younger and healthier Americans. Several big insurers, including UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Humana Inc, have announced they will pull back from the Obamacare individual insurance market in 2017, citing financial losses due to the costs of covering members who are sicker than expected. Their planned exit has prompted new questions over whether Obamacare can survive over the long-term if insurers cannot create a viable business from the market. Insurance premiums for consumers have jumped each year since Obamacare plans took effect in 2014, and those price increases are expected to grow steeper as fewer insurers participate. Obama, in a letter to all insurers selling health plans next year on the exchanges, noted that the program has helped reduce the percentage of Americans without health insurance to a record low, and acknowledged that it could still be improved to benefit insurers and consumers. His administration will help find and enroll those who still lack coverage, with a particular focus on enrolling young adults. “Since the remaining uninsured are disproportionately younger and healthier, signing them up improves the risk pool and consequently the affordability of coverage for all enrollees,” Obama said in the letter. Obama, Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell and other top health advisers on Monday met with executives from several leading insurance companies, including Cigna Corp Chief Executive David Cordani and Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, to discuss ways to strengthen the marketplace ahead of its fourth open enrollment period, which begins Nov. 1, according to a White House official. A spokeswoman for industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans said the meeting’s focus included increasing enrollment. “As health plans are preparing for open enrollment, today’s meeting was focused on how to build on the continued progress in reducing the uninsured rate and moving forward with policy solutions that will support a stable, affordable market for 2017 and beyond,” AHIP spokeswoman Clare Krusing said. | 1 |
Say goodbye to your economy, traditions and culture. The caliphate has come to Germany on steroids Leftists hold a rally to welcome tens of thousands of refugees to Germany.Migrant Muslims were seen on video singing jihadist songs at their refugee center. The ignorant German volunteers applauded. Via Les Observateurs: (Rough Translation)It s in the air, broadcast of 14 October 2015. The Iraqi and Syrian Christians were isolated in special reception centers after being continually harassed. One of Iraqi Christians tells France 5: At our previous center, volunteers were sitting listening to music, the Arabs sand jihadi songs and the German volunteers clapped their hands without understanding. The image sums up the situation: the Arabs install Islamism, leftists not understanding what is happening rejoice in living together that exists only in their fantasy world. Carnage to follow.Via: Gateway Pundit | 0 |
(Reuters) - Maine Governor Paul LePage said on Friday he would reject the latest budget deal by a bipartisan group of legislators, warning that most of the state government would shut down without more spending cuts. The second-term Republican said repeatedly this week that he would be ready to close down non-essential government services as the July 4 holiday weekend starts if the lawmakers cannot agree on a $7.055 billion two-year budget that would require no new taxes. The deal reached late on Thursday called for $7.1 billion in spending. “I’m out of ink,” LePage told reporters in the state capital of Augusta. “There will not be a signature on a budget that increases taxes.” The full legislature was due to vote on Friday, the day after a six-member bipartisan budget committee reached a deal that would repeal a measure that voters approved in November to impose an additional 3 percent income tax on state residents who earn more than $200,000 a year. The proposed budget also increases public education funding by $162 million. The leaders of Maine’s Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-controlled Senate supported the measure, but it was unclear if they could garner the two-thirds support needed for passage. Even if they do, state law gives the governor 10 days to respond to any budget passed by the legislature. LePage said on Friday that he was ready to wait that long before vetoing any budget that raises taxes. Most of the government would shut during that time. Without a shutdown, “I lose all my leverage for negotiation for the next 10 days,” LePage said, adding that he did not think lawmakers could reach a budget deal on Friday that he would accept. State police, parks and all offices responsible for collecting revenue would continue to operate during a shutdown, LePage has said. The state’s Democratic House speaker urged lawmakers to back the budget deal. “In a divided government, compromise is the only option,” Speaker Sara Gideon said in a statement. A Maine advocacy group sued the state in federal court on Thursday, seeking an order that would ensure that public assistance payments continue uninterrupted to the 450,000 people, about one in three residents, who receive them. In 1991 Maine’s government shut down for several weeks due to a budget impasse, and lawmakers reached a deal only after furloughed state workers picketed the capitol. | 1 |
How could the Senate be so lame in their effort to produce an immigration bill? A Senator Ted Cruz put it, they re to the left of Obama . Now that s pretty bad! what stuck out like sore thumb is the bill s failure to address chain migration that s a biggie!AHEAD OF THE VOTE: The DHS warned the plan would mean the end of immigration enforcement in America. Senators on Thursday blocked multiple plans dealing with immigration as President Trump torpedoed one proposal as a total catastrophe and his Department of Homeland Security lambasted it as the end of immigration enforcement in America. During a series of afternoon procedural votes, no immigration amendments crossed the 60 vote threshold that would have cut off debate and paved the way for final votes.The effort to pass immigration legislation comes as Democrats insist on protecting young illegal immigrants brought to the country as children and Trump demands funding for a border wall.Ahead of the votes, the Trump administration focused on the bipartisan agreement drawn up by a Gang of 22 that would grant a 10-12 year path to the young illegal immigrants or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.The amendment failed by only getting 54 votes. Forty five senators voted against it.The administration objected to the bill s failure to address so-called chain migration by which immigrants can sponsor a broad number of relatives to come join them in the U.S. Trump has said that he wants to limit sponsorship to children and spouses.The bill also would not end the visa lottery system, which allows 55,000 immigrants into the country each year and has been dogged by accusations of fraud and abuse.The Schumer-Rounds-Collins immigration bill would be a total catastrophe. @DHSgov says it would be the end of immigration enforcement in America. It creates a giant amnesty (including for dangerous criminals), doesn t build the wall, expands chain migration, keeps the visa Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2018WHAT IN THE WORLD??? THIS IS TRULY A CATASTROPHE ! | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday repealed a measure granting automatic residency to virtually every Cuban who arrived in the United States, whether or not they had visas, ending a longstanding exception to U.S. immigration policy. The end of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which allowed any Cuban who reached U.S. soil to stay but returned any picked up at sea, is effective immediately. Cuban officials had sought the change for years. The shift had been in the works for months. It was announced abruptly because advance warning might have inspired thousands more people to take to the seas between the Communist-ruled island and Florida in order to beat a deadline. The United States and Cuba spent several months negotiating the change, including an agreement from Cuba to allow those turned away from the United States to return. “With this change we will continue to welcome Cubans as we welcome immigrants from other nations, consistent with our laws,” Obama said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security also ended a parole program that allowed entry for Cuban medical professionals. That program was unpopular with Havana because it prompted doctors to leave, sapping the country’s pool of trained health workers. The U.S. Coast Guard intercepts thousands of Cubans attempting the 90-mile (145-km) crossing to Florida every year, but tens of thousands who reach U.S. soil, including via Mexico, have been allowed to stay in the country, while immigrants from other nations have been rounded up and sent home. Cuba welcomed the policy changes, saying they would benefit the whole region by discouraging people-trafficking and dangerous journeys that led to bottlenecks of Cubans in Central America last year. “Today, a detonator of immigration crises is eliminated. The United States achieves legal, secure and ordered migration from Cuba,” said Josefina Vidal, the Cuban foreign ministry’s chief for U.S. affairs. El Salvador’s foreign ministry also welcomed the move, saying “there cannot be migrants of different categories.” Honduras, from where thousands flee each year without the attraction of favorable U.S. immigration policies, said it would wait to see if the flow of Cubans actually reduced. Anticipating the end of the policy, Cuban immigration has surged since the 2014 normalization, said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser. “People were motivated to migrate,” Rhodes told reporters on a call, noting some 40,000 Cubans arrived in 2015 and about 54,000 in 2016. The administration had rejected Cuban entreaties to overturn the policy before President Barack Obama’s historic visit to the island last year, although even some White House aides argued that it was outmoded given efforts to regularize relations between the former Cold War foes. “Wet foot, dry foot” began in 1995 under President Bill Clinton after an exodus of tens of thousands of Cubans who were picked up at sea by the Coast Guard as they tried to reach Florida. Obama has been working to normalize relations with Cuba since he and President Raul Castro announced a breakthrough in diplomatic relations in December 2014. His administration has eased restrictions on travel and trade, allowing more U.S. business with Cuba and improved communications with the island. The move to end the policy comes just eight days before the Democratic president turns the White House over to Republican Donald Trump, who has said the United States should get more concessions from Havana in exchange for improved relations. U.S. immigration policy has given Cubans benefits granted to nationals from no other country. Until now, virtually every Cuban who made it to U.S. soil was granted the right to stay in the country, the right to apply for work permits and, later, green cards, which convey lawful permanent residency. Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security, said on a call that Cuba will take back citizens as long as less than four years have passed between the time the migrant left Cuba and the start of the U.S. deportation proceedings. Under the agreement Cuba will take back some 2,700 people who left the island among 125,000 others during the Mariel boat lift of 1980, fulfilling an agreement made in 1984 to take back 2,746 people who the United States did not grant citizenship to, mainly people with criminal convictions. Cuba has previously taken back only a handful of that group. The new policy sparked mixed emotions in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Mario Garcia, a Cuban mechanic in Little Havana, said the change angered him. “It’s not like Communism has ended in Cuba, so why stop this that has saved people’s lives?” he said. But Eulalia Jimenez, who is Venezuelan, said the policy was not fair to migrants from other countries who also flee bad conditions. “Why should only the Cuban people be able to come and make a life for themselves?” Jimenez said. Some U.S. lawmakers had been demanding a fresh look at the immigration rules, saying Cubans coming to the United States simply for economic reasons should not be automatically granted benefits intended for refugees. “This is a welcome step in reforming an illogical and discriminatory policy that contrasted starkly with the treatment of deserving refugees from other countries,” Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said in a statement. Republican Senator Jeff Flake also said eliminating the policy was “a win for taxpayers, border security and our allies in the Western Hemisphere.” Flake and Leahy both support Obama’s moves toward freer trade and travel with Cuba. But U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said the incoming Trump adminstration should reverse the part of the executive order that ended the medical parole system, and said Cubans fleeing political persecution should receive asylum. The Department of Homeland Security is also eliminating an exemption that prevented the use of expedited removal programs for Cuban nationals picked up at ports of entry or near the border. But an existing Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program is not affected by Thursday’s announcement and remains in effect. | 0 |
Hillary spoke to a very small group of students at Temple University. With a total student population of just under 38,000, her estimated crowd of 300 would be considered by most, to be a total bust. Unfit Hillary wasn t about to let 37,700 disinterested students stand in the way of addressing 300 paid plants students about the benefits of a taxpayer funded education or a President who is willing, on behalf of the American taxpayer, to forgive their debts What the heck is Hillary hiding now? What is going on with her eyes in this video? We looked into symptoms of patients with Parkinson s Disease and here s what we found:Visual motor symptoms of patients with Parkinson s Disease: Some vision difficulties are related to changes in the movement of the eyeball. These are motor symptoms, similar to other motor symptoms caused by loss of dopamine neurons. Blurred or double vision, and eye strain, because the eyes may have trouble moving together to focus on things traveling toward or away from a person Trouble reading, because the eye movements needed to follow the lines of a page are slowed and have trouble starting (similar to gait freezing in the legs) A person with PD may need to blink in order to change eye position; levodopa can helpLet s put the eye issue aside for a moment and let s examine why Hillary has chosen to talk to this crowd of adults like they re a two year old sitting on her lap, while she reads them a bed-time book? No wonder millennials are leaving her in droves. She s not just a liar, she a a condescending liar as well. She doesn t have enough faith in these young adults to consider they may care about our national security or about getting a good paying job out of college. Her only concern seems to be how to woo them with the free sh*t vote her former opponent Bernie Sanders used to build his base.As The Gateway Pundit reported Hillary was given assistance getting up the stairs to get to the stage. She needed help. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of Democrats in Congress urged the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission in a letter this week to conduct a more in-depth review of online retailer Amazon.com Inc’s plan to buy grocer Whole Foods Market Inc. The lawmakers asked that the review include consideration of what effect the $13.7 billion deal could have on access to healthy foods in so-called food deserts where residents may have limited access to fresh groceries. “While we do not oppose the merger at this time, we are concerned about what this merger could mean for African-American communities across the country already suffering from a lack of affordable healthy food choices from grocers,” the letter said on Thursday. The letter was signed by U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge and 11 other Democrats, including Senator Cory Booker. Amazon and Whole Foods hope to expand access to fresh food, said Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of policy, in a letter to Fudge, also on Thursday. “We agree with you that access to food is an important issue for the country, and we share your goal of improving that access,” Huseman said in the letter. Amazon has lobbied to be able to accept food stamps online and is participating in a pilot program. “We deliver low-cost, healthy food to zip codes across the country that before Amazon had limited access to a large selection of high quality foods,” Huseman wrote to Fudge. Fudge’s letter was made public by the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), which represents many of the unionized grocery workers in the United States. Fudge’s office confirmed she had sent the letter. Amazon’s plan announced in June to buy premium grocer Whole Foods roiled the grocery industry and sparked worries the deal could raise prices, reduce the quality of products and hurt employment. Still, most antitrust experts expect the Federal Trade Commission to approve the planned merger. The letter asking for more scrutiny was praised by the UFCW union. “Political concerns about Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods are growing for good reason,” UFCW President Marc Perrone said on Friday. “Amazon’s monopolistic desire to control the retail market and replace good jobs with automation is not only a direct threat to the hard-working men and women at Whole Foods, it’s also a direct threat to our economy and consumers.” Amazon has sought to dispute that it would monopolize the grocery industry. Wal-Mart Stores Inc currently controls the largest market share. “We also do not plan job reductions as part of the acquisition, which if approved would result in a company with a combined less than 3 percent of national grocery sales,” Huseman wrote. | 0 |
America s so-called president held a rally in Melbourne, Florida, after just a few weeks into the job. Donald Trump spoke of the mess he has inherited (LOL) and of course, he lashed out at the media. This was Donald s campaign rally for 2020 and he s already been on vacation three times since taking the oath of office. His guest speakers were laughable, with one saying he s kept all of his campaign promises, including draining the swamp. Trump promised to achieve his agenda despite the lies, misrepresentations and false stories thrown at him by the media. He said that without offering proof and the crowd ate it up. I want to speak to you without the filter of the fake news, Trump said. The crowd, of course, erupted in cheers. The dishonest media, which has published one false story after another with no sources, even though they pretend they have them they make them up in many cases, the scandal-plagued amateur president said. They just don t want to report the truth. Many of our greatest presidents fought with the media and called them out, Trump said while mentioning Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, according to The Hill. When the media lies to people, I will never, ever, let them get away with it. I will do whatever I can that they don t get away with it, Trump said. They have their own agenda and their agenda is not your agenda. But despite all their lies, misrepresentations and false stories they could not defeat us in the primaries or general election and we ll continue to expose them as what they are and most importantly we ll continue to win, win, win, Trump continued. Do you think that one media group back there, that one network, will show this crowd? Not one, not one, Trump declared. Meanwhile, at that very moment, CNN was panning the crowd. I ve ordered the construction of a Great Border Wall that will start very shortly, Trump said at the adulation rally. The problem is, though, that Trump did not tell his supporters that we, the taxpayers, will be footing the bill, not Mexico. We are going to drain the swamp in Washington, DC, he said. The crowd chanted Drain the swamp, Drain the swamp! Trump s gullible supporters did this after he already filled the swamp up with terrifying creatures.On Air Force One, Trump told reporters, Life is a campaign. Making our country great again is a campaign. For me, it s a campaign. To make America great again is absolutely a campaign. It s not easy, especially when we re also fighting the press. According to the Melbourne Police, 9,000 people attended the campaign rally for the man who has already been elected.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. | 1 |
Here s just one of many discussions of assassinating Trump onTwitter: Here s a sweet little girl on Twitter who appears to be Hispanic with a vile anti-Trump message, showing a picture of a bloodied and body-less Trump head that appears to be sitting on a bed:Even this writer, who allegedly works for The Guardian was openly calling for Trump s assassination: Here s a touching story about an 11 year old boy who was beaten by his classmates after he admitted to voting for Trump in a mock-election at school:https://twitter.com/Pamela_Moore13/status/796883706950676480And unbelievably, the media weighs in on the fear that pro-Hillary Americans are feeling right now.That's strange, Harry Reid, because all I've seen over the last 48 hours is Trump supporters being violently attacked. pic.twitter.com/GDrp9GPtCa Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 11, 2016In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Donald Trump pledged that he will be president for all Americans, and he asked those who did not support him for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country. Here s some guidance right off the bat, Mr. President-elect: Those sentiments will have more force if you immediately and unequivocally repudiate the outpouring of racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic insults, threats and attacks being associated with your name. Do this in a personal plea to people who supported your candidacy. Tell them this is not what you stand for, nor is it what your new administration will tolerate.Explicit expressions of bigotry and hatred by Trump supporters were common throughout the campaign, and they have become even more intense since his election. On a department-store window in Philadelphia, vandals spray-painted Sieg Heil 2016 and Mr. Trump s name written with a swastika. In a Minnesota high-school bathroom, vandals scrawled the Trump campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, and next to it, Go back to Africa. There are many more reports pouring in of verbal and physical harassment of Muslims, Latinos and other members of minorities. Though not all are verifiable, the atmosphere of intimidation and fear is unquestionably real and will keep growing. Mr. Trump may not be able to stop it by himself, but he must do everything he can.The problem, of course, is that Mr. Trump s campaign was based on appeals some explicit, some coded to racial and ethnic resentment and division. His followers heard it starting with his speech declaring his candidacy, warning of Mexican immigrant rapists, continuing to a rally last weekend where he promised to bar all Syrian refugees because they will import generations of terrorism, extremism and radicalism into your schools and throughout your communities. These statements emboldened and even encouraged those who have been looking for a license to lash out against immigrants, refugees, minorities and anyone else they find threatening. They take his victory as vindication of their feelings.Here are paid protesters and anarchists destroying public property and fighting with each other. Men are openly punching women as other women beg them to stop. But this is probably Trump s fault. He should just come out and denounce the hate against him and they ll all go home to their parents basements .right?Smashing an electrical box with a baseball bat while dozens of people stand nearby.The Alt-Left in action. #TrumpRiot pic.twitter.com/Gx2PWSEWgw Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 11, 2016And finally, from the NYT s:As a candidate, Mr. Trump could get away with ignoring racist and sexist abuse by his supporters. But as the president-elect, he has the moral duty to reject it in the most aggressive terms. There should be no space in American political discourse for violent or abusive behavior. And that includes, of course, acts of vandalism and other violence by anti-Trump demonstrators. | 0 |
Waking Times
Now that the establishment corporate and liberal media have declared open war on so-called ‘ fake news ,’ already rolling out plans to flag, censor, robotically restrict and demonetize the efforts of independent journalists, the world waits with bated breath to see exactly what form the control of information will take.
The 24/7 talking heads on cable news are already repeating ad nauseam the ‘fake news’ talking points, as they do whenever there is a top-down agenda to push onto our supposedly free society.
In this case: America is divided because of fake news, fake news is a dangerous threat to democracy, fake news looks just like real news and we need experts to tell us what’s what, if we don’t stop fake news then people will be misled, fake news causes confusion and disrupts society, facts have no meaning when there’s fake news, fake news is information warfare and needs to be treated like terrorism.
You may be wondering, what, then, is real news?
Here’s an example, hot off the press.
At the ongoing Standing Rock civil disobedience action in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, some 167 people were injured last night by militarized police forces who assaulted a bridge occupied by peaceful protestors including men, women, children and elderly persons. The temperature was well below freezing and for hours the police sprayed the crowd water cannons, fired many rounds of flash bang grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas, and used the LRAD acoustic weapon to disperse dissidents.
Here’s a video of the assault, from TYT .
During the assault, at least one elder was left in critical condition and it is reported that 13-year old girl suffered serious injuries when shot with a rubber bullet.
This is happening in America, to Americans, by American police, which makes it quite newsworthy to Americans.
We know without question, without even having to ask, that any crackdown on ‘fake news’ will not in any way apply to mainstream, corporate news sources such as the major newspapers and the major cable news networks.
A scan of ‘real news’ sources the morning after this major confrontation between police and resistors at Standing Rock reveals that stories like this, stories of resistance to corporate rule and government authoritarianism.
These Sources Did Not Report On This:
CNN.com – Although the homepage of CNN features around a hundred stories, as of the time of this post, there was no mention whatsoever about the Standing Rock confrontation last night.
MSNBC.com – No mention whatsoever of this event on this mainstream news site. The top 6 posts at the time this article was written were all about Donald Trump, his cabinet picks, and how his administration was going to be terrible.
CBS News – No coverage of this story on the CBS News homepage.
DrudgeReport.com – This story has not been aggregated on the Drudge Report.
These Sources Did Report on This:
FoxNews.com – The confrontation did make it the homepage of Fox, but not as a headline story. A short video was included, and the coverage was short and to the point. | 1 |
There are some things that we have learned about the United States from this election. We’ll need to keep these in mind as we make efforts to return sanity to society.
The federal government has been corrupted Probably the most shocking lesson of this election is that the entire federal government has been coopted to serve a single party—the Democrats. The best example of this was the behavior of FBI Director James Comey. The FBI is part of the Executive branch of government so Comey reports to Loretta Lynch, who in turn reports to Obama. Despite this fact, one expects that the FBI be allowed a high degree of discretion to honestly investigate individuals regardless of which political party they belong to. After all, the US was founded upon the idea that we are all equal before the law.
Comey’s actions reveal that the FBI has thrown equality before the law out the window. At first the FBI investigated Clinton’s use of an unsecure, personal email server to conduct national business while she was Secretary of State. But even though Clinton apparently violated several laws that have gotten other people severe jail sentences, Comey exonerated her back in July with a hand slap.
In a move that surprised everyone, Comey re-opened on October 28th the criminal investigation of Clinton after 650,000 emails State Department emails were found on pervert Anthony Weiner’s computer. Trump supporters rejoiced and Hillary supporters expressed outrage. But the White House calmly called Comey “a man of integrity.” Did they know something we didn’t?
It turns out the fix was in from the beginning because just 48 hours before election day, Comey exonerated Clinton again . The FBI director likely intended to clear Clinton of wrongdoing before the election to defuse Donald Trump’s criticism of her.
The big lesson is that the law is applied selectively. Wealthy, politically-connected people don’t need to play by the same rules as everyone else. Unless this situation is corrected, it means the rule of law is dead—and that is a very grave lesson indeed.
The elites are in control but… Elites want you to believe they are super smart and super powerful like the Great Oz.
I’ve written many times about the control that globalist elites exert on the country through their control of the media, educational institutions, and politicians through the form of bribes (donations, cushy job offers, speaking fees). By controlling the flow of information and setting the narrative, the globalists are able to control the masses like cattle. The good news is that their control is not complete. They are not omnipotent.
The weakness of the elites has been demonstrated in three ways. The first was with the Brexit vote. When Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership in the EU, he never dreamed that Britons would actually vote to leave. All the polls at the time showed that any movement to leave would go down in flames. Still, through the work of men like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, the British populace voted to leave the EU. The Brits on the leave side had to endure being called racist and look past polling that said they had no chance to win.
The second way was the campaign of Trump himself. The GOP had planned a coronation for Jeb Bush. The rest of the GOP field was “me too” candidates who were virtually indistinguishable from Jeb. Trump came in with an uncompromising message and crushed Jeb and the rest of the little Jebs. The elite plan to have Hillary versus a weak conservative was completely thrown into disarray by Trump’s campaign. Even if Trump has lost the general, it is still a victory because now, instead of seeing the Great Oz, we see the globalists behind the curtain.
The third manifestation of the weakness of the elites is the rise of the Alt Right. A tiny group of young people on the internet was able to quickly wake up large segments of the population. Only a year ago, terms like nationalism and globalism were rarely heard in the US. Now, we have grandmothers in Texas tweeting about how we need to lay the axe to the globalists.
The overall lesson is that we should not fear the globalist elite. They exist and they are able to fool a majority of the population, but not all of us. With sound strategy, they can be defeated.
The Elite have completely divorced themselves from non-elites
In the past, Europe had an aristocracy. This aristocracy had a close relationship with the rest of the people in the country. The aristocracy was expected to defend the nation in case of war. They also had the same religion as the rest of the country. We already knew that the modern “aristocracy” of the globalist elites has no responsibilities toward the rest of us, but, thanks to WikiLeaks, we have now learned that they don’t even share the same religion.
WikiLeaks revealed that Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager are close friends with Marina Abramovic, a Serbian artist who performs occult rituals she calls “ spirit cooking .” Spirit cooking appears to be set of magical rituals that use bodily fluids such as menstrual blood, urine, and semen to achieve certain goals, usually sex-related. It also involves at least minor sacrifices: one “recipe” calls for cutting one’s figure and “eat[ing] the pain.”
While spirit cooking is certainly grotesque, it is not my intention to focus on it except to point out that it has become a sort of initiation ritual into the US globalist elite. Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Gwen Stefani have all attended these rituals and I would not be surprised to learn that many other politicians, CEOs, and bankers also participate. Getting invited to one of these spirit cooking sessions means that you have gained entry into the wealthy elite in the US. There are probably similar groups or rituals for the modern day European elites.
There are several things at work here. Most of the spirit cooking participants probably don’t believe in the efficacy of the spirit cooking ritual. It is more like a college fraternity initiation. It only means something in terms of one’s social standing. Also, the satanic imagery of spirit cooking and its sexual overtones are big middle fingers to Christianity which our elite regard as the religion of the unwashed masses.
In both of these ways, our modern “elite” have separated themselves from the rest of us. They don’t share the same destiny as us. If the country starts going to hell, the wealthy elite can just pick up and move to another country or they can live in small, heavily guarded compounds, untouched by the damage their policies have caused. And they even lack a common morality with us. In their own eyes, their wealth has somehow put them beyond the traditional moral code that guides the rest of us.
The fact that the elites have no regard for the rest of the country does not bode well for them. The aristocracy of old knew that their fortune was bound up with that of their countrymen. The modern elite lack this wisdom. Once enough of the hoi polloi realize it, it is only a matter of time before these pseudo-elites are deposed from their pedestal.
Conclusion With Trump’s election, the problem of federal government being used for political purposes will be mitigated. However, the problems with our indulgent pseudo-elite will continue to be a force that prevents the patriarchy from returning. In any case, we can be grateful that the election of 2016 has exposed some of the cancers that are eating away at our society.
Read More: Rigged: FBI Reveals It Has Evidence Hillary Clinton Broke Law, But Will Not Prosecute
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Yesterday, a cowardly recipient of America s generosity, via a broken chain migration policy, walked through the busy subway terminal near the Port Authority Transit hub, where he planned to use a homemade bomb strapped to his body as a weapon to terrorize as many people as possible. The chain migration terrorist claims he chose the Port Authority site because the poor little radicalized Muslim who America welcomed with open arms, was triggered by the Christmas posters that hung in the hallways of the terminal. The chain migration terrorist, who was inspired by ISIS, failed miserably.The media will show their true colors when they ignore the ease with which radical Muslims from hotbed terror nations have been allowed to enter the United States, and will instead, will focus on Ullah s statement about wanting to punish President Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The media will also ignore the fact that we wouldn t even be having this conversation if Ullah was not allowed to enter the United States during Obama s presidency. It was actually during Barack Hussein Obama s second term in 2014, that Ullah began to explore ways to commit acts of terror against Americans, as a way to show his allegiance to the cowardly terror group, ISIS. (See paragraph f. )Port Authority bomber Akayed Ullah wanted to send a message straight to the White House: Trump you failed to protect your nation. Here is a screenshot of the complaint filed by Assistant United States Attorneys:That s what the 27-year-old ISIS adherent wrote on his Facebook page while on his way to blow himself up at the bustling transit hub Monday morning, according to the federal complaint filed Tuesday.He had also written in his passport: O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE. The charges also reveal that the 27-year-old Bangeldesh-born cabbie s online radicalization began in 2014, and he began researching how to build bombs a year ago although he only constructed his crude explosive device at his Brooklyn home a week ago.Ullah built the bomb for maximum damage, federal prosecutors charge filling it with metal screws and performed the bombing on a workday because he believed that there would be more people. NYP | 1 |
Nothing to see here no conflict of interest. How can anyone wonder why Americans have completely lost their ability to trust our corrupt government?So the Attorney General of the United States just happened to run into the former president of the United States who just so happens to be married to a woman running for president, who just happens to be under federal investigation and they just happened to have a 30 minute meeting aboard a government owned airplane and we re to believe that all they talked about was their grandchildren? GPWhy Did Bill Clinton And Loretta Lynch Meet On Her Airplane In Phoenix This Week?Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former President Bill Clinton for a half-hour on her government airplane at the Phoenix airport on Tuesday, an Arizona news station is reporting.The unannounced meeting, which comes as Lynch s Justice Department is investigating the handling of classified information on Hillary Clinton s private email server, came to light only when Phoenix s ABC15 TV station asked Lynch about it during a press conference.The Obama appointee told the TV station that she and Clinton did not discuss the investigation or any other government business. Instead, she says they talked about Clinton s grandchildren and golf.Here s the video from ABC 15:Via: Daily Caller | 1 |
Omarosa Manigault, a senior staff member of President Donald Trump s administration and a former Apprentice cast member, got married in Trump s Washington DC hotel this morning.Omarosa has been a staunch defender of her boss President Donald J. Trump. The video of her appearance on The View, where she single-handedly destroyed Joy Behar and crew went viral the day after her appearance. Please enjoy:About 70 people attended the wedding in the hotel s Presidential Ballroom, which was followed by a brunch and reception.Donald Trump and other White House senior staff remained at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida following Chinese President Xi Jinping s visit and after the US airstrike on Syria. The couple exchanged vows at an intimate private ceremony and the celebration went forward without incident despite Omarosa s concerns about death threats.Last week, Omarosa received $25,000 worth of merchandise from Kleinfeld Bridal after appearing on the television show Say Yes to the Dress, The Hill reported.The former reality television star postponed and relocated her upcoming wedding to Pastor Newman because of concerns about her safety and backlash from her fianc s church.She was supposed to get married on March 25 at the church her fianc oversees, The Sanctuary @ Mt. Calvary, in Jacksonville, Florida.But sources close to Omarosa revealed to DailyMail.com that an onslaught of death threats and safety concerns caused her to delay her nuptials and move the ceremony to Washington, DC.Via: Daily Mail | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice of Representative Mick Mulvaney to become White House budget director on Wednesday appeared to pick up enough Republican votes to vault him into the job. Republican Senator Thad Cochran, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, informed his staff that he intends to support Mulvaney’s confirmation, according to an aide. Earlier in the day an aide said Cochran had not yet decided whether to vote for Mulvaney. With Republican Senator John McCain announcing on the Senate floor that he would oppose Mulvaney, Cochran was seen as the potential 51st vote needed in the 100-member chamber for confirmation. McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee that oversees defense programs, blasted Mulvaney in a Senate floor speech, saying the nominee had pursued “reckless budget strategies” that led to a partial government shutdown in 2013. McCain also lashed out at Mulvaney’s efforts on military affairs, including a vote in 2011 that the Arizona senator said would have brought the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, ending a mission to prevent it from “becoming a safe haven for terrorists.” Without Cochran, Vice President Mike Pence would have been thrust into the spotlight and likely called upon to break a likely 50-50 tie that threatened to doom Mulvaney’s nomination. Pence was needed to break such a tie over Betsy DeVos to be education secretary. Some Senate Republicans have been worried Mulvaney might not go along with beefing up spending on military programs. A Senate vote on Mulvaney, a leading member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who represents a region of South Carolina, was expected on Thursday at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT). Any one of the 100 senators could still change their position on Mulvaney before the vote, but there were no fresh signs of that happening following Cochran’s decision. A Senate panel only narrowly backed the nominee this month in a party-line vote. Republicans have 52 of the 100 Senate seats and are able to approve Trump’s nominees if they can hold together a majority. Democrats have criticized Mulvaney for taking a hard line on popular social programs and for not paying more than $15,000 in taxes in relation to a household employee until after he was nominated. He has said he favors raising the Social Security retirement age to 70 and means-testing beneficiaries of the Medicare health care program. These positions have drawn the ire of Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2016. | 0 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump picked up the endorsement on Monday of the union representing 5,000 federal immigration officers, a boost of support for his immigration policy ahead of his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump has laid out a hardline position on illegal immigration, proposing to build a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico and take other steps to crack down on the flow of undocumented people crossing into the United States. With immigration likely to be discussed at the debate, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union representing 5,000 federal immigration officers and law enforcement support staff, announced it would support Trump, in what was described as its first endorsement of a candidate for elected office. The union’s president, Chris Crane, outlined in a statement why his group is backing Trump, saying his union members are “the last line of defense for American communities” and that his members “are prevented from enforcing the most basic immigration laws.” A CNN/ORC poll released on Sept. 7 said that among registered voters, 49 percent said they trusted Clinton to handle immigration, a slight advantage over Trump, who was at 47 percent. Crane said the endorsement was conducted by a vote of the union’s membership and that Clinton received only 5 percent of the vote. | 1 |
According to CNN UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a rare public admonishment to US President Donald Trump on Thursday, declaring that he was wrong to share anti-Muslim videos posted online by a hateful British far-right group.May, facing intense pressure to cancel a planned state visit by Trump, was forced to address the controversy in person after the President criticized her on Twitter. But she insisted the US-UK relationship would survive the storm, and suggested the visit by Trump would go ahead.As the extraordinary diplomatic clash stretched into a second day, the British ambassador to the US revealed he had expressed concerns to the White House about the affair. Trump also faced an unprecedented barrage of criticism in UK Parliament, where MPs variously called him racist, fascist and evil. Some suggested he should quit Twitter.Donald Trump responded to Theresa May s criticism of his Britain First retweets by tweeting back to her: Theresa@theresamay, don t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine! Many, including us, wonder if British Prime Minister Theresa May is still feeling the same way about Islamic extremists in the UK after her own life was threatened by the same group of people she attempted to defend last week.Less than one week later, British Intelligence announced that they ve foiled a plot by Islamic extremists to assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May.The disrupted plot against May included an explosive device that terrorists planned to detonate in front of May s residence on Downing Street, according to Sky News. It is in essence an extreme Islamist suicide plot against Downing Street, Sky correspondent Martin Brunt said. Essentially police believe that the plan was to launch some sort of improvised explosive device at Downing Street and in the ensuing chaos attack and kill Theresa May, the Prime Minister. Sky s Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: It s the latest in a number of terror plots that police and MI5 believe they ve foiled this year. I understand that the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, briefed Cabinet ministers today, such is the seriousness of what they believed they have uncovered. It is in essence an extreme Islamist suicide plot against Downing Street. Essentially police believe that the plan was to launch some sort of improvised explosive device at Downing Street and in the ensuing chaos attack and kill Theresa May, the Prime Minister. This is something which has been pursued over several weeks at least by Scotland Yard, MI5 and West Midlands Police. It came to a head last week with the arrest of two men, by armed police, who were charged with preparing acts of terrorism. Naa imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, from north London and Mohammed Aqib Imran, 21, from south-east Birmingham are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on terror charges on Wednesday morning.On Tuesday MI5 revealed that it had prevented nine terror attacks in the UK in the past year but several attackers have still got through.The plot was just one in a number of planned attacks this year that cops and British security services have been able to prevent, Sky said.It was not clear Tuesday night what stage the plot was in or if any suspects have been arrested. NYP | 0 |
Enviar para um amigo No modelo chinês, ele é sustentado por um regime autoritário e pode se expandir livremente, sem quaisquer contestações. O ocidental, teoricamente, deve respeitar determinadas regras democráticas, embora em caso de necessidade, essas regras possam ser sempre flexibilizadas. O capitalismo ocidental, que nos diz mais respeito, não olha para a geografia mundial com os mesmos olhos de quem examina um mapa. Ele não enxerga países. Mercados produtores e mercados consumidores. Seu único objetivo é o lucro acima de tudo. E para alcançá-lo não existem mais barreiras nacionais. Sua bandeira é o livre comércio. Todas as fronteiras abertas, não para facilitar a circulação das pessoas, mas para garantir a compra e venda de bens de consumo. Quando alguns países teimam em resistir e procuram defender suas riquezas em proveito de seus povos, os meios de persuasão vão de guerras comerciais às guerras reais. O Iraque não aceitou as condições das grandes companhias internacionais para explorar o seu petróleo e para puni-lo, criou-se o governo dos Estados Unidos, como o principal representante desse capitalismo belicoso, praticamente destruí o País. Quando se precisou prejudicar as economias da Rússia e do Irã, baseadas na produção e exportação do petróleo, se forçou a baixa no preço do produto nos mercados internacionais, prejudicando por tabela a economia da Venezuela. Mas não é apenas pela ação armada, que se calam os que resistem a esse capitalismo internacional e ainda sonham com um outro modelo de economia. Veja-se o caso da América do Sul. Depois de derrubar os governos do Paraguai e Honduras com golpes parlamentares, os interesses imperialistas se voltaram para a desestabilização dos governos dos dois principais países sul-americanos, Argentina e Brasil. No caso da Argentina, com uma ampla campanha de denúncias através de uma mídia corrupta e venal, foi possível se chegar ao poder por via eleitoral e liquidar o projeto populista dos governos do casal Kirchner e colocar no poder um político sensível aos interesses imperialistas. No Brasil, houve uma conjugação de forças entre um parlamento extremamente corrompido, o judiciário e a mídia, para afastar uma Presidente que, de alguma maneira, não seguia todos os pontos do modelo neoliberal que interessa ao capitalismo internacional. Não é coincidência, que o processo de desestabilizou do Governo Dilma tenha se iniciado através de um assalto a Petrobrás, que com a descoberta do pré-sal se tornara uma forte concorrente ás grandes empresas petrolíferas internacionais. Em 2013, Edward Snowden, ao divulgar alguns documentos secretos da Agência Nacional de Segurança dos Estados Unidos (NSA), mostrou que esse serviço espionava há algum tempo o trabalho da Petrobrás. Agora, o alvo principal na América do Sul é a Venezuela, que teve sua economia abalada pela queda fabricada nos preços internacionais do petróleo A mídia internacional (na Zero Hora existe um jornalista com uma obsessão quase doentia de falar mal da Venezuela), com o apoio de lideranças políticas golpistas internas, procuram derrubar um governo constitucional usando todas as armas possíveis. Apesar disso, com o apoio da população mais pobre, o Governo da Venezuela resiste e continua executando sua política de melhorias sociais no País. Embora isso não seja publicado na mídia golpista, o governo do Presidente Maduro aprovou para 2017 a aplicação de 73% do orçamento nacional, estimado em quase 850 milhões de dólares em projetos sociais, principalmente em educação e saúde. A médio prazo, as experiências com governos reformistas, no Brasil, Uruguai, Paraguai, Venezuela, Bolívia e Equador, nascidos a partir de inéditas mobilizações populares, estão condenadas a ser sepultadas pelas novas exigências do capital monopolista internacional, cada vez menos produtivo e mais financeiro. A longo prazo, a única meta pela qual vale a pena lutar é a busca de uma sociedade socialista, pois como diz Istvan Meszaros sobre o capitalismo no século XXI, a opção continua sendo a mesma citada por Rosa Luxemburgo, há quase 100 anos: socialismo ou barbárie. Marino Boeira é jornalista, formado em História pela UFRGS | 1 |
21st Century Wire says Some devastating news befell John Sidney McCain III recently, as his staff announced that the US Senator had been diagnosed with a brain tumor called glioblastoma discovered during recent testing at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. We wish the Senator well On Episode #195 Chickenhawk Nation of the SUNDAY WIRE with co-hosts Patrick Henningsen and Mike Robinson, we break down all the reasons why we think it s time for McCain to retire.The list is endless. We ll start with a real cancer of conflict the senseless truck bombing of Al-Kindi cancer treatment hospital in Aleppo, Syria. The attack carried out by the same freedom fighters that McCain was seen cavorting with during his secret trip to the Aleppo area in May 2013. The very same rebels he was supplying weapons to the Free Syrian Army (under the command of Jabbat al Nusra aka al Qaeda in Syria) would later order the bombing on this cancer treatment hospital. LISTEN: More @21WIRE: | 0 |
KABUL, Afghanistan — A United States soldier was killed by a bomb near the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, officials said on Tuesday, days after more than 100 American soldiers arrived there to help plan the strategic city’s defense against a fierce Taliban assault. The United States military has increasingly found itself drawn back to regular combat situations this year as the Afghan forces have struggled against Taliban offensives. The increased American presence around Lashkar Gah in particular, more than two years after British soldiers closed their last base in the city, highlights a scramble to prevent the fall of a major population center. For weeks before the Americans’ arrival, top Afghan generals were being sent from Kabul to hold the line as district after district came under attack, with the Taliban surrounding the city. In a statement on Tuesday, the United States military said the service member had died of “wounds sustained during operations near Lashkar Gah,” the capital of Helmand Province, when a joint patrol encountered an improvised explosive device. Six Afghan soldiers and another American soldier were wounded in the blast. It was the second death of an American soldier in hostile fire in Afghanistan this year, as the force here has mostly been reduced to a smaller advisory mission. In January, Staff Sgt. Matthew Q. McClintock was killed in Marja district, also in Helmand Province. Even as local Afghan officials were reporting the presence of American personnel near the battlefield in the area, about 10 miles from Lashkar Gah, United States military officials in Kabul insisted that the new team was there only to advise the leadership of the southern police zone based out of the city. “The troops that have gone down there are really focused on force protection of the advisers there, to make sure they are secure,” Brig. Gen. Charles E. Cleveland, a spokesman for the American military in Afghanistan, told reporters on Monday. “What you won’t see is — they are not about to go out and conduct operations. ” On Tuesday, General Cleveland said, “The service members killed and wounded today were not a part of the new advisory mission in Lashkar Gah,” suggesting that they were part of the regular advisory support the NATO mission has been providing Afghan special operation forces, often traveling with them in their raids. Still, the line between combat and advising has become remarkably thin as Afghan Special Forces, trained to conduct quick commando raids, have for weeks now been used as ground forces outside Lashkar Gah. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said that joint operations by NATO forces — mostly Americans — and Afghan forces were continuing in the and Babajii neighborhoods outside Lashkar Gah, with the Westerners providing air and ground support. “NATO troops are now on the ground fighting with Afghan forces against the Taliban,” he said. As the top generals were busy in Helmand, the northern city of Kunduz, which was briefly overrun by the Taliban last fall, once again faced strong offensives at its gates. The district of Khanabad briefly fell to the insurgents, and fighting raged less than a mile from the city center. Residents of Kunduz city could hear constant airstrikes into the early hours of Tuesday, with bombings focused on trying to push back the Taliban from Zar Khared, an area less than two miles from the city center. A small group of American advisers is based at the airport in Kunduz, but local officials said Tuesday that they had not left the outpost to join operations. It was a small advisory team of American Special Forces troops that led a desperate effort to retake that city from the Taliban last fall. That American force also called in the botched airstrike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the city, killing 42 people. Most of the roads leading to Kunduz Province remained blocked on Tuesday, and despite continuous airstrikes, ground operations for recapturing the lost territories had not yet started, Afghan officials said. American military officials say they will not allow another Afghan city to fall, not just because of its symbolic implications to the 15 years of NATO presence here, but also because of the politically destabilizing effects it could have on the struggling government in Kabul. As Taliban gains in Helmand continued, an American military battalion was sent to the province this year to bolster the Afghan Army corps that were taking heavy casualties in the fighting. That was the largest deployment of American troops outside major bases in Afghanistan since the end of the NATO combat mission in 2014. In June, President Obama loosened combat restrictions in Afghanistan for the United States military, which remains mostly focused on missions to train and advise Afghan forces and to conduct counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates. He later slowed the withdrawal of American troops from the country. The overall military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John W. Nicholson, can now call for airstrikes more freely, and his advisory teams can accompany Afghan forces in offensive missions to try to turn the tide of critical battles. Under the new rules, the number of airstrikes, which Afghan forces often credit with slowing Taliban advances, have increased significantly. And strategic bombers returned for the first time in years, with American officials saying the huge warplanes supported missions against Islamic State affiliates in eastern Afghanistan. But American ground forces have increasingly been in the line of fire this year, as reflected in the casualty reports. In addition to the casualties on Tuesday near Lashkar Gah, and the death of Sergeant McClintock in Helmand this January, five American service members were reported wounded in fighting against the Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan last month. The haphazard nature of the Afghan forces’ defense against the Taliban was again on display after the fall of Khanabad district. The district was quickly taken back by an array of Afghan forces, each led by a official. The governor of Takhar Province was in the lead, marching in with his local forces and firing from a machine gun mounted on an armored vehicle as at least five other security personnel watched — clearly a display meant for the public. He returned to Takhar to a hero’s welcome, received with gifts and flowers. United States military officials have attributed much of the Afghan forces’ struggle to leadership woes in the face of Taliban offensives that they say normally amount to no more than 20 to 30 insurgents trying to overrun a vulnerable checkpoint. “In a perfect world, would you have senior military leaders moving around like that? Perhaps not,” General Cleveland said. “But at the end of the day, we find that most of the challenges facing the Afghan national defense and security forces are tied to leadership. We think it’s a positive thing to have good, strong leaders that are willing to get out, set an example, as well as take charge of what is going on. ” | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget will call for an 11 percent increase in funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and a 32 percent increase for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a White House official said on Monday. Obama will propose that the SEC be given $1.8 billion and the CFTC $330 million in the budget, economic adviser Jeffrey Zients said in a blog post on the White House website. “Last year the Administration fought hard to keep Congressional Republicans from using must-pass budget legislation to roll back Wall Street Reform,” he wrote, referring to fiscal 2016. “We also fought to increase funding for financial regulators and to maintain their independence. But even these gains aren’t enough.” “And while the Administration is pushing for more funding for these regulators, we’ll also continue to oppose efforts to restrict the funding independence of the other financial regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” he wrote. The Republican-controlled Congress is likely to oppose these and many other proposals in Obama’s budget. In addition to the proposed increases from the previous fiscal year, the budget will offer support again for user fees to fund the CFTC in a similar way to other financial regulators, Zients said. “Fee funding would shift the costs of regulatory services provided by the CFTC from the taxpayer to the very firms that benefit from the CFTC’s oversight. This is a commonsense change that is long overdue,” he said. The budget would also take steps to reduce risk in the financial sector by assessing a fee against large financial institutions based on their liabilities. “We learned the hard way in 2008 just how damaging risk and leverage in the financial system can be, and we’ve done a lot to curb excessive risk on Wall Street since,” Zients said, referring to the global financial crisis. “This fee is another way to further those reforms, ensuring that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for risky Wall Street gambles.” Federal fiscal 2017 begins on Oct. 1 of this year. | 1 |
Russia decides to ignore Obama s red line and sells missiles to Iran. With a weak leader like Obama, it s no wonder Putin thumbs his nose at us Russia s announcement on Monday that it will proceed with the sale of advanced missile systems to Iran crosses a so-called red line established by the Obama administration in 2010, according to comments by senior administration officials.Following years of dissent from the United States, Russia announced on Monday that it would proceed with the sale of the advanced S-300 air defense missile system to Iran, which has been vying to purchase the hardware for years.The announcement sparked criticism from the Obama administration, which has been pressuring Iran since at least 2010 to withhold the sale.Russia s previous ban on selling Tehran the powerful defense system was hailed as a coup by the Obama administration and promoted by it as an example of President Obama s ability to rein in Russian intransigence on the military front.However, Monday s announcement by Russia threatens to complicate an already fractured relationship with Moscow and throw into further jeopardy the ongoing negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.Experts have warned that the reversal threatens to split the international coalition currently working to halt Iran s nuclear program a narrative that the White House is working to downplayThe Russian executive order effectively lifts the ban on transit of the S-300 air defense missile systems via Russian Federation territory (including by air), export from the Russian Federation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and transfer of the S-300 to the Islamic Republic of Iran outside the Russian Federation s territory, using ships or aircraft flying the Russian Federation flag, according to an announcement by Moscow.Russia s decision to arm Tehran with the S-300 system erodes a long-promoted narrative by the Obama administration about its success in preventing Russian proliferation.Read more: WFB | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, a critical position ahead of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Delays in Senate confirmation of veteran trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer more than 100 days after his nomination have set back Trump’s trade agenda, including the start of talks about revamping one of the world’s biggest trading blocs. Lighthizer won support from both Republicans and Democrats in the Republican-led Senate on Thursday, with an 82-14 vote to confirm his nomination. The administration has had to wait for Lighthizer to be in place before triggering the formal process to begin renegotiating NAFTA. It was not immediately clear when the White House would begin that process. To do so, the Trump administration must send a letter to Congress declaring its intention to launch negotiations in 90 days. The Republican president has said the 23-year-old trade pact devastated U.S. workers and has vowed to tear it up if he fails to get a better deal. Some Democrats, while critical of Trump’s views on trade, said they were confident Lighthizer would work to help U.S. workers. “He’s a real pro,” Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said before voting in favor. Lighthizer’s approval came despite the objections of two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who said they were worried he did not appreciate NAFTA’s benefits. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, in charge of trade ties with the United States, said she did not expect the administration would move immediately on NAFTA. “I imagine that Ambassador Lighthizer may need to spend a bit of time in consultations prior to formally triggering that 90-day period,” she said on a conference call on Thursday night. While the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico has ballooned since NAFTA was enacted in 1994, U.S. farmers have profited from exports to America’s southern neighbor, while automakers have cut costs by building cross-border supply chains that benefit from lower Mexican wages. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and voted in favor of Lighthizer’s nomination, also urged the incoming trade representative not to put at risk the gains NAFTA had brought. “There are definitely opportunities to update and improve NAFTA,” Hatch said. “But it is important that the administration follow the spirit of the Hippocratic oath: First do no harm.” | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Monday praised President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus for his White House chief of staff as the best choice for getting things done in Congress. “It’s a very, very, very good sign of things to come,” Ryan said in an interview with Wisconsin radio station WBEL. Ryan said he has spoken with Trump almost every day since last Tuesday’s election. “Hiring Reince as his chief of staff is a perfect indication of our new president’s desire to get things done,” Ryan said. | 0 |
AIRPORTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY were inundated with crazy leftists who didn t educate themselves on the Trump order on refugees. They literally went nuts as you ll see in the video blow. Can you imagine the news if a conservative Trump supporter had done this to a leftist? The press would be all over it but I ll bet you never heard of this horrific attack. Watch how the protesters swarm and chant they must have realized they were on camera and then chanted peaceful protest as if to reassure the press that their intention was for peace. Well, it sure doesn t look that way The video below is of the exact moment when this throng of lunatics chased these men into the airport. The extended video is below the shorter one. You ll see in the extended video that these protesters are vile and disgusting. This is NOT peaceful protest! | 1 |
Donald Trump is a flaming racist, and he has made no secret of that. After all, he has a history of calling Mexican immigrants rapists, of calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, and of telling his imbecile supporters to beat up black protesters. Well, if all of that wasn t enough to convince you of the racism of the Trump campaign and of the man himself, this ought to be.Donald Trump took his hate parade of a campaign to South Carolina to Clemson University, to be precise. A professor at the historic South Carolina university, Chenjerai Kumanyika was at the rally with his friend, A.D. Carson. They listened, first, to (amazingly) gospel television preacher Mark Burris give a prayer/speech, which included the words: Father God, in the name of Jesus, we re truly thankful for the life of Donald J. Trump. We re thankful that you have created a man through the spirit of the Holy Spirit to give him the boldness to say what other people will not say, to do what other people will not do After that, Kumanyika and Carson stood listening to the events of the evening, when they were approached by police officers who told them they had to leave. There was no apparent reason for this, so Kumanyika asked why they were being tossed out. I m leaving, I m not arguing with you, he said. I just want to know why. Once they had exited the event, one cop was kind enough to tell the men why they had been thrown out. The Trump campaign or the Trump people said that you are no longer welcome. Yes, you read that right. The campaign simply said that they were not welcome there. No explanation for that, as they were not protesting or causing a ruckus. Just standing there. The professor said of the incident: I stood peacefully observing Trump s speech. I remained quiet and calm the entire time I was there and never spoke to anyone other than A.D. Eventually, several police officers dressed in military gear grabbed my arm and told me to leave the venue immediately. Again, no protests, just observing like everyone else there. The difference? They re black. That s the only conceivable reason.Luckily, the entire exchange was caught on camera and posted to social media. Take a look below:// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]> The Trump Campaign said You are No Longer Welcome Here Earlier tonight, A.D. Carson and I were kicked out of a Trump rally in Clemson South CarolinaPosted by Chenjerai Kumanyika on Wednesday, February 10, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
Seven years ago, this story would ve seemed like something from The Onion (a satirical publication). Unfortunately where Barry Sotoero, aka Barack Hussein Obama is concerned, nothing is unbelievable, and truth seems to be stranger than fiction Recently, a new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report was released stating that one of the United States Navy s top commanders was released from command after he sent out an email revealing that President Barack Obama was in the process of purchasing a multi-million dollar seaside villa in Dubai.The report indicates that Rear Admiral Rick Williams, Commander of the US Navy s Carrier Strike Group 15, posted a query on January 8 to the Naval Institutes Readiness Kill Chain. It inquired why Navy security and intelligence personal had been dispatched from a Naval Support Facility in Thurmont to an Obama house hunting mission. The message has since been deleted.As to the Obama house hunting mission Admiral Williams was making his query about before being fired, this report continues, SVR intelligence assests in the UAE identified it as being a luxury seaside villa located in the Palm Jumeirah development of Dubai being offered for sale at the price of $4.9 million (18 million United Arab Emirates Dirham), and which a deposit on it was made this past week by the Washington D.C. based global public affairs company Podesta Group. Important to note about the Podesta Group, this report notes, is that its leader is Tony Podesta, who aside from being one of the most powerful oligarchs in the US, is a close personal friend of President Obama too.Within 18 hours of posting the query, Vice Admiral Noral Tyson fired Admiral Williams on orders from President Obama. Her action was reportedly due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command based on allegations of his misuse of government computer equipment. To cover their tracks, the Pentagon reportedly began releasing anonymous stories that Admiral Williams had been viewing pornography on his computer. Of course, this is an impossibility due to the US Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), which blocks such sites. Via: Conservative Post | 1 |
The irony in Obama s radical Treasury Secretary s decision to remove racist Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill, lies in the fact that Jackson was the first Democrat to be elected President. Rabid Bernie Sanders supporters are hell-bent on seeing Bernie Sanders fulfill his promise of breaking up the big bank monopolies. Andrew Jackson was pioneer in staving off banking domination in his day.But alas it s official .Moments ago Politico reported that the U.S. Treasury will announce that it plans to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the sources said. There will also be changes to the $5 bill to depict civil rights era leaders.Not every dead president is being scraped however: treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday will announce a decision to keep Alexander Hamilton on the front of the $10 bill and put leaders of the movement to give women the right to vote on the back of the bill.Lew s decision comes after he announced last summer that he was considering replacing Hamilton on the $10 bill with a woman. The announcement drew swift rebukes from fans of Hamilton, who helped create the Treasury Department and the modern American financial system. Critics immediately suggested Hamilton take Jackson off the $20 bill given the former president s role in moving native Americans off their land.Jackson may remain on the $20 bill in some capacity, but will clearly be demoted.While some pointed to the many accomplishments and qualities of Hamilton for why he should stay on the currency printed by the very Treasury the man created, the more popular argument for the Founding Father s retention was an argument about how awful the man on the $20 dollar bill was.The Daily Beast described Jackson as villainous and linked to a February article that called him a mass murderer. The New York Post argued that Old Hickory may well have been our most racist president and was a vicious, power-mad kook. Lew told POLITICO last July that Treasury was exploring ways to respond to critics. There are a number of options of how we can resolve this, Lew said. We re not taking Alexander Hamilton off our currency. Confused? Disturbed? Angry? You are not alone. The following rant by Mac Slavo expressed many feeling about the proposed change.Andrew Jackson, Who Fought Central Bank, Removed from $20 As Public Concern for Liberty ErasedJackson narrowly succeeded in staving off banker domination of the U.S. during his day.Of course, Andrew Jackson, who was the United States seventh president, was also a complete controversy his entire lifetime. It is no surprise that the same people who took down the Confederate flag from the South on the back of a mass shooting tragedy are now trying to tear down the image of a particularly controversial and intriguing figure from the American past.Jackson was a recalcitrant and unyielding general and war hero, and later an outsider riding a wave of populist support into the White House, bringing in sometimes unscrupulous companions, and plenty of Masons. Many of his backers were diametrically opposed to the entrenched power of New York bankers and speculators, as well as patrician politicians who dominated the first phase of politics in the nation s history. Jackson played a nasty role in the Trail of Tears affairs with Indians, too, and with the South and Western expansion of slave-friendly territories. Many shades of grey.Erasing Andrew Jackson from the faces of the fiat funny-money that is passed around by an increasingly ignorant and dependent society (which itself has adopted digital currency as the new norm) will further cut off the past from the masses, and ensure their enslavement.For entire story: Zero Hedge | 0 |
Nothing like riding on your sister s coattails and making bucketloads of cash just because you re a mooch and a grifter like they are. The Clinton Foundation was nothing but a slush fund for these scumbags Sitting in a courtroom three years ago, after skipping out on a sizable legal bill, Hillary Rodham Clinton s youngest brother struck a reassuring tone: Don t worry, the money is coming. I deal through the Clinton Foundation, Tony Rodham said, according to court transcripts uncovered by the New York Times. He gave his word that Hillary and Bill were setting him up with Haitian-government permits to build a $22 million housing development in the earthquake-stricken country. I hound my brother-in-law, because it s his fund that we re going to get our money from, Rodham explained, promising a $1 million check once the Haitian-government paved the way, enough both to cover the outstanding legal fees and take his family to Disney World.The construction deal fell through, but Rodham managed to settle his debt. And the next year, he got another crack at making money in Haiti s heavily-regulated economy when he joined the advisory board of a company, VCS Mining, which was developing a gold mine on the island. He d met the company s CEO at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. I go to see old friends [at the meetings,] Rodham told the Washington Post, but you never know what can happen. From the moment the Clintons walked through the White House doors in January of 1993, Rodham has proven remarkably adept at harnessing their political horsepower for his personal gain. His schemes don t always pan out, and they have caused numerous headaches for Hillary and Bill. But Rodham s fortunes have always been tied to theirs, his bank account waxing and waning in time with the Clintons political prospects. He may lack their sophistication, but to many observers, Tony is the unvarnished embodiment of the Clintons decades-long dance with crony capitalism.Rodham sits atop of a pile of money acquired through a vast tangle of enterprises just a little less secret and complex than those of his sister and brother-in-law. There s really no better definition of what this is, says David Bossie, president of the conservative group Citizens United and a longtime Clinton foe. This is a person who is not directly the principal, but he s the brother or, in the 1990s, the brother-in-law of the president, using these open doors of family to shake people down. Tony is the unvarnished embodiment of the Clintons decades-long dance with crony capitalism.Read more: National Review | 1 |
Trump s address to a joint session of Congress last night was long on old and tired talking points, and short on substance and concrete plans. Many lawmakers present had invited guests, and, of course, Trump invited his own guests, too, which presidents do. One of his guests was Carryn Owens, wife of slain Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who was lost during the botched raid in Yemen.The press fawned all over Trump for that, talking about the emotional, touching moment in which Trump actually became presidential. Then there were veterans on social media who felt differently. Many feel that Trump did nothing but exploit Ms. Owens, her grief, and the death of her husband. They were quite clear in how they saw it: Then there s U.S. Army veteran Charles Clymer, who was so livid he went on a mini-tweetstorm about it: But here s the press reaction. The fawning is gag-inducing, especially from those who routinely speak out against Trump. That s a stark difference. Trump used Ms. Owens like he always uses people. He was trying to puff himself up, score points, and distract attention from the poorly-planned and executed Yemen raid, which even DHS says yielded no useful intelligence.Our fighting men and women put their lives on the line for us. It would be one thing if the intelligence for the Yemen raid was confirmed to be good, and the raid itself was as carefully planned and executed as it could possibly be. Things go wrong with even the best-planned missions that s a fact. But that s not what happened in Yemen, and our military members shouldn t have to die for an administration that hastily throws an operation together, and then lies about the result. Owens deserves so much more than this, and his blood is on Trump s hands.Featured image by Jim Lo Scalzo via Getty Images | 1 |
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Populist New Zealand First Party leader Winston Peters said on Saturday evening that he believed his party would decide the next government after the hotly contested national elections. Peters reiterated that he would not rush into a decision on whether to support the incumbent National Party, which has ruled for nine years, or the center-left opposition Labour Party. Peters said he would not say this evening or tomorrow who he would support and that his party would not rush into a decision. Votes cast for the ruling National Party reached 46.4 percent with 80 percent of results counted by the Electoral Commission. National would likely need New Zealand First s support to form a government, based on those results. The final result that includes all votes will not be released until Oct. 7. | 1 |
If our next President is a Republican, and if he is allowed to appoint the next Supreme Court Justice, it will be very difficult to find a replacement who has Scalia s brilliant mind and absolute defense of our United States Constitution Of course, I would not like to be replaced by someone who immediately sets about undoing everything that I ve tried to do for 25 years, 26 years, sure. I mean, I shouldn t have to tell you that. Unless you think I m a fool. Obviously, the [second] amendment does not apply to arms that cannot be hand-carried. It s to keep and bear. So, it doesn t apply to cannons. But I suppose there are handheld rocket launchers that can bring down airplanes that will have to be (looked at) it will have to be decided. -US Supreme Court Justice ScaliaGun rights groups like the National Rifle Association said that conservative Justice Antonin Scalia s death Saturday puts gun rights on the line. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would harm our Second Amendment rights, said the NRA.WATCH JUSTICE SCALIA talk GUN CONTROL on FOX NEWS at the 6:50 mark. You will likely want to watch this video to the end. This video shines a bright light on the brilliance of Antonin Scalia and his defense of our US Constitution. Scalia comments on his replacement in this video, and on Obama s radical SOTU speech where he called out, and attempted to shame the Supreme Court Justices in front of the entire nation:Scalia was a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and an avid hunter. Via: Washington Examiner | 0 |
(Reuters) - Some of Donald Trump’s strongest conservative supporters are voicing anger and disappointment at the president-elect’s comments on Tuesday that he might back off his campaign pledge of pursuing a prosecution of former rival Hillary Clinton. Trump, in an interview with the New York Times, took a more compassionate tone toward the Democratic presidential nominee than during his campaign, when he talked about a possible criminal investigation of the opponent he dubbed “Crooked Hillary” if he won the White House. Chants of “Lock her up” echoed throughout his campaign rallies, with Trump supporters angrily alleging corruption related to her use of a private email server while secretary of state and to foreign contributions received by the Clinton Foundation charity. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways, and I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious,” Trump told the Times, adding that launching an investigation was “not something I feel very strongly about.” Conservatives who had reveled in the possibility of a Clinton prosecution were not pleased. Breitbart News, the outlet once led by Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, published a story on Tuesday under the headline, “Broken Promise: Trump ‘Doesn’t Wish to Pursue’ Clinton email charges.” Writer and commentator Ann Coulter also balked at the news, tweeting: “Whoa! I thought we elected (Trump) president. Did we make him the FBI, & (U.S. Department of Justice)? His job is to pick those guys, not do their jobs.” She added no president should block “investigators from doing their jobs.” Radio personality Rush Limbaugh asked the 2 million people who like his Facebook page for reaction and received more than 2,000 responses, many of which were livid. “Donald J. Trump, I am hearing that you will not be pursuing Hillary email scandal and pay-to-play. If that is the case, you just proved to me and America that laws are for the poor people. That Lady Justice is not blind. That you are no different than the swamp you want to drain. If true, you have just spit in my face and so many others,” Facebook user Donald Marks wrote. Some Republicans have backed the shift, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a close Trump adviser, who told reporters on Tuesday that while he would have supported an investigation, Trump had to make a “tough choice.” “There is a tradition in American politics that after you win an election, you sort of put things behind you,” Giuliani told ABC News. | 1 |
The New York City public school system has stopped serving a Kellogg’s brand cereal to students, replacing it with a healthier, organic brand of cereal made by a small California company. [Last year the Kellogg Company discontinued several flavors of its Kashi brand cereal, a product advertised as a healthier cereal choice. But instead of simply picking some of Kellogg’s other brands to replace Kashi, school officials decided to hold taste testing for other, newer brands. Ultimately the district chose the Back to the Roots brand, The New York Times reported. The new brand features lower levels of sugar and salt, as well as fewer calories than any of the Kellogg’s cereals, the paper reports. The small company’s offering is also free of preservatives and does not artificially add vitamins. In addition, its cereals are certified as organic. “Breakfast is really important to us, and we’re trying to get our menu to where we want it to be,” said Eric Goldstein, the chief executive of the Office of School Support Services, told the paper. “In the world we live in, though, there are so many constraints, so being able to offer Back to the Roots cereals for us is like a breath of fresh air. ” Up to 254, 000 children a day eats breakfast at New York City schools, according to district officials. The move to replace several of the Kellogg’s brands with the healthier choice comes on the heels of pressure from Congress, the state and some parents for schools to make better choices for school food programs. New York school officials also said that during the taste testing, kids chose the Back to the Roots brand over others. The district is still offering brands by the big cereal companies — General Mills, Post Foods, and even Kellogg’s, among them — but school administrators feel the new brands are offering a healthier choice. The big change in New York only adds to the woes of the Kellogg company, whose stock has been falling along with its market share. Only a month ago the company announced it was slashing its sales force, laying off over 1, 000 workers, and shuttering 39 distribution centers. The February announcement came on top of major cuts already announced this year. Early in January Kellogg Co. announced it was firing 250 workers. The multiple rounds of cutbacks occurred after Kellogg’s decided to cut its advertising with Breitbart News at the end of 2016, thereby snubbing Breitbart’s 45 million readers. In November, Kellogg’s noted that Breitbart News’s conservative readers are not “aligned with our values as a company. ” While the decision by Kellogg’s to cease advertising made virtually no revenue impact on Breitbart. com, it did represent an escalation in the war by leftist companies like Target and Allstate against conservative customers whose values propelled Donald Trump into the White House. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0 |
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Retired South African cleric and anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged Myanmar leader and fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday to intervene to help Rohingya Muslims fleeing her country. Western critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya, who have been fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, following an army counter-offensive against militant attacks. Tutu said in an open letter to Suu Kyi that: I am now elderly, decrepit and formally retired, but breaking my vow to remain silent on public affairs out of profound sadness about the plight of the Muslim minority in your country, the Rohingya. My dear sister: If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep ... We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene, Tutu wrote. Tutu, 85, has been living with prostate cancer for nearly two decades and has largely withdrawn from public life. The Rohingya comprise some 1.1 million people who have long complained of persecution and are seen by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. We have to take care of our citizens, we have to take care of everybody who is in our country, whether or not they are our citizens, Suu Kyi said earlier on Thursday in comments to Reuters Television s Indian partner, Asian News International. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 as a champion of democracy, did not refer specifically to the exodus of the minority Rohingya. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that Virginia’s Republican-led legislature unlawfully considered race when drawing U.S. congressional districts by packing black voters into one in a move opponents said diluted black electoral clout. The case focused on the composition of a majority-black U.S. House of Representatives district, stretching from Richmond to Norfolk, held by the only black member of Virginia’s congressional delegation, Democrat Bobby Scott. The justices ruled 8-0 against a group of current and former Republican U.S. House members who challenged a June 2015 lower court ruling that invalidated the district’s boundaries after several voters who lived there filed suit in 2013. Virginia’s Democratic attorney general decided not to appeal the 2015 ruling, but the Republican lawmakers took up the case. The Supreme Court on Monday found that those lawmakers lacked legal standing to bring the case in part because they could not show they were harmed by the lower court decision. The voters who sued in 2013 said Scott’s district was racially “gerrymandered” by state legislators in 2012 to cram black voters into it and reduce black influence in neighboring districts in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. Michele Jawando, a lawyer with the liberal advocacy group Center for American Progress, called the ruling “good news not only for Virginia voters and voting advocates, but also for other states currently dealing with constitutional issues around their congressional district maps.” “A just and fair democracy necessitates that all voters can access the ballot without worrying about political games and racial discrimination,” Jawando added. Democrats have accused Republican legislators around the country of drawing electoral maps to minimize the influence of black and Hispanic voters, who tend to cast ballots for Democratic candidates. Republicans have accused Democrats in Democratic-led states of using the so-called redistricting process to minimize the clout of Republican-leaning voters. Following the 2015 ruling, the boundaries of an adjoining district, currently represented by white Republican Randy Forbes, were redrawn to add some black voters from Scott’s district. This could make the district a possible Democratic pickup in the Nov. 8 election. Forbes is one of the Republicans who appealed to the Supreme Court. Two of the others, Robert Wittman and David Brat, said they had legal standing to bring the case because their chances of re-election would be reduced by having more Democratic voters in their districts. | 0 |
(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday: Trump urges Senate Republicans to “go nuclear” and impose a rule change to force a simple majority vote toward confirmation if Democrats block his U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Public refusals by two U.S. Senate Republicans to support Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for education secretary, raise the possibility of a rare congressional rejection of a Cabinet nominee. The Senate confirms Rex Tillerson as secretary of state despite concerns over his ties to Russia, while committees approve Jeff Sessions, one of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet selections, as attorney general, as well as two other nominees. Evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. will head an education reform task force under Trump and is eager to cut university regulations, including rules on dealing with campus sexual assault. The White House puts Iran “on notice” for test-firing a ballistic missile and says it is reviewing how to respond, abruptly adopting an aggressive posture toward Tehran that could raise tensions in the region. Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to underscore security commitments to South Korea and Japan on his debut trip to Asia this week as concerns mount over North Korea’s missile program and tensions with China. Tillerson sees his job become harder before it even begins because of administration moves that have antagonized Muslim nations, European allies, Mexico and U.S. bureaucrats. The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter tell Reuters. Trump pays his respects to a U.S. Navy SEAL who died in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen that went wrong, the first military operation authorized by Trump as commander in chief. Trump will likely face questions about his executive order restricting some travel to the United States when he meets with the CEOs of major U.S. companies at the White House on Friday. U.N. human rights experts warn that asylum seekers could face torture if not given haven and the Vatican calls for openness to other cultures, adding to a drumbeat of criticism of Trump’s travel curbs. Trump lashes out at one of his favorite targets for derision - the news media - complaining to a group of his supporters attending a Black History Month session that most reporters who cover him are a “disgrace.” | 0 |
To watch a black comedian with a net worth of $70 million in a country with a majority white population whine about his victimhood is just pathetic. And for anyone who thinks it s okay for Rock to spew this kind of hatred for whites in a video because he s a comedian, you may want to watch this video (especially starting at the 3:10 mark) because there s nothing funny about anything he has to say: My dad used to say: You can t beat white people at anything nothing. But you can knock em out.' In my neighborhood, there s like 3- 4 black people in my neighborhood in Alpine. It s me, Gary Sheffield, Mary Jane Blige, Patrick Ewing. Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, greatest R & B singer of our time. Who lives next to me? What s the white man next to me? He s a dentist. He didn t invent anything, he s just a dentist. That s what America is.(So, going to college and becoming a successful dentist is something that was given to him?) Tell the third generation white coal miner about his white privilege Chris. Tell the white single mom flipping burgers by day and cleaning hotel rooms by night about her white privilege Chris. Maybe, just maybe, if you took off your racist goggles for 5 minutes, you might see that blacks don t have the market on victimhood. And if you think anything has changed since victim Chris Rock made this racist video, here is a video he made about the Confederate flag 3 years ago. Watch as he attempts to mock every white person (or cracker as he calls them). The best line is when he calls Al Sharpton Martin Luther King with a perm : | 0 |
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma congratulated Emmerson Mnangagwa as he was sworn in as Zimbabwean president on Friday and said he hoped Mnangagwa would steer his country successfully through the transition from Robert Mugabe s rule. Zuma s comments were the first he has made in public since Mnangagwa emerged as the new leader of Zimbabwe following a military intervention against Mugabe. He made them at talks with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in South Africa s capital Pretoria. Lourenco was paying a state visit to South Africa that had been previously scheduled. The two leaders did not attend Mnangagwa s inauguration in Harare. | 0 |
If there s one thing that put the stupidity of Donald Trump s idiot supporters (and, to a slightly lesser extent, Jill Stein fans who also spent a lot of time pushing right-wing conspiracy theories) on full display, it s the Pizzagate nontroversy created by idiots for idiots in an attempt to damage Hillary Clinton. The story goes that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta secretly run a child prostitution ring out of the basement of a Washington D.C. pizza shop that doesn t even have a basement.While most would roll their eyes at such a ridiculous tale, one crazed Trump fan barged into the Comet Ping Pong earlier this month guns blazing and feverishly searched for the nonexistent basement or the secret tunnels in which Hillary Clinton was keeping children captive to sell to anyone who wanted to make sexy time with them. The shooter, who fortunately did not kill anyone, admits he got his news from the same place Trump does far-Right conspiracy theorist and professional liar Alex Jones of Infowars. In fact, Jones told his audience to investigate the restaurant the same thing the shooter says he was doing in a video that was deleted shortly after the Trump ally realized people actually are stupid enough to listen to him.The conspiracy theor was also pushed by the son of Trump s incoming national security adviser (and now-former Trump transition team member) Michael Flynn Jr.Now, another Trump fan has decided that the demonstrably false story is real to him, damn it! On Monday, a Philadelphia man barged into a Catholic church to accuse not only Hillary Clinton but Barack Obama of selling children for sex. Howard Caplan a man who became internet-famous by walking around with a ridiculous Hillary 4 Prison sign during the election season and who goes by Deplorable4L n Twitter posted a video of him interrupting the service to scream incoherently about pizza and pedophilia. Pizzagate is real! Pizzagate is real! Caplan yelled at shocked onlookers who were simply trying to enjoy church. The Catholic Church has been sexually abusing children thousands of them for decades. Pizzagate is real! While he is correct that there is an epidemic of child molestation in the Catholic church, Caplan somehow fails to see that even in the most deranged versions of the Pizzagate story, the Church is uninvolved.In November, Caplan and an army of other stupid people traveled to Washington D.C. to protest Comet Ping Pong. In an interview with the Philly Voice, he explained that the conspiracy goes above even Clinton, whom many believe to be the ringmaster of this fictitious child sex ring.Caplan explained that the emails are not the story. According to him, the real story is a child pedophilia ring that goes all the way up to Obama. Caplan claims to be a lifelong Democrat who converted to the Dark Side because he believes insane right-wing propaganda that only the dumbest people alive would believe. Now, he says he hopes Trump will take care of Hillary once and for all: I m hoping Trump s just saying in his mind, That s fine, we won t get you on the emails but we ll hopefully get you on this. This is way bigger than the emails anyway. If he s really saying that he s not going to prosecute her to let her ride off into the sunset, people aren t going to go for that. He will lose a lot of credibility. Sadly, this is not an isolated thing where one lunatic caused a scene. This conspiracy theory has gone mainstream among the Stupid Part of America. It s almost gotten people killed. And now, we will have four years with a President who genuinely believes all of it.Watch Caplan s outburst below:Getting a tour of @cometpingpong with James Alefantis. I'm sick that it's sideways. #pizzagate #littlelivesmatter https://t.co/x4KY2Mliqq FullyAwake12/4/16 (@Deplorable4L) November 23, 2016Featured image via Philly Voice/screengrab | 1 |
The Volcker Rule bars banks operating in the U.S. from speculating in securities markets for their own profit -- a risky activity that can put taxpayers on the hook for big bailouts if the bank bets turn sour. But there are exceptions to the rule. For instance, banks are allowed to hold U.S. government debt in their own accounts.
But those same banks aren't allowed to trade in Canadian government debt. Oliver thinks that's a NAFTA violation. Although he didn't lay out his argument in detail on Wednesday, NAFTA, like the TPP, generally bans countries from discriminating against each other's financial services. NAFTA prohibits policies that limit cross-border trade in financial services and requires the U.S. to treat Canadian companies the same way that it treats U.S. companies.
"The Volcker Rule is clearly not a violation of NAFTA or any other trade agreement, all of which explicitly safeguard the ability of the United States to protect the integrity and stability of our financial system," a Treasury spokesperson said. "The Volcker Rule is a key prudential financial regulation that prohibits risky proprietary trading while protecting taxpayers and the depth, liquidity, and stability of U.S. capital markets. NAFTA does not weaken our ability to implement Wall Street Reform now or in the future, and neither would any trade agreement we're negotiating."
It's true that NAFTA contains an exemption for "prudential" regulation, and financial reform watchdogs strongly agree with the Treasury Department's interpretation. But it's not an airtight case.
Sorting out whether the Volcker Rule qualifies for that exemption is the sort of thing that a court would traditionally determine under U.S. law, and U.S. courts typically give significant deference to the views of the executive branch. U.S. courts, however, don't have jurisdiction over NAFTA or any other free trade pact. International tribunals do.
"The administration can say whatever it wants about its interpretation of these trade agreements," said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, a Wall Street watchdog group. "The problem is, under the terms of these agreements, they are not going to be interpreting them. Private tribunals of trade lawyers are going to be interpreting them, and there are going to be plenty of openings, as this shows, to make claims that critical prudential regulations conflict with trade agreements. And eventually one of those is going to win out."
Treasury has known about Oliver's objection to the Volcker Rule for more than a year. As far back as 2011, a lobbying group representing Canadian banks claimed that the Volcker Rule runs afoul of NAFTA in arguments presented to U.S. regulators. But none of this turmoil prevented Obama from flatly rejecting Warren's contention that trade agreements, particularly the TPP, can be used to attack financial standards.
"The notion that corporate America is going to be able to use this provision to eliminate our financial regulations and our food safety regulations and our consumer regulations -- that's just bunk," Obama told reporters in an April conference call. "It's not true."
Canada may not opt to pursue a NAFTA case against the U.S. over the Volcker Rule. If it doesn't, Canadian banks won't have the right to sue on their own because NAFTA bars individual companies from suing sovereign nations over most financial services violations.
But the TPP would be different, according to congressional briefings by the U.S. Trade Representative, which are reflected in a December letter from Warren to Ambassador Michael Froman, the top Obama trade official. The TPP wouldn't just empower foreign governments to sue the U.S. over bank regulations; it would allow individual companies and investors to bring such cases.
Under the "investor-state dispute settlement" process, an international tribunal cannot overrule a law or regulation, but it can assess financial penalties to encourage countries to change said law or regulation. In the past, under other trade deals, the mere existence of such cases has sometimes pressured governments into abandoning non-financial services regulations.
Moreover, the TPP would reportedly allow foreign banks to sue the U.S. government for failing to provide them with a "minimum standard of treatment." The term is vaguely defined, but international tribunals have interpreted it very broadly to make corporations eligible to receive damages for lost profits caused by policy changes that occurred after they invested in a country. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) raised similar concerns in her own December letter to Froman over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a pending trade deal with Europe. | 1 |
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said he will vote to support the Iran nuclear deal, a pledge that puts President Barack Obama only three votes short of protecting the pact in Congress.
Merkley issued a statement Sunday calling the accord “the best available strategy to block Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Merkley’s support brings to 31 the number of senators publicly favoring the deal, which would ease economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on the country’s nuclear program.
Barring defections, Obama needs three more votes from 13 Senate Democrats who have yet to declare their position, to sustain a likely veto of legislation aimed at killing the pact.
If Obama can assemble 41 Senate votes by getting most of the remaining Democrats on board, the Senate may not vote on the agreement at all.
The Republican-controlled Congress has until Sept. 17 to pass a resolution disapproving the deal reached in July between six world powers and Iran. Obama has pledged to veto that resolution if it gets to his desk.
While Republicans have been united in opposing the deal, only two Democratic senators -- Charles Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, and Robert Menendez of New Jersey -- have joined them so far.
Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, plans to announce his decision on Tuesday. Among other Democrats yet to disclose a position are Maryland’s Ben Cardin and New Jersey’s Cory Booker.
The only uncertain Senate Republican vote is that of Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who remains undecided and is expected to make her decision after Sept. 7.
Merkley, in a statement on his website, pledged to vote for the deal even while pointing to “significant shortcomings” that he said the U.S. must address with “a massive intelligence program” and monitoring.
Merkley said he was troubled that the deal allows Iran to import conventional arms after five years and ballistic missile technology after eight years, and sets no restrictions on how Iran can use money it reclaims when sanctions are lifted.
But he rejected a proposal from deal opponents to try to renegotiate the accord for better terms.
If the U.S. rejects the deal and Iran resumes its nuclear program, “the United States would be viewed by the international community as undermining a strong framework for peacefully blocking a potential Iranian bomb,” Merkley said.
While the Republican-controlled House has enough votes to pass a resolution rejecting the deal, it’s unclear whether the Senate does. Assuming all 54 Senate Republicans oppose the accord, they would need support from six Democrats to get the 60 votes necessary to advance a resolution. | 0 |
During an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump referred to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas. In the piece published on Saturday, Dowd says that she asked Trump if Trump had received any negative comments from Republicans about him and Sen. Elizabeth Warren s Twitter feud. Trump responded to the question with a question, saying, Who, Pocahontas? The jab is a part of a conservative conspiracy theory that alleges that Warren does not actually have the Native American heritage she claims she does. Apparently conservatives are not capable of understanding that a person can have a mixed racial and ethnic background. Which shouldn t be surprising considering Tea Party types aren t capable of understanding that a man named Barack Hussein Obama,isn t automatically a Muslim terrorist sleeper agent sent here to destroy the United States from the inside.Once again, Trump has denigrated a person based on racial lines. When pressed on any issue Trump falls back to posturing as a bully. He ll take any ridiculous notion and just run with it because he knows that his followers will simply laugh it up.However, even the Republican candidate who seems impervious to gaffes and criticism should reconsider accusing someone of inventing an identity after recent reports of Trump s bizarre John Miller scandal. The Washington Post s Marc Fisher uncovered audio recordings that show that Trump invented a fictional spokesman for himself named John Miller back in the 1970 s, 80 s and 90 s. During that period, Trump would pretend to be Miller or on occasion John Barron - and call reporters where Miller would say wonderful things about Trump, in an attempt to inflate Trump s personal brand.Trump has denied the allegations, though the Post reports that there is courtroom testimony where Trump himself had admitted to creating the fictional personality.Featured image (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) | 0 |
Donald Trump has successfully torn the Republican Party (and America) apart. His policies have not only divided Americans across the country, but even members of his own party are at odds with their president s policies.One thing that is shattering the GOP is the growing opposition to Trump s immigration agenda. During Trump s campaign and budding presidency, Trump was touting a border wall and mass deportations. Now that Trump has announced somewhat more concrete plans, some high profile Republicans are publicly voicing their disappointment.One of the most outspoken GOPers going up against Trump is South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who is warning Trump that his merit-based immigration plan would be a disaster for states like South Carolina. Graham said in a statement: After dealing with this issue for more than a decade, I know that when you restrict legal labor to employers it incentivizes cheating. Here s Trump announcing his merit-based system, called the RAISE Act:I campaigned on creating a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers & taxpayers. Watch: https://t.co/lv3ScSKnF6 #RAISEAct pic.twitter.com/zCFK5OfYnB Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2017Since Trump announced the RAISE Act on Tuesday, it has been opposed by several Democratic lawmakers and several Republicans like Graham. These lawmakers are arguing that Trump s proposed plan puts the service industry in peril. Graham explained: South Carolina s number one industry is agriculture and tourism is number two. If this proposal were to become law, it would be devastating to our state s economy which relies on this immigrant workforce. South Carolina s agriculture and tourism industry advertise for American workers and want to fill open positions with American workers. Unfortunately, many of these advertised positions go unfilled. Hotels, restaurants, golf courses and farmers will tell you this proposal to cut legal immigration in half would put their business in peril. Another South Carolina Republican, Tim Scott, also opposed Trump s plans. Scott stated that America needed to fix our broken illegal immigration problem but also wanted the country to encourage the legal process due to its positive effects on the labor force. Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune had similar concerns about the labor workforce. He said: If we get on immigration, there will be a lot of different perspectives on that We have workforce needs, and some of those are filled by the immigrant labor supply. Unfortunately, this is likely going to fall on deaf ears, considering that the current POTUS was ignorant enough to say in his campaign announcement, When Mexico sends its people, they aren t sending their best. Trump has been anti-immigration from the start, and he clearly doesn t care if the way he goes about it sucks.Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
11 Views November 13, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
On the heels of a remarkable week where the world witnessed the greatest political upset in history and subsequent chaos in global markets, today King World News is pleased to present an extremely important update on the war in the gold market from Michael Oliver at MSA. Oliver allowed KWN exclusively to share this key report with our global audience after last week’s takedown in the gold market.
By Michael Oliver, MSA (Momentum Structural Analysis) November 13 ( King World New s) – Gold: If one seeks to capture large trends, then measure large… If one does not have a long-term map to watch as the trend unfolds, then it’s all too easy to run when some bullets fly. And they always fly… Continue reading the Michael Oliver piece below… Advertisement To hear which company investors & institutions around the globe are flocking to that has one of the best gold & silver purchase & storage platforms in the world click on the logo:
How We Got To Where We Are Today MSA projected a blow-off type move in gold, commencing in September 2009, based on price and momentum concurrence and especially its relative performance breakouts vs. global stocks, (report was entitled “Gold is Speaking!”) Momentum then broke out over a three point downtrend, noted by the first red line.
During that rise a very large price selloff occurred in early 2010 that no doubt shook teeth and generated widespread doubt. Big as the drop was, it did not negate any long-term structural factors on momentum. Nothing reversed that bull view on our part until momentum broke down in early 2012 (second red structure was violated – a line defined by many points along the line) at around price of $1700 (see middle of second chart above).
Then after the top in 2011/2012 and after momentum had already begun to cave, there came a hair curling rally in late summer 2012. But for annual momentum it was a laughable and uneventful rally. It did not alter the major downside that had already been signaled by momentum early that year. Therefore MSA was not impressed. Many no doubt went long thinking the gold bull was on again. Not!
The Gold Bull Market Breakout Then with momentum basing action that was optimally clear and massive, gold’s momentum broke out upside as price moved up into the mid-$1100s in February 2016. The massive flat red line on momentum was blasted through (see breakout on far right hand side of chart two above.
MSA remains resolutely bullish and asserts that a long-term annual momentum uptrend is underway . Exit if you must, based on your own level of risk tolerance (each investor and asset manager is different, after all), or if your time scale of participation is short-term.
MSA defines trends, often intermediate and short-term ones in many markets, but in the case of gold we argue that a long-term vista must dominate at this point in time, due to massive shifts underway in other asset categories. Implications of those shifts going forward are quite large, such that gold is likely to be at the forefront of world attention in the coming few years .
The Dream Of Investors But remember that the long-held dream of investors to capture and profit from large trends (like the three massive but simple trends shown on the prior page) can never be accomplished if one allows short-term or even intermediate-term trend indicators to have more gravitas than the ongoing long-term trend factors . In some markets that’s a reasonable approach, but at this point in time, with the annual trend dynamics underway, we caution about “trading” gold .
This annual bull signal is simply too young, has not reached any levels of upside excess, and the downturn on long-term momentum charts in the current selloff is not negating that which was screamed by gold’s annual momentum breakout in February. ***KWN has just released one of Art Cashin’s greatest audio interviews ever discussing the gold market at length, including the recent takedown in gold, what to surprises to expect in key markets as Trump becomes president, and what impact massive public works projects will have on the United States, inflation, gold, bonds, and much more. and you can listen to this extraordinary interview by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***KWN has now released the extraordinary KWN audio interview with whistleblower Andrew Maguire, where he discusses the gold and silver smash, at what price the large sovereign wholesale bids are located, and much more, and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***ALSO JUST RELEASED: Whistleblower Andrew Maguire – This Is What The Commercials Banksters Are Up To In The Gold Market CLICK HERE.
© 2015 by King World News®. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. However, linking directly to the articles is permitted and encouraged. About author | 0 |
You can blame the escalating debt on Obamacare and taxes We can thank Obama for this The federal government will be flirting with $30 trillion in debt within a decade, the Congressional Budget Office reported Monday, blaming an aging population, new spending and tax cuts approved on Capitol Hill, and the growing burden from Obamacare for erasing the progress Washington had made over the past few years.Analysts said Obamacare will chase more workers out of the labor force over the next five years, adding pressure to an economy still struggling to spring to life more than seven years into the Obama recovery.The Affordable Care Act itself is still struggling to attract a customer base, the CBO said, lowering its estimate for the number of people who will sign up for the exchanges from 21 million to 13 million a drop of nearly 40 percent in projections. Customers collecting taxpayer subsidies this year will be 11 million, down from the 15 million the CBO projected a year ago.The grim news comes with less than a year left for President Obama to put the law on firmer footing as he seeks to head off what is likely to be a last effort at repealing the act after November s elections.The economic front is somewhat brighter for Mr. Obama, who seven years into the recovery will finally see significant sustained growth of 2.5 percent this year and 2.6 percent next year, the CBO said.That will be followed by a cooling off, with growth dropping below 2 percent in 2019 and 2020. The economic gains will continue to go disproportionately to the wealthy, helping boost income tax revenue but limiting payroll taxes, which will put even more pressure on the entitlement programs that are driving up deficits.The biggest fiscal dent, however, was made late last year when Mr. Obama and the Republican-run Congress struck a deal. The president won significant spending hikes, and Republicans insisted on a new round of special tax breaks that, combined, reversed years of progress and added nearly $750 billion to projected deficits over the next decade. After six consecutive years in which the deficit has declined relative to the size of the economy, this year s deficit at 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) is anticipated to increase for the first time since it peaked at 9.8 percent in 2009, the CBO said.Deficits will continue to rise over the next 10 years, topping $1 trillion again in 2022 and reaching $1.4 trillion in 2026, the analysts said.The accumulation of those deficits will deepen the gross public debt from $18.1 trillion at the end of 2015 to $29.3 trillion in 2026. By contrast, the debt stood at $10.6 trillion when Mr. Obama took office in 2009.Looking decades into the future, the picture only gets worse, the CBO said.READ MORE: WT | 0 |
21st Century Wire says According to reports from Business Insider, the Canadian government s immigration website crashed tonight following reports that Donald Trump was pulling ahead in the US after calling a victory in traditional Democrat stronghold of Wisconsin.Clinton surrogate Miley Cyrus.A number of high profile US liberals had said previously that they would leave the country if Trump won the presidency, including actor Bryan Cranston and controversial pop singer Miley Cyrus (photo, left), both of who are staunch Hillary Clinton supporters. The barrage of celebrity Clinton campaigners threatening to leave the US helped to propel this talking point nationwide and seems to fall neatly into line with the Clinton campaign s negative fear-based campaign strategy.According to online searches, the Canadian site went down just after 10:30 pm ET on Tuesday evening followed by a surge in traffic, presumably for information on emigrating north of the border.Other key states have shocked pollsters and media experts in this election including strong Trump performances in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.Stay up to date with all the results on the Business Insider live-blog here SEE ALSO: How to move to Canada and become a Canadian citizenREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 0 |
“Deep state” officials are withholding intelligence from President Donald Trump, despite the fact that he is the nation’s according to a report by the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday evening. [Journal reporters Shane Harris and Carol E. Lee cite “current and former officials” who say that “U. S. intelligence officials have withheld sensitive intelligence from President Donald Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised. ” The intelligence officials who are withholding the information are doing so because they fear that Trump could leak secrets to Russia, or because of political battles with the president, according to the anonymous sources cited in the Journal report. While the White House told the Journal that it does not believe agencies are withholding information, theoretically there would be no way for White House officials to know. The Office of Director of National Intelligence also disputed the claims. But if the report is true, it would compound growing suspicions that intelligence agencies are leaking classified information illegally to media outlets to damage and confuse the Trump administration. On Wednesday, former CIA officer and 2016 presidential candidate Evan McMullin declared on CNN and Twitter that it was right for intelligence officials to leak illegally, because they had sworn an oath to protect the Constitution and the country. He described the president as a “security threat. ” The unfolding crisis is the most serious challenge to the Trump administration, still in its infancy. But it is also quickly enveloping the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency as well, calling their public credibility into question. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 0 |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he expected U.S. President Donald Trump s administration to rescind without delay its unfortunate decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. In comments on Twitter, Erdogan said he welcomed the overwhelming support for the resolution in the United Nations General Assembly, where more than 100 countries voted in favor of calling for the United States to reverse its decision. | 0 |
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An attempt by U.S. authorities to identify an anonymous critic of President Donald Trump on Twitter has set off alarm bells among Democratic and Republican lawmakers and civil liberties advocates fearful of a crackdown on dissent. Twitter Inc on Friday succeeded in beating back a demand for records about a Twitter account called ALT Immigration (@ALT_uscis), which pokes fun at Trump’s immigration policies and appears to be run by one or more federal employees. The U.S. government withdrew an administrative summons that customs agents had sent the company in March demanding the records. But the government backed away only after Twitter filed a federal lawsuit accusing it of violating the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. Customs agents could still continue the investigation using some other methods, civil liberties attorneys said. Although authorities retreated, the case has laid bare the broad power of the U.S. government to demand information from technology companies, sometimes with no oversight from the courts and often with built-in secrecy provisions that prevent the public from knowing what the government is seeking. The summons that Twitter received came from agents who investigate corruption and misconduct within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Even after it was withdrawn, some lawmakers had questions about the agency’s actions. “CBP must ensure that any properly authorized investigation does not disregard the rights to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” two Republican U.S. senators, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Mike Lee of Utah, wrote in a letter on Friday to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. The senators asked whether the agency would ever ask a private company to divulge private records about a customer based solely on “non-criminal speech.” Senate Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon called for an investigation of whether customs agents had violated a law by retaliating against an internal critic. The Department of Homeland Security plans to respond directly to the senators, an official said on Friday. There are two primary ways the U.S. government can obtain information from internet companies without a judge’s approval using a law known as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, according to experts in privacy law. Agencies with enforcement power, such as the Internal Revenue Service, can issue administrative subpoenas demanding user records. Prosecutors can also ask grand juries investigating a crime to issue a subpoena. An aggressive agency, for example, might demand information about a Twitter account that used an agency logo on the grounds that it is deceptive, said Georgetown University law professor Paul Ohm. Similarly, a prosecutor could ask a grand jury to issue a subpoena based on the idea that a federal employee, suspected of criticizing the administration anonymously, was misusing government resources. “It doesn’t take a brilliant legal mind to think of hypotheticals,” Ohm said. Further, such subpoenas are usually kept secret, making them more difficult to challenge. Some other government tools, such as a national security letter, are intended to be used for narrow purposes related to counter-terrorism investigations. But they do not require judicial approval either, instead relying on internal safeguards. Challenging such demands is difficult and often requires deep pockets, attorneys familiar with such orders said. “It’s important to keep in mind how formidable the government’s range of investigatory powers is,” said Andrew Crocker, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for digital rights. In the case of ALT Immigration, Twitter said it was not bound to keep the summons a secret, and the company informed the account holder of the government demand. That person then found legal representation with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Esha Bhandari, the ACLU staff attorney representing the dissident, said she thinks the speed with which the government withdrew its summons - less than a day after Twitter sued - means the customs agents will cease investigating, but she cannot be sure. “It’s impossible to predict, of course, but I’m hopeful that this really is a recognition that people have the ability to speak online including in ways that are critical of the government,” Bhandari said. The Department of Homeland Security has not said what its plans are for the investigation. After Trump’s inauguration in January, anonymous Twitter feeds that borrowed the names and logos of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies appeared to challenge the president’s views on climate change and other issues. They called themselves “alt” accounts. Twitter has declined to say if it has received any other government demands to reveal such anti-Trump critics. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s expected exit from the Trump administration is one of many staff changes likely as President Donald Trump nears the end of his first year in office, with sources saying top economic adviser Gary Cohn and son-in-law Jared Kushner could be among those who depart. Cohn, whose relationship with Trump became tense earlier this year, has considered leaving once the Republican effort to overhaul the U.S. tax system is completed in Congress, according to the sources with ties to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity. Kushner, who has seen his influence in the White House shrink, may receive a “face-saving” exit as he deals with legal challenges related to a special counsel’s investigation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign’s potential ties to Russia, one of the sources said. “This is pure speculation,” said White House spokesman Raj Shah in an emailed statement about potential staff moves. More junior-level advisers could also use the completion of Trump’s first year and tax legislation as a pivot point to move on, leading to another period of uncertainty that has at times overshadowed Trump’s tenure, which began on Jan. 20. Things change quickly at the Trump White House. Advisers and Cabinet members who fall out of favor with the president can re-enter his good graces, making it hard to predict staff moves. But shifts in personnel are watched around the world for indications of how Trump will tackle issues ranging from North Korea to regulatory policy. “It may be February, it may be March, it may be April, but I think once you get to that time period, people are going to feel as though they’ve kind of put their time in,” said one person with close ties to the White House. “You’re definitely going to see some people leave after tax cuts get done,” said a separate Trump adviser, who requested anonymity to speak freely about the administration. Trump is considering a plan to oust Tillerson, whose relationship has been strained by the top U.S. diplomat’s softer line on North Korea and other differences, senior administration officials said. A State Department spokeswoman said Tillerson’s chief of staff had been told by the White House that the reports of Tillerson being replaced were not true. Cohn’s future in the White House has come into question since his public criticism of Trump’s response to the violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia in August. Their once-tense relationship has since improved, however, and one source close to the White House said he could stay longer to help spearhead legislation to improve U.S. infrastructure. “I’d go a little bit against conventional wisdom here and say he’s got one more project to get under his belt before he leaves,” the source said, referring to infrastructure. The White House noted Cohn’s interview with CNBC earlier this month in which said he did not plan to leave after tax reform was finished. “It’s my plan to stay and work as long as I can help the president drive his economic agenda,” Cohn said. Two of the sources with ties to the White House said they assumed the White House chief of staff, General John Kelly, wanted at least to outlast his predecessor Reince Priebus’ six-month tenure in the position. The White House spokesman’s statement said discussion of changes was speculation. One of the sources said Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, could go if a scenario, such as giving him an outside adviser role, were found that appealed to the president. “Once someone comes up with a solution that sounds right, then I think he’s going to latch on,” the source said. Kushner told the Washington Post this month that he and his wife, a fellow White House adviser, were “here to stay.” Though a lot of speculation about departures has focused on high-profile names, the possibility of mid-level staffers leaving could have a big impact on the rhythms of the White House. “The difference in this administration is that you don’t have replacements already on staff” or people clamoring to get on board, said one of the sources with ties to the White House. | 1 |
By Jason Easley on Thu, Oct 27th, 2016 at 2:18 pm Donald Trump promised that he would bring millions of new Republicans voters into the election, but polling in swing states shows that it is Hillary Clinton who is getting new voters out to support her.
Donald Trump promised that he would bring millions of new Republicans voters into the election, but polling in swing states shows that it is Hillary Clinton who is getting new voters out to support her.
Within their discussion of a new Pennsylvania poll showing Clinton leading Trump by 7 points, The New York Times reported:
Mrs. Clinton has an 18-point lead among voters who did not participate in the 2012 election, according to our estimates, which are based on a combination of the poll results and voter file data. She fares even better among white voters who didn’t vote in 2012 than she does among white voters who did. It’s a pattern that has been true across all of the Upshot/Siena surveys in Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
There has not been an influx of new voters who might help Mr. Trump. According to our estimates, Mrs. Clinton has a 16-point lead among newly registered voters.
The idea that Trump was bringing millions of new voters to the Republican Party was always a myth.
Donald Trump got the most votes of any candidate in a Republican presidential primary. Trump also set the record for most votes cast against in a Republican primary. Trump is one of the few nominees in history to have a majority of his party’s primary ballots cast against him.
Hillary Clinton is the candidate who is attracting millions of new voters, and without a doubt, some of those voters have been motivated by Donald Trump’s campaign.
Trump was right. He has brought millions of new voters to the polls. What he neglected to tell Republicans is that they are coming for Hillary Clinton. | 1 |
A man disguised himself in a burka in order to lure an 11-year-old boy whom he then raped and strangled to death, according to police in Abu Dhabi.The accused was aware that the boy would not accompany him if he knew he was a man, the Gulf News reported.The suspect, a Pakistani immigrant to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, is said to be known to the family of the victim, whose father is Pakistani and mother is Russian.He is accused of raping the boy and strangling him to death with a rope after picking him up from Ramadan prayers at a mosque.Azan Majid Janjua was reported missing last week after failing to come home from the mosque.He was later found by air-conditioning technicians on the roof of the building where he lived.He was reportedly found partially unclothed with his Quran lying beside him.The suspect was arrested within 48 hours of the discovery of the body, police said, after forensic evidence linked him to the crime.They declined to give any further details about the suspect or the evidence incriminating him.The murdered boy s father, Dr Majid Janjua, 38, told the local news site that his son was not in the habit of going off with strangers. He never went outside without our permission, said Dr Janjua. It is fate; Allah s decision. We have to accept it. The boy s mother is understood not to live in the Gulf state but was visiting at the time of the incident, which took place in the first week of the Islamic holy month Ramadan.For entire story: Daily Mail | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House spokesman said on Thursday it was “appropriate” for a Pentagon agency to investigate former national security adviser Michael Flynn for possible wrongdoing in connection with a trip he took to Russia in 2016. Spokesman Sean Spicer, asked what he thought of the news that the Defense Department’s Inspector General was conducting an investigation into the actions of Flynn, a retired Lieutenant General, said: “That’s appropriate. If they think that there’s wrongdoing, the department’s inspector general should look into it. We welcome that.” | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to exert Beijing s pressure on North Korea after Pyongyang said it successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the White House said. Trump emphasized the need for China to use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearization, the White House said in its statement after the two leaders spoke earlier on Wednesday. | 0 |
Sebastian Gorka does a mic drop on CNN anchor Alison Camerota when he tells her more people watch Nick at Nite and cartoons than they watch CNN:WATCH AND LAUGH: Sebastian Gorka tells CNN that more people watch Nick-at-Nite and cartoons then them. #Trump #CNNBlackmail pic.twitter.com/uwEKMoCqrR Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 12, 2017Sebastian Gorka, President Trump s deputy assistant, mocked CNN s ratings on its morning program New Day on Tuesday, stating in a contentious interview with co-anchor Alisyn Camerota that more people watch Nick at Nite cartoons than CNN today. This interview between Gorka and Camerota went from cordial to personal really quickly! Alison Camerota asked about Iraqi forces defeating ISIS to win back the city of Mosul. But Camerota couldn t help herself so she pivoted to the Trump-Russia fake news topic:Camerota goes partisan: Is it possible that your team is obsessed with the Clintons? Gorka starts to get into with Camerota: No. We d like you to actually do your job. You aren t in the news business anymore. You used to be. You are in the attacking President Trump business. And it s sad. It s really sad. Camerota: It s interesting. Look, I know you have to go, and I didn t even want to go down this rabbit hole with you. When you take shots at us and at journalism, at CNN, Gorka interrupted with this zinger: Not journalism. CNN. Camerota said Gorka was the one who asked to appear on the network.Camerota responded: OK. When you take shots at CNN, I do feel that I must respond and just point out that you called us yesterday to come on here. Gorka shot back: That s what we do. The amount of time you spend in desperation on a topic that has plummeted you to 13th place in viewership ranking across America, more people watch Nick at Nite cartoons than CNN today. Camerota shot back: Our ratings are doing just fine. If you want to go there, our ratings are doing just fine. Gorka s mic drop moment came here: Nick at Nite is in 11th place. More people are interested in cartoons! | 1 |
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - A man who led protests against Russia s plans to annex Crimea from Ukraine was jailed for eight years in the disputed territory on Monday - a move Ukraine s president called an act of Russian repression. Crimean Tatar leader Ahtem Chiygoz was found guilty of stirring up mass disorder by calling street demonstrations in February 2014 against a referendum which later sealed Russia s seizure of the peninsula. Prosecutors at the court in Simferopol - the capital of Russian-controlled Crimea - said two people died in the unrest. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the jailing of Chiygoz added to the case against Russia which had already been recognized as an occupier at the highest international level. One can unlawfully confine someone s freedom, but it s impossible to break the will! You may occupy foreign land, but it will burn under your feet, Poroshenko said on Twitter. There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities. Chiygoz was deputy head of the Mejlis representative body of Crimean Tatars which also condemned Monday s ruling. Mejlis head Refat Chubarov, who fled Crimea after its annexation, called the sentence a new attempt to intimidate Crimean Tatars and suppress their will . The Crimean Tatars are a largely Sunni Muslim group who suffered mass deportation under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1944 and make up more than 12 percent of Crimea s largely ethnic Russian population of about 2 million. Many of them were among the strongest critics of Moscow s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, which has drawn sanctions on Russia from the United States and Europe. Kiev and its Western allies say the seizure was illegal. But Russian President Vladimir Putin justified it, saying he needed to protect its overwhelmingly pro-Moscow population from Ukrainian nationalists. Chubarov said lawyers would launch an appeal with the Supreme Court of Russia as the nation that occupied Crimea . One can already forecast its decision - it will support the decision by Crimea s illegal supreme court. Accordingly, our next step will be the European Court of Human Rights, he added. Chiygoz s lawyer Nikolai Polozov told Reuters Television the sentence was unlawful, as Chiygoz was a citizen of Ukraine, where the criminal code did not contain such an offense. His team would seek Chiygoz s extradition to Ukraine, he added. | 1 |
Glenn Beck, a man once described by Forbes as someone who s managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth, has (seemingly) had a profound change of heart. Following his call for conservatives to empathize with Black Lives Matter activists in a New York Times op-ed back in September, the Blaze founder joined Samantha Bee on Full Frontal on Monday to declare a common enemy: the Precedent-elect, a.k.a. Mr. Brexit, a.k.a. the former Apprentice host.Complex | 0 |
(Reuters) - The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources said it will work to identify red tape and other bureaucratic hurdles to speed up Puerto Rico’s recovery and rebuilding, as the island struggles to recover from the impact of Hurricane Maria. Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said in a press call on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal partners will also likely be engaged for years in helping Puerto Rico get back on its feet. Bishop added that an emergency response will be executed through FEMA and local officials. “An emergency funding package is taking place as we speak to support those efforts,” he said. On Tuesday a White House official told Reuters the White House was preparing a $29 billion disaster aid request to be sent to Congress after hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida. The request was expected to come on Wednesday. It will combine nearly $13 billion in new relief for hurricane victims with $16 billion for the government-backed flood insurance program. Bishop said under evaluation was also the question of whether to modify or give additional power to the oversight board tasked with overseeing Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were battered by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Hurricane Maria knocked out power to Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents last month, devastating the island’s already dilapidated electric power infrastructure. Following a closed-door meeting of the committee, Puerto Rico’s Republican delegate, Jenniffer Gonzalez, told reporters there are ongoing discussions among members of Congress, White House aides and the Treasury Department over a possible short-term loan to Puerto Rico, which she said will face a liquidity crisis in November. She said it was unclear whether Trump might be able to issue an executive order, if he so desired, to provide quick financial help or whether Congress would have to act. Representative Raul Grijalva, the senior Democrat on the panel, said of PROMESA after the meeting: “I said let’s open it up and see what is working and see what is not applicable in this situation, what we need to suspend.” PROMESA is the federal 2016 rescue law under which Puerto Rico in May filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. | 0 |
In 2015, former professional boxer Anthony Small, was been cleared of plotting to leave Britain to join Islamic State militants in Syria.Apparently it s okay to threaten the lives of British citizens as long as you re not waving an ISIS flag while you do it.Vice Small s flourishing boxing career came to an end when he converted to Islam at the age of 24. Now known as Abdul-Haqq, he decided the sport s lifestyle was incompatible with his hardline practice of the religion and took up preaching instead.An associate of the infamous Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary and his banned organization Al-Muhajiroun, Haqq used social media to share his fundamentalist views of Islam. He regularly posted controversial videos filmed in his home, justifying IS beheadings and terror attacks such as the public killing of UK soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.Here is Anthony Small s most recent video where he targets Britain First co-founder Paul Golding former EDL leader Tommy Robinson along with conservative radio host Katie Hopkins. Keep in mind that Youtube is cracking down on conservatives for hate speech while this Muslim man is using Youtube to threaten the lives of 3 popular British activist. Censorship for conservatives is apparently more dangerous than death threats from professional boxers turned Muslim extremists:Haqq s views have led to multiple police raids on his house, as well as accusations of trying to join IS in the Middle East. VICE News spoke to Haqq on the run up to his arrest about police raids, Western foreign policy, and his faith. We then caught up with him again outside London s Old Bailey court after his release.Here s who Anthony Small Boxer really is. This video is a great reminder of why Trump was correct about our need to do a better job of vetting our refugees:Go here to see Paul Golding of Britain First s reply to former professional boxer turned Allah s Soldier Tommy. | 0 |
What is with this curious — now deafening — silence from former President Barack Obama on these charges that his administration spied on a political opponent at the very height of a presidential campaign? [Since President Trump first leveled the incendiary charges in early March, there have been thousands of press articles and endless hours of speculation on cable television about the accusations. Every word, character, and symbol of punctuation from Mr. Trump has been parsed and sussed and diagrammed. This is no small thing we are talking about here. We are talking about a sitting president’s administration using the terrifying powers of espionage of the United States government to conduct an intelligence operation against a political opponent before, during and after that target was elected president of the United States. So much for “peaceful transfer of power. ” This would be 10 times more serious than Watergate. We are talking a constitutional crisis the likes of which we have never seen in modern times. And all anybody around here seems to want to talk about is the exhaustively investigated — yet still unsubstantiated — conspiracy theories about Mr. Trump’s supposed ties to Russia. Well, what about Mr. Obama? Did he actually morph into Russian President Vladimir Putin himself? Did he turn the White House into the Kremlin? Those are much graver charges than whether somebody has “ties” to the Russians. And so many of the questions about Mr. Obama’s involvement in spying on his political enemy remain unanswered. Actually, they remain unasked at this point. And before you dismiss these questions as crazy tweets from a crazy dictator, remember that Mr. Trump’s national security adviser was fired after he was — indisputably — wiretapped and unmasked during the time he was serving on Mr. Trump’s transition team. This alone would be utterly unbelievable in a world before Oliver Stone’s movie “Snowden. ” So, what say you, Mr. Obama? Crickets. The only statement from Mr. Obama was a carefully worded issued by a spokesman. “A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” the statement began. This would seem to merely confirm that Mr. Trump was being investigated by the Obama Administration — but that Mr. Obama’s fingerprints would not be found anywhere on that investigation. And, yes, this is the same corrupt administration that featured the attorney general meeting in a private plane on a tarmac with the husband of the woman who was supposed to be Mr. Obama’s successor — while she was under investigation by the FBI. The Obama spokesman’s statement went on to say: “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U. S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false. ” Here again, they are playing a silly game. Instead of answering the real question, they are hiding behind the loose and imprecise language of Mr. Trump’s tweet where he shorthands the whole accusation in less than 140 digits by saying “Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower. ” Any logical human knows what Mr. Trump meant by this. I don’t think any serious person actually thought Mr. Obama himself in a hard hat and work gloves with wire snips was in the walls at Trump Tower twisting wires together. Obviously, Mr. Trump meant that he and his campaign and transition team had been spied upon by U. S. intelligence services at the behest of — or with knowledge of — the sitting U. S. president. Monumental charges. Yet no denial from the former president. On Mr. Obama’s Twitter feed, he has opined about Chuck Berry, International Women’s Day and even Valentine’s Day. But not a peep about the serious charges lodged against him. This, at a time when we are told that Mr. Obama plans to lead the political resistance against Mr. Trump. He should begin by “resisting” these charges. • Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes. com follow him on Twitter via @charleshurt. | 0 |
French President Emmanuel Macron has prided himself as the world s anti-Trump. He has arrogantly taken counter stances to President Donald Trump s on issues such as global warming and globalization. Ironically, he seems to have abruptly decided that his political career may benefit from associating himself with Trump, as he was caught on video jostling his way through world leaders so stand beside Trump in a G-20 group photo.Macron left his position during the family picture to place himself next to US President Donald Trump as German Chancellor Angela Merkel watched on.Starting off near the back of the G20 group Mr. Macron appeared to lose his way before an aide tried to direct him to his spot.Noticing the commotion, Angela Merkel tapped Mr. Macron on the shoulder to get his attention but the French PM was already making his way through the world leaders.Mr. Macron jostled and kissed his way to the front in an awkward reshuffle.He finally joined Trump on the far left fringe at the G20 summit leaders group photo. This is suspiciously different behavior from the time President Macron tried to avoid President Trump and then crush his hand during a handshake. The Telegraph | 0 |
During Thursday night s undercard debate on Fox Business Channel, candidate Rick Santorum, who s somehow still in the race, asked viewers for a very special favor.The former Pennsylvania senator said, Go and Google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton. You ll see a five-minute debate. I ll let you decide who won the debate. He continued, I ll tell you who won, I know I m out of time, I m going to take some of Rand Paul s time here for a second. Yes, Rick Santorum wants us to Google him. Why is this so goddamn funny?There was a time when the absolute last thing Rick Santorum ever wanted you to do was to Google him. Not too long ago, LGBT commentator Dan Savage produced one of the greatest political pranks of all time. In response to Santorum saying publicly that same-sex marriage will lead to man-on-dog sex, Savage re-defined the word Santorum to mean the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. Worse, enemies of Santorum rigged it so that googling the Republican s name would only produce results that led to that definition. Hence, Santorum probably didn t spend much time asking people to Google him.Until Thursday night. Brave of him because, fortunately, Google no longer produces the new definition as a search result. But people who despise the Republican haven t forgotten. Twitter erupted with reactions to the inadvertent reference to Google.Historic moment: Rick Santorum just told people to go Google Rick Santorum. Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 14, 2016People who should never say Google me -Rick Santorum, and well, me. ? Sydney Leathers (@sydneyelainexo) January 15, 2016 Hi, I m Rick Santorum. Please don t Google me. Andrew Katz (@katz) September 16, 2015 Go and Google Rick Santorum nooooooooooooo Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) January 14, 2016DO NOT GOOGLE SANTORUM T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) January 14, 2016Hi I m Rick Santorum. I don t need to introduce myself. Just google me. Just make sure your kids aren t in the room. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaIdTromp) September 16, 2015Couldn t happen to a nicer guy, huh?Featured image via video screen grab. | 1 |
Gay Johnson appeared on CNN s Reliable Sources Sunday morning where he made a gaffe that might just end his campaign. During an interview, Johnson said that he is just grateful that nobody got hurt during a bomb explosion in New York City Saturday night. Johnson appeared to be unaware that 29 people were injured in the blast. First of all, [I m] just grateful that nobody got hurt, Johnson said. Secondly, law enforcement is on the scene, responders are on the scene. If there s anything I learned having been governor of New Mexico for eight years is that these people really do care, they are really qualified. Look, we re going to find out who is responsible, Johnson continued. Whether it s an individual or a group, they will be brought to justice. And that is something that all of us demand. All of us! This is the second time that Johnson made an egregious error during a media appearance. Earlier in September, Johnson was questioned on how he would deal with the refugee crisis in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Johnson responded by asking What is Aleppo? The gaffe was pretty bad but it didn t appear to hurt him in the polls.While I would prefer (marginally so) a Johnson administration to the nightmare that a Trump administration would be, this is not the type of mistake that a serious political candidate should ever make. Leaders need to be informed about a situation in order to respond accordingly. This is information that Johnson should have been aware of.Johnson did not reach the threshold needed to in the polls to take a podium in the upcoming presidential debates. That fact made Johnson s already incredibly slim chance of actually winning the election to an impossibility.As others have noted Johnson may very well end up being the determining factor in this year s presidential election. This gaffe may very well take some of his influence away he has in determining the outcome, should it be enough for his supporters to defect to either major candidate s campaign.You can watch the video below.Featured image from video screenshot | 1 |
Hillary Clinton: If I talked about droning Julian Assange, it would have been a joke. pic.twitter.com/WuMI2p080M Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 4, 2016 | 0 |
(Before It's News)
(image credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty)
( The Real Agenda News ) More details have emerged about the never ending levels of corruption among the DNC, the Obama White House and the Hillary Clinton campaign, as a result of James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas’ investigation.
Corrupt practices go from promoting seemingly harmless campaigns to have people dressed as ducks at Trump rallies to collusion between the Clinton campaign, the DNC and the non-profit organization Americans United for Change.
In the third video put out by Project Veritas, Hillary’s cohorts confess how they managed to coordinate with her campaign and the DNC to set up what can be described at the very least as provocative moves to get the Trump campaign in trouble and to have the corrupt mainstream media cover the events while blaming Trump for violent outbursts outside his rallies.
As we learned from the previous two videos, it was the Clinton campaign itself the one using agent provocateurs to cause violence outside Trump rallies as these agents disguised themselves as Bernie Sanders’ followers.
In his second video, James O’Keefe showed how the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign, hire operatives to successfully carry out commit voter fraud on a massive scale.
Scott Foval, who has since been fired, admits that the Democrats have been rigging elections for fifty years.
In his first video, Rigging the Election – Video I: Clinton Campaign and DNC Incite Violence at Trump Rallies, O’Keefe showed how second and third parties associated with the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign, were responsible for violence and attacks on Trump supporters all over the country.
As we said before, the veil of corruption that surrounds the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party continues to fall and people can easily see what is behind their fake progressive and fake liberal masks.
The post It is Time For Hillary Clinton To Duck And Go (VIDEO) appeared first on The Sleuth Journal . | 1 |
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