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It s a good thing Democrats picked Philadelphia to host their convention. Pennsylvania is continually being talked up as swing state that could go for Trump (they said the same thing about Romney in 2012, and he lost by 5 percent).But as Hillary Clinton delivered her acceptance speech, one that commentators say could sway undecided voters, a new poll comes out showing Clinton beating Trump by a whopping nine points in the swing state of Pennsylvania.Here s why that s important: people say Trump could (some say will) win Pennsylvania because of the rustic belt white, male centrists who typically lean Democrat, but could be swayed otherwise.The Suffolk University survey showed Clinton leading Trump 50-41, with 8 percent undecided. The poll also closely reflects NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll conducted earlier in July that showed Clinton with a 9 point lead, this one 45-36.What s also interesting is Clinton still blows Trump out of the water when factoring Jill Stein and Gary Johnson in the polling:When Clinton and Trump were matched in the poll against Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Clinton s margin over Trump was the same, at 9 points 46 percent to 37 percent. Johnson earned 5 percent, while Stein took 2 percent and 9 percent were undecided among those candidatesThink about that: before Clinton even delivered her speech of a lifetime, two polls one from a well known publication and one from a close-to-home college, show the same results. Clinton s choice of a progressively centrist VP pick (who is a major ally to unions) could pick up the weary and disenfranchised white blue dog Democrats.After the convention, Clinton and Kaine will be touring the state by bus as they seek to cement and keep their support among Pennsylvanians in the west.Trump continues to be liability for his own campaign while Democrats are getting major viewership at their convention. Let s hope the momentum can continue.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | 0 |
I guess Trump missed the sticks and stones lesson in life as more and more of his critics are getting blocked on Twitter over the tiniest things.Take, for example, Rob Szczerba s covfefe ice cream joke. According to CNN, Szczerba tweeted Trump: @realDonaldTrump I heard #covfefe is a new flavor from Ben & Jerry s. But it s mostly just nuts! I heard #covfefe is a new flavor from Ben & Jerry's. But it's mostly just nuts! #ParisAgreement #ParisAccord Rob Szczerba (@RJSzczerba) June 2, 2017When Szczerba went to tweet Trump again not long after, he found himself blocked by Trump.How sad is that? Blocked because of a joke. Rather than laugh off his own typo, Trump would rather pout and block people.Lauren Wolfe believes that blocking critics poses dangerous implications. When Trump shuts out his critics, he withdraws further into the bubble of sycophancy he already enjoys, Wolfe wrote in an opinion piece for CNN.Wolfe raises a valid point. As the old saying goes: if you can t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. So, what is Trump doing in the kitchen?Since Trump shows no signs of stopping as the number of people he blocks on Twitter grows, questions and concerns are on the rise. While some wear their blocked status proudly and couldn t care less, it raises first amendment concerns.If tweets by Trump, no matter how ridiculous they are, should they be inaccessible to certain people? After all, his tweets are meant to be treated as official White House statements.The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University says a lawsuit is not out of the question if Trump doesn t unblock Twitter users. Your Twitter account is a designated public forum for essentially the same reasons that open city council meetings and school board meetings are, the lawyers wrote in the letter.A fair point. Nobody deserves or should be exempt from what the president has to say on social media. Trump is no longer a private citizen and his Twitter account is also no longer personal to hide from others.While hilariously sad that Trump s blocking people, it just reinforces that everything is Trump s way or the highway.Featured image via Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Chinese diplomatic and defense chiefs will meet Wednesday for a security dialogue that Washington says will focus on curbing North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. The talks in Washington will involve U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis as well as China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of state of the People’s Liberation Army, the U.S. State Department said. It will be the inaugural session of the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, a framework launched by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit in Florida in April. The State Department said the aim was “to expand areas of cooperation while narrowing differences on key diplomatic and security issues.” U.S.-China ties have warmed since the April summit, in spite of continued U.S. concerns about China’s pursuit of territory in the South China Sea and a large trade imbalance. Tillerson has said North Korea will top the agenda next week and made clear that Washington wanted more help from China in pressing Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programs, calling Chinese efforts so far “notable” but “uneven.” The focus on North Korea has been sharpened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year. North Korea says it is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States, and this week Mattis called it the “most urgent” threat to U.S. national security. China is party to U.N. economic sanctions on North Korea. But it remains the country’s main ally and trading partner and has been reluctant to impose the sort of punishing measures experts say are needed to get Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programs. In Beijing, asked about the talks, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said, “The two sides are in close communication about the schedule, but the issues discussed will be those that both countries are concerned about and that involve China-U.S. relations.” He did not elaborate. On Tuesday, Tillerson said Washington was considering imposing “secondary sanctions” on foreign firms doing business with North Korea and had been in discussions with Beijing about the activities of entities inside China. A Washington think tank said this week that North Korea’s effort to circumvent sanctions was complex but could be defeated by targeting relatively few Chinese firms. The U.N. Security Council expanded targeted sanctions against North Korea this month in the first such resolution agreed by the United States and China since Trump took office. Washington has been pushing for even tougher steps, including an oil embargo, bans of North Korea’s airline and overseas workers and interception of its cargo ships. | 1 |
Poor little Al if he s not race baiting, he s hanging out with our President at the White House just waiting for the next white on black injustice. Heck if we didn t know better, we d almost think he enjoys being in front of the camera holding up the grieving parents but that would be so so insincere Stay away, Rev. Al. We don t want another Ferguson type of circus here, a source close to the Scott family told The Daily News.That was the message from the family of South Carolina police shooting victim Walter Scott to the civil rights activist Thursday two days before the funeral for the slain father of four.That was a reference to the Missouri town that was rocked by violent demonstrations last year after black teen Michael Brown was killed by a white cop.Sharpton gave a rousing speech at the 18-year-old s funeral, which was attended by thousands.Scott family attorney Chris Stewart said they appreciate Sharpton s support but the funeral is only going to be close family members. Via: NY Daily News | 1 |
Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. Many of his recent articles appear on the renowned Canadian-based news website Globalresearch . He is a Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in journalism. He specializes in Middle East and East Africa issues and has also given several American radio interviews as well as TV interviews on Press TV and Russia Today. His interests include capitalism, imperialism and war, socialism, justice and peace, agriculture and trade policy, ecological impact, science and technology, and human rights. He is also a musician and songwriter. Previously, he was based in Bahrain and witnessed the political upheavals in the Persian Gulf kingdom during 2011 as well as the subsequent Saudi-led brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protests. The author and media commentator was expelled from Bahrain in June 2011 for his critical journalism in which he highlighted many human rights violations by the Western-backed regime. For many years, he worked as an editor and writer in the mainstream media, including ,The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. Originally from Belfast, Ireland, he is now based in East Africa where he is writing a book on Bahrain and the Arab Spring. World Heaves Sigh of Relief after Trump’s Victory By Finian Cunningham on November 9, 2016 A reflection of how disconnected the Western political class are from their own people.
by Finian Cunningham
SPUTNIK
The election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the US certainly sent shockwaves around the world. But perhaps the uppermost sense is one of huge relief that Hillary Clinton was kept out of the White House.
For most ordinary citizens around the world, Clinton, her multi-billion-dollar election campaign and the fawning corporate media coverage represented everything that is perceived as fundamentally wrong in Western politics.
Her cronyism goes so far that she would not hesitate to start a world war with Russia, or whoever, in order to appease her corporate sponsors and indulge her deluded notion of “exceptional liberalism”.
Trump’s stunning victory is a victory for common people and common sense. Despite the Western media’s systematic shielding of Clinton from criticism, a good number of ordinary Americans and other nationals around the world could clearly see her irredeemable flaws.
She is a self-enriching puppet for Big Finance and the military-industrial complex. And, as her email scandal shows, a consummate liar on top. Donald Trump is a billionaire property tycoon with a big mouth and uncouth manner. He has never held an elected office before. It is unprecedented that he should become the president of the US.
Donald Trump is a billionaire property tycoon with a big mouth and uncouth manner. He has never held an elected office before. It is unprecedented that he should become the president of the US.
Will he really “make America great again”? Will he really deliver on massive infrastructure investments to regenerate impoverished working-class communities across America? We don’t know if he just an opportunist conman, or if he really does have a humble heart to reach out to all the “forgotten people” that he speaks about. One can hope.
But one thing is for sure. Trump is no warmonger. And he doesn’t seem to be a puppet that can be pushed around.
“We will deal fairly with everyone”
In one of the live TV debates with Clinton during the campaign, Trump surprised many viewers when he said, apparently sincerely, that he would never commit a first-strike nuclear attack against any nation. It took a lot of guts and moral integrity to say that. Clinton didn’t answer the question, but her past record as Secretary of State shows that she has no hesitation about launching illegal wars and murdering foreign heads of state.
Trump has also spoken several times about restoring friendly relations with America’s biggest nuclear rival Russia. He took a lot of heat for that from the Clinton campaign and the biased US media, who accused him of being a “stooge” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. To his credit, Trump did not cave in to the anachronistic “Russian baiting”, which has been a staple of American politics for decades. During his acceptance speech as President-elect, Trump repeated his oft-mentioned desire for the US to base its foreign relations on “partnership” instead of “hostility and conflict”.
Notably, Russia’s Vladimir Putin was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Trump on winning the White House. Reciprocating goodwill, Putin said he hoped to work with Trump so that Russia and the US can “restore relations from their current critical condition”.
Surely, this is the point. To replace outmoded ideological stereotypes and animosity with a pragmatic mutual respect to cooperate. Russia and its leader are not the enemy of the US, Europe nor the rest of the world – unless you are a terrorist network seeking illicit regime change. Architects of Endless “Regime Change” wars
Russia and its leader are not the enemy of the US, Europe nor the rest of the world – unless you are a terrorist network seeking illicit regime change.
The people who have demonized Russia are ideologues in Washington and their surrogates among European governments and the Western corporate media. That negative image of Russia does not match reality as ordinary people perceive it, including many ordinary Americans. Russia did not destabilize Ukraine. It did not annex Crimea. Russia was not involved in shooting down a civilian airliner. It is not massacring civilians in Syria. In Syria, it is helping a sovereign state defeat terrorist mercenaries in a US-sponsored covert war for regime change. Russia is not a sports-drug pariah. It is not hacking computer systems nor subverting foreign democracies. These are all just false ideological constructs manufactured by the Western establishment and its subservient media.
Ordinary citizens around the world, especially those in the US, know that. Their real-world concerns are dealing with poverty, unemployment and crumbling societies. This stuff about “Putin being the new Hitler” and “threatening the free world” is just so much baloney.
Maybe because Trump is not a career politician or a Washington insider he knows all that too. And he knows that ordinary Americans are not being listened to by the establishment. That’s why Trump’s victory comes as such a shock.
The political class have been so wrong on almost every issue, whether it was the Brexit and discontent with the European Union, or foreign relations with Russia, or Trump’s chances of winning the presidency.
The Western political class have gotten it so wrong on so many issues because it is divorced from the reality as it affects most people. Aloof, elitist, out of touch and undemocratic.
Yet this Western ruling class, as embodied by Hillary Clinton, would be prepared to start even more wars around the world than they already have, based on their own twisted self-serving logic.
Consider these figures just released by the Pentagon. Under President Obama – who advocated for Clinton – US military exports to Saudi Arabia and other Mideast despots are double the amount under George W Bush. This weapons supply has gone towards arming jihadi terror groups. Clinton approved of this arms bazaar for terrorists when she was in office as part of Washington’s regime-change schemes. Fooling the masses – Defeated
Yet these people like Obama and Clinton spout all sorts of “humanitarian” and “moralistic” mumbo-jumbo. They are liars. And they are the most cynical of corrupt politicians. The very breed of politician-puppets that ordinary decent people around the world have come to despise.
Trump, for all his personal flaws, is in a different category. He is astute enough to know that the pain of ordinary citizens stems from a badly broken economic system. Can an arch capitalist like Trump fix chronic capitalism? It’s doubtful, unless he radically shifts to a new form of socialist policy.
But the main good thing about Trump is that he is a pragmatist who at least appears to be on the side of ordinary people and on the side of restoring peaceful relations with other nations, Russia in particular.
The prominent people dejected about Trump are the political class both in the US and Europe and their media echo chambers. It is notable that Germany’s Merkel and France’s Hollande both affected an air of disapproval over Trump’s victory – unlike Putin who magnanimously congratulated. Hollande said he would be “vigilant” in his future dealings with Trump. What is he talking about?
That’s why Merkel and Hollande will be next to get kicked out of office in forthcoming elections. Like Obama, Clinton and the American establishment, the pro-US European ruling parties are so out of touch with reality.
The demonization of Russia is a reflection of how disconnected the Western political class are from their own people. Ordinary people around the world want jobs, prosperity and peace. They know they can’t afford futile hostilities with Russia as have been foisted on them by their rulers, while such urgent social needs go neglected. Crazy as it may seem, Trump’s win may be a chance for the US to redeem. And for the world to heave a huge sigh of relief.
See: | 1 |
(Reuters) - A federal court judge on Wednesday threw out a Texas voter identification law that was supported by the Trump administration, but the state’s attorney general said his office would appeal the ruling. The judge’s ruling said changes to the law passed earlier this year by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature that were meant to be less discriminatory than an earlier one did not accomplish that. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the Southern District of Texas said the state did not allow enough types of photo IDs for voters, “even though the (5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals) was clearly critical of Texas having the most restrictive list in the country.” President Donald Trump campaigned on cutting voter fraud, picking up a theme of fellow Republicans across the country. Critics have said the Texas law and similar statutes enacted in other Republican-governed states are an effort to suppress voting, including among blacks and Hispanics who tend to favor Democrats. Trump has made unsubstantiated allegations that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election, in which Clinton won the popular vote but lost the decisive Electoral College count. “Today’s ruling is outrageous,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. Paxton, a Republican, added that changes to the law passed by the legislature included all those asked for by the 5th Circuit. The Justice Department filed a brief last month asking the court to halt action against the Texas voter ID law, saying the state’s new law fixed discriminatory issues of the state’s 2011 voter ID law. Texas Democrats welcomed Ramos’ ruling. “Jim Crow-era tactics have kept Texas Republicans in power,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa. “From discriminatory gerrymandering to discriminatory voter ID laws, it has become entirely clear that Texas Republicans are rigging our election system.” Ramos wrote in a 27-page ruling that voters with little education, or simply a lack of confidence, may forfeit their legitimate right to vote because of fear of being charged with perjury. She said Texas was overreaching by “threatening severe penalties for perjury,” and noted that the state’s “history of voter intimidation” led her not to accept the new voter ID law as a solution for the “purposeful discrimination” in the one it attempted to improve upon. | 0 |
Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) It was the revenge of the governors as Republicans met for their final debate before the Granite State's primary on Tuesday.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knocked the rising Florida Sen. Marco Rubio down several pegs, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush went toe-to-toe with billionaire businessman Donald Trump and equaled or got the better of his nemesis. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, meanwhile, stayed with his positive game and seized opportunities to tout his own record.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday night's debate on ABC as the primary clock counts down.
After a stronger-than-expected third-place finish in Iowa -- and taking a clear lead over other "establishment" candidates -- Rubio knew he'd be wearing a big target Saturday night.
But whether he was over-rehearsed or under-prepared, Rubio was off-key as he responded to the attacks.
The opponent responsible for most of them: Christie.
From the debate's outset, he pestered Rubio. "You have not been involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable," he said.
But he then opened up a brutal line of attack in suggesting that the Florida senator only knew how to turn a phrase rather than accomplish something.
"Marco, the thing is this," Christie said. "When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person."
In answering Christie, Rubio consistently turned to the same talking point, casting President Barack Obama as calculating rather than incompetent, and intent on changing America for the worse.
The fourth time he invoked Obama, though, the audience turned on him, booing the answer. And then moderator David Muir drove in the knife, saying: "The governor wasn't talking about the President."
Rubio rebounded a bit near the debate's end, when he hammered Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for supporting abortion rights -- and won applause from the audience for it.
Of Democrats, Rubio said: "They are the extremists on the issue of abortion, and I can't wait to expose them in a general election."
Christie, Kasich and Bush know that since they're all competing for the same pool of more moderate voters, there probably aren't enough tickets out of New Hampshire's primary for all three.
But the trio were still happy to unite in attacking the senators in the race (and, in Bush's case, Trump).
The only mild governor-on-governor criticism came from Christie, who noted that Kasich had increased the number of Ohio's government employees. But that followed praise of Kasich's job performance, with Christie saying he'd "done a great job in Ohio."
And Bush, in arguing that money and authority should shift from the federal government to the states, said: "I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads in their states."
All three turned in strong performances Saturday night -- and their timing couldn't have been better, given Rubio's on-stage struggles and New Hampshire's reputation for voters who make their decisions at the last minute.
Kasich played up his time as the House's lead budget-writer during the surpluses of the 1990s and his record in turning a deficit into a surplus in Ohio.
Bush effectively traded blows with Trump, lighting into him on eminent domain with a brutal response to the real estate mogul's accusations that Bush wanted to sound tough: "How tough is it to take property from an elderly woman?"
And Christie, who risked coming across as a bully in order to knock Rubio down early in the debate, was moving when he talked about drug addiction, linking his position on helping addicts to his stance opposing abortion, saying he wants to support kids after they're born as well as before.
"I'm pro-life when they get out, and it's a lot more complicated," he said.
Still, there are two big questions: Is it too little, too late? And on a Saturday night, how many New Hampshire voters were watching?
3. Trump vs. Cruz: The fight that didn't happen
They've bashed each other on the campaign trail in recent days, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Trump -- the two top-finishing candidates in Iowa's caucuses -- seemed to want nothing to do with each other on the debate stage.
It was one fight that was conspicuously absent Saturday night, and it contributed to Rubio's awful night. The Florida senator might have been hoping that those two would bash each other -- but it didn't happen, and he clearly was Enemy No. 1.
Cruz had a revealing answer when asked who he expects will win the Super Bowl: "With an eye toward February 20, Carolina," he said, alluding to the South Carolina primary.
Why it matters: New Hampshire's more moderate electorate means it's not a state where Cruz is likely to shine. He could, though, win in South Carolina -- and his campaign's strategy largely relies on racking up delegates in Southern states with March primaries.
Trump's answers were revealing in their own way, demonstrating that his support isn't about an ideological opposition to big government as much as a desire for strength and a sense that the government is incompetent.
At one point, he defended eminent domain, a practice he's used as a real estate developer. Later Trump backed the role of government-sponsored health care, saying: "You're not gonna let people die sitting in the middle of the street in any city in this country."
Trump was restrained for most of the night -- with the exception of a bit of audience-taunting when, during an exchange with Bush, he dismissed those booing as his donors, and with a single shot at Cruz during his closing statement (more on that later).
Cruz made false claims about CNN's caucus-night reporting -- and the network immediately called him on it.
As caucus-goers were still voting in Iowa, Cruz's staffers had wrongly cited CNN in playing up the idea that former neurosurgeon Ben Carson was dropping out of the race.
"My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers. It was being covered on live television," Cruz said Saturday. He said CNN reported that Carson was suspending his campaign "from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15," and "didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night."
"What Senator Cruz said tonight in the debate is categorically false," CNN responded in a statement put out while the debate was in progress. "CNN never corrected its reporting because CNN never had anything to correct. The Cruz campaign's actions the night of the Iowa caucuses had nothing to do with CNN's reporting. The fact that Senator Cruz continues to knowingly mislead the voters about this is astonishing."
CNN had reported that Carson would continue campaigning after taking a break at home in Florida. His next stop, reporter Chris Moody said, would be Washington, D.C., for the National Prayer Breakfast.
Carson passed on the opening to go after Cruz directly Saturday night: "I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Sen. Cruz."
But he did say he was "very disappointed that members of (Cruz's) team thought so little of me" that they would believe he was dropping out after all the effort his campaign put into the race. He pointed to his dedicated volunteers and noted that "one even died" -- a reference to an auto accident in which one of his supporters was killed.
Trump, who'd avoided Cruz all night, did take one shot at him at the debate's end. After Cruz cited his victory in Iowa during his closing statement, Trump said: "That's because you got Ben Carson's votes, by the way."
Thought the 2016 debate season couldn't get any weirder? Think again.
At the start of ABC's broadcast Saturday night, Carson -- the second man due to appear on stage -- seemed not to hear his name. So he lingered behind the curtain as other candidates, confused, walked past him.
Soon, Trump -- who apparently had the same problem -- joined Carson in waiting.
And Kasich wasn't introduced at all, until the moderators were told they'd missed the Ohio governor.
Moderator Martha Raddatz defused the situation by pointing to a loud and rowdy audience that made it difficult to hear.
But on television, it was baffling: The names of the candidates came through loud and clear.
Carson -- late to the stage -- quickly disappeared on it. And while he got supportive chuckles from the audience for his cracks about not getting enough air time -- "I thought maybe you thought already I had dropped out," he said -- that's not the way to climb above his fourth-place finish in Iowa. | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May showed guts and grace by continuing with her keynote Conservative Party conference speech despite a repeated coughing fit and an interruption by a prankster, business minister Greg Clark told Sky on Thursday. She showed guts and grace, Clark told Sky News. He added that there was huge warmth towards May in the conference hall. May s bid to reassert her dwindling authority was ruined on Wednesday when her keynote speech was interrupted by repeated coughing fits, a prankster, and even letters of her slogan falling off the set behind her. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress have agreed to work together on legislation to protect “Dreamers,” the illegal immigrants who were children when they entered the United States, the lawmakers said on Wednesday, although a dispute erupted over exactly what had been agreed. Following a dinner with Trump at the White House, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said the “productive meeting” focused on “DACA,” a program established by former President Barack Obama. “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement. All year, Democrats have insisted that they will block any legislation that contains funding for a wall along the length of the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Trump campaign goal that many Republicans in Congress also do not support. While White House officials have suggested legislation on DACA could move forward without wall funding, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders disputed the characterization that a deal had been reached to leave it out of any legislation focused on the Dreamers. “While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” she said on Twitter. Throughout his 2016 campaign for president and since taking office in January, Trump has demanded the construction of a wall to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs. He initially said Mexico would pay for the wall but has requested money from the U.S. Congress after the government of Mexico refused to pay. The dinner was the latest effort in a new initiative by Trump to work with opposition party Democrats on major legislation. Following the dinner, a White House official said the president, Schumer and Pelosi discussed tax reform, immigration, border security, infrastructure investments and trade as part of Trump’s bid to reach out to Democrats. “The administration looks forward to continuing these conversations with leadership on both sides of the aisle,” the official said. Over a dinner of Chinese food, Trump and the Democratic leaders also discussed issues related to U.S.-China trade, according to a congressional aide briefed on the meeting. Schumer and Pelosi also said that they urged Trump to make permanent government subsidy payments under the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.” “Those discussions will continue,” the lawmakers said. Trump and most Republicans in Congress have demanded the repeal of Obamacare but have been unable to agree on a replacement for the healthcare program that became law in 2010. Using his executive powers, Trump canceled Obama’s DACA program in which about 800,000 undocumented young people have escaped the threat of deportation and been able to apply for work permits in the United States. Trump argued that Obama over-stepped his authority in creating the program. But Trump gave Congress six months to come up with a replacement program in the form of legislation to be enacted into law. Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar, who attended a White House meeting with Trump earlier on Wednesday, told reporters the president said he would not insist on wall funding as part of a Dreamers bill, but would pursue it on other, future legislation. Cuellar said Trump urged lawmakers to link a Republican bill to cut legal immigration to the United States with protections for Dreamers. But many Democrats oppose lowering the cap on annual legal immigration. | 1 |
President Donald Trump traveled to South Carolina to celebrate Boeing’s new Dreamliner plane, promising to bring more jobs back to the United States. [“As your president, I’m going to do everything I can to unleash the power of the American spirit and to put our great people back to work,” Trump said. Trump delivered his speech at the Boeing manufacturing plant, with the new plane behind him. “The name says it all. Dreamliner. Great name,” Trump said. “Our country is all about making dreams come true. ” The president took the opportunity to proclaim his jobs agenda. “This is our mantra, buy American and hire American. We want products made in America, made by American hands,” he said. Trump spoke in front of a crowd of supporters and factory workers, some of them chanting “ !” as he took the stage. The president teased the possibility of making a big order of Boeing Super Hornets for the United States military, but admitted that the Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg was a “tough negotiator. ” Trump recognized that South Carolina was the home of many of the Armed Forces, vowing to make sure the military was equipped properly. “As George Washington said, ‘Being prepared for war is the best way to prevent it,’” Trump said. “Peace through strength. We build a military might so great — and we are going to do that — that none will dare to challenge it. ” | 0 |
This brave cop (and mommy) reminds us that police officers risk their lives every day without asking what color the person is they are being asked to protect and defend when they get that call from the dispatcher. She makes a lot of great common sense remarks in this video. It s definitely worth a watch:Lydia Marquez has a Facebook page you can find by clicking here. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday said they agreed on a new package of sanctions on North Korea, and that the Senate Banking Committee would act on the legislation next week, while President Donald Trump is on his first trip to Asia since taking office. Among other measures, the “Otto Warmbier Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea Act of 2017,” named after a U.S. student who died after he was imprisoned in North Korea, would strengthen and expand existing sanctions and strengthen Congress’ oversight of North Korea sanctions. It would also impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions, such as Chinese banks found to provide services to any individual targeted for North Korea-related sanctions by the U.S. Congress, a presidential executive order or U.N. Security Council resolution. The new sanctions bill would require Trump, or any other U.S. president, to notify congressional committees of any intention to terminate or suspend the sanctions. It would also require the president to submit regular reports on the system for licensing transactions and regular briefings for Congress by the administration. The international community has been working to come up with a response to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles programs that does not involve potentially catastrophic military action. Members of the U.S. Congress in particular have called for China, and Chinese banks, to do more to clamp down on Pyongyang. North Korea this year conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation and has test-fired a volley of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that, if perfected, could potentially reach the U.S. mainland. The sanctions bill was agreed upon by Republican Senator Mike Crapo, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sherrod Brown, its ranking member, along with panel members Pat Toomey, a Republican, and Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat. “The time has come for the U.S. to take the lead to ensure that all nations work together to isolate the Kim regime until it has no choice but to change its dangerous, belligerent behavior,” Crapo said in a statement. | 0 |
Undercover Video Exposes Obama’s Plan to Make American “Gun Laws” More Like Britain Undercover Video Exposes Obama’s Plan to Make American “Gun Laws” More Like Britain Videos By Amy Moreno October 26, 2016
We know that Obama and Hillary want to take away of Second Amendment right.
They say we’re just paranoid freaks for thinking that way.
But we know, right?
This undercover video exposes a close Obama advisor speaking about Obama’s “issue” which is to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence.
FYI, HANDGUNS ARE ILLEGAL IN BRITAIN – YOU CAN ONLY OWN “SPORTING RIFLES” AND THAT’S SUBJECT TO LICENSING.
Don’t think it can happen here?
Elect Hillary and a liberal Supreme Court and watch. This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter. | 0 |
Microsoft founder Bill Gates called for a robot tax to offset the loss of jobs done by humans as a result of advancements in automation during an interview with Quartz. [“Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50, 000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things,” declared Gates. “If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level. ” “There are many ways to take that extra productivity and generate more taxes. Exactly how you’d do it, measure it, you know, it’s interesting for people to start talking about now,” he continued. “Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of robot tax. I don’t think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It’s OK. ” Gates added that “you ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed of that adoption somewhat to figure out, ‘OK, what about the communities where this has a particularly big impact? Which transition programs have worked and what type of funding do those require? ’” “You cross the threshold of of certain activities all sort of at once,” Gates concluded. “So, you know, warehouse work, driving, room cleanup, there’s quite a few things that are meaningful job categories that, certainly in the next 20 years, being thoughtful about that extra supply is a net benefit. It’s important to have the policies to go with that. ” Billionaire and entrepreneur Mark Cuban also claimed robots are going to “cause unemployment,” posting, “Automation is going to cause unemployment and we need to prepare for it,” to Twitter on Sunday. Last week, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk warned that deep A. I. could potentially be dangerous to the human race, who he described as already . “One of the most troubling questions is artificial intelligence. I don’t mean narrow A. I — deep artificial intelligence, where you can have AI which is much smarter than the smartest human on earth,” proclaimed Musk during the World Government Summit in Dubai. “This is a dangerous situation. ” “Pay close attention to the development of artificial intelligence,” he continued. “Make sure researchers don’t get carried away. Scientists get so engrossed in their work they don’t realize what they are doing. ” In November, Musk also predicted that automated robots would lead to mass unemployment, which he claimed could eventually create a universal wage from the government. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 0 |
This is gonna be a tough pill for the left to swallow after working so hard to stack the courts In a victory for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court on Monday lifted key components of an injunction against President Trump s proposed ban on travel from six majority-Muslim nations, reinstating much of the policy and promising to hear full arguments as early as this fall.The court s decision means the justices will now wade into the biggest legal controversy of the Trump administration the president s order temporarily restricting travel, which even Trump has termed a travel ban. Today s unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security, Trump said in a statement. As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive. He added: My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Today s ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation s homeland. The court made clear that a limited version of the policy can be enforced immediately with a full hearing to come in the Fall. An American individual or entity that has a bona fide relationship with a particular person seeking to enter the country as a refugee can legitimately claim concrete hardship if that person is excluded, the court wrote. As to these individuals and entities, we do not disturb the injunction. But when it comes to refugees who lack any such connection to the United States, for the reasons we have set out, the balance tips in favor of the Government s compelling need to provide for the Nation s security. The justices decided to review the broader constitutional issues over executive authority on immigration with oral arguments to be held in the fall. FOX News | 1 |
He d like to build a giant wall, deport illegals, defund Planned Parenthood and deal with our debt crisis. These are all issues Newt Gingrich believes need to be dealt with. Given his past history as Speaker, he may just be the guy to get the job done Newt Gingrich told Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alexander Marlow on Saturday that if he had the votes in congress to reclaim the Speaker of the House position, he would accept.Gingrich acknowledged that if he had 218 house members backing him as Speaker, who approved of his strategy on the continuing resolution, and his strategy on dealing with the debt ceiling, he would have a moral obligation to serve the country. Gingrich, who served as Speaker in the 90 s during the Clinton Administration, initially made light of this provocative possibility by reminding listeners to Breitbart News Saturday on Sirius XM Patriot radio, channel 125, of the time when conservative icon William F. Buckley was asked while running for Mayor of New York: if he was elected, what would he do? Buckley said that the first thing he would do is demand a recount.Later in the interview, the consummate historian side of Gingrich emerged. He waxed more philosophical, relating that George Washington never sought elected office, but when called upon to serve, he did so.The architect of the Contract with America in 1994, which proposed ten policies the GOP promised to a vote on during the first hundred days of the new Congress, cautioned current house members to slow down when picking their next Speaker. Gingrich asserted that the House chamber must break down into lengthy conferences among themselves and vet candidates not on personality, but on their ability to articulate strategy.The former Speaker asserted that House leadership needs to have a sound strategy on how to deal with the continuing resolution that comes up in December and the debt ceiling. Unless they have a strategy in dealing with these kind of issues, they will just rapidly undermine the next speaker and be right back in the middle of a bitter internal fight that they don t need, he said.Marlow asked Gingrich his position on funding Planned Parenthood and the possibility of a government shutdown. I would have a hard time voting for a bill that funded it, he replied. Even if it meant a shutdown? inquired Marlow. Let me repeat myself. I would have a very hard time voting for a bill that funded Planned Parenthood, Gingrich replied.Gingrich said that Republicans have to make it clear that they are not defunding women s health. Here is the money, we are not defunding women s health, needs to be expressed. He recommends that congress apply the exact same dollars for women s health to other organizations, including religious groups, but not to be complicit in a process that cuts up babies. We should say how can the president of the Unites States defend cutting up babies, and if Obama wants to close the government over his commitment to cutting up babies, then I would say let s have the fight. Regarding immigration, Gingrich told Marlow that he just came back from Israel. You can t spend time in Israel and not believe that fences work. People who say you can t build a fence are just wrong, he maintains. He added that Trump is right on this, and that building 95-story sky-scrapers is more complicated than building fences.The ten time re-elected congressman from Georgia stressed that there must be a strong e-verify network in place, but it would be implausible to round up and deport all who came across American borders illegally. We are not going to deport 11 million people. We are not going to go into neighborhoods, we re not going to tear up churches, not going to tear up families. No American system could tolerate that level of personal and dehumanizing process. Gingrich does think, however, that America could aggressively deport criminals. People in neighborhoods would be grateful that you got rid of the criminals, he insisted. MS13 Gang from El Salvador, which is now in 70 cities, should be utterly, totally unacceptable to every American. The conservative icon added that he finds that when he meets with legal immigrants across the nation, they are the strongest supporters of insisting on legality. Because they paid their dues; they did the right things. They followed the law. They would like to see an America insisting on returning to that. Gingrich maintains there should be a pathway to legality, but rejects offering them citizenship before those waiting patiently who apply legally. There could be exceptions for some who would enter the military. If one is willing to risk their lives for America, extenuating circumstances may apply in that case, Gingrich believes. Via: Breitbart | 1 |
The Obamas recently moved their oldest daughter, Malia, into her dorm at Harvard. After her gap year, which seemed to be spent participating in activities such as attending various music festivals, shaking her booty for the crowd, and rolling around on the ground, she, all of the sudden, seems to be not so fond of her fame anymore.It s been less than a week since Malia Obama moved into her dorm and officially became Harvard University s most famous freshman.Barack and Michelle Obama s first-born reacted angrily Saturday to a gawker who waited outside a campus store in order to snap a picture of the famous former occupant of the White House, TMZ reported.The gossip site said that eyewitnesses reported a woman approached Malia at a salad shop in Cambridge s Harvard Square asking for a picture for her grandson.After Malia politely declined, the woman walked reportedly walked outside and waited for her to complete her purchase and exit the store.As Malia left the store, the woman snapped a photo, prompting the newly minted college student to say: Are you gonna take it in my face like an animal in a cage? Malia moved into her Harvard University dormitory on Monday afternoon, one day before her fellow students began arriving with their parents.The family was joined by members of the Secret Service as they pulled up to Malia s new residence in a two-SUV envoy. Daily Mail | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement that gave no other details. The scheduled telephone calls come as a senior ally of Merkel earlier on Wednesday pressed Japan to quickly seal a trade deal with the European Union. | 1 |
America should ve known Hillary would be allowed to skate. When Chicago thug politics mesh with the Clinton Crime Syndicate, American citizens don t have a chance. The Democrat party is starting to make the mafia look like girl scouts .In a scathing video ad titled Tale of Two Press Conferences, the GOP plays side-by-side excerpts from Comey s statement and a March 10, 2015 press conference when Clinton was first cornered with accusations about her private email server.The result is a smackdown that casts Clinton as a bald-faced liar. I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email, Clinton says in the footage on one side of a split-screen. 110 emails in 52 email chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information, Comey says at screen-right.After Clinton says that she thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two, Comey is seen rebutting her on Tuesday declaring that she used numerous mobile devices to view and send e-mail on [her] personal domain. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that Clinton has spent the last 16 months looking into cameras deliberately lying to the American people. This video perfectly highlights Hillary Clinton s serial lies over her secret email server, which jeopardized national security, left over 2,000 classified emails unprotected, and covered up unethical conflicts of interests related to her family foundation while she was Secretary of State, he added. Via: Daily Mail | 0 |
Your arteries are the system within your body that continually transport the essential nutrients and oxygen that you need to survive, from your heart to the rest of your body.
A massive part of staying healthy and keeping your arteries clear and clean has to do with your diet. It is very true when you are told “You are what you eat.” It is also true that what you put into your body will determine your overall health including your cardiovascular health. Adjusting your diet to include artery-friendly foods can improve your general health and the condition of your heart. Here are 6 natural foods that will help to cleanse and unclog your arteries which will help prevent a heart attack or stroke:
Organic Asparagus “Asparagus works within the 100,000 miles of veins and arteries to release pressure, thereby allowing the body to accommodate for inflammation that has accumulated over the years.” says Shane Ellison, an organic chemist and author of Over-The-Counter Natural Cures. It also helps ward off deadly blood clots.
Organic Pomegranate “Pomegranate contains phytochemicals that act as antioxidants to protect the lining of the arteries from damage”, explains Dr. Gregg Schneider, a nutritionally oriented dentist and expert on alternative medicine.
Turmeric “The spice turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory,” Dr. Schneider says. “It contains curcumin which lowers inflammation—a major cause of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries.)”
Spirulina A daily 4,500 mg dose of this algae can help relax the artery walls and normalize blood pressure. It could also help your liver balance your blood fat levels.
Organic Cranberries Research shows that potassium-rich cranberries can help reduce cholesterol levels and regular consumption may also help reduce your overall risk of heart disease by up to 40 percent.
Organic Watermelon A Florida State University study found that people given a 4,000 mg supplement of L-citrulline (an amino acid found in watermelon) lowered their blood pressure in just six weeks. Researchers also say the amino acid helps your body produce nitric oxide, which helps widen blood vessels.
If you have an artery that supplies blood to the heart become blocked, then you could suffer a heart attack. Not all heart attacks are fatal, but all heart attacks will leave behind some damage to the heart. However, if the left coronary artery of the heart becomes totally blocked, the heart attack will be fatal. Eat foods that cleanse your arteries.
Thanks to Dr. Gregg Schneider and Shane Ellison for the quotes used in this article. | 1 |
LIMA (Reuters) - An emissary of an independence movement in the Western Sahara has spent two weeks in Lima airport and refuses to leave, after she was denied entry to Peru for alleged political activities on a prior visit, Peru s foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Jadiyetu El Mohtar is a Spanish citizen who describes herself as the ambassador to Peru for a disputed area in the Western Sahara known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Peru is one of a few dozen countries that has recognized the self-declared SADR, which the Polisario independence movement claims is a separate state from Morocco. SADR is not recognized as a state by the United Nations and Peru suspended diplomatic ties with SADR in 1996. El Mohtar had hoped to help reestablish those ties, she told Reuters by phone from the international arrivals area of Lima s airport. She said she was awaiting an appeal to the decision to block her entry. Peru said El Mohtar had violated the terms of a tourist visa by taking part in political activities during a previous visit. It has refused to grant her another visa and urged her to comply with an order to fly back to Spain. El Mohtar has denied any wrongdoing and said her stay in Peru in July and August included meetings with environmentalists and feminists and did not violate migratory laws. I am sleeping on an inflatable mattress, El Mohtar said. I have come to work to pave the way for re-establishing diplomatic relations with Peru. Peru s foreign affairs ministry said it was not considering reestablishing diplomatic ties with SADR and does not recognize Polisario representatives as diplomats. El Mohtar said she has visited Colombia, Ecuador and Cuba without any problem. Earlier this year, Peru banned a Canadian activist and a U.S. journalist from Peru after they screened a film critical of a mining company in an Andean region while on tourist visas. In April, the U.N. Security Council unanimously backed attempts to restart talks between Morocco and Polisario over the Western Sahara conflict, and extended its peacekeeping mission there for another year. | 1 |
The fundamental transformation of America continues . But one photo emerges that defies Barack and Michelle Obama s hateful and divisive narrative.In the latest chapter of the outcry over the Confederate flag issue in South Carolina, an unexpected scene emerged from rallies involving the Ku Klux Klan and black supporters this weekend a photo of a black police officer helping a white supremacist at the Capitol in Charleston.Members of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK were protesting the state s recent decision to remove the flag from the statehouse grounds. Black advocates held their own rally, and a clash among the two parties ensued.IN THE MIDST OF SO MUCH HATE, ONE HOPEFUL PHOTO EMERGED: It didn t take long for the photograph taken by Rob Godfrey, the deputy chief of staff for South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to spread on the Internet. Not an uncommon example of humanity in SC: Leroy Smith helps white supremacist to shelter & water as heat bears down, Godfrey wrote in posting the photo on Twitter.Officer Leroy Smith was helping the man find shade and water on a hot day in Charleston, when temperatures reached the upper 90s. About 2,000 people attended the rallies. He was assisting with crowd control on the stairs where the KKK was rallying, spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli said of Smith.As might be expected, the general public largely fell into one of two camps applauding the photo, or questioning it. This kindness chokes me up. How do SC people find that well of caring in the midst of so much hatred? one person replied in the photo s comment thread. Amazing! I couldn t find it in my heart and I am white, another remarked. Just curious. Put this in reverse. Would that White Supremacist have done that for Officer Smith at a Black Panther rally? countered one tweet. Being nice didn t save those 9 people [at the Charleston church shooting] though, posted another.Thursday, Haley encouraged people to stay away from the KKK rally. The strength and grace the people of South Carolina have shown over the last three weeks have inspired our family, our neighbors and the entire world, she wrote on her Facebook page. Our family hopes the people of South Carolina will join us in staying away from the disruptive, hateful spectacle members of the Ku Klux Klan hope to create. Via: Breitbart News | 1 |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Families are being torn apart by the rift between Qatar and three other Gulf Arab states which began six months ago, Amnesty International said on Thursday, despite measures to ease the impact of the crisis on ordinary citizens. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt, imposed travel, economic and diplomatic sanctions on Qatar in June over allegations of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charge. The human rights group, citing interviews with individuals and Qatari officials, said thousands of people had been affected by the rift, which has split families, raised food prices for foreign workers and made visits to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia more difficult. Officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain could not immediately be reached to comment on the report. But the three U.S.-allied countries had announced measures in June to ease the impact of the dispute on mixed families, including setting up hotlines to deal with humanitarian issues. Saudi Arabia has also said it was allowing visits to holy sites and opened its doors to Muslims in Qatar to perform the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage. Diplomatic efforts led by Kuwait to resolve the dispute have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough. The report was based on interviews with 44 affected individuals conducted in late November in Qatar as well as meetings with Qatari officials. Despite measures to allow families in mixed marriages to visit, many were finding it difficult to comply with procedures required to apply for a laissez-passer that allows residents of Qatar to travel to see loves ones in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or the UAE, the report said. It said that there was scant, or no, information about the application process on official UAE and Saudi ministry websites, while travel to Bahrain had become more difficult since Manama imposed an entry visa requirement for Qatari nationals and residents at a time when the embassy in Doha is closed. Affected families told Amnesty International that hotlines announced by the Bahrain, Saudi Arabian and UAE governments were difficult to access, the rights watchdog said. Lynn Maalouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said that by imposing travel restrictions on ordinary people, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have violated the right to family life, education and freedom of expression . Since this dispute began in June, our fears about its potential to rip families apart have been cruelly and emphatically realized, Maalouf said in a statement. | 0 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - A trip to Beijing last week by Zimbabwe s military chief was a normal military exchange , China s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, after the military in the southern African nation seized power. Zimbabwe s military took control targeting criminals around President Robert Mugabe but gave assurances on national television that the 93-year-old leader and his family were safe and sound . General Constantino Chiwenga met Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan in Beijing on Friday, where Chang expressed a willingness to promote relations with Zimbabwe, China s Defence Ministry said in a short statement last week. The ministry showed a picture of the two men, both wearing military uniform, shaking hands, and another one of officers from both countries sitting opposite each other holding a meeting at the People s Liberation Army headquarters in Beijing. Asked whether Chiwenga had briefed China on plans to seize power, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Defence Ministry had already released information about his trip and that he didn t have an understanding about the specifics of his reception in China. I can only tell you that his visit to China this time was a normal military exchange mutually agreed upon by China and Zimbabwe, Geng said, referring other questions to the Defence Ministry, which has yet to respond to a request for comment. As a country that is friendly with Zimbabwe, we are paying close attention to developments of the situation in Zimbabwe, Geng added. Maintaining peaceful and stable development accords with the fundamental interests of Zimbabwe and regional countries, and is the common desire of the international community. We hope the relevant parties in Zimbabwe appropriately handle their internal matters. In contrast to his elevated status on the continent, Mugabe is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa s most promising states. China and Zimbabwe have a close diplomatic and economic relationship and Beijing has stood with Mugabe s government in the face of Western economic sanctions. In August, Zimbabwe s government said a Chinese company planned to invest up to $2 billion to revive operations at Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), which ceased production in 2008 at the height of Zimbabwe s economic meltdown. That same year, China vetoed a proposed Western-backed U.N. resolution which would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and 13 other officials, saying it would complicate , rather than ease, conflict. | 1 |
Feds get a warrant to start search for classified info in 650,000 emails - thousands of them from her private server - on sexting Weiner's laptop. Clinton faces ongoing FBI probe even if she's elected President By Wills Robinson Daily Mail November 1, 2016 The FBI now has a warrant to read the emails from Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton ‘s most trusted aide, which were among hundreds of thousands discovered on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Law enforcement officials confirmed that investigators gained permission to start trawling through the 650,000 emails discovered on the laptop on Sunday evening, NBC reported. Thousands of them could be from Clinton’s private server. Feds seized the laptop belonging to Weiner, Abedin’s disgraced husband, in September after DailyMail.com exposed his sexting of a 15-year-old girl. In early October, agents told FBI heads they’d found emails on the laptop from Abedin that may have been deleted from Clinton’s private server but their warrant did not allow them to read emails that were not linked to the Weiner investigation. The newly reopened investigation will take time due to the sheer volume of emails to be read, the Wall Street Journal reported. It will likely take agents until well past the election to assess how many, if any, contain classified information – leaving Clinton with the prospect of facing an ongoing investigation even if she is elected president. The Democratic candidate already shows signs of slipping in the polls after an ABC News/Washington Post tracker poll revealed Trump was just one point behind – an 11 point change since last week. And since FBI director James Comey’s shock announcement on Friday that the Clinton private server probe was to be reopened, questions have continued to mount over Abedin’s future on the Clinton campaign. She has stayed behind in New York while her boss hits the campaign trail. Abedin has pleaded ignorance about how the emails ended up on husband Weiner’s laptop. She swore under oath while testifying in a lawsuit brought against the State Department by Judicial Watch that she had handed over all of her devices that could hold emails relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. If she’s found to have lied she could face up to five years in jail. On Sunday, Clinton – no longer accompanied by Abedin – said at a Florida rally that she would not be ‘knocked off course’ by Friday’s shocking development. ‘I’m not stopping now, we’re just getting warmed up,’ she declared to a packed crowd with many gay and lesbian supporters in the city of Wilton Manors. ‘We’re not going to be distracted, no matter what our opponents throw at us.’ Donald Trump delivered a swift kick to disgraced former Democratic congressman Weiner on Sunday, thanking him for preserving the emails that could bring Clinton down. | 0 |
BOSTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump once described Jamie Dimon as “the worst banker in the United States,” but the president-elect has helped make the boss of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) $50 million richer. Dimon is the top beneficiary among the 30 chief executives who run companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index from a stock rally inspired by Trump’s election, according to a Reuters analysis of their option grants. Trump’s proposed policies for lower taxes, less Wall Street regulation and more infrastructure spending have energized the U.S. stock market since the real estate magnate’s Nov. 8 victory. The post-election rally even resurrected the value of an option award held by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) CEO Lloyd Blankfein that was worthless on the eve of the election. Dimon, a lifelong Democrat, has seen his stock options surge in value by more than $50 million to $146 million since the Republican candidate’s White House win. Trump criticized Dimon in 2013 for reaching a $13 billion settlement with the U.S. government over the sale of toxic mortgages instead of fighting the case. Nevertheless, he appointed Dimon to the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of high-profile business leaders he set up last month to advise him on economic growth and job creation. Dimon declined to comment on Trump’s criticism or the rise in value of his holdings. Stock options held by Dow 30 CEOs surged in value by 23 percent to about $1 billion in 2016, with most of the gain coming after Trump’s election win. The figures reflect outstanding stock options that could be exercised at the end of 2015. Options that expired or vested in 2016 were excluded from the analysis. In a few cases, CEOs exercised some of those options during 2016, U.S. regulatory filings show. Visa Inc (V.N) CEO Charles Scharf did not need a Trump-led stock rally to hit the jackpot. About two weeks before the election, he exercised nearly 800,000 options for gross proceeds of almost $33 million, U.S. regulatory filings show. He resigned from Visa effective Dec. 1. For a look at how the post-election rally has affected Dow 30 stock options, click here (tmsnrt.rs/2iCbvvT) Trump campaigned on the slogan “Make America Great Again,” vowing to bolster the prospects of the American working class by preventing jobs from moving abroad, restricting immigration and renegotiating trade pacts. In 2015, Trump called high salaries paid to CEOs a “joke” and a “disgrace” and said these were often approved by company boards stacked with CEOs’ friends. PRO-BUSINESS AGENDA To be sure, Trump’s election has helped investors big and small. Hopes of a pro-business agenda have driven the Dow 30 close to 20,000 - a level it has never breached - in a boon for workers’ retirement plans. “With the recent Trump/Republican win, it appears that investors are getting more excited about potential growth and animal spirits are on the rise,” top investment strategists at Morgan Stanley said this month in a wealth management report. “This is likely to lead to the final euphoric stage of this cyclical bull market which could be quite powerful in 2017’s first half.” Big stock option gains for Goldman Sachs head Blankfein, American Express Co (AXP.N) CEO Kenneth Chenault and JP Morgan’s Dimon may be a surprise, given that their companies have reduced or even eliminated option grants in recent years in favor of stock awards tied to hitting financial targets. Blankfein’s 322,104 outstanding options, granted in 2007 with a $204.16 strike price, were under water by $7.3 million on the eve of the presidential election. But by the end of 2016, their value had soared to $11.4 million. That was an $18.7 million swing, thanks to the Trump-inspired stock market rally and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates, a boost for banks and credit card companies. Blankfein declined to comment. Alan Johnson, managing director of pay consulting firm Johnson Associates in New York, said the big gains for the leaders of American Express, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reflect how stock option compensation can magnify gains in a company’s share price. “When the stock goes up, with options, you get more leverage,” he said. Critics of stock options say the grants can produce large amounts of wealth for CEOs even with mediocre performance. One reason is that grants often are not linked to any financial performance metric, such as return on equity. And so as the United States nears the eighth year of a bull market, options can increase in value even if the CEOs are running companies whose share price has lagged broad benchmarks during their tenure. For example, shares of Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) rose 54 percent during Douglas Oberhelman’s tenure as CEO of the big equipment maker from mid-2010 to the end of 2016, while the Dow 30 more than doubled during that span. But the value of Oberhelman’s options rallied during his last year as CEO, climbing to $20.3 million after being under water by nearly $9 million at the start of 2016. The options’ value got a $10.6 million booster shot after Trump’s victory. Caterpillar shares rose 36 percent in 2016, making it one of the best performing stocks on the Dow. Trump has said he would use Caterpillar tractors to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Caterpillar and Oberhelman declined to comment. Not all CEOs have been winners, however. Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) CEO Muhtar Kent, who contributed $2,700 to Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival for president, saw the value of his options decline by $11.3 million to $143 million. Coca-Cola shares are off 3 percent since Trump was elected amid lingering concerns about consumers cutting their consumption of sugary drinks. A Coca-Cola spokesman declined to comment. | 1 |
LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday he urged Iran to release detained dual nationals during a visit to the Islamic Republic. I urged their release, on humanitarian grounds, where there is cause to do so, Johnson told the British parliament. These are complex cases involving individuals considered by Iran to be their own citizens, and I do not wish to raise false hopes. But my meetings in Tehran were worthwhile, he said. It is too early to be confident about the outcome. Johnson said he raised with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif the official harassment of journalists working for BBC Persian and their families inside Iran. | 0 |
The legal record shows that Jerry Hartfield’s first murder conviction was thrown out on appeal, and for the next 32 years, he was not officially guilty of anything, not sentenced to anything. Yet he spent that time in Texas prisons, in what an appellate court now calls “a criminal justice nightmare. ” He was finally tried and convicted again in 2015, but on Thursday, Mr. Hartfield moved closer to freedom than he has been in decades. A state Court of Appeals ruled that he was not only denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial, but to a degree the court had neither seen nor imagined before it noted that the important precedents dealt with delays of three years, six years, eight years — not 32. The panel dismissed the indictment against Mr. Hartfield, who is developmentally disabled, in effect erasing the recent conviction. But it is still not clear whether, or when, he will get out of prison. Prosecutors could appeal Thursday’s ruling to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’ highest criminal tribunal. The state Attorney General’s Office, which has argued against Mr. Hartfield, referred questions to the Matagorda County District Attorney’s Office, which did not reply to requests for comment. “We are deeply mindful that our conclusion today means that a defendant who may be guilty of murder may go free,” Judge Gina M. Benavides wrote for the Court of Appeals. “However, based on the United States Constitution, it is the only possible remedy. ” All told, Mr. Hartfield, now 60, has spent more than 40 years behind bars for the murder of a bus station ticket clerk. His case can seem like something out of absurdist fiction: a court ruling ignored or forgotten, an appeal dismissed by a court that agreed with the substance but said it had been filed under the wrong statute, a retrial after most of the evidence had been lost and witnesses had died, and an argument by prosecutors that Mr. Hartfield, himself, was to blame for the delays, and caused them intentionally. “Once you call this Kafkaesque, you can’t really call anything else Kafkaesque, because there’s nothing else remotely like this,” said David R. Dow of the University of Houston Law Center, one of the lawyers who represented Mr. Hartfield on appeal. “This was the perfect storm of everything that could go wrong with the criminal justice system. ” On Sept. 17, 1976, Eunice Lowe, a white woman, was killed where she worked, the Continental Trailways station in Bay City, southwest of Houston. The killer bashed in her head with a pickax, stole money from the station and took her car, and there was evidence of sexual assault after death. Mr. Hartfield, a black man, signed a confession that he later disavowed, and, crucially, investigators said he told them where to find Ms. Lowe’s car. Experts placed his I. Q. in the 50s or 60s, which his lawyers contend made him easily coerced by detectives, and unable to understand his rights or his confession. A jury convicted him and he was sentenced to death. But the Court of Criminal Appeals later overturned that verdict, ruling that a potential juror had been improperly dismissed for having doubts about the death penalty, and ordered a new trial. After years of legal wrangling, the high court ruling took effect in March 1983. Under Texas law at the time, prosecutors had a way to avoid a retrial and preserve the conviction — but only if they acted within a time frame set by the court. Because the trial error had to do with capital punishment, if the governor commuted the sentence to life in prison, then it would be as if the appellate court had never ruled, and the guilty verdict would remain in effect. That was apparently never communicated to the prison system. Mr. Dow said that Mr. Hartfield thought he was awaiting a new trial, but did not have the capacity to understand the delay or what to do about it. Whether the District Attorney’s Office understood what had happened at the time is unclear, but it never took steps to retry him, and the case lay dormant for the next 23 years. Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Hartfield had legal representation all along, because his original defense team remained his lawyers of record until a court formally dismissed them in 2013. But Mr. Hartfield’s new lawyers say he had no legal counsel from 1983, when the original team thought they were done with the case, until a federal court appointed a lawyer in 2008. Starting in 2006, a fellow inmate helped Mr. Hartfield file motions in various courts. Some were rejected outright, and at least one apparently went to the wrong office. One federal judge ruled in his favor, but another said he had to keep trying in state court. Finally, in 2013, Texas’ Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Mr. Hartfield’s conviction and life sentence were void, but his motions were also void. The motions were filed under a law applying to people who have been convicted, the court said, and there was no valid conviction on record in his case. He refiled under a different provision, and prosecutors finally sought a new trial. Mr. Hartfield’s lawyers said the charges should be dismissed because he was denied a speedy trial. Prosecutors argued that while the government was negligent, the defendant was partly to blame for the delays. For more than two decades, they said, he acquiesced in his imprisonment without trial, as a ploy to avoid the death penalty and to make it harder to mount a case against him. (The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that intellectually disabled people cannot be executed.) The District Attorney’s Office was able to locate just one of the 16 evidence exhibits used at the original trial, several witnesses had died, and at least one had dementia. The murder weapon was lost, along with blood and semen samples that could have yielded DNA. Ms. Lowe’s car no longer existed. But the trial court ruled that the case could proceed, and in 2015, 38 years after his first trial, Mr. Hartfield was convicted again and sentenced to life in prison. If that sentence were counted from the start of his time in prison, he would have been eligible for parole long ago. If he is released based on Thursday’s ruling, he would probably live with one of his two sisters, Mr. Dow said. “I’m not sure if he knows about this ruling yet,” Mr. Dow said. “I think it’s unlikely he really understands it very well. ” | 0 |
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“Yes, I listen when I first wake up, maybe while getting the children ready for school; sometimes in the car too.” They’re talking about radio. Radio was supposed to become a marginal medium, surpassed first by TV and then, surviving that, it would be buried by the internet. Yet radio is still with us. More than surviving, radio has introduced new ways of speaking, conversing and telling stories. A whole new sound has been created for example by Atlantic Public Media ( www.atlantic.org ). Meanwhile some traditions continue.
Except that my very favorite radio show for almost three decades fits no tradition:—it’s part comedy, part advice column, part phone call-ins. (Listener call-ins gave radio a tremendous boost in the 1960s.)
I continue to be a radio addict. As a critic of government policies, an aficionado of literary readings, and a producer of “RadioTahrir” ( www.RadioTahrir.org ) for 23 years on the avant-garde and activist Pacifica Network ( www.Pacifica.org ) you’d expect my favorite to be a show related to political or literary enterprise. Actually, the program I listen to most faithfully is one that’s impossibly dissimilar. It’s CarTalk . This, though I’m not even a car enthusiast.
CarTalk is a hilarious, practical advice call-in show. It originated in Boston 30 plus years ago by two feisty Italian brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi, both garage mechanics (the do-it-yourself-sort; but to figure out their degree qualifications see www.cartalk.com/content/tom-and-rays-bios-photos-2), a perfectly paired team with a shared irrepressible sense of humor.
Think about it. How often while listening to a non-comedy radio broadcast do you find yourself chuckling? Not only this: these hosts engage in banter and howls of laughter while dispensing serious counsel –all having to do with cars! Threaded though the humor is lots of useful (and reliable) car advice. (They really have to be good because of safety liability, the reputations both of cars they discuss and garage mechanics their guests already consulted.) The stimulus for Tom’s and Ray’s comments are calls from listeners challenging the brothers with simple, complex and silly car problems: mechanical problems, disputes with their local mechanic, family predicaments around co-ownership, repair costs, holiday motoring anxieties, and inheritance problems (cars often pass from parents to children). The issues are actual problems which cars, especially older models, experience. And Americans keep their cars for a long time.
CarTalk , in my view, is the most engaging program on US radio, on radio anywhere. A weekly one hour show, it’s been airing every Saturday morning as long as I can remember. With the passing of Tom the older member of the team in 2014, the live broadcast ended. Today the program continues as The Best of Car Talk , edited from their archives. Meanwhile www.cartalk.com carries a full show, highlighted moments of fun (or guidance), automotive news, and abundant free car advice.
Part of the success of the program, in addition to the spirited character and compatibility of the brothers, lies what cars symbolize in American history and culture. People grow very fond of their cars and are reluctant to part with them, thus the need for repairs to keep them functioning well past their dump-yard date. (We think we can fix our car ourselves—with a little advice.) An owner feels proud that her car’s odometer registers 200,000 miles, or if it approaches 170,000 (as my 1985 Toyota did) we’re determined to keep it running (as I did), whatever the cost, until it cracks 200,000. No car owner likes to spend money on repairs either, so Tom and Ray’s advice mustn’t require a lot of expense. Then there are the mechanical mysteries that emit from a car: you know, those rattles under the hood or the scraping below the passenger seat. So we turn to CarTalk to address our doubts or after our own local mechanic hasn’t performed a cure for our ailing 1968 Chevy pickup, or our limping 1992 Honda Civic..
The brothers seem to know every car model ever made, from 1950s vintage Fords to the latest Swedish, Chinese and Indian brands. After IDing their location a caller starts with: “I have a 1978 Volkswagen bus whose windshield wipers don’t work…..”, or “I and my husband are going to take cross country trip with our 3 dogs, two rabbits and a parrot; we can’t pay more than $3000. and plan to dump the vehicle once we arrive; what should we buy?” Tom and Ray try to diagnose the issue and dispense advice, injecting guidance with abundant hilarity, while never, never reproaching or ridiculing a caller. The hour is upbeat, always hilarious, and the advice is highly reliable and, it seems, mostly spot-on.
The personalities of the brothers and the chemistry between them explain much of CarTalk ’s popularity. But this program taps into our American romance with cars and our attachment to these celebrities of manufacturing history. Cars enjoy an unparalleled place in American life. Desoto, Mustang, Studebaker, Roadster, Impala:– these names are deeply embedded in the American lexicon. Each represents an image fixed in our memory, in the brains even of young people born long after a model ceased being manufactured. Cars represent key points in millions of Americans’ lives, in the latter 20 th century if not now. Famous songs eulogize cars; cars are the subject of poems; “Motown” is the trope for Detroit city, center of auto manufacturing for decades, and the music genre that emerged there.
A driving license, not a pair of Nike trainers or the latest iphone edition, was and still is for many, the primary goal of a US teenager. We started saving for our first car even before we had our driver’s license; cars compete with sports to occupy 90% of young men’s conversations. We concocted quiz games about cars and car models. There is an entire industry in the U.S. devoted to auto museums, small scale car models, and road functional antique cars. Cars parked in residential driveways are part of American architecture. In my town, I recognize my neighbor by the color and model of their passing car. We can usually gauge a person’s income by the model of their car.
Whatever the caller’s car model, one of the brother’s recognizes it—1972 El-Camino, 1959 Ford Torino, 1990 Dodge Viper, 1980 Desoto Adventurer, or 1966 Volkswagen bus. (Most callers seek advice for only 20 plus year-old vehicles.) These radio hosts seem to know any car’s mechanics and particularities that could cause problems. Instead of saying “Take it to the junk yard; it’s past 250,000 miles”, they do their utmost to help extend its life. They treat the car like it’s a family pet. Only occasionally Tom would advise an owner—“It’s only a car!” | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, met on Wednesday with President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, where she pressed him on political interference in antitrust and lobbying, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The source did not say if the meeting was sufficient to convince Warren to support Makan Delrahim. She has reportedly put a “hold” on his confirmation to be assistant attorney general. Delrahim declined comment on the discussions. At the meeting, Warren pressed Delrahim on how he would respond to any effort by the White House to influence an antitrust decision. As a candidate, Trump said he would oppose AT&T’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, owner of CNN and one of the country’s largest film and television companies. Delrahim said in his confirmation hearing in May that on his watch the division’s reviews would be free from any political influence. | 0 |
Centrist French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron extended his lead in the polls over his rival Marine Le Pen on Friday, the final day of a tumultuous election campaign that has turned the country’s politics upside down. [The election is seen as the most important in France for decades with two diametrically opposed views of Europe and France’s place in the world at stake. The National Front’s Le Pen would close borders and quit the euro currency, while independent Macron, who has never held elected office, wants closer European cooperation and an open economy. The candidates of France’s two mainstream parties were both eliminated in the first round on April 23. Read the rest on Reuters … | 0 |
A Columbia University professor from Brooklyn went into hiding Thursday after pal James Comey revealed during his Senate testimony that the man leaked memos detailing the former FBI chief s conversations with President Trump to the press.But Richman had vanished from his Henry Street digs by midday, and family members, friends and neighbors wouldn t answer doors or phone calls to shed any more light.A doorman eventually turned security guard to stop reporters entering the building.Richman s wife, Alexandra Bowie, is a former president of the influential neighborhood civic group the Brooklyn Heights Association. Its director, Peter Bray, declined to speak about the man who had suddenly usurped Lena Dunham as the nabe s most famous inhabitant.Comey said in his testimony that he decided to give the content of his Trump memo to his good friend to leak to the press after President Trump tweeted out about possible takes of their conversations. Comey also said of leaking the memo, I thought it might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. Via: NYPWho knew the FBI Director was a leaker! This is too much! Our intel community has become so politicized that it prohibits them from following the law or even focusing on gutting to the truth! During testimony today, Susan Collins asked if Comey ever shared memos from President Trump:COMEY S RESPONSE WAS A SHOCKER. HE SAID HE FELT HE NEEDED TO GET THAT OUT INTO THE PUBLIC SQUARE SO HE ASKED A FRIEND TO SHARE THE MEMO WITH A REPORTER:The person that Comey gave the memos to is a former classmate from Columbia Law School. He is considered to be a and adviser to Comey. Daniel Richman is in the video below and is a rather interesting guy. The video is dated but is meant to give you an idea of the character of this friend and adviser to the former FBI Director.Comey stated:James Comey leaked details of his conversation with @POTUS to friend and confidant Daniel Richman.Does this man look sane to you? pic.twitter.com/06Q7cfNRLI Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) June 8, 2017 Does this man look sane to you? pic.twitter.com/06Q7cfNRLI Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) June 8, 2017 | 0 |
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with police in western Ivory Coast s cocoa belt on Friday after the death of a youth leader, raising the prospect of more disruptions to the harvest. Nearly 7,000 people have fled illegal plantations and 10 have died in the past month because of land disputes between native groups and migrants from other parts of Ivory Coast and neighboring countries. Ethnically charged conflicts over land in Ivory Coast s fertile west were at the heart of a decade of turmoil that culminated in a brief civil war in 2010-11 that killed more than 3,000 people. Members of the We alliance from the Guere, Yacouba and Wobe ethnic groups have in recent weeks entered the Cavally and Gouin-Debe reserves and threatened ethnic Baoules and migrants from Burkina Faso farming there, hurting cocoa deliveries. Violence flared after well-known We youth leader Modeste Nenonhon was shot dead on Thursday in the village of Beoua, the Red Cross and a government spokesman told Reuters. The house of a local prefect was ransacked by protesters in the town of Guiglo, where many of the farmers have fled, said government spokesman Bruno Kone, adding that an inquiry into the violence and the death were underway. It was not clear who was responsible for the shooting, but thousands of We demonstrators again took to the streets in the towns of Blolequin and Guiglo on Friday. In Guiglo, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters. There is a big march to Blolequin and another one also to Guiglo, said Franck Gaba, an official with the Ivorian Red Cross. Last night, a vehicle was set on fire in the court where Baoule displaced people are set up. Baoule and Burkinabe farmers in the region were on edge, fearing retaliatory attacks after the youth leader s death. We are afraid for our safety in the villages here because ... the youth of the alliance will seek revenge, said Felix Kouadio, who cultivates seven hectares of cocoa in the Gouin-Debe reserve. The volume of cocoa beans from the area has already dropped in recent weeks as farmers flee. Continuing tensions could impact more deliveries just as the cocoa harvest picks up pace this month. The Ivorian Parks and Reserves Office (OIPR) estimates that up to 40 percent of Ivorian cocoa production comes from illegal plantations like the ones impacted by the violence. | 1 |
Like a modern day Ben Franklin, Sen. Tim Scott makes his most critical decisions by listing the pros and cons on a sheet of paper.
So in recent weeks, as the South Carolina Republican tried to decide who to endorse for the GOP presidential nomination, Scott pulled out his detailed notes on the contenders along with his yellow legal pads and blue pens, crafting the rationale for each of the potential nominees as well as their downsides.
On Tuesday, he endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — a fellow 40-something when they were first elected in 2010; both minorities in the white confines of Republican caucuses. What seemed like a natural decision from the outside came through one of the more detailed, painstaking processes any senator uses for choosing which horse to back in presidential politics.
In an interview, Scott explained that, indeed, he really only had one choice once he had done his due diligence.“When I put together a strong position on national defense and foreign policy, coupled with a compassionate attachment for people to alleviate poverty using conservative principles exclusively, Marco Rubio became the only candidate that I honestly believe can do both,” he said.
The endorsement served as another boost to Rubio’s campaign, which shot out of the Iowa caucuses with a better-than-expected finish in third, narrowly edged out by Donald Trump for second and not far behind Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) winning slot. Rubio, who has tried to position himself as a next-generation leader, has also focused on winning endorsements from less tenured lawmakers, such as Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), both of whom were also elected in the 2010 Republican tidal wave.
Scott said that he’s aware endorsements don’t always add up to actual votes from real voters — that transference is one of the most difficult acts in politics. He said that he will travel to New Hampshire in the coming days to be with Rubio in advance of Tuesday’s primary, where Cruz’s staunch conservatism isn’t expected to play as well and Rubio might have a chance for a strong second-place finish or to even leap into first ahead of Trump.
Scott’s real focus, however, will be in South Carolina, which is shaping up in its usually pivotal fashion. “We’ll find out in 18 days,” Scott said Tuesday, counting down to the Feb. 20 showdown in his home state.
Getting to that point, however, took more than six months of detailed deliberation, note taking and face-to-face interaction between a dozen candidates and arguably the most sought-after endorser in the U.S. Senate. Scott, now 50, is the only African-American Republican in the Senate, and his personal biography of going from a childhood in poverty in North Charleston to making it into the Senate is the stuff of Republican storybook legend.
[Read how the Ryan-Scott poverty summit brought the issue to the 2016 forefront.]
Moreover, his blessing carries more than just symbolic weight because South Carolina is third in line in the presidential nominating process, after Iowa and New Hampshire. Scott is surpassed in popularity only by Gov. Nikki Haley (R) among Palmetto State leaders. In the interview, he acknowledged a “fairly assertive courting process” by the Republican contenders to get his backing.
Scott could’ve easily avoided the pressure of choosing because he is up for reelection this year. Haley appointed Scott to his Senate seat in 2013, after Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) decided to quit midterm to the Heritage Foundation. He won the remainder of DeMint’s term outright in November 2014, but now must stand for election in November to win a full six-year term.
Rather than taking a pass on endorsing anyone, Scott instead decided to maximize his leverage. He put a premium on issues of fighting poverty and upward mobility that are not part of the normal Republican primary vocabulary. Beginning in late August, Scott hosted 12 different town halls with presidential candidates spread all across the state, including everyone from onetime front-runner Donald Trump to his South Carolina partner, Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose own presidential bid came to an end in December.
At each event, Scott said, he took detailed notes of how the candidates handled questions from his constituents on the biggest issues of the day, with a particular focus on national security and poverty.
“Yellow pads and blue ink, a lot of it,” he said, describing the process.
That wasn’t enough, and so in early January Scott hosted what was billed as a “poverty summit”, along with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), in Columbia, S.C.. Six GOP hopefuls showed up, but Trump and Cruz were off campaigning in Iowa.
As Scott moderated the event, that’s when he began to settle on Rubio who, like Scott, uses his up-from-bootstraps story to talk about his aspiration for America.
“I think it all culminated at my poverty summit,” he said, explaining that he wants a candidate for the “next American century” rather than someone talking about the past. “I think it’s incredibly important for us to have a candidate who can win by using conservative principles — and that means you have to be able to sell those conservative principles so you need an aspirational candidate.”
But he still wasn’t settled. So, in recent weeks, that meant breaking out the legal pads and blue pens, again, crossing the line down the middle, and drawing up the pluses and minuses for each candidate.
Finally, Tuesday, the decision arrived. Rubio’s name got circled. | 1 |
Well, this is embarrassing! The NFL commissioner was getting help from a helicopter wife who set up a fake twitter account to counter any negative press on her husband. It s pretty shocking because his wife is former Fox analyst Jane Skinner Goodell who should know better because she s in the news business. Did she really think people wouldn t find out who was constantly tweeting support for Goodell?Roger Goodell s wife set up a secret Twitter account to clap back at the NFL commissioner s detractors, according to the Wall Street Journal.The Twitter account, under the name Jones smith, has no followers, no profile picture and has been virtually dormant for long periods since its creation in 2014.@forargument is no longer active as of Thursday afternoon but according to the report, it was owned and operated by Goodell s wife, Jane Skinner Goodell, and often clashed with sports media outlets that produced content critical of the commissioner.Under the fake name Jones Smith, the account defended Goodell on several issues including the NFL s recent handling of national anthem protests.An example of the mysterious account standing up for Goodell took place earlier this month in response to an ESPN story chronicling the chaos that swept across the league when President Donald Trump went to war with anthem protesters. Reads like a press release from players union. You can do better reporting. (D Smith sounds like D Trump with the inaccurate firebombs), @forargument tweeteed to ESPN writer Seth Wickersham. D Smith was likely a reference to NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith.Goodell s wife, who is a former broadcast journalist with Fox News, has also taken aim at WSJ columnist Jason Gay and other sportswriters, according to the Journal.The Journal said it traced a series of clues back to Mrs. Goodell, including how the account in question followed four accounts associated with their twin daughters high school.Goodell s wife coming to his digital defense is nothing new in sports and media, though it is embarrassing. Thin-skinned Kevin Durant was recently accused of running a fake Twitter account to take on negative news and opinion about him on social media.Wives and girlfriends of pro athletes have never been shy about standing up for their famous husbands online. From Kate Upton sticking up for Justin Verlander not winning a Cy Young last year to Miko Grimes cheerleading for her husband, cornerback Brent Grimes, on social media, plenty of athletes have gotten a digital assist from their significant others. However, those women did not hide behind a fake Twitter account to make their feelings known.Goodell has earned plenty of negative press in his more than 10 years running the NFL, including the league s handling of domestic violence and concussion issues, Deflategate, and most recently, the anthem protests.Just be nice about what you say about him on Twitter, because his wife might clap back at you.Read more: NYDN | 1 |
One of the greatest institutions in America right now is the Satanic Temple. Their mission is simple: Mock, troll and thwart conservative Christian encroachment into our lives. To this end, the Detroit chapter of the church took to the streets of Ferndale and Detroit dressed unconventionally to expose the creepy obsession the pro-life movement has with fetuses:According to the Temple s Detroit chapter leader, Jex Blackmore, the anti-choice movement s obsession with, and mischaracterization of the fetus obscures medical reality and a woman s constitutional right to choice. The group dressed in baby masks and diapers, replete with BDSM gear, bottles and baby powder.Watch the really funny but reeeealllly creepy videos: Sooooooooo yeah. That actually happened. BDSM babies being flogged for their sins? I dunno. But the leader of the group, Jex Blackmore, refers to the attacks on Planned Parenthood as fetal idolatry which might possibly be the best description I ve ever heard. The fact is, the (mostly) conservative Christian fight against abortion is centered around protecting the fetus until the second it s out of the womb. Then the little moocher and its taker mother are on their own. Don t come asking for food, clothes, healthcare, schooling or anything else! The pro-life movement doesn t have time for any of that! They re on a mission from god to save babies from abortion!Worship the fetus, ignore the baby. If that s not fetal idolatry, I don t know what is. Here s how Blackmore describes it:The Satanic Temple (TST) believes that the anti-choice movement s obsession with, and mischaracterization of the fetus obscures medical reality and a woman s constitutional right to choice. Enlarged images of fetuses which are no larger than an inch and the personalization of mindless, senseless human embryos elevates the fetus to the status of a demigod. The strategy of elevating tiny human em br yos and fetuses to a rever ence creates a fantasy in which the maternal body is both erased and criminalized.All I have to say to that is, Hail Satan! Featured image via screencap. | 0 |
Prepared foods are an increasingly important part of the grocery business, delivering fat margins at a time when sales of traditional packaged foods are lackluster. But the strategy also comes with serious risks. In the clearest example yet, the Food and Drug Administration this month sent a stern warning letter to Whole Foods Market, a longtime champion of fresh and healthy foods, saying that the company had failed to address a long list of food safety issues at its food processing plant outside of Boston. Among the problems cited: condensation dripping from the ceiling near food an sanitizer used on a work surface near the preparation of a salad and a failure to separate dirty dishes from . The letter from the F. D. A. is just the latest headache to afflict Whole Foods. Over the last couple of years, the company has struggled with slower growth as competitors have gotten better at copying what it did to distinguish itself in the grocery market. Other wounds have been like last year, when the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs called it out for mispricing some merchandise based on weight. Prepared foods, which have almost double the profit margins of packaged foods sold on grocery shelves, have remained a bright spot at the company — at least for now. Such foods accounted for almost 20 percent of its sales in 2014, ringing up $2. 7 billion in revenue. But the letter from the F. D. A. is the second black eye for health issues at the plant outside of Boston, known as its North Atlantic Kitchen, and could put some of those sales in peril. Phil Lempert, an expert on grocery store operations and marketing, said that the food safety crisis at Chipotle Mexican Grill late last year should have been a call for Whole Foods and anyone else in the business of preparing fresh foods for sale. “For Whole Foods to be in this predicament, frankly, there really is no excuse,” Mr. Lempert said. “Because Wall Street has put it under such pressure to expand growth, I think Whole Foods has gotten sloppy — there’s no reason anyone should have water dripping into foods. ” Last fall, Whole Foods voluntarily recalled batches of Curry Chicken Salad and Classic Deli Pasta Salad after a sample prepared at the North Atlantic Kitchen tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, a pathogenic strain of the bacterium. The plant is one of three preparation kitchens that help stock its stores in the Northeast, and South. (Most of the company’s foods are prepared at the stores themselves.) In February, the inspectors spent five days at the plant and then shared their findings with Whole Foods, which responded within 15 business days. The company told the F. D. A. that it had retrained employees to address most of the issues the agency raised. That response, however, failed to satisfy the F. D. A. “We do not consider your response acceptable because you failed to provide documentation for our review, which demonstrates that all your noted corrective actions have been effectively implemented,” the agency wrote in its June 8 warning letter. Whole Foods said the letter came as a surprise. The company said it had taken steps to correct the problems and would meet on Thursday with the F. D. A. to discuss what the issues are and how to address them. “What’s confusing to us is the fact that the letter identifies issues we’ve already corrected,” said Ken Meyer, the company’s executive vice president for operations. “We worked with a consultant and our own global food safety team,” he said, “to address their concerns and assumed we were in good standing with them until this letter arrived on Friday. ” Whole Foods now has about two weeks to provide evidence to the F. D. A. that steps it has taken bring the company into compliance. Otherwise, the company might have to pay the agency to reinspect the facility. Groceries have long offered prepared foods like rotisserie chickens and broccoli salad. But as business has declined in the center store, companies have upped their game, adding sophisticated meals that consumers can take home or eat in the store. Research this year from the Food Marketing Institute and Technomic found that sales of prepared foods in groceries increased 10. 4 percent from 2006 to 2014, making the prepared foods department one of the highest performers in the food business. While only 8 percent of the supermarkets responding to that survey reported sales growth of more than 5 percent, more than of them said they had growth at that level or higher in their prepared food businesses. The risk for grocery companies is that preparing food receives a higher level of scrutiny from regulators than selling food made and packaged by others. A bad inspection in one location, or reports of food illnesses, can damage an entire brand. Shares in Whole Foods fell nearly 5 percent on Wednesday. Last year, Costco recalled celery sticks and turkey dinners, King Sooper recalled curried chicken salad and Raley’s recalled its Asian Blue Cheese, Potato and Bacon salad after E. coli was found in celery supplied to all by a single supplier. Still, perhaps no company has been more aggressive about integrating prepared foods than Whole Foods. The company has long put bars and restaurants into its stores — a new store in Hawaii will have about 200 seats for shoppers to sit and enjoy a meal and a drink. “Whole Foods is one of the pioneers in providing restaurant quality meals to consumers,” said Joe Pawlak, managing principal at Technomic. Now, stores like ShopRite and Safeway are opening groceraunts, too. The oyster bar at one of the Mariano’s groceries in Chicago has become a place for a Friday night date, and a ShopRite in Morris Plains, N. J. added a atrium where people can enjoy a meal. Supermarkets tried moving into the food preparation business in the 1990s, Mr. Pawlak said, but offered too broad a menu and ended up throwing a lot of food away. “Now what’s happened over the last five or six years, they’ve hired food service professionals who understand restaurants and how items move on a menu,” he said. “That’s taken the quality up to where I can get just as good a meal at the grocery store as I can in many restaurants — and for a lot better value. ” An F. D. A. spokeswoman said the agency could not comment on whether its inspection of grocery food preparation operations was increasing. A Yahoo News analysis of the F. D. A. ’s food safety recalls in 2015 found that prepared foods accounted for more recalls than any other food category. | 0 |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday voiced fresh concerns over Poland s plans to reform its courts and EU lawmakers accused Warsaw of promoting intolerance, reflecting deep fears for the rule of law in the country. Poland s nationalist, socially conservative ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), in power since late 2015, is at loggerheads with the EU over its push to bring the courts and state media under more direct government control, as well as over migration and the logging of a primeval forest. PiS says the court reforms are needed for Poland s moral renewal and accuses the EU of heavy-handed meddling in the country s affairs. Critics say the changes threaten judicial independence and spell an erosion of democratic standards. PiS-allied President Andrzej Duda unexpectedly vetoed two of the government s judicial reforms in July and presented his own version of these draft laws, infuriating PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and precipitating a power struggle in the ruling camp. The European Commission s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, told the European Parliament on Wednesday that even the draft laws proposed by Duda - which would row back somewhat from the options for direct government interference in the judiciary envisaged in the original PiS bills - were not acceptable. At this preliminary stage of our assessment, the Commission already notes that certain issues in these draft laws could raise serious concerns, Timmermans told EU lawmakers in their fifth debate on concerns about the rule of law in Poland. Timmermans urged Warsaw to align the drafts with EU democratic on judicial independence. EU concerns about developments in Poland escalated after a nationalist rally in Warsaw at the weekend that saw participants, their faces covered, waving banners bearing anti-Semitic, racist and xenophobic slogans such as pure blood, clear mind and Europe will be white or uninhabited . Both Duda and Kaczynski condemned the racist banners but the government defended the march itself, held to mark the 99th anniversary of Polish independence. On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said the march, an annual occurrence since 2010, was valuable and important for stirring patriotism and love for Polish history. There were incidents, it is true, there were banners and slogans that should not be there (...). The incidents are of course, reprehensible, Waszczykowski told reporters. But, he added, the reaction of some politicians and some global media had been manipulated and extremely exaggerated. It is not based on facts, it is based on fake news. I did not see any banners condemning the Jews, for example (...) There were references to migrants or refugees, but I did not hear of any anti-Semitic behavior. Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who ordered no detentions or arrests of nationalists who displayed white supremacy slogans, though some counterprotesters were detained, said he didn t see any racist banners and thought the Independence Day rally had passed in a very good atmosphere . Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told the conservative wpolityce.pl news portal on Wednesday that Poland is free of anti-Semitism and racism. Marginal incidents should not be identified with the whole nation, she said. But the International Auschwitz Council, an advisory body to Szydlo s office, said it was alarmed about the resurgence of racist and anti-Semitic attitudes and public hate speech. Knowing the tragic history of Auschwitz-Birkenau, there is no doubt where it can lead, it said in a statement. We therefore appeal to European governments for a strong response and effective countermeasures. Many members of the European Parliament on Wednesday joined Jewish and human rights groups in expressing alarm at the attitudes on display during the Nov. 11 rally. This was happening in Warsaw, in Poland, at less than 350 kilometers from Auschwitz and Birkenau, said Guy Verhofstadt, head of the EU parliament s liberal group, referring to the Nazi death camp set up in occupied Poland where more than a million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War Two. Poland could still be a leader in Europe, but has degraded itself... by politicizing the constitutional court, curtailing civil society, muzzling the free media, he said. Amnesty International echoed that criticism. The Polish government is... increasingly restricting the freedom of assembly and expression, while peddling dangerously xenophobic rhetoric, AI researcher Barbora Cernusakova said. EU lawmakers voted by 438 to 152 against to demand that the 28 member states punish Warsaw by triggering Article 7 of the EU treaty, a procedure that could lead to Warsaw losing its voting rights in the bloc. Such a move is highly unlikely as it requires unanimity and Poland s ally Hungary, whose right-wing government is also under fire from Brussels, has promised to block any sanctions. A more likely punishment would be reducing the generous development funds Poland receives from the EU. The Polish foreign ministry rejected the criticism from Timmermans and the European Parliament, accusing them of stigmatizing an EU member state. There is nothing happening in Poland that would demand a debate by 700 members of the European Parliament, Waszczykowski told reporters. | 1 |
ELKHART, Ind. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the decision to direct public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice was based on the law and the best interests of the children. Speaking at a town hall event broadcast by the PBS television network, Obama, a Democrat, said the federal government waded into the controversial issue after school districts asked the Education Department for guidance. Republicans have blasted the directive as executive branch overreach, and more than a dozen states have sued the Obama administration to block it. “What happened and what continues to happen is you have transgender kids in schools. And they get bullied. And they get ostracized. And it’s tough for them,” Obama said. “My best interpretation of what our laws and our obligations are is that we should try to accommodate these kids so that they are not in a vulnerable situation,” he said. On May 13, the federal government told public schools they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. The non-binding guidance contained the implicit threat of cuts in federal funding if it was not followed. It relied on an interpretation of Title IX, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education initiatives that receive federal financial assistance. The directive came as the Justice Department and North Carolina battled in federal court over a North Carolina state law approved in March that prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. Other states are weighing similar measures. “We should deal with this issue the same way we would want it dealt with if it was our child and that is to try to create an environment of some dignity and kindness for these kids,” Obama said. Obama said there “are a lot of things more pressing” than the transgender bathroom controversy, including Islamic State, the economy and jobs. “Somehow people think I made it an issue. I didn’t make it an issue,” he said. | 1 |
November 1, 2016 at 10:33 pm
You never see these debates in Parliament on the BBC news not one bit. Just shows you all the bullshit that doesn't really have anything to do with the people of this country. They have no good intentions for our people and are only concerned about the 1% | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s comment on Tuesday calling for the government to cancel the purchase of Boeing’s new Air Force One plane reflect the U.S. president-elect’s focus on keeping costs down, his transition team told reporters. Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Trump’s aides said the team was focused trying to save taxpayers’ money and that there would be more specific details about such efforts after Trump takes office on Jan. 20. | 0 |
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control parts of the country, said on Sunday the U.N.-backed government was obsolete and he would listen to the will of the people, a firm hint he may run in elections expected next year. Haftar styles himself as a strongman capable of ending the chaos of armed factions that has gripped oil-producing Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. His comments, made at a military graduation ceremony, recall those of Egyptian General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when he was testing the ground before becoming a presidential candidate. Sisi was eventually elected in 2014. Just as Sisi built up wide support after toppling Egypt s Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013, supporters of Haftar speak of a similar situation developing in Libya, with rallies held in some eastern cities calling on him to run. We declare clearly and unequivocally our full compliance with the orders of the free Libyan people, which is its own guardian and the master of its land, Haftar said in a speech. He spoke in the eastern city of Benghazi, from where his forces managed to expel Islamist militants during a three-year battle. Haftar also dismissed a series of United Nations-led talks to bridge differences between Libya s two rival administrations, one linked to him in the east and one backed by the United Nations in the capital Tripoli, which he now declared obsolete. Despite all the brilliant slogans during talks between rivals for power from the dialogue of Ghadames (Libya) and ending in Tunisia via Geneva, Skhirat (Morocco) and others, all of were just ink on paper, he said, listing host cities of U.N. talks. The U.N. has tried to find a solution including Haftar who said his command had been threatened with sanctions should he seek a deal outside the dialogue. Some 1,000 Haftar supporters rallied in Benghazi, demanding the general take over after a U.N. deal for a political solution missed what they said was a self-imposed deadline on Sunday. The U.N. says no such timeline exists and its mediation will continue. The turnout was smaller than initially expected. In Tripoli, home to a government opposed by Haftar, an unknown armed faction opened fire in the air to disperse some 150 supporters of the general on the central martyrs square, witnesses said. Nobody was hurt. The U.N. launched a new round of talks in September in Tunis between the rival factions to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018, but they broke off after one month without any deal. A formidable obstacle to progress was the issue of Haftar s own rule. He remains popular among some Libyans in the east weary of the chaos but faces opposition from many in western Libya. In his speech Haftar said his forces, known as the Libyan National Army (LNA), could only be placed under an authority that had been elected by the Libyan people - a further indication that he might take part in the election. The large North African country has been in turmoil since Gaddafi s downfall opened up space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe. Haftar is just one of many players in Libya, which is controlled by armed groups divided along political, religious, regional and business lines. Aguila Saleh, president of the eastern House of Representatives that backs Haftar, said it was time to start preparing for parliamentary and presidential elections, according to a video posted on social media. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House defended the president’s executive order to U.S. agencies to rescind two government regulations for every new rule introduced, after several advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the Trump administration over the move. The National Resources Defense Council, Communications Workers of America, and Public Citizen said in their lawsuit that the Jan. 30 order would harm the public. They said it would “block or force the repeal of regulations needed to protect health, safety, and the environment, across a broad range of topics - from automobile safety, to occupational health, to air pollution, to endangered species.” The White House defended the order, saying that it was part of the administration’s efforts to help companies create jobs and that the groups are making assumptions about the order’s impact. “The lawsuit presumes a lot of outcomes that are wildly inaccurate,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at a daily press briefing. He added that over-regulation has hurt economic growth and that reviewing regulations should be welcomed. The order does not apply to most of the financial reform rules introduced by the Obama administration or to rules mandated by statutes. Republican President Donald Trump’s order is a part of his party’s larger effort to undo many of the actions of former President Barack Obama, a Democrat who left office last month after two four-year terms. In Congress, conservative lawmakers have already moved to stamp out five Obama-era rules on corruption, the environment, labor and guns. Companies have lauded the effort to deregulate, saying it will help boost their businesses and the larger U.S. economy. On Wednesday, Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp, whose chief executive has backed Trump’s efforts, said easing rules will make it easier to do business in the United States. In addition to Trump, Wednesday’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia named federal departments and agencies, particularly those with jurisdiction over environmental, transportation and energy issues. The groups argued that Trump overstepped his constitutional power and that the order “directs federal agencies to engage in unlawful actions that will harm countless Americans, including plaintiffs’ members.” | 0 |
Trump reads his Muslim shutdown statement at a rally this afternoon: It s difficult to watch this gross incompetence that I watched last night. Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shut down of Muslims entering the United States, until our country s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. We have no choice. https://youtu.be/VxgkvfV-3qE | 0 |
Newt Gingrich has been one of Donald Trump s most vocal cheerleaders, but in a new book, he threw his President under the bus by revealing the real reason Trump ran for President, and it s far worse than you think. Trump clearly thinks the presidency is a toy that he could buy because it s more fun than buying a yacht. His response was priceless, Gingrich writes in Understanding Trump, in an excerpt published by ABC News on Sunday. After a moment of thought, he said, $70 [million] to 80 million: that would be a yacht. This would be a lot more fun than a yacht! He also noted how Trump ran his campaign like a corporation ahead of schedule and under budget. Describing a phone conversation he had with Trump after the South Carolina primary in February 2016, Gingrich said the presidential candidate said he was indeed under budget. At the tail end of our conversation, he jokingly said, By the way, I know you said I needed to spend $80 million, but I ve only spent $30 million. I feel kind of bad, Gingrich quoted Trump, who won the South Carolina primary, as having said.Source: MarketWatchThat explains a lot. It explains why Trump is woefully unprepared to be president. It also explains why he seems to think the office is his ticket to getting even richer.Trump doesn t read. He doesn t pay attention to National Security Briefings unless his name is plastered all over the briefings, preferably with pictures.Nearly every meeting he s had with a world leader has been a disaster. He s offended all of our allies and he s helped accomplish the Russian goal of destabilizing the country. He also has the most corrupt presidency in history.While Trump might be having fun after spending less than he might have spent on a yacht, it s clear his presidency comes at the expense of the American people and of our reputation as the world s largest superpower. In other words, he s playing a very scary game and he simply doesn t care.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
Print Side-by-side of Bill Clinton and Danney Williams
NEW YORK –YouTube on Wednesday suspended the account of Danney Williams, the 30-year-old who has claimed since the 1990s to be the black son of former President Bill Clinton.
YouTube, citing “repeated or severe violations of our Terms of Use and/or Community Guidelines,” declared the account “cannot be restored.”
The YouTube decision blocked the nine-minute feature “BANISHED – The Untold Story of Danney Williams,” which had received 1.2 million views since Williams posted it last week. Produced by filmmaker Joel Gilbert, it drew nearly 100,000 views per day and more than 1,000 viewer comments, with the overwhelming majority expressing support for Williams and outrage at the Clintons for not being willing to allow a DNA test to determine paternity.
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“My YouTube account has been deleted, but the same video appears in 50 other places on YouTube alone,” Williams said on his Facebook page after being notified of YouTube’s decision. “[YouTube] can’t handle the truth! Please share #BillClintonSon.”
Twitter also continues to allow Williams to post the “Banished” video on Danney Williams’ page , but the Twitter link to YouTube displays the message : “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated. Sorry about that.”
The video is still running on Danney Williams-Clinton’s Facebook page , as well as on the YouTube channel operated by Gilbert.
Attempt to silence Danney Williams?
Gilbert told WND he helped Williams file an online appeal form on YouTube asking why the account was suspended and demanding it be immediately reinstated.
“The behavior of YouTube/Google in suspending Danney’s account is outrageous! There have been absolutely zero violations of any kind let alone a severe one of any YouTube terms or guidelines,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert was outspoken in charging YouTube with partisan political motives for the suspension.
“The only possible explanation is that the Clinton campaign requested YouTube/Google to silence Danney, ‘to run him off the plantation’ as Danney said Hillary Clinton did to him and his aunt when he was a small child and they were chased off the grounds of the Arkansas governor’s mansion in 1990,” Gilbert said.
“Danney cannot be silenced any longer,” he continued. “Hillary may try to sweep Danney Williams under the rug, but it’s not going to work this time. His story is out there, and every day more and more people understand Bill and Hillary Clinton banished this young man from their family because of the color of his skin.”
See the Danney Williams video feature:
WND reported Oct. 19 that in the hours before the third and final presidential debate, attorneys for Williams were in Las Vegas to announce their intention to file a paternity suit demanding DNA evidence from the former president.
Accompanying the dramatic announcement was a rap music video celebrating Williams that went viral on the Internet.
No definitive DNA test
WND reported that no DNA test was conducted in 1999, despite media reports to the contrary when Williams’ claim first surfaced.
Clinton defenders since 1999 have contended the tabloid Star Magazine conducted a “DNA showdown” proving Bill Clinton was not Williams’ father, citing Star Magazine editor Phil Bunton saying at the time, “There was no match, nothing even close.”
But in an interview, Bunton told WND that no blood sample was obtained from Clinton and Star Magazine never published a story documenting a laboratory test.
“I don’t remember ever seeing any laboratory test that was done on Clinton’s DNA,” Bunton told WND.
Bunton is now the owner of the Rivertown Magazine in Haverstraw, New York.
He affirmed to WND that the tabloid relied on the DNA evidence for Clinton published by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, extracted from the infamous Monica Lewinsky blue dress.
“We got a lot of phone calls from several people in the media, including the New York Times, wanting to know when we were going to get the DNA back,” Bunton recalled to WND. “We thought it was going to turn out to be his son, but when the DNA came back there was no story there even to write.”
The DNA test released by Kenneth Starr was the second of two DNA laboratory tests the FBI had run on Clinton, but the public record leaves no doubt that Starr withheld the more robust test conducted by the FBI.
‘Twitter rules’
Many other figures who have challenged the Democratic Party or the left-leaning media narrative also have run into trouble with social media outlets, including James O’Keefe and his Project Veritas, which has exposed Clinton campaign voter fraud and agitation in a series of hidden-camera videos. Just as O’Keefe was preparing to release new revelations of voter fraud Oct. 13, Twitter shut down his account , claiming violations of “Twitter Rules.” The notice said he “must delete the tweets that are in violation of our rules, which prohibit: harassing other users, threatening other users, disclosing other users’ private information” or violating “other rules.” In a statement, O’Keefe said he relies on social media to “bypass the media and directly reach the public.” On Monday, O’Keefe wrote in a tweet Project Veritas was unable to upload its third video in the series to YouTube, calling the apparent block “bizarre.” Earlier this month, O’Keefe was forced to delete a tweet critical of a Hillary Clinton staffer to regain use of his account after it was suspended for a day. His account was suspended in the hours before a release of a new hidden-camera video that exposed a Clinton ally saying she could use executive action on guns, the Daily Caller reported . Project Veritas posted an undercover video Oct. 17 proving Hillary Clinton supporters were inciting violence at Donald Trump rallies to gain negative media coverage. Millions of viewers watched the video in just a few hours, but it didn’t show up on Google’s “trending” list on YouTube, which Google owns, noted SilenceisConsent.net . It did, however, trend on Twitter, which Google does not own. Breitbart blogger Milo Yiannopoulos was suspended permanently by Twitter minutes before his “Gays for Trump” party at the Republican National Convention. For some 11 months, the makers of the new movie “I’m Not Ashamed,” about the first victim of the Columbine killers in Colorado in 1999, were unable to promote their movie through YouTube. The trailer was taken down late in 2015, and the movie’s entire channel was suspended .
Among the conservatives censored by Facebook : Conservative activist and Trump supporter Lauren Southern received a 30-day ban from Facebook because she complained about a friend’s account being censored. Facebook locked a 12-year-old black middle schooler’s account for posting a video supporting Rudy Giuliani’s comment that Obama “doesn’t love America.” The admin of a pro-Trump group was banned for saying Trump is not anti-Muslim, but anti-ISIS. | 1 |
In case you missed the total horror of seeing a woman egged by protesters at a Trump rally, we ll just say it was REALLY terrible! We ve posted the video below for you. She was up against a wall and was pelted with numerous eggs and took it like a champ! She needs our help! The woman who captured national attention Thursday night after she was egged at a Donald Trump rally and then smiled about it is asking for people to help oust the mayor of San Jose.Rachel Casey, identified by her Facebook posts, LinkedIn profile and by people who know her, posted one of at least two petitions to get Mayor Sam Liccardo to resign from his post. As of Monday, one petition, started by a man in Texas, had 3,600 supporters. Another petition, started by a man in Minnesota, also asks for the mayor s resignation, and had more than 7,000 signatures by Monday morning. The mayor had criticized Trump for whipping up the nation into an antagonistic state, but also condemned protesters for getting violent mostly by harming the Trump camp. Liccardo responded: I m not terribly persuaded by calls of resignation that are emanating from Texas or Minnesota. I serve at the pleasure of the residents of San Jose and am accountable to the residents of San Jose. Efforts to reach Casey, who lists herself as a physical therapist assistant and personal trainer from Florida who moved to the Bay Area, were not immediately successful on Monday. Her former company, Boca Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine said she no longer worked there. A message left at what appears to be her home or cell was unanswered. She didn t immediately respond to a Facebook message request, which she saw, as she acknowleged two reporters trying to find her in her own post. But her image persists as the face of the violent Trump rally last week, where not only was she egged, but others were injured and Trump hats and American flags were burned.Read more: NBC | 1 |
More than a decade ago, Michael Lewis was following a group of young baseball players through the minor leagues. He was working on a sequel to his 2003 best seller “Moneyball,” which chronicled how the Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane revolutionized the sport by using statistics to evaluate players. “I thought I was going to show where the revolution went,” he said. Mr. Lewis tracked the players for two years, but the sequel never went anywhere. By then, “Moneyball” had become huge — it has now sold more than 1. 7 million copies — and the subject felt overexposed. So instead of tracking where the revolution went, Mr. Lewis decided to explore how it started. The inquiry led him to the work of two Israeli psychologists, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, whose discoveries challenged beliefs about human nature and the way the mind works. Mr. Lewis chronicles their unusual partnership in his new book, “The Undoing Project,” a story about two unconventional thinkers who saw the world differently from everyone around them. Their peculiar area of research — how humans make decisions, often irrationally — has had profound implications for an array of fields, like professional sports, the military, medicine, politics, finance and public health. It helped explain why a simple algorithm is often better than the most experienced doctors at diagnosing stomach cancer, why so many financial experts failed to foresee the implosion of the housing market, and why professional basketball teams make costly errors when picking players — in short, why people’s instincts are often so wildly wrong. In 2002, Mr. Kahneman won the Nobel in economic science, a field he had no formal training in, for demonstrating how people make decisions when faced with risks and uncertainty. (When asked if their work had any application to artificial intelligence, Mr. Tversky, who died in 1996, countered that they were more interested in exploring “natural stupidity. ”) When he began digging into their research, Mr. Lewis found an even more compelling story about a fertile intellectual partnership that ended too soon, when Mr. Kahneman and Mr. Tversky had a over who was receiving more credit for their discoveries. “It’s a love story,” Mr. Lewis said during an interview in Manhattan this fall. “It’s this bromance of such great intensity, with such fertility, and the children are ideas, the children live on. ” “The Undoing Project,” which will be released on Tuesday, seems like a departure for Mr. Lewis, whose works have largely been narratives that reveal something unexpected about the way markets work. Often, they feature eccentrics and visionaries who see things that others are blind to — like Mr. Beane of the A’s, or Michael Burry, the misanthropic hedge fund manager in “The Big Short,” who made a fortune by betting against the housing market. “The Undoing Project” centers on psychology, a field Mr. Lewis, a financial journalist who once worked as a Wall Street bond salesman, knew next to nothing about. “I had cold feet about this, for very good reasons,” he said. On closer inspection, though, it becomes obvious that Mr. Kahneman’s and Mr. Tversky’s research shaped many of the subjects that Mr. Lewis has explored, to an almost unsettling degree. “Danny and Amos’s work has something to say about why baseball players get misvalued, or why people can’t see the value of Michael Oher in ‘The Blind Side,’ or why people can’t see what securities really are,” he said. In a roundabout way, their work influenced Mr. Lewis’s career. Their research demonstrating how people behave in fundamentally irrational ways when making decisions, relying on their gut rather than available data, gave rise to the field of behavioral economics. That discipline attracted Paul DePodesta, a Harvard student, who later went into sports management and helped upend professional baseball when he went to work for Mr. Beane. “Without their basic work, Michael Lewis doesn’t get to write ‘Moneyball,’” Starling Lawrence, Mr. Lewis’s editor at W. W. Norton, said of Mr. Kahneman and Mr. Tversky. It wasn’t until Mr. Lewis read a 2003 review of “Moneyball” in The New Republic, which mentioned the connection between Mr. Kahneman’s and Mr. Tversky’s research and the data revolution in baseball, that he realized the extent to which their work had shaped the book. He became fascinated with their research and their unique partnership. Four years later, he finally worked up the nerve to call Mr. Kahneman and request a meeting. It is hard to imagine Mr. Lewis, 56, feeling skittish around anyone. A New Orleans native, he comes across as someone who is at ease in any situation, whether he is shadowing professional athletes and coaches, derivatives traders or bigwigs at the International Monetary Fund. After studying art history at Princeton and getting a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, he worked at Salomon Brothers selling bonds. He left to write “Liar’s Poker,” his 1989 memoir about his experience on Wall Street, which he sold to Mr. Lawrence at W. W. Norton. They have worked together ever since, on more than a dozen books. Unlike many nonfiction writers, Mr. Lewis declines to take advances, which he calls “corrupting,” even though he could easily earn seven figures. Instead, he splits the profits from the books, as well as the advertising and production costs, with Norton. The setup spurs him to work harder and to make more money if the books are successful, he says. “You should have the risk and you should enjoy the reward,” he said. “It’s not healthy for an author not to have the risk. ” Mr. Lewis’s books have sold more than nine million copies, and three have been adapted into successful feature films. Norton is printing nearly 500, 000 hardcover copies of “The Undoing Project. ” Other authors speak about him with admiration bordering on reverence. “His willingness to jump in and take on these topics that are incredibly difficult to represent on the page has always left me ” the New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell said in an interview. “There’s not a single book he’s written that I thought I could have pulled off myself. ” “The Undoing Project” — which tackles abstract concepts like utility theory, prospect theory and heuristics — may be Mr. Lewis’s most arcane and ambitious undertaking to date. “I don’t know how you write a book about a couple of psychologists,” Mr. Lawrence said. “Let’s just say, it’s not promising in another writer’s hands. ” When Mr. Lewis first met Mr. Kahneman in 2007, over coffee at Mr. Kahneman’s house in Berkeley, Calif. where Mr. Lewis also lives, he had no intention of writing a book about him. Instead, he found himself offering writing advice to Mr. Kahneman, who was struggling with his own book, which laid out his theories about human cognition and decision making. “He would say, ‘It’s going to ruin my reputation. I don’t know why I agreed to do this,’” Mr. Lewis said. “At some point I said, ‘If you’re not going to do it, I’m going to write something. ’” Mr. Kahneman’s literary agent vetoed that idea. In 2011, Mr. Kahneman reluctantly published his book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow. ” It sold about 1. 5 million copies. Despite the book’s success, Mr. Lewis felt the story was incomplete. Mr. Kahneman had largely left out a huge piece of the narrative — his own biography and his complicated relationship with Mr. Tversky. Mr. Lewis continued to lobby Mr. Kahneman to let him write about their work. Mr. Kahneman was ambivalent, arguing that the book would read like a textbook. “I said, ‘You don’t understand what a good character you are, and the fact that you don’t understand it is part of what makes you a good character,’” Mr. Lewis said. It took a few years, but Mr. Kahneman finally acquiesced. “He’s a pessimist, so he thought it would come out terribly,” said Richard H. Thaler, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and a longtime friend of both Mr. Kahneman and Mr. Tversky. “Danny needed to be convinced and charmed, and Michael was up to the task. ” Over the next eight years, as he completed other books, Mr. Lewis spent countless hours with Mr. Kahneman, hiking in the hills surrounding Berkeley, traveling to Israel with him twice, and meeting at his apartment in Manhattan. He also dug through Mr. Tversky’s archives and correspondence, with the help of his widow, Barbara Tversky. People close to both men, including Mr. Thaler and Ms. Tversky, say Mr. Lewis captured the intensity of their relationship and their individual quirks. Colleagues described how the pair would finish each other’s sentences and could often be heard cackling from behind an office door as they wrote dense academic papers. Mr. Tversky was the bold one who delighted in undermining dogma within psychology. Mr. Kahneman was cautious, sensitive and deeply pessimistic. A few of the more colorful details in the book stray from reality, said Ms. Tversky, who praised Mr. Lewis for getting the “broad strokes right. ” For example, Ms. Tversky disputed a delightful anecdote about how her husband was so immune to social convention that he would strip down to his underwear and run outside when he felt like getting exercise. Actually, he would on occasion run on the treadmill in his underwear, but never outside, she said. Mr. Kahneman, now 82, declined to be interviewed for this article, but offered a statement through his publisher. “Naturally, there are points on which I would quibble, but this is Michael’s book, not mine,” he wrote. “Some things in the book surprised me, some hurt, but I am glad it was written, and grateful to Michael for writing it. In the course of many conversations and countless email exchanges I came to understand the defining chapter of my life better than I had understood it before. ” Mr. Lewis said he expected Mr. Kahneman to have a complex reaction to it. “It would be out of character for Danny just to like it, because he doesn’t like much,” he said. “It would not be out of character for Danny to be kind and come to terms with it in a condescending way, like, that’s the best he could do, and I admire him for trying as hard as he could. ” | 0 |
I am very sorry for your arrogant ignorance... | 1 |
The body of Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Frank Ancona, who disappeared from his home under extremely suspicious circumstances, was located the bank of a Missouri river Saturday. According to Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen, Ancona s vehicle, which could be identified by the Trump bumper sticker according to his son, was located on Friday, but there was no trace of Ancona. Deputies responded on Friday and located the vehicle and secured it, Jacobsen told the Daily Journal. We left deputies at the scene and secured it overnight due to the loss of light. On Saturday morning we conducted a search of the area by foot by member of the Potosi Fire Protection District and the sheriff s office. We didn t locate much of anything in the woods, but we did locate evidence of a burn pile near Mr. Ancona s vehicle. The body was found by a woman who was taking her family fishing on the bank of Big River. We processed the scene and the body was transported by the Washington County Coroner s office for an autopsy to determine a cause of death, Jacobsen says. The body was positively identified as Frank Ancona and his family was notified. The details of the investigation that have been made public are interesting to say the least.According to Malissa Ancona, Frank s wife, he was last seen Wednesday morning when he was leaving for work. She claims that his employer had sent him across the state to deliver an auto part, but his workplace says he was not asked to do that. According to police, Malissa had initially been unreachable, so they stopped by her home where the found her with her son, Frank s stepson. Officers say they found a safe that someone had smashed with a crowbar. The contents had been removed, but Leadwood Police Chief William Dickey says police do not believe it was a burglary.Malissa had also posted on Facebook she was looking for a roommate at around the time Frank had left for work. She claims that he said he was filing for divorce when he returned home and would need help paying the bills.Interestingly, all firearms had been removed from the home Malissa says Frank took them with him except one, the gun he keeps on him at almost all times. Right now no one has been charged in his death, but that may change tomorrow, Jacobson says.While this is certainly a tough time for the Klan leader s family, the Internet is responding as though Black Santa left them a gigantic Black History Month present. In public posts on Ancona s son s timeline, seemingly all the people who have watched Ancona s beliefs hurt people over the years came together to celebrate the slight downtick in the number of fascists in the world: Ancona will always be remembered by the world as the man who threatened to gun protesters down in the streets after Michael Brown was murdered by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson.Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
Home / Be The Change / Hillary Turns Her Back on Standing Rock Sioux: ‘Path Forward Must Serve Broadest Public Interest’ Hillary Turns Her Back on Standing Rock Sioux: ‘Path Forward Must Serve Broadest Public Interest’ Jay Syrmopoulos October 29, 2016 Leave a comment
Brooklyn, NY – With tensions escalating rapidly after the militarized police action at the Standing Rock Sioux “Treaty Camp,” which included the use of armored police tanks, attack dogs, batons, rubber bullets, high-velocity bean bags, tear gas and LRAD sound weapons, and that saw the arrest of over 100 water protectors, the Clinton campaign, after months of silence, could no longer sit quietly on the sidelines and released a statement about the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) one day after the violent assault.
The statement from the Clinton campaign director of coalitions press, Xochitl Hinojosa, who oversees Hispanic, black, and women’s media for the Clinton campaign, reads in full:
We received a letter today from representatives of the tribes protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. From the beginning of this campaign, Secretary Clinton has been clear that she thinks all voices should be heard and all views considered in federal infrastructure projects. Now, all of the parties involved—including the federal government, the pipeline company and contractors, the state of North Dakota, and the tribes—need to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest. As that happens, it’s important that on the ground in North Dakota, everyone respects demonstrators’ rights to protest peacefully, and workers’ rights to do their jobs safely.
On the same day the militarized action in North Dakota took place, Native youth from the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes — tired of the damning silence from Hillary Clinton — demonstrated outside of Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.
A number of brave Lakota youth and their Lenape relatives erected a teepee and prayed in the lobby of Clinton’s Brooklyn office as a militarized police force evicted water protectors from their traditional Treaty Lands in North Dakota. They were there to deliver a letter to Clinton about the pipeline.
A 14 –year-old girl from Standing Rock attempted to deliver a letter to Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn campaign HQ to ask her to take a stand on the Dakota Access Pipeline. The youth stood at the front desk in tears asking for someone to please come down to accept the letter. The guards completely ignored the young girl, and the Clinton campaign refused to show enough respect to send a campaign staffer to cordially accept the letter.
Just after this dozens of police arrived and ordered us to disperse or we would be arrested.
“ What a crock,” said Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota-Lakota Sioux writer for Indian Country Today Media Network.
“Hillary Clinton managed to make a statement about the Dakota Pipeline that literally says nothing. Literally,” 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben tweeted in response to the Clinton campaign statement.
“Kind of a BS statement by the Clinton camp on #NoDAPL, frankly,” wrote MSNBC host Joy Reid. “The outrage taking place out there cries out for outrage.”
Or as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting journalist Adam Johnson put it, this “is the most Clinton thing of all times.”
This curiously appears to be another case of Clinton having a “public and private position,” as revealed in her leaked speeches to Wall St. banks, the primary drivers behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. The fact is that Clinton has completely turned her back on the Standing Rock Sioux. Her statement was essentially a non-statement, which speaks volumes as to who she is truly beholden too… and it isn’t the American public. The words “find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest” can be directly translated into “this pipeline is good for Merica, and we don’t care about Native issues… but we’ll pretend we do until I’m elected.”
Please share this story if you believe Clinton’s statement is a blatant disrespect to all Native peoples! Share | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will sign legislation passed by Congress aimed at combating a nationwide epidemic of heroin and other opioid addictions, the White House said on Wednesday. After months of wrangling, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday, 92-2, to pass the bill that has also been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure aims to help communities develop treatment and overdose programs at a time when fewer than half the estimated 2.2 million Americans who need help for opioid abuse are receiving it, according to the U.S. Centers for Human and Health Services. The White House said in a statement the bill “falls far short” of the necessary funding, but Obama would sign it “because some action is better than none.” Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a leading proponent of the legislation, said that it marked “the first time that we’ve treated addiction like the disease that it is, which will help put an end to the stigma that has surrounded addiction for too long.” While its passage marked a rare bipartisan effort in this election year, Democrats complained that it does not provide enough resources to effectively address the drug problem. “This bill is like a Hollywood movie set - something that appears real on the surface but has no substance and no life behind its facade,” said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat. U.S. deaths from drug overdoses hit a record high in 2014, propelled by abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 28,000 people died from opioid overdose in 2014. At least half, HHS said, of those deaths involved a prescription opioid. Among the common prescription drugs are oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl that are used for pain treatment. Heroin-related deaths have also increased sharply, more than tripling since 2010. In 2014, more than 10,500 people died from heroin, the agency said. The bill authorizes $181 million a year for new programs it creates. Democrats said that with disagreements in Congress over next year’s funding for HHS, it was uncertain whether the money contained in the bipartisan bill actually would be delivered. They called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, to back up this legislation with $600 million in immediate emergency funds. Obama has requested $920 million for opioid treatment programs over two years. The bill, if enacted into law, also would provide new training for emergency personnel in administering drugs to reverse opioid overdoses and help communities purchase those drugs. | 0 |
Osama Bin Laden s bodyguard and 14 other terrorists were released to the UAE today more insanity from Obama! | 0 |
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday announced that Russia would donate defense hardware to support the military s fight against pro-Islamic State militants, who he said could regroup and attack anywhere and everywhere . Duterte said Russia would provide about 5,000 assault rifles in a deal to be signed this month, and the Philippine military would no longer have to use second-hand arms. We will have the Kalashnikov, he said in a speech to troops, adding that Russia wanted to keep the donation secret. Moscow s gift would follow China s donation of more than 6,000 assault rifles and 100 sniper rifles, among the fruits of Duterte s efforts to form partnerships with two arms-producing powers that are rivals to the United States. The United States has for decades been the Philippines defense treaty ally and its biggest source or hardware and training, providing about $1 billion in equipment since 2000. Duterte has made no secret of his animosity toward Washington and his disdain for the U.S. military alliance. A senior defense official told Reuters the Russian weapons would arrive later this month, when Russia s defense minister attends a regional meeting. The rifles would be accompanied by millions of rounds of ammunition and dozens of army trucks. Five Russian warships were due to visit in Manila to deliver the equipment, the official said. Four have visited the country this year, in two separate visits. Duterte said the military needed to be properly equipped to handle Islamic State loyalists who had established a dangerous foothold in Mindanao in the south. They will not disappear, they will regroup anywhere and everywhere, Duterte said. | 0 |
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Deir al-Zor military airport in eastern Syria, which the Syrian army recaptured this month from Islamic State, began functioning again on Monday for the first time in nearly a year, Syrian state media and a monitoring group said. The military base is seen as a valuable asset for the Syrian army as it presses its campaign against Islamic State in Deir al-Zor province. Two planes landed and took off from the base on Monday, state TV reported - the first such activity there since September 2016, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Monday s flights carried aid to Deir al-Zor, Syrian state media and the British-based Observatory said. On Sunday, the United Nations said it had halted costly airdrops to the city as a land corridor opened. The U.N. has estimated that some 93,000 people were living in extremely difficult conditions in government-held parts of Deir al-Zor during the Islamic State siege and were supplied by air drops to the base. Syrian government forces and their allies broke Islamic State s three year siege of Deir al-Zor earlier this month, reaching the government-held enclave in the city and the adjacent air base. The Syrian army and U.S.-backed militias are fighting separate offensives against Islamic State in the province, the jihadist group s last major stronghold in Syria. | 1 |
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DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian vessel with 19 sailors on board has been seized near a Yemeni island by local fishermen, Yemen s prime minister said on Saturday. There was no immediate official Iranian reaction to the comments made by Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr on his Twitter account in which he said the ship was detained off the coast of Socotra, the largest island in an archipelago south of Yemen. He thanked the fishermen of another island in the archipelago, Abd al-Kuri, which lies to the east of Somalia. Iran s semi-official Fars news agency said that the Yemeni government, which Tehran does not recognize, had claimed that an Iranian vessel with a crew of 19 had been seized on Friday. There were no further details on the ship or its cargo. Regional and Western sources have said that Iran is sending advanced weapons and military advisers to Yemen s rebel Houthi movement, stepping up support for its Shi ite ally in the country s civil war. Iran rejects accusations from Saudi Arabia that it is giving financial and military support to the Houthis, blaming the crisis on Riyadh. | 1 |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken over the phone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, congratulating her on the victory by a loyal bloc of parties in Germany s parliamentary polls, the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday. Both of them underlined their readiness to continue the mutually advantageous cooperation between Russia and Germany, the statement said. | 0 |
ASPEN, Colo. (Reuters) - Former CIA director John Brennan on Friday criticized as “disgraceful” President Donald Trump’s efforts to play down U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump’s administration has been dogged by investigations into allegations of Russian interference in last year’s U.S. presidential election and possible ties with his campaign team. Speaking one day before his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hamburg earlier this month, Trump said he suspected Russian interference in the election but that no one knows for sure. “These types of comments are just disgraceful ... and the person who said them should be ashamed of himself,” said Brennan, CIA chief under former President Barack Obama, at the Aspen Security Forum. Special Counsel Robert Mueller and several U.S. congressional committees are investigating whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with Trump’s campaign to try to swing the race in his favor over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Those probes are focused almost exclusively on Moscow’s actions, lawmakers and intelligence officials have said, and no evidence has surfaced publicly implicating other countries. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump has said that his campaign did not collude with Russia. Brennan said he was disappointed by the president’s handling of security issues in his first six months in office. “I must say there are disappointments that I see in terms of what Mr. Trump is doing on the international stage that I think pose serious questions about how he is keeping safe our national security,” Brennan said. Speaking at the same event in Aspen, James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence under Obama, was also critical of Trump’s administration. Asked if Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, should have his security clearance canceled for initially failing to list on a disclosure form contacts he had with Russians, Clapper said it should be suspended pending a review. “I do think the appropriate thing here is take a pause and at least suspend a clearance until you’ve had the opportunity to investigate and then decide whether the clearance should be restored or not,” Clapper told the same panel. Brennan and Clapper also criticized Trump’s remarks in a tweet earlier this year about U.S. spy agencies in which he accused them of practices reminiscent of Nazi Germany. “That (tweet) was a terrible insulting affront not to me or John. We get paid the big bucks to take that. But I’m talking about the rank and file, the people in the trenches, men and women, the patriots in the intelligence community and that was completely inappropriate,” said Clapper. | 0 |
MADRID (Reuters) - Just one in seven people from Catalonia believe the current standoff between Barcelona and Madrid will end in independence for the region while more than two thirds think the process has been bad for the economy, a survey showed on Monday. Spain s central government took control of the region after local leaders staged a poll on secession, slated as illegal by the Constitutional Court, and then passed a unilateral declaration of independence through the parliament. In response, Spain s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fired the government, stripped the region of its autonomous status and called a regional election for Dec. 21. On Sunday, the first part of the GAD3 survey showed that pro-independence parties would win the election but may not gain the parliamentary majority needed to continue with secession. Fifteen percent said they believed the process would end in an independent state, according to part two of survey of 1,233 people conducted between Oct. 30 and Nov. 3 and published in La Vanguard newspaper on Monday. Optimism that a negotiated solution would be found was low, with just over a fifth thinking the crisis would lead to talks between regional authorities and Madrid. The push for independence has dragged Spain in to its worst political crisis since its return to democracy four decades ago and has deeply divided the country, fuelling anti-Spanish feelings in Catalonia and nationalist tendencies elsewhere. The uncertainty has prompted more than 2,000 companies to relocate their legal headquarters out of the region since Oct. 1, while the Bank of Spain said if the conflict persists it could lead to slower growth and job creation. According to the poll, 67 percent said they believed the process had hurt the economy and almost 40 percent said the company exodus would have a negative affect on growth in the short term. | 0 |
Rick Scott has been governor of Florida for just over one term but already the state is feeling the effects of his conservative fanaticism. While the rest of the country continues to combat the spread of HIV and the number of people dying from AIDS drops, Florida is seeing the reverse.In a comprehensive review of how Scott s war against government led to his deep slashes in public health funding, the Miami Herald discovered two disturbing facts: Florida now leads the nation in HIV cases, and its biggest county, Miami-Dade, is ground zero.New cases last year totaled 6,240, the highest since 2002. Miami-Dade and Broward together account for 38 percent of that total.Although Florida is among the nation s fastest-growing states, Scott has pushed every year to trim the state work force, and nearly one quarter of those reductions have been in the Department of Health.The 67 county health departments, largely funded by the state health agency, have declined to 10,519 positions compared to 12,759 in the year Scott took office. It s indicative of the neglect of this administration across the board in social services, said Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens. We have a rise in AIDS and we have a reduction in public health spending. We re now cutting just to be cutting. Indeed, Scott is often cited as one of the conservative movement s standard bearers. He s a tax-cutting superstar in the same vein as Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (who imploded his state s economy) and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (whose neglect poisoned an entire city).However, he differs from his fellow conservative tax-slashers in that he doesn t even seem remorseful for the negative impact he s had. At least Brownback had the decency to break down in tears after destroying his state s job growth. In a disturbing reminder of the Reagan era, when conservative politicians intentionally ignored the AIDS epidemic contributing to the deaths of thousands by their apathy, Scott appears to be unconcerned about this surge in HIV cases. Or perhaps he s just grown used to it. After his first year in office, the number of HIV cases has grown hand-over-fist.Making matters worse, Scott has routinely fought against working with Obamacare in his state. For years. All the while, HIV cases piled up as his budget cuts took hold. This spells disasters for the victims of HIV because the best and only way to prevent it from turning into the much deadlier AIDS illness is careful health management. You can t get that if your governor has refused to expand access to health insurance to spite the President.As we ve seen around the country, Republicans who have grown used to screaming about the tyranny of big government are met with disaster when they attempt to get rid of it. Far from the freedom of living a life of liberty and self-determination, states that try to cut government spending only cause misery for the citizens they are trying to liberate. It s easy to say as a concept that government is bad, but harder to accept that you can no longer get healthcare or build safe roads without it.Florida is learning the hard way that government spending isn t always wasteful. Oftentimes it is being used to keep the real threats like illness and poverty at bay.Feature image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr | 0 |
In the days following the massacre at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Donald Trump has tried to claim that he is a better ally to LGBT Americans than Hillary Clinton. Trump said: Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community as long as she continues to support immigration policies that bring Islamic extremists into our country and who suppress women, gays and anyone else who doesn t share their views or values. But a few months ago, Trump posed for a photo alongside Robert Jeffress, a right-wing pastor who is notorious for being anti-LGBT. In the photo, tweeted by Trump, the two men stand next to each other with their thumbs up.Honored to pray for my friend, @realDonaldTrump, at tonight's Dallas rally. #TrumpDallas c: @DanScavino pic.twitter.com/BcgWuszPnu Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) June 17, 2016Robert Jeffress, a pastor from Dallas known for his anti-LGBT sentiment, shared a photo in which he posed with Trump at the candidate s rally at Gilley s, the city s famous honky-tonk. Honored to pray for my friend, @realDonaldTrump, at tonight s Dallas rally, Jeffress tweeted, along with a photo in which they both held their thumbs up. Trump retweeted the image on Friday.Jeffress has pushed rhetoric on gay people eerily similar to that espoused by extremist groups like ISIS.The First Baptist Church pastor in February 2015 was quoted as saying the gay rights movement will pave the way for that future world dictator, the Antichrist, to persecute and martyr Christians without any repercussions whatsoever. Jeffress last month celebrated his state s leaders decision to refuse to comply with President Barack Obama s directive to create more accessibility for transgender students in public schools, saying it s time for an all-out rebellion against this absolute tyranny of the Obama administration. In reality, anti-LGBT rhetoric has been the norm within Republican politics. All the leading candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination were connected to the anti-LGBT movement, most blatantly Senator Ted Cruz, but the practice spread to the entire party.While Democrats dragged their feet to become completely in favor of LGBT equality, the party is also the first to nominate a presidential candidate President Obama who supported same-sex marriage. By contrast, the notion of repealing the right to same-sex marriage is still popular within the Republican party.Featured image Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - Planned changes that President Barack Obama says are aimed at ensuring American companies do not avoid tax by shifting their headquarters overseas could also force foreign companies to adopt more conservative U.S. tax-planning strategies. One of the measures restricts the ability of U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies to deduct the interest they pay on loans from their parent firms from their taxable income. It aims to stop a redomiciled American firm from reducing its U.S. tax bill by piling inter-group debt on its U.S. operations, and effectively shifting profits overseas. But it could also affect European companies that use similar strategies to reduce their tax bills in the United States after buying U.S. firms. The new rules announced by the Treasury department this week aim to curb so-called ‘inversions’ - where a U.S. group acquires a smaller overseas company and shifts its domicile to a lower-tax jurisdiction. Drugmaker Pfizer’s plan to buy rival Allergan and move to Ireland was one of the planned inversions that prompted the Obama administration to act. The $160 billion deal fell apart last week as a result of other aspects of the Treasury reforms. Under the new rule regarding debt, if a U.S. subsidiary transfers money to its overseas parent within three years before or after borrowing money from it, by paying a dividend or buying shares in the parent, then U.S. tax authorities could potentially treat the loan as if it was equity. This means the interest on the debt would not be deductible for U.S. income tax purposes. Experts said that European companies would still be able to shift profits via inter-group debt, but may have to do so gradually over a longer period of time. “It, without doubt, significantly changes the rules of the game,” said Stephen Shay, professor of law at Harvard University. “In the old days you bought and then you levered up as much as you can and that is not going to happen in the same way, but how much of a constraint that becomes is unclear,” he added. Nancy McLernon, president of the Organization for International Investment, a trade group for the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, denied non-U.S. groups were routinely shifting profit overseas through debt. “Where’s the problem they (U.S. authorities) are trying to fix? It feels more like a tax grab,” she said. She said the complexity of the issue and uncertainty over how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. tax authority, would seek to use their new powers would make investing in new U.S. projects less attractive. “It will have a chilling effect on foreign direct investment in the United States,” McLernon added. The Treasury says it is targeting situations where large debts are incurred to fund dividends shortly after an inversion or foreign acquisition, rather than the most common way U.S. subsidiaries accumulate inter-group debt. That is by having the subsidiary gradually pay all its profit to its parent as dividends and then borrow money from its parent for new investment. “The proposed regulations generally do not apply to related-party debt that is incurred to fund actual business investment, such as building or equipping a factory,” a Treasury factsheet released last week said. Providing the money a foreign company takes out of its U.S. subsidiary is in line with the U.S. company’s profits, the transactions should escape IRS scrutiny, Shay said. Companies don’t usually publish details of their inter-group financing so it’s impossible to put a figure on how much profit foreign companies shelter from U.S. tax through inter-group loans. Richard Murphy, professor of practice in international political economy at City University London, estimates the IRS could lose tens of billions of dollars in taxes each year in this way. Companies that have reduced their U.S. tax bills via inter-group lending include drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, education group Pearson, utility Scottish Power and telecoms group Vodafone. All said their lending to U.S. subsidiaries had been unwound and that they complied with all tax rules. Details of their lending arrangements came to public attention following data leaks or legal action with tax authorities. A 2013 Reuters examination of tax planning by Europe’s largest software group, SAP AG, showed how the German company shifted profits from the United States, which has a corporate tax rate of at least 35 percent, to Ireland whose headline rate is 12.5 percent. here HIGH-INTEREST LOANS According to Reuters calculations based on 2015 corporate filings, SAP America Inc reduces its U.S. tax bill by around $200 million a year by borrowing $7.4 billion from SAP Ireland US Financial Services Ltd at an interest rate of at least 7 percent. The debt, which helped fund the acquisition of U.S. software groups, cuts its taxable income by around $600 million a year. A spokesman for SAP group declined to comment on the Reuters calculations but said the company followed all tax rules and that its funding structure was driven by business rather than tax reasons. Some measures previously proposed by Obama and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which advises developed nations on tax policy, would have limited interest deductions to the extent that they reflected an operating unit’s share of total group interest costs. Since SAP group’s total net interest expense was just 5 million euros last year, most of its U.S. subsidiary’s deduction may have been disallowed under such proposals. But the Treasury plan is far more limited than these proposals. SAP filings suggest that it has not taken large amounts of cash from its acquired U.S. subsidiaries and recapitalized them with debt. Debts accumulated as SAP has done – by acquiring and expanding U.S. companies - should not be captured by the new measures, even if that debt is out of proportion to the parent’s overall debt burden. But it’s hard to be certain. Inter-group debts usually run for a period of a few years, and each time they extend them, there is an opportunity for the IRS to re-examine the arrangement. “There is certainly is a risk when they roll over that instrument, that it is going to be recharacterised as equity,” said Victor Fleischer, professor of law at the University of San Diego, said of the SAP loans. | 0 |
When it comes to racial tension in America, nothing is new, it s just now being shown for what it is. With the emergence of cell phone cameras capturing police brutality, people going after the president for the color of his skin, and a Republican presidential candidate who openly says racist things, it s been getting very ugly.However, Fox News being Fox News, and Jeanine Pirro being great at the art of inflammatory rhetoric, she decided to say that we don t really live in a racist society, but President Obama somehow wants us to.Pirro decided to say: The problem is that this president is looking in a rear view mirror. It doesn t matter if he s at a prayer breakfast and says, You Christians had it coming, and it goes back to Christ and Jim Crow and slavery. I mean, why doesn t he look forward? Then after listening to the stupid being passed around the room that somehow President Obama is to blame for increased racial tension in America, Pirro adds: We ve passed the Civil War, we ve passed the Civil Rights era, we ve got the laws in place, he is identifying things that he thinks are a problem and he doesn t get his facts straight. America was colorblind when we voted for a black president twice. The problem is primarily fixed. He keeps making it worse. They have fewer jobs now. He is just stoking the flames. Here s the thing, President Obama is very much living in the present and just because he s shining a spotlight on existing problems, doesn t mean he created them, nor were they gone. If you don t call something out, and only ignore it, it doesn t go away, but rather stews and gets deeper ingrained into the core of many people, no matter if you re racist, or have been the victim of racism.Also, there s no such thing as being colorblind, nor should we as a society seek to ignore what makes us different and unique. We need to embrace our differences, not paint over them and pretend they don t exist.Pirro is clearly vying for being the dumbest person on the network with this sort of thinking, because she s clearly missing the ability to think rationally.Watch the stupidity unfold before your eyes here: Featured image via video screen capture (MMFA) | 0 |
Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” while discussing President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn working as a foreign agent during the presidential campaign, Mika Brzezinski said declared the Trump presidency as having “no credibility where we stand right now. ” Brzezinski said, “It’s staggering … They have made a joke of the entire transition process, and this presidency has no credibility where we stand right now. I don’t say that with hysteria. I don’t say that with shrillness. I say that with a deep sense of concern for how we often cover this story because there are people who believe Trump from start to finish and he’s not telling the truth. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
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What happens when you get thousands of lawyers involved in the craziest election in modern American history? Unfortunately, we may be about to find out. We all remember the legal tug of war between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000, and with each passing day it is becoming more likely that we could see something similar (or even worse) in 2016. In a brand new article entitled “ Clinton, Trump Prepare for Possibility of Election Overtime “, Bloomberg discusses the armies of lawyers that Clinton and Trump are both assembling for this election. It would be nice if it was the American people that actually decided the outcome of this election, but if things are very close on November 8th it may come down to what the courts decide.
Traditionally, there has been a lot of pressure on the losing candidate to concede to the winning candidate before election night is over.
However, in recent elections this has begun to change. I already mentioned what took place in the aftermath of the 2000 election, and in 2004 John Kerry did not concede to George W. Bush until the next morning.
And looking back at the numbers from the 2012 election, it is clear that Mitt Romney should not have conceded the race to Barack Obama so early. There was evidence of election fraud in key battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and Virginia , and many people out there still believe that Mitt Romney would have won if the election would have been conducted fairly.
So when Donald Trump says that he may not immediately concede the election if the results are tight, I think that there is wisdom in that.
A couple of weeks ago, it looked like we may have had a situation where Hillary Clinton could have won by a landslide . But the FBI changed everything when they announced that they were renewing their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Since that announcement, the poll numbers have been rapidly shifting and now Trump has all of the momentum .
For example, the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll had Hillary Clinton up by double digits not too long ago, but now it is showing a one point lead for Trump .
The race is very close at this point, and if the race to 270 electoral votes is razor tight on election night, I don’t anticipate that either candidate will be eager to concede. We could see a prolonged legal battle ensue, and that could mean that we don’t have a new president until long after election day is over.
Already, both campaigns are assembling large armies of lawyers. In fact, Bloomberg is reporting that Clinton already has “thousands of lawyers” that have donated their time to her campaign…
Clinton is assembling a voter protection program that has drawn thousands of lawyers agreeing to lend their time and expertise in battleground states, though the campaign isn’t saying exactly how many or where. It is readying election observers in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and Arizona to assess any concerns — including the potential for voter intimidation — and to verify normal procedures.
The Republican National Lawyers Association, which trains attorneys in battleground states and in local jurisdictions where races are expected to be close, aims to assemble 1,000 lawyers ready to monitor polls and possibly challenge election results across the country. Hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, one of Trump’s biggest backers, has sunk $500,000 into the group, its biggest donation in at least four presidential elections, Internal Revenue Service filings show.
And most Americans don’t realize this, but Reuters is reporting that the Democrats have already filed election-related lawsuits in four key swing states…
Democratic Party officials sued Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in four battleground states on Monday, seeking to shut down a poll-watching effort they said was designed to harass minority voters in the Nov. 8 election .
In lawsuits filed in federal courts in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Ohio, Democrats argued that Trump and Republican Party officials were mounting a “campaign of vigilante voter intimidation” that violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act and an 1871 law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan.
Meanwhile, the legal challenges for the Clinton campaign continue to mount. The renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified documents is just one of five FBI investigations that are currently looking into the conduct of “Clinton’s inner circle” …
There are, in fact, not one but five separate FBI investigations which involve members of Clinton’s inner circle or their closest relatives – the people at the center of what has come to be known as Clintonworld.
The five known investigations are into: Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin’s estranged husband sexting a 15-year-old; the handling of classified material by Clinton and her staff on her private email server; questions over whether the Clinton Foundation was used as a front for influence-peddling; whether the Virginia governor broke laws about foreign donations; and whether Hillary’s campaign chairman’s brother did the same.
Despite everything that we already know about Hillary, about half the country still plans to vote for her.
If the American people willingly choose to elect the most corrupt presidential candidate in our history, it may be a sign that the events that I talk about in my new book are a lot closer than many people had originally been anticipating.
But the good news is that a Clinton victory is looking a whole lot less likely than it was just a week or two ago.
Could it be possible that the FBI has just delivered the “ miracle ” that Donald Trump desperately needed?
Americans are more emotionally invested in this presidential campaign than they have been in any presidential campaign since at least 1980. Many of those that are backing Trump will be emotionally devastated if he does not win on November 8th, but if Trump does win we are likely to see the radical left throw a political temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before.
Earlier today, I shared with my readers the amazing fact that Donald Trump would be 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old during his first full day in the White House if he wins the election.
Many conservatives are fully convinced that it is Donald Trump’s destiny to be president.
Personally, I do not know what is going to happen. But with a race this close, it may be the courts that end up deciding who our next president is, and that is an outcome that none of us should want to see.
Take a look at the future of America: The Beginning of the End and then prepare Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here . shares | 1 |
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese police have ordered the prosecution of an official at scandal-hit state energy firm PetroVietnam over financial losses, the Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday. PetroVietnam is at the heart of a sweeping high-level corruption crackdown in the communist state. The ministry said in a statement that Phan Dinh Duc, a member of PetroVietnam s board of directors, would face prosecution on suspicion of violation of state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences . PetroVietnam told Reuters in an emailed statement it would cooperate with the authorities in the investigation. Former PetroVietnam chairman Dinh La Thang, 56, was arrested on Dec 8. Thang, also a former member of Vietnam s politburo, was the most senior executive arrested in the scandal. Police have said they are investigating alleged violations of state rules at PetroVietnam, which resulted in a loss of an 800 billion dong ($35.2 million) investment in local lender Ocean Bank. The corruption crackdown made global headlines in August when Germany accused Vietnam of kidnapping Trinh Xuan Thanh, a former chairman of PetroVietnam s construction unit, in Berlin after he applied for asylum there. Vietnamese police denied he had been kidnapped saying he had turned himself in and returned to Vietnam, where he is in detention. The Communist Party has said Thanh will go on trial next month. | 0 |
According to a transition pool report, the media personalities are as follows: NBC News President Deborah Turness; CNN President Jeff Zucker and network... | 0 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico will be the subject of two U.S. House of Representatives hearings on Feb. 25, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Counselor Antonio Weiss the sole witness at one, Pedro Pierluisi, the island’s non-voting representative in Congress, said in a statement on Thursday. Following the hearings, Pierluisi said he expected that the drafting process would begin “in earnest” for legislation for the island and that he would be involved in negotiations. Republicans plan to bring a bill addressing Puerto Rico’s debt crisis to the floor of the House by the end of March. The first hearing next Thursday, examining the impact of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis on the bond market, will be in a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services. The second, examining the Treasury’s analysis of the island, will be a full committee hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee, according to Pierluisi’s statement. Puerto Rico, with around $70 billion in debt, has been trying to solve a fiscal crisis before substantial debt payments come due in May and July. It has already defaulted on some debt and is trying to persuade its creditors to take concessions. | 1 |
Breakdown of the Clinton Money Machine November 12, 2016
As troubling as Donald Trump’s election may be, it carries greater hope for some positive good than the alternative of Hillary Clinton, who represented a corrupt, money-churning machine, writes John Chuckman.
By John Chuckman
Brushing away the extreme claims and rhetoric of much election analysis, there are some observations, which deserve attention and which unfortunately mostly provide hard lessons (and not a lot of encouragement for people who hold to principles of democracy, enlightenment and progressivity).
The election demonstrated perhaps better than ever, and better than has been generally recognized, that America is, indeed, a plutocracy. It took a genuine American oligarch, a self-proclaimed billionaire, a man with a lifetime’s economic empire-building, to defeat a family which could provide the very definition of being politically well-connected, a family which had laboriously constructed and carefully maintained a kind of deep well ever-flowing with money for their ambitions. President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 1997. (White House photo)
It was the ever-flowing well of money, drilled by Bill Clinton with help from some extremely shady friends, such as Jeffrey Epstein, that made the Clintons keystone establishment figures in the Democratic Party. It was not personal charm or exceptional political generalship – although Bill, in his heyday, displayed some of both of those – that earned the Clintons their place, it was the money, the “mother’s milk of politics.” In what is euphemistically called “fund raising,” many hundreds of millions of dollars were provided for the party over the last couple of decades by Bill Clinton’s efforts.
Hillary Clinton fully appreciated the fact that money buys power and influence. She lacked Bill’s superficial charm, but she certainly more than shared his ambition. On the charm front, when she was ready to move into running for office, she adopted, perhaps under Bill’s tutelage, a kind of forced set of expressions with arched eyebrows, bugged-out eyes, and a smile as big as her lips would allow. These expressions were accompanied by little gestures such as briefly pointing to various onlookers or waving helter-skelter whenever she campaigned.
Her gestures reminded me of something you might see atop a float in a Christmas Parade or of the late Harpo Marx at his most exuberant. These were not natural for her. They were never in evidence years ago when she spent years as a kind of bizarre executive housewife, both in a governor’s mansion and later in the White House, bizarre because she indulged her husband’s non-stop predatory sexual behavior in exchange for the immense power it conferred on her behind the scenes over her far more outgoing and successful politician-husband.
Money Talks
Anyway, Hillary knew that gestures and simulated charm do not get you far in American politics. She determined to build a political war chest long ago, and there are many indications over the years of her working towards this end of making this or that change in expressed view, as when running for the Senate, when sources of big money suggested another view would be more acceptable. She was anything but constant in the views that she embraced because when she ran for the Senate she spent record amounts of money, embarrassingly large amounts. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on March 30, 2012. [State Department photo] In her years of speaking engagements, she aimed at special interests that could supply potentially far more money than just exorbitant speaking fees. Later, in the influential, appointed post of Secretary of State – coming, as it does, into personal contact with every head of government or moneyed, big-time international schemer – she unquestionably played an aggressive “pay for play” with them all. It appears that covering up that embarrassing and illegal fact is what the private servers and unauthorized smart phones were all about.
A second big fact of the election is that both major American political parties are rather sick and fading. The Republican Party has been broken for a very long time. It hobbled along for some decades with the help of various gimmicks, hoping to expand its constituency with rubbish like “family values,” public prayer in schools and catering to the Christian Right – along with anti-flag burning Constitutional amendments — and now it is truly out of gas.
The Republican Party had been given a breather, some new life, by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. He had an extremely mixed record as President, but he was popular, held in some affection, and did have a clear vision, but his effect on the party was not lasting. Trump could be seen as another Reagan, but I think the comparison is superficial. Trump literally hijacked the party. He was not deliriously crowned by its establishment.
The Republican Party itself was formed not long before Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy out of the remains of worn out and collapsed predecessors, including the Whigs and Free-Soil Democrats. Parties do not last forever, and here was Trump creating something of a minor political revolution inside a tired and fairly directionless old party, a phenomenon which I do not think was sufficiently noticed.
In the Republican primaries, he was opposed by tired, boring men like Jeb Bush, seeking to secure an almost inherited presidency, and a dark, intensely unlikable, phony Christian fundamentalist like Ted Cruz, and it proved to be no contest. Trump’s capture of the GOP nomination was a remarkable political achievement, but I think it was only possible given the sorry state of the party.
The press was too busy attacking Trump from the start to take notice or do any intelligent analysis, and he was attacked precisely for the potential damage to the Establishment that he represented. His most promising quality was his potential for creating a new coalition of interests and one excluding the continuation of the Neocon Wars that Hillary Clinton embraced and promised to expand.
A Democratic Party in Trouble
But the Democratic Party is in serious trouble, too. It has a great deal of internal rot, as the WikiLeaks material from the Democratic National Committee clearly shows us. Arrogance, lack of direction, ignorance of the people whom the party has always claimed to serve, bad decision-making, and the absolute prostrate worship of money are the major symptoms. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN.
It would have been impossible for the party to have so made up its mind and committed its resources to Hillary Clinton without serious rot. She has always had strong negatives in polling, always been (rightly) suspected concerning her honesty.
The WikiLeaks material tells us about many internal conflicts, including harsh high-level judgments of Hillary’s decision-making, resentment over the backstabbing character of daughter Chelsea who is said to resemble Hillary in her behavior and attitudes, and the belief of some that Hillary just should not have run.
And, frankly, Hillary Clinton had become for many a rather tiresome, used-up figure from whom absolutely nothing spectacular in politics or policy could possibly be expected. But they not only blindly supported her, they broke all their own party rules by internally and secretly working to defeat a legitimate and viable contender, Bernie Sanders.
Sanders might well have been able to win the election for the Democrats, but their establishment was blind to the possibility and rejected his candidacy out-of-hand. After all, there were Bill and Hillary beckoning toward their running well of money.
In hindsight, it might be just as well that Sanders was cheated out of the nomination. He proved a weak individual in the end, giving in to just the forces that he had claimed to oppose and leaving his enthusiastic followers completely let down. There he was, out on the hustings, supporting everything he ever opposed as personified in Hillary Clinton. Men of that nature do not stand up well to Generals and Admirals and the heads of massive corporations, a quality which I do think we have some right to expect Trump to display.
Public Distrust
Another important fact about the election is that it was less the triumph of Trump than the avoidance of Hillary that caused the defeat. The numbers are unmistakable. Yes, Trump did well for a political newcomer and a very controversial figure, but Hillary simply did badly, not approaching the support Obama achieved in key states, again something reflecting the documented fact that she is not a well-liked figure and the Party blundered badly in running her. President-elect Donald Trump
But again, money talks, and the Clintons, particularly Bill, are the biggest fundraisers they have had in our lifetime. No one was ready to say no to the source of all that money.
Now, to many Americans, the election result must seem a bit like having experienced something of a revolution, although a revolution conducted through ballots, any other kind being literally impossible by design in this massive military-security state.
In a way, it does represent something of a revolutionary event, owing to the fact that Trump the Oligarch is in his political views a bit of a revolutionary or at least a dissenter from the prevailing establishment views. And, as in any revolution, even a small one, there are going to be some unpleasant outcomes.
The historical truth of politics is that you never know from just what surprising source change may come. Lyndon Johnson, life-long crooked politician and the main author of the horrifying and pointless Vietnam War, did more for the rights of black Americans than any other modern president. Franklin Roosevelt, son of wealthy establishment figures, provided remarkable leadership in the Great Depression, restoring hopes and dreams for millions.
Change, important, change, never comes from establishments or institutions like political parties. It always comes from unusual people who seem to step out of their accustomed roles in life with some good or inspired ideas and have the drive and toughness to make them a reality.
I have some limited but important hopes for Trump. I am not blind or delirious expecting miracles from this unusual person, and after the experience of Barack Obama, who seemed such a promising young figure but fairly quickly proved a crushing, bloody disappointment, I can never build up substantial hopes for any politician. And what was the choice anyway? Hillary Clinton was a bought-and-paid one-way ticket to hell.
Trump offers two areas of some hope, and these both represent real change. The first is in reducing America’s close to out-of-control military aggressiveness abroad. This aggressiveness, reflecting momentum from what can only be called the Cheney-Rumsfeld Presidency, continued and grew under the weak and ineffectual leadership of Obama and was boosted and encouraged by Hillary as Secretary of State.
Hillary did a lot of killing during her tenure inside the federal government, advocating and promoting military interventions as First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State. She along with Obama is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women and children, many of them literally torn apart by bombs.
Welfare of Americans
The other area of some hope is for the welfare of ordinary Americans who have been completely ignored by national leaders for decades. George W. Bush’s lame reaction to Hurricane Katrina (before he was internationally shamed into some action) has become the normal pattern for America’s national government when it comes to ordinary Americans. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a press conference.
Inside the Democratic Party, the truth is that the legacy of FDR has withered to nothing and no longer plays any role, and of course never did in the Republican Party. By welfare, I do not mean the kind of state assistance to the poor that Bill Clinton himself worked to end. Nothing can impress someone not familiar with America’s dark corners more than a visit to places like Detroit or Gary or Chicago’s South Side, parts of New Orleans, or Newark or dozens of other places where Americans live in conditions in every way comparable to Third World hellholes.
No, I mean the people’s general well-being. Trump’s approach will be through jobs and creating incentives for jobs. I don’t know whether he can succeed, but, just as he asked people in some of his speeches, “What do you have to lose?” Just having someone in power who pays any attention to the “deplorables” is a small gain.
People should never think of the Clintons as liberal or progressive, and that was just as much true for Bill as it is for Hillary. His record as President – apart from his embarrassing behavior in the Oval Office with a young female intern and his recruitment of Secret Service guards as procurers for women he found attractive on his morning runs – was actually pretty appalling.
In his own words, he “ended welfare as we know it.” He signed legislation that would send large numbers of young black men to prison. He also signed legislation that contributed to the country’s later financial collapse under George W. Bush. He often would appoint someone decent and then quickly back off, leaving them dangling, when it looked like approval for the appointment would not be coming.
His FBI conducted the assault on Waco, killing about 80 people needlessly. A pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was destroyed by cruise missiles for no good reason. There were a number of scandals that were never fully explained to the public.
It was his Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who answered, unblinkingly, a television interviewer’s question about a half million Iraqi children who died owing to America’s embargo, “We think the price is worth it.” He committed the war crime of bombing Belgrade, including the intentional destruction of the Serb TV building. When news of the horrors of the Rwanda genocide were first detected by his government, the order secretly went out to shut up about it. No effort was made to intervene in that case.
No, any real change in America could never come from people like the Clintons, either one of them.
John Chuckman is former chief economist for a large Canadian oil company. | 1 |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it had dropped accusations against CNN International of violating Russian media law and the U.S. channel could continue broadcasting in Russia. The head of broadcasting regulator Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, said the issue was resolved after CNN agreed to rectify details of its Russian license shown onscreen during broadcasts, the Interfax news agency reported. He gave no details. CNN said it did not plan to make any comment on the matter. The regulator had raised the accusations in September, a day after the Russian foreign ministry accused Washington of putting unwarranted pressure on the U.S operations of Kremlin-backed media outlet RT. Zharov at the time gave no detail of the exact nature of the dispute; but he said when the accusations were raised that Russia was not motivated by any political considerations. Claims against CNN have been dropped, the channel will continue working in Russia, but Roskomnadzor will continue monitoring the compliance of the American company s activities with Russia s legislation, Interfax cited Zharov as saying. President Vladimir Putin told a Security Council meeting last month that Russian media outlets working abroad were facing growing and unacceptable pressure . | 1 |
Police in San Jose arrested a teenage trio that had terrorized and robbed over a dozen minimarts and gas stations at gunpoint or knifepoint over three months while wearing Geisha masks. [According to the San Jose Mercury News, the group known as the “Geisha Dolls” crew targeted businesses in San Jose and Milpitas, and in some cases the store workers, between Oct. 23 and Jan. 25. They were given the name because their masks resemble the white powder makeup that Japanese geishas traditionally applied to their faces. The group consists of three teenagers. Two are 17 and one is 16. Authorities have reportedly withheld their names because they are minors. According to NBC Bay Area, a break in the case arrived on January 25 when “police arrested a juvenile suspect in connection to a robbery at the Arco located at 2104 N Capitol Ave. Officers searched his residence and found evidence of the Arco robbery. ” Nearly three weeks later, on Feb. 14, members of the Metro Unit reportedly located arrested a and a juvenile in San Jose . Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz | 0 |
A letter to the editor appeared in The New York Times yesterday about how devastating Trump s immigration policy is. It s not only going to destroy immigrant families and further harm our deteriorating relationship with Mexico; it s also going to rip apart military families. The families that keep our soldiers grounded when they re overseas in combat zones. And Trump doesn t care.David Kubat, a member of the Minnesota National Guard and also an immigration lawyer, wrote the short letter, where he said: I have personally experienced the hardship of deployments to combat zones, and know the incredible importance of family stability during that trying time. This week, this administration rescinded the Parole in Place program, harming thousands of military families across the country. This is another example of the careless excess of the administration s immigration policy. Parole in Place protects military spouses, parents and children from deportation and was put in place by President Obama. It gives servicemembers peace of mind that their families will still be here when they get home. Now they don t have that because to Trump, it seems that soldiers should have to suffer if they were dumb enough to be involved with someone who could be subject to deportation.The GOP is supposed to be the family values party, and they love claiming that they re the only party that cares about the military. It s not bad enough that they say that and then turn around and cut funding for the VA and other helpful programs. Now their standard-bearer, their leader, is actively working to destroy the very thing that keeps our military grounded.Kubat went on to say: It is unconscionable to reverse a policy that strengthens our military and our veterans. That the program was not even named in the memo demonstrates either a lack of awareness, or worse, a casual disregard of the effect that this will have on those most vulnerable members of our military. Nice job, Republicans, for allowing this shitshow to make it all the way to the White House. When we start seeing a spike in severe mental problems in our fighting men and women, we ll know exactly where to point the finger.Kubat s full letter is below:Now #Trump can deport spouses & families of US military personnel. Letter: https://t.co/F6oaGYdW3D h/t @NinaBernstein1 pic.twitter.com/pCyc9Vg7DD David Beard (@dabeard) February 23, 2017Featured image by Olivier Douliery via Getty Images | 1 |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The actions of U.S. President Donald Trump s team are similar to the policies of his predecessor Barack Obama, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview, state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday. Unfortunately, many actions of Donald Trump s team are inertial and, in fact, are little different from the line of Barack Obama, RIA quoted Lavrov as saying in the interview with Italian newspaper Libero. | 1 |
FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday that negotiations on Britain s departure from the European Union had been tough at points but made concrete progress. We have now conducted three rounds of negotiations and while at times those negotiations have been tough it s clear that thanks to the professionalism and diligence of (negotiators) David Davis and Michel Barnier, we have made concrete progress on many important issues, May said during a major speech on Brexit in Florence. | 0 |
Fox News host Dana Perino is finally so sick and tired of Republicans supporting Donald Trump despite all of the sexual assault allegations that she will no longer defend them.During Friday s edition of The Five, host and former George W. Bush press secretary Dana Perino slammed Donald Trump for talking about all of his accusers and insulting them instead of focusing on attacking Hillary Clinton.Perino is also furious that Republicans are still defending Trump s predatory behavior. The Republicans that are defending this are really irritating me, she said. I ve been like Mount Vesuvius all day. Perino then specifically named Ben Carson and Jeff Sessions as just two of the many Republicans who remain on board the Trump train despite the Republican nominee s comments about groping women and the various allegations made against him by multiple women and the many past statements he has made that are now coming back to haunt him.And after Juan Williams joked that someone is going to call for cutting her mic, Perino took a serious tone, looked straight into the camera and while slicing the air with her hand told Republicans that she is done defending them. Yeah, because women should be seen and not heard, apparently. After 20 years of defending these guys, done. Here s the video via YouTube.Perino is not the only Republican woman who has stopped defending Republicans due to their refusal to unendorse Trump.Wisconsin GOP activist Marybeth Glenn quit the party entirely in a series of posts on Twitter blasting Republicans for being cowards and legitimizing charges that conservatives are sexists after she defended them for years. He (Trump) treats women like dogs, and you go against everything I and other female conservatives said you were & back down like cowards, she wrote. I m sooo done. If you can t stand up for women & unendorse this piece of human garbage, you deserve every charge of sexism thrown at you. Now Perino just became the first Republican woman on Fox News to say she is done defending the GOP.In their refusal to withdraw their support from Trump, the Republican Party is destroying themselves by offending women across the country and now it is costing them allies in states and in the media. This is something that may take generations for the party to recover from. Of course, that s assuming they actually learn anything from the mess they made this year.Featured image via screenshot | 1 |
Having been subjected to the intellectually insulting shit show of a third and, thankfully, final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — likely the two most despised candidates in U.S. electoral history — it’s now imperative Americans train their attention to rapidly unfolding events which, by every indication, comprise blaring alarm bells of impending world war.
Via AnonHQ
And no, despite scaremongering to the contrary, this war — centered around superpowers Russia and the United States — would not inevitably devolve into the hurling of nuclear missiles. In fact, the likelihood of no-holds-barred nuclear war is, at best, negligible — but the odds of unhindered conventional warfare have increased markedly over the past week.
Scroll Down For Video Below A senior NATO diplomat, who spoke with Reuters under condition of anonymity and cited ‘Western intelligence,’ gave the startling assessment Wednesday that Russia is “deploying all of the Northern fleet and much of the Baltic fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War.
“This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks, we will see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia’s strategy to declare victory there.”
Indeed, Russian ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad eagerly accepted President Vladimir Putin’s military assistance in its chaotic and complex conflict, which largely involves U.S.-created and Saudi Arabia-funded Islamic State militants; U.S.-trained and armed ‘moderate rebel’ terrorists; Syrian government forces; and the altogether controversial Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition. Considering the decimation taking place, that assistance is absolutely justifiable.
Of course, that farcically simplified explanation requires the contextualization of an intricate web of extenuating circumstances — nearly any one of which could spark a powderkeg.
Russian military endeavors in Syria have already earned a vow by the U.S. to defend itself — and by logical extension, that would include whichever rebel groups it considers ‘moderate’ enough not to deserve being targeted. With Russia planning an all-in offensive, some analysts have warned, the Pentagon could facilely decide to undertake direct ‘defensive’ measures.
At the heart of the U.S.’ multi-fronted proxy war with Russia sits a highly-propagandized, baseless narrative of “Russian aggression” — a claim thoroughly saturating American political rhetoric to shift both focus and blame from the true substantive aggressor the world over: the United States.
Save for scanty disagreement from Western-centric analysts, this American aggression — marked by an obstinate quest for dominance and control — has us all perilously hurtling for needless war on a global scale.
And needless, if not highly suspect, aptly characterizes the U.S. recent destruction of several strategic radar sites inside Yemen following dubious claims the U.S.S. Mason had come under missile attack by Iran-allied Shi’a Houthi rebels. Although American politicians and corporate media swiftly proffered those claims as steel truth — even amid a nascent investigation by the Pentagon — the Department of Defense’s own preliminary statement cast doubt about veracity.
“The initial thoughts is that this [attack] was aimed at them,” DoD spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis statedshortly after the purported incident last Tuesday.
Nonetheless, the belligerent move by the U.S. spurred Iran to deploy an entire fleet of military vessels to the same Gulf of Aden waters from whence the response attack had been launched.
Now, despite the abrupt and official military entree into the Yemeni war, Reuters reported, the “Pentagon declined to say on Monday whether the USS Mason destroyer was targeted by multiple inbound missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday, as initially thought, saying a review was under way to determine what happened.”
But the U.S. propaganda machine truly hit a fever pitch today, thanks to an altogether shady exclusive report courtesy of Reuters — amplifying an altogether unproven claim Iran has been directly supplying Houthi rebels with missiles, arms, and ‘cash.’
In fact an unsurprisingly unnamed and unverifiable “senior U.S. administration official” delivered an accusation of potentially staggering consequence, telling Reuters:
“We have been concerned about the recent flow of weapons from Iran into Yemen and have conveyed those concerns to those who maintain relations with the Houthis, including the Omani government.”
Oman, of course, flatly denies such allegations.
“There is no truth to this,” Omani Foreign Minister Yousef bin Alwi told Saudi newspaper Okaz in an interview last week. “No weapons have crossed our border and we are ready to clarify any suspicions if they arise.”
In fact, though Reuters cites several anonymous diplomats and officials, the accusation Iran has been supplying anything directly to the Houthis has yet to be unassailably proven — and such reports do little more than proffer a narrative suitable not only to maintain new U.S. military endeavors in Yemen, but to recklessly provoke a proxy Iranian conflict.
Such psychological operations are, of course, not unusual for the United States — and extend to a statement given by President Barack Obama on Tuesday concerning Russia.
In a blatant attempt to discredit Donald Trump for a supposed fondness for Putin, Obama, as usual, invoked the Russian aggression narrative — however, this spiel came complete with a pointedly significant re-characterization about the Russian military.
“We think that Russia is a large, important country with a military that is second only to ours and has to be a part of the solution on the world stage rather than part of the problem,” the president explained, surreptitiously upgrading the Cold War foe’s capabilities than its previous status as mere “regional power” in umpteen previous statements.
This not-at-all-minor point most does effectively two things: grows in less cagey American minds the palpability and thus legitimacy of a Russian threat, and renews Cold War propaganda pitting two global superpowers as mortal enemies — ostensibly setting up a pre-justification to act in even pre-emptive self-defense anywhere on the planet this proxy war plays out.
Additionally, in a matter of weeks, disfavor over U.S.’ actions has cemented military and other alliances between a quickly mounting number of former, longstanding American allies and other traditional Western foes — the vast majority of which align with Russia.
After a subtly significant geopolitical snub during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to negotiate a ceasefire in Syria, which infuriated Saudi Arabia, Egypt fomented a friendly military relationship with UNSC presiding body, Russia.
“[F]or the first time,” beginning October 15, Reuters reported, “joint drills between Egyptian and Russian paratrooper units” began in Egypt, and will continue through the 26th. Further, the growing rift with Saudi Arabia indicated Egypt might have been weighing options for a different ally for some time. Reuters wrote:
“A halt to shipments of Saudi fuel to Egypt under a $23 billion aid deal shows that a rift between the Arab world’s richest country and its most populous may be deeper than previously thought, which could leave Egypt desperate for a new sponsor.”
Egypt hasn’t been alone in jumping ship — and the Middle East isn’t the sole locus of conflict.
During a four-day visit at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping this week — amid deteriorating relations with the United States — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte asserted it is “only China that can help us.”
This massive shift in alignment could have highly consequent repercussions in the territorial dispute over the South China Sea — another conflict in which the U.S. has embroiled itself in several proxy wars, including Russian-backed China.
In fact, although the Philippines had been at the center of that quarrel, unnamed Chinese officials prior to the ongoing meeting announced China would “consider giving Filipino fishermen conditional access to disputed waters in the South China Sea after the presidents of the two countries meet in Beijing this week.”
Now, following through on intimations the Philippines would cleave from the West, Duterte just made a historic and stunning announcement today, to an auditorium in Beijing packed with over 200 Chinese and Philippine business people, including Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli:
“In this venue, your honours, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States. Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost.”
He added, “I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world — China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way.”
As another geostrategic and commercial waterway of international importance, the South China Sea’s role in the U.S. proxy war is second only to the Red Sea and access to it — but the presence of American naval vessels in both those waters and neighboring East China Sea has been deemed an aggressive threat by China and its strengthening ally Russia, as well as North Korea.
Joint naval and military drills conducted by the U.S. and ally South Korea and the planned installation of the U.S.’ Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system along the latter’s borders inflamed tensions with North Korea — who has been testing ballistic missiles for months, much to the consternation of the two nations and ally, Japan.
On Wednesday, in response to this perceived aggression, North Korea issued a severe admonishment to the two countries that even “minor signs of aggression” would greenlight Pyongyang to flatten Seoul in a defensive first-strike nuclear attack.
“It has been too long a time since our revolutionary armed forces switched to a principle of pre-emptive strike in the conduct of war, in response to the aggressive war provocations of our enemies,”Pyongyang stated, as cited by UPI, ominously adding a “ruthless pre-emptive strike is to be applied even in the face of minor signs of aggression.”
Not known for backing down from delicate situations, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declared its intent to deploy THAAD “as soon as possible,” after meeting with South Korean officials in Washington, and told the press:
“Let me be clear. Any attack on the United States or its allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with an effective and overwhelming response. “We do not, and we will not, accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.”
Leaving nothing open to misinterpretation, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter clarified in a separate press statement that, in defense of Seoul, the United States guaranteed “full spectrum” use of its response capabilities — meaning nuclear missiles are anything but off the table.
Shortly afterward, according to NBC News, “U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected what it believed to be a failed missile launch near the northwestern North Korean city of Kusong.” Director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies, Lee Yong Pil, told NBC News Pyongyang will absolutely strike first if Pyongyang perceives it necessary, saying,
“The U.S. has nuclear weapons off our coast, targeting our country, our capital and our dear leader, Kim Jong Un. We will not step back as long as there’s a nuclear threat to us from the United States.” South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, saying its allies would employ “all tools in the toolkit” for defense, asserted,
“What is most important is to continuously demonstrate our capability and deterrence with our commitment and actions so that Pyongyang can feel the panic under their skins.” North Korea might be known for blustery rhetoric it refuses to back with significant action — but continued provocation by the United States might elicit a response far more detrimental than words.
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After four grueling hours spent fending off a relentless adversary who refused to submit, Rafael Nadal saw the ball exactly where he wanted it, practically on a platter and ready to be plucked. It was in the tiebreaker at the end of one of the most compelling matches of this United States Open. Nadal, the No. 4 seed, had already rejected three attempts from his pesky opponent, the No. 24 seed, Lucas Pouille. Now Nadal had one of his favorite shots tantalizingly before his eyes, an approach forehand of the kind he has drilled into the other court for a winner countless times in hundreds of matches throughout the years. But this time, Nadal brushed up on it too much, and the ball hit the net. “Was a big mistake,” he said. But there was still a chance. Nadal had been destroyed in the first set, and he had come back. He lost the third set, too, and blew a break in the fifth set, and there he was in a tiebreaker. If Pouille, a Frenchman looking for the biggest win of his life, had not had the nerve to convert his other three match points, perhaps he would fail to do it here, too. But under the pressure of momentous stakes, Pouille summoned the nerve needed. He won the next two points to earn a thrilling (6) upset of Nadal in 4 hours 8 minutes. Nadal had been gaining momentum coming into the match. He had not lost a set in three matches. His quarter of the draw was wide open — except for Pouille, that is. “I lost an opportunity to have a very good event here,” Nadal said. “I am sad for that. ” In the last few draining sets, the fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium, announced at more than 23, 000, did not necessarily blow the new roof off its foundations during the match. But they left a noisy impression. “Sometimes I couldn’t even hear myself when I was saying, ‘Allez, allez, allez,’” Pouille said. “Sometimes you can’t even hear yourself. ” Pouille, who is playing in just his 11th major tournament, had never reached the third round until this year at Wimbledon, where he went to the quarterfinals. But he has long been considered a rising prospect in France, and this year, he is beginning to collect on his promise. “I think because, mentally, I’m stronger,” he said. “Physically, I’m stronger. That gave me a lot of confidence before the match. I knew if I wanted to win that, it’s not going to be like three sets, . It would be long. ” By steeling himself for the slog, Pouille was able to withstand Nadal’s comebacks and match him stroke for stroke. Indeed, in the final tally, each player won 156 points. In the fifth set, Nadal broke Pouille’s serve in the first game and was up, . It seemed as if Nadal had his opening. But anyone expecting the more experienced Nadal — with 14 Grand Slam titles on his résumé, including two Opens — to sweep Pouille away was shocked. Pouille broke back to make it . Nadal said his experience alone had not been enough to make the difference in that game. “The problem is arrive to on the tiebreak of the fifth,” he said. “I should be winning before. ” Later in the same stadium, No. 1 Novak Djokovic pounded the Kyle Edmund of Britain, to set up a meeting with No. 9 Tsonga in the quarterfinals. It was the first time in his last three matches that Djokovic was able to complete a match after his opponents withdrew in the previous two for physical reasons. Tsonga is one of three French players to reach the quarterfinal stage, but Pouille is the most surprising. For Nadal, 30, the loss capped a mixed season and ended, for now, his hope for a third Open title and a 15th Grand Slam championship. His last title came at the 2014 French Open, where he matched Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles over all. He pulled out of this year’s French Open after his match because of an injury to his left wrist. At the time, it was unclear when he would be able to return. He made it back for the Olympics, where he lost in the match to Kei Nishikori of Japan and won a gold medal in doubles. He played only two matches at the Western Southern Open, but he stormed through his first three matches at Flushing Meadows, dropping only 20 games in three victories. He had hopes of going deep. Instead, it is Pouille, and not Nadal, who will play Gaël Monfils in an quarterfinal match. Monfils brushed aside the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, . Monfils is not only playing well, he is one of the more entertaining players on tour, and fans love to marvel at his athletic ability. In the first week of the United States Open, he has given them a lot to see. He had a wrestling match with an clock he practiced in the midst of a downpour and he hit a jumping shot between his legs when there was no pressing need for it. Then on Sunday, he did something even more unusual. He pretended to tie his shoe in the middle of a point in his match against Baghdatis. “To be honest, I have no idea what happened,” he said. “Sometimes, those points don’t mean anything to me. I don’t know. I just lose it. ” | 0 |
Rebels Continue Offensive Against Western Aleppo by Jason Ditz, October 30, 2016 Share This
A coalition of rebels including al-Qaeda’s-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army are continuing their offensive against the government-held western half of Aleppo . The UN harshly criticized them for their use of “ indiscriminate ” weapons, warning it could amount to war crimes.
Perhaps the biggest issue, though as-yet-unproven, is reports that the rebels have begun to use chlorine-filled shells in their attacks. Syrian media reported 35 civilians were suffering from effects of the toxic gas, though the rebels denied using them.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 21 people killed over the weekend, amid heavy fighting around western Aleppo. The offensive began Friday, with the Nusra-led rebels trying to end a siege of their eastern half of the city.
This has been a recurring situation in Aleppo since it boiled down to just the military and this rebel faction, with both sides having repeatedly launched offensives and counter-offensives over the last several months, trading sieges and strikes against one anothers’ neighborhoods.
This has resulted in heavy casualties for the civilians stuck in the city, facing regular sieges that they are rarely as able to survive as the combatants, and taking the brunt of the rockets, airstrikes, and artillery attacks. The addition of chemical weapons, even primitive ones, threaten to make the matter far worse. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz | 1 |
Shawn Helton 21st Century WireThis week a House Judiciary Committee began overseeing details of a US Federal Court case between tech company Apple and the FBI.On February 16th, Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly rejected a court order to decrypt an iPhone said to be connected to the San Bernardino mass-shooting case from December of 2015.The House Judiciary Committee listened to the controversial case between tech titan Apple and the FBI a day after Magistrate Judge James Orenstein of New York, struck down a federal court order pressuring Apple to help access encrypted data in a separate case involving illegal drug trafficking.The landmark decision made by Judge Orenstein stated that the All Writs Act of 1789 (also used as the FBI s main argument in the Apple/San Bernardino case) does not permit a court to order companies to pull encrypted data off a customer s phone or tablet, according to a recent article from The Washington Post.The Post continued by discussing Orenstein s lengthy argument against the FBI s order against Apple in the drug related case: In a 50-page opinion disdainful of the government s arguments, Orenstein found that the All Writs Act does not apply in instances where Congress had the opportunity but failed to create an authority for the government to get the type of help it was seeking, such as having firms ensure they have a way to obtain data from encrypted phones. In addition, The Post outlined some of the social engineering aspects involved in the lead up to the FBI drug case overseen by Judge Orenstein, a case which has arguably been a part of an overarching back drop concerning the larger San Bernardino case: The Brooklyn case began last fall when Orenstein, one of a handful of magistrates across the country who are activists in the surveillance debate, received the government s application to issue an order to Apple. While Apple has previously helped the federal government with some 70 phone cases since 2008, Judge Orenstein examined several problems with the FBI s use of the All Writs Act: In an Oct. 9 ruling, Orenstein identified what he thought was a problem with the government s argument. Though prosecutors cited a 1985 decision that found that the All Writs Act is a source of authority to issue writs not otherwise covered by statute, he said they failed to cite another part of the decision that found that the act does not authorize the issuance of ad hoc writs whenever compliance with statutory procedures appears inconvenient or less appropriate. The new ruling in the FBI drug case will likely have a heavy impact on the eventual ruling in the San Bernardino/Apple court order, as it directly questions the heart of the government s argument to gain easier access to encrypted consumer data.It s also interesting to note, that it was the FBI who put themselves in this position regarding the San Bernardino phone as they reportedly ordered the password to be reset via iCloud shortly after the apparent mass shooting.You have to wonder why the agency would have ordered a new password almost immediately following the highly dramatic scene in San Bernardino INVENTIONS OF REALITY? Is this latest privacy crisis a manufactured drama or a legitimate battle for those in the tech industry? (Photo illustration 21WIRE)What s interesting here, is that ABC news reported on December 3rd, a day after the apparent shooting, Sources say mobile phones, hard drives, virtually anything with digital memory that was associated with the alleged shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik was smashed. Adding to that, we ve mentioned a number of times here at 21WIRE, that none of the eyewitness testimony mentioned seeing a female shooter at the scene of the Inland Regional Center in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shooting.A Right to PrivacyIn our previous article detailing the ongoing encryption saga between Apple and the FBI, we stated that there are no guarantees in the security world, especially if a digital master-key were to be created, as this would potentially make it easier for invaders (either the government, or various hackers) mining for data moving forward into the future.In a recent Guardian article, some of those involved in the technology and security sector offered their thoughts regarding the government s continued encroachment on individual privacy:Dan Kaminsky, the security expert who made his name with the discovery that one of the most basic parts of the internet, the domain name system, was vulnerable to fraud disagrees: Feds want final authority on engineering decisions, and their interests don t even align with fighting the vast bulk of real-world crime. Kaminsky further explained why Apple s security measures already help law enforcement, If my iPhone is stolen, my emails stay unread, my photos stay unviewed, and I don t need to notify anyone that the secrets they entrusted me with are going to show up on the internet tomorrow. Continuing, The Guardian interviewed former FBI agent Michael German, currently at judicial think-tank the Brennan Center. The following is a portion of that interview: After 9/11, you had this concept of total information awareness. The intelligence community was very enamoured of the idea that all information was available. Much like the NSA, they wanted to see it all, collect it all, and analyse it all. Additionally, there are many who believe weaker encryption may pose an even bigger security risk globally.In many ways, it appears as though federal agencies are seemingly searching for the right crisis to push public opinion in favor of the state when it comes to security.This is at the core of the perpetual privacy and security battle post 9/11 TARGETING PRIVACY FBI Director James Comey speaking at the Brookings Institution in October of 2014 about Going Dark. (Photo link brookings)Shining a Light on the FBI Going Dark Last September, The Washington Post published an article entitled, Obama faces growing momentum to support widespread encryption, and within its contents, perhaps the true nature of the security/privacy issue was laid bare (hat tip saperetic): Privately, law enforcement officials have acknowledged that prospects for congressional action this year are remote. Although the legislative environment is very hostile today, the intelligence community s top lawyer, Robert S. Litt, said to colleagues in an August e-mail, which was obtained by The Post, it could turn in the event of a terrorist attack or criminal event where strong encryption can be shown to have hindered law enforcement. There is value, he said, in keeping our options open for such a situation. Interestingly, in October of 2014, FBI Director James B. Comey, explained while speaking at the Brookings Institution he was focused on trying to get the law changed so that tech companies would have to comply with law enforcement to unlock data on various devices.Continuing, he outlined the current security agenda concerning the FBI, We have the legal authority to intercept and access communications and information pursuant to a court order, but we often lack the technical ability to do that. The Brookings speech from 2014, appeared in stark contrast with a recent emotionally driven op-ed Comey wrote for Lawfare entitled We Could Not Look the Survivors in the Eye if We Did Not Follow this Lead. Here s a passage from that piece, that clearly displays the conflicting message of the FBI director: We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That s it. We don t want to break anyone s encryption or set a master key loose on the land. The Guardian refers to this as a two-pronged approach on the public s senses as one tone from the FBI comes across as caring and the other seems more focused on the greater, nationalistic implications of encryption.Think good cop/bad cop hovering over you in an interrogation room and you d be getting very warm.This is the kind of psychological drama that has prompted some in media to think that the law enforcement agency has been exploiting the public in the wake of tragedy, in order to increase security measures.This is absolutely something to watch.So, what are we to make of the FBI s claims of going dark in the digital age?It has long since been claimed that intelligence agencies fear going dark in the age of high-tech gadgetry. This idea is vastly overblown and not rooted in reality, especially when you consider the many revelations concerning NSA spying, collection of bulk metadata and other tracking programs such as the IMSI catcher, otherwise known as Stingray (Stingray acts as cell tower locking onto all devices in a certain area) intercepts phone calls, texts, as well as your location.The very notion that law enforcement will somehow be condemned eternally to outdated methods to catch criminals in the future is patently absurd.Furthermore, the concept and presentation of the FBI s going dark scenario is nothing more than a talking point used to increase a police state apparatus within the United States.Don t PanicOn February 1st, a group of experts published report regarding the current status of law enforcement and their ability to keep up with the demands of crime solving in the world today. The lengthy report entitled Don t Panic was compiled by The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Here s a passage below examining the FBI s catchy mantra, Going Dark :The U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities view this trend with varying degrees of alarm, alleging that their interception capabilities are going dark. As they describe it, companies are increasingly adopting technological architectures that inhibit the government s ability to obtain access to communications, even in circumstances that satisfy the Fourth Amendment s warrant requirements. Encryption is the hallmark of these architectures. Government officials are concerned because, without access to communications, they fear they may not be able to prevent terrorist attacks and investigate and prosecute criminal activity. Their solution is to force companies to maintain access to user communications and data, and provide that access to law enforcement on demand, pursuant to the applicable legal process. However, the private sector has resisted. Critics fear that architectures geared to guarantee such access would compromise the security and privacy of users around the world, while also hurting the economic viability of U.S. companies. They also dispute the degree to which the proposed solutions would truly prevent terrorists and criminals from communicating in mediums resistant to surveillance.While the report states that encryption is a difficult issue for law enforcement, all sorts of digital data is unencrypted and therefore can be accessed via a search warrant if there is cause not to mention the spying capabilities of a plethora of smart devices also available for review.Below is FBI Director (former Senior Vice President at Lockheed Martin) discussing the idea that the government is Going Dark In an article entitled Here s Why the FBI Went After Apple When It Did, Fortune magazine revealed that on February 9th, DOJ head Loretta Lynch requested an extra $38 million to help the FBI development workarounds on data encryption, bringing the total budget of what it calls project Going Dark to $69 million. Will the FBI continue to develop encryption workarounds in the event that they lose their battle with Apple over the San Bernardino case?In Summary Regardless of how you shape the court battle between Apple and the FBI, this is about the government wanting a more direct route into personal devices moving ahead.For Apple, this is a very important issue as a dip in consumer confidence, could be a crushing blow to the tech company s overall brand.It s important to remember anomaly ridden events such as the San Bernardino shooting and the suspicious events in Garland, Texas, of last year, in addition to other inconvenient truths concerning the government s role in manufacturing its own terror plots which have ironically prompted calls for greater national security, while continuing to appropriate large funds to federal agencies.You have to wonder, has the FBI s case against Apple fallen apart?READ MORE ENCRYPTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Encryption Files | 1 |
I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn t lived that life Supreme Court Justice SotomayorAs the main stream media does a hit job on Donald Trump for expressing his view that the presiding judge in the Trump University case is biased against him because of Trump s views on immigration, we have a RACIST Latina Supreme Court Justice who s openly declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge makes a difference in their judging! So which is it? The left wants to have it both ways but they re being outed as total hypocrites! Unreal! Judge Sotomayor questioned whether achieving impartiality is possible in all, or even, in most, cases. She added, And I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society. AND THEY RE CALLING TRUMP A RACIST?WASHINGTON In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge may and will make a difference in our judging. In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day O Connor that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases. I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn t lived that life, said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.Her remarks, at the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, were not the only instance in which she has publicly described her view of judging in terms that could provoke sharp questioning in a confirmation hearing.This month, for example, a video surfaced of Judge Sotomayor asserting in 2005 that a court of appeals is where policy is made. She then immediately adds: And I know I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don t make law. I know. O.K. I know. I m not promoting it. I m not advocating it. I m you know. The video was of a panel discussion for law students interested in becoming clerks, and she was explaining the different experiences gained when working at district courts and appeals courts. Her remarks caught the eye of conservative bloggers who accused her of being a judicial activist, although Jonathan H. Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University law school, argued that critics were reading far too much into those remarks.Republicans have signaled that they intend to put the eventual nominee under a microscope, and they say they were put on guard by Mr. Obama s statement that judges should have empathy, a word they suggest could be code for injecting liberal ideology into the law.Judge Sotomayor has given several speeches about the importance of diversity. But her 2001 remarks at Berkeley, which were published by the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, went further, asserting that judges identities will affect legal outcomes. Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Her remarks came in the context of reflecting her own life experiences as a Hispanic female judge and on how the increasing diversity on the federal bench will have an effect on the development of the law and on judging. In making her argument, Judge Sotomayor sounded many cautionary notes. She said there was no uniform perspective that all women or members of a minority group have, and emphasized that she was not talking about any individual case.She also noted that the Supreme Court was uniformly white and male when it delivered historic rulings against racial and sexual discrimination. And she said she tried to question her own opinions, sympathies and prejudices, and aspired to impartiality.Still, Judge Sotomayor questioned whether achieving impartiality is possible in all, or even, in most, cases. She added, And I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society. Read more: NYT | 1 |
Friday at her weekly press briefing, Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi ( ) said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement was a “dishonor ” to God. Pelosi said, “This is a matter of environmental justice. Lower income and minority families are disproportionately vulnerable to the ravages of the climate crisis. It’s civil rights issue. Environmental justice is. And we have a moral responsibility in addition to the national security, the economy and the health of our children. We have a moral responsibility. We must leave future generations with a healthy, sustainable planet. Faith leaders, starting with the Holiness Pope Francis, to the evangelical community, have urged us to be responsible stewards of the beauty of God’s creation. They believe as you live that this planet is God’s creation and we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of it. ” “When we work with evangelical communities, we put together our climate legislation ten years ago, nine years ago,” she continued. “They had their literature which said that we had a moral responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, and in doing so, we must pay special attention to the needs of the poor. I saw it as an environmental justice issue as well in the evangelical community. When the pope went to the White House, he talked about the dangers of air pollution when he was here. Just last week, the pope met with President Trump and gave him a copy of his encyclical, which made the strong case to halt the climate crisis. The pope wrote the climate is a common good belonging to all and meant for all. The Bible tells us to minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us and that is what we are doing by walking away from this accord. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian insurgents seized several government positions on the outskirts of Damascus on Tuesday in the third day of their most ambitious offensive in the capital in years, sending a sharp reminder that the war in Syria is far from over. Fierce fighting broke out on the northeastern edge of Damascus, as a mix of Islamist rebel groups and jihadists seized an industrial area about a mile from the historic Old City near the heart of the Syrian capital. Rebel offensives erupted in several other parts of the country. Government forces have been scrambling to repel the attack since it began on Sunday, bringing troops and allied militias from other front lines to hold their territory in Damascus, as government warplanes pummel suburbs with scores of strikes. Rebel shells hit the city, wounding 15, and the authorities shut down many of the main roads. After the government seized the eastern half of Aleppo from rebels last year, it worked hard to create the impression that the war was essentially over. The recent activity, including a series of suicide bombings in Damascus and a rebel attack Thursday on the northern city of Hama, seemed to indicate that the war might be entering a new phase instead. While the government still seems to be consolidating control over major population centers along Syria’s western spine, it appears at a minimum likely to face a lingering rural insurgency and bombing campaigns in the cities by jihadist groups. At the least, the rebel assaults carried a political message: that the insurgents could still disrupt life in the capital and challenge the forces of President Bashar at several points around the country, while simultaneously attacking Islamic State fighters. By mounting a series of simultaneous assaults around the country, the rebels seemed intent on exploiting one of the government forces’ main weaknesses. While they have Russian air support and help on the ground from militias, they are spread thin after six years of war and the drain of so many men fleeing the country rather than serving in the army. It was not immediately clear if the rebels could maintain the offensive. Their forces around Damascus have been badly depleted in recent years and their territory rolled back as the government besieged districts and forced their surrender. And the new assaults raised political concerns, in that they continue the alliance between a spectrum of rebel groups and Islamists considered terrorists by Russia and the United States. The rebels are also walking a fine line with Syrian and international public opinion. To build leverage for imminent peace talks, they need to show they can still cause trouble for the government on the ground, undermining its claim that it can control territory and maintain security. Yet, they stand to pay a huge political price if they ally themselves with groups that have been intensifying insurgent attacks like the suicide bombing that killed more than 30 people last week in a historic courthouse in Damascus. No group immediately claimed responsibility for that attack. But fighters linked to Al Qaeda did say they had carried out two suicide bombings this month that killed dozens of Iraqi pilgrims near the Old City. Other rebel groups condemned both of those attacks. There were reports late Tuesday of several new insurgent assaults on government territory taking place at once: one in Hama Province and another on the western outskirts of Aleppo. In recent weeks, rebels have also launched attacks in Daraa Province to the south. Until recently, fighters there had lain low at the behest of foreign sponsors including the United States, but it now appears they have either decided to defy their patrons or persuaded them to heat up the front again. Rebel and jihadi groups were also advancing against the Islamic State in the Qalamoun region, north of Damascus. The government has been hitting areas to the east of Damascus with air raids and artillery for more than a month, despite a nominal that was supposed to be maintained during new rounds of peace talks in Geneva and in Astana, Kazakhstan. None of the rebel groups in the offensive on northeast Damascus are among the ones being backed in a covert C. I. A. program. But Mohammad the leader of the Army of Islam, one of the groups involved in the assault, is nominally the head opposition negotiator in the Geneva peace talks. With their monthlong offensive, government forces appeared to be trying to further isolate the besieged suburbs of East Ghouta, hoping to eventually force the rebels there to surrender or face a grinding battle with widespread humanitarian suffering, as happened in Aleppo. That makes the districts of Jobar and Qaboun, and neighboring Barzeh, critical territory for both sides. They are the gateway to the business and tourism center of Damascus, where relatively normal life has been a symbol of the government’s continuing control over the capital during six years of conflict. For the rebels, the area contains the smuggling tunnels that help supply East Ghouta, supplementing whatever food can be grown there. A main highway out of Damascus passes nearby, and during lulls in the fighting when it is passable drivers survey a landscape of jagged shells of destroyed buildings. Rebels initially gained ground in a surprise attack on Sunday. Government command posts were hit by two suicide bombs detonated by fighters from Tahrir the new name adopted by the Nusra Front after it claimed to shed its affiliation with Al Qaeda. Then rebel groups including Faylaq the Army of Islam and Ahrar advanced. The attacks took Damascus residents by surprise. Schools were closed for at least a day. Smoke could be seen rising over familiar landmarks. A reporter for Syrian state television, in the midst of assuring the audience that life was going on as normal in central Abasiyeen Square, flinched on air at the sound of a nearby projectile. When she was seen next, she was newly clad in a flak jacket and helmet. The government responded in force to the initial assault. Elite units, regular troops, irregulars in jeans carrying Kalashnikovs, members of foreign militias and armored vehicles could be seen near the front line on Sunday and Monday. They managed to take back the territory, but on Tuesday the insurgents hit back and regained much of the contested ground. Footage showed fighters with Ahrar entering a textile factory they had just seized. | 0 |
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is preparing to acquire precision air-launched missiles that for the first time would give it the capability to strike North Korean missile sites, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Japan plans to put money aside in its next defense budget starting April to study whether its F-15 fighters could launch longer-range missiles including Lockheed Martin Corp s extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER), which can hit targets 1,000 km (620 miles) away, said one the sources with knowledge of the plan. There is a global trend for using longer range missiles and it is only natural that Japan would want to consider them, he said. The sources asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to talk to media. Japan is also interested in buying the 500 km-range Joint Strike Missile designed by Norway s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to be carried by the F-35 stealth fighter, Fuji Television reported earlier. Neither of those two items are included in a 5.26 trillion yen ($46.76 billion) budget request already submitted by Japan s Ministry of Defence, however additional funds would be made available to evaluate the purchase of these missiles, the sources said. The change suggests that the growing threat posed by North Korean ballistic missiles has given proponents of a strike capability the upper hand in military planning. Restrictions on strike weapons imposed by its war-renouncing constitution means Japan s missile force is composed of anti-aircraft and anti-ship munitions with ranges of less than 300 kms (186 miles). Any decision to buy longer range weapons capable of striking North Korea or even the Chinese mainland would therefore be controversial, but proponents argue that the strike weapons can play a defensive role. We are not currently looking at funding for this, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday at a regular press briefing. We rely on the United States to strike enemy bases and are not looking at making any changes to how we share our roles, he added. Before he took up his post in August, Onodera led a group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers that recommended Japan acquire strike weapons to deter Pyongyang from launching any attack on Japan. North Korea has since fired ballistic missiles over Japan and last week tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that climbed to an altitude of more than 4,000 km before splashing into the Sea of Japan within Japan s exclusive economic zone. | 1 |
House Speaker Paul Ryan just dropped the hammer on Donald Trump and his outrageous accusation against President Obama.Just over ten days ago, Trump took to Twitter to openly accuse President Obama of wiretapping him.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Of course, Trump provided absolutely no evidence to support his claims and still has not done so, even after Congress set a deadline for Trump s administration to provide them with it.Well, Trump missed the deadline and Congress extended it, but the writing is already on the wall. Trump lied when he claimed that Obama wiretapped him, and Republicans are admitting it.On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes said there is no evidence to back up Trump s claim. We don t have any evidence that that took place and in fact, I don t believe just in the last week of time, the people we ve talked to I don t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower, Nunes said.Rep. Adam Schiff concurred, saying, I ve seen no evidence that supports the claim that Trump made that his predecessor had wiretapped he and his associates at Trump Tower. Thus far, we have seen no basis for that whatsoever. And Paul Ryan buried Trump s claim once and for all during a talk with the press on Thursday. The intelligence committees in their continuing, ongoing, and widening investigation into all things Russia got to the bottom, at least so far with respect to our intelligence community, that no such wiretap existed. Here s the video via Twitter.Speaker Paul Ryan, asked about Trump s claim that former President Obama wiretapped him, says no such wiretap existed . pic.twitter.com/gTF62Dss7Y CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 16, 2017So even though Trump continues to insist that his accusation is accurate, Republicans in Congress have confirmed what the rest of us already know: Trump is full of shit.Featured image via screenshot | 1 |
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that terrorists had broken into a National Guard unit over the weekend and stolen weapons, the latest sign of volatility in the oil-rich country convulsed by a profound economic crisis. Oscar Perez, a rogue Venezuelan police pilot wanted for lobbing grenades and shooting at government buildings in June, claimed responsibility for the attack, which he called Operation Genesis. A video posted on Perez s YouTube account shows armed, masked men taking control of military barracks under cover of night. They smash photos of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, handcuff around a dozen soldiers and berate them for supporting dictatorship in Venezuela. You yourselves are dying of hunger. Why have you not done anything, given you have weapons? Why do you keep protecting these drug-trafficking dictators? the assailants shout at gagged soldiers crouching on the floor of what appears to be a bathroom. Soon we ll win the war ... so that Venezuela can be free, says Perez, under the cover of a black balaclava. His Twitter account later posted a purported summary by authorities of the attack. The summary says some 49 armed men stole around 26 Kalashnikov AK-103 s and over 3,000 munitions for the rifles, as well as pistols, in Miranda state near Caracas during the early hours of Monday. Reuters was not able to independently confirm details of the attack. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. An action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond cum-Rambo figure on social media, Perez has added surreal twists to Venezuela s long-running political drama. He rose to fame in June after hijacking a police helicopter flying over Caracas center. He fired shots at and lobbed grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court to fight what he said was a tyrannical government. He went into hiding after the attack, only to pop up two weeks later at an opposition vigil for anti-government protesters killed during demonstrations that rocked the country earlier this year. Perez s latest offensive highlights instability in Venezuela, an OPEC member state heaving under malnutrition, disease and the world s steepest inflation rate. The opposition has long appealed to the military, historically a powerbroker in Venezuela, for help. Maduro on Tuesday denounced the attackers, whom he did not name, as terrorists sent by his ideological enemy the United States. Wherever they appear, I ve told the armed forces: Fire at the terrorist groups! he said during a speech on state television, as he blamed opposition groups in Miami for orchestrating the raid. Do these people think they can attack a unit of the armed forces to steal some guns and threaten democracy and that that s going to be tolerated? Zero tolerance! Maduro said. The military has played a key role in government since Chavez - himself a former military officer - took office in 1999 promising to bring greater equality to Venezuela, home to the world s largest oil reserves. The top brass continues to publicly profess loyalty to Maduro s government. Critics say juicy government contracts, corruption and contraband mean that many military officials want Maduro to stay in office and fear persecution should the opposition take power. Discontent is higher among lower-tier officials, who are often sent to control rowdy protests and are paid the equivalent of just a handful of U.S. dollars a month. | 0 |
Mark Steyn joined Tucker Carlson tonight to discuss the threat from CNN to the guy who made the video of President Trump wrestling with the CNN logo (see below) Wolf Blitzer Has Put A Horse s Head In Some Guy s Bed Mark SteynOUR PREVIOUS REPORTS ON THE CNN EXTORTION: The hosts of New Day dug a deeper hole for CNN on Wednesday when they said that the network would not identify the Reddit user behind the viral video of President Trump wrestling a man with CNN s logo imposed over his face because he apologized. CNN had previously written that it had decided not to publicly identify the man because he was a private citizen who showed remorse, but reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change: THAT S BLACKMAIL!Sooo if this guy behaves according to CNN then they won t out him to the world Nice threat!In case you missed it Here s our previous report on this viral video: CNN reported that they declined to expose a private citizen who made the WWE video of President Trump wrestling with a CNN logo if the guy promises not to do it again: CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change. This is blackmail right?#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017The hysterical video has been seen over 1 million times after it was tweeted out by President Trump. It was produced by a Reddit user who is private:Soon after the CNN statement, twitter was abuzz over the fact that CNN was extorting this private citizen:DONALD TRUMP JR RETWEETED THE THREAT:CONGRESSMAN SCOTT TAYLOR TWEETED OUT:@CNN U basically coerce apology & threaten release of identity if something changes? Pretty sure a line is crossed here. #CNNBlackmail https://t.co/k4W9AepP6W Scott Taylor (@Scotttaylorva) July 5, 2017#CNNBLACKMAIL IS TRENDING WORLDIWIDE!What CNN thought was a gotcha moment turned putto backfire on them. It s being reported that the private Reddit user who made the WWE video is only 15-years old! | 1 |
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Three judges in Hong Kong s Court of Appeal are set to decide the fate of a former British banker who was jailed for life last year for the murder of two Indonesian women he tortured and raped after his appeal hearing closed on Wednesday. Rurik Jutting, 32, a former Bank of America employee, had denied murdering Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, in his luxury apartment in 2014 on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to alcohol and drug abuse and sexual disorders. The Cambridge-educated Jutting pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in a case that gripped the Asian financial hub. During the one and a half day appeal hearing in the former British colony, Jutting s lawyers said the judge who presided over the gruesome trial last year had misdirected the jury. Defence lawyer Gerard McCoy argued that the judge had narrowed down the scope of the defence case by conflating an abnormality of mind with a psychiatric disorder. Jutting s defence is that while a disorder can cause an abnormal mind, his mental state can be abnormal without a disorder. McCoy said Jutting showed severe traits of psychiatric disorders, far beyond the normal range and was therefore not in control of his actions, said McCoy. Abnormality of mind is absolutely not confined to a disorder or a disease. Here the judge locks it down, reinforcing to the jury it is disorder, he said. Jutting, dressed in a navy blue shirt and thick squared glasses, watched animatedly throughout the hearing and occasionally chuckled, particularly during the presentations by prosecutor John Reading. Reading stated that the previous judge had exercised considerable care in crafting his directions on the law in consultation with both sides . Judges Michael Lunn, Andrew Macrae and Kevin Zervos are to return judgement on the appeal which may include granting Jutting the opportunity for a new trial, but they did not give a time frame. Deputy High Court Judge Michael Stuart-Moore said in strongly worded closing remarks at the end of the trial last year that the case was one of the most horrifying the Chinese-ruled territory had known. He described Jutting as the archetypal sexual predator who represented an extreme danger to women, especially in the sex trade, and cautioned that it was possible he would murder again if freed. The jury unanimously found Jutting, the grandson of a British policeman in Hong Kong and a Chinese woman, guilty of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison in November 2016. Jutting s defence team had previously argued that cocaine and alcohol abuse, as well as personality disorders of sexual sadism and narcissism, had impaired his ability to control his behavior. The prosecution rejected this, stating Jutting was able to form judgments and exercise self-control before and after the killings, filming his torture of Ningsih on his mobile phone as well as hours of footage in which he discussed the murders, bingeing on cocaine and his graphic sexual fantasies. In previous high profile murder cases such as that of Nancy Kissel, an American woman serving a life sentence for the milkshake murder of her Merrill Lynch banker husband, retrials have been given. Kissel lost her final appeal against her conviction in 2014. | 0 |
Entitled Customer Slams Restaurant On Yelp, What Happens Next Is Sheer Badassery By Tiffany Willis on October 11, 2014 Subscribe
A customer ( Yelp name Sonal B) was visiting Kansas City for a conference when she decided to try to get take-out food from Voltaire , “an upscale restaurant across the street from her conference building. The only problem with that is that Voltaire doesn’t offer take-out and they never have, by policy.” The customer pitched a fit, threatened to get her “lawyer” husband involved (and did), and threatened the manager with a bad Yelp review, which she did minutes after leaving the restaurant.
But Voltaire’s owner responded. And it was fabulous.
The Yelp review: Most unfriendly and arrogant restaurant in KC. Just called Voltaire to try to order some food because we’re in a late business meeting across the street. First, they refused to answer our question about what type of broth is used in the risotto. Then they said they won’t pack food to go. My husband spoke to the manager and explained that we’re in a conference room across the street, and asked if they can pack our dinner (which we would pick up). The hostess flat-out refused to answer our question about the food or to try and work with us so we could get food in our meeting. My husband asked to speak with the manager. The manager, Jamie, said, “our food is plated beautifully, and we can’t put it in a ‘to go’ container.” So thanks, Jamie, we’ll just starve. (What the manager said is just not true by the way we’ve eaten there before, and they did pack our food to go.) When my husband said that he was going to post a Yelp review about the way the restaurant was treating us, the manager questioned, “Are you a grown man and an adult?” Yes, Jamie, we are grown adults, and we do not do business with people who behave like you do. We regularly travel to NYC and eat at a variety of restaurants, which are more than happy to accommodate people by packing food to go. This restaurant thinks they’re too good for their customers. They will soon learn that if you ignore your customers, they’re going to start ignoring you. I would not even give this place one star after this experience, and I’m dismayed by their unprofessional and arrogant behavior.
The owner’s response: I sincerely apologize that we don’t offer ‘take-out’ food at our restaurant. Being a Yelp user, I’m sure you were aware that on our Yelp business page, on the right side of the screen, it lists details about our establishment. There is an item listed ‘Take-Out : No.’ We have never offered take-out food as we believe the food we prepare should be presented as we see fit, (usually) on a plate inside the dining room. As for the risotto, its made with a vegetable stock – this dish is vegetarian, and I’m certain that who you were speaking with wanted to make extra certain the information provided to you was accurate. On your previous visits, you say you have witnessed dishes being boxed up as proof that we provide ‘take-out’ food. Although we do allow our guests to take their uneaten food with them in to-go boxes after they have dined with us, we have never offered ‘take-out’ food. If you were actually starving, as in a life threatening condition requiring nutritional sustenance, we would be happy to assist you..we do make exceptions for emergency situations. Our general manager did question the age/maturity of your husband after he became combative and threatened us with a negative Yelp review if we did not alter our operational practice and provide him with ‘take-out’ food. 15 minutes later you indeed came through with this threat. I can assure you that we don’t offer ‘take-out’ food because we feel we are ‘too good’ for our customers; we just prefer to have our guests dine with us, allowing for the proper presentation (and temperature) of their fare that has been skillfully prepared by our kitchen. I am very pleased that you frequent New York. We travel often as well. And I can assure you that there are many restaurants in NYC that do not offer ‘take-out’ food. Although there are many other options that do – in Kansas City as well (Go Royals!). It was made REPEATEDLY clear in the conversation with your husband that he is a lawyer. Let me provide the following analogy/role reversal-it may assist in clarifying your request. YOU: I want to hire you to handle my divorce. ME: But, I’m a tax lawyer. YOU: I don’t care I want you to handle my divorce. ME: Sorry, but I don’t practice that form of law. YOU: Just handle my divorce, I’ll pay you-it will be fine. ME: I don’t feel comfortable providing my services as a divorce lawyer, as I am a tax lawyer. You won’t receive the service you are wanting or that I am willing to provide. YOU: Well, I travel to NYC often, and in NYC, Tax lawyers handle my divorce litigation all the time. I don’t know what the problem is. I’ve told you I’m a chef, right? ME: Well, that’s nice sir, but I really can’t help you. It goes against my business practice. YOU: If you don’t represent me in my divorce, I’m going to post it all over the [most frequented social media review of lawyers] that you refused to provide me with the service I requested, and make baseless allegations about how you are very pretentious, arrogant and unprofessional. I will also try to prevent you from getting any additional business by damning you on said social media platform. Now will you represent me? ME: I don’t take kindly to threats. Thanks for your feedback. We will let you know if we decide in the future to practice divorce law, I mean, provide ‘take-out’ food.
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h/t NextShark About Tiffany Willis
Tiffany Willis is a fifth-generation Texan, a proponent of voluntary simplicity, a single mom, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Liberal America. An unapologetic member of the Christian Left, she has spent most of her career actively working with “the least of these" -- disadvantaged and oppressed populations, the elderly, people living in poverty, at-risk youth, and unemployed people. She is a Certified Workforce Expert with the National Workforce Institute , a NAWDP Certified Workforce Development Professional, and a certified instructor for Franklin Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens . Follow her on Twitter , Facebook , or LinkedIn . She also has a grossly neglected personal blog , a Time Travel blog , a site dedicated to encouraging people to read classic literature 15 minutes a day , and a literary quotes blog that is a labor of love . Find her somewhere and join the discussion. Click here to buy Tiff a mojito. Connect | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a “very good” phone call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday and agreed to work to improve ties after a meeting between the two leaders was scrapped amid a dispute over funding Trump’s planned border wall. “We had a very good call. I have been very strong on Mexico. I have great respect for Mexico ... but, as you know, Mexico with the United States has out-negotiated us and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders. They’ve made us look foolish,” Trump told a news conference at the White House. Trump said the call was friendly and he looked forward to renegotiating the U.S. trade relationship with Mexico in the future. | 0 |
Trump’s campaign has been frantic to close the huge gap in donations between Clinton’s and their own. By some estimates, Hillary is outspending Trump 7-to-1 in advertising – a steep hill to climb for a campaign that is already losing badly in nearly every battleground state.
But in his desperation, Trump did something incredibly stupid. He promised his fans that he would “triple match” any donation over $75 that they made on October 1st.
His fans, believing Trump would put his money where his mouth is, gave generously. Instead of make good on the promise, Trump donated squat. In fact, his donations for the entire month were less than he should have donated that very first day. On Oct 1, I got an email from Trump pledging to triple donations for 24 hrs.
Donors gave $165,829 that day.
Trump gave $30,682 all month.
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) October 28, 2016
Even for Trump’s diehard fans, this looks like the man is just the kind of grifter his critics have always claimed he was. Despite pretending to “self-fund” his campaign, Trump has chipped in hardly anything. He’s run his campaign much like he ran his charity, using other people’s money to promote himself.
This is in stark contrast to Trump’s boasts. Famously, the candidate once said he was willing to spend upwards of one billion dollars on his campaign to be president. With just 11 days to go, Trump hasn’t even come close. Most estimates put his own contribution around $50 million – chump change for an alleged billionaire. Kellyanne Conway: The rest of Trump’s $100 million donation to his campaign is still coming (with 11 days left) pic.twitter.com/7U3UF9a0dM
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) October 28, 2016
And it seems Trump’s campaign knows how badly he screwed this up. His campaign manager Kellyanne Conway scrambled to the nearest media outlet to proclaim that Trump would absolutely be fulfilling a promise he made to donate $100 million by the election. (Note again: He has just 11 days left to do so.)
And then Trump himself reportedly wired $10 million to his campaign on Friday morning in a day late, dollar short desperation maneuver to help pull out of this tailspin. Donald Trump wired $10M of his own money into this presidential campaign this morning – Dow Jones
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) October 28, 2016
It’s hard to truly be surprised that Trump has been stingy with his own campaign. This is the “billionaire” who managed to pay no taxes in twenty years and donate almost no money to charity in the same period. He makes Scrooge McDuck look generous. And with less than two weeks to go, Trump’s chances of becoming president are looking about as fictional as the cartoon duck.
Go home, Donald.
Featured image via Ethan Miller/Getty Images Share this Article! | 1 |
LONDON — Swedes reacted with confusion, anger and ridicule on Sunday to a vague remark by President Trump that suggested that something terrible had occurred in their country. During a rally on Saturday in Florida, Mr. Trump issued a sharp if discursive attack on refugee policies in Europe, ticking off a list of places that have been hit by terrorists. “You look at what’s happening,” he told his supporters. “We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?” Not the Swedes. Nothing particularly nefarious happened in Sweden on Friday — or Saturday, for that matter — and Swedes were left baffled. “Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound,” Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on Twitter. As the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet noted, Twitter users were quick to ridicule Mr. Trump’s remark, with joking references to the Swedish Chef, the “Muppets” character Swedish meatballs and Ikea, the furniture giant. Mr. Trump did not state, per se, that a terrorist attack had taken place in Sweden. But the context of his remarks — he mentioned Sweden right after he chastised Germany, a destination for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war and deprivation — suggested that he thought it might have. “Sweden,” Mr. Trump said. “They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible. ” He then invoked the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels and Nice, France, last year, to make an argument for tightening scrutiny of travelers and asylum seekers. “We’ve allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country, and there was no way to vet those people,” he said. “There was no documentation. There was no nothing. So we’re going to keep our country safe. ” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, tried to clarify the president’s remarks Sunday, saying Mr. Trump did not mean to suggest that a particular attack had happened the night before, but rather was talking about crime in general in Sweden. On Sunday, Mr. Trump offered his own clarification, writing on Twitter, “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants Sweden. ” In that story, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who asserts that migrants in Sweden have been associated with a crime wave. “They oftentimes try to cover up some of these crimes,” Mr. Horowitz said, arguing that those who try to tell the truth about the situation are shouted down as racists and xenophobes. (Mr. Carlson interjected, “The masochism of the West knows no bounds at all. ”) Mr. Horowitz said, “Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that long ago, so they’re now getting a taste of what we’ve been seeing across Europe already. ” It was not clear what he was referring to. In 2010, a suicide bomber struck central Stockholm, injuring two people. The bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab 28, was an Swede who had developed an affinity for Al Qaeda. But that attack occurred long before the current wave of migrants. Sweden has a long history of welcoming refugees — Jews, Iranians, Eritreans, Somalis, Kurds and people from the former Yugoslavia, among others — but even some of the most tolerant and idealistic Swedes have raised questions about whether the country can absorb so many newcomers so quickly. Henrik Selin, a political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, said he was puzzled by Mr. Trump’s remarks. “I do not have a clue what he was referring to,” he said in a telephone interview. “Obviously, this could be connected to the fact that there has been a lot of negative reporting about Sweden, since Sweden has taken in a lot of refugees. ” The country processed 81, 000 asylum seekers in 2014, 163, 000 in 2015 and 29, 000 last year, with another 25, 000 to 45, 000 expected this year, according to the Swedish Migration Agency. Mr. Selin completed a study recently focusing on negative news reports about Sweden’s acceptance of refugees. It found numerous exaggerations and distortions, including false reports that Shariah law was predominant in parts of the country and that some neighborhoods were considered “ zones” by the police. Breitbart News, the website once led by Stephen K. Bannon, now Mr. Trump’s senior strategist, has published numerous stories alleging that migrants have been responsible for a surge in crime and for a wave of sexual assaults. Swedish officials have said that their statistics do not justify such sweeping assertions, and that the country has a high number of sexual assault reports relative to other European countries because more victims come forward, not because there is more violence. Mr. Selin said the news reports “were highly exaggerated and not based in facts,” adding, “Some of the stories were very popular to spread in social media by people who have the same kind of agenda — that countries should not receive so many refugees. ” As for the alleged by Mr. Horowitz, Mr. Selin said: “That kind of claim has been in the political debate for 15 years now. But nobody has been able to prove there is a . On the contrary, the fact is that crime rates are going down. ” He added: “Swedish authorities have nothing to gain from hiding the truth. We are quite keen to ensure that the debate and the story about our country is and nuanced. We are more than happy to talk about the challenges our country faces as well as the things that are going well. ” Asked about Mr. Trump’s comment, Anna Kinberg Batra, the leader of the opposition Moderate Party, said in a statement, “President Trump has to answer himself for his statements, why he makes them and based on what facts. ” Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom declined to comment because, her press secretary, Erik Wirkensjo, said, “it’s hard to say what Trump is talking about. ” In an essay in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the journalist Martin Gelin speculated that “Trump might have gotten his news from the countless media in the United States that have long been reporting that Sweden is heading for total collapse. ” He added, “Among Trump supporters, there are common myths that Sweden is in a state of chaos after taking in refugees from the Middle East. ” | 0 |
Former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has been forced to deny a claim that he ordered the outlandish dirty dossier on President-elect Donald Trump.The BBC initially named Bush, one of Trump s opponent in the 2016 Republican primary, as having enlisted the services of Washington-based political research firm FusionGPS to look into Trump s business dealings.FusionGPS later hired ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele to dig further into Trump s connections with Russia. He (Steele) was compiling this report on behalf of initially Trump s opponent Jeb Bush, the BBC said on Wednesday. The BBC subsequently said on Thursday its Washington correspondent Paul Wood misspoke.Bush s spokeswoman, Kristy Campbell, categorically denied any involvement between Bush and Steele. It is absolutely not true that Governor Bush had any knowledge or involvement with this gentleman and his allegations, Campbell told Reuters by phone It s nothing we ve ever seen before. However, Bush s camp have not specifically ruled out any contact with FusionGPS.On Thursday, the former Florida state governor said it s unlikely he ll run for office again.Bush said that life goes on and that he s focused on building up his business again and working with the foundation he created to push for changes in education policy. He s also ruling out running again for governor in his home state.It seems what started in September 2015 as a fairly standard political research mission to scrutinize the business dealings of a presidential candidate unexpectedly spiralled into a series of increasingly bizarre and lurid claims, none of which are verified. The company that was hired to dig into Trump, FusionGPS, is run by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Glenn Simpson, and advertises itself as providing premium research, strategic intelligence, and due diligence services .On Thursday, the former Florida state governor said it s unlikely he ll run for office again.Bush said that life goes on and that he s focused on building up his business again and working with the foundation he created to push for changes in education policy. He s also ruling out running again for governor in his home state.It seems what started in September 2015 as a fairly standard political research mission to scrutinize the business dealings of a presidential candidate unexpectedly spiralled into a series of increasingly bizarre and lurid claims, none of which are verified.The company that was hired to dig into Trump, FusionGPS, is run by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Glenn Simpson, and advertises itself as providing premium research, strategic intelligence, and due diligence services .Simpson left the Wall Street Journal in 2009 to launch an investigations company with fellow reporter Sue Schmidt.The company was called SNS Global LLC and the pair were also affiliated with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a nonprofit foundation focused on security issues.Here s Trump s response:Via: Daily Mail | 0 |
Why NATO is put on war footing against Russia 07.11.2016 Jens Stoltenberg claimed that given growing tensions in relations with Russia, hundreds of thousands of the NATO military men would be brought to higher level of readiness. Before that he stated that there's no danger and constructive relations with Moscow should be built. Now, according to him, the NATO authorities intend to prepare significant ground forces, which would be capable of containing 'Russian aggression'. What for are these acts?Andrey Koshkin, Ph.D. in Political Science:'First of all, it should be noted that we've caught the US at double standards in politics, and policy of the NATO military political alliance is the same. They react to Washington's order, which says that they should build-up potential, as Russian aggression is to be shown constantly. And how can it be shown? In order to show Russia's aggression, its own residents and armed forces should be shaken up. How can they be shaken up? Just switched to a more high level of readiness. That is what they are doing. If the Armed Forces are switched to a more high level of readiness, common residents of the Western states will react immediately. Yes, the danger is real if the Armed Forces are put on a war footing, and these are funds after all. The funds should be taken from taxpayers, that is why a new wave of anti-Russian hysteria has been set off in the mass media. Pravda.Ru | 1 |
Republicans claim to be pro-life, but one needs only observe to realize that they simply like babies as long as they are in the womb, that is. Sure, they repeatedly cut funding from programs that feed poor children and actively work to deny kids health care and other necessities but they sure love promoting abstinence-only sex education, which actually increases unwanted pregnancies, and depriving women of the ability to decide whether or not to abort a fetus.Zika is believed to cause severe birth defects like microcephaly, which causes severe brain and skull deformities and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first year alone. As the GOP wants to deprive poor women of health care, if they had their way these expenses would be crippling. This doesn t even take into account the extra care a child would need, the exhaustion involved in caring for a critically-ill baby, or a number of other factors that would cause someone with the Zika virus to make the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy.The state of Florida is currently facing a Zika crisis, but that doesn t stop Senator Marco Rubio from sticking to his guns on abortion. To him, women should never be allowed to have one, even in the cases of rape and incest and not even if the mother has contracted the Zika virus. He told Politico on Saturday: I understand a lot of people disagree with my view but I believe that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. And when you present it in the context of Zika or any prenatal condition, it s a difficult question and a hard one. But if I m going to err, I m going to err on the side of life. Obviously, microcephaly is a terrible prenatal condition that kids are born with. And when they are, it s a lifetime of difficulties, Rubio added. So I get it. I m not pretending to you that that s an easy question you asked me. But I m pro-life. And I m strongly pro-life. I believe all human life should be protected by our law, irrespective of the circumstances or condition of that life. No matter how much the child suffers, right, Marco?Rubio himself voted to fulfill President Obama s request for funding, so he is aware that there is an issue. He s not hiding from that. But his belief in a book written by a bunch of men who couldn t figure out where the sun hides at night, as well as his devotion to the very party that actively fights to keep women sick, prevents him from accepting the fact that women have the right to make their own health care decisions including terminating a pregnancy if they have the Zika virus.Meanwhile, as Republicans continue to hold funding hostage over gutting the Clean Water Act and letting truckers drive for longer hours without a break (yes, seriously), Rubio and his ilk will continue to fight against women s right to choose an abortion to save the child from a lifetime of suffering.Featured image via Getty Images/Joe Raedle | 1 |
21st Century Wire says According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), arms imports to Middle Eastern countries have had an 86 percent upsurge over the past decade. In addition, US arms exports have amounted to nearly one third of global arms imports from 2012-16. SAUDI STRIKES Saudi Arabia has repeatedly violated human rights during their ongoing military intervention in Yemen since 2015. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)Stockholm s Arms ReportSIPRI is a Swedish based think-tank focused on independent research concerning conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The recently released Stockholm study yielded some stunning conclusions concerning arms exports from the US and Europe, in addition to arms imports acquired by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, most notably Saudi Arabia. According to this latest report from 2012-16, there has been the highest arms transfer volume over a 5-year stretch since the end of the Cold War. Here s a passage from the SPIRI armament findings that have dovetailed the ongoing Western-backed regime change campaign in Syria as well as Yemen: Saudi Arabia was the world s second largest arms importer in 2012-16, with an increase of 212 per cent compared with 2007 11. Arms imports by Qatar went up by 245 per cent. Although at lower rates, the majority of other states in the region also increased arms imports. Over the past five years, most states in the Middle East have turned primarily to the USA and Europe in their accelerated pursuit of advanced military capabilities , said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. Despite low oil prices, countries in the region continued to order more weapons in 2016, perceiving them as crucial tools for dealing with conflicts and regional tensions. Continuing, the wartime study revealed the extensive arms supplies exported by the US in recent years: The USA supplies major arms to at least 100 countries around the world significantly more than any other supplier state , said Dr Aude Fleurant, Director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. Both advanced strike aircraft with cruise missiles and other precision-guided munitions and the latest generation air and missile defence systems account for a significant share of US arms exports. Saudi Siege in YemenIn 2015, a US-backed coalition led by Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries, directed airstrikes inside Yemen, continuing their breach of international law after announcing a ceasefire and the apparent end of Operation Decisive Storm. The Pentagon sanctioned Decisive Storm, gave way to the Orwellian-sounding, Operation Restoring Hope , even as the UN raised concerns over civilians killed throughout the consecutive Saudi Arabian airstrike campaigns in the region.In October of 2016, Time magazine confirmed the growing wartime alliance between the US and its Saudi partners as the intervention in Yemen escalated. It was then revealed that Saudi Arabia, purchased more than $20 billion in arms from the U.S. in 2015 alone. While Western allies claimed that the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen were meant to restore order there was no explanation as to how the unprovoked bombardment would help bring stability to an already fractured region.Almost a month after the Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen began, the LA Times published a piece entitled, Al Qaeda in Yemen using chaos of war to carve out terrorism haven. The mainstream outlet outlined the rise of Al Qaeda militants in Yemen, also known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) following the dubious air raids conducted by Saudi Arabia.The AQAP narrative was preempted by a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) March 19th release one week before bombing in Yemen began. The article also curiously predicted the rise of AQAP (and other Sunni extremists) as a symptom of the US-GCC proxy war in Yemen: A sectarian conflict in Yemen could help AQAP exploit the instability and expand its domestic insurgency among Sunni communities. When considering the recent arms report outlined by SIPRI, we can clearly see a how a Western engineered proxy landscape took its shape in both Syria and Yemen over the past several years. Think-tank planners telegraphed their predictions around existing military operations already put in motion.Problem, reaction, solution COAT OF ARMS The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. (Image Source: sasnetold.eu)Western-backed Terror ExposedIn December of 2016, 21WIRE discussed the recent Stop Funding Terrorism Bill (HR 5433) openly supported by US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard: Previously 21WIRE reported how US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI-D) received a somewhat hostile reception when talking with CNN s Jake Tapper about her Stop Funding Terrorism Bill. Gabbard is the first US legislator since the 1980 s to openly highlight the very real problem of US clandestine services arming and supporting violent internatonal terrorist organizations, particularly those currently operating inside of Syria.Interestingly, Gabbard s important move to stop international terrorism comes at the exact same time when the outgoing President Obama has pushed his own executive action to lift all restrictions on US arms exports and support to proxy rebel or terrorist fighting groups operating in Syria and elsewhere. In this context, we can see clearly that there is a moral battle being fought in Washington between those who oppose terrorism and those like President Obama and Senator John McCain, who have seen it as useful in the pursuit of their own geopolitical objectives, particularly by their open support of terrorist factions in Syria. Gabbard recently returned from a fact finding trip to Syria where she stated that Syrian people expressed that there are no moderate rebels fighting inside the embattled nation. Watch her discuss the matter with CNN s Jake Tapper below In 2013, the NY Times openly discussed the CIA s arms shipments (with Turkish aid) to parts of the Middle East, namely, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Unbeknownst to most US taxpayers at the time, the CIA was arming so-called moderate Syrian rebels, many of which have had links to terror. Here s a passage from the March 2013 NY Times report, that disclosed the Langley sanctioned arms shipments to rebels: With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports. In June of 2016, the content analysis site Media Research Center underscored the US-Saudi rebel training revelations:This training program, authorized by President Obama in 2013, allows the Central Intelligence Agency to arm and train Syrian rebels under the codename Timber Sycamore. Several days ago, the NYT reported the intricate history of the U.S.-Saudi arms relationship in Syria: the C.I.A. and its Saudi counterpart have maintained an unusual arrangement for the rebel-training mission, which the Americans have code-named Timber Sycamore. Under the deal, current and former administration officials said, the Saudis contribute both weapons and large sums of money, and the C.I.A takes the lead in training the rebels on AK-47 assault rifles and tank-destroying missiles. The MRC report concluded that many of the arms shipments were found to have made their way to the black market via Jordanian intelligence: But now, some of the weapons intended for Syrian rebels have found their way to the black market. The weapons reportedly stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives included Kalashnikov assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. Interestingly, since 2013, the CIA s involvement in rebel training facilities in Jordan have been publicly discussed. Here s a revealing passage from the the UK s Guardian on the matter: The Pentagon said last October that a small group of US special forces and military planners had been to Jordan during the summer to help the country prepare for the possibility of Syrian use of chemical weapons and train selected rebel fighters.That planning cell, which was housed at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre in the north of the capital, Amman, has since been expanded to co-ordinate a more ambitious training programme. But Jordanian sources said the actual training was being carried out at more remote sites, with recent US reports saying it was being led by the CIA. Flash forward to January of 2016, the NY Times disclosed that millions in arms shipments supplied to Jordan from the CIA and Saudi Arabia were somehow stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and put on the black market, according to official reports.Today, Reuters states that the CIA has reportedly frozen aid to apparent rebel groups in Northwest Syria. Here s a passage from the Reuters exclusive: Rebel officials said that no official explanation had been given for the move this month following the jihadist assault, though several said they believed the main objective was to prevent arms and cash falling into Islamist militant hands. But they said they expected the aid freeze to be temporary.The halt in assistance, which has included salaries, training, ammunition and in some cases guided anti-tank missiles, is a response to jihadist attacks and has nothing to do with U.S. President Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama in January, two U.S. officials familiar with the CIA-led program said. Interestingly, a new narrative taking shape blames an apparent militant attack on so-called Syrian rebel groups carried out by members formerly of Al-Nusra Front ( now of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham), a known al Qaeda s affiliate.In July of 2015, we at 21WIRE reported the following developments taking place inside Syria: it was reported that the Army of Islam operating in Damascus, executed members of ISIS that s right, Sunnis militants taking out their own. The Gulf State backed army is comprised of 50 or so groups, including members of ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda and the Washington supported FSA rebels, the so-called moderates that the US is still collaborating with in Syria. Is it possible we are seeing a similar development concerning the recent Reuters revelations or is there something else at play?More about the Stockholm arms study on RT below (Image Source: nybooks.com)RTBetween 2007 2011 and 2012 2016 arms imports by states in the Middle East rose by 86 percent, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday.India was the world s largest importer of major arms in 2012 2016, accounting for 13 percent of the global total, the study said. Over the past five years, most states in the Middle East have turned primarily to the USA and Europe in their accelerated pursuit of advanced military capabilities, Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program, said. Despite low oil prices, countries in the region continued to order more weapons in 2016, perceiving them as crucial tools for dealing with conflicts and regional tensions, he added.With a one-third share of global arms exports, the USA was the top arms exporter in 2012 16. Its arms exports increased by 21 percent compared with 2007 2011.Almost half of US arms exports went to the Middle East, SIPRI said, adding that arms imports by Qatar went up by 245 percent. The USA supplies major arms to at least 100 countries around the world significantly more than any other supplier state, Dr. Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program, said. Both advanced strike aircraft with cruise missiles and other precision-guided munitions and the latest generation air and missile defense systems account for a significant share of US arms exports. Saudi Arabia s defense expenditure grew by 5.7 percent to $87.2 billion in 2015, making it the world s third-largest spender at the time, according to a SIPRI report from April.More from RT News here READ MORE YEMEN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Yemen FilesREAD MORE ON SYRIA: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
They pulled every trick in the book. From manufactured polls designed to discourage Trump supporters from going to vote on election day, to an all-out assassination attempt on his character, you ve gotta hand it to these propagandists, there wasn t a dirty trick they didn t try. Trump took abuse by the media like no other Presidential candidate before him. Even after our dishonest media was caught working behind the scenes with Crooked Hillary, her campaign and the DNC, they still came at Trump with a shameless vengeance like we ve never seen. What the media didn t understand however, was that every time we saw Trump alone in the ring against a mob of unruly leftist journalists fighting back with everything he had, it only strengthened our resolve.In Trump, Americans saw something that s been missing from our politicians for decades, we saw someone who was actually willing o fight for our nation on our behalf. We saw someone who wasn t going to concede to political correctness, or to give our lying media respect they didn t deserve. Every time he called them out for their dishonesty, Americans cheered. Every time they hit Trump with another lie, or worked in unison to impugn his character, he always managed to come back even stronger than before.Trump wasn t interested in playing by the media s rules, and they did everything in their power to punish him for not playing along. Along the way, he brilliantly exposed them as nothing more than an extension of Hillary Clinton s campaign. And so it is, with great pleasure we share with you some of the best liberal media meltdowns post-Trumpocalypse MSNBC s Rachel Maddow typically has a very arrogant way about her. Funny, the attitude seems to have disappeared:Yes, this is real life . https://t.co/NEU67a7U1o Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) October 8, 2016NBC s Chuck Todd and Lester Holt were two of Hilary s biggest cheerleaders. They just can t seem to figure out how they failed to convince America we needed Hillary as our next President:.@chucktodd on Trump: "He blew all of our predictions, and models, and you name it out of the water." #ElectionNight https://t.co/kt1fOMHXWu MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 9, 2016It s bad enough that MSNBC s Chris Matthews has to deal with a Republican President, but how will he EVER be able to deal with a xenophobic Republican majority House and Senate?What will a Trump presidency mean for the future of our immigration laws? https://t.co/KqtMftSfwU Hardball (@hardball) November 10, 2016Debate hack Martha Raddatz was in full meltdown mode:CNN s Dana Bash explains to Brooke Baldwin how people who voted for Trump really don t like him. | 0 |
TOKYO (Reuters) - A new political party led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is floating populist slogans such as ending nuclear power and freezing a sales tax hike ahead of a general election next month, but voters may find few other big policy gaps with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Koike s Party of Hope, formally launched on Wednesday with a slick promotion video and news conference, could attract voters who feel Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has become complacent, even arrogant, after nearly five years in office. The new party adds more uncertainty to the election. Abe s LDP-led coalition is unlikely to lose its grip on power, but a weak showing would erode Abe s clout, make policy initiatives harder and jeopardize his hopes of becoming Japan s longest-serving premier. There s not much daylight between Koike s party and the LDP, said Gerry Curtis, professor emeritus at Columbia University in New York. It s a question of who can impress the voters as more competent. It s competence and it s character. The Party of Hope shares policy space with both the conservative, business-friendly LDP and the right wing of the main opposition Democratic Party, an often fractious mix of conservatives and liberals. The Democrats are struggling with defections to the new party and single-digit ratings. Asked about media reports that she discussed a merger or tie-up with the Democrats leader, Koike told public broadcaster NHK she was not interested. Rather than party to party, I welcome participation by individuals who share our policies, she said, adding her party had been approached by many would-be candidates. Some political analysts suggest Koike might opt to ally with the LDP after the election, given their policy similarities. Abe, promising strong leadership to cope with Japan s fast-ageing population and a rising threat from North Korea, is betting the LDP and its junior coalition partner can keep their majority in parliament s lower house, where they hold a two-thirds super majority . He will dissolve the lower house on Thursday for a vote expected on Oct. 22. The 63-year-old premier returned to power in December 2012 for a rare second term, promising to bolster Japan s defense and reboot its deflation-plagued economy with hyper-easy monetary policy, spending and reforms. He has made revising the post-war, pacifist constitution a key plank in his long-term agenda. Koike, 65, served as defense minister in Abe s first 2006-07 cabinet, but she defied the LDP to run successfully for Tokyo governor last year and, in July, her novice local party handed the LDP an historic defeat in a Tokyo assembly poll. The media-savvy former TV announcer - often floated as a candidate to become Japan s first female premier - is looking to repeat that success nationally. She said on Wednesday, though, that she wouldn t run for parliament this time. A vague Party of Hope platform unveiled on Wednesday pledged to be a tolerant, conservative reform party, break free of vested interests, protect the public, spend tax money wisely and respect diversity. Koike has, however, distanced herself from the LDP on two issues that could resonate with voters. She has suggested freezing a rise in the sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent, from 2019, and called for an end to nuclear power - without saying how or by when. The latter issue has sparked speculation Koike could win the backing from once popular former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who advocates an immediate end to atomic energy. Abe, in contrast, says he ll go ahead with the tax hike but divert some revenue to childcare and education instead of paying back public debt. His government plans to keep atomic power as a basic energy source despite public concerns after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis. Koike has criticized the prime minister s Abenomics growth policy for not making people feel good, but she has not outlined what she d do instead, except speed up reform. Both Abe and Koike are hawkish on security policy, although she has said little lately except to pledge practical diplomacy and security policy based on pacifism . She has said debate was inevitable on revising the post-war constitution, but should not be limited to the divisive issue of amending pacifist Article 9, which Abe wants to change to clarify the military s status. Promises to reform vested interest politics and end governance through back-room deals often resonate with Japanese voters, who periodically long for change from the LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the past six decades. | 1 |
With a battle heating up between Republicans and Obama on a Supreme Court nomination, the president chooses to skip the funeral of longtime Supreme Court Justice Scalia. This is a classless move by Obama who s got a track record of not showing up at important funerals. He expects the Republicans to be bipartisan, yet he shows his true colors when he does something like this. The White House has confirmed reports that President Barack Obama will not be attending the funeral of late Supreme Court Justice Scalia s funeral which is scheduled for Saturday. Instead, the president and first lady Michelle Obama will pay their respects to Scalia on Friday, when the Justice s body lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building. The White House added that Vice President Joe Biden will attend Saturday s funeral at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.The last supreme court justice to pass away was Justice William Rehnquist in 2005. Then-President George W. Bush not only attended the service, but delivered a eulogy along with Justice Sandra Day O Connor.Critics claim that his decision not to attend Justice Scalia s funeral is just the latest in a string of snubs over the past several years. While Obama has attended some high profile funerals like those of former South African President Nelson Mandela and Senator and ex-KKK member Robert Byrd, the president has skipped out services for a number of high-profile conservatives and members of the U.S. military:Margaret Thatcher When the Iron Lady passed away in 2013, the Obama administration sent what the Daily Signal referred to as a low-level delegation similar in size and scope to the delegation sent to the funeral of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Chris Kyle After Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was murdered on a gun range in 2013, the president opted not to attend his Texas funeral. Furthermore, the president ruffled even more feathers by failing to acknowledge Kyle in his State of the Union address which was held on the same day.Major General Harold Greene Army Major General Harold Greene became the highest ranking combat fatality since Vietnam after he was ambushed by an Afghan police officer in August of 2014. The president was not present when Greene was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. The administration also came under criticism for failing to even releasing a statement upon receiving news of the president s death.Zeinuti Onyango The funeral of President Obama s aunt Zeinuti Onyango was not the high-profile affair of a high ranking government official, but the fact that the decided to play a few rounds of golf instead of attending is somewhat telling. The Kenyan-born Onyango passed away at the age of 61 in 2014.The list could go on and on but here s some great advice from a liberal pundit for Obama:MSNBC host Chris Hayes: Some amazing advice my mom gave me once: If you re wondering whether you should go to the funeral, you should go to the funeral. Read more: Hannity | 1 |
¿Llega la hora de la Tercera Guerra Mundial? 01:08 GMT
Una situación económica parecida a la actual fue superada en 1930 por la Segunda Guerra Mundial. pixabay.com
La carga de la deuda de los países desarrollados ha alcanzado el nivel máximo desde la época de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, mientras que las inversiones han llegado al mínimo, según muestran los datos del Fondo Monetario Internacional ( FMI ), citados por el portal ruso Vesti Finance .
Hoy en día, se destacan los llamados a la estimulación fiscal , pero el estado de las economías de los países desarrollados se parece a lo que vio el mundo antes de que estrellase la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Según el portal, las autoridades no ven otra salida que el aumento continuo de la carga de la deuda. Sin embargo, para calmar a la sociedad se ven obligadas a recurrir al término de un 'déficit bueno' , que sirve de "excusa para incrementar los gastos a nivel nacional".
Una situación muy parecida a la actual reinaba en EE.UU. en los años 1930, así que la Gran Depresión fue superada en gran medida como resultado del inicio de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La realidad económica de Japón
El ministro de Finanzas de Japón, Taro Aso, recordó el pasado mes de marzo que "durante la década de 1930 en EE.UU. la situación con la deflación se desarrollaba de una manera similar ". Señaló que el mayor problema relacionado con la introducción del nuevo trato ('New Deal') del presidente Franklin D. Roosevelt constituyó en el hecho de que durante mucho tiempo los emprendedores y gerentes no estuvieron dispuestos a invertir capitales mediante préstamos.
Según Aso, esto es lo que ocurre en este momento en Japón . Destacó que "los ingresos muy altos han sido obtenidos por compañías japonesas, pero no van a gastarlos para la inversión de capitales". "Tienen fondos para aumentar sueldos o pago de dividendos, pero no lo harán. Guardan su dinero y depósitos, mientras que los beneficios reservados siguen creciendo", explicó el ministro japonés.
Según indicó Aso, esta situación en la década de 1930 fue resuelta por la guerra , ya que "la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la recuperación en los 1940 se convirtió en una solución para EE.UU.". Una guerra como un "estímulo económico"
Por su parte, Paul Krugman, premio Nobel de Economía, en su conversación con el ministro japonés opinó que "desde el punto de vista macroeconómico una guerra es un fuerte estímulo financiero ", es decir, fue la guerra que "llevó a una estimulación fiscal".
Krugman destacó que la historia de los años 1930 constituyó en el hecho de que el nuevo trato de Roosevelt se basó en la estimulación presupuestaria de 1937, ya que "en aquella época, como ahora, había muchas señales que indicaban la necesidad de equilibrar el presupuesto". El economista tachó la medida de "un error terrible", ya que "causó la segunda recesión a gran escala". | 1 |
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